Eye mounted displays and systems, with scaler

• US 9,858,900 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2016
• Issued: 01/02/2018
• 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:
  US15/265,691
• Publication Number:
  US 20170004748A1
• Time in Patent Office: 475 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. A device for generating images in a format suitable for use with an eye mounted display, the device comprising:

an input for receiving image input;

a component for generating images from the image input, the images generated in an output format suitable for use in an eye mounted display for humans, wherein the images in the output format include pixels of different resolutions within each image, the 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; and

an output for transmitting the images in the output format.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein higher resolution pixels are projected to smaller size areas on a retina of an eye.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein the resolution of each pixel is based on a size of retinal receptor fields at a location in the eye to which the pixel is projected.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein the transmitted images in the output format comprise a video stream with frames of video, and each frame includes approximately 400,000 to 500,000 pixels.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein the transmitted images in the output format comprise a video stream with frames of video, and the video stream has a frame rate of at least 50 frames per second.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein the component generates the pixels from the image input according to descriptors that describe individual pixels.

7. The device of claim 1 wherein the images in the output format are transmitted to the eye mounted display.

8. The device of claim 7 wherein the images in the output format are wirelessly transmitted to the eye mounted display.

9. The device of claim 1 wherein the images in the output format are transmitted to a headpiece for further transmission to the eye mounted display.

10. The device of claim 1 wherein the transmitted images in the output format comprise still pictures.

11. The device of claim 1 wherein the component correctly generates the images in the output format only if the image input comprises only a single video stream.

12. The device of claim 1 wherein the component correctly generates the images in the output format only if a virtual image projected by the eye mounted display is flat in space and a subtended field of view for the virtual image is known.

13. The device of claim 1 further comprising:

a second input for receiving previously generated second images in the output format;

wherein the component combines the received second images with the images generated by the component, and the output transmits the combined images.

14. The device of claim 13 wherein the second images were generated and transmitted to the second input by a second component.

15. The device of claim 14 wherein the second component generates the second images from input formats that are different than those used by the component.

16. The device of claim 14 wherein the component further transmits data to the second component.

17. The device of claim 1 wherein the device is implemented as a micro-codable VLIW SIMD fixed point vector processor.

18. The device of claim 1 wherein the image input comprises images in an input format, and the input format includes at least one of:

DVI, HDMI, UDI, RGB, YUV, VGA, S-video, NTSC, and RS-170.

19. A method for generating images in a format suitable for use with an eye mounted display, the method comprising:

receiving an image input;

generating images from the image input, the images generated in an output format suitable for use in an eye mounted display for humans, wherein the images in the output format include pixels of different resolutions within each image, the 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; and

transmitting the images in the output format.

20. A tangible non-transitory computer readable medium containing software instructions than, when executed on a computer system, cause the computer system to perform the steps of:

receiving an image input;

generating images from the image input, the images generated in an output format suitable for use in an eye mounted display for humans, wherein the images in the output format include pixels of different resolutions within each image, the 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; and

transmitting the images in the output format.