DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0024] Referring first to FIG. 1 , the fiber optic real time image display device of the invention is generally identified by the reference numeral 10 . The display device 10 includes a fiber optic display 12 enclosed in an enclosure or casing 14 . The shape of the casing 14 shown in FIG. 1 is for illustrative purposes. It is understood that the casing 14 may be any shape or size manufactured using well known techniques and materials to meet the desired specifications for housing the components of the display device 10 . A semi-circular shape may be used to allow for the central viewing point to be located equal at distance to the viewing surface.

[0025] The fiber optic display 12 comprises an array of pixels 16 organized into a mesh pattern, for example, as shown in FIG. 2 . The array of pixels 16 forms a continuous surface that may be flat, concave, or convex. The pixels 16 generate an optical image by free-emitting light into space either directly or through a translucent material with or without light scattering properties, or by emitting light through lenses, cones, spheres, prisms, or other optical components. A particular mesh pattern shown in FIG. 2 is for illustration purposes only and is not intended to be limited as such.

[0026] Each pixel 16 is formed by one or more optical fibers that may be optionally fused together, use collating optics, or other means to form a single pixel. The optical fibers vector the light to each pixel 16 from one or more distant light sources of homogeneous or heterogeneous type working in conjunction or independently. The number of fibers per pixel is determined by the homogeneity of the types of light source, with one fiber for each type of light source. The restriction of a single fiber to a single light source type, in the example discussed herein, is strictly for limiting the total fiber count to insure the display's practicality. For example, a display with pixel density of 32×32 pixels per inch will require 1024 fibers per inch for a homogeneous light source, but will require 2048 fibers per inch for a heterogeneous light source wherein the number of strands per pixel is increased to 2. In general, the larger the total fiber count for the same pixel density, the lesser is the display's practicality. At the same time, the number of fibers may be increased to support redundant light sources allowing increased fault tolerance of the display device.

[0027] The strands of optical fiber are organized into bundles 18 . Each fiber bundle 18 corresponds to a surface area 19 of the display surface 12 , as best shown in FIG. 3 . The organization of fibers into bundles 18 is not limited to the square arrangement of surface areas 19 shown in FIG. 3 , but may be of any other arrangement including but not limited to flat ribbons, diamonds, and rectangles. Any arrangement of optical fibers that increases the ease of assembly of the display surface 12 is suitable. The fibers terminating at different light sources may further be interlaced together at the viewable surface to support fault tolerance of the produced image without increase in the number of the light sources allowing for gradual image deterioration in the presence of faulty light sources.

[0028] Each fiber optic bundle 18 terminates at one or more light source components 20 . The number of light source components 20 is a matter of choice. In FIG. 3 , each fiber optic bundle 18 terminates at a single light source component 20 of a homogeneous light source type. In a heterogeneous system, each bundle 18 would terminate at multiple components 20 , one for each type of light source. In a fault tolerant system each bundle 18 may terminate at multiple light source components 20 of either homogeneous of heterogeneous light source type depending on the level of the light source component redundancy desired.

[0029] Referring still to FIG. 3 , the light source components 20 are organized together in a three dimensional arrangement which is a feature of the fiber optic system of the invention. The three-dimensional arrangement is shown as a cube with light source components 20 organized into separate planes perpendicular to the axis of the display surface 12 . Other three-dimensional arrangements and organization orientation could be used to achieve the same results. Similarly, an angle other than 900 of orientation could also be used. Likewise, the light source components 20 shown in close proximity to the viewing surface 19 in FIG. 3 is intended only as a means for reducing the total volume of fibers used for the display's construction.

[0030] The three-dimensional arrangement of the light sources represents an array of pixel planes partitioning an otherwise continuous surface of the light source into multiple groups of pixels whose physical locations are independent of other such groups. It is the partitioning and independence of each group of pixels which allow for utilization of light sources whose dimensions are substantially larger than the sizes of the pixels they produce. The geometry of the array of pixel planes illustrated in FIG. 3 depicts an arrangement of partitioned light sources for reducing the overall depth of the casing 14 shown in FIG. 1 .

[0031] In FIG. 3 , three light source components 20 lying in a single plane are shown. It is understood, however, that the specific number of light source components 20 per single plane is for illustrative purposes and simplification of the drawings. Likewise, the arrangement of fiber bundles 18 into squares versus other geometric shapes is for illustrative purposes only. In the illustration of FIG. 3, a portion of the display surface 12 of the fiber optic device 10 of the invention is depicted as an arrangement of surface units 22 forming a 3×3 square. Assuming that the vertical and horizontal dimensions of a surface unit 22 is 1 inch, the corresponding square depicted in FIG. 3 is 3″×3″. To produce a 36″×36″ display surface 12 using the above ratio, an arrangement of 36×36 light source components 20 would be required. In other words, the display surface 12 would comprise 1296 surface units 22 optically connected to 1296 light source components 20 lying in 36 vertical planes oriented perpendicular to the display surface 12 . The light source components 20 are fixed in a suitable manner to the display enclosure 14 applying means and methods well know in the art. The components are powered by electrical circuitry and are controlled by electronic integrated and microprocessor circuitry of well known designs. Since each light component's operation is independent of any other light source component, the system is inherently fault tolerant. The degree of this inherent fault tolerance can be further increased by other means, some of which may be redundancy of components and control of viewable image degradation.

[0032] Another important feature of the system is the pixel density at the viewing surface units 22 and the density of the fiber optic terminations at the surface units 22 is equal to or greater than the density of the fiber optic terminations at the light source components 20 . Hence the display system of the invention is referred to herein as a high to low density (HLD) fiber optic display in contrast to the low to high density (LHD) fiber displays discussed as part of prior art.

[0033] The HLD architecture permits the fiber optic display system 10 of the invention to achieve a high quality picture without placing size restrictions on the characteristics of the light source or sources 20 . Consequently, light source components 20 may be constructed using almost any of the off-the-shelf low density image generating devices well know in the art. Such image generating light sources include but are not limited to lasers, Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT), Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD), Light Emitting Diodes (LED), and lamps. The only constraint on the particular type of the light source to be used is the function of the combined cost of the display system to the achieved benefit.

[0034] When employing light emitting devices, the fiber optic display system 10 described heretofore is referred to as a Homogeneous Light Injecting (HoLI) system since it based on use of homogeneous light source types that inject the light into the fiber. The off-the-shelf sources that may be used for a HoLI system are LED, lasers, and equivalent light emitting sources as noted above. These sources emit light at different visible spectrum and intensity, and may be constructed to produce either a composite RGB signal or a single wide spectrum signal in an individual fiber strand. The light injecting source or groups of sources are formed into components and are fixed to circuits boards of any suitable manufacture using any applicable method know in the art. An illustration of a sample board 24 with 32×32 LEDs 26 is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 , which show the same board with and without fiber optic strands attached to each LED 26 . The LEDs 26 are shown attached to one side of the board solely for the purpose of simplifying the diagram. The practicality of the HoLI systems is constrained by the cost of the individual light sources as the large resolution of the display device requires a large number of them.

[0035] In an alternate embodiment of the display system of the invention illustrated in FIG. 6 , off-the-shelf light source components, such as LCDs, CRTs, and equivalent devices capable of projecting light onto a fiber, are utilized. In this embodiment, the display system is referred as a Homogeneous Light Projecting (HoLP) system since it uses a homogeneous light projecting type of device, such as a LCD 28 , as a light source. The LCD 28 viewable surface is composed of an array of pixels generating RGB or similar based images by emitting a narrow spectrum wide intensity visible light. Since there is a problem in alignment of light between RGB pixels and the fiber, no attempt is made to align individual pixels to fiber. Instead, an N×M image generated by a projecting device is partitioned into a (N/(n+g))×(M/(m+g)) array of light source cells, where n is the cell height in pixels, m is the cell width in pixels, and g is the pixel size of the gap between cells. For example, a 240×720 color LCD display can be used to form a 40×62 cell array of 5×5 pixel cells with 1 pixel gap. Each cell has a light focusing device such as a lens or equivalent to concentrate projected light output by the 5×5 color pixels into the optical fiber.

[0036] A light focusing device is not a requirement. A diameter of the fiber optic strand may be large enough to where the fiber itself covers the pixel cell. A composition of the active pixels in the cell may be altered so that only the pixels covered by the fiber are used as part of the light source. While this may require the remaining pixels to project light of high intensity, removing the need for the focusing optics increases the overall display system's practicality. In general, HoLP type systems are highly practical since they utilize light projecting devices such as LCDs that already have high pixel counts, and thus bring the per pixel cell cost associated with each light source down.

[0037] In another alternate embodiment of the system of the invention, the HLD fiber optic display uses light from multiple types of light sources. The display is essentially a combination of multiple groups of light components that are either HoLI or HoLP in construction. The components can be used in conjunction to provide light source for the same pixels or independently to provide source to separate pixels.

[0038] While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof is determined by the claims which follow.