Granted Patent B2

US 12,242,066 · App. 18/234,806 · Granted Mar 4, 2025

Inventors: Brian T. Schowengerdt (Seattle, WA); Mathew D. Watson (Bellevue, WA); Brandon Michael-James Born (Sunnyvale, CA); Samarth Bhargava (Saratoga, CA); Victor Kai Liu (Mountain View, CA)

Assignee: Magic Leap, Inc.

G02B27/0172G02B6/0015G02B6/0038G02B27/0081G02B2027/0125G02B2027/0178

Abstract

Claims (27)

1. A method of operating an eyepiece waveguide, the method comprising:

directing light from a projector to impinge on an incoupling grating (ICG);

diffracting a first fraction of the light from the projector into a first portion of the eyepiece waveguide, propagating the first fraction of the light into a second portion of the eyepiece waveguide, and diffracting the first fraction of the light out of the eyepiece waveguide; and

diffracting a second fraction of the light from the projector into the second portion of the eyepiece waveguide, propagating the second fraction of the light into the first portion of the eyepiece waveguide, and diffracting the second fraction out of the eyepiece waveguide.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the eyepiece waveguide includes:

a first set of diffractive optical elements disposed in the first portion and oriented at a positive angle with respect to an axis; and

a second set of diffractive optical elements disposed in the second portion and oriented at a negative angle with respect to the axis.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the positive angle is ˜30° and the negative angle is ˜−30°.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the first set of diffractive optical elements comprises a first set of gratings and the second set of diffractive optical elements comprises a second set of gratings.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first set of diffractive optical elements extends into the second portion and the second set of diffractive optical elements extends into the first portion to form an overlap region.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the overlap region is formed along the axis.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the overlap region is centered on the axis.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein the axis passes through the ICG.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the light from the projector impinges on the ICG at a non-zero angle of incidence.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein propagating the first fraction of the light into the second portion of the eyepiece waveguide comprises diffracting the first fraction of the light from the first portion into the second portion.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein propagating the second fraction of the light into the first portion of the eyepiece waveguide comprises diffracting the second fraction of the light into the first portion.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising forming a first field of view associated with the first fraction of the light, and a second field of view associated with the second fraction of the light.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the first field of view and the second field of view are contiguous.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the first field of view and the second field of view form a combined field of view.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the first field of view and the second field of view overlap to form the combined field of view.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the first field of view and the second field of view are tiled to form the combined field of view.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the eyepiece waveguide has a first surface and a second surface opposing the first surface; and

the ICG is formed on or in the first surface.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the eyepiece waveguide has a first surface and a second surface opposing the first surface; and

the ICG is formed on or in the second surface.

Assignments (4)

Continuity (4)

References Cited (93)