Konica Minolta shows wearable display prototype

Konica Minolta  is developing a lightweight, holographic wearable display, a  prototype of which was on display this week at the Ceatec exhibition in Chiba, Japan.

The Holographic See-Through Browser prototype resembles a pair of eyeglasses and uses a prism with a thickness of 3.5 millimeters and a holographic element to reduce the weight of the display to 27 grams.

Konica Minolta has just begun development of the lightweight display and is looking for an application where the device could be useful, said Hiroshi Itou, an assistant manager at the business development group of Konica Minolta Technology Center Inc. Possible applications under consideration include giving workers access to an instruction manual or allowing commuters to watch a video while riding a train, he said.

In a video demonstration of the technology, Konica Minolta showed how a user could watch a motorcycle race on the display while walking around their house. In this demonstration, the see-through image of the game appeared to be float in the user's line of sight.

The display image is produced by a small attachment above the glasses, which contains an LED (light-emitting diode) that projects the image through a condenser lens and a prism. Once the image travels through the prism, it passes through the display where it is projected onto the holographic element.

The display attachment on the glasses is connected by a cable that leads to a small, wearable device.