Konica
Minolta is developing a lightweight wearable display for consumer
applications that relies on holographic technology. A prototype of the device
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 millimetres and a holographic element to
reduce the weight of the display to 27 grams.
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.
