JP2006103589A - Display unit for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a display unit for a vehicle capable of suppressing the cost by performing the display of a display in an instrument panel and the display of a HUD (Head-Up Display) by one display panel. <P>SOLUTION: In the display device for the vehicle having a display panel 1 to display information provided to an occupant, a display area of the display panel 1 is demarcated into two sections, a mirror 41 for a head-up display is directed to the display area 12, and a mirror 31 for a display in the instrument panel is directed to a display area 13. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle display device, and more particularly to a vehicle display device that displays information by a head-up display and an instrument panel display.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a vehicle head-up display that displays driving information such as a vehicle speed in front of a front windshield and improves the visibility of the driver with respect to the driving information is known (for example, Patent Document 1). This vehicle head-up display is completely separated and cut off from the part necessary for meter display on the back of the meter display board in order to realize the optical system of head-up display (hereinafter referred to as HUD) in a limited mounting space. The HUD indicator and light source are arranged in the space, and the optical path in the vehicle width direction of the vehicle is constructed in the meter assembly.

Also, a vehicle display device including an instrument panel screen and a head-up display for displaying information in an instrument panel of the vehicle is known (for example, Patent Document 2). This vehicle display device performs display of an instrument panel screen in an instrument panel and display of a head-up display with a single display element.
Japanese Utility Model 55-1555 JP 2002-196276

  However, although the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 is effective as a method of configuring an optical path of a HUD in an instrument panel having a limited mounting space, an HUD-dedicated display (display panel) and a meter-dedicated display are used. It is assumed that the display unit is prepared separately. That is, although there is a merit that the meter assembly and the HUD optical path are integrally formed to increase the space efficiency, the merit is diminished as long as there is a separate display dedicated to HUD.

  The technique disclosed in Patent Document 2 is a rear projection type technique that projects an image on a display panel onto an instrument panel screen. Therefore, by superimposing the meter display board and its image by reflecting the image on the display panel to the half mirror placed on the passenger side of the meter display board, or the type that performs meter display only by mirror reflection Can not be applied.

  By the way, in recent years, an increasing number of vehicles are equipped with high-definition multi-displays using TFT-LCD (thin film transistor type liquid crystal display) or the like in the meter, in addition to both types. On the other hand, in HUD, there is a need to display a free pattern by high-definition dot matrix display in the same manner in response to display contents that are becoming more sophisticated.

  However, in a display system configuration having such a high level of merchandise as a vehicle specification, generally, a high-definition display panel necessary for each of the multi-display and the HUD is prepared, and hardware such as a driver required for each is provided. Therefore, software such as data to be drawn and drawing conditions must be prepared, which becomes very expensive and large-scale.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular display device that can reduce the cost by combining the display on the instrument panel display and the HUD display on a single display panel.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to one aspect of the present invention, in a vehicle display device including a display panel for displaying information to be provided to an occupant, a display area of the display panel is divided into two parts, and a head-up display There is provided a vehicle display device in which a first mirror for use opposes one display region, and a second mirror as a display in an instrument panel opposes the other display region. The display panel is preferably located above or below the first mirror and the second mirror. The second mirror is a half mirror, and a meter display plate is opposed to the opposite surface of the half mirror facing the display panel, and the luminance of the one display area is the same as that of the other display area. It is preferable that the display on the one display area and the display on the other display area are independently controlled by one control unit.

  According to such a vehicle display device of the present invention, the display in the instrument panel and the display of the HUD can be performed with one display panel, and a cost-effective panel size can be selected. A display panel represented by a TFT-LCD is generally a large-scale device industry, and the more mass-produced, the better the cost efficiency per unit area. For example, at the present time (around 2004), 7 inches or the like often used in navigation panels are cost-effective display panels. However, the display panel that can be laid out in the meter is generally smaller than the navigation panel, so that the display panel is a panel with a small number of mass production or a dedicated panel, which may be disadvantageous in terms of cost. However, according to the present invention, the display panel can be arranged in a space where a relatively large area can be secured such as the upper surface of the meter.

  It is possible to arrange a display panel that is advantageous in terms of cost in a space where it is relatively easy to secure an area and reflect only the part necessary for meter display, but only a part of the large panel is used. Waste occurs. However, according to the present invention, the remaining portion of the display panel that can be wasted in such an arrangement can be used effectively as a display panel for HUD, and the cost can be reduced by the display panel size. Can do.

  Furthermore, according to the vehicle display device of the present invention, the display panel control unit can be shared. Generally, the display panel for HUD and the display panel for half mirror are separate. Therefore, in order to drive and control them, as shown in FIG. 2, a control unit including a CPU, a drawing circuit (graphic LSI or other circuit elements), a power source, and a signal line is required for each. However, as is apparent from FIG. 2, there are many things common to both, and there is a lot of waste in the component configuration, development scale, and the like. Therefore, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, the display panel for HUD and half mirror is shared and controlled by one control unit, so that there is no waste and it is very advantageous in terms of cost. be able to. In addition to the cost reduction due to the display panel size described above, the cost of this overlapping portion can be reduced, and a double cost reduction effect can be obtained.

  Furthermore, according to such a vehicle display device of the present invention, the mountability can be improved. In general, the space in the instrument panel in front of the driver's seat where the meter and HUD are mounted is a place where the mounting structure and ducts are present and the mounting space is very strict. In contrast, the present invention creates a space for mounting a large display panel as described above. In addition, the above-described sharing of the overlapped portions also has the effect of reducing the size, such as reduction of the board mounting area, which further enhances the mountability.

  Furthermore, according to such a vehicle display device of the present invention, the brightness of the head-up display is sufficiently maintained and the visibility is improved, and the visibility in the instrument panel display can be improved without becoming dazzling. .

  According to the present invention, the display on the instrument panel display and the HUD display can be shared by a single display panel, thereby reducing the cost.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a vehicle display device of the present invention. The display 31 in the instrument panel 6 has a meter 3 using a half mirror, and a large TFT panel 1 (for example, 7 inches) disposed substantially horizontally on the meter 3. The TFT panel 1 is displayed by the backlight unit 2 with transmitted illumination. Further, the mirror unit 4 for HUD is fitted from the back surface of the meter 3.

  The TFT panel 1 is partitioned in a vehicle front-rear direction into a display area 11 for a display 31 (hereinafter referred to as a half mirror 31) and a display area 12 for HUD in the instrument panel 6. The backlight 2 is divided into areas 21 and 22 that are shielded from each other so as to correspond to the display areas 11 and 12 of the TFT panel 1. Since the region 22 serves as a HUD light source that requires high luminance, the region 22 has a structure capable of producing high luminance such as direct transmission of multiple high luminance LEDs. On the other hand, the region 21 is a general light source (for example, an LED sidelight). The display areas 11 and 12 are not physically divided into two, but are divided into two in terms of software.

  As described above, the display on the display area 11 and the display on the display area 12 are independently controlled by one control unit instead of the conventional two control units. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing that a control unit for HUD and a control unit for half mirror exist independently. As shown in FIG. 2, there are two LCDs, one for HUD and the other for half mirror, each of which has a control unit comprising a CPU, a drawing circuit, a power supply, and a signal line. Various vehicle signals corresponding to the display content of the HUD LCD and the display content of the half mirror LCD are input to the CPU of each control unit. On the other hand, in the present invention, these control units can be combined. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing this one control unit. The CPU 17 acquires various vehicle signals and performs arithmetic processing in order to drive the drawing circuit 18 and display an image on the TFT panel 1. The vehicle signal includes a vehicle speed signal, an engine speed signal, a water temperature signal, a FUEL signal, a signal from a navigation device, and the like. The drawing circuit 18 receives a drive signal from the CPU 17 and displays an image on the TFT panel 1. The drawing circuit 18 includes a graphic LSI, an image correction circuit, a video decoder, and other circuit elements for displaying an image. The TFT panel 1 is supplied with power from the power source 19 and displays images independently in the display area 11 for the half mirror 31 and the display area 12 for HUD. The content of the image is arbitrarily set depending on the vehicle specifications and merchandise. For example, the vehicle speed and the engine speed are displayed in the display area 12 for HUD, and a map for navigation, a vehicle state such as water temperature, and a warning to the driver are displayed in the display area 11 for the half mirror 31. Good.

  The meter 3 has a half mirror 31. The image mirror-displayed on the display area 11 of the TFT panel 1 is inverted and reflected by the half mirror 31, and the meter 3 superimposes and displays the actual display (transmitted light) on the meter display plate 5. The display area 11 is an area close to a square having a diagonal of about 5 inches, for example. In this case, the optical path is 51. As shown in FIG. 1, the meter display plate 5 faces the surface opposite to the surface facing the TFT panel 1 in the half mirror 31.

  That is, the light emitted from the region 21 of the backlight unit 2 is transmitted through the display region 11 of the TFT panel 1 and the display 13 on the display region 11 (“arrow” in the figure is displayed). indicate. The light representing the display 13 is reflected by the half mirror 31 of the meter 3 and reaches the driver's eye point 52. As a result, the driver can see the display on the meter display plate 5 as a real image through the half mirror 31 and can see the image 14 which is a virtual image on the display 13. When light is not emitted from the region 21 of the backlight unit 2, the driver can see the display on the meter display plate 5 as a real image through the half mirror 31, but the image 14 is not seen. The eye point 52 schematically represents the presence of the eye point 52. In addition, eye points 62 to be described later are only drawn separately in terms of the drawing, and are the same.

  The HUD mirror unit 4 is coupled from the back surface of the meter 3 and mainly draws a HUD image in a space in front of the front windshield 44 by a folded optical path in the vehicle longitudinal direction and the vertical direction. In this case, the optical path is 61.

  That is, the light emitted from the area 22 of the backlight unit 2 is transmitted through the display area 12 of the TFT panel 1 to display the display 15 on the display area 12 (“arrow” is displayed in the figure). To do. The light representing the display 15 is reflected by the mirrors 41 and 42 of the HUD mirror unit 4, further reflected by the combiner 43 that has been subjected to appropriate increased reflection processing on the front windshield 44, and the driver's eye point 62. To reach. As a result, from the viewpoint of the driver, it appears that the reflected image 16 which is a virtual image of the display 15 exists in the space in front of the front windshield 44. When no light is emitted from the region 22 of the backlight unit 2, the reflected image 16 is not seen from the viewpoint of the driver. It should be noted that the mirrors 41 and 42 can all be constituted by plane mirrors, or can be used in combination with concave mirrors or convex mirrors. In this embodiment, the mirror 41 is a plane mirror that only changes the direction of light, the mirror 42 is an aspherical concave mirror that increases the image size and projection distance, and corrects image distortion due to the cubic curved surface of the front windshield 44. did.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and substitutions can be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. Can be added.

  FIG. 4 is a modification of FIG. 1 in which the TFT panel 1 and the backlight unit 2 are arranged below the meter 3. By changing the orientation of the half mirror 31 and the mirror 41 or 42 in the HUD mirror unit 4, the same effect as the embodiment of FIG. 1 can be obtained. In addition, since all the elements of FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 contrast, the same number is attached | subjected.

  Further, the display 31 in the instrument panel 6 may not be a half mirror, but a simple mirror that does not transmit on both sides. That is, the present invention can be applied to a type in which meter display is performed only by mirror reflection. The meter display at this time is displayed in the display area 11 of the TFT panel 1.

  In the above-described embodiments, the TFT panel is taken as an example, but a self-luminous EL (Electro Luminescence) panel, a VFD (fluorescent display tube), or an LED lamp may be used. By using a self-luminous display panel that satisfies the desired luminance, the backlight unit 2 can be eliminated, and further improvement in mountability can be expected.

It is sectional drawing of one Example of the display apparatus for vehicles of this invention (TFT panel 1 is arrange | positioned above a meter). It is a figure which shows that the display panel control unit for HUD and a half mirror exists independently, respectively. It is a figure which shows having shared the display panel control unit for HUD and a half mirror. It is sectional drawing of one Example of the display apparatus for vehicles of this invention (TFT panel 1 is arrange | positioned under a meter).

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 TFT panel 2 Backlight unit 3 Meter 4 Mirror unit for HUD 5 Display board 6 Instrument panel 11, 12 Display area 31 Display in instrument panel (half mirror)
41, 42 Mirror for HUD 43 Combiner 44 Front windshield

Claims (5)

In a vehicle display device including a display panel for displaying information to be provided to an occupant,
The display area of the display panel is divided into two, the first mirror for head-up display faces one display area, and the second mirror as a display in the instrument panel faces the other display area. A display device for a vehicle.   The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein the display panel is positioned above or below the first mirror and the second mirror. The second mirror is a half mirror,
The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein a meter display plate faces a surface opposite to the surface facing the display panel in the half mirror.   The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein the luminance of the one display area is higher than the luminance of the other display area.   The display device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the display on the one display area and the display on the other display area are independently controlled by one control unit.

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