Head-wearable ultra-wide field of view display device

• US 10,684,476 B2
• Filed: 10/16/2015
• Issued: 06/16/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Smith, David A., Crowe, Randel A., Harrison, Gregory A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pasko, Nicholas R.
• Application Number:
  US14/884,975
• Publication Number:
  US 20160109710A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,705 Days
• Field of Search: 359629-633
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 17/0621 off-axis or unobscured systems in which not all of the mirrors share a common axis of rotational symmetry, e.g. at least one of the mirrors is warped, tilted or decentered with respect to the other elements
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0123 comprising devices increasing the field of view
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/013 comprising a combiner of particular shape, e.g. curvature
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0132 comprising binocular systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0178 Eyeglass type eyeglass details G02C
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0172 characterised by optical features

Abstract

Multiple-reflector ultrawide field of view (UWFOV) systems and methods are provided. In one embodiment, a head-wearable display device includes a frame, a narrow-beam light source fixed with respect to the frame, a UWFOV reflective surface fixed with respect to the frame, and a diverging reflective surface fixed with respect to the frame that is configured to receive light emitted from the narrow-beam light source and reflect the light toward the UWFOV reflective surface to spread the light completely across the UWFOV reflective surface.

Claims

1. A head-wearable display device, comprising:

a frame;

a light source fixed with respect to the frame, the light source configured to emit a stationary diverging light beam of light;

an ultra-wide field of view (UWFOV) reflective surface fixed with respect to the frame; and

a diverging reflective surface having a negative optical power fixed with respect to the frame that is configured to receive the stationary diverging light beam of light emitted from the light source, to diverge the light to reduce a vergence of the light, and to reflect the light toward the UWFOV reflective surface and spread the light completely across the UWFOV reflective surface, wherein the UWFOV reflective surface is configured to collimate and reflect the light toward a predetermined location.

2. The head-wearable display device of claim 1, wherein the light source comprises one of a Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) display and a digital light processing (DLP) display.

3. The head-wearable display device of claim 1, wherein the UWFOV reflective surface has a field of view (FOV) greater than about 100 degrees.

4. The head-wearable display device of claim 1, wherein the UWFOV reflective surface has a FOV greater than about 120 degrees.

5. The head-wearable display device of claim 1, wherein the UWFOV reflective surface has a FOV greater than about 140 degrees.

6. The head-wearable display device of claim 1, wherein:

the light source comprises a first plurality of surface elements;

the UWFOV reflective surface comprises a second plurality of surface elements;

the diverging reflective surface comprises a third plurality of surface elements; and

ones of the first plurality of surface elements respectively correspond to ones of the second plurality of surface elements and to ones of the third plurality of surface elements.

7. The head-wearable display device of claim 1, wherein there are no intervening optical elements between the diverging reflective surface and the UWFOV reflective surface.

8. The head-wearable display device of claim 1, wherein the head-wearable display device consists of the frame, the light source, the UWFOV reflective surface, and the diverging reflective surface.

9. The head-wearable display device of claim 1, further comprising a diverging lens fixed with respect to the light source that is configured to receive the light emitted from the light source, diverge the light to reduce the vergence of the light, and transmit the light toward and spread the light across the diverging reflective surface.

10. The head-wearable display device of claim 9, wherein the head-wearable display device consists of the frame, the light source, the diverging lens, the UWFOV reflective surface, and the diverging reflective surface.

11. The head-wearable display device of claim 1, wherein the light source comprises a display panel that has a plurality of pixels at a particular resolution, and the plurality of pixels are mapped to a corresponding plurality of locations on the UWFOV reflective surface.

12. The head-wearable display device of claim 11, wherein the UWFOV reflective surface is configured such that light received from pixels of the light source other than the plurality of pixels mapped to the corresponding plurality of locations is reflected in a direction other than eyes of a user.

13. A method for presenting an image to an eye, comprising:

emitting, from a light source, a stationary light beam of uncollimated light comprising imagery;

receiving, by a diverging reflective surface having a negative optical power, the stationary light beam of uncollimated light;

diverging the uncollimated light, by the diverging reflective surface, to reduce a vergence of the uncollimated light and reflecting the uncollimated light, by the diverging reflective surface, toward an ultra-wide field of view (UWFOV) reflective surface to spread the uncollimated light across a surface of the UWFOV reflective surface; and

collimating, by the UWFOV reflective surface, the uncollimated light to generate collimated light and reflecting the collimated light toward the eye.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the light source comprises one of a Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) display and a digital light processing (DLP) display.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving, by a diverging lens fixed with respect to the light source, the uncollimated light emitted from the light source, diverging the uncollimated light to reduce the vergence of the uncollimated light, and transmitting the uncollimated light toward the diverging reflective surface.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the UWFOV reflective surface has a field of view (FOV) greater than about 100 degrees.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the UWFOV reflective surface has a FOV greater than about 120 degrees.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the UWFOV reflective surface has a FOV greater than about 140 degrees.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the light source comprises a first plurality of surface elements;

the UWFOV reflective surface comprises a second plurality of surface elements;

the diverging reflective surface comprises a third plurality of surface elements; and

ones of the first plurality of surface elements respectively correspond to ones of the second plurality of surface elements and to ones of the third plurality of surface elements.

20. A head-wearable display device, comprising:

a frame;

a light source fixed with respect to the frame, the light source configured to emit a stationary beam of light; and

a light path that begins at the light source and ends at an eye of a user, the light path having only two reflective surfaces and no optical components between the two reflective surfaces, including;

an ultra-wide field of view (UWFOV) reflective surface fixed with respect to the frame; and

a diverging reflective surface having a negative optical power fixed with respect to the frame that is configured to receive the stationary beam of light emitted from the light source, to diverge the light to reduce a vergence of the light, and to reflect the light toward the UWFOV reflective surface to spread the light across the UWFOV reflective surface, wherein the UWFOV reflective surface is configured to collimate and reflect the light toward a predetermined location.

21. The head-wearable display device of claim 20 wherein the light source is selected from a group consisting of a Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) display and a digital light processing (DLP) display.

22. The head-wearable display device of claim 20, further comprising a diverging lens fixed with respect to the light source that is configured to receive the light emitted from the light source, diverge the light to reduce the vergence of the light, and transmit the light toward the diverging reflective surface.