Universal hands-on trainer (UHOT)

• US 8,662,892 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2011
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: McCormack, Patrick E., Peoble, Jon E., Gaume, Brian C.
• Primary Examiner(s): EGLOFF, PETER RICHARD
• Application Number:
  US13/272,162
• Publication Number:
  US 20130095452A1
• Time in Patent Office: 874 Days
• Field of Search: 434/11, 434/15, 434/19, 434/29, 434/45, 434/38, 434/219, 434/16, 463 36- 38
• US Class Current: 434/11
• CPC Class Codes: F41G 3/2633 using a TV type screen, e.g. a CRT, displaying a simulated target
• CPC Class Codes: F41G 7/006 Guided missiles training or simulation devices
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/003 Repetitive work cycles; Sequence of movements

Abstract

A Universal Hands-On Trainer (UHOT) for use with an interactive training simulator and software plug-in that provides the “fit” and “function” of a piece of equipment provided with tactical handgrips but not the “form”. The UHOT has an assembled shape and structure that is both scaled-down and different from that of the real piece of equipment. Because the UHOT does not replicate the “form” of any piece of equipment, the UHOT is not limited to training only one piece of equipment. Different tactical handgrips may be attached to the UHOT to provide training with the correct “fit” for a wide variety of equipment. The UHOT may be provided with a universal interface and various adapters to attach different tactical handgrips.

Claims

1. A training simulator for training a user to operate a piece of equipment having a form, fit and function, said piece of equipment having tactical handgrips that provide the equipment'"'"'s fit, said handgrips having one or more buttons that allow the user to operate the equipment, said piece of equipment having an assembled shape and structure that provides the equipment'"'"'s form, said training simulator comprising a hand-held universal hands-on trainer (UHOT) that comprises:

a direct-view display for displaying a training simulation video signal for the piece of equipment;

a pair of said tactical handgrips that provide the UHOT with the fit of the piece of equipment and allow the user to hold and maneuver the entire UHOT free of any physical support; and

a docking station that supports said direct-view display, said docking station housing;

a pair of connectors for electro-mechanically attaching the pair of tactical handgrips on opposite sides of the docking station and the direct-view display supported thereon, said connectors responsive to electrical button pushes from the handgrips in response to user interaction with the displayed training simulation video signal;

one or more sensors for detecting user instigated motion of the entire UHOT instigated via the handgrips to generate electrical sensor signals of a changing viewpoint within the simulation; and

a microcontroller that converts the electrical button pushes and the electrical sensor signals to binary data, said training simulator video signal responsive to said binary data,

said hand-held UHOT having a different and scaled-down assembled shape and structure that provide a different form than said piece of equipment.

2. The training simulator of claim 1, wherein said hand-held UHOT'"'"'s assembled shape and structure is both smaller and lighter weight than the piece of equipment.

3. The training simulator of claim 2, wherein said piece of equipment is a weapon system comprising a live weapon, said hand-held UHOT comprising neither a live nor a dummy weapon.

4. The training simulator of claim 2, wherein said hand-held UHOT'"'"'s only physical user interface is through the pair of handgrips.

5. The training simulator of claim 1, further comprising a software plug-in that translates the binary data into button pushes and viewpoint data.

6. The training simulator of claim 5, further comprising:

an interactive training simulator comprising a host computer, an environment simulator that runs on the host computer for one or more single or multi-user training scenarios to generate the training simulation video signal that is displayed on a direct-view display, said environment simulator comprising at least an equipment module that simulates the use of the piece of equipment in the training scenario, and an input device for user interaction with the simulation,

said software plug-in resident with the interactive training simulator on the host computer to provide connectivity to the equipment module to simulate the function of the piece of equipment.

7. The training simulator of claim 6, wherein said host computer is external to said hand-held UHOT, said hand-held UHOT further comprising a video in port for receiving the training simulation video signal from the host computer and a bi-directional data port for transmitting said binary data to said host computer and receiving data from said host computer.

8. The training simulator of claim 6, wherein said host computer is internal to said hand-held UHOT, said hand-held UHOT and said interactive training simulator sharing the direct-view display.

9. The training simulator of claim 8, further comprising a cradle, said hand-held UHOT supported in and removable from said cradle by the user to hold and maneuver the entire UHOT.

10. The training simulator of claim 6, further comprising:

a basic skills trainer (BST) having a pair of said tactical grips that is a mock-up of the piece of equipment and replicates both the equipment'"'"'s form and fit, said BST outputting binary data for button pushes and changing viewpoint,

said plug-in converting the BST'"'"'s binary data to button pushes and viewpoint data to provide connectivity to the equipment module.

11. The training simulator of claim 1, wherein said docking station'"'"'s pair of connectors are a universal connector, further comprising:

multiple pairs of different tactical handgrips having different electro-mechanical connectors; and

multiple pairs of electro-mechanical adapters for the respective tactical handgrips, each adapter comprising an equipment-specific connector configured to mate with the handgrip connector and a universal mating connector to mate with the docking station'"'"'s universal connector to attach and detach any of said different tactical handgrips.

12. The training simulator of claim 11, wherein said docking station detects whether handgrips are attached to the universal connector, identifies the attached handgrips and generates binary data identifying the handgrips.

13. The training simulator of claim 6, wherein said docking station'"'"'s pair of connectors are a universal connector, further comprising:

multiple different equipment modules in said environment simulator;

multiple different plug-ins for said different equipment modules;

multiple pairs of different tactical handgrips having different electro-mechanical connectors; and

multiple pairs of electro-mechanical adapters for the respective tactical handgrips, each adapter comprising an equipment-specific connector configured to mate with the handgrip connector and a universal mating connector to mate with the docking station'"'"'s universal connector to attach and detach any of said different tactical handgrips,

wherein said docking station detects whether handgrips are attached to the universal connector, identifies the attached handgrips and generates binary data identifying the handgrips, and

wherein said interactive simulator module activates the equipment module and plug-in corresponding to the attached tactical handgrips.

14. A training simulator, comprising:

an interactive training simulator comprising a host computer, an environment simulator that runs on the host computer for one or more single or multi-user training scenarios to generate a training simulation video signal that is displayed on a direct-view display, said environment simulator comprising at least an equipment module that simulates the use of a piece of equipment having a form, fit and function in the training scenario, said equipment provided with tactical handgrips that provide the equipment'"'"'s fit, said handgrips having one or more buttons that allow the user to operate the equipment, said piece of equipment having an assembled shape and structure that provides the equipment'"'"'s form, and an input device for user interaction with the simulation;

a hand-held universal hands-on trainer (UHOT) comprising;

a direct-view display;

a pair of the tactical handgrips that provide the UHOT with the fit of the piece of equipment and allow the user to hold and maneuver the entire UHOT free of any physical support; and

a docking station that supports the direct-view display, said docking station housing;

a video in port for receiving the training simulation video signal and displaying it on the display;

a pair of connectors for electro-mechanically attaching the pair of tactical handgrips on opposite sides of the docking station and the direct-view display supported thereon, said connectors responsive to electrical button pushes from the handgrips in response to user interaction with the simulation video signal;

one or more sensors for detecting user instigated motion of the entire UHOT instigated via the handgrips to generate electrical sensor signals of a changing viewpoint within the simulation;

a microcontroller that converts electrical button pushes and electrical sensor signals to binary data; and

a bi-directional port for transmitting and receiving the binary data;

said hand-held UHOT having a different and scaled-down assembled shape and structure than said piece of equipment, and

a software plug-in that resides with the interactive training simulator on the host computer, said plug-in translating the binary data into button pushes and viewpoint data to provide connectivity to the equipment module to simulate the function of the piece of equipment in the environment simulator,

wherein said UHOT and training simulator provide the fit and function of the piece of equipment but not the form.

15. The training simulator of claim 14, wherein said UHOT'"'"'s assembled shape and structure is both smaller and lighter weight than the piece of equipment.

16. The training simulator of claim 15, wherein said piece of equipment is a weapon system comprising a live weapon, said UHOT comprising neither a live nor dummy weapon.

17. The training simulator of claim 15, wherein said UHOT'"'"'s only physical user interface is through the pair of handgrips.

18. The training simulator of claim 14, further comprising:

a basic skills trainer (BST) having a pair of said tactical grips that is a mock-up of the piece of equipment and replicates both the equipment'"'"'s form and fit, said BST outputting binary data for button pushes and changing viewpoint,

said plug-in converting the BST'"'"'s binary data to button pushes and viewpoint data to provide connectivity to the equipment module.

19. The training simulator of claim 14, wherein said docking station'"'"'s pair of connectors are a universal connector, further comprising:

multiple different equipment modules in said environment simulator;

multiple different plug-ins for said different equipment modules;

multiple pairs of different tactical handgrips having different electro-mechanical connectors; and

multiple pairs of electro-mechanical adapters for the respective tactical handgrips, each adapter comprising an equipment-specific connector configured to mate with the handgrip connector and a universal mating connector to mate with the docking station'"'"'s universal connector to attach and detach any of said different tactical handgrips,

wherein said docking station detects whether handgrips are attached to the universal connector, identifies the attached handgrips and generates binary data identifying the handgrips, and

wherein said interactive simulator module activates the equipment module and plug-in corresponding to the attached tactical handgrips.

20. A training simulator for training a user to operate different pieces of equipment provided with different tactical handgrips having one or more buttons that allow the user to operate the equipment, said different tactical handgrips having different electro-mechanical connectors, said training simulator comprising a hand-held universal hands-on trainer (UHOT) that comprises:

a direct-view display for displaying a training simulation video signal for a specific piece of equipment;

multiple pairs of the different tactical handgrips, each said pair allowing the user to hold and maneuver the hand-held UHOT free of any physical support;

multiple pairs of electro-mechanical adapters for the respective tactical handgrips, each adapter comprising an equipment-specific connector configured to mate with the handgrip connector and a universal mating connector; and

a docking station that supports said direct-view display, said docking station housing;

a pair of universal connectors for electro-mechanically mating with the pair of adapters'"'"' universal mating connectors to attach and detach any of the different tactical grips on opposite sides of the docking station and the direct-view display supported thereon, said universal connectors responsive to electrical button pushes from the handgrips in response to user interaction with the displayed training simulator video signal;

one or more sensors for detecting user instigated motion of the UHOT via the handgrips to generate electrical sensor signals of a changing viewpoint within the simulation, said direct-view display moving with the user instigated motion; and

a microcontroller that converts the electrical button pushes and the electrical sensor signals to binary data, said training simulation video signal responsive to said binary data.

21. The training simulator of claim 20, wherein said adapters have varying lengths to provide the fit for the corresponding piece of equipment.

22. The training simulator of claim 20, wherein said piece of equipment has a form, fit and function, said handgrips providing the equipment'"'"'s fit, said equipment'"'"'s assembled shape and structure providing its form, wherein the UHOT'"'"'s tactical handgrips provide the fit of the piece of equipment, wherein said UHOT has a different and scaled-down assembled shape and structure that provide a different form than said piece of equipment.

23. The training simulator of claim 22, wherein the UHOT'"'"'s assembled shape and structure is both smaller and lighter weight than said piece of equipment.

24. The training simulator of claim 20, further comprising:

an interactive training simulator comprising a host computer, an environment simulator that runs on the host computer for one or more single or multi-user training scenarios to generate the training simulation video signal that is displayed on a direct-view display, said environment simulator comprising multiple different equipment module corresponding to different tactical handgrips that simulate the use of the piece of equipment in the training scenario, and an input device for user interaction with the simulation,

multiple software plug-ins for the different paired handgrips and equipment resident with the interactive training simulator on the host computer, said plug-in for the attached pair of handgrips translating the binary data into button pushes and viewpoint data to provide connectivity to the corresponding equipment module to simulate the function of the piece of equipment.

25. The training simulator of claim 24, wherein said UHOT recognizes the attached handgrips and send an identifier to said interactive training simulator, which in turn activates the corresponding equipment module and plug-in.