Multiplexed Optical Element Aberration Correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing near-eye head-mounted displays face challenges in correcting optical aberrations across a large field of view, leading to constrained design and bulkiness due to the need for additional optical elements, which limits the visibility range and clarity of virtual image overlay with real-world content.
Innovation Solution
An optical imaging apparatus using a combination of multiplexed elements, including refractive, reflective, or diffractive optical elements, to provide aberration corrections that cancel out aberrations across the entire field of view, allowing for a wider exit pupil and improved image clarity without adding bulk.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If additional optical elements are added to correct optical aberrations, then optical aberration correction is improved, but device weight and bulkiness increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple optical correction functions into a single multiplexed optical element. This element integrates both the imaging function and the aberration correction function that would traditionally require separate optical components, thereby eliminating the need for additional heavy elements while maintaining effective aberration correction across the field of view.
Solution Approach 2:
The multiplexed optical element serves multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as both an imaging element and an aberration correction element. By encoding different correction patterns for different field of view regions within a single element, it provides universal correction capability without requiring region-specific additional components.
2Reliability
If additional optical elements are added to correct optical aberrations, then optical aberration correction is improved, but device size and volume increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple optical correction functions into a single multiplexed optical element. This element integrates both the imaging function and the aberration correction function that would traditionally require separate optical components, thereby eliminating the need for additional bulky elements while maintaining effective aberration correction across the field of view.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses multiplexing in the spatial frequency domain to encode multiple correction patterns within a single optical element. By utilizing different spatial frequencies and phases within the same physical space, it achieves correction for multiple field of view regions without requiring additional physical volume for separate correction elements.
3Reliability
If aberration correction is applied to small regions of the field of view, then optical aberration correction is improved, but the exit pupil size becomes extremely small
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the field of view into multiple regions, each with its own aberration correction pattern. These segmented correction patterns are then multiplexed into a single optical element, allowing each region to receive optimized correction while collectively maintaining a large exit pupil for all regions simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses multiplexing in the spatial frequency domain to encode multiple correction patterns within a single optical element. By utilizing different spatial frequencies and phases within the same physical space, it achieves correction for multiple field of view regions without requiring region-specific optical paths that would constrain the exit pupil size.
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
The solution enables a wider field of view with reduced optical aberrations, enhancing visibility and alignment of virtual images with real-world scenes, while maintaining a compact and lightweight design.
Implementation Method 1
a refractive, reflective, or diffractive optical element providing a second set of aberrations to the ray bundles
Implementation Method 2
a refractive, reflective, or diffractive optical element providing a second set of aberrations to the ray bundles
Implementation Method 3
a refractive, reflective, or diffractive optical element providing a second set of aberrations to the ray bundles
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus for correcting aberrations over the entire field of view of an optical system, in which a first part of the apparatus applies different pre-compensating aberrations individually to different portions of the field of view, such that aberrations caused by a second part of the apparatus cancel the aberrations applied by the first part. The first part of the apparatus is temporally, angularly, or spatially multiplexed and the second part of the apparatus is spatially or angularly multiplexed such that ray bundles corresponding to subsets of contiguous pixels in an image source are each subjected to corresponding pre-compensating aberrations and subsequent aberrations, resulting in a substantially non-aberrated performance over the entire field of view of the optical system.