Head mounted display system

A head mounted display system comprising:

• a support to mount the display system on a user's head;
• a display mounted on the support for displaying an image;
• and
• a hollow optical element having at least three surfaces including an entrance surface for receiving the image from the display, a spherical exit surface wherein the user views the image directly through the exit surface and a flat reflective surface for reflecting said image from said entrance surface to said exit surface, the three surfaces of said optical element being shaped to generate a virtual image of said displayed image that is magnified and that appears to be at a location a distance from the user that is substantially greater than the path defined by the display, reflecting surface and user's eye with perceptible distortion less than 1%.

A head mounted display system comprising:

• a support to mount the display system on a user's head;
• a video display mounted on the support for displaying a video image;
• and
• an optical element having at least three surfaces including an entrance surface for receiving the video image from said display, an exit surface wherein the user views the video image directly through the exit surface and a reflective surface for reflecting said video image from said entrance surface to said exit surface;
• and
• means for adjustably mounting said optical element on said support spaced from said display and to allow said optical element to be moved along a generally linear axis to vary the distance between said display and entrance surface.

A head mounted display system comprising:

• a support to mount the display system on a user's head;
• a video display mounted on the support for displaying a video image;
• and
• an optical element having at least three surfaces including a spherical entrance surface for receiving the video image from said display, spherical exit surface wherein the user views the video image directly through the spherical exit surface and a reflective surface for reflecting said video image from said spherical entrance surface to said spherical exit surface;
• and
• means for adjustably mounting said optical element on said support spaced from said display and to allow said optical element to be moved generally horizontally to accommodate users having different interpupillary distances.

A head mounted display system comprising:

• a support to mount the display system on a user's head;
• a display mounted on the support for displaying an image;
• and
• an optical element having at least three surfaces including an entrance surface for receiving the image from said display, an exit surface wherein the user views the image directly through the exit surface and a reflective surface for reflecting said image from said entrance surface to said exit surface, the three surfaces of said optical element being shaped to generate a virtual image of said displayed image that is magnified and that appears to be at a location a distance from the user that is substantially greater than the path defined by the display, reflecting surface and user's eye, wherein the image on the retina of an emmetropic eye has a normalized longitudinal axial chromatic aberration that is less than 58 microns.

A head mounted display system comprising:

• a support to mount the display system on a user's head;
• a display mounted on the support for displaying an image;
• and
• an optical element having at least three surfaces including an entrance surface for receiving the image from said display, an exit surface wherein the user views the image directly through the exit surface and a reflective surface for reflecting said image from said entrance surface to said exit surface, the three surfaces of said optical element being shaped to generate a virtual image of said displayed image that is magnified and that appears to be at a location a distance from the user that is substantially greater than the path defined by the display, reflecting surface and user's eye, wherein the image on the retina of an emmetropic eye has a transverse axial chromatic aberration that is less than 28 microns.