US 2,015,016,777 · Filed 2014-07-14

Magic Leap's See-Through Display Patent That Powers AR Glasses

Imagine a clear piece of glass that can beam images directly into your eye while you still see the real world around you. That's what this patent does—it uses a specially engineered optical chip to split light into multiple paths, letting AR content float in front of you without blocking your view.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a planar waveguide system that uses diffraction optical elements (DOEs) to route light through a transparent glass-like material. What's protected here is the specific combination of a linear diffraction grating merged with a circular lens shape that bends and focuses light beams into multiple focal planes. The patent also covers how these waveguides stay mostly see-through when you look straight through them, and how light can be bounced back through the same path multiple times to intensify the image reaching your eye.

Why it matters

This patent is foundational to augmented reality glasses—the technology that lets you overlay digital information on the real world without needing a bulky headset. Instead of blocking your view with a screen, this approach keeps the world visible while injecting images into your field of view. The ability to make the waveguide transparent and reuse light paths multiple times is crucial for building practical, wearable AR devices that don't look like sci-fi helmets. Magic Leap, the assignee, bet heavily on this optical architecture as a core differentiator in the AR market.

Real-world use

When you use an AR headset to see virtual furniture in your room or navigate turn-by-turn directions overlaid on real streets, the images traveling through the waveguide to your eye are being routed and focused by exactly this kind of diffraction element technology.

Original USPTO abstract

A waveguide apparatus includes a planar waveguide and at least one optical diffraction element (DOE) that provides a plurality of optical paths between an exterior and interior of the planar waveguide. A phase profile of the DOE may combine a linear diffraction grating with a circular lens, to shape a wave front and produce beams with desired focus. Waveguide apparati may be assembled to create multiple focal planes. The DOE may have a low diffraction efficiency, and planar waveguides may be transparent when viewed normally, allowing passage of light from an ambient environment (e.g., real world) useful in AR systems. Light may be returned for temporally sequentially passes through the planar waveguide. The DOE(s) may be fixed or may have dynamically adjustable characteristics. An optical coupler system may couple images to the waveguide apparatus from a projector, for instance a biaxially scanning cantilevered optical fiber tip.

Patent details

Publication number: US 2,015,016,777
Filing date: 2014-07-14
Grant date: Application — not yet granted
Assignee: Magic Leap, Inc.
Inventor(s): ABOVITZ RONY, SCHOWENGERDT BRIAN T., WATSON MATTHEW D.
CPC class: G02B6/34

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