Fan assembly for displaying an image

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12260796-B2
Application number	US-202418663953-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2024
Priority date	Jul 28, 2017
Publication date	Mar 25, 2025
Grant date	Mar 25, 2025

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for displaying an image by a rotating structure are provided. The rotating structure can comprise blades of a fan. The fan can be a cooling fan for an electronics device such as an augmented reality display. In some embodiments, the rotating structure comprises light sources that emit light to generate the image. The light sources can comprise light-field emitters. In other embodiments, the rotating structure is illuminated by an external (e.g., non-rotating) light source.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for displaying an image, the method comprising:
determining a notification of a state of a wearable augmented reality display device;
communicating a signal indicative of the notification to a controller;
illuminating a fan assembly associated with the wearable augmented reality display device based on the signal; and
displaying an image using the fan assembly, wherein the image is indicative of the notification.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the illuminating the fan assembly associated with wearable the wearable augmented reality display device includes illuminating the fan assembly with a plurality of light sources disposed on the fan assembly.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the illuminating the fan assembly associated with the wearable augmented reality display device includes illuminating the fan assembly with a plurality of light sources disposed off of the fan assembly.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the illuminating the fan assembly includes illuminating the fan assembly with a plurality of light sources, and wherein the method further comprises:
driving a motor to rotate a plurality of fan blades of the fan assembly, the plurality of fan blades positioned at a rotation angle as a function of time;
accessing image data to be displayed associated with the image, the image data comprising one or more views of the image at a viewing direction;
mapping the image data to each of the plurality of light sources based at least in part on the rotation angle; and
illuminating the plurality of light sources based at least in part on the mapped image data.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of light sources comprise a plurality of light field sub-displays and the image data comprises light field image data comprising a plurality of rendered frames, each rendered frame representative of a different view of the one or more views of the image, wherein each rendered frame comprises a plurality of rendered pixels that combine to render the rendered frame, each rendered pixel having a position within the rendered frame.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the notification is at least one of an operational state, a status of a battery configured to provide electrical power to the wearable augmented reality display device; a temperature state, a communication connectivity state, notification of a received message; an e-mail; an instant message; an SMS message; or an alert indicative of a fault in the wearable augmented reality display device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signal comprises image data for displaying the image.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wearable augmented reality display device is operably connected to the fan assembly is a wired communication link.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wearable augmented reality display device is operably connected to the fan assembly is a wireless communication link.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fan assembly is mounted on a belt-back comprising a battery.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the notification is based on an audio input from an audio command via a microphone associated with the wearable augmented reality display device.

12. An augmented reality device comprising:
a wearable display system positioned in front of eyes of a user;
a fan assembly comprising a rotatable structure, a motor configured to rotate the rotatable structure, and a plurality of light sources disposed relative to the rotatable structure;
a non-transitory memory configured to store image data; and
a processor operably coupled to the non-transitory memory, the display system, and the fan assembly, the processor comprising executable instructions to:
determine a notification of a state of the wearable display system;
illuminate the fan assembly; and
display an image using the fan assembly based on the image data, wherein the image is indicative of the notification.

13. The augmented reality device of claim 12 , wherein the fan assembly is mounted on the display system.

14. The augmented reality device of claim 12 , wherein the fan assembly is mounted off of the display system.

15. The augmented reality device of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of light sources are mounted on the fan assembly.

16. The augmented reality device of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of light sources are mounted off of, and oriented towards, the fan assembly.

17. The augmented reality device of claim 12 ,
wherein the executable instructions executed by the processor are further configured to:
drive a motor to rotate a plurality of fan blades of the fan assembly, the plurality of fan blades positioned at a rotation angle as a function of time;
access image data to be displayed associated with the image, the image data comprising one or more views of the image at a viewing direction;
map the image data to each of the plurality of light sources based at least in part on the rotation angle; and
illuminate the plurality of light sources based at least in part on the mapped image data.

18. The augmented reality device of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of light sources comprise a plurality of light field sub-displays and the image data comprises light field image data comprising a plurality of rendered frames, each rendered frame representative of a different view of one or more views of the image, wherein each rendered frame comprises a plurality of rendered pixels that combine to render the rendered frame, each rendered pixel having a position within the rendered frame.

19. The augmented reality device of claim 12 , wherein the notification is at least one of an operational state, a status of a battery configured to provide electrical power to the device; a temperature state, a communication connectivity state, notification of a received message; an e-mail; an instant message; an SMS message; or an alert indicative of a fault in the device.

20. The augmented reality device of claim 12 , wherein the display system is operably connected to the fan assembly is a wired communication link.

Assignees

• Magic Leap Inc

Inventors

• Rohena Guillermo Padin
• Remsburg Ralph
• Kaehler Adrian
• Rynk Evan Francis

Classifications

• G09G2370/16

  Use of wireless transmission of display information · CPC title

• G09G2360/04

  Display device controller operating with a plurality of display units · CPC title

• G09G2354/00

  Aspects of interface with display user · CPC title

• G09G2320/0666

  for control of colour parameters, e.g. colour temperature · CPC title

• G09G2320/0646

  Modulation of illumination source brightness and image signal correlated to each other · CPC title