Eyewear waveguide with reflector

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11609441-B1
Application number	US-201916425204-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	May 29, 2019
Priority date	May 30, 2018
Publication date	Mar 21, 2023
Grant date	Mar 21, 2023

Abstract

Eyewear including a frame, a projector supported by the frame, and a lens supported by the frame. The lens has a first surface facing an eye of the user and a second surface facing away from the eye of the user when the frame is worn. The lens also includes a waveguide defined by the first and second surfaces to receive light from the projector. An input light coupler and an output light coupler are on the first surface of the lens and at least one reflector is positioned on a second surface of the lens to redirect light received from the input coupler and/or the output coupler to redirect light having an angle of incidence with respect to the second surface of the lens that would result in that portion of the light exiting the waveguide through the second surface in the absence of the at least one reflector.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. Eyewear comprising:
a frame configured to be worn on a head of a user;
a projector supported by the frame, the projector configured to project light;
a lens supported by the frame, the lens having a first surface facing an eye of the user and a second surface facing away from the eye of the user when the frame is worn, the lens including at least one waveguide defined by the first and second surfaces and configured to receive the projected light;
an output light coupler for the at least one waveguide on the first surface of the lens that is positioned in a viewing area of the lens when the frame is worn to couple a first portion of the projected light out of the at least one waveguide toward the eye of the user and to reflect a second portion of the projected light into the at least one waveguide; and
a first reflector on the second surface of the lens opposite the output light coupler on the first surface of the lens, the first reflector positioned on the second surface in the viewing area of the lens to redirect back toward the output light coupler the second portion of the projected light from the output light coupler having an angle of incidence with respect to the second surface that would result in the second portion of the projected light exiting the at least one waveguide through the second surface in the absence of the first reflector, wherein the second portion of the projected light redirected by the first reflector is coupled by the output light coupler out of the at least one waveguide toward the eye of the user with the first portion of the projected light so as to increase brightness of the light projected toward the eye of the user.

2. The eyewear of claim 1 ,
further comprising an input light coupler on the first surface positioned adjacent a perimeter of the lens to couple light into the at least one waveguide; and
further comprising a second reflector positioned on the second surface adjacent the perimeter to redirect into the waveguide a first portion of the projected light from the input light coupler having an angle of incidence with respect to the second surface that would result in the first portion of the projected light from the input light coupler exiting the waveguide through the second surface in the absence of the second reflector.

3. The eyewear of claim 2 , wherein the frame includes a housing containing the projector, the input light coupler, and the second reflector.

4. The eyewear of claim 1 , where the lens further includes an edge between the first and second surfaces and wherein the projector is positioned by the frame to project the light into the at least one waveguide through the edge.

5. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the at least one waveguide includes a first waveguide and a second waveguide, and the projector is configured to project a first spectrum of the light into the first waveguide and a second spectrum of the light into the second waveguide.

6. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the at least one waveguide includes a first waveguide and a second waveguide and the at least one light coupler is configured to direct a first spectrum of the light into the first waveguide and a second spectrum of the light into the second waveguide.

7. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the at least one reflector on the second surface of the lens is a mirror.

8. The eyewear of claim 7 , wherein the at least one light coupler on the first surface of the lens is at least one of a diffractive grating, a diffractive coating, or a holographic grating.

9. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the first reflector is coplanar to the at least one waveguide.

10. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the first reflector is tuned to reflect 5 to 20 percent of the second portion of the projected light from the output light coupler.

11. A method for presenting an image on eyewear to be worn by a user, the eyewear having a lens including first and second surfaces defining at least one waveguide, the first surface facing an eye of the user and the second surface facing away from the eye of the user when the eyewear is worn, the method comprising:
coupling, with an output light coupler on the first surface of the lens, a first portion of light including the image out of the at least one waveguide toward the eye of the user and reflecting a second portion of the light into the at least one waveguide; and
redirecting back toward the output light coupler with a first reflector on the second surface of the lens opposite the output light coupler the second portion of the light received from the output light coupler having an angle of incidence with respect to the second surface of the lens that would result in the second portion of the light exiting the at least one waveguide through the second surface in the absence of the first reflector, wherein the second portion of the light redirected by the first reflector is coupled by the output light coupler out of the at least one waveguide toward the eye of the user with the first portion of the light including the image so as to increase brightness of the light including the image projected toward the eye of the user.

12. The method of claim 11 ,
further comprising:
coupling, with an input light coupler on the first surface, the light into the at least one waveguide; and
redirecting, with a second reflector on the second surface, a portion of the light from the input light coupler into the waveguide having an angle of incidence with respect to the second surface of the lens that would result in the portion of the light from the input light coupler exiting the waveguide through the second surface in the absence of the second reflector.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
projecting the light onto the input light coupler.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first reflector is coplanar to the at least one waveguide.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein redirecting the second portion of the light received from the output light coupler further comprises redirecting 5 to 20 percent of the second portion of the light received from the output light coupler back toward the output light coupler.

16. A method for forming eyewear to be worn by a user, the method comprising:
forming an output light coupler on a first surface of a lens, the output light coupler configured to at least one of couple light into a waveguide or couple light out of the waveguide, the output light coupler coupling a first portion of light including an image out of the waveguide toward an eye of the user and reflecting a second portion of light including the image into the waveguide; and
forming a first reflector on a second surface of the lens opposite the output light coupler, the first reflector configured to redirect back toward the output light coupler the second portion of light from the output light coupler having an angle of incidence with respect to the second surface of the lens that would result in the second portion of the light exiting the waveguide through the second surface in the absence of the first reflector, wherein the second portion of the light redirected by the first reflector is coupled by the output light coupler out of the waveguide toward the eye of the user with the first portion of the light including the image so as to increase brightness of the light including the image projected toward the eye of the user.

17. The method of claim 16 ,
further comprising:
forming an input light coupler on the first surface adjacent a perimeter of the lens, the input light coupler adapted to couple light into the wa

Assignees

• Rodriguez Ii Jonathan M
• Castaneda Julio Cesar
• Thompson Samuel Bryson
• Ryner Michael Christian
• Snap Inc

Inventors

• Rodriguez Ii Jonathan M
• Castañeda Julio Cesar
• Thompson Samuel Bryson
• Ryner Michael Christian

Classifications

• G03B21/28 Primary

  Reflectors in projection beam {(in illumination beam G03B21/2066)} · CPC title

• G03B21/005

  Projectors using an electronic spatial light modulator but not peculiar thereto · CPC title

• G02B27/0172

  characterised by optical features · CPC title

• G02B2027/0178

  Eyeglass type (eyeglass details G02C) · CPC title

• G02C7/086

  Auxiliary lenses located directly on a main spectacle lens or in the immediate vicinity of main spectacles · CPC title