Tunable Lens Actuator Mechanism for Head-Mounted Displays
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Head-mounted devices with fixed lenses often struggle to optimally present visual content to users due to the difficulty in adjusting lens shapes and prescriptions for individual users' needs, such as varying optical prescriptions based on distance, verging, and lighting conditions.
Innovation Solution
A head-mounted device with a lens module that includes a transparent lens element, a positioner extending around its periphery, and an actuator that shifts the positioner to bias the lens element orthogonally, allowing for adjustable lens curvature through a fluid-filled chamber and a system of angled slots and tabs, enabling precise adjustment of lens power for different users.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a fixed lens is used in the head-mounted device, then the device structure is simple, but the lens cannot be adjusted to optimally present content to different users
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic lens system where the lens shape and optical properties can be adjusted in real-time. The lens element is surrounded by a positioner with tabs that can be selectively shifted by an actuator, allowing the lens curvature to change dynamically to accommodate different user prescriptions and viewing conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The lens module is divided into discrete components: a lens element, a positioner with multiple tabs around its periphery, guide structures with angled slots, and an actuator. This segmentation allows independent control of lens shape at different locations, enabling precise adjustment of optical properties while maintaining a manageable system architecture.
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple actuators are used to adjust lens shape at different points, then lens adjustment precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
A single actuator is designed to control multiple tabs around the lens periphery through a shared positioner mechanism. The actuator selectively shifts the positioner, which in turn moves multiple tabs simultaneously, allowing one actuator to perform the function that would traditionally require multiple actuators.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide structures feature angled slots at different orientations around the lens periphery. This asymmetric arrangement of slots allows the positioner to induce different curvature changes at different locations when shifted by the actuator, enabling precise control of lens shape variations without requiring separate actuators for each position.
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 customizable lens adjustment for individual users, accommodating varying prescriptions and improving visual clarity by allowing real-time compensation for different viewing conditions, enhancing the usability of head-mounted devices.
Implementation Method 1
Fluid may be incorporated between the first and second transparent lens elements to define a fluid-filled chamber between the first and second transparent lens elements
Data Source
AI summary
A head-mounted device may have a display that displays content for a user. Head-mounted support structures in the device support the display on the head of the user. A lens module in the head-mounted device may include a transparent lens element, a positioner that extends around the periphery of the transparent lens element, and an actuator that selectively shifts the positioner in a first direction. Shifting the positioner in the first direction causes the transparent lens element to be biased in a second direction that is orthogonal to the first direction at multiple points around the periphery of the transparent lens elements. The positioner may be attached to guide structures that each have a respective angled slot. Each angled slot may receive a respective tab of the transparent lens element or a respective tab of a lens shaping element that is attached to the transparent lens element.