JP2006201032A - Image display system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To intuitively grasp a time, and to enhance entertainment performance, in an image display system. <P>SOLUTION: A controller 41 (display control means) for controlling a display mode on a monitor 11 includes an area computation circuit 44 (display area partitioning means) for partitioning a display area 12 of the monitor 11 into two division areas 12a, 12b, by a partitioning line 14 along an indication direction of the hour hand when displaying a time obtained by a timepiece function block (circuit) 43 as analogue display, and a partitioning line 15 along an indication direction of the minute hand therein, and a drawing IC 51 (division area information allocating means) for an image for allocating image information from a camera 22 mounted on a vehicle to the first division area 12a, and for allocating navigation information from a navigation system 21 to the second division area 12b, and an hour and a minute are recognized by the partitioning lines 14, 15. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image display system, and more particularly, to an improvement in display mode in which a display area can be divided and a plurality of information can be displayed simultaneously.

  In recent years, with the progress of GPS (Global Positioning System) technology, the development of information processing technology, the development of road networks, etc., mobile route guidance technology represented by the so-called car navigation system has rapidly spread. Yes.

  Here, the car navigation system sequentially obtains the current position of the host vehicle using GPS or the like, and superimposes the current position on a prestored road map image and displays it on the monitor. In addition, when the destination is set, a recommended route or the like from the current position of the vehicle to the specified destination is sequentially obtained, and guidance for prompting a driving operation suitable for the recommended route or the like is displayed on the monitor ( Display on the display area of the display means), or by generating a sound imitating the sound.

  In addition, guidance information such as the distance to the destination, estimated arrival time, traffic information, other setting information, and the like are also displayed together with characters and images.

  By the way, more than one of these types of information is displayed in the display area of the monitor, and if you display multiple items at the same time, it is possible to grasp related information in a glance. Useful for.

  For example, for an intersection scheduled to guide a change in the direction of travel, such as a right turn or a left turn, in addition to a normal map image, an enlarged image of the intersection, a three-dimensional bird's-eye (bird's-eye) image, or the like is additionally displayed, While grasping the position in the whole, it is possible to accurately grasp the operation to be performed immediately afterward, and it is possible to perform a driving operation with a margin.

  Therefore, the display area is divided into a plurality of areas by dividing lines or the like, information related to each other is assigned to the areas obtained by the division, and a plurality of information can be displayed simultaneously as the entire display area. It has been broken.

Various techniques for dividing the display area have been proposed and put into practical use, such as dividing into two screens, dividing into four screens, and dividing into nine matrix screens. There is also (patent document 1).
JP 2002-039764 A

  By the way, in general, when recognizing the time represented by a clock, the method of expressing an analog clock indicated by the hour hand and minute hand is more intuitive than the method of expressing a digital clock by enumerating numbers. In particular, an analog timepiece expression method is preferable for a driver who cannot watch the timepiece easily.

  However, analog clocks need to occupy a wide area for rotating the hour and minute hands, whereas digital clocks occupy only a small area, so the time is displayed in the limited display area of the in-vehicle monitor. In general, the time is displayed by a digital clock.

  Here, the estimated arrival time and the current time at the destination are also displayed on the monitor in the form of an analog clock, but both are displayed in a very small size relative to the entire display area. However, it is not practical to recognize the display time of the clock only by the driver who is driving moving his / her line of sight to the monitor for a moment.

  In addition, information is excessively displayed by simply displaying on the monitor the destination direction to which the vehicle should travel, the branch point, the direction to be selected at this branch point, etc. using arrow marks that imitate the hands of the clock. There has been proposed a technique (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-121184) that simplifies display, improves instantaneous visibility, and significantly shortens the time for staring at the display. Etc. do not display the time, but merely indicate the direction of the destination, and do not attempt to recognize the time.

  Further, the technique according to Patent Document 1 is merely a regular division of a display area into a plurality of areas, and there is no unexpectedness or entertainment (amusement or entertaining nature) in the division form.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an image display system capable of intuitively grasping time and having high entertainment performance.

  In the image display system according to the present invention, when the display area of the display means is divided into a plurality of areas, a line imitating the hour hand and the minute hand when the current time is displayed in an analog manner is applied as a dividing line for the division. As a result, the shape of the divided area changes from moment to moment, and the unexpectedness and entertainment of the change are demonstrated. At the same time, related information can be displayed simultaneously by displaying different information in multiple display areas. In the display, the information can be linked, and the user can intuitively recognize the real-time time based on the extending direction of the partition line between the divided areas.

  That is, the image display system according to claim 1 of the present invention includes an image display system including display means for displaying information in a display area thereof, and display control means for controlling a display form of information displayed on the display means. The display control means includes at least two display areas that extend radially from the substantially central portion of the display area toward the outer periphery of the display area. Display area partitioning means for partitioning into at least two areas by a partition line, and divided area information allocating means for respectively assigning different information to two or more areas obtained by partitioning; The means displays the time represented by the time information as an analog table based on the time information acquired by the time information acquisition means for two of the partition lines. And forming so as to extend along the respective pointing direction of the hour hand and minute hand.

  Here, not only all of the desired information is displayed in each partitioned area, but also only a part of the information is displayed for the reason that the area is very narrow, for example. Also good.

  In addition, the time information acquisition means originally acquires the time information possessed by the device from an external device having the time information, an internal device, or the like, but is not limited to the one that is literally obtained. Also, a time generating means for generating time information by itself is included.

  That is, the time information acquisition means may be any means having a function for transmitting time information to the display area partitioning means.

  According to the image display system according to claim 1 of the present invention configured as described above, the display area partitioning means of the display control means moves the display area from its substantially central portion toward the outer periphery of the display area. The two partition lines are divided into at least two regions by radially extending at least two partition lines. Each of the two partition lines includes an hour hand and a minute hand representing the time represented by the time information acquired by the time information acquisition unit in an analog manner. Since it is formed so as to extend along the indicated direction, the dividing boundary lines (two partition lines) of the display area represent the short hand and the long hand of the analog clock, respectively. Can recognize the entire display area of the monitor as a large analog clock that looks like a dial.

  Therefore, the time display using an analog clock can improve the intuitive time grasping performance, and can also improve the visual recognition performance because of the large analog display.

  In addition, the entertainment performance can be improved by changing the shape of the divided region from time to time according to the change in time.

  The image display system according to a second aspect of the present invention is the image display system according to the first aspect, wherein the display area partitioning means divides the area obtained by the partition line into smaller areas, and the divided area. The information assigning means assigns different information to the areas obtained by the division, respectively.

  Here, the partitioning method for partitioning the region is based on a partition line extending radially from the approximate center of the entire display region, but it is not necessary to partition the region by such a radial line.

  According to the image display system according to claim 2 of the present invention configured as described above, the entertainment property can be further enhanced by further finely dividing the region partitioned by the partition line by the partition line.

  The image display system according to claim 3 of the present invention is the image display system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the display means is mounted in advance on a vehicle on which the image display system is mounted. Features.

  According to the image display system according to the third aspect of the present invention configured as described above, by using an existing display unit (for example, a monitor device for a car navigation system) that is mounted in advance in the vehicle, As an image display system, it is not necessary to newly prepare display means, and the product cost can be reduced.

  The image display system according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the image display system according to the third aspect, wherein the display control means displays a symbol mark representing the vehicle on the substantially central portion by superimposition. Features.

  According to the image display system according to claim 4 of the present invention configured as described above, when the map information of the navigation system is displayed in the display area by displaying the vehicle in the center of the display area, the map is displayed. The vehicle position can be displayed in an overlapping manner.

  The image display system according to claim 5 of the present invention is the image display system according to claim 3 or 4, wherein at least one of the information assigned by the divided area information assigning means is a car navigation system mounted on the vehicle. It is the navigation information obtained by this.

  Here, the navigation information includes, for example, route information from the current position of the vehicle to the target position (map information, required time information, route traffic congestion information, information on surrounding facilities), and the car navigation system is a vehicle occupant. Is various information (including failure diagnosis information of the car navigation system itself).

  According to the image display system of the fifth aspect of the present invention configured as described above, this image display system can be used as a part of the car navigation system by displaying the navigation information.

  An image display system according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is the image display system according to any one of the third to fifth aspects, wherein at least one of the information allocated by the divided area information allocation means is in the vehicle. It is the photographic image information photographed by the mounted camera.

  Here, the camera mounted on the vehicle captures, for example, a back camera installed at the rear of the vehicle in order to capture the rear view of the vehicle (such as a road portion) when the vehicle is moving backward, and the traffic state of the intersection road at the front intersection Blind corner camera installed at the front of the vehicle, front camera installed at the front of the vehicle to avoid obstacles (including pedestrians) during steering, Various cameras installed in the vehicle, such as a side camera installed in a passenger seat side door mirror or the like, can be applied to photograph the side blind spot.

  Further, as the captured image information, in addition to a video obtained by shooting with at least one camera among them, an image obtained by performing image processing on this video and the like can be applied.

  According to the image display system according to the sixth aspect of the present invention configured as described above, an image taken by the vehicle-mounted camera can also be displayed. Therefore, a back monitor, a blind corner monitor, a front monitor, or a side monitor is displayed. Etc. can also be used.

  An image display system according to a seventh aspect of the present invention is the image display system according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, wherein the display control means is based on the display area partitioning means only in a predetermined standby state. The display is divided into two or more areas.

  Here, the predetermined standby state is a processing state mainly waiting for an operation such as an input by the user, but it does not become a “standby state” from the moment when the processing state is reached. A “standby state” may be established when the processing state continues for a predetermined time.

  According to the image display system according to claim 7 of the present invention configured as described above, in the standby state, it is a state of waiting for an operation such as an input, and therefore, in the standby state, a division form that represents time is applied. Thus, the waiting time for operations such as input can be produced as entertainment.

  In addition, since the system resources are on standby, the system resources have a relatively large margin. By using these marginal resources, it is possible to contribute to effective use of the resources.

  According to the image display system of the present invention, the display area partitioning means of the display control means includes at least two partition lines extending radially from the substantially central portion toward the outer periphery of the display area. The two partition lines are formed so as to extend along the indicated directions of the hour hand and the minute hand, respectively, which represents the time represented by the time information acquired by the time information acquisition means in an analog manner. Therefore, the dividing boundary line (two partition lines) of the display area represents the short hand and long hand of the analog clock, respectively. It can be recognized as a large analog clock that looks like a dial.

  Therefore, the time display using an analog clock can improve the intuitive time grasping performance, and can also improve the visual recognition performance because of the large analog display.

  In addition, the entertainment performance can be improved by changing the shape of the divided region from time to time according to the change in time.

  Hereinafter, specific embodiments of an image display system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an image display system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 (a) is a diagram showing an example of a time expression format by an analog clock, and FIG. 1 (b) is shown in FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a display mode of an image displayed on an image display area 12 of an external monitor 11 (display unit) by the image display system 100. FIG.

  The illustrated image display system 100 displays information obtained by equipment mounted on the vehicle on the display area 12 of the external monitor 11 installed in the passenger compartment, and provides information to the driver of the vehicle. For example, a camera (camera that captures the situation outside the vehicle as an image or images the exterior of the vehicle and a part of the vehicle at the same time as an image (back camera, etc.)) 22 and a navigation device 21 that outputs information on the current position of the vehicle, route information to the destination, map information, and the like.

  When various information (including images) acquired by these information acquisition devices 21 and 22 is displayed on the monitor 11, a condition switching interface (for example, a push button or a display area of the monitor 11 is provided). A controller 41 (display control means) is provided for controlling the display form of these information according to the conditions input to the touch panel 31).

  Here, the controller 41 is physically divided into a CPU block (circuit) 42, a display block (circuit) 46, and an area reference VRAM 45 (hereinafter referred to as a third VRAM 45) that connects them. .

  The CPU block 42 includes a clock function block (circuit) 43 as time information acquisition means for generating time information, and the display area 12 of the monitor 11 as shown in FIG. An area calculation circuit 44 (display area partitioning means) is provided for partitioning into two divided regions 12a and 12b by two partition lines 14 and 15 extending radially from the portion 13 toward the outer peripheral edge. When one of the two partition lines 14 and 15 (partition line 14) is expressed as an analog clock 1 as shown in FIG. 2A, the time represented by the time information generated by the clock function block 43 is expressed. The hour hand 2 is extended along the indicated direction (direction indicating 5 o'clock), and the other (partition line 15) is extended along the indicated direction (direction indicating 0 minute) of the minute hand 3.

  In the present embodiment, the display area 12 is divided into only two divided areas 12a and 12b by the two partition lines 14 and 15, but the time analog represented by the time information generated by the clock function block 43 is used. The display area 12 may be partitioned into three divided areas using a third partition line (not shown) extending along the direction indicated by the second hand (not shown) when expressed as the timepiece 1. Good.

  Further, the two (or three) divided regions 12a and 12b obtained by partitioning in this way are radial corresponding to the hour hand 2 and minute hand 3 (or hour hand 2, minute hand 3 and second hand) described above. Each of the divided regions 12a and 12b may be divided into smaller regions not only by the dividing lines but also by other additional dividing lines that are not limited to radial lines.

  Then, the display area 12 is divided into two divided areas 12a and 12b by the dividing lines 14 and 15 described above, or the divided areas 12a and 12b are divided into smaller areas by an additional dividing line, or not partitioned at all. Whether or not the entire display area 12 is used as a single area as it is is determined by the area calculation circuit 44 in accordance with the conditions input to the condition switching interface 31.

  The divided display pattern (image information such as the pointing direction of the partition lines 14 and 15) of the display area 12 determined by the area calculation circuit 44 in this way is stored in the area reference VRAM (third VRAM) 45.

  On the other hand, the display block 46 displays the first VRAM 49 that stores images outside the vehicle obtained by the camera 22 as image information (camera image information) in units of frames, and navigation information that is obtained from moment to moment by the navigation device 21. The second VRAM 50 stored as frame information for display on the camera, the camera image information stored as the first layer 11a (see FIG. 4) in the first VRAM 49 and the second layer 11b stored in the second VRAM 50. In accordance with the divided display pattern stored in the third VRAM 45 as the third layer 11c, the image of the first layer 11a (camera image information) is assigned to the first divided area 12a, and the navigation information of the second layer 11b The image (navigation information) is converted into the second divided area 12. An image drawing IC 51 (divided area information assigning means) to be assigned to the image, an encoding unit 52 that encodes an image laid out as one superimposed image by the image drawing IC 51 and sends the image to the external monitor 11, and a camera obtained by the camera 22 First and second synchronization blocks (circuits) 47 and 48 that synchronize image information and navigation system information obtained by the navigation system device 21 and send them to the VRAMs 49 and 50 are provided.

  Next, the operation of the image display system 100 according to the present embodiment will be described.

  First, the camera image information obtained by the camera 22 and the navigation information obtained from time to time by the navigation device 21 are synchronized by the synchronization blocks 47 and 48, respectively, and stored in the corresponding VRAMs 49 and 50, respectively. Is done.

  On the other hand, the area calculation circuit 44 indicates the direction indicated by the hour hand (short hand) 2 when the time indicated by the time information generated by the clock function block 43 is expressed as an analog clock 1 as shown in FIG. The dividing line 14 is extended along the direction shown in FIG. 2B, and the minute hand (long hand) 3 when the time indicated by the time information generated by the clock function block 43 is expressed as the analog clock 1 is similarly shown. The partition line 15 is extended along the indicated direction (direction indicating 0 minutes).

  As shown in FIG. 2B, the display pattern in which the display area 12 is divided into the divided areas 12 a and 12 b by the partition lines 14 and 15 is stored in the VRAM 45.

  The image drawing IC 51 assigns camera image information stored in the VRAM 49 to the divided display area 12a and assigns navigation information stored in the VRAM 50 to the divided display area 12b according to the display pattern stored in the VRAM 45. .

  In this way, it is partitioned by the partition lines 14 and 15 representing the current time (hours and minutes), camera image information is assigned to the first divided display area 12a, and navigation information is assigned to the second divided display area 12b. The obtained image information is encoded by the encoding unit 52 and displayed on the display area 12 of the external monitor 11.

  The dividing lines 14 and 15 are updated every several hundred milliseconds, and the divided display areas 12a and 12b also change according to this update. Therefore, the shape and range of the divided display areas 12a and 12b sometimes change as time advances. It changes every moment.

  That is, when the time is 12:10, the partition lines 14 and 15 and the divided display areas 12a and 12b are formed as shown in FIG. 5A, and when the time is 12:20, As shown in b), the dividing lines 14 and 15 and the divided display areas 12a and 12b are formed.

  Similarly, the partition lines 14 and 15 and the divided display areas 12a and 12b are shown in the same figure (12) when the time is 12:40, as shown in FIG. As shown in d), when the time is 12:50, it is formed as shown in FIG. 5E, and when the time is 12:55, it is formed as shown in FIG.

  As described above, according to the image display system 100 according to the present embodiment, the controller 42 forms the display area 12 of the monitor 11 so as to extend along the respective indication directions of the hour hand and the minute hand representing the time in analog form. Since the partition lines 14 and 15 are used for partitioning, the partition lines 14 and 15 represent the short hand and the long hand of the analog timepiece, respectively. It can be recognized as a large analog clock that looks like a dial.

  Therefore, the time display using an analog clock can improve the intuitive time grasping performance, and can also improve the visual recognition performance because of the large analog display.

  In addition, the entertainment performance can be improved by changing the shape of the divided region from time to time according to the change in time.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, the controller 41 additionally adds a symbol mark 16 simulating a vehicle on which the image display system 100 is mounted to the central portion 13 of the display area 12 by superimposing. You may make it display.

  Further, the divided display pattern of the display area 12 set by the area calculation circuit 44 is not only the partition lines 14 and 15, but also the partition lines 14 and 15 and the display areas 12a and 12b as shown in FIG. A partition frame including the outer peripheral edges 12c and 12d may also be used.

  When displayed as a partition frame in this way, the outer peripheral edge 12c corresponding to the display area 12a and the display area 12d corresponding to the display area 12b are set to different colors, brightness, or different pattern patterns. Is preferred. In this way, the outer peripheral edges 12c and 12d have different colors, brightness, or pattern patterns from each other, so that the range occupied by the display area 12a and the range occupied by the display area 12b are related to each other. The outer peripheral edges 12c and 12d can be easily identified by the color difference, brightness difference, or pattern difference.

  Therefore, the range occupied by both the display areas 12a and 12b can be recognized not only from the partition lines 14 and 15, but also from the outer peripheral edges 12c and 12d, and the current time represented by the boundary between the both display areas 12a and 12b can be obtained. In order to make the driver and other users know intuitively, it is possible to recognize the driver more quickly.

  In order to avoid obscuring which of the partition lines 14 and 15 corresponds to the hour hand, the partition line 14 or 15 corresponding to the hour hand is connected to the distal end side, that is, the terminal on the outer peripheral edge side. It is good also as what shows an arrow mark as the whole partition line 14 or 15 by attaching | subjecting an arrowhead.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an image display system according to an embodiment of the present invention. (A) is a figure which shows an example of the time expression format by an analog clock, (b) is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the display mode of the image displayed on the image display area of an external monitor by the image display system shown in FIG. is there. (A) is a schematic diagram showing a display mode in which a symbol mark imitating a vehicle is additionally displayed in a display area by superimposition, and (b) is divided by a partition frame including each outer peripheral edge of the display area. It is a schematic diagram which shows the display mode which partitioned off the display area. It is the schematic diagram which demonstrated notionally the relationship between the information memorize | stored in VRAM, and a layer. It is a schematic diagram explaining the change of the display area corresponding to progress by time.

Explanation of symbols

11 External monitor (display means)
21 navigation device 22 camera 41 controller (display control means)
43 Clock function block (time information acquisition means)
44 Area calculation circuit (display area partitioning means)
45, 49, 50 VRAM
51 Image drawing IC (division area information assigning means)
100 Image display system

Claims (7)

In an image display system comprising: display means for displaying information in its display area; and display control means for controlling the display mode of information displayed on the display means.
The display control means includes time information acquisition means for acquiring time information, and the display control means includes at least two display areas extending radially from the substantially central portion of the display area toward the outer periphery of the display area. Display area partitioning means for partitioning into at least two areas by a partition line, and divided area information assigning means for respectively assigning different information to two or more areas obtained by partitioning,
The display area partitioning means includes two of the dividing lines in each indicated direction of the hour hand and the minute hand that represent the time represented by the time information in analog based on the time information acquired by the time information acquiring means. An image display system, characterized by being formed so as to extend along each.   The display area partitioning means divides the area obtained by the partition line into smaller areas, and the divided area information assigning means assigns different information to the areas obtained by the partitioning. The image display system according to claim 1.   The image display system according to claim 1, wherein the display unit is mounted in advance on a vehicle on which the image display system is mounted.   The image display system according to claim 3, wherein the display control unit displays a symbol mark representing the vehicle on the substantially central portion by superimposing.   5. The image display system according to claim 3, wherein at least one of the information assigned by the divided area information assigning unit is navigation information obtained by a car navigation system mounted on the vehicle.   6. The information according to claim 3, wherein at least one of the information allocated by the divided area information allocation unit is captured image information captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle. Image display system. The image display according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the display control means partitions and displays two or more areas by the display area partitioning means only in a predetermined standby state. system.

Images