Flexible Frame Headset Interpupillary Distance Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional virtual reality headsets often suffer from poor calibration, leading to eye strain, blurred vision, and discomfort due to inadequate adjustment mechanisms that constrain form factor design, increase manufacturing costs, and fail to accommodate varying interpupillary distances effectively.
Innovation Solution
The use of a flexible planar support frame within head-mounted displays that can bend to adjust the distance between display screen projections, allowing for inward or outward angling to accommodate different interpupillary distances, coupled with an actuator for precise control and a compensation module to correct image distortion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional adjustment mechanisms are used to widen the assembly for accommodating varying interpupillary distances, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity and form factor are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible display assembly that can dynamically change its geometry from a planar configuration to a curved configuration. This dynamic transformation allows the display to accommodate varying interpupillary distances without requiring multiple discrete mechanical adjustment mechanisms, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible display changes its physical parameters (curvature radius, inter-lens distance) by transitioning between planar and curved states. This parameter transformation enables the display to adapt to different user interpupillary distances without adding mechanical complexity, as the adjustment is achieved through material flexibility rather than mechanical components.
2Adaptability or versatility
If traditional adjustment mechanisms with many moving parts are used, then adaptability is improved, but reliability is worsened due to increased mechanical failure points
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the adjustment function from traditional mechanical mechanisms and integrates it directly into the flexible display structure itself. By eliminating separate adjustment mechanisms with moving parts, the design reduces reliability issues while preserving the ability to adjust interpupillary distances through the display's inherent flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible display performs the adjustment function autonomously through its material properties, without requiring external mechanical adjustment mechanisms. The display self-adapts to different interpupillary distances by flexing into the appropriate configuration, eliminating the need for additional mechanical components that could fail.
3Strength
If the display assembly is made rigid for structural stability, then strength is improved, but adaptability is worsened due to inability to adjust for varying interpupillary distances
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes a flexible display assembly that can transition between planar and curved configurations. This flexible structure maintains sufficient structural strength to support the display components while enabling the necessary geometric transformations to accommodate different interpupillary distances, resolving the contradiction between rigidity and adaptability.
4Adaptability or versatility
If eye pieces are moved apart to accommodate wide-set eyes, then adaptability is improved, but image quality is worsened because display screens stay in place
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible display enables both eye pieces and display screens to move together as an integrated unit. When the display transitions to a curved configuration, the display screens maintain their proper alignment relative to the eye pieces, ensuring image quality is preserved while accommodating wide-set eyes.
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
This solution provides a more comfortable and immersive experience by accommodating a wider range of interpupillary distances with fewer mechanical parts, reducing manufacturing costs and maintaining a compact form factor while minimizing mechanical failure points.
Implementation Method 1
The flexible planar support frame is bendable such that the distance between a projection of the left-eye display screen area and a projection of the right-eye display screen area onto a viewing plane varies as the flexible planar support frame bends
Data Source
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AI summary
An apparatus for head-mounted displays may include (i) a flexible planar support frame, (ii) a left eye cup coupled to a left side of the flexible planar support frame and a right eye cup coupled to a right side of the flexible planar support frame, (iii) left-eye and right-eye display screen areas mounted to the flexible planar support frame such that the left-eye display screen area projects toward a left eye aperture defined by the left eye cup and the right-eye display screen area projects toward a right eye aperture defined by the right eye cup. The flexible planar support frame may be bendable such that the distance between projections of the left-eye and right-eye display screen areas onto a viewing plane varies as the flexible planar support frame bends, thereby adjusting for varying interpupillary distances. Various other devices, systems, and methods are also disclosed.