Automated map and display alignment

• US 4,523,188 A
• Filed: 10/25/1982
• Issued: 06/11/1985
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/1982
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Army (Government of the United States of America)
• Original Assignee: The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Army
• Inventors: Huber, William A.
• Primary Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Application Number:
  US06/436,249
• Time in Patent Office: 960 Days
• Field of Search: 340/724, 340/734, 340/716, 340/728, 340/741, 340/990, 340/995, 356/150, 356/153, 356/154, 356/396, 356/397, 358/103, 324/208
• US Class Current: 345/641
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 1/00 Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with cathode-ray tube indicators; General aspects or details, e.g. selection emphasis on particular characters, dashed line or dotted line generation; Preprocessing of datacathode-ray oscilloscopes G01R13/20; radar display arrangements G01S7/04; display of digital non-picture data in television systems H04N7/0255

Abstract

Apparatus and a method are shown for automatically aligning a map with fi topographic and other features therein with an underlying display on which appear electronically produced symbols which must register with the map features. The misalignment of the map is automatically sensed and measured and the positions of all of the display symbols are shifted by an amount equal to the map'"'"'s misalignment, so that the map and the display information are brought into proper registration.

Claims

1. Apparatus for automatically aligning an overlay map with an underlying electronic display, comprising, wide margins on said map on which are printed a circle concentric with the map'"'"'s center and in machine-readable ink, said margins also having printed in the same type of ink a pair of mirror-image spirals of Archimedes, four arrays of sensors capable of sensing said ink located along the extended x and y axes of said electronic display, said spirals being located in the vicinity of the positive and negative x-axes of said display, scanning means adapted to scan said arrays of sensors to determine the intercepts of said circle and said spirals with said sensor arrays, circuit means for calculating the translational and rotational error of said map and said display from said intercepts, and further circuit means for shifting the position of said electronic display so that said map and display register with each other.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a display data source in which coded words representing symbols to be applied to said display together with the coded locations thereof on said display are stored, and in which said further circuit means comprise means to translate said coded locations in accordance with said translational and rotational error, and means to apply the translated coded locations of said symbols to said display.

3. A method of achieving registration of an overlay map or the like with an underlying display comprising the steps of:

placing said map or the like over said display in approximate alignment therewith;

sensing the amount of translational and rotational error in the position of said map or the like relative to said display, said step of sensing said errors being accomplished by means of a circle printed on the underside and in the border of said map and a pair of sections of two similar spirals of Archimedes printed adjacent diametrically opposed points of said circle, one of said spirals being a clockwise spiral and the other being a counterclockwise spiral, and sensor arrays fixedly supported along the extended x and y axes of said display for sensing the position of said circle and spiral sections reltive to said x and y axes; and

then electronically shifting said electronic display to compensate for said translational and rotational errors.

4. Apparatus for automatically aligning an overlay map or the like and an electronic display comprising first means to sense the misalignment of said map or the like in both translation and rotation and to derive error signals related thereto, said first means comprising a circle and a pair of mirror-image Archimedean spiral sections printed in machine-readable ink on the margin of said map or the like and arrays of sensors along the extended x and y axes of said display whereby the intercepts of said circle and spiral sections may be determined by said arrays of sensors;

circuitry for generating said display; and

second means to apply said error signals to said circuitry to align the display with the said misaligned map or the like.

5. Apparatus for automatically aligning an overlay map or the like and underlying display, comprising, a circle printed in machine-readable form in the said map or the like, and means to determine the error in translation between said map or the like by determining the center of said circle relative to the center of said display, and a pair of mirror-image spiral sections also printed in said form adjacent said circle at diametrically opposed areas thereof, and means to determine the rotational misalignment of said map or the like and said display by measuring the ratio of the distances between said spirals and said circle along a line fixed relative to said display.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 further including means to electronically shift the position of said display in accordance with said translational and rotational errors so that the two will register with each other.