Hybrid lens system for head wearable display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9681804-B2
Application number	US-201514744641-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 19, 2015
Priority date	Jan 12, 2015
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

A hybrid optical system for a head wearable display includes a central vision lens and a peripheral vision lens. The central vision lens approximately aligns with a cornea of a user to provide lensing to a central vision of the user when the user is looking straight forward. The peripheral vision lens, different than the central vision lens, provides lensing to an extended field of view that extends angularly beyond the central vision lensed by the central vision lens when the user is looking straight forward. The peripheral vision lens is disposed around the central vision lens. The peripheral vision lens has a co-incident optical center with the central vision lens but the central vision lens is offset from a physical center of the peripheral vision lens.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A hybrid optical system for a head wearable display, comprising:
a central vision lens to approximately align with a cornea of a user and to provide lensing to a central vision of the user when the user is looking straight forward; and
a peripheral vision lens, different than the central vision lens, to provide lensing having optical power to an extended field of view (“FOV”) that extends angularly beyond the central vision lensed by the central vision lens when the user is looking straight forward,
wherein the peripheral vision lens is disposed around the central vision lens,
wherein the peripheral vision lens has a co-incident optical center with the central vision lens but the central vision lens is offset from a physical center of the peripheral vision lens,
wherein the central vision lens comprises a refractive lens having two opposing sides that are both curved surfaces and the two opposing sides along with the peripheral vision lens are molded into a single piece of plastic.

2. The hybrid optical system of claim 1 , wherein the peripheral vision lens comprises a Fresnel lens.

3. The hybrid optical system of claim 1 , wherein the central vision lens comprises a singlet lens.

4. The hybrid optical system of claim 3 , wherein the central vision lens further comprising at least one additional lensing layer disposed over a frontside or a backside of the singlet lens.

5. The hybrid optical system of claim 1 , wherein the central vision lens and the peripheral vision lens are molded into a single piece of plastic.

6. The hybrid optical system of claim 1 , wherein the central vision lens comprises an optical insert disposed within a portion of the peripheral vision lens, wherein the optical insert is fabricated from a different material than the peripheral vision lens.

7. The hybrid optical system of claim 1 , wherein the central vision lens comprises at least one of a spherical lens, an aspherical lens, a progressive lens, an achromatic lens, a diffractive optical element, or a hologram.

8. The hybrid optical system of claim 1 , wherein the peripheral vision lens includes a nasal side and a temple side, wherein the peripheral vision lens curves inward along the temple side.

9. The hybrid optical system of claim 8 , wherein the peripheral vision lens has a focal length that increases with offset distance from the central vision lens towards the temple side.

10. The hybrid optical system of claim 8 , wherein the peripheral vision lens is planar on the nasal side of the central vision lens.

11. The hybrid optical system of claim 8 , wherein the peripheral vision lens curves inward along the nasal side.

12. The hybrid optical system of claim 1 , wherein the peripheral vision lens has a focal length that decreases with radial distance from the optical center of the central vision lens towards a nasal direction.

13. The hybrid optical system of claim 1 , wherein the hybrid optical system is asymmetrical with the central vision lens position closer to a nasal side of the peripheral vision lens than to a temple side of the peripheral vision lens.

14. The hybrid optical system of claim 1 , wherein the central vision lens provides higher optical acuity than the peripheral vision lens.

15. A head wearable display, comprising:
a display panel; and
a hybrid optical lens system disposed along an eye-ward side of the display panel and including:
a central vision lens to approximately align with a cornea of a user and to provide lensing to a central vision of the user when the user is looking straight forward; and
a peripheral vision lens, different than the central vision lens, to provide lensing having optical power to an extended field of view (“FOV”) that extends angularly beyond the central vision lensed by the central vision lens when the user is looking straight forward,

wherein the peripheral vision lens is disposed around the central vision lens,
wherein the peripheral vision lens has a co-incident optical center with the central vision lens but the central vision lens is offset from a physical center of the peripheral vision lens,
wherein the central vision lens comprises a refractive lens having two opposing sides that are both curved surfaces and the two opposing sides along with the peripheral vision lens are molded into a single piece of plastic.

16. The head wearable display of claim 15 , wherein the display panel comprises a curved display panel and wherein the peripheral vision lens is disposed along a curved substrate.

17. The head wearable display of claim 16 , wherein the curved display panel has a first curved portion along a temple side that extends beyond a second curved portion of the peripheral vision lens such that a wearer of the head wearable display can directly view the first curved portion of the curved display panel without looking through the hybrid optical lens system.

18. The head wearable display of claim 16 , wherein the display panel includes a planar portion disposed in front of the central vision lens and a curved portion disposed in front of the peripheral vision lens that is on a temple side of the central vision lens.

19. The head wearable display of claim 18 , wherein the peripheral vision lens is disposed along a substrate having a first portion adjacent to the central vision lens and a second portion that is curved on the temple side of the central vision lens.

20. The head wearable display of claim 15 , wherein the display panel is planar and wherein the peripheral vision lens has a curved portion disposed on a temple side of the central vision lens.

21. The head wearable display of claim 20 , wherein the curved portion of the peripheral vision lens has a focal length that increases with radial distance from a center of the central vision lens.

22. The head wearable display of claim 15 , wherein the head wearable display comprises a binocular head wearable display including a pair of display panels and a pair of hybrid optical lens systems.

23. The head wearable display of claim 15 , wherein a first focal length of the hybrid optical lens system through the optical center of the central vision lens corresponds to a separation distance between the hybrid optical lens system and the display panel while a second focal length of the hybrid optical lens system through a region of the hybrid optical lens system between the optical center and a nasal side of the hybrid optical lens system has a second focal length longer than the first focal length to compensate for a discrepancy between accommodation and vergence.

24. The hybrid optical system of claim 1 , wherein the peripheral vision lens has different optical power than the central vision lens and wherein the peripheral vision lens is a different type of lens than the central vision lens.

Assignees

• Google Inc
• X Dev Llc

Inventors

• Spitzer Mark B

Classifications

• G02B2027/0174

  holographic · CPC title

• G02B27/0172 Primary

  characterised by optical features · CPC title

• G02B3/08

  with discontinuous faces, e.g. Fresnel lens {(diffractive Fresnel lenses G02B5/1876)} · CPC title

• G02B2027/0132

  comprising binocular systems · CPC title

• A61B3/111 Primary

  for measuring interpupillary distance · CPC title