Application (pre-grant publication)
FREE-VIEWPOINT COLLIMATED DISPLAY SYSTEMS FOR COLLIMATED EFFECTS
- Number
- 20200089015
- Published
- 2020-03-19
- Filed
- 2019-01-11
- Assignee
- DISNEY ENTERPRISES, INC.
- Inventors
- REICHOW; MARK A., LADUKE; THOMAS F., SMITHWICK; QUINN Y.
- CPC
- G03B21/56; G02B27/005; G02B27/148; G03B21/28; G02B27/30; G02B27/0101
- Verdict
- Medium Hardware
- Source
- Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline
The keeper's note
Free-viewpoint collimated show-display optics hardware.
Abstract
Display systems for achieving collimated projection effects. For example, in a theatrical or concert installation, display systems can be used to project images of scenery that appear to be vast and at a great distant behind the viewing window. The system may include a flat panel display, a corrective mirror, and a concave mirror positioned for viewing by an observer. The corrective mirror pre-warps an image generated by the flat panel display and reflects the undistorted image onto the concave mirror such that the observer perceives the image generated by the flat panel display as being at a large distance. The corrective mirror does not distort with changes in viewpoint. In another implementation, the system may include a short throw projector generating an image, a free-form projection screen, and a concave mirror positioned for viewing by many observers through a viewing window.
Background
BACKGROUND
In today's technological environment, collimated displays are used in flight simulators to provide pilots with a realistic virtual environment to train in. These displays work by fitting an image onto a spherical mirror placed in front of the viewer. The image is generated by an out-of-view projector, which projects onto a screen, and the images thereon are reflected by the spherical mirror and made visible. The light for the reflected images is directed towards the observer in a collimated manner. When reflected light is collimated, depicted images appear focused at “infinity” with fully relaxed eye accommodation, and a viewer's eye viewpoints are parallel with zero vergence. As such, the viewer perceives the reflected images as a large distant vista and as expansive scenery. Such an effect can provide realistic depictions of, for example, a runway trailing off into the horizon or a panorama of the night sky.
For most collimated displays, all viewpoints are the same, and, as such, multiple viewers see distant objects at the same visual angle. This is important in cross-cockpit displays, where the seated pilot and co-pilot must agree on the direction of simulated scenery or distant objects contained therein. However, for certain visual installations where observers are given the freedom to move and look around from different viewpoints, realism, believability, and accurate portrayal of a depicted scene may require greater attention to such effects as pa