Course guidance and display apparatus for vehicles

• US 4,543,578 A
• Filed: 08/11/1982
• Issued: 09/24/1985
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/1981
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ALPS Electric Company Limited (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: ALPS Electric Company Limited (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Tomoyori, Makoto, Fuse, Masashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Caldwell, Sr., John W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Heim, Michael F.
• Application Number:
  US06/407,111
• Time in Patent Office: 1,140 Days
• Field of Search: 340/990, 340/995, 340/988, 340/783, 340/705, 340/716, 358/105, 358/140, 358/206, 358/93, 358/103, 364/424, 364/460, 364/444, 364/448, 364/449, 364/521, 353/12
• US Class Current: 340/995.26
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/108 involving the optical projection of slides, microfilm or the like

Abstract

A course guidance apparatus for vehicles has a direction sensor and a speed sensor carried on the vehicle and a traveling locus corresponding to detection signals from the direction sensor and the speed sensor is plotted in a manner to be superposed on a map film and displayed on a projection screen. The traveling locus is traced by a laser beam on a trace plate having electrooptic, optomagnetic, or incoherent-to-coherent light conversion properties. The superposed picture is clearly viewed, and the misregistration between the map and the traveling locus is avoided.

Claims

1. A course guidance and display apparatus for vehicles comprising:

a direction sensor;

a speed sensor;

a trace device provided with a laser depiction stage, trace plate, and a rotary mirror, said rotary mirror being irradiated with a laser beam so as to scan the trace plate and trace a traveling locus corresponding to detection signals from said direction sensor and said speed sensor;

a map on microfilm;

a projector provided with a light source and a projecting magnifier lens between which said trace plate and said map are interposed such that said projector magnifies and projects the traveling locus traced by the trace device and the map in superposed fashion; and

a projection screen on which the traveling locus and map is projected,

wherein the traveling locus is traced when said trace plate is iradiated with the laser beam, and the traced information is erased in an erasing mode of the trace device.

2. A course guidance and display apparatus for vehicles as defined in claim 1, wherein said trace plate is made of a material having an electrooptic effect, and said traced information is erased by applying an electric field with uniform illumination of the trace plate.

3. A course guidance and display apparatus for vehicles as defined in claim 1, wherein said trace plate is made of piezoelectric ceramics.

4. A course guidance and display apparatus for vehicles as defined in claim 1, wherein said trace plate is made of an optomagnetic memory medium.

5. A course guidance and display apparatus for vehicles as defined in claim 1, wherein said trace plate is made of an incoherent-to-coherent light image converter element.

6. A course guidance and display apparatus for vehicles as defined in claim 1, wherein said trace device is provided with a tangential mirror and a tracking mirror, which control a laser beam so as to depict the traveling locus on the trace plate.

7. A course guidance and display apparatus for vehicles as defined in claim 1, wherein said projector is provided with a polarizer, a semitransparent mirror, an analyzer and a projecting magnifier lens;

a projecting beam having passed through said polarizer illuminates said trace plate through said semitransparent mirror;

the beam reflected from said trace plate is reflected by said semitransparent mirror and enters said analyzer; and

the beam from said analyzer illuminates said map and is magnified and projected by said projecting magnifier lens.