CN114063283A - Near-to-eye display optical device and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A near-eye display optical apparatus and a method thereof. The near-eye display optical apparatus includes at least one image light projecting component and at least one waveguide device. The waveguide device comprises a waveguide group, a coupling-in element group and a coupling-out element group. The waveguide set has an in-coupling region and an out-coupling region for propagating at least two monochromatic image lights coupled in from the in-coupling region to the out-coupling region. The incoupling element group is correspondingly arranged in the incoupling area of the waveguide group, and the incoupling element corresponds to the image light projection component and is used for incoupling the at least two monochromatic image lights projected by the image light projection component into the waveguide group from the incoupling area. The out-coupling element group is correspondingly arranged at the out-coupling region of the waveguide group and is used for coupling the at least two monochromatic image lights propagated through the waveguide group out of the out-coupling region to form at least two monochromatic image lights with the same angular spatial distribution.

Description

Near-to-eye display optical device and method thereof

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of near-eye display, in particular to near-eye display optical equipment and a method thereof.

Background

In recent years, with the advent of LED technology and micro display chip technology, miniaturization and high-resolution projection display have become possible. With the continuous development of projection display technology and market demand, wearable micro projection light engines with large view field, high imaging quality and small volume are more and more emphasized, especially in the fields of developing Augmented Reality (AR), Near-eye display (NED) and wearable display of fire and heat nowadays.

Currently, existing near-eye display systems generally consist of a micro projection light engine and a waveguide display device, so that image light from the micro projection light engine is transmitted to human eyes through the waveguide display device to realize near-eye display. Specifically, as shown in fig. 1, the conventional micro-projection light engine 1P generally includes an illumination system 10P, a relay lens assembly 20P, a display chip 30P and a projection imaging system 40P, wherein the relay lens assembly 20P is located in an illumination path of the illumination system 10P, and the display chip 30P and the projection imaging system 40P are respectively located at opposite sides of the relay lens assembly 20P. When the illumination system 10P emits the illumination beam along the illumination path, the relay lens group 20P transmits the illumination beam to the display chip 30P first, so as to transmit the image light to the projection imaging system 40P after modulating the illumination beam into the image light by the display chip 30P such as LCOS, so as to project and image the image light by the projection imaging system 40P.

In addition, in order to realize color display, the illumination system 10P of the existing micro-projection light engine 1P generally employs a color combining device such as an X-Cube (X-Cube) or the like to combine the primary lights from the three optical paths into the same optical path. As shown in fig. 1, the X color-combination prism is generally formed by gluing four right-angle prisms 11P along right-angle surfaces, and the right-angle surfaces of the right-angle prisms 11P are plated with respective first and second film systems 12P, 13P; the inclined planes of the four right-angle prisms 11P are respectively used as the input plane and the output plane of light, the red, green and blue three-primary-color polarized light sources 14P respectively correspond to the inclined planes of the three right-angle prisms 11P, and the inclined plane of the other one of the right-angle prisms 11P is used as the output plane after the three-primary-color light is synthesized into white light.

However, although the X color combining prism can combine three primary lights into one white light, the X color combining prism is limited by its own structure, which is relatively loose and bulky, so that the lighting system equipped with the X color combining prism has a relatively large volume and weight. In particular, the existing micro projection light engine has many disadvantages due to its structural limitation (as shown in fig. 1, the illumination beam emitted by the illumination system 10P must pass through the large and heavy relay lens group 20P to reach the illumination area required by the display chip 30P, and the illumination beam is transmitted in a turning manner so as to modulate the image light through the display chip 30P, etc.), such as large size, heavy equipment, great difficulty in manufacturing, etc., which makes it difficult to meet the market demand for the small and light micro projection light engine, and especially cannot be widely applied and popularized in the fields of augmented reality, near-eye display, wearable, etc.

Disclosure of Invention

An advantage of the present invention is to provide a near-eye display optical apparatus and a method thereof that can satisfy the market demand for a small-sized, light-weight near-eye display optical apparatus.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a near-eye display optical apparatus and a method thereof, wherein in an embodiment of the present invention, a waveguide device of the near-eye display optical apparatus can implement a near-eye display and a color combining function such as an X color combining prism, so as to overcome the problems of large volume and heavy weight caused by the limitations of the structure of the existing micro projection light engine.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a near-eye display optical apparatus and a method thereof, wherein in an embodiment of the present invention, the waveguide device can modulate monochromatic image lights with different angular spatial distributions into image lights with the same angular spatial distribution, so as to directly realize color combination in front of human eyes, thereby realizing color display without additionally providing a color combination device.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a near-eye display optical device and a method thereof, wherein in an embodiment of the present invention, the near-eye display optical device does not need to use polarized light and compound eye technology, and can greatly improve the light energy utilization rate.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a near-eye display optical device and a method thereof, wherein in an embodiment of the present invention, the near-eye display optical device uses a waveguide to directly perform color combining without an additional color combining device, so that the whole device is more compact, smaller in size, lighter in weight, and also helpful for reducing processing and assembling difficulties and reducing cost.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a near-eye display optical device and a method thereof, wherein in an embodiment of the present invention, an image source of the near-eye display optical device employs a monochromatic self-luminous display chip, and an illumination relay in a conventional system is omitted, so as to reduce cost on the basis of greatly reducing the volume and weight of a micro-projection light engine.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a near-eye display optical device and a method thereof, wherein, in an embodiment of the present invention, the near-eye display optical device adopts an innovative system design to achieve a small enough volume, so that the near-eye display optical device is wearable and is capable of facing consumers.

Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a near-eye display optical apparatus and a method thereof, in which it is not necessary to use expensive materials or complicated structures in the present invention in order to achieve the above objects. Accordingly, the present invention successfully and efficiently provides a solution that not only provides a simple near-eye display optical apparatus and method thereof, but also increases the practicality and reliability of the near-eye display optical apparatus and method thereof.

To achieve at least one of the above advantages or other advantages and objects, the present invention provides a near-eye display optical device including:

at least one image light projecting assembly, wherein the image light projecting assembly is configured to project at least two monochromatic image lights; and

at least one waveguide device, wherein the waveguide device comprises:

a waveguide assembly, wherein the waveguide assembly has an in-coupling region and an out-coupling region for propagating the at least two monochromatic image lights coupled in from the in-coupling region to the out-coupling region;

an incoupling element group, wherein the incoupling element group is correspondingly arranged at the incoupling region of the waveguide group, and the incoupling element corresponds to the image light projection component, for incoupling the at least two monochromatic image lights projected by the image light projection component from the incoupling region into the waveguide group; and

and the coupling-out element groups are correspondingly arranged at the coupling-out region of the waveguide group and are used for coupling the at least two monochromatic image lights propagated through the waveguide group out of the coupling-out region to form at least two monochromatic image lights with the same angular spatial distribution.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the waveguide set includes a first waveguide layer, a second waveguide layer, and a third waveguide layer stacked in this order, wherein the first waveguide layer is configured to propagate the first monochromatic image light having the first angular spatial distribution of the at least two monochromatic image lights from the coupling-in region to the coupling-out region; wherein the second waveguide layer is configured to propagate a second monochromatic image light having a second angular spatial distribution of the at least two monochromatic image lights from the in-coupling region to the out-coupling region; wherein the third waveguide layer is configured to propagate a third monochromatic image light having a third angular spatial distribution of the at least two monochromatic image lights from the in-coupling region to the out-coupling region.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the coupling-in element group includes a first coupling-in element correspondingly disposed on the first waveguide layer, a second coupling-in element correspondingly disposed on the second waveguide layer, and a third coupling-in element correspondingly disposed on the third waveguide layer, and the coupling-out element group includes a first coupling-out element correspondingly disposed on the first waveguide layer, a second coupling-out element correspondingly disposed on the second waveguide layer, and a third coupling-out element correspondingly disposed on the third waveguide layer.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first incoupling element, the second incoupling element and the third incoupling element are stacked in alignment in this order, and the first incoupling element and the third incoupling element are adapted to be located adjacent to and remote from the image light projection assembly, respectively, wherein the first incoupling element is adapted to couple the first monochromatic image light having the first angular spatial distribution into the first waveguide layer and to allow the second monochromatic image light having the second angular spatial distribution and the third monochromatic image light having the third angular spatial distribution to pass through; wherein the second incoupling element is configured to optically couple the second monochromatic image having the second angular spatial distribution into the second waveguide layer and to allow the third monochromatic image having the third angular spatial distribution to pass through; wherein the third incoupling element is for optically coupling the third monochromatic image having the third angular spatial distribution into the third waveguide layer.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the first incoupling element, the second incoupling element and the third incoupling element are stacked in sequence with a misalignment, wherein the first incoupling element is used for coupling the first monochromatic image light with the first angular spatial distribution into the first waveguide layer; wherein the second incoupling element is for optically coupling the second monochromatic image having the second angular spatial distribution into the second waveguide layer; wherein the third incoupling element is for optically coupling the third monochromatic image having the third angular spatial distribution into the third waveguide layer.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the first outcoupling element, the second outcoupling element and the third outcoupling element are stacked in order in alignment.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the set of incoupling elements and the set of outcoupling elements each comprise one or more of a surface relief grating, a bulk grating, a super-surface, a plasmon, and a photonic crystal.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the image light projecting assembly includes an image source and an imaging lens, wherein the image source is configured to emit at least two monochromatic image lights carrying the same image information, and the imaging lens is disposed in an optical path between the image source and the coupling-in region of the waveguide set of the waveguide device, and is configured to perform imaging processing on the at least two monochromatic image lights from the image source to project the at least two monochromatic image lights with different angular spatial distributions to the coupling-in region of the waveguide set.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the image source includes at least two monochromatic self-luminous display chips, wherein the at least two monochromatic self-luminous display chips have the same luminous surface, and the at least two monochromatic self-luminous display chips have a position offset with respect to an image plane of the imaging lens.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the at least two monochromatic self-luminous display chips are Micro LED chips or OLED chips.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the at least two monochromatic self-light emitting display chips include a first monochromatic self-light emitting display chip, a second monochromatic self-light emitting display chip, and a third monochromatic self-light emitting display chip, wherein the first monochromatic self-light emitting display chip, the second monochromatic self-light emitting display chip, and the third monochromatic self-light emitting display chip are disposed side by side on a same side of the imaging lens, and the first monochromatic self-light emitting display chip, the second monochromatic self-light emitting display chip, and the third monochromatic self-light emitting display chip are offset with respect to an image plane of the imaging lens.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first monochromatic self-light emitting display chip is configured to emit red image light, the second monochromatic self-light emitting display chip is configured to emit green image light, and the third monochromatic self-light emitting display chip is configured to emit blue image light.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the imaging lens is selected from one of an imaging lens group, a fold-back lens, a superlens, and a diffractive lens.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the present invention further provides a method of manufacturing a near-eye display optical device, comprising the steps of:

correspondingly arranging a coupling-in element group and a coupling-out element group in a coupling-in area and a coupling-out area of a waveguide group respectively to obtain a waveguide device; and

correspondingly disposing an image light projecting component on the coupling-in region of the waveguide set of the waveguide device, wherein the image light projecting component is configured to project at least two monochromatic image lights with different angular spatial distributions to the coupling-in region of the waveguide set, and the coupling-in element set and/or the coupling-out element set are configured to modulate the at least two monochromatic image lights with different angular spatial distributions to form at least two monochromatic image lights with the same angular spatial distribution, so as to implement a combined color display.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be fully apparent from the ensuing description and drawings.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings and the claims.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a conventional micro projection light engine.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a near-eye display optical device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a waveguide device of the near-eye display optical apparatus according to the above-described embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4A to 4D show a variant of the waveguide device according to the above embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram illustrating an image light projecting assembly of the near-eye display optical apparatus according to the above-described embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 shows a first variant implementation of the image light projection assembly according to the above-described embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 7 shows a second variant implementation of the image light projection assembly according to the above-described embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 8 shows a third variant implementation of the image light projection assembly according to the above-described embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of a color combination display method of a waveguide device according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 10 is a flow chart illustrating a method of manufacturing a near-eye display optical device according to an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

The following description is presented to disclose the invention so as to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention. The preferred embodiments in the following description are given by way of example only, and other obvious variations will occur to those skilled in the art. The basic principles of the invention, as defined in the following description, may be applied to other embodiments, variations, modifications, equivalents, and other technical solutions without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that in the present disclosure, the terms "longitudinal," "lateral," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," and the like are used in an orientation or positional relationship indicated in the drawings for ease of description and simplicity of description, and do not indicate or imply that the referenced devices or components must be constructed and operated in a particular orientation and thus are not to be considered limiting.

In the present invention, the terms "a" and "an" in the claims and the description should be understood as meaning "one or more", that is, one element may be one in number in one embodiment, and the element may be more than one in number in another embodiment. The terms "a" and "an" should not be construed as limiting the number unless the number of such elements is explicitly recited as one in the present disclosure, but rather the terms "a" and "an" should not be construed as being limited to only one of the number.

In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "first," "second," and the like are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance. In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless explicitly stated or limited otherwise, the terms "connected" and "connected" are to be interpreted broadly, and may be, for example, fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally connected; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

In the description herein, references to the description of the term "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples," etc., mean that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the terms used above are not necessarily intended to refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. Furthermore, various embodiments or examples and features of different embodiments or examples described in this specification can be combined and combined by one skilled in the art without contradiction.

The existing micro-projection optical system generally comprises an illumination module and an imaging module, and in order to realize color display, the illumination module generally needs to contain a light source, a color combination device and a light evening device, which results in large volume and heavy weight of the whole micro-projection optical system and a near-eye display system thereof. However, the size and weight of the current AR and NED wearable products are more and more demanding, and only products with small enough size, light weight, low cost and high imaging quality can meet the market demand. Accordingly, to meet market needs, the present application provides a near-eye display optical device and method thereof.

Referring to fig. 2 and 3 of the drawings, a near-eye display optical apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated, wherein the near-eye display optical apparatus 1 includes at least one waveguide device 10 and at least one image light projecting component 20, wherein the waveguide device 10 may include a waveguide set 11, and the waveguide set 11 has a coupling-in region 1101 and a coupling-out region 1102 for propagating at least two monochromatic image lights 200 coupled in from the coupling-in region 1101 to the coupling-out region 1102.

Specifically, the image light projecting assembly 20 is disposed at one side of the waveguide set 11 of the waveguide device 10, and corresponds to the coupling-in area 1101 of the waveguide set 11, and is configured to project at least two monochromatic image lights 200 having different angular spatial distributions to the coupling-in area 1101 of the waveguide set 11, wherein the waveguide device 10 is configured to propagate the at least two monochromatic image lights 200, and modulate the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 having different angular spatial distributions into the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 having the same angular spatial distribution, so as to achieve superposition in front of human eyes, thereby achieving full-color near-eye display.

More specifically, as shown in fig. 2, the waveguide device 10 may further include a set of coupling-in elements 12 and a set of coupling-out elements 13. The incoupling element group 12 is correspondingly disposed at the incoupling region 1101 of the waveguide group 11, and the incoupling element group 12 is adapted to correspond to the image light projection assembly 20, for incoupling the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 having different angular spatial distributions, which are projected via the image light projection assembly 20, from the incoupling region 1101 into the waveguide group 11. The out-coupling element group 13 is disposed in the out-coupling region 1102 of the waveguide group 11, and is used for coupling the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 propagated through the waveguide group 11 out of the out-coupling region 1102 to form the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 having the same angular spatial distribution, so as to implement color-combination display.

It should be noted that, since the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 with different angular spatial distributions projected by the image light projecting assembly 20 form the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 with the same angular spatial distribution coupled out from the coupling-out region 1102 after being modulated by the coupling-in element group 12 and/or the coupling-out element group 13, the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 coupled out from the coupling-out region 1102 achieve coincidence (i.e. color combination) in front of human eyes due to the same angular spatial distribution, so that color display can be achieved without additionally providing a color combining device such as an X-ray combiner, which helps to make the whole optical device more compact, smaller, and lighter.

In addition, the incoupling element group 12 and the outcoupling element group 13 of the present invention may include, but are not limited to, diffraction gratings such as surface relief gratings or volume gratings, and may also include microstructures such as super surfaces, plasmons, or photonic crystals, as long as the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 having different angular spatial distributions can be modulated into the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 having the same angular spatial distribution by the incoupling element group 12 and/or the outcoupling element group 13, which is not described in detail herein.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 having different angular spatial distributions projected via the image light projecting assembly 20 can be implemented as, but not limited to, a first monochromatic image light 201 having a first angular spatial distribution, a second monochromatic image light 202 having a second angular spatial distribution, and a third monochromatic image light 203 having a third angular spatial distribution, and correspondingly, the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 coupled out from the coupling-out area 1102 can also be implemented as the first monochromatic image light 201, the second monochromatic image light 202, and the third monochromatic image light 203 each having a fourth angular spatial distribution. It is to be understood that the first monochromatic image light 201, the second monochromatic image light 202, and the third monochromatic image light 203 are different in color from each other, and may be implemented as, for example, red image light (R image light), green image light (G image light), and blue image light (B image light), respectively. Furthermore, the first angular spatial distribution, the second angular spatial distribution and the third angular spatial distribution are different from each other, and the fourth angular spatial distribution may be different from the first angular spatial distribution, the second angular spatial distribution and the third angular spatial distribution, or may be the same as one of the first angular spatial distribution, the second angular spatial distribution and the third angular spatial distribution.

Preferably, the first monochromatic image light 201, the second monochromatic image light 202 and the third monochromatic image light 203 all carry the same image information to ensure that the superposition is achieved in front of the human eye, thereby achieving full-color near-eye display.

More preferably, the first monochromatic image light 201, the second monochromatic image light 202 and the third monochromatic image light 203 projected through the image light projecting assembly 20 all have the same angle of view, so as to obtain high-quality full-color near-eye display. In other words, the RGB monochromatic image light carrying the same image information is coupled into the waveguide set 11 from the coupling-in region 1101 with the same field angle and different angular spatial distributions; then, the RGB monochromatic image lights carrying the same image information are coupled out of the waveguide set 11 from the coupling-out region 1102 at the same viewing angle and the same angular spatial distribution, so that the coupled-out RGB monochromatic image lights can be completely overlapped in front of human eyes, thereby realizing full-color display.

According to the above embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3, the waveguide set 11 of the waveguide device 10 may include a first waveguide layer 111, a second waveguide layer 112 and a third waveguide layer 113 stacked in sequence, wherein the coupling-in element set 12 may include a first coupling-in element 121, a second coupling-in element 122 and a third coupling-in element 123 correspondingly, and the coupling-out element set 13 may include a first coupling-out element 131, a third coupling-out element 132 and a third coupling-out element 133 correspondingly.

In more detail, as shown in fig. 3, the first incoupling element 121 is correspondingly disposed on the first waveguide layer 111 and located in the incoupling region 1101 of the waveguide set 11; wherein the first out-coupling element 131 is correspondingly disposed on the first waveguide layer 111 and located in the out-coupling region 1102 of the waveguide set 11. Thus, the first monochromatic image light 201 with the first angular spatial distribution will first be modulated by the first incoupling element 121 to be incoupled from the incoupling region 1101 into the first waveguide layer 111, and then after propagation through the first waveguide layer 111, be coupled out of the first waveguide layer 111 from the outcoupling region 1102 by modulation of the first outcoupling element 131 to form the first monochromatic image light 201 with the fourth angular spatial distribution.

As shown in fig. 3, the second incoupling elements 122 are correspondingly disposed on the second waveguide layer 112 and located in the incoupling region 1101 of the waveguide set 11; wherein the second out-coupling elements 132 are correspondingly disposed on the second waveguide layer 112 and located in the out-coupling region 1102 of the waveguide set 11. Thus, the second monochromatic image light 202 having the second angular spatial distribution will be first modulated by the second incoupling elements 122 to be incoupled from the incoupling regions 1101 into the second waveguide layer 112, and then after propagation through the second waveguide layer 112, coupled out from the outcoupling regions 1102 by modulation by the second outcoupling elements 132 to form the second monochromatic image light 202 having the fourth angular spatial distribution.

As shown in fig. 3, the third incoupling element 123 is correspondingly disposed on the third waveguide layer 113 and located in the incoupling region 1101 of the waveguide set 11; the third out-coupling element 133 is correspondingly disposed on the third waveguide layer 113 and located in the out-coupling region 1102 of the waveguide set 11. Thus, the third monochromatic image light 203 with the third angular spatial distribution is modulated by the third incoupling element 123 to be coupled into the third waveguide layer 113 from the incoupling region 1101, and then is coupled out of the third waveguide layer 113 from the outcoupling region 1102 by modulation of the third outcoupling element 133 after propagating through the third waveguide layer 113, so as to form the third monochromatic image light 203 with the fourth angular spatial distribution.

It should be noted that, in the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3, the first incoupling element 121, the second incoupling element 122 and the third incoupling element 123 are stacked in alignment in sequence, and the first incoupling element 121 and the third incoupling element 123 are located adjacent to and far away from the image light projection assembly 20, respectively. At this time, the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 projected via the image light projecting assembly 20 will both propagate to the first incoupling element 121, and therefore the first incoupling element 121 is preferably designed to couple the first monochromatic image light 201 having the first angular spatial distribution into the first waveguide layer 111 and to allow the second monochromatic image light 202 having the second angular spatial distribution and the third monochromatic image light 203 having the third angular spatial distribution to pass through.

Likewise, the second monochromatic image light 202 having the second angular spatial distribution and the third monochromatic image light 203 having the third angular spatial distribution projected via the image light projecting assembly 20 will both propagate to the second incoupling element 122, and therefore the second incoupling element 123 is preferably designed to couple the second monochromatic image light 202 having the second angular spatial distribution into the second waveguide layer 112 and to allow the third monochromatic image light 203 having the third angular spatial distribution to pass through.

It should be noted that, in the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3, the first outcoupling element 131, the second outcoupling element 132 and the third outcoupling element 133 are preferably stacked in alignment in sequence, so as to ensure that the first monochromatic image light 201, the second monochromatic image light 202 and the third monochromatic image light 203 outcoupled via the first outcoupling element 131, the second outcoupling element 132 and the third outcoupling element 133 respectively have the same angular spatial distribution, thereby performing color-combination display before human eyes.

It is worth mentioning that fig. 4A to 4D show a variant of the waveguide device 10 according to the above embodiment of the invention. This variant embodiment according to the invention differs from the above-described embodiment according to the invention in that: the first coupling-in element 121, the second coupling-in element 122 and the third coupling-in element 123 are stacked in sequence with a shift. At this time, the first monochromatic image light 201 with the first angular spatial distribution, the second monochromatic image light 202 with the second angular spatial distribution and the third monochromatic image light 203 with the third angular spatial distribution projected by the image light projecting assembly 20 will propagate to the first incoupling element 121, the second incoupling element 122 and the third incoupling element 123 respectively, so that the first incoupling element 121, the second incoupling element 122 and the third incoupling element 123 only need to be designed to couple the first monochromatic image light 201 with the first angular spatial distribution, the second monochromatic image light 202 with the second angular spatial distribution and the third monochromatic image light 203 with the third angular spatial distribution to the first waveguide layer 111, the second waveguide layer 112 and the third waveguide layer 113 respectively, it is helpful to reduce the design difficulty of the first coupling-in element 121, the second coupling-in element 122 and the third coupling-in element 123.

It is noted that, in the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2, the image light projecting assembly 20 and the human eye may be located on the same side of the waveguide device 10, so that the out-coupling direction of the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 having the same angular spatial distribution is exactly opposite to the in-coupling direction of the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 having different angular spatial distributions. Of course, in other examples of the present invention, the image light projecting assembly 20 and the human eye may be located on opposite sides of the waveguide device 10, so that the out-coupling direction of the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 having the same angular spatial distribution is consistent with the in-coupling direction of the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 having different angular spatial distributions.

Specifically, in the above embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the image light projecting assembly 20 of the near-eye display optical device 1 may include an image source 21 and an imaging lens 22, wherein the image source 21 is configured to emit at least two monochromatic image lights 200 carrying the same image information, and wherein the imaging lens 22 is disposed in the optical path between the image source 21 and the coupling-in region 111 of the waveguide set 11 of the waveguide device 10, and is configured to perform an imaging process on the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 from the image source 21 to project the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 having different angular spatial distributions to the coupling-in region 111 of the waveguide set 11.

More specifically, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the image source 21 of the image light projecting assembly 20 may include at least two monochromatic self-light emitting display chips 210, wherein the at least two monochromatic self-light emitting display chips 210 have the same light emitting surface to carry the same image information, and the at least two monochromatic self-light emitting display chips 210 are offset with respect to the image plane of the imaging lens 22, so that the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 carrying the same image information and emitted by the at least two monochromatic self-light emitting display chips 210 form the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 with different angular spatial distributions after passing through the imaging lens 22.

It is noted that the at least two single-color self-luminous display chips 210 of the image source 21 may be implemented as, but not limited to, Micro LED chips or OLED chips. It can be understood that, just as the image source 21 of the near-eye display optical system 1 employs a Micro LED chip or an OLED chip capable of directly providing image light, compared to the existing Micro projection light engine, the near-eye display optical system 1 of the present invention does not need to additionally provide a relay lens group, so that the volume and weight of the near-eye display optical system 1 can be greatly reduced.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the at least two monochromatic self-luminous display chips 210 of the image source 21 may include a first monochromatic self-luminous display chip 211, a second monochromatic self-luminous display chip 212 and a third monochromatic self-luminous display chip 213, wherein the first monochromatic self-luminous display chip 211, the second monochromatic self-luminous display chip 212 and the third monochromatic self-luminous display chip 213 are disposed side by side on the same side of the imaging lens 22, and the first monochromatic self-luminous display chip 211, the second monochromatic self-luminous display chip 212 and the third monochromatic self-luminous display chip 213 are offset with respect to the image plane of the imaging lens 22.

Preferably, the first monochromatic self-light emitting display chip 211 is configured to emit red image light, the second monochromatic self-light emitting display chip 212 is configured to emit green image light, and the third monochromatic self-light emitting display chip 213 is configured to emit blue image light. Of course, in other examples of the present invention, the colors of the image light emitted by the first monochrome self-light emitting display chip 211, the second monochrome self-light emitting display chip 212, and the third monochrome self-light emitting display chip 213 may be interchanged, and may also be used to emit monochrome image light of other colors.

It is noted that the first, second and third monochromatic self- luminous display chips 211, 212, 213 have the same luminous surface and carry the same image information for sequentially emitting the first, second and third monochromatic image light 201, 202, 203 carrying the same image information. Furthermore, since the first monochromatic self-light emitting display chip 211, the second monochromatic self-light emitting display chip 212 and the third monochromatic self-light emitting display chip 213 are offset with respect to the image plane of the imaging lens 22, the first, second and third monochromatic image lights 201, 202, 203 carrying the same image information emitted through the first, second and third monochromatic self-light emitting display chips 211, 212, 213 can form the first, second and third monochromatic image lights 201, 202, 203 having different angular spatial distributions after the imaging process through the imaging lens 22, thereby realizing the projection of the RGB monochromatic image lights in different angular spaces.

It should be noted that, in the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 5, the imaging lens 22 of the image light projecting assembly 20 may be, but is not limited to be, implemented as an imaging lens group 221, wherein the imaging lens group 221 is correspondingly disposed between the image source 21 and the coupling-in region 1101 of the waveguide group 11 of the waveguide device 10, and is used for converging the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 from the image source 21 to form an image, and transmitting the converged at least two monochromatic image lights 200 to the coupling-in region 1101 to couple the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 into the waveguide group 11 through the coupling-in element group 12. Then, after propagating inside the waveguide set 11 to the coupling-out region 1102, the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 are coupled out of the waveguide set 11 by the coupling-out element set 13 to propagate into the eyes of the user to be viewed by the user as corresponding color images. It is to be understood that the number, materials and shapes of the lenses in the imaging lens group 221 are not limited to those shown in the drawings, as long as the projection imaging required by the present invention can be realized, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

Fig. 6 shows a first variant implementation of the imaging lens 22 according to the above embodiment of the present invention, in which the imaging lens 22 is implemented as a fold-back lens 222, in which the fold-back lens 22 is correspondingly disposed between the image source 21 and the coupling-in region 1101 of the waveguide set 11 of the waveguide device 10, and is used for folding back the at least two monochromatic image lights 200, so that the imaging optical path in the fold-back lens 222 is folded back and turned around, so as to provide a sufficiently long imaging optical path in a smaller space, which helps to reduce the volume and weight of the imaging lens, and further achieves the effect of further reducing the volume and weight of the near-eye display optical device 1.

Fig. 7 shows a second variant implementation of the imaging lens 22 according to the above embodiment of the invention, wherein the imaging lens 22 is implemented as a superlens 223, wherein the superlens 223 is correspondingly disposed between the image source 21 and the coupling-in region 1101 of the waveguide set 11 of the waveguide device 10, so as to perform an imaging process on the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 from the image source 21 through the superlens 223. It is noted that, since the volume and weight of the superlens 223 are much smaller than those of the imaging lens group 221, the volume and weight of the near-eye display optical apparatus 1 are both greatly reduced.

Fig. 8 shows a third variant implementation of the imaging lens 22 according to the above embodiment of the present invention, in which the imaging lens 22 is implemented as a diffractive lens 224 (such as a fresnel lens or the like), wherein the diffractive lens 224 is correspondingly disposed between the image source 21 and the coupling-in region 1101 of the waveguide set 11 of the waveguide device 10, so as to perform an imaging process on the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 from the image source 21 via diffraction of the diffractive lens 224. It should be noted that, since the volume and weight of the diffractive lens 224 are also much smaller than those of the imaging lens group 221, the volume and weight of the near-eye display optical apparatus 1 can also be greatly reduced.

According to another aspect of the present invention, as shown in fig. 9, the present invention further provides a color combination display method of a waveguide device, comprising the steps of:

s110: coupling at least two monochromatic image lights 200 with different angular spatial distributions from an incoupling region 1101 of a waveguide set 11 into the waveguide set 11 via an incoupling element set 12;

s120: propagating the at least two monochromatic image light 200 coupled in from the coupling-in region 1101 to a coupling-out region 1102 of the waveguide set 11 via the waveguide set 11; and

s130: the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 propagating to the coupling-out region 1102 are coupled out of the waveguide set 11 via a coupling-out element set 13, wherein the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 having different angular spatial distributions form at least two monochromatic image lights 200 having the same angular spatial distribution after modulation via the coupling-in element set 12 and/or the coupling-out element set 13.

According to another aspect of the present invention, as shown in fig. 10, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a method of manufacturing a near-eye display optical device, including the steps of:

s210: correspondingly arranging a coupling-in element group 12 and a coupling-out element group 13 in a coupling-in region 1101 and a coupling-out region 1102 of a waveguide group 11 respectively to obtain a waveguide device 10; and

s220: correspondingly, an image light projecting assembly 20 is disposed in the coupling-in region 1101 of the waveguide set 11 of the waveguide device 10, wherein the image light projecting assembly 20 is configured to project at least two monochromatic image lights 200 with different angular spatial distributions onto the coupling-in region 1101 of the waveguide set 11, and the coupling-in element set 12 and/or the coupling-out element set 13 are configured to modulate the at least two monochromatic image lights 200 with different angular spatial distributions to form at least two monochromatic image lights 200 with the same angular spatial distribution, so as to implement a combined color display.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the embodiments of the invention described above and shown in the drawings are given by way of example only and are not limiting of the invention. The objects of the invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. The functional and structural principles of the present invention have been shown and described in the examples, and any variations or modifications of the embodiments of the present invention may be made without departing from the principles.

Claims (14)

1. A near-eye display optical device, comprising:

at least one image light projecting assembly, wherein the image light projecting assembly is configured to project at least two monochromatic image lights; and

at least one waveguide device, wherein the waveguide device comprises:

a waveguide assembly, wherein the waveguide assembly has an in-coupling region and an out-coupling region for propagating the at least two monochromatic image lights coupled in from the in-coupling region to the out-coupling region;

an incoupling element group, wherein the incoupling element group is correspondingly arranged at the incoupling region of the waveguide group, and the incoupling element corresponds to the image light projection component, for incoupling the at least two monochromatic image lights projected by the image light projection component from the incoupling region into the waveguide group; and

and the coupling-out element groups are correspondingly arranged at the coupling-out region of the waveguide group and are used for coupling the at least two monochromatic image lights propagated through the waveguide group out of the coupling-out region to form at least two monochromatic image lights with the same angular spatial distribution.

2. The near-eye display optical device according to claim 1, wherein the waveguide set includes a first waveguide layer, a second waveguide layer, and a third waveguide layer stacked in this order, wherein the first waveguide layer is configured to propagate a first monochromatic image light having a first angular spatial distribution of the at least two monochromatic image lights from the coupling-in region to the coupling-out region; wherein the second waveguide layer is configured to propagate a second monochromatic image light having a second angular spatial distribution of the at least two monochromatic image lights from the in-coupling region to the out-coupling region; wherein the third waveguide layer is configured to propagate a third monochromatic image light having a third angular spatial distribution of the at least two monochromatic image lights from the in-coupling region to the out-coupling region.

3. The near-eye display optical device of claim 2, wherein the set of coupling-in elements comprises a first coupling-in element correspondingly disposed on the first waveguide layer, a second coupling-in element correspondingly disposed on the second waveguide layer, and a third coupling-in element correspondingly disposed on the third waveguide layer, and the set of coupling-out elements comprises a first coupling-out element correspondingly disposed on the first waveguide layer, a second coupling-out element correspondingly disposed on the second waveguide layer, and a third coupling-out element correspondingly disposed on the third waveguide layer.

4. The near-eye display optical device according to claim 3, wherein the first incoupling element, the second incoupling element and the third incoupling element are stacked in sequential alignment and the first incoupling element and the third incoupling element are adapted to be located adjacent to and remote from the image light projecting assembly, respectively, wherein the first incoupling element is adapted to optically couple the first monochromatic image having the first angular spatial distribution into the first waveguide layer and to allow the second monochromatic image having the second angular spatial distribution and the third monochromatic image having the third angular spatial distribution to pass therethrough; wherein the second incoupling element is configured to optically couple the second monochromatic image having the second angular spatial distribution into the second waveguide layer and to allow the third monochromatic image having the third angular spatial distribution to pass through; wherein the third incoupling element is for optically coupling the third monochromatic image having the third angular spatial distribution into the third waveguide layer.

5. The near-eye display optical device according to claim 3, wherein the first incoupling element for coupling the first monochromatic image having the first angular spatial distribution into the first waveguide layer, the second incoupling element and the third incoupling element are stacked offset in sequence; wherein the second incoupling element is for optically coupling the second monochromatic image having the second angular spatial distribution into the second waveguide layer; wherein the third incoupling element is for optically coupling the third monochromatic image having the third angular spatial distribution into the third waveguide layer.

6. The near-eye display optical device of claim 4 or 5, wherein the first outcoupling element, the second outcoupling element, and the third outcoupling element are stacked in alignment in sequence.

7. The near-eye display optical device of any one of claims 1-5, wherein the set of incoupling elements and the set of outcoupling elements each comprise one or more of a surface relief grating, a bulk grating, a super surface, a plasmon, and a photonic crystal.

8. The near-eye display optical device of any one of claims 1-5, wherein the image light projecting assembly comprises an image source and an imaging lens, wherein the image source is configured to emit at least two monochromatic image lights carrying the same image information, wherein the imaging lens is disposed in an optical path between the image source and the coupling-in region of the waveguide set of the waveguide device, and is configured to perform imaging processing on the at least two monochromatic image lights from the image source to project the at least two monochromatic image lights having different angular spatial distributions to the coupling-in region of the waveguide set.

9. The near-eye display optical device according to claim 8, wherein the image source comprises at least two monochromatic self-luminous display chips, wherein the at least two monochromatic self-luminous display chips have the same luminous surface, and the at least two monochromatic self-luminous display chips are offset in position with respect to an image plane of the imaging lens.

10. The near-eye display optical device of claim 9, wherein the at least two monochromatic self-emitting display chips are Micro LED chips or OLED chips.

11. The near-eye display optical apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the at least two monochromatic self-light emitting display chips comprise a first monochromatic self-light emitting display chip, a second monochromatic self-light emitting display chip and a third monochromatic self-light emitting display chip, wherein the first monochromatic self-light emitting display chip, the second monochromatic self-light emitting display chip and the third monochromatic self-light emitting display chip are arranged side by side on the same side of the imaging lens, and the first monochromatic self-light emitting display chip, the second monochromatic self-light emitting display chip and the third monochromatic self-light emitting display chip are offset with respect to an image plane of the imaging lens.

12. The near-eye display optical apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the first monochromatic self-light emitting display chip is configured to emit red image light, the second monochromatic self-light emitting display chip is configured to emit green image light, and the third monochromatic self-light emitting display chip is configured to emit blue image light.

13. The near-eye display optical apparatus of claim 8, wherein the imaging lens is selected from one of an imaging lens group, a fold-back lens, a superlens, and a diffractive lens.

14. A method of manufacturing a near-eye display optical device, comprising the steps of:

correspondingly arranging a coupling-in element group and a coupling-out element group in a coupling-in area and a coupling-out area of a waveguide group respectively to obtain a waveguide device; and

correspondingly disposing an image light projecting component on the coupling-in region of the waveguide set of the waveguide device, wherein the image light projecting component is configured to project at least two monochromatic image lights with different angular spatial distributions to the coupling-in region of the waveguide set, and the coupling-in element set and/or the coupling-out element set are configured to modulate the at least two monochromatic image lights with different angular spatial distributions to form at least two monochromatic image lights with the same angular spatial distribution, so as to implement a combined color display.

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