Display system for airplane cockpit or other vehicle

• US 6,259,378 B1
• Filed: 09/22/1997
• Issued: 07/10/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nighthawk Flight Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Sandel Avionics Inc.
• Inventors: Block, Gerald J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Daniel J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TWEEL JR, JOHN ALEXANDER
• Application Number:
  US08/934,825
• Time in Patent Office: 1,387 Days
• Field of Search: 340/963, 340/945, 340/971, 340/973, 340/980, 353/74, 348/445
• US Class Current: 340/963
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/00 Combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value, e.g. for aircraft; Combined measuring devices for measuring two or more variables of movement, e.g. distance, speed or acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft

Abstract

A display system for an airplane or other vehicle is disclosed. A rear projection LCD is used to allow for a maximum amount of screen area to be used in displaying operator pertinent data.

Claims

1. An aviation cockpit display unit, comprising:

a housing;

a display screen having a total displayable area of a first geometric shape for displaying aviation information, the display screen being mounted to cover an open end of the housing; and

a rear projection imager, for projecting the aviation information on the screen, having a total potential image generation area of a second geometric shape that is different from the first geometric shape, the imager being mounted within the housing, the imager being spaced from and not coupled to the display screen, and a user input mechanism having a proximate end disposed along an outer periphery of the screen and a distal end connected to the rear projection imager and having an integral mechanism disposed between said proximate and distal ends for preventing interference of the user input mechanism with an optical path between the screen and imager.

3. The aviation cockpit display unit of claim 1, wherein the total display area of the display screen has an aspect ratio of 1:

1 and the total potential image generation area of the rear projection imager has an aspect ratio of 4;

3.

4. A display unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing cross-section is approximately 3″

×

3″

, and wherein the imager comprises an LCD.

48. The display unit of claim 1, wherein the housing fits within a standard 3ATI slot and the image projected on the screen is at least 6.7 square inches in size.

49. The display unit of claim 48, wherein the image projected on the screen is at least 7.2 square inches in size.

50. The display unit of claim 48, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 7.6 square inches in size.

51. The display unit of claim 48, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 8.1 square inches in size.

52. The display unit of claim 1, wherein the rear projection imager further includes:

a light source,

a condenser lens for collimating light from the light source,

means for converting the collimated light into a red light component, a green light component and a blue light component and projecting the red, green and blue light components at different angles, and

an LCD

wherein,

the LCD receives the red, green and blue light components and generates, under control of the microprocessor, the image to be displayed.

53. The display unit of claim 52, wherein the housing fits within a standard 3ATI slot and the image presented on the screen is at least 6.7 square inches in size.

54. The display unit of claim 53, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 7.2 square inches in size.

55. The display unit of claim 53, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 7.6 square inches in size.

56. The display unit of claim 53, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 8.1 square inches in size.

57. The display unit of claim 52, wherein said means for converting the collimated light includes a dichroic lens system.

58. The display unit of claim 57, wherein said dichroic lens system includes a wedge having a top surface that reflects one of red, green and blue light components and passes the other components and a bottom surface that reflects a different one of red, green and blue components and passes the other components.

59. The display unit of claim 58, further comprising a mirror position adjacent the wedge for reflecting the remaining one of the red, green and blue light components.

60. The display unit of claim 52, wherein the total display area of the display screen has an aspect ratio of 1:

1 and the total potential image generation area of the LCD has an aspect ratio of 4;

3.

2. An avionics display device having a projection screen mounted at one end of the device and having a predetermined geometric shape matching the cross-section of the display device, the device comprising:

an interface for receiving sensed signals;

a processor for converting the sense data to graphical data; and

a rear projector, receiving the graphical data, for converting the graphical data to an image and projecting the image on the screen, the rear projector being substantially spaced from the projection screen and having a total potential image generation area of a predetermined geometric shape that is different from that of the projection screen, and a user input mechanism having a proximate end disposed along an outer periphery of the screen and a distal end connected to the rear projector and having an integral mechanism disposed between said proximate and distal ends for preventing interference of the user input mechanism with an optical path between the screen and projector.

5. An aviation cockpit display unit, comprising:

a housing;

a display screen having a total displayable area of a first geometric shape for displaying aviation information, the display screen being mounted to cover an open end of the housing; and

a rear projection image generator for projecting the aviation information onto the screen, the image generator being mounted within the housing and spaced from and not coupled to the display screen, the rear projection image generator including;

a rear projection LCD, which generates an image containing the aviation information to be displayed on the screen, the LCD having a total potential image generation area of a second geometric shape that is different from the first geometric shape, and

a projection lens for projecting the image from the LCD to the screen, and a user input mechanism having a proximate end disposed along an outer periphery of the screen and a distal end connected to the rear projection image generator and having an integral mechanism disposed between said proximate and distal ends for preventing interference of the user input mechanism with an optical path between the screen and image generator.

6. The display unit of claim 5, wherein the housing fits within a standard 3ATI slot and the image presented on the screen is at least 6.7 square inches in size.

7. The display unit of claim 6, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 7.2 square inches in size.

8. The display unit of claim 6, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 7.6 square inches in size.

9. The display unit of claim 6, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 8.1 square inches in size.

10. The display unit of claim 5, wherein the rear projection image generator further includes:

a light source,

a condenser lens for collimating light from the light source,

means for converting the collimated light into a red light component, a green light component and a blue light component and projecting the red, green and blue light components at different angles, and

wherein,

the LCD receives the red, green and blue light components and generates, under control of the microprocessor, the image to be displayed.

11. The display unit of claim 10, wherein the housing fits within a standard 3ATI slot and the image presented on the screen is at least 6.7 square inches in size.

12. The display unit of claim 11, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 7.2 square inches in size.

13. The display unit of claim 11, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 7.6 square inches in size.

14. The display unit of claim 11, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 8.1 square inches in size.

15. The display unit of claim 10, wherein said means for converting the collimated light includes a dichroic lens system.

16. The display unit of claim 15, wherein said dichroic lens system includes a wedge having a top surface that reflects one of red, green and blue light components and passes the other components and a bottom surface that reflects a different one of red, green and blue components and passes the other components.

17. The display unit of claim 16, further comprising a mirror position adjacent the wedge for reflecting the remaining one of the red, green and blue light components.

18. The display unit of claim 5, wherein the total display area of the display screen has an aspect ratio of 1:

1 and the total potential image generation area of the LCD has an aspect ratio of 4;

3.

37. The system of claim 11, wherein the rear projection image generator further includes:

a light source,

a condenser lens for collimating light from the light source, means for converting the collimated light into a red light component, a green light component and a blue light component and projecting the red, green and blue light components at different angles, and

wherein,

the LCD receives the red, green and blue light components and generates, under control of the microprocessor, the image to be displayed.

42. The system of claim 37, wherein said means for converting the collimated light includes a dichroic lens system.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein said dichroic lens system includes a wedge having a top surface that reflects one of red, green and blue light components and passes the other components and a bottom surface that reflects a different one of red, green and blue components and passes the other components.

44. The system of claim 43, further comprising a mirror position adjacent the wedge for reflecting the remaining one of the red, green and blue light components.

19. An aviation display system for an aircraft, the display system comprising:

a display screen having a total displayable area of a first geometric shape for displaying aviation information, the display screen being mounted to cover an open end of the housing;

a rear projection image generator for projecting images onto the screen, the image generator being mounted within the housing and spaced from and not coupled to the display screen, the rear projection image generator including;

a microprocessor located within the housing for receiving a plurality of sensed input data signals representative of real time data concerning the aircraft,

a rear projection LCD, which generates images to be displayed on the screen under the control of the microprocessor, the LCD having a total potential image generation area of a second geometric shape that is different from the first geometric shape, and

a projection lens for projecting the image from the LCD to the screen; and

user inputs, operatively associated with the microprocessor, for inputting information from a user concerning the type and format of information the user wishes to have displayed on the screen, said user inputs including

a user input mechanism having a proximate end disposed along an outer periphery of the screen and a distal end connected to the rear projection image generator and having an integral mechanism disposed between said proximate and distal ends for preventing interference of the user mechanism with an optical path between the screen and image generator;

wherein, the display system is capable of displaying a variety of different types and formats of information on the screen, and the microprocessor selects the type and format to be displayed in accordance with the user inputs and the sensor input data.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the microprocessor receives at least some of the input data signals in synchronism with a reference signal based on the A/C power supply of the aircraft.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the reference signal is about 400 Hz.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the reference signal is about 1600 Hz.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein at least one of the input data signals represents G.P.S. data.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein at least one of the input data signals represents flux gate data.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein at least one of the input data signals represents directional gyro data.

26. The system of claim 19, wherein at least one of the input data signals represents data from an instructional landing system (ILS) receiver.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein at least one of the input data signals represents radar altimeter data.

28. The system of claim 19, wherein the microprocessor monitors at least some of the input data signals for emergency data and, if data indicative of an emergency is received, controls the LCD to display such data even if it was unselected by the user inputs.

29. The system of claim 19, further comprising a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory operatively associated with microprocessor.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the volatile memory has at least 4 megabytes of memory.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the non-volatile memory has at least 4 megabytes of memory.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein the non-volatile memory includes topographical map data.

33. The system of claim 19, wherein the housing fits within a standard 3ATI slot and the image presented on the screen is at least 6.7 square inches in size.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 7.2 square inches in size.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 7.6 square inches in size.

36. The system of claim 33, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 8.1 square inches in size.

45. The system of claim 19, wherein the total display area of the display screen has an aspect ratio of 1:

1 and the total potential image generation area of the LCD has an aspect ratio of 4;

3.

46. The system of claim 19, wherein said user inputs include a plurality of user input actuators disposed along an outer periphery of the display screen.

47. The system of claim 46, further comprising means for connecting the user input actuators with the microprocessor without interfering with a light path from the LCD to the display screen.

38. The system of claim 38, wherein the housing fits within a standard 3ATI slot and the image presented on the screen is at least 6.7 square inches in size.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 7.2 square inches in size.

40. The system of claim 38, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 7.6 square inches in size.

41. The system of claim 38, wherein the image presented on the screen is at least 8.1 square inches in size.