JP2008009106A - Display device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a display device for a vehicle, the device capable of updating a display screen according to an operation by a user without increasing the cost. <P>SOLUTION: The display device for a vehicle displaying desired image information according to an input operation by the user of the vehicle includes: an input means 1 for generating a signal based on the user's operation; a control means 2 for carrying out an screen structuring process of generating screen information to display based on the signal from the input means 1 and a drawing process of generating image information based on the screen information; and a display means 4 for displaying based on the image information generated by the control means 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle display device that displays desired image information in response to an input operation by a vehicle user, and is particularly suitable for a vehicle display device that displays a function display that can be selected by an input means.

Conventionally, in a display device mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile, screen switching is performed using a display panel such as a liquid crystal element or an organic EL element in order to provide various displays even in a limited display space. There is one that provides information desired by a user while performing (for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-5679

  However, in the vehicle display device as described above, it takes a relatively long time to update and display the screen, and the next operation is performed before the screen is switched by the user's operation. If this is done, there is a problem that later operations may be invalidated, and the user may feel uncomfortable.

  In particular, when using a display panel with a large number of pixels to display a large amount of information, it is necessary to install an arithmetic circuit with excellent processing capability to increase the screen update cycle. There was a problem that would increase. Even if the screen update cycle is fast to some extent, it is difficult for a user with a high operation speed to switch screens according to the operation.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to pay attention to the above-described problems, and is a vehicle display that can update a display screen according to an operation by a user without increasing costs. To provide an apparatus.

  As described in claim 1, the vehicle display device of the present invention generates input means for generating a signal based on a user's operation and screen information for display based on the signal from the input means. Control means for performing screen composition processing and drawing processing for generating image information based on the screen information, and display means for displaying based on the image information generated by the control means.

  In addition, as described in claim 2, in the vehicle display device according to claim 1, the control unit causes the display unit to display the generated image information for each first time, and The screen composition process is performed by interrupting every second time shorter than the first time.

  Further, as described in claim 3, in the vehicle display device according to claim 2, the control means may be configured even when there are a plurality of operations by the user before performing the next drawing process. The screen composition process and the drawing process are performed in consideration of the number of operations.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle display device that can update a display screen according to an operation by a user without increasing costs.

  Embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a display device for a vehicle, which is an embodiment of the present invention, for displaying the traveling speed of the vehicle. The vehicle display device includes an input unit 1, a control unit 2, a display driver 3, and a display unit 4.

  The input means 1 can be applied with a switch for detecting an operation by a user's fingertip. In this case, the input means 1 includes a selection switch or a determination switch provided on an instrument panel or a steering wheel of the vehicle. The input means 1 emits a signal corresponding to the user's operation.

  The control means 2 can be a microcomputer, receives a signal from the input means 1, generates a control signal so that the display means 4 operates according to this signal, and outputs it to the display driver 3. Is. Further, the control means 2 inputs various signals such as the vehicle speed and the engine speed via a CAN (Controller Area Network) cable and the like, and calculates a display control signal based on the various information; Input / output for exchanging data with the read / rewriteable RAM for temporarily storing arithmetic processing results in the CPU, the ROM for storing the control program and control data, and the input means 1 and the display driver 3 The interface is connected using a bus.

  The display driver 3 is a circuit that receives a control signal from the control unit 2 and generates and outputs a drive signal for driving and controlling the display unit 4. The display driver 3 is provided with a storage unit that stores image information (information corresponding to each pixel) to be displayed on the display unit 4. This storage unit is provided with storage space for two screens, and the display and drawing (next screen) are alternately switched. While one storage unit reads the stored image information, Image information to be read next is stored in the storage unit. The display driver 3 can also be configured by the microcomputer described above.

  The display means 4 can apply a dot matrix type liquid crystal panel or an organic EL panel, and performs display based on a drive signal from the display driver 3. In this case, the display means 4 is provided at a position that is easily visible to the user, such as an instrument panel surface of a vehicle or a meter, and that can be viewed while operating the input means 1. Note that a head-up display that projects and displays a virtual image on the windshield surface or a dedicated combiner surface can also be applied as the display means.

  With the above configuration, the control unit 2 can cause the display unit 4 to output information based on various signals input via the input unit 1 or the CAN cable.

  Next, main processes of the present invention by the control means 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 shows a drawing process for generating image information and a processing procedure for switching the display, and FIG. 3 shows a processing procedure for performing a screen composition process for generating screen information. FIG. 4 shows an example of display transition by the display means 4 according to the operation.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 2 generates information for each pixel to be displayed on the display unit 4 as image information based on the screen information generated by the screen configuration process described later as the drawing process, and stores it in the RAM. Store (step S1). In this case, the control means 2 stores data such as the display color, display position and display content of each display component selected by the screen information in the ROM, and generates image information configured based on this data. is doing. Since this drawing process takes a long time to complete one screen, it is divided and processed by an interrupt process described later.

  After the above drawing process is completed, the control means 2 transfers the image information stored in the RAM to the storage unit of the display driver 3 in a lump (step S2).

  Next, the control means 2 waits until timing to switch between the display currently output by the display means 4 and the display (new display) based on the image information obtained by the above processing (step S3). This timing is set in consideration of the time required for generating image information for one screen by the above-described drawing process, and in this case, the control means 2 is based on an internal timer (not shown) for 100 milliseconds (first time). The display is set to be updated every time.

  When the timing of step S3 is satisfied, the control unit 2 determines whether the display unit 4 is based on the image information (new image information stored in the storage unit) transferred to the display driver 3 in step S2. A control signal for prompting display is output to the display driver 3 (step S4). In this case, the display driver 3 can update the display of the display means 4 by switching and outputting the display image information stored in the storage unit and the drawing (next screen) image information. .

  By repeating the above processing, a new drawing process can be performed and displayed every 100 milliseconds. Next, interrupt processing will be described with reference to FIG. This interrupt process is processed every time (second time) shorter than the timing (every 100 msec) to switch the display described above. This time is preferably short enough that a general user cannot perform a plurality of operations (inputs) via the input unit 1, and is set according to the processing speed and processing content of the control unit 2. In this case, the control means 2 performs an interrupt process every 10 milliseconds.

  Based on the signal from the input unit 1, the control unit 2 determines whether or not an operation has been performed to switch the display within 10 milliseconds (step S11). When the control means 2 determines that an operation has been made in this determination, the control means 2 performs a screen configuration process for storing new screen information in the RAM for configuring the display of items to be displayed and the cursor position based on the operation. Perform (step S12), and return to the process before the interruption. When configuring the screen information, the control means 2 calculates new screen information considering the operation through the input means 1 from the screen information generated in the past and stored in the RAM, and stores it in the RAM. I am trying to store it.

  Through the processing described above, the control unit 2 can configure screen information corresponding to the operation of the input unit 1 each time while generating the next image information by the drawing processing. Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 4A, a plurality of commands (A to C) for function display are displayed on the display means 4, and the next display is performed with the cursor E indicating the command A. If the user operates the selection switch of the input means 1 three times to move the cursor position three times before the screen is switched to (Fig. 4 (b)), Fig. 4 (b) is displayed. During this, drawing processing based on these operations is performed, and the display can be switched to a display in which the cursor E instructs the command D as shown in FIG. 4C based on the image information obtained by this drawing processing. That is, since the control unit 2 updates the screen information for each operation of the input unit 1 by the screen configuration process, it is possible to perform display switching in consideration of the number of operations by the user.

  Further, in this case, the control means 2 has a certain number of short-time operations by the user so that the cursor E can be moved to a position desired by the user and displayed on the display means 4 within 200 milliseconds. Even in this case, it is possible to quickly switch to the display corresponding to the operation. In addition, the vehicle display device can achieve the above-described effects at a low cost without using a buffer for counting the number of user operations or a complicated algorithm.

  Such a vehicle display device is based on the input means 1 that emits a signal based on a user's operation, a screen configuration process that generates screen information for display based on a signal from the input means 1, and the screen information. Control means 2 for performing drawing processing for generating image information, and display means 4 for displaying based on the image information generated by the control means 2, and the control means 2 displays the generated image information. The cost is increased by displaying on the display means 4 every first time (100 msec) and interrupting every second time (10 msec) shorter than the first time to perform the screen configuration process. The display screen can be updated according to the operation by the user.

  In addition, the control unit 2 performs the screen configuration process and the drawing process in consideration of the number of operations even when there are a plurality of operations by the user before the next drawing process. The vehicle display device can update the display screen in accordance with the operation by the user without increasing the cost.

The block diagram which shows the outline of the display apparatus for vehicles of embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the control processing of embodiment same as the above. The figure which shows the control processing of embodiment same as the above. The figure which shows the example of a display by embodiment same as the above.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Input means 2 Control means 3 Display driver 4 Display means

Claims (3)

An input means for emitting a signal based on a user's operation;
Control means for performing screen composition processing for generating screen information for display based on a signal from the input means and drawing processing for generating image information based on the screen information;
Display means for displaying based on the image information generated by the control means;
A vehicle display device comprising: The control means causes the display means to display the generated image information every first time, and performs the screen configuration process by interrupting every second time shorter than the first time. The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein The control means performs the screen composition process and the drawing process in consideration of the number of operations even when there are a plurality of operations by the user before the next drawing process is performed. The vehicle display device according to claim 2.

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