EXHIBIT 10.25
LICENSE AGREEMENT
This agreement (the "Agreement") is entered into effective July 19,
1995 (the "Effective Date"), by and between Xxxxxx Aerospace and Electronics
Corporation ("Kaiser"), a California corporation, having its principal place of
business at 000 Xxxxx Xxxx, Xxxxxx Xxxx, XX 00000 and Vista Medical
Technologies, Inc. ("Vista"), a California corporation, having its principal
place of business at 0000 Xxxxx Xxxxxx Xxxx, Xxxxxxxx, XX 00000.
1. LICENSE; COOPERATION; COMMERCIALIZATION
1.1 In consideration of Vista's obligations hereunder, Kaiser hereby
grants to Vista an exclusive, irrevocable, fully paid-up, perpetual, worldwide,
unlimited license (the "License") in the Field under the patent ("Patent") set
forth in Exhibit A, attached hereto and incorporated herein by this reference,
to use, sell, have sold and otherwise fully exploit the optical collimating
apparatus (the "Device") covered by the Patent and to manufacture (or have
manufactured) the Device pursuant to the terms of Section 1.4 below, as well as
a non-exclusive, irrevocable, fully paid-up, perpetual, worldwide license in the
Field to any underlying or related inventions, ideas, manufacturing processes,
methods of use, techniques, know-how, data, information, improvements,
modifications or derivatives, whether or not patentable or now existing that are
necessary or useful in exploiting the Device (the "Technology"), including,
without limitation, any and all patents and patent rights, copyrights, trade
secret rights, trademarks and other rights (the "Proprietary Rights") (the
Device and the Technology, including all Proprietary Rights contained therein,
shall be referred to collectively as the "Licensed Rights"). To enable Vista to
exercise the licenses granted herein and throughout the term of this Agreement,
Kaiser will promptly disclose and provide the Technology to Vista. For the
purposes of this Agreement, the "Field" shall be defined as all applications in
or relating to medicine.
1.2 Kaiser agrees to assist Vista in every proper way (i) to evidence
and perfect the License and (ii) to apply for, obtain and maintain any
regulatory approvals for the Device as incorporated into any and all medical
products developed pursuant to the licenses granted under this Agreement (the
"Products"), all of which Vista is granted the unilateral, exclusive,
transferable right (but not obligation) to do. All such regulatory approvals
will be obtained by Vista in its name and, to the extent allowed by law, any
such existing rights or approvals (or applications therefor) are hereby assigned
to Vista and shall otherwise be for the sole benefit of Vista. Kaiser will
execute all documents Vista may reasonably request for any of the foregoing
purposes.
1.3 The License granted in Section 1.1 above shall become
non-exclusive if and only if Vista has (i) failed to develop, with the intent to
market, a
functional benchmark prototype of a Product incorporating the Device within
* * * * * * following the Effective Date and (ii) has not, before the
expiration of such * * * * * * period, entered into a development program
for a Product incorporating the Device with Kaiser or a Kaiser-affiliated
company.
1.4 The parties will, in good faith, enter into a separate Device
manufacturing agreement (the "Manufacturing Agreement"), whereby Kaiser shall
exclusively manufacture the Device for Vista to fill all of Vista's Device
requirements. Nevertheless, in the event that Kaiser or a Kaiser licensee fails
to supply Vista's Device requirements or otherwise materially breaches the terms
of the Manufacturing Agreement, Vista shall have the right to manufacture, or
have manufactured, the Device and Kaiser shall provide all reasonable and
necessary assistance therefor.
2. TERM AND TERMINATION
2.1 This Agreement shall continue in effect unless and until
terminated as provided in this Section 2.
2.2 If Vista determines that it is economically or technically
impractical or disadvantageous for it to continue development or marketing
regarding the Device, Vista may terminate this Agreement at any time upon ninety
(90) days written notice.
2.3 If Vista materially breaches this Agreement and fails to commence
action to cure such breach within * * * of receipt of written notice
thereof from Kaiser, Kaiser may terminate this Agreement by written notice;
provided that if Vista in good faith disputes an allegation of breach, the cure
period will commence upon resolution of such dispute.
2.4 If termination of this Agreement occurs, all rights licensed to
Vista hereunder shall revert to Kaiser and neither party shall have any
obligations to the other party under this Agreement, except for Sections 3, 5
and 6, which still survive termination; provided, however, that in no event will
Vista or any sublicensee, transferee or assignee be precluded from disposing of
its inventory or meeting its then existing supply obligations.
3. CONFIDENTIALITY; OWNERSHIP
3.1 Each party agrees that all inventions, processes, materials,
know-how and ideas and all other business, technical and financial information
it obtains from the other are the confidential property of the disclosing party
("Confidential Information" of the disclosing party). Except as expressly
allowed in this Agreement, the receiving party will hold in confidence and not
use or disclose any Confidential Information of the disclosing party and shall
similarly bind its employees in writing. The receiving party shall not be
obligated under this Section 3 with respect to information that:
* * * Confidential Treatment Requested
2.
(1) is or has become readily publicly available through no fault
of the receiving party or its employees or agents; or
(2) is received from a third party lawfully in possession of
such information and lawfully empowered to disclose such information and
provided the receiving party abides by all restrictions imposed by such third
party; or
(3) was rightfully in the possession of the receiving party
prior to its disclosure by the other party provided the receiving party abides
by all restrictions imposed on its possession of such information; or
(4) was independently developed by employees or consultants of
the receiving party without access to such Confidential Information; or
(5) is required by order of a government agency or court of
competent jurisdiction to be disclosed.
3.2 As between the parties, and subject to the rights granted to
Vista under this Agreement, ownership of the Licensed Rights is and shall remain
in Kaiser.
3.3 All right, title and interest in and to any improvements or
modifications made to the Licensed Rights by Vista during the term of this
Agreement shall vest in Vista, subject to a non-exclusive, non-transferable,
royalty-free license to Kaiser for non-Field applications.
3.4 The parties agree to execute any and all documents necessary to
effectuate the ownership provisions of Sections 3.2 and 3.3 above.
4. REPRESENTATIONS
4.1 Kaiser represents and warrants to Vista that Kaiser (i) is the
sole owner of all rights, title and interest in and to the Licensed Rights, (ii)
has not assigned, transferred, licensed, pledged or otherwise encumbered the
Licensed Rights in a manner inconsistent with the rights granted in this
Agreement, (iii) has full power and authority to enter into this Agreement and
to grant the licenses set forth in Section 1.1 hereof, (iv) is not aware of any
actual or potential violation, infringement or misappropriation of any third
party's rights (or any claim or potential claim thereof) by the Licensed Rights
and (v) except as previously disclosed to Vista in writing, is not aware of any
questions or challenges with respect to the patentability or validity of any
claims of the Patent; Kaiser will promptly notify Vista of any change in such
information or circumstances of which it becomes aware.
4.2 During the term of this Agreement, Kaiser shall diligently
protect, maintain and enforce the Licensed Rights, which shall include taking
all necessary action to prevent and terminate any third party infringement of
the Licensed Rights.
3.
5. GENERAL PROVISIONS
This Agreement is not assignable or transferable by either party
without the prior written consent of the other, except to a successor of all or
substantially all of either party's assets or business or as otherwise provided
elsewhere in this Agreement. Any notice, report, approval or consent required
or permitted hereunder shall be in writing and will be deemed to have been duly
given to a party if delivered personally or by carrier with delivery receipt
required, postage prepaid to the address of that party as set forth on the first
page of this Agreement; or such other address as is provided by that party to
the other upon ten (10) days written notice. No failure to exercise, and no
delay in exercising, on the part of either party, any privilege, any power or
any rights hereunder will operate as a waiver thereof, nor will any single or
partial exercise of any right or power hereunder preclude further exercise of
any other right hereunder. If any provision of this Agreement shall be adjudged
by any court of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable or invalid, that
provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that
this Agreement shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable.
This Agreement shall be governed by and construed pursuant to the laws of the
State of California and the United States without regard to conflicts of laws
provisions thereof. The prevailing party in any action to enforce this
Agreement shall be entitled to recover costs and expenses including, without
limitation, attorney's fees. Any waivers or amendments shall be effective only
if made in writing and signed by authorized representatives of the parties.
Both parties agree that this Agreement is the complete and exclusive statement
of the mutual understanding of the parties and supersedes and cancels all
previous written and oral agreements and communications relating to the subject
matter of this Agreement.
KAISER AEROSPACE AND VISTA MEDICAL
ELECTRONICS CORPORATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
By: /s/ Xxxxxx Xxxxxx By: /s/ Xxxx Xxxx
-------------------------------- --------------------------------
Name: Xxxxxx Xxxxxx Name: Xxxx Xxxx
Title: Senior Vice President Title: President
4.
EXHIBIT A
UNITED STATES PATENT [19] [11]PATENT NUMBER:- 4,859,031
XXXXXX ET AL. [45]DATE OF PATENT:AUG. 22, 1989
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[54] OPTICAL COLLIMATING APPARATUS
[75] Inventors: Xxxxxx X. Xxxxxx, Milpitas; Xxxxx X. Xxxxxx, San Xxxx, both
of Calif.
[73] Assignee: Kaiser Electronics, San Jose, Calif.
[21] Appl. No.: 80,739
[22] Filed: Aug. 3, 1987
[51] Int. Cl.(4).........................................G02B 27/14; G02B 5/30;
G02F 1/13
ATTORNEY, AGENT, OR FIRM-Xxxxxxxx and Xxxxxxxx
[57] ABSTRACT
An optical collimating apparatus employs a semi-reflective concave mirror and
cholesteric liquid crystal element. In one embodiment, the optical collimating
apparatus is used as a heads-up display device. Images in the line of sight of
an observer substantially pass through a transmitter/combiner, semi-reflective
concave mirror, and cholesteric liquid crystal element to an observer. Images
generated by an image source are focussed on the transmitter/combiner such that
the transmitter/ combiner reflects the images into the line of sight of the
observer. The generated images are transmitted by the primarily transmissive
(convex) side of the semi-reflective concave mirror to the cholesteric liquid
crystal element. The cholesteric liquid crystal element reflects the generated
images back toward the primarily reflective (concave) side of the
semi-reflective concave mirror, which in turn reflects the images back toward
the cholesteric liquid crystal element, which transmits the generated images to
the Observer. In an alternative embodiment, such as in a flight simulator or
similar device, an image source projects images upon the primarily transmissive
(convex) side of a semi-reflective concave mirror which transmits the images to
a cholesteric liquid crystal element. The images are reflected by the
cholesteric liquid crystal element back toward the primarily reflective
(concave) side of the semi-reflective concave mirror. The images are then
reflected by the semi-reflective concave mirror back toward the cholesteric
liquid crystal element which transmits the images to the observer.
8 CLAIMS, 2 DRAWING SHEETS
[52] U.S. Cl..................................................350/174; 350/172;
350/320; 350/352; 350/370
[58] Field of Search....................................350/174, 169, 320, 352,
350/370, 379, 171, 172
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
Re. 27,356 5/1972 La Russa.......................................350/157
3,848,974 11/1974 Xxxxxxx et al. ................................350/174
3,915,548 10/1975 Opittek et al. ................................350/3.5
3,940,203 2/1976 La Russa.......................................350/3.5
4,093,347 6/1978 La Russa.......................................350/174
4,589,735 5/1986 Xxxxxxxx.......................................350/338
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Xerox Disclosure Journal, vol. 1, No. 3, Mar. 1976, pp. 85-86.
Physical Review Letters, Dependence of Pitch on Composition in Cholesteric
Liquid Crystals, by Xxxxx et al., vol. 22, Jan. 20, 1969, pp. 92-94.
Xxxxx Xxxxx et al., "Cholesteric Films as Optical Filters", J. Applied Phys.,
vol. 42, No. 10, Sep. 1971.
PRIMARY EXAMINER--Xxxx X. Xxxxxx
ASSISTANT EXAMINER--Xxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxxx
"PICTURE"
"PICTURE"
"PICTURE"
"PICTURE"
"PICTURE"
"PICTURE"
"PICTURE"
4,859,031
1
OPTICAL COLLIMATING APPARATUS
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of visual display
systems for use in aircraft, flight simulators, etc., and more particularly to
an apparatus for collimating a projected image at or near infinity, having high
transmission of images incident thereupon.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Optical collimation apparatus capable of forming an image at or near
infinity of an object or a plurality of optically superimposed objects have been
known for some time. One such apparatus is described in U.S. Xxx. No. Re 27,356,
reissued May 9, 1972. As disclosed, an apparatus having a single spherically
curved combining mirror is used as an image forming element. A primary image is
directed at the convex side of the mirror, which transmits the image to a
birefringent beam splitter array, positioned on the concave side of the mirror.
The Array reflects the image back to the spherical mirror, collimating the image
for viewing by an observer. Several polarizing filters in the light path
selectively direct that part of the primary image which returns to the spherical
mirror.
The apparatus taught in Re No. 27,356 may be assembled in compact size and
light weight. However, due to the required multiple filtering and reflections of
the primary image, transmissivity of the primary image is low. For example, each
filtering and reflection of the primary image successively reduces the image's
intensity by approximately one-half. The result is an ultimate transmission in
the neighborhood of 0.5 to 10 percent of the original intensity of the primary
image.
Another system, described in U.S. Xxx. No. 3,940,203, issued Feb. 24, 1976,
is a variation on the previously discussed Xxx. No. Re 27, 356 which replaces
the spherical mirror with a reflection-type holographic analog of a spherical
mirror. Because the disclosed apparatus must employ a relatively large number of
reflections and transmissions to properly control light which reaches the
observer, this technique also suffer from low transmission of the primary image.
By utilizing the improved reflection and transmission characteristics of the
holographic element, efficiency on the order of 6 to 10 percent of an image's
original intensity is achieved at best.
Thus, there is a present need in the art for an optical collimation
apparatus with improved transmisivity of images. Further, since application of
such optical collimation apparatus may include helmet-mounted display systems or
other applications where size and weight are critical, there is a present need
for such an optical collimation apparatus which is both compact and
light-weight.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to an optical collimation apparatus that
utilizes the properties of cholesteric liquid crystals to form, preferably at or
near infinity, an image of an object or of a plurality of objects optically
superimposed, in the line of sight of an observer.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the
collimation apparatus is formed of a semi-reflective concave mirror and a
cholesteric liquid crystal element. The semi-reflective concave mirror and
cholesteric liquid crystal element are utilized together with a
transmitter/combiner placed in the line of sight of an observer. An image
source, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD), or other
display device is provided such that images projected thereby are reflected by
the transmitter/combiner into the line of sight of the observer.
The reflected image is passed through a circular polarizing filter to the
semi-reflective concave mirror, circularly polarizing the image. The
semi-reflective concave mirror transmits the image to the cholesteric liquid
crystal element which is polarized in a rotary sense opposite that of the image,
causing the image to be reflected without reversal of its rotary sense, back to
the concave side of the semi-reflective concave mirror. The image is then
reflected (and its rotary sense reversed) by the semi-reflective concave mirror
back toward the cholesteric liquid crystal element, which now transmits the
image or images to the observer.
An image from the outside environment is transmitted through the
transmitter/combiner, through the semi-reflective concave mirror, and partially
transmitted by the cholesteric liquid crystal element to the observer, and
partially reflected by the cholesteric liquid crystal element back toward the
concave side of the semi-reflective concave mirror. That portion of the image
reflected by the cholesteric liquid crystal element is in turn reflected by the
semi-reflective concave mirror back toward the cholesteric liquid crystal
element, which transmits the image to the observer.
Transmission efficiency for this embodiment is increased over the prior art
in that fewer reflections and transmissions of the image takes place and in
that the cholesteric liquid crystal element transmits and/or reflects a higher
percentage of the incident light than the reflective devices of the prior art.
The invention will now be further described with reference to the
accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of an optical collimation system according
to the present invention, in a heads-up display/image combiner application;
FIG. 2(a) illustrates the transmission characteristics of a cholesteric
liquid crystal element reflective to RHCP green light;
FIG. 2(b) is a graphical representation of transmission and polarization
efficiency of a cholesteric liquid crystal element;
FIG. 3 illustrates an alternate embodiment of an optical collimation system
according to the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating the angular dependence of the wavelength of
maximum reflection; and
FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b) illustrate the biasing of the reflection angle from the
cholesteric liquid crystal element through the use of surface tilt, untilted and
tilted cases respectively.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
With reference to FIG. 1, a preferred embodiment of an optical collimating
apparatus according to the present invention is shown. In such an embodiment,
optical collimating apparatus 30 is used in a heads-up display or image
combining display mode. Optical collimating apparatus 30 consists of image
generating source 34, example, relying on a property of cholesteric elements, as
demonstrated in FIG. 4, that the wavelength of maximum reflection is angular
sensitive (i.e., as the angle of incidence increases, the wavelength of maximum
reflection is shifted toward the shorter wavelenths) the wavelength of maximum
reflection of the cholesteric liquid crystal element for normally incident light
may be increased to compensate for the shift toward the shorter wavelengths of
reflection for non-normally incident light.
Another property of cholesteric elements, demonstrated in FIGS. 5(a) and
5(b), is that the separation between the angle of incidence (i) and angle of
reflection (r) is a function of the orientation, or tilt, of the helical axis of
the cholesteric layer. As the helical axis is tilted away from normal to the
surface of the cholesteric liquid crystal element the separation becomes
smaller.
Thus, positioning of the reflected image in the line-of-sight of the
observer may be controlled by the composition of the element (as opposed to
positioning of the image source).
Thus the disclosures and descriptions herein are purely illustrative and
are not intended to be in any sense limiting.
What is claimed is:
1. An optical collimating apparatus for focussing an image at or closer
than at an infinite distance from an observer, comprising the elements of:
a circular polarizing filter;
a semi-reflective concave mirror; and
a cholesteric liquid crystal element.
2. An optical collimating apparatus for focussing an image at or closer
than at an infinite distance from an observer, wherein the image is
substantially transmitted by a semi-reflective concave mirror and a first
portion of said transmitted image is further transmitted unreflected to the
observer by a cholesteric liquid crystal element and a second portion of said
transmitted image is reflected by the cholesteric liquid crystal element to the
concave mirror, which reflects the second portion of the transmitted image back
to the cholesteric liquid crystal element, which transmits the second portion of
the transmitted image to the observer, comprising the elements of:
an image source;
a circular polarizing filter;
a semi-reflective concave mirror; and
a cholesteric liquid crystal element.
3. The apparatus according to claim 2 further comprising:
a transmitter/combiner for combining a first image generated by said image
source with a second image in a line of sight plane of an observer prior to
incidence upon said semi-reflective concave mirror.
4. An optical collimating apparatus for focussing an image at or closer
than at an infinite distance from an observer, and further for combining the
focussed image with an image external to the optical collimating apparatus,
comprising the elements of:
an image source;
a circular polarizing filter;
a transmitter/combiner;
a semi-reflective concave mirror; and
a cholesteric liquid crystal element.
5. An optical collimating apparatus for focussing an image at or closer
than at an infinite distance from an observer, and further for combining the
focussed image with an image external to the optical collimating apparatus,
wherein projected images from an image source are reflected by a
transmitter/combiner acting as a combiner to combine the projected images with
the images in the line of sight of the observer and further wherein
the projected images are reflected by a cholesteric liquid crystal element to
the semi-reflective concave mirror, which reflects the images back to the
cholesteric liquid crystal element, which substantially transmits the images to
the observer, and further wherein external images are substantially transmitted
by the semi-reflective concave mirror and further substantially transmitted to
the observer by the cholesteric liquid crystal element, comprising the elements
of:
an image source;
a circular polarizing filter;
a transmitter/combiner;
a semi-reflective concave mirror; and
a cholesteric liquid crystal element.
6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said image source comprises
a monochrome cathode ray tube, focussing optics for focussing an image generated
by said monochrome cathode ray tube, and a circular polarizing filter for
imparting images generated by said monochrome cathode ray tube with a first
rotary sense.
7. A method for optically collimating an image at or closer than at an
infinite distance from an observer, comprising the steps of:
causing to be incident upon a semi-reflective concave mirror a primary
image, and substantially transmitting said primary image to a cholesteric
liquid crystal element, substantially transmitting a first portion of said
primary image to the observer, and reflecting a second portion of said
primary image to said semi-reflective concave mirror, said semi-reflective
concave mirror substantially reflecting said second portion of said primary
image back to said cholesteric liquid crystal element, said cholesteric
liquid crystal element transmitting said second portion of said primary
image to said observer.
8. A method for optically collimating an image at or closer than at an
infinite distance from an observer, and further for positioning said image in a
line of sight plane of an observer, comprising the steps of:
generating an image, projecting said generated image upon a
transmitter/combiner located in a line of sight plane of the observer which
acts as a combiner to combine said projected image with an image in said
line of sight of the observer, transmitting said combination of said
generated image and said image in said line of sight plane of the observer
to a semi-reflective concave mirror, said semi-reflective concave mirror
substantially transmitting said image combination to a cholesteric liquid
crystal element, said cholesteric liquid crystal element substantially
transmitting to the observer a first portion of said image combination
comprising a first portion of said image in said line of sight plane of the
observer, said cholesteric liquid crystal element substantially reflecting
a second portion of said image combination comprising a second portion of
said image in said line of sight plane of the observer together with said
generated image, to said semi-reflective concave mirror, which
substantially reflects said second portion of said image combination back
to said cholesteric liquid crystal element, said cholesteric liquid crystal
element substantially transmitting said second portion of said image
combination to the observer.
* * * * *
