Christopher K Grabowski

US Patent:

8521411, Aug 27, 2013

Filed:

May 28, 2005

Appl. No.:

10/593138

Inventors:

Christopher T. Grabowski - New York NY, US
Thomas Zamojdo - New York NY, US

Assignee:

Making Virtual Solid, L.L.C. - New Milford NJ

International Classification:

G01C 21/00

US Classification:

701200

Abstract:

In an en-route navigation system such as for a vehicle, an image of a cable is presented as a navigation object in a head-up display to indicate a route that the vehicle should follow. In particular embodiments the cable appears to an observer to be a real cable existing in the landscape and extending higher than the head of the observer as would, for example, a trolley cable. The cable is illustratively displayed volumetrically and with an optic flow that is consistent with the optic flow of the landscape when the vehicle is moving, thereby creating the impression that it is real. As a result, the cable can be displayed without any accompanying images that correlate points on the cable with locations in the landscape and yet nonetheless serve as a very useful tool for indicating to a driver the route over which the vehicle should go. The cable may be in any of a number of forms including a continuous line, a line with non-closely-spaced gaps, a line having non-closely-spaced segments that have a different luminance from the rest of the line or a string of closely-spaced objects.

US Patent:

62724312, Aug 7, 2001

Filed:

Apr 28, 1998

Appl. No.:

9/067789

Inventors:

Thomas Zamojdo - Charlotte NC
Christopher Thomas Grabowski - Piscataway NJ

International Classification:

G01C 2100

US Classification:

701211

Abstract:

An apparatus and method for displaying a virtual map image slightly above the line of sight of a driver of a vehicle. The apparatus and method provide the virtual map image that is in a reflective relationship with the surrounding terrain thereby providing a map that is continuously in the same general azimuthal relationship to the driver as is the surrounding terrain. The virtual map may be scaled or distorted to provide information to a driver concerning distant objects and locations that would not ordinarily be available on heads-up map of the surrounding terrain.

US Patent:

20150355461, Dec 10, 2015

Filed:

Jun 4, 2015

Appl. No.:

14/730488

Inventors:

David Kessler - Rochester NY, US
Christopher Thomas Grabowski - San Jose CA, US

International Classification:

G02B 27/01
G02B 27/22
G02B 27/28
G02B 27/00

Abstract:

A volumetric imaging apparatus is energizable to form an image onto a display surface as an input to a monocentric catadioptric imaging apparatus having a light path for image-bearing light from the display surface, wherein the light path extends substantially symmetrically to a vertical plane that extends through a curved relay mirror and a curved primary mirror. The monocentric catadioptric imaging apparatus has reflective surfaces to fold the light path between the curved relay mirror and the curved primary mirror to condition the distribution of the image-bearing light in a horizontal direction. The light path of the monocentric catadioptric imaging apparatus directs light from the curved primary mirror toward a light input surface of a vertical pupil expander that has a light exit surface that is substantially orthogonal to the vertical plane. The light exit surface directs light through a free-form corrector for convergence and toward a windshield for display.