Off-axis lens element for compact head-mounted display optics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing head-mounted display technologies face challenges in achieving compact, lightweight, and high-quality optical systems with wide field-of-view and reasonable costs, as they often require complex and heavy components to maintain brightness and image quality.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a lens group with collinear optical axes and a single off-axis lens element with positive optical power, along with an off-axis combiner, to form a compact and efficient optical path for head-mounted displays, reducing the number of lenses and reflectors in the optical path while maintaining image quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If complex optical components are used to maintain brightness and image quality, then image quality is improved, but device weight and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The optical system is segmented into distinct functional groups: a lens group with multiple collinear lenses for primary imaging, and a separate off-axis lens element for specific optical corrections. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently while reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an asymmetric off-axis lens element whose optical axis is deliberately misaligned relative to the lens group's optical axis. This asymmetric configuration enables the system to achieve wide field-of-view and correct optical aberrations without requiring symmetric, complex optical arrangements.
2Measurement precision
If multiple lenses and reflectors are used in the optical path, then image quality is maintained, but device size and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates unnecessary reflectors from the optical path, retaining only the essential lens group and off-axis lens element. This reduction in component count directly decreases device weight while maintaining imaging performance through the optimized lens configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple optical functions are merged into the lens group and off-axis lens element design, combining imaging, focusing, and aberration correction capabilities into integrated lens assemblies rather than requiring separate components for each function.
3Volume of moving object
If compact optical design is implemented, then device size is reduced, but field-of-view and image clarity may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The off-axis lens element introduces a dimensional change in the optical path by operating outside the primary optical axis plane. This enables the compact system to achieve wide field-of-view coverage that would otherwise require larger, more complex optical arrangements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes specific optical parameters including the off-axis distance, lens curvature, and refractive indices to achieve the desired field-of-view and image clarity within a compact form factor. These parameter adjustments enable compact design without sacrificing optical performance.
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 configuration enables the creation of lightweight, compact, and high-quality head-mounted displays with improved field-of-view and image clarity, addressing the cost and size limitations of previous technologies.
Implementation Method 1
imaging optics comprising: a lens group comprising a plurality of lens elements in said optical path, said lens group having a first optical axis, each of said plurality of lenses having optical axes collinear with said first optical axis; and a single lens element in said optical path having a second optical axis that is different from the first optical axis
Data Source
AI summary
One embodiment of the invention comprises a simplified light-weight head mounted displays comprising an off-axis combiner and imaging optics defining an optical path. The imaging optics comprises a lens group comprising a plurality of lenses in the optical path. The lens group has a first optical axis. Each of said plurality of lenses have optical axes collinear with the first optical axis. The imaging optics further comprises a single lens element in the optical path having a second optical axis that is different from the first optical axis. The single lens element has positive optical power and is the only lens element in the optical path between the lens group and the combiner that has an optical axis collinear with the second optical axis.