Patent ID: 6814578
Filing Date: 2004-11-09
Classification: A63F,G09B

Abstract:
A visual display system comprising:an image generator adapted to generate a video image viewable by an operator of the visual display system, wherein the video image may be representative of a portion of a composite display image; and a plurality of adjacent video display modules comprising: a video display adapted to display the portion of the composite display image, wherein the video display may be remotely coupled to the image generator and may be responsive to the video image generated by the image generator; and a plurality of holographic collimators, each of the collimators associated with each of the modules and positioned between the operator and the video display, wherein each of the collimators allows the operator to view a portion of a display area of the video display with a degree of head motion, and wherein each of the plurality of collimators comprise at least one of a following element from a group consisting of a first thin panel off-axis holographic lens collimating the light from the video display in an off-axis direction and a second thin panel off-axis holographic lens directing the video image to an on-axis direction; wherein the holographic collimators associated with adjacent modules are joined together along their edges and positioned to tessellate a sphere partially surrounding the operator, thereby permitting the operator to view the composite display image displayed on the plurality of video displays through the plurality of holographic collimators and perceive the composite display image as a continuous far-focused virtual image; and wherein the distance of the video image displayed by the video display may be substantially at half the effective radius of a holographic analog of the collimators.