Apparatus for simulation of visual fields of view

• US 4,641,255 A
• Filed: 01/21/1986
• Issued: 02/03/1987
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/1985
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honeywell GmbH (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honeywell GmbH (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Hohmann, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Krass, Errol A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Teska, Kevin J.
• Application Number:
  US06/821,509
• Time in Patent Office: 378 Days
• Field of Search: 364/518-522, 364/575, 340/716, 340/717, 340/720, 340/723, 340/724, 340/726, 340/729, 340/734, 434/20, 434/26, 434/28, 434/37, 434/38, 434/43, 434/69
• US Class Current: 345/628
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/302 the image being transformed by computer processing, e.g. updating the image to correspond to the changing point of view

Abstract

At a simulation of the visual field of view in the training of a battle situation, a TV-monitor is arranged in the field of view of the optics of a person to be trained. On said monitor a cut-out of a digitally stored background image is displayed. The cut-out to be displayed experiences a containuous change at an aiming motion. The image cut-out is loaded into a buffer memory and with a changed addressing the information in the buffer memory over-lapping with respect to the old and new cut-out is maintained. Only the new digital image information to be added is loaded from the background memory into the buffer memory at the place where the old image information has to be cancelled. Proper addressing takes care that the new buffer memory contents are displayed in the correct logical sequence.

Claims

1. In apparatus for simulating a visual field of view for training in a battle situation including means for displaying the image of a background on a TV-monitor in the field of view of an optical system used by a person to be trained, said image of said background being digitally stored, and including changeable addressing means whereby different partial cut-outs from said background image may be selectively displayed on said TV-monitor, the improvement comprising:

a buffer storage memory;

means for loading a first partial cut-out from said background image into said buffer memory, said means for loading including means for loading a subsequent partial cut-out from said background having a changed address in such manner that so much of said subsequent partial cut-out as overlaps said initial partial cut-out remains in said buffer memory with only so much of said subsequent partial cut-out as differs from said initial cut-out being loaded into the buffer memory, replacing so much of said first partial cut-out as differs from said subsequent partial cut-out, said loading means including first addressing means for selectively controlling said loading of said buffer memory; and

readout means for selectively coupling said buffer memory to said TV-monitor, said readout means including modulo (m-1) row address counter (37) and a modulo (n-1) column address counter wherein m and n are numbers representing powers of two.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said apparatus includes a monitor managing unit (20) and means coupling said monitor managing unit to said address counters (37, 38) to preset said address counters to a count corresponding to the displacement of the partial cut-out to be displayed on the monitor, said row address counter (37) and said column address counter (38) being operated as ring counters and the contents of the row address counter being increased by one when the column address counter (38) attains its preset count.

3. Apparatus as forth in claim 1 wherein said read-out means includes an address register (44) having inputs connected, respectively, to the outputs of said address counters (37, 38) for addressing, in turn, a momentary image point in the buffer memory (16).

4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said numbers m and n correspond to the value 512.

5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said buffer memory (16) has a storage capacity of m times n image points.

6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said read-out means includes a clock input signal and a clock counter (39) having the counting capacity (n) of the column address counter (38) and counting from 0 to n-1, said clock counter having its overflow connected to increment said row address counter (37) by one.

7. Apparatus as set forth in claim 6 wherein said column address counter as well as said clock counter are controlled by the same clock signal.