JP3183518B2 - Target capture telescope - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to optical devices and devices for magnifying images. More specifically, the present invention relates to hand-held, tripod-mounted and head-mounted telescope devices.

Optical direct-view telescope devices can be classified according to several grades: Kepler vs. Galilean telescopes; Monocular vs. binocular (stereoscopic) telescopes; Retainable and tripod-mounted telescopes.

In the Kepler telescope, the eyepiece group has a positive magnification, has excellent image quality, has a wide field of view, and has an exit pupil outside the eyepiece. In addition, the telescope has a real inward image, so that the entire field of view has sharp boundaries and the reticle (reticle) overlaps the magnified image. A disadvantage of the Kepler telescope is that it requires a system to erect the image. This telescope is therefore relatively large and heavy.

Galilei telescopes whose eyepieces have negative magnification
Magnification is limited low and the field of view is relatively narrow. The boundaries of the field of view are not clearly defined and the reticle does not overlie the image.
In addition, the field of view will be reduced if the eyepiece is not nearly in contact with the observer's eyes. The only advantage of the Galilean telescope is that it does not require a device to erect the image. Therefore, the telescope is relatively compact and lightweight.

For the reasons mentioned above, Galilean telescopes are mainly used as toy binoculars and opera glasses, where performance is less important. For professional applications such as outdoor binoculars and telescopes, Kepler telescopes are used almost without exception.

Prior art telescope devices, whether hand-held or tripod-mounted, cannot smoothly switch between a natural (non-magnified) image of the target and a magnified image. To facilitate the task of continuous area observation, an auxiliary capture telescope may be used in parallel with the tripod-mounted telescope. Help the user's behavior,
In addition, the use of a head-mounted telescope device has been proposed in order to make his hands free. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,577,347 and 5,128,807 describe helmet mounted monocular telescopes for enlarging the visible image of distant objects, while U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,790 describes a binocular telescope mounted on an eyeglass frame.

In fact, the head-mounted telescope apparatus in practical use is a stereoscopic telescope, which is used by dentists and surgeons in the medical field for disadvantageous points of view. Conventional telescopes include a pair of telescopes, which are focused and focused at a point located in front of the wearer, typically approximately 30 cm. These magnified telephoto images are mounted on a head strap, but are often mounted on a spectacle frame or spectacle lens. The main drawback of the telescope device is that it obscures the natural image in front of it, which helps, so that the observer's desire is to facilitate both the non-magnified natural image of the object and its magnified image. Is to capture.

Relatively recently, Spitzberg moved a magnified image of the object of interest relative to its natural image, thereby making the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,795,235 and 5,028,1.
As described in No. 27, advances were made in head-mounted telescopes by facilitating access to both images and facilitating target acquisition. In general, however, as described below, these bifocal telescopes partially solve the problem of target acquisition, but their use is limited to some of the above-mentioned grades of telescopes.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,235 describes a Kepler-type monocular telescope which is mounted on a spectacle lens when observation is disadvantageous, in which case the optical axis of the eyepiece is an objective lens. It is inclined by 40 ° with respect to the optical axis of, and an enlarged image appears beside the natural image, and the obscuration of the natural visual field by this enlarged image is minimized. This type of telescope has two disadvantages: (1) the position of the magnified image away from the axis causes eye fatigue; and (2) the two eyes must stare in different directions, so this device is Cannot be used as binoculars.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,127 describes a Galilean-type monocular telescope with glasses for disadvantageous observations, in which the optical axis of the eyepiece is positioned with respect to the optical axis of the objective lens. The enlarged image appears below the natural image. However, the use of this type of bifocal telescope as a stereoscopic telescope in the medical field is limited for the following reasons:-An important area in medical applications is the natural field of view. In the lower part, so that part of it is obscured by the magnified image; in such a telescope, by the combined effect of the tilt angle of the eyepiece optical axis and the convergence angle of the objective optical axis,
An image rotation is induced. Even if two independent images rotate in opposite directions and may be practical, their binocular fusion will cause eye fatigue;-medical use and distant viewing, such as nature observation, watching sports, watching opera, etc. There are drawbacks that further limit its use for distance viewing; the Galilean telescope is subject to other limitations in its magnification, field of view and image quality; In particular, capturing moving targets takes time.

Therefore, the prior art bifocal telescope is limited to a head-mounted short-range observation monocular telescope, and has not been suggested to be used for long-range observation. According to the invention, such a restriction is completely eliminated.

An object of the present invention is a telescope, in which the optical axis of the eyepiece is tilted with respect to the optical axis of the objective lens, and even when it is following a moving object, the magnified image and the natural image are instantaneously provided. An object of the present invention is to provide a telescope including a target acquisition device that can be switched. This type of telescope is hereafter referred to as a "target capture telescope".

Another object of the invention is a telescope of the type described above,
Formed as two head-mounted telescopes, one telescope is optimized for close-range object enlargement and the other is optimized for long-range object enlargement, to overcome the aforementioned limitations. It is to provide a telescope that does not receive it.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a telescope of the above type, which can be hand-held.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a head mounted telescope device wherein the target area of the natural field of view is not substantially obfuscated by the enlarged field of view.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a telescope device having a rectangular landscape view.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a telescope device having a horizontally extending exit pupil.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a telescope device having a rectangular landscape contour eyepiece.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a telescope device suitable for a relatively small field of view and a relatively long exit pupil distance.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a glasses-mounted stereoscopic magnifier in which there is no relative rotation between the images viewed by each of the two eyes.

Still other advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A bifocal telephoto device according to the present invention is mounted on a user's head in a fixed relationship, adapted to move with the user's head, and an optical device for observing the field of view. A selective target capture device, a housing for housing and supporting the optional device, wherein the optical device is located on one side of the housing so as to have a first optical axis; On the opposite side, a housing including an eyepiece positioned to have a second optical axis;
A device for tilting the optical axis with respect to the second optical axis. The lenses of the optical device according to the invention include refractive, diffractive and / or refractive / diffractive lenses.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first optical axis is tilted by an angle suitable for observing a short-distance object, or tilted for an inspection of a long-distance object. More specifically, in a device for short distance observation, the first optical axis is inclined by approximately 40 ° with respect to the second optical axis, and in a device for long distance observation, it is inclined by approximately 25 °. The device for tilting the optical path has reflecting and / or refracting and / or diffractive optical elements, so that the magnified image appears above or below the natural non-magnified image, ie the device is at the top or bottom. (Above or below the level of the observer's eyes).

An apparatus according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention optionally has a rectangular eyepiece contour, and a rectangular field of view, and further comprises a collapsible or detachable frame or reticle type focusing device and / or target. It may have a capture device.

Devices according to other preferred embodiments of the present invention may be monocular or binoculars with an occluder for the helpless eye. Further, the device of the present invention is hand-held,
Alternatively, it can be mounted on a head support or an eyeglass frame.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a telescope device according to the present invention, which is optimal for observing a distant object.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a hand-held long-range observation device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a monocular telescope apparatus mounted above a spectacle frame according to the present invention, which is optimal for observation of a short-distance object.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a monocular telescope mounted below a spectacle frame according to the present invention, which is optimal for observing a distant object.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a normal telescope which can be used for the telescope according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a target capturing device based on the projection of a virtual target point.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. The telescope device 1 is assembled along two optical axes X and X ', where the axis X intersects the center of the non-magnified (natural) field of view of the observer and the axis X' intersects the center of the magnified field of view. I do. The device further comprises an objective lens 3, which forms an inverted image (not shown) inside the telescope device. The device further comprises an upright imaging system (not shown), well known to the skilled technician, and an eyepiece 4, which has a tilt angle of typically 25 ° with respect to the optical axis of the objective lens. are doing. The pupil 10 of the observer typically coincides substantially with the exit pupil (not shown) of the device. The exit pupil is centered along axis X ', and typically from 20-
It is offset by 25mm. The preferred embodiment of the device further comprises a target acquisition device 11, which surrounds the part of the natural field to be magnified. The center point of the capture device, and a point typically located 5 mm above the center of the exit pupil, defines an axis X ″, which is substantially parallel to axis X, and thus makes the telescope device The capture device is retractable, its operating state is represented by a solid line and its storage position is represented by a dashed line, which captures moving objects such as birds. It is particularly useful in situations or when watching sports events, where a simple wire frame device has been found to be more desirable than a complex, optically collimated sight-like device. The image obtained by the device is unclear and the device is easily negligible.
The inherent inaccuracies of this device are compatible with its function.
The reason is that, in fact, the average user will be able to capture the target in a relatively short learning period without using any capture device.

When observing a distant target, it was found that the absolute value of the tilt angle between the optical axes X and X 'had to be approximately 25 °. The sign of this angle can be either positive or negative; a negative angle herein means that the magnified image appears below horizontal for the horizontal X axis and the telescope is mounted below the eye level. A positive angle indicates that the magnified image appears above horizontal and the telescope is mounted above the eye level. Similarly, in the case of the hand-held telescope of the present invention, a negative tilt angle is desirable, but in a telescope mounted on the head, particularly in a telescope mounted on glasses, the tilt angle is preferably set to the eyepiece. To be positive,
It turned out that it was necessary not to interfere with the natural field of view.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the hand-held binoculars according to the present invention. The internal optical arrangement of the telescope can be of any arrangement, except that the optical axes of the objective lens and the eyepiece, which are usually parallel to each other, are mutually inclined. The external contour of the binoculars is conventional, fits in the hand (not shown), and fits comfortably against the bones of the user. The target acquisition device 11 is preferably convoluted,
Only in front of the dominant eyes. The focusing knob 19 is for focusing each visible image. This knob is formed as a modification of the eyepiece focusing mechanism with a common screw, and is particularly suitable when the eyepiece is not circular as described below.

If the axis X ″ in FIG. 1 is aligned with the target, ie when the observer sees the natural image of the target through the target capture device 11,
Due to the aforementioned relationship between the axes X, X 'and X ", the magnified image of the target appears substantially at the center of the magnified field of view that has appeared on the eyepiece. Therefore, the observer shifts his line of sight to the axes X' and X". The target can be captured simply by staring through the target capturing device 11 by immediately switching between the natural image and the enlarged image of the target.

The preferred telescope glasses mounting of the present invention is shown in FIG. The telescope, preferably binoculars, is mounted on the upper part of the spectacle frame and has devices for individually adjusting its position with respect to the eyes and the interpupillary distance (not shown). The particular telescope shown in FIG. 3 is optimized for viewing close objects, with a tilt angle of approximately 40 °.
The expanded field of view 12 of the tour is defined by the target capture device 11.

Thus, the lower part of the natural field of view is not disturbed and the user can smoothly switch his attention from a natural image to an enlarged image or vice versa. As described above, counter-image rotation is induced in each image by use of a telescope, which makes image fusion difficult and strains the observer's eyes. The image rotation is caused by the coupling effect of the inclination angle of the optical axis of the eyepiece lens and the converging angle of the optical axis of the objective lens. This occurs when the distance between the pupils of each of the two telescopes is adjusted by a mechanism having a horizontal axis, like ordinary outdoor binoculars. When the interpupillary distance is adjusted by a mechanism having a vertical axis, no image rotation occurs. This problem can be solved by appropriately correcting the image rotation in each telescope so as to be constant.

In prior art telescopes, such as hand-held binoculars, the magnifying target captures the telescope device in the field of view of the eyepiece after aligning the telescope device approximately in the direction of the target. To facilitate capture, the field of view is usually as small as 50 ゜
It extends over 70 °. In the present invention,
Target capture is independent of the size of the field of view, so this field of view is very small, typically 25-30 °. As is well known to the skilled artisan, an eyepiece with a small field of view requires a smaller number of lens elements, and therefore can be made lighter and cheaper. By reducing the field of view, the exit pupil distance of the eye can be increased without increasing the size of the eyepiece as shown in FIG. 1, thus minimizing obscuration of the natural image.

Furthermore, if the field of view of the device of the present invention is made rectangular, such as a TV screen, especially if the height-to-width ratio is 1.7, the image will be even more in comparison to a conventional circular-field telescope device. It actually gets closer and looks better.

The fact that the telescope device of the present invention does not obscure the natural image of the target is minimized when an observer sees the outline of the device, so that the user is barely aware of the presence of the device when observing it with the naked eye. Fully utilized to configure the device. This occurs when the obscuration due to the eyepiece has a contour that applies substantially to the enlarged field of view.
At this time, the obscuration is particularly small because both the fields of view are relatively small and the outline is rectangular. To avoid obscuration due to other components of the device, these components need to be included within the eyepiece contour.

In applications where the device is head mounted, i.e., where the device is fixed relative to the eye, the movement of the eyeball in the orbit as the eye scans the magnified field causes the pupil to exit relative to the device. This relative movement cannot be corrected by repositioning the eye with respect to the telescope, as in the case of a hand-held telescope device, causing obscuration (vignetting), especially at the edges of the field of view. . As is well known in telescopic devices, the exit pupil is a reduced image of the objective lens, and this effect is especially true when the field of view is stretched horizontally (rectangular),
Moreover, at this time, it is remarkable when the objective lens is circular. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, this phenomenon is corrected by increasing the horizontal dimension of the objective lens, forming a chamfered rectangle, thereby increasing the horizontal range of the exit pupil.

The glasses mounting system shown in FIG. 3 can be used for either a binocular telescope or a monocular telescope device. The front of the monocular device is as shown in FIG. When using a monocular device, one eye is completely unobstructed and the eyepiece contour of the telescope device
The advantage is that the part of the natural field of view that is occluded by 16 is supplemented. This allows the user to ignore the monocular device when he does not want to enlarge the landscape. The disadvantage of using a monocular device is that when the user gazes down at the magnified image, the unaided eye overlaps the image in the mind over the magnified image, causing a different image to be confused. Is to come to see. However, it has been found that if the assisted eye is the dominant eye, it is fairly easy to ignore the second image. If an optional, preferably removable, closure is placed in front of the unassisted eye by the cradle 18, the angular coverage of the closure is substantially as indicated by the dotted rectangle 17. Coincides with the field of view of the eyepiece seen by the other eye.

The preferred optics for the glasses-mounted telescope is 1994
No. 111427, filed Oct. 27, filed by the same applicant, but uses other devices as described in US Pat. No. 4,448,790. can do.

When using binoculars, there is an advantage that the magnified image can be comfortably observed, and that the surroundings are unclear due to the eyepiece lens, which is preferable in a case where the obstruction is not so obstructive.
In order to be used as a stereoscopic magnifier for close-range objects, the binocular structure is mandatory and each field of view of the two telescope devices needs to be focused on the plane of the object to be magnified.

The glasses-mounted telescope device in front of the correction glass has the advantage that it is not necessary to correct the eye-fitting limit. The reason is that the fit limit has already been corrected by the spectacle lens. Thus, telescope devices for long-distance viewing can be permanently focused on infinity and do not require focusing as with ordinary telescopes and binocular devices. This significantly simplifies the construction and further reduces the weight.

FIG. 5 shows a periscope device 21 which can be added to a conventional telescope 22 to carry out a variant according to the invention. This periscope device has two mirrors 23, 24 and an optional target capture frame 11.

An optimal telescope design for the present invention is described in the Israeli patent application no.
No. 111427.

Another target acquisition device is shown in FIG. Unlike the first target acquisition device 11 of FIG. 1, the second target acquisition device has no additional mechanical device outside the telescope. Instead, two lines on the magnified image appearing on the eyepiece
25 and 26 are stacked. These two lines are
By focusing on a virtual image point 27 located at the center of the non-magnified field of view, i.e. by superimposing point 27 on the non-magnified image, the axis X "of FIG. The center line of the image can be aligned and centered in the enlarged field of view.The two lines visible to the observer are the infinity of the two lines carved in the viewing hole in the image plane in the telescope device. It is a video.

All of the above description is for making the embodiment easier to understand. Any optical element can be replaced with an equivalent, for example a hollow prism or mirror can be replaced by a solid prism without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims (20)

(57) [Claims] An optical device for observing a field of view in a telescope device suitable for bifocal observation, mounted on a fixed relationship to a user's head and adapted to move with the user's head. A housing including and supporting the optical device, wherein the optical device is located on one side of the housing and has an objective lens having a first optical axis; An apparatus including an eyepiece having two optical axes, an apparatus configured to incline the first optical axis with respect to the second optical axis, and to simultaneously observe a target and an enlarged image thereof; A telescope device comprising a capturing device. 2. The lens of claim 1, wherein said lens comprises a refractive and / or diffractive and / or refractive / diffractive lens.
An apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first optical axis is tilted by an amount suitable for observing an object at a short distance. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first optical axis is tilted by an amount suitable for observing a distant object. 5. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the device for tilting the optical path comprises reflecting and / or refracting and / or diffractive optical elements, and the magnified image appears above or below the natural non-magnified image. An apparatus according to claim 1. 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first axis is approximately 40 degrees relative to said second axis.
The device for short-range inspection according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the device is inclined at an angle of ゜. 7. The apparatus for long-distance inspection according to claim 1, wherein the first axis is inclined at an angle of about 25 ° with respect to the second axis. 8. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the field of view is rectangular. 9. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the eyepiece has a rectangular outline. 10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a focusing device.
An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims. 11. Apparatus according to claim 1, having a fixed focus. 12. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a collapsible or removable frame-shaped target capture device. 13. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a reticle-type target acquisition device. 14. The device according to claim 1, wherein the device is monocular. 15. The device according to claim 14, comprising an obstruction for an unassisted eye. 16. The telescope device according to claim 1, wherein said telescope device is binoculars.
14. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 13. 17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said binoculars have an image rotation correction mechanism. 18. The device according to claim 1, adapted for use as a hand-held device. 19. The apparatus according to claim 1, which is mounted on a head support.
The device according to any one of claims 17 to 17. 20. The apparatus according to claim 1, which is mounted on a spectacle frame.