US 11,782,290 B2
Apparatus and method for displaying three-dimensional image
Ilmars Osmanis, Mārupes novads (LV); Kriss Osmanis, Babītes nov. (LV); Roberts Zabels, Riga (LV); Martins Narels, Riga (LV); Ugis Gertners, Riga (LV); and Sandra Balode, Ogres nov. (LV)
Assigned to Lightspace Group, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Filed by Lightspace Group, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Filed on May 21, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/326,405.
Prior Publication US 2022/0373819 A1, Nov. 24, 2022
Int. Cl. G02B 30/52 (2020.01); G02B 27/01 (2006.01)
CPC G02B 30/52 (2020.01) [G02B 27/0101 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus for displaying a three-dimensional image, the apparatus comprising
a light source;
an intensity modulator employed to modulate the intensity of a given light beam emanating from the light source;
a mirror device employed to receive an intensity-modulated light beam and to modulate spatially the intensity-modulated light beam at a given time instant;
a first optics employed to receive the spatially-modulated light beam and to collimate the spatially-modulated light beam;
an image waveguide comprising
an in-coupling structure employed to receive the collimated light beam, wherein the collimated light beam corresponds to a given coordinate representing a two-dimensional image information at a given time instant,
an out-coupling structure comprising out-coupling sites,
wherein the image waveguide is employed to direct the collimated light beam via total internal reflections within the image waveguide from the in-coupling structure to the out-coupling structure to form multiple reflections of the collimated light beam, and
wherein the out-coupling structure is interposed between a surface of the image waveguide and a segmented optical structure and is employed to selectively redirect the multiple reflections via the outcoupling-sites towards the segmented optical structure, the multiple reflections representing a coordinate of a two-dimensional image;
the segmented optical structure aligned with the out-coupling structure of the image waveguide, the segmented optical structure comprising segments comprising active transparent objects corresponding to the outcoupling sites of the out-coupling structure,
wherein the segments comprise at least two groups of segments:
a first group of segments comprising the active transparent objects employed to redirect at least a first part of the multiple reflections to switch a first type image point P1 of the two-dimensional image between two first focal distances d1, d1′, and
a second group of segments comprising the active transparent objects employed to redirect at least a second part of the multiple reflections to form a second type image point P2 of the two-dimensional image between two second focal distances d2, d2′.