Patent Application
20120063142
The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for illuminating and targeting that include a variable liquid lens.
Conventional systems for illuminating or targeting may employ a laser or other suitable light source. In some circumstances, it is desirable to project both a broad illumination field for illuminating a target, and a more narrowly focused targeting field (or “spot”) for aiming. Some conventional systems may include two lasers (one for illuminating and one for targeting), or alternately, a single laser and a lens assembly that focuses or adjusts a laser beam between an illuminating configuration and a targeting configuration, such as by mechanically moving a lens. Conventional systems for performing such illuminating and targeting functions include, for example, those systems described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,714,564 issued to Meyers, U.S. Pat. No. 7,550,725 issued to Hollander and Baghai, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,816 issued to Triplett. Although desirable results have been achieved using such conventional systems, there is room for improvement.
The present disclosure teaches systems and methods for illuminating and targeting that include a variable liquid lens. Embodiments of systems and methods in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure may provide considerable improvements over conventional systems and methods, including improved maintainability, durability, and lighter weight. Other advantages that may be provided by systems and methods in accordance with the present disclosure will become apparent during review of the following disclosure.
In at least some embodiments, a light projecting system includes a light source, and a light processing assembly configured to receive a light beam from the light source and to project an output field. The light processing assembly includes at least one liquid lens configured to controllably process the light beam such that the output field is variable between a relatively-broader illuminating field and a relatively-narrower targeting field. In some embodiments, a controller may controllably adjust the at least one liquid lens to alternately provide the illuminating field and the targeting field, and may controllably adjust at least one dwell time to adjust a brightness of at least one of the illuminating and targeting fields, respectively. In further embodiments, one or both of the illuminating or targeting fields may be steered or directed by controllably adjusting the at least one liquid lens.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the following drawings.
The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for illuminating and targeting that include a variable liquid lens. Many specific details of certain embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure are set forth in the following description and in
More specifically, with reference to
It will be appreciated that by quickly and repeatedly adjusting the beam width between the fields 112, 114 at a suitably high frequency, a user (or observer) or viewing system may perceive that both fields 112, 114 are projected simultaneously as depicted in
A light source 130 is disposed within the housing 120 and may be operatively coupled to one or more of the power source 126 and the controller 124. In some embodiments, the light source 130 may include a laser (e.g. laser diode), another type of coherent light source, or any other suitable source of light. The light source 130 may be configured to project a light beam 132 to a light processing assembly 140. The light processing assembly 140 may also be operatively coupled to one or more of the power source 126 and the controller 124. For the sake of clarity, wires or other suitable connectors that operatively couple the components of the system 100 are omitted from
The light processing assembly 140 may include a variety of components that may be used to condition the light beam 132 from the light source 130. For example, in some embodiments, the light processing assembly 140 may include one or more optical components (e.g. lenses) for collimating, focusing, spreading, or otherwise conditioning the light beam 132, or one or more filters for filtering, splitting, attenuating, polarizing, or otherwise processing the light beam 132, or any other suitable components. Exemplary components that may be included within the light processing assembly 140 include, for example, those components described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,714,564 issued to Meyers, U.S. Pat. No. 7,550,725 issued to Hollander and Baghai, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,816 issued to Triplett, which patents are incorporated herein by reference.
As further shown in
The adjustment of the liquid lens 150 to provide the desired field(s) may be accomplished in a variety of ways depending upon the particular characteristics of the liquid lens 150. Preferably, the liquid lens 150 is configured to be variably adjusted relatively rapidly without at least some of the difficulties associated with physical movement of optical components as with conventional systems and methods. More specifically, in at least some embodiments, the liquid lens 150 may be variably adjusted between a first configuration that may be used to project an illuminating field, and a second configuration that may be used to project a targeting field, in an oscillatory manner
For example, in some embodiments, the liquid lens 150 may include two (or more) non-miscible liquids, at least one of the liquids being electrically conductive. Typically, liquid lenses of this type may be variably focused by controllably adjusting a voltage applied across the electrically conductive liquid, as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,515,350 issued to Berge et al., European Patent No. 1166157 issued to Berge, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,667,818 issued to Galstian et al., which patents are incorporated herein by reference.
Alternately, in some embodiments, the liquid lens 150 may include a non-electrically conductive liquid that may be variably focused by controllably adjusting an applied voltage. Liquid lenses of this type include those embodiments described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,605,984 issued to Yeh et al., which patent is incorporated herein by reference. In further embodiments, the liquid lens 150 may include one or more liquid crystal lenses that may be variably adjusted by controllably adjusting an applied voltage, such as those embodiments described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,388,822 issued to Ooi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,599,128 issued to Shimozono et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,882,482 issued to Ogasawara, which patents are incorporated herein by reference.
In still further embodiments, the liquid lens 150 may include a liquid-liquid interface that is varied in shape by one or more piezoelectric actuators. Liquid lenses of this type include those embodiments described, for example, in “A Rapidly Deformable Liquid Lens,” by Oku and Ishikawa, SPIE, 14 Dec., 2009, which technical paper is incorporated herein by reference. In other embodiments, the liquid lens 150 may include varying optical properties of a liquid layer by varying a pressure applied to the liquid, as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,382,544 issued to Cernasov, which patent is incorporate herein by reference. Of course, in addition to those specific examples of types of liquid lenses described above, any other suitable liquid lenses may be employed. For example, suitable liquid lenses that may be used (or adapted for use) in systems and methods in accordance with the present disclosure include those products available from Varioptic, SA of Lyon, France, or from DMetrix, Inc. of Tucson, Ariz., or from Philips Research of Eindhoven, The Netherlands, or from any other suitable suppliers or sources.
Irrespective of the type of liquid lens that is used, various controllability characteristics of the liquid lens may be advantageously employed in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure. For example, in some embodiments, one or both of the illuminating or targeting fields may be controllably focused, steered, or directed by controllably adjusting the at least one liquid lens.
Alternately,
Additional controllability aspects are shown in
Comparison of the first and second output beams 177, 179 (
If the first mode of operation was not selected, then a determination is made at 210 whether a second mode of operation was selected. If the second mode of operation was selected, then a light processing assembly is adjusted to provide a targeting field at 212.
As further shown in
Finally, in this embodiment, if the third mode of operation was not selected (at 214), then the method 200 defaults to adjusting the light processing assembly to continuously and simultaneously providing an illuminating field and a targeting field at 218. After the light processing assembly is adjusted to the desired operating mode at any of 208, 212, 216, or 218, the method 200 determines whether operations are complete at 220. If not, the method 200 returns to selecting an operating mode at 204, and the above-noted activities are repeated indefinitely. Once operations are determined to be complete at 220, the method 200 continues to other activities or terminates.
It will be appreciated that the method 200 described above and shown in
Embodiments of systems and methods in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure may provide considerable advantages over conventional systems having glass optical components. For example, since traditional glass optics cannot typically be adjusted quickly enough, systems and methods in accordance with the present disclosure may advantageously enable rapidly varying adjustment of a light processing assembly between a first configuration that may be used to project an illuminating field, and a second configuration that may be used to project a targeting field, in an oscillatory manner. In some implementations, systems and methods in accordance with the present disclosure may be cycled at a suitably high frequency (e.g. 30 Hz, 60 Hz, etc.) such that the illuminating and targeting fields appear to an average human observer or viewing system to be projected substantially simultaneously.
Systems and methods for projecting illuminating and targeting fields in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure may be incorporated into a wide variety of systems and environments, including a variety of weapons systems. For example,
It will be appreciated that the detailed descriptions of the above embodiments are not exhaustive descriptions of all embodiments contemplated by the inventors to be within the scope of the invention. Indeed, it will be recognized that certain aspects or elements of the above-described embodiments may variously be combined or eliminated to create further embodiments, and such further embodiments fall within the scope and teachings of the invention. It will also be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the above-described embodiments may be combined in whole or in part to create additional embodiments within the scope and teachings of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined from the following claims.
