Head-mounted display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11126840-B2
Application number	US-202016821096-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 17, 2020
Priority date	Aug 11, 2015
Publication date	Sep 21, 2021
Grant date	Sep 21, 2021

Abstract

Methods and apparatus provide for: disposing a display unit in front of eyes of a user; disposing an optical system between the display unit and the eyes of the user; and disposing an imaging unit between the display unit and the optical system, the imaging unit imaging the display unit in which an image of the eyes of the user is reflected; and irradiating light onto the eyes of the user, where the imaging includes imaging the eyes of the user reflected in the display unit by reflecting the light irradiated by the light-irradiation unit by the eyes of the user.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A head-mounted display worn by a user, comprising:
a display unit disposed in front of eyes of the user;
a light-irradiation unit that irradiates light onto the eyes of the user, such that: (i) a portion of light reflects off of the eyes of the user and irradiates the display unit, and (ii) a portion of the light that reflects off the user's eyes and irradiates the display unit, in turn, reflects off of the display unit as an image of the eyes of the user;
an optical system disposed between the display unit and the eyes of the user; and
an imaging unit disposed between the display unit and the optical system, the imaging unit imaging the display unit to obtain the image of the eyes of the user from the portion of the light that reflects off the user's eyes and irradiates the display unit and reflects off of the display unit, wherein:
the light-irradiation unit is disposed between the optical system and the eyes of the user, and irradiates light onto the eyes of the user, and
wherein an incident angle of light from at least one of the eyes of the user to the display unit, and a reflection angle of light from the display unit to the imaging unit are different.

2. The head-mounted display according to claim 1 , wherein the light-irradiation unit is disposed between the display unit and the optical system and irradiates, onto the eyes of the user, reflected light in which light irradiated onto the display unit is reflected.

3. The head-mounted display according to claim 1 , wherein:
the light-irradiation unit irradiates infrared light, and
the imaging unit is an infrared camera operable to image the infrared light.

4. The head-mounted display according to claim 1 , further comprising: a line-of-sight detection unit that detects a line-of-sight direction of the user on a basis of an image including the image of the eyes of the user imaged by the imaging unit.

5. A method, comprising:
disposing a display unit in front of eyes of a user;
disposing an optical system between the display unit and the eyes of the user; and
disposing an imaging unit between the display unit and the optical system; and
irradiating light onto the eyes of the user such that: (i) a portion of light reflects off of the eyes of the user and irradiates the display unit, and (ii) a portion of the light that reflects off the user's eyes and irradiates the display unit, in turn, reflects off of the display unit as an image of the eyes of the user, wherein:
the imaging includes imaging the display unit to obtain the image of the eyes of the user from the portion of the light that reflects off the user's eyes and irradiates the display unit and reflects off of the display unit,
the irradiating light onto the eyes of the user is achieved from a position located between the optical system and the eyes of the user, and
an incident angle of light from at least one of the eyes of the user to the display unit, and a reflection angle of light from the display unit are different.

Assignees

• Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc

Inventors

• Ishioka Manabu
• Tada Shotaro
• Kusunoki Toshihiro

Classifications

• H04N23/54

  Mounting of pick-up tubes, electronic image sensors, deviation or focusing coils · CPC title

• H04N23/20

  for generating image signals from infrared radiation only · CPC title

• G06V40/19 Primary

  Sensors therefor · CPC title

• G02B27/0172

  characterised by optical features · CPC title

• G02B2027/0138

  comprising image capture systems, e.g. camera · CPC title