The leading company in this area is Microvision. The company’s heavily patented Retinal Scanning Display (RSD) or Virtual Retinal Display (VRD) technology was originally developed at the Human Interface Lab (HIT) at the University of Washington. Microvision continues to develop the technology under contracts with the U.S. Air Force and General Dynamics on behalf of the U.S. Army.
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| Courtesy of Microvision |
For a soldier, putting his head down to look at a map or computer display could mean the difference between life and death. Microvision’s personal displays will allow combat soldiers to look out over enemy terrain while using a battlefield computer to view maps, identify enemy locations and choose the optimum path.
The commercial version will take the form factor of a pair of fashionable glasses and is designed to work directly with media players, cell phones and laptops, letting you watch movies, work on a computer, play video games or utilize social networking applications on your own high resolution, totally private screen. Information from your eyewear can be displayed in “see-through” mode, where computer-generated images are overlaid on your view of the real world... or in “occluded” mode, where you intend to concentrate exclusively on the information being displayed and offer the wearer an immersive, visual experience where the wearer purposefully escapes their immediate surroundings.
Nokia Future Vision
It is worth noting that several other personal eyewear displays are currently on the market. However, they are all flawed in some way. They are either low resolution or they look like something from a Star Trek convention (HMD or Head Mount Display). And almost all of these devices block your view of the outside world, making them impractical for mobile use and impossible for “augmented reality”applications. Microvision’s eyewear technology holds enormous advantages over the competition. It can be made small and lightweight, and still provides high resolution, vividly-colored images. And instead of permanently blocking your view, you can toggle between a view of the real world with digital information overlaid, or a totally immersive experience.
Consider the revolutionary applications:
- A physician could view vital patient's data or even live images from an endoscope without taking his eyes off the patient.
- Automotive technicians can view diagrams and instructions over the task they are working on.
- Museums and tourist organizations could provide guided tours (without the guide), “labeling” objects and places and offering information about the sights.
- Video gamers can play in their own 3-D virtual reality world (by scanning a different signal into each eye, the eyewear display is capable of stunningly vivid three dimensional images).
- Firefighters could view building schematics in the midst of an emergency
- Investors can follow their stock tickers, even on the golf course... and without skipping a step.
- Hipsters can “tag” their favorite hangouts... or use their eyewear to locate others in their social network.
- Chefs can view virtual recipes without losing rhythm
- Airline travelers can lean back and work privately and watch a movie on their own personal big screens.
- Giving a speech while information is streamed to your eyeglasses in real time
- Presenting to a crowd with your notes secretly stowed away in your eye glasses
- Walking down the street, seeing your favorite friends show up “on screen” 2 blocks and 1 cafe away
- Receiving turn by turn directions as you walk toward your destination
- Reviewing messages while on the go
Future of Eyewear : Augmented reality in your eyes (NTT DoCoMo)
The applications for eyewear displays are limitless, ranging from entertainment... to social networking... to commercial applications... to those that could be lifesaving.In the coming years, the potential market for personal display eyewear is in the hundreds of millions annually.
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