JP5088692B2 - Vehicle instrument - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular instrument having a dot matrix type image display, in which the video data to be displayed and the holding form of the image data are irreversible depending on the degree of importance of visibility required at the time of display. A vehicle that uses both compression and lossless compression formats, adjusts the amount of information to be reduced when encoding in lossy compression format, reduces the size of video data and image data, and ensures the required visibility This is related to measuring instruments.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a vehicle instrument has been devised in which image data used for display can be rewritten using a portable storage medium without removing the instrument from the vehicle (see Patent Document 1). Further, a vehicle display device has been devised that specifies XML (Extensible Markup Language) as a general-purpose format as image data used for rewriting (see Patent Document 2).

JP 2006-335080 A JP 2007-153139 A

  However, in the conventional technology, consideration is given to the point that the replacement of image data is facilitated and the portability is improved and the standard file format is used with emphasis on the versatility of image data. There was a problem that the data format was not selected considering the above. In addition, by reducing the data capacity, there has been a problem that the data transfer load when displaying on the image display and the transfer load when writing data from the outside of the vehicle display are not reduced.

  With the above problem as a background, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle instrument that can reduce the data capacity of video data and image data to be handled and ensure display quality without impairing visibility.

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention

The vehicle instrument for solving the above problems, an image display device of a dot matrix type, the display data information acquiring unit for acquiring information of the vehicle state, and the display data information including additional information about the vehicle running, the display data information A display control unit that displays on the image display the display data that is a combination of decompressed and stored video data or image data that is pre-compressed according to the content of the image data , Part data for which visibility is prioritized is retained as first part data using the lossless compression format, and part data for which visibility is lower than the first part data is used for the lossy compression format Held as second part data, the second part data constitutes a background image of the first part data, and the display control unit includes the first part data and the second part data. After obtaining all the parts data, and wherein the simultaneously displaying on the image display device.

  With the above configuration, since video data and image data used for display are held in a mixture of lossless compression format and lossy compression format, the data capacity can be reduced compared to a configuration in which data is held only in the non-compression format. . In addition, for video data and image data used for display, if the importance of visibility is maintained, the contents when decompressed are stored in a lossless compression format that completely matches the content at the time of compression, and visibility is so important. Those that are not stored are stored in an irreversible compression format in which the content when decompressed does not match the content at the time of compression, so that it is possible to reduce the data capacity without impairing the required visibility. Further, by reducing the data capacity of video data and image data used for display, the video data and image data held in the nonvolatile storage device can be transferred to the volatile storage device connected to the driving means. The transfer time can be shortened, the time until the vehicle instrument is activated can be shortened, and the time until the first display after power-on can be shortened.

  The vehicular instrument of the present invention holds in a reversible compression format when the part data relates to meter parts, and in a lossy compression format when the part data relates to decorative parts other than meter parts. Configured to hold.

  It is important for the meter to display accurate information in real time, and visibility must be a priority. With the above configuration, the data capacity can be reduced without impairing the visibility required for meter display.

  Moreover, the vehicle meter of this invention is comprised so that the part corresponded to an analog display part among meter parts may be hold | maintained in a reversible compression format.

  For example, in the case of a speedometer, in the case of digital display, the speed is displayed with relatively large numbers in units of 1 km / h, but in the case of analog display, for example, on a scale provided every 10 km / h. Since the pointer of the meter moves, it is necessary for the user to intuitively recognize the speed, and thus it is necessary to increase the visibility. With the above configuration, the data capacity can be reduced even in the analog display section of the meter part without impairing necessary visibility.

  Further, in the vehicle instrument of the present invention, decompression means for decompressing the compressed part data is prepared for each part data, and the display data is generated by sequentially decompressing each part data by the decompression means. It is comprised so that a production | generation means may be provided.

  With the above configuration, it is possible to reduce the time required for the decompression process and the display process as compared with the configuration including one decompression unit.

  The vehicular instrument of the present invention is configured to include update means for acquiring part data from an external device and updating the already stored part data.

  By the above configuration, it is possible to rewrite the video data and the compressed data of the image data used for display without removing the vehicular instrument after it is installed in the vehicle. The display contents can be customized according to the situation. In addition, by holding the data to be rewritten as compressed data, the transfer time at the time of rewriting can be shortened, and the time required for rewriting can be shortened.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a vehicle instrument of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, the whole structure of the meter 100 for vehicles is shown. The vehicular instrument 100 includes a main controller 1 and a graphic controller 2 connected to the main controller 1 so as to be able to perform data communication with a data bus 30 configured as, for example, a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus.

  The main controller 1 includes a well-known MPU (Microprocessor Unit) 11 that performs arithmetic processing, a DMAC 12 that controls DMA (Direct Memory Access) communication, a LAN I / F 13 that communicates with other in-vehicle devices via an in-vehicle LAN 7, and various types. It includes an I / O 14 that is a signal input / output circuit, a PCI 15 that is a PCI communication interface, and an internal bus 16 that connects them.

  The main controller 1 is connected to a nonvolatile memory 3 and a RAM 5. The nonvolatile memory 3 stores a control program executed by the MPU 11 and data necessary for the control program. The nonvolatile memory 3 stores part data which is video data or image data. The part data is stored in one of a lossy compression format and a lossless compression format based on the contents. The RAM 5 is used as a work area when the MPU 11 executes a control program.

  The reversible compression format video data and image data stored in the non-volatile memory 3 are, for example, pointer indications (corresponding to 61a and 66a in FIG. 2) that indicate items and vehicle states that are required to be clearly displayed by laws and regulations. , Symbol display (corresponding to 67 and 68 in FIG. 2), numerical display (corresponding to 62 in FIG. 2), display item data on which visibility is important, such as a user's clear display request item, is mainly targeted . These correspond to the first part data in which the visibility of the present invention is prioritized.

  The irreversible compression format video data and image data stored in the nonvolatile memory 3 is a decorative animation, background design (corresponding to 69 in FIG. 2) displayed at the time of opening or mode change of the vehicle instrument 100, Display item data whose visibility is not so important, such as decoration parts of the instrument (corresponding to 64 in FIG. 2), information on the vehicle state, and additional information such as advice on vehicle running (corresponding to 63 and 65 in FIG. 2) Is the main target. These correspond to the second part data whose visibility of the present invention is lower in priority than the first part data. The background design includes photo data taken by the user such as a landscape photo taken by a digital camera and a family photo.

  The irreversible compression format video data and image data stored in the non-volatile memory 3 can be used in accordance with the degree of importance of visibility as a vehicle instrument required for the video data and the image data. The reduction amount of information at the time of encoding in the lossless compression format is adjusted to obtain video data and image data in which the information amount is reduced in accordance with the required degree of visibility.

The lossy compression format data includes the following.
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group): Most suitable for compressing and saving images that have been digitized from natural images such as images captured with a scanner or images captured from video.
・ Motion JPEG: Multiple JPEG files are displayed together in a frame-by-frame sequence.
MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group): Video compression technology used for DVD-Video, VideoCD, and the like. MPEG-1, -2, -4, -7, etc.
MP3: MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 audio track compression standard, which allows audio data to be compressed without extreme deterioration in sound quality.

The lossless data includes the following data.
GIF (Compuserve Graphics Interchange Format): An image format developed for the purpose of transferring images over a network. The number of colors that can be used in one image is limited to 256 colors.
PNG (Portable Network Graphics): The compression efficiency is higher than that of GIF, and it is superior to GIF in terms of expressive power. In consideration of use in the network, interlaced display can be displayed more beautifully than GIF.
TGA (Truevision Graphics Adapter): developed as a method for recording color images, especially 24-bit and 32-bit color images.
BMP: A standard image format that can be used on a personal computer. The file size is large.
・ Animation GIF: Multiple GIF files are displayed together in a frame-by-frame sequence.

Data corresponding to both lossless compression / lossy compression includes the following.
・ JPEG2000: A specification developed from JPEG.
HD Photo: The compression efficiency is almost twice that of JPEG, there is less loss of subtle details than JPEG images, and half the capacity is required to store images of the same image quality.
-Motion JPEG2000: A plurality of JPEG2000 files that are grouped together and displayed continuously.

Other moving image encoding techniques include the following.
VC-1: A technology for compressing video, standardized by an organization called the American Association for Movie and Television Engineers (SMPTE).
DV: Video compression technology used for home digital video cameras.

  In addition to the above, the video format conforms to On2VP6, On2VP7 standards, ASF (Advanced Streaming Format: file format for streaming delivery), AVI (Audio Visual Interleaved: standard video format that can be used on a personal computer) MOV (one of the formats often used for video distribution on the Internet, some digital video cameras record data in this format). These file format part data and part data conforming to the standard are selected and used in accordance with, for example, the importance of visibility.

  In addition to the method of storing the part data (compressed video data and image data) in the nonvolatile memory 3 in advance, other devices outside the vehicle are connected to the vehicle instrument 100 directly or via a network, A method of reading the part data from the device and rewriting the data in the nonvolatile memory 3, and a portable storage device such as a USB memory (e.g., corresponding to 8 in FIG. 1) is connected to the vehicle meter 100 and the nonvolatile memory 3 Any method of rewriting data may be used. In addition, stream input and unfolding playback such as videophone are also targeted. In this case, the in-vehicle LAN 7, the MPU 11, and the I / O 14 correspond to the updating means of the present invention.

  The communication system of the in-vehicle LAN 7 uses any of CAN (Controller Area Network), LIN (Local Interconnect Network), BEAN (Body Electronics Area Network), MOST (Media Oriented System Transport), IDB1394, FlexRay (registered trademark), etc. Also good.

  The graphic controller 2 includes a well-known MPU 21 that performs arithmetic processing, a DMAC 22 that controls DMA communication, a decoder circuit 23 (denoted as “decoder” in FIG. 1) that decompresses and decompresses compressed part data, and various signal inputs and outputs The circuit includes an I / O 24 that is a circuit, a PCI 25 that is a PCI communication interface, and an internal bus 26 that connects them. The MPU 21 corresponds to display data generation means of the present invention. The decoder circuit 23 corresponds to the decompressing means of the present invention.

  The graphic controller 2 is connected to a VRAM (Video Random Access Memory) 4 and a dot matrix type image display (hereinafter abbreviated as a display) 6 such as an LCD or an organic EL display.

  The VRAM 4 is for temporarily storing information transferred from the main controller 1 and the calculation result of the MPU 21. As shown in FIG. 3, the VRAM 4 includes an image data development area 41, a first display list holding area 42, a second display list holding area 43, a first frame buffer 44, a second frame buffer 45, a display data buffer 46, and the like. Is provided. The VRAM 4 may be included in the graphic controller 2.

  The display 6 is intended for all dot matrix type image displays, and includes a general display such as a liquid crystal display, an organic electroluminescence display, a plasma display, a field emission display and a projection display mechanism by a projector. Any of the displays may be used.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of a display screen on the display 6. For example, the display screen selects / sets a speed display area 61, a mileage display area 62, for example, a vehicle information display area 63 for displaying an animation image corresponding to the speed of the vehicle, a meter frame display area 64, for example, a display language. An operation menu display area 65, a fuel gauge display area 66, a direction indicator lamp display area 67, a warning indicator lamp area 68 (brake warning lamp 68a, airbag warning lamp 68b, half-door warning lamp) 68c, seat belt warning lamp 68d, battery warning lamp 68e), and background display area 69, the display area and display content are divided.

  In the example of the display 6 in FIG. 2, the speed display area 61, the travel distance display area 62, the fuel gauge display area 66, the direction indicator lamp display area 67, and the warning indicator lamp area 68 relating to meter parts are reversibly compressed. Format video data and image data are used. Among meter parts, like a speedometer, video data and image data in a lossless compression format may be used when performing analog display, and video data and image data in a lossy compression format may be used when performing digital display. For digital display such as an odometer, but with a relatively small number display size, video data and image data in a lossless compression format may be used.

  In the mileage display area 62, video data and image data in a reversible compression format are used only for the meter pointer 61a, and video data and image data in a lossy compression format are used for the meter background 61b including scales and numbers. Also good. Also for the fuel gauge display area 66, reversible compression format video data and image data are used only for the fuel gauge pointer 66a, and irreversible compression format video data and image data are used for the meter background 66b including scales and numbers. Also good.

  Further, irreversible compression format video data and image data are used for the vehicle information display area 63, the meter frame display area 64, the operation menu display area 65, and the background display area 69, which are related to decorative parts other than meter parts. It is done.

  The main controller 1, the graphic controller 2, and the display 6 are supplied with power necessary for operation from a power source 9.

  With the configuration as described above, the vehicular instrument 100 is configured such that the main controller 1 first receives the vehicle speed, the remaining amount of fuel, the state of the direction indicator, etc. from other in-vehicle devices / sensors via the in-vehicle LAN 7. Get information required for display. Based on the information, part data necessary for display is read from the nonvolatile memory 3 and transmitted to the graphic controller 2. The graphic controller 2 decompresses and expands the received part data to create display data and displays it on the display 6.

  A part data transfer process included in a control program (not shown) executed by the MPU 11 of the main controller 1 and repeatedly executed by the MPU 11 will be described with reference to FIG. First, display data information, which is data necessary for displaying on the display 6 such as the speed of the vehicle, the remaining amount of fuel, the state of the direction indicator, etc. from other in-vehicle devices / sensors via the in-vehicle LAN 7. Obtain (S11).

  Next, various parameters that are stored in the nonvolatile memory 3 in association with each part data and that are components of the display list including the display position, layer, or display pattern of the part data are read and calculated, A display list of frames is created (S12). Then, the created display list is transmitted to the graphic controller 2 via the PCI 15 and the data bus 30 (S13).

  Next, based on the created display list, the part data to be displayed on the display device 6 is read from the nonvolatile memory 3 (S14) and transmitted to the graphic controller 2 (S15). When all the parts data are transmitted (S16: Yes), this process is terminated.

  As a method for transmitting the part data to the graphic controller 2, either the method using the MPU 11 of the main controller 1 or the method using only the DMAC 12 without involving the MPU 11 may be used. The use of only the DMAC 12 can reduce the processing load on the MPU 11.

  With reference to FIG. 5, a display data creation / output process included in a control program (not shown) executed by the MPU 21 of the graphic controller 2 and repeatedly executed by the MPU 21 will be described. First, the display list received from the main controller 1 via the data bus 30 and the PCI 25 is instructed to be drawn on the display 6 by the MPU 21 in the first and second display list holding areas (42, 43) of the VRAM 4. The data is stored in a holding area that has not been set (S31).

  Next, the part data received from the main controller 1 is stored in a temporary storage area (not shown) of the VRAM 4 (S32). Subsequently, the decoder circuit 23 decompresses and decompresses the part data (S33).

  As shown in FIG. 6, the decoder circuit 23 is provided with a decoder corresponding to the compression format. For example, the image data A compressed in the compression format a is decompressed and decompressed by the decoder a that decompresses and decompresses only the data in the compression format a and is stored in the image data decompression area 41 of the VRAM 4. Similarly, image data B compressed in the compression format b and video data C compressed in the compression format c are decompressed and expanded by the decoder b and decoder c, respectively, and stored in the image data expansion area 41 of the VRAM 4. The Thereby, the decompression / decompression of a plurality of data can be executed in parallel, so that the time required for the decompression / decompression can be shortened. As a result, the time required for drawing can be shortened.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of storage in the image data development area 41. Image data A 'is obtained by decompressing and developing image data A, and image data B' and video data C 'are obtained by decompressing and developing image data B and video data C. In the image data development area 41, an area stored for each part data is allocated in advance. Of course, since the areas are allocated in consideration of the size of the part data, storage in these areas is also efficiently performed, and as a result, the time required for drawing can be further reduced.

  Returning to FIG. 5, based on the display list and the decompressed / expanded part data, frame data that is display data to be displayed on the screen of the display device 6 is created, and an area that holds the display list ( 42, 43) and stored in the frame buffer (44, 45) (S34). Then, the created frame data is output to the display 6 (S35).

  When the display 6 is an LCD display and the frequency of the vertical synchronization signal (Vsync) is 60 Hz (16.6 ms cycle), the main controller 1 monitors the state of Vsync, and, for example, 33 based on the input of Vsync. 4. The part data transfer process shown in FIG.

  At this time, when the graphic controller 2 receives the display list from the main controller 1, for example, when display data is output from the first frame buffer 44 to the display 6 based on the contents of the first display list holding area 42. The received display list is stored in the second display list holding area 43. Subsequently, the received part data is decompressed and expanded, and display data (frame data) is created and stored in the second frame buffer 45.

  Then, in the processing after 33.3 msec, the display data is output from the second frame buffer 45 to the display 6, and when a new display list is received from the main controller 1, it is stored in the first display list holding area 42. . Subsequently, the received part data is decompressed and expanded, and display data is created and stored in the first frame buffer 44.

  When the display data has a layer structure for each display area, each frame buffer (44, 45) has a capacity as many as the number of layers, and the display data is obtained by superimposing all the layers. The contents of the display data buffer 46 may be stored in the display buffer 46 and output to the display 6.

  In the display data creation / output process of FIG. 5, the part data may be decompressed and expanded, stored in the image data expansion area 41, and then sequentially output to the display 6. Alternatively, the part data that has been decompressed and expanded may be sequentially output to the display device 6 without being stored in the data expansion area 41. In this case, it is not necessary to execute the above processing in synchronization with Vsync.

  In the vehicle information display area 63 of FIG. 2, for example, an animation image is displayed based on the vehicle information, such as displaying the image of the vehicle by rotating the wheel portion while the vehicle is traveling. In this case, in accordance with the change in the vehicle state information received from the in-vehicle LAN 7 or the like, unfolding playback of the video data from the middle, suspension of the unfolding playback, unfolding playback of the other video data after unfolding the unfolding playback, unfolding playback from the middle, fast forward There are methods such as unfolding reproduction and unwinding unfolding reproduction, and it is possible to perform image reproduction according to the state change.

  In addition, MPEG-7 is called “Multimedia Content Description Interface” as its official name, and it is a standard that can search video and sound in the same way that text data is searched on the current Internet. is there. The contents and features of the multimedia content (video data) can be included in the multimedia content as a content descriptor. Therefore, when video data conforming to the MPEG-7 standard is used, it is possible to create a database of these video data stored in the nonvolatile memory 3. For example, when the vehicle is running, video data that can sense the speed is prepared, and keywords (descriptors) such as “high speed”, “medium speed”, and “low speed” are set for each video data. When the vehicle information is acquired by the main controller 1, one of “high speed”, “medium speed”, and “low speed” is determined according to the vehicle speed. For example, when “high speed” is determined, the video data in the nonvolatile memory 3 is searched with the keyword “high speed”. If there is video data for which “high speed” is set in the descriptor, the video data is displayed in the vehicle information display area 63.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and the knowledge of those skilled in the art can be used without departing from the spirit of the claims. Various modifications based on this are possible.

The figure which shows the whole structure of the meter for vehicles. The figure which shows an example of the display screen in a display. The figure which shows an example of the memory content in VRAM. The flowchart explaining parts data transfer processing. The flow figure explaining display data creation output processing. The figure which shows an example of a structure of a decoder. The figure which shows the example of a storage to an image data expansion | deployment area | region.

Explanation of symbols

1 Main controller 2 Graphic controller 3 Non-volatile memory 4 VRAM
6 Dot matrix type image display 7 In-vehicle LAN (update means)
11 MPU (update means)
12 DMAC
13 LAN I / F
14 I / O (update means)
21 MPU (display data generation means)
22 DMAC
23 Decoder circuit (decompression means)
30 Data bus 100 Instrument for vehicle

Claims (5)

A dot matrix image display ;
A display data information acquisition unit for acquiring display data information including vehicle state information and additional information related to vehicle travel ;
A display control unit for displaying display data on the image display unit by decompressing and combining parts data that is video data or image data that is compressed and held in advance according to the content of the display data information ;
With
Among the part data, part data for which visibility is prioritized is held as first part data using a reversible compression format, and the part data for which the visibility is lower than the first part data is stored. , Hold as second part data using lossy compression format,
The second part data constitutes a background image of the first part data,
The display control unit displays all of the first part data and the second part data, and then displays them on the image display at the same time .   The said loss data is hold | maintained in the said lossless compression format when the said part data is related to meter parts, and when the said part data is related to decorative parts other than a meter part, it is hold | maintained in the said lossy compression format. Vehicle instrument.   The vehicle instrument according to claim 2, wherein a portion corresponding to an analog display portion of the meter parts is held in the lossless compression format. A decompression means for decompressing the compressed part data is prepared for each part data,
The vehicular instrument according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising display data generation means for generating the display data by sequentially decompressing each part data by the decompression means.   The vehicular instrument according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising update means for acquiring the part data from an external device and updating the already stored part data.

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