JPH11101664A - Display apparatus for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a display apparatus for vehicles, from which a pointer can be eliminated and in which the space kept by elimination of the pointer can be effectively used by changing the scale display response responding to the degree of the measurement in a name plate without using any pointer while keeping the shape of a conventional display apparatus unchanged. SOLUTION: This display apparatus is provided with scales 11 arranged in a circular- or an arc-like shape in a name plate 10, indexes 12, which may be numerals, letters, or symbols, attendant to the scales 11, one or a plurality of light sources so arranged as to separately correspond to the respective scales 11 of the name plate, and a display control means which displays a prescribed range in the name plate 10 by illuminating the scales 11 in the prescribed range corresponding to the degree of the measurement by using the measured value as a standard value and lighting the light sources within a prescribed range at standard value or lower. The measured value is displayed by cooperation of the display in the prescribed range and the indexes 12, which may be numerals, letters, or symbols, attendant to the scales 11 of the name plate 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display device for a vehicle, and more particularly to a display device for a vehicle suitable for displaying values of measured quantities such as a vehicle speed and an engine speed, such as an instrument of a moving body such as a vehicle. It concerns the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional vehicle display device is used in a combination meter 100 provided in a vehicle interior shown in FIG. The combination meter 100 includes a speedometer (vehicle display device) A that indicates the traveling speed of the vehicle, a tachometer (vehicle display device) B that indicates the number of revolutions of the engine per unit time, and the remaining amount of fuel in the fuel tank. Gauges, such as a vehicle display device C, having both a fuel gauge indicating the temperature of the engine and a thermometer indicating the temperature of the cooling water of the engine, and various indicators and warning lamps 101 indicating the state of the devices in the vehicle.
Are efficiently arranged in the same case so that the driver can understand at a glance the motion state of the vehicle and the state of the devices.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of the vehicle display device A, and FIG.
Is a dial 10 having scales such as characters and symbols formed on the surface thereof.
2 and a pointer 103 arranged in front of the dial 102
A movement 104 for rotating the hands 103 according to the measured amount, a case 105 for fixing and storing the dial 102 and the movement 104, a facing 106 covering the dial 102, and protecting the hands 103 on the dial 102 And the front glass 107 to be used.

[0004]

In the conventional display device for a vehicle as described above, the pointer 103 is moved in accordance with the measured amount, and cooperates with the scale of characters, symbols, etc. attached to the dial 102. Since the measurement results such as the vehicle speed or the engine speed are displayed, the hands 103 are indispensable constituent elements. In order to compose the design of the dial 102 based on the hands 103, There has been a problem that the design is limited and a space for setting a guide is required.

Further, a driver of a moving body such as a vehicle must constantly check and recognize the state of the vehicle on which he / she drives, and operate the vehicle with appropriate judgment.
Regarding the arrangement of the combination meter 100, it is desired that the arrangement be good in visibility, and the design is limited because consideration is given to arranging a highly important vehicle display device in the center. there were.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has been made without changing the shape of a conventional vehicle display device.
By changing the display correspondence of the scale corresponding to the measurement amount on the dial without using the hands, the hands can be eliminated from the configuration of the vehicle display device, and the resulting space of the vehicle display device can be reduced. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle display device improved so that it can be used effectively.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle display device for displaying a measured amount on a scale attached to a dial, wherein the dial has a circular or circular shape. Scales arranged in an arc, indices such as numbers, characters or symbols attached to the scales, one or a plurality of light sources arranged to individually correspond to the scales on the dial, and measurement values Is a reference value, by lighting a light source in a predetermined range equal to or less than the reference value, by shining the scale in the predetermined range according to the measurement amount, the display of the predetermined range on the dial. Display control means,
The measurement amount is displayed in cooperation with the display of the predetermined range and an index such as a numeral, a character, or a symbol attached to the scale of the dial. Here, the display control means means for controlling lighting of the light source in accordance with the measured amount, and is configured using, for example, a microprocessor.

Further, the invention according to claim 1 can be used as it is, but as in the invention according to claim 2, the display of the predetermined range is a color change corresponding to the magnitude of the measurement amount. When a function such as is displayed is added, not only can the measurement result be transmitted to the driver, but also a warning meaning in terms of safety can be transmitted.

Here, the feature of the invention according to claim 1 or 2 is that, without using a pointer, the display of the predetermined range and the display of numerals, characters or symbols attached to the scale of the dial are used. A display amount is displayed in cooperation with the indicator, and another display target is displayed in a space generated by eliminating a conventionally used pointer by the display as in the invention according to claim 3. By adding the structure to be displayed, it is possible to display other display objects other than the measurement amounts used in the moving body or the like.

The invention described in claim 1, 2 or 3 can be used as it is, but as described in claim 4, a light shielding plate is interposed between a light source and another light source. As a result, the interference between the light sources is prevented, so that the display of the measurement amount can clearly display the required desired display range.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a vehicle display device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration of the embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a front view of a combination meter employing a vehicle display device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a view of one example of a vehicle display device used in the combination meter of FIG. FIG.
3 is a diagram showing an embodiment in which another display object is displayed in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 3, and FIG. It is a figure showing other embodiments.

FIG. 1 shows an external view of a combination meter 1 provided in a vehicle cabin, and is constituted by three vehicle display devices A, B, and C. The vehicle display device A is a speedometer, the vehicle display device B is a tachometer,
The vehicle display device C is an instrument having both a fuel gauge and a thermometer.

The display devices A, B, and C for the vehicles have slightly different display contents and the like on the dial plate because the objects to be measured are different from each other, but the main configurations are almost the same. Therefore, the embodiment of the present invention will be described below focusing on the speedometer of the vehicle display device A.

In FIG. 2, the vehicle display device is a dial 1
0, a display circuit 20, a light shielding plate 30, and a case 40. The dial 10 includes a scale 11 necessary for displaying a result corresponding to the measurement amount, and an index 1 such as a number, a character or a symbol required for display in cooperation with the scale 11.
2. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the scale 11 on the display panel 10 has a configuration in which the range of 0 to 180 km / h is cut at intervals of 10 km / h, but as shown in FIG. May be carved at intervals of 5 km / h.
Various configurations can be made according to the purpose.

As a light source individually corresponding to the scale 11, L
The ED 21 is arranged in the display circuit 20 and is separated by a light shielding plate 30 so that the LED 21 does not receive interference from other LEDs 21. As shown in FIG. 2, the light shielding plate 30
A plurality of light-shielding pieces 32 and a light-shielding substrate 31 that collectively holds the light-shielding pieces 32 corresponding to the scales 11 of the dial 10 are integrally formed of a non-translucent member. With such a configuration, mounting at the time of assembly can be simplified. When the light-shielding plate 30 is disposed in the display circuit 20, the case 40, the light-shielding substrate 31, and the light-shielding piece 32 separate the LEDs 21 into individual spaces.
Only light from 1 can be guided. In the present embodiment, a description will be given of the display using the brightness only on the scale 11. However, by reducing the radius of the light shielding plate 30 and increasing the size of the light shielding piece 32, the index 1 attached to the scale 11 is reduced.
2 is made translucent, the scale 11 and the index 12
It is also possible to display by both luminosity.

In this embodiment, an LED is used as a light source.
21 is used, but this is the
This is because the unit price of D21 is inexpensive, and it is also possible to use another luminescent material such as a semiconductor. It is to be noted that a luminous substance may be used for the scale 11 of the dial 10 without using a light source so that the scale 11 itself emits light.

As can be understood from FIG. 2, when the present invention is applied to a display device for a vehicle, it is not necessary to use the hands 103 and the movement 104 for driving the hands 103 shown in FIG. A space is created in the center of the device. In the space, various indicators and the like indicating the status of the equipment used in the moving body as shown in FIG.
It is possible to perform a display other than a display target such as a warning lamp. In the vehicle display device of FIG. 3, a display of a turn flash display unit 13 for turning on a direction indicator and a high beam display unit 14 for turning on when a headlight is set to HIGH are added near the center of the dial 10. FIG.

As described above, by providing the vehicle display device with other display functions, the size of the entire device can be reduced and the space of the combination meter 1 can be effectively used. The range which must be visually recognized can be narrowed. Furthermore, a display device for a vehicle, such as a speedometer, which is frequently viewed by the driver, is provided with another display function having a high importance, for example, a warning lamp display function, so that the warning lamp is displayed while the driver is driving. , Etc. can be visually recognized immediately.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 3. Normally, the scale 11 of the dial 10 is displayed in green in advance, and the measured value is used as a reference value.
A display for a vehicle in the case of performing a display based on a change in color, such as displaying the scale 11 in a range of the scale 11 corresponding to 0 of 2 (hereinafter, also referred to as a “predetermined range corresponding to the measured amount”) in red. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a device configuration. For example, 0k
In the case of m / h, all the scales 11 are displayed in green,
In the case of 60 km / h, the scale 11 corresponding to 0 to 60 km / h is changed to red display, and the scale 11 corresponding to a value exceeding 60 km / h is displayed in green without any change.

The present vehicle display device has a black non-translucent layer 16 in which the transparent substrate 15, the scale 11, the turn flash display section 13, and the high beam display section 14 are cut off in design.
And a dial plate 10 composed of a colorless and light-transmitting layer 17 formed of a matting member, and a scale 11 of the dial plate 10, a turn flash display unit 13, and a high beam display unit 14. The display circuit 20 on which the LEDs 21 are arranged is configured to be fixed by the case 40 and the light shielding plate 30. Although not shown, each of the LEDs 2 is provided on the printed circuit board 22 in order to control the lighting of each of the LEDs 21 according to the measurement result of the vehicle speed.
1 is formed with a wiring pattern for delivering a signal. In addition, it is assumed that the index 12 is printed on the dial 10. However, the index 12 is also translucent so that it is displayed by the incidence of light from a light source. No problem.

With such a configuration, the scale 11 composed of the colorless light-transmitting layer 17 on the black non-light-transmitting layer 16,
Turn flash display section 13 and high beam display section 1
4 will be brilliant. The scale 11, the turn flash display unit 13, and the high beam display unit 14
It shines depending on the color emitted by the ED 21. In addition, the scale 11, the turn flash display unit 13, and the high beam display unit 14
Unnecessary light is prevented from transmitting from other parts.

Here, in order to cope with a change in color, the green LED 21 and the red LED 21 are arranged so as to be one-to-two with respect to the scale 11 of the dial 10, but light emission of a plurality of colors is performed. It is not necessary to use multiple LEDs 21 as long as possible LEDs 21 can be used.

Also, the range from 1 to 99 km / h is displayed in green for the sake of safety, and if it exceeds 100 km / h, it is displayed in red for danger. In the embodiment of the display device for a vehicle in the case where the LED 21 is provided, the structure of the dial 10 is used as it is,
Of the scale 11 corresponding to the range of 0 to 95 km / h.
By disposing a green LED 21 on the scale 11 and disposing a red LED 21 on the scale 11 in a range of 100 km / h or more, it is possible to perform display based on a change in color according to the measured amount.

Further, in the above embodiment, 1 to 99 km
/ H is displayed in green for safety reasons,
Although only the portion exceeding 00 km / h is displayed in red, when the speed exceeds 100 km / h, the entire display is displayed only in red. Safety alerts can be more effectively encouraged.

In addition, in the case of 0 km / h, all the scales 11 are displayed in green, and in the case of 60 km / h, 0 to 0 km / h.
Both green and red LEDs in the range of 60km / h
By turning on 21, the scale 11 in a predetermined range corresponding to the measured amount is displayed in amber, and the scale 11 corresponding to a value exceeding 60 km / h remains unchanged in green display. Display or 1-4
The scale 11 in the range of 9 km / h is green and 50 to 99 km / h.
The scale 11 in the range of h is yellow depending on the purpose, such as displaying a plurality of colors by changing the color of the display stepwise, such as yellow in the range exceeding 100 km / h, and red in the range exceeding 100 km / h. Display can be performed.

In the structure described above, the light emitted from the LED 21 is guided by the light-shielding plate 30 so that
Although the graduations 0 are illuminated, if the graduation intervals of the dial 10 are to be displayed as fine as 1 km / h, the intervals between the graduations 11 are naturally narrowed, and
It becomes difficult to arrange 0. In such a case, FIG.
The problem can be solved by using the light guide member 50 as described above.

In FIG. 5, the light guide member 50 includes a plurality of light guide pieces 51 and a light guide board 52 that collectively holds the light guide pieces 51 so as to individually correspond to the scales 11 of the dial 10. ,
It is configured to be integrally formed by a translucent member.
The light guide substrate portion 52 is formed in an arc shape corresponding to the formation range of the scale 11 of the dial 10, and the front end surface of each light guide piece 51 is formed to be parallel to the back surface of the dial 10. . Note that the front end face of each light guide piece 51 is preferably a dial 1
It is preferable to be arranged near the back surface of the zero. By using such a structure, it is not necessary to dispose a light shielding plate between the scales 11. Further, in FIG. 5, the light-shielding plate 30 is arranged in an arc shape corresponding to the formation range of the scale 11 of the dial 10, but by doing so, other display objects can be placed at the center of the dial 10. This is because it is possible to dispose the light shielding plate 30 without disposing it.

Although the speedometer of the vehicle display device A has been described above, the display devices B and C of the vehicle also differ only in the display contents of the scale 11 of the dial 10 and the index 12 attached to the scale 11. For the basic structure, the structure described for the vehicle display device A can be used.

The above-described display device for a vehicle according to the present invention comprises:
Although not shown, like the conventional vehicle display device,
The description has been made on the premise that the dial 10 is composed of a facing that covers the dial 10 and a front glass that protects the dial 10. In the case of such a structure, since the hands and the movement for driving the hands, which are indispensable in the conventional vehicle display device, can be eliminated from the configuration, it is possible to reduce the size of the entire vehicle display device in the thickness direction. it can.

However, the thickness of the entire apparatus due to the facing and the front glass remains. Further miniaturization can be solved by removing the facing and the front glass from the configuration, but in such a case, since the dial 10 is exposed, problems such as scratches and discoloration are inevitable. Will happen. In order to solve such a problem, the dial 10 is formed of a durable member such as a resin substrate member, and is free from any paint, thereby providing a durable dial that is free from scratches and discoloration. 10 can be dealt with.

The display control means of the above-described vehicle display device will be described. FIG. 8 is a system configuration diagram of the embodiment of the vehicle display device of FIG. (A pulse signal), a waveform shaping circuit 52 for shaping the pulse signal, and a command from a control program stored in the ROM 54 in response to an input from the waveform shaping circuit 52. A microprocessor (MPU) 50 for performing processing, a RAM 53 for storing operation areas M1 to M2 for storing data such as calculation results and display information used in the processing of the MPU 50, and an area for storing display control information L for turning on and off the LED 21
The ED driving section 55 is configured.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the data structure of the display control information stored in the RAM 53. Information on the display scale position and the display state is stored for each address. Using the stored display control information, a display process of a predetermined range according to the measured amount is performed.

The display scale position information is information for associating the LED 21 with the scale 11 provided on the dial 10 in one-to-one correspondence. Here, as in the speedometer shown in FIG.
When displaying the speed up to 80 km / h in units of 10 km / h, the range of 0 to 4 km / h is 0, 5 to 14 km.
By defining the range of / h as 10, and the range of 15 to 24 km / h as 20, each address of the display scale position information is set in the order of 0, 10, 20, ... 170, 180. That is, as shown in the speedometer shown in FIG.
When the speed up to 70 km / h is displayed in units of 5 km / h, for each address of the display scale position information,
165, 170 are set in the order of 0, 5, 10, 15,..., And it is possible to cope with a change in the display form such as a change in the scale configuration.

The display state is a state in which the light source corresponding to the display scale position is turned on and off. When a single color display is performed, the light is turned on and the light is turned off as shown in FIG. The state can be shown as follows. For example,
When the speed is 50 km / h, the display state corresponding to the address A (0) to A (5) is set to ON, and A
The display state corresponding to (6) to A (18) is set to OFF, and a display corresponding to the measured amount is performed based on this information.

FIG. 10 shows the MPU in the embodiment of FIG.
Is a flowchart showing the processing performed by the CPU. Hereinafter, the processing performed by the flowchart will be described.

When the display control means of the present invention is used, first, in the initial processing of the MPU 50, an initial value is set in the work area of the RAM 53, and the display control information area is read and stored in the work area (S1). . Thereafter, when the display control information is referred to in the processing, the area stored in the work area is referred to.

The pulse signal converted by the rotation sensor 11 is shaped by the waveform shaping circuit 12 and input to the MPU 50, where the speed of the moving body is calculated. That is,
The pulse signal input to the MPU 50 is measured in a rotation speed measurement process (S2), and the measurement result is set in the work area M1 (S3).

Based on the measurement result of the number of revolutions set in the work area M1, a display scale position corresponding to the measurement result is selected and set in the work area M2.

In step S4, it is determined whether the vehicle is moving, that is, whether the value of M1 is greater than 0 km / h, based on the measurement result set in the work area M1, and 0km / h is determined. If it is larger, that is, if it is determined that the vehicle is moving, display processing is performed, and the process proceeds to processing S5, where the value of M1 is 0 km / h or less,
That is, when it is determined that the vehicle is stopped, the display process is not performed, and the process returns to the process S2 to perform the next data process.

If it is determined in step S4 that display processing is to be performed, it is determined whether the measurement result of the number of revolutions set in the work area M1 is within the range of 1 km / h or more and less than 5 km / h. (S5), and if included, the work area M
2 is set to 0 (S6), and if it is not included, it is determined whether it is included in the next determination range of 5 km / h or more and less than 15 km / h (S7). 10 is set in the work area M2 (S8), and if not included, the determination process is performed until the range is detected, such as the next range. The last range of the determination processing is from 165 km / h to 175 km, since the speedometer of FIG. 2 can display the speed from 0 to 180 km / h.
km / h, and if it is determined that it is included in the range, 170 is set in the work area M2. If it is not included, that is, if it is determined that it is 175 km / h or more, it is displayed. The upper limit 180 of the scale is set in the work area M2 (S9 to S11).

In step S12, the head data of the display control information is recognized by reading the head address of the display control information area stored in the work area of the RAM 53. By executing the processing from S13 to S16 based on the display control information and the measurement result set in the work area M2, the display state corresponding to each address is set.

In the process S13, it is determined whether the setting process up to the last data of the display control information has been completed.
If it is determined that the display control information has been completed, that is, it has been set to ON in all the display states of the display control information, and in step S17, it is a known technique based on the display information of the display control information. The LED drive unit 55 realizes display according to the measured amount.

If it is determined in step S13 that the process has not been completed, in step S14, the display scale position information of the corresponding data of the display control information is stored in the work area M2.
It is determined whether or not the measurement result is equal to or less than the measurement result set in.
If it is determined that the position is below the display scale position, the process S1
In step 5, ON is set to the display state, and in step S16, the processing target is moved to the next data. If it is determined that the display state is larger than the display scale position, the display state setting processing is terminated, and as described above, in step S17, the display according to the measured amount is performed by the LED driving unit 55, which is a known technique in the related art. Realize.

In the process S18, all of the display information in the display control information area is OFD for the next display process.
F is set. As described above, every time one display process is completed, all the display states are set to OFF. Therefore, in the next display process, only the portion corresponding to the position to be lit needs to be set to ON. Will be.

The series of processing from S2 to S18 is executed in an arbitrary cycle unit, and can be displayed in a single color according to the measured amount.

Further, in the case of performing the display based on the color change, it is possible to cope with the display based on the color change by using the color information or the like for the configuration of the display state of the display control information. For example, when the speed is 60 km / h, the scale corresponding to 0 to 60 km / h is displayed in red,
When it is assumed that the scale exceeding 60 km / h is displayed in green, if the display state is ON, RED is displayed, and OFF is displayed as GREE.
It can be handled by changing N and each.

At this time, in the processing S15 of the flowchart of FIG.
ED is set to be set, and in step S18,
Since the display state of the display control information is changed so that GREEN is all set, and all the graduations 11 are lit in green in the LED lighting process of step S17, the graduation in which the display state is set to RED is set. By making a change such as changing the lighting of No. 11 to red, it is possible to display by a change in color.

Further, as shown in FIG.
When trying to display a display target other than the measurement amount used for a moving body or the like at 0, the state of the device is constantly monitored,
A process of turning on the LED 21 when a state change occurs is added. In the flowchart of FIG. 10, just before the process S <b> 2, the status of the device is monitored, and the process of turning on and off the LED 21 according to the status is added. Can be displayed. Here, the difference from the LED lighting process of the process S17 is that the display process of the scale 11 and the display process of the turn flash display unit 13 and the high beam display unit 14 are separated, so that the display content of the dial 10 is changed. There is an advantage that the display processing can be easily changed.

As is apparent from the above description of the embodiment, the MPU 13 constitutes a display control means for performing a display control on the dial 10 within a predetermined range according to the measured amount.

In the above embodiment, the display device for a vehicle which displays a circular orbit is described. However, the present invention relates to a display device C for a vehicle which has both a fuel gauge and a thermometer. The present invention is also applied to a vehicle display device in which the scales 11 are arranged in an arc shape.

As a predetermined range corresponding to the measured amount,
The case where the measured value is the reference value and the range from the reference value to the scale 11 corresponding to 0 of the index 12 has been described,
It may be displayed in an arbitrary fixed range from the scale 11 corresponding to the reference value.

If a liquid crystal display or the like is used for the dial, finer display becomes possible and an effect as an interior is also exhibited.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention, the display correspondence of the scale is changed according to the measured amount on the dial without changing the shape of the conventional vehicle display device and using the hands. By doing so, it is possible to eliminate the pointer from the configuration of the vehicle display device, and to realize a vehicle display device improved so that the space of the vehicle display device generated thereby can be effectively used. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a combination meter employing a vehicle display device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a vehicle display device used in the combination meter of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an embodiment in which another display target is displayed in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a view showing another embodiment of the vehicle display device.

FIG. 6 is a front view of a combination meter employing a conventional vehicle display device.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of the vehicle display device in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a system configuration diagram of an embodiment in the vehicle display device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a structure of display control information in the embodiment of FIG. 2;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed by an MPU in the embodiment of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Dial 11 Scale 12 Indicator 21 LED (light source) 30 Shield 50 Microprocessor (display control means)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A vehicular display device for displaying a measured amount on a scale attached to a dial, a scale arranged in a circular or arc shape on the dial, and numerals, characters or symbols attached to the scale. Index, one or a plurality of light sources arranged individually corresponding to the respective scales of the dial, and a measurement value as a reference value, and light sources in a predetermined range equal to or less than the reference value. Thus, by illuminating the scale of the predetermined range according to the measurement amount, display control means for displaying the predetermined range on the dial, the display of the predetermined range, the display of the dial A display device for a vehicle, wherein a measured amount is displayed in cooperation with an index such as a number, a character, or a symbol attached to a scale. 2. The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein the display of the predetermined range is displayed by a change in color according to the magnitude of the measurement amount. 3. The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein a display object other than the measurement amount used by a moving body or the like is displayed on the dial. 4. The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein a light shielding plate is interposed between the light source and another light source to prevent interference between the light sources. .