Telescopic day and night sight
First Claim
1. A telescopic day/night sight comprising:
- an objective lens through which light from a scene to be viewed is received under both day-time and night-time or other low-light conditions;
a dichroic element aft of said objective lens and dividing the received light into a visible-light frequency band and an infrared invisible-light frequency band;
a first optical path extending from said dichroic element to an eyepiece for providing a visible-light image of the scene to a user of said sight;
a second optical path optically coaxial with said first optical path and extending from said dichroic element to means for receiving the invisible light and providing in response thereto a visible image replicating the scene;
a third optical path optically coaxial with said first optical path and extending from said means for receiving the invisible light and providing a visible image in response thereto to provide the visible image from said means to said eyepiece superimposed with the visible-light image and via said eyepiece to a user of said sight.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A day/night sight includes a visible-light first optical path and an invisible-light second optical path which are everywhere optically coaxial. The invisible-light second optical path leads to a detector or to an image intensifier tube for providing either an electrical signal or a visible image, respectively, in response to the invisible-light image. A third optical path for the visible image from the image intensifier tube is also everywhere optically coaxial with the first and second optical paths. A visible image produced from the electrical signal is introduced into the first optical path to thereafter be coaxial therewith. Consequently, a uniquely compact arrangement of the elements for the day/night sight is achieved.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A telescopic day/night sight comprising:
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an objective lens through which light from a scene to be viewed is received under both day-time and night-time or other low-light conditions; a dichroic element aft of said objective lens and dividing the received light into a visible-light frequency band and an infrared invisible-light frequency band; a first optical path extending from said dichroic element to an eyepiece for providing a visible-light image of the scene to a user of said sight; a second optical path optically coaxial with said first optical path and extending from said dichroic element to means for receiving the invisible light and providing in response thereto a visible image replicating the scene; a third optical path optically coaxial with said first optical path and extending from said means for receiving the invisible light and providing a visible image in response thereto to provide the visible image from said means to said eyepiece superimposed with the visible-light image and via said eyepiece to a user of said sight. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A telescopic day/night sight comprising:
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a single objective lens through which light from a scene to be viewed is received; a dual-function dichroic lens/mirror element aft of said objective lens and both dividing the received light into a visible-light frequency band and an infrared invisible-light frequency band, as well as refracting one of the frequency bands of light; a first optical path extending from said dichroic element to an eyepiece for providing a visible-light image of the scene to a user of said sight; a second optical path extending from said dichroic element to said eyepiece for providing a visible image replicating said scene in response to said infrared invisible-light frequency band, said second optical path including means for receiving the invisible light and providing in response thereto a visible image replicating the scene. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A hybrid electro-optical telescopic day/night sight comprising:
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a single objective lens through which both visible and invisible light from a scene to be viewed is received, said objective lens defining an optical aperture of certain diameter, and both said visible and invisible light being received via the same diameter of said optical aperture; a dual-function dichroic lens/mirror element aft of said objective lens, said dichroic lens/mirror element both reflectively dividing substantially all of the received visible and invisible light into a visible-light frequency band and into an infrared invisible-light frequency band, as well as refracting one of the visible-light and invisible-light frequency bands of light; a first visible-light optical path extending from said dichroic element to an eyepiece for providing a received visible-light image of the scene to a user of said sight; a second invisible-light hybrid electro-optical path extending from said dichroic element to said eyepiece for providing a visible image replicating the scene in response to receipt of the infrared invisible-light frequency band, said second optical path including electro-optical means for receiving the invisible infrared light and providing in response thereto an electronic image signal, image signal processing means for receiving the electronic image signal and selectively adding indicia thereto including an aiming reticle for said sight to provide a processed electronic image signal, and means for providing a visible image replicating the scene and including the added indicia in response to said processed electronic image signal. - View Dependent Claims (29)
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Specification