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AmazonGranted patentAR, VR & displaysInterest 6/10

Amazon patents AR glasses lens that stacks light layers for brighter images

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

Amazon has been granted a patent for an optical waveguide design used in augmented reality displays. The system uses multiple stacked holographic layers to split a light beam into separate parts, guide them through the glass, and recombine them into a single, brighter image.

Why it mattersThis technology could make future AR glasses easier to see in bright daylight by increasing the brightness of the virtual images without making the device thicker.

In the filing’s own words

Techniques for an optical waveguide with multiple holographic layers are described herein. In an example, a system includes an optical waveguide substrate and a first holographic layer coupled to the optical waveguide substrate. The first holographic layer is configured to diffract a first portion of a light beam at a diffraction angle relative to a surface of the optical waveguide substrate. A remaining portion of the light beam is output from the first holographic layer without being diffracted by the first holographic layer. The system also includes a second holographic layer coupled to the optical waveguide substrate, separated from the first holographic layer by a distance, and configured to receive some or all the remaining portion of the light beam and diffract a second portion of the light beam at the diffraction angle.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. An optical waveguide system comprising: an optical waveguide substrate; a first injection holographic layer coupled to the optical waveguide substrate, the first injection holographic layer having a first surface and a second surface opposite and parallel to the first surface, the first injection holographic layer configured to receive a light beam at the first surface and inject a first portion of the light beam into the optical waveguide substrate by at least diffracting the first portion from the first surface at a diffraction angle relative to a surface of the optical waveguide substrate, the first portion representing a first image, a remaining portion of the light beam being output from the second surface; a second injection holographic layer coupled to the optical waveguide substrate, separated from the first injection holographic layer by a distance, the second injection holographic layer having a third surface that is parallel to the first surface and that is separated from the second surface by the distance, the second injection holographic layer configured to receive the remaining portion of the light beam at the third surface and inject a second portion of the light beam into the optical waveguide substrate by at least diffracting the second portion from the third surface at the diffraction angle such that the second portion propagates within the optical waveguide substrate along a propagation path parallel to that of the first portion, the second portion representing a second image that is a duplicate of the first image; and an extraction holographic layer coupled to the optical waveguide substrate and configured to extract the first portion and the second portion from the optical waveguide substrate as an output light beam, the output light beam representing an image that is a duplicate of the first image and that is brighter in luminosity than the first image or the second image individually.

Facts

Company
Amazon (Amazon Technologies, Inc.)
Official title
Optical waveguide with multiple holographic layers
Patent number
US12761478B1
Application number
18214896
Filed
Jun 27, 2023
Granted
Oct 13, 2026
Inventors
3
Claims
20

Classified under

G02B 27/0172 Physics & computingG03H 1/0272 Physics & computingG02B 2027/0174 Physics & computingG03H 2260/12 Physics & computing

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.