EP0302619A2
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EP
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Opticle collimating apparatus
Assignee: Rockwell Collins ElectroMechanical Systems Inc
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Filing: 1988-07-19
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2008-07-19
Abstract
Abstract An optical collimating apparatus employs a semi-reflective concave mirror (42) and cholesteric liquid crystal element (44). In one embodiment, the optical collimating apparatus is used as a heads-up display device. Images in the line of sight of an observer substantially pass through a transmitter/combiner (40), semi-reflective concave mirror (42), and cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) to an observer. Images generated by an image source (34) are focused on the transmitter/combiner (40) such that the transmitter/combiner (40) reflects the images into the line of sight of the observer. The generated images are transmitted by the primarily transmissive (convex) side of the semi-reflective concave mirror (42) to the cholesteric liquid crystal element (44). The cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) reflects the generated images back toward the primarily reflective (concave) side of the semi-reflective concave mirror (42), which in turn reflects the images back toward the cholesteric liquid crystal element (44), which transmits the generated images to the observer. In an alternative embodiment, such as in a flight simulator or similar device, an image source projects images upon the primarily transmissive (convex) side of a semi-reflective concave mirror which transmits the images to a cholesteric liquid crystal element. The images are reflected by the cholesteric liquid crystal element back toward the primarily reflective (concave) side of the semi-reflective concave mirror. The images are then reflected by the semi-reflective concave mirror back toward the cholesteric liquid crystal element which transmits the images to the observer.
Inventors
- 👤 Arthur Louis Berman
- 👤 James Edward Melzer
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 13:25
CPC Classifications
G; G02; G02B; G02B27/00; G02B27/01; G02B27/0101; G02B5/00; G02B5/30; G02B5/3016; G09; G09B; G09B9/00; G09B9/02; G09B9/08; G09B9/30; G09B9/32; G09B9/326; G02B2027/0118
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 14
Claim 1
Independent Claim
40 words
An optical collimating apparatus for focusing an image at or closer than at an infinite distance from an observer, characterised by the combination of a semi-reflective concave mirror (42) (or its holographic analog) and a cholesteric liquid crystal element (44).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
40 words
An optical collimating apparatus for focusing an image at or closer than at an infinite distance from an observer, characterised by the combination of a semi-reflective concave mirror (42) (or its holographic analog) and a cholesteric liquid crystal element (44).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
117 words
An optical collimating apparatus for focusing an image (32) from an image source (34) at or closer than at an infinite distance from an observer, characterised in that the image (32) is substantially transmitted by a semi-reflective concave mirror (42) (or its holographic analog) and a first portion of said transmitted image is further transmitted unreflected to the observer by a cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) and a second portion of said transmitted image is reflected by the cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) to the concave mirror (42), which reflects the second portion of the transmitted image back to the cholesteric liquid crystal element (44), which transmits the second portion of the transmitted image to the observer.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
117 words
An optical collimating apparatus for focusing an image (32) from an image source (34) at or closer than at an infinite distance from an observer, characterised in that the image (32) is substantially transmitted by a semi-reflective concave mirror (42) (or its holographic analog) and a first portion of said transmitted image is further transmitted unreflected to the observer by a cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) and a second portion of said transmitted image is reflected by the cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) to the concave mirror (42), which reflects the second portion of the transmitted image back to the cholesteric liquid crystal element (44), which transmits the second portion of the transmitted image to the observer.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
48 words
Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 further comprising a transmitter/combiner (40) for combining a first image generated by said image source (34) with a second image in a line of sight plane of an observer prior to incidence upon said semi-reflective concave mirror (42) (or its holographic analog).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
62 words
An optical collimating apparatus for focusing an image at or closer than at an infinite distance from an observer, and further for combining the focused image with an image external to the optical collimating apparatus, comprising the elements of: an image source (34); a transmitter/combiner (40); a semi-reflective concave mirror (42) (or its holographic analog); and a cholesteric liquid crystal element (44).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
62 words
An optical collimating apparatus for focusing an image at or closer than at an infinite distance from an observer, and further for combining the focused image with an image external to the optical collimating apparatus, comprising the elements of: an image source (34); a transmitter/combiner (40); a semi-reflective concave mirror (42) (or its holographic analog); and a cholesteric liquid crystal element (44).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
147 words
An optical collimating apparatus for focusing an image from an image source (34) at or closer than at an infinite distance from an observer, and further for combining the focused image with an image external to the optical collimating apparatus, wherein projected images from an image source (34) are reflected by a transmitter/combiner (40) acting as a combiner to combine the projected images with the images in the line of sight of the observer and further wherein the projected images are reflected by a cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) to a semi-reflective concave mirror (42) (or its holographic analog), which reflects the images back to the cholesteric liquid crystal element (44), which substantially transmits the images to the observer, and further wherein external images are substantially transmitted by the semi-reflective concave mirror (42) and further substantially transmitted to the observer by the cholesteric liquid crystal element (44).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
147 words
An optical collimating apparatus for focusing an image from an image source (34) at or closer than at an infinite distance from an observer, and further for combining the focused image with an image external to the optical collimating apparatus, wherein projected images from an image source (34) are reflected by a transmitter/combiner (40) acting as a combiner to combine the projected images with the images in the line of sight of the observer and further wherein the projected images are reflected by a cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) to a semi-reflective concave mirror (42) (or its holographic analog), which reflects the images back to the cholesteric liquid crystal element (44), which substantially transmits the images to the observer, and further wherein external images are substantially transmitted by the semi-reflective concave mirror (42) and further substantially transmitted to the observer by the cholesteric liquid crystal element (44).
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
52 words
Apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein said image source (34) comprises a monochrome cathode ray tube, focusing optics (36) for focusing an image generated by said monochrome cathode ray tube, and a circular polarising filter (38) for imparting images generated by said monochrome cathode ray tube with a first rotary sense.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
120 words
A method for optically collimating an image at or closer than at an infinite distance from an observer, characterised by the steps of causing to be incident upon a semi-reflective concave mirror (42) (or its holographic analog) a primary image, and substantially transmitting said primary image to a cholesteric liquid crystal element (44), substantially transmitting a first portion of said primary image to the observer, and reflecting a second portion of said primary image to said semi-reflective concave mirror (42), said semi- reflective concave mirror (42) substantially reflecting said second portion of said primary image back to said cholesteric liquid crystal element (44), said cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) transmitting said second portion of said primary image to said observer.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
120 words
A method for optically collimating an image at or closer than at an infinite distance from an observer, characterised by the steps of causing to be incident upon a semi-reflective concave mirror (42) (or its holographic analog) a primary image, and substantially transmitting said primary image to a cholesteric liquid crystal element (44), substantially transmitting a first portion of said primary image to the observer, and reflecting a second portion of said primary image to said semi-reflective concave mirror (42), said semi- reflective concave mirror (42) substantially reflecting said second portion of said primary image back to said cholesteric liquid crystal element (44), said cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) transmitting said second portion of said primary image to said observer.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
238 words
A method for optically collimating an image at or closer than at an infinite distance from an observer, and further for positioning said image in a line of sight plane of an observer, characterised by the steps of generating an image, projecting said generated image upon a transmitter/combiner (40) located in a line of sight plane of the observer which acts as a combiner to combine said projected image with an image in said line of sight of the observer, transmitting said combination of said generated image and said image in said line of sight plane of the observer to a semi-reflective concave mirror (42) (or its holographic analog), said semi-reflective concave mirror (42) substantially transmitting said image combination to a cholesteric liquid crystal element (44), said cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) substantially transmitting to the observer a first portion of said image combination comprising a first portion of said image in said line of sight plane of the observer, said cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) substantially reflecting a second portion of said image combination comprising a second portion of said image in said line of sight plane of the observer together with said generated image, to said semi-reflective concave mirror (42), which substantially reflects said second portion of said image combination back to said cholesteric liquid crystal element (44), said cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) substantially transmitting said second portion of said image combination to the observer.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
238 words
A method for optically collimating an image at or closer than at an infinite distance from an observer, and further for positioning said image in a line of sight plane of an observer, characterised by the steps of generating an image, projecting said generated image upon a transmitter/combiner (40) located in a line of sight plane of the observer which acts as a combiner to combine said projected image with an image in said line of sight of the observer, transmitting said combination of said generated image and said image in said line of sight plane of the observer to a semi-reflective concave mirror (42) (or its holographic analog), said semi-reflective concave mirror (42) substantially transmitting said image combination to a cholesteric liquid crystal element (44), said cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) substantially transmitting to the observer a first portion of said image combination comprising a first portion of said image in said line of sight plane of the observer, said cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) substantially reflecting a second portion of said image combination comprising a second portion of said image in said line of sight plane of the observer together with said generated image, to said semi-reflective concave mirror (42), which substantially reflects said second portion of said image combination back to said cholesteric liquid crystal element (44), said cholesteric liquid crystal element (44) substantially transmitting said second portion of said image combination to the observer.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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