SEE THROUGH NEAR-EYE DISPLAY

• US 20140118829A1
• Filed: 10/26/2012
• Published: 05/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: MA, Jian J., LEE, Chong U., HONG, John H., CHANG, Tallis Y., DALEY, Robert Sean, KIM, Frederick D.
• Granted Patent: US 10,073,201 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 359/567
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0174 holographic
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0172 characterised by optical features
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/1885 Arranged as a periodic array

Abstract

The various embodiments include a near-eye display having a transmissive display and a diffractive micro-lens array. The transmissive display may be positioned relative to the diffractive micro-lens array so that the distance between the transmissive display and the diffractive micro-lens array is be approximately equal to focal length of the diffractive micro-lens array. The transmissive display may also be positioned relative to the diffractive micro-lens array so that a percentage of light emitted from the transmissive display is diffracted by the micro-lens array and collimated into focus on a retina of a human eye. The transmissive display may be further positioned relative to the diffractive micro-lens array so that light from a real world scene passes through transparent portions of the transmissive display and is diffracted by the micro-lens array out of focus of the human eye.

Claims

1. A near-eye display comprising:

a transmissive electronic display; and

a diffractive micro-lens array configured to diffract a percentage of incoming light to form a virtual image of the display at a distance greater than or equal to 250 mm from a human eye,

wherein the distance between the transmissive electronic display and the micro-lens array is about the focal length of the micro-lens array.

2. The electronic display of claim 1, wherein the diffractive micro-lens array is partially diffractive and partially transparent.

3. The electronic display of claim 1, wherein the transmissive electronic display includes a plurality of pixels and the diffractive micro-lens array is positioned relative to the pixels so that about fifty percent of light emitted from each pixel is diffracted into focus on a retina of the human eye.

4. The electronic display of claim 1, wherein the transmissive electronic display includes a plurality of transparent portions and the diffractive micro-lens array is positioned relative to the transmissive electronic display so that light from a real world scene passes unaltered through the transparent portions of the transmissive display.

5. The electronic display of claim 4, wherein the diffractive micro-lens array is positioned relative to the transmissive electronic display so that about fifty percent of the light from the real world scene passes through the diffractive micro-lens array and forms an image on a retina of the human eye.

6. The electronic display of claim 5, wherein the diffractive micro-lens array is positioned relative to the transmissive electronic display so that about fifty percent of the light from the real world scene is diffracted by the micro-lens array out of focus of the retina of the human eye.

7. The electronic display of claim 1, wherein the diffractive micro-lens array is fabricated on a glass substrate.

8. The electronic display of claim 1, wherein the diffractive micro-lens array is fabricated into a photopolymer film as a volume hologram.

9. The electronic display of claim 1, wherein the diffractive micro-lens array and transmissive electronic display are fabricated into an optical lens.

10. The electronic display of claim 1, wherein the transmissive electronic display is a liquid crystal display.

11. The electronic display of claim 1, wherein the transmissive electronic display is an organic light emitting diode display.

12. The electronic display of claim 11, wherein the organic light emitting diode display is a transparent organic light emitting diode display.

13. The electronic display of claim 1, wherein the transmissive electronic display is attached to a pair of eyeglasses.

14. A near-eye display comprising:

means for displaying a computer generated image close to a human eye and partially permitting a distance scene to be viewed; and

means for diffracting a percentage of light from the computer generated image to form a virtual image at a distance greater than or equal to 250 mm from the human eye.

15. The electronic display of claim 14, wherein means for diffracting a percentage of light from the computer generated image to form a virtual image comprises means for partially diffracting light from the computer generated image and means for partially transmitting light from the distant scene.

16. The electronic display of claim 14, wherein:

means for displaying a computer generated image comprises means for generating a plurality of pixels; and

means for diffracting a percentage of light from the computer generated image to form a virtual image comprises means for diffracting about fifty percent of light emitted from each pixel into focus on a retina of the human eye.

17. The electronic display of claim 14, wherein:

means for displaying a computer generated image comprises a plurality of transparent portions; and

means for diffracting a percentage of light from the computer generated image to form a virtual image comprises means for enabling light from the distant scene passing through the plurality of transparent portions to unaltered.