Patent ID: 11892640
Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
Field: Optics (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A waveguide combiner having a plurality of plates arranged in a stack usable in a mixed-reality environment including views of a real world combined with images of virtual objects from a virtual world, comprising:
a see-through waveguide forming a bottom plate in the stack through which the real world is viewable by a user of the waveguide combiner;
a top plate in the stack, the top plate including an input coupler and a top reflective optical element (ROE);
a bottom ROE included with the bottom plate, in which the top ROE and the bottom ROE have footprints with a common shape and size, the footprints being aligned in the stack; and
an output coupler included with the bottom plate,
wherein the top ROE receives virtual image light having an entrance pupil from the input coupler, expands the virtual image light to provide one-dimensional exit pupil expansion in a first direction, and couples the virtual image light to the bottom ROE,
wherein the bottom ROE receives the virtual image light from the top ROE and couples the virtual image light to the output coupler, and
wherein the output coupler receives the virtual image light from the bottom ROE, expands the virtual image light to provide one-dimensional exit pupil expansion in a second direction that is orthogonal to the first direction, and out-couples the virtual image light to an eye of the user with an expanded exit pupil in the first and second directions relative to the entrance pupil.