COLLIMATED VISUAL DISPLAY SYSTEM

Abstract

A spherical mirror reflects an image on a back-projection screen to be viewed by a viewer located in the design eye point. The back-projection screen is configured to provide a collimated beam to a viewer located in the design eye point. A single projector illuminates the back-projection screen to provide the image on the back-projection screen. A freeform mirror located between the back-projection screen and the projector is configured to map all the pixels of the projector to the back-projection screen such that the resolution of the projector is sufficiently uniform on the back-projection screen.

Claims

1.-19. (canceled)

20. A collimated visual display system for providing virtual out of window images surrounding a pilot and/or co-pilot in simulation applications, the system comprising: a back-projection screen, a spherical mirror reflecting an image on the back-projection screen to be viewed by a viewer located in a design eye point, wherein the back-projection screen is configured to provide a collimated beam to a viewer located in the design eye point, a single projector illuminating the back-projection screen to provide the image on the back-projection screen, a freeform mirror located between the back-projection screen and the projector that is configured to map pixels of the projector to the back-projection screen such that a resolution of the projector is sufficiently uniform on the back-projection screen, whereby the resolution is uniform within a range of +20% of a target resolution.

21. The collimated visual display system according to claim 20, wherein the resolution from the design eye point is at least 6 arc min/OLP after reflection on the back-projection screen and on the spherical mirror.

22. The collimated visual display system according to claim 20, wherein the back-projection screen is convergence optimized for a user in the design eye point.

23. The collimated visual display system according to claim 20, wherein the back-projection screen is a freeform, spherical or aspherical transparent screen.

24. The collimated visual display system according to claim 20, wherein the resolution of the projector is of at least 2560×1200 pixels.

25. The collimated visual display system according to claim 20, wherein the spherical mirror has a radius in a range of 2.1336 meters to 3.6576 meters.

26. The collimated visual display system according to claim 20, wherein the back-projection screen is coated with a diffusing coating.

27. The collimated visual display system according to claim 20, wherein the back-projection screen and the spherical mirror are configured to provide a collimated image with a horizontal field of view of 180°, and a vertical field of view of at least 40°.

28. The collimated visual display system according to claim 27 wherein a collimated image is created by being able to look at an object through a collimating optical element and whereby the object is positioned in a focal surface of the collimating optical element so that the light coming from the object is collimated by the collimating optical element.

29. The collimated visual display system according to claim 28, further comprising a large mirror that is around a viewer as the collimating optical element.

30. The collimated visual display system according to claim 29, wherein the back projection screen is configured to provide a collimating beam.

31. The collimated visual display system according to claim 30, wherein a shape of the screen aligns with the focal surface.

32. The collimated visual display system according to claim 31, wherein the focal surface is a curved surface for mirrors, and neither a point nor a flat plane.

33. The collimated visual display system according to claim 32, wherein a collimation quality is determined by shaping the back projection screen to the shape of the focal surface of the mirror.

34. The collimated visual display system according to claim 20, wherein the spherical mirror is manufactured with a large piece of metalized film that is skinned over a cavity where under pressure is introduced through which the metalized film is sucked into a sufficiently spherical shape.

35. The collimated visual display system according to claim 20, wherein the spherical mirror is a segmented mirror comprising a plurality of glass spherical mirror segments.

36. The collimated visual display system according to claim 20, wherein the spherical mirror is a segmented mirror comprising a plurality of plastic or polymeric spherical mirror segments.

37. A method for designing a freeform mirror for a collimated visual display system, wherein the method comprises the steps of: a) providing initial values comprising a projector position, a projector orientation, a back-projection screen position, orientation and shape, b) providing fixed parameters, said fixed parameters comprising a projector resolution, c) defining a reference point on a freeform mirror, d) defining a mapping function between pixels of a projector and a target point on a back-projection screen, e) defining a normal vector parametric representation of a freeform surface, f) optimizing the normal vectors of the freeform surface such that a reflection on the freeform surface of a light ray coming from each pixel of the projector reaches the target point on the back-projection screen, until the optimized freeform surface has been reached, g) repeating step f) until the freeform surface provides a target resolution uniformity on the back-projection screen and a target field of view within a predefined tolerance, whereby the resolution is uniform within a range of +20% of a target resolution, h) measuring an astigmatism of the reflected light rays hitting the back-projection surface and comparing the measured astigmatism with a threshold, i) if the measured astigmatism is higher than the threshold, repeating steps e) to h), j) if the measured astigmatism is lower than the threshold, storing a representation of the freeform surface at step g).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0054] The features of the invention believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, may be best understood by reference to the following detailed description of the invention, which describes an exemplary embodiment of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0055] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional collimated system in accordance with the prior art.

[0056] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a collimated system in accordance with a preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

[0057] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a freeform optical warping mirror shown on FIG. 2 in accordance with the present invention.

[0058] FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the optical layout showing the uniform resolution according to the present invention.

[0059] FIG. 5 is a flowchart for the optimization of the design of the freeform surface according to the present invention.

[0060] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a freeform collimation optimized back projection screen according to the present invention.

DEFINITIONS

[0061] Design eye point is the ideal position in which the eyes of the user are to be during use of the collimated visual display system. The collimated visual display system is thus optimized for the design eye point. The design eye point is in practice typical in the middle between the Pilot eye point (PEP) and the co-pilot eye-point (CPEP). All requirements for the system optimized for the design eye point are also met in the PEP and CPEP.

[0062] OLP or Optical Line Pair is a pair of straight parallel lines of equal width and having a defined degree of contrast, and which are used as means of determining the resolution of a display. The resolution can be measured in arc min/pixel or in arc min/OLP. The resolution measured per OLP is twice the resolution measured per pixel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0063] The present invention will be described with respect to particular embodiments and with reference to certain drawings but the invention is not limited thereto but only by the claims. The drawings described are only schematic and are non-limiting. In the drawings, the size of some of the elements may be exaggerated and not drawn on scale for illustrative purposes. Where the term “comprising” is used in the present description and claims, it does not exclude other elements or steps. Furthermore, the terms first, second, third and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operation in other sequences than described or illustrated herein.

[0064] The terms “about” or “approximate” or “sufficiently” and the like are synonymous and are used to indicate that the value modified by the term has an understood range associated with it, where the range can be +20%, +15%, +10%, +5%, or +1%. The term “substantially” is used to indicate that a result (e.g., measurement value) is close to a targeted value, where close can mean, for example, the result is within 80% of the value, within 90% of the value, within 95% of the value, or within 99% of the value.

[0065] Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail.

[0066] FIG. 2 illustrates a collimated visual display system according to the present invention.

[0067] A single projector 24 illuminates a freeform mirror 25. The projector is preferably a high-resolution projector with a resolution of at least 2560×1200 pixels.

[0068] The freeform mirror 25 redistributes the pixels of the projector 24 on a back-projection screen 23. The shape of the freeform mirror 25 is adapted to redistribute uniformly the pixels of the projector 24 over the entire back-projection screen 23 so as to generate the required field of view and provide the high resolution of the projector to the viewer.

[0069] The single projector illuminates the back-projection screen 23 through reflection on the freeform mirror 25 in such a way that the horizontal field of view seen from the design eye point is at least 180°, the vertical field of view seen from the design eye point is at least 40° and the resolution as seen from the design eye point is at least 6 arc minutes per OLP.

[0070] The back-projection screen 23 is preferably a transparent spherical or aspherical or freeform substrate coated with a diffusing coating. Aspherical in optics is defend as a surface of revolution that has a varying radius of curvature. Aspherical surfaces can take a wide variety of forms. A flat surface is a specific type of surface and cannot be considered as a special case of spherical surface with radius infinity. In engineering infinity is not a tangible element.

[0071] The image on the back-projection screen 23 is then reflected by a spherical mirror 22 towards at least one viewer in the design eye point.

[0072] In embodiments of the present invention, the spherical mirror 22 has a radius in the range of 7 ft to 12 ft, or about 2 meters to 4 meters, more precisely in the range of 2.1336 meter (7 ft) to 3.6576 meter (12 ft). This spherical mirror 22 can be manufactured by using a large piece of metalized film that is skinned over a cavity where under-pressure is introduced. Because of the “under-pressure” the metalized film is sucked into a substantially spherical shape. Alternative methods to construct this mirror consist of bringing a number of spherical glass or plastic spherical segments together to create the large spherical mirror. Because of the spherical shape, all segments can be identical.

[0073] Viewers in the cockpit 21 look at the spherical mirror 22 and see reflected in the spherical mirror 22 an image of the back-projection screen 23, said image being collimated to the viewers.

[0074] The shape of the back-projection screen 23 is obtained in such a way that the parallel rays from the two eyes of a person in the design eye point of the visual display system, after reflection on the spherical mirror 22, converge on the back-projection screen 23 surface, as illustrated with the arrows on FIG. 4. This ensures the collimation property of the visual system. The shape of the back-projection screen is preferably optimized for providing a collimated beam to a pilot and a co-pilot.

[0075] This method is convergence optimized and creates an aspherical or freeform shape of the back-projection screen for the required field of view that warrants good convergence and collimation performance of the visual system in the design eye point and for Pilot Eye Point (PEP) and the Co-Pilot Eye Point (CPEP).

[0076] The shape of the back-projection screen 23 is obtained in such a way that the parallel rays from two eyes of a person in the design eye point of the visual display system, after reflection on the spherical mirror 22, converge on the back-projection screen 23 surface. This ensures the collimation property of the visual system. The shape of the back-projection screen is preferably optimized for providing a collimated beam to a pilot and a co-pilot.

[0077] FIG. 6 illustrates a back-projection screen according to the present invention. The shape of the screen can be aspherical or a freeform and is designed so as to optimize the collimation of light emitted by the projector towards the at least one viewer.

[0078] In order to obtain the desired resolution and field of view in the design eye point, the freeform mirror 25 is designed in such a way that it maps the projector 24 pixels on at least a portion of the back-projection screen 23 in a sufficiently equidistant manner so as to optimize the resolution and resolution uniformity over the entire back projection screen 23.

[0079] This mapping is further also illustrated on FIG. 4, which shows the mapping of the projector 24 pixels onto the back-projection screen 23 by the freeform mirror 25. It also illustrates the mapping of the eyes of the viewer 21 in the design eye point on the back-projection screen 23 by the collimating mirror 22.

[0080] The present invention also pertains to a method of designing a freeform mirror for a visual display system as described above. The flow-diagram of the algorithm to design the freeform mirror in accordance with the present invention is illustrated in the flow chart of FIG. 5. The method is iterative and uses input parameters having an initial value at the start (step 500) of the method. The method is stopped when target values have been reached within a pre-determined threshold.

[0081] The input parameters to the method according to the present invention are [0082] the projector characteristics as the resolution, an initial position, aspect ratio, an initial orientation, [0083] the characteristics of the back-projection surface which is pre-calculated/pre-designed to optimize the collimation of the light beam in the design eye point, i.e. its shape, position, etc. [0084] an initial position for the freeform mirror, and an initial shape for the freeform mirror which can be for example a flat surface.

[0085] A collimated image can be created by looking at an object through a collimating optical element such as a lens of a mirror and whereby the object is positioned in the focal surface of the collimating optical element so that the light coming from the object is collimated by the collimating optical element. In this case, use can be made of a large mirror that is around a viewer as the collimating optical element. The collimating optical element can be a back projection screen. The back projection screen can be configured to provide a collimating beam, and the shape of the screen aligns with the focal surface. This surface is not a point or a flat plane but a curved surface for large mirrors. Hence the collimation quality is determined by shaping the back projection screen to the shape of the focal surface of the mirror. This is also referred to as a back projection screen that is convergence optimized.

[0086] In step 510, the projector layout (position and orientation) is mapped on a freeform mirror to define a reference point of the freeform mirror, for example its center.

[0087] In step 520, a mapping between pixel coordinates in the projector and corresponding target points coordinates on the back-projection screen is defined. This mapping thus takes into account the resolution of the projector as each pixel is mapped. This mapping ensures that the target resolution uniformity is achieved on the back-projection screen and also that the target field of view is reached. The target resolution uniformity, the target resolution and the target field of view are pre-defined and need to be reached within a pre-determined threshold. The target value for the resolution is for example 6 arc min per OLP. The target resolution uniformity is for example a resolution throughout the field of view which remains within ±10% of a target value.

[0088] In step 530, a normal vector parametric representation of the freeform mirror surface is defined with unknown parameters which are to be calculated in the next step, iteratively. The normal vector representation of the freeform surface allows to optimize the direction of reflection of the light rays when reflected by the freeform mirror.

[0089] In step 540, a freeform mirror surface calculation is performed by optimizing the normal vector parametric representation of the freeform mirror such that a light ray coming from each pixel of the projector reflected by the freeform reaches the target point on the back-projection screen, defined by the mapping in step 520, in other words, it optimizes the light ray mapping from projector pixels coordinates to the target points on the back-projection surface. This step can be repeated iteratively until the target values, as the target field of view and the target resolution uniformity are reached within a certain threshold.

[0090] It is important to note that it is not only the shape of the freeform mirror which can be modified at each iteration of the method but also the other parameters provided as input to the method, such as the orientation and position of the projector, the position of the freeform mirror and the orientation of the freeform mirror.

[0091] The freeform mirror as output by the method can be in the form of a point cloud and then be transformed to a continuous shape.

[0092] In step 550, the astigmatism of the reflected light rays hitting the back-projection surface is measured.

[0093] The measurement of the astigmatism can be evaluated by calculating the difference between the horizontal and vertical curvature of each point on the freeform mirror.

[0094] In step 560, if the measured astigmatism is higher than a threshold (not acceptable), then steps from 520 on are repeated, if the measured astigmatism is lower than a threshold (acceptable), then the algorithm is stopped, and the latest representation of the freeform surface as determined in step 540 defines the freeform surface. This freeform surface also optimizes the light ray mapping from the pixels of the projector to their projection on the back-projection screen.

[0095] If the other parameters have been updated in step 540, these parameters are also stored as the new values for the optical design of the display.

[0096] In step 570 the method is stopped and guarantees a freeform mirror which provides a target field of view and a target resolution uniformity in a collimated visual display system according to the present invention.

[0097] Because only one projector is used, the system can be more cost effective and requires less maintenance because there is no longer a need for regular adjustments of the projectors to ensure their color points match, etc. and to align the projectors to maintain the overlap zone.

[0098] Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment(s) as mentioned above, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claim or claims will cover such modifications and variations that fall within the true scope of the invention.