Portable wide-field optical system with microlenses and fiber-optic image transfer element
First Claim
1. An optical system comprising:
- image source means for displaying an image on an array of image elements constituting a first image plane, wherein at least one of said elements provides a light that is different from light that would be provided by another of said image elements, whereby to display said image;
optical means for transferring said light from at least one of said image elements to a non-planar image surface of said optical means; and
lens means for receiving said light from said non-planar image surface of said optical means and focusing the received said light with respect to a predetermined viewer.
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Abstract
An optical system converts a planar image display to a spherical image display focused for close proximity to a human eye, in order to provide a wide viewing field. The optical system includes an array of image source pixels provided by a flat panel display, such as a high resolution liquid crystal display. The image source pixels are received by an array of optical fibers which transfer light from the image source pixels to an image plane section where the optical fibers terminate in a curved surface configuration. The curved surface image projection emanating from the array of optical fibers is received by an array of micro-lenses. Each of the micro-lenses is configured to focus a portion of the light from the curved image plane section onto an eye for viewing the image.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. An optical system comprising:
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image source means for displaying an image on an array of image elements constituting a first image plane, wherein at least one of said elements provides a light that is different from light that would be provided by another of said image elements, whereby to display said image;
optical means for transferring said light from at least one of said image elements to a non-planar image surface of said optical means; and
lens means for receiving said light from said non-planar image surface of said optical means and focusing the received said light with respect to a predetermined viewer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An optical system, comprising:
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image display means for displaying an image as a planar array of points of light;
optical means for receiving said planar array of points of light and emitting the received said planar array of points of light as a non-planar array of said points of light; and
lens means for receiving said non-planar array of said points of light and focusing said non-planar array of points of light with respect to a viewing source. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An optical system comprising:
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an array of image source pixels for providing light at a first image surface;
an array of optical transfer elements, each one of said optical transfer elements being optically coupled to a different one of said image source pixels and emitting said light at a second image surface shaped differently from said first image surface; and
an array of lenses, each one of said lenses being optically coupled to a different one of light emitting ends of said optical transfer elements, each one of said lenses having a predetermined focal length for emitting said light. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification