NTT DOCOMO exhibited the AR Walker. This is an action support system that combines a mobile phone and a compact head-mounted display.

Using this system, you can display navigation and AR content while your phone is in your pocket.

“Most previous head-mounted displays have been large, covering both eyes. But now, we’ve used technology from Olympus to make the display very small and light. This is a great advance in terms of technology. And from now on, DOCOMO will collaborate with Olympus to enhance the design of the head-mounted display, so it can be carried and worn without looking strange. We’re giving this demo to suggest how the display could be used in combination with a DOCOMO mobile phone.”

The new technology uses a slender prism called an Optical Bar. This creates two light paths to the pupil, one bringing pictures to the eye and the other bringing light from outside, achieving see-through pictures. This system makes the optics very compact, with no light loss, giving bright, clear pictures.

“The idea is to have a display covering an area of 18 cm one meter ahead. The size of the display creates the impression that you’ve put a mobile phone into it, with a 3.7 inch or 4 inch screen.”

“The head-mounted display uses an Earth’s magnetic field sensor to detect direction, so users can orient themselves just by turning their head, rather than their whole body. So we’ve built in an application where, if you face right, the display shows information about shops on your right, and if you face left, it shows information about shops on your left. If you look up, there aren’t any shops, but there is the sky, so the display shows a weather forecast.”

Because the AR Walker is so small and light, it could be used in sports as well. For example, it could support runners by showing their time and distance, course navigation, and calories consumed.

source: http://www.diginfo.tv/2010/11/04/10-0208-r-en.php