US 12,093,446 B1
Direct retinal projector
Richard J. Topliss, Campbell, CA (US); James H. Foster, London (GB); and Alexander Shpunt, Portola Valley, CA (US)
Assigned to Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed by Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed on Sep. 13, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/473,901.
Application 17/473,901 is a continuation of application No. 15/413,310, filed on Jan. 23, 2017, granted, now 11,157,072.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/299,137, filed on Feb. 24, 2016.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06F 3/01 (2006.01); G02B 26/08 (2006.01); G02B 27/01 (2006.01); G06T 19/00 (2011.01); G06V 40/19 (2022.01); H04N 5/33 (2023.01)
CPC G06F 3/013 (2013.01) [G02B 26/0833 (2013.01); G02B 27/0172 (2013.01); G02B 27/0179 (2013.01); G06V 40/19 (2022.01); H04N 5/33 (2013.01); G02B 2027/0178 (2013.01); G02B 2027/0187 (2013.01); G06T 19/006 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system, comprising:
a scanning mirror;
a substantially ellipsoid mirror;
a projector configured to emit light to the scanning mirror, wherein the scanning mirror is configured to reflect the light to the ellipsoid mirror as a scanned light field, and wherein the ellipsoid mirror is configured to reflect the scanned light field to a subject's eye to project an image to the subject's eye;
an adjustable focusing lens located on a path of the light between the projector and the scanning mirror, wherein the adjustable focusing lens is configured to be adjusted as the light is scanned across an azimuth angle of the ellipsoid mirror to change focus of the scanned light field at different positions on the ellipsoid mirror with respect to the azimuth angle; and
one or more controllers configured to adjust the adjustable focusing lens to change focus of the scanned light field at different positions on the ellipsoid mirror with respect to the azimuth angle as the light is scanned across the azimuth angle to:
compensate for changes in optical power across the ellipsoid mirror, or
alter a beam divergence of the scanned light field to match a distance for an object in the projected image, or
defocus parts of the projected image at which the subject is not looking.