Slim Immersive Display Folded Optical Path
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) for Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) lack realistic presence due to mismatched field of view and significant volume and weight, making it difficult to simulate real-world training experiences, especially in firefighting scenarios where equipment like respirators pose challenges in synchronizing virtual and actual states.
Innovation Solution
A slim visualization device with a display panel and optical unit using refractive lenses to reduce volume and weight, combined with a state information acquisition unit and content control unit to provide a highly realistic training system that integrates with actual equipment, allowing for adjustable interpupillary distance and angle to match human visual characteristics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If conventional HMD optical systems are designed to improve visual immersion, then the field of view is limited, but the device volume and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a folded optical path where light travels through multiple reflections within a compact space, effectively nesting the optical system within itself. The optical unit contains mirrors and lenses arranged in a folded configuration that allows the light path to return on itself, achieving a wide field of view while maintaining a slim form factor that fits within the respirator mask.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a linear optical path to a multi-dimensional folded path using mirrors and lenses arranged in three-dimensional space. By utilizing vertical and lateral dimensions for light reflection and refraction, the system achieves an extended effective optical path length within a compact physical footprint, thereby expanding the field of view without increasing device volume.
2Weight of moving object
If HMD weight is increased to improve visual immersion, then the device can provide better visual experience, but the user experience diverges from real environment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the heavy processing and display components from the head-mounted portion, placing them in an external backpack unit. The head-mounted portion retains only the essential optical display elements and sensors, dramatically reducing weight while preserving the core visual immersion function. This extraction allows users to experience virtual training without the burden of heavy equipment.
3Device complexity
If fixed optical system is used to simplify device structure, then manufacturing is easier, but eyesight correction requires separate accessories
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates adjustable optical elements including focus adjustment mechanisms and interpupillary distance adjustment that allow the optical system to dynamically adapt to different user eyesight conditions. The lenses and mirrors can be repositioned or refocused to accommodate various visual requirements, eliminating the need for separate accessories while maintaining a relatively simple base structure.
4Reliability
If virtual training system uses realistic equipment to improve training realism, then training effectiveness increases, but synchronizing equipment states with virtual content becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal data interface and communication protocol that allows various types of realistic equipment (respirators, gauges, monitors) to be integrated with the virtual training system through a standardized connection. The system can universally recognize and synchronize with multiple equipment types, reducing the complexity of integration while maintaining high training realism through accurate equipment state representation.
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 enhances the realism of virtual training by providing a wider field of view and improved equipment integration, allowing users to experience virtual training similar to real-world scenarios with accurate representation of equipment states, including biometric signals, thereby optimizing training effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
an optical unit manufactured using at least two refractive lenses and configured to refract and reflect straight-traveling visible light corresponding to an image output via the display panel through the at least two refractive lenses
Implementation Method 2
an optical unit manufactured using at least two refractive lenses and configured to refract and reflect straight-traveling visible light
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are a slim immersive display device and a slim visualization device. The slim immersive display device includes a slim visualization module for forming an image on a retina of an eyeball of a user based on an externally input image signal, a state information acquisition unit for acquiring a state of an external device as a state image, and a content control unit for analyzing the state image, generating an image corresponding to virtual-reality environment information, and inputting the image to the slim visualization module.