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See-through Eyewear Moves From Helmets to Glasses

Ben Averch

April 23rd, 2009
by Ben Averch


In April 2008, Microvision delivered an SD3000 helmet mounted display to our customer. This see-through, full-color system is clearly readable in broad daylight offering high-resolution images displaying real-time battlefield information including maps, navigation and target related data.

In order to offer customers a see-through display with a smaller form factor, improved ergonomics, and a broader field of view, Microvision is developing a thin, lightweight eyewear lens system with images focused at infinity. This means that images appear at a distance even though the display is very close to the user’s eye.

I’m pleased to share with you that we have designed and made a new bench top demonstrator of this lens system, that, when combined with the tiny PicoP® display engine, displays see-through, full-color images.  Ultimately, we expect that this lens system can be embedded along with the PicoP display engine inside of lightweight eyewear.

Embedded eyewear products have always been a planned extension of our PicoP display engine technology, and this new lens system represents an important milestone on our path to deliver personal eyewear display products.

This combination of the PicoP display engine and our new lens system is expected to enable personal head-up displays that give the user visual information anytime, anywhere, while maintaining an unobstructed view of the physical environment. Potential uses include fashionable eyewear displays for mobile users, as well as military, medical and industrial applications.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 5:34 pm and is filed under Wearable Displays.
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4 Responses to “See-through Eyewear Moves From Helmets to Glasses”

  1. John Says:

    April 24th, 2009 at 5:09 am |

    Awesome news, Ben! Can’t wait to get my hands on a pair of those. One thing I have always wondered, though, is the disparity between the apparent distance of the image vs the actual placement of the optics. Would this cause any sort of eyestrain, as the eyes would try to focus on something that’s not really there, so to speak? I suppose you will have figured it all out by this point, however. ;-)

  2. homey Says:

    April 24th, 2009 at 5:42 am |

    thanks for the feedback Ben, and thanks to the all the Microvision team for the great efforts – this is the most exciting application for Microvision’s tech – this will be THE display for all of our electronic toys – phones, portable HDTV, computers, 3D game machines, cameras, GPS, HUDs. I can’t wait to see the first 3D HDTV and games with this eye-wear.

  3. Ryan Says:

    April 26th, 2009 at 5:41 pm |

    John: Form my experience with the Nomad II head-mounted display, all-day wearing is possible without significant eye strain (I only wore one all-day once, however). The optics are set up such that you can “cast” the image to any distance, so it is always at the distance you are focusing at anyway.

  4. Anant Goel Says:

    August 22nd, 2009 at 9:39 am |

    MVIS:Color Eyewear Development Program Brief

    First, here’s the link Microvision Eyewear Development Program that I found on the Internet…

    http://www.microvision.com/pdfs/program_brief.pdf

    Note the key statement…

    “Microvision and its business partners are developing see-through personal Color Eyewear for mobility applications that will extend the usability of mobile devices transforming the user experience.”

    Microvision Color Eyewear Product alone is worth billions in [high margin] revenue for the company. This is why…

    Paradigm Shift: Another Microvision product that will change the way we view our world.

    Ultimate Mobility: Allows you to engage with the world and your personal mobile content at the same time.

    Extend the Usability of Mobile Devices: to further enhance and transform user experience.

    Ultimate Social Networking Tool: Allows you to keep in constant contact with social networks, without having to pull your mobile phone out of your pocket.

    Next Generation of Color Eyewear: that is not only fashionable but also elevates the user experience.

    Ultimate in Private Viewing: of information for business, networking and entertainment.

    Ultimate in High Definition Image Quality: 1080i or beyond… limited only by the pixel size of laser light source.

    Immersive Virtual Experiences: in 3D using Microvision’s Color Eyewear.

    Market Size: Multi-billion dollar worldwide market… no doubt.

    Competition: None to speak-off at this time.

    Timing: Coming soon… in 2010 or beyond is the only wild card in the deck.

    Program Funding: by Lockheed Martin sub-contract.

    Consider this statement from Press Release of July 13th, 2009…
    “Microvision is very pleased to work with Lockheed Martin to advance the development of see-through eyewear displays in support of the DARPA ULTRA-Vis program,” said Ian Brown, Microvision’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “By designing Microvision’s ultra-miniature PicoP Display Engine and our thin Substrate Guided Relay (SGR) Optics into a wearable display, we have the potential to bring battery operable, low-profile, see-through, full-color eyewear displays to users.”

    Here’s the link…

    http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2418318/

    When you add the billions of dollars revenue potential from the “PicoP Projector” market to the “Color Eyewear” market… there is no better conclusion than: “ Microvision will be a multi-billion dollar enterprise no doubt”.

    Will Microvision stock [Nasdaq: MVIS] be a $100 stock in year 2011/ 2012 remains to be seen… however all the signs are pointing in that direction and smart money is taking position as we speak?

    We, as investors, can be part of this paradigm shift that has the potential of extraordinary financial gains during the “change” process that may spread over a few years… and is underway already.

    Anant Goel
    (This blog entry represents only the author’s opinion of Microvision as an investment vehicle)