JP2010124339A - Head-mounted display - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attach an HMD to a general article compared with glasses. <P>SOLUTION: The HMD can be attached to a brim of a cap X. The HMD includes: a display part 100 for projecting image light of an image to eyes of a user; a fixation part 300 structured to be fixed to the brim of the cap X; and an arm 200 with its one end connected to the display part 100 and the other end connected to the fixation part 300, respectively. The arm 200 includes a ball joint 230 at an intermediate position in its longitudinal direction. The user can freely adjust the position and angle of the display part 100 of the HMD attached to the cap X. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a head mounted display.

  A head-mounted display (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “HMD”) that is used by being worn on the body such as the head and displays an image in front of the user's eyes is used in various fields including virtual reality. It's being used. The HMD is usually configured to display only an image while blocking external light, and is generally formed in a goggle shape or a frame shape of large glasses. When the HMD is used, the user can see the image regardless of the direction, but cannot see the outside world.

In recent years, a small HMD has been proposed in which an image is displayed in a part of the field of view so that both the outside world and the image can be seen.
This type of HMD is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-209600. The image display device is configured such that a display unit for projecting image light of an image, such as a liquid crystal display device (LCD), a reflection mirror, and an eyepiece lens, is accommodated in one housing. A clip is attached to the housing, and the clip is attached to a frame of glasses or sunglasses. The housing is attached to the upper outer side of the frame of the spectacles. The image light of the image displayed on the LCD is reflected by the reflection mirror and transmitted through the eyepiece lens and the spectacle lens. One eye is given from obliquely above the eye.

  The applicant of the present application has also proposed the same type of HMD in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-054618. This HMD includes a housing that houses a display unit for projecting image light of an image to a user's eyes, and is fixed to a smooth surface that the spectacle lens necessarily has.

These HMDs can be used in daily life scenes because they can choose between seeing the outside world or seeing images by moving their line of sight, and are highly valuable in that they are not particularly questioned indoors or outdoors.
Therefore, such an image display device reproduces sound, and may be applicable to applications such as a video version of a portable headphone stereo that greatly changes the lifestyle of young people.

By the way, although all the above-mentioned HMDs have a difference in where they are fixed to the glasses, they are detachably fixed to the glasses. This is because it is convenient to use glasses used by many people when positioning the display unit of the HMD in the vicinity of the user's eyes.
However, although it is used by many people, not everyone wears glasses. There are certain exceptions such as sunglasses and Date glasses, but glasses are basically for adjusting eyesight, so they are not necessarily owned by everyone, and are highly fashionable products. There are a certain number of people who don't like to wear.

  Considering this reason and the fact that glasses are generally expensive, the above-mentioned HMD that forces the purchase of eyeglasses when a person who does not have eyeglasses uses HMD is an unfavorable part. have. In addition, the above-mentioned HMD is not suitable for everyone in this respect because it requires wearing glasses when using it.

  The present invention solves the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a small HMD that can be attached to a user's head or the vicinity thereof without using glasses.

  The inventor of the present application proposes the following head mounted display as an invention that can solve the above-described problems.

The head-mounted display according to the present invention has a display unit that projects image light of an image onto the user's eye at the tip, and an arm that includes a fixing unit that can be detachably fixed to the collar of the cap at the base end. It is a head mounted display.
The arm of the head mounted display is configured so that the relative positional relationship and angle between the base end portion and the tip end portion can be changed.
As described above, the conventional head mounted display is such that the display unit is fixed to the glasses. On the other hand, this head-mounted display is fixed to the collar of the hat. There are many people who own hats compared to glasses whose main user is a person with bad eyes, and even if they are purchased to use a head-mounted display, hats are often cheaper than glasses. Hats are also fashionable, but generally they are less anxious about wearing than glasses that cover a part of the face. Therefore, this head-mounted display is more suitable for everyone than those fixed to eyeglasses.
As described above, this head mounted display is fixed to the cap collar. In order to make this possible, the head-mounted display includes an arm having a display portion connected to the distal end and a fixed portion connected to the proximal end. Since the arm is configured so that the relative positional relationship and angle between the base end portion and the tip end portion can be changed, the display unit of this head-mounted display can be attached to a spectacle lens or the like without an arm. Similar to the conventional head-mounted display that can be used, in use, it can be positioned at a position suitable for projecting image light to the user's eyes, such as in front of the user's eyes.
In addition, the hat in this invention should just be provided with the collar, and may be a cap and a hat, and may not have a crown like a sun visor.

As described above, the arm of the head mounted display is configured so that the relative positional relationship and angle between the base end portion and the tip end portion can be changed. The arm can be constituted by, for example, a wire, a resin, or the like having a strength that can support the weight of the display unit, or a combination thereof. In this case, the arm is bent at a free portion in its length direction, and the display unit is positioned at a position suitable for projecting image light of an image to the user's eye. The arm can also be constituted by a bellows tube. The arm in this case can also be bent at a free portion in its length direction.
The arm may also include a joint portion for changing the relative positional relationship and angle between the proximal end portion and the distal end portion between the distal end and the proximal end. The joint portion may be configured in any manner, but can be a universal joint represented by a ball joint. In the case of a ball joint, it is easy not only to change the relative positional relationship between the base end portion and the tip end portion of the arm, but also to change the angle between them. The number of joint portions is not necessarily one, and may be two or more. At least one of the display unit and the fixed unit may be connected to the arm via the joint unit. If there are a plurality of joint portions, the relative positional relationship and angle between the proximal end portion and the distal end portion of the arm can be easily adjusted. When there are a plurality of joints, it is not necessary that all joints adopt the same configuration.

  Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  The HMD in this embodiment includes, for example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a display unit 100, an arm 200 to which the display unit 100 is connected to the tip thereof, and a fixed unit to which the base end of the arm 200 is connected 300. 1 is a front view including a partial perspective view of the HMD, and FIG. 2 is a plan view including a partial perspective view of the HMD.

The display unit 100 includes a main body unit 110 and a display unit 120.
The main body 110 is made of a resin in this embodiment, and includes a hollow main body case 111 that is an elongated rectangular parallelepiped shape in this embodiment. The main body 110 is not necessarily limited to this, but has a rectangular cross section and has an elongated shape extending in a direction substantially along the front-rear direction during use.
A motor 112, a worm gear 113, a moving body 114, and a main body control board 115 are built in the main body case 111 of this embodiment. The main body case 111 is provided with rails 117, leaf springs 118, and connecting bodies 119.
A cylindrical convex portion 116 is provided on the right outer surface of the main body case 111 in FIG. The convex portion 116 is used to connect the arm 200 and the display unit 100. The convex portion 116 has a barrel shape in which the diameter of the central portion in the thickness direction is slightly larger than the diameter of both end portions in the thickness direction.

The motor 112 generates a driving force, and a power source (not shown) (generally, a battery is employed. In this embodiment, the battery is arranged in the main body case 111, but the illustration thereof is omitted. ) Is driven by the electric power supplied from). The motor 112 includes a motor shaft 112A, and the motor shaft 112A can be rotated in an arbitrary direction.
The worm gear 113 is arranged along the length direction of the main body case 111. The worm gear 113 has a cylindrical shape, and the outer peripheral surface thereof is threaded. The tip of the motor shaft 112A described above is embedded and fixed at the center of the end surface of the worm gear 113 near the motor 112. Therefore, when the motor 112 is driven and the motor shaft 112A rotates, the worm gear 113 rotates around the shaft accordingly.
The moving body 114 is in contact with the worm gear 113 and moves in the longitudinal direction of the worm gear 113 as the worm gear 113 rotates. In this embodiment, the moving body 114 is arranged above the worm gear 113 so as to be in contact with the worm gear 113 when the HMD is used. The lower surface of the moving body 114 is threaded so as to mesh with the outer peripheral surface of the threaded worm gear 113. Accordingly, the moving body 114 moves along the length direction of the worm gear 113 as the worm gear 113 rotates. Note that the moving direction of the moving body 114 varies depending on the rotation direction of the worm gear 113.
The main body control board 115 controls the motor 112. The main body control board 115 includes an antenna (not shown). The antenna can receive a signal including the operation contents of a switch (not shown) provided on a remote controller (not shown). The signal instructs to start driving the motor 112, and includes the content indicating which direction the motor shaft 112A is rotated. When the main body control board 115 receives this signal from the remote controller in response to the operation of the switch, the main body control board 115 drives the motor 112 according to the content of the signal. In this embodiment, data transmission from an external remote controller to the main body control board 115 is performed wirelessly, but this can also be performed by wire. In this embodiment, the switch is provided on the remote controller outside the main body 110, but it can also be provided on the main body 110 or the display unit 120.

As shown in FIG. 3, the rail 117 has a substantially U-shaped cross section with an open top and has a groove. FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing the periphery of the rail 117 as seen from the rear side (back side) when in use.
The rail 117 extends in the front-rear direction of the HMD when in use, and is gently curved so that the tip thereof is in front of the user's eyes. The base end of the rail 117 is fixed to the main body 110. The rail 117 guides the leaf spring 118.
The leaf spring 118 is a plate-like metal plate having a strong spring property that is about half the length of the rail 117. As shown in FIG. 3, the leaf spring 118 is fitted in the groove of the rail 117 so that its width direction extends in the vertical direction of the rail 117. The base end of the leaf spring 118 is fixed to the connection body 119.
The connection body 119 is a component for connecting the moving body 114 and the leaf spring 118, and is formed in a plate shape. The connecting body 119 has a portion connected to the leaf spring 118 through a slit 111A provided in the main body case 111 so as to correspond to the length of the worm gear 113 that is the moving range of the moving body 114. It is exposed to the outside of the case 111.

Next, the display unit 120 will be described.
The display unit 120 includes a connection unit 121. The connection unit 121 connects the leaf spring 118 and a display unit case 122 described later.
The connection unit 121 is connected to the tip of the leaf spring 118 at the base end. Further, the connection unit 121 includes a ball member 123 including a spherical member at the tip of a rod-shaped member.
The display unit case 122 is made of resin in this embodiment, and has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape in this embodiment. The display unit case 122 is hollow. A receiving hole 122 </ b> A whose inner surface has a curved shape along the outer surface of the spherical member at the tip of the ball member 123 is provided on the base end side surface of the display unit case 122. The display case 122 is fixed to the connection unit 121 by fitting the above-described spherical member at the tip of the ball member 123 into the receiving hole 122A. The ball member 123 of the connection unit 121 and the receiving hole 122A of the display unit case 122 cooperate to form a ball joint. Therefore, the display unit case 122 can be changed in angle with respect to the connection unit 121 and can be positioned at an arbitrary angle.

A display unit control board 124, a display 125, and a free curved surface prism 126 are provided inside the display unit case 122.
The display unit control board 124 controls the display on the display 125. The display unit control board 124 sends data for displaying an image to the display 125 and causes the display 125 to display an appropriate image. The display unit control board 124 receives data about the image from the outside of the display unit case 122 and displays it on the display 125. In order to receive such data wirelessly, the display unit control board 124 of this embodiment has a built-in antenna. However, the display unit control board 124 may be configured to receive such data by wire.
Image data received by the display unit control board 124 is received from, for example, a controller. Specifically, image data sent wirelessly from a memory or hard disk provided in the controller, or television image data received wirelessly via a tuner provided in the controller. The display unit control board 124 receives it.
The display 125 is a liquid crystal display in this embodiment. When the display 125 displays an image, the light for the image is sent to the free curved surface prism 126.

The free curved surface prism 126 is a prism surrounded by a curved surface having a substantially triangular cross section. The free-form surface prism 126 reflects light twice in the inside thereof, thereby changing the direction of the incoming light and expanding the incoming light. Simply put, the free-form surface prism 126 has both prism and lens functions. The free-form surface prism 126 in this embodiment sends light from the display 125 to the user's eyes. In this process, the light on the image is magnified, so that the user sees the image displayed on the display 125 with the magnified appropriate size.
Note that a hole 122B having an appropriate size is formed in the display unit case 122 so that light can be transmitted from the free-form curved prism 126 to the user's eyes.

In this embodiment, the arm 200 includes two rod-like members 210 and 220 that are made of resin and have a rod-like shape. The rod-shaped member 210 is positioned on the distal end side of the arm 200, and the rod-shaped member 220 is positioned on the proximal end side of the arm 200. A ball joint 230 is provided at the base end of the rod-shaped member 210. The base end of the rod-shaped member 210 and the tip end of the rod-shaped member 220 are connected via the ball joint 230.
In the range of a predetermined length from the tip of the rod-shaped member 210, a plane not shown is made. And the hole is provided in the plane. By inserting the convex portion 116 described above into this hole, the tip of the rod-like member 210 is connected to the main body case 111 of the display unit 100. The shape of the inner peripheral surface of the hole corresponds to the convex part 116 formed in a barrel shape. By inserting the protrusion 116 into the hole while deforming both the hole of the resin rod-shaped member 210 and the resin protrusion 116, the protrusion 116 is accommodated in the hole without dropping. . In this state, the rod-like member 210 and the main body case 111 can be relatively rotated around the axis of the convex portion 116 and can be fixed at a desired position.
A ball joint 240 is connected to the base end of the rod-shaped member 220.

A fixed portion 300 is connected to the ball joint 240 connected to the base end of the rod-shaped member 220. The fixing part 300 can be fixed to the collar of the hat. If that is possible, the structure of the fixing | fixed part 300 does not ask | require a detail.
In this embodiment, the fixing unit 300 is configured by a clip that is configured in the same manner as a widely used one. The fixing portion 300 is configured such that the pinching portion at the tip thereof is opened by bringing the knob portion at the rear end thereof close with a finger, and the pinching portion at the tip is closed by a biasing force generally given by a spring when the finger is released. .

Next, a method for using this HMD will be described.
The user who uses this HMD uses it while wearing the hat X. The user attaches the HMD to the collar of the hat X. The HMD is attached to the collar of the cap X using the fixing portion 300. Specifically, such fixing is performed with a clip constituting the fixing unit 300 (FIGS. 4 and 5).

In this state, the display unit 120 of the HMD is at the position (standby position) shown in FIG.
Here, the user operates a controller switch (not shown) to move the display unit 120. The controller generates a signal instructing to move the display unit 120 and sends it to the main body control board 115. The main body control board 115 receives the signal by an antenna incorporated therein and drives the motor 112.
When the motor 112 is driven, the motor shaft 112A of the motor 112 rotates and the worm gear 113 rotates. Accordingly, the moving body 114 starts moving in the forward direction (upward in FIG. 6A). When the moving body 114 moves, the connection body 119 connected to the moving body 114, the leaf spring 118 whose base end is connected to the connection body 119, and the display unit 120 attached to the distal end of the leaf spring 118. Moves upward in FIG.
By the way, as described above, the rail 117 is curved so that the tip thereof is directed to the front of the user's eyes. Therefore, when the movable body 114 reaches the front end side (upper side in FIG. 6) of the worm gear 113 shown in FIG. 6B, the leaf spring 118 bends so that the front end faces the front of the user's eyes. As a result, the display unit 120 changes its orientation by about 90 ° compared to when the display unit 120 is in the standby position, and directly faces the user's eyes (the user's eyes are connected with the top and bottom of the eyes). It becomes almost parallel to the straight line). As described above, the leaf spring 118 has a strong spring property. In the state shown in FIG. 6B, the leaf spring 118 tends to extend toward the outer side of the curve of the rail 117. In other words, the inner surface of the groove is pressed against the surface located outside the curve. As a result, the leaf spring 118 can stably maintain the shape shown in FIG. 6B, whereby the display unit 120 can be securely held. Incidentally, the position where the display unit 120 shown in FIG. 6B exists is the use position. The display unit 120 is automatically positioned at the use position by operating the switch.
The use position of the display unit 120 may be changed when the user desires. For example, information on how far the moving body 114 is moved when the display unit 120 is moved to the use position is recorded in, for example, a memory (not shown) included in the main body control board 115 or a memory (not shown) inside the controller. This can easily be realized.

In this state, the user adjusts the position and angle of the display unit case 122 included in the display unit 120 by appropriately adjusting the arm 300 and using the above-described ball joint connected to the display unit case 122. . As a result, the user can correctly form the image light of the image displayed on the display unit 120 on his / her own eye. The image light travels toward the user's eyes along a path along the arrow indicated by the symbol L in FIG. The adjustment of the position and angle of the display unit case 122 is not required to be frequently performed once it is performed, and thus it is difficult for the user to be burdened.
Note that the user can adjust the orientation and angle of the HMD with respect to the user's eyes while viewing the image, for example.

In this state, the user can send data about the image from the controller to the display unit 120 by operating the controller.
The display unit control board 124 in the display unit 120 receives the data with an antenna built in the display unit 120 and sends the data to the display 125. The display 125 displays an image based on the data. The light for the image displayed on the display 125 exits the display 125, passes through the free-form surface prism 126, and reaches the user's eyes. Thereby, the user can see the image.

When the user finishes viewing the image, the user stops transmission of data from the controller to the display unit 120 and operates a switch of a controller (not shown) to move the display unit 120 to the standby position. The controller generates a signal instructing to move the display unit 120 and sends it to the main body control board 115. The main body control board 115 receives the signal by an antenna incorporated therein and drives the motor 112.
When the motor 112 is driven, the motor shaft 112A of the motor 112 rotates in the opposite direction to the previous case, and accordingly, the worm gear 113 rotates in the opposite direction. Accordingly, the moving body 114 starts moving downward in FIG. 6B. When the moving body 114 moves, the connecting body 119, the leaf spring 118, and the display unit 120 move rearward (downward in FIG. 6B). Thereby, the display unit 120 returns to the standby position shown in FIG.

  In this state, the user may remove the HMD from the hat X or leave it as it is. Moreover, the user may remove the hat X regardless of whether or not the HMD is removed from the hat X, or may continue wearing it.

In the above embodiment, the display unit 100 includes the main body unit 110 and the display unit 120, and the display unit 120 is to move back and forth with respect to the main body unit 110. It does not have to be. Furthermore, the main body 110 can be omitted. In this case, the tip of the arm 300 is directly connected to the display unit 120.
In this embodiment, there is also one ball joint provided in the middle portion of the arm 300 in the longitudinal direction, one ball joint is provided at the base end of the arm, and a joint that is not a ball joint at the tip of the arm. One is provided. However, it is possible to use a plurality of ball joints provided in the middle portion of the arm 300 in the length direction. In addition, the ball joint provided at the middle part of the arm 300 in the length direction, the ball joint provided at the front and rear ends of the arm, or any other joint may be a ball joint or other than the ball joint. It can be a joint.

The front view including the partial perspective view of HMD by one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view including a partial perspective view of the HMD shown in FIG. 1. The figure which showed roughly the state which looked at the periphery of the rail of HMD shown in FIG. 1 from back. The front view which shows the state which attached the HMD shown in FIG. 1 to the cap. The side view which shows the state which attached the HMD shown in FIG. 1 to the cap. It is a plane sectional view showing HMD shown in Drawing 1, (a) is a figure showing the state where a display part is in a stand-by position, and (b) is a figure showing the state where a display part is in a use position.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Display part 110 Main body part 112 Motor 113 Worm gear 114 Moving body 116 Convex part 117 Rail 118 Leaf spring 120 Display part 125 Display 126 Free-form surface prism 200 Arm 210 Bar-shaped member 220 Bar-shaped member 230, 240 Ball joint 300 Fixed part

Claims (5)

It is a head-mounted display that has an arm that includes a display unit that projects image light of an image to the user's eye at the tip and a fixing unit that can be detachably fixed to the collar of the cap at the base end. And
The arm is configured to change the relative positional relationship and angle between the proximal end portion and the distal end portion thereof,
Head mounted display. The arm includes a joint portion for changing a relative positional relationship and an angle between the proximal end portion and the distal end portion between the distal end and the proximal end.
The head mounted display according to claim 1. A plurality of the joints;
The head mounted display according to claim 2. The joint is a universal joint;
The head mounted display according to claim 2 or 3. At least one of the display unit and the fixed unit is connected to the arm via the joint unit,
The head mounted display in any one of Claims 2-4.

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