A head-up display is described. A spatial light modulator is arranged to display a diffractive pattern of first picture content and/or second picture content. A screen assembly has first and second diffusers arranged in a stepped configuration so that the first diffuser is spatially offset from the second diffuser by a perpendicular distance. A light source is arranged to illuminate the diffractive pattern such that the first picture content is formed on the first diffuser and/or the second picture content is formed on the second diffuser. An optical system comprising at least one optical element having optical power is arranged so that the first and second diffusers have different object distances to the optical system.

An augmented reality display system is configured to direct a plurality of parallactically-disparate intra-pupil images into a viewer's eye. The parallactically-disparate intra-pupil images provide different parallax views of a virtual object, and impinge on the pupil from different angles. In the aggregate, the wavefronts of light forming the images approximate a continuous divergent wavefront and provide selectable accommodation cues for the user, depending on the amount of parallax disparity between the intra-pupil images. The amount of parallax disparity is selected using a light source that outputs light for different images from different locations, with spatial differences in the locations of the light output providing differences in the paths that the light takes to the eye, which in turn provide different amounts of parallax disparity. Advantageously, the wavefront divergence, and the accommodation cue provided to the eye of the user, may be varied by appropriate selection of parallax disparity, which may be set by selecting the amount of spatial separation between the locations of light output.

A virtual or augmented reality display system that controls power inputs to the display system as a function of image data. Image data itself is made of a plurality of image data frames, each with constituent color components of, and depth planes for displaying on, rendered content. Light sources or spatial light modulators to relay illumination from the light sources may receive signals from a display controlled to adjust a power setting to the light source or spatial light modulator based on control information embedded in an image data frame.

The present invention embraces a system, device, and method for adding lighting effects to augmented reality (AR) content (i.e., virtual objects). Light sensors in an augmented reality (AR) system monitor an environment's lighting conditions to acquire lighting data that can be used to create (or update) virtual light sources. Depth sensors in the AR system sense the environment to acquire mapping data that can be used to create a 3D model of the environment while tracking the system's location within the environment. Algorithms running on a processor may then add the virtual light sources to the 3D model of the environment so that, when AR content is created, lighting effects corresponding to the virtual light sources can be added. The resulting AR content with virtual lighting effects appear more realistic to a user.

Provided are an apparatus and method for measuring a visual acuity (VA) by using a focus-tunable lens. The apparatus includes a display engine, an image combiner, a focus-tunable lens provided on a path of the light guided by the image combiner, an input device, and a processor configured to control the focus-tunable lens to assign different first and second optical powers to first and second lens regions, respectively, on a lens surface of the focus-tunable lens, control the display engine to display a VA measuring image through first and second output regions of the image combiner, control the input device to receive a user's input with respect to the VA measuring image, specify one optical power of the first and second optical powers based on the user's input, and determine a VA of a user based on the specified optical power.

Diffraction gratings provide optical elements in head-mounted display systems to, e.g., incouple light into or out-couple light out of a waveguide. These diffraction gratings may be configured to have reduced polarization sensitivity. Such gratings may, for example, incouple or outcouple light of different polarizations with similar level of efficiency. The diffraction gratings and waveguides may include a transmissive layer and a metal layer. The diffraction grating may comprises a blazed grating.

A optical system of a head mounted display (HMD) system that includes a lens assembly comprising a first lens element and a second lens element that are directly or indirectly coupled together, for example, via a suitable optically clear adhesive. The lens assembly may include a quarter-wave plate disposed between the first and second lens elements. The first lens element may include a surface with an anti-reflective coating thereon, and the second lens element may include a surface with a partially reflective coating thereon. The optical system may include a reflective polarizer that, together with the lens assembly, focuses light from a display system to an eye of a user of the head mounted display system.

Provided is a display apparatus including an image generator configured to time-sequentially generate a plurality of images by modulating light, and an optical system including a freeform surface that is configured to time-sequentially form a plurality of virtual images respectively corresponding to the plurality of images at different depths from a user's eye, wherein each error value among error values between the plurality of images and the plurality of virtual images respectively corresponding to the plurality of images on the freeform surface is less than or equal to a profile value of the freeform surface.

An image display device includes a display unit which displays a first image and a second image, and a projection optical system which directs light of the first image and light of the second image toward a windshield. The display unit displays the first image and the second image in different display areas on the same plane. The projection optical system sets an image point of the light of the first image and an image point of the light of the second image, so that a first virtual image and a second virtual image are formed at positions having different distances from a viewing point within a visible area.

Examples of light projector systems and methods of use. A method can include providing an optical device having a first surface, a second surface normal to the first surface, and a third surface arranged at an angle to the second surface. The third surface can be reflective to light of a first state and transmissive to light of a second state. An input beam having the first state can be normally incident on the first surface. A transmissive diffractive optical element on the first surface can convert the input beam into at least a first diffracted beam directed toward the third surface, where it is reflected by the third surface in a direction substantially parallel to the first surface. The reflected first diffracted beam can be modulated with image information using a spatial light modulator to produce a modulated light beam having the second state.