See-through computer display systems

• US 9,651,783 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2015
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mentor Acquisition One, LLC (Magic Leap, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Osterhout Design Group
• Inventors: Bietry, Joseph, Border, John N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Martinez, Joseph P
• Application Number:
  US14/834,774
• Publication Number:
  US 20160170208A1
• Time in Patent Office: 630 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 13/22 Telecentric objectives or lens systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0112 comprising device for genereting colour display
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0118 comprising devices for improving the contrast of the display / brillance control visibility
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/012 comprising devices for attenuating parasitic image effects
• 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 2027/0134 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 2027/015 involving arrangement aiming to get less bulky devices
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0152 involving arrangement aiming to get lighter or better balanced devices
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0159 with mechanical means other than scaning means for positioning the whole 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 2027/0194 with combiner of laminated type, for optical or mechanical aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/0833 the reflecting element being a micromechanical device, e.g. a MEMS mirror, DMD G02B26/0825 takes precedence; micromechanical devices in general B81B
• 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 27/0149 characterised by mechanical features G02B27/0176 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/017 Head mounted
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0172 : characterised by optical features
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0176 : characterised by mechanical features
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/1033 : having a single light modulator for all colour channels
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/14 : operating by reflection only
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/141 : using dichroic mirrors
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/283 : used for beam splitting or combining
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/34 : Stereoscopes providing a stereoscopic pair of separated images corresponding to parallactically displaced views of the same object, e.g. 3D slide viewers
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/003 : Light absorbing elements
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/28 : Interference filters
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/285 : comprising deposited thin solid films G02B5/281 - G02B5/289 take precedence; multilayered film filters for fibre optic multiplexing G02B6/29361
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/30 : Polarising elements light-modulating devices with active elements G02F1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 7/08 : adapted to co-operate with a remote control mechanism
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 : Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/005 : Input arrangements through a video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/012 : Head tracking input arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 : Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 : Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 5/10 : having a sequence of storage locations each being individually accessible for both enqueue and dequeue operations, e.g. using random access memory G06F5/065 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 : Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/20 : Linear translation of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/18 : Eye characteristics, e.g. of the iris
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/0235 : Field-sequential colour display
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0471 : Vertical positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0478 : Horizontal positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/2003 : Display of colours specific for liquid crystal displays G09G3/3607
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/32 : semiconductive, e.g. using light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3208 : organic, e.g. using organic light-emitting diodes [OLED]
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3225 : using an active matrix
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3233 : with pixel circuitry controlling the current through the light-emitting element
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/34 : by control of light from an independent source

Abstract

Aspects of the present invention relate to methods and systems for the see-through computer display systems with a wide field of view.

Claims

1. A head mounted display with an improved form factor providing a wide display field of view and a high transmission see-through view of the surrounding environment with an overlaid high contrast displayed image comprising:

a. upper optics with a first optical axis including;

i. an emissive image source that provides image light;

ii. one or more lenses;

iii. a stray light trap; and

b. non-polarized lower optics with a second optical axis including;

i. a planar beam splitter angled relative to the first and second optical axes; and

ii. a curved partially reflective mirror;

wherein the head mounted display provides a rectangular image with a reduced vertical field of view and a format that is greater than 22;

9 thereby enabling a reduced thickness for the upper and lower optics for a given diagonal display field of view.

2. The head mounted display of claim 1 wherein the wide field of view includes a display field of view of 50 degrees or greater included angle.

3. The head mounted display of claim 1 wherein the emissive image source provides a cone of image light that is greater than 100 degrees included angle.

4. The head mounted display of claim 1 wherein the head mounted display further comprises separate stereoscopic displays for a left eye and a right eye each of which provides a display field of view of 50 degrees or greater and the display field of view for the left and right eyes are only partly overlapped so that the combined field of view is larger than each of the stereoscopic displays.

5. The head mounted display of claim 1 wherein the upper optics includes two or more lenses and a telecentric zone is provided between the two or more lenses in the upper optics, and changes in the focus distance without changes in magnification of the displayed image are provided by changing the spacing between the lenses.

6. The head mounted display of claim 5 wherein a mechanism is provided for manual changes of focus distance.

7. The head mounted display of claim 5 wherein an electrically driven actuator is included to provide automatic changes in focus distance.

8. The head mounted display of claim 7 wherein automatic changes in focus distance are provided to position a portion of the displayed image at an apparent distance that is associated with an augmented reality application.

9. The head mounted display of claim 1 wherein a telecentric zone is provided between the upper optics and lower optics, and changes in the focus distance without changes in magnification of the displayed image are provided by changing the spacing between the upper and lower optics.

10. The head mounted display of claim 9 wherein a mechanism is provided for manual changes of focus distance.

11. The head mounted display of claim 9 wherein an electrically driven actuator is included to provide automatic changes in focus distance.

12. The head mounted display of claim 11 wherein automatic changes in focus distance are provided to position a portion of the displayed image at an apparent distance that is associated with an augmented reality application.

13. The head mounted display of claim 1 wherein the emissive image source is an OLED display.

14. The head mounted display of claim 1 wherein the emissive image source is a backlit LCD display.

15. The head mounted display of claim 1 wherein the emissive image source is a micro-LED array display.

16. The head mounted display of claim 1 wherein the light trap captures stray light that is reflected back to the emissive image source.

17. The head mounted display of claim 1 wherein the light trap increase contrast in the displayed image seen by a user by capturing stray light in the upper optics.

18. The head mounted display of claim 1 wherein a central region of the display field of view is used to display an image with a lower format ratio than the display field of view and a portion of the display field of view outside of the displayed image is used to display additional information.

19. The head mounted display of claim 1 wherein the emissive image source provides a cone of image light that is 100 degrees or more included angle and the optics have an f# of 2.5 or faster.

20. The head mounted display of claim 1 wherein the emissive display is comprised of pixels and subpixels, and the emissive display and displayed field of view are selected so that each pixel subtends less than approximately 1/30 degree within the wide display field of view to make adjacent colored subpixels unresolvable by the human eye.