JP2003513322A - Apparatus for generating scenery image of front view by incident light projection - Google Patents

Abstract

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention creates an image (1) for a frontal view by incident projection, by means of a projector (2, 3), in particular for an image display in a training station, in a simulator or in the adventure world. Device for The device projects, in the form of individual lines and images, a standard scene image onto a projection plane (6) in a projection dome with a refracted brightness and / or color modulated light beam emanating from the origin. It is characterized by the following. Said projectors (2, 3) are arranged in such a position that the origin of the projection beam is in front of the front plane of the actor (7).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

The present invention relates to a device for generating a landscape image in the front field of view by incident light projection, in particular for image display in a training station or in a simulator or in a virtual reality environment.

EP 0 836 169 B1 discloses a training station in which the split image projected on the screen is generated by three projectors. The image produced on the screen is deflected through a parallel mirror onto the projection surface and presented to the actor.

The projector is arranged well behind the head of the moving person, but well above it, in order to optically project the image going from the object plane into the image plane.
A parallel mirror is required so that a portion of the landscape image can be generated anyway in the area normally perceived from the driving or steering position.

In a simulator of this kind, used for example for driving education, the projectors are arranged approximately 2 m above the actor's head and behind the actor's head, for example approximately 1 m. This is necessary because of the laws of optics relating to the optical projection and the size of the image, because it avoids shadows on the landscape image of the front view, displayed by people or by structures in the cab. Is desirable. Therefore, the above-mentioned type of simulator is very large. In particular, in mobile systems, the sturdier machine parts are located far outside the axis of travel, and therefore the considerable dynamic load resulting from the generation of acceleration forces must be controlled. For this reason, a stable and therefore robust mechanical configuration is required, with mechanical or hydraulic actuation costing a considerable amount.

Moreover, commonly used image projectors have a shallow depth of focus, especially with unsatisfactory image resolution at the edges of the image.

It is an object of the present invention to reduce the cost of implementing a training facility, simulator or virtual reality environment, and to improve the realism of the front view of the generated landscape image. The present invention should be suitable not only for a simulator having no moving system (fixed screen) but also for a simulator having a moving system (flying screen).

In an apparatus for generating a landscape image in the front field of view by incident light projection, especially for image display by a projector in a training station or in a simulator or in a virtual reality environment, the above-mentioned objects are at least The projector writes a landscape image of the front view on the projection surface with a brightness-modulated and / or color-modulated light flux that travels from the origin and is two-dimensionally deflected into the projection cone plane, and each projector Are arranged in such a way that their origins are arranged in such a way that the origin is located in front of the actor in the observer's viewing direction.

The advantage of arranging the projector in front of the actor is that the possible shadows on the parts of the image produced by the structure or by the observer are drastically reduced.
The projector can thus be arranged near the eye level of the observer. In particular, this has the advantage that the image distortion is reduced. If it is also desired to eliminate these relatively small image imperfections, the required correction steps can be implemented in the landscape image at a relatively low cost. The principles of the present invention may also be implemented with multiple projectors, for example two or three, if the landscape image is composed of partial images.

Although the specification describes only one actor, this does not mean that the invention is limited to applications involving only one single person.
Rather, the principles of the present invention are also applicable where there are two people, such as a driver and passenger, or a group of people.

Projectors that write a landscape image of the front field of view on a projection surface with a brightness-modulated and / or color-modulated light flux that travels from the origin and is two-dimensionally deflected into the projection cone plane are particularly useful. It is an advantage. They are also known as "laser projectors". This type of projector is designed for LCD projectors or CRT
It is basically distinguished from ordinary image projectors such as projectors. Since the red-green-blue luminous flux is deflected in the "laser projector" to write a line of image points, and the conventional optical image is not made in the image plane evolving from the object plane inside the device. Thus, fairly large projection angles can be achieved and the distance between the projector and the projection surface can be freely chosen within wide limits.

Since a wide range of geometric corrections can be made with projectors of the type described above, image distortions due to oblique projections or as a result of the shape of the projection surface can be corrected in a wide range. Moreover, the image of this type of projector is sharp within a very large depth, so that the projection distance from the projection surface can vary over a wide range. The possibility of this type of projector and the corresponding modification for the display of images is described in DE 197 37 374 C2.
The landscape image is corrected with respect to the position of the principal point or viewpoint with respect to the projection surface, where an image recording camera or image computer records and / or calculates the landscape image for this viewpoint. When using deforming optics, for example according to DE 43 24 849C2, the origin of the projection is the pupil of the outlet of the deforming optics, otherwise it is of line deflection through the polygon mirror. It is a deflection point.

The projector is advantageously arranged at a position where the origin of the projection rays is located in front of the front plane (abdominal) where the actor's viewpoint is located. In this position, the possible shadow areas of the projection rays by the actor or by the cab are very small or no longer exist.

It is advisable to use a projection surface in the device which has at least one center of curvature. In the case of a cylindrical or curved projection surface, the actor's field of view can be completely filled with realistic image content, so that the landscape image of the front scene can be seen in a particularly preferred manner. In particular, the projection surface may be the inner surface of a semi-circular body, for example a spherical or paraboloidal semi-circular body.

In an advantageous further development of the invention, the geometry is chosen in such a way that the point of view of the actor or the origin of the projection rays is located at the center of curvature of the projection surface. In this case, the visible geometrical image distortions that occur are so slight that very little correction is needed for the landscape image to be displayed or even such corrections can be omitted. . At any other location, a wider range of image distortions occurs, which can only be corrected at high technical cost and sometimes lose the quality of the image display.

If the projection surface has more than one center of curvature, such as in a parabolic or semi-circular projection surface, then the origin of the projection ray is the first for the reasons mentioned above. It is advisable to be located at the center of curvature and the actor's point of view at the second center of curvature of the projection surface.

Due to the respective spatial arrangement of structures, eg in the simulator room and in the projector, it is not always possible to position the projector or actor in the center of curvature. In this case, because of the low image distortion, each projector should be arranged in such a way that its projection cone surface intersects the center of curvature with the selected plane. The projector has an intersection line of the two planes or a main projection axis determined by the intersection line, and the two planes are deflected by the position parallel to the line direction at the center of the image height of the projection cone surface. A horizontal plane limited by the origin of the luminous flux,
And the vertical plane determined by its vertical position with respect to the line direction at the center of the image width of the projection cone and by the origin of the deflected light beam. Low image distortion is achieved if the vertical or horizontal plane or both planes contain one or both centers of curvature.

Further, the cost of modification for projection is also substantially reduced when the actor is in a limited position relative to the projection surface. This is the case when the mid-plane and / or front-plane through the actor's point of view contains one or both centers of curvature.

Especially for projections in which a very large horizontal viewing angle is to be met with a landscape image, the landscape image is not shown with a single projector, but rather is halved or quartered. It is advisable that each of these segmented images is associated with an individual projector. Therefore, the at least two projectors are preferably arranged in such a way that the main projection axes of these projectors intersect at a point located at the rear (back) of the actor, and the two generated images are Oriented with respect to each other in a seamless contact at corresponding side edges on the projection surface.
The origin of the projection ray is located in front of the actor's front plane (abdominal).

One of the designated planes, the horizontal plane or the vertical plane, must be the same for a projector because the main projection axes of the projector intersect. The projector is such that two adjacent images are seamlessly adjacent to each other at their common side edge,
Aligned and oriented with respect to each other. Due to the possibility of modification described in DE 197 37 374 C2, the segmented images of the projector can be arranged next to each other seamlessly in the exact manner of pixels, and then form a landscape image. Appears integrally on the projection surface. Overlapping areas, such as in a CRT projector,
Not necessary.

When there are multiple projectors, it is advantageous that the intersection of the main projection axes coincides with the center of curvature of the projection surface. In this case, the image distortion is very low, and any correction that may be needed requires very little effort.

In the case of a spherical or hemispherical projection surface, it is expedient for the intersection of the main projection axes to be at the center of curvature of this projection surface. This minimizes image distortion.

The benefit of minimized image distortion is also achieved when the vertical or horizontal plane of each projector comprises one or both centers of curvature of the projection surface. In this case, the intersection of the main projection axes is not at the center of curvature.

In a further development of the invention, the origin of the projection rays of each projector lies below 1 m above the actor's viewpoint (cranial) with respect to the transverse plane passing through the actor's viewpoint.

As a result, the space of the head of the training station, simulator or virtual reality environment is 0.3 to 0.5 compared to the known array working with the incident projection (front projection).
Is reduced by a factor of. Structural dimensions are now substantially determined solely by the size of the curved projection surface. In this regard, the structural height is approximately given by the image height and the width is given by the horizontal radius of the semicircular projection surface.
Due to the considerable reduction in structural dimensions, mobile systems have considerable advantages over the dynamic behavior of the mobile system, on the one hand, in that the mass is kept smaller overall. Because, on the other hand, the center of mass lies closer to the axis of movement. The projector is advantageously arranged on a support part facing the exterior of the simulator room. The simulator room serves, for example, as an outer shell in which the driver's cab, one or more projectors, and one or more projection surfaces associated with these projectors are arranged. For a single projector working with a writing beam, a substantially larger projection angle can be achieved compared to conventional object-enlarged image projection. This has the advantage that, for example, a 180 degree projection can be realized with two projectors instead of four CRT projectors.

In another advantageous form of the device, the transverse plane through the actor's point of view is
This line of intersection, which intersects the projection surface and from the actor's point of view, is within +/- 10 ° of another line of intersection created on the projection surface through the horizontal axis of the projector. In this way, it is ensured that the actor can enjoy optimal viewing range approximately in the center of the image and take into account the actual observation conditions, for example from the driving position on the locomotive or from the cab of the truck. To be done.

The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the drawings by taking a locomotive simulator as an example.

FIG. 1 shows, together with a picture of the actor 7, a simulator for training a locomotive driver according to the prior art. FIG. 2 shows a top view of the simulator according to FIG.
For simplicity, the mobile system is not shown in the figure. Also, the cab 10 is only shown schematically. It is intended to represent the cab of a locomotive. Two CRT projectors 2 and 3 are used to project the landscape image 1, each of which produces an image 4 and 5 on a projection surface 6. The two images 4 and 5 are combined to form a landscape image 1 having a horizontal dimension of 90 ° and a vertical dimension of 30 ° with respect to the position of the actor's eyes. These known projectors, which work on the image projection principle, emit a correspondingly large, crisp, undistorted image only from a relatively large projection distance, so that the projection distance is about 2 m image height. About 4
It should be m. Moreover, the projection surface must have the most uniform possible distance from the projector due to the limited depth of focus.

Since the structure of the cab can cast shadows on the image, the projector must be arranged correspondingly high above the cab. In order to bypass this, for example, EP083
In the prior art, as is known from 6 169 B1, deflection mirrors are used.
As a result of these conditions, the projector must be arranged at least 1 m behind the actor's 7 position and at least 1 m above the actor's 7 position. This is a particular disadvantage when the projectors 2 and 3 are subject to simulator dynamics in a flight screen system. In this case, a relatively large projector is placed very far from the axis of movement.

Furthermore, in the case of CRT projectors, the projection cone surface that produces the images 4 and 5 is approximately 2 to achieve the desired seamless joining of the images 4 and 5 by the commonly known edge blending. Must overlap from 4 ° to 4 °. Typically, for this purpose, there is a main projection ray intersection S, which is far behind the actor's position and on the actor's head, as seen in the example according to FIGS. Located far above, the projection rays intersect.

In the subsequent figures, the same reference numerals indicate the same elements as in FIGS. 1 and 2. Also, the dimensional ratios correspond to each other to show the advantages of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a device according to the invention for producing a landscape image with a single projector 2 together with a picture of the actor 7. FIG. 4 shows the device according to FIG. 3 in a top view. In this case, a single projector 2 is used to show a larger landscape image than that in FIG. The projector is not a projection projector, but rather writes the image 4 on the projection surface 6 with a two-dimensionally deflected, brightness-modulated and / or color-modulated light beam from the origin in the projection cone plane. However, as shown in DE 197 26 860C1, multiple light fluxes may be written simultaneously.

These projectors are also known as laser projectors. An example of this type of projector is described in DE 197 37 374 C2. The steps in which image correction can be performed are explained in detail in the latter reference.

The use of laser light for projection or projection is not essential, but rather for image display a collinear light flux which can also be obtained from another light source, for example a luminescent diode. Is enough. In this case, as can be clearly seen from FIG. 4, the projector 2 for writing the image in two dimensions with one or more collinear light fluxes is arranged in front of the front (on the abdomen) of the actor 7. To be done. Due to the reduced projection distance and due to the very wide range of possibilities for image correction even at large projection angles, the projector 2 is considerably above the actor 7 compared to FIG. It is arranged at a short distance, proceeds from a position before the center of curvature M, and is projected on the projection surface 6 in an oblique direction.

FIG. 3 shows a substantially reduced structural height of the simulator compared to FIG. 1, which means that the dynamics of the system, for example when operating in a simulator according to the flight screen principle. Have particularly positive results. 3 and 4, the center of the spherical projection surface 6 is in the vertical plane 8 of the projector 2 and in the mid-plane of the actor 7. This positioning of the projector 2 and of the actor 7 reduces the cost of making corrections to the projection of the undistorted landscape image 1. However, if the projector 2 or actor 7 is located as close as possible to the center of curvature M of the curved projection surface 6, there is an additional advantage to projection. In the arrangement of FIG. 4, this means that the projector 2, actor 7 and cab 10 are displaced in the direction of the center point M in such a way that the origin of the projection is identical to the center point of the projection surface. Can be achieved in
This modification is shown in FIG. 7 and results in a larger structural depth corresponding roughly to FIG. However, since the reduced structural height of the simulator compared to FIG. 1 is retained, this does not result in any drawbacks.

FIG. 5 shows a device according to the invention for producing a landscape image with two projectors 2 and 3 together with a picture of the actor 7. FIG. 6 shows the device of FIG. 5 in a top view. The projectors 2 and 3 are again arranged in front of the actor 7's (abdominal) front surface. Furthermore, the main projection axes of the projector intersect at the center of curvature M of the hemispherical projection surface 6. The center of curvature M lies further ahead in the front including the actor's viewpoint. The projector is arranged at a fairly low height above the viewpoint of the actor 7, as can be clearly seen by comparison with the device of FIG. Furthermore, a comparison between FIGS. 2 and 6 shows that the projectors 2 and 3 are clearly placed in front of the actor's 7 viewpoint AP. In fact, the projectors 2 and 3 are not
Can be arranged just above the front windbreak of the. The shadows caused by the cab are therefore completely eliminated. FIG. 5 also shows that a horizontal plane 9 including the viewpoint AP of the actor 7 lies approximately at the vertical image center of the projected landscape image 1.

Although only one or two projectors have been described, the principles described for the two projectors, the actor and the arrangement of the projection surface are from three, four or more partial images to a landscape image 1. Is true in a similar manner for three, four or more projectors forming

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a general prior art simulator with incident light projection as seen from the actor's viewing plane.

FIG. 2 shows the simulator according to FIG. 1 in a top view of an actor.

FIG. 3 shows a simulator with a projector for incident light projection to produce a landscape image in the actor's viewing plane.

4 shows the simulator according to FIG. 3 in a top view of an actor.

FIG. 5 shows a simulator similar to FIG. 3, but with two projectors.

FIG. 6 shows a similar simulator according to FIG. 5 in a top view of the actor.

FIG. 7 shows a similar simulator according to FIG. 3 in a top view of the actor.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Coolman, Hans-Werner             Federal Republic of Germany D-88697 Belmat             Tingen Ringstrasse 25 F-term (reference) 2K103 AA01 AA16 AA28 CA02

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A device for producing a landscape image (1) in the front field of view by incident light projection, in particular for the purpose of image display in a training station, simulator or virtual reality environment, at least one projector. The front view landscape on the projection surface (6) with (2, 3) light-modulated and / or color-modulated light fluxes that travel from the origin and are two-dimensionally deflected into the projection cone. Writing the image (1), and characterized in that each projector (2, 3) is arranged in such a way that its origin is located in front of the actor (7) in the viewing direction of the actor (7). And the device. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the projector (2, 3) is arranged in front of the front surface containing the viewpoint (AP) of the actor (7). 3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the projection surface (6) has one or two centers of curvature (M). 4. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that the origin (AP) of the actor (7) or the origin of the projection rays is at the center of curvature (M) of the projection surface (6). 5. The projection ray origin is located at a first center of curvature and the actor's viewpoint is located at a second center of curvature of the projection surface (6).
The device according to. 6. At least one projector (2, 3) comprises a horizontal plane (9) defined by its position parallel to the line direction at the center of the image height of the projection cone and by the origin of the deflected light beam. , A vertical plane determined by the origin of the deflected light beam by its vertical position with respect to the line direction at the center of the image width of the projection cone surface (
8) and has a chief projection ray characterized by the intersection of
4. The device of claim 3, wherein one of the) includes a center of curvature (M). 7. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that the midplane and / or the anterior plane through the actor's point of view (AP) comprises the center of curvature (M). 8. Two or more projectors (2, 3) are provided, the main projection axes of these projectors intersecting at a point (S) located at the rear of the actor (7) and these The projector consists of two generated images (4,5, 5) placed next to each other.
2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the two) are oriented relative to each other in a seamless contact at their side edges on the projection surface (6). 9. The intersection (S) of the principal projection rays is the center of curvature of the projection surface (6) (
Device according to claims 3 and 8, characterized in that it corresponds to M). 10. Device according to claim 9, characterized in that the intersection (S) of the chief projection rays is at the center of curvature (M) of the spherical or hemispherical projection surface (6). 11. Device according to claim 8 and 6, characterized in that the vertical plane (8) and / or the horizontal plane (9) of each projector (2, 3) comprises a center of curvature (M). 12. The origin of the projection rays of each projector (2, 3) is the viewpoint of the actor (
Device according to claim 1 or 8, characterized in that it is arranged less than 1 m above the viewpoint (AP) of the actor (7) with respect to the cross section through the AP. 13. The cross-section through the point of view (AP) of the actor (7) is a projection surface (
This intersection line from the perspective of the actor (7) intersects 6) and + of another intersection line generated through the horizontal axis (9) of the projector (2, 3) on the projection surface (6). / -1
Device according to claim 12, characterized in that it is in the range of 0 °.