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US 9,958,683 B2Granted
Light guide device, virtual image display apparatus, and method for manufacturing light guide device
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorsMasayuki Takagi, Toshiaki Miyao, Takahiro Totani, Takashi Takeda, Akira Komatsu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a light guide device, a step between optical surfaces connected to each other by a connection portion can be limited (e.g., to 1 mm or smaller) so that a large stepped portion is not allowed to be formed at the connection portion in a hard coat formation process, whereby a coating liquid that flows along portions that are to form the optical surfaces forms no liquid pool or causes no liquid sagging. The light guide device can thus maintain satisfactory light guiding performance at the light guide portion.
Claims12
A light guide device comprising:
- a light guide member that has a plurality of optical surfaces including a curved surface, that introduces a light into the light guide device, and that guides the light through internal reflection to cause the light to exit out of the light guide device;
- and
- a hard coat layer that is formed on at least a part of the plurality of optical surfaces of the light guide member, wherein
- the light guide member has a connection portion that connects, among the plurality of optical surfaces, a first optical surface and a second optical surface to each other,
- the connection portion includes a center partial surface between the first and second optical surfaces along a center plane of the connection portion that has a different maximum height than at least one periphery partial surface between the first optical surface and the second optical surface along a periphery of the connection portion,
- the connection portion has a connection surface that continuously connects the first optical surface and the second optical surface to each other, and
- the connection surface is a curved surface that smoothly connects the first optical surface and the second optical surface to each other.
4 more elements
A light guide device comprising:
- a light guide member that has a plurality of optical surfaces including a curved surface, that introduces a light into the light guide device, and that guides the light through internal reflection to cause the light to exit out of the light guide device;
- and
- a hard coat layer that is formed on at least a part of the plurality of optical surfaces of the light guide member, wherein
- the light guide member has a connection portion that connects, among the plurality of optical surfaces, a first optical surface and a second optical surface to each other,
- the connection portion includes a center partial surface between the first and second optical surfaces along a center plane of the connection portion that has a different maximum height than at least one periphery partial surface between the first optical surface and the second optical surface along a periphery of the connection portion, and
- the light guide member has at least five surfaces as the plurality of optical surfaces, and at least three surfaces of the plurality of optical surfaces are nonaxisymmetric curved surfaces.
3 more elements
A light guide device comprising:
- a light guide member that has a plurality of optical surfaces including a curved surface, that introduces a light into the light guide device, and that guides the light through internal reflection to cause the light to exit out of the light guide device;
- a light transmissive member that is bonded to the light guide member and allows visual recognition of outside light and the light superimposed on each other;
- and
- a hard coat layer that is formed on at least a part of the plurality of optical surfaces of the light guide member, wherein
- the light guide member has a connection portion that connects, among the plurality of optical surfaces, a first optical surface and a second optical surface to each other, and
- the connection portion includes a center partial surface between the first and second optical surfaces along a center plane of the connection portion that has a different maximum height than at least one periphery partial surface between the first optical surface and the second optical surface along a periphery of the connection portion.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.