Display system having wide field of view

• US 4,772,942 A
• Filed: 01/07/1987
• Issued: 09/20/1988
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/1986
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pilkington PE Limited
• Original Assignee: Pilkington PE Limited
• Inventors: Tuck, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Britton, Howard W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kostak, Victor R.
• Application Number:
  US07/001,203
• Time in Patent Office: 622 Days
• Field of Search: 358/87, 358/108, 358/88, 358/89, 358/91, 358/92, 358/242, 358/225, 315/371, 314/521, 314/522
• US Class Current: 348/38
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0025 for optical correction, e.g. distorsion, aberration
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/047 Fisheye or wide-angle transformations
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 3/2335 with calculating means

Abstract

A display system which can be used inside a vehicle such as a military tank to monitor at least part of the surrounding panorama. The display system has a display generator and an optical system for viewing the display. Electronic means are provided to predistort the display to compensate for distortion present in the optical system. The system includes individual display units mounted side-by-side, each having a respective television camera associated therewith so that a substantially continuous picture of at least part of the surrounding panorama can be reconstructed and viewed by an observer without any apparent mismatch between adjacent displays.

Claims