WO2016101926A1

WO2016101926A1 - Head-up display system and vehicle including the same

Info

Publication number: WO2016101926A1
Application number: PCT/CN2015/099153
Authority: WO
Inventors: Xinxin SONG; Lianzhao CHENG
Original assignee: Byd Company Limited
Priority date: 2014-12-26
Filing date: 2015-12-28
Publication date: 2016-06-30
Also published as: CN105785570B; CN105785570A

Abstract

A head-up display system and a vehicle including the same are provided. The system includes an image source (10), configured to generate an image and to project a light presenting the image; a light dividing unit (20), configured to transmit a first portion of the light and to reflect a second portion of the light; and a virtual image generating unit, configured to image the first portion of the light transmitted through the light dividing unit and the second portion of the light reflected by the light dividing unit onto a front windshield (40) within a first region (40a) and a second region (40b) respectively.

Description

HEAD-UP DISPLAY SYSTEM AND VEHICLE INCLUDING THE SAME

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based upon and claims a priority to Chinese Patent Application Serial No. 201410829066.1, filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of P.R. China on December 26, 2014, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the vehicle field, and more particularly to a head-up display system and a vehicle including the vehicle-mounted head-up display system.

BACKGROUND

A head-up display (HUD) was used in the aircraft at the earliest. It is possible for a pilot to catch a sight of desired important information with the head-up display without bowing his head, thus enhancing driving safety. With the development of science and technology, the HUD has been applied to vehicles (particularly to a premium vehicle) because of its convenience and improved safety, thus improving the driving safety.

Information that needs to be concerned by a driver is projected onto a front windshield by the head-up display configured to be mounted in the vehicle, so that it does not need the driver to switch visual fields between his front and a displaying device. As a result, it is possible for the driver to concentrate on important road condition ahead, and thus eliminating potential traffic hazards.

However, the head-up display configured to be mounted in the vehicle still needs to be improved.

SUMMARY

An object of the present disclosure are to provide a head-up display system and a vehicle including the head-up display system, so as to enable other passengers in addition to the driver to acknowledge virtual information relevant as reflecting driving circumstance, navigation information or information related to entertainment.

In order to achieve the above object, the present disclosure provides in embodiments a head-up display system configured to be mounted in a vehicle. The system includes: an image source, configured to generate an image and to project a light presenting the image； a light dividing unit, configured to transmit a first portion of the light and to reflect a second portion of the light； and a virtual image generating unit, each configured to image the first portion of the light transmitted through the light dividing unit and the second portion of the light reflected by the light dividing unit onto a front windshield within a first region and a second region respectively.

Accordingly, the present disclosure further provides in embodiments a vehicle including the head-up display system described above.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the present disclosure may have the following advantages. The image generated by the image source is projected onto the front windshield in different regions via the light dividing unit, so as to enable other passengers in addition to the driver to acknowledge virtual information relevant as reflecting driving circumstance, navigation information or information related to entertainment. Additional aspects and advantages of embodiments of present disclosure will be given in part in the following descriptions, become apparent in part from the following descriptions, or be learned from the practice of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following descriptions made with reference to the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the head-up display system according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure；

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the head-up display system according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure；

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a light dividing unit used in the head-up display system according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure；

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an image generated by an image source in the head-up display system according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure； and

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating operation status of the head-up display system according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

Reference Numerals

10 image source

20 light dividing unit

20a transmission region 20b reflection region

30 virtual imaging unit

30a first concave reflector 30b second concave reflector 30c convex lens assembly

40 front windshield

40a first region 40b second region

50a driver’s eyes 50b co-driver’s eyes

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will be made in detail to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiments described herein with reference to drawings are explanatory, illustrative, and used to generally understand the present disclosure. The embodiments shall not be construed to limit the present disclosure. The same or similar elements and the elements having same or similar functions are denoted by like reference numerals throughout the descriptions.

In addition, terms such as “first” and “second” are used herein for purposes of description and are not intended to indicate or imply relative importance or significance. Thus, the feature defined with “first” and “second” may comprise one or more this feature.

In the description of the present disclosure, it should be understood that, unless specified or limited otherwise, the terms “mounted, ” “connected, ” and “coupled” and variations thereof are used broadly and encompass such as mechanical or electrical mountings, connections and couplings, also can be inner mountings, connections and couplings of two components, and further can be direct and indirect mountings, connections, and couplings, which can be understood by those skilled in the art according to the detail embodiment of the present disclosure.

It can merely enable a driver to catch a sight of virtual driving information via a virtual image projected by an existing head-up display due to a perspective limit. However, it has become more and more important to improve riding safety, comfort and entertainment, that is because in addition to the driver, a co-driver may also play an important role in enhancing driving safety by monitoring the virtual driving information, such as vehicle status and navigation, at his side, in particular during the long-distance driving. Furthermore, the vehicle may be of an improved entertainment and comfort performances by enabling passengers at the co-driver’s position or other positions to view entertainment information.

Therefore, the present disclosure provides in embodiments a head-up display system, including: an image source, configured to generate an image and to project a light presenting the image； a light dividing unit, configured to transmit a first portion of the light and to reflect a second portion of the light； and a virtual image generating unit, configured to image the first portion of the light transmitted through the light dividing unit and the second portion of the light reflected by the light dividing unit onto a front windshield within a first region and a second region respectively.

The front windshield may be divided into a plurality of regions, for example, the first region and the second region. The first region corresponds to the driver side, and the second region corresponds to the co-driver side.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the present disclosure may have the following advantages. The image generated by the image source is projected onto the front windshield in different regions via the light dividing unit, so as to enable other passengers in addition to the driver to acknowledge virtual information relevant as reflecting driving circumstance, navigation information or information related to entertainment.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, the image source may be a liquid crystal display panel, a digital light procession (DLP) projection system, or a liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) projection system, which is not limited herein.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, the image generated by the image source may include at least one of a driving information image, an instrument displaying image and a navigation image. Of course, any image including information interested by the driver or other passengers is applicable hereto, which is not limited herein.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, the light dividing unit includes a spectroscope, a spectral slice or a combination of the spectroscope and the spectral slice.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, the virtual image generating unit includes a plurality of virtual image generating elements and an adjusting element.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, each virtual image generating element includes a concave reflector, a convex lens or a combination of the concave reflector and the convex lens. The concave reflector or the convex lens may be of a surface in a spherical or aspherical shape, which is not limited herein.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the head-up display system according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 1, the image source 10 is configured to generate an image and project a light presenting the image. The light reaches to the light dividing unit 20. The first portion of the light is refracted through the light dividing unit 20 towards the first concave reflector 30a, and then transmitted light is reflected onto the front windshield 40 within the first region 40a to obtain the virtual image, which can be observed by the driver’s eyes 50a. The second portion of the light is reflected by the light dividing unit 20 towards the second concave reflector 30b, and then reflected light is again reflected onto the front windshield 40 within the second region 40b to obtain the virtual image, which can be observed by the co-driver’s eyes 50b.

Alternatively, the light dividing unit 20 is of a reflectivity of 40％-60％, and of a refractive index of 40％-60％, so that a desired virtual image may be displayed clearly on the front windshield within the first region corresponding to the driver’s view field and the second region corresponding to the co-driver’s view field, respectively.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first concave reflector 30a may be replaced by a convex lens assembly.

In the first embodiment of the present disclosure described above, the virtual image displayed in the first region 40a of the front windshield 40 is identical with the virtual image displayed in the first region 40b of the front windshield 40. However, the diver and the co-driver may concern different information during the actual driving, for example, the driver may be quite drawn to the instrument displaying information, while the co-driver may pay his most attention to the entertainment information. Therefore, the present disclosure provides in a second embodiment another head-up display system, so that the driver and the co-driver may catch different images from the first region 40a and the second region 40b, respectively.

The second embodiment will be described in detail hereinafter with reference to Figs. 2 to 5.

In the second embodiment of the present disclosure, the light dividing unit 20 includes a transmission region 20a and a reflection region 20b. The first portion of the light is transmitted by the transmission region 20a, and the second portion of the light is reflected by the reflection region 20b respectively. The image generated by the image source has a first image portion (for example, “A” shown in Fig. 4) and a second image portion (for example, “B” shown in Fig. 4) . Specifically, the light corresponding to the first image is refracted through the transmission area 20a, and the light corresponding to the second image is reflected by the reflection region 20b. The transmission region 20a is of a high transmission property and the reflection area 20b is of a high reflection property.

In specific, the image source 10 is configured to generate an image and the image includes the first image portion and the second image portion. The light corresponding to the first image portion is refracted through the transmission region 20a of the light dividing unit 20 towards the convex lens assembly 30c, and then transmitted light is again refracted through the convex lens assembly 30c, so to be imaged onto the front windshield 40 within the first region 40a to obtain the virtual image corresponding to the first image, which can be observed by the driver’s eyes 50a. The light corresponding to the second image portion is reflected by the reflection region 20b of the light dividing unit 20 towards the second concave reflector 30b, and then reflected light is again reflected onto the front windshield 40 within the second region 40b to obtain the virtual image corresponding to the second image, which can be observed by the co-driver’s eyes 50b.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the convex lens assembly 30c may be replaced by a concave reflector.

In the case that the first image and the second image are identical, the virtual images generated on the front windshield within the driver’s view field and the co-driver’s view field, respectively, are identical.

In the second embodiment of the present disclosure described above, an example that one image source generates two image portions is described. In a specific implementation, two image sources may be adopted to generate two images respectively, so as to generate the virtual two images to the driver and the co-driver respectively. The driver and the co-driver are described as an example, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. The requirements of the other passengers at back row of the vehicle may be also considered, so other regions in the front windshield may also be used to display the virtual image.

Accordingly, the present disclosure also provides in embodiments a vehicle including the head-up display system described above.

Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail above in connection with the accompanying drawings； however, the present disclosure is not limited to specific approaches of the embodiments described above. Instead, the embodiments of the present disclosure comprise all the variants, modifications and their equivalents within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the claims.

A plurality of particular details is illustrated for providing a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter proposed herein. However, it would be understood by those skilled in the art that the subject matter proposed herein may be implemented without using these particular details. In other cases, well-known methods, programs, components and circuits are not described in detail, thus avoiding the unnecessary obscuring of aspects of embodiments

In addition, the particular features in embodiments of the present disclosure may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples, as long as it is not contrary to the idea of the present disclosure, which should be regarded as embodiments of the present disclosure.

Claims

A head-up display system configured to be mounted in a vehicle, comprising:

an image source, configured to generate an image and to project a light presenting the image；

a light dividing unit, configured to transmit a first portion of the light and to reflect a second portion of the light； and

a virtual image generating unit, configured to image the first portion of the light and the second portion of the light onto a front windshield within a first region and a second region respectively.
The system according to claim 1, wherein the first region corresponds to a driver side and the second region corresponds to a co-driver side.
The system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the light dividing unit comprises a transmission region and a reflection region.
The system according to claim 3, wherein the first portion of the light is transmitted to the virtual image generating unit by the transmission region, and the second portion of the light is reflected to the virtual image generating unit by the reflection region respectively.
The system according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the light dividing unit is of a reflectivity of 40％-60％, and of a refractive index of 40％-60％.
The system according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the virtual image generating unit comprises a plurality of virtual image generating elements and an adjusting element.
The system according to claim 6, wherein each virtual image generating element comprises a concave reflector, a convex lens or a combination of the concave reflector and the convex lens.
The system according to any one of claims 1-7, wherein the light dividing unit comprises a spectroscope, a spectral slice or a combination of the spectroscope and the spectral slice.
The system according to any one of claims 1-8, wherein the first portion of the light transmitted by the light dividing unit is projected on the front windshield within the first region corresponding to the driver side, and the second portion of the light reflected by the light dividing unit is projected on the front windshield within the second region corresponding to the co-driver side.
The system according to any one of claims 1-9, wherein the image comprises at least one of a driving information image, an instrument displaying image and a navigation image.
A vehicle comprising the head-up display system according to any one of claims 1-10.