SYSTEMS, DEVICES, AND METHODS FOR EYEBOX EXPANSION IN WEARABLE HEADS-UP DISPLAYS
First Claim
1. A wearable heads-up display comprising:
- a support structure that in use is worn on a head of a user;
a scanning laser projector carried by the support structure;
a holographic combiner carried by the support structure, wherein the holographic combiner is positioned within a field of view of an eye of the user when the support structure is worn on the head of the user; and
an optical splitter carried by the support structure and positioned in an optical path between the scanning laser projector and the holographic combiner, the optical splitter comprising at least one optical element arranged to receive light signals generated by the scanning laser projector and redirect each light signal towards the holographic combiner effectively from one of N spatially-separated virtual positions for the scanning laser projector, where N is an integer greater than 1, the particular virtual position for the scanning laser projector from which a light signal is redirected by the optical splitter determined by a point of incidence at which the light signal is received by the optical splitter, and wherein the holographic combiner comprises at least one hologram positioned and oriented to redirect the light signals towards the eye of the user.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems, devices, and methods for eyebox expansion by exit pupil replication in wearable heads-up displays (“WHUDs”) are described. A WHUD includes a scanning laser projector (“SLP”), a holographic combiner, and an optical splitter positioned in the optical path therebetween. The optical splitter receives light signals generated by the SLP and separates the light signals into N sub-ranges based on the point of incidence of each light signal at the optical splitter. The optical splitter redirects the light signals corresponding to respective ones of the N sub-ranges towards the holographic combiner effectively from respective ones of N spatially-separated virtual positions for the SLP. The holographic combiner converges the light signals to respective ones of N spatially-separated exit pupils at the eye of the user. In this way, multiple instances of the exit pupil are distributed over the area of the eye and the eyebox of the WHUD is expanded.
71 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A wearable heads-up display comprising:
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a support structure that in use is worn on a head of a user; a scanning laser projector carried by the support structure; a holographic combiner carried by the support structure, wherein the holographic combiner is positioned within a field of view of an eye of the user when the support structure is worn on the head of the user; and an optical splitter carried by the support structure and positioned in an optical path between the scanning laser projector and the holographic combiner, the optical splitter comprising at least one optical element arranged to receive light signals generated by the scanning laser projector and redirect each light signal towards the holographic combiner effectively from one of N spatially-separated virtual positions for the scanning laser projector, where N is an integer greater than 1, the particular virtual position for the scanning laser projector from which a light signal is redirected by the optical splitter determined by a point of incidence at which the light signal is received by the optical splitter, and wherein the holographic combiner comprises at least one hologram positioned and oriented to redirect the light signals towards the eye of the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A wearable heads-up display comprising:
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a support structure that in use is worn on a head of a user; a scanning laser projector carried by the support structure and having a total two-dimensional scan range θ
;a holographic combiner carried by the support structure, wherein the holographic combiner is positioned within a field of view of an eye of the user when the support structure is worn on the head of the user; an optical splitter carried by the support structure and positioned in an optical path between the scanning laser projector and the holographic combiner, wherein the optical splitter comprises at least one optical element arranged to; receive light signals corresponding to a sweep of the total two-dimensional scan range θ
by the scanning laser projector;separate the light signals into N two-dimensional sub-ranges φ
i based on point of incidence at the optical splitter, where N is an integer greater than 1 and Σ
i=1N φ
i=θ
; andredirect the light signals towards the holographic combiner, and wherein the holographic combiner comprises at least one hologram positioned and oriented to converge light signals to respective ones of N exit pupils at or proximate the eye of the user, the particular exit pupil towards which a light signal is redirected by the holographic combiner determined by the particular two-dimensional sub-range φ
i into which the light signal is separated by the optical splitter. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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23. A method of operating a wearable heads-up display, the wearable heads-up display including a scanning laser projector, an optical splitter, and a holographic combiner positioned within a field of view of an eye of a user when the wearable heads-up display is worn on a head of the user, the method comprising:
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generating a first light signal by the scanning laser projector; receiving the first light signal at a first point of incidence by the optical splitter; redirecting, by the optical splitter, the first light signal towards the holographic combiner effectively from a first one of N spatially-separated virtual positions for the scanning laser projector, where N is an integer greater than 1, the first virtual position for the scanning laser projector from which the first light signal is redirected by the optical splitter determined by the first point of incidence at which the first light signal is received by the optical splitter; and redirecting the first light signal towards the eye of the user by the holographic combiner. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method of operating a wearable heads-up display, the wearable heads-up display including a scanning laser projector, an optical splitter, and a holographic combiner positioned within a field of view of an eye of a user when the wearable heads-up display is worn on a head of the user, the method comprising:
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generating light signals by the scanning laser projector, the light signals corresponding to a sweep of the total two-dimensional scan range θ
for the scanning laser projector;receiving the light signals corresponding to the sweep of the total two-dimensional scan range θ
of the scanning laser projector by the optical splitter;separating, by the optical splitter, the light signals into N two-dimensional sub-ranges φ
i based on point of incidence at the optical splitter, where N is an integer greater than 1 and Ei=1N φ
i=θ
;redirecting the light signals towards the holographic combiner by the optical splitter; and converging each light signal to one of N exit pupils at or proximate the eye of the user by the holographic combiner, the particular one of the N exit pupils to which a light signal is converged by the holographic combiner determined by the particular two-dimensional sub-range φ
i into which the light signal is separated by the optical splitter. - View Dependent Claims (33)
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Specification