CN214375563U - Optical waveguide light-emitting pupil expanding device - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model provides an optical waveguide light-emitting pupil expanding device, include: a micro-display system, a separate optical waveguide and an optical lens; wherein the micro-display system is used for generating a light beam carrying a display image; the optical waveguide is used for receiving the light beam carrying the display image and expanding the pupil of the light beam; the optical lens is used for receiving the light beam after the pupil expansion and focusing the light beam to the human eye for imaging. The optical waveguide that is used for the mydriasis in this application and the optical lens that is used for the focus are divided component, compare in traditional optical waveguide mydriasis device, the mydriasis device in this application has improved pupil expansion effect, is applicable to the AR that adopts the laser scanning imaging mode and shows, can be with optical waveguide mydriasis part side-by-side, reduces the barrier of traditional mydriasis optical waveguide beam coupling in/out mechanism and optical waveguide internal device to the sight, increases the perspective that AR shows.

Description

Optical waveguide light-emitting pupil expanding device

Technical Field

The utility model belongs to the technical field of the optical display, what especially relate to is an optical waveguide light-emitting pupil expanding device.

Background

Augmented Reality (AR) is a display technology that superimposes a virtual world on a real world on a screen. To realize AR display, an optical system formed by combining a micro display screen, a microelectronic system, a laser beam scanner and other optical devices to provide display images and a prism, a reflector, an optical waveguide, a free-form surface and the like is generally required to form a complete AR display system. The most common application of AR display technology is AR glasses, which provide a light beam of the display content, i.e. the entrance pupil beam diameter is often only a few millimeters, and the human eye can observe the image only in a small range without processing, and experience is poor, and the solution to this problem is exit pupil expansion, i.e. expanding pupil.

In the traditional AR technology, an AR spectacle lens is directly used as an optical waveguide pupil expanding device, the lens comprises an entrance pupil area and an exit pupil area, an image generated by an optical machine is coupled into a glass substrate of a waveguide, and light is transmitted to the front of the spectacles through multiple times of total reflection and then released. Common optical waveguides are geometric and diffractive optical waveguides, and light transmission at least includes light-in coupling and light-out coupling processes, and these coupling-in/out mechanisms affect the light transmittance, which is like the increase of the haze of the lens. In addition, the small exit pupil size due to the small divergence angle of the laser beam makes it difficult to directly apply the AR spectacle lens as an optical waveguide pupil expanding device in the AR display using the laser scanning imaging method.

Therefore, the prior art is subject to further improvement.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

In view of the foregoing deficiencies in the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical waveguide exit pupil expanding device, which overcomes the defects of AR display in the prior art that the AR glasses lenses are directly used as the optical waveguide pupil expanding device, the coupling-in/coupling-out mechanism will affect the light perspective and is not suitable for the laser scanning imaging mode.

The utility model discloses a first embodiment is an optical waveguide light-emitting pupil expanding device, wherein, include: a micro-display system, a separate optical waveguide and an optical lens; wherein the miniature display system is used for generating a light beam carrying a display image; the optical waveguide is used for receiving the light beam carrying the display image and expanding the pupil of the light beam; the optical lens is used for receiving the light beam after the pupil expansion and focusing the light beam to human eyes for imaging.

The optical waveguide pupil expanding device is characterized in that the optical lens is a spectacle lens.

The optical waveguide pupil expanding device is characterized in that the micro display system comprises a laser and a micro electro mechanical display system.

The optical waveguide pupil expanding device is characterized in that the micro display system is one of an OLED display screen, an LCOS display screen, an LCD display screen and a MicroLED display screen.

The optical waveguide exit pupil expanding device is characterized in that the optical waveguide comprises an optical waveguide body, and an entrance coupling mechanism and an exit coupling mechanism which are arranged on the optical waveguide body;

the light-in coupling mechanism is used for receiving light beams carrying display images and coupling the light beams into the optical waveguide body;

the optical waveguide body is used for receiving the light beam coupled in by the light-in coupling mechanism, totally reflecting the light beam for multiple times and then emitting the light beam to the light-out coupling mechanism;

the light-emitting coupling mechanism is used for receiving the light beams emitted by the optical waveguide body and projecting the light beams onto the optical lens.

The optical waveguide exit pupil expanding device is characterized in that the light incidence coupling mechanism is formed by combining one or more of a prism, a reflector and a hologram.

The optical waveguide exit pupil expanding device is characterized in that the exit coupling mechanism is formed by combining one or two of a hologram or an inclined surface reflector array.

The optical waveguide light-emitting pupil expanding device is characterized in that the optical lens is a curved reflector.

The optical waveguide light-emitting pupil expanding device is characterized in that the optical lens is of a holographic structure with reflection and imaging functions.

The optical waveguide light-emitting pupil expanding device is characterized in that the optical lens is a Fresnel lens with reflection and imaging functions.

Beneficial effect, the utility model provides an optical waveguide light-emitting pupil expanding device, the light beam that carries the display image that miniature display system produced passes through the optical waveguide pupil expanding back, focus on people's eye formation of image by optical lens, compare in the tradition directly with glasses lens as the optical waveguide pupil expanding device, the pupil expanding effect of pupil expanding device of this application promotes greatly, be applicable to the AR that adopts the laser scanning imaging mode and show in the technique, and because the optical waveguide exit pupil light beam does not directly enter people's eye, can be put by optical waveguide pupil expanding part during product design, reduce the barrier of traditional pupil light beam coupling income/exit mechanism and the inside device of optical waveguide to the sight, increase the perspective that AR shows.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an optical waveguide exit pupil expanding device according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a micro-display system and an integrated design of an optical waveguide in an optical waveguide exit pupil expanding device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a mems (micro-electromechanical display) system (with independent light source design) and an optical waveguide integrated design in an optical waveguide exit pupil expanding device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

figure 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a mirror disposed between an image display system and an optical waveguide in an optical waveguide exit pupil expansion device provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of an optical waveguide exit pupil expanding device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer and clearer, the present invention will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

The most common application of AR display technology is AR glasses, and existing AR display schemes have advantages and disadvantages, and the optical waveguide scheme is considered to be a more potential scheme because of the basically lossless transmission. The basic principle of the optical waveguide is total reflection, and the incident beam is transmitted through the optical waveguide and then the direction is changed, so that the imaging system is moved to the top or the side of the forehead away from the spectacle lens in product design, and the blocking of the optical system to the external sight line can be greatly reduced. The AR technology provides a light beam for displaying content, i.e. the diameter of the light beam at the entrance pupil is often only a few millimeters, and the human eye can observe an image in a very small range without processing, and the experience is poor, and the solution to the problem is exit pupil expansion, i.e. pupil expansion.

In the traditional AR technology, an AR spectacle lens is directly used as an optical waveguide pupil expanding device, the lens comprises an entrance pupil area and an exit pupil area, an image generated by an optical machine is coupled into a glass substrate of a waveguide, and light is transmitted to the front of the spectacles through multiple times of total reflection and then released. Common optical waveguides are geometric and diffractive optical waveguides, and in either case, light transmission involves at least the process of in-coupling and out-coupling, and these in/out-coupling mechanisms can affect the optical transparency, as if the haze of the lens is increased. For example, the processes of coupling light by introducing geometrical light waves into the waveguide, transmitting light rays in the waveguide, and coupling light out of the waveguide are generally performed by combining optical devices such as prisms and "transflective" mirror arrays, which reduce the light transmittance. Diffractive optical waveguides the coupling in and out of the optical waveguide is done by optical elements with a periodic structure, such as a diffraction grating with a periodic variation of the refractive index, which also has an influence on the light transmission.

In addition, in the AR display adopting the laser scanning imaging (such as laser scanning retinal imaging) mode, the exit pupil size is small due to the small divergence angle of the laser beam, and the AR spectacle lens is directly used as an optical waveguide pupil expanding device, so that the eye can not see the image once moving.

Example one

In order to solve the above problem, an embodiment of the present invention provides an optical waveguide exit pupil expanding device using laser scanning display, as shown in fig. 1, the device includes: light source 101, micro-electromechanical display system 102, optical waveguide and optical lens 106. The micro-electro-mechanical display system comprises a light source 101 and a micro-electro-mechanical display system 102, wherein the light source 101 is a laser and is used for generating laser beams; the Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) display System 102 is configured to receive a laser beam generated by the light source 101, and deflect the laser beam through rapid vibration to generate a light beam carrying image information; the optical waveguide is used for receiving the light beam carrying image information and expanding the pupil of the light beam; the optical lens 106 is configured to receive the light beam after pupil expansion, reflect and amplify the light beam, and focus the light beam into a human eye 107 for imaging. In a specific application, a laser beam generated by the light source 101 passes through the micro-electromechanical system 102 to generate a light beam carrying image information, and then the light beam carrying the image information passes through the optical waveguide pupil expanding and is focused to a human eye 107 by the optical lens 106, so that the human eye 107 can see a clear image. Compared with the traditional pupil expanding method, the pupil expanding device in the embodiment can greatly increase the pupil expanding effect, and is easy to realize AR display in a laser scanning imaging mode, and because the light waveguide exit pupil light beam does not directly enter human eyes, the light waveguide exit pupil part can be arranged beside the light waveguide exit pupil part during product design, so that the light waveguide exit pupil part is independent of spectacle lenses, thereby reducing the blockage of the traditional pupil expanding light waveguide light beam coupling in/out mechanism and light waveguide internal devices to the sight, and increasing the perspective of AR display.

In a specific embodiment, the micro-electromechanical system 102 includes a micro-mirror and a micro-motor, the micro-mirror can swing around two axes in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction under the driving of the micro-motor, in a specific imaging process, a laser control system controls a laser to emit laser to the micro-mirror according to an acquired image, and the micro-mirror reflects a laser beam generated by the laser to an optical waveguide through high-speed oscillation of the micro-motor to form a scanned image, i.e., a beam carrying image information.

In a specific embodiment, the optical waveguide includes an optical waveguide body 103, and an optical incoupling mechanism 104 and an optical outcoupling mechanism 105 disposed on the optical waveguide body 103, wherein the size of the optical outcoupling mechanism 105 is larger than that of the optical incoupling mechanism 104, and the optical incoupling mechanism 104 is configured to receive the light beam carrying image information and couple the light beam into the optical waveguide body 103; the optical waveguide body 103 is configured to receive the light beam coupled by the light-in coupling mechanism 104, and totally reflect the light beam multiple times and then emit the light beam to the light-out coupling mechanism 105; the light-out coupling mechanism 105 is configured to receive the light beam after multiple total reflections by the optical waveguide body 103, and project the light beam to the optical lens 106. In a specific application, a light beam carrying image information generated by the micro display system is coupled into the optical waveguide body 103 through the light-in coupling mechanism 104, and the light beam carrying the image information is totally reflected for multiple times in the optical waveguide body 103 and then emitted to the optical lens 106 through the light-out coupling mechanism 105.

In a specific embodiment, the light-coupling mechanism 104 is formed by one or more of a prism, a mirror, and a hologram. The out-coupling mechanism 105 is formed by one or a combination of a hologram or an array of tilted surface mirrors.

The optical lens 106 redirects the light beam carrying the display image to the human eye 107, i.e. reflects the expanded-pupil light beam to the human eye 107, and therefore, in this embodiment, the optical lens 106 needs to have a function of focusing the light coming out from the light-out coupling mechanism 105 to the retina of the eye. In a specific embodiment, the optical lens 106 is a curved reflector, and the curved reflector is a concave curved reflector or a convex curved reflector, and in an imaging process, the curved reflector reflects and amplifies a light beam carrying a display image, and focuses the light beam on the human eye 107 for imaging.

In another embodiment, the optical lens 106 is a holographic structure with reflection and imaging functions, the holographic structure with reflection and imaging functions may be a transparent curved mirror attached with a holographic film, the holographic structure with reflection and imaging functions has higher light transmittance than a half-mirror surface, when there is no light reflection, a real object can be clearly seen, when there is light reflection, the holographic structure has higher reflectivity, a clear picture is displayed, and fusion of a virtual picture and reality is facilitated.

In another specific embodiment, the optical lens 106 is a fresnel lens with reflection and imaging functions, and in the imaging process, the fresnel lens with reflection and imaging functions reflects and magnifies the light beam carrying the image information, and focuses the light beam on the human eye 107 for imaging.

Specifically, the micro display system comprises a laser, a Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS), an optical waveguide and an optical lens, which can be designed into a product form of four independent devices, or the laser, the Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) and the optical waveguide can be designed integrally. In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, an optical engine integrating three parts of a laser 201, a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS)202, and an optical waveguide (including an optical waveguide body 203, an in-coupling mechanism 204, and an out-coupling mechanism 205) is shown in a dashed box, and a light beam carrying a display image is emitted from the integrated optical engine and focused by an optical lens 206 to a human eye 207 for imaging.

In another embodiment, as shown in fig. 3, a dashed line box shows an optical engine integrating two parts of a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS)302 and an optical waveguide (including an optical waveguide body 303, an in-coupling mechanism 304 and an out-coupling mechanism 305), a laser 301 is designed as an independent device, a laser beam generated by the laser engine passes through the integrated optical engine to generate a pupil-expanded beam carrying a display image, and the pupil-expanded beam carrying the display image is focused by an optical lens 306 to a human eye 307 for imaging.

The most common application of optical waveguides is AR glasses, because of the special structure of the glasses, it is not easy to integrate the laser, the mems and the optical waveguide on the temple, and in order to place these several components more reasonably, as shown in fig. 4, a first mirror 404 and a second mirror 405 can be placed between the mems 402 and the optical waveguide 403. In the specific AR imaging process, the laser beam generated by the laser 401 passes through the micro-electromechanical system 402 to generate a laser beam carrying a display image, the laser beam carrying the display image is reflected into the optical waveguide 403 by the first reflecting mirror 404 and the second reflecting mirror 405 to expand the pupil, and the expanded laser beam is focused by the optical lens 406 to the human eye 407 for imaging.

Example two

The embodiment of the utility model provides an adopt OLED display screen, LCOS display screen, the LCD screen, the optical waveguide light-emitting pupil expanding device of the little display screen of one of the micro LED display screen works as miniature display system is OLED display screen, LCOS display screen, during one of the LCD display screen, as shown in figure 5, the device includes: light source 501, micro-display system 502, optical waveguide and optical lens 506. The light source 501 is an RGB three-color light source, and is configured to generate an RGB three-color light beam; the micro Display system 502 is a micro Display screen of one of an OLED Display screen, an LCOS Display screen, and an LCD Display screen, which may also be different types of Display devices such as Liquid Crystal On Silicon (LCOS), Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED), and the like, and the micro Display system 502 is configured to provide a Display image and receive RGB three-color Light beams generated by the Light source to generate Light beams carrying the Display image; the optical waveguide is used for receiving the light beam carrying the display image and expanding the pupil of the light beam; the optical lens 506 is configured to receive the light beam after pupil expansion, reflect and amplify the light beam, and focus the light beam on the human eye 507 for imaging. In a specific application, the RGB three-color light beams generated by the light source 501 pass through the micro-display screen to generate light beams carrying a display image, and then the light beams carrying the display image are focused by the optical lens 506 to the human eye 507 for imaging after passing through the optical waveguide pupil expanding. Compared with the traditional pupil expanding method, the pupil expanding device in the embodiment can greatly increase the pupil expanding effect, and because the optical waveguide exit pupil light beam does not directly enter human eyes, the optical waveguide exit pupil part can be arranged beside the optical waveguide exit pupil part during product design, so that the optical waveguide exit pupil part is independent of glasses lenses, the blocking of the traditional pupil expanding optical waveguide light beam coupling in/out mechanism and optical waveguide internal devices to the sight can be reduced, and the perspective of AR equipment is increased.

In a specific embodiment, when the micro display system is a micro LED display screen, LEDs in the micro LED display screen can directly emit light by voltage driving, and the apparatus includes: a microdisplay system 502, an optical waveguide, and an optical lens 506. Wherein the microdisplay system 502 is configured to produce a light beam carrying a display image; the optical waveguide is used for receiving the light beam carrying the display image and expanding the pupil of the light beam; the optical lens 506 is configured to receive the light beam after pupil expansion, reflect and amplify the light beam, and focus the light beam on the human eye 507 for imaging. Compared with the traditional pupil expanding method, the pupil expanding device in the embodiment can greatly increase the pupil expanding effect, and because the optical waveguide exit pupil light beam does not directly enter human eyes, the optical waveguide exit pupil part can be arranged beside the optical waveguide exit pupil part during product design, so that the optical waveguide exit pupil part is independent of glasses lenses, the blocking of the traditional pupil expanding optical waveguide light beam coupling in/out mechanism and optical waveguide internal devices to the sight can be reduced, and the perspective of AR equipment is increased.

In a specific embodiment, the optical waveguide includes an optical waveguide body 503, and an optical incoupling mechanism 504 and an optical outcoupling mechanism 505 disposed on the optical waveguide body 503, wherein the size of the optical outcoupling mechanism 505 is larger than that of the optical incoupling mechanism 504, and the optical incoupling mechanism 504 is configured to receive the light beam carrying a display image and couple the light beam into the optical waveguide body 503; the optical waveguide body 503 is configured to receive the light beam coupled by the light-in coupling mechanism 504, and totally reflect the light beam multiple times and then emit the light beam to the light-out coupling mechanism 505; the light-out coupling mechanism 505 is configured to receive the light beam emitted from the optical waveguide body 503 and project the light beam onto the optical lens 506. In a specific application, a light beam carrying a display image generated by the micro display screen is coupled into the optical waveguide body 503 through the light-in coupling mechanism 504, and the light beam carrying the display image is totally reflected for multiple times in the optical waveguide body 503 and then emitted to the optical lens 506 through the light-out coupling mechanism 505.

In one embodiment, the light coupling mechanism 504 is formed by one or more of a prism, a mirror, and a hologram. The out-coupling mechanism 505 is formed by one or a combination of a hologram and an array of tilted surface mirrors.

The optical lens 506 redirects the light beam carrying the display image to the eye 507, i.e. reflects the expanded pupil light beam to the eye 507, therefore, the optical lens 506 in this embodiment needs to have the function of focusing the light emitted from the light-emitting coupling mechanism 505 to the retina of the eye. In a specific embodiment, the optical lens 506 is a curved reflector, the curved reflector is a concave curved reflector or a convex curved reflector, and in an imaging process, the curved reflector reflects and amplifies a light beam carrying image information, and then focuses the light beam on the eye 507 for imaging.

In another embodiment, the optical lens 506 is a holographic structure with reflection and imaging functions, the holographic structure with reflection and imaging functions may be a transparent curved mirror attached with a holographic film, the holographic structure with reflection and imaging functions has higher light transmittance than a half-transparent half-reflecting mirror surface, when no light is reflected, a real object can be clearly seen, when light is emitted, the holographic structure has higher reflectivity, a clear picture is displayed, and fusion of a virtual picture and reality is facilitated.

In another specific embodiment, the optical lens 506 is a fresnel lens with reflection and imaging functions, and in the imaging process, the fresnel lens with reflection and imaging functions reflects and magnifies the light beam carrying the image information and focuses the light beam on the human eye 507 for imaging.

Specifically, similar to the first embodiment, the four parts of the light source 501, the micro display screen 502, the optical waveguide, and the optical lens 506 in this embodiment may be designed as a product form of four independent devices, or the light source, the micro display screen, and the optical waveguide may be integrated, as described in the first embodiment, such an integrated design method not only can reduce the cost of the device and the weight and volume of the device, but also can completely place the integrated part beside the eyeglass lens, thereby reducing the obstruction of the traditional pupil expanding optical waveguide beam coupling in/out mechanism and the optical waveguide internal device to the sight, and increasing the perspective of the AR display.

Similar to the first embodiment, due to the special structure of the glasses, in order to more reasonably integrate the light source 501, the micro display screen 502 and the optical waveguide on the glasses legs, a reflector may be added between the micro display screen 502 and the optical waveguide in this embodiment.

To sum up, the utility model provides an optical waveguide light-emitting pupil expanding device, include: a microdisplay system, a separate optical waveguide and an optical lens; the micro-display system is used for generating a light beam carrying a display image; the optical waveguide is used for receiving the light beam carrying the display image and expanding the pupil of the light beam; the optical lens is used for receiving the light beam after the pupil expansion and focusing the light beam to human eyes for imaging. This application micro display system produces carry image information's light beam pass through the optical waveguide pupil expanding back, form images to people's eye by optical lens focus, compare in the tradition directly with glasses lens as optical waveguide pupil expanding device, the pupil expanding effect of the pupil expanding device of this application promotes greatly, be applicable to among the AR display technology who adopts the laser scanning imaging mode, and because optical waveguide exit pupil light beam does not directly enter into people's eye, can be by side with optical waveguide pupil expanding part during the product design, reduce the barrier of traditional pupil optical waveguide light beam coupling income/exit mechanism and optical waveguide inner device to the sight, increase AR demonstration's perspective.

It should be understood that the application of the system of the present invention is not limited to the above examples, and that modifications and variations can be made by those skilled in the art in light of the above teachings, and all such modifications and variations are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (10)

1. An optical waveguide exit pupil device, comprising: a micro-display system, a separate optical waveguide and an optical lens; wherein the miniature display system is used for generating a light beam carrying a display image; the optical waveguide is used for receiving the light beam carrying the display image and expanding the pupil of the light beam; the optical lens is used for receiving the light beam after the pupil expansion and focusing the light beam to human eyes for imaging.

2. The optical waveguide exit pupil device of claim 1, wherein the optical lens is an eyeglass lens.

3. The optical waveguide exit pupil device of claim 1, wherein the microdisplay system comprises a laser and a microelectromechanical display system.

4. The optical waveguide exit pupil device of claim 1, wherein the microdisplay system is one of an OLED, LCOS, LCD, or micro led display.

5. The optical waveguide exit pupil device of claim 1, wherein the optical waveguide comprises an optical waveguide body, and incoupling and outcoupling means disposed on the optical waveguide body;

the light-in coupling mechanism is used for receiving light beams carrying display images and coupling the light beams into the optical waveguide body;

the optical waveguide body is used for receiving the light beam coupled in by the light-in coupling mechanism, totally reflecting the light beam for multiple times and then emitting the light beam to the light-out coupling mechanism;

the light-emitting coupling mechanism is used for receiving the light beams emitted by the optical waveguide body and projecting the light beams onto the optical lens.

6. The optical waveguide exit pupil device of claim 5, wherein the light-coupling mechanism is formed by a combination of one or more of prisms, mirrors, and holograms.

7. The optical waveguide exit pupil device of claim 5, wherein the out-coupling mechanism is formed by one or a combination of a hologram or an array of tilted surface mirrors.

8. The optical waveguide exit pupil device of claim 1, wherein the optical lens is a curved mirror.

9. The optical waveguide exit pupil device of claim 1, wherein the optical lens is a holographic structure with reflective and imaging properties.

10. The optical waveguide exit pupil device of claim 1, wherein the optical lens is a fresnel lens with reflective and imaging functions.

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