JP2007290484A - Night forward information offering device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a night forward information offering device specifically designed for a large-sized commercial vehicle. <P>SOLUTION: A projector is installed on the ceiling surface of a cabin covered with a sun visor in the stored condition when out of service, and a reflecting plate is installed rotatably at one end of the projector. The sun visor has two supporting shafts arranged approximately parallel with the windshield as pinching the projector and secured to the ceiling, and out of service, the sun visor is supported by the two shafts and stored at the ceiling, and in service, is supported by the shaft which is located nearer the windshield. When the projector is in service, the sun visor is supported by the supporting shaft located farther from the windshield. Otherwise, the projector is installed on the cabin side surface of the sun visor in the stored condition out of service, while the reflecting plate is installed rotatably at one end of the projector. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention is used in a device that supports safe driving of a vehicle at night. In particular, it is used for large vehicles (trucks, buses) for transporting cargo and passengers.

For the safe driving of vehicles at night, nighttime front information providing devices for improving the visibility of pedestrians and the like are becoming popular in passenger cars. In passenger cars, it is stipulated that the image display position by the device is on the line of sight of the driver and below the horizontal plane. Actually, a method of projecting image information directly on the inner lower part of the windshield or a method of projecting image information by installing a reflector at that position is employed. FIG. 9 shows the installation positions of the reflector and the projector in the passenger car.
TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION, [online], [Search April 20, 2006], Internet <URL: http://Toyota.jp/crownmajesta/safety/active/index.html>

  It is desirable from the viewpoint of safe driving of the vehicle at night that the above-mentioned night front information providing device is also popular in large commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses. However, since the size of the windshield and the position of the driver's line of sight with respect to the road surface are different between the large commercial vehicle and the passenger car, it is not possible to follow the method implemented in the passenger car as it is.

  For example, when an image is projected on the inside lower part of the windshield, in order to visually recognize the image, the driver of the large commercial vehicle needs to tilt the line of sight downward more than the driver of the passenger car. The time required to return attention to the front again after visually recognizing the image is longer than that for a passenger car.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the state of light transmitted through the reflector in a passenger car, and FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example in which the installation state of the projector and reflector in a passenger car is applied to a large commercial vehicle as it is. As shown in the figure, as in the case of a passenger car, when the projection is performed from below to the reflecting plate, the light transmitted through the reflecting plate is reflected on the windshield surface further above the reflecting plate, thereby causing a ghost image. May occur, obstructing visibility. In general, as shown in FIG. 10, in the case of a passenger car, the inclination of the reflector can be made substantially equal to the inclination of the windshield surface, and the transmitted light of the reflector passes through the windshield as it is. Therefore, there is almost no possibility that the ghost image is reflected on the windshield, and it is not necessary to consider the influence of the ghost image. In addition, in the case of a large commercial vehicle, it is difficult to secure an installation location when a projector is installed in the lower part of the cabin.

  Therefore, it is necessary to newly find an image display position suitable for a large commercial vehicle and to develop a night front information providing apparatus specialized for the large commercial vehicle.

  The present invention has been made under such a background, and an object of the present invention is to provide a night front information providing apparatus specialized for a large commercial vehicle.

  The inventor displays the image of the night front information providing device on the lower part of the windshield surface, the side surface of the cabin, and the position of the sun visor in the large commercial vehicle, until the attention is returned to the front again after viewing the image. The time required for this was measured. As a result, in the case of a large commercial vehicle, when the image is displayed at the position of the sun visor, the amount of line-of-sight movement for visually recognizing the image is the smallest. It was found that the time required was the shortest.

  FIG. 8 shows the experimental results. In the example of FIG. 8, the line-of-sight movement amount when the driver's line of sight is on the horizontal plane is 29.2 ° at the lower part of the windshield surface, but is 16.4 ° at the sun visor position. It can be seen that the amount of movement of the line of sight is less in the sun visor position than in the lower part of the windshield.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a night front including a camera device that captures the front of a vehicle, a projector that projects an image captured by the camera device, and a reflector that projects an image projected from the projector. An information providing apparatus, wherein the vehicle is provided with a sun visor that is pulled out substantially parallel to the windshield surface when in use and is accommodated substantially parallel to the ceiling surface of the cabin when not in use. The projector is provided on a ceiling surface of a cabin covered with the sun visor accommodated when not in use, and the reflector is provided at one end of the projector so as to be rotatable.

  According to this, at the time of use of a projector, a reflector can be installed at the position of the sun visor. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the time required to return attention to the front again after visually recognizing the image of the reflecting plate. Furthermore, since the image is projected from the top to the bottom, it is easy to set the position where the ghost image is generated so as to avoid the windshield surface. Moreover, generally, there is no equipment or the like that has been conventionally attached to the ceiling surface, and there is an advantage that there is enough room for attaching the projector.

  At this time, since the projector is covered with the sun visor when not in use, when the projector is used, it is used after the sun visor is pulled out. Therefore, an image is displayed on the extracted sun visor so that the reflector overlaps.

  Even in such a use state, there is no great practical problem, but since the area of the sun visor is generally larger than the area of the reflector, the field of view blocked by the sun visor is blocked by the reflector. Larger than the field of view. Therefore, it is desirable if the field of view obstructed by the sun visor can be eliminated.

  As a measure therefor, for example, the sun visor has two support shafts that are substantially parallel to the windshield across the projector and fixed to the ceiling, and when the sun visor is not used, The sun visor is supported by a shaft and accommodated in a ceiling. When the sun visor is used, the sun visor is supported by the support shaft closer to the windshield, and when the projector is used, the support farther from the windshield is supported. The sun visor is supported by a shaft. According to this, when using the projector, the sun visor can be moved to the rear of the driver, so that the field of view blocked by the sun visor can be eliminated.

  Alternatively, the projector is provided on a surface on the driver's seat side of the sun visor accommodated when not in use, and the reflector is rotatably provided at one end of the projector. .

  That is, since the night front information providing apparatus of the present invention is used at night, it is impossible to use both the night front information providing apparatus of the present invention and the sun visor at the same time. Therefore, if the projector is installed on the driver side surface of the sun visor accommodated when not in use, the position of the reflector when used is almost the position of the sun visor, and the sun visor is accommodated in the ceiling. Since it is in a state of standing, the field of view is not obstructed by the sun visor.

  In addition, it is desirable that the reflection plate is provided at a position that serves as a cover for protecting the projection unit of the projector when the projector is not used. According to this, when not in use, the reflecting plate serves as a lid of the projection unit of the projector, and for example, it is possible to prevent the image quality from deteriorating due to dirt on the driver's hair attached to the projection unit.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the night front information provision apparatus specialized in the large commercial vehicle can be implement | achieved, and it can contribute to the safe driving at night of a large commercial vehicle.

(First Example)
The nighttime front information providing apparatus of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a night front information providing apparatus according to the present embodiment in a truck. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a mounting state of the projector and the reflector according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the first embodiment is a camera device 1 that captures the front of a vehicle, a projector 2 that projects an image captured by the camera device 1, and a projection from the projector 2. It is a night front information provision apparatus provided with the reflecting plate 3 on which the projected image is projected.

  Here, the feature of the first embodiment is that the vehicle of this embodiment is pulled out substantially parallel to the surface of the windshield 7 when used, and accommodated substantially parallel to the surface of the cabin ceiling 8 when not in use. The projector 2 is provided on the surface of the ceiling 8 of the cabin covered by the sun visor 5 accommodated when not in use, and the reflector 3 is rotated by a hinge 9 at one end of the projector 2. It is in a place where it can move freely.

  3 is a diagram showing a state when the sun visor 5 is in use, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state when the projector 2 is in use, but the sun visor 5 is shown in FIG. And two support shafts 6-1 and 6-2, which are substantially parallel to the windshield 7 and fixed to the ceiling, respectively. When the sun visor 5 is not used, the sun visor 5 is supported by the two support shafts 6-1 and 6-2 and accommodated in the ceiling 8. As shown in FIG. 3, when the sun visor 5 is used, the sun visor 5 is supported by the support shaft 6-1 closer to the windshield 7.

  When the projector 2 is used, the reflection plate 3 can be pulled out so as to be superimposed on the sun visor 5 in the state shown in FIG. 3, and the projection image of the projector 2 can be projected onto the reflection plate 3, as shown in FIG. As shown, when the projector 2 is used, the reflector 3 is pulled out under the condition that the sun visor 5 is removed from the driver's field of view by supporting the sun visor 5 with the support shaft 6-2 far from the windshield 7. The projector 2 can also be used.

  In general, since the area of the sun visor 5 is larger than the area of the reflector 3, the field of view blocked by the sun visor 5 is larger than the field of view blocked by the reflector 3. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, it is extremely useful to be able to eliminate the field of view blocked by the sun visor 5 when the reflector 3 is used.

  The reflector 3 is provided at a position that serves as a cover for protecting the projection unit of the projector 2 when the projector 2 is not used.

(Second embodiment)
The nighttime front information providing apparatus of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. The overall configuration diagram of the night front information providing device in the truck is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a mounting state of the projector and the reflector according to the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, a camera device 1 that captures the front of a vehicle, a projector 2 that projects an image captured by the camera device 1, and a projection from the projector 2 It is a night front information provision apparatus provided with the reflecting plate 3 on which the projected image is projected.

  Here, the feature of the second embodiment is that the vehicle on which the projector 2 is mounted is pulled out substantially parallel to the surface of the windshield 7 when in use, and is substantially parallel to the surface of the ceiling 8 of the cabin when not in use. The projector 2 is provided on the driver side surface of the sun visor 15 accommodated when not in use, and the reflector 3 is rotated by a hinge 9 at one end of the projector 2. It is in a place where it is provided freely. Similarly to the first embodiment, the reflecting plate 3 is provided at a position serving as a cover for protecting the projection unit of the projector 2 when the projector 2 is not used. In the second embodiment, the sun visor 15 may have only one support shaft 6.

  FIG. 6 shows a situation when the sun visor 15 is used. FIG. 7 shows a situation when the projector 2 is used. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, when the sun visor 15 is in use, the projector 2 is on the back surface of the sun visor 15, so that the projector 2 cannot be used, and the projector 2 is in use. The sun visor 15 must be housed in the ceiling 8 and the sun visor 15 cannot be used. However, this embodiment is an embodiment of the night front information providing apparatus, and the sun visor 15 and the projector 2 Since the situation where the projector 2 and the reflector 3 are used simultaneously is not possible, the installation method of the projector 2 and the reflector 3 of the second embodiment is useful from the viewpoint of effective use of space. It is not necessary to carry out the process for attaching the projector 2 to 8, and it is only necessary to carry out the process for attaching the projector 2 only to the sun visor 15. Therefore, the sun visor 15 is manufactured by outsourcing separately from the vehicle manufacturing process. Or, alternatively, such does not require processing for attaching the projector 2 in an existing vehicle, it is useful from the viewpoint of efficiency of the manufacturing process.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the night front information provision apparatus specialized in the large commercial vehicle can be implement | achieved, and it can contribute to the safe driving at night of a large commercial vehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. The figure which shows the attachment condition of the projector of 1st Example, and a reflecting plate. The figure which shows the state at the time of use of the sun visor of a 1st Example. The figure which shows the state at the time of use of the projector of a 1st Example. The figure which shows the attachment condition of the projector of 2nd Example, and a reflecting plate. The figure which shows the condition at the time of use of the sun visor of a 2nd Example. The figure which shows the condition at the time of use of the projector of 2nd Example. The figure which shows an experimental result. The figure which shows the installation position of the reflecting plate in a passenger car, and a projector. The figure which shows the state of the reflecting plate transmitted light in a passenger car. The figure which shows the example which applied the installation state of the projector in a passenger car, and a reflecting plate as it is to a heavy commercial vehicle.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Camera apparatus 2 Projector 3 Reflector 4 Infrared projector 5, 15 Sun visor 6, 6-1, 6-2 Support shaft 7 Windshield 8 Ceiling 9 Hinge

Claims (4)

In a night front information providing device comprising a camera device that captures the front of a vehicle, a projector that projects an image captured by the camera device, and a reflector that projects an image projected from the projector,
The vehicle includes a sun visor that is pulled out substantially parallel to the windshield surface when in use, and is accommodated in parallel to the ceiling surface of the cabin when not in use.
The projector is provided on a ceiling surface of a cabin covered by the sun visor accommodated when not in use,
The reflection plate is provided at one end of the projector so as to be freely rotatable. The sun visor has two support shafts that are substantially parallel to the windshield across the projector and fixed to the ceiling, respectively.
When the sun visor is not used, the sun visor is supported by the two support shafts and accommodated in the ceiling,
When using the sun visor, the sun visor is supported by the support shaft closer to the windshield,
The night front information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sun visor is supported by the support shaft farther from the windshield when the projector is used. In a night front information providing device comprising a camera device that captures the front of a vehicle, a projector that projects an image captured by the camera device, and a reflector that projects an image projected from the projector,
The vehicle includes a sun visor that is pulled out substantially parallel to the windshield surface when in use, and is accommodated in parallel to the ceiling surface of the cabin when not in use.
The projector is provided on the surface of the driver's seat in the sun visor accommodated when not in use,
The reflection plate is provided at one end of the projector so as to be freely rotatable.   4. The night front information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reflector is provided at a position serving as a cover for protecting a projection unit of the projector when the projector is not used.

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