US 11,914,767 B2
Glint-based eye tracker illumination using dual-sided and dual-layered architectures
Marco Ilmari Mattila, Kauniainen (FI); Ari Juhani Tervonen, Vantaa (FI); Simo Kaarlo Tapani Tammela, Espoo (FI); Pasi Antero Kostamo, Kauniainen (FI); Klaus Henrik Valtteri Kalima, Porvoo (FI); and Mervi Kaarina Yla-Jarkko, Hameenlinna (FI)
Assigned to Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed by Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed on Jul. 6, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/858,843.
Application 17/858,843 is a continuation of application No. 17/322,800, filed on May 17, 2021, granted, now 11,397,465.
Prior Publication US 2022/0365596 A1, Nov. 17, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06F 3/01 (2006.01); G02B 27/01 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 3/013 (2013.01) [G02B 27/0172 (2013.01); G02B 27/0179 (2013.01); G02B 2027/0123 (2013.01); G02B 2027/0174 (2013.01); G02B 2027/0187 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An illumination system, disposed in a near-eye mixed-reality display system, adapted for providing illumination for an eye tracker, comprising:
at least one see-through optical waveguide through which real-world images are viewable by a user of the mixed-reality display system;
an input coupler disposed on a first layer of the see-through optical waveguide configured to in-couple one or more beams of infrared (IR) light from an IR illumination source into the see-through optical waveguide;
an output coupler disposed on the first layer of the see-through optical waveguide configured to out-couple the one or more beams of IR light from the see-through optical waveguide;
a diffuser disposed on a second layer of the see-through optical waveguide configured to spread the out-coupled one or more beams of IR light into a predetennined angular distribution to generate one or more IR point sources, wherein the diffuser is aligned along a propagation path of the one or more beams of IR light that are out-coupled from the output coupler; and
a third layer of the optical waveguide separating the first and second layers, wherein the third layer has a refractive index that is different from a refractive index of the first layer or has a refractive index that is different from a refractive index of the second layer.