Patent Application
20250085546
The present disclosure generally relates to electronic displays, and more particularly to optical image light guide systems with diffractive optics operable to convey image-bearing light to a viewer.
Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) are being developed for a range of diverse uses, including military, commercial, industrial, fire-fighting, and entertainment applications. For many of these applications, there is value in forming a virtual image that can be visually superimposed over the real-world image that lies in the field of view of the HMD user. An optical image light guide may convey image-bearing light to a viewer in a narrow space for directing the virtual image to the viewer's pupil and enabling this superposition function.
In general, HMD optics must meet a number of basic requirements for viewer acceptance, including sufficient eye relief or eye clearance. The eye relief range is defined by viewer comfort and the optical configuration of the human eye itself. In practice, the distance between the last optical surface of the HMD optics and the viewer's eye is preferably above about 20 mm. An additional requirement is appropriate pupil size. Pupil size requirements are based on physiological differences in viewer face structure as well as on gaze redirection during viewing. An entrance pupil size of at least about 10 mm diameter has been found to be desirable. In addition, a wide field of view (FOV) is preferable. For many visual tasks, such as targeting and object recognition, a FOV approaching about fifty-degrees is considered to be desirable. Further, the virtual image that is generated should have sufficient brightness for visibility and viewer comfort.
The first three requirements identified above concern the eyebox. The eyebox relates to the volume within which the eye of the observer can comfortably view the image. The size of the eyebox depends in part on the length of the path of the light from the image source to where the image is viewed and image source size, and in part on the divergence of the image source and/or the collimation of the light after its emission by the image source. The desirable size of the eyebox depends largely on the quality of viewing experience that is desired from the display.
In addition to optical requirements, HMD designs must also address practical factors such as variable facial geometry, acceptable form factor with expectations of reduced size for wearing comfort, weight, cost, and ease of use.
A goal for most HMD systems is to make the imaging/relay system as compact as possible; however, when using conventional optics, there are basic limits. The output of the optical system must have a pupil that is large enough to support a reasonably sized virtual image and also allow for some movement of the eye. In a binocular system there is also the issue of varying intraocular distances (e.g., interpupillary distance) among different users and the need for the output pupil of the optical system to allow for this.
In a number of HMD image light guide arrangements, collimated, relatively angularly encoded light beams from an image source are coupled into a planar waveguide by an input coupling such as an in-coupling diffractive optic, which can be mounted or formed on one or more of the surfaces of the planar waveguide and/or buried within the waveguide. Such diffractive optics can be formed as diffraction gratings, holographic optical elements or in other known ways. For example, a diffraction grating can be formed by surface relief. After propagating along the waveguide via total internal reflection (TIR), image-bearing light can be directed back out of the waveguide by an output coupling optic such as an out-coupling diffractive optic, which can be arranged to provide pupil expansion in one or more directions.
Such waveguides enable lateral translation of the exit pupil of a projection system so that the projection system can be located to the side of the viewing path, such as alongside the viewer's head. Waveguides also expand the exit pupil (i.e., eyebox) in one or more dimensions so that the size of the projection system can be reduced. This allows the exit pupil of the projection system to be quite small while enlarging the eyebox and allowing the system to be moved out of the viewer's line of site. At the same time, the waveguide can be transparent, so the virtual image can be superimposed over the ambient environment.
With the bulk of the projection optics laterally translated out of the user's view and highly compact, there is still a desire to configure the projection components to a form factor that is more consistent with glasses and thus more acceptable to a broad user population. A number of approaches have been proposed for using a prism or mirror to fold the optical path. However, the net effect has often been awkward placement of projection components, such as having these components further removed from the waveguide, increasing the dimensional requirements of the head-mounted device.
Another difficulty with conventional approaches relates to imaging aspect ratios and device form factors that are conventionally used for projection devices and that have been adapted for use with micro-projectors and so-called “pico-projector” devices. The imaging height:width aspect ratio for projection is 9:16. Projection devices are correspondingly designed with a larger horizontal (width) dimension and a shorter vertical (height) dimension. This makes it awkward to employ a conventional projector design with a HMD waveguide; a more suitable aspect ratio would be achieved by rotating the projector ninety-degrees and allowing the projector to fit snugly against the viewer's head, rather than to extend horizontally outward. The usable image area, however, would be reduced by such an arrangement.
There is thus a need for an HMD that allows projector rotation and seating of the projector against the side of the viewer's head.
It is an object of the present disclosure to advance the art of virtual image presentation using head-mounted devices. Advantageously, embodiments of the present disclosure provide light coupling solutions that are compatible with the general form factor of eyeglasses and allow the use of projector optics that are rotated and fitted against the side of the viewer's head.
These and other aspects, objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood and appreciated from the following detailed description of the embodiments and appended claims, and by reference to the accompanying drawings. In a first exemplary embodiment, the present disclosure provides a virtual image display apparatus including a projector operable to direct image-bearing light beams along a projection axis, a waveguide having an in-coupling diffractive optic and an out-coupling diffractive optic, wherein the waveguide is oriented at an obtuse angle with respect to the projection axis, and an optical coupler configured to receive the image-bearing light beams along the projection axis, reorient the projection axis to an acute angle of incidence with respect to the waveguide, rotate the image-bearing light beams from a first orientation to a second orientation with respect to the projection axis, and direct the rotated image-bearing light beams along the reoriented projection axis to the in-coupling diffractive optic.
In an embodiment, the optical coupler includes a first surface configured to receive the image-bearing light along the projection axis, a second surface configured to redirect the projection axis toward a third surface, the third surface configured to redirect the projection axis toward a fourth surface, the fourth surface configured to redirect the projection axis toward the second surface.
The accompanying drawings are incorporated herein as part of the specification. The drawings described herein illustrate embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter and are illustrative of selected principles and teachings of the present disclosure. However, the drawings do not illustrate all possible implementations of the presently disclosed subject matter and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.
It is to be understood that the invention may assume various alternative orientations and step sequences, except where expressly specified to the contrary. It is also to be understood that the specific assemblies and systems illustrated in the attached drawings and described in the following specification are simply exemplary embodiments of the inventive concepts defined herein. Hence, specific dimensions, directions, or other physical characteristics relating to the embodiments disclosed are not to be considered as limiting, unless expressly stated otherwise. Also, although they may not be, like elements in various embodiments described herein may be commonly referred to with like reference numerals within this section of the application.
One skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the elements and techniques described herein can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In some instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring certain aspects of the present disclosure. Reference throughout the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, the appearance of the phrase “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” throughout the specification is not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. However, the particular features, structures, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.
Where used herein, the terms “first”, “second”, and so on, do not necessarily denote any ordinal, sequential, or priority relation, but are simply used to more clearly distinguish one element or set of elements from another, unless specified otherwise.
Where used herein, the terms “viewer”, “operator”, “observer”, and “user” are considered equivalents and refer to the person, or machine, who wears and/or views images using a device having an imaging light guide.
Where used herein, the term “set” refers to a non-empty set, as the concept of a collection of elements or members of a set is widely understood in elementary mathematics. Where used herein, the term “subset”, unless otherwise explicitly stated, refers to a non-empty proper subset, that is, to a subset of the larger set, having one or more members. For a set S, a subset may comprise the complete set S. A “proper subset” of set S, however, is strictly contained in set S and excludes at least one member of set S.
Where used herein, the terms “coupled,” “coupler,” or “coupling”, in the context of optics, refer to a connection by which light travels from one optical medium or device to another optical medium or device.
Where used herein, the term “beam expansion” is intended to mean replication of a beam via multiple encounters with an optical element to provide exit pupil expansion in one or more directions. Similarly, as used herein, to “expand” a beam, or a portion of a beam, is intended to mean replication of a beam via multiple encounters with an optical element to provide exit pupil expansion in one or more directions.
Where used herein, the term “oblique” means at an angle that is not an integer multiple of ninety degrees (90°). Two lines, linear structures, or planes, for example, are considered to be oblique with respect to each other if they diverge from or converge toward each other at an angle that is at least about five-degrees (5°) or more away from parallel, or at least about five-degrees (5°) or more away from orthogonal. An “obtuse angle” is larger than ninety degrees (90°) but less than one-hundred-eighty degrees (180°).
Where used herein, the term “about” when applied to a value is intended to mean within the tolerance range of the equipment used to produce the value, or, in some examples, is intended to mean plus or minus 10%, or plus or minus 5%, or plus or minus 1%, unless otherwise expressly specified.
Where used herein, the term “substantially” is intended to mean within the tolerance range of the equipment used to produce the value, or, in some examples, is intended to mean plus or minus 10%, or plus or minus 5%, or plus or minus 1%, unless otherwise expressly specified.
An optical system, such as a HMD, can produce a virtual image. In contrast to methods for forming a real image, a virtual image is not formed on a display surface. That is, if a display surface were positioned at the perceived location of a virtual image, no image would be formed on that surface. Virtual images have a number of inherent advantages for augmented reality presentation. For example, the apparent size of a virtual image is not limited by the size or location of a display surface. Additionally, the source object for a virtual image may be small; for example, a magnifying glass provides a virtual image of an object. In comparison with systems that project a real image, a more realistic viewing experience can be provided by forming a virtual image that appears to be some distance away. Providing a virtual image also obviates the need to compensate for screen artifacts, as may be necessary when projecting a real image.
An image light guide may utilize image-bearing light from a light source such as a projector to display a virtual image. For example, collimated, relatively angularly encoded, light beams from a projector are coupled into a planar waveguide by an input coupling such as an in-coupling diffractive optic, which can be mounted or formed on a surface of the planar waveguide or buried within the waveguide. Such diffractive optics can be formed as diffraction gratings, holographic optical elements (HOEs) or in other known ways. For example, the diffraction grating can be formed by surface relief After propagating along the waveguide, the diffracted light can be directed back out of the waveguide by a similar output coupling such as an out-coupling diffractive optic, which can be arranged to provide pupil expansion along at least one direction. In addition, a turning grating can be positioned on/in the waveguide to provide pupil expansion in at least one other direction. The image-bearing light output from the waveguide provides an expanded eyebox for the viewer.
The schematic diagram of
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The waveguide 20 is formed of glass or other transparent optical material. In an embodiment, the waveguide 20 includes an in-coupling diffractive optic IDO and an out-coupling diffractive optic ODO that cooperate to resize and redirect an incident image-bearing light beam 26. Persons skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the accompanying drawings illustrate a central ray of the referenced beams for the sake of clarity. The in-coupling diffractive optic IDO couples the image-bearing light 26 from a real image source into the substrate of the planar waveguide 20. Any real image or image dimension is first converted into an array of overlapping angularly related beams encoding the different pixel positions within an image for presentation to the in-coupling diffractive optic IDO. The image-bearing light 26 is diffracted and at least a portion of the image-bearing light 26 is thereby redirected by the in-coupling diffractive optic IDO into the planar waveguide 20 as image-bearing light for further propagation along the planar waveguide 20 by TIR. Although diffracted into a generally more condensed range of angularly related beams in keeping with the boundaries set by TIR, the in-coupled image-bearing light preserves the image information in an encoded form. The out-coupling diffractive optic ODO receives the encoded image-bearing light and diffracts at least a portion of the image-bearing light out of the planar waveguide 20 as the image-bearing light 28 toward the intended location of a viewer's eye. Generally, the out-coupling diffractive optic ODO is designed symmetrically with respect to the in-coupling diffractive optic IDO to restore the original angular relationships of the image-bearing light 26 among outputted angularly related beams of the image-bearing light 28. However, to increase one direction of overlap among the angularly related beams in the eyebox within which the virtual image can be seen, the out-coupling diffractive optic ODO is arranged to encounter the image-bearing light multiple times and to diffract only a portion of the image-bearing light on each encounter. The multiple encounters along the length of the out-coupling optic ODO in the direction of propagation have the effect of expanding one direction of the eyebox within which the image-bearing light beams overlap. The expanded eyebox decreases sensitivity to the position of a viewer's eye for viewing the virtual image.
Out-coupling diffractive optics with refractive index variations along a single direction can expand one direction of the eyebox in their direction of propagation along the waveguide via multiple encounters of the image-bearing light beams with the out-coupling diffractive optic causing replication of the out-coupled image-bearing light beam. In addition, out-coupling diffractive optics with refractive index variations along a second direction can expand a second direction of the eyebox and provide two-directional expansion of the eyebox. The refractive index variations along a first direction of the out-coupling diffractive optic can be arranged to diffract a portion of each beam's energy out of the waveguide upon each encounter therewith through a desired first order of diffraction, while another portion of the beam's energy is preserved for further propagation in its original direction through a zero order of diffraction. The refractive index variations along a second direction of the out-coupling diffractive optic can be arranged to diffract a portion of each beam's energy upon each encounter therewith through a desired first order of diffraction in a direction angled relative to the beam's original direction of propagation, while another portion of the beam's energy is preserved for further propagation in its original direction through a zero order of diffraction.
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Although the HMD 10 is illustrated as a “smart glasses” system, it should be appreciated that the present disclosure applies equally to Heads-Up Displays (HUDs) with different positioning of the waveguide(s) 20, image source systems 30, associated drive electronics, memory, and processor. For example, without limitation, the HMD 10 may be configured to resemble and/or be integrated with eyeglasses, ski goggles, swim goggles, and a helmet.
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The image-bearing light directed along output axis A3′″ is rotated ninety-degrees from its orientation as input along the projection axis A3. Rotation of the image-bearing light is facilitated by at least three reflections within the optical coupler 40. For example, reflections at the second surface 44, the third surface 46, and the fourth surface 48. The “R” illustrated in
One advantage of the optical coupler 40 over known optical couplers assembled from two or more right angle prisms, is the reduced size/volume of the optical coupler 40. The reduced size/volume (i.e., compactness) of the optical coupler 40 is achieved, at least in part, by overlapping/compressing the optical path within the optical coupler 40 (i.e., the projection axes A3, A3′, A3″, A3′″) to minimize path length, and using the second surface 44 to reflect light along the projection axis A3 via TIR and output light along the projection axis A3′″. The size/volume of the optical coupler 40 is a function, at least in part, of the aperture 42A, 44A size. Therefore, simply “shrinking” conventional coupler designs fails to provide an operable compact optical coupler.
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Projectors, using a variety of display technologies, can be found in a form factor that is fairly compact, have a pupil size comparable to the entrance aperture of an optical waveguide, and have the brightness required to provide a reasonably bright image. However, within the projection optics of these projectors there is often a stop (this can be a physical aperture or a lens aperture acting as a stop) within the lens system. This means that the ray bundles for each field point in the virtual image begin to diverge within the projection optics before or at the last outermost lens surface of the projector. The ray bundles originating from the corners of the image generator are often clipped (vignetted) as they diverge from the projection optics. The further removed from the waveguide, the more divergence there is in the ray bundles. With this problem in mind, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides further advantages for HMD imaging with improvements to projector optics design.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the stop can be positioned outside the projector, beyond the last optical surface of the projector that emits the projected image-bearing light beam. The stop may be an exit pupil rather than a physical stop. Embodiments shown herein position a mirrored surface at or near the remote pupil to form a stop. For the HMD 10, this design feature constrains the beam width of light that is delivered to the optical coupler 40 and enables the optical coupler 40 to be more compact. In an embodiment, a stop is positioned forward of the projection lens, such that the optical coupler 40 can re-position the stop substantially at the in-coupling diffractive optic IDO of the waveguide 20. By “substantially at the in-coupling diffractive optic IDO” is meant at least forward of the exit surface 44 of the optical coupler 40 or otherwise beyond the exit aperture 44A of the optical coupler 40.
In an embodiment, the projector 30 has a pupil forward of its objective lens such that the optical coupler 40 provides a virtual stop at an internal reflective surface 46, 48. In an embodiment, the projector 30 forms a pupil at one of the third surface 46 and the fourth surface 48 of the optical coupler 40.
In order to provide suitable imaging using the optical coupler 40, the spread of the optical path and the stop location must be considered. In general, higher index glass (n>1.8) is advantageous for reducing the optical path dimensions with the optical coupler 40. For example, the index of refraction of the optical coupler 40 may be 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, etc.
One or more features of the embodiments described herein may be combined to create additional embodiments which are not depicted. While various embodiments have been described in detail above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example, and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant arts that the disclosed subject matter may be embodied in other specific forms, variations, and modifications without departing from the scope, spirit, or essential characteristics thereof. The embodiments described above are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative, and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is indicated by the appended claims, and all changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalents thereof are intended to be embraced therein.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US2023/010052 | 1/3/2023 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63296338 | Jan 2022 | US |
