Virtual image display system

Abstract

A thickness of a tapered part provided at the deeper side (−X side) in a light guide direction of a light transmission member is smaller toward the deeper side, and thus, a reflection angle of ghost light that has passed through a fourth reflection surface provided with a half mirror layer and reached the light transmission member gradually becomes smaller within the tapered part and no longer satisfies a total reflection condition, and the light is ejected to the outside in the position diverging from an eye of an observer. That is, the tapered part may prevent the ghost light from reaching the eye and good see-through observation can be realized.

Description

BACKGROUND[0001]1. Technical Field[0002]The present invention relates to a virtual image display system such as a head-mounted display mounted on a head.[0003]2. Related Art[0004]Recently, as virtual image display systems that enable formation and observation of virtual images like head-mounted displays, various systems of a type of guiding image light from a display device to an eye of an observer using a light guide plate have been proposed.[0005]In the virtual image display systems, for superimposition of image light and external light, see-through optical systems have been proposed (see Patent Document 1 (JP-A-2006-3879) and Patent Document 2 (JP-A-2010-224473)).[0006]However, in the system described in Patent Document 1 and the like, seeing through is realized by an eye division method using a light guide optical system having a smaller output aperture than the eye size, and it is difficult to make the display size of the virtual image larger. Further, since the light guide opt...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This patent is about a virtual image display system that can display a realistic and unobstructed image through a see-through mechanism. The system uses a light guide and a number of reflections to achieve this. By combining the light guide and the light transmission member, the system can provide a see-through mechanism and allow for the observation of external images superimposed on the virtual image. The system also prevents the return of ghost light from the light guide to the light transmission member. Additionally, the patent describes the use of a molded heat polymerization resin material for the light guide and light transmission member, which improves lightweight and safety.

Problems solved by technology

However, in the system described in Patent Document 1 and the like, seeing through is realized by an eye division method using a light guide optical system having a smaller output aperture than the eye size, and it is difficult to make the display size of the virtual image larger.

Further, since the light guide optical system smaller than the eye size is used, it is difficult to make the effective pupil diameter (lighting diameter that enables introduction of virtual images, also referred to as “eye ring diameter”) for matching with the individual pupil distances of humans.

Furthermore, since the output aperture and the casing of the light guide optical system is placed physically near the eye, a blind spot is produced and seeing through is not complete.

In this case, one liquid crystal panel should display the center image and the right and left images forming the whole image while changing them with time differences, and the virtual image display system becomes complicated and the images for observation become darker.

Besides, a virtual image display system that enables observation of virtual images by superimposition on external light using a light guide member having a light-exiting part covering the view without necessity to join the images with time differences is conceivable, however, it is not easy to display a large image, and, when a member such as a prism for seeing through is connected to the light guide member, ghost light is generated by the member and the ghost light becomes easier to reach.

In this case, unwanted light that has reached the light transmission member is diffused by the light blocking part and becomes hard to be returned to the light guide member as ghost light.

In this case, the unwanted light that has reached the light transmission member is absorbed by the light blocking part and becomes hard to be returned to the light guide member as ghost light.