JP2018188049A - Vehicle Information Display Device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle information display device securing excellent visibility even when the head or the eyeball of a driver turns in a horizontal direction.SOLUTION: A vehicle information display device includes: eyeball angle estimation means 5 estimating a horizontal angle of the eyeball of a driver; and display surface control means 6 controlling a turning angle around the vertical axis of an information display surface 4 on the basis of the estimated eyeball angle. The eyeball angle estimation means 5 is provided with a characteristic map indicating a relation between a vehicle speed and the rotation angle of the head of the driver and estimates the eyeball angle on the basis of the head rotation angle of the driver estimated on the basis of the vehicle speed from a vehicle speed sensor 1 and a visual line direction of the driver detected by an on-vehicle camera 2.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle information display device used for displaying various information in a vehicle.

  A vehicle such as an automobile may be provided with a vehicle information display device that displays various information useful for driving to a driver. In recent years, as such an information display device, a head-up display that projects and displays information on a driver's field of view has been used.

  As a device for improving the visibility in such an information display device, for example, in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-168230), in a head-up display, the display position (focal distance) is variable for each vehicle speed, and information is displayed. An invention has been proposed in which the recognition time is reduced.

JP 2004-168230 A

  By the way, as a new finding by the present applicant, the position of the peripheral vision with high visual efficiency (the horopter) is determined by the rotation of the eyeball in the horizontal direction (left-right direction) of the driver (the angle of the eyeball with respect to the direction in which the head is directly facing). The fact that the surface) is different is obtained. Therefore, it is considered that in the vehicle information display device, it is necessary to improve visibility in consideration of the driver's eyeball angle.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the circumstances as described above, and its purpose is to provide information for vehicles that can ensure good visibility even when the driver's head and eyeballs rotate in the horizontal direction. It is to provide a display device.

  In order to achieve the above object, the following solution is adopted in the present invention. That is, as described in claim 1, an information display surface arranged to be visible to a driver of a vehicle, and an eyeball angle estimation for estimating a horizontal eyeball angle of the driver with respect to the information display surface And display surface position changing means for changing the position of the information display surface based on the eyeball angle estimated by the eyeball angle estimating means.

  According to the above solution, when the driver's eyeball rotates in the horizontal direction, the information display surface is arranged at a position with high visibility according to the eyeball angle. Can be increased.

  Preferred embodiments based on the above solution are as described in claims 2 and below in the claims. That is, the eyeball angle estimation means estimates the driver's eyeball angle based on one of the driver's horizontal head rotation angle, the vehicle speed of the vehicle, and the driver's line-of-sight direction. (Corresponding to claim 2). In this case, since the eyeball angle is estimated in consideration of the driver's head rotation angle, the estimation accuracy of the eyeball angle is improved.

  The eyeball angle estimation means includes a characteristic map indicating a relationship between a vehicle speed of the vehicle and a head rotation angle of the driver (corresponding to claim 3). In this case, since the driver's head rotation angle can be estimated from the vehicle speed based on the characteristic map, the eyeball angle can be estimated efficiently.

  Head rotation angle measuring means for directly measuring the driver's head rotation angle is provided (corresponding to claim 4). In this case, since the driver's head rotation angle is directly and accurately measured, the estimation accuracy of the eyeball angle is improved.

  The display surface position changing means can rotate the information display surface around a vertical axis (corresponding to claim 5). In this case, when the eyeball rotates in the horizontal direction, the surface with high peripheral vision efficiency (the horopter surface) also rotates in the horizontal direction, whereas the horizontal direction of the information display surface depends on the eyeball angle in the horizontal direction. Since the angle is appropriately adjusted, the visibility of the information display surface is improved.

  The information display surface is arranged so as to match the horopter surface of the driver (corresponding to claim 6). In this case, since the information display surface is arranged in conformity with the driver's horopter surface, the visual recognition efficiency is improved.

  According to the present invention, in the vehicle information display device, high visibility of the information display surface can be ensured even when the driver's eyeball is rotated in the horizontal direction.

The block block diagram which shows an example of the control system of this invention. It is a figure which shows about the relationship between a driver | operator's eyeball angle and a horopter surface, and is a figure which shows the state whose eyeball angle is 0 degree | times. It is a figure which shows about the relationship between a driver | operator's eyeball angle and a horopter surface, and is a figure which shows the state whose eyeball angle is (alpha) degree. The figure which shows the experimental result about the relationship between a vehicle speed and rotation of a driver | operator's head.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a control system of a vehicle (for example, an automobile) provided with the information display device of this embodiment. As shown, the control system includes a controller (control unit) U configured using a microcomputer. The controller U receives signals from a vehicle speed sensor 1 that detects the speed of the vehicle and an in-vehicle camera 2. The in-vehicle camera 2 can photograph (detect) the state of the driver who is driving the vehicle (the direction of the driver's line of sight, the angle of the driver's head).

  Further, the information display means 3 is connected to the controller U. The information display means 3 is composed of, for example, a head-up display, and includes an information display surface 4 that displays various information necessary for driving to the driver. When the head-up display is used, the information display surface 4 becomes a virtual image projected and displayed in front of the driver.

  The information display surface 4 is disposed in a state of being inclined forward and upward at a predetermined angle in a side view so as to be disposed along the driver's horopter surface. The information display surface 4 is rotatable in the horizontal direction (left-right direction) around the vertical axis. As will be described in detail later, the driver's horizontal eyeball angle (rotating the eyeball to the left and right) The rotation angle can be changed according to the angle.

  Here, the horopter plane is a plane formed by connecting points where the line-of-sight directions of the left and right eyes coincide with each other in the central vision and the peripheral vision. When information is arranged on the horopter plane, the recognition efficiency of the viewer is reduced. Maximum. Therefore, by arranging the information display surface 4 in conformity with the driver's horopter surface, the visibility of the image display displayed on the information display surface 3A by the driver is enhanced, and the driver is placed on the information display surface 3A. It is possible to grasp the displayed information instantly.

  The controller U includes an eyeball angle estimation unit 5 that estimates a driver's eyeball angle based on detection information from the vehicle speed sensor 1 and the in-vehicle camera 2, and an information display surface based on the eyeball angle estimated by the eyeball angle estimation unit 5. Display surface control means 6 for controlling the position 4 (rotation angle). Thereby, according to a driver | operator's eyeball angle, the information display surface 4 can be arrange | positioned so that it may suit a horopter surface.

  2 and 3 show the knowledge obtained by the present inventor regarding the relationship between the driver's eyeball angle and the horopter surface. As shown in FIG. 2, when the direction L in which the driver faces the head 11 and the direction S (the direction of the line of sight) in which the eyeball 12 faces coincide, that is, the eyeball angle with respect to the head 11 is the same. When the angle is 0 degree, the peripheral vision portion of the horopter plane H is arranged symmetrically with respect to the driver's line-of-sight direction S (center vision direction), and the rotation angle of the horopter plane around the vertical axis O is 0. It is a degree.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the driver's eyeball angle (the angle between the direction L facing the head and the direction S facing the eyeball) is α degrees in the clockwise direction. Sometimes, the horopter surface H rotates about the vertical axis O extending in the vertical direction (the direction perpendicular to the drawing) in the central viewing position, and only the rotation angle β with respect to the direction of the sight line (central viewing direction) S. It will be tilted. That is, the horopter surface H is counterclockwise by a rotation angle β with respect to a surface H ′ (indicated by a broken line in the figure) obtained by rotating the horopter surface at the time of facing shown in FIG. It is in a state of rotating around the vertical axis O.

  Thus, the driver's horopter plane H rotates about the vertical axis O in accordance with the driver's eyeball angle. Therefore, when the driver's eyeball 12 rotates (when the driver is looking in a direction deviating from the facing direction L of the head 11), the information display surface 4 is moved to the horopter surface H according to the rotation angle α. Therefore, the visibility of the information displayed on the information display surface 4 by the driver can be improved.

  The estimated value of the eyeball angle by the eyeball angle estimating means 5 is obtained by subtracting the line of sight from the rotation angle of the driver's head based on the rotation angle of the driver's head and the angle of the driver's line of sight. Desired. In this case, the direction of the driver's line of sight is directly detected by the in-vehicle camera 2, while the turning angle of the driver's head may be directly detected by the in-vehicle camera 2, or the vehicle speed and the driver's head. The estimation may be performed based on the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed sensor 1 by using a characteristic map indicating the relationship with the part rotation angle.

  FIG. 4 shows the knowledge (experimental results) by the present applicant regarding the relationship between the vehicle speed and the driver's head rotation angle during vehicle operation. In this figure, when a predetermined target is displayed at various presentation angles to the driver (subject) in the optical flow during vehicle travel, the subject rotates his / her head to view the target. The experimental result which measured the made rotation angle (head angle) for every magnitude | size (equivalent to a vehicle speed) of optical flow irritation | stimulation is shown. As can be seen from the experimental results, the head angle with respect to the same presentation angle becomes smaller as the optical flow stimulus increases from the stop state at the vehicle speed of 0 km / h to the high speed state at the vehicle speed of 360 km / h. In other words, as the vehicle speed increases, the driver moves the line of sight to visually recognize the target without moving the head greatly. That is, as the vehicle speed increases, the contribution of the head rotation angle in the line-of-sight direction (target position) decreases, while the contribution of the eyeball angle increases. Therefore, even when looking at the same line-of-sight direction, the eyeball angle α is estimated to be large, and as a result, the rotation angle β of the horopter surface H serving as the reference of the information display surface 4 is also large. The characteristic map showing the relationship between the vehicle speed and the rotation angle of the driver's head reflects such a relationship that the rotation angle of the head decreases as the vehicle speed increases.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, In the range described in the claim, an appropriate change is possible. For example, in the above embodiment, a head-up display is used as the information display means. However, the present invention is not limited to such a form, and the information display means has a liquid crystal screen that can be rotated around a vertical axis. A liquid crystal display device may be used.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used in a vehicle information display device that displays useful information for a driver in a vehicle such as an automobile, in order to increase the visibility of information display.

U controller 1 vehicle speed sensor 2 in-vehicle camera 3 information display means 4 information display surface 5 eyeball angle estimation means 6 display surface control means 11 driver's head 12 driver's eyeball L head-to-head direction S eye-gaze direction O vertical axis H horopter surface

Claims (6)

An information display surface arranged to be visible to the driver of the vehicle;
Eyeball angle estimation means for estimating a horizontal eyeball angle with respect to the information display surface of the driver;
A vehicle information display device comprising: display surface position changing means for changing the position of the information display surface based on the eyeball angle estimated by the eyeball angle estimating means. The vehicle information display device according to claim 1, wherein the eyeball angle estimation means is based on any one of the horizontal rotation angle of the driver and the vehicle speed of the vehicle, and the gaze direction of the driver. A vehicle information display device for estimating an eyeball angle of the driver. The vehicle information display device according to claim 2,
The said eyeball angle estimation means is a vehicle information display device provided with a characteristic map indicating the relationship between the vehicle speed of the vehicle and the head rotation angle of the driver. The vehicle information display device according to claim 2,
A vehicle information display device comprising head rotation angle measuring means for directly measuring the driver's head rotation angle. The vehicle information display device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The information display device for a vehicle, wherein the display surface position changing means is capable of rotating the information display surface around a vertical axis. The vehicle information display device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The information display device for vehicles is arranged so that the information display surface may be adapted to the horopter surface of the driver.

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