Waveguide display with multiple focal depths
US10108014B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 10, 2017 |
| Grant date | Oct 23, 2018 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 10, 2037 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02F2203/22
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A near-eye optical display system utilized in augmented reality devices includes a see-through waveguide display having optical elements configured for in-coupling virtual images from an imager, exit pupil expansion, and out-coupling virtual images with expanded pupil to the user's eye. The near-eye optical display system further includes a curved two-sided array of electrically-activated tunable liquid crystal (LC) microlenses that is located between the waveguide and the user's eye. The LC microlenses are distributed in layers on each side of the two-sided array. Each pixel in the waveguide display is mapped to an LC microlens in the array, and multiple nearby pixels may be mapped to the same LC microlens. A region of the waveguide display that the user is gazing upon is detected and the LC microlens that is mapped to that region may be electrically activated to thereby individually shape the wavefront of each pixel in a virtual image.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.