See-through near eye optical module

Abstract

A see-through transparent (or semi-transparent) near eye optical module includes a transparent sparsely populated near eye display comprising a plurality of pixels or pixel patches and a sparsely populated micro-lens array comprising a plurality of micro-lenses positioned in optical alignment with the plurality of pixels or pixel patches of the sparsely populated transparent near eye display. The sparsely populated transparent near eye display has a pixel fill factor capable of rendering the near eye display at least partially transparent. Light rays originating from outside the transparent sparsely populated near eye module pass through the transparent sparsely populated near eye display and sparsely populated micro-lens array of the transparent near eye module to an eye of a user to form a real image perceived by the user. The transparent sparsely populated near eye display further produces light rays generated by way of active pixels which pass through aligned micro-lenses to form a virtual image perceived by the eye of the user. The combination of the real image with the virtual images as perceived by the eye of a user causes the perception of Augmented Reality or Mixed Reality for the user. Light rays being projected away from the eye of the user are reduced or blocked by the transparent near eye display.