Near-eye display having overlapping projector assemblies

A display for displaying an image to an eye of an observer comprising:

• (a) a lightguide optical element (LOE) formed from transparent material, the LOE comprising:
• (i) a pair of mutually-parallel major faces for supporting propagation of light within the LOE by internal reflection at the major faces,
• (ii) a redirecting arrangement comprising a first set of mutually-parallel partially-reflecting internal surfaces within the LOE non-parallel to the major surfaces, and
• (iii) a coupling-out arrangement for progressively coupling out light propagating within the LOE towards the eye of the observer;
• (b) a first image projector optically coupled to the LOE so as to introduce light corresponding to a first partial image into the LOE so as to propagate within the LOE by internal reflection at the major surfaces with a first in-plane angular field of view centered on a first in-plane optical axis, the light corresponding to the first partial image being progressively redirected by partial reflection at successive internal surfaces of the first set of mutually-parallel partially-reflecting internal surfaces to propagate within the LOE by internal reflection at the major surfaces towards the coupling-out arrangement with an expanded in-plane effective aperture and then being progressively coupled out by the coupling-out arrangement towards the eye of the observer;
• (c) a second image projector optically coupled to the LOE so as to introduce light corresponding to a second partial image into the LOE so as to propagate within the LOE by internal reflection at the major surfaces with a second in-plane angular field of view centered on a second in-plane optical axis, the second in-plane optical axis being non-parallel to the first in-plane optical axis while a second edge of the first field of view overlaps with a first edge of the second field of view, the light corresponding to the second partial image being progressively redirected by partial reflection at successive internal surfaces of the first set of mutually-parallel partially-reflecting internal surfaces to propagate within the LOE by internal reflection at the major surfaces towards the coupling-out arrangement with an expanded in-plane effective aperture and then being progressively coupled out by the coupling-out arrangement towards the eye of the observer;
• and
• (d) a controller for actuating the first and second image projectors to project respective first and second partial images having a region of overlap such that the first and second partial images coupled out by the coupling-out arrangement provide to the eye of the observer an image composed partially from the first partial image and partially from the second partial image.