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Computer Monitor In Eyeglasses

ozancakmakci writes "We have all seen science fiction ideals of computer displays concealed in eyeglasses. One of the earlier spectacle-based designs was created by David Bettinger and disclosed in US Patent 4,806,011. Advances in fabrication technologies are now allowing complicated surface profiles to be manufactured. Exploitation of a complicated surface profile leads to low element count designs. Researchers at the University of Central Florida, CREOL/College of Optics & Photonics have designed and fabricated a computer monitor in eyeglasses that uses sophisticated surface profiles to achieve a compact design. The current specifications include an 8mm exit pupil, 20-degree field of view, 15mm eye clearance, and a resolution of 1.5 arcminutes. Follow the link for two pictures of this latest prototype." Read on for some of the challenges in designing a workable eyeglasses-based display. Regardless of market potential, there are several optical engineering challenges that need to be overcome before displays in eyeglasses become pervasive. From an optical engineering point of view, the design space is large enough and designers have to make choices. A good example of such a choice is choosing just the right field of view while maintaining high image quality and a large exit pupil. Exit pupil of an optical system is analogous to the windows at your home, the larger the windows, the easier it is to see the outside world. It has been challenging to design and fabricate a large field of view and a large exit pupil for an eyeglass based display.

13 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. submitter is the author? by nietsch · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since the submitter is the author of the article, I find it a bit upsetting that he does not show more links to information on his 'invention' or background written by others. Now it looks a bit like a bad egotrip.

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    1. Re:submitter is the author? by ozancakmakci · · Score: 3, Informative

      I added a link to a review article that we wrote which includes several related inventions. Thank you for pointing that out.

  2. Re:utility? by John+Hasler · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No need to focus close. The physical distance doesn't matter. The optics can be designed to allow the user to focus at infinity.

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  3. Re:hud by IdleTime · · Score: 4, Funny

    But can it see through womens clothes? THAT is what I want to know!

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  4. haven't these been around for a while by TrdrJoe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...at least in prototype form? http://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/lizzy/index.htm l The article doesn't articulate how the new technology is different from previous projector-based systems.

  5. A hayday for sky divers! by Micklewhite · · Score: 5, Funny

    These glasses would be quite useful for sky divers, they could see their altitude and current speed in their glasses as opposed to asking a mathematician after they land. Every time I've been sky diving the mathematician in the booth at the landing site charged nearly $100 just to tell me how fast I was going. Then once I brought along a calculator and started calculating my velocity right there. Then the mathematician got really pissed off and tried to take the calculator away from me. Then the other sky divers grabbed him and wrapped him up in a chute and rolled him into a near by river. I did all the calculations for the other sky divers for free.

    The trouble was after that the mathematician went and told the National Mathematicians Union about what I did. So the Union went to the Sky Divers Collective and told them if they kept up this 'bastard math' as they called it, they'd completely blacklist the entire skydiving community. This was a tough call on the part of the Collective, since they had something of a symbiotic relationship with the Mathematicians Union. Instead of trying to call the Union's bluff the Sky Divers Collective just blacklisted ME from ever sky diving again. I think that was a real kick in the teeth, since the conditions of the blacklist meant I wasn't even allowed to use a chute to save my own life.

    These computer monitor glasses would be a well deserved kick in the teeth for the National Mathematicians Union which I think has gotten a little too big for its britches. I imagine they'll probably be the biggest opponants of the computer glasses.

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  6. Re:utility? by kimvette · · Score: 3, Informative

    That is false.

    What WILL deteriorate your eyesight is always looking at something at a fixed distance, be it a book, monitor, etc. all day long without taking breaks, day after day, for many months. So, whether you're a software geek, an accountant, an attorney, or ($FOO) just look away from your work every little while. What I do a few times a day to exercise my eyes is look through the blinds by my desk, focus on the blinds, then focus on objects behind the blinds, and repeat a bunch of times.

    You can avoid weakening the muscles in your eyes by shifting focus to something distant. Look out the window across the street for example. Ever hear of the 'see clearly method?' I imagine they take this simple exercise (focus on something really, really close, then focus on something really distant. Repeat, rinse, wipe hands on pants) and turn it into an expensive "self help" video, but really, all that method is (probably) about is forcing your eyes to focus at the extremes to give the muscles a workout.

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  7. Re:utility? by hcob$ · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Except your eye naturally "shifts" position every few milliseconds I believe. It's a way for you to continually see since your eyes tend to "disappear" anything that is completely motionless.

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  8. What's old is new, Yawn. by rubberpaw · · Score: 3, Informative

    Head mounted displays have *not* been fiction. Steve Mann has been building these things for decades. A number of commercial solutions, based on several generations of products exist. I count a total of 17 basic wearable display product lines at Tekgear, a distributor who focuses on wearable computing hardware. This sort of thing is so common that an Open Source toolkit has been developed to deal with the real problems with these displays -- not the graphics display, but the user input. The ArToolkit is an object-recognition system which allows easy, keyboard-less interaction with a computer mediated augmented reality display. It's rather far along.

    1. Re:What's old is new, Yawn. by setirw · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yes, but these are contained within eyeglasses. All other head-mounted displays are opaque; these are transparent.

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  9. so on this screen by way2trivial · · Score: 3, Insightful

    they could adjust focus of the display from near to far on a cycle, and get rid of the need to take a break visually...

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  10. Re:utility? by brianosaurus · · Score: 3, Funny

    Its a good thing, then, that the "Computer Monitor in Eyeglasses" is in eyeglasses.

    duh.

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  11. Re:utility? by pocopoco · · Score: 3, Informative

    I have bad eyesight as well, but I can actually use my Icuiti M920 head mounted display without them because it has a diopter adjustment. Looking at the pictures in the article, I can see the creator used an Icuiti DV920 to build off of, which also has this ability.

    Of course he may have hacked that part off, or the amount it can be adjusted to may be insufficient for you.