Waveguide-based illumination for head mounted display system

A head-mounted display system configured to project light via one or more waveguides to an eye of a user wearing the head-mounted display system to display image content in a vision field of said user, said head-mounted display system comprising:

• a frame configured to be supported on a head of the user, the frame being distinct from the one or more waveguides utilized to display the image content in the vision field of said user, wherein at least a portion of the frame serves as a light-guiding component that is supplemental to the one or more waveguides and configured to provide illumination of the eye of the user separate from the light projected from the one or more waveguides for displaying the image content in the vison field of the user, and wherein the at least the portion of the frame is configured to cause light to be guided therein by total internal reflection to be out-coupled only at one or more discrete locations of the frame via a respective out-coupling element;
• an image projector configured to project an image;
• at least one illumination source;
• at least one illumination in-coupling optical element configured to in-couple light from the at least one illumination source into the at least the portion of the frame serving as the light-guiding component so as to guide light from the at least one illumination source through the at least the portion of the frame;
• and
• at least one diffusive optical element disposed on a surface of the at least the portion of the frame serving as the light-guiding component so as to be positioned forward one of the user's eyes when the frame is worn by the user, wherein the at least one diffusive optical element serves as the out-coupling element at one discrete location of the frame and is configured to diffusively couple light from the at least one illumination source out of the at least the portion of the frame serving as the light-guiding component toward the eye of the user, and wherein the at least one diffusive optical element extends across an area that is less than 5% the area of the light-guiding component.