JP2010125910A - Head-up display device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a head-up display device adjusting the position of a virtual image of a display image displayed for a driver to the direction of a face and the gazing direction of the driver. <P>SOLUTION: The head up display device includes a virtual image display section irradiating the display image displayed on a display 5 on the reflection plane of a front windshield 6 and displaying the virtual image 13a of the display image for the driver 8, a projection display section irradiating a grid-shape standard grid from an infrared irradiation device 9 arranged on the side of the display 5 on the reflection plane of the front windshield 6 and projecting a reflected standard grid 12 to the face of the driver 8, a detection section photographing the reflected standard grid 12 projected to the face of the driver 8 by the projection display section, and a face detection section detecting the direction of the face or the gazing direction of the driver 8 from the image photographed by the detection section. The virtual image display section displays the virtual image 13a of the display image in a position adjusted to the direction of the face or the gazing direction of the driver 8 detected by the face detection section. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a head-up display device.

Conventionally, a technique described in Patent Document 1 is known as a head-up display device.
Moreover, the technique of patent document 2 is known as a method of detecting the shape of a human face.
According to the present invention, a grid-shaped reference grid is projected onto a human face from an irradiator, and the shape of the face is detected from the projected display image.
JP-A-6-215300 JP 2005-106491 A

However, in the conventional invention, when improving the visibility by aligning the position of the virtual image of the display image with the direction of the driver's face and the direction of the line of sight, there are problems listed below.
In other words, it is necessary to irradiate the irradiator from substantially the front of the driver's face.For example, if the irradiator is installed on the instrument panel, it is difficult to ensure the optical path, installation position, designability, driver's view, etc. Become.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and the object of the present invention is to provide a display that is displayed to the driver while ensuring the optical path, the installation position, the design, the visibility of the driver, and the like. It is an object of the present invention to provide a head-up display device capable of improving the visibility by matching the position of the virtual image of the image with the direction of the driver's face and the direction of the line of sight.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the display image displayed on the display is irradiated onto the reflection surface of the front window shield and reflected toward the driver's face, thereby displaying a virtual image of the display image on the driver. By irradiating the reflecting surface of the front window shield with a lattice-shaped reference grating from the virtual image display unit that is arranged in parallel with the display device and reflecting it toward the driver's face, the driver's face A projection display unit that projects a reference grid onto a face; a detection unit that captures a reference grid projected onto the driver's face by the projection display unit; and a driver's face orientation or from an image captured by the detection unit A face detection unit that detects a line-of-sight direction is provided, and the virtual image display unit displays a virtual image of the display image at a position that matches the direction of the driver's face or the line-of-sight direction detected by the face detection unit. And

In the first aspect of the invention, the reference grid in the form of a grid is irradiated on the reflecting surface of the front window shield from the illuminator arranged in parallel with the display unit, and reflected toward the driver's face, whereby the driver A projection display unit for projecting a reference grid onto the face.
Then, a reference grid projected on the driver's face is imaged by the detection unit, and the virtual image display unit displays a virtual image of the display image at a position that matches the driver's face direction or line-of-sight direction from the image obtained by the detection unit. indicate.
As a result, while ensuring the optical path, installation position, designability, driver's field of view, etc., the virtual image of the display image displayed to the driver is aligned with the driver's face direction and line-of-sight direction. The improvement of property etc. can be aimed at.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Example 1 will be described below.
FIG. 1 is a general view illustrating a head-up display device according to a first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of a HUD unit according to the first embodiment, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are diagrams illustrating the operation of the head-up display device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a front view of the display panel of the first embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the correction program of the first embodiment, FIG. 7 is a front view of the display board of the first embodiment of the first embodiment, a diagram for explaining the positional deviation of the reflection reference grating, and FIG. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining an example of virtual image display.

First, the overall configuration will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, in the head-up display device 1 according to the first embodiment, a head-up display unit 2 (hereinafter referred to as a HUD unit 2), an infrared camera 3 electrically connected to the HUD unit 2, and the like. Is provided.

The HUD unit 2 is provided with a display screen 5a of the display unit 5 facing the opening 4a opened upward on the instrument panel 4 of the vehicle, and the display screen 5a is a reflective surface of the front window shield 6. It is installed in an inclined state toward 6a.
Further, the display screen 5a of the display 5 is projected on the front window shield 6 side by a light source (not shown).
Thereby, the display image displayed on the display screen 5 a is provided so as to be able to irradiate the reflection surface 6 a of the front window shield 6.
In addition, in Example 1, although the reflective surface 6a is limited to the predetermined area range X1, it is not this limitation.
Further, a combiner may be provided on the front window shield 6 to form the reflecting surface 6a.
The infrared camera 3 is fixed to the upper part of the steering column 7 and is arranged toward the face of the driver 8.

Next, the HUD unit 2 will be described in detail.
In the HUD unit 2, an infrared irradiator 9 is provided in parallel with the display screen 5 a of the display 5.
The infrared irradiator 9 is provided so as to be able to irradiate the reflection surface 6 a of the front window shield 6 with a reference grating having a lattice shape by laser light from a plurality of LEDs.
The wavelength of this laser beam is set in the invisible region. Note that a Fourier transform hologram may be used.
As shown in FIG. 2, the HUD unit 2 includes a CPU 2a (Central Processing Unit), a ROM 2b (Read Only Memory), and a RAM 2c (Random Access Memory).
Further, the projection display unit 2d, the virtual image display unit 2e, the correction filter unit 2f, the display VRAM 2g, the infrared irradiator VRAM 2h, the detection unit 2i, the face detection unit 2j, the shape storage unit 2k, and the reference grid A storage unit 2m and the like are provided.
Further, the CPU 2a executes a correction program, which will be described later, stored in the ROM 2b, thereby providing a function as the correction unit 2n.

  In addition, the HUD unit 2 is electrically connected to the display 5, the infrared irradiator 9, and the infrared camera 3, the various devices related to the method and contents displayed on the display 5, and various sensors 2 o. It is configured to be able to communicate.

As shown in FIG. 3, the projection display unit 2 d outputs a grid-shaped reference grid stored in the infrared radiator VRAM 2 h to the infrared radiator 9.
As a result, the infrared irradiator 9 irradiates the reference grating onto the reflecting surface 6 a of the front window shield 6, and then reflects it toward the face of the driver 8 to project the reflecting reference grating 12 onto the face of the driver 8. .
The optical path of the infrared irradiator 9 is indicated by an arrow line.
The detection unit 2 i images the reflection reference grating 12 projected on the face of the driver 8 with the infrared camera 3.
The face detection unit 2j detects the face direction and line-of-sight direction of the driver 8 from the image obtained by the detection unit 2i.

On the other hand, the virtual image display unit 2e outputs the display image temporarily stored in the display VRAM 2g to the display 5 via the correction filter unit 2f.
As a result, the display 5 irradiates the display image on the reflection surface 6a of the front window shield 6 and then reflects it toward the face of the driver 8, thereby allowing the driver 8 to display the virtual image 13a of the display image on the face detection unit. It can be displayed at a position that matches the face direction or line-of-sight direction detected in 2j.

The shape storage unit 2k stores the design curve shape of the reflection surface 6a of the front window shield 6 by replacing it with the setting value of the aspherical polynomial.
That is, the shape of the reflecting surface 6a can be specified by this aspherical polynomial.

Next, the operation will be described.
<Initial setting of head-up display device>
When the head-up display device 1 is initially set, first, as shown in FIG. 4, the display board 10 having the observation surface 10 a is arranged at a position corresponding to the face of the driver 8.
On the observation surface 10a of the display board 10, an ideal reference lattice 11 having a lattice shape as shown in FIG. 5 is drawn.

Next, the CPU 2a reads and executes the correction program stored in the ROM 2b.
As shown in FIG. 6, in step S1 of the correction program, first, the projection display unit 2d temporarily stores the reference grid stored in advance in the reference grid storage unit 2m in the infrared illuminator VRAM 2h, and then performs the reference. The grid is output from the infrared irradiator 9.
As a result, the infrared irradiator 9 irradiates the reference grating with the reflecting surface 6a of the front window shield 6 and projects it onto the observation surface 10a (see FIG. 4).

At this time, the reference grating stored in advance in the reference grating storage unit 2m is set in advance to a shape that takes into account the distortion of the reference grating caused by the curved shape of the reflecting surface 6a.
However, the reflective surface 6a of the current front window shield 6 is different from the designed reflective surface, and has manufacturing dimensional errors and assembly errors.
That is, the reflection surface 6a of the front window shield 6 has different aspheric polynomial set values for the entire surface, and different errors occur for each individual (each vehicle).
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, the reflection reference grating 12 projected on the observation surface 10a of the front window shield 6 is displaced from the ideal reference grating 11 on the observation surface 10a by the amount of the error described above. .

  Next, in step S2, after the detection part 2i images the observation surface 10a via the infrared camera 3, it transfers to step S3 (refer FIG. 4).

Next, in step S3, the setting value of the shape storage unit 2k is set so that the reflection reference grating 12 of the observation surface 10a matches the ideal reference grating 11 of the observation surface 10a from the image obtained by the correction unit 2n by the detection unit 2i. After correcting, the process proceeds to step S4.
At this time, the correction unit 2n compares the differences between the intersecting points of the corresponding lattice shapes in the reference lattices 11 and 12 and corrects them so that they match.
Specifically, the correction unit 2n changes the set value of the shape storage unit 2k, that is, the variable of the aspherical polynomial within a certain range of values, so that the difference between the reference grids 11 and 12 converges to be small. The aspheric polynomial is gradually changed as follows.
Then, the setting value of the aspheric polynomial when the difference between the reference grids 11 and 12 becomes a sufficiently small value is replaced with the setting value of the actual aspheric polynomial of the front window shield 6.

  Next, in step S4, the corrected reference lattice reflecting the setting value of the aspheric polynomial corrected in step S3 is stored in the reference lattice storage unit 2m, and the correction program is terminated.

<After the initial setup of the head-up display device>
After the initial setting of the head-up display device 1, the CPU 2a reads and executes the display program stored in the ROM 2b.

As shown in FIG. 8, in step S10 of the display program, first, the projection display unit 2d uses the infrared irradiator 9 to display the corrected reference grid stored in the reference grid storage unit 2m described in step S4 of FIG. After outputting, the process proceeds to step S11.
As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, the infrared irradiator 9 irradiates the reference grating with the reflection surface 6 a of the front window shield 6 and reflects it toward the face of the driver 8. The reflection reference grating 12 is projected onto the screen.
At this time, the reflection reference grating 12 reflects the setting value of the aspherical polynomial corresponding to the reflection surface 6 a of the current front window shield 6. There is no possibility that the lattice shape of the reference lattice 12 is distorted.

  Next, in step S20, the detection unit 2i images the reflection reference grating 12 projected on the face of the driver 8 via the infrared camera 3, and then proceeds to step S30.

Next, in step S30, the face detection unit 2j detects the face direction or line-of-sight direction of the driver 8 from the image obtained by the detection unit 2i, and then proceeds to step S40.
The face detection unit 2j detects the face direction or line-of-sight direction of the driver 8 based on the curved shape of the reflection reference grating 12 that is curved due to the unevenness of the face of the driver 8.
At this time, as described above, the reflection reference grating 12 is not distorted due to an error caused by the individual front window shield 6, so that the face direction or line-of-sight direction of the driver 8 can be detected with high accuracy.

Next, in step S40, the virtual image display unit 2e outputs a display image from the display 5 and ends the display program.
As a result, the display device 5 irradiates the reflective image 6a of the front window shield 6 with the display image and reflects it toward the face of the driver 8, thereby causing the driver 8 to display the virtual image 13a of the display image in the direction of the face. Or it displays on the position matched with the line-of-sight direction (refer FIG. 3).
At this time, the virtual image display unit 2e reflects the set value of the aspherical polynomial of the reflection surface 6a of the current front window shield 6 through the correction filter unit 2f in the distortion correction amount of the display image, and then the virtual image display VRAM 2c. Is temporarily stored and output to the display 5.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent the virtual image 13a from appearing to be distorted by the driver 8 due to an error caused by the individual front window shield 6.

The shape, size, display position, type (symbol, character, content), display method (display timing, display time, display interval), and the like of the display image can be set as appropriate.
For example, as shown in FIG. 9, when various devices and various sensors 2 o are speed sensors (wheel speed sensors), a virtual image is displayed as a display image 13 according to the direction of the driver's 8 face or the direction of the line of sight. 13a is displayed.
Alternatively, the various devices and the various sensors 2o are configured by a visible light camera provided toward the front of the vehicle and an obstacle detection unit that analyzes an image obtained by the visible light camera and determines whether there is an obstacle. In this case, the virtual image 13a is displayed with the dashed-dotted line frame or the like as the display image 13 in accordance with the face direction or line-of-sight direction of the driver 8 and around the obstacle.

In addition, when a deviation occurs as a calculation result between the point formed on the initial display image 13 to be the projection source and the virtual image 13a obtained by reflecting on the reflection surface 6a of the corrected aspheric polynomial, the point position of the projection source The position of the virtual image 13a is changed until it converges to a range where the error and the intersection of the reference grid are sufficiently small.
Similarly, position adjustment is performed at each of the remaining intersections forming the image, and the shape of the adjusted image as a whole is set as the reference shape of the corrected reference lattice.

<About securing optical path, installation position, designability, driver's field of view, etc.>
In the head-up display device 1 configured as described above, the infrared irradiator 9 is arranged in parallel on the display screen 5 a of the display 5 as described above.
Thereby, the infrared irradiator 9 can be accommodated in the instrument panel 4 together with the HUD unit 2, and the installation position can be easily secured.
In addition, since it cannot be visually recognized from the driver 8, the visibility of the driver 8 can be secured, and the design property can be secured.

Further, the infrared irradiator 9 irradiates the reference surface to the reflecting surface 6 a of the front window shield 6 and reflects it toward the driver 8.
Thereby, it is not necessary to avoid an obstruction and an optical path can be easily secured.
In addition, the reference grid can be projected from the front of the driver's 8 face, which is preferable.

Next, the effect will be described.
The effects of the first embodiment will be described below for both (1) and (2) corresponding to claims 1 and 2.
(1) The display image 13 displayed on the display device 5 is irradiated on the reflection surface 6a of the front window shield 6 and reflected toward the driver 8's face, thereby allowing the driver 8 to display the virtual image 13a of the display image 13 The reference image in the form of a lattice is irradiated on the reflective surface 6a of the front window shield 6 from the virtual image display unit 2e for displaying the image and the infrared irradiator 9 provided in parallel with the display 5 and reflected toward the face of the driver 8. The projection display unit 2d that projects the reflection reference grating 12 onto the face of the driver 8, the detection unit 2i that images the reflection reference grating 12 projected onto the driver 8 face by the projection display unit 2d, and the detection A face detection unit 2j that detects the face direction or line-of-sight direction of the driver 8 from the image captured by the unit 2i, and the virtual image display unit 2e includes the face direction of the driver 8 detected by the face detection unit 2j or Match the line of sight It was decided to view the virtual image 13a of the display image 13 in position.

  Thereby, the position of the virtual image 13a of the display image 13 displayed on the driver 8 is set in the direction of the driver's 8 face and the line of sight while ensuring the optical path, the installation position, the design, the field of view of the driver 8, and the like. By combining them, visibility can be improved.

  (2) A shape storage unit 2k that stores the design curved shape of the reflection surface 6a of the front window shield 6 by replacing it with a set value of an aspherical polynomial, and a reference that stores a reference grid that reflects the set value of the shape storage unit 2k A grid storage unit 2m and a correction unit 2n capable of correcting the set values of the shape storage unit 2k are provided. When the head-up display device 1 is initially set, the projection display unit 2d is positioned at a position corresponding to the face of the driver 8. At the same time as projecting the reference grid of the reference grid storage unit 2m onto the observation plane 10a on which the ideal reference grid 11 having the ideal grid shape is drawn, the detection unit 2i captures and corrects the observation plane 10a. The unit 2n compares the reflection reference grating 12 projected on the observation surface 10a with the ideal reference grating 11 having an ideal lattice shape on the observation surface 10a based on the image captured by the detection unit 2i, The set value of the shape storage unit 2k is corrected so that the grid 12 matches the ideal reference grid 11, and the reference grid storage unit 2m stores the reference grid in which the set value corrected by the correction unit 2n is reflected. After the initial setting of the up-display device 1, the projection display unit 2d projects the reference lattice stored in the reference lattice storage unit 2m onto the face of the driver 8, and the virtual image display unit 2e displays the corrected shape storage unit 2k. The virtual image 13a of the display image 13 in which the set value is reflected is displayed.

  Thereby, it is possible to cope with an error due to the individual front window shield 6 and to detect the face direction or the line-of-sight direction with high accuracy, and at the same time, it is possible to ensure good visibility by eliminating the distortion of the virtual image 13a.

Although the embodiments have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and design changes and the like within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention are included in the present invention.
For example, in the first embodiment, the reference grid projected onto the measurement surface 10a and the reference grid projected onto the face of the driver 8 have the same shape. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be different.
That is, the smaller the stitches of the reflection reference grating 11 projected onto the measurement surface 10a, the greater the number of intersections compared with the ideal reference grating 11, so that distortion can be corrected with high accuracy.
In addition, the smaller the stitches of the reflection reference grid 11 projected onto the driver's 8 face, the more accurately the face direction and line-of-sight direction can be detected.
However, in practice, if these processes are heavily burdened, the time required for the initial setting and the time required for the virtual image display are increased. Therefore, these are set in consideration of these balances.

In the first embodiment, each unit of the HUD unit 2 is unitized and processing is concentrated. However, units dispersed in each unit may be provided.
Further, the lattice shape may be composed of a plurality of parallel lines. At this time, the correction of the positional deviation between the two reference lattices 11 and 12 is made in one direction.

  Further, the infrared irradiator 9 and the infrared camera 3 are not limited to these combinations, and may be any combination that can output the reference grating with light having a wavelength in an invisible region and detect the projected reference grating.

  Further, for example, the driver's face orientation to be detected is described as being used for virtual image display in the embodiment. However, the detection of the face orientation may be determined by detecting the face orientation, and an alarm or the like may be given. In this case, the driver is encouraged to concentrate on driving and can drive in a better state.

1 is an overall view illustrating a head-up display device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a HUD unit of Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure explaining the effect | action of the head-up display apparatus of Example 1. FIG. It is a figure explaining the effect | action of the head-up display apparatus of Example 1. FIG. 3 is a front view of a display board of Example 1. FIG. It is a flowchart explaining the correction program of Example 1. It is a front view of the display board of Example 1 of Example 1, and is a figure explaining the position shift of a reflective reference | standard grating | lattice. It is a flowchart figure explaining the display program of Example 1. FIG. It is a figure explaining an example of a virtual image display.

Explanation of symbols

1 Head-up display device 2 Head-up display unit (HUD unit)
2a CPU
2b ROM
2c RAM
2d Projection display unit 2e Virtual image display unit 2f Correction filter unit 2g VRAM for display
2h VRAM for infrared irradiator
2i detection unit 2j face detection unit 2k shape storage unit 2m reference grid storage unit 2n correction unit 2o various devices and various sensors 3 infrared camera 4 instrument panel 4a opening 5 display 5a display screen 6 front window shield 6a reflection surface 7 steering column 8 Driver 9 Infrared irradiator 10 Display board 10a Observation surface 11 Ideal reference grating 12 Reflection reference grating 13 Display image 13a Virtual image

Claims (2)

A virtual image display unit that displays a virtual image of the display image to the driver by irradiating the display image displayed on the display unit to the reflection surface of the front window shield and reflecting the reflected image toward the driver's face;
A reference grid in the form of a grid is irradiated on the reflecting surface of the front window shield from an illuminator arranged in parallel with the display and reflected toward the driver's face, thereby projecting the reference grid onto the driver's face. A projection display unit,
A detection unit that images a reference grid projected onto the driver's face by the projection display unit;
A face detection unit that detects a driver's face direction or line-of-sight direction from an image captured by the detection unit;
The head-up display device, wherein the virtual image display unit displays a virtual image of the display image at a position according to a driver's face direction or line-of-sight direction detected by the face detection unit. The head-up display device according to claim 1,
A shape storage unit for storing the design curve shape of the reflection surface of the front window shield by replacing the setting value with an aspheric polynomial;
A reference lattice storage unit that stores a reference lattice in which the setting value of the shape storage unit is reflected;
A correction unit capable of correcting the set value of the shape storage unit;
At the time of initial setting of the head-up display device, the projection display unit is disposed at a position corresponding to the driver's face, and the reference plane with respect to an observation surface on which a reference grid having an ideal grid shape is drawn. At the same time as projecting the reference grid of the grid storage unit, the detection unit images the observation surface,
The correction unit compares the reference lattice projected on the observation surface with the reference lattice of the ideal lattice shape of the observation surface based on the image captured by the detection unit, and the shape storage unit Correct the set value of
The reference grid storage unit stores a reference grid in which the setting value corrected by the correction unit is reflected,
After the initial setting of the head-up display device, the projection display unit projects the reference grid stored in the reference grid storage unit onto the driver's face,
The head-up display device, wherein the virtual image display unit displays a virtual image of a display image in which the corrected setting value of the shape storage unit is reflected.

Images