Magic Leap Patent | Delivering Light Beams At A Plurality Of Angles For Augmented Or Virtual Reality

Patent: Delivering Light Beams At A Plurality Of Angles For Augmented Or Virtual Reality

Publication Number: 20150235472

Publication Date: 20150820

Applicants: Magic Leap

Abstract

Configurations are disclosed for presenting virtual reality and augmented reality experiences to users. The system may comprise an image-generating source to provide one or more frames of image data in a time-sequential manner, a light modulator configured to transmit light associated with the one or more frames of image data, a substrate to direct image information to a user’s eye, wherein the substrate houses a plurality of reflectors, a first reflector of the plurality of reflectors to reflect transmitted light associated with a first frame of image data at a first angle to the user’s eye, and a second reflector to reflect transmitted light associated with a second frame of the image data at a second angle to the user’s eye.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/555,585, filed Nov. 27, 2014, entitled “VIRTUAL AND AUGMENTED REALITY SYSTEMS AND METHODS”, which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/909,774, filed Nov. 27, 2013, entitled “VIRTUAL AND AUGMENTED REALITY SYSTEMS AND METHODS”. The contents of the aforementioned applications are hereby expressly incorporated by reference into the present application their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present disclosure relates to virtual reality and augmented reality imaging and visualization systems.

BACKGROUND

[0003] Modern computing and display technologies have facilitated the development of systems for so called “virtual reality” or “augmented reality” experiences, wherein digitally reproduced images or portions thereof are presented to a user in a manner wherein they seem to be, or may be perceived as, real. A virtual reality, or “VR”, scenario typically involves presentation of digital or virtual image information without transparency to other actual real-world visual input; an augmented reality, or “AR”, scenario typically involves presentation of digital or virtual image information as an augmentation to visualization of the actual world around the user. For example, referring to FIG. 1, an augmented reality scene (4) is depicted wherein a user of an AR technology sees a real-world park-like setting (6) featuring people, trees, buildings in the background, and a concrete platform (1120). In addition to these items, the user of the AR technology also perceives that he “sees” a robot statue (1110) standing upon the real-world platform (1120), and a cartoon-like avatar character (2) flying by which seems to be a personification of a bumble bee, even though these elements (2, 1110) do not exist in the real world. As it turns out, the human visual perception system is very complex, and producing a VR or AR technology that facilitates a comfortable, natural-feeling, rich presentation of virtual image elements amongst other virtual or real-world imagery elements is challenging.

[0004] Referring to FIG. 2A, stereoscopic wearable glasses (8) type configurations have been developed which generally feature two displays (10, 12) that are configured to display images with slightly different element presentation such that a three-dimensional perspective is perceived by the human visual system. Such configurations have been found to be uncomfortable for many users due to a mismatch between vergence and accommodation which must be overcome to perceive the images in three dimensions; indeed, some users are not able to tolerate stereoscopic configurations. FIG. 2B shows another stereoscopic wearable glasses (14) type configuration featuring two forward-oriented cameras (16, 18) configured to capture images for an augmented reality presentation to the user through stereoscopic displays. The position of the cameras (16, 18) and displays generally blocks the natural field of view of the user when the glasses (14) are mounted on the user’s head.

[0005] Referring to FIG. 2C, an augmented reality configuration (20) is shown which features a visualization module (26) coupled to a glasses frame (24) which also holds conventional glasses lenses (22). The user is able to see an at least partially unobstructed view of the real world with such a system, and has a small display (28) with which digital imagery may be presented in an AR configuration to one eye–for a monocular AR presentation. FIG. 2D features a configuration wherein a visualization module (32) may be coupled to a hat or helmet (30) and configured to present monocular augmented digital imagery to a user through a small display (34). FIG. 2E illustrates another similar configuration wherein a frame (36) couple-able to a user’s head in a manner similar to an eyeglasses coupling so that a visualization module (38) may be utilized to capture images and also present monocular augmented digital imagery to a user through a small display (40). Such a configuration is available, for example, from Google, Inc., of Mountain View, Calif. under the trade name GoogleGlass.RTM.. None of these configurations is optimally suited for presenting a rich, binocular, three-dimensional augmented reality experience in a manner that will be comfortable and maximally useful to the user, in part because prior systems fail to address some of the fundamental aspects of the human perception system, including the photoreceptors of the retina and their interoperation with the brain to produce the perception of visualization to the user.

[0006] Referring to FIG. 3, a simplified cross-sectional view of a human eye is depicted featuring a cornea (42), iris (44), lens–or “crystalline lens” (46), sclera (48), choroid layer (50), macula (52), retina (54), and optic nerve pathway (56) to the brain. The macula is the center of the retina, which is utilized to see moderate detail; at the center of the macula is a portion of the retina that is referred to as the “fovea”, which is utilized for seeing the finest details, and which contains more photoreceptors (approximately 120 cones per visual degree) than any other portion of the retina. The human visual system is not a passive sensor type of system; it is configured to actively scan the environment. In a manner somewhat akin to use of a flatbed scanner to capture an image, or use of a finger to read Braille from a paper, the photoreceptors of the eye fire in response to changes in stimulation, rather than constantly responding to a constant state of stimulation. Thus motion is required to present photoreceptor information to the brain (as is motion of the linear scanner array across a piece of paper in a flatbed scanner, or motion of a finger across a word of Braille imprinted into a paper). Indeed, experiments with substances such as cobra venom, which has been utilized to paralyze the muscles of the eye, have shown that a human subject will experience blindness if positioned with his eyes open, viewing a static scene with venom-induced paralysis of the eyes. In other words, without changes in stimulation, the photoreceptors do not provide input to the brain and blindness is experienced. It is believed that this is at least one reason that the eyes of normal humans have been observed to move back and forth, or dither, in side-to-side motion in what are called “microsaccades”.

[0007] As noted above, the fovea of the retina contains the greatest density of photoreceptors, and while humans typically have the perception that they have high-resolution visualization capabilities throughout their field of view, they generally actually have only a small high-resolution center that they are mechanically sweeping around a lot, along with a persistent memory of the high-resolution information recently captured with the fovea. In a somewhat similar manner, the focal distance control mechanism of the eye (ciliary muscles operatively coupled to the crystalline lens in a manner wherein ciliary relaxation causes taut ciliary connective fibers to flatten out the lens for more distant focal lengths; ciliary contraction causes loose ciliary connective fibers, which allow the lens to assume a more rounded geometry for more close-in focal lengths) dithers back and forth by approximately 1/4 to 1/2 diopter to cyclically induce a small amount of what is called “dioptric blur” on both the close side and far side of the targeted focal length; this is utilized by the accommodation control circuits of the brain as cyclical negative feedback that helps to constantly correct course and keep the retinal image of a fixated object approximately in focus.

[0008] The visualization center of the brain also gains valuable perception information from the motion of both eyes and components thereof relative to each other. Vergence movements (i.e., rolling movements of the pupils toward or away from each other to converge the lines of sight of the eyes to fixate upon an object) of the two eyes relative to each other are closely associated with focusing (or “accommodation”) of the lenses of the eyes. Under normal conditions, changing the focus of the lenses of the eyes, or accommodating the eyes, to focus upon an object at a different distance will automatically cause a matching change in vergence to the same distance, under a relationship known as the “accommodation-vergence reflex.” Likewise, a change in vergence will trigger a matching change in accommodation, under normal conditions. Working against this reflex, as do most conventional stereoscopic AR or VR configurations, is known to produce eye fatigue, headaches, or other forms of discomfort in users.

[0009] Movement of the head, which houses the eyes, also has a key impact upon visualization of objects. Humans move their heads to visualize the world around them; they often are in a fairly constant state of repositioning and reorienting the head relative to an object of interest. Further, most people prefer to move their heads when their eye gaze needs to move more than about 20 degrees off center to focus on a particular object (i.e., people do not typically like to look at things “from the corner of the eye”). Humans also typically scan or move their heads in relation to sounds–to improve audio signal capture and utilize the geometry of the ears relative to the head. The human visual system gains powerful depth cues from what is called “head motion parallax”, which is related to the relative motion of objects at different distances as a function of head motion and eye vergence distance (i.e., if a person moves his head from side to side and maintains fixation on an object, items farther out from that object will move in the same direction as the head; items in front of that object will move opposite the head motion; these are very salient cues for where things are spatially in the environment relative to the person–perhaps as powerful as stereopsis). Head motion also is utilized to look around objects, of course.

[0010] Further, head and eye motion are coordinated with something called the “vestibulo-ocular reflex”, which stabilizes image information relative to the retina during head rotations, thus keeping the object image information approximately centered on the retina. In response to a head rotation, the eyes are reflexively and proportionately rotated in the opposite direction to maintain stable fixation on an object. As a result of this compensatory relationship, many humans can read a book while shaking their head back and forth (interestingly, if the book is panned back and forth at the same speed with the head approximately stationary, the same generally is not true–the person is not likely to be able to read the moving book; the vestibulo-ocular reflex is one of head and eye motion coordination, generally not developed for hand motion). This paradigm may be important for augmented reality systems, because head motions of the user may be associated relatively directly with eye motions, and the system preferably will be ready to work with this relationship.

[0011] Indeed, given these various relationships, when placing digital content (e.g., 3-D content such as a virtual chandelier object presented to augment a real-world view of a room; or 2-D content such as a planar/flat virtual oil painting object presented to augment a real-world view of a room), design choices may be made to control behavior of the objects. For example, the 2-D oil painting object may be head-centric, in which case the object moves around along with the user’s head (e.g., as in a GoogleGlass approach); or the object may be world-centric, in which case it may be presented as though it is part of the real world coordinate system, so that the user may move his head or eyes without moving the position of the object relative to the real world.

[0012] Thus when placing virtual content into the augmented reality world presented with an augmented reality system, whether the object should be presented as world centric (i.e., the virtual object stays in position in the real world so that the user may move his body, head, eyes around it without changing its position relative to the real world objects surrounding it, such as a real world wall); body, or torso, centric, in which case a virtual element may be fixed relative to the user’s torso, so that the user can move his head or eyes without moving the object, but that is slaved to torso movements; head centric, in which case the displayed object (and/or display itself) may be moved along with head movements, as described above in reference to GoogleGlass; or eye centric, as in a “foveated display” configuration, as is described below, wherein content is slewed around as a function of what the eye position is.

[0013] With world-centric configurations, it may be desirable to have inputs such as accurate head pose measurement, accurate representation and/or measurement of real world objects and geometries around the user, low-latency dynamic rendering in the augmented reality display as a function of head pose, and a generally low-latency display.

[0014] The systems and techniques described herein are configured to work with the visual configuration of the typical human to address these challenges.

SUMMARY

[0015] Embodiments of the present invention are directed to devices, systems and methods for facilitating virtual reality and/or augmented reality interaction for one or more users. In one aspect, a system for displaying virtual content is disclosed.

[0016] In one or more embodiment, the system comprises an image-generating source to provide one or more frames of image data in a time-sequential manner, a light modulator configured to transmit light associated with the one or more frames of image data, a substrate to direct image information to a user’s eye, wherein the substrate houses a plurality of reflectors, a first reflector of the plurality of reflectors to reflect light associated with a first frame of image data at a first angle to the user’s eye, and a second reflector of the plurality of reflectors to reflect light associated with a second frame of image data at a second angle to the user’s eye.

[0017] In another embodiment, a system for displaying virtual content comprises an image-generating source to provide one or more frames of image data in a time-sequential manner, a display assembly to project light rays associated with the one or more frames of image data, the display assembly comprises a first display element corresponding to a first frame-rate and a first bit depth, and a second display element corresponding to a second frame-rate and a second bit depth, and a variable focus element (VFE) configurable to vary a focus of the projected light and transmit the light to the user’s eye.

[0018] In yet another embodiment, a system for displaying virtual content comprises an array of optical fibers to transmit light beams associated with an image to be presented to a user, and a lens coupled to the array of the optical fibers to deflect a plurality of light beams output by the array of optical fibers through a single nodal point, wherein the lens is physically attached to the optical fibers such that a movement of the optical fiber causes the lens to move, and wherein the single nodal point is scanned.

[0019] In another embodiment, a virtual reality display system comprises a plurality of optical fibers to generate light beams associated with one or more images to be presented to a user, and a plurality of phase modulators coupled to the plurality of optical fibers to modulate the light beams, wherein the plurality of phase modulators modulate the light in a manner that affects a wavefront generated as a result of the plurality of light beams.

[0020] In one embodiment, a system for displaying virtual content to a user comprises a light projection system to project light associated with one or more frames of image data to a user’s eyes, the light project system configured to project light corresponding to a plurality of pixels associated with the image data and a processor to modulate a size of the plurality of pixels displayed to the user.

[0021] In one embodiment, a system of displaying virtual content to a user, comprises an image-generating source to provide one or more frames of image data, a multicore assembly comprising a plurality of multicore fibers to project light associated with the one or more frames of image data, a multicore fiber of the plurality of multicore fibers emitting light in a wavefront, such that the multicore assembly produces an aggregate wavefront of the projected light, and a phase modulator to induce phase delays between the multicore fibers in a manner such that the aggregate wavefront emitted by the multicore assembly is varied, thereby varying a focal distance at which the user perceives the one or more frames of image data.

[0022] In another embodiment, a system for displaying virtual content to a user comprises an array of microprojectors to project light beams associated with one or more frames of image data to be presented to the user, wherein the microprojector is configurable to be movable relative to one or more microprojectors of the array of the microprojectors, a frame to house the array of microprojectors, a processor operatively coupled to the one or more microprojectors of the array of microprojectors to control one or more light beams transmitted from the one or more projectors in a manner such that the one or more light beams are modulated as a function of a position of the one or more microprojectors relative to the array of microprojectors, thereby enabling delivery of a lightfield image to the user.

[0023] Additional and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention are described in the detail description, figures and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] FIG. 1 illustrates a user’s view of augmented reality (AR) through a wearable AR user device, in one illustrated embodiment.

[0025] FIGS. 2A-2E illustrates various embodiments of wearable AR devices.

[0026] FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the human eye, in one illustrated embodiment.

[0027] FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate one or more embodiments of various internal processing components of the wearable AR device.

[0028] FIGS. 5A-5H illustrate embodiments of transmitting focused light to a user through a transmissive beamsplitter substrate.

[0029] FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate embodiments of coupling a lens element with the transmissive beamsplitter substrate of FIGS. 5A-5H.

[0030] FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate embodiments of using one or more waveguides to transmit light to a user.

[0031] FIGS. 8A-8Q illustrate embodiments of a diffractive optical element (DOE).

[0032] FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate a wavefront produced from a light projector, according to one illustrated embodiment.

[0033] FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a stacked configuration of multiple transmissive beamsplitter substrate coupled with optical elements, according to one illustrated embodiment.

[0034] FIGS. 11A-11C illustrate a set of beamlets projected into a user’s pupil, according to the illustrated embodiments.

[0035] FIGS. 12A and 12B illustrate configurations of an array of microprojectors, according to the illustrated embodiments.

[0036] FIGS. 13A-13M illustrate embodiments of coupling microprojectors with optical elements, according to the illustrated embodiments.

[0037] FIGS. 14A-14F illustrate embodiments of spatial light modulators coupled with optical elements, according to the illustrated embodiments.

[0038] FIGS. 15A-15C illustrate the use of a wedge type waveguides along with a plurality of light sources, according to the illustrated embodiments.

[0039] FIGS. 16A-16O illustrate embodiments of coupling optical elements to optical fibers, according to the illustrated embodiments.

[0040] FIG. 17 illustrates a notch filter, according to one illustrated embodiment.

[0041] FIG. 18 illustrates a spiral pattern of a fiber scanning display, according to one illustrated embodiment.

[0042] FIGS. 19A-19N illustrate occlusion effects in presenting a darkfield to a user, according to the illustrated embodiments.

[0043] FIGS. 20A-20O illustrate embodiments of various waveguide assemblies, according to the illustrated embodiments.

[0044] FIGS. 21A-21N illustrate various configurations of DOEs coupled to other optical elements, according to the illustrated embodiments.

[0045] FIGS. 22A-22Y illustrate various configurations of freeform optics, according to the illustrated embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0046] Referring to FIGS. 4A-4D, some general componentry options are illustrated. In the portions of the detailed description which follow the discussion of FIGS. 4A-4D, various systems, subsystems, and components are presented for addressing the objectives of providing a high-quality, comfortably-perceived display system for human VR and/or AR.

[0047] As shown in FIG. 4A, an AR system user (60) is depicted wearing a frame (64) structure coupled to a display system (62) positioned in front of the eyes of the user. A speaker (66) is coupled to the frame (64) in the depicted configuration and positioned adjacent the ear canal of the user (in one embodiment, another speaker, not shown, is positioned adjacent the other ear canal of the user to provide for stereo/shapeable sound control). The display (62) is operatively coupled (68), such as by a wired lead or wireless connectivity, to a local processing and data module (70) which may be mounted in a variety of configurations, such as fixedly attached to the frame (64), fixedly attached to a helmet or hat (80) as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 4B, embedded in headphones, removably attached to the torso (82) of the user (60) in a backpack-style configuration as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 4C, or removably attached to the hip (84) of the user (60) in a belt-coupling style configuration as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 4D.

[0048] The local processing and data module (70) may comprise a power-efficient processor or controller, as well as digital memory, such as flash memory, both of which may be utilized to assist in the processing, caching, and storage of data a) captured from sensors which may be operatively coupled to the frame (64), such as image capture devices (such as cameras), microphones, inertial measurement units, accelerometers, compasses, GPS units, radio devices, and/or gyros; and/or b) acquired and/or processed using the remote processing module (72) and/or remote data repository (74), possibly for passage to the display (62) after such processing or retrieval. The local processing and data module (70) may be operatively coupled (76, 78), such as via a wired or wireless communication links, to the remote processing module (72) and remote data repository (74) such that these remote modules (72, 74) are operatively coupled to each other and available as resources to the local processing and data module (70).

[0049] In one embodiment, the remote processing module (72) may comprise one or more relatively powerful processors or controllers configured to analyze and process data and/or image information. In one embodiment, the remote data repository (74) may comprise a relatively large-scale digital data storage facility, which may be available through the internet or other networking configuration in a “cloud” resource configuration. In one embodiment, all data is stored and all computation is performed in the local processing and data module, allowing fully autonomous use from any remote modules.

[0050] Referring to FIGS. 5A through 22Y, various display configurations are presented that are designed to present the human eyes with photon-based radiation patterns that can be comfortably perceived as augmentations to physical reality, with high-levels of image quality and three-dimensional perception, as well as being capable of presenting two-dimensional content.

[0051] Referring to FIG. 5A, in a simplified example, a transmissive beamsplitter substrate (104) with a 45-degree reflecting surface (102) directs incoming radiation (106), which may be output from a lens (not shown), through the pupil (45) of the eye (58) and to the retina (54). The field of view for such a system is limited by the geometry of the beamsplitter (104). To accommodate the desire to have comfortable viewing with minimal hardware, in one embodiment, a larger field of view can be created by aggregating the outputs/reflections of various different reflective and/or diffractive surfaces and using, e.g., a frame-sequential configuration wherein eye (58) is presented with a sequence of frames at high frequency that provides the perception of a single coherent scene. As an alternative to, or in addition to, presenting different image data via different reflectors in a time-sequential fashion, the reflectors may separate content by other means, such as polarization selectivity or wavelength selectivity. In addition to being capable of relaying two-dimensional images, the reflectors can relay the three-dimensional wavefronts associated with true-three-dimensional viewing of actual physical objects.

[0052] Referring to FIG. 5B, a substrate (108) comprising a plurality of reflectors at a plurality of angles (110) is shown, with each reflector actively reflecting in the depicted configuration for illustrative purposes. The reflectors may be switchable elements to facilitate temporal selectivity. In one embodiment, the reflective surfaces would intentionally be sequentially activated with frame-sequential input information (106), in which each reflective surface presents a narrow field of view sub-image which is tiled with other narrow field of view sub-images presented by the other reflective surfaces to form a composite wide field of view image. For example, referring to FIGS. 5C, 5D, and 5E, surface (110), about in the middle of substrate (108), is switched “on” to a reflecting state, such that it reflects incoming image information (106) to present a relatively narrow field of view sub-image in the middle of a larger field of view, while the other potential reflective surfaces are in a transmissive state.

[0053] Referring to FIG. 5C, incoming image information (106) coming from the right of the narrow field of view sub-image (as shown by the angle of incoming beams 106 relative to the substrate 108 input interface 112, and the resultant angle at which they exit the substrate 108) is reflected toward the eye (58) from reflective surface (110). FIG. 5D illustrates the same reflector (110) active, with image information coming from the middle of the narrow field of view sub-image, as shown by the angle of the input information (106) at the input interface (112) and its angle as it exits substrate (108). FIG. 5E illustrates the same reflector (110) active, with image information coming from the left of the field of view, as shown by the angle of the input information (106) at the input interface (112) and the resultant exit angle at the surface of the substrate (108). FIG. 5F illustrates a configuration wherein the bottom reflector (110) is active, with image information (106) coming in from the far right of the overall field of view. For example, FIGS. 5C, 5D, and 5E can illustrate one frame representing the center of a frame-sequential tiled image, and FIG. 5F can illustrate a second frame representing the far right of that tiled image.

[0054] In one embodiment, the light carrying the image information (106) may strike the reflective surface (110) directly after entering substrate (108) at input interface (112), without first reflecting from the surfaces of substrate (108). In one embodiment, the light carrying the image information (106) may reflect from one or more surfaces of substrate (108) after entering at input interface (112) and before striking the reflective surface (110); for instance, substrate (108) may act as a planar waveguide, propagating the light carrying image information (106) by total internal reflection. Light may also reflect from one or more surfaces of the substrate (108) from a partially reflective coating, a wavelength-selective coating, an angle-selective coating, and/or a polarization-selective coating.

[0055] In one embodiment, the angled reflectors may be constructed using an electro-active material, such that upon application of a voltage and/or current to a particular reflector, the refractive index of the material comprising such reflector changes from an index substantially matched to the rest of the substrate (108), in which case the reflector is in a transmissive configuration, to a reflective configuration wherein the refractive index of the reflector mismatches the refractive index of the substrate (108) such that a reflection effect is created. Example electro-active material includes lithium niobate and electro-active polymers. Suitable substantially transparent electrodes for controlling a plurality of such reflectors may comprise materials such as indium tin oxide, which is utilized in liquid crystal displays.

[0056] In one embodiment, the electro-active reflectors (110) may comprise liquid crystal, embedded in a substrate (108) host medium such as glass or plastic. In some variations, liquid crystal may be selected that changes refractive index as a function of an applied electric signal, so that more analog changes may be accomplished as opposed to binary (from one transmissive state to one reflective state). In an embodiment wherein 6 sub-images are to be presented to the eye frame-sequential to form a large tiled image with an overall refresh rate of 60 frames per second, it is desirable to have an input display that can refresh at the rate of about 360 Hz, with an electro-active reflector array that can keep up with such frequency. In one embodiment, lithium niobate may be utilized as an electro-active reflective material as opposed to liquid crystal; lithium niobate is utilized in the photonics industry for high-speed switches and fiber optic networks and has the capability to switch refractive index in response to an applied voltage at a very high frequency; this high frequency may be used to steer line-sequential or pixel-sequential sub-image information, especially if the input display is a scanned light display, such as a fiber-scanned display or scanning mirror-based display.

[0057] In another embodiment, a variable switchable angled mirror configuration may comprise one or more high-speed mechanically repositionable reflective surfaces, such as a MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) device. A MEMS device may include what is known as a “digital mirror device”, or “DMD”, (often part of a “digital light processing”, or “DLP” system, such as those available from Texas Instruments, Inc.). In another electromechanical embodiment, a plurality of air-gapped (or in vacuum) reflective surfaces could be mechanically moved in and out of place at high frequency. In another electromechanical embodiment, a single reflective surface may be moved up and down and re-pitched at very high frequency.

[0058] Referring to FIG. 5G, it is notable that the switchable variable angle reflector configurations described herein are capable of passing not only collimated or flat wavefront information to the retina (54) of the eye (58), but also curved wavefront (122) image information, as shown in the illustration of FIG. 5G. This generally is not the case with other waveguide-based configurations, wherein total internal reflection of curved wavefront information causes undesirable complications, and therefore the inputs generally must be collimated. The ability to pass curved wavefront information facilitates the ability of configurations such as those shown in FIGS. 5B-5H to provide the retina (54) with input perceived as focused at various distances from the eye (58), not just optical infinity (which would be the interpretation of collimated light absent other cues).

[0059] Referring to FIG. 5H, in another embodiment, an array of static partially reflective surfaces (116) (i.e., always in a reflective mode; in another embodiment, they may be electro-active, as above) may be embedded in a substrate (114) with a high-frequency gating layer (118) controlling outputs to the eye (58) by only allowing transmission through an aperture (120) which is controllably movable. In other words, everything may be selectively blocked except for transmissions through the aperture (120). The gating layer (118) may comprise a liquid crystal array, a lithium niobate array, an array of MEMS shutter elements, an array of DLP DMD elements, or an array of other MEMS devices configured to pass or transmit with relatively high-frequency switching and high transmissibility upon being switched to transmission mode.

[0060] Referring to FIGS. 6A-6B, other embodiments are depicted wherein arrayed optical elements may be combined with exit pupil expansion configurations to assist with the comfort of the virtual or augmented reality experience of the user. With a larger “exit pupil” for the optics configuration, the user’s eye positioning relative to the display (which, as in FIGS. 4A-4D, may be mounted on the user’s head in an eyeglasses sort of configuration) is not as likely to disrupt his experience–because due to the larger exit pupil of the system, there is a larger acceptable area wherein the user’s anatomical pupil may be located to still receive the information from the display system as desired. In other words, with a larger exit pupil, the system is less likely to be sensitive to slight misalignments of the display relative to the user’s anatomical pupil, and greater comfort for the user may be achieved through less geometric constraint on his or her relationship with the display/glasses.

[0061] As shown in FIG. 6A, the display (140) on the left feeds a set of parallel rays into the substrate (124). In one embodiment, the display may be a scanned fiber display scanning a narrow beam of light back and forth at an angle as shown to project an image through the lens or other optical element (142), which may be utilized to collect the angularly-scanned light and convert it to a parallel bundle of rays. The rays may be reflected from a series of reflective surfaces (126, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136) which may be configured to partially reflect and partially transmit incoming light so that the light may be shared across the group of reflective surfaces (126, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136) approximately equally. With a small lens (138) placed at each exit point from the waveguide (124), the exiting light rays may be steered through a nodal point and scanned out toward the eye (58) to provide an array of exit pupils, or the functional equivalent of one large exit pupil that is usable by the user as he or she gazes toward the display system.

[0062] For virtual reality configurations wherein it is desirable to also be able to see through the waveguide to the real world (144), a similar set of lenses (139) may be presented on the opposite side of the waveguide (124) to compensate for the lower set of lenses; thus creating a the equivalent of a zero-magnification telescope. The reflective surfaces (126, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136) each may be aligned at approximately 45 degrees as shown, or may be configured to have different alignments, akin to the configurations of FIGS. 5B-5H, for example). The reflective surfaces (126, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136) may comprise wavelength-selective reflectors, band pass reflectors, half silvered mirrors, or other reflective configurations. The lenses (138, 139) shown are refractive lenses, but diffractive lens elements may also be utilized.

[0063] Referring to FIG. 6B, a somewhat similar configuration is depicted wherein a plurality of curved reflective surfaces (148, 150, 152, 154, 156, 158) may be utilized to effectively combine the lens (element 138 of FIG. 6A) and reflector (elements 126, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136 of FIG. 6A) functionality of the embodiment of FIG. 6A, thereby obviating the need for the two groups of lenses (element 138 of FIG. 6A). The curved reflective surfaces (148, 150, 152, 154, 156, 158) may be various curved configurations selected to both reflect and impart angular change, such as parabolic or elliptical curved surfaces. With a parabolic shape, a parallel set of incoming rays will be collected into a single output point; with an elliptical configuration, a set of rays diverging from a single point of origin are collected to a single output point. As with the configuration of FIG. 6A, the curved reflective surfaces (148, 150, 152, 154, 156, 158) preferably are configured to partially reflect and partially transmit so that the incoming light is shared across the length of the waveguide (146). The curved reflective surfaces (148, 150, 152, 154, 156, 158) may comprise wavelength-selective notch reflectors, half silvered mirrors, or other reflective configurations. In another embodiment, the curved reflective surfaces (148, 150, 152, 154, 156, 158) may be replaced with diffractive reflectors configured to reflect and also deflect.

[0064] Referring to FIG. 7A, perceptions of Z-axis difference (i.e., distance straight out from the eye along the optical axis) may be facilitated by using a waveguide in conjunction with a variable focus optical element configuration. As shown in FIG. 7A, image information from a display (160) may be collimated and injected into a waveguide (164) and distributed in a large exit pupil manner using, e.g., configurations such as those described in reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B, or other substrate-guided optics methods known to those skilled in the art–and then variable focus optical element capability may be utilized to change the focus of the wavefront of light emerging from the waveguide and provide the eye with the perception that the light coming from the waveguide (164) is from a particular focal distance. In other words, since the incoming light has been collimated to avoid challenges in total internal reflection waveguide configurations, it will exit in collimated fashion, requiring a viewer’s eye to accommodate to the far point to bring it into focus on the retina, and naturally be interpreted as being from optical infinity–unless some other intervention causes the light to be refocused and perceived as from a different viewing distance; one suitable such intervention is a variable focus lens.

[0065] In the embodiment of FIG. 7A, collimated image information is injected into a piece of glass (162) or other material at an angle such that it totally internally reflects and is passed into the adjacent waveguide (164). The waveguide (164) may be configured akin to the waveguides of FIG. 6A or 6B (124, 146, respectively) so that the collimated light from the display is distributed to exit somewhat uniformly across the distribution of reflectors or diffractive features along the length of the waveguide. Upon exit toward the eye (58), in the depicted configuration the exiting light is passed through a variable focus lens element (166) wherein, depending upon the controlled focus of the variable focus lens element (166), the light exiting the variable focus lens element (166) and entering the eye (58) will have various levels of focus (a collimated flat wavefront to represent optical infinity, more and more beam divergence/wavefront curvature to represent closer viewing distance relative to the eye 58).

[0066] To compensate for the variable focus lens element (166) between the eye (58) and the waveguide (164), another similar variable focus lens element (167) is placed on the opposite side of the waveguide (164) to cancel out the optical effects of the lenses (166) for light coming from the world (144) for augmented reality (i.e., as described above, one lens compensates for the other, producing the functional equivalent of a zero-magnification telescope).

[0067] The variable focus lens element (166) may be a refractive element, such as a liquid crystal lens, an electro-active lens, a conventional refractive lens with moving elements, a mechanical-deformation-based lens (such as a fluid-filled membrane lens, or a lens akin to the human crystalline lens wherein a flexible element is flexed and relaxed by actuators), an electrowetting lens, or a plurality of fluids with different refractive indices. The variable focus lens element (166) may also comprise a switchable diffractive optical element (such as one featuring a polymer dispersed liquid crystal approach wherein a host medium, such as a polymeric material, has microdroplets of liquid crystal dispersed within the material; when a voltage is applied, the molecules reorient so that their refractive indices no longer match that of the host medium, thereby creating a high-frequency switchable diffraction pattern).

[0068] One embodiment includes a host medium in which microdroplets of a Kerr effect-based electro-active material, such as lithium niobate, is dispersed within the host medium, enabling refocusing of image information on a pixel-by-pixel or line-by-line basis, when coupled with a scanning light display, such as a fiber-scanned display or scanning-mirror-based display. In a variable focus lens element (166) configuration wherein liquid crystal, lithium niobate, or other technology is utilized to present a pattern, the pattern spacing may be modulated to not only change the focal power of the variable focus lens element (166), but also to change the focal power of the overall optical system–for a zoom lens type of functionality.

[0069] In one embodiment, the lenses (166) could be telecentric, in that focus of the display imagery can be altered while keeping magnification constant–in the same way that a photography zoom lens may be configured to decouple focus from zoom position. In another embodiment, the lenses (166) may be non-telecentric, so that focus changes will also slave zoom changes. With such a configuration, such magnification changes may be compensated for in software with dynamic scaling of the output from the graphics system in sync with focus changes).

[0070] Referring back to the projector or other video display unit (160) and the issue of how to feed images into the optical display system, in a “frame sequential” configuration, a stack of sequential two-dimensional images may be fed to the display sequentially to produce three-dimensional perception over time; in a manner akin to the manner in which a computed tomography system uses stacked image slices to represent a three-dimensional structure. A series of two-dimensional image slices may be presented to the eye, each at a different focal distance to the eye, and the eye/brain would integrate such a stack into a perception of a coherent three-dimensional volume. Depending upon the display type, line-by-line, or even pixel-by-pixel sequencing may be conducted to produce the perception of three-dimensional viewing. For example, with a scanned light display (such as a scanning fiber display or scanning mirror display), then the display is presenting the waveguide (164) with one line or one pixel at a time in a sequential fashion.

[0071] If the variable focus lens element (166) is able to keep up with the high-frequency of pixel-by-pixel or line-by-line presentation, then each line or pixel may be presented and dynamically focused through the variable focus lens element (166) to be perceived at a different focal distance from the eye (58). Pixel-by-pixel focus modulation generally requires an extremely fast/high-frequency variable focus lens element (166). For example, a 1080P resolution display with an overall frame rate of 60 frames per second typically presents around 125 million pixels per second. Such a configuration also may be constructed using a solid state switchable lens, such as one using an electro-active material, e.g., lithium niobate or an electro-active polymer. In addition to its compatibility with the system illustrated in FIG. 7A, a frame sequential multi-focal display driving approach may be used in conjunction with a number of the display system and optics embodiments described in this disclosure.

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