JP2010188826A - Display device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To optimize an embodiment for displaying drive assisting information even in the traveling state that illuminance different from illuminance of a portion for displaying the drive assisting information on a front windshield is detected by an illuminance sensor. <P>SOLUTION: A bird's eye view of a shadow 42 is prepared from an image from an outside camera 2 (S7), and based on the bird's eye view, a coincident zone where illuminance received by the illuminance sensor 22 and illuminance of respective portions of the front windshield 10 are coincident and a non-coincident zone where they are not coincident are previously determined (S9). When the portion for displaying the drive assisting information 26 is positioned at the non-coincident zone, display control based on the illuminance sensor 22 is canceled, and the display embodiment of the drive assisting information 26 is controlled based on the illuminance presumed at the display position of the drive assisting information 26 (S12). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a display device for a vehicle.

  It has already been proposed to project and display driving support information such as traffic information, vehicle speed, and various warnings on the front window shield. For example, Patent Document 1 prepares a CCD camera and an illuminance sensor, which are external cameras, to darken the display color of driving support information in the daytime on a sunny day, and to brighten the display color at night or in a tunnel. is suggesting. Further, this Patent Document 1 also proposes that the display color be green or yellow if the scenery outside the vehicle is a blue color.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-311732

  While the vehicle is running, half of the front window shield can become a shadow of the building. In addition, while traveling at night, a part of the front window shield may become bright due to the light of the street light. When such a driving state is taken into consideration, it is practically impossible to detect the illuminance of the display portion of the driving assistance information on the front window shield with the illuminance sensor as in Patent Document 1, and from this, the illuminance sensor It can be assumed that display control cannot be performed properly when the luminance and color of the driving support information are controlled depending on the above. For example, when a part of the front window shield becomes a shadow of a building, and this shadow is detected by an illuminance sensor, the driving support information with the brightness or color different from the brightness or color that should be originally displayed influences the influence of the shadow of the building. It will be displayed on the part of the front window shield that has not been received.

  The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems even when the illuminance sensor detects an illuminance different from the illuminance of the portion displaying the driving support information on the front window shield. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular display device capable of optimizing the display mode of the vehicle.

According to the present invention, the above technical problem is
A window shield display device that projects driving support information on the front window shield and displays the driving support information;
An illuminance sensor provided in the vicinity of the front window shield for detecting the illuminance of light entering the vehicle through the front window shield;
Display position illuminance estimation means for estimating the illuminance of the display position of the driving support information in the front window shield;
In the front window shield, the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor matches the illuminance estimated by the display position illuminance estimation means, the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor, and the display position illuminance estimation means estimates Non-matching zone data generating means for generating non-matching zone data in which the illuminance does not match,
First display control means for controlling a display mode of the driving support information displayed on the front window shield according to the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor when the display position of the driving support information is located in the coincidence zone; ,
Second display control means for controlling the display mode of the driving support information based on the illuminance estimated by the display position illuminance estimating means when the display position of the driving support information is located in the mismatch zone. This is achieved by providing a vehicle display device.

  That is, according to the present invention, when the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor and the illuminance at the display position of the driving assistance information on the front window shield enter different driving states, the display control by the second display control means is executed. Then, the display mode of the driving support information is controlled based on the illuminance estimated by the display position illuminance estimating means. From this, it is possible to prevent the display mode of the driving support information from becoming unsuitable for the driver due to the shadow of the building in fine weather or the light of the street light during night driving.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the display position illuminance estimating means displays the display position of the driving support information on the front window shield based on the position and traveling direction of the host vehicle, the surrounding building and the position of the sun. Estimate the illuminance at. In addition, it further has an external camera that captures the scenery in front of the host vehicle,
The display position illuminance estimating means estimates the illuminance at the display position of the driving support information based on at least one of a shadow detected from an image captured by the external camera and the surrounding building. Further, the position of the sun is specified based on a prepared sun trajectory database and the current time. Thereby, the detection accuracy of the illuminance by sunlight and the illuminance of the shadow portion can be improved.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention,
In the display mode of the driving support information by the first and second display control means, a warning frame surrounding the driving support information is displayed when the illuminance sensor or the estimated illuminance is equal to or higher than a predetermined illuminance. Is done. Thus, even when the sunlight is strong and the driving support information projected on the front window shield is difficult to see, such as driving under hot weather, the driver's attention can be drawn by the warning frame.

1 is a plan view of a vehicle to which an embodiment is applied. It is a figure which shows the whole system | strain of the display apparatus of an Example in a block diagram. It is a figure for demonstrating displaying a warning frame around driving assistance information typically while driving under hot weather. It is a figure for demonstrating the map of display mode switching control of the normal display mode which does not display an alerting frame, and the special display mode displayed by enclosing with an alerting frame. It is a figure for demonstrating the display control based on the detection illumination intensity of the solar radiation sensor immediately before invading in the shadow of the building on the driving path, for example, and the display control based on the estimated illumination intensity after entering the shadow. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining that the area occupied by the shadow of the building increases as the vehicle advances in relation to FIG. 5. It is a figure for demonstrating that the area | region of the front window shield affected by the headlight of an oncoming vehicle and the light of a streetlight is mapped. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an example of the specific control of an Example.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In FIG. 1, an automobile VC as a vehicle has left and right front wheels 1F and left and right rear wheels 1R, and an external camera 2 that captures a landscape in front of the host vehicle VC is provided in a vehicle compartment of the vehicle VC. Have. The external camera 2 is not limited to a CCD camera, and may be, for example, a CMOS camera or may be composed of a plurality of imaging means called “stereo cameras”. If the stereo camera is mounted on the vehicle VC, for example, two cameras may be arranged apart from each other in the horizontal direction (for example, on the left and right sides of the room mirror).

  The vehicle VC is equipped with a navigation system 8 in addition to the positioning sensor 4 that measures a geographical position. As is well known, this navigation system 8 has road map information recorded on a storage medium, reads out this map information as necessary, and information from the positioning sensor 4 and the like, By comparing, the vehicle position (latitude and longitude) is obtained and route guidance is performed. Further, on the front window shield 10, the driving support information generated by the window shield display device 14 is projected and displayed on the front part of the driver's seat 12 by a projector, and the driving support information includes the risk of collision with an obstacle. Includes alarm display to display. The positioning sensor 4 includes various in-vehicle sensors 20 such as a vehicle speed sensor in addition to the GPS receiving system 16 and the gyro sensor 18. In addition, an illuminance sensor 22 is mounted near the front window shield 10 of the instrument panel at the center in the vehicle width direction, and the illuminance sensor 22 detects the illuminance of light entering the vehicle through the front window shield 10. Is done. The illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 22 is used to control the display mode of the driving support information 26 projected and displayed on the front window shield 10 as will be described in detail later.

  FIG. 2 shows the control related to the driving support information 26 such as alarm information generated by the window shield display device 14 in a controller (control unit) configured using a microcomputer having a CPU, a memory storing a program and the like. This controller U is shown in a block diagram, and the controller U has, for example, a warning such as the presence of a pedestrian to watch out for, such as the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle located in front is too small, too close to the roadside Information (vehicle speed, right turn display, left turn display, etc.) to be transmitted to the driver is input from the information providing unit 24 to the display controller U.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the window shield display device 14 displays information on the front window shield 10, as shown in FIG. 3, as driving support information 26, numerical values and / or character information such as the current vehicle speed, and an arrow indicating the traveling direction of the vehicle A normal display mode ((I) in FIG. 3) which is a first display mode for displaying a mark, and a special display mode which is a second display mode for displaying the driving support information 26 by surrounding it with a caution frame 28 ((II) (a) or (b) in FIG. 3), and the first and second display modes are switched under certain conditions described later.

  Here, in the special display mode, which is the second display mode, the driving support information 26 is displayed in the frame 28 as described above. However, the warning frame 28 shown in FIG. The length T is changed under a predetermined condition as will be described later. In addition, the alerting frame 28 is not limited to a solid line, and as shown in FIG. 3B, the background around the numerical value or character information to be displayed is darkened, and the darkness is changed under predetermined conditions. Alternatively, it may be composed of gradation described in detail later. In FIG. 3, the driving support information 26 is drawn to be displayed at the lower end of the front window shield 10 on the driver's seat side, but this display position is appropriately changed according to the type of the driving support information 26. Needless to say.

  The display of the driving support information 26 on the front window shield 10 is basically controlled to increase the display brightness according to the brightness around the host vehicle VC detected by the illuminance sensor 22. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of control, in which the horizontal axis represents the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 22, and the vertical axis represents the display luminance.

  When the front window shield 10 is used as a display, it is preferable to change the luminance of information display in relation to the brightness around the host vehicle VC. Specifically, at night, in the morning, and in the evening, the surroundings are relatively dark, and if the display brightness is high, the user feels dazzling. Therefore, the display brightness should be relatively low. Therefore, during driving in an illuminance atmosphere lower than a predetermined illuminance, typically during nighttime, morning or evening driving, the driving support information 26 is displayed under the normal display mode, and Then, control is performed to increase the display luminance as the illuminance level, that is, the brighter. However, it is difficult to visually recognize the driving support information 26 even when the display brightness is increased during traveling in an atmosphere with an illuminance equal to or higher than a predetermined illuminance, typically during traveling in hot weather. For this reason, the vehicle is switched to the special display mode during traveling under clear or hot weather, and a warning frame 28 is displayed around the driving support information 26 under the special display mode. This warning frame 28 displays the warning frame 28 in a color different from the driving support information 26, regardless of whether it is a solid line, a dark background, or a gradation. As the illuminance of the atmosphere increases, the thickness T may be increased, the background may be darkened, or the gradation may be expanded to attract the driver's attention. Such display mode control and display mode switching are performed by the display image creation processing unit 30 (FIG. 2).

  By the way, the illuminance around the host vehicle VC detected by the illuminance sensor 22 may not match the illuminance at the display position of the front window shield 10 that displays the driving support information 26. A typical example is that a part of the host vehicle VC enters a shadow of a building while driving under clear sky, and the illuminance sensor 22 is located in the shadow, but the driving support information 26 of the front window shield 10 is projected. This is a case where the displayed position is not affected by the shadow of the building. In this case, when the display of the driving support information 26 is controlled based on the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 22, it becomes impossible to ensure appropriate visibility for the driver.

  In order to solve the above problem, the display mode of the driving support information 26 is optimized according to the estimated illuminance at the display position of the front window shield 10 to ensure appropriate visibility for the driver. The following configuration that can be used is adopted. That is, the controller U has a first road surface shadow detection unit 34 (FIG. 2) that detects whether or not there is a building shadow due to sunlight on the traveling road surface in the image captured by the external camera 2. In addition, the vehicle has a vehicle position / travel direction estimation unit 36 that receives a signal from the positioning sensor 4 such as the GPS reception system 16 and estimates the position and travel direction of the host vehicle VC. Information can be input to the controller U from a communication device (not shown) capable of communicating with the outside.

  When the external camera 2 is a stereo camera, the position of the shadow in front of the vehicle can be detected from the image captured by the external camera 2. 5I shows the host vehicle VC traveling on the roadway 40, and FIG. 5I is a bird's-eye view of a shadow 42 of a building adjacent to the roadway 40, for example. FIG. 5 (II) shows a front view seen by the driver when the traveling vehicle VC is located at position A, and FIG. 5 (III) shows the position of the traveling vehicle VC. The front landscape as seen by the driver when positioned at B is shown. 5 (II) and 5 (III), reference numeral 44 indicates a rearview mirror, and reference numeral 46 indicates a steering handle.

  5 (II) and (III), the pedestrian O is about to enter the roadway 40. In order to inform the driver of this, the foot of the pedestrian O seen by the driver through the front window shield 10 is shown. 6 shows a state in which a circular alarm mark is displayed as the driving support information 26 using the window shield display device 14.

  It should be noted that the shadow 42 shown in FIG. 5 (II) depicts a shadow only on the roadway 40 for the purpose of drawing, and it goes without saying that the actual shadow 42 is three-dimensional. When the external camera 2 is composed of a stereo camera, the feature point and the corresponding point of the peripheral part of the shadow 42 are detected by each camera by a known stereo method, so that the front end of the host vehicle VC at the position A is detected. Extraction is performed with three-dimensional coordinates (xi, yi, zi) when the position is the coordinate reference origin. The x direction is the vehicle traveling direction, the y direction is the vehicle width direction, and the z direction is the vertical direction. Then, based on the three-dimensional coordinates of the shadow 42, only the (xi, yi) coordinate data is extracted, and a bird's eye view of the shadow 42 is created. As a modification, a bird's-eye view of the shadow 42 may be created based on building information existing around the host vehicle VC obtained from the map information included in the navigation system 8. Then, the position data of the host vehicle VC that changes with the movement of the host vehicle VC is sequentially applied to the bird's-eye view obtained in this way, and the positions of the shadow 42, the host vehicle front window shield 10 and the illuminance sensor 22 at each position of the host vehicle VC are applied. Estimate relationships sequentially.

  At position A, since the host vehicle VC is located in front of the shadow 42, the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 22 and the position where the pedestrian O can be seen through the front window shield 10, that is, the display position of the alarm mark (display information) 26 When the illuminance sensor 22 detects, for example, solar radiation under the hot sun based on the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 22, which is the first display control mode, the explanation will be given with reference to FIG. Under the special display mode, driving assistance information 26 to which, for example, gradation is added is displayed around the warning mark as a warning frame 28, and the illuminance sensor 22 detects the gradation display width of the warning frame 28. The higher the illuminance, the greater the magnification.

  When the vehicle VC reaches position B, which is advanced from position A, the left half of the front window shield 10 on the passenger seat side is covered with a shadow 42, and the state of this shadow 42 is detected by the illuminance sensor 22, The driver side of the window shield 10 is not affected by the shadow 42. Therefore, the driver visually recognizes the driving assistance information 26 displayed on the feet of the pedestrian O through a portion of the front window shield 10 that is not affected by the shadow 42. In this state, when the display of the driving support information 26 is controlled based on the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 22, the display mode does not match the illuminance at the display position of the front window shield 10, so that it is difficult for the driver to visually recognize.

  In order to prevent this, at the position A immediately before being affected by the shadow 42, the front window shield 10 at the position where the host vehicle VC is traveling is superimposed on the bird's eye view of the shadow 42 so that the front window affected by the shadow 42 is affected. An area of the shield 10 is obtained in advance, and between the display position of the driving support information 26 on the front window shield 10 and the illuminance sensor 22, one is affected by the shadow 42 and the other is a mismatch zone that is not affected by the shadow 42. , Both generate the non-matching zone data divided into the matching zones that are not affected by the shadows or affected by the shadows (non-matching zone data generation means).

  Further, when the display position of the driving support information is located in the mismatch zone, the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 22 and the illuminance of the display position of the driving support information do not match. Is estimated in advance. As this display position illuminance estimation means, weather information is acquired from the outside, the illuminance of each part of the window shield 10 is estimated based on the weather information obtained from the outside, and a sun trajectory database prepared in advance is used. The position of the sun is specified based on the current time and weather information received from the outside, and the position of the sun, the shape of the building included in the navigation system 8, the position of the host vehicle VC, or the external camera 2 ( In this case, it is not necessary to be a stereo camera). The illuminance of each part of the window shield 10, particularly the illuminance at the display position of the driving support information, is estimated based on the shade 42 based on the captured image of the captured image and the shape of the shadow 42. Is called.

  Based on the mismatch zone data, for example, when the display position of the driving support information 26 is not affected by the shadow 42 even though the illumination sensor 22 is affected by the shadow 42, the display control based on the illumination sensor 22 is canceled. As a second display control mode, the display mode of the driving support information 26 is controlled based on the estimated illuminance at the display position of the driving support information 26. Thereby, the display mode of the driving assistance information 26 based on the illuminance mismatch between the illuminance sensor 22 and the display position of the driving assistance information 26 on the front window shield 10 can be optimized.

  That is, according to the above-described embodiment, a bird's-eye view of the shadow 42 is created based on information from the external camera 2 at the traveling position immediately before the host vehicle VC is affected by the shadow 42, and based on this bird's-eye view, In addition to estimating the illuminance of light inserted into each part of the window shield 10 during the course of the host vehicle VC (display position illuminance estimating means), the illuminance received by the illuminance sensor 22 and the illuminance of each part of the front window shield 10 A matching zone in which the driving assistance information 26 is matched and a non-matching zone in which they do not match are obtained in advance, and the portion where the driving assistance information 26 is displayed is the matching zone as shown in FIG. , The display mode of the driving support information 26 is controlled based on the illuminance sensor 22, and on the other hand, the part for displaying the driving support information 26 is When located in the coincidence zone, the display control based on the illuminance sensor 22 is canceled, and the display mode of the driving support information 26 is controlled based on the illuminance sensor 22 that is not dependent on the illuminance sensor 22, that is, the estimated illuminance that is the second display control mode. Is controlled. Thereby, even if the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 22 and the estimated illuminance at the display position of the driving support information 26 do not match, the display mode of the driving support information 26 is optimized.

  As a display mode of the driving support information 26 in this inconsistent zone, a part of the window shield 10 where the driving support information 26 is displayed is covered with a shadow 42, while the part of the illuminance sensor 22 is not affected by the shadow 42 without being affected by the shadow 42. When the light hits, the driving support information 16 is based on the estimated illuminance at the display position of the front window shield 10, which is the second display control mode, without depending on the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 22. The display mode is controlled.

  The above-described example is an example related to daytime running. However, in nighttime running (headlight lighting), the light of the headlight (HL) is reflected by the building, and this reflected light causes the coincidence zone as shown in FIG. A case where a mismatch zone occurs will be described below.

  The position of a building (building or the like) in front of the navigation system 8 and the angle between the reflection surface and the light of the headlight are detected. In addition, you may specify the shape of a building, and its reflective surface from the image acquired from the external camera 2 by the stereo method.

  Next, the relative position to the building and the relative angle with respect to the reflecting surface are obtained by calculation based on the host vehicle VC specified based on the information from the positioning sensor 4 and the traveling direction, and based on this, the light of the headlight is calculated. The coincidence zone and the disagreement zone due to the reflected light are obtained. A map prepared in advance may be used to obtain the coincidence zone and the disagreement zone. This map may be data of the coincidence zone and the non-coincidence zone of the front window shield 10 using the relative position to the building and the relative angle with respect to the reflecting surface as parameters. In the coincidence zone, the display mode of the driving support information 26 is controlled based on the illuminance sensor 22. On the other hand, in the inconsistent zone, the display mode of the driving support information 26 is controlled based on the estimated illuminance of the portion where the driving support information 26 is displayed on the front window shield 10. Of course, regarding the display mode of the driving support information 26 in the non-matching zone, the illuminance at the display position and the optimal display mode corresponding thereto are mapped in advance, and the driving support information of the front window shield 10 is set in the non-matching zone based on this map. The display mode of the driving support information 26 may be controlled based on the estimated illuminance of the display position 26.

  The above example dealt with the influence of the reflected light of the headlight of the own vehicle while driving at night, but the following example creates a discrepancy zone due to the influence of the street light and headlights of other vehicles This is an example that intends to deal with the above.

  Estimate the light of the street light and the headlights of other vehicles such as oncoming vehicles from the captured image obtained from the external camera 2, and estimate the position of the light source and the light intensity from the length and direction of this light. Then, the relative position and relative direction with respect to the host vehicle VC are specified. The relationship between the relative position and relative direction of the headlights and street lights of other vehicles and the host vehicle VC and the mismatch zone of the front window shield 10 may be mapped in advance.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of a map obtained by imaging the coincidence zone (shaded portion) and the disagreement zone of the window shield 10 by the headlights and street lights of other vehicles. For example, when this map is affected by both the headlights and street lights of other vehicles, it is possible to generate inconsistent zone data that is classified into the matched zone and the unmatched zone by synthesizing both maps. .

  By using the map of FIG. 7, the display mode of the driving support information 26 is controlled based on the illuminance sensor 22 in a state where the driving support information 26 is displayed in the coincidence zone. On the other hand, in the state where the driving support information 26 is displayed in the mismatch zone, the display mode of the driving support information 26 is controlled based on the illuminance estimated at the display position of the driving support information 26 on the front window shield 10. Of course, regarding the display mode of the driving support information 26 in the inconsistent zone, the optimal display mode is mapped in advance according to the illuminance of the headlights and street lights of other vehicles, and the driving support on the front window shield 10 is based on this map. The display mode of the information 26 may be controlled.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a specific example of control of the display mode of display information using the front window shield 10. In FIG. 8, first, in step S1, data input processing from each sensor is performed. Next, the presence / absence of the driving support information 26 to be displayed on the window shield 10 is determined. If YES, that is, the driving support information 26 to be displayed exists, the process proceeds to step S3, and whether or not the headlight switch 32 is in the ON state. Is determined. When it is determined NO in step S3, it is determined that the vehicle is in the daytime running state, and the process proceeds to step S4, where a process of detecting the shadow 42 (FIG. 5) on the road surface from the captured image of the external camera 2 is performed. In step S5, it is determined whether or not the shadow 42 exists on the road surface. As a result of this determination, if NO, that is, if the shadow 42 is not detected, the process proceeds to step S6, where the driving support information 26 is displayed with a luminance corresponding to the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 22.

  In the above step S5, when YES, that is, for example, when the shadow 42 is detected on the road surface at the traveling position A of the host vehicle VC in FIG. 5, the process proceeds to step S7 and the three-dimensional position of the peripheral portion of the shadow 42 is detected from the captured image. The In the next step S8, a bird's-eye view of the shadow 42 on the road surface is created. Next, in step S9, the front window shield 10 at the position of the host vehicle VC (for example, position B in FIG. 5) is superimposed on the bird's-eye view. A mismatch zone in the shield 10 is obtained, and whether or not there is a mismatch zone in which the illuminance of the illuminance sensor 22 and the estimated illuminance of the display position of the window shield 10 on which the driving support information 26 is to be displayed exists in the next step S10. Is determined.

  If YES in step S10, that is, if there is a mismatch zone, the mismatch region of the front window shield 10 is calculated, or if stored as image data in advance (S11), then the front window shield 10 The driving support information 26 is displayed in the display mode of the driving support information 26 based on the estimated illuminance of the display position at. (S12)

  When YES is determined in step S3 described above, that is, when the headlight is turned on at night, the process proceeds to step S13 to determine whether or not there is a building that reflects the headlight of the host vehicle VC. YES, that is, when there is a building (typically a building such as a building), the process proceeds to step S14, where the relative distance between the host vehicle VC and the building, the reflection surface of the building and the headlight A relative angle is calculated.

  Next, in step S15, images of the coincidence zone and the disagreement zone in the front window shield 10 are obtained using the map described in FIG. 7, and in step S16, the host vehicle VC is placed on the road surface based on the captured image of the external camera 2. When the presence or absence of light different from the headlight is determined, that is, when the presence thereof is not recognized, the process proceeds to step S17, and the mismatch zone is specified based on the image of the front window shield 10 used in step S15, And it progresses to step S12, and if the area | region which the driving assistance information 26 displays is a coincidence zone, the display mode of the driving assistance information 26 will be controlled based on the illumination intensity detected by the illumination intensity sensor 22, On the other hand, If the display position is a discrepancy zone, the display position of the front window shield 10 Display driving support information 26 is performed in the estimated display mode of the driving support information 26 based on the illuminance.

  In step S16 described above, if YES, that is, if the presence of light such as a street lamp can be confirmed on the running road surface, the process proceeds to step S18, and the street light or oncoming vehicle is detected from the light on the road surface in the captured image of the external camera 2. When the position and direction of the headlight are estimated, and the light of the streetlight and the headlight of the oncoming vehicle is confirmed, an image of the discordant zone due to the streetlight is extracted from the map data of FIG. In step S20, an image of the discrepancy zone due to the headlights of the other vehicle is extracted from the map data of FIG. 7, and the process proceeds to step S17, where the images of the street lights and the headlights of the other vehicles are superimposed to be combined and discordant. After extracting the zone, the process proceeds to step S12 described above, and if the area displayed by the driving support information 26 is the coincidence zone, the illuminance level is set. The display mode of the driving support information 26 is controlled based on the illuminance detected by the driver 22. On the other hand, if the display position of the driving support information 26 is a mismatch zone, the display position of the front window shield 10 is estimated based on the estimated illuminance. The driving support information 26 is displayed in the display mode of the driving support information 26.

U controller 2 External camera 4 Positioning sensor (GPS, gyro, vehicle speed, etc.)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 8 Navigation system 10 Front window shield 12 Driver's seat 14 Window shield display apparatus 16 GPS receiving system 18 Gyro sensor 20 Car-mounted sensor 22 Illuminance sensor 26 Driving support information 28 Warning frame surrounding driving support information 40 Roadway 42 Building shadow

Claims (5)

A window shield display device that projects driving support information on the front window shield and displays the driving support information;
An illuminance sensor provided in the vicinity of the front window shield for detecting the illuminance of light entering the vehicle through the front window shield;
Display position illuminance estimation means for estimating the illuminance of the display position of the driving support information in the front window shield;
In the front window shield, the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor matches the illuminance estimated by the display position illuminance estimation means, the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor, and the display position illuminance estimation means estimates Non-matching zone data generating means for generating non-matching zone data in which the illuminance does not match,
First display control means for controlling a display mode of the driving support information displayed on the front window shield according to the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor when the display position of the driving support information is located in the coincidence zone; ,
Second display control means for controlling the display mode of the driving support information based on the illuminance estimated by the display position illuminance estimating means when the display position of the driving support information is located in the mismatch zone. A display device for vehicles.   The display position illuminance estimation means estimates the illuminance at the display position of the driving support information on the front window shield based on the position and traveling direction of the host vehicle, the surrounding building and the sun position. The vehicle display device described in 1. It further has an external camera that captures the scenery in front of the host vehicle,
The display position illuminance estimation means estimates the illuminance at the display position of the driving support information based on at least one of a shadow detected from an image captured by the external camera and the surrounding building. The vehicle display device according to 2.   The vehicle display device according to claim 2, wherein the position of the sun is specified based on a prepared sun trajectory database and a current time.   In the display mode of the driving support information by the first and second display control means, a warning frame surrounding the driving support information is displayed when the illuminance sensor or the estimated illuminance is equal to or higher than a predetermined illuminance. The display apparatus for vehicles as described in any one of Claims 1-4.

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