Google Inc.

Ozan Cakmakci

Anurag Gupta

Oscar A Martinez

James C Dunphy

Yi Qin

Evan Mark Richards

Amber Marie Luttmann

Bernard Charles Kress

John Stuart Fitch

Daniel Corbalan

Omar Negrete

Hayes Solos Raffle

Mark B Spitzer

Ion Bita

Sangmoo Choi

Caner Onal

Adrian Wong

Philipp Helmut Schmaelzle

Eliezer Glik

Hongqin Shi

Andrei Stefan Kazmierski

Carlin Vieri

Hui Seong Son

Simon Prakash

Matthew Thomas Valente

Jyothi Karri

Clayton Kimber

Benjamin McLaughlin Gallant

Kyle Skelton

Yeh Tung

Konstantin Gromov

Juseok Lee

An optical device includes a lightguide and a display at a top of a head mountable frame. The display is oriented toward an eye-side of the optical device. A reflector is positioned at an eye-side of the optical device and directs light into the lightguide. This orientation and arrangement of components reduces light leaking out of the optical device. The lightguide includes curved first and second surfaces. The device reflects light through the curved first surface to a user eye for augmented reality vision. A head mountable frame supports the display, the reflector, and the lightguide.

Compact rim-mounted curved optical see-through lightguide based eyewear as mobile augmented reality display

A head mounted display (HMD) provides multiple fields of view of a single micro-display by time-multiplexing the provision of light of different polarizations. The HMD includes a micro-display, a lightguide, and a plurality of combiners coupled to the lightguide, wherein each combiner is configured to combine light of a different polarization. For example, the HMD can include two combiners, with one combiner configured to combine P-polarized light and the other combiner configured to combine S-polarized light. A polarizer switch is included in a filter stack for the lightguide, and a control module controls the switch to alternate the provision of light having P-polarization and S-polarization, respectively. The light of each polarization provides a different field of view of the micro-display.

Head mounted display with lightguide and multiple combiners

An HMD employs a multifocal module having one or more voltage controlled optical elements. By changing the voltage applied to the one or more optical elements, the HMD can change the focal length of an image generated by the micro-display. The multifocal module can include a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) element and a polarizer switch. By controlling the voltage applied to each of the CLC element and the polarizer switch, the HMD can change the focal length of the image passed through the multifocal module. The HMD can thereby change the focal length of any image generated by the micro-display.

Head mounted display with multifocal module

A head mounted display includes a combiner configured to receive display light from a micro-display. The world-facing surface of the combiner has a curvature that corresponds to a user's vision correction prescription. The head mounted display also includes a corrective layer having a second curvature that corresponds to the user's vision correction prescription. The corrective layer is disposed on the eye-facing surface of the combiner such that the focal point of the display light is adjusted for the specific user as the display light exits the combiner towards the user's eye.

Optical combiner with integrated prescription optical correction and method of manufacturing the same

A head mounted display (HMD) device and method of manufacturing the same. The HMD includes a frame housing a micro-display to project display light, a lightguide configured to receive the display light from the micro-display, and a corrective layer having a world-side surface coupled to the eye-side surface of the lightguide. The lightguide is further configured to have a world-side surface with a radius of curvature based on an ophthalmic corrective prescription and an eye-side surface having an outcoupler feature formed thereon such that the coupled lightguide and corrective layer form a lens configured to fit within the frame.

Freeform lens with integrated lightguide and method of manufacture

A head-wearable display device is configured to support a plurality of combiners (e.g., at least two combiners) to expand an eyebox associated with the head-wearable display device. The plurality of combiners may expand the pupil and the head-wearable display device may be configured to align the magnification between the plurality of combiners, such that a single magnified virtual image with an expanded eyebox may be delivered to the user.

Optical design of a dual combiner in head-wearable display

A mobile computing device includes an emissive display panel, where the panel is used as a grating, and spectrometer optics positioned behind/below the emissive display panel. A mobile computing device includes an emissive display panel and a spectrometer positioned below the emissive display panel. The emissive display panel includes a first periodic pattern of pixels that include one or more LEDs and a second periodic pattern of circuit elements that control the pixels, where the first and second periodic patterns are configured to diffract light received from outside the device, which passes through the emissive display, and where the diffraction is wavelength-dependent. The spectrometer is configured to detect intensities of different wavelength ranges of the diffracted light.

Emissive display configured with through-display spectrometer

A head mounted display (HMD) system employs a holographic element in the optical path of the HMD to direct light to a user's eye. The HMD includes a micro-display, a lightguide, and a holographic element coupled to the lightguide. The holographic element is coupled to a polarization film, and together the element and film reflect and transmit light of different polarities in a specified pattern to assist the lightguide in directing light to the user's eye. For example, the hologram and polarization film can be configured to pass R-polarized light and reflect L-polarized light, thereby directing light from the waveguide along a specified path.

Head mounted display with lightguide and holographic element

An optical device includes a frame supporting a lightguide, a microdisplay, and a field lens positioned therebetween that directs light from the microdisplay into a top surface of the lightguide. Four optical surfaces of the lightguide include: a curved surface where light from the microdisplay enters a top of the lightguide, curved eye-side and world-side surfaces providing total internal reflection, and a combiner surface. The eye-side surface is used twice. Once in total internal reflection, and a second time as a refractive surface when light is reflected from the combiner surface and is thereby refracted out of the lightguide and directed towards a user's eye. The field lens has a curved first surface oriented toward the microdisplay and a curved second surface oriented toward the top of the lightguide. The combiner surface combines ambient light from a world-side of the lightguide with light from the microdisplay.

Curved optical see-through thin freeform lightguide with large field of view in eyewear formfactor

A head mounted display (HMD) system includes a display for emitting light toward an eye-ward side of the system and which allows both ambient light and emitted light to reach an eye of a user. The system provides augmented reality (AR) based viewing and includes a rotatable substrate supporting a set of light emitting elements (). Each light emitting element is oriented toward a world side of the HMD system. A rotatable reflective surface is positioned on the world side of the set of the light emitting elements. The reflective surface reflects emitted light toward a user eye. A motor, coupled to the rotatable substrate and the rotatable reflective surface, rotates these elements about a common axis and a display driver selectively activates the light emitting elements during this rotation in accordance with an illumination sequence so as to provide an image.

Head mounted display with mechanical scanning

An optical device includes a display that emits light toward a lightguide. Display light reflects from lightguide surfaces by total internal reflection (TIR). The display is mounted proximate to the lightguide. The optical device includes a first surface at an eye-side of the optical device and a second surface at a world-side. The optical device includes a first material having a first Abbe number and a second material having a second Abbe number different from the first Abbe number. The first material and the second material cause a color correction to light from the display or alters a chromatic aberration of the light from the display. A head mountable frame supports the display and the lightguide including the first and second materials.

Color-corrected curved optical see-through thin lightguide with large field of view in eyewear formfactor

An optical apparatus for a near-eye display includes a microdisplay to emit image light and one or more field lenses positioned to receive the image light from the microdisplay. The one or more field lenses have a combined optical power to form a curved intermediate image. A freeform combiner, having an eyeward side and an external side, is positioned to receive the image light from the one or more field lenses and reflect the image light. A curved intermediate image is formed between the freeform combiner and the one or more field lenses.

Freeform head mounted display

An apparatus for use with a head wearable display includes a curved eyepiece for guiding display light received at an input surface peripherally located from a viewing region and emitting the display light along an eye-ward direction in the viewing region. The curved eyepiece includes an optical combiner, an eye-ward facing surface that is concave, a world facing surface that is convex, and a curved lightguide disposed between the eye-ward facing and world facing surfaces to guide the display light via total internal reflections from the input surface to the viewing region. The optical combiner is disposed within the curved eyepiece at the viewing region to redirect the display light towards the eye-ward direction. The optical combiner includes a pattern of reflective elements separated by interstitial regions. The interstitial regions pass ambient light incident through the world facing surface such that the viewing region is partially see-through.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Ozan Cakmakci