Gamingdeputy reported on June 27 that Meta's Quest headset firmware information suggested that the company's varifocal lens technology is expected to be applied to upcoming products.
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Firmware information has accurately predicted upcoming Quest features many times in the past. For example, about a year before the release of the first-generation Quest Pro, netizens discovered code for eye tracking and facial tracking in the firmware.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off his “Mirror Lake” concept headset in late 2022. He said the technology in the proof-of-concept, which included adjustable focus, could be used in products in the “second half of this decade.”
In March 2023, an internal Meta hardware roadmap leaked to The Verge showed that the Quest Pro 2, originally scheduled for release in 2024, was canceled and replaced by a more ambitious but “distant” product. According to the roadmap, the headset will have “Codec Avatars” capabilities, higher resolution, and retain the rear battery design of the Quest Pro. Earlier this month, The Information reported that development work on the headset began in November last year. So, does the latest firmware information suggest that it may also be equipped with variable focal length lenses?
All VR headsets currently on the market use fixed focal length lensesAlthough both eyes can obtain independent perspectives, the focal distance of the image is fixed, usually several meters away. When the user looks at a virtual object, the eyes cannot actually focus on the virtual object.This can cause the virtual world to feel less real, with virtual objects at close range appearing blurry.and may even cause eye fatigue.
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At the 2018 F8 Developer Conference, Facebook demonstrated a prototype headset called Half Dome, which combines eye tracking technology to mechanically move the display back and forth to adjust the focus. Half Dome solves the vergence-accommodation conflict problem.But mechanical structures have serious reliability issues in the real worldand is not suitable for commercial products.
At the Oculus Connect 6 conference in 2019, Facebook demonstrated Half Dome 2 and Half Dome 3. Half Dome 2 uses more reliable actuators and a more compact design, but sacrifices some field of view.
Half Dome 3 takes a completely different approach with no moving parts. Instead of moving the display, it uses stacked layers of liquid crystal lenses. The different focal distances are achieved by changing the voltage applied to each lens layer to change its focal length.Through 6 layers of lenses, 64 different focal length adjustments can be achieved.
In a speech in early 2020, Douglas Lanman, director of display system research and development at Facebook, said that Half-Dome 3's technology is “almost ready for commercial use.” After more than four years, is variable focal length technology finally coming out of the laboratory and about to enter mass production? Gamingdeputy will keep an eye on it.
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