Head-mounted light field display with integral imaging and relay optics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020393676-A1
Application number	US-201816491836-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 6, 2018
Priority date	Mar 9, 2017
Publication date	Dec 17, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

Head-mounted light field display with integral imaging and relay group.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system, comprising:
a microscopic InI unit (micro-InI) configured to create light fields of a selected 3D scene at a selected position along an optical axis of the system; a relay group having a vari-focal element (VFE) disposed therein, the relay group disposed on the optical axis at a location so the selected position is an optical conjugate of the relay group, the relay group configured to receive the light fields created by the microscopic InI unit and to create an intermediate 3D scene on the optical axis of the selected 3D scene, the relay group configured to tune the position along the optical axis of the intermediate 3D scene; and eyepiece optics for imaging the intermediate 3D scene from the relay group into an exit pupil of the system for viewing by a user of the head-mounted display system.

2 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein the microscopic InI unit (micro-InI) is configured to reproduce full-parallax light fields of a 3D scene having a constrained viewing zone.

3 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , comprising a see-through unit in optical communication with the eyepiece optics to transmit a view of a real world to the eyepiece optics for viewing by a user of the head-mounted display system.

4 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein the VFE is disposed at a position optically conjugate to the exit pupil.

5 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein the relay group comprises along the optical axis: a first lens group and a second lens group with the VFE disposed therebetween.

6 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 5 , wherein the VFE is located at a back focal length of the first lens group.

7 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein the field of view of the system is independent of the optical power of the VFE.

8 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 5 , wherein the lateral magnification of the relay group is given by

M
R

=

1

(

1
-

z
0



ϕ
R

)

-

ϕ
vfe



(

1
-

ϕ
2



t
2

)

+

ϕ
2



(

1
+

ϕ
1



t
2

)

ϕ
1

,

where φ 1 , φ VFE , and φ 2 are the optical power of the first lens group, VFE, the second lens group, respectively, and where φ R is the compound power of the relay group, z 0 is the distance along the optical axis between the front lens group and the selected position, and t 1 and t 2 are distances along the optical axis between i) the first lens group and the VFE and between ii) the VFE and the second lens group, respectively.

9 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein t 2 =1/φ 2 where t 2 is the distance along the optical axis between the VFE and the second lens group, and φ 2 is the optical power of the second lens group.

10 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein the relay group is telecentric in object space.

11 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein the VFE is disposed on the optical axis at a location such that the compound optical power of the relay group is maintained constant, independent of the optical power of the VFE.

12 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein the microscopic InI unit includes a microdisplay and the subtended field angle of the microdisplay through the eyepiece optics is maintained constant, independent of the optical power of the VFE.

13 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein the relay group is doubly telecentric.

14 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein the eyepiece optics comprises a wedge-shaped freeform prism.

15 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein the relay unit is configured to tune the position along the optical axis of the position of a reconstructed 3D virtual scene through the eyepiece by up to 5 diopters.

16 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein the focal range of the VFE is 75-100 mm.

17 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein the focal length of the eyepiece optics is 27.5 mm.

18 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein the diagonal field of view of the system is 35°.

19 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein the system has an optical resolution as high as 2 arc minutes per pixel.

20 . The head-mounted display integral imaging (InI) system of claim 1 , wherein the microscopic InI unit comprises a micro-lens array of which at least one lens surface is rep

Assignees

• Univ Arizona

Inventors

• Hua Hong
• Huang Hekun

Classifications

• G02B2027/0127

  comprising devices increasing the depth of field · CPC title

• G02B2027/0145

  creating an intermediate image · CPC title

• G02B3/0056

  arranged along two different directions in a plane, e.g. honeycomb arrangement of lenses (G02B3/0043 takes precedence; miniaturised objectives for electronic devices employing wafer level optics G02B13/0085) · CPC title

• G02B2027/0185

  Displaying image at variable distance · CPC title

• G02B2027/0134

  of stereoscopic type · CPC title