Lens mounting systems for electronic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11822145-B2
Application number	US-202016933870-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 20, 2020
Priority date	Sep 12, 2019
Publication date	Nov 21, 2023
Grant date	Nov 21, 2023

Abstract

An electronic device such as a head mounted device may have a display that displays an image for a user. Head-mounted support structures may be used to support the display and to support lenses. The head-mounted support structures may have one or more lens barrels or other support members. Each lens may have an optical surface and a side surface. Adhesive may be used to attach the lenses to the head-mounted support structures. A first portion of the adhesive may bond each lens to a first respective portion of a support member and a second portion of the adhesive may bond each lens to a second respective portion of the support member. The adhesive may be a non-silicone adhesive that fractures in bulk rather than failing at interfaces with the lens and support member. The elastic modulus of the adhesive may help avoid cracking and plastic deformation during drop events.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A head-mounted device, comprising:
a display;
a lens through which the display is visible from an eye box, wherein the lens has an optical surface and a non-optical side surface, and the optical surface is covered with a thin-film interference filter;
a head-mounted support structure configured to support the display, wherein the head-mounted support structure has a support member configured to support the lens, wherein the support member has a first portion separated from the optical surface by a first gap and has a second portion separated from the non-optical side surface by a second gap; and
adhesive having a first portion in the first gap and a second portion in the second gap, wherein the first portion bonds to the thin-film interference filter.

2. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein the support member comprises an aluminum member with a black anodized coating.

3. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein the non-optical side surface has an opaque coating layer interposed between the non-optical side surface and the second portion.

4. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein the second gap is larger than the first gap.

5. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein the adhesive comprises epoxy.

6. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein the adhesive comprises a non-silicone adhesive.

7. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein the adhesive comprises a material selected from the group consisting of: epoxy, urethane, and silane-modified polymer.

8. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein the adhesive has a Young's modulus of elasticity of 1 MPa to 200 MPa.

9. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein the optical surface has a partial mirror coating.

10. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein the support member comprises metal.

11. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein the optical surface is characterized by a first surface normal, wherein the non-optical side surface is characterized by a second surface normal, and wherein the first and second surface normals are oriented with respect to each other at an angle of 50-90°.

12. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 further comprising a gaze tracking system configured to emit infrared light, wherein the support member has a surface configured to absorb visible light and configured to absorb the emitted infrared light.

13. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein the support member comprises aluminum having an anodized surface containing tin and nickel.

14. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 further comprising a primer layer between the support member and the adhesive.

15. The head-mounted device defined in claim 1 wherein the support member has a channel formed by a three-axis milling machine and wherein the adhesive is received within the channel.

16. A head-mounted device, comprising:
a display;
a lens through which the display is visible from an eye box, wherein the lens has an optical surface and a non-optical side surface;
a head-mounted support structure configured to support the display and the lens;
a non-silicone adhesive configured to attach a portion of the optical surface of the lens to the head-mounted support structure; and
an adhesion promotion layer between the portion of the optical surface of the lens and the non-silicone adhesive, wherein the non-silicone adhesive is coupled to the adhesion promotion layer.

17. The head-mounted device defined in claim 16 wherein the non-silicone adhesive has a Young's modulus of elasticity of 1-200 MPa.

18. The head-mounted device defined in claim 17 wherein the head-mounted support structure has a lens barrel formed from black anodized aluminum, wherein the non-silicone adhesive has a first portion that bonds the optical surface to the black anodized aluminum and a second portion that bonds the non-optical side surface to the black anodized aluminum.

19. A head-mounted device, comprising:
a display;
a lens through which the display is visible from an eye box, wherein the lens has an optical surface and a non-optical side surface;
a head-mounted support structure configured to support the display and the lens;
a visible-light-absorbing layer on the non-optical side surface; and
adhesive configured to attach the lens to the head-mounted support structure, wherein the adhesive is coupled to the visible-light-absorbing layer, the adhesive is characterized by a first interface between the adhesive and the head-mounted support structure and a second interface between the adhesive and the lens, and the adhesive is configured to fracture in bulk in response to a drop event rather than failing at the first interface or the second interface.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Maric Ivan S
• Zimmerman Aidan N
• Wang Forrest C
• Quijalvo Jan K
• Lonkar Kuldeep P
• Morris Nathan
• Farr Todd R

Classifications

• G02B7/025 Primary

  using glue · CPC title

• G02B5/285

  comprising deposited thin solid films (G02B5/281 - G02B5/289 take precedence; multilayered film filters for fibre optic multiplexing G02B6/29361) · CPC title

• G02B7/002

  Mounting on the human body · CPC title

• G02B27/0093

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

• G02B27/0172

  characterised by optical features · CPC title