Abstract:
A scope is disclosed as including a display to display a plurality of reticle-patterns, means for selecting one of the reticle-patterns to be displayed by the display, and an optical prism for projecting the displayed reticle-pattern onto a piece of lens viewable by a user.

Description:
[0001]    This invention relates to an aiming device, e.g. a scope, in particular such a device capable of providing a plurality of reticle-patterns. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Rifles or such like firearms are sometimes mounted with a scope for assisting a user to aim accurately at a target. Each such scope is provided with a reticle with a pattern which may be fine crosshair, duplex crosshair, German reticle, target dot, or the like. 
         [0003]    Conventionally, in order to provide different reticle-patterns, a number of rotatable optical masks are mounted for selective positioning at the required position. However, the position of such a multi-reticle mechanism is not fixed with respect to the scope with which it is mounted, especially when strong impact is experienced after several rounds of shooting. The aiming accuracy is thus affected. 
         [0004]    It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a scope in which the aforesaid shortcomings are mitigated, or at least to provide a useful alternative to the public. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    According to the present invention, there is provided a scope including a display adapted to display a plurality of reticle-patterns; means for selecting one of said plurality of reticle-patterns to be displayed by said display; and optical arrangement for projecting the displayed reticle-pattern onto a piece of lens viewable by a user. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0006]    A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0007]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a scope according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the control mechanism of the scope of  FIG. 1 ; and 
           [0009]      FIGS. 3A to 3F  show various reticle-patterns which may be displayed by the scope Of  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0010]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , a scope according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is generally designated as  20 . The scope  20  is in general shape of a cylindrical tube  22  with an ocular lens  4  and an object lens  8 . Light  9  from the outside environment, e.g. from a target falls on the object lens  8 , to be viewed by a user  5  through the ocular lens  4 . 
         [0011]    A display panel  6  (which may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, light-emitting diode (LED) dot matrix display, or such like light-generating display) fixed to the tube  22  may be operated to generate a number of different reticle-patterns. Light  10  generated by the display panel  6  is directed by an optical prism  7  onto the object lens  8 , again to be viewed by the user  5  through the ocular lens  4 . The user  5  would thus see the reticle-pattern imposed on the image of the target on the lens  8 . 
         [0012]    A printed circuit board (PCB)  2  mounted with a microcontroller (MCU) (not shown) is electrically connected with the display panel  6  for controlling the operation of the display panel  6 . A selection panel  3  is also electrically connected with the MCU for controlling the operation of the MCU. 
         [0013]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , the electronics arrangement of the scope  22  includes a Power  11  (which may be dry batteries) which provides electric power to the display panel  6  and the MCU  12 . A user, by operating a number of buttons  3   a ,  3   b ,  3   c ,  3   d ,  3   e  on the selection panel  3 , may activate or deactivate the multi-reticle function of the scope  22 , choose the reticle-pattern to be displayed, adjust the intensity of the light generated by the display panel  6 , effect rotation of the displayed reticle-pattern, or adjust the scale or size of the displayed reticle-pattern. 
         [0014]    The MCU  12  has an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) for storing the instructions for displaying plurality of reticle-patterns. Such may also be stored in a flash memory. 
         [0015]      FIGS. 3A-3F  show a number of different reticle patterns which may be displayed by the scope  22 . Each pattern is formed of an array of lighting elements arranged in a matrix form of n columns and m rows. The MCU  12  operates the activation or otherwise of each lighting element in each pixel of the matrix. The initial position of the column and row address (0, 0) normally locates at the top left hand corner  16  of the matrix. Using the reticle-pattern in  FIG. 3A  as an example, to display such a pattern, the MCU  12  activates the lighting element at  14  but deactivates the lighting element at  15 . 
         [0016]    It can be seen that, with a scope according to the present invention, as the display panel  6  is fixed to the scope  22 , dislocation of the reticle-pattern relative to the scope  22  is prevented. In addition, with the use of a dot-matrix display panel, up to a hundred of different reticle-patterns can be easily produced, according to the user&#39;s preference and need, whereas in traditional mechanically-mounted multi-reticle mechanisms, it is very difficult to provide more than ten different reticle-patterns. It is also relatively easy to add in new reticle-patterns to the EEPROM or such like memory in the MCU  12 . 
         [0017]    It should be understood that the above only illustrates an example whereby the present invention may be carried out, and that various modifications and/or alterations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention. 
         [0018]    It should also be understood that various features of the invention which are, for brevity, described here in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any appropriate sub-combinations.