When the Apple patent about a Laser HMD appeared last week, it trigged something in my head - a distant memory - I could not put my finger on it though until today when I stumbled over the Brother wearable Retinal Imaging Display.

There it was again. Back in 2001 (timeworn I4U post) I wrote about Microvision's Retinal Scanning Displays that would project images directly on your eye with laser beams.
Seven years later and I still cannot by video glasses that look like normal reading or sunglasses.

Microvision is still working on Retinal Scanning Displays for the military and also for consumers. The latest status the company posted in a Q&A presentation on their site says that Microvision will be delivering beta units of their SD3000 HMD to the US Army at the end of this year for their evaluation. In May of 2007, we were awarded our second contract from the US Air Force to develop and deliver a see-through, full color eyewear display.

For consumer RSD displays Microvision does not get specific. Microvision might have gotten a bit distracted by their cool Pico projector displays for mobile devices. This technology is sure a safer bet commerically for the consumer/pro-sumer market, than the video glasses.

The Brother wearable Retinal Imaging Display (RID) is still very clunky. Brother sees the main application for their RID glasses in augmented reality applications.
More details about the Brothers RID glasses can be found here.