Patent ID: 7589894

Claim:
Apparatus for the optical manipulation of a pair of landscape stereoscopic images, which apparatus comprises a housing, and optical re-orientation means positioned in the housing and for re-orientating the pair of landscape stereoscopic images between a first orientation selected from one of the orientations from the group consisting of top and bottom orientation and side-by-side orientation required for human viewing and a second orientation being the other orientation of the group required for recording with a single external camera positioned adjacent to the apparatus and viewed from a single screen, the single screen being such that it has a first pair of sides which are shorter than a second pair of sides, the second orientation being such that there is no top to bottom inversion of one of the landscape stereoscopic images with respect to the other of the landscape stereoscopic images, the second orientation being such that the landscape stereoscopic images are rotated for display in each of two halves of the single screen such that longest sides of the landscape stereoscopic images are parallel with the first pair of sides of the screen thereby maintaining a good aspect ratio without the need for compression or stretching of the pair of landscape stereoscopic images, and the optical re-orientation means being such that the pair of landscape stereoscopic images leave the optical re-orientation means in a direction which is parallel to a direction in which the pair of landscape stereoscopic images enter the optical re-orientation means, and the apparatus being characterised in that the optical re-orientation means comprises: (i) a first periscope arrangement which is horizontally disposed, and which comprises first and second reflective surfaces; (ii) a second periscope arrangement which is vertically disposed, which comprises third and fourth reflective surfaces, with the third reflective surface being the lower reflective surface for reflecting out image light towards the single camera; and (iii) a third periscope arrangement which is horizontally disposed, which comprises fifth and sixth reflective surfaces, wherein the fifth reflective surface is facing and aligned with the third reflective surface of the second periscope arrangement, and which is such that the sixth reflective surface is positioned underneath the second reflective surface so that the optical axis of the exit of the third periscope arrangement is directly underneath the optical axis of the exit of the first periscope arrangement.