阅读说明：本技术 具有自由形式折叠镜的背投模拟器 (Rear projection simulator with free form folding mirror ) 是由 A.K.斯皮格尔曼 J.K.纳普伦德 于 2019-11-20 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供了一种具有自由形式折叠镜的背投模拟器系统。该系统包括高清晰度投影仪和弯曲屏幕。自由形式折叠镜介于投影仪和屏幕之间。自由形式折叠镜包括一个或多个非平面(例如弯曲)部分,以消除或减少图像边缘或边界附近投影图像的分辨率损失。(The present invention provides a rear projection simulator system with a free-form folding mirror. The system includes a high definition projector and a curved screen. A free-form folding mirror is interposed between the projector and the screen. The free-form folding mirror includes one or more non-planar (e.g., curved) portions to eliminate or reduce loss of resolution of the projected image near edges or boundaries of the image.)

1. A simulator projection system comprising:

a projector;

a display screen for receiving an image from a projector; and

a free-form folding mirror interposed between the projector and the display screen, the free-form folding mirror including a first curved portion and a first flat portion.

2. The simulator projection system of claim 1 wherein the free-form mirror comprises a second curved portion spaced apart from the first curved portion.

3. The simulator projection system of claim 2 wherein the first flat portion is located between the first curved portion and the second curved portion.

4. The simulator projection system of claim 1 wherein the first curved portion has a concave cross-sectional shape relative to the display screen.

5. The simulator projection system of claim 2 wherein the first curved portion has a concave cross-sectional shape relative to the display screen and the second curved portion has a convex cross-sectional shape relative to the display screen.

6. The simulator projection system of claim 1 wherein the projector is configured to project a high definition image.

7. The simulator projection system of claim 1 wherein the display screen is curved.

8. The simulator projection system of claim 1 wherein the first curved portion is positioned to affect an edge of an image from the projector.

9. The simulator projection system of claim 1 further comprising a flat fold mirror interposed between the projector and display screen.

10. The simulator projection system of claim 9 wherein the free-form folding mirror and the flat folding mirror are slidably connected to a frame to allow selection of one of the free-form mirror and the flat folding mirror.

11. A display system, comprising:

a projector for projecting an image;

a screen for receiving an image from a projector;

a free-form folding mirror between the projector and the screen, the free-form folding mirror having a centrally located first flat portion, a first curved portion adjacent a top edge of the first flat portion, and a second curved portion adjacent a bottom edge of the first flat portion.

12. The display system of claim 11, wherein the first curved portion has a concave cross-sectional shape relative to a rear surface of the screen.

13. The display of claim 12, wherein the second curved portion has a convex cross-sectional shape relative to a rear surface of the screen.

14. The display of claim 11, further comprising a second flat portion in the free-form folding mirror, wherein the first curved portion is between the first and second flat portions.

15. The display of claim 14, further comprising a third flat portion in the free-form folding mirror, wherein the second curved portion is between the first and third flat portions.

16. The display of claim 11, further comprising a support frame connected to the projector, screen, and free-form folding mirror.

17. The display of claim 11, wherein the projector projects a high definition image.

18. The display of claim 11, wherein the screen is curved.

19. The display of claim 11, wherein the display is part of a flight simulator.

20. A method for projecting an image on a simulator screen, comprising:

projecting an image from a projector along a projection path extending from an image projection source of the projector to a mirror that intersects the free-form folding mirror; and

reflecting the projected image from the free-form folding mirror along a path extending from the free-form folding mirror to an intersection of the screen, wherein the free-form folding mirror is interposed between the projector and the screen, the free-form mirror including a first curved portion and a first flat portion.

21. The method for projecting an image of claim 20 wherein said free-form mirror includes a second curved portion spaced apart from said first curved portion.

22. The method for projecting an image of claim 21 wherein said first flat portion is between said first and second curved portions.

23. The method for projecting an image of claim 22 wherein said first curved portion has a concave cross-sectional shape relative to said display screen.

24. The method for projecting an image of claim 22 wherein said first curved portion has a concave cross-sectional shape relative to said display screen and said second curved portion has a convex cross-sectional shape relative to said display screen.

25. The method for projecting an image of claim 20 wherein said projector is configured to project a high definition image.

26. The method for projecting an image of claim 20 wherein said display screen is curved.

27. The method for projecting an image of claim 20 wherein said first curved portion is positioned to affect an edge of an image from said projector.

28. The method for projecting an image of claim 20 comprising:

projecting an image from the projector along a second projection path extending from an image projection source of the projector to a second mirror that intersects the flat fold mirror; and

reflecting the projected image from the flat fold mirror along a second path extending from the flat fold mirror to a second screen intersection, wherein the flat fold mirror is interposed between the projector and the screen.

29. The method for projecting an image of claim 28 wherein said free-form and flat-fold mirrors are slidably connected to a frame to allow selection of one of said free-form and flat-fold mirrors for reflecting an image to said screen.

30. The method for projecting an image of claim 29 comprising:

one of the free-form mirror and the flat-fold mirror is slidably selected.

Technical Field

The invention relates to a rear projection simulator display system having a free form folding mirror interposed between the projector and the screen.

Background

Simulators, such as flight simulators, typically include a projector and a screen. The person using the simulator is positioned in front of a screen on which various controls are provided for virtual training. "fold mirrors" are often used in such systems to reduce the floor space or ceiling height of the system. This is achieved by reflecting light from the projector to the back of the screen. Such fold mirrors are typically flat (i.e., planar). However, the use of a flat mirror (with expanded/divergent light from the projector on a non-flat screen) can result in uneven resolution and brightness of the image seen by the system user. This is particularly evident near the edges or borders of the projected image.

The present invention provides an improved system using fold mirrors that corrects or reduces any loss of resolution or brightness.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention provides an improved rear projection display system for a simulator, such as a flight simulator. The system utilizes a fold mirror having one or more non-planar portions shaped so that the projector light cone will result in more uniform display performance. This type of mirror will be referred to herein as a "free form" fold mirror. For one embodiment of the technology disclosed and claimed herein, the free-form folding mirror is shaped to reduce or eliminate the loss of resolution of image components near the boundary of the projection cone of light. A free-form optical surface is defined as any non-rotationally symmetric surface, or a symmetric surface that rotates about any axis (which is not an axis of symmetry). These surfaces result in smaller system dimensions compared to rotationally symmetric surfaces. When illuminated by a point source, the free-form mirror produces a given illumination pattern on a target surface, which is plano-spherical or otherwise shaped. For one approach to complete the design, the ray map may be modeled by a second order partial differential equation. For another approach to complete the design, the approximation of the optical surface can be modeled and verified by ray tracing and the design of the optical surface, in particular a free-form mirror can be determined.

According to an aspect of the invention, a simulator projection system is provided. The system includes a projector and a display screen for receiving images from the projector. A free-form folding mirror is interposed between the projector and the display screen. The free-form mirror includes a first curved portion and a first flat portion. For an embodiment, the first curved portion is positioned to affect an edge or boundary portion of an image projected by the projector.

For an embodiment, the free-form mirror includes, in addition to the first curved portion, a second curved portion spaced apart from the first curved portion. In this arrangement, the first flat portion is located between the first curved portion and the second curved portion. Additional curved portions may be added as desired or needed, however, a flat portion need not be between two curved portions, whereby two or more curved portions are directly adjacent without a flat portion therebetween.

For an embodiment, the first curved portion has a concave cross-sectional shape with respect to the display screen and the projector. The second curved portion has a convex cross-sectional shape with respect to the display screen and the projector.

The projectors in the system are configured to project high definition images. For example, a high definition image may be a 1920x1080 pixel array. Arrays of higher or lower pixel counts are also used.

For one embodiment of the technology, the display screen of the system is curved. Typically, the convex side receives the projected image and the user is located on the concave side of the screen. In some cases, a flat screen may be used.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a display system is provided. The display system includes a projector for projecting an image and a screen for receiving the image from the projector. A free-form folding mirror is interposed between the projector and the screen. The free-form folding mirror has a centrally located first flat portion, a first curved portion adjacent a top edge of the first flat portion, and a second curved portion adjacent a bottom edge of the first flat portion.

For an embodiment, the first curved portion is formed to have a concave cross-sectional shape with respect to a rear surface of the screen. The second curved portion is formed to have a convex cross-sectional shape with respect to the rear surface of the screen.

For an embodiment, the free-form folding mirror may further comprise a second flat portion, wherein the first curved portion is between the first flat portion and the second flat portion. In addition, the free-form folding mirror may further include a third flat portion, wherein the second curved portion is between the first flat portion and the third flat portion.

The system may also include a support frame. The support frame may be connected to each of the projector, the screen, and the free-form folding mirror.

One goal of free-form mirror technology is to equalize the size and spacing of the projector pixels to create a uniform resolution so that the appearance of the image is always clear. Any geometric correction, such as pre-distorting a square into a "bucket" shape so that it appears square to the viewer, rather than corners appearing elongated, will be done by the image generator creating the image, rather than by the mirror. The prior art does not address uniform resolution. It is another object of the technique to provide a fold mirror that produces a uniform pixel density (and thus uniform resolution and more uniform brightness) on any screen surface.

One way to implement this mapping technique is to use "constraints" set in the SolidWorks CAD model. For example, a ray of light expands from a single point inside the projector and is confined to a distance of (for example) 0.10 "on the convex screen surface after reflection from the surface. To do this, the reflective surface must be angled so that the "normal" (perpendicular) ray bisects the incoming ray from the projector and the outgoing ray that must fall on a particular point on the screen. Once the model has computed a large number of surfaces, they are merged to create a free-form mirror shape. This modeling technique is one of several methods for implementing the techniques disclosed and claimed herein.

For example, for an embodiment, a constraint of 0.10 "between pixels is determined, for example, by calculation of the pixel density required for an observer to observe and measure a certain resolution. For example, the resolution requirement for pixels per optical line pair is 10.52 arc minutes, which results in a specific angular measurement from the viewer's viewpoint and translates to a 0.10 "distance between pixels on the screen surface if the dome has a 65" radius. The techniques disclosed and claimed herein address having a uniform resolution distribution, which will result in a more uniform brightness distribution, which is also dependent on the gain characteristics of the diffusion coating applied to the interior of the dome.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

For an understanding of the present invention, the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings and accessories, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side-by-side cross-sectional schematic view of a simulator projection system without a mirror and with a flat fold mirror-comparison of the display footprints with and without (flat) fold mirrors;

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a simulator projection system with a flat fold mirror showing areas of reduced screen resolution-showing the reduced resolution due to an enlarged cone of light and a curved screen when using a flat fold mirror;

FIG. 3A is a graphical representation of a circular image projected onto a screen in a simulator projection system having a flat fold mirror;

FIG. 3B is a screen view of the projected image of FIG. 3A-showing the stretching of the image over a pixel diameter circular image;

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a simulator projection system having a free-form folding mirror in accordance with an aspect of the present invention-showing the free-form mirror used to equalize image resolution;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged upper portion of the free-form folding mirror of FIG. 4, with an overlying upper portion of the flat folding mirror-showing the use of the free-form mirror over the upper pixel area; and

FIG. 6 is a graphical representation of a simulator projection system with a flat fold mirror and a free-form fold mirror for comparison-showing an I/ITSEC display.

While the disclosed technology is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description presented herein are not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular embodiment disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the present technology as disclosed and defined by the appended claims.

Detailed Description

In accordance with disclosed embodiments of the present technology, various views are shown in fig. 1-6, and like reference numerals are used to refer to like and corresponding parts of the technology throughout the various views and figures of the drawings. Further, it should be noted that the first digit of a reference number in a given item or portion of technology shall correspond to the figure number in which the item or portion was first identified. The description may refer to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment"; reference to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or embodiment is included in at least one embodiment or embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment or the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments or implementations mutually exclusive of other embodiments or implementations. While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail preferred embodiments of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broad aspect of the invention to the embodiments illustrated.

The present invention provides an improved simulator display system. This system provides more uniform resolution of the image projected onto the simulator display, as well as more uniform image brightness, since brightness tends to increase as the pixels of the image are closer together. More uniform resolution and brightness should also reduce the workload of any auto-alignment system associated with the simulator display system. The system may also be used to further reduce the footprint and/or ceiling height of a rear projection visual display.

Referring to the left side of fig. 1, a typical simulator display system includes an image projector 10 that projects an image onto a screen 12. Fig. 1 shows a flat screen 14 and a curved screen 16. A user 18 of the system is located in front of the screen 12. As shown in fig. 1, projector 10 provides an image having a cone of light 20. The cone of light 20 partially defines the desired distance between the projector 10 and the screen 12.

To reduce the footprint of the system, some systems have utilized a flat fold mirror 22 between the projector 10 and the screen 12, as shown on the right side of fig. 1. Comparing the left and right sides, the distance between projector 10 and user 18 is shorter when a fold mirror is used. Folding mirrors are used in many projection technologies to reduce the total throw distance of the projection device, thereby reducing the overall size (depth) of the system. A folding mirror is used in embodiments as a method to reduce the overall size of the device. Free-form mirrors are optical devices with asymmetric optical surfaces, which have many advantages, including correcting various aberrations. Free-form optics are defined as optics whose surface shape lacks translational or rotational symmetry about an axis perpendicular to the mean plane. A common first step approach to using free-form optics design is to change all the coefficients that determine the free-form shape of each surface and let the ray tracing optimizer determine the final coefficients and surface shape. The ray tracing optimizer includes a computer-based software tool for modeling the final free-form shape of the ray tracing and folding mirrors.

Certain resolution and brightness problems arise with the use of flat fold mirrors. Specifically, an extended cone of light 20 from projector 10 spreads the light out from the center of the image behind screen 12. This is particularly problematic when the screen 16 is curved in the rear projection dome of the flight simulator as shown in figure 2. In this figure, the screen 16 is concave on the viewer/user 18 side and convex on the projector 10 side of the screen 16. The diffused light combines with the screen 16, which is curved away from the projector, resulting in degraded resolution and brightness (e.g., stretched images). For example, a 50% reduction in resolution between the center of the image 24(7.99 '/OLP) and the top 26 or bottom 28(16.09 '/OLP) of the image is shown in FIG. 2 (given in the arc minute/optical line pair ('/OLP), which is a standard measure of resolution in a training simulator with a visual display). In contrast, "20/20" has a visual resolution of about 2'/OLP, with smaller numbers indicating higher resolution. Each of the image center 24, top 26, and bottom 28 shown in fig. 2 (and fig. 3) has a light cone of 100 pixels.

The brightness of the image is similarly reduced due to the uneven brightness of the image caused by the diffused light. This effect is more pronounced at the edges of the image. Fig. 3 illustrates the effect of this image stretching from the perspective of the user 18 on a 100 pixel diameter circular object 24, 26, 28 (sun, moon, etc.) unless some image warping is applied. This warping can only be used to re-circularize the object (thus reducing the resolution of the image) by using less than the original 100 pixels.

Fig. 4 and 5 illustrate a free-form folding mirror 30 that overcomes the problems of the flat folding mirror 22. The free-form folding mirror 30 described herein will adjust the distribution of the projector's light on the screen 16 to equalize the resolution across the image and produce a more uniform resolution and brightness. In the example shown in fig. 4 and 5, this is achieved by spreading the light rays out of the center of the image and focusing them on the image borders or edges.

Focusing on the top image (i.e., the rightmost cone of light) generated by projector 10 in fig. 4, free-form folding mirror 30 includes a first non-planar curved portion 32 near the top of mirror 30 (directional or positional terms such as "top," "bottom," "right," etc. are used herein with respect to positions or orientations as shown in the figures and are not meant to limit the invention to those positions or orientations — that is, the entire projector/mirror combination may be placed on its side or upside down-that is, the projector is on top-and still incorporate the invention). The first curved portion 32 has a concave cross-sectional shape (i.e., relative to the screen or projection cone). The free-form folding mirror 30 includes a flat portion 34 that forms a central or middle portion of the mirror 30 below the first curved portion 32 and another flat portion 36 above the first curved portion 32.

As shown in more detail in fig. 5, the outer (or leftmost) ray 38 of the light cone hitting the top of the free-form mirror 32 strikes the first curved portion 32 of the mirror 30 and is reflected toward the screen 16, and the inner (or rightmost) ray 40 of the light cone strikes the flat portion 36 above the first curved portion 32 and is also reflected toward the screen 16. The cone of light is the upper 100 pixels of the image from projector 10. Fig. 5 also includes a flat fold mirror 22 superimposed in front of the free form fold mirror 30. This is done to illustrate where the outer rays 38' of the cone of light would be reflected if the flat fold mirror 22 were used instead of the free form fold mirror 32. It will be apparent that the spacing of the rays 38 and 40 from the free-form folding mirror 30 is significantly less than the spacing of the rays 38' and 40 from the flat folding mirror 22. Thus, the image 26' in this region is not stretched as much by the free-form folding mirror 30 as by the flat folding mirror 22. As shown in FIG. 4, each of the three images 24 ', 26', and 28 '(from the three exemplary cones of light) seen by the user 18 of the system is 10.52'/OLP.

Fig. 4 also shows the lower image (i.e., the leftmost cone of light emitted from projector 10) formed by impinging on the second non-planar curved portion 42 on the free-form folding mirror 30. In contrast to the first curved portion 32, the second curved portion 42 is convex with respect to the cone of light and the screen 16. Another flat portion 44 is adjacent the second curved portion 42, opposite the centrally located flat portion 34.

To illustrate the difference between the flat fold mirror 22 and the free form fold mirror 30, an analog display system having two mirrors 22, 30 is shown in FIG. 6. Both mirrors 22, 30 are mounted on a support frame 46. The mirrors 22, 30 are slidable to allow either mirror to be in the optical path of the projector. Support frame 46 also holds projector 10 and screen 16 (a similar support frame is used to hold the components of the system shown schematically in fig. 1-5). The entire system may be enclosed and/or mounted on a movable platform (which simulates the motion of an aircraft or other vehicle or machine associated with the simulator).

The free-form folding mirror 30 of the present invention differs from a typical flat planar mirror and will have a more complex shape than a flat mirror. In some cases, the free-form folding mirror may be one or more mirror components that are connected to or placed adjacent to each other.

Although the free-form folding mirror 30 is shown in the figures as having two curved portions 32, 42, it may have fewer or more curved portions as needed to provide any desired effect to the projected image. In addition, the position and shape of the screen can affect the number and location of any curved portions of such mirrors.

Many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

The various embodiments and examples shown above illustrate methods and systems for a rear projection system with a free-form folding mirror. Any of the above embodiments, or equivalents thereof, may be selected by a user of the present method and system depending on the desired application. In this regard, it should be appreciated that various forms of the subject free-form folding mirror methods and systems may be utilized without departing from the scope of the disclosed technology and various embodiments.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that certain aspects of the present embodiments are not limited by the specific details of the examples illustrated herein and it is therefore contemplated that other modifications and applications, or equivalents thereof, will occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the claims are to cover all such modifications and applications that do not depart from the scope of the present embodiments. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

Certain systems, devices, applications, or processes are described herein as including a plurality of modules. A module may be a unit of different functions presented in software, hardware, or a combination thereof. When the functions of the module are performed in any part by software, the module includes a computer-readable medium. Modules may be considered to be communicatively coupled. The inventive subject matter may be represented in numerous different embodiments, in which many possible arrangements exist.

The methods described herein need not be performed in the order described or in any particular order. Further, various activities described with respect to the methods identified herein can be executed in serial or parallel fashion. In the foregoing detailed description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter may lie in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.

In an example embodiment, the machine operates as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in server-client network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine may be a server computer, a client computer, a Personal Computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine or computing device. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. For example, for one embodiment of designing the manufacturing and providing free-form mirrors, a ray tracing optimizer is utilized, which includes computer-based software tools for modeling ray tracing and the free-form shape of the final fold mirror. Free-form mirrors can be prefabricated using such computer-based tools. However, for one embodiment, the free-form mirror is dynamically adjusted with a mechanical push/pull system that mechanically deforms the reflective surface of the mirror to the appropriate curvature. For one embodiment, the push/pull mechanism is computer controlled to adjust the curvature of the mirror based on other system parameters to reduce aberrations and improve resolution.

Example computer systems and client computers may include a processor (e.g., a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), or both), a main memory and a static memory, which communicate with each other over a bus. The computer system may also include a video/graphics display unit (e.g., a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)). The computer system and client computing devices may also include alphanumeric input devices (e.g., a keyboard), cursor control devices (e.g., a mouse), drive units, signal generation devices (e.g., speakers), and network interface devices.

The drive unit includes a computer-readable medium having stored thereon one or more sets of instructions (e.g., software) embodying any one or more of the methodologies or systems described herein. The software may also reside, completely or at least partially, within a main memory and/or within a processor during execution thereof by the computer system, the main memory and the processor also constituting computer-readable media. The software may further be transmitted or received over a network via a network interface device.

The term "computer-readable medium" should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term "computer-readable medium" shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing or encoding a set of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present embodiments. The term "computer readable medium" shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, optical media, and magnetic media.

The various freeform folding mirror back projection examples shown above illustrate the method and system of a rear projection system. Any of the above embodiments, or equivalents thereof, may be selected by a user of the disclosed technology depending on the desired application. In this regard, it is recognized that various forms of the subject technology can be utilized without departing from the scope of the invention.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that certain aspects of the present technology disclosed are not limited by the specific details of the examples illustrated herein, and it is therefore contemplated that other modifications and applications, or equivalents thereof, will occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the claims are to cover all such modifications and applications that do not depart from the scope of the disclosed and claimed technology.

Other aspects, objects, and advantages of the disclosed technology can be obtained from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims.