One of the most prominent visible features of the Microsoft HoloLens is the light shade in front of the lenses, designed to reduce the intensity of outside light and thereby make the holograms generated by the light field lenses more visible. Microsoft notes however that as the HoloLens finds more application outdoors even this light…
One of the most prominent visible features of the Microsoft HoloLens is the light shade in front of the lenses, designed to reduce the intensity of outside light and thereby make the holograms generated by the light field lenses more visible.
Microsoft notes however that as the HoloLens finds more application outdoors even this light shade cannot be enough to prevent holograms from being washed out by ambient light and take on a ghostly appearance.
They write:
Microsoft, however, has a solution that does not involve cranking up the brightness of the holograms but instead is all about smartly and selectively dimming the outside world in the areas that are superimposed by the hologram, thereby preventing the holograms from being overpowered by the outside world.
Microsoft writes:
The technology would in short use a cheap monochromatic LCD panel which can selectively dim at different levels, and use a system to identify which particular pixels coincide with the generated hologram, and dim those, in particular, making them more vibrant and real looking. The panel could even be used to generate realistic drop shadows.
The advantage of the technology is of course that it is relatively simple and cheap. Microsoft also suggests the use of a photochromic layer on the larger light shield which would respond interactively to the intensity of the outside light, becoming much darker when outside and more transparent when inside, when such a high level of protection is not needed. I can imagine the same technology could also be used to turn an Augmented Reality headset to a VR headset relatively easily, especially if the field of view of the AR screen is improved.
The patent dates to December 2016. Microsoft is said to be working on a new, improved and cheaper HoloLens 2 for early 2019. Hopefully, we will see some of these smart innovations included in the final product if and when it finally arrives.
The full patent can be seen here .
