Expanding field-of-view in direct projection augmented reality and virtual reality systems
AssigneeFacebook Technologies, LLC
InventorNicholas Daniel Trail
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A near-eye display (NED) includes a source assembly, a waveguide outside a field-of-view of a user, and a main optic within the field-of-view. The waveguide expands light emitted from the source assembly in at least one dimension and out-couple the expanded light. The main optic is partially transparent and is positioned such that the user of the NED looks through the main optic to view a local area surrounding the NED. The main optic receives light from the local area, combines the received light with the expanded light to generate combined light, and directs the combined light to the user's eye-box.
Claims18
A near-eye display (NED) comprising:
- a source assembly configured to emit light;
- a waveguide outside of a field of view (FOV) of a user, the waveguide configured to expand the light from the source assembly in at least one dimension and outcouple the expanded light;
- a focusing element outside of the FOV and coupled to the waveguide, the focusing element configured to:
- receive the expanded light from the waveguide, and
- optically correct the expanded light;
- and
- an integrated optical element comprising a plurality of surfaces designed for a projected FOV that is larger than the FOV of the user, the integrated optical element at least partially inside the FOV of the user and configured to:
- direct ambient light from a local area surrounding the NED to propagate substantially parallel to an axis toward an eye-box covering the projected FOV, and
- while directing the ambient light from the local area, reflect the optically corrected expanded light from the plurality of surfaces to generate a version of the optically corrected expanded light covering the projected FOV and propagating substantially parallel to the axis toward the eye-box.
A near-eye display (NED) comprising:
- a source assembly configured to emit image light;
- a waveguide outside of a field of view (FOV) of a user, the waveguide configured to expand the light from the source assembly in at least one dimension and outcouple the expanded light;
- a focusing element outside of the FOV and coupled to the waveguide, the focusing element configured to:
- receive the expanded image light from the waveguide,
- optically correct the expanded image light;
- and
- an integrated optical element comprising a plurality of surfaces designed for a projected FOV that is larger than the FOV of the user, the integrated optical element at least partially inside the FOV of the user and configured to:
- block ambient light received at the integrated optical element from a local area surrounding the NED from propagating toward an eye-box across the projected FOV, and
- while blocking the ambient light from propagating toward the eye-box, reflect the optically corrected expanded image light from the plurality of surfaces to generate a version of the optically corrected expanded image light covering the projected FOV and propagating substantially parallel to an axis toward an eye-box.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.