Color helmet mountable display

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG.
1 is a top perspective view of an HMD 10 mounted on a helmet 12 for projecting imagery to the left and right eyes of a pilot.
The imagery projected to the left and right eyes can be identical (biocular), or it can have stereo disparity (binocular).
In this embodiment 1024 by 1024 digital color images are used, with each color image frame for the left and right eyes having separate red, green and blue pixelated intensity patterns.
The invention is also applicable to gray scale or single color images of arbitrary dimensions.
A computer image generator 14 produces successive scan lines for left and right color digital images 16 and 18 respectively at a given rate, preferably within a range of fifty to seventy-two images per second, and transmits modulation signals for the red, green and blue (RGB) intensity patterns simultaneously via leads 20a-20c and 22a-22c to left and right RGB light emitting diode (LED) arrays 24a-24c and 26a-26c.
The RGB arrays are stacked, with the red array on the top and the blue array on the bottom.
The respective arrays in the left and right optical channels each include 1024 LEDs 28a-28c and 30a-30c, and form a complete row or scan line of the color digital image.
The left and right LED arrays emit luminance patterns 32a-32c and 34a-34c respectively in accordance with the successive intensity patterns of the image scan lines, and can be addressed sequentially to produce a raster-scanned image or in parallel to project each image a line at a time.
Alternatively, a fiber optic ribbon can used in place of the LEDs to project the luminance patterns.
The ribbon is connected from the HMD to a laser, LED or CRT line modulator off the helmet.
Left and right relay lenses 36 and 38 (details of which are shown in FIG.
5) are disposed at their focal length, e.
g.
25 mm, from the LED arrays, and collimate the light for the respective luminance patterns.
A common drive motor 39 rotates left and right faceted drum mirrors 40 and 42 at a rate synchronized to the modulation rate of the LEDs to deflect the collimated luminance patterns back through the relay lens