Augmented Reality is more than Virtual Reality
Latest tech hints
This page will continue to fill with new technology ideas as they appear.
Infinity is simple !
As we have seen with headup displays, an image at virtual infinity means pixel positions on the display are converted to angles, and any lateral displacement of the display unit does not change the angular positions of the displayed objects (this is the same effect making the moon appear to follow us if we drive in a car). This principle, called 'collimated display', is also used for the panoramic displays in professional flight simulators.
With headup displays, aiming is possible by pointing the entire plane. A virtual center mark at infinity shown by the headup display will always stay aligned, regardless of the head position of the pilot.
With display glasses, a virtual image at infinity also does not change it's position if the display glasses are changing lateral position or distance to the eye, as any image pixel has only one property: it's angle. Only tilting of the display glasses can change the angular image position.
This configuration requires display glasses with large exit pupils, hence laser scanners are not ideal for this concept. A proper optical construction, keeping the ideal parallelity of the exit beams for a large exit volume, is also required. One technology naturally delivering virtual images at infinity is the q-sight display by BAE Systems. Another solution may be the simple one-mirror glasses construction with a geometry corrected display chip.
A viewfinder frame for
a camera fixed to the glasses for example, will stay properly
aligned for any distant motives regardless of proper 'fitting'
of the glasses.
Projected information can be perfectly aligned to distant objects,
requiring only the location and angular direction of the glasses
themselves to be known.
For near objects, the alignment is lost of course, and corrections
have to be applied.
For the popular applications as are known from current display phones, this concept is perfectly sufficient and can be implemented quite simply. While display phones add information to camera pictures shown on a screen, display glasses overlay information directly to the user's sight, a considerable advantage.
Which does not mean
it supports Augmented Reality for real -
no virtual
devices, no mask display, no dynamic focusing and so on, all of which still requires eye
trackers and other add-ons.
2010-06-13
home news order
Copyright© 2006-2010
Rolf R. Hainich; all
materials on this website are copyrighted.
Disclaimer: All proprietary names and product names mentioned
are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
We do not imply that any of the technologies or ideas described
or mentioned herein are free of patent or other rights of ourselves
or others. We do also not take any responsibility or guarantee
for the correctness or legal status of any information in this
book or this website or any documents or links mentioned herein
and do not encourage or recommend any use of it. You may use
the information presented herein at your own risk and responsibility
only. To the best of our knowledge and belief no trademark or
copyright infringement exists in these materials. In the fiction
part of the book, the sketches, and anything printed in special
typefaces, names, companies, cities, and countries are used fictitiously
for the purpose of illustrating examples, and any resemblance
to actual persons, living or dead, organizations, business establishments,
events, or locales is entirely coincidental. If you have any
questions or objections, please contact us immediately. "We"
in all above terms comprises the publisher as well as the author.
If you intend to use any of the ideas mentioned in the book or
this website, please do your own research and patent research
and contact the author.