The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 17, 1987
Filed:
Oct. 31, 1984
Nicolas L Brignall, Edinburgh, GB;
Ferranti, plc, , GB;
Abstract
In known sightline stabilizing apparatus 10 (FIG. 1) a gyro-stabilized reflector 25 maintained in orientation in space about two axes 18 and 26 by gyro means in the mechanism 22. The reflector mechanism is contained in housing 17 and is pivotable about elevation axis 18 in relation thereto. The housing also carries a sensor, e.g. a tv camera providing signals to a remote (non-stabilized) image display device, and is itself rotatable in elevation relative to a platform 16 rotatable in azimuth. The apparatus is normally carried by a vehicle and movements thereof cause servo responses of the mechanism 22 to stabilize the mirror and follow-up movements of the housing and pedestal 16 restore the mirror to the center of its limited motion in the housing. However, changes in elevation angle of the reflector cause rotation of the remote image about the center of its field of view and motion induced changes can rapidly lead to motion sickness in an observer of the image. The improvement of the invention consists of introducing an elevation offset between the mirror and the housing so that the sensor is offset about axis 18 and has essentially the same field of view from the mirror but the image formed is rotated about its receptive axis 20. The image rotation is equal to the elevation offset of the housing/sensor and is applied as a demand signal into the housing elevation-restoring feedback loop.