Engineering of head-mounted projective displays

Head-mounted projective displays (HMPD's) are a novel type of head-mounted display. A HMPD consists of a miniature projection lens mounted upon the us er's head and retroreflective sheeting material placed strategically in the environment. First, the imaging concept of a HMPD is reviewed and its pote ntial advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The design and a bench pr ototype implementation are then presented. Finally, the effects of retroref lective materials on the imaging properties and the optical properties of H MPD's are comprehensively investigated. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 080.2740, 120.2040, 120.2820, 120.3620, 120.4570, 220.0220, 23 0.3990.