Pinlight Displays: Wide Field of View Augmented Reality Eyeglasses using Defocused Point Light Sources

We present a novel design for an optical see-through augmented reality display that offers a wide field of view and supports a compact form factor approaching ordinary eyeglasses. Instead of conventional optics, our design uses only two simple hardware components: an LCD panel and an array of point light sources (implemented as an edge-lit, etched acrylic sheet) placed directly in front of the eye, out of focus. We code the point light sources through the LCD to form miniature see-through projectors. A virtual aperture encoded on the LCD allows the projectors to be tiled, creating an arbitrarily wide field of view. Software rearranges the target augmented image into tiled sub-images sent to the display, which appear as the correct image when observed out of the viewer's accommodation range. We evaluate the design space of tiled point light projectors with an emphasis on increasing spatial resolution through the use of eye tracking. We demonstrate feasibility through software simulations and a real-time prototype display that offers a 110 degrees diagonal field of view in the form factor of large glasses and discuss remaining challenges to constructing a practical display.