JP6405930B2 - In-vehicle display device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle display device used by being mounted on a vehicle.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an in-vehicle display device used by being mounted on a vehicle is known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle-mounted display device that mechanically rotates a rectangular display provided at an intermediate position between two analog meters according to an image displayed on the display. . In the in-vehicle display device disclosed in Patent Document 1, the image of the direction symbol of the driving guide is displayed with the display in a vertically long state, while the character image is displayed with the display in a horizontally long state. I am trying to make it easier to see. Moreover, in the vehicle-mounted display device disclosed in Patent Document 1, the display surface is inclined by mechanically rotating the display device around a rotation axis parallel to the display surface of the display device according to an image displayed on the display device. Thus, an attempt is made to add a sense of perspective to the displayed image.

Japanese Patent No. 5160665

  When the vehicle is driven, the driver's posture changes due to driver fatigue, steep hill driving, etc., and the angle of the display screen with respect to the driver's line of sight changes, making it difficult to see the image displayed on the display There is a case. The on-vehicle display device disclosed in Patent Document 1 can tilt the display surface by mechanically rotating the display device around a rotation axis parallel to the display surface of the display device, but according to the image to be displayed Thus, it is independent of changes in the driver's posture. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to improve the difficulty in viewing display information caused by a change in the posture of the driver.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide an in-vehicle display device that can improve the difficulty in viewing display information caused by a change in the posture of a driver. It is in.

A first in- vehicle display device according to the present invention is mounted on a vehicle, and is provided with a display (4) disposed in front of the driver's seat and with the display surface facing the driver's seat, and the display device. A vehicle-mounted display device comprising a drive unit (5) that can tilt the display surface in either the direction of raising the driver's seat or the direction of tilting forward of the driver's seat, A state quantity acquisition unit (61, 65, 66) that acquires a state quantity that can estimate a change in the driver's posture in the direction, and a drive unit that responds to the change in the state quantity acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit. The image pickup apparatus (1) includes a drive control unit (64, 64a, 64b) for tilting the display surface , and the state quantity acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit (61) images a portion related to the viewpoint of the driver of the vehicle. The angle of the driver's line of sight detected based on the captured image Then, when the line of sight changes by a predetermined angle or more in the vehicle ceiling direction, the drive control unit (64) causes the display surface of the display to rise toward the driver's seat according to the change. On the other hand, if the angle of the vehicle changes more than a predetermined angle in the vehicle floor direction, the display surface of the display device is tilted in the direction of tilting forward in the driver's seat according to the change.
Moreover, the 2nd vehicle-mounted display apparatus which concerns on this invention is mounted in a vehicle, the indicator (4) arrange | positioned so that a display surface may face the driver's seat side ahead of the driver's seat of a vehicle, and a display A vehicle-mounted display device comprising a drive unit (5) that can be tilted in any direction of raising the display surface of the device toward the driver's seat and tilting the driver's seat forward. A state quantity acquisition unit (61, 65, 66) that acquires a state quantity that can estimate a change in the driver's posture in the front-rear direction, and driving according to a change in the state quantity acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit And a drive control unit (64, 64a, 64b) for tilting the display surface, and the state quantity acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit (65) is a distance between the display and the driver's face, The drive control unit (64a) collects the state quantity from the reference distance which is the reference distance. As the distance acquired by the unit becomes longer, the display surface of the display device is tilted in the direction to be raised toward the driver's seat, while the distance acquired by the state quantity acquiring unit becomes shorter than the reference distance, Tilt the display surface of the display in the direction of tilting forward in the driver's seat.
Moreover, the 3rd vehicle-mounted display apparatus which concerns on this invention is mounted in a vehicle, the indicator (4) arrange | positioned so that a display surface may face the driver's seat side ahead of the driver's seat of a vehicle, and a display A vehicle-mounted display device comprising a drive unit (5) that can be tilted in any direction of raising the display surface of the device toward the driver's seat and tilting the driver's seat forward. A state quantity acquisition unit (61, 65, 66) that acquires a state quantity that can estimate a change in the driver's posture in the front-rear direction, and driving according to a change in the state quantity acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit And a drive control unit (64, 64a, 64b) for tilting the display surface, and the state quantity acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit (66) is an inclination angle in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, and the drive control unit ( 64b) is displayed in accordance with the increase in the inclination angle that becomes the upward gradient. While causing inclined toward a direction to cause the display surface on the driver's seat side, in response to the inclination angle of the downward slope is increased, causing inclined in a direction to defeat the display surface of the display unit in front of the driver's seat.

  According to this, since the display device is arranged in front of the driver's seat of the vehicle so that the display surface faces the driver's seat side, the driver can visually recognize the display surface. Further, according to the in-vehicle display device of the present invention, the display surface of the display device is arranged on the driver's seat side in accordance with the change in the state quantity that can estimate the change in the posture of the driver in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. It will be tilted in either the direction of raising or the direction of tilting forward of the driver's seat. In response to changes in the driver's posture in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, if the display surface is tilted in either the direction to be raised toward the driver's seat or the direction to be tilted forward of the driver's seat, the display according to the driver's posture It is possible to tilt the display surface at an angle at which displayed information is easy to see. As a result, it is possible to improve the difficulty in viewing display information caused by changes in the posture of the driver.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of an in-vehicle display system 100. FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining an example of an arrangement of the display device 4. It is a block diagram which shows an example of schematic structure of meter ECU6. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the flow of the display apparatus inclination control process in meter ECU6. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example which inclines the display surface of the indicator 4 by the part according to the variation | change_quantity of the look-down angle. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example which inclines the display surface of the indicator 4 by the part according to the variation | change_quantity of the look-down angle. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of an in-vehicle display system 200. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows an example of schematic structure of meter ECU6a. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the flow of the display apparatus inclination control process in meter ECU6a. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of an in-vehicle display system 300. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows an example of schematic structure of meter ECU6b. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the flow of the display apparatus inclination control process in meter ECU6b.

(Embodiment 1)
<Schematic configuration of in-vehicle display system 100>
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an in-vehicle display system 100 to which the present invention is applied. The in-vehicle display system 100 is mounted on a vehicle, and includes a camera 1, a face image processing ECU 2, and an in-vehicle display device 3, as shown in FIG. Hereinafter, a vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle display system 100 is referred to as a host vehicle. The on-vehicle display device 3 includes a display 4, an actuator 5, and a meter ECU 6.

  The camera 1 is installed, for example, below the meter visor of the own vehicle, and images a prescribed area defined in advance in the cabin of the own vehicle. This prescribed area includes an area where the face of the driver seated in the driver's seat of the vehicle is estimated to be located. As the camera 1, it is preferable to use a near-infrared camera so that the driver's face can be imaged even in a dark interior such as at night. This camera 1 corresponds to the imaging device of the claims. In the first embodiment, the distance image of the TOF (Time Of Flight) method that detects the distance to the object by transmitting the exploration wave to the camera 1 and receiving the reflected wave of the exploration wave reflected by the object. The following description will be given by taking the case of providing a sensor as an example.

  The face image processing ECU 2 includes a well-known CPU, a memory such as a ROM and a RAM, an I / O, and a bus connecting them. The face image processing ECU 2 performs a known image recognition process on the face image captured by the camera 1 to detect parts of the face such as the contour of the face, eyes, nose and mouth. Then, the direction of the driver's face is detected from the relative positional relationship between the parts.

  Further, the face image processing ECU 2 detects the angle of the driver's line of sight with respect to the reference direction, with the detected face direction of the driver as the direction of the line of sight starting from the driver's eyes (that is, the viewpoint). As an example, an angle formed by an axis extending in the front-rear direction of the vehicle passing through the driver's viewpoint and the line of sight of the driver is detected. As will be described later, the display device 4 is arranged on the meter panel and is looked down from the driver. Therefore, the driver's line-of-sight angle is hereinafter referred to as a look-down angle.

  When the driver's posture changes in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle, the position of the driver's viewpoint also changes in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle, so the look-down angle also changes. Therefore, the change in the driver's posture in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle can be estimated from the change in the look-down angle. Therefore, this look-down angle corresponds to a state quantity that can estimate a change in the posture of the driver in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle in the claims.

  The face image processing ECU 2 detects the driver's pupil and corneal reflection from the face image captured by the camera 1 by image recognition processing, and detects the direction of the line of sight from the positional relationship between the detected pupil and corneal reflection. Good. In this case, the above-mentioned look-down angle may be detected using the detected line-of-sight direction.

  Further, the face image processing ECU 2 detects the distance between the driver's face and the display 4 (hereinafter, the inter-object distance) from the signal of the distance image sensor provided in the camera 1. As an example, the distance between the objects may be detected from the distance between the driver's face obtained from the signal of the distance image sensor and the camera 1 and the position of the display 4 with respect to the camera 1. The inter-object distance may be a distance between the eyes on the driver's face and the display 4.

  Note that the face image processing ECU 2 may use a stereo camera as the camera 1 to detect the inter-target distance from the face image captured by the camera 1. In addition to this, separately from the camera 1, a sensor that detects the distance between the driver's face and the display 4 may be mounted on the host vehicle, and the distance between the objects may be detected using this sensor.

  The on-vehicle display device 3 includes a display 4, an actuator 5, and a meter ECU 6. The display 4 is arranged on the meter panel of the own vehicle and displays images and characters. As an example, warning information, travel guidance information, and the like are displayed. As the display device 4, an EL display, a liquid crystal display, or the like may be used. Here, the arrangement of the display device 4 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a front external view of the meter panel. L and R in FIG. 2 represent analog meters.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of analog meters L and R are arranged adjacent to each other on the meter panel, and the display 4 has a vertically long rectangular display surface at an intermediate position between the two analog meters L and R. It is arranged to face the driver's seat side. In addition, the display 4 can be tilted in any direction of raising the display surface toward the driver's seat and tilting it forward of the driver's seat by rotating around a rotation axis parallel to the display surface. It has become.

  The actuator 5 includes, for example, a motor serving as a drive source, a drive circuit for driving the motor, and a rotating shaft that transmits the output of the motor to the display 4. In accordance with an instruction from the meter ECU 6, the actuator 5 rotates the display device 4 around a rotation axis parallel to the display surface, and tilts the display surface in a direction to raise the driver seat side or to lean forward. The actuator 5 corresponds to a drive unit in claims.

  The meter ECU 6 includes a well-known CPU, a memory such as a ROM and a RAM, an I / O, and a bus connecting them. The meter ECU 6 performs various processes by executing various control programs stored in the ROM. For example, the meter ECU 6 performs control to display information on the display device 4. The meter ECU 6 instructs the actuator 5 to tilt the display surface of the display 4.

  Note that some or all of the functions executed by the face image processing ECU 2 and the meter ECU 6 may be configured by hardware using one or a plurality of ICs.

<Schematic configuration of meter ECU 6>
As shown in FIG. 3, the meter ECU 6 includes an angle acquisition unit 61, a distance acquisition unit 62, a control determination unit 63, and a drive control unit 64.

  The angle acquisition unit 61 sequentially acquires the above-mentioned looking down angles detected by the face image processing ECU 2. The angle acquisition unit 61 corresponds to a state quantity acquisition unit in claims. The distance acquisition unit 62 sequentially acquires the above-described target distance detected by the face image processing ECU 2. The control determination unit 63 and the drive control unit 64 will be described in detail in the following description of the display tilt control related processing.

<Display Tilt Control Processing in Embodiment 1>
Subsequently, the display device tilt control process in the meter ECU 6 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The display tilt control related process is a process of tilting the display 4 according to the angle of the driver's line of sight. The flowchart in FIG. 4 may be configured to start, for example, when the ignition power of the own vehicle is turned on.

  First, in step S1, the angle acquisition unit 61 acquires a look-down angle detected by the face image processing ECU 2. In step S2, the distance acquisition unit 62 acquires the inter-object distance detected by the face image processing ECU 2. The look-down angle acquired in S1 and the distance between objects acquired in S2 are given time stamps indicating data acquisition times, and are stored as time-series data arranged in time-series order in a temporary storage memory such as the RAM of the meter ECU 6. To do.

  In step S3, the control determination unit 63 determines whether or not the difference between the target distance acquired in S2 and the reference distance is equal to or greater than a specified value. As an example, the distance between objects acquired in S2 when the ignition power of the host vehicle is turned on may be used as the reference distance. And when it determines with more than a regulation value (it is YES at S3), it moves to step S4. On the other hand, when it determines with less than a regulation value (it is NO at S3), it moves to step S7.

  In step S4, when the state determined by the control determination unit 63 that the difference between the target distance acquired in S2 and the reference distance is equal to or greater than a predetermined value continues for a certain period (YES in S4), the process proceeds to step S5. On the other hand, when the predetermined period has not been reached (NO in S4), the process proceeds to step S7.

  In step S5, the control determination unit 63 determines that the difference between the target distance and the reference distance is greater than or equal to the specified value before the target distance changes from the reference distance based on the look-down angle sequentially acquired in S1. The amount of change in the look-down angle until the point in time during which the state continues for a certain period is calculated. Further, the control determination unit 63 determines whether or not the calculated amount of change in the look-down angle is equal to or greater than a threshold value. The threshold value here is a value for excluding a value of an error level, and can be arbitrarily set. If the calculated change amount of the look-down angle is equal to or greater than the threshold value (YES in S5), the process proceeds to step S6. On the other hand, when the calculated change amount of the look-down angle is less than the threshold value (NO in S5), the process proceeds to step S7.

  In step S6, the drive control unit 64 instructs the actuator 5 to tilt the display surface of the display device 4 by an amount corresponding to the amount of change in the look-down angle calculated in S5, and tilts the display surface of the display device 4. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, when the look-down angle increases and the driver's line-of-sight angle changes in the direction of the floor of the vehicle (depending on the amount of change in the look-down angle). The display surface of the display device 4 is tilted in the direction of tilting forward in the driver's seat by the amount corresponding thereto. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, when the look-down angle is low and the driver's (see D in FIG. 6) line-of-sight angle changes in the direction of the ceiling of the vehicle, the amount corresponding to the amount of change in the look-down angle Then, the display surface of the display 4 is tilted in the direction to be raised toward the driver's seat.

  As an example, by tilting the display surface so that the display surface of the display device 4 is always perpendicular to the line of sight of the driver, the display surface of the display device 4 is displayed on the actuator 5 by an amount corresponding to the amount of change in the look-down angle. It may be configured to tilt. If the display surface of the display 4 is perpendicular to the line of sight of the driver, the information on the display surface can be easily seen from the driver.

  As a method for determining the inclination of the display surface perpendicular to the driver's line of sight, for example, a table in which the angle of the line of sight is associated with the inclination of the display surface perpendicular to the line of sight is stored in the nonvolatile memory of the meter ECU 6. Therefore, the configuration may be determined by referring to this table. In addition, the configuration may be determined by calculating the inclination of the plane perpendicular to the line of sight drawn in the three-dimensional coordinates with the three directions of the front, rear, left, right, and up and down as the axis. Good.

  If the display surface cannot be tilted so that the display surface of the display 4 is perpendicular to the line of sight of the driver due to the mechanism of the actuator 5 and the space where the display 4 is disposed, the movable range The display surface may be tilted up to the upper limit.

  In step S7, when it is the end timing of the display device tilt control process (YES in S7), the display device tilt control process is ended. On the other hand, when it is not the end timing of the display device tilt control process (NO in S7), the process returns to S1 and the process is repeated. An example of the end timing of the display tilt control process is when the ignition power of the host vehicle is turned off.

<Summary of Embodiment 1>
According to the configuration of the first embodiment, the display surface is tilted so that the display surface of the display 4 is always perpendicular to the driver's line of sight according to a change in the angle of the driver's line of sight. When the display surface of the display device 4 is perpendicular to the driver's line of sight, the information on the display surface is easy to see from the driver. Therefore, according to the configuration of the first embodiment, it is difficult to see the display image caused by the change in the posture of the driver. It becomes possible to improve.

  Further, according to the configuration of the first embodiment, the trigger is that a state in which the difference between the target distance (that is, the distance between the display device 4 and the driver's face) and the reference distance is a predetermined value or more continues for a certain period. Thus, the tilt of the display surface of the display 4 is controlled in accordance with the change in the driver's line of sight. Therefore, if the movement of the driver's face in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle is a temporary movement within the certain period described above or a slight change below the specified value, the driver's line of sight The control of the tilt of the display surface of the display 4 according to the change in the angle is not started. Therefore, it is possible to suppress waste of starting control of the display surface tilt in response to a temporary movement or slight change of the driver's face that does not require changing the display surface tilt.

(Modification 1)
In addition, it is preferable that the reference distance is configured to be sequentially updated as the host vehicle travels (hereinafter, modified example 1). As an example, when the change amount of the inter-object distance sequentially acquired in S2 continues for a predetermined period, the inter-object distance acquired by determining that the driver is driving in the posture and acquiring the constant period. May be set by the meter ECU 6 as a new reference distance. Here, the constant is a value that can be arbitrarily set.

  According to the configuration of the first modification, when the driver changes his or her posture after re-sitting in the driver's seat, the driver can update the reference distance according to the changed posture. When the reference distance is not updated, if the difference between the reference distance before the change in posture and the distance between the objects is greater than or equal to the specified value, the difference between the reference distance after the change in posture and the distance between the objects is the specified value. Even if it is less than this, the process after S4 of the flowchart of FIG. 4 is implemented. Therefore, even when it is not necessary to perform the processes after S4, the process of performing the processes after S4 is wasted. On the other hand, according to the configuration of the modified example 1, when the driver re-seats at the driver's seat and the posture changes, the reference distance is updated according to the changed posture. There is no waste of processing.

(Modification 2)
In the first embodiment, the configuration in which the display surface is tilted so as to be perpendicular to the line of sight of the driver is shown, but the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto. As long as the display surface is tilted so that the information on the display surface can be easily viewed from the driver, the display surface is not limited to be tilted so as to be perpendicular to the driver's line of sight. For example, by storing a table in the nonvolatile memory of the meter ECU 6 in which the angle of the line of sight is associated with the inclination of the display surface where the information on the display surface is estimated to be easily visible from the driver of the line of sight. It is good also as a structure which determines the inclination of a display surface with reference to a table.

  Even in such a configuration, according to the change in the angle of the line of sight of the driver, it becomes possible to match the inclination of the display surface, which is estimated that the information on the display surface is easily visible from the driver of the line of sight. It becomes possible to improve the difficulty in viewing display information caused by changes in the posture of the driver.

(Modification 3)
In the first embodiment, the configuration of looking down at the angle of the driver's line of sight is referred to as an angle, but the configuration is not necessarily limited thereto. For example, when the display device 4 is arranged at a position higher than the eye position of the driver, the driver looks up at the display surface of the display device 4, so that the angle of the driver's line of sight is looked up. That's fine.

(Modification 4)
In the first embodiment, the configuration including the face image processing ECU 2 and the meter ECU 6 has been described. However, the configuration is not necessarily limited thereto. For example, the function of the face image processing ECU 2 and the function of the meter ECU 6 described in the first embodiment may be configured to be performed by one ECU.

(Modification 5)
In the first embodiment, the configuration using the inter-object distance is shown, but the configuration is not necessarily limited thereto. For example, the surface of the display 4 may be tilted according to the angle of the line of sight of the driver, such as the looking-down angle or the looking-up angle, without using the distance between objects.

(Embodiment 2)
In Embodiment 1, although the structure which inclines the display surface of the indicator 4 according to the angle of the eyes | visual_axis of a driver was shown, it does not necessarily restrict to this. For example, a configuration in which the display surface of the display device 4 is tilted according to the distance between the display device 4 and the driver's face (hereinafter, a second embodiment) may be employed. For convenience of explanation, members having the same functions as those shown in the drawings used in the description of the previous embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals in the following description of the second embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted. Omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the in-vehicle display system 200 according to the second embodiment includes a distance measuring sensor 7 instead of the camera 1 and the face image processing ECU 2, and the in-vehicle display device 3 a instead of the in-vehicle display device 3. Is the same as the in-vehicle display system 100 of the first embodiment.

<Schematic configuration of in-vehicle display system 200>
The distance measuring sensor 7 is a TOF type distance measuring sensor that detects a distance to an object by transmitting an exploration wave and receiving a reflected wave of the exploration wave reflected by the object. The distance measuring sensor 7 is arranged in the vicinity of the display device 4 and transmits a search wave toward a prescribed area including an area where the face of the driver seated in the driver's seat of the own vehicle is located. Thus, the distance between the display 4 and the driver's face is detected.

  When the driver's posture changes in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle, the distance between the display 4 and the driver's face also changes. Therefore, a change in the driver's posture in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle can be estimated from a change in the distance between the display 4 and the driver's face. Therefore, the distance between the display 4 and the driver's face corresponds to a state quantity capable of estimating a change in the driver's posture in the front-rear direction of the vehicle in the claims.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the in-vehicle display device 3 a is the same as the in-vehicle display device 3 of the first embodiment except that a meter ECU 6 a is provided instead of the meter ECU 6. The meter ECU 6a is the same as the meter ECU 6 of the first embodiment except that some processes are different.

<Schematic configuration of meter ECU 6a>
As shown in FIG. 8, the meter ECU 6a includes a distance acquisition unit 65, a control determination unit 63a, and a drive control unit 64a.

  The distance acquisition unit 65 sequentially acquires the distance between the display 4 detected by the distance measuring sensor 7 and the driver's face. This distance acquisition part 65 is equivalent to the state quantity acquisition part of a claim. The control determination unit 63a and the drive control unit 64a will be described in detail in the following description of the display tilt control related processing.

<Display Tilt Control Processing in Embodiment 2>
Subsequently, the display device tilt control process in the meter ECU 6a will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The display tilt control related process in the second embodiment is a process of tilting the display 4 according to the distance between the display 4 and the driver's face. The flowchart of FIG. 9 may be configured to start, for example, when the ignition power of the own vehicle is turned on.

  First, in step S <b> 21, the distance acquisition unit 65 acquires the distance between the display 4 detected by the distance measuring sensor 7 and the driver's face (hereinafter referred to as “inter-object distance”). The distance between the objects acquired in S21 is given a time stamp indicating the data acquisition time, and is stored as time series data arranged in time series in a temporary storage memory such as a RAM of the meter ECU 6a.

  In step S22, the control determination unit 63a determines whether or not the difference between the target distance acquired in S21 and the reference distance is equal to or greater than a specified value. As an example, the distance between objects acquired in S21 when the ignition power of the host vehicle is turned on may be used as the reference distance. The reference distance is preferably configured to be sequentially updated as the host vehicle travels as described in the first modification. And when it determines with more than a regulation value (it is YES at S22), it moves to step S23. On the other hand, when it determines with less than a regulation value (it is NO at S22), it moves to step S25.

  In step S23, when the state determined by the control determination unit 63a that the difference between the target distance acquired in S21 and the reference distance is equal to or greater than a predetermined value continues for a certain period (YES in S23), the process proceeds to step S24. On the other hand, if the predetermined period has not been reached (NO in S23), the process proceeds to step S25.

  In step S24, the drive control unit 64a instructs the actuator 5 to tilt the display surface of the display device 4 by an amount corresponding to the distance between the objects acquired in S21, and tilts the display surface of the display device 4. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the shorter the distance between the objects, the higher the look-down angle, and the driver's line-of-sight angle changes in the floor direction of the vehicle, so the distance between the objects becomes shorter than the reference distance. The display surface of the display 4 is tilted in the direction of tilting forward in the driver's seat by the amount. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, the longer the distance between the objects, the lower the look-down angle, and the driver's line-of-sight angle changes in the direction of the vehicle's ceiling. The display surface of the display 4 is tilted in the direction to be raised toward the driver's seat by the amount corresponding to the amount of change.

  As a method of determining the inclination of the display surface, for example, a table in which the distance between the objects is associated with the inclination of the display surface that is assumed to be easily visible from the driver of the distance between the objects is displayed on the meter ECU 6a. By storing in the non-volatile memory, it may be determined with reference to this table.

  In step S25, when it is the end timing of the display device tilt control process (YES in S25), the display device tilt control process is ended. On the other hand, if it is not the end timing of the display tilt control process (NO in S25), the process returns to S21 and is repeated. An example of the end timing of the display tilt control process is when the ignition power of the host vehicle is turned off.

<Summary of Embodiment 2>
When the driver's posture changes in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle, the distance between the display 4 and the driver's face also changes. Therefore, if the display surface is tilted in the direction to be raised toward the driver's seat or to the front of the driver's seat according to the change in the driver's posture in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, the display 4 is displayed according to the driver's posture. It is possible to incline the display surface at an angle that allows easy viewing of information. Therefore, even with the configuration of the second embodiment, it is possible to tilt the display surface at an angle at which the information displayed on the display device 4 is easy to see according to the posture of the driver. It becomes possible to improve the difficulty of seeing.

  Further, according to the configuration of the second embodiment, compared to the configuration in which the driver's line-of-sight angle is detected by the image recognition process, the image recognition process with a high processing load can be easily performed.

(Embodiment 3)
Not only the configuration shown in the first and second embodiments, but also a configuration in which the display surface of the display device 4 is tilted according to a tilt angle in the front-rear direction of the vehicle (hereinafter, a third embodiment) may be employed. As shown in FIG. 10, the in-vehicle display system 300 of the third embodiment includes a 3D gyro sensor 8 instead of the camera 1 and the face image processing ECU 2, and an in-vehicle display device 3 b instead of the in-vehicle display device 3. Is the same as the in-vehicle display system 100 of the first embodiment.

<Schematic configuration of in-vehicle display system 300>
The 3D gyro sensor 8 is a gyro sensor that detects the rotational angular velocity of the host vehicle equipped with the 3D gyro sensor 8, a vehicle speed sensor that detects the traveling speed of the host vehicle, and an acceleration sensor that detects acceleration in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle. With. And from the detection result of each sensor, while detecting the advancing direction of the own vehicle, the inclination angle of the front-back direction of the own vehicle is detected. The inclination angle in the front-rear direction of the own vehicle may be the inclination angle of the own vehicle or the inclination angle of the road on which the own vehicle is traveling.

  When the host vehicle tilts in the front-rear direction, the driver's posture also changes in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle. Therefore, the change in the driver's posture in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle can be estimated from the change in the tilt angle in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle. Therefore, the inclination angle in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle corresponds to a state quantity that can estimate the change in the posture of the driver in the front-rear direction of the vehicle in the claims.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the in-vehicle display device 3 b is the same as the in-vehicle display device 3 of the first embodiment except that the in-vehicle display device 3 b includes a meter ECU 6 b instead of the meter ECU 6. The meter ECU 6b is the same as the meter ECU 6 of the first embodiment except that some processes are different.

<Schematic configuration of meter ECU 6b>
As shown in FIG. 11, the meter ECU 6b includes an inclination angle acquisition unit 66, a control determination unit 63b, and a drive control unit 64b.

  The inclination angle acquisition unit 66 sequentially acquires the inclination angle in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle detected by the 3D gyro sensor 8. This inclination angle acquisition unit 66 corresponds to a state quantity acquisition unit in claims. The control determination unit 63b and the drive control unit 64b will be described in detail in the following description of the display tilt control related processing.

<Display Tilt Control Processing in Embodiment 3>
Subsequently, the display device tilt control process in the meter ECU 6b will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The display tilt control related process in the third embodiment is a process of tilting the display 4 according to the tilt angle in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle. The flowchart in FIG. 12 may be configured to start, for example, when the ignition power of the own vehicle is turned on.

  First, in step S <b> 41, the tilt angle acquisition unit 66 acquires the tilt angle in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle detected by the 3D gyro sensor 8. The tilt angle acquired in S41 is given a time stamp indicating the data acquisition time, and is stored as time series data arranged in time series in a temporary storage memory such as a RAM of the meter ECU 6b.

  In step S42, the control determination unit 63b determines whether or not the absolute value of the tilt angle acquired in S41 is greater than or equal to the threshold angle. The threshold angle may be a value of an inclination angle that changes the attitude of the driver of the own vehicle. This makes it possible to exclude an inclination angle that does not change the posture of the driver of the host vehicle. And when it determines with it being more than a threshold angle (it is YES at S42), it moves to step S43. On the other hand, if it is determined that the angle is less than the threshold angle (NO in S42), the process proceeds to step S45.

  In step S43, when the state in which the absolute value of the inclination angle acquired in S41 is equal to or greater than the threshold angle continues for a certain period (YES in S43), the process proceeds to step S44. If not reached (NO in S43), the process proceeds to step S45.

  In step S44, the drive control unit 64b instructs the actuator 5 to tilt the display surface of the display 4 by an amount corresponding to the tilt angle acquired in S41, and tilts the display surface of the display 4. Specifically, the driver's posture tilts forward as the downward inclination angle increases, so that the look-down angle increases, and the driver's line-of-sight angle changes in the floor direction of the host vehicle. Therefore, the display surface of the display 4 is tilted in the direction of tilting forward in the driver's seat by an amount corresponding to the inclination angle that becomes the downward gradient. On the other hand, the driver's posture tilts backward as the inclination angle that becomes the upward gradient increases, so that the look-down angle decreases, and the driver's line-of-sight angle changes toward the ceiling of the vehicle. Therefore, the display surface of the display device 4 is tilted in the direction in which it is raised toward the driver's seat by an amount corresponding to the inclination angle that becomes the upward gradient.

  As a method of determining the inclination of the display surface, for example, the inclination angle is associated with the inclination of the display surface on which the information on the display surface is estimated to be easily visible from the driver in the state where the vehicle is at the inclination angle. By storing the table in the nonvolatile memory of the meter ECU 6b, the table may be determined with reference to this table.

  In step S45, when it is the end timing of the display device tilt control process (YES in S45), the display device tilt control process is ended. On the other hand, if it is not the end timing of the display device tilt control process (NO in S45), the process returns to S41 and is repeated. An example of the end timing of the display tilt control process is when the ignition power of the host vehicle is turned off.

<Summary of Embodiment 3>
When the host vehicle tilts in the front-rear direction, the driver's posture also changes in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle. Therefore, if the display surface is tilted in either the direction to be raised toward the driver's seat or the direction to be tilted forward of the driver's seat according to the inclination angle in the front-rear direction of the host vehicle, the display 4 corresponding to the driver's posture is displayed. It is possible to tilt the display surface at an angle at which displayed information is easy to see. Therefore, even with the configuration of the third embodiment, the display surface can be tilted at an angle at which the information displayed on the display device 4 is easy to see according to the posture of the driver. It becomes possible to improve the difficulty of seeing.

  In addition, according to the configuration of the third embodiment, compared to a configuration in which the line-of-sight angle of the driver is detected by image recognition processing, it can be easily performed as long as image recognition processing with a high processing load is not required.

(Modification 6)
In the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the display device 4 is tilted by the actuator 5 independently of the meter panel is shown, but the configuration is not necessarily limited thereto. For example, the display 4 may be integrated into the meter panel, and the display 4 may be tilted by tilting the meter panel itself with the actuator 5.

(Modification 7)
In the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the display device 4 is arranged on the meter panel is shown, but the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto. The display device 4 may be arranged other than the meter panel as long as the display device 4 is arranged in front of the driver's seat in the own vehicle.

(Modification 8)
Moreover, you may apply this invention to the vehicle-mounted holder for installing the portable terminal which has image display functions, such as a smart phone, in a vehicle. In this case, the in-vehicle holder is a sensor that detects the angle of the line of sight of the actuator 5 and the driver, a sensor that detects the distance between the driver's face and the portable terminal as the display 4, What is necessary is just to set it as the structure provided with the sensor which detects an inclination angle, and the control apparatus which performs the above-mentioned indicator inclination control process.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and the technical means disclosed in different embodiments can be appropriately combined. Such embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Camera (imaging device), 2 Face image processing ECU, 3, 3a, 3b Vehicle-mounted display apparatus, 4 Display, 5 Actuator (drive part), 6, 6a, 6b Meter ECU, 61 Angle acquisition part (state quantity acquisition) Part), 62 Distance acquisition part, 63, 63a, 63b Control determination part, 64, 64a, 64b Drive control part, 65 Distance acquisition part (state quantity acquisition part), 66 Inclination angle acquisition part (state quantity acquisition part), 100 , 200, 300 In-vehicle display system

Claims (9)

Mounted on the vehicle,
An indicator (4) disposed in front of the driver's seat of the vehicle, with the display surface facing the driver's seat;
A vehicle-mounted display device comprising: a drive unit (5) that can tilt the display surface of the display device in either the direction of raising to the driver's seat or the direction of tilting forward of the driver's seat. There,
A state quantity acquisition unit (61, 65, 66) for acquiring a state quantity capable of estimating a change in the posture of the driver in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle;
A drive control unit (64, 64a, 64b) that causes the drive unit to tilt the display surface according to a change in the state quantity acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit ;
The state quantity acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit (61) is the line of sight of the driver detected based on the captured image captured by the imaging device (1) that captures a portion related to the viewpoint of the driver of the vehicle. The angle of
The drive control unit (64) raises the display surface of the display to the driver's seat according to the change when the angle of the line of sight changes by a predetermined angle or more in the ceiling direction of the vehicle. while causing tilting direction, when changing more than a predetermined angle to the floor direction of the vehicle, according to the change amount, wherein Rukoto allowed tilting the display surface of the display in a direction tilted to the driver's seat forward In-vehicle display device. In claim 1 ,
A distance acquisition unit (62) that acquires an inter-object distance that is a distance between the display and the driver's face;
The drive control unit is acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit when a state in which the distance between the objects acquired by the distance acquisition unit has changed from a reference distance that is a reference distance by a predetermined value or more continues for a certain period of time. An in-vehicle display device that causes the drive unit to tilt the display surface in accordance with a change in the line of sight of the driver. In claim 2 ,
When the change amount of the inter-object distance acquired by the distance acquisition unit continues for a certain period, the average value of the inter-object distance acquired by the distance acquisition unit during the certain period is newly An in-vehicle display device comprising a reference distance setting unit (6) set as a reference distance. In any one of claims 1 to 3,
The drive control unit causes the drive unit to tilt the display surface so that the display surface is perpendicular to the driver's line of sight based on the angle of the driver's line of sight acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit. A vehicle-mounted display device. Mounted on the vehicle,
An indicator (4) disposed in front of the driver's seat of the vehicle, with the display surface facing the driver's seat;
A vehicle-mounted display device comprising: a drive unit (5) that can tilt the display surface of the display device in either the direction of raising to the driver's seat or the direction of tilting forward of the driver's seat. There,
A state quantity acquisition unit (61, 65, 66) for acquiring a state quantity capable of estimating a change in the posture of the driver in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle;
A drive control unit (64, 64a, 64b) that causes the drive unit to tilt the display surface according to a change in the state quantity acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit ;
The state quantity acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit (65) is a distance between the display and the driver's face,
The drive control unit (64a) raises the display surface of the display to the driver's seat side as the distance acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit becomes longer than a reference distance that is a reference distance. while causing tilting direction, characterized Rukoto let inclined in a direction tilted in response to the distance than the reference distance acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit is shortened, the display surface of the display on the front of the driver's seat In-vehicle display device. Mounted on the vehicle,
An indicator (4) disposed in front of the driver's seat of the vehicle, with the display surface facing the driver's seat;
A vehicle-mounted display device comprising: a drive unit (5) that can tilt the display surface of the display device in either the direction of raising to the driver's seat or the direction of tilting forward of the driver's seat. There,
A state quantity acquisition unit (61, 65, 66) for acquiring a state quantity capable of estimating a change in the posture of the driver in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle;
A drive control unit (64, 64a, 64b) that causes the drive unit to tilt the display surface according to a change in the state quantity acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit ;
The state quantity acquired by the state quantity acquisition unit (66) is an inclination angle in the front-rear direction of the vehicle,
The drive control unit (64b) inclines the display surface of the display toward the direction of raising the driver seat side in response to an increase in an inclination angle that is an upward gradient, and an inclination angle that is a downward gradient. in response to the increase, vehicle display device according to claim Rukoto let inclined in a direction to defeat the display surface of the display on the front of the driver's seat. In any one of Claims 1-6 ,
The in-vehicle display device characterized in that the drive unit tilts the display surface of the display device by rotating the display device around a rotation axis parallel to the display surface. In any one of claims 1 to 7
The indicator is arranged on a meter panel of the vehicle,
The in-vehicle display device characterized in that the drive unit tilts the display surface of the display device by tilting the display device independently of the meter panel. In any one of claims 1 to 7
The indicator is integrated with the meter panel of the vehicle,
The drive unit is configured to tilt the meter panel itself, thereby tilting the display surface of the display unit integrated with the meter panel.

Images