Wide field of view night vision system
AssigneeVision Products, LLC
InventorsMichael P. Browne, James A. Davey, Martin Vasquez
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Described is a wide field of view, high resolution digital night vision system that uses transparent, repositionable eyepieces to present night vision information in the field of view of the user. The WNVS is advantageous in that it can be used in both night environments, but also in daytime environments by using clear eye pieces that allow the user to concurrently see the outside environment or allowing the eyepieces to be positioned out of the field of view of the user without significantly occluding the user's field of use during daytime use.
Claims25
A night vision system comprising:
- a count of X digital night vision sensors configured to capture video of an exterior environment, the video comprising X input channels, each digital night vision sensor associated with one of the input channels, each input channel comprising frames and each frame comprising a plurality of pixels;
- imaging electronics comprising:
- a sensor processing assembly configured to receive the captured video from the X digital night vision sensors as X parallel pixel streams of the input channels, the sensor processing assembly time synchronizing corresponding pixels in the X pixel streams without using complete frames containing the pixels by time synchronizing the X digital night vision sensors so that the X digital night vision sensors begin a readout cycle in phase with each other, the sensor processing assembly outputting at least one stream comprising the time-synchronized pixels;
- and
- a video processor configured to receive the at least one stream comprising the time-synchronized pixels, the video processor processing the received stream to generate a count of Y pixel streams of output channels;
- an eyepiece subsystem comprising:
- a count of Y displays, each receiving one of the Y pixel streams of output channels;
- and
- a plurality of transmissive eyepieces, each transmissive eyepiece associated with one of a user's eyes, each transmissive eyepiece redirecting light from at least one of the displays towards the associated eye, each transmissive eyepiece also transmitting light from the exterior environment towards the associated eye;
- and
- a frame physically coupled to the night vision sensors and the eyepiece subsystem.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.