System and method for presenting image content on multiple depth planes by providing multiple intra-pupil parallax views

Abstract

A display system is configured to direct parallactically-disparate intra-pupil images into a viewer's eye. The intra-pupil images provide different parallax views of a virtual object, and impinge on the pupil from different angles. In the aggregate, the wavefronts of light forming the images approximate a continuous divergent wavefront and provide accommodation cues for the user depending on the amount of parallax disparity between the images. The amount of parallax disparity is selected using a light source that outputs light for different images from different locations, with differences in the locations of the light output providing different paths for the light traveling to the eye, which provides different amounts of parallax disparity. The wavefront divergence and the accommodation cue thus provided can be varied by selecting the amount of spatial separation between the locations of light output.

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