Eyewear Display System with Camera and LCOS Projector
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Solution Overview
Problem
Individuals with poor vision, such as those suffering from age-related eye diseases like macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, face challenges in maintaining an active lifestyle due to limitations in conventional corrective lenses and medical treatments, necessitating effective low vision aids.
Innovation Solution
An eyewear display system is developed that includes a camera attached to glasses, capturing images of distant objects and projecting them in a transparent display window, allowing users to see clear, magnified images simultaneously with their actual surroundings, utilizing a combination of camera, digital processor, and LCOS projector for enhanced vision.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional corrective lenses and medical treatments are used, then vision correction is provided, but they are ineffective for advanced age-related eye diseases like macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a camera as an intermediary device that captures images of distant objects and projects them through a transparent display window, serving as a mediator between the user's impaired vision and the actual visual scene, enabling vision enhancement for conditions unresponsive to conventional correction
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/optical system of conventional corrective lenses with an electronic imaging system comprising a camera, digital processor, and LCOS projector, substituting traditional refraction-based correction with digital image capture, processing, and projection
2Reliability
If a camera and projection system are added to eyeglasses, then vision enhancement is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple functional components (camera, digital processor, LCOS projector, power source, and control circuitry) into an integrated eyewear display system, combining these disparate elements into a unified wearable device that delivers vision enhancement without requiring separate external equipment
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a multi-functional eyewear system that simultaneously serves as corrective vision aid, camera, display device, and computer interface, allowing a single device to perform multiple functions that would traditionally require separate equipment
3Measurement precision
If a transparent display window is used to show magnified images, then users can see clear images of distant objects, but the user cannot see the actual surrounding environment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the display window transparent rather than opaque, allowing light from the surrounding environment to pass through while the projected image is superimposed, thereby providing enhanced clarity for specific regions (projected image) while maintaining visibility of the overall environment
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables users with poor eyesight to view clear, magnified images of objects while maintaining awareness of their environment, improving their ability to navigate and engage with their surroundings, thereby enhancing their quality of life.
Implementation Method 1
Various eyewear displays that utilize pico projectors using LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) display panels are available
Data Source
AI summary
An eyewear display system includes a camera coupled to capture an image of an object in a surrounding environment. A projector is coupled to receive the captured image to output a projected image. A polarizing beam splitter optically coupled to receive the projected image and an actual view of the surrounding environment. The polarizing beam splitter is optically coupled to output a combined view of the projected image combined with the actual view of the surrounding environment. The combined image is to be directed to an eye of a user. An intensity controller is optically coupled between the surrounding environment and the polarizing beam splitter to controlling an intensity of the actual view of the surrounding environment received by the polarizing beam splitter.