KR100713024B1 - Projection type head mounted display apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a video image generating means for generating a video image to be transmitted, optical transmission means for transmitting the video image using an integrated optical fiber, and relaying the video image generated by the video image generating means to the optical transmission means. An image relay means and an adjustment means for projecting the image image transmitted through the light transmission means and manually adjusting the zoom or focus of the image image, comprising: one or more zoom adjustment lenses for adjusting the zoom; At least one focus adjusting lens for adjusting focus, and a zoom / focus driving unit for adjusting a zoom or focus by a user manually adjusting the position of the zoom adjusting lens or the focus adjusting lens; Reflecting means for reflecting the video image passing through the adjusting means to the user Also relates to a projection type head mounted display (HMD) apparatus.

According to the present invention, it is possible to easily implement the zoom or focus function of the video image in the headset portion of the user by improving the problem of the conventional HMD, by removing the boundary of the image generated in the conventional HMD by using an integrated optical fiber In addition, the configuration of the headset is minimized so that it can be applied to a wearable computer, so that the user does not feel uncomfortable even when worn for a long time.

Head Mounted Display, Wearable Computer, Zoom / Focus Control, All-in-One Optical Fiber, Projection

Description

PROJECTION TYPE HEAD MOUNTED DISPLAY APPARATUS}

1 is a block diagram of a HMD according to the prior art.

2 is a block diagram of a projection type HMD device according to the present invention.

3 is an example of configuration diagram of a projection type HMD device according to the present invention;

4 is another example of a schematic diagram of a projection type HMD device according to the present invention;

5 shows light transmission means and adjusting means of a projection type HMD device according to the invention.

Fig. 6 is a configuration diagram of a projection type head mounted display device according to the present invention, showing light transmitting means, adjusting means and reflecting means.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

110: image source 120: relay lens

130: optical fiber bundle 140: projection lens

150: rear projection screen 160: eyepiece

163: spherical mirror 167: flat beam splitter

210: video image generating means 212: display

214: PBS 216: light source

218: Case 220: Image relay means

223: convex lens 226: concave lens

230: light transmission means 233: an image irradiation lens

240: adjustment means 242: zoom adjustment lens

244: focusing lens 246, 248: zoom / focus drive

250: reflecting means

The present invention relates to a projection type head mounted display device, and more particularly, to improve the problem of the conventional HMD, to easily implement the zoom or focus function of the video image in the headset portion of the user, and by using the integrated optical fiber, The present invention relates to a projection type head mounted display device that can remove a boundary of an image generated from an HMD and minimize the configuration of a headset so that it can be applied to a wearable computer.

Head mounted display (HMD) is a general term for a type of monitor that is worn and used like glasses, and is also called a face mounted display (FMD).

These HMDs were initially developed for military use and began to be used by the US Air Force, but their use was gradually expanded to civilian use due to various factors such as high performance of computer system, miniaturization, development of display devices such as LCD, video and communication technology, etc. It is becoming. In particular, the development of wearable computers (Wearable Computer) is expected to increase the popularity of HMD as a personal display device for the wearable computer gradually.

For details of the configuration of the HMD can refer to a conventional patent application specification. For example, Patent Publication No. 0136891, filed Aug. 31, 1994 and filed Jan. 31, 1998 by Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, or filed on January 28, 1995, by Hughes Training Inc. Patent Registration No. 10-0181724, entitled "Fiber Optic Ribbon Subminiature Display for Head / Helmet Mounted Display," dated May 9, discloses the construction of a conventional HMD in detail.

Conventional HMD disclosed in the patent registration No. 10-0181724 is a display device for modulating the laser light by the video data source in terms of configuration and transmitting the optically modulated optical image data by the fiber ribbon and wearing it on the head Take the configuration provided by the user. In the conventional HMD configuration, a portion for generating a video modulated image by processing video data and a display device are integrally formed and a controller for controlling these two portions is included.

Such a conventional HMD is completely isolated from the external environment so that it can be immersed in virtual reality, but can not recognize the external environment while wearing the HMD. Therefore, it is not a problem when playing virtual reality games. However, when using HMD in a house, a residential space, a medical field, or an industrial site, a complete disconnection from the external environment may cause a serious problem.

In addition, such a conventional HMD has a disadvantage of low resolution and low field of view (FOV).

In addition, the conventional HMD has a problem that the liquid crystal display is installed in front of the eyes, so that the volume and size of the HMD become large, and thus satisfy the needs of consumers who are increasingly lighter and smaller.

Several techniques have been developed to address these shortcomings.

For example, U.S. Patent No. 5,348,477, entitled "High definition television head mounted display unit," invented by Brian L. Welch and assigned to CAE Electronics, discloses an HMD that ameliorates this drawback.

1 is a block diagram of the HMD disclosed in the US Patent No. 5,348,477.

As shown, the HMD disclosed in the U.S. Patent No. 5,348,477 includes an image source 110, a relay lens 120, a fiber optic bundle 130, a projection lens 140, A rear projection screen 150 and an eyepiece 160.

In addition, the eyepiece 160 may use a spherical mirror 163 and a flat beam splitter 167.

The image source 110 processes an image signal such as a projector and converts the image signal into an image image. The relay lens 120 relays the video image generated by the image source 110 to the optical fiber bundle 130. The optical fiber bundle 130 transmits a video image. The projection lens 140 projects the image image onto the rear projection screen 150 and displays the image to the user using the spherical mirror 163 and the flat beam splitter 167.

Detailed description of each component may be found in US Pat. No. 5,348,477.

However, the HMD configuration disclosed in US Patent No. 5,348,477 has the following problems.

First of all, there is no function to adjust or focus the FOV of the image in the headset (or eyepiece). That is, the headset merely has a function of showing an image transmitted to the user through the optical fiber bundle 130 or the optical cable, and has a disadvantage in that it cannot actively adjust or focus the FOV of the video image. Therefore, even if the user tries to zoom or focus the image correctly, the user cannot perform this function, but the user has to see it manually even when the image image is in focus.

In addition, when the image is enlarged by using the optical fiber bundle 130 or an optical cable or an optical fiber ribbon, a honeycomb boundary line may be seen. That is, in the conventional HMD, by using an optical fiber bundle that bundles a plurality of optical fibers, or an optical cable or an optical fiber ribbon, one video image is divided and transmitted through the plurality of optical fibers, and thus a plurality of optical fibers are received and displayed in a projection form. The boundaries between the images transmitted to the display are indicated, which is particularly problematic in configurations such as the patent registration No. 10-0181724 and HMD, in which the FOV is largely designed.

The configuration of the HMD using such an optical fiber bundle is also used in Patent Publication No. 10-233045, filed on August 30, 1997 and registered on September 9, 1999 by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., for example. In this configuration, the term "plural optical fiber core wires" is also used, but as described above, one video image is divided and transmitted through a plurality of optical fibers, and thus has the same problem.

Therefore, by improving the problems of the conventional HMD, the user can easily implement the zoom or focus function of the video image in the headset portion of the user, and the necessity for a method for removing the boundary of the image generated due to the use of the optical cable is increasing. . It is also required to minimize the weight of the headset and to simplify the configuration for application to wearable computers.

An object of the present invention is to improve the problem of the conventional HMD to easily implement the zoom or focus function of the video image in the headset portion of the user, by using an integrated optical fiber can remove the boundary of the image generated in the conventional HMD The present invention provides a projection type head mounted display device that minimizes the configuration of a headset so that it can be applied to a wearable computer.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, the present invention provides a video image generating means for generating a video image to be transmitted, an optical transmission means for transmitting the video image using an integrated optical fiber, and a video image generated by the video image generating means. An image relay means for relaying to the light transmitting means, and an adjusting means for projecting an image image transmitted through the light transmitting means and manually adjusting the zoom or focus of the image image, the zoom being adjusted One or more zoom adjusting lenses for adjusting the focus, one or more focus adjusting lenses for adjusting the focus, and a zoom / focus driving unit for adjusting zoom or focus by a user manually adjusting the position of the zoom adjusting lens or the focus adjusting lens. Reflecting means and a video image passing through the adjusting means. A projection type head mounted display (HMD) device is provided that includes a reflecting means provided to a user.

In the HMD apparatus according to the present invention, the image relay means comprises at least one convex lens for enlarging the video image and at least one concave lens for reducing the enlarged video image to exactly correspond to an input of the light transmission means. It is preferable to include.

In the HMD device according to the present invention, the video image generating means is preferably a self-luminous display element such as an EL.

Or in the HMD device according to the invention, the video image generating means, a non-magnetic light emitting display element for receiving a video signal and displaying it as a video image, a light source for emitting light, and a part of the light emitted from the light source A polarized beam splitter (PBS) that transmits and partially reflects the non-luminescent display element, and then partially transmits the image image reflected from the surface of the non-luminescent display element, and introduces light emitted from the light source into the PBS And a case for providing the image relaying means to the image relaying means when the image image reflected from the surface of the non-luminescent display device is transmitted through the PBS.

In addition, in the HMD device according to the present invention, the video image generating means is to generate a separate video image for the left and right eyes, the light transmission means, the image relay means, and the adjustment means are separate It is preferable to transmit, relay, or adjust a video image, and the reflecting means is disposed on the front part of the headset in the form of glasses and implemented to display the eyes on both sides.

In addition, in the HMD device according to the present invention, the adjustment means is preferably disposed on both sides of the headset to adjust the zoom or focus of each of the separate image.

Hereinafter, the projection type head mounted display device of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

2 is a block diagram of a projection type head mounted display device in accordance with the present invention. As shown, the projection type head mounted display apparatus according to the present invention comprises a video image generating means 210, an image relay means 220, a light transmitting means 230, an adjusting means 240, and a reflecting means ( 250).

The video image generating means 210 generates a video image to be transmitted.

The image relay means 220 relays the image image generated by the image image generating means 210 to the light transmission means 230.

The light transmitting means 230 transmits the relayed video image through the image relaying means 220.

The adjusting means 240 projects the video image transmitted through the light transmitting means 230 and manually adjusts the zoom or focus of the video image.

The reflecting means 250 reflects the image image passing through the adjusting means 240 to the user.

3 is a configuration diagram of a projection type head mounted display device according to the present invention, which illustrates a case where a non-luminescent display element such as an LCD is used.

As shown, the image image generating means 210 includes an LCD display 212, a PBS 214, a light source 216, and a case 218.

The LCD display 212 receives a video signal and converts the video signal into a video image for display. Since a process of receiving an image signal and converting the same into an image image is related to the related art, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The light source 214 emits light. In the general case, the non-emission light emitting display device such as the LCD display 212 is configured to irradiate light from the light source 214 and display the same, and this is also related to the prior art, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The polarized beam splitter (PBS) 216 partially transmits the light emitted from the light source 214, partially reflects the light to the LCD display 212, and then partially transmits the light reflected from the surface of the LCD display 212 so that the image relay means ( 220).

The case 218 introduces light emitted from the light source 214 into the PBS 216, and provides the image providing means 220 when the image image reflected from the surface of the LCD display 212 passes through the PBS 216. It is configured to.

The image relay means 220 corresponds to one or more convex lenses 223 penetrating the PBS 216 and magnifying the image image provided through the case 218, and the enlarged image image corresponds to the optical transmission means 230 accurately. One or more concave lenses 226 that shrink to scale.

For example, in the case of an integrated optical fiber, the optical transmission unit 230 may transfer the input image image to the output as it is. Therefore, when using an integrated optical fiber, it is possible to remove the honeycomb boundary of the image generated when using an existing optical fiber bundle or an optical fiber ribbon. The light transmission means 230 can also be used as a simple projector. That is, the video image output by the integrated optical fiber can be displayed on the object surface like a projector.

In addition, the optical fiber delivers a video image as it is at an angle input. Therefore, the input unit for receiving the image image of the optical transmission means 230 is provided with a semi-circular image irradiation lens 233 to diffuse the image image from the input portion of the optical fiber and to input a more clear image image to the input portion.

The image images are inputted to correspond to the image images correctly through the image relay means 220, and the image images are transmitted to the adjusting means 240 through the light transmitting means 230.

The adjusting means 240 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 5.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a projection type head mounted display device according to the present invention, showing the case of using a self-luminous display element such as electroluminescent (EL).

The configuration diagram shown in FIG. 4 differs from the configuration diagram shown in FIG. 3 in the image image generating means 210.

That is, the configuration shown in Fig. 3 is a configuration that requires the light source 214 and PBS 216 because it uses a non-magnetic light emitting element, while the configuration shown in Fig. 4 uses an EL display (self-emitting element). 212 '), no light source 214 and PBS 216 are needed. Since the functions of the other components are the same as those in FIG. 2, detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

5 is a block diagram of a projection type head mounted display device according to the present invention, showing the light transmission means 230 and the adjustment means 240.

As shown, the image image transmitted from the light transmitting means 230 is incident and projected on the adjusting means 240. Although not shown, the light transmission means 230 may include a semi-circular image diffusion lens at the output for light diffusion. The image diffusion lens has a function opposite to that of the image irradiation lens 233 illustrated in FIG. 3.

The adjusting means 240 may include at least one zoom adjusting lens 242 for adjusting the zoom, at least one focus adjusting lens 244 for adjusting the focus, and a user adjusting the zoom adjusting lens 242 or the focus adjusting lens ( Zoom / focus drivers 246 and 248 that adjust the zoom or focus by manually adjusting the position of 244.

The zoom adjusting lens 242 includes one or more lenses, and enlarges or reduces an image image by manually adjusting the length of the zoom adjusting unit 243 through the zoom / focus driving units 246 and 248.

The zoom adjusting lens 242 includes one or more lenses, and focuses the video image by manually adjusting the length of the focus adjusting unit 245 through the zoom / focus driving units 246 and 248.

Through this zoom / focus adjustment, the field of view (FOV) can be increased.

6 is a block diagram of a projection type head mounted display device according to the present invention, showing the light transmission means 230, the adjustment means 240 and the reflection means 250. As shown, the light transmitting means 230a and 230b and the adjusting means 240a and 240b are shown for the left and right eyes, respectively.

Since the HMD is actually displayed on both eyes, the image image generating means 210 generates separate image images for the left and right eyes in the projection type head mounted display device according to the present invention. Each is transmitted via separate image relay means 220 and light transmission means 230.

As illustrated in FIG. 6A or 6B, the reflecting means 250a and 250b reflect and provide the image to the user through the adjusting means 240a and 240b. Reflecting means (250a, 250b) is disposed on the front portion of the headset 260 in the form of glasses, it may be implemented in the form of a projection lens or screen that transmits some light and reflects some light to the user's eyes. Such a configuration can provide a user with a see-through display, thereby preventing symptoms such as visual disturbances and dizziness that are problematic in conventional see-close HMDs. As shown, each of the reflecting means 250a, 250b provides the user with a viewing angle of about 121 ° and may provide a viewing angle of about 138 ° through both eyes.

In addition, as in the conventional HMD, the image image is not directly incident on the user's eye, but is reflected and some light is incident, thereby reducing eye fatigue.

In addition, the headset 260 may be integrally implemented by including reflecting means 250a and 250b and adjusting means 240a to 240b. Such a configuration has an advantage in that, when applied to a wearable computer, the desired video image can be adjusted by zooming and focusing while minimizing the weight of the headset 260. In this case, when the surrounding light is incident on the user's eye from the side, the resolution of the video image may be lowered. In order to prevent this, the headset 260 may be configured to enlarge the side portion and close it to the face to prevent light incident from the side, as shown in FIG.

In addition, as shown, the adjusting means 240a and 240b are disposed on both sides of the headset 260 to adjust the zoom or focus for the left and right video images, respectively.

Although the present invention has been described in detail, this is for illustrative purposes only, and the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and the protection scope of the present invention is defined through the description of the claims.

As described above, according to the present invention, the problem of the conventional HMD can be improved to easily implement the zooming or focusing function of the video image in the headset portion of the user, and by using the integrated optical fiber, the boundary of the image generated in the conventional HMD can be eliminated. It can be removed and the configuration of the headset is minimized so that it can be applied to a wearable computer so that the user does not feel uncomfortable even when worn for a long time.

Claims (8)

Video image generating means for generating a video image to be transmitted; Optical transmission means for transmitting the video image using an integrated optical fiber; Image relay means for relaying the video image generated by the video image generating means to the light transmission means; Adjusting means for projecting the image image transmitted through the light transmission means and manually adjusting the zoom or focus of the image image, one or more zoom adjustment lens for adjusting the zoom, and adjusting the focus And at least one focus adjusting lens, a zoom / focus driving unit for adjusting a zoom or focus by a user manually adjusting the position of the zoom adjusting lens or the focus adjusting lens; Reflecting means for reflecting the video image passing through the adjusting means to the user Projection type head mounted display (HMD) device comprising a. (delete) The method of claim 1, wherein the image relay means, At least one convex lens for enlarging the video image; And at least one concave lens for reducing the enlarged video image to exactly correspond to the input of the light transmission means. (delete) The method of claim 1, And said image image generating means is a self-luminous display element such as an EL. The method of claim 1, wherein the video image generating means, A non-luminescent display device for receiving a video signal and displaying it as a video image; A light source emitting light, A polarized beam splitter (PBS) that partially transmits the light emitted from the light source, partially reflects the non-luminescent display element, and then partially transmits the image image reflected from the surface of the non-luminescent display element; And a case for introducing the light emitted from the light source into the PBS and providing the image relaying means to the image relaying device when the image image reflected from the surface of the non-emission light emitting display device has passed through the PBS. . The method of claim 1, The video image generating means is to generate a separate video image for the left and right eyes, The light transmitting means, the image relaying means, and the adjusting means are to transmit, relay or adjust the separate video image, And the reflecting means is arranged to be disposed on the front face of the headset in the form of glasses and to be displayed on both the left and right eyes. The method of claim 7, wherein And said adjusting means are arranged on both sides of said headset to adjust the zoom or focus of each of said separate images.

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