Patent Application
20230314808
This relates generally to electronic devices, and, more particularly, to electronic devices such as head-mounted devices.
Electronic devices such as head-mounted devices may have input-output components. The input-output components may include components such as displays and sensors.
A head-mounted device may have a head-mounted support structure. Rear-facing displays may present images to eye boxes at the rear of the head-mounted support structure. A forward-facing publicly viewable display may be supported on a front side of the head-mounted support structure facing away from the rear-facing displays.
The forward-facing display may have pixels that form an active area in which images are displayed and may have a ring-shaped inactive area that surrounds the pixels. A display cover layer may overlap the active and inactive areas.
Optical components may operate through the cover layer in the inactive area. The optical components may include a flicker sensor, an ambient light sensor, cameras, three-dimensional image sensors such as structured light three-dimensional sensors and a time-of-flight three-dimensional image sensor, and an infrared illumination system to provide infrared illumination for tracking cameras in dim ambient lighting conditions.
A cosmetic covering structure such as ring-shaped shroud may overlap optical components in the inactive area. The ring-shaped shroud may be mounted adjacent to the display cover layer in the inactive area.
The optical components may be received within through-hole openings in the shroud and/or may operate through transparent portions of the shroud. The transparent portions may be formed from polymer material in the shroud, from window members such as glass members that are inserted into window openings in the shroud, and/or from other transparent structures. A coating may be formed on portions of the shroud that overlap the optical components to help hide the overlapped components from view while allowing the components to operate satisfactorily.
A head-mounted device may include a head-mounted support structure that allows the device to be worn on the head of a user. The head-mounted device may have displays that are supported by the head-mounted support structure for presenting a user with visual content. The displays may include rear-facing displays that present images to eye boxes at the rear of the head-mounted support structure. The displays may also include a forward-facing display. The forward-facing display may be mounted to the front of the head-mounted support structure and may be viewed by the user when the head-mounted device is not being worn on the user's head. The forward-facing display, which may sometimes be referred to as a publicly viewable display, may also be viewable by other people in the vicinity of the head-mounted device.
Optical components such as image sensors and other light sensors may be provided in the head-mounted device. In an illustrative configuration, optical components are mounted under peripheral portions of a display cover layer that protects the forward-facing display.
To present a user with images for viewing from eye boxes such as eye box 34, device 10 may include rear-facing displays such as display 14R and lenses such as lens 38. These components may be mounted in optical modules such as optical module 36 (e.g., a lens barrel) to form respective left and right optical systems. There may be, for example, a left rear-facing display for presenting an image through a left lens to a user's left eye in a left eye box and a right rear-facing display for presenting an image to a user's right eye in a right eye box. The user's eyes are located in eye boxes 34 at rear side R of device 10 when structure 26 rests against the outer surface (face surface 30) of the user's face.
Support structure 26 may include a main support structure such as main housing portion 26M (sometimes referred to as a main portion or housing). Main housing portion 26M may extend from front side F of device 10 to opposing rear side R of device 10. On rear side R, main housing portion 26M may have cushioned structures to enhance user comfort as portion 26M rests against face surface 30. If desired, support structure 26 may include optional head straps such as strap 26B and/or other structures that allow device 10 to be worn on a head of a user.
Device 10 may have a publicly viewable front-facing display such as display 14F that is mounted on front side F of main housing portion 26M. Display 14F may be viewable to the user when the user is not wearing device 10 and/or may be viewable by others in the vicinity of device 10. Display 14F may, as an example, be visible on front side F of device 10 by an external viewer such as viewer 50 who is viewing device 10 in direction 52.
A schematic diagram of an illustrative system that may include a head-mounted device is shown in
Each electronic device 10 may have control circuitry 12. Control circuitry 12 may include storage and processing circuitry for controlling the operation of device 10. Circuitry 12 may include storage such as hard disk drive storage, nonvolatile memory (e.g., electrically-programmable-read-only memory configured to form a solid-state drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic random-access-memory), etc. Processing circuitry in control circuitry 12 may be based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, baseband processors, power management units, audio chips, graphics processing units, application specific integrated circuits, and other integrated circuits. Software code may be stored on storage in circuitry 12 and run on processing circuitry in circuitry 12 to implement control operations for device 10 (e.g., data gathering operations, operations involving the adjustment of the components of device 10 using control signals, etc.). Control circuitry 12 may include wired and wireless communications circuitry. For example, control circuitry 12 may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry such as cellular telephone transceiver circuitry, wireless local area network transceiver circuitry (e.g., WiFi® circuitry), millimeter wave transceiver circuitry, and/or other wireless communications circuitry.
During operation, the communications circuitry of the devices in system 8 (e.g., the communications circuitry of control circuitry 12 of device 10) may be used to support communication between the electronic devices. For example, one electronic device may transmit video data, audio data, control signals, and/or other data to another electronic device in system 8. Electronic devices in system 8 may use wired and/or wireless communications circuitry to communicate through one or more communications networks (e.g., the Internet, local area networks, etc.). The communications circuitry may be used to allow data to be received by device 10 from external equipment (e.g., a tethered computer, a portable device such as a handheld device or laptop computer, online computing equipment such as a remote server or other remote computing equipment, or other electrical equipment) and/or to provide data to external equipment.
Each device 10 in system 8 may include input-output devices 22. Input-output devices 22 may be used to allow a user to provide device 10 with user input. Input-output devices 22 may also be used to gather information on the environment in which device 10 is operating. Output components in devices 22 may allow device 10 to provide a user with output and may be used to communicate with external electrical equipment.
As shown in
During operation, displays 14 (e.g., displays 14R and/or 14F) may be used to display visual content for a user of device 10 (e.g., still and/or moving images including pictures and pass-through video from camera sensors, text, graphics, movies, games, and/or other visual content). The content that is presented on displays 14 may, for example, include virtual objects and other content that is provided to displays 14 by control circuitry 12. This virtual content may sometimes be referred to as computer-generated content. Computer-generated content may be displayed in the absence of real-world content or may be combined with real-world content. In some configurations, a real-world image may be captured by a camera (e.g., a forward-facing camera, sometimes referred to as a front-facing camera) and computer-generated content may be electronically overlaid on portions of the real-world image (e.g., when device 10 is a pair of virtual reality goggles).
Input-output circuitry 22 may include sensors 16. Sensors 16 may include, for example, three-dimensional sensors (e.g., three-dimensional image sensors such as structured light sensors that emit beams of light and that use two-dimensional digital image sensors to gather image data for three-dimensional images from dots or other light spots that are produced when a target is illuminated by the beams of light, binocular three-dimensional image sensors that gather three-dimensional images using two or more cameras in a binocular imaging arrangement, three-dimensional lidar (light detection and ranging) sensors, sometimes referred to as time-of-flight cameras or three-dimensional time-of-flight cameras, three-dimensional radio-frequency sensors, or other sensors that gather three-dimensional image data), cameras (e.g., two-dimensional infrared and/or visible digital image sensors), gaze tracking sensors (e.g., a gaze tracking system based on an image sensor and, if desired, a light source that emits one or more beams of light that are tracked using the image sensor after reflecting from a user's eyes), touch sensors, capacitive proximity sensors, light-based (optical) proximity sensors, other proximity sensors, force sensors (e.g., strain gauges, capacitive force sensors, resistive force sensors, etc.), sensors such as contact sensors based on switches, gas sensors, pressure sensors, moisture sensors, magnetic sensors, audio sensors (microphones), ambient light sensors, flicker sensors that gather temporal information on ambient lighting conditions such as the presence of a time-varying ambient light intensity associated with artificial lighting, microphones for gathering voice commands and other audio input, sensors that are configured to gather information on motion, position, and/or orientation (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes, compasses, and/or inertial measurement units that include all of these sensors or a subset of one or two of these sensors), and/or other sensors.
User input and other information may be gathered using sensors and other input devices in input-output devices 22. If desired, input-output devices 22 may include other devices 24 such as haptic output devices (e.g., vibrating components), light-emitting diodes, lasers, and other light sources (e.g., light-emitting devices that emit light that illuminates the environment surrounding device 10 when ambient light levels are low), speakers such as ear speakers for producing audio output, circuits for receiving wireless power, circuits for transmitting power wirelessly to other devices, batteries and other energy storage devices (e.g., capacitors), joysticks, buttons, and/or other components.
As described in connection with
Display 14F may have an active area such as active area AA that is configured to display images and an inactive area IA that does not display images. The outline of active area AA may be rectangular, rectangular with rounded corners, may have teardrop shaped portions on the left and right sides of device 10, may have a shape with straight edges, a shape with curved edges, a shape with a peripheral edge that has both straight and curved portions, and/or other suitable outlines. As shown in
Active area AA contains an array of pixels. The pixels may be, for example, light-emitting diode pixels formed from thin-film organic light-emitting diodes or crystalline semiconductor light-emitting diode dies (sometimes referred to as micro-light-emitting diodes) on a flexible display panel substrate. Configurations in which display 14F uses other display technologies may also be used, if desired. Illustrative arrangements in which display 14 is formed from a light-emitting diode display such as an organic light-emitting diode display that is formed on a flexible substrate (e.g., a substrate formed from a bendable layer of polyimide or a sheet of other flexible polymer) may sometimes be described herein as an example. The pixels of active area AA may be formed on a display device such as display panel 14P of
Display 14F may have an inactive area such as inactive area IA that is free of pixels and that does not display images. Inactive area IA may form an inactive border region that runs along one more portions of the peripheral edge of active area AA. In the illustrative configuration of
In some configurations, device 10 may operate with other devices in system 8 (e.g., wireless controllers and other accessories). These accessories may have magnetic sensors that sense the direction and intensity of magnetic fields. Device 10 may have one or more electromagnets configured to emit a magnetic field. The magnetic field can be measured by the wireless accessories near device 10, so that the accessories can determine their orientation and position relative to device 10. This allows the accessories to wirelessly provide device 10 with real-time information on their current position, orientation, and movement so that the accessories can serve as wireless controllers. The accessories may include wearable devices, handled devices, and other input devices.
In an illustrative configuration, device 10 may have a coil such as illustrative coil 54 that runs around the perimeter of display 14F (e.g., under inactive area IA or other portion of display 14F). Coil 54 may have any suitable number of turns (e.g., 1-10, at least 2, at least 5, at least 10, 10-50, fewer than 100, fewer than 25, fewer than 6, etc.). These turns may be formed from metal traces on a substrate, may be formed from wire, and/or may be formed from other conductive lines. During operation, control circuitry 12 may supply coil 54 with an alternating-current (AC) drive signal. The drive signal may have a frequency of at least 1 kHz, at least 10 kHz, at least 100 kHz, at least 1 MHz, less than 10 MHz, less than 3 MHz, less than 300 kHz, or less than 30 kHz (as examples). As AC current flows through coil 54, a corresponding magnetic field is produced in the vicinity of device 10. Electronic devices such as wireless controllers with magnetic sensors that are in the vicinity of device 10 may use the magnetic field as a reference so that the wireless controllers can determine their orientation, position, and/or movement while being moved relative to device 10 to provide device 10 with input.
Consider, as an example, a handheld wireless controller that is used in controlling the operation of device 10. During operation, device 10 uses coil 54 to emit a magnetic field. As the handheld wireless controller is moved, the magnetic sensors of the controller can monitor the location of the controller and the movement of the controller relative to device 10 by monitoring the strength, orientation, and change to the strength and/or orientation of the magnetic field emitted by coil 54 as the controller is moved through the air by the user. The electronic device can then wirelessly transmit information on the location and orientation of the controller to device 10. In this way, a handheld controller, wearable controller, or other external accessory can be manipulated by a user to provide device 10 with air gestures, pointing input, steering input, and/or other user input.
Device 10 may have components such as optical components (e.g., optical sensors among sensors 16 of
To help hide components such as optical components from view from the exterior of device 10, it may be desirable to cover some or all of the components with cosmetic covering structures. The covering structures may include transparent portions (e.g., optical component windows) that are characterized by sufficient optical transparency to allow overlapped optical components to operate satisfactorily. For example, an ambient light sensor may be covered with a layer that appears opaque to an external viewer to help hide the ambient light sensor from view, but that allows sufficient ambient light to pass to the ambient light sensor for the ambient light sensor to make a satisfactory ambient light measurement. As another example, an optical component that emits infrared light may be overlapped with a visibly opaque material that is transparent to infrared light.
In an illustrative configuration, optical components for device 10 may be mounted in inactive area IA of
Display 14F may, if desired, have a protective display cover layer. The cover layer may overlap active area AA and inactive area IA (e.g., the entire front surface of device 10 as viewed from direction 52 of
The cover layer may be formed from a transparent material such as glass, polymer, transparent crystalline material such as sapphire, clear ceramic, other transparent materials, and/or combinations of these materials. As an example, a protective display cover layer for display 14F may be formed from safety glass (e.g., laminated glass that includes a clear glass layer with a laminated polymer film). Optional coating layers may be applied to the surfaces of the display cover layer. If desired, the display cover layer may be chemically strengthened (e.g., using an ion-exchange process to create an outer layer of material under compressive stress that resists scratching). In some configurations, the display cover layer may be formed from a stack of two or more layers of material (e.g., first and second structural glass layers, a rigid polymer layer coupled to a glass layer or another rigid polymer layer, etc.) to enhance the performance of the cover layer.
In active area AA, the display cover layer may overlap the pixels of display panel 14P. The display cover layer in active area AA is preferably transparent to allow viewing of images presented on display panel 14P. In inactive area IA, the display cover layer may overlap the ring-shaped shroud or other cosmetic covering structure. The shroud and/or other covering structures (e.g., opaque ink coatings on the inner surface of the display cover layer and/or structures) may be sufficiently opaque to help hide some or all of the optical components in inactive area IA from view. Windows may be provided in the shroud or other cosmetic covering structures to help ensure that the optical components that are overlapped by these structures operate satisfactorily. Windows may be formed from holes, may be formed from areas of the shroud or other cosmetic covering structures that have been locally thinned to enhance light transmission, may be formed from window members with desired light transmission properties that have been inserted into mating openings in the shroud, and/or may be formed from other shroud window structures.
In the example of
In an illustrative configuration, optical component 60 may sense ambient light (e.g., visible ambient light). In particular, optical component 60 may have a photodetector that senses variations in ambient light intensity as a function of time. If, as an example, a user is operating in an environment with an artificial light source, the light source may emit light at a frequency associated with its source of wall power (e.g., alternating-current mains power at 60 Hz). The photodetector of component 60 may sense that the artificial light from the artificial light source is characterized by 60 Hz fluctuations in intensity. Control circuitry 12 can use this information to adjust a clock or other timing signal associated with the operation of image sensors in device 10 to help avoid undesired interference between the light source frequency and the frame rate or other frequency associated with image capture operations. Control circuitry 12 can also use measurements from component 60 to help identify the presence of artificial lighting and the type of artificial lighting that is present. In this way, control circuitry 12 can detect the presence of lights such as fluorescent lights or other lights with known non-ideal color characteristics and can make compensating color cast adjustments (e.g., white point adjustments) to color-sensitive components such as cameras and displays. Because optical component 60 may measure fluctuations in light intensity, component 60 may sometimes be referred to as a flicker sensor or ambient light frequency sensor.
Optical component 62 may be an ambient light sensor. The ambient light sensor may include one or more photodetectors. In a single-photodetector configuration, the ambient light sensor may be a monochrome sensor that measures ambient light intensity. In a multi-photodetector configuration, each photodetector may be overlapped by an optical filter that passes a different band of wavelengths (e.g., different visible and/or infrared passbands). The optical filter passbands may overlap at their edges. This allows component 62 to serve as a color ambient light sensor that measures both ambient light intensity and ambient light color (e.g., by measuring color coordinates for the ambient light). During operation of device 10, control circuitry 12 can take action based on measured ambient light intensity and color. As an example, the white point of a display or image sensor may be adjusted or other display or image sensor color adjustments may be made based on measured ambient light color. The intensity of a display may be adjusted based on light intensity. For example, the brightness of display 14F may be increased in bright ambient lighting conditions to enhance the visibility of the image on the display and the brightness of display 14F may be decreased in dim lighting conditions to conserve power. Image sensor operations and/or light source operations may also be adjusted based on ambient light readings.
The optical components in active area IA may also include components along the sides of device 10 such as components 80 and 64. Optical components 80 and 64 may be pose-tracking cameras that are used to help monitor the orientation and movement of device 10. Components 80 and 64 may be visible light cameras (and/or cameras that are sensitive at visible and infrared wavelengths) and may, in conjunction with an inertial measurement unit, form a visual inertial odometry (VIO) system.
Optical components 78 and 66 may be visible-light cameras that capture real-time images of the environment surrounding device 10. These cameras, which may sometimes be referred to as scene cameras or pass-through-video cameras, may capture moving images that are displayed in real time to displays 14R for viewing by the user when the user's eyes are located in eye boxes 34 at the rear of device 10. By displaying pass-through images (pass-through video) to the user in this way, the user may be provided with real-time information on the user's surroundings. If desired, virtual content (e.g., computer-generated images) may be overlaid over some of the pass-through video. Device 10 may also operate in a non-pass-through-video mode in which components 78 and 66 are turned off and the user is provided only with movie content, game content, and/or other virtual content that does not contain real-time real-world images.
Input-output devices 22 of device 10 may gather user input that is used in controlling the operation of device 10. As an example, a microphone in device 10 may gather voice commands. Buttons, touch sensors, force sensors, and other input devices may gather user input from a user's finger or other external object that is contacting device 10. In some configurations, it may be desirable to monitor a user's hand gestures or the motion of other user body parts. This allows the user's hand locations or other body part locations to be replicated in a game or other virtual environment and allows the user's hand motions to serve as hand gestures (air gestures) that control the operation of device 10. User input such as hand gesture input can be captured using cameras that operate at visible and infrared wavelengths such as tracking cameras (e.g., optical components 76 and 68). Tracking cameras such as these may also track fiducials and other recognizable features on controllers and other external accessories (additional devices 10 of system 8) during use of these controllers in controlling the operation of device 10. If desired, tracking cameras can help determine the position and orientation of a handheld controller or wearable controller that senses its location and orientation by measuring the magnetic field produced by coil 54. The use of tracking cameras may therefore help track hand motions and controller motions that are used in moving pointers and other virtual objects being displayed for a user and can otherwise assist in controlling the operation of device 10.
Tracking cameras may operate satisfactorily in the presence of sufficient ambient light (e.g., bright visible ambient lighting conditions). In dim environments, supplemental illumination may be provided by supplemental light sources such as supplemental infrared light sources (e.g., optical components 82 and 84). The infrared light sources may each include one or more light-emitting devices (light-emitting diodes or lasers) and may each be configured to provide fixed and/or steerable beams of infrared light that serve as supplemental illumination for the tracking cameras. If desired, the infrared light sources may be turned off in bright ambient lighting conditions and may be turned on in response to detection of dim ambient lighting (e.g., using the ambient light sensing capabilities of optical component 62).
Three-dimensional sensors in device 10 may be used to perform biometric identification operations (e.g., facial identification for authentication), may be used to determine the three-dimensional shapes of objects in the user's environment (e.g., to map the user's environment so that a matching virtual environment can be created for the user), and/or to otherwise gather three-dimensional content during operation of device 10. As an example, optical components 74 and 70 may be three-dimensional structured light image sensors. Each three-dimensional structured light image sensor may have one or more light sources that provide structured light (e.g., a dot projector that projects an array of infrared dots onto the environment, a structured light source that produces a grid of lines, or other structured light component that emits structured light). Each of the three-dimensional structured light image sensors may also include a flood illuminator (e.g., a light-emitting diode or laser that emits a wide beam of infrared light). Using flood illumination and structured light illumination, optical components 74 and 70 may capture facial images, images of objects in the environment surrounding device 10, etc.
Optical component 72 may be an infrared three-dimensional time-of-flight camera that uses time-of-flight measurements on emitted light to gather three-dimensional images of objects in the environment surrounding device 10. Component 72 may have a longer range and a narrower field of view than the three-dimensional structured light cameras of optical components 74 and 70. The operating range of component 72 may be 30 cm to 7 m, 60 cm to 6 m, 70 cm to 5 m, or other suitable operating range (as examples).
As shown in
Shroud 100 may have any suitable shape. For example, the outline of shroud 100 may be rectangular with rounded corners as shown in
The width of shroud 100 may be constant along its length or shroud 100 may have portions that are wider than others. The thickness of shroud 100 (e.g., the dimension of shroud 100 into the page in the orientation of
The optical components under inactive area IA may include components on the left and right sides of device 10 that operate in conjunction with each other. For example, scene cameras, tracking cameras, and/or structured light cameras in device 10 may be formed in pairs, each of which includes a left camera and a corresponding right camera. A left scene camera and a right scene camera may, as an example, operate together to capture overlapping images that provide device 10 with a wide field of view for gathering pass-through video. Left and right tracking cameras may operate together to track a user's hands or other external objects. Left and right structured light cameras or other three-dimensional cameras may be used together to capture three-dimensional images of the user's environment. To enhance performance of the left and right optical components in these types of paired component arrangements, it may be desirable to maintain accurate alignment between the left and right optical components. To help maintain left and right optical components on the respective left and right sides of device 10 in alignment with each other, device 10 may be provided with one or more housing structures that help support the optical components.
As shown in
Bracket 102 may be coupled to device 10 with attachment structures (adhesive, fasteners, press-fit connections, and/or other attachment mechanism) that allow bracket 102 to float with respect to the rest of housing portion 26M during a drop event. The stiffness of bracket 102 and the ability of bracket 102 to shift in position somewhat relative to other housing structures without deforming the shape of bracket 102 significantly may help hold components on the left and right sides of device 10 in alignment with each other during periods of excessive stress such as when device 10 experiences high stress during an unexpected drop event.
In the example of
Display cover layer 92 may include planar surfaces and/or curved surfaces. In an illustrative configuration, most or all of the inner and outer surfaces of display cover layer 92 have curvature.
The curved surfaces of display cover layer 92 may include curved surfaces that can be flattened into a plane without distortion (sometimes referred to as developable surfaces or curved surfaces without compound curvature). Surfaces such as these may, as an example overlap active area AA. The curved surfaces of display cover layer 92 may also include curved surfaces that are characterized by compound curvature (e.g., surfaces that can only be flattened into a plane with distortion, sometimes referred to as non-developable surfaces). Some or all portions of the inner and outer surfaces of display cover layer 92 in inactive area IA may, as an example, be characterized by compound curvature. This allows the periphery of display 14F to smoothly transition away from the active area and provides an attractive appearance and compact shape for device 10. The compound curvature of display cover layer 92 in inactive area IA may also facilitate placement of the optical components under inactive area IA in desired orientations. The inner and outer surfaces of display cover layer 92 in active area AA may have compound curvature, may be developable surfaces, or may include both developable surface areas and compound curvature areas.
Image data and other data gathered by optical components can be warped digitally to compensate for optical distortion associated with display cover layer 92. To help minimize optical distortion, one or more of the optical components may optionally be oriented in a direction that is parallel or close to parallel to the surface normal of the portion of the display cover layer surface that is overlapping the optical component.
Consider, as an example, optical components 104 of
In this type of arrangement, display cover layer 92 may have compound curvature in inactive area IA and shroud 100 may have a shape with a cross-sectional profile that mirrors that of display cover layer 92 in inactive area IA (e.g., the outer and/or inner surfaces of shroud 100 in inactive area IA may be compound-curvature surfaces). When components such as components 104A and 104B are mounted to shroud 100 and/or are otherwise supported by the support structures of device 10 to operate through shroud 100 and display cover layer 92, the curved shape of display cover layer 92 and shroud 100 may help allow these components to face in desired orientations (e.g., in a forward direction for components such as component 104B or angled away from the forward direction for components such as component 104A).
As an example, optical components that are mounted to the left and right sides of nose bridge portion 26NB may be oriented respectively somewhat to the left and somewhat to the right of the +Y forward direction (e.g., to ensure an adequate angle-of-view for a pair of cameras). As another example, the curved shape of display cover layer 92 and shroud 100 along the lower edge of device 10 may allow the components in this portion to point somewhat downward out of the XY plane, which may help orient cameras such as tracking cameras towards the user's hands.
Display panel 14P may be a flexible display such as a flexible organic light-emitting diode display with a flexible substrate or a light-emitting diode display formed from crystalline semiconductor light-emitting diode dies mounted on a flexible substrate. This allows display panel 14P and the pixels of panel 14P that form active area AA to be bent about a bend axis that runs parallel to vertical axis Z, thereby helping to wrap display 14F and housing portion 26M about the curved surface of the user's face. If desired, display panel 14P may be a lenticular display configured to display three-dimensional images (e.g., an autostereoscopic display having a series of parallel lenticular lenses, each of which overlaps a respective group of multiple columns of pixels).
The outer and inner surfaces of display cover layer 92 may have the same shape (e.g., these surfaces may be parallel to each other) or the outer surface and inner surfaces may have different shapes. In arrangements in which display panel 14P of display 14F is flexible, it may be desirable to configure the inner surface of display cover layer 92 in active area AA to exhibit a bent surface shape that matches the bent outwardly-facing surface of display panel 14P (e.g., the inner and, if desired, the outer surface of display cover layer 92 in active area AA may be developable surfaces without compound curvature to match the developable outward-facing surface of display panel 14P).
Shroud 100 and display cover layer 92 may be attached to main housing portion 26M using adhesive, screws and other fasteners, press-fit connections, and/or other attachment mechanisms. An illustrative configuration in which shroud 100 and cover layer 92 are attached to forward-facing edge of a housing wall in main housing portion 26M using adhesive is shown in
A layer of pressure sensitive adhesive (see, e.g., adhesive 114) may be used in attaching canopy 100B to trim 100A. Adhesive may also be used in attaching cover layer 92 and shroud 100 to housing portion 26M. As shown in
In some configurations, adhesives 122 and 124 may be formed from the same type of material. In an illustrative configuration, adhesives 122 and 124 are different. Housing portion 26M may have a wall with a lip shape that creates a shearing force on adhesive 124 as display 14F is attached to housing portion 26M by pressing display 14F against housing portion 26M in the −Y direction. In this type of scenario, it may be desirable to form adhesive 124 from an adhesive that can bond satisfactorily in the presence of shear forces such as a molten hot melt glue (thermoplastic adhesive) or other liquid adhesive rather than pressure sensitive adhesive. Adhesive 124 may, if desired, be exposed to a curing agent (ultraviolet light, moisture, etc.) before display 14F is assembled into housing 26M.
It may be desirable to repair device 10. For example, if a user exposes display 14F to excessive force during a drop event, it may be desirable to replace display 14F with a new display. This can be accomplished by heating adhesive 124 to loosen the adhesive bond formed by adhesive 124. To help prevent display cover layer 92 from detaching from shroud 100 while softening adhesive 124 with heat, adhesive 122 may be provided with a higher-temperature softening point than adhesive 124 (e.g., adhesive 122 may be a two-part hot melt glue with a higher melting point than adhesive 124).
Optical components that are overlapped by display cover layer 92 and shroud 100 in inactive area IA may transmit and/or receive light through shroud 100 and display cover layer 92. Layer 92 may be formed from laminated glass or other clear material that allows light for each overlapped optical component 104 to pass through layer 92. If desired, a partial recess or a through-hole opening may be formed in the portion of layer 92. An optional optical component window member 116 may then be inserted within layer 92 (e.g., in window region 118). As an example, layer 92 may be formed from one or more layers of glass and/or polymer and may be characterized by a first level of light transmission at operating wavelength(s) for component 104, whereas window member 116 may be formed from polymer, glass, and/or other materials that are characterized by a second level of light transmission at the operating wavelength(s) that is greater than the first level of light transmission. In other illustrative arrangements, no window member is inserted in layer 92 (e.g., optional window member 116 of
Shroud 100 may be provided with an optical component window in region 118 to accommodate overlapped optical component 104. Component 104 may operate at ultraviolet light wavelengths, visible light wavelengths, and/or infrared light wavelengths. To accommodate component 104 in the example of
To help hide component 104 from view, the inner surface of shroud canopy 100B of
Consider, as an example, a scenario in which component 104 transmits and/or receives infrared light. In this type of arrangement, coating 126 may be opaque at visible wavelengths and transparent at infrared wavelengths. This helps to hide component 104 from view from the exterior of device 10 while allowing infrared light associated with the operation of component 104 to pass through shroud 100 and layer 92.
As another example, consider a scenario in which component 104 is an ambient light sensor. In this configuration, coating 126 may exhibit a visible light transmission of 1-8% (as an example). This may allow sufficient visible ambient light to reach the ambient light sensor for the ambient light sensor to make an ambient light reading. At the same time, the transmission of coating 126 may be sufficiently low that coating 126 helps reduce the visibility of component 104 from the exterior of device 10.
As these examples demonstrate, regions of display 14F that overlap optical components such as component 104 of
If desired, shroud 100 may be provided with a through-hole opening to accommodate an overlapped optical component. As shown in
In the illustrative configuration of
As described in connection with
In the arrangement of
The shroud of device 10 of
The inner surface of canopy 100B may also be provided with an optical layer such as optical layer (optical film) 146. Layer 146 may have texture and/or light-scattering particles that create haze. The haze may help hide the structures of display panel 14P from view from the exterior of device 10. Layer 146 may also have microlouvers or other features that help suppress off-axis light transmission (e.g., layer 146 may have privacy structures that reduce light transmission for light rays that are not parallel to the Y axis). Because layer 146 may contain haze and/or privacy structures, layer 146 may sometimes be referred to as a privacy layer, a haze layer, and/or a privacy and haze layer.
In an illustrative configuration, layer 146 may have a flexible substrate layer covered with a hazy coating. The hazy coating may be a pad-printed polymer coating that contains embedded light-scattering particles (e.g., inorganic light-scattering particles such as titanium oxide particles, etc.). The flexible substrate layer may be a privacy film such as a microlouver film or other privacy layer that prevents off-axis (away from the Y axis) viewing of display panel 14P).
Haze for layer 146 may be provided using any suitable haze structures (e.g., a coating of hazy polymer having a thickness of 3-10 microns on a flexible privacy film or other substrate, a laminated hazy film, or other layer that exhibits 3%-40% haze or other suitable value, sometimes referred to as a haze coating). Haze may be provided by embedded light-scattering particles and/or surface texture (e.g., texture in layer 146 or optionally texture on the surface of canopy 100B). The haze provided by the hazy coating of layer 146 and/or other haze structures is preferably provided sufficiently close to display 14P that the resolution of display 14P is not significantly affected. At the same time, the presence of the haze (e.g., the hazy coating of layer 146) may help hide lenses and other structures in layer 14P from view when not in use.
Device 10 may have an air gap between display panel 14P and canopy 100B (e.g., an air gap such as air gap 144 may be present between the inwardly facing side of canopy 100B and any coatings and/or films on this side of canopy 100B such as haze layer 146 and the opposing upper surface of display panel 14P (and lenses 14P′ and the pixels on panel 14P). The presence of air gap 144 may help ensure that lenses 14P′ operate satisfactorily. Bracket 156 may help support display panel 14P.
To help hide internal components from view, an opaque masking layer such as layer BM-1 may be formed on the inner surface of display cover layer 92 in inactive area IA. Adhesive 122 may attach layer 92 to the edge of canopy 100B. Additional opaque masing material (see, e.g., canopy opaque masking layer BM-2) may be formed on the inner surface of canopy 100B in inactive area IA. Adhesive 114 may be used to attach shroud trim 100A to shroud canopy 100B. Adhesive 124 may be used to attach shroud trim 100A to housing portion 26M. Adhesive 160 may be used to attach bracket 156 (which is attached with adhesive to the rear of panel 14P) to canopy 100B.
In the example of
The amount of bending of canopy 100B and the corresponding amount of bending of display panel 14P about axis 142 may be selected to help device 10 conform to the curved shape of a user's face.
In the illustrative configuration of
Bracket 156 may be formed from a metal sheet or other support structure and may be characterized by inner and outer surfaces that are developable surfaces (e.g., surfaces that bend about axis 142 and that do not contain areas of compound curvature). By avoiding compound curvature in the structures that support and immediately overlap display panel 14P, display panel 14P may be formed from a bent flexible substrate such as a polyimide substrate that bends about axis 142 without risk of creating wrinkles or other artifacts of the type that might be introduced if panel 14P had areas of compound curvature.
The shroud and other structures of device 10 of
The presence of window member 166, which may be configured to exhibit relatively small amounts of optical distortion, may help enhance the optical performance of component 104. If desired, optical-component-compatible surface areas for an optical component window for component 104 may be formed directly in canopy 100B (e.g., so that canopy 100B may overlap component 104 without forming a through-hole opening in canopy 100B).
In accordance with an embodiment, a head-mounted device is provided that includes a head-mounted support structure; a first display and a first lens that are supported by the head-mounted support structure and that are configured to provide a first image to a first eye box; a second display and a second lens that are supported by the head-mounted support structure and that are configured to provide a second image to a second eye box; a forward-facing display supported on a front side of the head-mounted support structure, the forward facing display has an active area in which a third image is displayed and has a ring-shaped inactive area surrounding the active area that does not display images and the forward-facing display has a display cover layer that overlaps the active area and the inactive area; an optical component in the inactive area; and a covering structure that overlaps the inactive area under the display cover layer.
In accordance with another embodiment, the covering structure includes a shroud that has a shroud trim and that has a shroud canopy, the shroud canopy includes clear polymer, the shroud trim includes dark polymer, the shroud canopy is attached to the shroud trim with adhesive, and the head-mounted device includes a coating on an inner surface of the shroud canopy overlapping the optical component.
In accordance with another embodiment, the covering structure includes a ring-shaped polymer structure that surrounds the active area.
In accordance with another embodiment, the ring-shaped polymer structure has a through-hole opening aligned with the optical component.
In accordance with another embodiment, the ring-shaped polymer structure has an opening, the head-mounted device includes a glass member in the opening that is aligned with the optical component.
In accordance with another embodiment, the ring-shaped polymer structure has a recess aligned with the optical component.
In accordance with another embodiment, the ring-shaped polymer structure includes first and second polymer members attached with adhesive and the recess is formed by a through-hole in the first polymer member.
In accordance with another embodiment, the second polymer member includes clear polymer that overlaps the through-hole in the first polymer member.
In accordance with another embodiment, the head-mounted device includes a coating on an inner surface of the clear polymer that overlaps the through-hole opening.
In accordance with another embodiment, the first polymer member includes black polymer.
In accordance with another embodiment, the head-mounted device includes a first adhesive layer configured to attach the display cover layer to the ring-shaped polymer structure; and a second adhesive with a melting point lower than the first adhesive layer, the second adhesive layer is configured to attach the ring-shaped polymer structure to the head-mounted support structure.
In accordance with another embodiment, the covering structure includes a polymer layer that is separated from the display cover layer by an air gap, the polymer layer has a surface with compound-curvature overlapping the inactive area and has a developable surface overlapping the active area.
In accordance with an embodiment, a head-mounted device is provided that includes a head-mounted support structure; rear-facing displays supported by the head-mounted support structure that are configured to provide visual content to eye boxes at a rear side of the head-mounted support structure; a publicly viewable forward-facing display supported on a front side of the head-mounted support structure, the publicly viewable forward-facing display has an active area containing pixels configured to display an image and has a ring-shaped inactive area without pixels that surrounds the active area; and a display cover layer for the forward-facing display, the display cover layer overlaps the active area and overlaps the ring-shaped inactive area; a ring-shaped shroud member that is overlapped by the display cover layer in the inactive area and that surrounds the active area; and optical components overlapped by the ring-shaped shroud member.
In accordance with another embodiment, the optical components include a flicker sensor and an ambient light sensor.
In accordance with another embodiment, the head-mounted device includes a shroud canopy coupled to the ring-shaped shroud member, the flicker sensor and ambient light sensor are aligned with an opening in the ring-shaped shroud member and are covered by the shroud canopy.
In accordance with another embodiment, the ring-shaped shroud member and the shroud canopy have through-hole openings that are aligned with the optical components.
In accordance with another embodiment, the optical components include cameras.
In accordance with another embodiment, the optical components include an ambient light sensor, the ring-shaped shroud member has a recess with a coating through which the ambient light sensor measures ambient light.
In accordance with another embodiment, the head-mounted device includes a bracket under a portion of the ring-shaped shroud member, the display cover layer has a nose bridge recess and a first of the optical components is attached to the bracket on one side of the nose bridge recess and a second of the optical components is attached to the bracket on an opposing side of the nose bridge recess.
In accordance with another embodiment, the ring-shaped shroud member includes a portion that is transparent at a wavelength and the optical components include an optical component that receives light at the wavelength that has passed through the portion of the ring-shaped shroud member.
In accordance with another embodiment, the ring-shaped shroud member has a surface with compound curvature.
In accordance with an embodiment, a head-mounted device is provided that includes a head-mounted support structure; a left lens on a left side of the head-mounted support structure; a right lens on the right side of the head-mounted support structure; left and right displays configured to provide respective left and right rear images viewable from left and right eye boxes through the left and right lenses; a publicly viewable display on the head-mounted support structure facing away from the left and right displays, the publicly viewable display has pixels configured to display a publicly viewable image and has an inactive ring-shaped border surrounding the pixels; a display cover layer covering the publicly viewable display; and a polymer layer that overlaps the pixels and that is between the pixels and the display cover layer.
In accordance with another embodiment, the polymer layer is separated from the pixels by an air gap.
In accordance with another embodiment, the display cover layer is separated from the polymer layer by an air gap.
In accordance with another embodiment, the display cover layer has inner and outer surfaces of compound curvature overlapping the pixels.
In accordance with another embodiment, the polymer layer has a developable surface that overlaps the pixels.
In accordance with another embodiment, the head-mounted device includes optical components in the inactive ring-shaped border.
In accordance with another embodiment, the optical components include cameras, the display cover layer has a surface with compound curvature in the inactive ring-shaped area, and the cameras are configured to capture images in different respective directions through respective portions of the surface of compound curvature.
In accordance with another embodiment, the polymer layer is configured to exhibit visible light transmission of 30-80%.
In accordance with another embodiment, the polymer layer has a hazy coating overlapping the pixels.
The foregoing is merely illustrative and various modifications can be made to the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may be implemented individually or in any combination.
This application is a continuation of international patent application No. PCT/US2021/049441, filed Sep. 8, 2021, which claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 63/081,225, filed Sep. 21, 2020, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63081225 | Sep 2020 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/US2021/049441 | Sep 2021 | US |
| Child | 18178870 | US |
