VLSI visual display

• US 5,867,134 A
• Filed: 08/25/1995
• Issued: 02/02/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Original Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Inventors: Knight, Thomas F. Jr., Alvelda, Phillip
• Primary Examiner(s): Zimmerman, Mark K.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kovalick, Vincent E.
• Application Number:
  US08/519,269
• Time in Patent Office: 1,257 Days
• Field of Search: 345/7, 345/8, 345/9, 345/205, 348/51-60
• US Class Current: 345/8
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0132 comprising binocular systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0154 with movable elements
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0178 Eyeglass type eyeglass details G02C
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/017 Head mounted
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0172 characterised by optical features
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133621 providing coloured light G02F1/133617, G02F1/133533 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/136 Liquid crystal cells structurally associated with a semi-conducting layer or substrate, e.g. cells forming part of an integrated circuit G02F1/135 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/136277 formed on a semiconductor substrate, e.g. of silicon
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 2201/305 diffraction grating
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 2203/34 Colour display without the use of colour mosaic filters

Abstract

The present invention provides a visual display including a high resolution miniature display compatible with VLSI technology and an optical system such as an optical magnifier used to enlarge the images display on the miniature display to be visible to the naked eye. The miniature display includes a VLSI backplane having an array of display elements monolithically formed with its driving circuit on a single crystalline semiconductor. Signal processing circuit or a microprocessor used to process image signals for the display may also be formed monolithically with the array and its driving circuit. The array may be designed using a silicon software compiler program to have randomly displaced elements or super-pixels for reducing image aliasing. The array may also be designed to have display elements positioned and scaled to compensate for the optical distortion introduced by the magnifier.

Claims

1. A visual display comprising:

a miniature display compatible with VLSI technology and including an array of display elements of sufficient resolution to provide a desired image quality, and a VLSI circuit monolithically integrated with said array for driving said display elements to form images on the array that are generally too small to be viewed by the naked eye, said VLSI circuit including input terminals for providing electrical signals thereto to generate such images; and

an optical system disposed in front of the miniature display for enlarging such images to be visible at the desired image quality to the naked eye or for recording such images such that they can be displayed or viewed by the naked eye,

wherein said miniature display is a liquid crystal display and further including a light source for providing illumination for the liquid crystal display, and

wherein the display elements in the array are displaced by small random distances from the positions of elements in a corresponding symmetrical array in order to reduce image aliasing.

2. The visual display of claim 1 wherein the random positions of the display elements in the array are determined by the use of a silicon compiler program.

3. A visual display comprising:

a miniature display compatible with VLSI technology and including an array of display elements of sufficient resolution to provide a desired image quality, and a VLSI circuit monolithically integrated with said array for driving said display elements to form images on the array that are generally too small to be viewed by the naked eye, said VLSI circuit including input terminals for providing electrical signals thereto to generate such images; and

an optical system disposed in front of the miniature display for enlarging such images to be visible at the desired image quality to the naked eye or for recording such images such that they can be displayed or viewed by the naked eye,

wherein said miniature display is a liquid crystal display and further including a light source for providing illumination for the liquid crystal display, and

wherein said display elements are grouped to form super-pixels, each said super-pixel comprising a central display element surrounded by a plurality of ancillary display elements, said central display elements being directly driven by said VLSI circuit and each of said ancillary display elements being driven in response to electrical signals driving neighboring central display elements.

4. A visual display comprising:

a miniature display compatible with VLSI technology and including an array of display elements of sufficient resolution to provide a desired image quality, and a VLSI circuit monolithically integrated with said array for driving said display elements to form images on the array that are generally too small to be viewed by the naked eye, said VLSI circuit including input terminals for providing electrical signals thereto to generate such images; and

an optical system disposed in front of the miniature display for enlarging such images to be visible at the desired image quality to the naked eye or for recording such images such that they can be displayed or viewed by the naked eye,

wherein said miniature display is a liquid crystal display and further including a light source for providing illumination for the liquid crystal display, and

wherein said optical system is characterizable by an optical distortion function and said display elements are positioned and scaled to approximate the inverse of such optical distortion function of said optical system to compensate distortion of the image displayed in said array by said optical system.

5. The display of claim 4 wherein said optical system is an optical magnifier, and said inverse function is approximately (r_i +kr_i³) where k is approximately 0.32 and r_i is the radial distance from a point on the magnifier to a central optical axis of said magnifier.

6. A virtual image display permitting a viewer to view images, comprising:

an eye glass frame;

at least one lens having a reflective or partially reflective surface mounted therein; and

a visual display positioned such that images displayed thereon are reflected by said lens into the eyes of a person wearing said frame,

said visual display comprising

a miniature display compatible with VLSI technology and including an array of display elements of sufficient resolution to provide a desired image quality, and a VLSI circuit monolithically integrated with said array for driving said display elements to form images on the array that are generally too small to be viewed by the naked eye, said VLSI circuit including input terminals for providing electrical signals thereto to generate such images, and

an optical system disposed in front of the miniature display for enlarging such images to be visible at the desired image quality to the naked eye.

wherein said reflective surface of said at least one lens is curved in accordance with a three-dimensional elliptical surface, and the visual display and the eye of the viewer are positioned at two focal points of said elliptical surface respectively such that the images displayed by said visual display are reflected by said reflective surface into the eyes of the viewer,

wherein said miniature display is a liquid crystal display and further including a light source for providing illumination for the liquid crystal display, and

wherein the display elements in the array are displaced by small random distances from the positions of elements in a corresponding symmetrical array.

7. The virtual image display of claim 6 wherein the random positions of the display elements in the array are determined by the use of a silicon compiler program.

8. A virtual image display permitting a viewer to view images, comprising:

an eye glass frame;

at least one lens having a reflective or partially reflective surface mounted therein; and

a visual display positioned such that images displayed thereon are reflected by said lens into the eyes of a person wearing said frame,

said visual display comprising

a miniature display compatible with VLSI technology and including an array of display elements of sufficient resolution to provide a desired image quality, and a VLSI circuit monolithically integrated with said array for driving said display elements to form images on the array that are generally too small to be viewed by the naked eye, said VLSI circuit including input terminals for providing electrical signals thereto to generate such images, and

an optical system disposed in front of the miniature display for enlarging such images to be visible at the desired image quality to the naked eye,

wherein said reflective surface of said at least one lens is curved in accordance with a three-dimensional elliptical surface, and the visual display and the eye of the viewer are positioned at two focal points of said elliptical surface respectively such that the images displayed by said visual display are reflected by said reflective surface into the eyes of the viewer,

wherein said miniature display is a liquid crystal display and further including a light source for providing illumination for the liquid crystal display, and

wherein said display elements are grouped to form super-pixels, each said super-pixel comprising a central display element surrounded by a plurality of ancillary display elements, said central display elements being directly driven by said VLSI circuit and each of said ancillary display elements being driven in response to electrical signals driving neighboring central display elements.

9. A virtual image display permitting a viewer to view images, comprising:

an eye glass frame;

at least one lens having a reflective or partially reflective surface mounted therein; and

a visual display positioned such that images displayed thereon are reflected by said lens into the eyes of a person wearing said frame,

said visual display comprising

a miniature display compatible with VLSI technology and including an array of display elements of sufficient resolution to provide a desired image quality, and a VLSI circuit monolithically integrated with said array for driving said display elements to form images on the array that are generally too small to be viewed by the naked eye, said VLSI circuit including input terminals for providing electrical signals thereto to generate such images, and

an optical system disposed in front of the miniature display for enlarging such images to be visible at the desired image quality to the naked eye,

wherein said reflective surface of said at least one lens is curved in accordance with a three-dimensional elliptical surface, and the visual display and the eye of the viewer are positioned at two focal points of said elliptical surface respectively such that the images displayed by said visual display are reflected by said reflective surface into the eyes of the viewer,

wherein said miniature display is a liquid crystal display and further including a light source for providing illumination for the liquid crystal display, and

wherein said optical system is characterizable by an optical distortion function and said display elements are positioned and scaled in accordance with an inverse function of such optical distortion function of said optical system to compensate distortion of the image displayed in said array by said optical system.

10. The virtual image display of claim 9 wherein said optical system is an optical magnifier, and said inverse function is approximately expressed as (r_i +kr_i³) where k is approximately 0.32 and r_i is the radial distance from a point on the magnifier to a central optical axis of said magnifier.

11. A method for providing a visual display having an array of display elements for displaying images on said array, comprising the step of arranging said display elements to form super pixels, each said super pixels comprising a central display element surrounded by a plurality of ancillary display elements, said central elements being directly driven by a driving circuit and each of said ancillary display elements being driven in response to electrical signals driving neighboring central display elements.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said visual display is a liquid crystal display.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said liquid crystal display is compatible with VLSI technology and said driving circuit is a VLSI circuit monolithically integrated with said array.

14. A method for forming a display comprising a pixel array to compensate the optical distortion of an optical system used to view said display, said optical system being characterizable by an optical distortion function, comprising the step of positioning and scaling the pixels in accordance with an inverse function of such optical distortion function of said optical system.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said optical system is an optical magnifier, and said inverse function is approximately expressed as (r_i +kr_i³) where k is approximately 0.32 and r_i is the distance from a point on said optical magnifier to the optical axis.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein said step of positioning and scaling the pixels in accordance with said inverse function of said optical distortion function is implemented by using a silicon compiler software program.