EP0420228A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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A ghost-free automotive head-up display employing a wedged windshield
Assignee: Raytheon Co
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Filing: 1990-09-27
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2010-09-27
Abstract
Abstract A substantially ghost-free head-up display for a vehicle such as an automobile is disclosed. A head-up display unit projects the image beam toward the vehicle windshield for reflection back toward the viewer's eye. The windshield is slightly tapered so that the reflected images from the outside and inside surfaces of the windshield are reflected at slightly different angles, chosen so that the images substantially overlap at the viewer's eye. Use of a properly selected taper results in substantially ghost-free operation. The taper can be achieved by sandwiching a tapered layer (40C) of transparent material such as polyvinylbutyral between two windshield singlets (40A, 40B).
Inventors
- 👤 Ronald Smith
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-30 23:01
CPC Classifications
G; G02; G02B; G02B27/00; G02B27/02; B; B32; B32B; B32B17/00; B32B17/06; B32B17/10; B32B17/10005; B32B17/1055; B32B17/10559; B32B17/10568; B32B17/10761; G02B27/0018; G02B27/01; G02B27/0101; G02B2027/0118; G02B2027/012; G02B2027/0121; G02B2027/0192; G02B2027/0194
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 25
Claim 1
Independent Claim
108 words
A head-up display including a transparent optical combiner, characterized by: - a head-up display image projection unit (50) for projecting a beam of image light toward the optical combiner for reflection toward a predetermined view box; and - wherein said optical combiner comprises a first surface (42) and a second surface (44), and wherein said surfaces (42, 44) are nonparallel and disposed at respective first and second angles with respect to the image beam so that the respective images reflected from the first and second surfaces (42, 44) substantially overlap at the view box; - whereby a substantially ghost-free head-up display image is provided at the view box.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
108 words
A head-up display including a transparent optical combiner, characterized by: - a head-up display image projection unit (50) for projecting a beam of image light toward the optical combiner for reflection toward a predetermined view box; and - wherein said optical combiner comprises a first surface (42) and a second surface (44), and wherein said surfaces (42, 44) are nonparallel and disposed at respective first and second angles with respect to the image beam so that the respective images reflected from the first and second surfaces (42, 44) substantially overlap at the view box; - whereby a substantially ghost-free head-up display image is provided at the view box.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
72 words
The head-up display of claim 1, characterized in that said optical combiner comprises first and second optical members (40A, 40B) sandwiching an intermediate layer (40C) of transparent material, and wherein said intermediate layer (40C) has a taper in its thickness dimension from adjacent a first edge of the combiner to adjacent a second edge of the combiner, such that the layer thickness is greater adjacent the first edge than the second edge.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
31 words
The head-up display of claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said first and second surfaces (40, 42) are each flat planar surfaces, so that the optical combiner is substantially flat.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
29 words
The head-up display of claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said first and second surfaces are each curved, so that the optical combiner comprises one or more curves.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
60 words
The head-up display of any of claims 1 through 4, characterized in that said image projection unit (50) and said optical combiner are adapted and arranged such that a first edge of the combiner is about 8 mils (0,203 mm) thicker than a second edge of the combiner, whereby a substantilly ghost-free head-up image is provided at the view box.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
111 words
A head-up display for a vehicle (60) having a transparent windshield (40), characterized by: - a head-up display image projection unit (50) for projecting a beam of image light toward the vehicle windshield (40) for reflection toward a predetermined view box; - said windshield (40) comprising a first surface (42) and a second surface (44), and wherein said surfaces (42, 44) are nonparallel and disposed at respective first and second angles with respect to the image beam so that the respective images reflected from the first and second surfaces (42, 44) substantially overlap at the view box, - whereby a substantially ghost-free head-up display image is provided at the view box.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
111 words
A head-up display for a vehicle (60) having a transparent windshield (40), characterized by: - a head-up display image projection unit (50) for projecting a beam of image light toward the vehicle windshield (40) for reflection toward a predetermined view box; - said windshield (40) comprising a first surface (42) and a second surface (44), and wherein said surfaces (42, 44) are nonparallel and disposed at respective first and second angles with respect to the image beam so that the respective images reflected from the first and second surfaces (42, 44) substantially overlap at the view box, - whereby a substantially ghost-free head-up display image is provided at the view box.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
66 words
The head-up display of claim 6, characterized in that said windshield (40) comprises first and second windshield singlets (40A, 40B) sandwiching an intermediate layer (40C) of transparent material, and wherein said intermediate layer (40C) has a taper in its thickness dimension from adjacent the top of the windshield (40) to adjacent the bottom, such that the layer thickness is greater adjacent the top than the bottom.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
18 words
The head-up display of any of claims 1 through 7, characterized in that said transparent material comprises polyvinylbutyral.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
33 words
The head-up display of any of claims 6 through 8, characterized in that said first and second surfaces (42, 44) are each flat planar surfaces, so that the windshield (40) is substantially flat.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
33 words
The head-up display of any of claims 6 through 8, characterized in that said first and second surfaces (42, 44) are each curved, so that the windshield (40) comprises one or more curves.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
59 words
The head-up display of any of claims 6 through 10, characterized in that said image projection unit and said windshield (40) are adapted and arranged such that the top of the windshield (40) is about 14 mils (0,3556 mm) thicker than the bottom of the windshield (40), whereby a substantially ghost-free head-up image is provided at the view box.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
82 words
A method of fabricating a wedged windshield (40) useful for a ghost-free head-up display (50) in a vehicle (60), characterized by a sequence of the following steps: i) extruding molten material through a wedge-shaped slot (102) to form a layer (40C) of material having a selected wedged cross-sectional configuration; ii) sandwiching the wedge layer (40C) between a pair of windshield singlets (40A, 40B) of substantially uniform thickness to form a sandwiched assembly; and iii) laminating the sandwiched assembly in a windshield autoclave.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
82 words
A method of fabricating a wedged windshield (40) useful for a ghost-free head-up display (50) in a vehicle (60), characterized by a sequence of the following steps: i) extruding molten material through a wedge-shaped slot (102) to form a layer (40C) of material having a selected wedged cross-sectional configuration; ii) sandwiching the wedge layer (40C) between a pair of windshield singlets (40A, 40B) of substantially uniform thickness to form a sandwiched assembly; and iii) laminating the sandwiched assembly in a windshield autoclave.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 12, characterized in that the characteristic index of refraction of said material is substantially the same as the index of refraction of said windshield singlets (40A, 40B)
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of claim 12 or 13, characterized in that the molten material comprises polyvinylbutyral.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
32 words
The method of any of claims 12 through 14, characterized by the step of determining the wedge characteristic necessary to obtain ghost-free head-up image display for imagery reflections from the windshield (40).
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
89 words
A wedged vehicle windshield (40) for use in combination with a head-up display unit (50) which projects a beam of image light toward the windshield (40) for reflection toward a predetermined view box, the windshield (40) having a first surface (42) and a second surface (44), and characterized in that said surfaces (42, 44) are nonparallel and disposed at respective first and second angles with respect to the image beam so that respective images reflected from the first and second surfaces (42, 44) substantially overlap at the view box.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
89 words
A wedged vehicle windshield (40) for use in combination with a head-up display unit (50) which projects a beam of image light toward the windshield (40) for reflection toward a predetermined view box, the windshield (40) having a first surface (42) and a second surface (44), and characterized in that said surfaces (42, 44) are nonparallel and disposed at respective first and second angles with respect to the image beam so that respective images reflected from the first and second surfaces (42, 44) substantially overlap at the view box.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
72 words
The wedged vehicle windshield of claim 16, characterized in that the windshield (40) includes first and second windshield singlets (40A, 40B) sandwiching an intermediate layer (40C) of transparent material, and wherein said transparent material is characterized by a taper in its thickness dimension from adjacent the top of the windshield (40) to adjacent the bottom, such that the layer thickness is greater adjacent the top than the bottom of the windshield (40).
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
17 words
The wedged vehicle windshield of claim 16 or 17, characterized in that said transparent material comprises polyvinylbutyral.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
34 words
The wedged vehicle windshield of any of claims 16 through 18, characterized in that said first and second surfaces (42, 44) are each flat planar surfaces, so that the windshield (40) is substantially flat.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
32 words
The wedged vehicle windshield of any of claims 16 through 18, characterized in that said first and second surfaces are each curved so that the windshield (40) comprises one or more curves.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
42 words
The wedged vehicle windshield of any of claims 16 through 20, characterized in that the top of said windshield (40) is about 20 mils (0,508 mm) thicker than the bottom of the windshield (40), whereby a substantially ghost-free head-up image is provided.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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