Apparatus, system, and method for interpupillary-distance-adjustable head-mounted displays

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10798370-B2
Application number	US-201715691443-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 30, 2017
Priority date	Aug 30, 2017
Publication date	Oct 6, 2020
Grant date	Oct 6, 2020

Abstract

An apparatus for head-mounted displays may include (i) a flexible planar support frame, (ii) a left eye cup coupled to a left side of the flexible planar support frame and a right eye cup coupled to a right side of the flexible planar support frame, (iii) left-eye and right-eye display screen areas mounted to the flexible planar support frame such that the left-eye display screen area projects toward a left eye aperture defined by the left eye cup and the right-eye display screen area projects toward a right eye aperture defined by the right eye cup. The flexible planar support frame may be bendable such that the distance between projections of the left-eye and right-eye display screen areas onto a viewing plane varies as the flexible planar support frame bends, thereby adjusting for varying interpupillary distances. Various other devices, systems, and methods are also disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a flexible planar support frame;
a left eye cup coupled to a left side of the flexible planar support frame;
a right eye cup coupled to a right side of the flexible planar support frame;
a left-eye display screen area mounted to the flexible planar support frame such that the left-eye display screen area projects toward a left eye aperture defined by the left eye cup; and
a right-eye display screen area mounted to the flexible planar support frame such that the right-eye display screen area projects toward a right eye aperture defined by the right eye cup; and
wherein the flexible planar support frame is bendable along a vertical axis between the left-eye display screen area and the right-eye display screen area such that the left-eye display screen area and the right-eye display screen area deflect as the flexible planar support frame bends, altering an angle between a direction of a projection of the left-eye display screen area and a projection of the right-eye display screen area to cause a distance between the projection of the left-eye display screen area and the projection of the right-eye display screen area onto a viewing plane to vary as the flexible planar support frame bends, thereby adjusting for varying interpupillary distances.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the flexible planar support frame is bendable toward a user's face such that the distance between the projection of the left-eye display screen area and the projection of the right-eye display screen area decreases, thereby adjusting for a reduced interpupillary distance.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the flexible planar support frame is bendable away from a user's face such that the distance between the projection of the left-eye display screen area and the projection of the right-eye display screen area increases, thereby adjusting for an increased interpupillary distance.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the left-eye display screen area and the right-eye display screen area comprise separate display screens that angle toward each other as the flexible planar support frame bends toward a user's face and that angle away from each other as the flexible planar support frame bends away from the user's face.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the left-eye display screen area and the right-eye display screen area comprise areas of an integral display screen, the integral display screen comprising a flexible display material, allowing the integral display screen to bend as the flexible planar support frame bends.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an actuator that controls a degree to which the flexible planar support frame bends.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the actuator comprises:
a dial; and
a translating element that translates rotation of the dial into linear movement of a bending element that is coupled to the flexible planar support frame and that bends the flexible planar support frame via linear movement.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a rigid holding element, coupled to the flexible planar support frame at a center position between the left-eye display screen area and the right-eye display screen area, around which the flexible planar support frame bends.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a pair of lenses coupled to the left eye cup and the right eye cup.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a sensor that detects and transmits a signal describing an extent to which the flexible planar support frame is bent to a compensation module, wherein the compensation module adjusts images displayed by the left-eye display screen area and the right-eye display screen area based at least in part on the signal to normalize a projection of the images to a user's eyes to correct for apparent distortion caused by moving the left-eye display screen area and right-eye display screen area relative to the user's eyes.

11. A system comprising:
an adjustable display apparatus comprising:
a flexible planar support frame;
a left eye cup coupled to a left side of the flexible planar support frame;
a right eye cup coupled to a right side of the flexible planar support frame;
a left-eye display screen area mounted to the flexible planar support frame such that the left-eye display screen area projects toward a left eye aperture defined by the left eye cup; and
a right-eye display screen area mounted to the flexible planar support frame such that the right-eye display screen area projects toward a right eye aperture defined by the right eye cup;
wherein the flexible planar support frame is bendable along a vertical axis between the left-eye display screen area and the right-eye display screen area such that the left-eye display screen area and the right-eye display screen area deflect as the flexible planar support frame bends, altering an angle between a direction of a projection of the left-eye display screen area and a projection of the right-eye display screen area to cause a distance between the projection of the left-eye display screen area and the projection of the right-eye display screen area onto a viewing plane to vary as the flexible planar support frame bends, thereby adjusting for varying interpupillary distances; and

a head mount coupled to the adjustable display apparatus that, when worn by a user, holds the adjustable display apparatus to the user's face such that the left-eye display screen area projects to the user's left eye and the right-eye display screen area projects to the user's right eye.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the flexible planar support frame is bendable toward a user's face such that the distance between the projection of the left-eye display screen area and the projection of the right-eye display screen area decreases, thereby adjusting for a reduced interpupillary distance.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the flexible planar support frame is bendable away from a user's face such that the distance between the projection of the left-eye display screen area and the projection of the right-eye display screen area increases, thereby adjusting for an increased interpupillary distance.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the left-eye display screen area and the right-eye display screen area comprise separate display screens that angle toward each other as the flexible planar support frame bends toward a user's face and that angle away from each other as the flexible planar support frame bends away from the user's face.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the left-eye display screen area and the right-eye display screen area comprise areas of an integral display screen, the integral display screen comprising a flexible display material, allowing the integral display screen to bend as the flexible planar support frame bends.

16. The system of claim 11 , further comprising an actuator that controls a degree to which the flexible planar support frame bends.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the actuator comprises:
a dial; and
a translating element that translates rotation of the dial into linear movement of a bending element that is coupled to the flexible planar support frame and that bends the flexible planar support frame via linear movement.

18. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a rigid holding element that is:
coupled to the flexible planar support frame at a center position between the left-eye display screen area and the right-eye display screen area, around which the flexible planar support frame ben

Assignees

• Facebook Tech Llc

Inventors

• Zhang Rui
• Yu Michael Xingyi

Classifications

• H04N13/344 Primary

  with head-mounted left-right displays · CPC title

• G02B27/017

  Head mounted · CPC title

• H04N13/327 Primary

  Calibration thereof · CPC title

• H04N2213/001

  Constructional or mechanical details · CPC title

• H04N2213/002

  Eyestrain reduction by processing stereoscopic signals or controlling stereoscopic devices · CPC title