JPH09123797A - Vehicular end part display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicular end part display device to be easily mounted on a vehicle by miniaturizing the optical system of a display unit. SOLUTION: A vehicular end part display device guides a display light L emitted from a light emission type display 11 by reflection mirrors 17, 18 and 19 (optical system) and a lens 20 (optical system), projects the light to a half- transmissive combiner 9 (projecting member), forms an image in the vicinity of the end part of the vehicle and displays a virtual image indicating the end part of the vehicle. The vehicular end part display device displays a virtual image larger than the height of a visual field region regulated by the optical system.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicular display device which allows a driver to recognize the tip position of a vehicle by using a head-up display device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a vehicle travels on a narrow road, it is difficult to recognize the tip position of the vehicle, especially at the left tip of the vehicle (in the case of a right-hand drive vehicle). I had to make contact with. For this reason,
It is known that a rod-shaped mark called a corner pole is provided at the tip of a vehicle to measure the distance to an obstacle. However, such a corner pole becomes a protrusion at the tip of the vehicle, and there is a fear of contact with a pedestrian. Further, the corner pole can be arbitrarily mounted by the purchaser of the vehicle, but since it is usually mounted at the dealer after the vehicle is shipped from the factory, the corner pole must be mounted at the dealer. It was necessary to process the bumper.

Therefore, a display device has been proposed in which a head-up display device is used to form an image of a front end mark in the vicinity of the front end of a vehicle, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-57937.
It is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 3-109925. Such a display device is provided with a display unit on the dashboard of a vehicle, and by projecting light for displaying a tip mark on the combiner from this display unit, a virtual image is formed in the vicinity of the end of the vehicle, so that the driver can The virtual image is visually recognized as a mark at the end of the vehicle.

[0004]

However, the range in which the virtual image can be visually recognized (eye box) is a reflecting mirror,
Since it is limited by the size of the optical system such as a lens, it is difficult to downsize the optical system. That is, to explain with a specific example shown in FIG. 7, the viewpoint 2 of the observer 1
Since it is necessary to secure a predetermined eye box 4 so that the virtual image 3 can be visually recognized even if changes in the image, and to set the size of the lens 5 corresponding to the eye box 4, it is difficult to downsize the lens 5. there were. Therefore, the size of the lens 5 is set so as to secure the eye box 4, and the size of the reflecting mirror is set corresponding to the lens 5, so that the display unit accommodating the optical system including the lens 5 and the reflecting mirror can be made small. It was also difficult to do, and the display unit became large, which was inconvenient to mount on the dashboard. The present invention
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a vehicle end display device that has a compact optical system of a display unit and is excellent in mountability in a vehicle.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, display light emitted from a light emitting display is guided by an optical system and projected on a semitransparent projection member to form an image near the end of the vehicle. In the vehicle end display device that displays a virtual image indicating the above, the virtual image that is larger than the height of the visual field area limited by the optical system is displayed.

Further, in the present invention, the optical system has a lens for magnifying the display light, and the lens has a shape in which upper and lower edges are cut off.

Further, according to the present invention, the light emitting type display comprises a display plate and a light source, and the display plate is provided with a convex portion for transmitting the light emitted from the light source and a light source provided around the convex portion. It has a light-shielding portion that shields the emitted light.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Display light emitted from a light emitting display is guided by an optical system such as a reflecting mirror and a lens, projected on a semi-transmissive projection member, and imaged in the vicinity of the vehicle end. It displays a virtual image that shows the part of the display, displays a virtual image that is larger than the height of the field of view that is limited by the optical system, and enables downsizing of the optical system, thus reducing the size of the display unit that houses the optical system. It is possible to improve the mountability on the vehicle.

Further, by forming the lens of the optical system so that the upper and lower edges thereof are cut off, the width of the visual field region can be secured and the vertical dimension of the lens can be reduced.

Further, the light-emitting type display is composed of a display plate and a light source, and a convex portion for transmitting light emitted from the light source to the display plate and a light provided from the light source provided around the convex portion are provided. A virtual image can be displayed three-dimensionally by forming a light-shielding portion for blocking and projecting the display light, which is emitted from the light source and transmitted through the convex portion of the display plate, onto the projection member.

[0011]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 to 5 are views showing a first embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in the conventional example are denoted by the same reference numerals and described.

As shown in FIG. 1, a display unit 6 is provided on a dashboard 8 of a vehicle 7, generates a display light L for displaying a virtual image 3, and a combiner 9 (projection) provided on the display unit 6 is provided. The virtual image 3 is displayed by projecting it on a member). The virtual image 3 is formed near the vehicle end portion 10, and the observer 1 visually recognizes the virtual image 3 as a mark of the vehicle end portion 10.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an optical path formed by the display unit 6 and the combiner 9. Reference numeral 11 is a light-emitting display provided in the case 12 of the display unit 6, and is a light source.
The light source 13 emits light from the back side of the display plate 14. The display plate 14 is made of a translucent resin material and has a convex portion 15 formed therein. As shown in FIG. 3, the display panel 14 is printed in black to surround the convex portion 15 with a light-shielding portion.
16 is formed so as to block the light of the light source 13. The convex portion 15 has a shape in which a cylinder is cut in half along a plane passing through the axis.

Reference numerals 17, 18, and 19 are reflecting mirrors (optical systems), and the reflecting mirrors 17, 18, and 19 are housed in the case 12 and reflect the display light L transmitted through the convex portion 15 of the display plate 14. Let Reference numeral 20 denotes a lens (optical system), and this lens 20 has a horizontally long shape with its upper and lower edges cut off. The lens 20 is provided in the exit window 21 of the case 12 and magnifies the display light L. The display light L transmitted through the convex portion 15 of the display plate 14 is guided by the optical system including the reflecting mirrors 17, 18, 19 and the lens 20 and projected on the combiner 9. The display light L (that is, the bright semicylindrical convex portion 15) is projected on the combiner 9, and the observer 1 can observe the substantially cylindrical three-dimensional virtual image 3. The combiner 9 is semi-transparent, so that the observer 1 can see the landscape together with the virtual image 3.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing the relationship between the eye box 4 and the lens 20. Reference numeral 4 denotes an eye box, and the eye box 4 is limited by the size of the lens 20. If the viewpoint 2 of the observer 1 is in the eye box 4, the virtual image 3 can be visually recognized, and the virtual image 3 can be visually recognized even from the uppermost viewpoint 2a and the lowermost viewpoint 2b in the eyebox 4. Reference numeral 22 denotes a viewing angle limited by the lens 20, and the viewing angle 22 determines a range in which the virtual image 3 can be visually recognized from the viewpoint 2 (viewing area 23). That is, the visual field area 23 is limited by the size of the lens 20. As shown in FIG. 5, the virtual image 3 is displayed larger than the height H of the visual field region 23, and the observer 1 can see only part of the virtual image 3, but the virtual image 3 is a mark of the vehicle end 10. If so, there is no problem. The viewing angle 22 is I
It is also called FOV (Instantaneous Field Of View).

According to the first embodiment, the light emitting type display 11
Is composed of the light source 13 and the display plate 14, the display plate 14 is formed with a convex portion 15 for transmitting the light emitted from the light source 13, and the convex portion 15
A light-shielding portion 16 is provided in the periphery of the
The virtual image 3 can be displayed three-dimensionally by guiding the display light L transmitted through the convex portion 15 of FIG. 1 by the optical system including the reflecting mirrors 17, 18, 19 and the lens 20 and projecting it onto the combiner 9.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a second embodiment. Reference numeral 24 denotes a light emitting type display, and a plurality of light emitting diodes 26 are mounted on a substrate 25 in a column. The configuration excluding the light emitting display 24 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the display light L emitted from the light emitting display 24 is guided by an optical system and projected onto the combiner 9 to display the linear virtual image 3. can do.

As described above, according to the first and second embodiments, the observer 1 can use the virtual image 3 as a mark of the vehicle end portion 10, and the distance between the observer 1 and obstacles such as walls and utility poles can be reduced. Can be visually inspected. Further, by displaying the virtual image 3 larger than the height H of the visual field region 3, the lens 20 can be downsized. That is, as apparent from a comparison between FIG. 4 of the present embodiment and FIG. 7 described in the conventional example, if the virtual image 3 is displayed larger than the height H of the visual field region 3, the same eye range 4 as the conventional one is obtained. The lens 20 can be secured and the lens 20 can be made small. Therefore, the reflecting mirror 17, whose size is set corresponding to the lens 20,
It is possible to reduce the size of 18, 19 as well, and it is possible to reduce the size of the optical system including the reflecting mirrors 17, 18, 19 and the lens 20, thereby reducing the size of the display unit 6 as a whole and improving the mountability on the vehicle. .

If the lens 20 has a shape with the upper and lower edges cut off, the width W of the visual field region 23 can be secured and the vertical dimension of the lens 20 can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to each embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, since the display unit 6 is small, it can be embedded in the dashboard 8 of the vehicle 7. The projection member is formed on the dashboard 8 by forming a thin metal film on the inner surface of the windshield of the vehicle 7 by vapor deposition or the like. It is possible to widely use the dashboard 7 by eliminating the mounting object.

In each embodiment, the field of view 23 is the lens 20.
, Which was limited by the size of
Is limited by the size of the optical system, and it goes without saying that the visual field region 23 may be limited by the size of the reflecting mirrors 17, 18, 19, for example.

[0022]

According to the present invention, the display light emitted from the light emitting type display is guided by the optical system and projected on the semi-transmissive projection member to form an image in the vicinity of the end of the vehicle to form a virtual image showing the end of the vehicle. In the vehicle end display device for displaying, it is intended to display the virtual image larger than the height of the visual field region limited by the optical system, and to display a virtual image larger than the height of the visual field region,
By enabling the miniaturization of the optical system, the display unit accommodating the optical system can be miniaturized and the mountability on the vehicle can be improved.

Further, according to the present invention, the optical system has a lens for magnifying the display light, and the lens has a shape in which upper and lower edges are cut off, which secures a width of a visual field region and is a lens. The vertical dimension can be reduced.

According to the present invention, the light-emitting display comprises a display plate and a light source, and the display plate is provided with a convex portion for transmitting the light emitted from the light source and a light source provided around the convex portion. It has a light-shielding portion that shields the emitted light, and if the display light emitted from the light source and transmitted through the convex portion of the display plate is projected on the projection member, a virtual image can be displayed three-dimensionally.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an optical path according to the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the display panel of the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between an eye box and a lens according to the same embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a virtual image and a visual field region according to the same embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a light emitting display device showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a relationship between an eye box and a lens, showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Virtual image 9 Combiner (projection member) 10 Vehicle end 11 Light emitting type display 13 Light source 14 Display plate 15 Convex section 16 Light shielding section 17, 18, 19 Reflector (optical system) 20 Lens (optical system) 23 Field of view area 24 Light emission Type indicator L indicator light

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle end for displaying display light emitted from a light emitting display by an optical system and projecting it onto a semi-transmissive projection member to form an image near the end of the vehicle to display a virtual image showing the end of the vehicle. In the partial display device, the vehicle end display device is configured to display the virtual image that is larger than a height of a visual field region limited by the optical system. 2. The vehicle end display device according to claim 1, wherein the optical system has a lens that magnifies the display light, and the lens has a shape in which upper and lower edges are cut off. 3. The light emitting display comprises a display plate and a light source, and the display plate is provided with a convex portion for transmitting the light emitted from the light source and a light emitted from the light source provided around the convex portion. The vehicle end display device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a light-shielding portion that shields the vehicle.