JP2006176054A - Display device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a display device for a vehicle capable of causing a driver to smoothly shift a driver's eyes and enabling the driver to quickly perceive information ahead of the vehicle. <P>SOLUTION: The display device for the vehicle is equipped with a display means provided in the vicinity of an instrument panel of the vehicle for displaying a variety of information. The display device for the vehicle comprises a front image pickup means 1 picking up the image in front of the vehicle, the display means 5 provided on the instrument panel P of the vehicle for displaying forward information obtained by at least the front image pickup means 1, and a control means 5 provided on part of the screen area of the display means 5 for displaying information other than the front information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle display device provided with a display unit that is provided on an instrument panel of a vehicle and displays various information.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a method for performing travel guidance by displaying a map of a current position of a vehicle and its surroundings on a display screen of a display device (for example, see Patent Document 1). There is also a vehicle display device that displays various information related to an air conditioner, a car audio, a car phone, etc. on the display screen, and can select a display target to be displayed on the screen by operating an operation switch. It has been put into practical use.

In addition, in such a display device for a vehicle, there is a display that reads and displays a map of the current position and its surroundings from a DVD-ROM or the like. The map can be selectively displayed on the screen.
JP-A-62-163200

  However, when the display information on the screen is switched by the operation switch while driving the vehicle equipped with the display device as described above, or from the map displayed on the display screen until now, the scale is different from this. When switching to a map, etc., when the screen is switched, there is a risk that the screen will be overlooked and attention to the front may be neglected.

  In addition, when the driver searches for or looks at the necessary information in the display screen, the field of view is narrowed and it may be difficult to notice the situation in front of the vehicle. On the other hand, when the situation in front of the vehicle is concerned, there is a problem that it is difficult to understand the display contents of the display screen, and the driver is burdened by repeatedly viewing the display screen and the outside of the vehicle.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle display device that can smoothly move the driver's line of sight and can quickly detect information ahead of the vehicle.

  The vehicle display device according to the present invention, as described in claim 1, displays forward imaging means for imaging the front of the vehicle, and forward information obtained by at least the forward imaging means provided on the instrument panel of the vehicle. And a control means for displaying information other than the front in a screen area of a part of the display means.

  Further, as described in claim 2, in the vehicle display device according to claim 1, the control means includes a boundary line between a display indicating the front information and a display indicating information other than the front information. A display color having a high contrast is selected and displayed according to the display color of the front information.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the vehicular display device according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the vehicle display device further includes a peripheral imaging unit that captures an image of a side or a rear side of the vehicle, The peripheral information obtained by the peripheral imaging means is selectively displayed in the screen area.

  The present invention relates to a vehicle display device provided with a display unit that is provided in the vicinity of an instrument panel of a vehicle and displays various types of information. Even when attention is paid to information displayed on the display unit, the present invention It is possible to provide a vehicular display device that can quickly detect information.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle display device mainly includes a front imaging unit 1, a peripheral imaging unit 2, an operation unit 3, a control unit 4, a display unit 5, and various detection units S. Has been.

  The front imaging means 1 can be applied to a camera mounted on the front side of the vehicle. For example, the front imaging means 1 is provided on the front grill of the vehicle and can capture a landscape in front of the vehicle including the vicinity of the vehicle that becomes a blind spot for the driver. it can. Further, the front imaging unit 1 outputs forward information (image information) obtained by the above imaging to the control unit 4.

  The peripheral imaging means 2 captures a landscape on the side or rear of the vehicle, and can capture a portion that becomes a blind spot of the driver, such as a road surface in the vicinity of the vehicle. The peripheral imaging means 2 is mounted on an exterior such as a passenger side mirror or a fender, for example, and a wide-angle camera that captures a road surface on the side of the vehicle, or a vehicle through a vehicle exterior or rear window. A wide-angle camera that captures the road surface behind the vehicle can be applied. The peripheral imaging unit 2 outputs peripheral information (image information) captured by the wide-angle camera to the control unit 4.

  The operation means 3 is for switching the display contents of the display means 5 by an operation by the driver. In this case, the operation means 3 also serves as a turn signal lever switch 31 and a shift position sensor (not shown) mounted on the vehicle. The operation content by the operation of the lever switch 31 or the shift operation to the back gear can be output to the control means 4. The operation means 3 may be an operation switch provided exclusively for the switching operation of the display means 5 or may be provided on the instrument panel P or the steering.

  The control means 4 includes an image processing circuit, a control circuit, and a display drive circuit. The image processing circuit inputs the front information obtained by imaging by the front imaging means 1 and the peripheral information obtained by imaging by the peripheral imaging means 2 and generates a display image to be displayed on the display means 5. is there. The control circuit is composed of a microcomputer and includes a ROM, a RAM, a CPU, and an input / output interface circuit. The display image generated by the image processing circuit is displayed according to the operation of the operation means 3. 5 is displayed selectively or based on signals from various detection means S described later. The display drive circuit is a drive control circuit for causing the display means 5 to perform a predetermined display based on a control signal from the control circuit.

  The display means 5 is mounted at a predetermined location on the instrument panel P, and is provided with a display screen composed of a TFT type liquid crystal display panel or an organic EL panel. In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, the display means 5 is provided on the instrument panel P. On the same panel, the meter display unit 51, the front display unit 52, and the selective display unit 53 that is selectively displayed. The display screen is configured as described above.

  The meter display unit 51 can display analog or digital information on the vehicle such as the vehicle speed and the engine speed on the driver seat side of the display means 5. The control means 4 inputs signals from various detection means S such as a vehicle speed sensor, a pulsar coil, and a remaining fuel sensor mounted on the vehicle, and displays information such as the vehicle speed, engine speed, remaining fuel and oil temperature. The image can be drawn and displayed on the meter display unit 51.

  The front display unit 52 can display the scenery in front of the vehicle based on the front information obtained by the front imaging unit 1 using the entire surface other than the normal meter display unit 51. The control unit 4 generates a display image to be displayed on the front display unit 52 by performing drawing processing while correcting the front information obtained by the front imaging unit 1 while correcting the brightness and contrast that are easily visible to the driver. Output to the display means 5. In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, a forward landscape including a blind spot can be displayed based on the forward information by the vehicle instrument panel P, the hood B, or the like. By the display on the front display unit 52, it is possible to confirm the outside condition such as a road surface that cannot be visually recognized through the windshield W.

  The selection display unit 53 can display a display area of a part of the display of the scenery in front of the information selected by the driver or information selected in conjunction with a predetermined driving operation. In this display area, for example, navigation display, display of peripheral information picked up by the peripheral image pickup means, display of audio, television, etc. are displayed by the driver's selection operation, or according to the operation of the lever switch 31 of the turn signal. Information other than the scenery in front of the vehicle can be selectively displayed, such as displaying the road surface on the side or displaying the road surface behind by shifting to the back gear.

  In addition, the control unit 4 displays a frame (boundary line) T that is a boundary between the front display unit 52 and the selection display unit 53 and indicates the display area on the display unit 5, and among the front display unit 52, The frame T is displayed in a display color having a high contrast with respect to the color of the image near the display area. Therefore, even if the color of the front landscape changes, the driver can quickly determine where information other than the front landscape is displayed in the display means 5, so that the information can be displayed by smoothly moving the line of sight. Can be sensed. In particular, when the periphery of the vehicle is displayed on the selection display unit 53, the boundary between the display of the front landscape and the display of the surrounding landscape is difficult to understand. Therefore, the display of the frame T having a high contrast described above is effective. Become.

  Such a vehicle display device includes a front imaging unit 1 that images the front of the vehicle, a display unit 5 that is provided on the instrument panel P of the vehicle and displays at least forward information obtained by the front imaging unit 1, and a display unit 5 Control means 5 for displaying information other than the forward information in a part of the screen area.

  Therefore, even when the driver is viewing the display screen of the selection display unit 53 serving as the screen region, the display of the front display unit 52 is in the visual field or in the vicinity of the visual field. The situation ahead of the vehicle can be detected quickly. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, even when viewing the display screen of the selection display unit 53, there is a front display unit 52 on the same panel. Both the forward information such as the traveling state of V and the information indicated by the selection display unit 53 can be quickly confirmed.

  Further, the control means 4 displays a frame T serving as a boundary line between a display indicating the front information (front display unit 52) and a display indicating information other than the front information (selection display unit 53). By selecting and displaying a display color having a high contrast according to the color, the driver can quickly determine where information other than the scenery in front is displayed in the display means 5. It can be done smoothly.

  In addition, the image capturing apparatus includes a peripheral image capturing unit 2 that captures an image of a side or rear of the vehicle, and the control unit 4 selectively displays the peripheral information obtained by the peripheral image capturing unit 2 on the partial screen area, so Without moving the vehicle, it is possible to check the side and rear surrounding information while checking the front information of the vehicle, so that the state change around the vehicle can be detected quickly.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the display means is described as an example of a liquid crystal display panel or an organic EL panel. However, the present invention is not limited to this, for example, an instrument panel. By using a virtual image display device (head-up display device) including at least a display device that projects a display image on the top and a reflection mirror that projects this display image as a virtual image toward the driver, the virtual image and the front of the vehicle Since the distance to the landscape can be reduced, the display device for a vehicle can quickly detect the situation ahead of the vehicle while further suppressing the movement of the driver's line of sight.

  Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the above-described vehicle display device has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the configuration thereof can provide the same effect. For example, it is also conceivable to apply an infrared camera, an omnidirectional camera, or the like as the front imaging means or the peripheral imaging means. Further, the vehicle mounting positions of the front imaging means and the peripheral imaging means can be arbitrarily selected according to the shape of the vehicle exterior or the like, but a position where the driver's blind spot can be imaged as in the above-described embodiment is desired. In addition, a touch panel that can be selected and operated with the fingertip of the driver can also be applied as the display means, which is effective because the front state can be quickly confirmed even during operation.

The block diagram of the display apparatus for vehicles which is an embodiment of the invention. The figure which shows the example of a display of embodiment same as the above.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Front imaging means 2 Peripheral imaging means 4 Control means 5 Display means P Instrument panel T Frame (boundary line)

Claims (3)

  A front imaging unit that images the front of the vehicle, a display unit that is provided on an instrument panel of the vehicle and displays at least forward information obtained by the front imaging unit, and a screen area other than the front in a screen area of a part of the display unit And a control means for displaying information.   The control means displays a boundary line between a display indicating the front information and a display indicating information other than the front information by selecting a display color having a high contrast according to the display color of the front information. The vehicle display device according to claim 1. Comprising peripheral imaging means for imaging the side or rear of the vehicle;
The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit selectively displays peripheral information obtained by the peripheral imaging unit on the partial screen area.

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