Tunable Cylindrical Lenses for Prescription-Ready Head-Mounted Displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wearable display systems for augmented reality often require customization for users with refractive errors, which is time-consuming and expensive, and form factors accommodating eyeglasses can be unwieldy and aesthetically unappealing.
Innovation Solution
Integration of tunable lenses into a head-mounted display eyepiece with variable spherical and cylindrical refractive powers, corrected by actuators, to adjust for individual refractive errors, including astigmatism, without the need for custom fabrication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If custom inserts are provided in the wearable display to correct for a user's refractive error, then the correction accuracy is improved, but the customization process becomes time-consuming and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by implementing adjustable optical elements (lenses or waveguides) that can be dynamically reconfigured to match different user prescriptions. Instead of static custom inserts, the system allows real-time adjustment of refractive power and optical characteristics, enabling a single device to serve multiple users with different vision requirements without requiring physical customization for each user.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs parameter changes by varying optical parameters such as refractive power, focal length, and lens curvature through adjustable mechanisms. These parameter adjustments enable the optical system to adapt to different user prescriptions, eliminating the need for time-consuming custom fabrication while maintaining precise correction accuracy.
2Manufacturing precision
If the display's form factor is designed to accommodate eyeglasses between the wearer and the display's eyepiece, then the refractive error correction is improved, but the device becomes unwieldy and aesthetically unappealing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the merging principle by integrating the refractive error correction function directly into the wearable display's optical path. Instead of accommodating separate eyeglasses, the system combines the display optics with corrective optics, creating a unified optical assembly that eliminates the need for external eyeglasses while maintaining correction accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements universality by designing the wearable display to perform multiple functions: displaying visual information and correcting refractive errors simultaneously. The adjustable optical elements serve dual purposes, eliminating the need for separate corrective devices and simplifying the overall form factor.
3Adaptability or versatility
If adjustable optical elements are integrated into the wearable display, then the adaptability to different user prescriptions is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the optical correction function into discrete adjustable elements (such as individual lens components or waveguide sections) that can be independently controlled. This modular approach allows precise adjustment of different optical parameters while keeping each component relatively simple, managing overall system complexity.
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
Provides customizable correction for refractive errors, minimizing power consumption and mechanical overhead, and enabling mixed reality products for users with non-emmetropic vision.
Implementation Method 1
The actuators apply forces to the deformable refractive elements to vary the curvature of one or two surfaces of the lens, thereby varying the optical power of the cylindrical lens
Implementation Method 2
Collectively, the variable compound lenses can correct for refractive error of the user, including astigmatism
Data Source
AI summary
Systems include three optical elements arranged along an optical axis each having a different cylinder axis and a variable cylinder refractive power. Collectively, the three elements form a compound optical element having an overall spherical refractive power (SPH), cylinder refractive power (CYL), and cylinder axis (Axis) that can be varied according to a prescription (Rx).