Viewer having head mounted display unit for cinerama pictures

• US 4,695,129 A
• Filed: 05/17/1984
• Issued: 09/22/1987
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/1983
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Khoe, Giok D., Faessen, Louis M. H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sikes, William L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): FONT, FRANK G
• Application Number:
  US06/611,061
• Time in Patent Office: 1,223 Days
• Field of Search: 350/96.10, 350/96.18, 350/96.24, 350/96.25, 350/96.26, 350/133, 350/137, 350/486, 350/576, 350/145, 340/705, 340/794, 340/795, 340/980, 353/7, 353/8, 353/9, 358/3, 358/88, 358/901
• US Class Current: 385/119
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0187 slaved to motion of at least a part of the body of the user, e.g. head, eye
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0198 System for aligning or maintaining alignment of an image in a predetermined direction
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/017 Head mounted
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/34 Stereoscopes providing a stereoscopic pair of separated images corresponding to parallactically displaced views of the same object, e.g. 3D slide viewers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 11/00 Colour television systems details H04N9/00

Abstract

Viewer comprises a picture generating device which supplies black/white or color pictures, an optical fibre or fibre bundle for the transport of the optical pictures to a user who wears a display unit on the head. The display unit comprises a spectacles-like frame and optical means, such as lenses, grey filters, or transparent screens for making the pictures visible to the user. The user sees a "wide-screen" picture, but the actual dimensions of the picture are no more than a few centimeters. For the display of cinerama pictures the display unit comprises an angular position detector which supplies a signal in which the orientation of the head of the user is detected. The picture generating device then supplies a picture which is associated with the relevant orientation.

Claims

1. Viewer for displaying cinerama television pictures and the like to an individual person comprises

optical fiber bundle means for the transmission of pictures, said bundle having entrance face means onto which the pictures are projected and exit face means to which the pictures are transmitted;

picture generating means for projecting cinerama pictures onto the entrance face means;

a display unit comprising a box shaped holder in which said exit face means of the bundle means is secured, said holder having two viewing apertures formed therein and optical means arranged between said apertures and said exit face means for viewing transmitted pictures, said display unit further comprising a fiberoptic gyroscope for detecting the angular position of said person'"'"'s head, said gyroscope being coupled to output a control signal which is a measure of the angular rotation of the display unit;

control means for selecting a sub-picture of a cinerama picture generated by said picture generating means in response to receipt of said control signal representing the angular rotation of the display unit;

fixing means attached to the display unit for keeping the unit in position on the head of said person.

2. A viewer as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the picture generating means comprises projection means and an annular transparent projection screen on which a cinerama picture can be projected by means of the projection means, a sub-picture thereof being imaged on the entrance face of the fibre bundle end by a lens system, the control unit comprising an electric motor for rotating at least the lens system together with the end of the fibre bundle, said electric motor receiving the control signal from the detector.

3. A viewer as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the picture generating means comprises a picture generator for the line-wise and sequential supply of picture elements of a picture, and also comprises delay and storage means for the storage of a part of a picture line and for the delayed output of the picture elements stored in said means.

4. A viewer as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the storage and delay means comprise two storage registers which are alternately and alternatively driven with a high pulse frequency during a part of the line period of a picture line and with a lower pulse frequency for the reading out of a register during the entire line period of a picture line.

5. A viewer as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that there is provided a first counter whose position is a measure of the angular orientation of the display unit, and a second counter whose position is a measure of the position on a picture line of a picture element inputted to a register by the picture generator, both counters being connected to a comparator whose output controls the supply of control pulses to the register for the storage of the picture elements.

6. A viewer as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that the control pulses ae applied to a third counter which counts the number of picture elements stored in the register and which interrupts the supply of control pulses to the register when the maximum number of picture elements to be stored in a register is reached.

7. Viewer for displaying television pictures and the like to an individual person comprises

optical fiber bundle means for the transmission of pictures, said bundle means comprising a plurality of optical fiber bundles, each having an entrance face onto which the pictures are projected, and an exit face to which the pictures are transmitted;

picture generating means comprising a plurality of picture generators, a picture distributor having adjustable optical means for establishing a desired optical connection between a fiber bundle and one of the picture generators, and a plurality of lenses arranged between the distributor and respective fiber bundle entrance faces;

a display unit comprising a box shaped holder in which the exit faces of the bundles are secured, said holder having two apertures formed therein and optical means arranged between said apertures and said exit faces for viewing the transmitted pictures;

fixing means attached to the display unit for keeping the unit in position on the head of said person.

8. A viewer as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that the adjustable optical means comprise displaceable, semi-transparent mirrors which can be arranged in parallel light beams which are formed from light emitted by the picture generator by means of lenses which are arranged between the picture generators and the mirrors.

9. Viewer for displaying television pictures and the like to an individual person comprises

optical fiber bundle means for the transmission of pictures, said bundle having entrance face means onto which the pictures are projected and exit face means to which the pictures are transmitted;

picture generating means comprising three picture generators for separately generating three sub-pictures in the primary colors red, green, and blue, of the color picture, each picture generating means being coupled to a stack consisting of n layers of optical fibers where n is an integer which is a multiple of three, each layer comprising a number of parallel, adjacent optical fibers which are combined so as to form a ribbon, ends of the ribbons of the three stacks being combined so as to form a further stack, the first layer and the (1+3m)^th layer thereof being formed by ends of ribbons of a first stack, where m is an integer and 1+3m≦

n, the second layer and the (2+3m)^th layer being formed by ends of ribbons of the second stack, where m is an integer and 2+3m<

n, and the third layer and the (3m)^th layer being formed by ends of ribbons of the third stack, where m is an integer and 3m≦

n, so that the further stack produces a color picture from the three sub-pictures formed with the three primary colors;

a display unit comprising a box shaped holder in which the exit faces of the bundles are secured, said holder having two apertures formed therein and optical means arranged between said apertures and said exit faces for viewing the transmitted pictures;

fixing means attached to the display unit for keeping the unit in position on the head of said person.