Head-up display
A head-up display arranged to form a virtual image viewable from an eye-box area. The head-up display is arranged to received picture content within a sub-region of a substantially quadrilateral display area. The head-up display further comprises an optical relay system arranged to relay the received picture content to an eye-box of the head-up display such that a virtual image of the picture content is visible therefrom. The optical relay system comprises at least one optical component shaped in correspondence with the shape of the sub-region. The shape of the eye-box area is non-rectangular such as a corner-cropped rectangular shape or elliptical shape.
1. A head-up display arranged to form virtual images viewable from an eye-box area, wherein the head-up display comprises:
a picture generating unit comprising an array of pixels arranged to form a substantially quadrilateral display area, wherein the picture generating unit is arranged to display picture content in a sub-region of the quadrilateral display area;
an optical relay system arranged to relay light from the sub-region of the quadrilateral display area to an eye-box area of the head-up display such that a virtual image of the picture content within the sub-region is visible therefrom, wherein the optical relay system comprises at least one optical component shaped in correspondence with the shape of the sub-region,
wherein the shape of the eye-box area is non-rectangular.
2. The head-up display as claimed in claim 1 wherein the eye-box area comprises a substantially quadrilateral core shape and at least one cropped corner.
3. The head-up display as claimed in claim 2 wherein the quadrilateral core shape is a rectangle, optionally, wherein the long dimension of the rectangle is substantially horizontal during normal usage.
4. The head-up display as claimed in claim 2 wherein the at least one cropped corner comprises two or four cropped corners.
5. The head-up display as claimed in claim 4 wherein the two or four cropped corners are equal in size in at least one dimension, optionally, equal in size in two perpendicular dimensions.
6. The head-up display as claimed in claim 4 wherein each cropped corner has a size in a first dimension of 15% to 45% the maximum size of the eye-box area in the first dimension.
7. The head-up display as claimed in claim 1 wherein the eye-box area has an octagonal shape or diamond shape.
8. The head-up display as claimed in claim 1 wherein the eye-box area has a shape comprising at least five straight sides, optionally, at least six straight sides such as eight straight sides.
9. The head-up display as claimed in claim 1 wherein the eye-box area has a substantially elliptical shape.
10. The head-up display as claimed in claim 1 wherein the sub-region of the quadrilateral display area comprises a quadrilateral core shape and at least one cropped corner, optionally, two or four cropped corners.
11. The head-up display as claimed in claim 1 wherein the sub-region of the quadrilateral display area has a shape comprising at least five straight sides.
12. The head-up display as claimed in claim 1 wherein the quadrilateral display area is the array of pixels or corresponds to the array of pixels.
13. The head-up display as claimed claim 1 wherein the quadrilateral display area is a holographic replay field spatially separated from a display device comprising the array of pixels.
14. The head-up display as claimed in claim 13 wherein the display device is arranged to display a hologram of the picture content.
15. The head-up display as claimed in claim 1 wherein the picture generating unit comprises a holographic projector.
16. The head-up display as claimed in claim 1 wherein the picture generating unit comprises at least one of a backlit liquid crystal display, a laser scanning display, a digital micro-mirror device, a fluorescent display, and a plasma display.
17. A head-up display arranged to form a virtual image viewable from an eye-box area, wherein the head-up display is arranged to receive picture content within a sub-region of a substantially quadrilateral display area, wherein the head-up display further comprises:
an optical relay system arranged to relay the received picture content to an eye-box area of the head-up display such that a virtual image of the picture content is visible therefrom, wherein the optical relay system comprises at least one optical component shaped in correspondence with the shape of the sub-region,
wherein the shape of the eye-box area is non-rectangular.
18. A method of forming virtual images viewable from an eye-box area, the method comprising:
forming a substantially quadrilateral display area, by way of a picture generating unit comprising an array of pixels, wherein the picture generating unit is arranged to display picture content in a sub-region of the quadrilateral display area; and
relaying light from the sub-region of the quadrilateral display area to an eye-box area of the head-up display, by way of an optical relay system, such that a virtual image of the picture content within the sub-region is visible therefrom, wherein the optical relay system comprises at least one optical component shaped in correspondence with the shape of the sub-region,
wherein the shape of the eye-box area is non-rectangular.