CA2280022A1 - Contact lens for the display of information such as text, graphics, or pictures - Google Patents
Contact lens for the display of information such as text, graphics, or pictures Download PDFInfo
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- CA2280022A1 CA2280022A1 CA002280022A CA2280022A CA2280022A1 CA 2280022 A1 CA2280022 A1 CA 2280022A1 CA 002280022 A CA002280022 A CA 002280022A CA 2280022 A CA2280022 A CA 2280022A CA 2280022 A1 CA2280022 A1 CA 2280022A1
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- contact lens
- light
- information display
- display
- wearer
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Classifications
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
- G02B27/01—Head-up displays
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
- G02B27/01—Head-up displays
- G02B27/017—Head mounted
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
- G02B27/01—Head-up displays
- G02B27/017—Head mounted
- G02B27/0172—Head mounted characterised by optical features
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B5/00—Optical elements other than lenses
- G02B5/32—Holograms used as optical elements
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02C—SPECTACLES; SUNGLASSES OR GOGGLES INSOFAR AS THEY HAVE THE SAME FEATURES AS SPECTACLES; CONTACT LENSES
- G02C7/00—Optical parts
- G02C7/02—Lenses; Lens systems ; Methods of designing lenses
- G02C7/04—Contact lenses for the eyes
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
- G02B27/01—Head-up displays
- G02B27/017—Head mounted
- G02B27/0172—Head mounted characterised by optical features
- G02B2027/0174—Head mounted characterised by optical features holographic
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
- G02B27/01—Head-up displays
- G02B27/017—Head mounted
- G02B2027/0178—Eyeglass type
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- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Optics & Photonics (AREA)
- Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Ophthalmology & Optometry (AREA)
- General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
Abstract
The Contact Display is a system that allows the wearer to privately view an information display, such as a computer screen, or a camera viewfinder showing image data (e.g, live video or still pictures). The display allows the wearer to privately view text, graphics, or video while simultaneously maintaining eve contact with others.
For example, the wearer can look directly at another person, maintaining full eye contact, while at the same time having increased situational awareness lay way of the video feed from a camera.
For example, the wearer can look directly at another person, maintaining full eye contact, while at the same time having increased situational awareness lay way of the video feed from a camera.
Description
Patent Application of W. Steve G. Mann for CONTACT LENS FOR THE DISPLAY OF INFORMATION SUCH AS
TEXT, GRAPHICS, OR PICTURES
of which the following is a specification:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains generally to a data display that provides the wearer with a view of a computer screen, text, graphics, picture data, or the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In photography (and in movie and video production), it is desirable to capture events in a. natural manner with minimal intervention and disturbance. Thus a display device that will show pictt.ire information (motion pictures, still pictures, etc.) is of great use. Other hinds of data are also useful. For exannple, it is useful to be able to look up the book value of a used car while negotiating with a possibly dishonest used car salesman, or to consult legal documents while talking with a corrupt politician.
Current state-of-the-art data displays a,re cumbersome, and, at the very least, create a visual disturbance to others. The act of looking at such displays attracts considerable attention, whether looking clown at a handheld display, or bringing a device such as an eyes°up viewfinder ttp to the eye. Even if the size of the device could be reduced to the point of being negligible (e.g. no bigger than the. just the eyecup portion of a typical camera viewfinder, for example), the very gesture of holding a.
device up to, or bringing a. device up to the eye is unnatural and attracts considerable.
attention, creating a disturbance to normal activities.
Wearable displays such as virtual reality headsets, and their portable counterparts (smaller and lighter monocular displays) still obstruct natural eye contact, and are still obvious to others.
Moreover, there a,re numerous people who don't like the idea of wearing eyeglasses, no matter how lightweight. Therefore adding further weight to eyeglasses is unaccept-able for a large number of people, especially those who don't like wearing eyeglasses to begin with.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention in one aspect comprises a contact lens with diffractor and orienter, so that the orienter will keep the diffractor oriented the right way, allowing the wearer of such a contact lens to see display data, text, graphics, pic-tures, or the like, while maintaining full eye contact with another person.
Preferably the orienter is a weighting in the contact lens so that gravity will tend to keep it ori-ented in a particular way. Preferably the diffractor is a holographic optical element, e.g. a. diffraction grating. Preferably the diffraction grating is of the Leith Upatnieks variety, e.g. one that is an off axis transmission hologram (formed by having the object and reference beams on the same side of the contact lens during construction.
Preferably the contact lens will diffract light arriving from approximately 45 degrees off-axis, from a. special monochromatic display device, such that the light will bend directly onto the optical axis, so that a.n image of the display device will appear directly in front of the wearer of the contact lens.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a diffractor com-prising a superposition of a plurality of sets of fringes, one for each of a plurality of colour channels. Preferably there are three colour channels, one for each of red, green, and blue.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaa blurry information display aaa. clod:
a.aa BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of examples which in no way are meant to limit the scope of the invention, but, rather, these.
examples will serve to illustrate the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 illustrates the use of the Contact Display while the wearer maintains eye contact with another person.
FIG. 2a illustrates the manufacture of the Contact Display lens with no change in focus (only change in direction).
FIG. 2a illustrates the manufacture of the Contact Display lens with change in focus (to help the wearer focus on closer objects, or to make the image severely out of focus in the case of a teleview type display system).
FIG. 3 shows the problem of colour abasing, so that the reader can better under-stand low it Inav be overcome with a. trichrornatic displa,v system.
FIG. 4 illustrates how three sets of hinges are superimposed into a single contact lens during manufacture.
FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the Contact Display with a contact lens that is only diffractive in the central region, so that it does not appreciably cloud the wearer's vIS10I1.
FIG. 6 shows the teleview display that is based on a contact lens with change of focus so severe that light is extremely out of focus to the extent that a large circle of confusion results, with the display of data appearing sharply defined within this circle of confusion.
FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of the teleview display where there are multiple output beams so that the user can choose to look into any one of these to experience a large blurry circle of confusion in which t;he sharp well defined image data appears.
FIG. 8a shows an electromagnetically powered contact lens.
FIG. 8b shows the schematic and timing waveforms of the electromagnetically powered contact lens.
FIG. 8c shows a photonically powered contact lens.
FIG. 8d shows the schematic and timing waveforms of the photonica,lly powered contact lens.
FIG. 9a shows a photonically powered contact lens driven by a light source con-cealed in a baseball cap.
FIG. 9b shows a photonically powered contact lens driven by a light source con-cealed in a. eyeglasses worn in addition to the contact lens, where the eyeglasses also contain an eye tap camera,.
FICx. 9c shows a. photonically powered contact lens driven by a. light source also bearing information to which a spatial light modulator inside the contact lens is sensitive.
FIG. 9d shows a. photonically powered contact lens clock.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
While the invention shall now be described, in detail, with reference to the pre-ferred embodiments shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the descrip-tion is not to limit the invention only to the particular embodiments shown but rather to cover all alterations, modifications and equivalent arrangements possible within the scope of the appended claims.
When it is said that object "A'' is ''borne" by object "B", this shall include the possibilities that A is attached to B, that A is bonded onto the surface of B, that A
is imbedded inside B, that A is part of B, that; A is built into B, or that A
is B.
FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting a contact lens 100 incorporating a diffractor.
The optical axis 101 of the contact lens 100 defines the central axis of sight 102. In this way, the. optical axis 101 of lens 100 is assumed to correspond approximately with .5 the optical axis of the eye 110 of the wearer of the contact lens, a,nd thus both are denoted as common optical axis 101.
Rays of incoming light 102 entering the eye pass through contact lens 100 and are not appreciably affected or distorted by contact lens 100. Likewise, rays of light 103 leaving the eye of the wearer can be seen by another person 104, so that the other person 104 does not see anything unusual in the appearance of contact lens 100.
While the wearer of contact lens 100 is looking straight ahead, he or she can also see the screen of a handheld device 130, held downard and in front of the wearer of lens 100 by the wearer of lens 100. The screen of handheld device 130 comprises backlight 131 and spatial light modulator 132. Backlight 131 may be switcha.ble from regular white light to coherent red laser light or other narrowband light, typically red or green, during off axis covert viewing as depicted in Fig 1.
Alternatively, a red filter 1:33 may be disposed on the sv.irface of the screen of the handheld device 130. In either case, a point 140 on the screen of device 130 radiates light in various directions. Some of these rays 141 of light go from point 140 to contact lens 100, a,nd shine through contact lens 100. C'on tact lens 100 contains a diffractor, comprising fringes 120 that diffract the particular wavelength of light of rays 141, so that rays 141 bend when passing through contact lens 100 a.nd emerge as diffracted rays 142.
These ra,y-s 142 are focused by the lens 111 of eye 110 onto a. point on the retina 143.
Thus the point 140 of illumination on the display of device 130 is imaged as a point on the retina 143, and appears superimposed upon the center of the wearer's field of view superimposed on the. image of the person 140.
Another point 150 on the display of device 130 also produces rays 1.50 of light, some of which pass through contact lens 100 and are diffracted to emerge as rays 152, focused by the lens 111 of eye 110, to form a point 153 on the retina of eye 110.
Obviously Fig 1 is not drawn to scale. Eye 110 is enlarged relative to person 104.
Also the fringes 120 are enlarged relative to a wavelength of red light, or the. like, etc.. Subsequent figures in this disclosure are also not necessarily drawn to scale for similar and obvious reasons.
FIG. 2 depicts a manufacture of lens 100 in a one-off process. Rays of light from a wavefront of light 201 are made to interfere with rays of light 210 from a wavefront 211. Rays 200 and rays 210 are preferably from a laser light source, and are both derived from the same light source, with path length difference well within the coherence length of the laser (preferably path lengths are approximately equal).
Rays 200 a,nd 210 interfere in lens 100 to form fringes 120.
Lens 100 may be made from or contain a photopolymer. A satisfactory polymer is the DuPont Photopolymer, which is exposed to laser light to establish the fringes, and then cured under ultraviolet light. Because the. DuPont Photopolymer may adversely affect the mucous membranes of the eye, the contact lens is preferably coated with a material that prevents irritation of the eye, and also protects the delicate photopolymer from the cleaning solutions ordinarily used with contact lenses.
Contact lens 100 may include the prescription of the wearer, or may have a neutral (zero power) prescription and be used simply for a display device.
FIG. 3 shows how a secondary lens may be incorporated into the diffraction fringes 220 formed in lens 100. Here a conjugate (virtual) rays 230 are used instead of the collimated rays 210 that were used in Fig 2. The virtual rays 230 are converging rays of light, so that their conjugate would be diverging rays of light from a display device at possibly very close range. Thus fringes 220 embody a holographic optical element that focuses light in addition to bending light through an angle of approximately 45 degrees along the central optical axis.
hl ote that the holographic lens is separate from the functionality of the prescription of the contact lens, in the sense that the contact lens 100 may have zero power prescription and yet there may still be a diffraction lens incorporated into fringes 220. Conversely, contact lens 100 may have a very strong refractive prescription together with a weaker diffractive lens. Since the two can be varied separately, it is possible to design a contact lens that allows the wearer to focus on near objects such i as a handheld display and simultaneously focus on distant objects such as people behind a counter at a i.ised car sales desk. In this sense the refractive component of lens 100, together with the effect of lens 111 of eye 110 might, for example, focus at distance of 2 or .'3 meters. while at the same time, the eye 110 is simultaneously focused by the. diffrac-five component of lens 100 which, when taken together with the overall effects of lens 100 and lens 111 of eye 110 gives rise to a sharp focus on objects 30 centimeters away and downwards at a 45 degree angle.
In this way, the wearer of the contact lens can simultaneously focus on an object 2 or 3 meters away, directly in front of the eye, and another object 30 centimeters away and 45 degrees downward.
FIG. 4 depicts colour abasing. A handheld device 130 with a red screen is held in front of the eye and 45 degrees downaward, and produces monochromatic- rays 141 of red light. These rays 141 converge and focus on point 143 of the retina..
Hypothetically, imagine that the handheld device produced monochromatic green light. With the same contact lens 100, having the same fringe pattern 120 designed for red light, one would need to hold this device higher ttp than normal.
Device 330 depicts the loc-anon where one would need to hold a device that produced green light, in order to have monochromatic rays 341 of green light be diffracted by fringes 120 so and be collinear with rays 142 to also form an image on the retina at point 143.
Suppose that one wishes to have a. contact lens that will work the same with either a red display or a green display. One. could record two sets of fringes into the contact lens, one set. of fringes for red light, and another finer set of fringes that would bend light more severely for use with a green display. Note that both sets of fringes would be imbedded into the contact lens, so that while using the red display, there would also be an additional set of fine fringes (intended for green light) that bend red light more severely, so there would be a double image of two red displays, one that appears right in front of the user, and another above it. When using the green display, there will be an additional set of coarse fringes (intended for red light) that will bend green light less than the usual 45 degrees. Thus one image of the green display will appear directly in front of the wearer of the contact lens, and a second image of the green display will appear below it.
FIG. 4a depicts a set of coarse fringes 120 in a contact lens. The pitch of these fringes 120 is such that the diffraction grating will bend red light through an angle of 45 degrees.
FIG. 4b depicts a. set of medium sized fringes 420 in a contact lens. The pitch of these fringes 420 is such that the diffraction grating will bend green light through an angle of 45 degrees.
FIG. 4c depicts a set of fine fringes 4'21 in a contact lens. The pitch of these fringes 421 is such that the diffraction grating will bend blLie light through an angle of 45 degrees.
FIG. 4d depicts a set of coarse. fringes 120, a set of medium sized fringes 420, and a set of fine fringes 421 all within the same contact lens.
With the "white." contact lens of Fig 4d, a trichromatic display may be used to show an image in what appears to be a white colour. Of course there will be colour abasing, in the sense that the fringes 120 will bend green and blue components of the displayT only slightly, and these will therefore appear to hover below the white image of the display. Likewise, fringes 4'?0 will bend red light too much and blue light not enough, causing coloured images to appear above and below the central white image.
Fringes 421 will bend red a,nd green light e~:cessively, e.g. more than 45 degrees, causing the. red and green images to appear above the central white image.
Thus the wearer of the "white" contact lens of Fig 4d, when holding a handheld device with trichroma,tic display downward at a 45 degree angle, will see a central white image in a forward direction, a yellow image below it, and a red image still further down, a,s well as a cyan image above it and a blue image still further up.
So long as the display subtends a. visual angle less than the angle between abased colours, a clearly visible white (e.g. full true colour display screen is visible. Thus the apparatus of the invention can be used to give a full colour display covertly superimposed directly in front of the wearer, while the wearer makes full eye contact with another individual.
FIG. 5 depicts a contact; lens having a diffractor only in a certain region of the contact. lens. In this way, the slight fogging effect arising from looking through a diffraction grating can be minimized, without appreciably reducing the diffraction efficiency as might be necessary if the grating were weakened to reduce this fogging effect. The lens 100 has fringes 120 only in a small region, resulting in a sharp clear display without noticable fogging of the refractive light rays 102.
FIG. 6 depicts a contact lens display based on a teleview drive. Contact lens has fringes 120 that are constructed so that they bend light arriving at the optical axis through an angle of approximately 45 degrees, but also so that light arriving off the optical axis (also from a 45 degree angle) is deflected severely from the optical axis. Thus lens 100 also contains the effect of a diffractive lens of very short focal length. This males the light rays 641 entering the contact lens apear as severely out of focus. Instead of focusing to a point in the eye, these rays spread out to define a very large cone of light 642.
A handheld drive device that may be suitable for such a contact lens display is shown as device 630 containing a. spatial light modulator 632, light source 635, and optics 636. Preferably light source 635 is a red monochromatic point source. A
satisfactory monochromatic point source may be made from a laser diode and an appropriate spatial filter. An image is projected along rays 641, and is seen on the retina of eye 110 as a sharply defined image within the circle of confusion created by the blur of rays 64'?.
The concept of a circle of confusion is well known. For example, when looking at a point source through an incorrect eyeglass prescription, one will see instead a large circle. If the prescription is more severely incorrect the circle will be larger. This phenomenon can be easily demonstrated and understood by wearing a. -f-25 diopter contact lenses (e.g. having a focal length of 40mm) in addition to any prescription one normally wears. Looking outside late at night, one will see the distant light sources of the. city, or the like, as large circles. These are the circles of con fuszo~z.
Ordinarily this is undesirable, but in this aspect of the invention, another phe-nomenon results, in which the out of focus circle of confusion of the point source 635 reveals the. material upon spatial light modulator 632, as a sharply defined image.
In this case, the severe misfocusing results from the diffraction grating in lens 100, and not from its prescription. In fact the contact lens 100 should have the correct prescription for the wearer, so that objects other than the light source 635 are sharp.
Preferably the misfocus is so severe that eye lens 111 is too weak to focus on point source 635, or bring rays 641 into focus, so that they spread out and strike the retina defining a large circ.ula,r dish of light. Point source 635 is typically red or green, so that dish of light appears as a large circle of red or green light.
The enact shape of this disk of light is determined by the shape of the opening in the eye, and will also show imperfections in the eye lens 111, such as dust on eye lens 111, or any irregularities in the eye iris of eye lens 111, blood vessels in the eye, as well as dust on eye lens 11.1 or contact lens 100.
Also, each time the wearer blinks, the wipe lines of the eyelids will appear in much the same way as the lines made by the windshield wipers on an automobile windshield.
These wipe lines are. strangely disturbing at first, because when the wearer tries to look at them, they go away. Each time the eye tries to foveate on them, the eye moves and the eyelids wipe away the. very thing that the wearer is trying to look at.
However, after some. getting used to, the apparatus of the invention is quite effective and usefwl. This kind of display in which a. sharply defined or somewhat sharply defined image appears within a circle of confusion will be. referred to as a.
Blurry Information Display.
Despite these irregularities, the circular disk of light will indicate to the wearer the visual information present on spatial light modulator 623.
Moreover, the colour and state of the light source 635 (e.g. whether the light source 635 is flashing, and at what rate, and in the case of a multicolour light source, whether it is red or green or whichever other colours it may assume) may convey additional information to the wearer of the contact lens display system.
The handheld devices of the invention may also include. a camera 637 with lens 638 pointing up toward a person standing in front of the wearer of contact lens 100.
In this way the wearer can use the contact lens display system of the invention to aim the camera, and compose a. picture. Even if the teleview system suffers some blur due to diffraction along rays 641, enough resolution will still be present to make a good photographic composition.
It should also be noted that the large field of view of the teleview contact lens display system is of great benefit, even if the implementation is poor in terms of resolution. For example., with an ordinary display, one will need to move the eye around to foveate on different parts of the. display. However, with the large field of view of the. teleview display system, it is not necessary look directly at parts of the display 1_>ecause the severe magnification makes these elements visible even in the periphery of the view. Therefore matters su<:h as photographic composition can be planned quite well without averting gaze from straight ahead a.t the subject being photographed.
The low camera angle. is particularly effective in shooting documentary videos of questionable used car salesmen, corrupt officials, or dishonest politicians.
FIG. 7 depicts a contact lens display based on a teleview drive followed by a beam multiplier. A beam multiplier 7 00 spreads the beam out so that in addition to the central image beam's rays 641, there ai°e also other beams with rays 741.
To use the apparatus, all the user has to do is move device 630 around until it is oriented so that any one of the beams is shining into his or her eye.
The beam multiplier 700 may be a simple diffraction grating. If properly designed, it will spread the beams just enough that they are densely tesselated at a typical holding distance such as .30 centimeters, or whatever the expected distance at which the user will hold the device 6.30 from his or her eye.
FIG. 8a depicts an electromagnetica,lly powered contact lens. A power supply for the contact lens of the invention is of great use for a variety of reasons.
For example, the diffration grating may be turned ofF using liquid crystal technology.
Similarly, the colour of the lens may be changed rapidly, to sequence through three different colours, red, green, and blue, and this colour field sequencing may be synchronized to a. handheld device or wristworn device, so that there will be no colour abasing when covertly viewing the device using the contact lens display system.
A coil 800 of wire picks up alternating current electricity by way of induction.
The wire is located in greater proportion and more heavily toward the. bottom and the connections to the device to be powered are made at the bottom where wires 801 contribute more to the weight at the. bottom to help contribute to or define the weighting that is a method of orienting the contact lens. Preferably the wire colour and composition is such that it matches the appearance of the eye, so that it is not apparent to other people looking into the wearer's eyes.
In this example., the contact lens contains two durable. glass conductive ITO
(indium-tin oxide) coatings having transmissivity in the visible region, and typically having resistivity in the range of 10 to 10,000 ohms~square.
The. ITO (indium-tin oxide) coating is typical of what is used in LC'Ds (Liquid Crystal Displays).
A first coating 810 is separated from a second coating 811 by an insulating layer.
The. insulating la,ver contains the portion of the contact lens display that is to be controlled or switched. For example, in a c-olour selector, the material in between coating 810 and coating 811 may be driven with alternating current so that it switches or changes colour rapidly, for example, at 180 Hz.
In a three colour systerm, colours selected at this frequency, with proper phase ordering, provide red, green, and blue field sequencing.
Alternatively, the diffraction effect may be switched in and out so that it is only on for a short time. This removes any possibility of another person detecting the subtle rainbow appearance typical of the contact lens displays previosly described in this disclosure.
FIG. 8b depicts the timing information and schematic block diagram of the elec-tromagnetically powered contact lens. A Hand Held Device (HHD) 830 has two antennas, a first antenna. 800 for communication with the outside world (Internet connection, etc..) and a. second antenna. 860 for communication with the contact lens.
Antenna 860 is preferably a loop antenna that acts like the primary of a transformer of which coil 800 is the secondary. The frequency of the alternating current may be quite high, preferably above the range of hearing so that the acoustic.
emissions are no detected. A satisfactory choice of frequency is 100 kHz, allowing for more than 500 cycles per cycle of the. display update rate of 180 Hz. With a duty cycle of 10%~
this provides 50 cycles per on period, and a. higher frequency than 100 kHz can easily be used if more cycles per on time are desired (e.g. for a highly resonant power re-ceive circuit), or if lesser duty cycles are desired. The transmitted waveform (e.g. a 100 kHz sinusoid) is amplitude shift keyed, on and ofl~, using a waveform having long on periods 862 and short off periods 863. The on periods 862 cause the diffraction pattern to be broken up (disturbed). by the twisting of a. liquid crystal material, away from the way it was when the diffraction grating was formed. The off periods 86:3 allow the liquid crystal material of the contact lens to relax into its usual state, so that diffraction results.
A laser beam 841 in device. 830 projects an image into the eye. The laser beam is only on for time period 843 corresponding to when the antenna 860 is not radiating.
If the system is running at 180 Hz, the laser will appear to the wearer as if it were.
on constantly, but the fact that the diffractor is permitted to be switched off (to be active a,nd diffract) when the laser is switched on, will ensure that the wearer cannot focus on the laser beam. This will prevent eye damage or discomfort, and will also 1=1 allow the image. to be seen in the blurry circle of confusion formed by the out of focus laser beam.
As a failsafe precaution, should power be lost to the transmitter or should recep-tion of the signal from antenna 860 falter, the contact lens will go into the state where it misfocuses laser light, so that the wearer will not be able to see any laser light in sharp focus. This will likely prevent or reduce eye damage or discomfort from the laser beam.
FIG. 8c depicts a photonicallv powered contact lens display system. Because the laser is needed for the display, it is appropriate that the display get its power from the laser. A lightcell 880 picks up laser light and provides power to lens coating 810 and coating 811, by way of wires 881. A lightcell is a cell that generates power when light is incident upon it. An example of a lightcell is a selenium solar cell used in a photographic. light meter in which no battery power is required to power the light meter, because the selenium solar cell powers the meter movement directly.
Many of the older fully manual cameras also contain selenium cells and therefore do not need a battery to power the light meter section of the camera. (Some early automatic cameras also used selenium cells and did not require a battery either.
Wires 881 and lightcell 880 are located at the bottom of the. contact lens for two reasons:
~ their weight helps orient the contact lens in the correct orientation;
~ the light is coming from below, so the lightcell is on the curved surface of the eye. where it will pick ttp maximum light.
In this case, the situation must be reversed, so that the desired rrtisfocus or other effect happens when the lens is powered. When laser 641 turns on, contact lens defocuses it. Such a contact lens is useful in and of itself, for example, ~s a. laser safety device. Moreover, such lenses may work with teleview photonic drives located throughout the environment.
to Preferably lightcell 880 is responsive primarily to laser light (e.g. either responsive mainly t.o red light, or responsive only to light that is monochromatic in nature).
FIG. 8d depicts the timing information and schematic block diagram of the pho-tonically powered contact lens. When laser beam 641 turns on during time 843, the contact lens diffracts, and when it turns off during time 842 the contact lens does not diffract. Note that in this case handheld device 630 does not have. or need an antenna. to communicate with the contact lens. Of course device 630 ma,v still have an antenna 850 to communicate with the outside world.
FIG. 9a depicts a photonically powered contact lens worn with a light source in a baseball cap 900. In this case, lightcell 880 is at the top of the contact lens 100 to receive light rays 141 and rays 151. Since lightcell 880 is at the top of the contact lens, it must be either lighter than the rnateria,l in which it is imbedded, or there must be another orienter in the lens 100 to keep it oriented properly.
The light source is typically a flat panel display with red backlight.
A louvre 910 prevents others from seeing the light source.
FIG. 9b depicts a photonically powered contact lens worn with eyeglasses defined by eyeglass frames 901. Light sensitive arrays 930 are built into the frames 901 of the eyeglasses. Filters 940 ensure the arrays are only sensitive to red light of a very narrow range of wavelengths. Filters 940 also include a loi.mre selecting a narrow range of angular inputs. The louvre is preferably implemented as a holographic optical element.
Eyeglass lenses 920 also function as holographic optical elements. A red portion of a ray of light 951 is difFiacted downward to sensor array 930 and lands on point 953.
Point 953 results therefore in the absorption and quantification of a. red portion of ray 951. The rest of light ray 951 continues on into the eye 110 and lands on point 15:3 of the retina. At the same time., the video signal from sensor array 938 is responsive to the light falling on point 953 of the array. The video signal from sensor array 930 is supplied to the contact lens display by way of point 150, where rays 151 are therefore responsive to ray 952. Rays 151 therefore. enter the eye and also land on point 153.
Thus the portion of ray 951 that was diverted from its usual path contributes to a perceived effect at point 153, where the nondiverted light also appears. Thus the diverted light and the nondiverted light meet at the same place.
An imaging system that diverts a. portion of the light that would otherwise enter an eye of the. user (e.g. a device that behaves as if it were a camera with effective center of projection that matches the center of projection the lens of an eye of the user) will be referred to as an Eye Tap Camera.
An optical system that directs light into the lens of an eye of the user, such that there exists a capability for rays of this light to be collinear with and responsive to corresponding rays of light diverted by an Eye Tap Camera will be referred to as an Eye Tap Aremac. (The word "aremac" is derived by spelling the word "camera"
backwards.) As the wearer looks around, eye 110 will no necessarily be always pointed straight ahead. However, to the extent that the point 153 moves relative to the retina when the eye looks around in different directions, this relative movement will affect, ap-proximately equally, light ray 951 as well as light rays 152 arising from diffracted rays 151. Thus a properly sustained illusory transparency will remain, where light that is diverted will be reconstituted in register with that which was diverted to make it.
This process of diverting and reconstituting the light may seem fruitless, but for the fact that instead of simply feeding the video signal from array 930 straight into the contact lens display system, the signal is first passed through a computer image processing system. Thus the. apparatus of the invention may function as a "Reality Mediator'', altering the perception of a portion of the wearer's visual reality.
FIG. 9c depicts a photonically powered contact lens 100 including a defocuser 960. The defocuser 960 is, in this case an optical defoc.user. Ordinarily, an optical defocuser would prevent the wearer from seeing, but for the fact that in this case, the optical defocuses is only present over a portion of the contact lens through which 1?
the wearer sees. Around the optical defocuser there is a non-defocused region through which the wearer can see ordinary objects in an ordinary way. The wearer therefore sees a mixture of focused a.nd defocused light.
A concentric lightcell 880 surrounds the outermost region of the contact lens where the eye of the wearer is opaque, such that the light blocked by the lightcell does not adversely affect the wea.rer's ability to see. The lightcell 880 preferably ha-s roughly the same colour and shine as the brown, green, blue, or the like of the eye (and is therefore preferably made to match the wea.rer's particular eye).
Light cell 880 also conceals a computer or information processor 990 underneath lightcell 880.
Wires 980 connect processor 990 to conductive transparent material 970. A sat-isfactory material 970 is ITO. One surface of material 970 may be broken up into separate regions so that the computer processor 990 can separately address each por-tion. Wires 980 are preferably made to match the colour and shine of the active region (e.g. iris) of the eye where light enters. Wires 980 which extend radially outward from material 970 may also be randomized, in their layout, to have similar appearance to the eye's iris.
FIG. 9d depicts a photonically powered contact lens 100 in which there is a clock.
Hourhand segments 996 are. addressable by processor 990. Minute - hour (minute minus hour) hand segments 995 make up the difference between a minute hand and an hour hand.
The time of clay is displayed by way of processor 990 selecting the appropriate three segments of the 24 segments in layer 970.
Additional information can be conveyed by- flashing segments, etc..
The clock is powered by any light arriving on the contact lens, and may be viewed whenever there is a point source of light present in the scene. For example, at night, looking out at the city lights, the wearer may see hundreds of tiny clocks, one sur-rounding each point source of light. Looking into automobile headlights will reveal a pair of cloc.kfa,ces side by side.
During the day, the occasional glint of sunlight off a specular object will reveal the tune of clay.
BENEFITS OF THE INVENTION
The apparatus of this invention allows the wearer to view an information dis-play while maintaining full eye contact with other people, without the need to be encumbered by cumbersome headgear or eyeglasses.
From the foregoing description, it will thus be evident that the present invention provides a design of a contact lens for information display. As various changes can be made in the. above embodiments and operating methods without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings should be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
Variations or modifications to the design and construction of this invention, within the scope of the invention, may occur to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the disclosure herein. Such variations or modifications, if within the spirit of this invention, are intended to be encompassed within the scope of any claims to patent protection issuing upon this invention.
TEXT, GRAPHICS, OR PICTURES
of which the following is a specification:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains generally to a data display that provides the wearer with a view of a computer screen, text, graphics, picture data, or the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In photography (and in movie and video production), it is desirable to capture events in a. natural manner with minimal intervention and disturbance. Thus a display device that will show pictt.ire information (motion pictures, still pictures, etc.) is of great use. Other hinds of data are also useful. For exannple, it is useful to be able to look up the book value of a used car while negotiating with a possibly dishonest used car salesman, or to consult legal documents while talking with a corrupt politician.
Current state-of-the-art data displays a,re cumbersome, and, at the very least, create a visual disturbance to others. The act of looking at such displays attracts considerable attention, whether looking clown at a handheld display, or bringing a device such as an eyes°up viewfinder ttp to the eye. Even if the size of the device could be reduced to the point of being negligible (e.g. no bigger than the. just the eyecup portion of a typical camera viewfinder, for example), the very gesture of holding a.
device up to, or bringing a. device up to the eye is unnatural and attracts considerable.
attention, creating a disturbance to normal activities.
Wearable displays such as virtual reality headsets, and their portable counterparts (smaller and lighter monocular displays) still obstruct natural eye contact, and are still obvious to others.
Moreover, there a,re numerous people who don't like the idea of wearing eyeglasses, no matter how lightweight. Therefore adding further weight to eyeglasses is unaccept-able for a large number of people, especially those who don't like wearing eyeglasses to begin with.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention in one aspect comprises a contact lens with diffractor and orienter, so that the orienter will keep the diffractor oriented the right way, allowing the wearer of such a contact lens to see display data, text, graphics, pic-tures, or the like, while maintaining full eye contact with another person.
Preferably the orienter is a weighting in the contact lens so that gravity will tend to keep it ori-ented in a particular way. Preferably the diffractor is a holographic optical element, e.g. a. diffraction grating. Preferably the diffraction grating is of the Leith Upatnieks variety, e.g. one that is an off axis transmission hologram (formed by having the object and reference beams on the same side of the contact lens during construction.
Preferably the contact lens will diffract light arriving from approximately 45 degrees off-axis, from a. special monochromatic display device, such that the light will bend directly onto the optical axis, so that a.n image of the display device will appear directly in front of the wearer of the contact lens.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a diffractor com-prising a superposition of a plurality of sets of fringes, one for each of a plurality of colour channels. Preferably there are three colour channels, one for each of red, green, and blue.
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a.aa BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of examples which in no way are meant to limit the scope of the invention, but, rather, these.
examples will serve to illustrate the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 illustrates the use of the Contact Display while the wearer maintains eye contact with another person.
FIG. 2a illustrates the manufacture of the Contact Display lens with no change in focus (only change in direction).
FIG. 2a illustrates the manufacture of the Contact Display lens with change in focus (to help the wearer focus on closer objects, or to make the image severely out of focus in the case of a teleview type display system).
FIG. 3 shows the problem of colour abasing, so that the reader can better under-stand low it Inav be overcome with a. trichrornatic displa,v system.
FIG. 4 illustrates how three sets of hinges are superimposed into a single contact lens during manufacture.
FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the Contact Display with a contact lens that is only diffractive in the central region, so that it does not appreciably cloud the wearer's vIS10I1.
FIG. 6 shows the teleview display that is based on a contact lens with change of focus so severe that light is extremely out of focus to the extent that a large circle of confusion results, with the display of data appearing sharply defined within this circle of confusion.
FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of the teleview display where there are multiple output beams so that the user can choose to look into any one of these to experience a large blurry circle of confusion in which t;he sharp well defined image data appears.
FIG. 8a shows an electromagnetically powered contact lens.
FIG. 8b shows the schematic and timing waveforms of the electromagnetically powered contact lens.
FIG. 8c shows a photonically powered contact lens.
FIG. 8d shows the schematic and timing waveforms of the photonica,lly powered contact lens.
FIG. 9a shows a photonically powered contact lens driven by a light source con-cealed in a baseball cap.
FIG. 9b shows a photonically powered contact lens driven by a light source con-cealed in a. eyeglasses worn in addition to the contact lens, where the eyeglasses also contain an eye tap camera,.
FICx. 9c shows a. photonically powered contact lens driven by a. light source also bearing information to which a spatial light modulator inside the contact lens is sensitive.
FIG. 9d shows a. photonically powered contact lens clock.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
While the invention shall now be described, in detail, with reference to the pre-ferred embodiments shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the descrip-tion is not to limit the invention only to the particular embodiments shown but rather to cover all alterations, modifications and equivalent arrangements possible within the scope of the appended claims.
When it is said that object "A'' is ''borne" by object "B", this shall include the possibilities that A is attached to B, that A is bonded onto the surface of B, that A
is imbedded inside B, that A is part of B, that; A is built into B, or that A
is B.
FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting a contact lens 100 incorporating a diffractor.
The optical axis 101 of the contact lens 100 defines the central axis of sight 102. In this way, the. optical axis 101 of lens 100 is assumed to correspond approximately with .5 the optical axis of the eye 110 of the wearer of the contact lens, a,nd thus both are denoted as common optical axis 101.
Rays of incoming light 102 entering the eye pass through contact lens 100 and are not appreciably affected or distorted by contact lens 100. Likewise, rays of light 103 leaving the eye of the wearer can be seen by another person 104, so that the other person 104 does not see anything unusual in the appearance of contact lens 100.
While the wearer of contact lens 100 is looking straight ahead, he or she can also see the screen of a handheld device 130, held downard and in front of the wearer of lens 100 by the wearer of lens 100. The screen of handheld device 130 comprises backlight 131 and spatial light modulator 132. Backlight 131 may be switcha.ble from regular white light to coherent red laser light or other narrowband light, typically red or green, during off axis covert viewing as depicted in Fig 1.
Alternatively, a red filter 1:33 may be disposed on the sv.irface of the screen of the handheld device 130. In either case, a point 140 on the screen of device 130 radiates light in various directions. Some of these rays 141 of light go from point 140 to contact lens 100, a,nd shine through contact lens 100. C'on tact lens 100 contains a diffractor, comprising fringes 120 that diffract the particular wavelength of light of rays 141, so that rays 141 bend when passing through contact lens 100 a.nd emerge as diffracted rays 142.
These ra,y-s 142 are focused by the lens 111 of eye 110 onto a. point on the retina 143.
Thus the point 140 of illumination on the display of device 130 is imaged as a point on the retina 143, and appears superimposed upon the center of the wearer's field of view superimposed on the. image of the person 140.
Another point 150 on the display of device 130 also produces rays 1.50 of light, some of which pass through contact lens 100 and are diffracted to emerge as rays 152, focused by the lens 111 of eye 110, to form a point 153 on the retina of eye 110.
Obviously Fig 1 is not drawn to scale. Eye 110 is enlarged relative to person 104.
Also the fringes 120 are enlarged relative to a wavelength of red light, or the. like, etc.. Subsequent figures in this disclosure are also not necessarily drawn to scale for similar and obvious reasons.
FIG. 2 depicts a manufacture of lens 100 in a one-off process. Rays of light from a wavefront of light 201 are made to interfere with rays of light 210 from a wavefront 211. Rays 200 and rays 210 are preferably from a laser light source, and are both derived from the same light source, with path length difference well within the coherence length of the laser (preferably path lengths are approximately equal).
Rays 200 a,nd 210 interfere in lens 100 to form fringes 120.
Lens 100 may be made from or contain a photopolymer. A satisfactory polymer is the DuPont Photopolymer, which is exposed to laser light to establish the fringes, and then cured under ultraviolet light. Because the. DuPont Photopolymer may adversely affect the mucous membranes of the eye, the contact lens is preferably coated with a material that prevents irritation of the eye, and also protects the delicate photopolymer from the cleaning solutions ordinarily used with contact lenses.
Contact lens 100 may include the prescription of the wearer, or may have a neutral (zero power) prescription and be used simply for a display device.
FIG. 3 shows how a secondary lens may be incorporated into the diffraction fringes 220 formed in lens 100. Here a conjugate (virtual) rays 230 are used instead of the collimated rays 210 that were used in Fig 2. The virtual rays 230 are converging rays of light, so that their conjugate would be diverging rays of light from a display device at possibly very close range. Thus fringes 220 embody a holographic optical element that focuses light in addition to bending light through an angle of approximately 45 degrees along the central optical axis.
hl ote that the holographic lens is separate from the functionality of the prescription of the contact lens, in the sense that the contact lens 100 may have zero power prescription and yet there may still be a diffraction lens incorporated into fringes 220. Conversely, contact lens 100 may have a very strong refractive prescription together with a weaker diffractive lens. Since the two can be varied separately, it is possible to design a contact lens that allows the wearer to focus on near objects such i as a handheld display and simultaneously focus on distant objects such as people behind a counter at a i.ised car sales desk. In this sense the refractive component of lens 100, together with the effect of lens 111 of eye 110 might, for example, focus at distance of 2 or .'3 meters. while at the same time, the eye 110 is simultaneously focused by the. diffrac-five component of lens 100 which, when taken together with the overall effects of lens 100 and lens 111 of eye 110 gives rise to a sharp focus on objects 30 centimeters away and downwards at a 45 degree angle.
In this way, the wearer of the contact lens can simultaneously focus on an object 2 or 3 meters away, directly in front of the eye, and another object 30 centimeters away and 45 degrees downward.
FIG. 4 depicts colour abasing. A handheld device 130 with a red screen is held in front of the eye and 45 degrees downaward, and produces monochromatic- rays 141 of red light. These rays 141 converge and focus on point 143 of the retina..
Hypothetically, imagine that the handheld device produced monochromatic green light. With the same contact lens 100, having the same fringe pattern 120 designed for red light, one would need to hold this device higher ttp than normal.
Device 330 depicts the loc-anon where one would need to hold a device that produced green light, in order to have monochromatic rays 341 of green light be diffracted by fringes 120 so and be collinear with rays 142 to also form an image on the retina at point 143.
Suppose that one wishes to have a. contact lens that will work the same with either a red display or a green display. One. could record two sets of fringes into the contact lens, one set. of fringes for red light, and another finer set of fringes that would bend light more severely for use with a green display. Note that both sets of fringes would be imbedded into the contact lens, so that while using the red display, there would also be an additional set of fine fringes (intended for green light) that bend red light more severely, so there would be a double image of two red displays, one that appears right in front of the user, and another above it. When using the green display, there will be an additional set of coarse fringes (intended for red light) that will bend green light less than the usual 45 degrees. Thus one image of the green display will appear directly in front of the wearer of the contact lens, and a second image of the green display will appear below it.
FIG. 4a depicts a set of coarse fringes 120 in a contact lens. The pitch of these fringes 120 is such that the diffraction grating will bend red light through an angle of 45 degrees.
FIG. 4b depicts a. set of medium sized fringes 420 in a contact lens. The pitch of these fringes 420 is such that the diffraction grating will bend green light through an angle of 45 degrees.
FIG. 4c depicts a set of fine fringes 4'21 in a contact lens. The pitch of these fringes 421 is such that the diffraction grating will bend blLie light through an angle of 45 degrees.
FIG. 4d depicts a set of coarse. fringes 120, a set of medium sized fringes 420, and a set of fine fringes 421 all within the same contact lens.
With the "white." contact lens of Fig 4d, a trichromatic display may be used to show an image in what appears to be a white colour. Of course there will be colour abasing, in the sense that the fringes 120 will bend green and blue components of the displayT only slightly, and these will therefore appear to hover below the white image of the display. Likewise, fringes 4'?0 will bend red light too much and blue light not enough, causing coloured images to appear above and below the central white image.
Fringes 421 will bend red a,nd green light e~:cessively, e.g. more than 45 degrees, causing the. red and green images to appear above the central white image.
Thus the wearer of the "white" contact lens of Fig 4d, when holding a handheld device with trichroma,tic display downward at a 45 degree angle, will see a central white image in a forward direction, a yellow image below it, and a red image still further down, a,s well as a cyan image above it and a blue image still further up.
So long as the display subtends a. visual angle less than the angle between abased colours, a clearly visible white (e.g. full true colour display screen is visible. Thus the apparatus of the invention can be used to give a full colour display covertly superimposed directly in front of the wearer, while the wearer makes full eye contact with another individual.
FIG. 5 depicts a contact; lens having a diffractor only in a certain region of the contact. lens. In this way, the slight fogging effect arising from looking through a diffraction grating can be minimized, without appreciably reducing the diffraction efficiency as might be necessary if the grating were weakened to reduce this fogging effect. The lens 100 has fringes 120 only in a small region, resulting in a sharp clear display without noticable fogging of the refractive light rays 102.
FIG. 6 depicts a contact lens display based on a teleview drive. Contact lens has fringes 120 that are constructed so that they bend light arriving at the optical axis through an angle of approximately 45 degrees, but also so that light arriving off the optical axis (also from a 45 degree angle) is deflected severely from the optical axis. Thus lens 100 also contains the effect of a diffractive lens of very short focal length. This males the light rays 641 entering the contact lens apear as severely out of focus. Instead of focusing to a point in the eye, these rays spread out to define a very large cone of light 642.
A handheld drive device that may be suitable for such a contact lens display is shown as device 630 containing a. spatial light modulator 632, light source 635, and optics 636. Preferably light source 635 is a red monochromatic point source. A
satisfactory monochromatic point source may be made from a laser diode and an appropriate spatial filter. An image is projected along rays 641, and is seen on the retina of eye 110 as a sharply defined image within the circle of confusion created by the blur of rays 64'?.
The concept of a circle of confusion is well known. For example, when looking at a point source through an incorrect eyeglass prescription, one will see instead a large circle. If the prescription is more severely incorrect the circle will be larger. This phenomenon can be easily demonstrated and understood by wearing a. -f-25 diopter contact lenses (e.g. having a focal length of 40mm) in addition to any prescription one normally wears. Looking outside late at night, one will see the distant light sources of the. city, or the like, as large circles. These are the circles of con fuszo~z.
Ordinarily this is undesirable, but in this aspect of the invention, another phe-nomenon results, in which the out of focus circle of confusion of the point source 635 reveals the. material upon spatial light modulator 632, as a sharply defined image.
In this case, the severe misfocusing results from the diffraction grating in lens 100, and not from its prescription. In fact the contact lens 100 should have the correct prescription for the wearer, so that objects other than the light source 635 are sharp.
Preferably the misfocus is so severe that eye lens 111 is too weak to focus on point source 635, or bring rays 641 into focus, so that they spread out and strike the retina defining a large circ.ula,r dish of light. Point source 635 is typically red or green, so that dish of light appears as a large circle of red or green light.
The enact shape of this disk of light is determined by the shape of the opening in the eye, and will also show imperfections in the eye lens 111, such as dust on eye lens 111, or any irregularities in the eye iris of eye lens 111, blood vessels in the eye, as well as dust on eye lens 11.1 or contact lens 100.
Also, each time the wearer blinks, the wipe lines of the eyelids will appear in much the same way as the lines made by the windshield wipers on an automobile windshield.
These wipe lines are. strangely disturbing at first, because when the wearer tries to look at them, they go away. Each time the eye tries to foveate on them, the eye moves and the eyelids wipe away the. very thing that the wearer is trying to look at.
However, after some. getting used to, the apparatus of the invention is quite effective and usefwl. This kind of display in which a. sharply defined or somewhat sharply defined image appears within a circle of confusion will be. referred to as a.
Blurry Information Display.
Despite these irregularities, the circular disk of light will indicate to the wearer the visual information present on spatial light modulator 623.
Moreover, the colour and state of the light source 635 (e.g. whether the light source 635 is flashing, and at what rate, and in the case of a multicolour light source, whether it is red or green or whichever other colours it may assume) may convey additional information to the wearer of the contact lens display system.
The handheld devices of the invention may also include. a camera 637 with lens 638 pointing up toward a person standing in front of the wearer of contact lens 100.
In this way the wearer can use the contact lens display system of the invention to aim the camera, and compose a. picture. Even if the teleview system suffers some blur due to diffraction along rays 641, enough resolution will still be present to make a good photographic composition.
It should also be noted that the large field of view of the teleview contact lens display system is of great benefit, even if the implementation is poor in terms of resolution. For example., with an ordinary display, one will need to move the eye around to foveate on different parts of the. display. However, with the large field of view of the. teleview display system, it is not necessary look directly at parts of the display 1_>ecause the severe magnification makes these elements visible even in the periphery of the view. Therefore matters su<:h as photographic composition can be planned quite well without averting gaze from straight ahead a.t the subject being photographed.
The low camera angle. is particularly effective in shooting documentary videos of questionable used car salesmen, corrupt officials, or dishonest politicians.
FIG. 7 depicts a contact lens display based on a teleview drive followed by a beam multiplier. A beam multiplier 7 00 spreads the beam out so that in addition to the central image beam's rays 641, there ai°e also other beams with rays 741.
To use the apparatus, all the user has to do is move device 630 around until it is oriented so that any one of the beams is shining into his or her eye.
The beam multiplier 700 may be a simple diffraction grating. If properly designed, it will spread the beams just enough that they are densely tesselated at a typical holding distance such as .30 centimeters, or whatever the expected distance at which the user will hold the device 6.30 from his or her eye.
FIG. 8a depicts an electromagnetica,lly powered contact lens. A power supply for the contact lens of the invention is of great use for a variety of reasons.
For example, the diffration grating may be turned ofF using liquid crystal technology.
Similarly, the colour of the lens may be changed rapidly, to sequence through three different colours, red, green, and blue, and this colour field sequencing may be synchronized to a. handheld device or wristworn device, so that there will be no colour abasing when covertly viewing the device using the contact lens display system.
A coil 800 of wire picks up alternating current electricity by way of induction.
The wire is located in greater proportion and more heavily toward the. bottom and the connections to the device to be powered are made at the bottom where wires 801 contribute more to the weight at the. bottom to help contribute to or define the weighting that is a method of orienting the contact lens. Preferably the wire colour and composition is such that it matches the appearance of the eye, so that it is not apparent to other people looking into the wearer's eyes.
In this example., the contact lens contains two durable. glass conductive ITO
(indium-tin oxide) coatings having transmissivity in the visible region, and typically having resistivity in the range of 10 to 10,000 ohms~square.
The. ITO (indium-tin oxide) coating is typical of what is used in LC'Ds (Liquid Crystal Displays).
A first coating 810 is separated from a second coating 811 by an insulating layer.
The. insulating la,ver contains the portion of the contact lens display that is to be controlled or switched. For example, in a c-olour selector, the material in between coating 810 and coating 811 may be driven with alternating current so that it switches or changes colour rapidly, for example, at 180 Hz.
In a three colour systerm, colours selected at this frequency, with proper phase ordering, provide red, green, and blue field sequencing.
Alternatively, the diffraction effect may be switched in and out so that it is only on for a short time. This removes any possibility of another person detecting the subtle rainbow appearance typical of the contact lens displays previosly described in this disclosure.
FIG. 8b depicts the timing information and schematic block diagram of the elec-tromagnetically powered contact lens. A Hand Held Device (HHD) 830 has two antennas, a first antenna. 800 for communication with the outside world (Internet connection, etc..) and a. second antenna. 860 for communication with the contact lens.
Antenna 860 is preferably a loop antenna that acts like the primary of a transformer of which coil 800 is the secondary. The frequency of the alternating current may be quite high, preferably above the range of hearing so that the acoustic.
emissions are no detected. A satisfactory choice of frequency is 100 kHz, allowing for more than 500 cycles per cycle of the. display update rate of 180 Hz. With a duty cycle of 10%~
this provides 50 cycles per on period, and a. higher frequency than 100 kHz can easily be used if more cycles per on time are desired (e.g. for a highly resonant power re-ceive circuit), or if lesser duty cycles are desired. The transmitted waveform (e.g. a 100 kHz sinusoid) is amplitude shift keyed, on and ofl~, using a waveform having long on periods 862 and short off periods 863. The on periods 862 cause the diffraction pattern to be broken up (disturbed). by the twisting of a. liquid crystal material, away from the way it was when the diffraction grating was formed. The off periods 86:3 allow the liquid crystal material of the contact lens to relax into its usual state, so that diffraction results.
A laser beam 841 in device. 830 projects an image into the eye. The laser beam is only on for time period 843 corresponding to when the antenna 860 is not radiating.
If the system is running at 180 Hz, the laser will appear to the wearer as if it were.
on constantly, but the fact that the diffractor is permitted to be switched off (to be active a,nd diffract) when the laser is switched on, will ensure that the wearer cannot focus on the laser beam. This will prevent eye damage or discomfort, and will also 1=1 allow the image. to be seen in the blurry circle of confusion formed by the out of focus laser beam.
As a failsafe precaution, should power be lost to the transmitter or should recep-tion of the signal from antenna 860 falter, the contact lens will go into the state where it misfocuses laser light, so that the wearer will not be able to see any laser light in sharp focus. This will likely prevent or reduce eye damage or discomfort from the laser beam.
FIG. 8c depicts a photonicallv powered contact lens display system. Because the laser is needed for the display, it is appropriate that the display get its power from the laser. A lightcell 880 picks up laser light and provides power to lens coating 810 and coating 811, by way of wires 881. A lightcell is a cell that generates power when light is incident upon it. An example of a lightcell is a selenium solar cell used in a photographic. light meter in which no battery power is required to power the light meter, because the selenium solar cell powers the meter movement directly.
Many of the older fully manual cameras also contain selenium cells and therefore do not need a battery to power the light meter section of the camera. (Some early automatic cameras also used selenium cells and did not require a battery either.
Wires 881 and lightcell 880 are located at the bottom of the. contact lens for two reasons:
~ their weight helps orient the contact lens in the correct orientation;
~ the light is coming from below, so the lightcell is on the curved surface of the eye. where it will pick ttp maximum light.
In this case, the situation must be reversed, so that the desired rrtisfocus or other effect happens when the lens is powered. When laser 641 turns on, contact lens defocuses it. Such a contact lens is useful in and of itself, for example, ~s a. laser safety device. Moreover, such lenses may work with teleview photonic drives located throughout the environment.
to Preferably lightcell 880 is responsive primarily to laser light (e.g. either responsive mainly t.o red light, or responsive only to light that is monochromatic in nature).
FIG. 8d depicts the timing information and schematic block diagram of the pho-tonically powered contact lens. When laser beam 641 turns on during time 843, the contact lens diffracts, and when it turns off during time 842 the contact lens does not diffract. Note that in this case handheld device 630 does not have. or need an antenna. to communicate with the contact lens. Of course device 630 ma,v still have an antenna 850 to communicate with the outside world.
FIG. 9a depicts a photonically powered contact lens worn with a light source in a baseball cap 900. In this case, lightcell 880 is at the top of the contact lens 100 to receive light rays 141 and rays 151. Since lightcell 880 is at the top of the contact lens, it must be either lighter than the rnateria,l in which it is imbedded, or there must be another orienter in the lens 100 to keep it oriented properly.
The light source is typically a flat panel display with red backlight.
A louvre 910 prevents others from seeing the light source.
FIG. 9b depicts a photonically powered contact lens worn with eyeglasses defined by eyeglass frames 901. Light sensitive arrays 930 are built into the frames 901 of the eyeglasses. Filters 940 ensure the arrays are only sensitive to red light of a very narrow range of wavelengths. Filters 940 also include a loi.mre selecting a narrow range of angular inputs. The louvre is preferably implemented as a holographic optical element.
Eyeglass lenses 920 also function as holographic optical elements. A red portion of a ray of light 951 is difFiacted downward to sensor array 930 and lands on point 953.
Point 953 results therefore in the absorption and quantification of a. red portion of ray 951. The rest of light ray 951 continues on into the eye 110 and lands on point 15:3 of the retina. At the same time., the video signal from sensor array 938 is responsive to the light falling on point 953 of the array. The video signal from sensor array 930 is supplied to the contact lens display by way of point 150, where rays 151 are therefore responsive to ray 952. Rays 151 therefore. enter the eye and also land on point 153.
Thus the portion of ray 951 that was diverted from its usual path contributes to a perceived effect at point 153, where the nondiverted light also appears. Thus the diverted light and the nondiverted light meet at the same place.
An imaging system that diverts a. portion of the light that would otherwise enter an eye of the. user (e.g. a device that behaves as if it were a camera with effective center of projection that matches the center of projection the lens of an eye of the user) will be referred to as an Eye Tap Camera.
An optical system that directs light into the lens of an eye of the user, such that there exists a capability for rays of this light to be collinear with and responsive to corresponding rays of light diverted by an Eye Tap Camera will be referred to as an Eye Tap Aremac. (The word "aremac" is derived by spelling the word "camera"
backwards.) As the wearer looks around, eye 110 will no necessarily be always pointed straight ahead. However, to the extent that the point 153 moves relative to the retina when the eye looks around in different directions, this relative movement will affect, ap-proximately equally, light ray 951 as well as light rays 152 arising from diffracted rays 151. Thus a properly sustained illusory transparency will remain, where light that is diverted will be reconstituted in register with that which was diverted to make it.
This process of diverting and reconstituting the light may seem fruitless, but for the fact that instead of simply feeding the video signal from array 930 straight into the contact lens display system, the signal is first passed through a computer image processing system. Thus the. apparatus of the invention may function as a "Reality Mediator'', altering the perception of a portion of the wearer's visual reality.
FIG. 9c depicts a photonically powered contact lens 100 including a defocuser 960. The defocuser 960 is, in this case an optical defoc.user. Ordinarily, an optical defocuser would prevent the wearer from seeing, but for the fact that in this case, the optical defocuses is only present over a portion of the contact lens through which 1?
the wearer sees. Around the optical defocuser there is a non-defocused region through which the wearer can see ordinary objects in an ordinary way. The wearer therefore sees a mixture of focused a.nd defocused light.
A concentric lightcell 880 surrounds the outermost region of the contact lens where the eye of the wearer is opaque, such that the light blocked by the lightcell does not adversely affect the wea.rer's ability to see. The lightcell 880 preferably ha-s roughly the same colour and shine as the brown, green, blue, or the like of the eye (and is therefore preferably made to match the wea.rer's particular eye).
Light cell 880 also conceals a computer or information processor 990 underneath lightcell 880.
Wires 980 connect processor 990 to conductive transparent material 970. A sat-isfactory material 970 is ITO. One surface of material 970 may be broken up into separate regions so that the computer processor 990 can separately address each por-tion. Wires 980 are preferably made to match the colour and shine of the active region (e.g. iris) of the eye where light enters. Wires 980 which extend radially outward from material 970 may also be randomized, in their layout, to have similar appearance to the eye's iris.
FIG. 9d depicts a photonically powered contact lens 100 in which there is a clock.
Hourhand segments 996 are. addressable by processor 990. Minute - hour (minute minus hour) hand segments 995 make up the difference between a minute hand and an hour hand.
The time of clay is displayed by way of processor 990 selecting the appropriate three segments of the 24 segments in layer 970.
Additional information can be conveyed by- flashing segments, etc..
The clock is powered by any light arriving on the contact lens, and may be viewed whenever there is a point source of light present in the scene. For example, at night, looking out at the city lights, the wearer may see hundreds of tiny clocks, one sur-rounding each point source of light. Looking into automobile headlights will reveal a pair of cloc.kfa,ces side by side.
During the day, the occasional glint of sunlight off a specular object will reveal the tune of clay.
BENEFITS OF THE INVENTION
The apparatus of this invention allows the wearer to view an information dis-play while maintaining full eye contact with other people, without the need to be encumbered by cumbersome headgear or eyeglasses.
From the foregoing description, it will thus be evident that the present invention provides a design of a contact lens for information display. As various changes can be made in the. above embodiments and operating methods without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings should be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
Variations or modifications to the design and construction of this invention, within the scope of the invention, may occur to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the disclosure herein. Such variations or modifications, if within the spirit of this invention, are intended to be encompassed within the scope of any claims to patent protection issuing upon this invention.
Claims (40)
1. A contact lens for use with a monochromatic possibly multispectral monochromatic narrowband display, comprising:
~ a diffractor borne by said contact lens;
~ an orienter borne by said contact lens.
~ a diffractor borne by said contact lens;
~ an orienter borne by said contact lens.
2. The contact lens described in Claim 1 where said diffractor is an off-axis transmission hologram.
3. The contact lens described in Claim 2 where said off-axis transmission hologram diffracts red light entering from approximately 45 degrees off the optical axis of said contact lens, to the optical axis of said contact lens, in the first order of diffraction.
4. The contact lens described in Claim 2 where said off-axis transmission hologram that diffracts red light entering from below and in front of a wearer of said contact lens onto the foveal region of an eye of the wearer of said contact lens when the wearer is looking forward.
5. The contact lens described in Claim 1 where said orienter comprises a weighting of said contact lens, such that gravity acting on said contact lens will cause it to be oriented in the desired direction when placed in an eye of the wearer of said contact lens.
6. The contact lens described in Claim 1 where said diffractor consists of a super-position of three diffraction gratings comprising:
7. a red grating that diffracts red light that is off the optical axis by a specified angle onto the optical axis of said contact lens;
8. a green grating that diffracts green light that is off the optical axis by said specified angle onto the optical axis of said contact lens;
9. a blue grating that diffracts blue light that is off the optical axis by said specified angle onto the optical axis of said contact lens.
10. The contact lens described in Claim 1 where said diffractor comprises a hologram in only a central portion of said contact lens.
11. The contact lens described in Claim 1 where said diffractor comprises a hologram of greater strength in the center of said contact lens, said hologram being of weaker strength further out from the center of said contact lens.
12. The contact lens described in Claim 1 where said diffractor comprises a holographic optical element, said holographic optical element diffracting a ray of light of a specified wavelength that is off the optical axis by a specified angle, and that passes through the center of said contact lens, onto the optical axis of said contact lens, said holographic optical element also diffracting a ray of light of said specified wavelength that is entering at said specified angle, but entering away from the center of said contact lens, away from the optical axis of said contact lens by an amount proportional to the distance from the center of said contact lens that said ray of light enters.
13. The contact lens as described in Claim 1 where said diffractor consists of a holographic optical element, said holographic optical element such that it diffracts and defocuses collimated light.
14. The contact lens as described in Claim 13 where said diffractor diffracts monochromatic collimated light arriving approximately 4.5 degrees off the optical axis of said contact lens such that it emerges as a cone of light approximately contered on the optical axis of said contact lens.
15. An information display including the contact lens of Claim1 further including a light source borne by headwear, said light source directing light into said contact lens.
16. An information display including the contact lens of Claim1 further including a light source borne by eyeglasses, said light source directing light into said contact lens.
17. An information display including the contact lens described in Claim 13, and further including a handheld device, said handheld device including a collinear aremac.
18. The information display of Claim 17, said handheld device further including a beam multiplier.
19. The contact lens described in Claim 2 where said off-axis transmission hologram is switchable.
20. The contact lens described in Claim 1 where said contact lens further includes a receive antenna.
21. The contact lens described in Claim 20 where said receive antenna is a coil for receiving electrical power.
22. The contact lens described in Claim 21 where said diffraction grating is responsive to said electrical power.
23. An information display including the contact lens of Claim 1, further including an eyeglass mounted display, said display mounted in frames of said eyeglasses, such that said display is viewed off-axis by a wearer of both said contact lens and said eyeglasses.
24. The information display of Claim 23 further including an array of light sensitive elements in the frames of said eyeglasses.
25. The information display of Claim 24, said array of light sensitive elements consisting of a CCD camera array.
26. The information display of Claim 24, at least one lens of said eyeglasses bearing a holographic optical element.
27. The information display of Claim 26 further including a processor responsive to light entering said light sensitive elements, and where said display is responsive to an output of said processor.
28. The information display of Claim 26 where rays of light coming toward the center of projection of said contact lens, when said contact lens is in a position relative to said eyeglasses as when both would be worn by a wearer of both said contact lens and said eyeglasses, are diverted to said light sensitive elements, and where rays of light from said display, after passing through said contact lens, are collinear with said rays of light coming toward the center of projection of said contact lens before said rays of light coming toward the center of projection of said contactg lens are diverted.
29. An information display means including a contact lens, said contact lens having means for severely misfocusing collimated light on the retina of an eye of a wearer of said contact lens, said information display means including means for producing a Blurry Information Display.
30. A contact lens for use with an information display, including a defocuser borne by said contact lens, said defocuser comprising a lens of focal length less than 50 mm, said lens having a diameter not greater than 4 mm.
31. The contact lens of Claim 30 for use with an information display, said defocuser covering only a, portion of the part of the eye of a wearer responsive to light.
32. The contact lens of Claim 30 including at least two layers of transparent conductive material.
33. The contact lens of Claim 30 further including a processor.
34. The contact lens of Claim 30 including at least one layer of conductive material, and further including at least 12 distinct conductive elements extending radially outward.
35. A contact lens for use with a possibly multispectral narrowband display, comprising:
~ a diffractor borne by said contact lens;
~ an electric power source receiver borne by said contact lens.
~ a diffractor borne by said contact lens;
~ an electric power source receiver borne by said contact lens.
36. The contact lens of Claim 35 where said electric power source receiver is an inductive pickup coil embedded within the lens material of said contact lens.
37. The contact lens of Claims 35 where said electric power source receiver is a lightcell.
38. The contact lens of Claim 37, said lightcell being primarily responsive to monochromatic light.
39. An information display including the contact lens of Claim 37, further including a light source borne by headwear.
40. An information display including a contact lens for use with a monochromatic possibly multispectral narrowband light source, said contact lens including a transmission hologram, said transmission hologram being an off-axis hologram.
Priority Applications (12)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002280022A CA2280022A1 (en) | 1999-07-28 | 1999-07-28 | Contact lens for the display of information such as text, graphics, or pictures |
| CA 2295378 CA2295378A1 (en) | 1998-12-31 | 1999-12-29 | Point of purchase (pop) terminal |
| CA002300435A CA2300435A1 (en) | 1999-03-15 | 2000-02-28 | System for secure telepathy, incryption, uncryption, or secure personal communications |
| CA 2309868 CA2309868A1 (en) | 1999-06-29 | 2000-05-30 | Cybernetic keyer for transmitting or entering symbols of a discrete alphabet into a device such as a wearable computer or portable information processor |
| CA 2313693 CA2313693A1 (en) | 1999-07-28 | 2000-07-19 | Implantable camera system |
| CA 2316473 CA2316473A1 (en) | 1999-07-28 | 2000-07-24 | Covert headworn information display or data display or viewfinder |
| US09/944,442 US20030034874A1 (en) | 1998-10-29 | 2001-09-04 | System or architecture for secure mail transport and verifiable delivery, or apparatus for mail security |
| US09/944,429 US20020007510A1 (en) | 1998-10-29 | 2001-09-04 | Smart bathroom fixtures and systems |
| US09/945,879 US20020057915A1 (en) | 1998-10-29 | 2001-09-05 | Method and apparatus for enhancing personal safety with conspicuously concealed, incidentalist, concomitant, or deniable remote monitoring possibilities of a witnessential network, or the like |
| US09/953,684 US20020085843A1 (en) | 1998-10-29 | 2001-09-18 | Wearable camera system with viewfinder means |
| US09/978,233 US20020105410A1 (en) | 1998-10-29 | 2001-10-16 | Means, apparatus, and method of security and convenience through voluntary disclosure |
| US09/987,768 US20020030637A1 (en) | 1998-10-29 | 2001-11-15 | Aremac-based means and apparatus for interaction with computer, or one or more other people, through a camera |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002280022A CA2280022A1 (en) | 1999-07-28 | 1999-07-28 | Contact lens for the display of information such as text, graphics, or pictures |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2280022A1 true CA2280022A1 (en) | 2001-01-28 |
Family
ID=4163948
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002280022A Abandoned CA2280022A1 (en) | 1998-10-29 | 1999-07-28 | Contact lens for the display of information such as text, graphics, or pictures |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2280022A1 (en) |
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| WO2016196200A1 (en) * | 2015-05-29 | 2016-12-08 | University Of Rochester | Optical device for off-axis viewing |
| DE102016217347A1 (en) | 2016-09-12 | 2018-03-15 | Carl Zeiss Smart Optics Gmbh | Visual aid with data glasses and an adhesive tray |
| US10049275B2 (en) | 2012-05-25 | 2018-08-14 | Paragon Crt Company Llc | Multicomponent optical device for visual and audible translation and recognition |
| US10505394B2 (en) | 2018-04-21 | 2019-12-10 | Tectus Corporation | Power generation necklaces that mitigate energy absorption in the human body |
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| US10644543B1 (en) | 2018-12-20 | 2020-05-05 | Tectus Corporation | Eye-mounted display system including a head wearable object |
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| US10712588B2 (en) | 2012-05-25 | 2020-07-14 | Paragon Crt Company Llc | Contact lens having a space |
| US10790700B2 (en) | 2018-05-18 | 2020-09-29 | Tectus Corporation | Power generation necklaces with field shaping systems |
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| US10838239B2 (en) | 2018-04-30 | 2020-11-17 | Tectus Corporation | Multi-coil field generation in an electronic contact lens system |
| US10845621B1 (en) | 2019-08-02 | 2020-11-24 | Tectus Corporation | Headgear providing inductive coupling to a contact lens, with controller |
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| US10895762B2 (en) | 2018-04-30 | 2021-01-19 | Tectus Corporation | Multi-coil field generation in an electronic contact lens system |
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| US20210397003A1 (en) * | 2018-11-05 | 2021-12-23 | Sony Corporation | Video projection system, video projection device, video display light diffraction optical element, and video projection method |
| KR20230049387A (en) * | 2021-10-06 | 2023-04-13 | 한국광기술원 | Contact Lens Type Projection Holographic Display Apparatus and System |
| RU2805008C1 (en) * | 2023-03-30 | 2023-10-10 | Общество с ограниченной ответственностью "КСПАНСЕО"(ООО "КСПАНСЕО") | Virtual image visualization system |
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-
1999
- 1999-07-28 CA CA002280022A patent/CA2280022A1/en not_active Abandoned
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| US10712588B2 (en) | 2012-05-25 | 2020-07-14 | Paragon Crt Company Llc | Contact lens having a space |
| US9442307B2 (en) | 2012-05-25 | 2016-09-13 | Crt Technology, Inc. | Multicomponent optical device having a space |
| US10049275B2 (en) | 2012-05-25 | 2018-08-14 | Paragon Crt Company Llc | Multicomponent optical device for visual and audible translation and recognition |
| US8911078B2 (en) | 2012-05-25 | 2014-12-16 | Crt Technology, Inc. | Multicomponent optical device having a space |
| WO2016196200A1 (en) * | 2015-05-29 | 2016-12-08 | University Of Rochester | Optical device for off-axis viewing |
| DE102016217347A1 (en) | 2016-09-12 | 2018-03-15 | Carl Zeiss Smart Optics Gmbh | Visual aid with data glasses and an adhesive tray |
| CN112230433A (en) * | 2016-10-31 | 2021-01-15 | 德遁公司 | Optical system for femto projector |
| US10649233B2 (en) | 2016-11-28 | 2020-05-12 | Tectus Corporation | Unobtrusive eye mounted display |
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| US10673414B2 (en) | 2018-02-05 | 2020-06-02 | Tectus Corporation | Adaptive tuning of a contact lens |
| US10505394B2 (en) | 2018-04-21 | 2019-12-10 | Tectus Corporation | Power generation necklaces that mitigate energy absorption in the human body |
| US10895762B2 (en) | 2018-04-30 | 2021-01-19 | Tectus Corporation | Multi-coil field generation in an electronic contact lens system |
| US10838239B2 (en) | 2018-04-30 | 2020-11-17 | Tectus Corporation | Multi-coil field generation in an electronic contact lens system |
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| US11137622B2 (en) | 2018-07-15 | 2021-10-05 | Tectus Corporation | Eye-mounted displays including embedded conductive coils |
| US10529107B1 (en) | 2018-09-11 | 2020-01-07 | Tectus Corporation | Projector alignment in a contact lens |
| US20210397003A1 (en) * | 2018-11-05 | 2021-12-23 | Sony Corporation | Video projection system, video projection device, video display light diffraction optical element, and video projection method |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEER | Examination request | ||
| FZDE | Discontinued |