Patents by Inventor Stephen John Holmes

Stephen John Holmes has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11960092
    Abstract: A light source or projector for a near-eye display includes a light source subassembly optically coupled to a waveguide concentrator. The light source subassembly may include several semiconductor chips each hosting an array of emitters such s superluminescent light-emitting diodes. The semiconductor chips may be disposed side-by-side, with their emitting sides or facets coupled to the waveguide concentrator, which provides a tight array of output light ports on a common output plane of the concentrator. The output diverging beams at the array of output light ports are coupled to a collimator, which collimates the beams and couples them to an angular scanner for scanning the collimated light beams together across the field of view of the display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Daniel Guenther Greif, Scott Charles McEldowney, Stephen John Holmes, Chadwick Brian Martin, Stephen James McNally, John Goward
  • Patent number: 11852905
    Abstract: An optical element includes a first layer, a second layer, and a fluid. A first surface of the first layer is configured to change hydrophobicity in response to incoming activation light. Absorbing molecules in the fluid are repelled or attracted to the first surface in response to the hydrophobicity of the first surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Jasmine Soria Sears, Christopher Andrew Galea, Junren Wang, Stephen John Holmes
  • Patent number: 11604356
    Abstract: A near-eye display assembly presented herein includes an electronic display, an optical assembly, and scanning assembly. The electronic display has a first resolution. The optical assembly controls a field of view at an eye box and directs a plurality of light rays emitting from the electronic display toward the eye box. The scanning assembly shifts a direction of at least one of the light rays in accordance with emission instructions such that a virtual display is presented to the eye box, the virtual display having a second resolution greater than the first resolution. The display assembly can be implemented as a component of a head-mounted display of an artificial reality system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2023
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Stephen John Holmes, Wanli Chi, Maxwell Parsons, Jasmine Soria Sears
  • Publication number: 20230024805
    Abstract: A light source or projector for a near-eye display includes a light source subassembly optically coupled to a waveguide concentrator. The light source subassembly may include several semiconductor chips each hosting an array of emitters such s superluminescent light-emitting diodes. The semiconductor chips may be disposed side-by-side, with their emitting sides or facets coupled to the waveguide concentrator, which provides a tight array of output light ports on a common output plane of the concentrator. The output diverging beams at the array of output light ports are coupled to a collimator, which collimates the beams and couples them to an angular scanner for scanning the collimated light beams together across the field of view of the display.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2022
    Publication date: January 26, 2023
    Inventors: Daniel Guenther Greif, Scott Charles McEldowney, Stephen John Holmes, Chadwick Brian Martin, Stephen James McNally, John Goward
  • Patent number: 11493760
    Abstract: A light source or projector for a near-eye display includes a light source subassembly optically coupled to a waveguide concentrator. The light source subassembly may include several semiconductor chips each hosting an array of emitters such s superluminescent light-emitting diodes. The semiconductor chips may be disposed side-by-side, with their emitting sides or facets coupled to the waveguide concentrator, which provides a tight array of output light ports on a common output plane of the concentrator. The output diverging beams at the array of output light ports are coupled to a collimator, which collimates the beams and couples them to an angular scanner for scanning the collimated light beams together across the field of view of the display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Daniel Guenther Grief, Scott Charles McEldowney, Stephen John Holmes, Chadwick Brian Martin, Stephen James McNally, John Goward
  • Publication number: 20220197061
    Abstract: An optical element includes a first layer, a second layer, and a fluid. A first surface of the first layer is configured to change hydrophobicity in response to incoming activation light. Absorbing molecules in the fluid are repelled or attracted to the first surface in response to the hydrophobicity of the first surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2020
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Inventors: Jasmine Soria Sears, Christopher Andrew Galea, Junren Wang, Stephen John Holmes
  • Patent number: 11137605
    Abstract: A near-eye display assembly presented herein includes an electronic display, an optical assembly, and scanning assembly. The electronic display has a first resolution. The optical assembly controls a field of view at an eye box and directs a plurality of light rays emitting from the electronic display toward the eye box. The scanning assembly shifts a direction of at least one of the light rays in accordance with emission instructions such that a virtual display is presented to the eye box, the virtual display having a second resolution greater than the first resolution. The display assembly can be implemented as a component of a head-mounted display of an artificial reality system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Stephen John Holmes, Wanli Chi, Maxwell Parsons, Jasmine Soria Sears
  • Patent number: 10998297
    Abstract: A light-emitting assembly that includes multiple light-emitting devices electrically coupled to a substrate via nano-porous metal blocks. The light-emitting assembly may be used as a source array of a near-eye display device. The light-emitting devices may be superluminescent diodes and the nano-porous metal blocks may include nano-porous gold. The nano-porous metal blocks allow thermal and electrical conduction between the light-emitting devices and the substrate. Nano-porous gold allows bonding at a lower temperature than solder and is compressible. Different pressure can be applied to different nano-porous metal blocks to align the optical heights of different light-emitting devices relative to the substrate. After forming nano-porous metal blocks on a substrate, the light-emitting devices are pressed onto the metal blocks to secure and align the light-emitting devices. The alignment process may be carried in an active optical alignment process when the light-emitting devices are powered and emit light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: John Michael Goward, Stephen John Holmes, Maxwell Parsons
  • Patent number: 10939080
    Abstract: A controller for a tiltable MEMS reflector is configured to oscillate the reflector about X axis or about X and Y axes, and to obtain information about current and past tilt angles. The controller is configured to evaluate tilt angles of the tiltable MEMS reflector at a later moment of time based on the previously obtained information about the tilt angles of the tiltable MEMS reflector at the different earlier moments of time. The controller may be further configured to energize the light source providing a light beam to the tiltable MEMS reflector at the later moment of time with brightness and color corresponding to the brightness and color of a pixel that will be painted by the tiltable MEMS reflector at the later moment of time. A statistical model may be combined with machine learning to accurately predict future tilt angles of the tiltable MEMS reflector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: FACEBOOK TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Daniel Guenther Greif, James Laudolff, Ziv Magoz, Stephen John Holmes, Taha Masood, Scott Charles McEldowney, Jonathan Robert Peterson
  • Publication number: 20200310120
    Abstract: A light source or projector for a near-eye display includes a light source subassembly optically coupled to a waveguide concentrator. The light source subassembly may include several semiconductor chips each hosting an array of emitters such s superluminescent light-emitting diodes. The semiconductor chips may be disposed side-by-side, with their emitting sides or facets coupled to the waveguide concentrator, which provides a tight array of output light ports on a common output plane of the concentrator. The output diverging beams at the array of output light ports are coupled to a collimator, which collimates the beams and couples them to an angular scanner for scanning the collimated light beams together across the field of view of the display.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 2, 2019
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Inventors: Daniel Guenther Grief, Scott Charles McEldowney, Stephen John Holmes, Chadwick Brian Martin, Stephen James McNally, John Goward
  • Publication number: 20200314395
    Abstract: A controller for a tiltable MEMS reflector is configured to oscillate the reflector about X axis or about X and Y axes, and to obtain information about current and past tilt angles. The controller is configured to evaluate tilt angles of the tiltable MEMS reflector at a later moment of time based on the previously obtained information about the tilt angles of the tiltable MEMS reflector at the different earlier moments of time. The controller may be further configured to energize the light source providing a light beam to the tiltable MEMS reflector at the later moment of time with brightness and color corresponding to the brightness and color of a pixel that will be painted by the tiltable MEMS reflector at the later moment of time. A statistical model may be combined with machine learning to accurately predict future tilt angles of the tiltable MEMS reflector.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 9, 2019
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Inventors: Daniel Guenther Greif, James Laudolff, Ziv Magoz, Stephen John Holmes, Taha Masood, Scott Charles McEldowney, Jonathan Robert Peterson
  • Patent number: 10665149
    Abstract: A display device may include (1) a light-emitting layer having a plurality of light-emitting regions, with at least some of the light-emitting regions operable to emit a varying, controlled intensity of light at a fixed location, (2) a color selector layer disposed over the plurality of light-emitting regions, the color selector layer having at least one group of color selectors, and (3) an actuator operable to move the color selector layer relative to the light-emitting layer. The movement of the color selector layer may result in each color selector of the at least one group of color selectors passing each fixed location. Various other apparatus, systems, and methods are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Jasmine Soria Sears, James Ronald Bonar, Stephen John Holmes
  • Patent number: 10613332
    Abstract: A near-eye display assembly presented herein includes an electronic display, an optical assembly, and scanning assembly. The electronic display has a first resolution. The optical assembly controls a field of view at an eye box and directs a plurality of light rays emitting from the electronic display toward the eye box. The scanning assembly shifts a direction of at least one of the light rays in accordance with emission instructions such that a virtual display is presented to the eye box, the virtual display having a second resolution greater than the first resolution. The display assembly can be implemented as a component of a head-mounted display of an artificial reality system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Stephen John Holmes, Wanli Chi, Maxwell Parsons, Jasmine Soria Sears
  • Patent number: 10566214
    Abstract: Embodiments relate to forming nanoporous contacts on a receiving substrate without using a seed layer on the receiving substrate. The nanoporous contacts can be used to create bonds between electronic components and the receiving substrate. To form the contacts, a photoresist mask is created on the receiving substrate by a photolithographic process. Through a sputtering process, portions of co-alloy on a depositing substrate are transferred to the receiving substrate with the photoresist mask. The photoresist mask is removed from the receiving substrate. The remaining co-alloy portions on the receiving substrate undergo a de-alloying process to form an array of nanoporous contacts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: John Michael Goward, Brian Matthew McSkimming, Chloe Astrid Marie Fabien, Stephen John Holmes
  • Patent number: 10490378
    Abstract: Structures of and methods for fabricating fine-scale interconnects and fuses are disclosed. A “mushroom”-type structure with a narrow stalk supporting a wider cap can be used for fine-scale interconnects with widths on the scale of hundreds of nanometers that have low resistivity. Micro-air bridges can be introduced by omitting the stalk in sections of the interconnect, allowing the interconnect to bridge over obstacles. The mushroom-type micro-air bridge structure can also be modified to create fine-scale fuses that have low resistivity overall and sections of significantly higher resistivity where the micro-air bridges exist. The significantly higher resistivity results in preferential fusing at the micro-air bridges. Both mushroom interconnects and mushroom fuses can be fabricated using electron beam lithography.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Stephen John Holmes
  • Patent number: 10453778
    Abstract: Structures of and methods for fabricating fine-scale interconnects are disclosed. A “mushroom”-type structure with a narrow stalk supporting a wider cap can be used for fine-scale interconnects with widths on the scale of hundreds of nanometers that have low resistivity. Micro-air bridges can be introduced by omitting the stalk in sections of the interconnect, allowing the interconnect to bridge over obstacles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Stephen John Holmes
  • Publication number: 20190318678
    Abstract: A display device may include (1) a light-emitting layer having a plurality of light-emitting regions, with at least some of the light-emitting regions operable to emit a varying, controlled intensity of light at a fixed location, (2) a color selector layer disposed over the plurality of light-emitting regions, the color selector layer having at least one group of color selectors, and (3) an actuator operable to move the color selector layer relative to the light-emitting layer. The movement of the color selector layer may result in each color selector of the at least one group of color selectors passing each fixed location. Various other apparatus, systems, and methods are also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 16, 2018
    Publication date: October 17, 2019
    Inventors: Jasmine Soria Sears, James Ronald Bonar, Stephen John Holmes