Flexible printed circuit board for head-mounted display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11163167-B2
Application number	US-202016785045-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 7, 2020
Priority date	Nov 6, 2019
Publication date	Nov 2, 2021
Grant date	Nov 2, 2021

Abstract

A head-mounted display device is provided, including an at least partially see-through display, an electrical device, and a flexible printed circuit board (FPC) arranged on a surface of a see-through portion of the display. The FPC may include a plurality of electrical traces electrically coupled to the electrical device. Each electrical trace may be separated from at least one other electrical trace by one or more respective see-through gaps. The FPC may further include a transparent material arranged between the electrical traces in each see-through gap.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A head-mounted display device, comprising:
an at least partially see-through display;
an electrical device; and
a flexible printed circuit board (FPC) arranged on a surface of a see-through portion of the display and including:
a plurality of electrical traces electrically coupled to the electrical device, each electrical trace being separated from at least one other electrical trace by one or more respective see-through gaps; and
a transparent material arranged between the electrical traces in each see-through gap, wherein:
the plurality of electrical traces are located in at least a first trace layer and a second trace layer of the FPC; and
an inner transparent polymer layer is located between the first trace layer and the second trace layer.

2. The head-mounted display device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of electrical traces include one or more data traces, one or more power traces, one or more clock traces, and one or more ground traces.

3. The head-mounted display device of claim 2 , wherein each of the one or more ground traces is located below another electrical trace of the plurality of electrical traces in a thickness direction of the display.

4. The head-mounted display device of claim 1 , wherein the inner transparent polymer layer is a polyimide layer.

5. The head-mounted display device of claim 1 , wherein the FPC further includes a plurality of transparent adhesive layers.

6. The head-mounted display device of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of transparent adhesive layers include:
a first inner transparent adhesive layer between the inner transparent polymer layer and the first trace layer; and
a second inner transparent adhesive layer between the inner transparent polymer layer and the second trace layer.

7. The head-mounted display device of claim 1 , wherein the FPC further includes:
a top transparent polymer layer located on a top surface of the FPC; and
a bottom transparent polymer layer located on a bottom surface of the FPC opposite the top surface in a thickness direction of the display.

8. The head-mounted display device of claim 7 , wherein:
the FPC further includes:
a first outer transparent adhesive layer located between the top transparent polymer layer and the first trace layer;
a second outer transparent adhesive layer located between the second trace layer and the bottom transparent polymer layer; and

the head-mounted display device further includes a display transparent adhesive layer located between the bottom transparent polymer layer and the display.

9. The head-mounted display device of claim 1 , wherein each electrical trace of the plurality of electrical traces is a copper electrical trace having an oxidized surface.

10. The head-mounted display device of claim 1 , wherein the electrical device is a microphone.

11. The head-mounted display device of claim 9 , further comprising a processor coupled to the plurality of electrical traces.

12. The head-mounted display device of claim 11 , wherein the microphone is a digital microphone included in a digital microphone array and is configured to communicate with the processor via pulse density modulation.

13. The head-mounted display device of claim 1 , wherein:
the surface of the see-through portion of the display is curved along one or two dimensions; and
the FPC is curved along the one or two dimensions.

14. The head-mounted display device of claim 1 , wherein each electrical trace has a respective width between 40 μm and 60 μm.

15. The head-mounted display device of claim 1 , wherein a width of the FPC is between 2 mm and 4 mm.

16. A method of manufacturing a head-mounted display device, the method comprising:
laminating a surface of a see-through portion of an at least partially see-through display with a flexible printed circuit board (FPC) including:
a plurality of electrical traces, each electrical trace being separated from at least one other electrical trace by one or more respective see-through gaps; and
a transparent material arranged between the electrical traces in each see-through gap;

forming:
a first trace layer and a second trace layer that each include one or more electrical traces of the plurality of electrical traces; and
an inner transparent polymer layer located between the first trace layer and the second trace layer; and

connecting the plurality of electrical traces to an electrical device.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein manufacturing the head-mounted display device further includes forming:
a top transparent polymer layer located on a top surface of the FPC; and
a bottom transparent polymer layer located on a bottom surface of the FPC opposite the first outer surface in a thickness direction of the display.

18. A head-mounted display device, comprising:
arranged from a top side to a bottom side in a thickness direction:
a flexible printed circuit including:
a top transparent polymer layer;
a first outer transparent adhesive layer;
a first electrical trace layer including a first plurality of electrical traces coupled to an electrical device;
a first inner transparent adhesive layer;
an inner transparent polymer layer;
a second inner transparent adhesive layer;
a second electrical trace layer including a second plurality of electrical traces coupled to the electrical device; and
a second outer transparent adhesive layer;

a bottom transparent polymer layer;
a display transparent adhesive layer; and
an at least partially see-through display.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Doyle Patrick Robert
• Hodgson Simon

Classifications

• H05K2201/0108

  Transparent · CPC title

• H05K1/0274

  Optical details, e.g. printed circuits comprising integral optical means (H05K1/0269 takes precedence; coupling light guides with opto-electronic components G02B6/42) · CPC title

• G02B27/0176 Primary

  characterised by mechanical features · CPC title

• H05K2201/10128

  Display · CPC title

• H05K2201/052

  Branched · CPC title