EP-4741909-A1 - ELECTRONIC DEVICE

Abstract

The present disclosure may provide an electronic device that is thinner than conventional devices and does not require a lens for vision correction, the electronic device including a display panel for displaying an image, a pinhole array having a plurality of pinholes, and a lens array having a plurality of optical elements corresponding to the plurality of pinholes for magnifying an image passing through each pinhole.

Inventors

• JU, Yeongyeong
• Shin, Sungchul
• JEONG, Moongi
• KIM, DONGWOOK
• KIM, TAEHO

Assignees

• LG Electronics Inc.

Dates

Publication Date

20260513

Application Date

20230802

Claims (20)

1. An electronic device comprising: a display panel configured to display an image; a pinhole array comprising a plurality of pinholes; and a lens array comprising a plurality of optical elements respectively corresponding to the plurality of pinholes and for enlarging the image passing through each pinhole.
2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of pinholes and the plurality of optical elements correspond to each other in a ratio of 1:1, N:1, or 1:N.
3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of optical elements is equipped as one of a general lens, a Fresnel lens, and a diffractive element.
4. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising an optical path correcting lens for correcting an optical path of the image toward a user's eye in a horizontal direction.
5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the optical path correcting lens is equipped as one of a general lens, a Fresnel lens, and a diffractive element.
6. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the optical path correcting lens is disposed between the lens array and the pinhole array.
7. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the pinhole array is disposed between the lens array and the optical path correcting lens.
8. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the lens array is disposed between the pinhole array and the optical path correcting lens.
9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the pinhole array and one surface of the lens array facing the pinhole array are formed as curved surfaces.
10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein an opposite surface of the lens array is formed as a plane.
11. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the lens array and the optical path correcting lens are integrated to constitute an optical path correcting lens array.
12. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the optical path correcting lens array comprises a lens body and the plurality of optical elements protruding from one surface of the lens body, wherein each of the plurality of protruding optical elements is inserted into each one of the plurality of pinholes.
13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein an opposite surface of the lens body forms a curved surface.
14. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the lens array comprises a pancake lens layer configured to allow a light beam of the image to be reflected therein in a reciprocating manner and to be transmitted therethrough using a polarization principle.
15. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein, among both surfaces of the lens array, the pancake lens layer is disposed on one surface facing the display panel.
16. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of pinholes has a circular or polygonal planar shape.
17. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein a separation distance between pinholes adjacent to each other increases from a center toward a periphery of the pinhole array.
18. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of pinholes are distributed in one of a lattice pattern, a diamond pattern, and a circular pattern.
19. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein an aperture of each of the plurality of pinholes is equal to or greater than 400µm.
20. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein a separation distance between the pinhole array and the display panel is smaller than 40mm.

Description

[Technical Field] The present disclosure relates to an electronic device, and more particularly, to an electronic device such as a wearable display used in Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and the like. [Background] Virtual reality (VR) refers to a specific environment, situation, or technology itself that is similar to reality created by artificial technology using computers or the like, but is not real. Augmented Reality (AR) refers to a technology that synthesizes virtual objects or information in a real environment and makes them look like objects existing in an original environment. Mixed reality (MR) or hybrid reality refers to creating a new environment or new information by combining a virtual world and a real world. In particular, it is called mixed reality when it refers to something that can interact in real time between real and virtual things. In this case, the created virtual environment, situation, or the like stimulates user's five senses and allows them to freely enter and exit the boundary between reality and imagination by allowing them to experience space and time similar to the real thing. In addition, users may not only simply immerse themselves in this environment, but also interact with things implemented in this environment, such as manipulating or issuing commands using a real device. Recently, research on equipment (gear) used in such technical fields is being actively conducted. Wearable displays producing an image in the air are generally divided into two types. That is, there are a helmet-type wearable display worn on a user's head and a glasses-type wearable display. A helmet-type wearable display has a structure in which an optical lens system has an increased volume so as to produce a large image through an expanded field of view (FOV) and is mounted on a user's head, and is thus referred to as a head mounted display (HMD). Therefore, the helmet-type wearable display is used in professional fields requiring a restricted space with little motion, such as military training (cyber flight training) and cyber games. On the other hand, the glasses-type wearable display has a viewing structure worn over nose and ears like a glasses structure, and is in a compact form that is lightweight and small in size so as to be easily used even in a mobile environment. A wearable display 10, as shown in FIG. 1, may be formed in a direct-view structure in which a panel and a lens are mounted in front of a user's eye (or pupil) E. That is, the wearable display 10 having the direct-view structure may include a display panel 100, a virtual image generating lens (or lens group) 200, and a vision correcting lens 250. The display panel 100 may generate an image viewable by the user of the wearable display 10. The virtual image generating lens 200 enlarges the generated image, so that the user may view the generated image as a virtual image. The virtual image may appear to be about 1m to 3m away from the user. The vision correcting lens 250 corrects for a user's refractive error (e.g., myopia, hyperopia, and the like), so that the image may be clearly viewed. In order for the virtual image generating lens 200 to generate the virtual image, a predetermined separation distance between the virtual image generating lens 200 and the display panel 100 is required. The separation distance may be a distance similar to a focal length of the lens. The separation distance may have a significant influence on a thickness (in a Z direction) of the wearable display 10. That is, the separation distance being great may mean that the thickness of the wearable display 10 is inevitably increased. In order to reduce the separation distance while maintaining an optical path length between the virtual image generating lens 200 and the display panel 100, it may be considered that a pancake lens (or lens group) is disposed between the virtual image generating lens 200 and the display panel 100. Even when the pancake lens is disposed, the separation distance may only be reduced to about one-half or one-third, so that there is a limit to reducing the thickness of the wearable display 10. In addition, the pancake lens inevitably lowers light efficiency. In addition, the provision of the pancake lens may increase a manufacturing cost of the wearable display 10. In one example, the vision correcting lens 250 itself may be a factor that increases the thickness of the wearable display 10. In addition, because eyesight may be different for each user, there is an inconvenience of having to purchase a vision correcting lens suitable for each user. [Summary] [Technical Problem] The present disclosure is proposed to solve the above-described problems and various problems related thereto, and a technical purpose of the present disclosure is to provide an electronic device such as a wearable display that is thinner compared to existing devices and does not require a vision correcting lens. [Technical Soluti