Wide field of view scanning display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10417975-B2
Application number	US-201715477962-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 3, 2017
Priority date	Apr 3, 2017
Publication date	Sep 17, 2019
Grant date	Sep 17, 2019

Abstract

A scanning display device includes a MEMS scanner having a biaxial MEMS mirror or a pair of uniaxial MEMS mirrors. A controller communicatively coupled to the MEMS scanner controls rotation of the biaxial MEMS mirror or uniaxial MEMS mirrors. A first light source is used to produce a first light beam, and second light source is used to produce a second light beam. The first and second light beams are simultaneously directed toward and incident on the biaxial MEMS mirror, or a same one of the pair of uniaxial MEMS mirrors, at different angles of incidence relative to one another. The controller controls rotation of the biaxial MEMS mirror or the uniaxial MEMS mirrors to simultaneously raster scan a first portion of an image using the first light beam and a second portion of the image using the second light beam. Related methods and systems are also disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a MEMS scanner including a biaxial MEMS mirror or a pair of uniaxial MEMS mirrors;
a controller communicatively coupled to the MEMS scanner and configured to control rotation of the biaxial MEMS mirror or the pair of uniaxial MEMS mirrors of the MEMS scanner;
a first light source comprising a plurality of first light emitting elements and configured to produce a plurality of first light beams; and
a second light source comprising one or more second light emitting elements and configured to produce a second light beam;
wherein the plurality of first light beams and the second light beam produced respectively by the first light source and the second light source are simultaneously directed toward and incident on the biaxial MEMS mirror, or a same one of the pair of uniaxial MEMS mirrors, at different angles of incidence relative to one another;
wherein the controller is configured to control the rotation of the biaxial MEMS mirror or the pair of uniaxial MEMS mirrors of the MEMS scanner to simultaneously raster scan a first portion of an image using the plurality of first light beams and a second portion of the image, which is adjacent to the first portion of the image, using the second light beam;
wherein the raster scan of the first portion of the image using the plurality of first light beams increases a line count of the first portion of the image compared to the second portion of the image; and
wherein the first portion of the image has a first resolution, and the second portion of the image has a second resolution that is lower than the first resolution.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the first light source further comprising red, green and blue laser diodes that are configured to respectively emit red, green and blue light and one or more elements that is/are configured to combine the red, green and blue light into the plurality of first light beams; and
the second light source further comprising red, green and blue laser diodes that respectively emit further red, green and blue light and one or more further elements that is/are configured to combine the further red, green and blue light into the second light beam.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the first portion of the image comprises a foveal region of the image; and
the second portion of the image comprises a non-foveal region of the image.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a first spot size produced using the plurality of first light beams that is used to raster scan the first portion of the image is smaller than a second spot size produced using the second light beam that is used to raster scan the second portion of the image.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first light source driver configured to selectively drive the plurality of first light emitting elements of the first light source to thereby produce the plurality of first light beams; and
a second light source driver configured to selectively drive the one or more second light emitting elements of the second light source to thereby produce the second light beam.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising an image processor that is configured to produce:
first pixel data that is provided to the first light source driver and used by the first light source driver to control timings of when, and magnitudes at which, the plurality of first light emitting elements of the first light source are driven; and
second pixel data that is provided to the second light source driver and used by the second light source driver to control timings of when, and magnitudes at which, the one or more second light emitting elements of the second light source are driven.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein:
the image processor produces the first pixel data and the second pixel data to control the magnitudes at which the plurality of first light emitting elements of the first light source and the one or more second light emitting elements of the second light source are driven to compensate for how brightnesses of the first portion of the image and the second portion of the image are affected by the second portion of the image having the second resolution that is lower than the first resolution of the first portion of the image.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more further light sources configured to produce one or more further light beams;
wherein the one or more further light beams, produced by the one or more further light sources, along with the plurality of first light beams and the second light beam, are simultaneously directed toward and incident on the biaxial MEMS mirror, or the same one of the pair of uniaxial MEMS mirrors, at different angles of incidence relative to one another; and
wherein the biaxial MEMS mirror, or the pair of uniaxial MEMS mirrors, also raster scan one or more further portions of the image, using the one or more further light beams, simultaneously with raster scanning the first portion of the image and the second portion of the image.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of first light beams includes two light beams to thereby double a line count of the first portion of the image compared to the second portion of the image that is raster scanned using only the second light beam.

10. A method, comprising:
selectively driving a plurality of first light emitting elements of a first light source and selectively driving one or more second light emitting elements of a second light source to thereby produce a plurality of first light beams and a second light beam that are simultaneously directed towards and incident on a biaxial MEMS mirror, or a same uniaxial MEMS mirror of a pair of uniaxial MEMS mirrors, at different angles of incidence relative to one another; and
controlling rotation of the biaxial MEMS mirror, or the pair of uniaxial MEMS mirrors, to simultaneously raster scan a first portion of an image using the plurality of first light beams and a second portion of the image, which is adjacent to the first portion of the image, using the second light beam, wherein the raster scan of the first portion of the image using the plurality of first light beams increases a line count of the first portion of the image compared to the second portion of the image, wherein the first portion of the image has a first resolution, and the second portion of the image has a second resolution that is lower than the first resolution.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
selectively driving one or more light emitting elements of one or more further light sources to thereby produce one or more further light beams that is/are directed towards and incident on the biaxial MEMS mirror, or the same uniaxial MEMS mirror of the pair of uniaxial MEMS mirrors, that the plurality of first light beams and the second light beam are directed toward and incident on; and
using the biaxial MEMS mirror, or the pair of uniaxial MEMS mirrors, to also raster scan one or more further portions of the image, using the one or more further light beams, simultaneously with raster scanning the first portion of the image and the second portion of the image.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
producing first pixel data corresponding to the first portion of the image and second pixel data corresponding to the second portion of the image; and
using the first pixel data and the second pixel data to perform the selective driving of the plurality of first light emitting elements of the first light source and the selective driving of the one or more second light emitting elements of the second light source to thereby prod

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Tardif John
• Miller Joshua O

Classifications

• G02B2027/0147

  comprising a device modifying the resolution of the displayed image · CPC title

• G02B26/123

  Multibeam scanners, e.g. using multiple light sources or beam splitters · CPC title

• G02B27/0093

  with means for monitoring data relating to the user, e.g. head-tracking, eye-tracking · CPC title

• G09G3/346 Primary

  based on modulation of the reflection angle, e.g. micromirrors (micromirrors devices per se G02B26/0833) · CPC title

• G02B26/0833

  the reflecting element being a micromechanical device, e.g. a MEMS mirror, DMD (G02B26/0825 takes precedence; micromechanical devices in general B81B) · CPC title