Wearable Display Pancake Optics Near-Eye Viewing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional wearable display devices face challenges in providing high image quality, comfort, and unobstructed visibility due to bulkiness, poor ergonomics, and image quality issues, limiting their acceptance for long-term use in various applications.
Innovation Solution
A wearable viewing apparatus utilizing a focal pupil relay configuration with a 'pancake' optical design that relays the input pupil to the output pupil, providing a compact, aberration-free optical path for enhanced field of view and image quality, while minimizing obstruction of the primary visual field.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional wearable display devices are designed to provide high image quality, then image quality is improved, but device size and bulkiness increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent positions optical components within the object focal length of the eye (ultra-near-to-eye configuration), effectively moving the optical system into a new spatial dimension close to the eye rather than maintaining conventional distances. This dimensional change enables compact component arrangement while maintaining high image quality through the pupil relay configuration that concentrates optics in a small volume near the pupil plane.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a pupil relay configuration where multiple optical components (scanning mirrors, beam splitters, lenses) are nested within a compact optical path that relays the pupil image through successive optical elements. This nesting allows complex optical functionality to be contained in a minimal volume, resolving the contradiction between high image quality requirements and device miniaturization.
2Ease of operation
If wearable display devices are made compact, then ergonomics are improved, but field of view is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates scanning mechanisms (MEMS mirrors or acousto-optic deflectors) that dynamically scan light beams across the pupil relay optical path. This dynamic scanning enables a compact optical design to achieve a wide field of view by rapidly redirecting light to different angular positions, effectively decoupling physical device size from optical field of view.
Solution Approach 2:
By positioning components within the object focal length and using the pupil relay configuration, the patent creates an ultra-near-to-eye imaging arrangement that expands the effective field of view in angular space while maintaining compact physical dimensions. The concentric design allows light rays from different field angles to be relayed through the pupil plane without increasing device volume.
3Volume of moving object
If optical components are positioned closer to the eye, then device compactness is improved, but optical aberrations increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs asymmetric optical design where the pupil relay configuration uses non-conventional component arrangements and angles optimized for ultra-near-to-eye positioning. This asymmetric design compensates for aberrations introduced by close positioning, allowing compact component placement while maintaining high optical quality through customized optical paths rather than symmetric conventional designs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes key optical parameters including component positions within the object focal length, beam angles, and pupil relay magnification to optimize performance for ultra-near-to-eye operation. By adjusting these parameters, the system achieves compactness without sacrificing optical quality, as the parameters are specifically tuned to minimize aberrations in the constrained space near the eye.
4Measurement precision
If conventional wearable displays are designed with traditional optical paths, then optical performance is maintained, but device weight and bulk increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates unnecessary optical elements and intermediate image planes from conventional optical paths. By using a direct pupil relay configuration that relays the pupil image through a minimized sequence of components, the system removes redundant optics that would add weight and bulk, while maintaining optical performance through the efficient direct relay path from scan mirror to pupil plane.
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 offers improved ergonomics, increased field of view, and high image quality with reduced optical, physiological, and ergonomic constraints, making it suitable for virtual and augmented reality applications without obstructing the viewer's primary visual field.
Implementation Method 1
A wearable viewing apparatus utilizing a focal pupil relay configuration with a 'pancake' optical design that relays the input pupil to the output pupil
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 1C
AI summary
An optical apparatus has a laser source to direct modulated light toward a scan mirror and objective lens that define a focal surface. Pupil relay optics relay a first pupil at the scan mirror to a second pupil at an eye lens, the pupil relay optics defining an optical axis extending between pupils and having a curved mirror that transmits substantially half of the modulated beam and that has a first center of curvature at the first pupil and a first polarizer in the path of light from the scan mirror to reflect incident light of a first polarization and first angle toward the curved mirror surface and transmit incident light of an orthogonal polarization and second angle, wherein the pupil relay optics direct the modulated light beam twice to the first polarizer, and wherein the modulated light incident the second time is collimated and directed toward the second pupil.