Date: Jul 15, 2010 Author: Joan M. Zimmermann Source: MDA (
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by Joan M. Zimmermann/jzimmermann@nttc.edu
Addressing the principal drawback in viewing video and digital information via portable and mobile devices—namely, the itty-bitty screen—a company named Vuzix Corporation (Rochester, NY) has introduced a solution that resembles a pair of eyeglasses. The breakthrough visual device, a product called Video Eyewear, is worn like ordinary spectacles, but gives the viewer the sensation of seeing a wide screen measuring 44- to 62-inches from about 9 feet away. Any living, breathing human who is addicted to video games, the Internet, or movies can in fact thank early Missile Defense Agency work, which has ultimately led to this sublime, out-of-theatre experience in a pair of glasses.
In the early 1990s, Kopin, Inc. (Taunton, MA), received numerous SBIRs for wafer design technologies that ultimately support their present-day, very successful display business. The company's efforts in simplifying a silicon deposition technique to increase the circuit density of semiconductors for MDA led to reduced costs for producing active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs). Kopin produced cheaper AMLCDs by first fabricating the display circuit through this modified deposition technique, eliminating the costs of silicon-on-glass fabrication. In addition to lower-cost deposition techniques, increasing the circuit density leads to faster operation, and more compact screens means higher resolution is made possible. Lower power consumption is also a by-product of these innovations; Kopin's patent-pending low-voltage (LV) architecture reduces the video voltage level by half, further reducing the power consumption.
Working with display company Vuzix, Kopin's technology enabled the creation of Vuzix's high-resolution Video Eyewear family of consumer products. The first version released were the iWear line of glasses. Resembling futuristic, skinny black eyeshades, the iWear connects to media with standard cables and ports.
Kopin's extremely small LCDs, with their high resolution and low power consumption, help keep the design sleek. The glasses are lightweight (about 3 ounces). They include adjustable nosepads and feature removable stereo headphones, as well as two independent focus controls that can be adjusted for those who wear prescription glasses.
Powered by rechargeable batteries, the devices are ideal for use with media players, portable DVD players, video-gaming consoles, cell phones, and laptop computers. These plug-and-play shades will function with virtually any device that has a video-out port.
The market for these products is moving so fast that the original iWear, introduced in late 2006 or early 2007, has morphed into even more stylish glasses, the recently released Wrap™310 and Wrap™920 models. These resemble a pair of sleek, wraparound sunglasses, and afford the viewing experience of a 55- and 67-inch screen, respectively. The Wrap models were even featured on the nationally syndicated television program The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Another product, the iWear VR920 model, has three-degree-of-freedom trackers that sense the position of the head. These extra features allow total immersion in virtual or augmented reality environments, allowing the viewer the sensation of walking around and interacting with players and objects in a virtual world.
Vuzix is also addressing other, non-entertainment applications, such as reducing anxiety and perceived pain during dental procedures, where visual distraction can help increase patient comfort; and phantom limb pain, using their glasses with augmented reality cameras to digitally recreate the missing limb, giving the patient a perceived relief from the "artificial" pain from the missing limb. Vuzix has also developed products for the low-vision population, incorporating Kopin LCDs into video eyewear called SightMate™ LV920, which has highly sophisticated features for those who have both central vision loss (macular degeneration) or whole-field loss (glaucoma, retinopathy). In this case, the eyeglasses are combined with an electronic magnifier that allows reading of books, newspapers, or labels in the kitchen. SightMate also can be connected to portable DVD players, computers, media players, gaming systems, digital cameras, and camcorders.
While the military has been and continues to be a major consumer of Kopin's products for heads-up displays and night vision needs, Kopin itself continues to lead the consumer display world in innovation. The company is developing a headset with a single eyepiece that, using a voice-activated remote control, communicates with cell phones, PCs, networks, and wireless systems. The approach means that a user could view and navigate a phone or computer display using the headset and remote control, rather than having to look at and directly interact with the phone or computer. Called Golden-i™, the device is being designed to accept conventional user interface methods such as touch-screen, keyboard, or wireless mouse, as well as hands-free, natural speech recognition. Golden-i Gen 2 appeared in Popular Science (January 2010) as an item to watch for this Fall, and will allow the viewer to see the equivalent of a desktop image on a 15-inch virtual display screen.
