Methods and Apparatus for Active Transparency Modulation
AssigneeOstendo Technologies, Inc.
InventorsSiddharth S. Hazra, Hussein S. El-Ghoroury
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A viewing system is provided including an active transparency modulation film in the form of addressable arrays of electrochromic pixel structures. The viewing system may be used in, for instance, a head-mounted display (HMD) or head-up display (HUD). The film is located on one side of a viewing lens of the system and is selectively variable from opaque to transparent at certain regions on the lens to provide an opaque silhouetted image upon which a virtual image is projected. The viewing system including the film and pixel structure therefore provide improved viewing by minimizing the undesirable effects of image ghosting in a viewed scene.
Claims20
A see-through optical lens or waveguide element comprising:
- an active transparency modulation film comprising an electrochromic pixel layer applied to one side of the see-through optical lens or waveguide element, each pixel of the electrochromic pixel layer being electrically controllable by a processor to be transparent in a first state and opaque in a second state, whereby patterns of opaque areas may be electrically controlled for projection of images onto the back side of the patterns without the images being ghosted by light coming from the backside of the images.
A method of minimizing the undesirable effects of image ghosting in a viewed scene of a viewing system, the method comprising:
- providing a see-through optical lens or waveguide element with an active transparency modulation film comprising an electrochromatic pixel layer applied to one side of the see-through optical lens or waveguide element, each pixel being electrically controllable by a processor to be transparent in a first state and to be opaque in a second state, and variable between the first state and the second state by proportional voltage or pulse width modulation;
- defining, by control of selected pixels of the electrochromatic pixel layer, an area of lesser transparency to a viewer on the see-through optical lens or waveguide element;
- and
- projecting an image onto the area of lesser transparency from the viewing side of the see-through optical lens or waveguide element;
- whereby the image is superimposed onto the area of lesser transparency.
A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform the following method of minimizing the undesirable effects of image ghosting in a viewed scene of a viewing system, the method comprising:
- providing a see-through optical lens or waveguide element with an active transparency modulation film comprising an electrochromatic pixel layer applied to one side of the see-through optical lens or waveguide element, each pixel being electrically controllable by a processor to be transparent in a first state and to be opaque in a second state, and variable between the first state and the second state by proportional voltage or pulse width modulation;
- defining, by control of selected pixels of the electrochromatic pixel layer, an area of lesser transparency to a viewer on the see-through optical lens or waveguide element;
- and
- projecting an image onto the area of lesser transparency from the viewing side of the see-through optical lens or waveguide element;
- whereby the image is superimposed onto the area of lesser transparency.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.