EP0763216A2 - Affichage personnel - Google Patents

Affichage personnel

Info

Publication number
EP0763216A2
EP0763216A2 EP95914671A EP95914671A EP0763216A2 EP 0763216 A2 EP0763216 A2 EP 0763216A2 EP 95914671 A EP95914671 A EP 95914671A EP 95914671 A EP95914671 A EP 95914671A EP 0763216 A2 EP0763216 A2 EP 0763216A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
image
light
image light
user
fold mirror
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP95914671A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0763216A4 (fr
Inventor
Dennis Richard Rallison
C. Gregory Amadon
Wolfgang Adam Mack, Jr.
Arlie R. Conner
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
VIRTUAL I/O Inc
Virtual I O Inc
Original Assignee
VIRTUAL I/O Inc
Virtual I O Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from PCT/US1994/001391 external-priority patent/WO1995021391A1/fr
Priority claimed from PCT/US1994/001390 external-priority patent/WO1995021440A1/fr
Application filed by VIRTUAL I/O Inc, Virtual I O Inc filed Critical VIRTUAL I/O Inc
Publication of EP0763216A4 publication Critical patent/EP0763216A4/fr
Publication of EP0763216A2 publication Critical patent/EP0763216A2/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • 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
    • 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
    • G02B27/0101—Head-up displays characterised by optical features
    • 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
    • G02B27/0101—Head-up displays characterised by optical features
    • G02B2027/0118—Head-up displays characterised by optical features comprising devices for improving the contrast of the display / brillance control visibility
    • 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
    • G02B27/0101—Head-up displays characterised by optical features
    • G02B2027/0132—Head-up displays characterised by optical features comprising binocular systems
    • 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
    • G02B27/0101—Head-up displays characterised by optical features
    • G02B2027/0138—Head-up displays characterised by optical features comprising image capture systems, e.g. camera
    • 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
    • G02B27/0101—Head-up displays characterised by optical features
    • G02B2027/0143—Head-up displays characterised by optical features the two eyes not being equipped with identical nor symmetrical optical devices
    • 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
    • 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
    • G02B27/0179—Display position adjusting means not related to the information to be displayed
    • G02B2027/0187—Display position adjusting means not related to the information to be displayed slaved to motion of at least a part of the body of the user, e.g. head, eye
    • 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
    • G02B2027/0192—Supplementary details
    • G02B2027/0198—System for aligning or maintaining alignment of an image in a predetermined direction
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B3/00—Simple or compound lenses
    • G02B3/02—Simple or compound lenses with non-spherical faces
    • G02B3/08—Simple or compound lenses with non-spherical faces with discontinuous faces, e.g. Fresnel lens
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B5/00—Optical elements other than lenses
    • G02B5/30—Polarising elements

Definitions

  • PERSONAL VISUAL DISPLAY This invention relates to visual displays which preferably can combine generated images with a view of the environment surrounding a user and transmit such combined visual information to the eye of the user.
  • Such displays include a number of components including, in a form known as a folded catadioptric head- mounted display, an image generator, a beam splitting fold mirror which receives the image light from the image generator, often via a series of lenses or other optical elements, and sends a fraction, designated the reflected fraction, of such image light to a reflective combiner that is either non- transmissive or both allows light from the real world to pass through such combiner and reflects the image light such that both the real-world light and the image light are transmitted through the beam splitter to the eye of the user, often via another series of lenses or other optical elements.
  • the beam splitter will transmit a fraction, designated the transmitted fraction, of the image light reflected from the combiner.
  • a fraction of the real-world light is also transmitted by the beam splitter.
  • One embodiment of the invention is a head-mounted display (HMD) that can project an image from an image generator such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) or a liquid crystal display (LCD) to one of each of the eyes of the observer or both transmit such an image and combine it with a direct view of the surrounding environment.
  • the combiner images a CRT or LCD display surface mounted above the eye with a simple metallic, dielectric or holographic fold mirror reflecting the image towards the combiner.
  • the device simplifies the imaging optics by reducing the number of elements to three or fewer.
  • One embodiment of the invention consists of an image generator such as a CRT or LCD, a combiner such as a spherical metallic, dielectric or holographically made combiner or collimator-combiner and a fold mirror such as a metallic, dielectric or holographically made fold mirror.
  • an image generator such as a CRT or LCD
  • a combiner such as a spherical metallic, dielectric or holographically made combiner or collimator-combiner
  • a fold mirror such as a metallic, dielectric or holographically made fold mirror.
  • no additional optical elements are needed to achieve the desired high quality image.
  • the visual display is simplified and made lightweight and less expensive by eliminating the need for certain optic elements such as relay lenses or additional corrective refractive optics.
  • a visual display provides for monochromatic and/or three-color display without refractive optics, such as by using reflective imaging optics only.
  • a single additional optical element is provided.
  • the additional optical element is provided to accommodate the curved reflecting surface of the combiner and provide an essentially flat focal field to the user.
  • a depixelator and/or an image intensifier can be provided.
  • FIG. 1 is a side elevational schematic view of a visual display device according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Fig. 2 is a side elevational schematic view of a visual display according to one embodiment of the present invention
  • Fig. 3 is a perspective view, showing a head-mounted display device according to one embodiment of the present invention
  • Fig. 4 is a side view, partially cut away, showing a head-mounted display device according to one embodiment of the present invention
  • Figs. 5A and 5B are side schematic views showing effective viewing angles in the absence of contrast correction; and Fig. 6 is a side schematic view showing corrected viewing angles.
  • An embodiment of the visual display comprises, as shown in Fig. 1, an image generator 2, a fold mirror 1 positioned to receive the image light from the image generator 2 and to reflect such image light and a reflective combiner 4 situated to receive the image light from the fold mirror 1, reflect such image light, which may be combined with light rays transmitted through the reflective combiner 4 from the ambient environment and transmit the combined environmental light rays and image light through the fold mirror 1 to the eye 5 of the user.
  • An optical path 6 of the image light from the image generator 2 to the eye 5 is depicted in Fig. 1.
  • the present invention provides a substantially on-axis configuration.
  • the image light from the image generator impinges the fold mirror at an angle 102 of about 45° (preferably, plus or minus about 5°) and/or the tangent plane 104 at the centroid 106 of the combiner 4 is at an angle 108 of about 90° (preferably, plus or minus about 5°) with respect to the output plane 100 of the image generator 2.
  • An on-axis system avoids a keystone distortion in the image (and thus avoids the requirement for additional optics if the distortion is to be corrected) .
  • the image light passes substantially directly (i.e., without passing through a intervening optical element) from the image generator to the fold mirror and/or from the fold mirror to the combiner.
  • An embodiment illustrated in Fig. 2 includes an optical element, such as a field curvature correction lens 7, placed between the image generator 2 and fold mirror 1.
  • the lens 7 is a plano-convex lens with its flat surface oriented toward the image plane of the image generator.
  • the various components of the depicted embodiments will be described below in greater detail.
  • separate images are generated and transmitted to each eye of the user so that, in one embodiment, there will be two sets of components, depicted in the Figs. 1 or 2, one for each eye.
  • the image generator 2 can be any of a plurality of imagining devices including a cathode-ray tube (CRT) , light emitting diode (LED) array, liquid crystal display (LCD) , field emissive device (FED) , monochrome image source such as a monochrome CRT, which may be used in connection with a liquid crystal color shutter, as well as laser devices such as laser diode arrays.
  • CTR cathode-ray tube
  • LED light emitting diode
  • LCD liquid crystal display
  • FED field emissive device
  • monochrome image source such as a monochrome CRT, which may be used in connection with a liquid crystal color shutter
  • laser devices such as laser diode arrays.
  • an LCD device includes the capability for being backlit using any of a number of backlighting devices (not shown) such as incandescent lighting, fluorescent lighting, electro-luminescent and ambient lighting.
  • the image generator can be a monochrome or color image source.
  • a colorization element such as a liquid crystal color shutter can be used, e.g., to convert a monochrome image into a frame sequential color image.
  • a color shutter system is provided, for example, in Tektronix EX100HD 1 inch Color Display System.
  • a color LCD such as the Seiko Epson FO7KM200, 138,000 pixel, 0.7" diagonal, backlit LCD can be used, although other devices are also operable.
  • the image generator 2 generates an image under control of an image source 10 communicating with the image generator over a communication link 12.
  • the image generator can receive image information from sources such as a computer, video cassette recorder (VCR) , laser disc, video camera and the like.
  • VCR video cassette recorder
  • the communication link can be a cable, optical fiber or can be a wireless link, such as an infrared or a radio communication link.
  • the image generator 2 receives image information from a portable computer, running 3- dimensionally displayed software communicating over a cable link.
  • the image generator 2 is mounted substantially above the fold mirror 1 (meaning vertically above, when the device is oriented so that the axis between the eye position 5 and combiner 4 is substantially horizontal) .
  • the image light travels downward from the image generator 2 towards the fold mirror 1.
  • the image light is at least partially reflected by the fold mirror 1 in a substantially horizontal direction away from the eye of the user 5 and towards the combiner 4.
  • the image light is at least partially reflected back towards the fold mirror 1.
  • light from the environment passes through the substantially transparent combiner 4 and travels along with the image light reflected from the combiner 4 to produce combined light.
  • the combiner is substantially fully reflective and substantially non- transmissive (so that, in this context, "combiner” is used only for convenience) .
  • the image light and/or the combined light is at least partially transmitted through the fold mirror 1 towards the eye of the user 5.
  • the amount of light, if any, which passes from the surrounding environment to the eyes of the observer can be at least partially controlled by the coatings placed on the surfaces of the combiner and the fold mirror.
  • holographic optical elements can be used to make the fold mirror and/or the combiner.
  • Various holographic and non-holographic techniques can be used for these purposes, as described more fully below and, as described, for example, in U.S. Patent application 08/150,966 filed November 12, 1993 for "Optically Corrected Helmet Mounted Display” and the parent application thereof, Serial No. 07/832,237, filed February 7, 1992, now U.S. Patent 5,303,085, both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
  • the fold mirror 1 is a flat, partial reflector. In the depicted embodiment, it is positioned at approximately 45° with respect to the optical path of the image light 6.
  • the fold mirror reflects the projected image from the image source in a direction away from the eye 5 and towards the combiner.
  • the fold mirror also allows at least a portion of the light reflected from the combiner to pass through the fold mirror to the eye.
  • the fold mirror is configured to reflect light evenly across the visible spectrum, (approximately 450 to 650 nanometer wavelengths) .
  • the fold mirror is a 50% splitter (reflecting 50% of light and passing 50% of light) . It can be made holographically, dielectrically or metallically.
  • the fold mirror can be formed using glass or plastic substrates, as well as other substantially transparent materials such as crystalline material, polycrystalline material, transparent ceramics and the like.
  • the surface of the fold mirror which faces the image generator is, typically, the reflective surface.
  • the surface which is opposite the reflective surface preferably has an anti-reflective coating. The anti-reflective coating is useful in preventing a ghosting reflection from that surface.
  • Holographic and dielectric fold mirrors can be made to selectively reflect different polarizations at higher rates, and when used with wave retardation materials can achieve very high throughput efficiencies, such as described in patent application PCT/US94/01391.
  • the fold mirror can be produced either from vapor deposition of metallic or dielectric materials on the reflective side, and an anti-reflective coating such as Magnesium Fluoride using the same vapor deposition process. It can also be manufactured using holographic photopolymers or dichromatic gelatin (DCG) for the reflective surface.
  • the anti-reflective surface is vapor deposited onto the back surface of the fold mirror.
  • the combiner 4 is a fully or partially reflective optical element. In one embodiment, it is spherically or aspherically curved preferably having a radius of curvature between about 50 mm and about 80 mm, more preferably between about 55 mm and about 70 mm and most preferably about 67 mm.
  • the combiner 4 serves as the primary magnification element for the image light.
  • An optical element is referred to as being a "powered” element if it provides image magnification.
  • this item is referred to as a “combiner”
  • the combiner may be used without providing for a combination of image light with environmental light, as described more fully below.
  • the combiner can be formed on a substrate of glass, plastic, or other transparent or partially transparent material or, when isolation from environmental light is desired, from opaque or substantially opaque substrates such as metal, non-transparent ceramics, plastics or glass and the like.
  • the combiner can be made holographically using photopolymers, dichromated gelatin (DCG) or other similar holographic materials.
  • holographic elements can be finely tuned to reflect specific bands of wavelengths and transmit other wavelengths.
  • the combiner is tuned to achieve high reflection of red, green and blue wavelengths which are the wavelengths output by the image generator (and which, when combined, produce full color images) .
  • the holographic combiner is a single line or multi-line holographic device, which can be tuned to reflect one or more wavelengths.
  • a three-line holographic device can be tuned to reflect wavelengths of, e.g., approximately 480, 545 and 630 nanometers (plus or minus about 20 nanometers) .
  • Other wavelengths such as wavelengths from the environment other than those in a narrow range around 480, 545 and 630 nanometers, will be transmitted through the combiner, towards the eye of the user with a high degree of transmissivity.
  • the hologram can be configured to reflect more, fewer or different wavelengths.
  • holograms are to be used for the combiner.
  • Combiner can also be made using broadband dielectric technology. These combiners are made through the deposition of successive layers of dielectric material such as silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide. This type of coating can be provided so as to evenly reflect across the visible spectrum, such as evenly reflecting wavelengths between approximately 450 nanometers and 650 nanometers. Such evenness of reflection is particularly useful in maintaining color integrity of the image.
  • Combiners made with a broadband dielectric coating are less efficient and less transmissive than holographic combiners and thus are useful in applications where high transmissivity is not required (such as virtual reality applications in which environmental light is not desired) .
  • Fully or almost fully immersive dielectric combiners can be made by dipping the combiner substrate into a light absorbing dye. The dying process can be altered to produce combiners of a given desired transmissivity specification, for example, about 1%.
  • a combiner can also be formed on a substrate using an aluminum or other metallic coating in order to achieve the desired reflectivity of the combiner.
  • These materials are relatively inexpensive compared with holographic or dielectric combiners but are not as efficient. These combiners are easily made to be fully immersive and, by decreasing the thickness of the coating, can be made to be transmissive as well.
  • the magnification provided by the combiner 4 is configured so that center of the image from the image generator appears to the user, to have an infinite focus, (i.e., appears to be in focus to the user when the user is focusing his or her eyes at a far, essentially infinite, distance) .
  • portions of the image which are not at the center have a focus, perceived by the user, at some point closer than that at the center of the image.
  • this difference will increase as one progresses farther from the center of the generated image.
  • this difference in perceived focal distance is undesirable since, e.g., it forces the user to constantly shift his or her eye focus when viewing different portions of the generated image.
  • a certain amount of difference in focal distance across the generated image e.g., in order to reduce or minimize the total weight of the visual display device, the cost, complexity and the like.
  • Embodiments of the invention can be used to reduce the aberrations and distortions produced by the spherical combiner such as image field curvature.
  • the embodiment of Fig. 2 depicts one approach for achieving this correction.
  • additional optical element 7 is positioned somewhere along the optical path between the image generator and the eye of the user.
  • the additional optical element is a plano-convex (PCX) lens.
  • a meniscus lens e.g., a negative meniscus lens can be used to simultaneously correct field curvature and to aim the image light in a more favorable direction. Aiming the image light can be useful for a number of purposes, including maintaining high contrast images, as described below. Image rays exiting from the image generator near normal (90° ⁇ about 10° with respect to the image plane) often have the highest contrast ratio.
  • Fig. 5A in configurations which include only an image generator 2, fold mirror 1 and combiner 4, while the effective viewing angle 32 near the center of the image will be relatively close to normal (i.e., 90° to the image output plane) , typically departing therefrom by no more than about 10°.
  • portions of the image generated near the edges of the image generator 2 have an effective viewing angle 34 which is larger, and, in many cases, will be large enough (such as about 10° or more from normal) to have a degenerated or even reverse contrast. This typically presents the greatest problem when the image generator 2 is a liquid crystal display since LCDs are often subject to loss of contrast at high viewing angles.
  • Fig. 6 depicts one such apparatus which provides a negative meniscus lens 36, preferably adjacent and/or contacting the output plane of the image generator 2.
  • the negative meniscus lens is formed by an upper surface 37 of device 36 while a lower surface 37 ' acts as the field curvature correction lens.
  • the effect of the negative meniscus lens is to provide an effective viewing angle for all portions of the image generated by the image generator 2 which is a relatively low angle (with respect to the normal direction from the output plane of the image generator) such as less than about 10°, preferably less than about 5° and more preferably less than about 3° from normal.
  • Other optical elements which can achieve this manipulation are diffractive optical elements (DOEs) , fresnel lenses and other refractive optical elements. When a diffractive optical element is used it can be placed directly on the LCD surface or on the field curvature correction lens or on a separate element, e.g., located between the image generator 2 and the field curvature correction lens.
  • Such a diffractive optical element would receive light rays at normal incidence from the image generator 2 and redirect the rays through diffraction, to the proper angles required by the plano-convex lens 7 used for field curvature correction. Aiming the image rays is achieved using a diffractive optical element (such as a zone plate or hologram) or a Fresnel optic acting as a negative lens to accept collimated light, at substantially normal incidence from the image source, redirect it into a divergent beam which is then recoilimated by the field curvature correction lens.
  • a diffractive optical element such as a zone plate or hologram
  • Fresnel optic acting as a negative lens to accept collimated light, at substantially normal incidence from the image source, redirect it into a divergent beam which is then recoilimated by the field curvature correction lens.
  • Figs. 3 and 4 depict the use of the elements of Fig. 2 in a head mounted display.
  • the optics are fully or partially protected by being enclosed in a shroud 12, preferably with separate shrouds 12a and 12b for each eye as described in PCT application PCT/US94/ , (Attorney
  • a covering such as visor top 14 further shields from stray light and protects the optical elements from dust or other contamination.
  • the device is held in position by strap 16 and a forehead brace 18.
  • the present invention provides for a high quality visual display which can combine a generated image with environmental light, but which is nevertheless lightweight and of reduced complexity and cost.
  • the generated image is magnified but is also presented to the user with a substantially flat focal field.
  • the invention provides for high quality image and a lightweight device at least partially by reducing or minimizing the number of components
  • certain additional optical components can be used if desired such as image intensifiers, depixelators and diffractive optical elements and Fresnel optics.
  • a depixelator When a depixelator is used, it can be provided as a crossed diffraction grating located parallel to the pixel plane of an image generator to receive, diffract, and transmit and thereby depixelate the light image from the image generator.
  • the spatial frequency of the crossed diffraction grating is constructed such that this spatial frequency multiplied by the shortest wavelength of the image light that is used approximately equals the center-to-center distance between adjacent pixels in the pixel plane of the image generator divided by twice the optical distance between the crossed diffraction grating and the pixel plane of the image generator.
  • the modulation depth of the crossed diffraction grating fall within the range of 80% to 120% and that the crossed diffraction grating be sinusoidal or slightly squared.
  • the intensifier can be provided as follows. If the light from the image generator is S polarized, a phase retarder, such as a quarter-wave plate or a polarization rotator, such as a liquid crystal device is positioned so that the S polarized image light reflected from the fold mirror is transmitted through e.g., a quarter-wave plate and retarded by one-quarter wave in order to exit the quarter-wave plate as circularly polarized image light.
  • a phase retarder such as a quarter-wave plate or a polarization rotator, such as a liquid crystal device
  • the reflective combiner is situated to receive the circularly polarized image light from the quarter-wave plate, reflect such circularly polarized image light, combine such circularly polarized image light with light rays transmitted through said reflective combiner from the surrounding environment, and transmit the combined environmental light rays and circularly polarized image light through the quarter-wave plate, which again retards the circularly polarized image light by one-quarter wave so that it exits the quarter-wave plate as P polarized light which then passes through the fold mirror with the environmental light rays and subsequently reaches the eye position of the user, as also do the environmental light rays with which the image light has been combined.
  • the quarter-wave plate is attached to the reflective combiner. The precise nature of the quarter-wave plate is not critical.
  • Quarter-wave plates are made from plastics and crystals or constructed holographically.
  • a plastic wave plate is, however, more dispersive, and has lower optical properties than a crystalline or holographic wave plate.
  • the user-mounted display comprises a first phase retarder such as a quarter-wave plate or a polarization rotator, located so that the P polarized image light from an image generator is transmitted through said first quarter-wave plate and retarded by one-quarter wave in order to exit the first quarter-wave plate as circularly polarized image light; a second quarter- wave plate positioned so that the circularly polarized image light from the first quarter-wave plate is transmitted through said second quarter-wave plate and retarded by one-quarter wave in order to exit the second quarter-wave plate as S polarized image light.
  • a first phase retarder such as a quarter-wave plate or a polarization rotator
  • the fold mirror receives the S polarized image light from the second quarter-wave plate and reflects such S polarized image light through the second quarter-wave plate where the S polarized image light will again be retarded by one-quarter wave and, consequently, exit said second quarter- wave plate as circularly polarized image light.
  • the reflective combiner receives the circularly polarized image light from the second quarter-wave plate, reflects such circularly polarized image light, combines such circularly polarized image light, combines such circularly polarized image light with light rays transmitted through the combiner from the surrounding environment, and transmits the combined environmental light rays and circularly polarized image light through the second quarter-wave plate, which again retards the circularly polarized image light by one-quarter wave so that it exits the second quarter-wave plate as P polarized image light which then passes through the fold mirror with the environmental light rays and subsequently reaches the eye position of the user, as also do the environmental light rays with which the image light has been combined.
  • the second quarter-wave plate can optionally be laminated to the fold mirror.
  • the depicted configuration is an on-axis system
  • the present invention can also be used in connection with an off-axis system.
  • the depicted embodiment involves a binocular or biocular configuration a monocular configuration can also be used.
  • the depicted embodiment shows a head-mounted display, other mounting techniques can be used such as a helmet mounted, fixed-eyepiece displays or the like.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Lenses (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention se rapporte à un dispositif d'affichage conçu pour envoyer une image générée, de préférence pouvant se combiner avec la lumière environnante, vers l'÷il d'un utilisateur. La lumière émanant d'un générateur d'image (2), tel qu'un tube à rayons cathodiques (TRC), une diode éléctroluminescente (DEL) ou un écran à cristaux liquides, est réfléchie par un miroir de renvoi (1) qui l'éloigne de l'÷il (5) de l'utilisateur et l'envoie vers un combineur (4). L'image est réfléchie depuis le combineur et grossie, éventuellement combinée à la lumière environnante, et retraverse le miroir de renvoi pour se diriger vers l'÷il de l'utilisateur. Selon un mode de réalisation, un élément optique (7), tel qu'une lentille ménisque ou une lentille PCX est utilisé pour offrir à l'utilisateur un champ focal sensiblement plat et/ou une lentille Fresnel ou bien en élément optique diffractif est utilisé pour pointer les rayons de l'image vers la lentille correctrice à courbure de champ afin d'assurer un contraste maximum.
EP95914671A 1994-02-07 1994-08-31 Affichage personnel Withdrawn EP0763216A2 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (5)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
PCT/US1994/001391 WO1995021391A1 (fr) 1994-02-07 1994-02-07 Unite de visualisation amelioree
WOPCT/US94/01391 1994-02-07
PCT/US1994/001390 WO1995021440A1 (fr) 1994-02-07 1994-02-07 Unite de visualisation depixelee
WOPCT/US94/01390 1994-02-07
PCT/US1994/009820 WO1995021396A2 (fr) 1994-02-07 1994-08-31 Affichage personnel

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0763216A4 EP0763216A4 (fr) 1996-11-29
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JP (2) JPH09508711A (fr)
AU (2) AU1330295A (fr)
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US10649210B2 (en) 2016-01-22 2020-05-12 Corning Incorporated Wide field personal display
US10976551B2 (en) 2017-08-30 2021-04-13 Corning Incorporated Wide field personal display device

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPH09508711A (ja) 1997-09-02
AU1330295A (en) 1995-08-21
WO1995021396A2 (fr) 1995-08-10
JPH09508478A (ja) 1997-08-26
WO1995021396A3 (fr) 1995-08-31
EP0763216A4 (fr) 1996-11-29
AU2156295A (en) 1995-08-21
WO1995021395A1 (fr) 1995-08-10

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