Eye mounted displays and systems, with headpiece

• US 9,824,668 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2016
• Issued: 11/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tectus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Spy Eye, LLC
• Inventors: Deering, Michael Frank, Huang, Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): Bukowski, Kenneth
• Application Number:
  US15/281,652
• Publication Number:
  US 20170019660A1
• Time in Patent Office: 417 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0118 comprising devices for improving the contrast of the display / brillance control visibility
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0123 comprising devices increasing the field of view
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0134 of stereoscopic type
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0138 comprising image capture systems, e.g. camera
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/014 comprising information/image processing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0147 comprising a device modifying the resolution of the displayed image
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0178 Eyeglass type eyeglass details G02C
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0187 slaved to motion of at least a part of the body of the user, e.g. head, eye
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0093 with means for monitoring data relating to the user, e.g. head-tracking, eye-tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/017 Head mounted
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0172 characterised by optical features
• CPC Class Codes: G02C 11/10 Electronic devices other than hearing aids
• CPC Class Codes: G02C 7/04 Contact lenses for the eyes disinfection or sterilisation of contact lenses A61L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/60 Analysis of geometric attributes
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0407 Resolution change, inclusive of the use of different resolutions for different screen areas
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0435 Change or adaptation of the frame rate of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/02 by tracing or scanning a light beam on a screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/003 : Details of a display terminal, the details relating to the control arrangement of the display terminal and to the interfaces thereto specific for a CRT G09G1/165; for a flat panel G09G3/2092
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/391 : Resolution modifying circuits, e.g. variable screen formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/344 : with head-mounted left-right displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/383 : for tracking with gaze detection, i.e. detecting the lines of sight of the viewer's eyes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/70 : characterised by syntax aspects related to video coding, e.g. related to compression standards
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0117 : involving conversion of the spatial resolution of the incoming video signal for graphics images G09G2340/0407
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0127 : by changing the field or frame frequency of the incoming video signal, e.g. frame rate converter
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/31 : Projection devices for colour picture display , e.g. using electronic spatial light modulators [ESLM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/3188 : Scale or resolution adjustment scaling in general G06T3/40; resolution modifying circuits for displays in general G09G5/391
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/3191 : Testing thereof testing of displays in general G09G3/006

Abstract

A display device is mounted on and/or inside the eye. The eye mounted display contains multiple sub-displays, each of which projects light to different retinal positions within a portion of the retina corresponding to the sub-display. The projected light propagates through the pupil but does not fill the entire pupil. In this way, multiple sub-displays can project their light onto the relevant portion of the retina. Moving from the pupil to the cornea, the projection of the pupil onto the cornea will be referred to as the corneal aperture. The projected light propagates through less than the full corneal aperture. The sub-displays use spatial multiplexing at the corneal surface. Various electronic devices interface to the eye mounted display.

Claims

1. An eye mounted display system, comprising:

an eye mounted display mountable on an eye of a human user for forming a visual sensation of an image that spans a field of view of the user'"'"'s eye, the eye mounted display comprising;

a contact lens; and

a plurality of sub-displays in the contact lens, the eye mounted display moving with the user'"'"'s eye as the user'"'"'s eye rotates in its socket, each of the sub-displays comprising;

a plurality of display pixels displaying a different portion of the image for each sub-display, and

display optics projecting light from the display pixels to a portion of the retina corresponding to the portion of the image displayed by that sub-display, wherein the portion of the retina is fixed as the user'"'"'s eye rotates in its socket and thereby forming a visual sensation of the portion of the image displayed by that sub-display, each such projection of light propagating through a partial corneal aperture for that sub-display, different sub-displays projecting light to different portions of the retina, and the sub-displays in aggregate projecting light to portions of the retina that in aggregate span the field of view;

the eye mounted display receiving images in an output format suitable for projection by the eye mounted display onto a retina of the eye, the images in the output format including pixels of different resolutions within each image; and

a headpiece worn on a head of the human user when using the eye mounted display, the headpiece facilitating a generation and/or transmission of the images to the eye mounted display.

2. The eye mounted display system of claim 1 further comprising:

a device that generates the images from an image input, wherein the headpiece receives the images from the device and transmits the images to the eye mounted display.

3. The eye mounted display system of claim 2 wherein the headpiece receives the images from the device and transmits the images to the eye mounted display using the same output format.

4. The eye mounted display system of claim 2 wherein the headpiece receives the images from the device in an encrypted format, decrypts the received images, and transmits the decrypted images to the eye mounted display.

5. The eye mounted display system of claim 2 wherein the headpiece receives the images from the device in a compressed format, decompresses the received images, and transmits the decompressed images to the eye mounted display.

6. The eye mounted display system of claim 2 wherein the images in the output format include pseudo cone pixels, the device generates pseudo cone pixels from the image input, and the headpiece transmits pseudo cone pixels to the eye mounted display.

7. The eye mounted display system of claim 1 wherein the headpiece receives information from the eye mounted display.

8. The eye mounted display system of claim 7 further comprising:

a device that generates the images from an image input, wherein the headpiece transmits the information from the eye mounted display to the device and the device generates the images responsive to the information.

9. The eye mounted display system of claim 8 wherein the information from the eye mounted display comprises calibration data for the eye mounted display.

10. The eye mounted display system of claim 1 further comprising:

a device that generates the images from an image input, wherein the headpiece transmits data to the device and the device generates the images responsive to the data.

11. The eye mounted display system of claim 10 wherein the data comprises eye tracking data and/or head tracking data.

12. The eye mounted display system of claim 1 wherein the headpiece comprises a component of an eye tracker, the eye tracker detecting an orientation of the eye of the human user;

and the component on the headpiece directly tracks the orientation of the eye and/or the eye mounted display.

13. The eye mounted display system of claim 12 wherein the component on the headpiece comprises one or more cameras that capture images of the eye and/or the eye mounted display, the orientation of the eye determined from the images captured by the one or more cameras.

14. The eye mounted display system of claim 1 wherein the headpiece comprises a component of an eye tracker, the eye tracker detecting an orientation of the eye of the human user;

and the component on the headpiece is tracked by another component of the eye tracker located in the eye mounted display.

15. The eye mounted display system of claim 1 wherein the headpiece comprises a component of a head tracker, the head tracker detecting a position and/or orientation of the head of the human user;

and the component on the headpiece tracks the position and/or orientation of the headpiece relative to a known reference frame.

16. The eye mounted display system of claim 1 wherein the headpiece comprises a component of a head tracker, the head tracker detecting a position and/or orientation of the head of the human user;

and the component on the headpiece is tracked by another component of the head tracker.

17. The eye mounted display system of claim 1 wherein the headpiece transmits power to the eye mounted display.

18. The eye mounted display system of claim 1 wherein the headpiece transmits power to the eye mounted display to charge a battery in the eye mounted display.

19. The eye mounted display system of claim 1 wherein the headpiece further comprises an audio output.

20. The eye mounted display system of claim 1 wherein the headpiece further comprises a blink detector.

21. The eye mounted display system of claim 1 wherein the headpiece further comprises a variable density shade to provide a background of variable darkness for the images projected by the eye mounted display.

22. The eye mounted display system of claim 1 wherein the headpiece further comprises an eyeglass frame.