compact image display system for eyeglasses or other head-borne

United States Patent US006356392B1

(12) (10) Patent N0.: US 6,356,392 B1 Spitzer (45) Date of Patent: Mar. 12, 2002

(54) COMPACT IMAGE DISPLAY SYSTEM FOR 3,936,605 A 2/1976 Upton .................... .. 179/1 SP EYEGLASSES OR OTHER HEAI)_B()RNE 3,940,204 A 2/1976 Withrington .............. .. 350/35 FRAMES RE28,847 E 6/1976 ViZenor . . . . . . . . . . .. 350/302

4,052,073 A 10/1977 Miller .... .. . 273/148 R

_ - 4,082,432 A 4/1978 Kirschner 350/174 (75) Inventor‘ Mark B‘ Spltzer’ Sharon’ MA(US) 4,195,915 A 4/1980 Lichty et al. ............. .. 350/345

(73) Assigneez The Microoptical Corporation, 4,218,111 A 8/1980 Withrington ............. .. 350/372 WeStWOOd MA (Us) 4,447,128 A 5/1984 Ferrer ...................... .. 350/174

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this (Llst Connnued on next page) patent is extended or adjusted under 35 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.

DE 22 05 325 C2 4/1973 _ DE 36 23 206 A 1/1988

(21) Appl. No.. 09/652,629 GB 301672 12/1928

(22) Filed: Aug. 31, 2000 OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Related U'S' Apphcatlon Data “The Wearable PC, Wired for wear: IBM researchers dem . . . . . trate a wearable ThinkPad Prototype” www.ibm.com/

(60) DlVlSlOIl of application No. 09/271,597, ?led on Mar. 17, OHS . ’ 1999, now Pat. No. 6,204,974, which is a continuation-in- NeWS/I_S/1998/09/]p_3'phtm1' _ _ part of application No, 09/170,887, ?led on Oct, 14, 1998, “Technical Prototype, See the speci?cations for IBM’s new now Pat. No. 6,023,372, and a continuation-in-part of appli- Wearable PC Prototype”, WWW_ibm_c0m/NeWs/Is/1998/09/ cation No. 08/844,098, ?led on Apr. 18, 1997, now Pat. No. jp_4 phtm 5,886,822. .' ' “ . . .

(60) Provisional application No. 60/027,998, ?led on Oct. 8, Fernn’ Frank J"_ An ugdate on opncal systfzmf for mlhtaiy 1996, and provisional application No. 60/064,430, ?led on head mounted dlsplays > Presented at SPIE S Aerosense > Oct. 30, 1997. Apr. 5—9, 1999, 8 pages.

(51) Int. c1.7 ......................... .. G02B 27/14, 6096 5/00 (List Continued on next Page“)

Primary Examiner—Ricky Mack (52) US. Cl. .......................................... .. 359/630; 345/8 (74) Attorney) Agent) Or Firm_weingarten, schurgin,

Ga nebin & Ha es LLP (58) Field of Search ............................... .. 359/630, 631, g y

359/633, 638; 345/7, 8, 9 (57) ABSTRACT

(56) References Cited A head-mountable image display system provides an image U S PATENT DOCUMENTS to a user’s eye separate from ambient light. The system

' ' includes an optical relay having an optical pathway to D195,365 S 6/1963 Holt ........................... .. D57/1 receive light from a display element. The optical relay also 3,192,826 A 7/1965 Papke ----- -- -- 88/ 1.5 permits passage of ambient light toward the user’s eye. An 3,216,308 A 11/1965 NQTthCUtt 88/1 eyepiece assembly is disposed to redirect light on the optical

2 Ill/millet“ pathway to the user’s eye. The system is highly compact, 3’61O’825 A “V1971 Frlictzg "" " 178/7 8 allowing the integration of the display system with 3’787’1O9 A 1/1974 ViZenOr """ " 350662 eyeglasses, a face mask, such as a diver’s mask, a head set,

3,885,095 A 5/1975 Wolfson et al. .. 178/788 or the hke

3,915,548 A 10/1975 Opittek et al. 350/35 3,923,370 A 12/1975 Mostrom ................... .. 350/55 21 Claims, 21 Drawing Sheets

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2054 i/

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T ’ ill/2081 L

US 6,356,392 B1

US. PATENT DOCUMENTS 5,583,590 A 12/1996 Clupper .................... .. 351/200 5,585,871 A 12/1996 Linden ..................... .. 351/158

4550984 A 11/1985 Reymond ----------------- -- 350/404 5,589,846 A 12/1996 KObayaShi ................... .. 345/8 4,649,434 A 3/1987 Wemblatt .. 358/250 5,596,451 A 1/1997 Handschy et a1_ _ 359/633 4,664,475 A 5/1987 Ferrer - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- 350/174 5,606,743 A 2/1997 v6g16161. ...... .. 455/347

4,665,385 A 5/1987 Henderson 340/539 5,610,765 A 3/1997 (3616661 .......... .. . 359/633 4,704,000 A 11/1987 Pekar er a1- -- 350/145 5,626,410 A 5/1997 (3116611616 6161. 353/94 4,722,601 A 2/1988 McFarlane 356/152 5,629,790 A 5/1997 NeUkeIIIlaIlS 6161. ..... .. 359/198 4,751,691 A 6/1988 Pere_ra ----- -- 368/10 5,648,789 A 7/1997 B66d1666161. .... .. 345/8 4,753,514 A 6/1988 Kublk 350/174 5,653,751 A 8/1997 Samiy 6161. 623/4 4,799,765 A 1/1989 Ferrer ----- -- 350/174 5,654,827 A 8/1997 R6i6h6r1 ...... .. .359/631

4,806,001 A 2/1989 Okabc er a1- - 350/432 5,654,828 A 8/1997 Togino 6161. 359/633 4,806,011 A 2/1989 Be?mger 351/158 5,671,037 A 9/1997 OgaSaWaIa 6161. 351/158 4,818,048 A 4/1989 Moss ------ -- 350/3-7 5,673,139 A 9/1997 16116666 .......... .. .359/291

4,826,287 A 5/1989 (399k 91 a1- 350/174 5,682,173 A 10/1997 HOlakOVSZky 6161. 345/8 4,852,988 A 8/1989 Velez er a1- 351/210 5,699,194 A 12/1997 Takahashi .......... .. . 359/633 4,853,306 A 8/1989 Wreede et a1. 430/1 5,712,649 A 1/1998 Tosaki _ 345/8 4,867,551 A 9/1989 Perera 351/158 5,717,479 A 2/1998 Rickards __ _351/158 4,869,575 A 9/1989 Kublk -------- -- 350/174 5,719,588 A 2/1998 16116666 .......... .. 345/8

4,884,137 A 11/1989 Hanson er @1- 358/108 5,744,788 A 4/1998 M611i161<y 6161. . 235/454 4,902,083 A 2/1990 Wells - - - - - - - - -- 350/6-6 5,751,493 A 5/1998 Hur ................ .. .359/630

4,934,773 A 6/1990 Becker ....... .. 350/6.6 5,808,589 A 9/1998 FergaSOn 345/8 4,961,626 A 10/1990 Fournier et a1. 359/630 5,815,126 A * 9/1998 Fan et aL 345/8 4,968,117 A 11/1990 Chem 91 a1- - 350/162-24 5,815,326 A 9/1998 Takahashi ................. .. 359/729 4,973,132 A 11/1990 McDonald et a1. . 350/174 5,880,888 A 3/1999 Schoenmakers et a1_ _ 359/631 4,973,139 A 11/1990 WeinhrauCh er a1- 350/345 5,886,822 A 3/1999 SpitZer .............. .. . 359/630 49886183 A 1/1991 Kasahara er a1- 351/210 5,903,395 A * 5/1999 RalliSOIl 6161. 359/630 5,003,300 A 3/1991 We1ls --------- -- 340/705 5,943,171 A 8/1999 Budd 6161. ........ .. 359/631 5,013,134 A 5/1991 Srmth ------ -- 350/174 5,973,845 A 10/1999 Hildebrand 6161. . 359/630

5,028,119 A 7/1991 H988 er a1- 350/174 5,991,103 A 11/1999 Togino .............. .. 359/834 5,044,709 A 9/1991 Sm1th_eta1- -- 359/13 6,005,720 A 12/1999 W6116r6 6161. 359/633 5,050,962 A 9/1991 Mqnmer er a1- 359/13 6,023,372 A 2/2000 SpitZer 6161. 359/630 5,053,755 A 10/1991 SImth er a1 340/705 6,081,304 A 6/2000 Kuriyama 6161. 348/838 5,129,716 A 7/1992 Holakovszky 9191 351/50 6,091,546 A 7/2000 SpitZer ..................... .. 359/618 5,138,470 A 8/1992 Moss et a1. ................. .. 359/13 5,162,828 A 11/1992 Furness et a1. ........... .. 353/122 OTHER PUBLICATIONS

5,184,250 A 2/1993 LaCIOIX ...... .. .. 359/631 _ _

5,212,471 A 5/1993 M6D6n61d ................ .. 340/705 R011“, Donald J» “01111991 Approaches to the Helmet 5,214,425 A 5/1993 Wfeede .................... .. 340/980 Mounted Display”, SPIE v01 1116 He1met—M0unted Dis 5,231,379 A 7/1993 Wood 6161. .. .. 340/705 plays (1989), pp. 14—18. 5,281,957 A 1/1994 Schoolman .................. .. 345/8 Ditlea, Steve, “Inside Big Blue”, Popular Mechanics, Dec. 5,281,960 A 1/1994 DWyer, 111 ................. .. 345/31 98, pp 54_59_

5,309,169 A 5/1994 Llppert ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' " 345/8 “Mission Impossible: Video Glasses and Sunglasses, The

5,320,538 A 6/1994 Baum ....................... .. 434/307 Absolute Ultimate In Covert Video Surveillance”, WWW'PL 5,325,386 A 6/1994 Jewell et a1. ............... .. 372/50 . mall.com/na1s/e.vsunglass.html, Oct. 27, 1998, pp. 1—4. 5,334,991 A 8/1994 W611s6161. .. .. 345/8 . .

5,348,477 A 9/1994 W616h 6161. ............... .. 434/43 Wdeo I/O Wet/766160’ Wearable Con/WW9 M-B- SPHZeret 5,359,669 A 10/1994 sh6n16y 6161. .............. .. 382/6 a1» 1310966911185 9f SPIE Conference 3989, Helmet and 5,367,345 A 11/1994 Dasilva ______ __ 351/123 Head—Mounted Displays IV, Orlando, Florida, Apr. 5 and 6, 5,369,415 A 11/1994 Richard et a1. .............. .. 345/6 1999. (Provided herein). 5,381,267 A 1/1995 359/632 Real—Time American Sign Language Recognition: Using 5,384,654 A 1/1995 359/364 Desk and Wearable Computer Based Wa'eo, Thad Starner et 5,392,158 A 2/1995 359/633 al., Perpetual Computing TR#466, MIT Media Lab., to 5,416,876 A 5/1995 6pp66r1EEE PAMI ’98, submitted Apr. 26, 1996. 5,446,507 A 8/1995 , , . WearCam (The Wearable Camera): Personal Imaging Sys 5,455,591 A 10/1995 1 . bl h 1 5,459,612 A “V1995 tems for o'ng—term 'use in weara e tet er ess 5,469,185 A 11/1995 computer—mediated reality and personal Photo/Wa'eo 5,491,510 A 2/1996 graphic Memory Prosthesis, Steve Mann, Digest of Papers 5,506,728 A 4/1996 Edwards et a1. .......... .. 359/629 of the Second International Symposium on Wearable Com

5,519,410 A 5/1996 Smalanskas et a1. 345/7 puters, Oct, 19—20, 1998, Pittsburgh, PA, pp. 124—131, A COX Ct 8.1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Sponsored Computer Society Task Force on Wear

5,539,578 A 7/1996 Togino et a1. ............ .. 359/630 able Information SYStemS 5,576,887 A 11/1996 Ferrin et a1. .. 359/631 5,579,148 A 11/1996 Nishikawa et a1. ....... .. 359/214 * cited by examiner

U.S. Patent Mar. 12, 2002 Sheet 1 0f 21 US 6,356,392 B1

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