JPH05139187A - Head-up display device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To cut a dark image just after display-ON and an after-image just after display-OFF so that a sharp image can be provided even just after ON and OFF of a display source. CONSTITUTION:When a display timing signal is ON, a display source 62 is first driven, and a shutter 64 is then opened. A dark image just after starting the drive of the display source 52 is thus cut. When the display timing signal is OFF, the shutter 64 is first closed, and the drive of the display source 62 is then stopped. The after-image just after stopping the drive of the display source 62 is thus cut.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for displaying information such as an inter-vehicle distance warning using a head-up display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known an inter-vehicle distance warning device which displays and warns an image of an obstacle such as a preceding vehicle in front of the host vehicle when the obstacle approaches the own vehicle within a safe inter-vehicle distance. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-88639 discloses such a device.

FIG. 8 shows the configuration of an inter-vehicle distance warning device disclosed as "obstacle detection device" in the publication. The device shown in this figure comprises a distance sensor 10. The distance sensor 10 is a sensor that measures the distance between the obstacle and the vehicle and outputs distance data. The distance data obtained by the distance sensor 10 is the distance comparison circuit 12
Compared with the safe inter-vehicle distance. The safe inter-vehicle distance is
It is a numerical value obtained by the distance calculation circuit 14 based on the traveling speed data. When the distance comparison circuit 12 determines that the distance data represents a distance within the safe inter-vehicle distance, the distance comparison circuit 12 outputs an alarm signal and operates the loudspeaker circuit 16 to give a voice alarm. Let

The distance data obtained by the distance sensor 10 is also supplied to the display unit 18. Display 18
Is a display unit that reversely displays the image of the obstacle. This reverse display is performed by the following operation.

As shown in FIG. 8, this conventional apparatus has a camera 20. The camera 20 is controlled so as to face almost the same direction as the distance sensor 10, and outputs the image data obtained by photographing to the subject identifying circuit 22 and the image inverting circuit 24. The subject identifying circuit 22 extracts identification data for identifying the subject from the image data and outputs it to the image comparing circuit 26. The image comparison circuit 26 compares the object determination data input from the input unit 28 with the identification data, temporarily stores the comparison result in the storage circuit 30, and at the same time, depending on the determination result, the distance sensor control unit 32 and the camera control unit. The unit 34 is controlled. The distance sensor control unit 32 and the camera control unit 34 respectively include the distance sensor 10 and the camera 20.
Control the orientation of.

On the other hand, the image data is also input to the image inverting circuit 24. The image inversion circuit 24 is a circuit that inverts the input image data as needed and displays it on the screen of the display unit 18. The reverse image data is supplied to the display unit 18 when the distance data output by the distance sensor 10 is equal to or less than the maximum allowable distance input from the input unit 28. In this case, the obstacle is displayed in reverse on the screen of the display unit 18.

[0007]

As described above, in the conventional inter-vehicle distance warning device, the image is displayed in reverse when the obstacle approaches the vehicle. However, when a head-up display is used as the display device, a sharp image cannot be displayed due to a dark image immediately after the display is turned on and an afterimage immediately after the display is turned off.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is possible to display a sharper image by cutting a dark image immediately after display-on and an afterimage immediately after display-off. An object is to provide a possible head-up display device for a vehicle.

[0009]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a display section drive circuit for outputting a video signal including an image relating to a predetermined state of a vehicle and a display timing signal indicating a display timing. A head-up display that includes a display source capable of turning on / off the display of an image and a shutter arranged on the light output side of the display source, and that displays an image relating to a predetermined state of the vehicle by a video signal from a display drive circuit; A shutter drive circuit that first drives the display source in response to turning on the display timing signal, then opens the shutter, closes the shutter first in response to turning off the display timing signal, and then stops driving the display source. Characterize.

[0010]

In the vehicular head-up display device of the present invention, the display drive circuit outputs the video signal and the display timing signal. When the display timing signal is turned on, the shutter drive circuit first drives the display source of the head-up display and then opens the shutter. When the display timing signal is turned off, the shutter drive circuit first closes the shutter and then stops driving the display source. Therefore, the display of a dark image immediately after driving the display source or the afterimage immediately after the driving of the display source is cut off, and a sharper image can be obtained when displaying an image showing a predetermined state of the vehicle.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the structure of an inter-vehicle distance warning device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The device shown in this figure comprises a distance sensor 36. The distance sensor 36 is
Distance data indicating the relative distance between the vehicle and the obstacle is output.

The distance sensor 36 is also connected to a relative speed calculation circuit 38. A vehicle speed sensor 40 is connected to the relative speed calculation circuit 38, and the relative speed calculation circuit 3
8 indicates distance data from the distance sensor 36, and the vehicle speed sensor 4
The vehicle speed data is fetched from 0, respectively. The vehicle speed sensor 40 is a sensor that detects the vehicle speed, and the vehicle speed data is data that represents the vehicle speed. The relative speed calculation circuit 38 calculates the relative speed of the obstacle with respect to the own vehicle based on the distance data and the vehicle speed data, and outputs the calculation result as the relative speed data.

Distance sensor 36 and relative speed calculation circuit 38
Are connected to the safety distance comparison circuit 42 and the safety distance calculation map 44, respectively. Safety distance calculation map 44
Is a map for determining a safe distance based on the relative speed and the vehicle speed, as shown in FIG. 2, for example. The safe distance calculation map 44 obtains a safe distance from the vehicle speed data supplied from the vehicle speed sensor 40 and the relative speed data supplied from the relative speed calculation circuit 38, and outputs the safe distance data to the safe distance comparison circuit 42. Safety distance comparison circuit 42
Compares the distance data supplied from the distance sensor 36 with the safety distance data, determines that an alarm should be issued when the distance to the obstacle is within a predetermined safety distance, and outputs a signal to that effect.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, the camera 46
Is used. The camera 46 captures, for example, the front of the vehicle and outputs image data. This image data is supplied to the subject identifying circuit 48, and the subject identifying circuit 48 extracts identification data for identifying the subject. The subject identification circuit 48 is connected to an image comparison circuit 50. The image comparison circuit 50 compares the identification data from the subject identification circuit 48 and the object determination data stored in the image storage circuit 52 to identify the subject. To do. The image comparison circuit 50 gives a direction control signal to the distance sensor control unit 54 to control the orientation of the distance sensor 36.

An image inverting circuit 56 is connected to the subsequent stage of the image comparing circuit 50. The image inversion circuit 56 inverts the image data that is the target of the determination by the image comparison circuit 50, and outputs it as the inverted image data to the display drive circuit 58. The display unit drive circuit 58 is supplied with a signal output from the safety distance comparison circuit 42, that is, a signal indicating that an obstacle has entered within the safety distance. The display drive circuit 58 generates a display timing signal according to the signal from the safety distance comparison circuit 42 and supplies it to the shutter drive circuit 60. The display drive circuit 58 also outputs a video signal to the display source 62 that constitutes a head-up display. The display source 62 sends a synchronization signal to the shutter drive circuit 60.
The shutter drive circuit 60 supplies the display drive signal to the display drive circuit 58 and the shutter drive signal to the shutter 64, respectively.

3 and 4 show the configuration of the head-up display in this embodiment. The head-up display has a configuration including the display source 62 and the shutter 64 shown in FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 3, the display source 62 includes a CRT 66, a sync separation circuit 68, a horizontal deflection circuit 70, a vertical deflection circuit 72, and a shutter 64.
Is equipped with. A video signal is supplied to the CRT 66 from a video amplifier circuit 74 that synthesizes a part of the display unit drive circuit 58, and this video signal is also supplied to a sync separation circuit 68. The sync separation circuit 68 separates the sync signal from the video signal and supplies the sync signal to the horizontal deflection circuit 70 and the vertical deflection circuit 72, respectively. The horizontal deflection circuit 70 is 15.75.
The horizontal synchronizing signal, which is a sawtooth wave of kHz, and the vertical deflection circuit 72, the vertical synchronizing signal, which is a sawtooth wave of 60 Hz,
Each is supplied to the deflection coil 76. This allows CR
The scanning of the electron beam at T66 is executed.

The vertical synchronizing signal output from the vertical deflection circuit 72 is input to the shutter drive circuit 60 together with the display timing signal. The shutter drive circuit 60 is
A shutter drive signal is output to the shutter 64 and a display drive signal is output to the display drive circuit 58 at a predetermined timing based on the synchronization signal and the display timing signal.
Since this timing is a feature of the present invention,
A detailed description will be given later.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the CRT 66 is arranged under the front window. CRT66
In addition to the shutter 64, a filter 78 and a convex lens 80 are disposed on the light output side of the. Light rays (dotted line in the figure) emitted through the filter 72, the shutter 64, and the convex lens 80 are emitted to the display screen 86 on the surface of the front window 84 from below the dash upper panel 82. The operator visually checks the image displayed on the display screen 86.

The operation of this embodiment is shown in FIG. The operation shown in this figure mainly shows the operation timing of the shutter drive circuit 60.

First, when the display timing signal supplied from the display drive circuit 58 to the shutter drive circuit 60 is turned on, the shutter drive circuit 6 is used in this embodiment.
When 0, the display drive signal is immediately turned on, but the shutter drive signal is turned on after a delay of a certain time.
That is, as indicated by a point A in the figure, the shutter drive signal is turned on at the timing of ending scanning after the display timing signal is turned on. As a result, the display of the dark image only for scanning immediately after the display timing signal is turned on is cut.

Further, the shutter drive circuit 60 turns off the shutter drive signal at the end of the first scanning when the display timing signal is turned off after the end of the vertical scanning of n times (after the passage of n / 30 [seconds]), and , The display drive signal is turned off at the end of the next scan. Therefore, as indicated by B and C in the figure, the shutter drive signal is turned off and then the display drive signal is turned off, and the afterimage is cut.

The shutter drive signal in the apparatus of this embodiment can be used to realize intermittent display on the head-up display. That is, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, the shutter may be continuously opened, but as shown in FIG. 7, the shutter may be opened and closed intermittently in a predetermined cycle. In FIG. 7, the shutter drive signal is on for the time of the vertical scanning of p times, and is off for the period of the vertical scanning of q times thereafter. As a result, the attention of the operator or the like can be concentrated and a more reliable alarm can be issued.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Immediately after driving the display source, the display source is driven in response to the display timing signal being turned on, and then the shutter is opened, and the shutter is closed in response to the display timing signal being turned off and then the display source is stopped. The dark image and the afterimage immediately after the driving of the display source are stopped can be cut, and a sharper image can be obtained. In addition, the head-up display technology, which is the point of the present invention, displays other images (images other than camera images) on the head-up display with a gap between the camera image and the other images. It is effective when you do.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an inter-vehicle distance warning device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example configuration of a safety distance calculation map in this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a display source in this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a head-up display device in this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing drive timings of a display source and a shutter in this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a first reference time chart of this embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a second reference time chart of this embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an inter-vehicle distance warning device according to a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 36 Distance sensor 38 Relative speed calculation circuit 40 Vehicle speed sensor 42 Safety distance comparison circuit 44 Safety distance calculation map 46 Camera 48 Subject identification circuit 50 Image comparison circuit 58 Display drive circuit 60 Shutter drive circuit 62 Display source 64 Shutter

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A display section drive circuit for outputting a video signal including an image relating to a predetermined state of a vehicle and a display timing signal indicating display timing, a display source capable of turning on / off image display, and a light emitting side of the display source. A head-up display that includes a shutter disposed in the display section, which displays an image related to a predetermined state of the vehicle by a video signal from the display drive circuit, and the display source is first driven in response to the turn-on of the display timing signal, and then the shutter is released. A head-up display device for a vehicle, comprising: a shutter drive circuit that opens and closes a shutter according to turning off of a display timing signal, and then stops driving a display source.