Patent Document ID: 4371343
Application ID: 06125656
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A process for electronically generating wide-angle moving images, especially for systems providing training in the navigation of ships, by means of which a wide-angle image constituted by the apparent juxtaposition of elementary images subtending respectively an angle .alpha. on as many television monitors, and by means of which an object represented on these images moves from one image to the next without discontinuity, comprising the steps of: (a) defining the coordinates of the object, which form the wide-angle image and the displayed elementary images, by the coordinates of a reference point (A) determined by the intersection of the support rotational axis of a model of the object (M) and the base of this model; (b) pointing the optical axis of a camera at the reference point; (c) determining the dimensions and distance of the object as well as those of the model such that the camera angle of view always exceeds the apparent angle subtended by the model; (d) feeding the camera with a synchronization signal, which is a line blanking signal (SD) delayed with respect to the line blanking reference signal fed to all the monitors, this delay being proportional to the position of the object in the moving image; (e) obtaining an object video signal (SV) from the camera and applying it to a monitoring cathode-ray tube synchronized by the line blanking reference signal to produce a shifted object image (ID (p-1) and ID (p)) divided vertically by a black band corresponding to the delayed line blanking signal fed to the camera, into a right-hand part and a left-hand part on either side of this band; (f) producing a given number of elementary images by feeding a memory, such as a magnetic-disc video recorder, the line blanking reference signal for the simultaneously triggered readings of as many synthetic images recorded in this memory; (g) determining the order p of the elementary image in which the reference point is located at a given instant by taking the whole-number part of the quotient resulting from the division of the reference point azimuth .theta. in the wide-angle image by the angle .alpha.; (h) determining the azimuth X of the reference point in the image of order number p, and taking the remainder resulting from the division of the azimuth .theta. by the angle .alpha.; (i) producing the synthetic images one-by-one in a cyclic manner, as a function of the order number of the elementary image considered by electronic inlaying of the shifted ship image onto an environment image in the case of an elementary image of order number p, p-1, or p+1, and by simple recording of the environment image for the other order numbers; (j) determining the delay R(p) of the delayed line blanking signal fed to the camera for an image of order number p such that the azimuth of the reference point in this image is effectively equal to the value X, the delays R(p-1) and R(p+1) of the delayed line blanking signal fed to the camera for an image of order number p-1 and for an image of order number p+1 being R(p)-.tau. amd R(p)+.tau., the interval .tau. being the duraction of the delayed line blanking signal as well as that of the line blanking reference signal; (k) validating the inlay when the azimuth X is less than .alpha./2 for the left-hand part of the shifted image of order number p, as well as for the right-hand part of the image of order number p-1, and when the azimuth is greater than .alpha./2 for the right-hand part of the image of order number p as well as for the left-hand part of the image of order number p+1.