Patents Assigned to FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES
  • Patent number: 11062573
    Abstract: A method for executing commands includes a wearable device with an inflatable bladder and a sensor integrated with the inflatable bladder. The method includes transitioning the inflatable bladder from an unpressurized state to a pressurized state. The inflatable bladder is associated with an executable command when in the pressurized state. The method further includes detecting, by the sensor, the magnitude of depression of the inflatable bladder and determining whether the magnitude of depression satisfies a predetermined threshold. When the magnitude of depression satisfies the predetermined threshold, the method executes the executable command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Eric Young, Priyanshu Agarwal, Nicholas Colonnese, Amirhossein Hajiagha Memar
  • Patent number: 11061223
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems and methods of reducing distortion in an image displayed on a near-eye display. Described herein is a display system including a light assembly configured to generate source light for a display image, a distortion correcting optics assembly, and a mirror scanning system configured to receive pre-distorted and collimated light and reflect and scan the pre-distorted and collimated light to provide an image on an image plane. The distortion correcting optics assembly delivers pre-distorted and collimated light to the mirror scanning system, the mirror scanning system is configured to undistort the pre-distorted light and transmit an undistorted image to a display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Byron Taylor, Wanli Chi
  • Patent number: 11054566
    Abstract: A display waveguide configured for conveying polychromatic image light to a viewer includes a substrate and a higher-index layer supported by the substrate. The high-index layer supports the transmission of the longer-wavelength color channel of the image light in at least a portion of the field of view.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventor: Hee Yoon Lee
  • Patent number: 11054632
    Abstract: A structured film comprises an optically transmissive surface including a plurality of walls, each wall being adjustable between a plurality of configurations including a default configuration. When attached to a display, the walls extend away from the display at different heights and surround a plurality of light emitters of the display. In a default configuration, the walls generate selected diffraction orders for each light emitter such that gaps between adjacent light emitters are at least partially covered. The film can be adjusted by varying a geometry of the walls in response to an electrical input. The brightness of a region of interest in an image to be formed on the display can be adjusted relative to a surrounding region by varying wall geometry, using contrast control, or a combination thereof. The optically transmissive surface comprises a solid membrane filled with a non-solid material having a specific index of refraction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Youngshik Yoon, Cheonhong Kim
  • Patent number: 11056611
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are techniques for wafer-to-wafer bonding for manufacturing light emitting diodes (LEDs). In some embodiments, a method of manufacturing LEDs includes etching a semiconductor material to form a plurality of adjacent mesa shapes. The semiconductor material includes one or more epitaxial layers. The method also includes forming a passivation layer within gaps between the adjacent mesa shapes and bonding a base wafer to a first surface of the semiconductor material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: William Padraic Henry, James Ronald Bonar, Gareth Valentine
  • Patent number: 11054622
    Abstract: A folded-lens system is used in an artificial-reality headset. The folded-lens system has a first mirror, a second mirror, and a quarter-wave plate between the first mirror and the second mirror. The first mirror and the second mirror are not strongly curved, which enables the quarter-wave plate to be on a flat surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Jacques Gollier, Ying Geng, Yusufu Njoni Bamaxam Sulai
  • Patent number: 11048087
    Abstract: An optical assembly for projecting light from a display includes a first optical waveguide, a reflective optical element configured, and a first in-coupler. The reflective optical element is configured to receive first light having first polarization from the display and to reflect the first light as second light having second polarization distinct from the first polarization. The first in-coupler is coupled with the first optical waveguide. The first in-coupler is configured to receive and transmit the first light. The first in-coupler is further configured to receive the second light and redirect a first portion of the second light so that the first portion of the second light undergoes total internal reflection inside the first optical waveguide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Brian Wheelwright, Yun-Han Lee, Babak Amirsolaimani, Weichuan Gao
  • Patent number: 11044460
    Abstract: A three-dimensional object imager uses infrared light at different wavelengths to triangulate depth information of the object from wavelength-dependent detection of the infrared image of the object. The depth information is obtained by determining wavelength of infrared light impinging on different pixels of the array. The wavelength may be determined by breaking each pixel into a plurality of sub-pixels, each sub-pixel having its own spectral selectivity to light at different infrared wavelength. For eye imaging or eye tracking applications, this enables the preservation of an unobstructed field of view of the eye while obtaining real-time, dynamic information about eye position and orientation in an non-intrusive, inconspicuous manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Babak Amirsolaimani, Mohamed Tarek El-Haddad
  • Patent number: 11042221
    Abstract: An example method of identifying a touch gesture on a user is provided. The method includes receiving, by one or more transducers of a wearable device attached to an appendage of the user, a set of signals that propagate through the user's appendage and establish a signal pathway to the wearable device. The method also includes, while receiving the set of signals, determining baseline characteristics for the signal pathway, and sensing a change in the baseline characteristics caused by user interaction with an affordance of a user interface projected or perceived on the user's appendage. The method further includes, in accordance with a determination that the sensed change in the baseline characteristics satisfies a contact criterion, reporting a candidate touch event on the user's appendage to a separate electronic device that creates the user interface or is in communication with another electronic device that creates the user interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Sean Jason Keller, Tristan Thomas Trutna, Hrvoje Benko
  • Patent number: 11037915
    Abstract: An IC chip comprises LED devices exposed on a front side of the IC chip, I/O bumps on a back side of the IC chip, a first die forming a stack with the LED devices and comprising driver circuits electrically connected to the LED devices, a first circuit that extends along the vertical direction from the front side of the IC chip towards a back side of the IC chip and across at least a thickness of the first die to provide electrical connections between the LED devices and at least some of the I/O bumps, a second die including pipelining circuits and control circuits for the driver circuits, a second circuit that extends from the second die, and a circuit board electrically connected to the I/O bumps and to a power system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventor: Rajendra D. Pendse
  • Patent number: 11036291
    Abstract: An illuminator includes a semiconductor emitter chip, e.g. a VCSEL chip, configured for emitting a light beam. A polarization-selective element is optically coupled to the semiconductor emitter chip for defining a polarization state of the emitted light beam. A beam redirecting optic is coupled to the polarization-selective element for receiving and at least one of collimating or redirecting the emitted light beam. The polarization-selective element, e.g. a polarization-selective optical feedback element for VCSEL, defines a polarization state of the emitted light beam, thereby stabilizing output optical power of light beam propagated through the beam redirecting optic. A light beam of a constant optical power and a well-defined polarization state may be used as an illumination source for an eye-tracking system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Qi Zhang, Joseph S. Corry, Alexander Randon Cope, Maik Andre Scheller
  • Patent number: 11022799
    Abstract: A near-eye display (NED) includes an image replicator and an image combiner. The image replicator is configured for receiving a beam of image light from a source such as an image projector, and splitting the beam into a plurality of second beams of image light. The combiner is configured to relay the plurality of second beams to an eyebox of the NED such that the second beams at the eyebox are laterally offset from one another. The etendue of the NED may be increased by replicating and relaying the image beams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventor: Andrew Maimone
  • Patent number: 11022784
    Abstract: Folding optics are used in conjunction with a lens system to reduce a back focal length of a head-mounted display. The lens system provides optical power to focus light from an optical display. The folding optics reflects light to fold upon itself to reduce a distance between the lens system and the optical display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Brian Wheelwright, Ying Geng, Fenglin Peng, Yusufu Njoni Bamaxam Sulai, Jacques Gollier
  • Patent number: 11022794
    Abstract: A method of notifying a user about attention from another user in an augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) system is provided. The method includes displaying a first image on a first electronic display to a first user of the AR/VR system and, upon detecting a gaze of the first user at a second user of the AR/VR system or the second user's avatar in the first image, notifying the second user about the gaze of the first user by displaying a second image on a second electronic display to the second user, the second image having a visual cue of the gaze of the first user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Sebastian Sztuk, Javier San Agustin Lopez, Anders Bo Pedersen
  • Patent number: 11022835
    Abstract: An optical system is provided. The optical system includes an electronic display, an adaptive lens assembly, and an eye tracking device. The electronic display displays a virtual scene for a user of the optical system; the adaptive lens assembly is optically coupled to the electronic display between the electronic display and eyes of the user; and the eye tracking device provides eye tracking information of the eyes of the user. The adaptive lens assembly includes a plurality of adjustable liquid crystal (LC) lenses arranged in an array, and the adjustable LC lenses are activated individually based on the eye tracking information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Afsoon Jamali, Wanli Chi, Douglas Lanman
  • Patent number: 11018280
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems and methods for reducing surface recombination losses in micro-LEDs. In some embodiments, a method includes increasing a bandgap in an outer region of a semiconductor layer by implanting ions in the outer region of the semiconductor layer and subsequently annealing the outer region of the semiconductor layer to intermix the ions with atoms within the outer region of the semiconductor layer. The semiconductor layer includes an active light emitting layer. A light outcoupling surface of the semiconductor layer has a diameter of less than 10 ?m. The outer region of the semiconductor layer extends from an outer surface of the semiconductor layer to a central region of the semiconductor layer that is shaded by a mask during the implanting of the ions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Lauermann, Stephan Lutgen, David Hwang
  • Patent number: 11009737
    Abstract: A configurable occluder/dimmer for a near-eye display includes an array of polarization rotators and a polarization-selective scatterer downstream of the array of polarization rotators. The array of rotators and the polarization-selective scatterer are disposed between a pair of polarizers. The polarization-selective scatterer only scatters light at one of two orthogonal polarizations, thereby enhancing the achieved extinction ratio of the configurable occluder/dimmer. The configurable occluder/dimmer may be used in the near-eye display to provide occlusion effects rendering added virtual objects opaque, and/or to equalize contrast of the generated virtual imagery across the field of view of the display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Nathan Matsuda, Douglas Robert Lanman, Afsoon Jamali, Jasmine Soria Sears, Oleg Yaroshchuk, Alireza Moheghi
  • Patent number: 11005014
    Abstract: Techniques related to optics formation using pick-up tools are disclosed. Optical elements are formed by pressing a pick-up tool (PUT) against elastomeric material deposited on a light-outputting side of light-emitting diode (LED) devices. Pressing the PUT against the elastomeric material causes a molded shape of the PUT to be transferred to the elastomeric material. This forms the optical elements in the elastomeric material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Daniel Brodoceanu, Patrick Joseph Hughes, Pooya Saketi, Oscar Torrents Abad
  • Patent number: 11002898
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are techniques for displaying images on multiple image planes in a near-eye display system. A switchable optical device includes a first polarizer configurable to polarize incident light into light of a first circular polarization state, and a second polarizer configurable to transmit light of a second circular polarization state and reflect light of the first circular polarization state into light of the first circular polarization state. The switchable optical device also includes a partial reflector positioned between the first polarizer and the second polarizer. The partial reflector is configured to transmit light from the first polarizer and reflect light from the second polarizer, where the reflected light and the light from the second polarizer have different polarization states. At least one of the first polarizer or the second polarizer includes a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) circular polarizer that is switchable by a voltage signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Fenglin Peng, Ying Geng, Yusufu Njoni Bamaxam Sulai, Mengfei Wang, Lu Lu, Jacques Gollier
  • Patent number: 10998480
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for forming a frame on the backplane comprising structures at least partially circumscribing or enclosing metal contacts on the backplane. In some embodiments, the frame may comprise a photoresist. The dimensions and structural integrity of the frame can help prevent misalignment and/or damage of physical obtrusions of light-emitting structures during a bonding process of the light-emitting structures to the backplane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventor: Oscar Torrents Abad