Image display apparatus
First Claim
1. In an image display apparatus having an image display device and a viewing optical system that leads an image formed by said image display device to a position where an eyeball of an observer is placed,the improvement wherein said viewing optical system has at least:
- an image source-side reflecting surface having a decentered curved surface configuration that gives a power to a light beam emitted from said image display device when the light beam is reflected by said decentered curved surface, said image source-side reflecting surface further having a rotationally asymmetric surface configuration that corrects decentration aberrations produced by reflection at said decentered curved surface;
a semitransparent reflecting surface with half-mirror coating that transmits or reflects the light beam reflected from said image source-side reflecting surface; and
a concave reflecting surface that forms a folded optical path between said concave reflecting surface and said semitransparent reflecting surface, said concave reflecting surface having a concave surface directed toward said semitransparent reflecting surface;
wherein an enlarged intermediate image of the image of said image display device is formed between said image source-side reflecting surface and said semitransparent reflecting surface.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An image display apparatus having a compact optical system, in which the intermediate image magnifying power of a relay optical system is increased to realize a wide field angle while keeping the power of the concave mirror part of an ocular optical system at a small value. A viewing optical system has an image source-side reflecting surface having a decentered curved surface configuration that gives a power to a light beam emitted from an image display device when the light beam is reflected by the decentered curved surface. The image source-side reflecting surface also has a rotationally asymmetric surface configuration that corrects decentration aberrations produced by reflection at the decentered curved surface. The viewing optical system further has a semitransparent reflecting surface that transmits or reflects the light beam reflected from the image source-side reflecting surface, and a concave reflecting surface that forms a folded optical path between it and the semitransparent reflecting surface and that has a concave surface directed toward the semitransparent reflecting surface. An enlarged intermediate image of the image displayed on the image display device is formed between the image source-side reflecting surface and the semitransparent reflecting surface.
51 Citations
21 Claims
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1. In an image display apparatus having an image display device and a viewing optical system that leads an image formed by said image display device to a position where an eyeball of an observer is placed,
the improvement wherein said viewing optical system has at least: -
an image source-side reflecting surface having a decentered curved surface configuration that gives a power to a light beam emitted from said image display device when the light beam is reflected by said decentered curved surface, said image source-side reflecting surface further having a rotationally asymmetric surface configuration that corrects decentration aberrations produced by reflection at said decentered curved surface;
a semitransparent reflecting surface with half-mirror coating that transmits or reflects the light beam reflected from said image source-side reflecting surface; and
a concave reflecting surface that forms a folded optical path between said concave reflecting surface and said semitransparent reflecting surface, said concave reflecting surface having a concave surface directed toward said semitransparent reflecting surface;
wherein an enlarged intermediate image of the image of said image display device is formed between said image source-side reflecting surface and said semitransparent reflecting surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
a first prism including at least said first surface and said second surface;
said semitransparent reflecting surface placed separately from said first prism; and
said concave reflecting surface placed separately from said first prism and said semitransparent reflecting surface.
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13. An image display apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein said viewing optical system has:
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a first prism including at least said first surface and said second surface; and
a second prism having at least said semitransparent reflecting surface and said concave reflecting surface.
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14. An image display apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein said viewing optical system comprises a prism,
aid prism including at least said first surface, said second surface, said semitransparent reflecting surface, and said concave reflecting surface. -
15. An image display apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said semitransparent reflecting surface has a plane surface configuration.
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16. An image display apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least one rotationally asymmetric curved surface of said viewing optical system is a plane-symmetry free-form surface having only one plane of symmetry.
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17. An image display apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, having said viewing optical system and a support member that retains said viewing optical system on a head of the observer to lead a light beam from said viewing optical system to the eyeball of the observer.
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18. An image display apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said first prism has a first surface through which a light beam emitted from said image display device enters said medium, a second surface that reflects the light beam entering through said first surface, and a third surface that reflects the light beam reflected from said second surface, wherein an optical path connecting said first surface and said second surface and an optical path reflected from said third surface intersect each other in said medium, and wherein when a decentration direction of said optical system is a Y-axis direction, and a plane parallel to an axial principal ray is a YZ-plane, and further a direction perpendicularly intersecting the YZ-plane is an X-axis direction, either of the following conditions is satisfied:
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19. An image display apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said first prism has a first surface through which a light beam emitted from said image display device enters said medium, a second surface that reflects the light beam entering through said first surface, and a third surface that reflects the light beam reflected from said second surface, wherein an optical path connecting said first surface and said second surface and an optical path reflected from said third surface intersect each other in said medium, and wherein when a decentration direction of said optical system is a Y-axis direction, and a plane parallel to an axial principal ray is a YZ-plane, and further a direction perpendicularly intersecting the YZ-plane is an X-axis direction, either of the following conditions is satisfied:
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20. An image display apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said first prism has a first surface through which a light beam emitted from said image display device enters said medium, a second surface that reflects the light beam entering through said first surface, and a third surface that reflects the light beam reflected from said second surface, wherein an optical path connecting said first surface and said second surface and an optical path reflected from said third surface intersect each other in said medium, and wherein when a decentration direction of said optical system is a Y-axis direction, and a plane parallel to an axial principal ray is a YZ-plane, and further a direction perpendicularly intersecting the YZ-plane is an X-axis direction, either of the following conditions is satisfied:
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21. An image display apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said first prism has a first surface through which a light beam emitted from said image display device enters said medium, a second surface that reflects the light beam entering through said first surface, and a third surface that reflects the light beam reflected from said second surface, wherein an optical path connecting said first surface and said second surface and an optical path reflected from said third surface intersect each other in said medium, and wherein when a decentration direction of said optical system is a Y-axis direction, and a plane parallel to an axial principal ray is a YZ-plane, and further a direction perpendicularly intersecting the YZ-plane is an X-axis direction, either of the following conditions is satisfied:
Specification