Optical system for head-mounted display

US12140765B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Apple Inc. · US

Inventors

• Ran He · Foshan, CN
• Zuoqian Wang · Dublin, US
• Brent Bollman · Belmont, US
• Francois R. Jacob · Sunnyvale, US
• Guanjun Tan · Orlando, US
• John N. Border · Walworth, US
• Serhan O. Isikman · Sunnyvale, US
• Wei-Liang Hsu · Taipei, TW
• Di Liu · Nanhu, CN

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 9, 2023
• Grant date: Nov 12, 2024
• Expiry date: Jun 9, 2043

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G02B2027/0187
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A head-mounted display may include a display system and an optical system that are supported by a housing. The optical system may be a catadioptric optical system having one or more lens elements. In one example, the optical system includes a single lens element and a retarder that is coated on a curved surface of the lens element. The retarder may be coated on an aspheric concave surface of the lens element. In another example the retarder may be coated on an aspheric convex surface of the lens element. One or more components of the optical system may be formed using a direct printing technique. This may allow for one or more adhesive layers and one or more hard coatings to be omitted from the optical system. A lens element may be directly printed on the display system to improve alignment between the optical system and the display system.