JP2022129445A - Display device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a display device which suppresses a deterioration in visibility due to exposure to sunlight.SOLUTION: A display device 100 includes: a display 110; an approach detection part 120 which has a plurality of light emission elements for emitting infrared and a plurality of light reception elements and which detects the approach of an object to the display 110 by using reflection light from the object irradiated with the infrared; and a display control part 130 for controlling display such as the luminance of the display 110 according to infrared components of sunlight, which are included in the reflection light received by the light reception elements of the approach detection part 120.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly to display control of a display device having a function of detecting the presence or absence of proximity of an object.

In recent years, in-vehicle displays equipped with proximity detection devices that detect the proximity of a user's finger or the like have been put to practical use. A proximity detection device uses, for example, an infrared LED that emits infrared light and a light-receiving element such as a photodiode, and detects the proximity of an object by receiving reflected light from an object irradiated with infrared light ( For example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2019-74465 A

With in-vehicle displays, the viewing environment changes greatly depending on the driving conditions of the vehicle. For example, when driving at night or in a tunnel, if the display is too bright, it will feel dazzling. On the other hand, in scenes where the display is exposed to direct sunlight, the brightness and contrast will be low and the screen will be difficult to see. Therefore, an ambient light sensor for detecting the brightness around the display is mounted on the vehicle-mounted display, and the display is controlled based on the detection result of this sensor.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional display device. The in-vehicle display 10 is arranged, for example, in or near the central center console between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat, and an ambient light sensor 20 for sensing brightness is provided above the display 10. The display control unit 30 controls display on the display 10 based on the detection result of the ambient light sensor 20 .

A display control method in a conventional display device will be described with reference to FIG.
(1) Adjust the luminance level of image data according to the brightness.
When the surroundings of the display 10 are bright, the display control unit 30 processes the image data so that the brightness or contrast is increased by the image processing unit 32. Conversely, when the surroundings of the display 10 are dark, the brightness or contrast is decreased. Process image data.

(2) Switch between day mode and night mode depending on the brightness.
The display control unit 30 is provided with color sets for day mode and night mode in advance. When the surroundings of the display 10 are bright, the image processing unit 32 selects the day mode, and when it is dark, selects the night mode. , to process the image data based on the selected color set. For example, in day mode, the background of the screen is displayed bright, and in night mode, the background of the screen is displayed dark.

(3) Adjust the brightness of the backlight of the liquid crystal display according to the brightness.
The display control unit 30 drives the backlight through the driving unit 34 to increase the brightness when the surroundings are bright, and drives the backlight to decrease the brightness when the surroundings are dark.

In recent years, in-vehicle displays are being used not only for navigation and music playback, but also for meters and mirror displays. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, there is an increasing number of cases where a wide large-screen display 40 is arranged in the oblong instrument panel in front of the driver's seat. In such a wide large-screen display 40, when a part of the screen is exposed to direct sunlight, the visibility is deteriorated or the visibility is not improved.

As shown in FIG. 3(A), when the sensor 20 receives direct sunlight, display control is performed such that the brightness/contrast of the entire screen of the display 40 is increased. ), the visibility is improved in the area illuminated by sunlight, but it becomes difficult to see in the area not illuminated by sunlight. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3C, when direct sunlight is received in an area different from sensor 20, brightness is not detected by sensor 20, so display control of display 40 is not performed. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 3D, the visibility of the area irradiated with sunlight is not improved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve such conventional problems and to provide a display device that suppresses deterioration in visibility due to irradiation with sunlight.

A display device according to the present invention includes a display for displaying an image, and a plurality of light-emitting elements and a plurality of light-receiving elements arranged in the vicinity of the display. Infrared light emitted from the light-emitting elements is reflected by an object. object detection means for detecting the proximity of an object to the display by receiving the reflected light with the corresponding light receiving element; and red sunlight contained in the reflected light received by each of the plurality of light receiving elements. and display control means for performing display control of the display according to an external light component.

In one embodiment, the object detection means includes removal means for receiving a light receiving signal from the light receiving element and removing an infrared light component of sunlight from the light receiving signal, and the display control means removes the infrared light component by the removal means. Display control is performed according to the infrared light component of the sunlight. In one embodiment, when the light-emitting element is pulse-driven, the removing means removes a DC component contained in the received light signal, and the display control means performs display control according to the DC component. In one aspect, the display control means performs display control of the area of the display corresponding to the positions of the plurality of light receiving elements. In one aspect, when the plurality of light receiving elements are linearly arranged in the vicinity of the display, the display control means performs display control of an area of the display corresponding to the horizontal positions of the light receiving elements. In one embodiment, when the plurality of light receiving elements are two-dimensionally arranged around the display, the display control means performs display control of an area of the display corresponding to the two-dimensional positions of the light receiving elements. . In one embodiment, when the display is a liquid crystal display including a backlight, the display control means controls the brightness of the backlight. In one embodiment, the backlight is an edge backlight or a direct backlight. In one embodiment, the display control means controls brightness of image data displayed on the display. In one embodiment, the display is housed in a wide instrument panel in front of the driver's seat.

According to the present invention, the detection result of the object detection means is used to control the display according to the irradiation of the sunlight, so that the irradiation of the sunlight can be detected without increasing the cost of parts and the like. Thus, on the display, the visibility can be improved only in the area where sunlight irradiation is detected. In particular, suitable display control can be realized in a wide large-screen display.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a conventional display device, and FIG. 1B is a diagram for explaining an example of a display control method for the conventional display device. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example in which a wide large-screen display is mounted on a vehicle; FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams for explaining an example in which the visibility of the display deteriorates when sunlight irradiation is detected, and FIGS. 3C and 3D are diagrams for when sunlight irradiation is not detected. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example in which the visibility of the display is not improved; FIG. 4A is a block diagram showing the configuration of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4B is a diagram showing an example in which a proximity detector is arranged at the bottom of the display. It is a figure which shows the internal structure of the proximity|contact detection part which concerns on the Example of this invention. 5 is a timing chart showing an example of driving the light emitting element and the light receiving element of the proximity detection unit according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of detection by a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element of the proximity detection unit according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 8A shows an example of the waveform of the received light signal when sunlight is applied, and FIG. 8B shows an example of the waveform of the received light signal when the sunlight is not applied. FIG. 9A shows an example of the waveform of the detection signal when sunlight is radiated, and FIG. 9B shows an example of the waveform of the detection signal when the sunlight is not radiated. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of the display control part which concerns on the Example of this invention. FIG. 11A shows an example of the sunlight detection level of each light-receiving element, and FIG. 11B shows the range irradiated with sunlight when the detection level of FIG. 11A is obtained. This is an example of estimation. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of backlight brightness control according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of image data processing according to an embodiment of the present invention; It is a figure explaining the modification of the display apparatus based on the Example of this invention.

Next, an embodiment of a display device according to the present invention will be described. In one embodiment, the display device has a large wide screen display housed in the instrument panel of the vehicle, the display includes images of meters, navigation images, music playback images, mirror images (camera An image of the rear and side of the vehicle that has been captured) and the like are displayed. In one embodiment, the display device has a proximity detection function that detects proximity of an operation target (for example, a user's hand or finger) to the display. The proximity detection function can respond to user's gesture input and can also work with a touch panel display.

Next, a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a display device according to an embodiment of the invention. The display device 100 of this embodiment includes a display 110 , a proximity detector 120 and a display controller 130 .

The display 110 is not particularly limited, but may be, for example, a liquid crystal display with a backlight, or a self-luminous display such as an organic EL display, and may be equipped with a touch panel for receiving input from a user. The size and shape of the display 110 are arbitrary, but it is, for example, a large wide screen display housed in a horizontally long instrument panel at the front of the vehicle. The display control unit 130 includes a drive circuit for receiving image data from a control unit (not shown) or the like, driving the display 110 based on the image data, and displaying an image on the display. Although the image displayed on the display 110 is not particularly limited, for example, a vehicle meter, navigation, music playback menu, vehicle peripheral image captured by a camera, and the like are displayed.

The proximity detection unit 120 detects proximity of an operation target U (for example, a user's finger or hand) to the display 110 . As shown in FIG. 4B, the proximity detection unit 120 includes a plurality of light emitting elements LED1 to LEDC (here, 12 light emitting elements are exemplified) arranged linearly on the bottom of the display 110 and a plurality of light receiving elements. The elements PD1 to PD6 (here, six light receiving elements are exemplified) are included, and one light receiving element is arranged between a pair of light emitting elements (in the following description, when light emitting elements and light receiving elements are collectively are referred to as a light-emitting element LED and a light-receiving element PD). The light-emitting element LED is a light-emitting diode or laser diode that emits infrared light, and the light-receiving element PD is a photodiode or phototransistor that receives infrared light.

The light emitting element LED irradiates the front surface of the display 110 with infrared light, and when the user's operation target U approaches the front surface of the display 110, the infrared light from the light emitting element LED is reflected by the operation target U, and the reflected light is is received by the light receiving element PD, and the proximity of the operation target U is detected. In the illustrated example, infrared light from the light-emitting element LED4 illuminates the operation target U, and the reflected light is received by the light-receiving element PD2. indicates that it has been detected.

The detection result of the proximity detection unit 120 is provided to a control unit (not shown) as a user input, and the control unit responds to the detection of the proximity of the operation target U to the display 110, for example, to the next touch operation performed by the user. It provides the display control unit 130 with image data (for example, a menu screen, a next page screen, etc.) for displaying the corresponding image on the display 110 .

FIG. 5A shows the internal configuration of the proximity detection unit 120. As shown in FIG. The proximity detection unit 120 includes a light emission control unit 122 that controls driving of the light emitting element LED, a light reception control unit 124 that controls light reception (measurement) of the light receiving element PD and outputs a light reception signal S1, and an output from the light reception control unit 124. A sunlight removing unit 126 that receives the received light signal S1 and removes the infrared light component of the sunlight included in the light receiving signal S1, and a detection signal S2 that is output from the sunlight removing unit 126. and a detection determination unit 128 that determines whether or not the operation target is approaching based on the detection determination unit 128 .

FIG. 6 shows driving timings of the light emitting element LED and the light receiving element PD. The light emission control unit 122 sequentially drives the light emitting elements LED at timings t1, t2, . The light-receiving control unit 124 controls driving of the light-receiving element PD1 so as to receive the reflected light at the timing synchronized with the light-emitting period of the light-emitting elements LED1 and LED2, and at the timing synchronized with the light-emitting period of the light-emitting elements LED3 and LED4. The driving of the light receiving element PD2 is controlled so that the reflected light can be received, and the light receiving elements PD3 to PD6 are similarly controlled. That is, the reflected light when the light emitting element LED1 is caused to emit light is measured by the light receiving element PD1 (LED1→PD1), the reflected light when the light emitting element LED2 is caused to emit light is measured by the light receiving element PD1 (LED2→PD1), In the same way, the reflected light when the light emitting element LEDB is caused to emit light is measured by the light receiving element PD6 (LEDB→PD6), and the reflected light when the light emitting element LEDC is caused to emit light is measured by the light receiving element PD6 (LEDC→ PD6). The proximity detection unit 120 operates with such six measurements as one cycle.

When the light-emitting element LED and the light-receiving element PD are arranged so that the distance between them is almost equal, the detection levels of the light-receiving elements PD1 to PD6 during one cycle when the operation object U is horizontally moved in front of the screen are as shown in FIG. As shown in Figure 7, they are roughly equivalent. In such a display having a proximity detection function, the horizontal position of the operation target U is estimated based on the distribution of reflected light detected when each light emitting element LED emits light.

In such a proximity detection method using infrared light, sunlight is a disturbance factor. That is, sunlight contains not only visible light components but also infrared light components, and the infrared light components are strong. In order to avoid this, the sunlight removal unit 126 of the proximity detection unit 120 removes the infrared light component of sunlight. As an example of a method for removing, the light emitting element LED is pulse-driven (for example, several kHz or more), and by extracting only this pulse component from the light receiving signal S1 of the light receiving control unit 124, the red light of the sunlight which is almost DC component is extracted. It removes the external light component.

FIG. 8A illustrates the waveform of the light receiving signal S1 when there is sunlight irradiation, and FIG. 8B illustrates the waveform of the light receiving element S1 when there is no sunlight irradiation. The light-emitting element LED is pulse-driven at a frequency of several KHz or higher for the purpose of eliminating disturbance due to sunlight. Therefore, when the light-receiving element PD receives the reflected light from the operation target and the sunlight, the light-receiving signal S1 includes the pulse component of the infrared light from the light-emitting element LED as shown in FIG. A DC component, which is an infrared light component of sunlight, is superimposed. If sunlight is not irradiated, the received light signal S1 becomes a pulse component containing almost no DC component, as shown in FIG. 8(B).

The sunlight removal unit 126 performs processing for removing the DC component, which is the infrared light component of the sunlight, from the received light signal S1. Alternatively, digitally, processing may be performed to obtain the difference between the measured values when the light-emitting element LED is turned on and when it is turned off. FIGS. 9A and 9B are examples of the waveform of the detection signal S2 after removing the infrared light component of the sunlight from the received light signal S1 by the sunlight removing unit 126, which eliminates the influence of the sunlight. A detection signal S2 is generated. Sunlight is generally a DC component, and even when driving through the sunlight filtering through the trees on the street, the change is several to several tens of Hz, so the sunlight is sufficiently removed by the above operation processing. In this way, the detection determination unit 128 determines whether or not the operation target U is approaching based on the detection signal S2 obtained by extracting only the reflected light of the pulse-driven light emitting element LED, thereby enabling detection that is not affected by sunlight. become.

FIG. 10 shows the internal configuration of the display control unit 130. As shown in FIG. The display control unit 130 uses a signal removed by the sunlight removal unit 126 from the proximity detection unit 120 in addition to a drive circuit or the like that drives the display 110 based on image data to detect the irradiation of sunlight onto the display. and a brightness control unit 134 for controlling the brightness/contrast of the display 110 based on the detection result of the sunlight detection unit 132 . Display controller 130 is implemented using hardware and/or software.

The sunlight detection unit 132 receives the DC component signal removed from the light receiving signal S1 of each of the light receiving elements PD1 to PD6 of the proximity detection unit 120, and detects the amount of sunlight by each of the light receiving elements PD1 to PD6 from these DC component signals. The received light level of the infrared light component is detected. The difference between the light reception signal S1 in FIG. 8A and the DC component of the detection signal S2 in FIG. 9A is the infrared light component of the sunlight. to detect the irradiation of

The DC component detected by sunlight detector 132 is provided to luminance controller 134 . The brightness control unit 134 performs brightness control according to the DC component of the light reception signal S1 received by each light receiving element PD, that is, the light reception level of sunlight. Alternatively, the brightness control unit 134 compares the light receiving level of sunlight of each light receiving element PD with a threshold value, determines that the light receiving element whose light receiving level is equal to or higher than the threshold value is irradiated with sunlight, and determines that the light receiving element PD receives the sunlight. You may make it perform luminance control in . FIG. 11A shows an example in which the level of sunlight received by each light receiving element PD is compared with the threshold value Th, and as a result, it is determined that the light receiving elements PD3 to PD6 are receiving sunlight.

When determining that the light-receiving element PD receives sunlight, the luminance control unit 134 determines the area irradiated with sunlight based on the light-receiving element PD. Although there is no particular limitation on how the sunlight irradiation area is determined, for example, the relationship between each light receiving element PD and the area on the display is defined in advance, and the sunlight irradiation area is determined by referring to the relationship. You may make it For example, when the length of the display 110 in the X direction is Lx, the length in the Y direction is Ly, the X coordinates of the light receiving elements PD1 to PD6 are X1 to X6, and the interval between the light receiving elements PD is D, the following is obtained. Correspondence can be defined.
Light-receiving element PD1: a rectangular area indicated by (0 to X1+D/2, Ly);
The light receiving element PD2 has a rectangular range indicated by (X2−D/2 to X2+D/2, Ly),
The light receiving element PD3 has a rectangular range indicated by (X3−D/2 to X3+D/2, Ly),
The light receiving element PD4 has a rectangular range indicated by (X4−D/2 to X4+D/2, Ly),
The light receiving element PD5 has a rectangular range indicated by (X5−D/2 to X5+D/2, Ly),
The light receiving element PD6 has a rectangular range indicated by (X6-D/2 to Lx, Ly).

FIG. 11B shows a sunlight irradiation region M when it is determined that the light receiving elements PD3 to PD6 shown in FIG. 11A are receiving sunlight. In this case, the brightness control section 134 performs brightness control according to the magnitude of the DC component included in the light reception signal S1 of the light receiving elements PD3, PD4, PD5, and PD6.

Next, specific display control of the brightness control unit 134 will be described. In one aspect, the brightness control unit 134 includes a backlight driving circuit that drives the backlight of the liquid crystal display, and controls the brightness of the backlight via the backlight driving circuit. FIG. 12A is a graph showing the relationship between the brightness of the backlight (vertical axis) and the horizontal position of the LEDs of the backlight (horizontal axis). In accordance with the level (magnitude of the DC component), the brightness of the backlight LED corresponding to the determined sunlight irradiation area is controlled.

FIG. 12B schematically shows a plan view of an edge-type backlight liquid crystal display (LCD) in which LEDs are arranged above and below. The edge-type backlight LCD has a plurality of LEDs 114 linearly arranged at the upper and lower edges of the back side of the liquid crystal panel 112 . The brightness control unit 134 controls the LEDs 114 so that the brightness of the backlight increases toward the right side of the horizontal position of the liquid crystal panel 112, as shown in the graph of FIG. 12(A). As a result, the brightness of the backlight in the area irradiated with the sunlight increases, and the visibility of the image, which has deteriorated due to the irradiation of the sunlight, can be improved.

FIG. 12C schematically shows a plan view of a direct backlight LCD. The direct backlight LCD has a plurality of LEDs 114 two-dimensionally arranged on the back side of the liquid crystal panel 112 . As shown in FIG. 12A, the brightness control unit 134 performs brightness control according to the horizontal positions of the LEDs, thereby increasing the brightness of the backlight in the portion irradiated with the sunlight. Decreased visibility can be improved.

Some direct backlight LCDs originally have a local dimming function that controls the backlight brightness depending on the image. , it is possible to achieve both image quality improvement by local dimming and compensation for sunlight irradiation.

In the above control method, an example of controlling the brightness of the backlight was explained, but this method is also effective for liquid crystal displays and self-luminous displays such as organic EL, and the brightness of image data to be displayed on the display 110 is controlled. You may make it correct|amend.

FIG. 13A is a graph showing the relationship between the mask signal (vertical axis) and the horizontal position of the display (horizontal axis), and FIG. It is a diagram. Note that the mask signal is, for example, a coefficient in the range of 0<mask signal<1.

The processing of controlling the brightness/contrast of image data to improve visibility is the same as that of the image processing unit 32 shown in FIG. ), a multiplier 136 for multiplying a luminance/contrast enhancement signal Q for image data by a mask signal C corresponding to the level of sunlight received by the light receiving element PD as shown in FIG. It includes a combiner 138 that combines the corrected intensity signal Q' from 136 with the image data. As a result, as shown in FIG. 13(B), correction is performed to increase the brightness/contrast of the image in the area on the right side of the light receiving element PD3, thereby improving the image in the area where sunlight irradiation is detected. Visibility is improved.

Next, a modified example of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the above-described embodiment, the light-emitting element LED and the light-receiving element PD are linearly arranged at the bottom of the display 110 so as to detect the distribution of sunlight irradiation in the horizontal direction of the display 110. As shown in FIG. 14A, the elements PD may be arranged on the entire periphery of the display 110 to detect the distribution of sunlight irradiation in a two-dimensional area of the display 110 (indicated in the figure). , light-emitting elements are omitted).

The sunlight detector 132 identifies the light receiving element PD receiving the sunlight based on the DC component included in the light receiving signal S1 of each light receiving element PD arranged two-dimensionally, and detects the sunlight based on the identification result. to determine the irradiation area of FIG. 14B is an example of the irradiation area M of sunlight. An irradiation area M is determined based on the two-dimensional position.

The luminance control unit 134 performs luminance control in the determined irradiation region M according to the light reception level of the sunlight of the light receiving elements PD07, PD08, PD18, PD19, and PD20. FIG. 14C shows an example of brightness control of a direct backlight LCD. In this modified example, by controlling the brightness of the backlight in a more limited range than the above-described embodiment, It is possible to avoid degradation of visibility due to backlight luminance control. In addition to controlling the brightness of the backlight, the brightness control unit 134 two-dimensionally controls the mask signal that masks the brightness/contrast enhancement signal (see FIG. 13), as in the above-described embodiment. Signal processing can be applied to image data in a limited range, and deterioration of visibility due to image processing on unnecessary portions can be avoided.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by using an existing infrared proximity detection system, it is possible to detect the irradiation of sunlight on the display without increasing the cost of the parts. It is possible to realize display control suitable for a large-screen display in which the visibility is improved only in the area where the is detected.

In the above embodiment, the example (FIG. 4) in which the proximity detection unit 120 detects the reflected infrared light emitted from the two light-emitting elements LED with one light-receiving element is shown, but this is just an example. , is not necessarily limited to such a detection method. For example, reflected infrared light emitted from one light-emitting element may be detected by one light-receiving element. Also, the arrangement of the light-emitting element and the light-receiving element is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the light emitting element may be arranged on the upper side of the display and the light receiving element may be arranged on the lower side of the display, or conversely, the light receiving element may be arranged on the upper side and the light emitting element may be arranged on the lower side. can be

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the brightness of the backlight is controlled in an analog manner according to the level of sunlight received by the light receiving elements. The brightness may be controlled digitally (for example, in two stages or multiple stages) according to the received light level. In the above embodiment, a wide large-screen display as shown in FIG. 4B is shown, but this is an example, and the display device of this embodiment may be a display of other shapes or sizes.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to specific embodiments, and various modifications, Change is possible.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100: Display device 110: Display 120: Proximity detection unit 122: Light emission control unit 124: Light reception control unit 126: Sun light removal unit 128: Detection determination unit 130: Display control unit 132: Sun light detection unit 134: Brightness control unit 136 : multiplier 138: combiner LED: light emitting element PD: light receiving element M: sunlight irradiation area S1: light receiving signal S2: detection signal C: mask signal Q: luminance/contrast intensity signal

Claims (10)

a display for displaying images;
including a plurality of light-emitting elements and a plurality of light-receiving elements arranged near the display, and receiving the reflected light by the corresponding light-receiving elements when infrared light emitted from the light-emitting elements is reflected by an object object detection means for detecting proximity of an object to the display;
display control means for performing display control of the display according to an infrared light component of sunlight contained in the reflected light received by each of the plurality of light receiving elements;
Display device including. The object detection means includes removal means for receiving a light reception signal from the light receiving element and removing an infrared light component of sunlight from the light reception signal,
2. The display device according to claim 1, wherein said display control means performs display control according to the infrared light component of sunlight removed by said removal means. when the light-emitting element is pulse-driven, the removing means removes a DC component included in the received light signal;
3. The display device according to claim 2, wherein said display control means performs display control according to said DC component. 2. The display device according to claim 1, wherein said display control means performs display control of an area of said display corresponding to positions of said plurality of light receiving elements. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein when the plurality of light receiving elements are linearly arranged in the vicinity of the display, the display control means performs display control of an area of the display corresponding to the horizontal positions of the light receiving elements. display device. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein when the plurality of light receiving elements are two-dimensionally arranged around the display, the display control means performs display control of an area of the display corresponding to the two-dimensional positions of the light receiving elements. Display device as described. 7. The display device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein when said display is a liquid crystal display including a backlight, said display control means controls the brightness of said backlight. 8. The display device according to claim 7, wherein the backlight is an edge backlight or a direct backlight. 7. The display device according to claim 1, wherein said display control means controls brightness of image data displayed on said display. 8. A display device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the display is housed in a wide instrument panel in front of the driver's seat.

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