GB2266385A - Helmet-mounted display - Google Patents

Helmet-mounted display Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2266385A
GB2266385A GB9303413A GB9303413A GB2266385A GB 2266385 A GB2266385 A GB 2266385A GB 9303413 A GB9303413 A GB 9303413A GB 9303413 A GB9303413 A GB 9303413A GB 2266385 A GB2266385 A GB 2266385A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
head
reflector
wearer
display
helmet
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.)
Granted
Application number
GB9303413A
Other versions
GB9303413D0 (en
GB2266385B (en
Inventor
Neil Anthony Fox
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.)
Smiths Group PLC
Original Assignee
Smiths Group PLC
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
Application filed by Smiths Group PLC filed Critical Smiths Group PLC
Publication of GB9303413D0 publication Critical patent/GB9303413D0/en
Publication of GB2266385A publication Critical patent/GB2266385A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of GB2266385B publication Critical patent/GB2266385B/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Fee Related legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A42—HEADWEAR
    • A42B—HATS; HEAD COVERINGS
    • A42B3/00—Helmets; Helmet covers ; Other protective head coverings
    • A42B3/04—Parts, details or accessories of helmets
    • A42B3/0406—Accessories for helmets
    • A42B3/042—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
    • 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
    • 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
    • G02B27/0149—Head-up displays characterised by mechanical features
    • G02B2027/015—Head-up displays characterised by mechanical features involving arrangement aiming to get less bulky 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
    • G02B27/0149—Head-up displays characterised by mechanical features
    • G02B2027/0152—Head-up displays characterised by mechanical features involving arrangement aiming to get lighter or better balanced 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
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B5/00—Optical elements other than lenses
    • G02B5/08—Mirrors

Landscapes

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

Abstract

A helmet-mounted display eg for "virtual reality" has two back-lit liquid crystal displays 30 and 30' and collimating lenses 23 and 23' mounted towards the rear of the head which produce collimated beams of light. A pair of reflectors 24 and 24' close to the displays reflect the light beams to another pair of reflectors 25 and 25' located at the front of the helmet. These reflectors reflect the light down directly onto reflective areas 26 and 26' which may be semi-transparent on the helmet visor 27 which is angled to direct an image of the displays into the line-of-sight of the user. Single displays and optics may be used for mono-vision. <IMAGE>

Description

HEAD-MOUNTED DISPLAY APPARATUS This invention relates to head-mounted display apparatus.
Head-mounted displays have been used to present an image to the wearer in his line-of-sight. Such apparatus may take the form of a pair of goggles containing the display. Alternatively, the display may, for example, be mounted behind or to one side of the wearer's head and an image directed in front of the eyes by a system of lenses.
Previous apparatus have disadvantages. They tend to be bulky and heavy, because of the optical system used to direct light from the display to the eyes. They also tend to be expensive. Where the apparatus is to be worn for long periods, such as by aircraft pilots, it is a great advantage for the weight of the apparatus to be minimized. Recently, headmounted displays have been proposed for virtual world applications where the wearer is presented with a computer-generated image of an environment within which he may move.
It would be a considerable advantage for the cost of head-mounted display apparatus to be reduced in order to be able to exploit fully the potential market for virtual world applications.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided head-mounted display apparatus for presenting an image in the line-of-sight of the wearer of the apparatus, the display including a light-emitting display unit, means for collimating light emitted by the unit into a beam directed forwardly across the top of the head of the wearer onto a first reflector inclined from the vertical, the first reflector being arranged to direct the beam of light downwardly onto a second reflector mounted in the line-of-sight of the wearer, and wherein the second reflector is arranged to reflect the beam of radiation into the line-of-sight of the wearer.
The apparatus preferably includes an additional reflector mounted adjacent the collimating means, the additional collimating means being arranged to reflect the collimated beam of light generally horizontally to the first reflector. The second reflector is preferably semi-transparent so that the wearer can view the external scene through the second reflector with an image from the display superimposed on the external scene. The apparatus may be mounted in a helmet, the second reflector being provided by a visor of the helmet. The apparatus preferably includes a pair of display units and a pair of second reflectors, each display unit being arranged to provide an image for viewing by respective eyes of the wearer. The display unit may include a liquid crystal display which may be a back-lit liquid crystal display.
Helmet-mounted display apparatus in accordance with the present invention, will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of the apparatus; Figure 2 is a front elevation view ofthe apparatus; and Figure 3 is a cut away plan view of the apparatus.
The display apparatus comprises a helmet 1 containing an optical system 2 and a display unit 3 which is connected to a processor 4 via a flexible cable 5.
The helmet 1 has an outer shell 10 of a protective, light-proofmaterial which is supported on the wearer's head by conventional padded, shock-absorbing inner liner 11 which spaces the shell above the head of the wearer.
The display unit 3 has two multi-colour flat displays 30 and 31 which may take the form of back4it liquid crystal displays such as of the kind described in GB 2254724. The displays 30 and 30' are mounted side-by-side at the rear ofthe helmet 1 and are inclined from the horizontal at an angle a of about 45 degrees. The displays 30 and 30' are driven by signals from a drive electronics unit 32 which is also mounted within the helmet and to which the cable 5 is connected. Both displays 30 and 30' are driven by the processor 4 to generate different display representations for the left and right eye respectively.
The optical system 2 is divided into two parallel channels 20 and 20' (Figure 3) to provide an optical path between each display 30 and 30' and the respective eye. The left hand channel 20 comprises a collimator 23 formed by an achromatic pair of lenses which is located directly front ofthe display 30. This produces a parallel beam of light directed at an angle of 45 degrees to the horizontal, forwardly and upwardly over the wearer's head.
The beam of light is incident on a first mirror 24 which is a plane mirror of rectangular shape inclined at an angle 0 of about 22 degrees to the horizontal so that the beam of light is reflected forwardly over the head of the wearer generally horizontally. The optical system 2 also includes a second plane mirror 25 mounted at the front, top of the helmet 1 and inclined at an angle y of about 45 degrees to the horizontal. The action of this mirror 25 is, therefore, to direct the beam of light vertically downwards. The final component in the optical system 2 is a third reflector 26 provided by a part of a visor 27 which is semitransparent. The visor 27 is supported by the helmet 1 at opposite sides so that it can be swung up out of the line-of-sight, or down into the position shown in the drawings.The visor 27 need not be plane over its entire surface, providing that it has flat regions which are located directly in front of the eyes ofthe wearer and inclined at 45 degrees from the horizontal when the visor is in the down position. The inclination of the visor 27 is such that, when it is down, its lower edge is closer to the wearer's head than the upper edge.
The visor 27 is located directly beneath the second mirror 25 so that light from the second mirror is incident directly on the visor without the interposition of any other optical element. The inclination ofthe visor 27 is such that the beam of light is reflected horizontal, rearwardly into the line-of-sight of the left eye of the wearer. The wearer will, therefore, see an image at infinity ofthe display representation on the display 30.
The right-hand channel 20' of the optical system 2 contains the same elements as the left-hand channel 20 and is arranged to direct an image ofthe right-hand display 30' into the line-of-sight ofthe right eye. In this way, a stereoscopic, or 3-D, display representation can be presented to the user.
The semi-transparent nature of the visor 27 enables the wearer to view the external scene through the visor, the display representation being superimposed on this.
alternatively, such as for virtual world applications, the visor need not be transparent, the wearer only being able to see the display representation and not the external scene.
The image presented to the wearer may be changed, in a known way, according to the orientation ofthe helmet so that, for example, when the wearer looks up, the display provides a suitable representation of the sky, or of an image to be superimposed on the sky. In this respect, a helmet position sensor 40 may supply signals to the processor 4 in response to the helmet orientation so as to control the generation of appropriate display representations.
The mirrors 24, 24' 25, 25', 26' and 26 are conventional metallized glass plates but could be provided by other forms of reflector. In particular, the reflective areas 26 and 26' on the visor 27 could be formed by holographic elements which are selected to have an angle of reflection that is smaller than the angle of incidence so that the visor can be inclined closer to the vertical. This has the advantages that it enables the field of view in elevation to be increased and it may reduce the risk ofthe visor causing injury to the wearer in an accident.
The apparatus need not have two separate displays if a stereoscopic presentation is not required. Instead, a single display could provide an image in the line-of- sight of both eyes. The use of a flat panel display has advantages of robustness and low weight but alternative displays, such as a CRT could be used. Instead of containing the apparatus in a helmet, it would be mounted on a framework supported by a head band.
The arrangement of the present invention has the advantages that it enables a relatively wide field of view to be achieved with a low number of optical components. It can have a low weight, be robust and its simplicity enables it to be made at relatively low cost.

Claims (9)

1. Head-mounted display apparatus for presenting an image in the line-of sight of the wearer of the apparatus, wherein the display includes a light emitting display unit, means for collimating light emitted by the unit into a beam directed forwardly across the top of the head of the wearer onto a first reflector inclined from the vertical, wherein the first reflector is arranged to direct the beam of light downwardly onto a second reflector mounted in the line-of-sight ofthe wearer, and wherein the second reflector is arranged to reflect the beam of radiation into the line-of-sight of the wearer.
2. Head-mounted display apparatus according to Claim 1, including an additional reflector mounted adjacent the collimating means, and wherein the additional reflector is arranged to reflect the collimated beam of light generally horizontally to the first reflector.
3. Head-mounted display apparatus, wherein the second reflector is semi transparent so that the wearer can view the external scene through the second reflector with an image from the display superimposed on the external scene.
4. Head-mounted display apparatus according to any one ofthe preceding claims, wherein the apparatus is mounted in a helmet, and wherein the second reflector is provided by a visor ofthe helmet.
5. Head-mounted display apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, including a pair of display units and a pair of second reflectors, and wherein each display unit is arranged to provide an image for viewing by respective eyes ofthe wearer.
6. Head-mounted display apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the or each display unit includes a liquid crystal display.
7. Head-mounted display apparatus according to Claim 6, wherein the or each display unit includes a back-lit liquid crystal display.
8. Head-mounted display apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
9. Any novel feature or combiination of features as hereinbefore described.
GB9303413A 1992-04-22 1993-02-19 Head-mounted display apparatus Expired - Fee Related GB2266385B (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB929208705A GB9208705D0 (en) 1992-04-22 1992-04-22 Head-mounted display assemblies

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB9303413D0 GB9303413D0 (en) 1993-04-07
GB2266385A true GB2266385A (en) 1993-10-27
GB2266385B GB2266385B (en) 1995-07-19

Family

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Family Applications (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB929208705A Pending GB9208705D0 (en) 1992-04-22 1992-04-22 Head-mounted display assemblies
GB9303413A Expired - Fee Related GB2266385B (en) 1992-04-22 1993-02-19 Head-mounted display apparatus

Family Applications Before (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB929208705A Pending GB9208705D0 (en) 1992-04-22 1992-04-22 Head-mounted display assemblies

Country Status (1)

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GB (2) GB9208705D0 (en)

Cited By (19)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0704739A3 (en) * 1994-09-29 1996-11-20 Texas Instruments Inc Image display systems
WO1997009653A1 (en) * 1995-08-25 1997-03-13 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Vlsi visual display
US5742373A (en) * 1995-10-13 1998-04-21 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Color microdisplays and methods of manufacturing same
US6686977B2 (en) 2001-07-24 2004-02-03 Three-Five Systems, Inc. Liquid crystal on silicon device
US6712480B1 (en) 2002-09-27 2004-03-30 Silicon Light Machines Controlled curvature of stressed micro-structures
US6767751B2 (en) 2002-05-28 2004-07-27 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Integrated driver process flow
US6782205B2 (en) 2001-06-25 2004-08-24 Silicon Light Machines Method and apparatus for dynamic equalization in wavelength division multiplexing
US6785001B2 (en) 2001-08-21 2004-08-31 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Method and apparatus for measuring wavelength jitter of light signal
US6801354B1 (en) 2002-08-20 2004-10-05 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. 2-D diffraction grating for substantially eliminating polarization dependent losses
US6800238B1 (en) 2002-01-15 2004-10-05 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Method for domain patterning in low coercive field ferroelectrics
US6806997B1 (en) 2003-02-28 2004-10-19 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Patterned diffractive light modulator ribbon for PDL reduction
US6813059B2 (en) 2002-06-28 2004-11-02 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Reduced formation of asperities in contact micro-structures
US6822797B1 (en) 2002-05-31 2004-11-23 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Light modulator structure for producing high-contrast operation using zero-order light
US6829092B2 (en) 2001-08-15 2004-12-07 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Blazed grating light valve
US6829077B1 (en) 2003-02-28 2004-12-07 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Diffractive light modulator with dynamically rotatable diffraction plane
US6839479B2 (en) 2002-05-29 2005-01-04 Silicon Light Machines Corporation Optical switch
US7046420B1 (en) 2003-02-28 2006-05-16 Silicon Light Machines Corporation MEM micro-structures and methods of making the same
GB2501292A (en) * 2012-04-19 2013-10-23 Bae Systems Plc A display
US9641826B1 (en) 2011-10-06 2017-05-02 Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation System and method for displaying distant 3-D stereo on a dome surface

Families Citing this family (15)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5303085A (en) 1992-02-07 1994-04-12 Rallison Richard D Optically corrected helmet mounted display
US5864326A (en) 1992-02-07 1999-01-26 I-O Display Systems Llc Depixelated visual display
US5526022A (en) 1993-01-06 1996-06-11 Virtual I/O, Inc. Sourceless orientation sensor
US5903395A (en) 1994-08-31 1999-05-11 I-O Display Systems Llc Personal visual display system
US5982553A (en) 1997-03-20 1999-11-09 Silicon Light Machines Display device incorporating one-dimensional grating light-valve array
US5903396A (en) 1997-10-17 1999-05-11 I/O Display Systems, Llc Intensified visual display
US6088102A (en) 1997-10-31 2000-07-11 Silicon Light Machines Display apparatus including grating light-valve array and interferometric optical system
US6271808B1 (en) 1998-06-05 2001-08-07 Silicon Light Machines Stereo head mounted display using a single display device
US6130770A (en) 1998-06-23 2000-10-10 Silicon Light Machines Electron gun activated grating light valve
US6101036A (en) 1998-06-23 2000-08-08 Silicon Light Machines Embossed diffraction grating alone and in combination with changeable image display
US6215579B1 (en) 1998-06-24 2001-04-10 Silicon Light Machines Method and apparatus for modulating an incident light beam for forming a two-dimensional image
EP2104930A2 (en) 2006-12-12 2009-09-30 Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation System and method for aligning rgb light in a single modulator projector
US8358317B2 (en) 2008-05-23 2013-01-22 Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation System and method for displaying a planar image on a curved surface
US8702248B1 (en) 2008-06-11 2014-04-22 Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation Projection method for reducing interpixel gaps on a viewing surface
US8077378B1 (en) 2008-11-12 2011-12-13 Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation Calibration system and method for light modulation device

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GB1459814A (en) * 1974-10-15 1976-12-31 Honeywell Inc Head mounted display device
GB1533859A (en) * 1975-04-29 1978-11-29 Elliott Bros Headgear incorporating optical display systems
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US4997263A (en) * 1989-06-12 1991-03-05 Allied-Signal Inc. Ambient light illuminated liquid crystal display system
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GB1459814A (en) * 1974-10-15 1976-12-31 Honeywell Inc Head mounted display device
GB1533859A (en) * 1975-04-29 1978-11-29 Elliott Bros Headgear incorporating optical display systems
US5034732A (en) * 1988-02-05 1991-07-23 Yazaki Corporation Head up display apparatus for automotive vehicle
EP0365406A1 (en) * 1988-10-21 1990-04-25 Thomson-Csf Optical collimating system for a helmet visual
US4997263A (en) * 1989-06-12 1991-03-05 Allied-Signal Inc. Ambient light illuminated liquid crystal display system
WO1991004508A2 (en) * 1989-09-14 1991-04-04 General Electric Company Helmet mounted display

Cited By (20)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0704739A3 (en) * 1994-09-29 1996-11-20 Texas Instruments Inc Image display systems
WO1997009653A1 (en) * 1995-08-25 1997-03-13 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Vlsi visual display
US5742373A (en) * 1995-10-13 1998-04-21 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Color microdisplays and methods of manufacturing same
US6782205B2 (en) 2001-06-25 2004-08-24 Silicon Light Machines Method and apparatus for dynamic equalization in wavelength division multiplexing
US6686977B2 (en) 2001-07-24 2004-02-03 Three-Five Systems, Inc. Liquid crystal on silicon device
US6829092B2 (en) 2001-08-15 2004-12-07 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Blazed grating light valve
US6785001B2 (en) 2001-08-21 2004-08-31 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Method and apparatus for measuring wavelength jitter of light signal
US6800238B1 (en) 2002-01-15 2004-10-05 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Method for domain patterning in low coercive field ferroelectrics
US6767751B2 (en) 2002-05-28 2004-07-27 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Integrated driver process flow
US6839479B2 (en) 2002-05-29 2005-01-04 Silicon Light Machines Corporation Optical switch
US6822797B1 (en) 2002-05-31 2004-11-23 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Light modulator structure for producing high-contrast operation using zero-order light
US6813059B2 (en) 2002-06-28 2004-11-02 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Reduced formation of asperities in contact micro-structures
US6801354B1 (en) 2002-08-20 2004-10-05 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. 2-D diffraction grating for substantially eliminating polarization dependent losses
US6712480B1 (en) 2002-09-27 2004-03-30 Silicon Light Machines Controlled curvature of stressed micro-structures
US6806997B1 (en) 2003-02-28 2004-10-19 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Patterned diffractive light modulator ribbon for PDL reduction
US6829077B1 (en) 2003-02-28 2004-12-07 Silicon Light Machines, Inc. Diffractive light modulator with dynamically rotatable diffraction plane
US7046420B1 (en) 2003-02-28 2006-05-16 Silicon Light Machines Corporation MEM micro-structures and methods of making the same
US9641826B1 (en) 2011-10-06 2017-05-02 Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation System and method for displaying distant 3-D stereo on a dome surface
US10110876B1 (en) 2011-10-06 2018-10-23 Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation System and method for displaying images in 3-D stereo
GB2501292A (en) * 2012-04-19 2013-10-23 Bae Systems Plc A display

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB9303413D0 (en) 1993-04-07
GB2266385B (en) 1995-07-19
GB9208705D0 (en) 1992-07-22

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PCNP Patent ceased through non-payment of renewal fee

Effective date: 19970219