Dynamic control of optical axis location in head-mounted displays
A head-mounted display (HMD) presented herein comprises an electronic display, an optical assembly with a dynamic optical axis component (DOAC), an eye tracker and a controller. The electronic display is configured to emit image light. The eye tracker is configured to determine a gaze vector of a user wearing the HMD. The DOAC is positioned in front of the electronic display and refracts the image light received from the electronic display. The controller provides emission instructions to the DOAC to dynamically move an optical axis of the DOAC to align the optical axis with the determined gaze vector. The optical assembly directs the image light refracted by the DOAC to an eye box of the HMD corresponding to a location of an eye of the user. An optical error associated with the refracted image light directed to the eye box is reduced.
1. A head-mounted display (HMD) comprising:
an electronic display configured to emit image light;
an eye tracker configured to determine a gaze vector of an eye of a user; and
an optical assembly including a dynamic optical axis component (DOAC) positioned in front of the electronic display, the DOAC configured to:
refract the image light received from the electronic display, and
dynamically adjust a location of an optical axis of the DOAC, based on the determined gaze vector, wherein
the optical assembly is further configured to direct the refracted image light to an eye box of the HMD corresponding to a location of the user's eye.
2. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the HMD further comprises a controller coupled to the eye tracker and the DOAC, the controller configured to:
receive information about the determined gaze vector from the eye tracker;
generate emission instructions based on the information about the determined gaze vector; and
provide the emission instructions to the DOAC to adjust the location of the optical axis of the DOAC, based on the determined gaze vector.
3. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the optical axis of the DOAC is dynamically adjusted to be within a threshold distance from the determined gaze vector.
4. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the optical axis of the DOAC is dynamically adjusted to align with the determined gaze vector.
5. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the DOAC includes at least one liquid crystal lens having an optical axis that is dynamically adjusted to align with the determined gaze vector.
6. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the optical axis is dynamically adjusted based on a voltage level applied to each electrode in an electrode pattern of the DOAC.
7. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the DOAC includes at least one liquid crystal lens having a plurality of concentric ring sections, and a location of a ring center of the concentric ring sections is dynamically changed based on the determined gaze vector.
8. The HMD of claim 7 , wherein the ring center is within a threshold distance from the gaze vector.
9. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the optical assembly is further configured to:
adjust focus of the refracted image light such that the refracted image light reaching the eye box is in focus at the determined gaze vector.
10. A head-mounted display (HMD) comprising:
an electronic display configured to emit image light;
an optical assembly including a dynamic optical axis component (DOAC) positioned in front of the electronic display and configured to refract the image light received from the electronic display;
an eye tracker configured to determine a gaze vector of an eye of a user;
a controller coupled to the eye tracker and the DOAC, the controller configured to receive information about the determined gaze vector from the eye tracker;
generate emission instructions based on the information about the determined gaze vector; and
provide the emission instructions to the DOAC to dynamically adjust a location of an optical axis of the DOAC, based on the determined gaze vector, wherein
the optical assembly is further configured to direct the refracted image light to an eye box of the HMD corresponding to a location of the user's eye.
11. The HMD of claim 10 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
dynamically move the optical axis of the DOAC to be within a threshold distance from the determined gaze vector, based on the emission instructions.
12. The HMD of claim 10 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
dynamically move the optical axis of the DOAC to align the optical axis with the determined gaze vector, based on the emission instructions.
13. The HMD of claim 10 , wherein the DOAC includes at least one liquid crystal lens having the optical axis that is dynamically adjusted to align with the determined gaze vector.
14. The HMD of claim 10 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
apply a voltage level to each electrode of an electrode pattern of the DOAC to align the optical axis with the determined gaze vector, based on the emission instructions.
15. The HMD of claim 10 , wherein the DOAC includes at least one liquid crystal lens having a plurality of concentric ring sections, and the controller is further configured to:
dynamically change a location of a ring center of the concentric ring sections to track the determined gaze vector, based on the emission instructions.
16. The HMD of claim 15 , wherein the ring center is within a threshold distance from the gaze vector.
17. The HMD of claim 10 , wherein the optical assembly is further configured to:
adjust focus of the refracted image light such that the refracted image light reaching the eye box is in focus at the determined gaze vector, based in part on the emission instructions.
18. A method comprising:
determining a gaze vector associated with a user's eye;
generating emission instructions based in part of the determined gaze vector; and
providing the emission instructions to a dynamic optical axis component (DOAC) configured to refract image light emitted from an electronic display toward an eye box corresponding to a location of the user's eye, wherein a location of an optical axis of the DOAC is dynamically adjusted to track the determined gaze vector, based in part on the emission instructions.
19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
instructing the DOAC to adjust the location of the optical axis such that the optical axis is within a threshold distance from the determined gaze vector, based on the emission instructions.
20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
instructing the DOAC to dynamically move the optical axis to align the optical axis with the determined gaze vector, based on the emission instructions.