Patent Application
20230300313
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 while the head-mounted support structure is being worn by a user. The head-mounted support structure may have a curved rear surface that wraps around a user's head.
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 a curved shape that wraps around the front of the head-mounted support structure and the user's head.
The forward-facing display may have pixels that form an active area in which images are displayed and may have a ring-shaped inactive border region that surrounds the pixels. The active area may have a curved peripheral edge with a nose bridge recess. The outline of the active area on each side of the display may have a teardrop shape or other curved shape. The periphery of the inactive border area may run parallel to the peripheral edge of the active area.
The forward-facing display may have a display cover layer with a developable surface overlapping the active area. The pixels in the active area may be supported on a flexible display substrate that is bent about a bend axis that runs vertically through the middle of the support structure. The bent flexible display may have a developable surface that rests against or adjacent to the inner surface of the display cover layer or that rests against or adjacent to the inner surface of a shroud canopy layer. If desired, the bent flexible display may be attached to a developable inner surface of the display cover layer and the display cover layer may have a corresponding outer surface overlapping the display that is characterized by compound curvature.
The edges of the display cover layer may be swept rearward from the active area and may be characterized by curved cross-sectional profiles. In an illustrative configuration, the surface of the cover layer in the ring-shaped inactive area has compound curvature. The surface of the display cover layer in the active area may be a developable surface or may have compound curvature
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 configured to provide infrared illumination for tracking cameras in dim ambient lighting conditions.
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). 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
In active area AA of display 14F, cover layer 92 overlaps an array of pixels P in display panel 14P. In inactive area IA, cover layer 92 does not overlap any pixels, but may overlap optical components such as the optical components shown in
Another illustrative configuration for display 14F is shown in
If desired, other arrangements for layer 130 may be used. For example, the side of layer 130 facing display panel 14P may have a developable surface in active area AA, whereas the side of layer 130 facing layer 92 may have compound curvature in active area AA (e.g., layer 130 may have a non-uniform thickness). Layer 92 may also have different configurations. For example, the outer surface of layer 92 may have compound curvature, whereas the inner surface of layer 92 in active area AA and/or in area IA may be a developable surface. Other arrangements in which layer 92 and/or layer 130 have variable thicknesses may also be used. In inactive area IA, multiple polymer structures may be joined. For example, in area IA, a ring-shaped polymer member, sometimes referred to as a shroud trim, may be joined to layer 130, which may form a shroud canopy member that extends across the entire front face of device 10. The shroud trim and shroud canopy may, if desired, sometimes be referred to individually or collectively as forming a shroud, shroud member(s), etc. Tinting (e.g., dye, pigment, and/or other colorant) may be included in layer 130. For example, layer 130 may be tinted to exhibit a visible light transmission of 30-80% to help obscure internal structures in device 10 such as display panel 14P from view when not in use.
Display panel 14P may have an outwardly facing surface in active area AA that is a developable surface. This display panel surface may be adhered to the corresponding inner developable surface of layer 130 or a corresponding inner developable surface of layer 92 or may be spaced apart from the layer 130 and/or the inner surface of layer 92 by an air gap (as examples).
Some or all portions of the inner and outer surfaces of display cover layer 92 in inactive area IA may, if desired, 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. If desired, all areas of layer 92 may have compound curvature (e.g., the inner and outer surfaces of layer 92 may have compound curvature in both area IA and area AA).
In the illustrative configuration of
In general, the upper and lower portions of cover layer 92 may have any suitable outlines when viewed from the front of device 10. The shape used for cover layer 92 may be determined by factors such as aesthetics, size, the ability to facilitate suitable placement for optical components in inactive area IA, the ability to provide desired active area coverage (overlap over active area AA), etc. Any of the illustrative shapes for the upper portion of device 10 shown in
If desired, components 104 may include components such as cameras (e.g., visible and/or infrared image sensors, time-of-flight sensors, structured light three-dimensional sensors, etc.) that are sensitive to optical distortion imposed by the curved shapes of the curved inner and/or outer surface of cover layer 92. For example, a camera or other optical component 104 may operate through a portion of cover layer 92 in inactive area IA that is characterized by an outer surface that has compound curvature and an inner surface with compound curvature or a developable inner surface. In this type of situation, the control circuitry of device 10 may be configured to digitally compensate for the optical distortion introduced as light (e.g., real-world image light) passes through layer 92 to the camera or other optical sensor. As an example, the amount of image distortion imposed by layer 92 (e.g., stretching, shifting, keystoning, barrel distortion, pincushion distortion, and/or other optical distortion) may be measured and characterized for each optical component that operates through layer 92 (e.g., through a portion of layer 92 in inactive area IA that has inner and/or outer surfaces of compound curvature). During operation of device 10, the image data captured by a camera and/or other sensor data that is gathered by an optical component overlapped by layer 92 may be compensated accordingly (e.g., an equal and opposite amount of digital image warping may be applied to the captured image data, thereby removing the known distortion effects of layer 92). In this way, high quality (undistorted) images and/or other sensor data may be gathered by cameras and/or other optical components that operate through curved portions of layer 92. This allows layer 92 to be provided with an attractive shape (e.g., a shape with one or more surfaces characterized by compound curvature).
When assembled into device 10, display cover layer 92 and shroud 102 (and optionally layer 130) may be mounted to an exposed edge portion of a polymer housing structure, a metal housing wall, or other housing structure in main housing portion 26M. As an example, main housing portion 26M may have a polymer sidewall member that runs around the periphery of display cover layer 92 and that supports the peripheral edge of display cover layer 92. Shroud 102 may have a ring shape that runs along the edge of display cover layer 92 in inactive area IA. In an illustrative configuration, adhesive is used to attach display cover layer 92 to shroud 102 (and/or layer 130) and adhesive is used to attach shroud 102 (and/or layer 130) to the exposed front edge of the sidewall in main housing portion 26M. Components 104 may be attached to shroud 102 (and/or layer 130) and/or may be supported on internal housing structures (e.g., brackets, frame members, etc.) in alignment with optical windows in shroud 102 (and/or layer 130) and corresponding portions of layer 92.
An air gap such as gap 114 may separate display panel 14P of display 14F from display cover layer 92. Optional layer 130 may be formed within gap 114 of
Coatings may be provided on one or more of the layers in display cover layer 92. As shown in the illustrative configuration of
To help strengthen layer 92, layer 108 may be formed from chemically strengthened glass (e.g., a glass layer that has been treated in an ion-exchange bath to place the exterior surfaces of the glass layer under compression relative to the interior of the glass layer). This may help layer 108 resist scratching and cracks. Layer 108 may be formed from a single glass layer, a single polymer layer, a stack of two laminated glass layers (e.g., first and second glass layers laminated together with a layer of polymer), a stack of two polymer layers, three or more polymer and/or glass layers, etc. If desired, layer 108 may be formed from a hybrid stack of layers that includes one or more glass layers attached to one or more polymer layers. As an example, layer 92 may include a rigid structural polymer layer that is covered with a thin glass layer (e.g., a glass layer attached to the structural polymer layer using heat and/or pressure or a glass layer attached to the structural polymer layer using a layer of polymer adhesive). The thin glass layer in this type of arrangement may help protect the structural polymer layer from scratches.
One or more of the structures in layer 92 (e.g., coating 110, the layer(s) forming layer 108, layer 112, optional layer 130, etc.) may, if desired, be provided with a dye, pigment, or other colorant that creates a desired neutral tint (e.g., gray or black) or non-neutral tint (e.g., red). Thin metal coatings, polarizers, and/or other structures may also be incorporated into layer 92 to help provide layer 92 with desired optical properties and/or to provide layer 92 with a desired external appearance.
If desired, the portion of layer 92 that overlaps optical components 104 and/or other portions of layer 92 may be provided with a coating that helps prevent scratches that could adversely affect optical quality for components 104. As shown in
Another way in which to help prevent undesired scratches on the surface of display cover layer 92 where layer 92 overlaps optical components 104 is illustrated in the cross-sectional side view of display cover layer 92 of
Layer 92 may be formed from materials having optical properties that are compatible with overlapped optical components 104. For example, if an optical component that is overlapped by a portion of layer 92 in inactive area IA is configured to operate at visible and infrared wavelengths, that portion of layer 92 may be provided with sufficient visible light and infrared light transparency to allow the overlapped component to operate satisfactorily at visible and infrared wavelengths. In arrangements in which the material from the bulk of layer 92 does not have desired optical properties for an optical component, an optical component window member (e.g., a disk of window material such as a disk of infrared-transparent and, if desired, visible-transparent glass or other inserted window member) may be mounted within an opening in layer 92 overlapping the optical component.
Consider, as an example, an arrangement in which layer 92 is transparent to visible light but has low transmission at infrared wavelengths. An optical component in this type of arrangement may operate at infrared wavelengths. To ensure that the optical component can transmit and/or receive infrared light through layer 92, layer 92 may be provided with a through-hole opening and an infrared-transparent optical component window member such as an infrared-transparent disk. The infrared-transparent window member may be formed from a different material than the material forming layer 92 and may be mounted within the through-hole opening in layer 92. This type of arrangement is shown in the cross-sectional side view of
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 panel that has pixels configured to display an image; and a display cover layer overlapping the publicly viewable forward-facing display panel, the display cover layer has a compound-curvature surface overlapping the pixels.
In accordance with another embodiment, the publicly viewable forward-facing display panel includes a flexible display panel on which the pixels are located, the flexible display panel is bent about a bend axis, and the head-mounted support structure has a curved rear surface configured to conform to a curved face surface.
In accordance with another embodiment, the display cover layer includes a glass layer.
In accordance with another embodiment, the head-mounted device includes a polymer layer between the glass layer and the flexible display panel, a first air gap separates the polymer layer from the glass layer, and a second air gaps separates the flexible display panel from the polymer layer.
In accordance with another embodiment, the display cover layer includes an antireflection coating on the glass layer.
In accordance with another embodiment, the head-mounted device includes optical components overlapped by a portion of the display cover layer with the compound-curvature surface.
In accordance with another embodiment, the optical components include cameras, the head-mounted device includes a ring-shaped polymer member forming a cosmetic covering structure that overlaps the cameras and that surrounds the pixels.
In accordance with another embodiment, the display cover layer includes a polymer layer with a recess that overlaps a given one of the optical components.
In accordance with another embodiment, the optical components include a flicker sensor and an ambient light sensor.
In accordance with another embodiment, the optical components include pose cameras configured to measure device motion and scene cameras configured to capture real-time pass-through video that is displayed on the rear-facing displays.
In accordance with another embodiment, the optical components include a pair of structured light cameras and a time-of-flight camera.
In accordance with another embodiment, the display cover layer includes a polymer layer having a through-hole opening containing an infrared-transparent window member that overlaps one of the optical components.
In accordance with another embodiment, the head-mounted device includes a scratch-resistant hard coat on the display cover layer.
In accordance with another embodiment, the forward-facing display panel includes lenticular lenses.
In accordance with another embodiment, the forward-facing display panel has a nose bridge recess.
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 panel facing away from the left and right displays, the publicly viewable display panel has pixels configured to display a publicly viewable image; and a display cover layer, a first portion of the display cover layer overlaps that pixels, a second portion of the display cover layer surrounds the first portion of the display cover layer in a ring shape without overlapping the pixels, and the second portion of the display cover layer has a surface with compound curvature.
In accordance with another embodiment, the head-mounted device includes an ambient light sensor overlapped by the second portion of the display cover layer, a light source overlapped by the second portion of the display cover layer that is configured to provide infrared illumination in response to an ambient light measurement with the ambient light sensor, and a pair of cameras that are overlapped by the second portion of the display cover layer and that are configured to capture infrared images while the infrared illumination is provided.
In accordance with another embodiment, the publicly viewable display panel is bent about a bend axis.
In accordance with another embodiment, the second portion of the display cover layer has a curved peripheral edge.
In accordance with another embodiment, the display cover layer includes laminated glass.
In accordance with another embodiment, the pixels form an active display area in which the publicly viewable image is displayed, the active display area has a curved peripheral edge, and the active area has a nose-bridge recess.
In accordance with another embodiment, the head-mounted device includes an antireflection coating on the laminated glass and an optical components that emits infrared light through the display cover layer.
In accordance with another embodiment, the optical component includes a structured light three-dimensional camera.
In accordance with another embodiment, the first portion of the display cover layer has a surface of compound curvature.
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 that faces away from the first and second displays; and a display cover layer that overlaps the forward-facing display and that has a portion with a compound-curvature surface.
In accordance with another embodiment, the forward-facing display includes a flexible display panel that is bent about a bend axis and has a developable surface.
In accordance with another embodiment, the display cover layer has a portion that overlaps the flexible display panel and that has a developable surface.
In accordance with another embodiment, the display cover layer is covered with surfaces of compound curvature.
In accordance with an embodiment, a head-mounted device having a front and rear is provided that includes a head-mounted housing having a front housing layer at the front; a first display and a first lens that are supported by the head-mounted housing and that are configured to provide a first image to a first eye box at the rear; a second display and a second lens that are supported by the head-mounted housing and that are configured to provide a second image to a second eye box at the rear; an optical component that is overlapped by a portion of the front housing layer that has a compound-curvature surface.
In accordance with another embodiment, the head-mounted device includes a bent display panel configured to produce an image viewable through a portion of the front housing layer.
In accordance with another embodiment, the front housing layer includes a display cover layer and the compound-curvature surface includes an outer surface of the display cover layer that covers all of the display cover layer.
In accordance with another embodiment, the optical component includes a camera configured to operate through the display cover layer.
In accordance with an embodiment, a head-mounted device having a front and rear is provided that includes a head-mounted housing; a first display and a first lens in the head-mounted housing that are configured to provide a first image to a first eye box at the rear; a second display and a second lens in the head-mounted housing that are configured to provide a second image to a second eye box at the rear; a display panel that has a curved cross-sectional profile and a developable surface; and a display cover layer at the front that overlaps that bent display panel, the display cover layer has opposing inner and outer surfaces, the outer surface has compound curvature, the inner surface is a developable surface, and the display panel is attached to the inner surface of the display cover layer.
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/US2021/049402, filed Sep. 8, 2021, which claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 63/081,222, filed Sep. 21, 2020, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63081222 | Sep 2020 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/US2021/049402 | Sep 2021 | US |
| Child | 18179319 | US |
