US 2019/0376664 A1 · MOON APPEARANCE GENERATING SYSTEM

Abstract

In an aspect, a moon appearance generating system (1) is configured for providing an enhanced depth perception to imitate a sky scene, for example, a natural sky scene at night. The moon appearance generating system (1) comprises a luminous device (7) with a primary light emitting area (9) that is configured to provide, when the moon appearance generating system (1) is operated to imitate the sky scene, a two-dimensional spatial profile of a luminous flux density across the primary light emitting area (9) with a mean luminous flux density value of at least 5 lm/m2, a maximum luminous flux density value of less than about 150000 lm/m2, wherein the mean luminous flux density value is at least 2% of the maximum luminous flux density value; and a frame structure (25) providing an exit aperture (5) through which the primary light emitting area (9) is completely viewable from within an enhanced depth perception observation range (33), wherein the exit aperture (5) is associated with an inner frame line (25A) that surrounds at least an area of 20 cm width and 20 cm height.

Claims30

Dependent claims

A moon appearance generating system (1) for providing an enhanced depth perception to imitate a sky scene, for example, a natural sky scene at night, the moon appearance generating system (1) comprising:

a luminous device (7) with a primary light emitting area (9) that is configured to provide, when the moon appearance generating system (1) is operated to imitate the sky scene, a two-dimensional spatial profile of a luminous flux density across the primary light emitting area (9) with a mean luminous flux density value of at least 5 lm/m2, a maximum luminous flux density value of less than about 150000 lm/m2, wherein the mean luminous flux density value is at least 2% of the maximum luminous flux density value, wherein the luminous device (7) comprises
a primary light source unit (19) for providing a directed light beam (35) of visible light;
and
a mask unit (17) configured to extend across the directed light beam (35) in the near field and to form the primary light emitting area (9), wherein the mask unit (17) comprises at least one absorbing element (17B) to locally absorb light and a diffuser element (17A) configured to locally increase the divergence across the directed light beam,
such that the luminous flux density profile comprises at least one low luminous flux density region with a mean low luminous flux density value lower than 90% of the maximum luminous flux density value, and at least 20% of the area of the primary light emitting area (9) has a luminous flux density below the mean luminous flux density value, and
a frame structure (25) providing an exit aperture (5) through which the primary light emitting area (9) is completely viewable from within an enhanced depth perception observation range (33), wherein the exit aperture (5) is associated with an inner frame line (25A) that surrounds at least an area of 20 cm width and 20 cm height, and
wherein the primary light emitting area (9) is configured to be viewable along an optical main path (O) and is perceived as having a shape, which results, when the primary light emitting area (9) is projected along the optical main path (O) onto a frame front plane defined by the inner frame line (25A), of a moon phase, and
an optical main path length (L) for light originating from the primary light emitting area (9) until passing the exit aperture (5) is at least about 0.3 m, such as 0.5 m.

5 more elements

a luminous device (7) with a primary light emitting area (9) that is configured to provide, when the moon appearance generating system (1) is operated to imitate the sky scene, a two-dimensional spatial profile of a luminous flux density across the primary light emitting area (9) with a mean luminous flux density value of at least 5 lm/m2, a maximum luminous flux density value of less than about 150000 lm/m2, wherein the mean luminous flux density value is at least 2% of the maximum luminous flux density value;
a frame structure (25) providing an exit aperture (5) through which the primary light emitting area (9) is completely viewable from within an enhanced depth perception observation range (33), wherein the exit aperture (5) is associated with an inner frame line (25A) that surrounds at least an area of 20 cm width and 20 cm height;
and
a window unit (23) extending within the exit aperture (5) of the frame structure (25) such that the luminous device (7) is visible only through the window element (23), and wherein the window unit comprises an edge-lit diffusing panel (53) being lit by a secondary light source (57) to provide diffuse light (55) being emitted from the exit aperture (5),
wherein the primary light emitting area (9) is configured to be viewable along an optical main path (O) and is perceived as having a shape selected from the group of shapes of moon phases comprising
an essentially circular shape (11),
a geometric lens-like shape (30) comprising a first lens convex outer border portion extending along at least a quarter of a circle and a second lens convex outer border portion extending along less than a half circle, and
a geometric lune-like shape (40) comprising a convex lune outer border portion corresponding to at least a quarter of a circle and a concave lune outer border portion, and
an optical main path length (L) for light originating from the primary light emitting area (9) until passing the exit aperture (5) is at least about 0.3 m, such as 0.5 m.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Moon appearance generating system

Life of this patent

Moon appearance generating system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims30