Multipurpose in-vehicle display systems with ambient light sources for integrated HUDs, instrument clusters, and interactive displays

A dual-purpose visualization system comprising:

• a housing having a first image aperture and a second image aperture;
• a display secured to the housing to generate light;
• and
• a plurality of optical elements secured within the housing and oriented to direct a first portion of the light through the first image aperture to form a first virtual image in a first headbox, and a second portion of the light through the second image aperture to form a second virtual image in a second headbox,
• wherein
• the first headbox spans at least 10 cm laterally,
• the second headbox spans at least 10 cm laterally, and
• the first and second virtual images possess a monocular depth that is different from a distance between the display and the respective first or second headbox.

A dual-purpose visualization system comprising:

• a housing having a first image aperture and a second image aperture;
• a plurality of displays secured to the housing to generate light;
• a plurality of optical elements secured within the housing and oriented to direct a first portion of the light through the first image aperture to form a first virtual image, and a second portion of the light through the second image aperture to form a second virtual image;
• and
• a reflector external to the housing to direct light corresponding to the first portion of the light to at least partially overlap with the second portion of the light in a region external to the housing,
• wherein the first and second virtual images are simultaneously visible in a continuous headbox that spans at least 10 cm laterally and possess a monocular depth that is different from a distance between the continuous headbox and the display.