Visor Heads-Up Display Optical Path Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Military heads-up displays are often bulky, heavy, and expensive, making them unsuitable for civilian and entertainment markets, which require smaller, lighter, and more affordable solutions with enhanced image quality and wider field-of-view capabilities.
Innovation Solution
Designing heads-up display systems that are compact and lightweight, using a combination of plastic meniscus lenses and curved mirrors to correct for astigmatism and distortion, with an image generator capable of producing high-quality, stereoscopic, or 3D images, and integrating with portable electronic devices for versatile data display.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If military HUD designs are used, then image quality and reliability are improved, but weight and device size increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The HUD system is divided into separate functional modules: image generator, optical elements (lenses and mirrors), and visor integration. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently, reducing overall weight while maintaining image quality through specialized design of each segment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs curved mirrors and spherical lens elements to achieve compact optical path folding within the visor structure. The curvature of these optical elements enables efficient light routing in a minimized space, reducing the overall HUD size and weight while preserving military-grade image quality.
2Reliability
If military HUD designs are used, then image quality is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The optical elements (lenses and mirrors) are designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: image relay, field-of-view expansion, and aberration correction. This multi-functionality reduces the total number of components needed, simplifying the overall device complexity while maintaining high image quality standards.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes specific optical parameters (curvature radii, focal lengths, material indices) that are optimized to achieve military-grade image quality with fewer components. By carefully selecting and adjusting these parameters, the system achieves high performance with reduced complexity compared to traditional military HUD designs.
3Reliability
If traditional HUD optical paths are used, then image quality is maintained, but field-of-view is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a folded optical path using curved mirrors to extend the field-of-view in multiple dimensions. The optical design utilizes vertical and horizontal folding to achieve a diagonal field-of-view up to 35 degrees, expanding the visible area while maintaining image quality through precise optical element positioning.
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 the creation of smaller, lighter HUD systems that provide enhanced image quality with a wider field-of-view, up to 35°, and seamless integration with various portable devices, making them suitable for civilian and entertainment applications.
Implementation Method 1
a curved mirror, with which the display image is reflected
Implementation Method 2
a first meniscus lens through which the display image passes, a second meniscus lens matched with the first meniscus lens
Data Source
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AI summary
A wearable system is shown that presents one or more heads-up displays to the wearer. A data source provides information to an image generator that is sufficient to generate one or more display images, which are still or moving, characters or graphical displays. The output image from the image generator passes through a lens, reflects off a curved mirror, and passes back through the lens the other way. The image then passes through two non-doublet lenses, between which an intermediate image exists. The image reflects off the "lens," or visor, of the glasses and proceeds to pupil of the wearer's eye. Alternative embodiments use a helmet visor, mirror, or other (at least partially) reflective surface for the final reflection.