This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202010955672.3, filed with the China National Intellectual Property Administration on Sep. 11, 2020 and entitled “OPTICAL IMAGING SYSTEM AND HEAD-MOUNTED DISPLAY APPARATUS”, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
This application relates to the field of optical technologies, and in particular, to an optical imaging system and a head-mounted display apparatus.
Virtual reality (Virtual Reality, VR) refers to projecting digital content to a human eye via an optical imaging system, so that a user seems to be in a virtual world, achieving immersive virtual experience. With continuous development of VR technologies, the user can see pictures in the virtual world by using a head-mounted display apparatus, and the optical imaging system is a key component in the head-mounted display apparatus.
The optical imaging system includes a display and a lens group. Light emitted by the display is refracted by the lens group and then enters a human pupil. Reverse extension lines of the light entering the human pupil converge at a distance to form a virtual image. An image viewed by the human eye is a virtual image, and the virtual image is an enlarged image of an image displayed on the display.
During production and assembly, foreign matters, such as dust, leather scraps, and fiber scraps, may fall between the display and lens group. As a result, when the human eye observes the display via the optical imaging system, the foreign matters will be imaged, causing poor display such as black spots, black lines, bright spots, and bright lines.
This application provides an optical imaging system and a head-mounted display apparatus, so that poor display caused by a foreign matter between a display and a lens group is not easily detected by a human eye.
One aspect of embodiments of this application provides an optical imaging system, including a display and a lens group, where the display is located on a side that is of the lens group and that is away from a human eye, the display includes a display panel and a cover plate, the cover plate is disposed on a side that is of the display panel and that faces the lens group, and a thickness of the cover plate meets:
where
f′ is an equivalent image focal length of the lens group, n is a refractive index of the cover plate, and a is a distance of distinct vision for a human eye.
According to the optical imaging system provided in embodiments of this application, the thickness of the cover plate on the display is increased, so that the thickness of the cover plate is increased to a specific proportion of a focal length of the optical imaging system, thereby increasing a distance between the display panel and a foreign matter falling between the lens group and the display; and when a display image on the display panel is clearly imaged, an image distance of a foreign matter image on the surface of the cover plate is far away from an image distance of the display image, thereby presenting a blurring effect that is unable to be clearly captured by a human eye. Therefore, poor display such as black spots, black lines, bright spots, and bright lines cannot be detected.
In a possible implementation, a is not greater than 300 mm.
A distance of distinct vision is the nearest distance at which a human eye can distinguish an object, with a range of the distance of distinct vision not exceeding 300 mm. When looking at infinity, the human eye cannot distinguish an object within a range of 300 mm. Therefore, when the distance of distinct vision is substituted into the foregoing formulas, imaging of the foreign matter on the surface of the cover plate can present a blurring effect.
In a possible implementation, the cover plate includes a first cover plate covering the display panel and a second cover plate disposed on the first cover plate, and the second cover plate is bonded to the first cover plate.
In a production process of the display, a surface of the display panel is generally covered with a relatively thin protective layer as a first cover plate. To increase a thickness of the cover plate, in addition to directly increasing the thickness of the first cover plate in the production process, a second cover plate may be disposed on the surface of the display. The second cover plate may be disposed on the display in a manner such as bonding. A process is simple and easy to implement, and costs are relatively low.
In a possible implementation, the thickness of the cover plate is less than 3.5 mm.
The thickness of the cover plate ranges from less than 3.5 mm, so as to prevent an excessive thickness of the cover plate from greatly affecting a volume and weight of the optical imaging system while enabling an image distance of imaging of a foreign matter on a surface of the cover plate to be relatively far away from an image distance of a displayed image, thereby meeting an overall light and thin design of the optical imaging system.
In a possible implementation, the cover plate is made of transparent glass or plastic, and the refractive index of the cover plate falls within a range of 1.3 to 1.9.
The cover plate of the display is configured as optical glass or optical plastic, and cover plates of different materials have different refractive indexes and density. When the thickness of the cover plate is designed, a material with a relatively small refractive index is selected as the cover plate, so that the thickness of the cover plate can be as thin as possible to meet an overall light and thin design of the optical imaging system.
In a possible implementation, the equivalent image focal length of the lens group ranges from 10 mm to 60 mm.
With requirements on a size and imaging quality of the optical imaging system, the focal length of the lens group tends to be in a smaller range. A smaller focal length of the lens group corresponds to a larger magnification, and more obvious poor display caused by the foreign matter between the lens group and the display. Therefore, it is more urgent to resolve the problem by increasing the thickness of the cover.
In a possible implementation, the lens group includes at least one lens, and the lens includes a Fresnel lens, a plano-convex lens, a double convex lens, a positive meniscus lens, a plano-concave lens, a double concave lens, or a negative meniscus lens.
Different lens types and different quantities of lenses may be configured in the lens group of the optical imaging system, and the imaging quality is improved by combining the lenses, to meet more imaging requirements.
Another aspect of embodiments of this application provides a head-mounted display apparatus, including a device body, a wearable part, and the foregoing optical imaging system mounted in the device body.
The head-mounted display apparatus includes the device body and the wearable part. When a user wears the head-mounted display apparatus, the device body is located in front of the eyes of the user, and is configured to provide a display picture for the eyes of the user. The wearable part is fixed on a head or an ear of the user, to implement reliable wearing of the head-mounted display apparatus. The optical imaging system is disposed in the device body, and is configured to display a virtual picture.
In a possible implementation, the head-mounted display apparatus includes a pair of virtual reality glasses.
The head-mounted display apparatus may be in a form of glasses. In this case, the device body may include a mirror bracket that is mounted above the bridge of the nose of the user and in front of the eyes of the user, and the wearable part may be a mirror leg mounted on the ear of the user.
Embodiments of this application provide the optical imaging system and the head-mounted display apparatus. The thickness of the cover plate on the display is increased, so that the thickness of the cover plate is increased to a specific proportion of a focal length of the optical imaging system, thereby increasing a distance between the display panel and a foreign matter falling between the lens group and the display; and when a display image on the display panel is clearly imaged, an image distance of a foreign matter image on the surface of the cover plate is far away from an image distance of the display image, thereby presenting a blurring effect that is unable to be clearly captured by a human eye. Therefore, poor display such as black spots, black lines, bright spots, and bright lines cannot be detected.
For example, the head-mounted display apparatus 100 may be in a form of a pair of glasses. In this case, the device body 11 may include a mirror frame that is mounted above the bridge of the nose of the user and in front of the eyes of the user, and the wearable part 12 may be a mirror leg mounted on the ears of the user. The head-mounted display apparatus 100 may also be in a form of a helmet or the like. The device body 11 may be an eye mask disposed in front of the eyes of the user, and the wearable part 12 may be a helmet disposed in front of the head of the user.
An optical imaging system 200 is disposed in the device body 11, to display a virtual picture. There may be two optical imaging systems 200, which respectively correspond to the left eye and the right eye of the user. The two optical imaging systems 200 may achieve the purpose of stereoscopic display through interlacing display, picture exchange, or parallax fusion.
The display 21 includes a display panel 211 and a cover plate 212. The display panel 211 includes a laminated structure such as a light emitting layer, an optical adhesive layer, and a polarizer, and as a whole, the display panel 211 is used for display. Actually, the light emitting layer emits light, but because a thickness of the entire display panel 211 is less than 0.2 mm and a thickness of each layer inside thereof is negligible, light may be considered as emitting from the surface of a side that is of the display panel 211 and that faces the lens group 22. The cover plate 212 is disposed on the display panel 211, to protect the display panel 211.
The lens group 22 may include at least one lens. The lens includes but is not limited to a Fresnel lens, a plano-convex lens, a double-convex lens, a positive meniscus lens, a plano-concave lens, a double-concave lens, a negative meniscus lens, and the like. A plurality of lenses are used together, so that light emitted by the display 21 enters a human eye in a state of approximately parallel light after being refracted or reflected by one or the plurality of lenses.
A working principle of the optical imaging system 200 on a head-mounted display apparatus 100 is that a position of the display 21 is fixed, light emitted by the display 21 is imaged by using the lens group 22 to a human eye at a specific image distance position, and the human eye can observe an image at the fixed image distance position.
There is a gap between the display 21 and the lens group 22. The gap is at least 0.2 mm, and is used to prevent a collision between the display 21 and the lens group 22. When the display 21 and the lens group 22 are mounted in the device body 11, a sealing structure such as a sealing ring is configured on a periphery, to prevent dust in an external environment from entering the gap between the display 21 and the lens group 22. However, it is difficult to totally avoid dust that enters the gap between the display 21 and the lens group 22 in an assembly process.
In the related technology, the head-mounted display apparatus 100 may be assembled in a 100-level dust-free workshop. In a static 100-level dust-free workshop, diameters of most particulate matter in air are less than 1 μm, and may be ignored. However, in an actual production process, after personnel enter the workshop environment, skin or clothes is/are inevitably exposed to the environment. As a result, foreign matters such as skin scraps, fiber scraps, and dust are generated. Diameters of these foreign matters range from 10 μm to 2000 μm. A size of the foreign matter is relatively small, and it is difficult for personnel equipped with the head-mounted display apparatus 100 to find and clean the foreign matter. Therefore, after the display 21 and the lens group 22 are assembled, the foreign matter may fall into the gap between the display 21 and the lens group 22, for example, may adhere to a surface of the cover plate 212 on the display 21.
After passing through the lens group 22, the light emitted at the point p on the display panel 211 may enter a human eye in a manner close to parallel light, and an image distance of a virtual image p′ is within a range from 1 meter to infinity. When the thickness h′ of the cover plate 212 is relatively small, the light emitted at the point q on the foreign matter 300 also enters a human eye in a manner close to parallel light after passing through the lens group 22, and an image distance of a virtual image q′ is within a range from 1 meter to infinity. Because distances from the point p on the display panel 211 and the point q on the foreign matter 300 to the lens group 22 differ slightly, locations of the virtual images p′ and q′ are close, and both are within a visible range of the human eye.
In addition, an equivalent focal length of the lens group 22 in the head-mounted display apparatus 100 generally ranges from 10 mm to 100 mm, and a corresponding magnification is between 2.5 times and 25 times. With development of virtual reality technologies, an equivalent focal length of the lens group 22 in a virtual reality apparatus may be reduced to a range of 10 mm to 60 mm. For the foregoing foreign matter 300 with the diameter of 10 μm to 2000 μm, after being magnified by the lens group 22, a diameter of a displayed virtual image may reach a size range of a millimeter level or even a centimeter level, and a size of the virtual image can be captured by the eyes of the user.
In other words, when the user wears the head-mounted display apparatus 100, the very small foreign matter 300, such as leather scraps, fiber scraps, and dust adhered to the display 21 in the assembly process, after being magnified and imaged by the optical imaging system 200, causes poor display such as black spots, occur black lines, bright spots, and bright lines, which may affect a display effect of the head-mounted display apparatus 100 and cause poor user experience.
Based on the foregoing descriptions, embodiments of this application provide an optical imaging system and a head-mounted display apparatus. A thickness of a cover plate on a display is increased, so that the thickness of the cover plate is increased to a specific proportion of a focal length of the optical imaging system, thereby increasing a distance between the display panel and a foreign matter falling between a lens group and the display; and when a display image on the display panel is clearly imaged, an image distance of a foreign matter image on the surface of the cover plate is far away from an image distance of the display image, thereby presenting a blurring effect that is unable to be clearly captured by a human eye. Therefore, poor display such as black spots, black lines, bright spots, and bright lines cannot be detected.
A distance between the surface that is of the cover plate 212 and that is away from the display panel 211 and the surface that is of the display panel 211 and that faces the cover plate 212, namely, a thickness h (unit: mm) of the cover plate 212, meets the following formula:
n is a refractive index of the cover plate 212; f′ is an equivalent image focal length (unit: mm) of the optical imaging system 200 and f′ is a positive value and is equal to an equivalent object focal length, and a represents a distance of distinct vision for a human eye, and is not greater than 300 mm.
In this case, compared with that in
The following is a derivation process of the thickness range of the cover plate 212, namely Formula 1.
L′ is a distance from the virtual image to the equivalent lens of the optical imaging system 200, and Lis a distance from the display panel 211 to the equivalent lens of the optical imaging system 200.
As shown in
When the object surface is on the cover plate 212, the point q on the foreign matter 300 is used as an example, an object distance of the point q is L2, and an image distance of the point q is L2′. A relationship between L2 and L1 meets the following formula:
In this case, an object image formula corresponding to the point q is:
The following formula may be obtained by substituting Formula 3 and Formula 4 into Formula 5:
According to Formula 6, a relationship between h and the virtual image distance L2′, the equivalent image focal length f′, and the refractive index n of the cover plate 212 may be obtained as follows:
In the optical imaging system 200, a reciprocal of the virtual image distance represents a diopter, and 1/L2′ is a reciprocal of the virtual image distance of the point q and represents a diopter of a virtual image of the foreign matter 300 on the surface of the cover plate 212. When the imaging virtual image distance of the display picture observed by the human eye ranges from 1 meter to infinity, if the virtual image diopter of the point q of the foreign matter 300 is greater than the virtual image diopter of the point p on the display panel 211, and the virtual image of the point q of the foreign matter 300 is within the distance of distinct vision for the human, it may be considered that the human eye cannot detect the imaging of the foreign matter 300 of a specific size.
The nearest distance at which a person can clearly see an object is referred to as a distance of distinct vision. The distance a of distinct vision is not greater than 300 mm. For a healthy human eye, the distance of distinct vision is about 250 mm. For nearsighted human eyes, the distance of distinct vision is shorter than 250 mm. For farsighted a human eye, the distance of distinct vision is longer than 250 mm.
Formula 1 may be obtained by substituting a case in which a foreign matter at a distance of distinct vision a cannot be clearly seen by the human eye at the same time when the human eye gazes at infinity into Formula 7.
A maximum value of 300 mm of the distance a of distinct vision is selected and substituted into Formula 1, to obtain Formula 8.
When the thickness h of the cover plate 212 meets Formula 8, the distance between the virtual image of the point q of the foreign matter 300 and the human eye ranges from 300 mm. In this case, because the imaging virtual image distance of the display picture observed by the human eye ranges from 1 meter to infinity, and the virtual image diopter of the point q of the foreign matter 300 is greater than the virtual image diopter of the point p on the display panel 211, it may be considered that the human eye cannot detect the imaging of the foreign matter 300 of the specific size.
It is not difficult to understand that when the human eye cannot detect a virtual image of a foreign matter 300 mm away, the human eye also cannot detect a virtual image of the foreign matter less than 300 mm away. Therefore, a maximum value of 300 mm of the distance a of distinct vision is substituted into Formula 8 obtained by using Formula 1, h includes a range of h when a is less than 300 mm.
It should be noted that the cover plate 212 may be a protective layer attached to the surface of the display panel 211 in a production process of the display 200. In this case, the thickness of the cover plate 212 may meet Formula 8, to blur the imaging of the foreign matter on the display 200. In another possible implementation, after the display 200 is manufactured, a thickness of a first cover plate of the display 200 cannot meet Formula 8. An additional layer of plate material may be added to the display 200 as a second cover plate, so that a sum of thicknesses of the second cover plate and the first cover plate meets Formula 8, to blur the imaging of the foreign matter on the display 200.
Materials of the cover plate 212 include but are not limited to transparent materials such as glass or plastic, and a refractive index of the cover plate may range from 1.3 to 1.9. The first cover plate covers the surface of the display panel 211 and may be a film layer formed through deposition or the like during manufacturing of the display panel 211, or may be connected to the display panel 211 with optical adhesive. When the second cover plate is additionally added, the second cover plate may also be bonded to the first cover plate with optical adhesive, so as not to affect display effect of the display panel 211. Alternatively, the display panel 211 is provided with a display area and a non-display area located around the display area. The second cover plate and the first cover plate may be bonded with glue or gum. The glue or gum may be configured in an area corresponding to the non-display area, to avoid affecting normal display in the display area. Alternatively, a mechanical part may be configured around the display and the second cover plate, so that the second cover plate is configured in close contact with the first cover plate. The first cover plate and the second cover plate may be either made of the same material, or may be made of different materials. Generally, because refractive indexes of the first cover plate and the second cover plate are similar, and a thickness of the first cover plate is far less than that of the second cover plate, when the thickness of the second cover plate that needs to be newly added is calculated by using the foregoing formula, a refractive index difference between the first cover plate and the second cover plate may be ignored, and the refractive index of the second cover plate is substituted into the formula for calculation.
In addition, in this embodiment of this application, the thickness of the cover plate 212 may be less than 3.5 mm, to prevent an excessively large thickness of the cover plate 212 from greatly affecting a volume and weight of the optical imaging system.
According to the optical imaging system provided in this embodiment of this application, the distance between the foreign matter on the surface of the display and the display panel can be increased while the thickness of the cover plate in the display is added, so that the diopter of the virtual image of the foreign matter is greater than a diopter represented by a distance of distinct vision for the human eye. Therefore, the position of the virtual image of the foreign matter is far away from that of the virtual image of the display picture, and it is ensured that when the human eye observes the display with the optical imaging system, the poor display caused by foreign matter cannot be clearly captured by the human eye.
The following describes the optical imaging system and the head-mounted display apparatus provided in embodiments of this application with reference to more specific embodiments.
For the parameters in Table 1, it should be noted that when content in the column “Material” is air, the value in the column “Thickness” actually represents a distance, and a center of each structure is configured as a standard for each parameter. For example, the curvature radius and thickness of the lens S1 indicate the curvature radius and thickness corresponding to the center of the lens S1. It can be learned from Table 1 that for the first cover plate 212a of the display 21, the thickness is 0.2 mm; the material is H-K9L glass and the corresponding refractive index n=1.52. The distance between the center of the surface S2 of the lens and the surface of the first cover plate 212a is 23.5 mm. The thickness of the center of the lens is 5 mm, and the lens is made of polymethyl methacrylate PMMA. The image distance of a display picture of the optical imaging system 200 is 1500 mm, and the corresponding diopter is 0.67 D.
In this case, it may be obtained through computer simulation that the virtual image distance of the foreign matter in the surface center of the first cover plate 212a is 1130 mm, and the corresponding diopter is 0.88 D. It can be learned that the virtual image of the display picture is close to the virtual image of the foreign matter on the surface of the cover plate 212a, and the virtual image of the foreign matter is easily captured by a human eye. This affects viewing effect of the display picture.
In this case, it may be obtained through computer simulation that the virtual image distance of the foreign matter in the center of the surface of the cover plate 212 is 257 mm, and the corresponding diopter is 3.89 D. It can be learned that, after the second cover plate 212b is newly added, a virtual image caused by the foreign matter attached to the cover plate 212 needs to be adjusted about the diopter of 3.89 D by the human eye to complete refocusing, so that the virtual image is not easily found.
For the data in Table 3, it should be noted that when content corresponding to the column “Material” is air, the value in the column “Thickness” actually represents a distance, and the center of each structure is configured as a standard for each parameter. For example, the curvature radius and thickness of the first lens S1 indicate the curvature radius and thickness corresponding to the center of the lens S1. According to Table 3, for the first cover plate 212a of the display 21, the thickness is 0.7 mm; the material is H-K9L glass and the corresponding refractive index n=1.52. The distance between the surface S2 of the fifth lens 225 and the surface of the first cover plate 212a is 1.46 mm. Materials AFL, OKP, and E48R of the lens are optical plastics of different models. The image distance of displayed picture of the optical imaging system 200 is infinity, and the corresponding diopter is 0.
In this case, it may be obtained through computer simulation that the virtual image distance of the foreign matter in the surface center of the first cover plate 212a is 972 mm, and the corresponding diopter is 1.03 D. It can be learned that the virtual image of the display picture is close to the virtual image of the foreign matter on the surface of the first cover plate 212a, and the virtual image of the foreign matter is easily captured by a human eye. This affects viewing effect of the display picture.
In this case, it may be obtained through computer simulation that the virtual image distance of the foreign matter in the center of the surface of the cover plate 212 is 298 mm, and the corresponding diopter is 3.36 D. It can be learned that, after the second cover plate 212b is newly added, a virtual image caused by the foreign matter attached to the cover plate 212 needs to be adjusted about the diopter of 3.36 D by the human eye to complete refocusing, so that the virtual image is not easily found.
In embodiments of this application, it should be noted that, unless otherwise specified and limited, the terms “mount”, “link”, and “connect” should be understood in a broad sense. For example, it may be a fixed connection, or may be an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, or may be an interconnection between two elements or an interaction relationship between two elements. For persons of ordinary skill in the art, specific meanings of the foregoing terms in embodiments of this application may be understood based on a specific situation. In the specification, claims, and the foregoing mentioned drawings of embodiments of this application, terms such as “first”, “second”, and “third” are intended to distinguish between similar objects but do not necessarily indicate a specific order or sequence.
In addition, terms such as “include”, “have/has”, and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, for example, a process, method, system, product, or device that includes a series of steps or units, which are not necessarily limited to those clearly listed steps or units, but may include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or inherent to such a process, method, product, or device.
Finally, it should be noted that the foregoing embodiments are merely intended for describing the technical solutions of embodiments of this application other than limiting this application. Although embodiments of this application is described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, persons of ordinary skill in the art should understand that they may still make modifications to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments or make equivalent replacements to some or all technical features thereof, without departing from the scope of the technical solutions of embodiments of this application.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
202010955672.3 | Sep 2020 | CN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/CN2021/113421 | 8/19/2021 | WO |