The Singer Company

Albert F Collier

David L Peters

A method and apparatus for presenting a scene generated by an electronic visual scene generator to an observer looking through a pair of binoculars 32 is disclosed. The scene presented by the binoculars is an enlarged or magnified portion of a panoramic scene presented on a screen 12 also generated by the visual scene generator 28 and suitable for viewing by the observers unaided eye. In the described embodiment, electronic signals representative of a scene are generated by digital generator 28. These electrical signals are then applied to three small CRT's 72, 74 and 70 each of which has a different color such as red, green and blue where the visual scene is produced by the CRT's three colors. The three CRT's colored images are then combined by means of beam splitters, filters and mirrors 44 to provide a single full colored scene which is then transported to both eye pieces of a pair of hand held binoculars 32 or to the eye piece of a periscope 48 by means of a fiber optic cable 36 and 50 respectively. A panoramic scene on screen 12 and suitable for viewing by the unaided eye and generated by the digital generator 28 is also provided by suitable means such as a CRT projector 14. Thus, by monitoring the orientation of the binoculars 32 a magnified or enlarged view (such as 8.times.) of a portion of the panoramic view can be provided by the binoculars, for example, according to the orientation. Thus, in accordance with the embodiment described the observer or tank commander can closely inspect by means of the binoculars a selected portion of the panoramic scene as would be the case in a real life situation.

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Westmoreland, NY, United States of America

Albert F Collier