Ocutrx Technologies Receives Three Patents On Near-eye Pupil-forming Catadioptric Optical Engine
Ocutrx Technologies, an augmented/extended reality (AR/XR) and 3D visualization manufacturing company, announced the issuance of three new patents on its unique Near-Eye Pupil-Forming Catadioptric Optical Engine by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
David Kessler, PhD, was the first named inventor on all three patents, followed by Michael Freeman, founder and CEO/CTO; Mitchael Freeman, COO; and Jordan Boss the Ocutrx Chief Product Engineer. The patents teach the largest field-of-view (FOV) in the AR industry at 70 degrees FOV diagonally (60 horizontally and 40 degrees vertically).
These patents are important in the augmented and extended reality industry because virtually every other headset manufacturer, like Microsoft (HoloLens 2), Magic Leap, Beyeonics (Clear), Augmedic (Xvision), or Dispelix use “waveguide” technologies to create their AR images. Waveguide optics, as a general rule, restricted the user to a limited field-of-view and typically are plagued with chromatic aberrations and artifacts. While Ocutrx’s patents cover a completely new method which is not waveguide related, according to a company news release.
“After attending SPIE (the global photonics convention) this year, it is my impression that nothing else in AR has such a large field-of-view, high resolution, brightness, and crisp artifact-free cinematic quality except Ocutrx’s Catidioptrxx optics in their AR/XR headsets,” said Dr. Kessler, Ocutrx’s Chief Optical Engineer, and a member of the Ocutrx International Scientific Advisory Board, chaired by William Link, PhD.
The first patent, US11,112,611 issued in September of 2021, entitled “System and Method for a Wearable Pupil-Forming Display Apparatus” covers the company’s AR/XR wearable headset called OcuLenz and its specific lens configuration based on catadioptric optics which form a superimposed 3D image from electroluminescent image generator onto a visible object scene, using pupil imaging. The headset patent includes several sensors, like Time of Flight, SLAM, head and hand gesturing sensors, 6DOF tracking, and voice UI and context awareness. The patent also covers actuators for adapting generated image content to the viewer. This patent covers which is believed to be the largest field-of-view in the industry at 60 degrees horizontally and 40 degrees vertically, which is a 16:9 configuration which consumers are sued to in televisions and monitors.
The second patent, 11,1O7,610 issued in October of 2021 entitled “System, Method, and Non-Transitory Computer-Readable Storage Media Related Wearable Pupil-Forming Display Apparatus with Variable Opacity and Dynamic Focal Length Adjustment” covers the AR/XR headset with added “Dynamic Opacity” which is a light modulator in the visible path capable of varying opacity of the visible object scene according to image characteristics. Similar to photochromatic lenses, the Dynamic Opacity permits a user to increase the shading on the outer lens so that the virtual image can still be seen in bright light conditions or on a sunny day. This solves one of the most troublesome problems for AR which is the brightness of the image in bright light conditions. This patent also solves another of the industry’s tough unsolved problems, of the eyes looking both near and far, and still having a clear virtual image. When looking at close real-world objects closer focal length is advantageous. To achieve this, the patent’s solution provides automatic sensor measurement for diopter adjustment of the optical relay optics as a part of a focal plane adjustment system.
The third patentUS Patent No. 11,181,747 scheduled to issue in late November of 2021, is entitled “Wearable Pupil-Forming Display Apparatus” and its claims cover an AR/XR headset with catadioptric optics and microdisplays which are positioned perpendicular and away from the user’s forehead to reduce heat to the user. It also covers eye-tracking in the headset and additional control system function and features as well as data acquisition for the viewer.
“We have had a trifecta of a patent a month for the last 3 months and we are incredibly pleased to add these important patents to our Intellectual property portfolio and the value of our company. These patents bring us to eight (8) patents issued now, with over a hundred pending in more than 30 patent families,” said Michael Freeman, CEO/CTO of Ocutrx Vision Technologies. “These patents are important to the entire augmented reality headset industry, which is expected to bloom to over $300 billion per year.”
“We also applaud Dr. Kessler on his 100th patent, which was the 3rd optical patent for Ocutrx,” Mr. Freeman added.Most of Dr. Kessler’s other patents were for Eastman Kodak Company where he manages their Advanced Optical Systems Design Group within Kodak Research Labs.