JP2010078726A - Head mount display - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a head mount display capable of maintaining visibility as much as possible even when a user tries to view an image at a position where the user turns his (her) eyeball upward or downward. <P>SOLUTION: The head mount display includes an image forming part enabling the user to view the image by projecting image light based on image information to user's retina, and a support member for supporting the image forming part near user's eye. The image forming part is held on the support member through a turning mechanism, and a turning shaft of the turning mechanism is arranged coaxially with a vertical motion axis of the eyeball to which the image light is projected. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a head mounted display that is used by being mounted on a head.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an image display device of a type that is worn on a user's head, a so-called head mounted display (HMD) is widely known. Head-mounted displays have already been commercialized, for example, as virtual reality and personal theaters. In the future, due to its portability, it is expected to be used in fields such as wearable computers.

  Generally, these head mounted displays are arranged in front of the user's eyes and form an image to be recognized by the user, and a support member that makes the image forming unit a position in front of the user's eyes It consists of

  Then, an image is displayed on the image forming unit, or image light is emitted from the image forming unit and incident on the pupil to form an image directly on the retina, thereby allowing the user to recognize the image.

  In particular, a rotation mechanism with the axis line directed inward of the head is provided at the position of the back of the head of the support member, and an image forming unit is disposed at the tip of the arm extended from the rotation mechanism toward the front of the head. An image forming unit that is movable in the vertical direction in front of the user's eyes is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).

According to such a head mounted display, the image forming unit can be moved to a position desired by the user.
JP 2005-294978 A

  However, in the above conventional head mounted display, the image light incident on the user's pupil is the exit pupil of image light with high directivity, such as image light from an LCD with a narrow viewing angle, or laser light scanned two-dimensionally. When is small, the visibility of the image by the user may be lowered.

  Specifically, when the user tries to visually recognize an image at a position where the eyeball is turned upside down, the exit pupil of the image light and the user's pupil are misaligned even if the image forming unit is moved on the visual axis. As a result, the entire image may not be observed.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and the image light incident on the pupil of the user when the user tries to visually recognize the image at the position where the eyeball is up-down or down-down. Provided is a head-mounted display capable of maintaining visibility as much as possible even when directivity is high.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problem, in the present invention according to claim 1, an image forming unit that projects image light based on image information onto a retina of a user and makes the user visually recognize an image; In a head mounted display including a support member for supporting the image forming unit in the vicinity of the user's eye, the image forming unit is held by the support member via a rotation mechanism, The rotation axis of the rotation mechanism is arranged coaxially with the vertical movement axis of the eyeball onto which the image light is projected.

  In the present invention, the supporting member includes a front portion and left and right temple portions, and the image forming portion is attached to the temple portion, and is substantially L-shaped in plan view from the temple portion. And bent in front of the user's eyes.

  Further, in the present invention described in claim 3, the rotating mechanism forms a temple portion of the support member in a wide shape so as to make an insertion hole, and allows the rotation shaft to pass through the insertion hole. Configured.

  According to the present invention, the image forming unit includes an image forming main body, and a connecting member connected to the image forming main body via the rotation mechanism, and the temple of the support member. An attachment portion for detachably attaching the connecting member is provided on the portion.

  In the present invention described in claim 5, the image forming section can be attached to either the left or right temple section.

  In the present invention described in claim 6, the temple portion is provided with a position adjusting mechanism for adjusting the vertical position of the rotating mechanism and / or the horizontal position of the image forming portion.

  According to this invention of Claim 1, the image light based on image information is projected on a user's retina, the image formation part which makes the said user visually recognize an image, and the said image formation part are the said user The image forming unit is held by the support member via a rotation mechanism, and the rotation axis of the rotation mechanism is Since it is arranged coaxially with the vertical movement axis of the eyeball onto which the image light is projected, visibility can be maintained as much as possible even when the user's eyeball moves vertically.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the support member includes a front portion and left and right temple portions, and the image forming portion is attached to the temple portion, and is substantially L in plan view from the temple portion. Since the lens is bent in front of the user's eyes, the vertical motion axis of the eyeball and the rotation axis can be easily coaxial, and visibility can be further improved.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the turning mechanism forms a temple portion of the support member in a wide shape so that an insertion hole is formed, and the rotation shaft is provided in the insertion hole. Since it was inserted and comprised, a temple part can be used as a part of rotation mechanism, and the structure of a rotation mechanism can be made simpler.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the image forming unit includes an image forming main body, and a connecting member connected to the image forming main body via the rotating mechanism, and the support member. Since the attachment portion for detachably attaching the connecting member is provided in the temple portion, the support member and the image forming portion can be separated from each other, and the maintainability of the support member and the image forming portion can be improved. it can.

  Further, according to the present invention, since the image forming unit can be attached to either the left or right temple unit, an eye for recognizing an image according to a user's dominant eye or preference is provided. It can be selected appropriately.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the temple portion is provided with a position adjustment mechanism that adjusts the vertical position of the rotation mechanism and / or the horizontal position of the image forming portion. It is possible to easily adjust the vertical movement axis of the eye and the rotation axis to be coaxial. Moreover, the adjustment according to the position of the user's eyes can be easily performed.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the image display apparatus of the present invention will be described.

  The head-mounted display according to the present embodiment projects an image light based on image information onto the retina of the user and causes the user to visually recognize the image, and the image forming unit near the eye of the user And a support member for rotatably supporting via a rotation mechanism.

  The rotating shaft of the rotating mechanism is characterized by being arranged coaxially with the vertical motion axis of the eyeball onto which the image light is projected.

  With this configuration, even when the directivity of the image light incident on the user's pupil is high or the image forming unit is moved to the user's desired position, image formation is possible. The image light emitted from the projection optical system can be incident on the pupil of the user from the direction along the visual axis, and the visibility can be maintained as much as possible.

  Therefore, when using a head-mounted display for applications such as “viewing an image when the eyeball is vertically moved and gazing at a predetermined direction, and not observing an image when gazing in other directions” In addition, even when the user changes the predetermined direction to an arbitrary angle, the image light can be easily incident on the user's eyeball, and visibility can be ensured.

[1. Concept of the present invention]
First, the concept of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 shows a side view of image light 101a, 101b, 101c emitted from a projection optical system 100 disposed in front of an eye that emits image light from an image forming unit toward the eyeball. The image light incident on the user's pupil is image light with high directivity. In FIG. 1, (a) and (b) show the state when the image forming unit is disposed near the back of the user with the rotation shaft of the rotation mechanism as in the prior art, and (c) shows the rotation. The state when the rotation axis of the moving mechanism is arranged coaxially with the vertical movement axis of the eyeball is shown.

  The projection optical system 100 disposed in the image forming unit 106 of the head-mounted display shown in FIG. 1A rotates around a rotation axis P1 disposed in the vicinity of the back of the user at a distance of radius R1. It is configured to move on the locus L1.

  That is, in FIG. 1A, the rotation axis P1 of the projection optical system 100 (image forming unit 106) is not arranged coaxially with the vertical motion axis P2 of the eyeball 102.

  Then, the image lights 101a, 101b, and 101c emitted from the projection optical system 100 disposed in front of the eye pass through the exit pupil 104 and are imaged on the retina 103 through the lens body 105, and are shown in FIG. As shown on the right side, the image is recognized by the user as an image.

  In such a state, when the user tries to visually recognize an image at a position where the eyeball 102 is turned up, as shown in FIG. 1B, even if the image forming unit 106 is moved, the image forming unit 106 is moved. Part or all of the image light 101a, 101b, and 101c emitted from the projection optical system 100 does not enter the pupil. Therefore, the user recognizes a partially deleted image or cannot see the image at all.

  On the other hand, the projection optical system 142 disposed in the image forming unit 11 of the head mounted display shown in FIG. 1C is separated from the vertical movement axis P2 of the eyeball 102 by a rotation axis P3 coaxial with a distance of a radius R2. It is configured to move on the turning locus L2. A support member, which will be described in detail later, is held via a rotation mechanism, and the rotation axis P3 of the rotation mechanism is arranged coaxially with the vertical motion axis P2 of the eyeball 102.

  By adopting such a configuration, even when the user tries to visually recognize an image at a position where the eyeball 102 is turned up, by moving the image forming unit 11 along the rotation locus L2, The image light emitted from the projection optical system 142 of the image forming unit 11 enters the user's pupil from a direction along the visual axis. Therefore, the image lights 101a, 101b, and 101c enter the eyeball 102, and the user can recognize the image displayed at a clear and appropriate position as in the front view, and visibility is as much as possible. It can be a head-mounted display that can be maintained.

[2. Overall configuration of head-mounted display]
Next, a specific configuration of the head mounted display A according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration of the head mounted display A according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the head mounted display A includes a light source unit 1 that emits video light based on a video signal, an optical fiber cable unit 2 that transmits video light emitted from the light source unit 1, and a light receiving unit. And a head-mounted unit 3 for scanning the image light and allowing the user to recognize the image.

  Further, the optical fiber cable portion 2 has a light source side plug 4 formed on one end side and an image forming portion side plug 5 formed on the other end side, and the light source side plug 4 is connected to the light of the light source unit portion 1. By inserting the image forming unit side plug 5 into the light receiving jack 7 of the image forming unit 11 provided in the head mounting unit 3, the image light emitted from the light source unit unit 1 is formed into an image. Transmission to the unit 11 is possible.

  The head-mounted unit 3 projects image light onto the user's retina to allow the user to visually recognize the image, and support for supporting the image forming unit 11 in the vicinity of the user's eyes. It consists of the member 10.

  The user can hold the image forming unit 11 in front of the user's eyes by locking the head-mounted unit 3 at three points of both ears and the nose column so as to wear glasses. The present invention is characterized by the structure of the support member 10 of the head-mounted unit 3, and the support member 10 will be described in detail later.

  Next, the electrical and optical configuration of the head mounted display A will be described with reference to FIG.

  As described above, the head mounted display A is provided with the light source unit 1 for processing the video signal supplied from the outside and emitting the image light.

  The light source unit 1 is provided with a video signal supply circuit 113 that receives a video signal from the outside and generates each signal as an element for synthesizing the video based on the video signal. A signal 114, a horizontal synchronization signal 115, and a vertical synchronization signal 116 are output.

  The light source unit 1 also has an intensity based on the red (R), green (G), and blue (B) video signals 114R, 114G, and 114B transmitted from the video signal supply circuit 113 as video signals. An R laser driver 130, a G laser driver 129, and a B laser driver 128 for driving the R laser 123, the G laser 122, and the B laser 121, respectively, are provided so as to emit modulated laser light.

  Furthermore, it comprises a collimating optical system 124 provided so as to collimate the laser light emitted from each laser into parallel light, a dichroic mirror 125 for combining the collimated laser lights, and the combined laser light. A coupling optical system 126 that guides image light to the optical fiber cable portion 2 is provided.

  A semiconductor laser such as a laser diode or a solid-state laser may be used as the R laser 123, the G laser 122, and the B laser 121.

  Further, the head mounted display A has a collimating optical system 138 for guiding the image light propagated from the light source unit 1 to the horizontal scanning system 139 and the collimated image light in the horizontal direction using the optical scanning element 134. A horizontal scanning system 139 that scans, a first relay optical system 140 that guides image light scanned by the horizontal scanning system 139 to the vertical scanning system 141, and a scan that is scanned by the horizontal scanning system 139 and passes through the first relay optical system 140 A vertical scanning system 141 that scans the incident image light in the vertical direction using a galvano mirror 141a, and a second relay optical so that the image light scanned by the vertical scanning system 141 enters the pupil 144 of the user And a system 142 (projection optical system).

  The image light that has been two-dimensionally scanned and entered the pupil 144 of the user is projected onto the retina, so that the user can recognize the image by the image light.

  As a specific example, the horizontal scanning system 139 is an optical system that horizontally scans image light in the horizontal direction for each scanning line of an image to be displayed. The horizontal scanning system 139 includes an optical scanning element 134 that scans image light in the horizontal direction, and a horizontal scanning control circuit 132 that controls driving of the optical scanning element 134.

  On the other hand, the vertical scanning system 141 is an optical system that vertically scans image light from the first scanning line toward the last scanning line for each frame of the image to be displayed. The vertical scanning system 141 includes a galvano mirror 141a that performs vertical scanning, and a vertical scanning control circuit 141c that controls driving of the galvano mirror 141a.

  The horizontal scanning system 139 is designed to scan image light at a higher speed, that is, at a higher frequency than the vertical scanning system 141. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the horizontal scanning system 139 and the vertical scanning system 141 are respectively connected to the video signal supply circuit 113, and are respectively supplied to the horizontal synchronization signal 115 and the vertical synchronization signal 116 output from the video signal supply circuit 113. It is configured to scan image light in synchronization.

  In the present embodiment, the optical scanning element 134 is used for the horizontal scanning system 139 and the galvano mirror 141a is used for the vertical scanning system 141 so as to scan the image light in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction. Needless to say, any drive system such as piezoelectric drive, electromagnetic drive, and electrostatic drive may be used as long as the reflecting surface is swung (rotated) so as to scan light.

[3. Specific configuration of head mounted unit]
Next, the head mounting unit 3 including the main part of the present embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view, a front view, and a left side view of the head-mounted unit 3, and FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing the vicinity of the image forming unit 11.

  The head-mounted unit 3 includes a support member 10 having a substantially glasses shape, and an image forming unit 11 that forms an image for the user to recognize. Note that the image forming unit 11 is rotatably held on the support member 10 by a rotation mechanism 27 described later.

  The support member 10 includes a front portion 13 formed so as to be bridged substantially in front of the user's heel when the user wears the head-mounted unit 3, and left and right end portions of the front portion 13 rearward. Left and right temple portions 16L and 16R connected to the temple connecting portions 14 and 14 formed by bending toward each other through left and right hinges 15 and 15 are provided.

  Pad feet 17 and 17 extend downward in a substantially central portion of the front portion 13, and the lower ends of the pad feet 17 and 17 are made of resin that is curved in a mountain shape to match the nose column. The pad portion 18 is attached.

  Also, left and right temple cells 22L and 22R are attached to the left and right temple portions 16L and 16R, respectively, so that the burden on the ear is reduced when the user wears the head-mounted unit 3. I have to.

  The image forming unit 11 includes an image forming body 24 that houses the horizontal scanning system 139, the vertical scanning system 141, the second relay optical system 142, and the like, and a connecting member for holding the image forming body 24 on the support member 10. 12 with.

  The image forming unit 11 is provided with a light receiving jack 7. The light receiving jack 7 has an image forming unit of the optical fiber cable unit 2 for transmitting the image light 101 generated by the light source unit unit 1. A side plug 5 is connected.

  A half mirror 21 is disposed at a position substantially opposite to the eyeball of the image forming unit 11. The half mirror 21 reflects a part of the image light 101 emitted from the image forming unit 11 via the second relay optical system 142 and transmits a part of the external light, so that the left eyeball of the user Image light 101 and external light can be incident on 102L.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the image forming unit 11 connects the base portion 19 to the vicinity of the hinge 15 of the left temple portion 16L via a connecting member 12 so as to be freely rotatable, and the left temple portion 16L. It is formed in a substantially L shape in a plan view that is bent at the temple connecting portion 14 to face the user's eyes.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 5, the connecting member 12 is connected to the image forming main body 24 via a rotating mechanism 27. The rotation mechanism 27 has a rotation shaft 23 that is rotatable with respect to the connecting member 12 and that is inserted into the image forming body 24.

  Further, in the plan view of the head-mounted unit 3 shown in FIG. 4, the connecting member 12 is detachably attached to the left temple portion 16L at a position where the vertical movement axis VL of the left eyeball 102L and the left temple portion 16L intersect. A mounting portion 25L (see FIG. 5) to be attached to is provided.

  Then, by fitting the connecting member 12 to the attachment portion 25L, the image forming portion 11 is held by the support member 10 via the rotation mechanism 27, and the rotation shaft 23 of the rotation mechanism 27 is configured to receive image light. It is arranged coaxially with the vertical motion axis VL of the left eyeball 102L to be projected.

  Usually, the vertical movement axis VL of the eyeball is located about 13 mm inward from the top of the cornea to the posterior pole direction. Further, a generally used spectacle lens is disposed at a position of about 12 mm from the top of the cornea to the front of the eyeball axis. Therefore, when the rotation mechanism 27 is disposed at a position about 25 mm rearward from the bent portion of the temple connection portion 14 in the side view of the support member 10, the rotation shaft 23 is substantially coaxial with the vertical motion axis VL. Can be arranged. However, since the position in the vertical direction differs depending on the shape of the user's nose, the height of the ear, and the like, it is preferable to separately provide a mechanism capable of adjusting the position in the vertical direction. In the present embodiment, the position adjustment in the vertical direction will be described later as the position adjustment mechanism 26.

  Further, in the support member 10 according to the present embodiment, as shown in the plan view of FIG. 4, the connecting member is located at the position where the vertical movement axis VR of the right eyeball 102R and the right temple portion 16R intersect with the right temple portion 16R. An attachment portion 25R for detachably attaching 12 is provided.

  The attachment portion 25R has a mirror image symmetrical shape with the attachment portion 25L provided on the left temple portion 16L, and is held by the support member 10 via the rotation mechanism 27 in a state where the image forming portion 11 is reversed left and right. Thus, the rotation shaft 23 of the rotation mechanism 27 can be arranged coaxially with the vertical motion axis VR of the right eyeball 102R on which the image light is projected.

  Of course, when there are two image forming units 11, they can be simultaneously connected to the left and right temple units 16L and 16R.

  Further, the temple portions 16L and 16R are provided with a position adjusting mechanism 26 for adjusting the vertical position and the horizontal position of the image forming section 11.

  Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the position adjusting mechanism 26 includes a protrusion 31 formed at the tip of the rotation shaft 23 and a protrusion inside the image forming section 11. It consists of a part 31 and a protrusion receiving part 32 fitted at a plurality of locations.

  The rotation shaft 23 protruded from the rotation mechanism 27 toward the image forming unit 11 is formed in a substantially semicircular shape in cross section, and a hemispherical protrusion 31 is formed at the tip.

  On the other hand, the protrusion receiving part 32 is formed by connecting a plurality of hollow semispherical positioning spaces 33 that can be engaged with the protrusions 31 in the image forming part 11 in the vertical and horizontal directions.

  The inner wall surface of the projection receiving portion 32 is formed of a relatively soft synthetic resin material, and the rotation shaft 23 and the projection portion 31 are held in the positioning space 33 to rotate and move in the horizontal and vertical directions. Although the restriction is applied, the projection 31 can be moved to the desired positioning space 33 by applying a force by the user.

  According to such a configuration, the vertical position and the horizontal direction of the rotation shaft 23 can be appropriately adjusted by engaging the locking position of the protruding portion 31 with the arbitrary positioning space 33 in the protruding portion 32. In other words, the vertical position of the rotation mechanism 27 and the horizontal position of the image forming unit 11 can be adjusted. Note that the protrusion receiving unit 32 may be configured so that only the vertical position adjustment of the rotation mechanism 27 or only the horizontal position adjustment of the image forming unit 11 can be performed.

[4. Other Embodiments]
Next, another embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the head mounted unit 30 of the head mounted display B according to another embodiment has the same basic configuration as the head mounted unit 3 described above, but the configuration of the rotation mechanism is the same. Different. That is, a part or all of the left and right temple parts 16L, 16R of the support member 10 is formed with a wide part 40 that is wide in the vertical direction, and an insertion hole 41 is formed in the wide part 40. The structure is different in that the rotating mechanism 42 is configured by inserting the rotating shaft 23.

  Specifically, the head mounted display B includes a wide portion 40 formed in the vicinity of the hinge 15 of the left temple portion 16L of the support member 10 and extending vertically downward from the left temple portion 16L.

  Further, the wide portion 40 is provided with an insertion hole 41 through which the rotation shaft 23 projecting from the image forming body 24 can be inserted. The rotation shaft 23 is inserted into the insertion hole 41 and the end portion The rotation mechanism 42 is configured by screwing the nut 43 into the male screw portion 44 formed in the above. The insertion hole 41 is arranged on the same axis as the vertical motion axis VL of the left eyeball 102L, so that the rotation axis 23 of the rotation mechanism 27 can be arranged on the same axis as the vertical movement axis VL.

  Even with such a rotating mechanism 42, even when the user's eyeball moves vertically, a head-mounted display capable of maintaining visibility as much as possible can be obtained.

  As described above, according to the head mounted display according to the present embodiment, the image forming unit is held on the support member via the rotation mechanism, and the rotation axis of the rotation mechanism is coaxial with the vertical motion axis of the eyeball. As a result, the visibility can be maintained as much as possible even when the user attempts to visually recognize the image at a position where the user has moved the eyeball upward or downward.

  The description of each embodiment described above is an example of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For this reason, it is a matter of course that various modifications can be made in accordance with the design and the like as long as they do not depart from the technical idea according to the present invention other than the embodiments described above.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the concept of a prior art and this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the whole structure of the head mounted display which concerns on this embodiment. It is the block diagram which showed the electrical and optical structure of the head mounted display which concerns on this embodiment. It is a top view of a head mounting unit, a front view, and a left side view. FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing the vicinity of an image forming unit. It is explanatory drawing which showed the position adjustment mechanism. It is explanatory drawing which showed the head mounting unit of the head mounted display which concerns on other embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Light source unit part 2 Optical fiber cable part 3 Head mounting unit 6 Light emission jack 7 Light reception jack
10 Support member
11 Image forming unit
12 Connecting member
13 Front
16 Temple part
23 Rotating axis
24 Image forming body
25 Mounting section
26 Position adjustment mechanism
27 Rotating mechanism
40 Wide part
41 Insertion hole
42 Rotating mechanism
101 image light
102 eyeball
103 Retina
138 Collimating optical system A Head mounted display B Head mounted display P3 Rotation axis VL Vertical motion axis VR Vertical motion axis

Claims (6)

An image forming unit that projects image light based on the image information onto the retina of the user and makes the user visually recognize the image;
In a head mounted display comprising a support member for supporting the image forming unit in the vicinity of the user's eye part,
The image forming unit is held by the support member via a rotation mechanism, and the rotation axis of the rotation mechanism is arranged coaxially with the vertical movement axis of the eyeball onto which the image light is projected. Head-mounted display featuring The support member includes a front portion and left and right temple portions,
The head mount according to claim 1, wherein the image forming unit is attached to the temple unit, and is bent in a substantially L shape in plan view from the temple unit so as to face the user's eyes. display.   The rotation mechanism is configured by forming a temple portion of the support member in a wide shape to form an insertion hole, and inserting the rotation shaft into the insertion hole. The head mounted display according to claim 2. The image forming unit includes an image forming main body, and a connecting member connected to the image forming main body via the rotation mechanism,
The head-mounted display according to claim 1, wherein an attachment portion for detachably attaching the connecting member is provided on the temple portion of the support member.   The head mounted display according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the image forming unit can be attached to any of the left and right temple units.   The position adjustment mechanism which adjusts the up-down position of the said rotation mechanism and / or the left-right position of the said image formation part in the said temple part is provided, The any one of Claims 2-5 characterized by the above-mentioned. Head mounted display.

Images