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Frontiers of Engineering Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2016 Symposium (2017) / Chapter Skim
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Computational Near-Eye Displays: Engineering the Interface to the Digital World - Gordon Wetzstein
Pages 7-12

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From page 7...
... Indeed, natural focus cues are not supported by any existing near-eye display. Using focus-tunable optics, we explore unprecedented display modes that tackle this issue in multiple ways with the goal of increasing visual comfort and providing more realistic visual experiences.
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From page 8...
... VR/AR displays artificially decouple vergence and focus cues because their image formation keeps the focus at a fixed optical distance but drives vergences to arbitrary distances via computer-generated stereoscopic imagery. The resulting discrepancy -- the vergence-accommodation conflict -- between natural depth cues and those produced by VR/AR displays may lead to visual discomfort and fatigue, eyestrain, double vision, headaches, nausea, compromised image quality, and even pathologies in the developing visual system of children.
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From page 9...
... But all technologies that might support focus cues suffer from undesirable tradeoffs in compromised image resolution, device form factor or size, and brightness, contrast, or other important display characteristics. These tradeoffs pose substantial challenges for high-quality AR/VR visual imagery with practical, wearable displays.
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From page 10...
... Conceptually, this approach allows for parallax over the entire eyebox to be accurately reproduced, including monocular occlusions, specular highlights, and other effects that cannot be reproduced by volumetric displays. Current-generation light field displays provide limited resolution (Hua and Javidi 2014; Huang et al.
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From page 11...
... Based on our study, we conclude that the adaptive focus display mode seems to be the most promising direction for future display designs. Dynamically changing the accommodation plane depending on the user's gaze direction could improve visual comfort and realism in immersive VR/AR applications in a significant way.
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From page 12...
... , have to be corrected adequately with the near-eye display, so the user's prescription must be known or measured. Presbyopic users cannot accommodate, so dynamically changing the accommodation plane would almost certainly always create a worse experience than the conventional display mode.
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Key Terms

  • light field
  • display modes
  • display mode
  • adaptive focus
  • virtual image

  • micro display
  • holographic displays
  • virtual world
  • visual comfort
  • visual discomfort

  • disparity cues
  • focus display
  • mounted display
  • correct focus
  • natural focus

  • multiplane displays
  • support focus
  • volumetric displays
  • field displays
  • binocular disparity

  • compromised image
  • fixed optical
  • arbitrary distances
  • accommodation plane
  • vergence tracking

  • retinal blur
  • user studies
  • optical distance
  • gaze direction
  • form factor


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