Patent ID: 7031579

Claim:
An optical system comprising: a combiner comprising optical fibers each having an input end and an output end; said optical fibers being secured so that said combiner has image input portions each having therein a respective set of the input ends of the optical fibers secured in an input pattern having an input area; each input portion of the combiner being configured to receive light of a respective input image displayed by a respective image source such that said optical fibers each transmit a respective portion of the light received from the associated image to the output end thereof; said output ends of the optical fibers being secured in an output pattern in an image output portion of the combiner, said output end being configured so as to transmit to relay optics an output image therefrom containing the portions of the light transmitted through the optical fibers from the input portions; and said output pattern corresponding to said input patterns so that the output image is a composite image comprising a combination of images each coherently transmitted from a respective one of said input images; said output image having an area that is less than a sum of said input areas; and said output pattern having discrete component fields each corresponding to a respective input image, the light from each of the input images each being transmitted only from the output ends of the optical fibers in the component field corresponding to said input image.