Heads-up Display Light Guide with Polarizing Beam Splitter
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heads-up displays using eye-tracking technology are bulkier and more complex due to separate optical paths for display and eye-tracking, which compromises their streamlined design.
Innovation Solution
A heads-up display design that integrates eye-tracking functionality within the same optical path as the display, utilizing a light guide with a polarizing beam splitter and optical elements to manage display and eye-tracking radiation, allowing for simultaneous operation of display, ambient, and eye-tracking paths without increasing bulkiness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate optical paths are used for display and eye-tracking, then eye-tracking functionality is achieved, but device complexity and bulkiness increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the eye-tracking optical path with the display optical path by using a light guide that serves dual purposes: guiding display light to the user's eye and guiding eye-tracking radiation from the eye to the sensor. This integration eliminates the need for separate optical components and pathways, thereby achieving eye-tracking functionality while maintaining a streamlined, compact design without increasing device complexity or bulkiness.
2Reliability
If separate optical paths are used for display and eye-tracking, then eye-tracking functionality is achieved, but the design becomes less streamlined
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple optical functions into a single light guide structure, allowing both display light and eye-tracking radiation to share the same optical pathway. This merging approach maintains a sleek, streamlined design by eliminating additional optical components and separate pathways that would otherwise compromise the aesthetic and structural simplicity of the device.
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 efficient eye-tracking while maintaining a streamlined and compact heads-up display design, enhancing usability and aesthetics by integrating eye-tracking functionality without additional optical paths.
Implementation Method 1
utilizing a light guide with a polarizing beam splitter and optical elements to manage display and eye-tracking radiation
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments of an apparatus comprising a light guide including a proximal end, a distal end, a display positioned near the proximal end, an eye-measurement camera positioned at or near the proximal end to image eye-measurement radiation, a proximal optical element positioned in the light guide near the proximal end and a distal optical element positioned in the light guide near the distal end. The proximal optical element is optically coupled to the display, the eye-measurement camera and the distal optical element and the distal optical element is optically coupled to the proximal optical element, the ambient input region and the input/output region. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed.