Weapon Sight Active Display Overlay Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Direct view optical weapon sights lack active display capabilities for overlaying critical information such as target reticles, GPS, and situational awareness elements onto the real-world view, limiting their functionality and adaptability under varying ambient conditions.
Innovation Solution
An active display overlay unit is integrated into the weapon sight, featuring a lens arrangement that concentrates LED illumination onto a transmissive display, providing high luminance and controlled brightness for simultaneous viewing of real-world and overlaid images, with mechanical and electrical boresight capabilities to align the display optically with the viewing optics, allowing for monochrome, multi-color, or full-color overlays.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If direct view optical weapon sights use fixed reticle optics, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but active display capabilities for overlaying critical information are lacking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines direct view optics with an active display overlay unit into a single integrated weapon sight system. The beam combiner merges the real-world view from the direct view optics with the overlaid information from the LCD display, allowing both functions to coexist in one device without requiring separate systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The weapon sight is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: providing direct view optics for target acquisition, displaying overlaid critical information (GPS, reticles, situational awareness), and allowing the display to be turned off to revert to simple direct view mode. This multi-functionality increases adaptability while managing complexity through optional activation.
2Use of energy by moving object
If LED illumination is used to illuminate the LCD display, then energy efficiency is improved, but the luminance may be insufficient for daytime viewing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a beam combiner as an intermediary optical element that combines the LED-illuminated LCD display with the direct view optics path. The beam combiner efficiently merges the relatively low-luminance LCD output with the brighter real-world view, allowing the LED illumination to be energy-efficient while the combined output achieves sufficient daytime visibility through optical addition rather than requiring high-power display illumination.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a beam combiner is added to combine real-world view and display overlay, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The beam combiner serves as a merging point that combines two separate optical paths (direct view optics and LCD display) into a single unified viewing path. This single component accomplishes the overlay function without requiring multiple separate optical elements, minimizing the increase in device complexity while achieving the adaptability benefit of information overlay.
4Illumination intensity
If the display is made visible in daytime conditions, then information visibility is improved, but the brightness may overwhelm the real-world view
Solution Approach 1:
The beam combiner acts as an intermediary that optically combines the display image with the real-world view in a way that prevents the display from overwhelming the scene. By merging the light paths rather than placing the display in front of the viewer, the system allows the brighter real-world view to dominate while the display information is superimposed at a level that provides visibility without creating harmful glare that would wash out the target area.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables the simultaneous display of real-world and overlaid information with high luminance and brightness, adaptable to various ambient conditions, enhancing situational awareness and targeting capabilities while maintaining the existing reticle and boresight functionality of direct view optics.
Implementation Method 1
An active display overlay unit is integrated into the weapon sight, featuring a lens arrangement that concentrates LED illumination onto a transmissive display
Implementation Method 2
directing the images from the display onto the viewing optical axis for combining with images of the real-world viewed by the direct view optics with those of the display in an overlaid manner
Data Source
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AI summary
A real-world viewer can include viewing optics positioned along a viewing optical axis for viewing a field of view of the real-world. An active display overlay unit can be optically coupled to the viewing optical axis of the viewing optics, for generating images and directing the images along the viewing optical axis of the viewing optics for simultaneous overlaid viewing of the images in the real-world scene as viewed in the field of view through the viewing optics. The active display overlay unit can be capable of providing full-color luminance of at least t 1200 fL to the ocular of the host system with a luminance to power fL: mW ratio of at least 6:1 or greater or providing monochrome luminance from the active display overlay unit of at least 5000 fL to the ocular of the host system with a luminance to power fL:mW ratio of at least 15:1 or greate.