JP2002362186A - Vehicle display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle display device capable of easily noticing information displayed near a blind range of a display. SOLUTION: This vehicle display device is provided with a display 106 displaying various types of information related on vehicles and a screen display control part 105 controlling the display on the display 106. The display 106 is divided into a screen upper part region having superior visibility, the blind range becoming the blind area for a driver, and an intermediate region adjoining to the blind region. The screen display control part 105 lights the blind region before displaying the information on the intermediate region. This operation can guide the driver's attention to the circumference of the blind region and easily make the driver notice the content displayed on the intermediate region.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display device for a vehicle for displaying various information related to a vehicle, and more particularly to a technique for alerting a driver to information displayed on a display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional vehicle display device, for example,
As described in JP-A-7-329657, a plurality of warning indications are displayed at appropriate positions according to the driver's line of sight, the background color of the meter display surface is changed, and the color is changed. As described in JP-A-7-196425, the display content and display size are changed according to the importance of the display content according to the driving situation, Alternatively, there has been a display which informs a driver of a display portion by changing a color.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional display device for a vehicle, since the purpose is to warn the driver, it is important to surely inform the driver of the warning information. Since a dedicated display device and a display range are provided, there is a problem that a display position is changed according to the contents of the warning, or the display is limited to a display portion such as a meter which is always in the field of view.

Further, in order to change the size of the information displayed on the screen according to the display contents and the degree of importance, it is necessary to inform the driver in advance of the display location (in which position the information is to be displayed). In some cases, the position to be viewed may be changed, making it difficult to recognize information.

[0005] The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicular display device that allows a driver to easily recognize information displayed on a display.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application is directed to a vehicle display device which is mounted inside a vehicle and displays various information related to the vehicle. Display means for displaying information;
Display control means for controlling display on the display means, wherein the display means includes a blind spot area that is at least a blind spot for a driver by steering, an upper screen area with good visibility for the driver, and the area. And an intermediate area other than the upper area of the screen, wherein the display control means changes the brightness of the blind spot area before displaying information in the intermediate area.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the display control means temporarily increases the brightness of the blind spot area before displaying information in the intermediate area.

The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the display control means blinks the blind spot area before displaying information in the intermediate area.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the display control means changes at least one of the color and the brightness of the blind spot area according to the environment inside or outside the vehicle. .

The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the display control means changes at least one of the color and brightness of the blind spot area in accordance with information provided by the display means. I do.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a line-of-sight detecting means for detecting a line of sight of a pointer, and the display control means uses the line-of-sight detecting means when displaying information in the intermediate area. After detecting that the driver's line of sight is facing the display means, the display of the blind spot area is changed, and thereafter, the information is displayed.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a line-of-sight detecting means for detecting the line of sight of the driver, wherein the display control means determines that the time during which the driver's line of sight is continuously directed to the display means is: The information displayed in the intermediate area is erased when the gaze detecting means detects that the predetermined time has elapsed.

The invention according to claim 8 is provided with a line of sight detecting means for detecting the line of sight of the driver, and the display control means controls the line of sight of the driver with respect to the same information displayed in the intermediate area. The information displayed in the intermediate area is erased when the line-of-sight detection means detects that the accumulation of the time facing the display means has become equal to or longer than a predetermined accumulation time.

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the display means is divided into a blind spot area, a screen upper area, and an intermediate area, and when displaying information in the intermediate area, the brightness of the blind spot area is changed prior to this. Therefore, the driver's attention can be guided around the blind spot area in the screen of the display means. Therefore, the driver can easily notice the information displayed in the intermediate area adjacent to the blind spot area.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when displaying information in the intermediate area, the brightness of the blind spot area is temporarily increased prior to displaying the information, so that the driver's attention can be further raised. Therefore, the driver's attention can be guided around the blind spot in the screen, and the driver can quickly notice the information displayed in the intermediate area adjacent to the blind spot area.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the intermittent change in brightness can be given to the driver because the blind spot area is blinked before displaying the information in the intermediate area. Therefore, the driver's attention can be guided around the blind spot in the screen, and the driver can quickly notice the information displayed in the intermediate area adjacent to the blind spot area.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the color or brightness of the blind spot area can be changed according to the environment inside or outside the vehicle. Therefore, for example, when the outside of the vehicle is dark, it is lit darkly, and when it is bright, it is brightly lit,
As described above, the brightness can be changed appropriately in accordance with the surrounding environment, and the information displayed in the intermediate area can be noticed without discomfort.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the color or brightness displayed in the blind spot area is changed according to the information displayed on the display means. Therefore, the display (color, brightness) of the blind spot area can be changed according to the importance of the information displayed in the intermediate area, and the driver can change the importance of the information displayed in the intermediate area adjacent to the blind spot area. Can be recognized immediately.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a line of sight detecting means for detecting the driver's line of sight, and when the driver's line of sight detects that the driver is looking at the screen of the display means, the blind spot area is detected. Is changed. Therefore, after the driver shifts his / her line of sight from the front of the vehicle to the display means, the display of the blind spot area changes, and thereafter, information is displayed in an intermediate area adjacent to the blind spot area. And the information displayed in the intermediate area adjacent to the blind spot area can be easily noticed.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, a line-of-sight detecting means for detecting the driver's line of sight is provided, and when the driver's line of sight is continuously directed to the display means for a predetermined duration or longer, the intermediate region is detected. The information displayed in is erased. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the driver from looking into the information displayed in the intermediate area for a long time, and to call attention to the front of the vehicle.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, it is determined by the line-of-sight detecting means that the cumulative time during which the driver's line of sight is directed to the same information displayed in the intermediate area has become equal to or longer than the predetermined cumulative time. When detected, the information displayed in the intermediate area is deleted. Therefore, the display information is not given to the driver more than necessary, and the driver's attention can be urged toward the front of the vehicle.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle display device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle display device 100 includes a screen information creation unit 101 that creates screen information such as a navigation map, and a vehicle state that detects a vehicle state such as a remaining fuel amount and an ABS operation state. It has a detection unit 102 and an additional information detection unit 103 that detects additional information such as traffic congestion information and information around the current location of the vehicle.

Further, a display (display means) 106 for displaying various information, a screen display control unit (display control means) 105 for controlling the display of the display 106, and a display event for detecting an event to be displayed on the display 106 And a detection unit 104.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view schematically showing an installation position of the display 106 mounted in the vehicle. The display 106 is installed on the left side of the steering 7. Then, as can be understood from the figure, the driver's (driver) 's line of sight is blocked by the steering 107 or switches and the like disposed close to the steering 107, and a blind spot area is formed on the display 106. .

That is, as shown in FIG.
06 is a blind spot area 303 in the lower right corner.
Becomes The upper part of the screen, which is the area that is most visible to the driver, is set as the upper part of the screen 301, and the lower part of the upper part of the screen 301, which is adjacent to the blind spot area 303, is an intermediate area 302 that is visible to the driver. Is set as

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment. Hereinafter, the operation of the vehicle display device 100 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart.

First, in step S21, processing for displaying a normal screen on the display 106 is performed. In the present embodiment, under the control of the screen display control unit 105, information such as navigation information generated by the screen information generation unit 101 is displayed in the intermediate area 302 of the display 106,
Information such as the vehicle speed is displayed in the upper area 301 of the screen.

Next, in step S22, it is determined whether or not information on the vehicle state, such as the remaining fuel amount detected by the vehicle state detection unit 102 and the ABS indicator, should be displayed. If it is determined that the display of the vehicle state information is necessary, an event is generated in step S23 that the vehicle state needs to be displayed. If it is determined that the display of the vehicle state is not necessary, the process proceeds to the next step.

Next, it is determined in step S24 whether or not additional information such as traffic congestion information and current location surrounding information detected by the additional information detection unit 103 should be displayed on the display 106. If it is determined that the additional information needs to be displayed, an event that the additional information needs to be displayed is generated in step S25. Also,
If it is determined that there is no need to display the additional information, the process returns to step S21 without doing anything, and the normal screen display is continued.

If an event indicating that the vehicle state needs to be displayed has occurred in the process of step S23, the event detecting unit 104 performs the process of step S26 to detect the blind spot area 303 (see FIG. 3) of the display 106. A process of setting a color (color determined according to display information) at the time of lighting is performed.

Next, in step S27, the blind spot 3 of the display 106 is controlled by the screen display controller 105.
03 is turned on in the set color for a certain period of time. Then, in step S28, the image of the information indicating the vehicle state created by the screen display control unit 105 is displayed on the display 106.
Is displayed in the middle area 302.

If it is determined in step S25 that an event indicating that additional information needs to be displayed has occurred, the display event detection unit 104 is executed in step S26.
Performs a process of setting a color when the blind spot area 303 of the display 106 is turned on.

In step S27, the blind spot 303 of the display 106 is illuminated for a predetermined time in the set color under the control of the screen display control unit 105.
In step S28, the image of the additional information created by screen display control unit 105 is displayed in intermediate area 302 of display 106.

The displayed vehicle state information or additional information is supplied to the respective detection units (vehicle state detection unit 10).
2, the additional information detection unit 103) repeats the display until it is determined that the display is no longer necessary, and then returns to the normal display state in step S21.

As described above, in the vehicle display device 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the vehicle state detector 10
When the information on the remaining fuel amount and the information on the ABS detected in step 2 and the information on the traffic congestion and the surrounding information on the current value of the vehicle detected by the additional information detection unit 103 are displayed on the display 106, the information is displayed. Since the blind spot area 303 of the display 106 is turned on beforehand, the driver can easily notice the display of the information, and can easily recognize the information on the vehicle state and the additional information.

That is, the blind spot area 30 of the display 106
Reference numeral 3 is an area that is not suitable for use in normal information display because a part that does not completely enter the field of view of the driver and has a blind spot depending on the position of the driver's eyes exists. In the present embodiment, the driver's attention is urged by utilizing the portion of the blind spot area 303 that is visible to the driver and putting the light when the blind spot area 303 is turned on into the driver's field of view.

Further, in the present embodiment, the color at the time of lighting the blind spot area 303 is changed in accordance with the information displayed in the intermediate area 302, so that the driver can immediately determine the importance of the displayed information. Can be recognized.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the blind spot area 303 is turned on prior to the display of information has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It is also possible to configure so as to light up using brightness or color that is easily visible according to the environment inside and outside. Further, the brightness of the blind spot area 103 can be temporarily increased. With this configuration, the driver can be made to recognize the provided information earlier.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the vehicle display device according to the second embodiment. As shown in the figure, the vehicle display device 400 includes a screen information creation unit 401, a vehicle state detection unit 402, an additional information detection unit 403, a display event detection unit 404, a screen display control unit 405, Display 406, and line-of-sight detection unit (line-of-sight detection unit) 4
07.

The line-of-sight detection unit 407 captures an image of the driver's eye point and detects the driver's line-of-sight position based on this image.

The display device 40 for a vehicle according to the second embodiment.
In the case of 0, in addition to the function of the first embodiment described above, the gaze detection unit 407 detects the gaze position of the driver, and information on whether the gaze of the driver is in the display 406,
In addition, an appropriate screen display is performed based on the time when the user is staring at the display 407.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the vehicle display device 400 according to the second embodiment.
The operation of the second embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart.

First, in step S51, processing for displaying a normal screen on the display 406 is performed. In the present embodiment, under the control of the screen display control unit 405, information such as navigation information generated by the screen information creation unit 401 is displayed in the intermediate area 302 (see FIG. 3) of the display 406, and information such as vehicle speed is displayed. Is displayed in the upper area 301 of the screen.

Next, in step S52, it is determined whether or not information on the vehicle state, such as the remaining fuel amount detected by the vehicle state detection unit 402 and the ABS indicator, should be displayed. If it is determined that the display of the vehicle state information is necessary, an event is generated in step S53 that the vehicle state needs to be displayed. If it is determined that the display of the vehicle state is not necessary, the process proceeds to the next step.

Next, it is determined in step S54 whether or not additional information such as traffic congestion information and current location surrounding information detected by the additional information detection unit 403 should be displayed on the display 406. If it is determined that the additional information needs to be displayed, an event that the additional information needs to be displayed is generated in step S55. Also,
If it is determined that there is no need to display the additional information, the process returns to step S51 without doing anything, and the normal screen display is continued.

If an event indicating that the vehicle state needs to be displayed has occurred in the process of step S53, the display event detection unit 404 performs the process of turning on the blind spot area 303 of the display 406 in the process of step S56. A process for setting a color is performed.

If an event that the additional information needs to be displayed occurs in step S55, the display event detection unit 404 is executed in step S56.
Performs a process of setting a color when the blind spot area 303 of the display 406 is turned on.

Next, in the process of step S57, the line of sight of the driver is displayed on the display 40 by the line of sight detecting unit 407.
6 is detected, and the display 40
If it is detected that the camera is facing S6, step S
In the process of 58, the blind spot area 303 of the display 406 is turned on for a certain time under the control of the screen display control unit 405. After that, by the processing of step S59, the information of the vehicle state created by the screen display control unit 405 (when the vehicle state display event has occurred) or the additional information (when the additional information display event has occurred) The screen is displayed in the middle area 302 of the display 406.

At this time, in the process of step S60, the time during which the driver is watching the display on the display 406 is measured. Then, in step S61, the display 4 is turned on for a predetermined time (predetermined duration) set by the driver in advance.
If it is detected that the user has stared at 06, step S
According to 62, the information display on the display 406 is temporarily deleted, and the driver's attention to the display 406 is released. That is, the driver's attention is urged forward of the vehicle.

Thereafter, in step S57, the line of sight detecting unit 407 detects whether or not the driver's line of sight has entered the display 406 again, and the above procedure (the processing of steps S57 to S62) is repeated.

Further, in the processing of step S63, the cumulative gaze time by the above-described repetitive processing is calculated, and the cumulative gaze time is set to a predetermined time (a predetermined cumulative time) set in advance.
If this is the case, the information display is terminated, and the display is returned to the normal display. Thus, suitable display control on the display 406 according to the driver's line of sight can be performed.

FIG. 7 is a timing chart showing the above-described information display processing procedure in a time-series manner. FIG. 7A shows the state of occurrence of a display event, and FIG. Inside or display 4
06. FIG. 3C shows a lighting state of the blind spot area 303, FIG. 4D shows an information display state, and FIG.
One gaze time is shown, and (f) shows an accumulated gaze time.

Then, as shown in FIG.
When an event requiring information display occurs at O, the display on the display 406 starts at time T1 when the driver's line of sight enters the display 406. That is, the blind spot area 303 is turned on for a predetermined time (T1 to T2) as shown in FIG. 3C, and thereafter (after time T2), information is displayed on the display 406 as shown in FIG. I do.

When the information is displayed for a time corresponding to one preset gaze time (T2 to T3) from time T2, the information is thereafter erased. Then, the same operation is repeated from time T4 when the driver's line of sight enters the display 406 again, and is repeated until time T6 when the cumulative gaze time shown in (f) reaches a predetermined time.

In this way, when the driver gazes at the display 406 continuously for a predetermined time or more, the screen display is erased, and when the cumulative gaze time exceeds a certain value, the screen is erased. Can prevent the user from looking at the display 406 for a long time.

As described above, in the vehicle display device 400 according to the present embodiment, the line-of-sight direction of the driver is detected by using the line-of-sight detecting unit 407, and
Is switched between screen display and erasure depending on whether or not the user is watching. That is, it is detected whether or not the driver's line of sight is within the display 406, and the screen display is turned on and off in consideration of the gaze time per one time viewing the displayed information, thereby restricting the line of sight. The driver's line of sight can be prompted to a field of view other than the display 406. Therefore, the displayed information can be reliably transmitted to the driver.

In addition, by considering how much the displayed information is viewed cumulatively, it is possible for the driver to provide appropriate information without giving unnecessarily the recognized information.

The display device for a vehicle according to the present invention has been described based on the illustrated embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the configuration of each part may be any configuration having the same function. Can be replaced with something.

For example, in each of the above-described embodiments, a vehicle display device mounted on a right-hand drive type vehicle will be described as an example. However, the present invention can be applied to a left-hand drive type vehicle. In this case, the blind spot area is the lower left corner of the display screen.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view schematically showing the installation position of a display inside a vehicle.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a display area of a display screen.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the vehicle display device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a vehicle display device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation of the vehicle display device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a timing chart showing an operation of the vehicle display device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100, 400 Vehicle display device 101, 401 Screen information creation unit 102, 402 Vehicle state detection unit 103, 403 Additional information detection unit 104, 404 Display event detection unit 105, 405 Screen display control unit (display control unit) 106, 406 Display (display means) 107 Steering 301 Upper screen area 302 Intermediate area 303 Blind spot area 407 Eye gaze detector (eye gaze detector)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kazuto Kato 2 Takaracho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shunsuke 2 Takaracho, Kanagawa-ku Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Nissan Motor Co., Ltd F term (reference) 3D020 BA04 BB01 BC03 BD05 BE03 3D044 BA22 BA26 BB01

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A vehicular display device mounted inside a vehicle and displaying various information related to the vehicle, a display means for displaying the various information, and a display control means for controlling display on the display means. The display means is divided into a blind spot area that becomes a blind spot for the driver by at least steering, an upper screen area with good visibility for the driver, and an intermediate area other than the area and the upper screen area, A display device for a vehicle, wherein the display control means changes brightness of the blind spot area before displaying information in the intermediate area. 2. The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein the display control means temporarily increases brightness of the blind spot area before displaying information in the intermediate area. 3. The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein said display control means blinks said blind spot area before displaying information in said intermediate area. 4. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the display control means changes at least one of a color and a brightness of the blind spot area according to an environment inside or outside the vehicle. Display device. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit changes at least one of a color and a brightness of the blind spot area according to information provided by the display unit. Display device for vehicles. 6. A line-of-sight detecting means for detecting a line-of-sight point of a driver, wherein the display control means displays the driver's line of sight by the line-of-sight detecting means when displaying information in the intermediate area. The display device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the display of the blind spot area is changed after it is detected that the vehicle is facing, and the information is displayed thereafter. 7. A sight line detecting means for detecting the driver's sight line, wherein the display control means determines that a time during which the driver's sight line is continuously directed to the display means is longer than a predetermined continuation time. Is detected by the gaze detecting means,
The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein the information displayed in the intermediate area is deleted. 8. A gaze detecting means for detecting the gaze of the driver, wherein the display control means sets the gaze of the driver to the display means for the same information displayed in the intermediate area. 2. The information displayed in the intermediate area is erased when the line-of-sight detecting means detects that the accumulated time has exceeded a predetermined accumulated time.
4. The display device for a vehicle according to claim 1.