Optical device for vehicular docking

Claim 2

An optical device for providing a visual display for guiding a moving observer along a prescribed path of travel comprising: a lens system comprised of an array of cylindrically ribbed lenticulars, each lens of said array having a center line and one of said lenses being a central lens of said array, and having its aperture oriented toward said observer, a field member having a pLurality of translucent slits each of said slits having a longitudinal center line, said slits being separated from one another by opaque sections, said field member being positioned substantially at the focal plane of said lenticular array, at least one of said translucent slits being associated with each lenticular lens of said array, the longitudinal center line of the slit associated with the central lens of the array being aligned with the center line thereof, each of the other slits being displaced from the respective center line of the lens with which it is associated, said displacement being in direct proportion to the distance of the latter lens from the center of the array, and a light source positioned with respect to said field member to provide for back-lighting of said translucent slits.

Claim 3

An optical device as defined in claim 1 further including means for generating a light bar visible to the observer and serving as a datum marker.

Claim 4

An optical device as defined in claim 2 characterized in that said other translucent slits are arranged in a decremented configuration wherein the displacement of each of them from the center line of its associated lens is toward the center of the array, said lenticular array forming an apparent virtual image of the decremented slits which is seen by the observer as a bar of light and which appears to move across the aperture of the lenticular array in the same direction as the movement of the observer relative to the display, alignment of said bar of light with said datum marker by said observer being indicative of travel along said prescribed path.

Claim 5

An optical device as defined in claim 1 characterized in that said other translucent slits are arranged in an incremented configuration wherein the displacement of each of them from the center line of its associated lens is away from the center of the array, said lenticular array forming an apparent real image of the incremented slits which is seen by the observer as a bar of light and which appears to move across the aperture of the lenticular array in a direction opposite to the movement of the observer relative to the display.

Claim 6

An optical device as defined in claim 1 further including a plurality of opaque vane-like projections situated respectively at the interstices of adjacent lenses and positioned contiguously between said field member and said ribbed lenticulars, said projections preventing said observer from seeing through any given lens an image derived from a translucent slit not associated with that lens.

Claim 7

An optical device as defined in claim 1 characterized in that a pair of said slits are associated with each lenticular lens of said array, one of said slits being displaced in decremented fashion toward the center of said array, the other of said slits being displaced in incremented fashion away from the center of said array, said lenticular array generating concurrently respective images of the incremented and decremented slits which are seen by said observer as two bars of light and which are separated from each other in proportion to the deviation of said observer from said path of travel.

Claim 8

An optical device as defined in claim 6 wherein said pair of slits have their longitudinal axes oriented in the same direction as the ribs of said lenticulars and traverse the entire corresponding surface of said field member, the light bars generated by said system each extending across the entire aperture of said lenticulars in the direction of the lens ribs, said light bars appearing to move toward each other and to completely overlap each other in response to the observer''s alignment with said prescribed path.

Claim 9

An optical device as defined in claim 6 wherein said pair of slits have their longitudinal axes oriented in the same direction as the ribs of said lenticulars, the incremented ones of said slits traversing one half of the corresponding surface of said field member, and the decremented ones of said slits traversing the otHer half of said field member surface, the light bars generated by said system being of the split-image type wherein each extends across only one half of the aperture of said lenticulars in the direction of the lens ribs, said light bars appearing to move toward each other and to become aligned as a single full-length bar in response to the observer''s alignment with said prescribed path.

Claim 10

An optical device as defined in claim 2 wherein the rib axes of said lenticular array and the longitudinal axes of said translucent slits are oriented vertically to provide center line guidance information to said observer, said lenticular array generating a vertical center line bar of light which appears to the observer to move in a horizontal direction in proportion to his azimuthal deviation from said path of travel.

Claim 11

An optical device as defined in claim 9 further including a mask section having the designations of the vehicles to be docked together with the associated stop cue symbols, and means for illuminating said vehicle designations and stop cues in said mask section.

Claim 12

An optical device as defined in claim 10 further including a second array of cylindrically ribbed lenticulars, the rib axes of said second lenticular array being oriented horizontally, a second field member having a plurality of slits separated from one another by opaque sections, said field member being positioned substantially at the focal plane of said second lenticular array, the longitudinal axes of said slits being oriented horizontally, each of said translucent strips being associated respectively with a lenticular lens of said array, the longitudinal center line of the slit associated with the central lens of said second array being aligned with the center line thereof, each of the other slits being displaced from the respective center line of the lens with which it is associated in direct proportion to the distance of such lens from the center of said second array, a light source positioned with respect to said second field member to provide for the back-lighting of said translucent slits, said second lenticular array generating an image of said slits which is seen by the observer as a horizontal stop bar of light and which appears to move in a vertical direction across said second lenticular array in response to movements by said observer toward or away from said display, the concurrent alignments by said observer of said center line bar with said datum marker and of said stop bar with the appropriate stop cue being indicative of the attainment by said observer of a predetermined stop point along said prescribed path of travel.