JP2009122441A - Visible direction switching device and display system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique which allows a visible direction to be changed by an easy operation without requiring a large-scale movable mechanism and a space for mobility. <P>SOLUTION: An in-vehicle display system 1 includes a display device 10 having a display surface 11, a visible direction switching device 20, a touch panel 30, and a controller 40. The visible direction switching device 20 comprises: a pair of transparent plate members 21 disposed in a positional relation along the display surface 11; and a plurality of tabular light shielding members 22 which are disposed between the transparent plate members 21 at prescribed intervals along a direction crossing one direction and have a light shielding property. When the touch panel 30 is depressed with a prescribed force or stronger, a direction in which light emitted from the display surface 11 is visible is changed because of the change of an angle formed between the display surface 11 of the display device 10 and the light shielding members 22, and only a person 61 in an assistant driver's seat can view the light. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a visible direction switching device attached to a display surface in a display device that displays an image, and a display system including the display device and the visible direction switching device.

  In recent years, automobiles have been equipped with various audio devices, television sets, navigation devices, etc., and in order to operate them, display devices such as liquid crystal displays equipped with input devices such as touch panels have been provided on the instrument panel. It has become common. This display device displays necessary information on the display and provides it to the occupant in accordance with the operation of the input device.

  Since the above-described operation of the input device is performed while looking at the display, if the driver operates the input device while driving, the driver may not watch the display and may interfere with safe driving. Therefore, in general, a navigation device is provided with a function of restricting a part of the operation, for example, an operation such as destination setting or search while the vehicle is traveling.

  However, in the navigation device having the above-described function, the passenger's operation on the passenger seat side is also restricted. When only the passenger checks the display device and operates the input device, there is no risk of disturbing safe driving, but it is necessary to stop and operate the vehicle each time to obtain the necessary information. It was very inconvenient.

  Therefore, conventionally, as a premise for permitting the operation of the input device, a technique for confirming that the operation of the input device is performed by a passenger on the passenger seat side has been proposed. For example, a technique in which a switch for canceling the prohibition of operation of the navigation device is provided in a place where only the passenger on the passenger seat side can operate (see Patent Document 1), whether the operation is performed from the passenger seat side by a sensor And the like (see Patent Document 2), and a technique for identifying whether or not the operation is from the passenger seat side based on the horizontal pressing force applied to the touch panel (see Patent Document 3).

In addition, a technology for restricting the driver's gaze at the screen when the passenger is operating has been proposed, and the position of the display device can be moved between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat, A technique for changing the information to be displayed according to the position (see Patent Document 4), a technique for changing the angle of the screen of the display device and limiting the operation according to the orientation of the screen (see Patent Document 5), and so on.
JP-A-5-164565 JP-A-8-184449 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-312053 JP-A-6-183286 JP-A-11-281376

  However, among the above-described techniques, although the techniques of Patent Documents 1 to 3 can restrict the operation of the navigation device by the driver, the driver can see the screen of the display device, so the operation by the passenger There is still a possibility that the driver will watch the screen on which the vehicle is being operated and that the safe driving will be hindered.

  On the other hand, the techniques of Patent Document 4 and Patent Document 5 require a large movable mechanism and a movable space for an instrument panel or the like, which greatly restricts the interior design of the vehicle and operates the input device. There is a problem in that the operation of the display device has to be moved and the orientation has to be changed every time, and the operation becomes complicated.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and does not require a large movable mechanism and a movable space, and includes a visible direction switching device and a display system that can change a visible direction by a simple operation. The purpose is to provide.

  The visible direction switching device according to claim 1, which has been made to solve the above-described problem, is a visible direction switching device that is attached to a display surface of a display device that displays an image, and includes a viewing angle limiting unit, a light transmission device, and the like. It consists of a characteristic plate-like part and a displacement detection part.

  The viewing angle restriction unit is configured to place a plate-shaped light shielding member having a light shielding property extending along one direction on the surface along the display surface of the display device in the other direction intersecting the one direction on the surface. The plurality of light shielding members are held rotatably in synchronization with each other about the rotation axis along the one direction.

  According to the viewing angle restriction unit configured as described above, the light shielding member restricts the traveling direction of the light emitted from the display surface, and thus the direction in which the display surface can be visually recognized is restricted. The visually recognizable direction is determined according to the angle formed between the light shielding member and the display surface (see FIGS. 2 and 4: display surface 11, light shielding member 22, angle A).

  Further, the light transmissive plate-like portion is a plate-like member having light permeability, and is located on the opposite side of the display surface of the display device and along the display surface with respect to the viewing angle limiting portion. In relation to this, the angle formed with each of the plurality of light shielding members can be changed with respect to the plurality of light shielding members.

The displacement detector detects that the angle formed between the light shielding member and the display surface is a predetermined angle based on the displacement of the light transmissive plate-like portion.
The visible direction switching device configured as described above rotates the light shielding member when the angle formed between the light shielding member and the light transmissive plate-like portion is changed due to the displacement of the light-transmissive plate-like portion. The angle formed between the light shielding member and the display surface is changed. Further, when the angle becomes a predetermined angle, this is detected.

  Therefore, in the above-described visible direction switching device, since the visible direction can be changed by displacing the light-transmitting plate-like portion, a large-scale movable mechanism and a movable space are not required, and by a simple operation, The visually recognizable direction can be changed, and it can be detected that the visually recognizable direction has been changed.

  The visible direction switching device described above may be configured to return to a predetermined position after displacing the light-transmitting plate-like portion. For this purpose, the configuration described in claim 1 may be configured to have a biasing unit that biases the light-transmitting plate-shaped portion in a predetermined direction, like the visible direction switching device according to claim 2.

  In the thus configured visible direction switching device, the light-transmitting plate-like portion is located at the initial position when an operation for displacing the light-transmitting plate-like portion is not performed. Even if an operation is performed on the shape portion to displace it from the initial position, when the operation is stopped, it returns to the initial position again by the biasing force. Therefore, with the above-described visible direction switching device, the visible direction can be returned to the original direction without any operation after changing the visible direction by displacing the light-transmitting plate-like portion. it can.

  The predetermined direction to which the urging means urges is configured to be a direction opposite to the direction in which the light transmitting plate-like portion is displaced, as in the visible direction switching device according to claim 3. Also good. As the displacement here, for example, there is a displacement when the angle formed between the light shielding member and the display surface is set to the predetermined angle described above.

  With the visible direction switching device configured as described above, any operation is performed after changing the visible direction to the direction corresponding to the predetermined angle described above by displacing the light-transmitting plate-like portion. At least the visible direction can be returned to the original direction.

  In addition, although the elastic member like a spring can be used as the urging means described above, it may be configured to slowly return to a predetermined position after displacing the light-transmitting plate-like portion. For this purpose, for example, a shock absorber such as a damper may be attached to the elastic member so as to delay the return due to the urging force. May be used.

  In the case of the visible direction switching device configured as described above, the low resilience cushioning material is restored over a period of time after the light transmitting plate-like portion is displaced. It can be returned to the original position without any operation. Further, once the operation of displacing the light-transmitting plate-like portion is performed, the change of the viewing range can be maintained during the period until the low-rebound cushion material is restored without performing the displacement operation.

  The low resilience cushion material described above corresponds to a low resilience material such as urethane. By arranging such a low resilience cushion material at a position where the light-transmitting plate-like portion is pressed and compressed and deformed when the light-transmitting plate-like portion is displaced, the above-described functions and effects are obtained. be able to.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display system comprising: a display device having a display surface for displaying an image; and the visible direction switching device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects. It is a display system.

With such a display system, it is possible to display an image while having the same function as the visible direction switching device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
In addition, the display system includes an input device that accepts user input and a control device, as in the display system according to claim 6, and the control device is configured to detect the light shielding member by the displacement detection unit. When it is detected that the angle formed with the display surface is the predetermined angle described above, the display may be controlled according to the input received by the input device.

  In the display system configured as described above, the input to the input device is reflected only when the user displaces the light-transmitting plate-like portion. Therefore, the operation to the input device when the light-transmitting plate-like portion is not displaced can be prevented.

  The specific position where the input device is arranged is not particularly limited. For example, it is conceivable to dispose it around the display surface or at a position covering the display surface. In order to arrange at a position covering the display surface, as in the display system according to claim 7, the input device is based on the light transmissive plate-like portion of the surface of the light transmissive plate-like portion. It is preferable that the touch panel be disposed on a surface opposite to the display surface when the touch panel is used.

  The touch panel is generally a transparent plate, and the user performs an input operation by pressing the plate. Therefore, if it is a display system comprised in this way, in order to touch a touch panel at the time of input operation of a touch panel, at that time, a light-transmitting plate-shaped part can be operated simultaneously. That is, since the light transmissive plate-like portion can be displaced by the same operation as the operation of the touch panel, the operation of the light transmissive plate-like portion can be further simplified.

  A display system according to an eighth aspect is the display system according to any one of the fifth to seventh aspects, and is used by being mounted on a vehicle. And the predetermined angle mentioned above was defined as follows.

  The predetermined angle mentioned above means that light emitted from the display surface blocks light directed to the area where the driver's seat of the vehicle is located and blocks light transmitted to the area where the passenger's seat of the vehicle passes. The angle formed between the light shielding member and the display surface when the member rotates.

  With the display system configured as described above, changing the visible direction only to the passenger seat side direction can be realized by a simple operation without requiring a large movable mechanism and a movable space. Furthermore, it can be detected that the visible direction has been changed only to the passenger seat side direction.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(1) Overall Configuration The in-vehicle display system 1 is a device that is mounted and used in a vehicle, and is attached to the display surface 11 and a display device 10 having a display surface 11 for displaying an image, as shown in FIG. A visible direction switching device 20, a touch panel 30 that receives user input, and a control device 40 that controls each of the above components are provided. In addition to the above, various sensors such as a speed sensor for detecting the traveling speed of the vehicle, a position detecting device including a GPS receiver, a storage device for storing map information, and the like are provided. Functions as a system.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the visible direction switching device 20 and the touch panel 30 are attached to the display device 10.
The visible direction switching device 20 displays between a pair of transparent plates 21 (21a, 21b) arranged in a positional relationship along the display surface 11 (expanding in the XY direction in FIG. 2) and the transparent plates 21. A plate-shaped light shielding member 22 having a light shielding property extending along one direction (X direction in FIG. 2) on the surface along the surface 11, and the light shielding member 22 is the one direction on the surface. A plurality of elements are arranged at predetermined intervals along the other direction (Y direction in FIG. 2) that intersects with.

  Each of the plurality of light shielding members 22 has one end attached to the transparent plate 21 a on the display surface 11 side and the other end attached to the transparent plate 21 b on the opposite side of the display surface 11. As shown in FIG. 3, the transparent plate member 21 and the light shielding member 22 are attached to each other by a silicon rubber adhesive layer 23. This silicon rubber adhesive layer 23 can be easily deformed and has a restoring force.

  In addition, the visible direction switching device 20 includes a low-rebound cushion material 24 that urges the transparent plate material 21b in a direction (Y2 direction in FIG. 4) toward the position before the transparent plate material 21b is displaced, and a transparent plate material 21b. And an operation restriction release switch 25 that is turned on when pressed by the displacement of the plate member 21b. When the operation restriction release switch 25 is turned on, the angle A (see FIG. 4) formed between the light shielding member 22 and the display surface 11 is equal to or less than the predetermined angle At because the transparent plate 21b is displaced by a predetermined distance or more. Become.

  The touch panel 30 is disposed on the surface of the transparent plate 21b opposite to the display surface 11. The touch panel 30 is constantly monitored by the control device 40, and when the user presses the touch panel 30, the pressed position is specified by the control device 40.

  The control device 40 is configured around a known microcomputer including a CPU, ROM, RAM, I / O, a bus line connecting these components, and the like, and controls the above-described on-vehicle display system 1 as a whole. Moreover, it connects with the speed sensor and detects the speed of the vehicle based on the output signal of the speed sensor.

The control device 40 performs navigation-related display processing and operation permission determination processing in accordance with application programs and various data read from the ROM or the like.
Examples of navigation-related display processing include map display processing and route guidance display processing. The map display process is a process of calculating the current position of the vehicle based on each detection signal from the position detection device and displaying a map and the like near the current position on the display device based on the map data stored in the storage device. . The route guidance display processing calculates a destination route that is an optimum route from the current position to the destination set by operating the touch panel 30 based on the map data stored in the storage device. This is a process for performing travel guidance to the destination in consideration of the relationship between the destination and the destination route. As a method for automatically setting an optimum route in this way, a method such as cost calculation by the Dijkstra method is known.

Further, the operation permission determination process determines whether or not the operation restriction release switch 25 is turned on while the vehicle is traveling, and the operation restriction release switch 25 is turned on, that is, the angle A formed by the light shielding member 22 and the display surface 11. Is a process of permitting a process according to an input operation to the touch panel 30 when it is detected that the angle is equal to or less than a predetermined angle At, which will be described in detail later. The control device 40 controls display according to the input to the touch panel 30 when the operation restriction release switch 25 is on.
(2) Operation and Action of Visible Direction Switching Device 20 When the transparent plate 21b of the visible direction switching device 20 is not displaced, the light shielding member 22 is perpendicular to the display surface 11 of the display device 10 as shown in FIG. The positional relationship becomes. At this time, the light emitted from the display surface 11 can be viewed from a certain range centered on the front direction.

  Next, when the touch panel 30 is pressed with a predetermined force or more, as shown in FIG. 4, the position of the transparent plate 21b is displaced in the Y1 direction, and each of the plurality of light shielding members 22 is in one direction (X direction in FIG. 4). ) Along the bonding portion 26 between the light shielding member 22 and the transparent plate material 21a as a rotation axis, and the angle between the transparent plate material 21b and each of the plurality of light shielding members 22 is changed. As a result, since the angle A formed by the display surface 11 of the display device 10 and the light shielding member 22 changes, as shown in FIG. 5, the light shielding member 22 blocks light toward the region 50 where the driver's seat of the vehicle is located. In addition, the light is directed toward the area 60 where the passenger seat of the vehicle is located, and the direction in which the light emitted from the display surface 11 is visible is changed. Only the passenger 61 is visible. At the same time, the low resilience cushion material 24 and the operation restriction release switch 25 are pressed by the transparent plate 21b, and the operation restriction release switch 25 is turned on. Note that the holding member 70 suppresses the displacement of the transparent plate 21b in the Y2 direction.

Next, when the pressing of the touch panel 30 is released, the low resilience cushion material 24 is gradually restored over a certain period of time. The transparent plate material 21b is urged in the Y2 direction opposite to the Y1 direction by the low-rebound cushion material 24 to be restored, and returns toward the original position. Accordingly, the light shielding member 22 rotates, and the angle A formed between the display surface 11 and the light shielding member 22 gradually returns to the original, so that the visible direction gradually returns to the original. Further, when the transparent plate 21b returns more than a certain distance, the operation restriction release switch 25 is released and turned off.
(3) Operation Permission Judgment Process Hereinafter, the process procedure of the operation permission judgment process performed by the control device 40 will be described with reference to FIG.

  This operation permission determination process is executed each time a user operation on the touch panel 30 is detected when the in-vehicle display system 1 is activated by turning on the accessory switch of the vehicle.

  In this operation permission determination process, first, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is traveling (S10). Here, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is traveling based on the traveling speed of the vehicle determined according to the output signal of the speed sensor. If the vehicle is traveling (S10: YES), the process proceeds to S20. On the other hand, if the vehicle is not traveling (S10: NO), the process proceeds to S30.

  If it is determined in S10 that the vehicle is traveling, it is determined whether or not the operation restriction release switch 25 is on (S20). If the operation restriction release switch 25 is on (S20: YES), the process proceeds to S30. On the other hand, if the operation restriction release switch 25 is not on (S20: NO), the process proceeds to S40.

  When it is determined that the vehicle is not traveling in S10 and when it is determined that the operation restriction release switch 25 is turned on in S20, the user input content determined by the position pressed by the user on the touch panel 30 is determined. Are displayed on the display surface 11 (S30). Thereafter, this process ends.

Further, when it is determined that the vehicle is traveling in S10 and when it is not determined that the operation restriction release switch 25 is ON in S20, the process for the position pressed by the user is not performed, and the touch panel 30 is not touched. The input operation is ignored (S40). Thereafter, this process ends.
(4) Effect The in-vehicle display system 1 configured as described above can operate the touch panel 30 only when the visibility of the display surface 11 from the driver's seat side is restricted when the vehicle is traveling. Therefore, the driver cannot operate the touch panel 30 during the driving operation, or cannot visually recognize the display surface 11 operated by the passenger in the passenger seat. Further, the change of the visible direction can be realized by pressing the touch panel 30 with a predetermined force or more.

  Therefore, if it is the vehicle-mounted display system 1 mentioned above, a large-scale movable mechanism and movable space are not required, the visual recognition by the driver | operator during driving | running | working of a vehicle can be suppressed, and the passenger of the passenger seat is operation which presses the touch panel 30. The visible direction can be changed by a simple operation similar to.

In addition, since the direction in which the vehicle can be visually recognized is returned by the low-rebound cushioning material 24 over a predetermined time, the passenger in the passenger seat does not need to displace the transparent plate 21b every time an input operation is performed. After the process is completed, there is no need to perform an operation for returning the transparent plate 21b to the original position.
(5) Modifications Embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can take various forms as long as they belong to the technical scope of the present invention. Needless to say.

  For example, in the said embodiment, the structure which the transparent board | plate material 21b returns to the original position with the low resilience cushioning material 24 was illustrated. However, it may be configured to return to the original position by the restoring force of the silicon rubber-based adhesive layer 23.

Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the structure which displaces the transparent board | plate material 21b was illustrated by pressing the touch panel 30 with the force more than predetermined, if the transparent board | plate material 21b can be displaced, the specific structure will be especially limited. Not. For example, when the user sets a visible direction change button that can be input even while the vehicle is running on the touch panel 30, a configuration in which the transparent plate 21b is displaced by holding a lever attached to the transparent plate 21b, and the button is pressed. In addition, a configuration in which the transparent plate 21b is displaced using a power device such as a motor is conceivable.
(6) Correspondence In the embodiment described above, the transparent plate 21b is a light-transmitting plate-like portion in the present invention, and the control device 40 and the operation restriction release switch 25 are displacement detection portions in the present invention.

The block diagram which shows the vehicle-mounted display system of embodiment The figure which shows the state which attached the visible direction switching apparatus and the touch panel to the display apparatus. Diagram showing connection between transparent plate and shading member The figure which shows the state which displaced the transparent board Diagram showing the visible direction inside the vehicle The flowchart which shows the process sequence of an operation permission determination process

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle-mounted display system, 10 ... Display apparatus, 11 ... Display surface, 20 ... Visible direction switching device, 21, 21a, 21b ... Transparent board | plate material, 22 ... Light-shielding member, 23 ... Silicone rubber-type adhesive layer, 24 ... Low repulsion 25 ... Operation restriction release switch, 26 ... Bonding location, 30 ... Touch panel, 40 ... Control device, 50 ... Region, 51 ... Driver, 60 ... Region, 61 ... Passenger, 70 ... Holding member

Claims (8)

A visible direction switching device attached to a display surface in a display device for displaying an image,
A plurality of plate-shaped light shielding members having light shielding properties extending along one direction on the surface along the display surface are arranged at predetermined intervals along the other direction intersecting the one direction on the surface. The plurality of light blocking members are each configured to have a viewing angle limiter that is rotatably held around a rotation axis along the one direction.
The angle between each of the plurality of light shielding members is changeably attached to the plurality of light shielding members in a positional relationship along the display surface opposite to the display surface when the viewing angle restriction unit is used as a reference. A light-transmitting plate-like portion that is formed;
A visible direction switching device comprising: a displacement detection unit configured to detect that an angle formed between the light-shielding member and the display surface is a predetermined angle based on a displacement of the light-transmitting plate-like portion. . The visible direction switching device according to claim 1, further comprising an urging unit that urges the light transmissive plate-like portion in a predetermined direction. The visible direction switching device according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined direction is a direction opposite to the direction of the displacement of the light transmissive plate-like portion. The visible direction switching device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the urging means is a low resilience cushioning material. A display device having a display surface for displaying an image;
A display system comprising: the visual direction switching device according to claim 1. An input device that accepts user input;
Control for controlling the display according to the input received by the input device when the displacement detection unit detects that the angle formed between the light shielding member and the display surface is the predetermined angle. The display system according to claim 5, further comprising: a device. The input device is a touch panel arranged on a surface opposite to the display surface when the light transmissive plate-like portion is used as a reference among the surfaces of the light transmissive plate-like portion. The display system according to claim 6. A display system mounted on a vehicle and used.
The predetermined angle is a position where light emitted from the display surface blocks light directed to a region where the driver's seat of the vehicle is located and allows light directed to a region where the passenger seat of the vehicle is located to pass. The display system according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein an angle formed between the light shielding member and the display surface when the light shielding member is rotated.

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