Method for managing the display of information in a motor vehicle cockpit

Abstract

A method for managing the display of information in a cockpit (COK) of a motor vehicle (VHL) comprising at least one first display device (ECT) and at least one second display device (DTH) remote from the first, each capable of displaying at least one vehicle guidance information (FDG); said method, implemented by a display management device (DGA), consisting, when a driver's handheld terminal (T1) (UR1) is paired with the vehicle, of displaying the guidance information on the first display device or of hiding the display on the first display device by displaying the guidance information on the second display device, according to a user preference associating a specific route type with one of the first or second display devices; said user preference having been previously defined by the driver using a dedicated mobile application on their handheld terminal. (Figure 2)

Description

Title of the invention: Method for managing the display of information in a motor vehicle cockpit

[0001] The present invention relates generally to the field of displaying information in a motor vehicle cockpit, and relates more particularly to a method of managing the display in a vehicle cockpit comprising several screens with multiple display configurations which can be customized by the driver of the vehicle according to a type of journey determined via a dedicated application on a portable terminal of the driver (the user).

[0002] Motor vehicles are now equipped with several display devices, including: - a display device located behind the steering wheel of the vehicle in front of the driver, also called a digital instrument cluster, and generally used to communicate information relating to the operation of the vehicle and the driving situation; - a display device in a central position in the vehicle, capable of displaying information to the user, including information relating to the driving situation, such as map information, and / or information from a menu or an infotainment system of the vehicle; - possibly other display devices in the vehicle cockpit such as a so-called "head up display" also designated by the Anglo-Saxon acronym "HUD" for "Head Up Display" displaying above the steering wheel and at the bottom of the windshield, some of the driving information already displayed by one of the previous display devices.

[0003] The display of such a variety of information, on several display devices in the vehicle cockpit, which are generally arranged on the dashboard and / or on the center console of the vehicle, can be disturbing for the driver, and may cause safety problems or increase driver fatigue.

[0004] One solution available to the user may be to switch off one of the display devices, in particular the central display device. However, in this case, the functionalities accessible to the user via the central display device, such as the navigation function, or infotainment system functions, are stopped.

[0005] Thus, there is a need to reduce the disturbance to the driver of a motor vehicle, without limiting the implementation of vehicle functions, in particular functions accessible via the display device in the central position.

[0006] It is also known of methods for setting up the user interface in a motor vehicle cockpit, from a mobile application hosted on a portable terminal (smartphone) owned by the user, who is generally the driver of the vehicle, according to a type of journey chosen by the user so that each type of journey corresponds to a predefined and preferred display configuration on the display device in the central position.

[0007] However, these methods do not allow the number of information displayed in the passenger compartment to be reduced by retaining only some of it, in particular navigation information, while maintaining operational the function(s) which are executed but not displayed.

[0008] The present invention aims to overcome these drawbacks in particular by proposing a "minimalist" display solution, allowing the display of a display device, in particular the central display device, to be hidden without losing the information, in particular the current navigation information, which was displayed on the display device in the central position.

[0009] To this end, the present invention has as its first object a method for managing the display of information in a cockpit of a motor vehicle comprising at least a first display device in the central position of the vehicle on the dashboard (of the vehicle, and at least a second display device located away from the first, in the field of vision of the driver of the vehicle, each capable of displaying at least one piece of vehicle guidance information, a display management device for the first and second display devices, coupled to a connected navigation system;said process, implemented by the display management device, consists, when a portable terminal belonging to the driver (of the vehicle is paired with the vehicle), of displaying the guidance information on the first display device or of hiding the display of the first display device by displaying the guidance information (on the second display device), according to a user preference associating a specific type of route with one of the first or second display devices; said user preference having been previously defined by the driver from a dedicated mobile application on his portable terminal.

[0010] According to one feature, the method consists of hiding the display of the first device when the user preference associates the hiding of the display of the first display device with first routes already recorded in the navigation system.

[0011] According to another characteristic, the first journeys correspond to trips taken between the driver's main residence and a place of work main residence of the driver or journeys taken between the driver's main residence and a secondary residence of the driver.

[0012] According to another feature, the method consists of displaying, in the first display device, masking content whose appearance is close to the visual appearance of the dashboard so that the first display device visually blends into the dashboard.

[0013] According to another feature, the masking content is a screen page displayed on the first display device rendering an image reproducing the texture and / or color of the dashboard.

[0014] According to another feature, the method consists of displaying guidance information on the first display device when the user preference associates the display of guidance information on the first display device with at least one second route not yet recorded in the navigation system.

[0015] According to one feature, the first display device is a touch screen and the second display device is a handset or a head-up display device.

[0016] The present invention has as its second object a computer program product comprising instructions for the implementation of the process as described above, when these instructions are executed by a processor belonging to the display management device.

[0017] Other advantages and features of the present invention will become clearer from the following description, given solely by way of non-limiting example and with reference to the drawings in which:

[0018] [Fig-1] schematically illustrates a motor vehicle cockpit incorporating a display device in central position on the vehicle's dashboard, according to a first display configuration managed by a display management method according to the invention;

[0019] [Fig.2] schematically illustrates the cockpit of the [Fig.1] according to a second display configuration managed by the display management method according to the invention.

[0020] The present invention exploits the user's (the vehicle driver's) preferences, designated as "user preferences," regarding information display configurations for the navigation assistance function, either in a first configuration, on the display device in the central position, or in a second configuration, on another of the display devices present in the cockpit by masking the display of the display device in the central position without disabling it.

[0021] In this second configuration, guidance information from the navigation assistance function, which was displayed on the display device in the central position, is displayed on one or more display devices, including in the handset and / or in the HUD.

[0022] Figures 1 and 2 schematically illustrate respectively a COK cockpit of a VHL vehicle incorporating a DGA display management device and an ITU user interface, coupled to a NAV connected navigation system embedded in the VHL vehicle or hosted in a driver's portable terminal Tl UR1, connected to the VHL vehicle.

[0023] The ITU user interface includes a centrally positioned display device in the form of a central ECT screen configured to display first CTI content ([Fig.1]) or second CT2 content ([Fig.2]) for the UR1 driver of the VHL vehicle.

[0024] The ITU user interface is configured to operate under the control of the DGA display management device. The central ECT screen can implement any suitable display technology, coupled with a touch layer or interface, to visually render CTI, CT2 content to the user via a URL.

[0025] In the example of the first display configuration ([Fig. 1]), the CTI content displayed on the ECT screen corresponds to a specific route calculated by the vehicle's NAV navigation system (VHL), or related to the vehicle (VHL) following a navigation instruction given by the driver (URL).

[0026] To do this, the DGA display management device is configured to detect a navigation instruction transmitted generally by the driver URL. This navigation instruction defines a specific route.

[0027] By way of example, the navigation instruction defines a route taken between the driver's main place of residence and a main place of professional activity of the driver "home work".

[0028] According to another example, the navigation instruction defines a route taken between the driver's main residence and a secondary residence of the driver "main residence secondary residence.

[0029] For these first two examples, the routes related to these journeys are recorded in the NAV navigation system.

[0030] According to yet another example, the navigation instruction defines a new route not yet taken by the driver URL

[0031] The DGA display management device is capable of exploiting the navigation instruction, and therefore the type of journey, to determine the type of CTI or CT2 content to be displayed in the central ECT screen from determined display personalization data associating a user preference with said journey: home-office journey, main home-secondary home journey, journey to a new destination.

[0032] In other words, the DGA display management device can use personalization data to determine a user preference for each type of journey. These user preferences specify a CTI or CT2 content display configuration depending on the type of journey.

[0033] These user preferences can be predefined by the driver UR1 using a portable terminal Tl held by the driver UR1, paired (identified and authenticated) with the vehicle VHL via, in particular, the vehicle infotainment system VHL, not shown, so that his user preferences are accessible by the display management device DGA.

[0034] The pre-storage of personalization data associating user preferences with the type of journey can be achieved in various ways. As illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the personalization data is, for example, pre-recorded in a MDP memory accessible by the DGA display management device. In one particular example, the MDP memory is embedded in the VHL vehicle. In another example, not shown, the MDP memory is a memory belonging to, or hosted in, a server remote from the VHL vehicle and accessible wirelessly via appropriate communication means, not shown.

[0035] The driver's portable terminal Tl UR1 can be a suitable portable terminal (smartphones, tablets, etc.) allowing the driver UR1 to predefine user preferences for a specific journey: commute to work, primary residence to secondary residence, or other journeys. This portable terminal Tl can allow the driver UR1 to specify, remotely from the vehicle, the personalization data in the MDP memory, for example, from their home or another location remote from the vehicle.

[0036] The ECT central screen is configured to display first and second CTI, CT2 content when the Tl handheld terminal has been paired with the VHL vehicle.

[0037] As previously stated, the DGA display management device is capable of adapting a display configuration on the ECT central screen according to user preferences.

[0038] The DGA display management device is also capable of retrieving navigation instructions defining a specific route as already described above.

[0039] The DGA display management device controls the display of the first or second EC1 or EC2 content on the central ECT screen according to the type of journey predefined by the driver URL

[0040] It is obviously necessary, beforehand, that the UR1 driver has configured his preferences via the mobile application of his Tl portable terminal and that the UR1 driver's Tl portable terminal has been previously paired with the VHL vehicle.

[0041] For example, it can choose a first display configuration of the ECT central screen ([Fig.1]) to display all navigation information (CTI content) on the ECT central screen for new journeys, unfamiliar or unfamiliar to the driver and, a second display configuration of the ECT central screen ([Fig.2]) to hide the display of the ECT central screen, for common journeys such as home-work journeys or journeys between main home and secondary home.

[0042] As illustrated in [Fig.2], when the portable terminal Tl is correctly paired, if the user preference corresponds to the second configuration, a screen page whose content CT2 reproduces an image reproducing the visual appearance of the PCB dashboard: same color, same texture, ... is displayed on the ECT screen masking the current screen page displaying all the navigation information: mapping,...

[0043] Thus, the central ECT screen gives the impression of "melting" into the PDB dashboard.

[0044] Even if the page corresponding to the current functions of the NAV navigation system is hidden, the latter is still operational.

[0045] Part of the guidance information provided by the NAV navigation system, which is no longer visible on the central ECT display, is shown on the other cockpit display devices, specifically as illustrated in [Fig. 2], either on the instrument cluster (CBN) or on the HUD / TDH, or on both. The "minimalist" guidance information here is a pictogram representing a turn-by-turn (TBT) arrow, indicating, in this example, that the driver should turn right. This additional information, the size of a pictogram, does not overload the information already displayed on the instrument cluster (CBN) and / or the HUD / TDH.

[0046] Thanks to the present invention, the number of display devices in the COK cockpit has been reduced for at least one type of journey.

[0047] The present invention also relates to a computer program product comprising instructions for implementing the method according to the invention, when these instructions are executed by a processor belonging to the DGA display device.

Claims

Demands

1. Method for managing the display of information in a cockpit (COK) of a motor vehicle (VHL) comprising at least one first display device (ECT) in a central position of the vehicle (VHL) on the dashboard (PDB) of the vehicle (VHL), and at least one second display device (DTH) located away from the first, in the driver's field of vision (UR1) of the vehicle (VHL), each capable of displaying at least one guidance information (FDG) of the vehicle (VHL), a display management device (DGA) for the first and second display devices (ECT, DTH), coupled to a connected navigation system (NAV);said process, implemented by the display management device (DGA), consists, when a handheld terminal (Tl) belonging to the driver (UR1) of the vehicle (VHL) is paired with the vehicle (VHL), of displaying the guidance information on the first display device (ECT) or of hiding the display of the first display device (ECT) by displaying the guidance information (FDG) on the second display device (CBN; DTH), according to a user preference associating a specific type of route with one of the first or second display devices (ECT, CBN; DTH); said user preference having been previously defined by the driver (UR1) from a dedicated mobile application on his handheld terminal (Tl).

2. A method according to the preceding claim, consisting of hiding the display of the first device (ECT) when the user preference associates the hiding of the display of the first display device (ECT) with first routes already recorded in the navigation system (NAV).

3. Method according to the preceding claim wherein, the first journeys correspond to journeys taken between the driver's main place of residence (UR1) and a main place of work of the driver (UR1) or journeys taken between the driver's main place of residence (UR1) and a secondary place of residence of the driver (UR1).

4. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, consisting of displaying, in the first display device (ECT), masking content (CT2) whose appearance approximates the visual appearance of the instrument panel (PDB) such that the The first display device (ECT) visually blends into the instrument panel (PDB).

5. A method according to the preceding claim, wherein the masking content (CT2) is a screen page displayed on the first display device (ECT) reproducing an image reproducing the texture and / or color of the dashboard (PDB).

6. Method according to claim 1, consisting of displaying guidance information (FDG) on the first display device (ECT) when the user preference associates the display of guidance information (TBT) on the first display device (ECT) with at least one second route not yet recorded in the navigation system (NAV).

7. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first display device is a touch screen (ECT) and the second display device is a handset (CBN) or a head-up display (HUD)

8. Product computer program comprising instructions for implementing the method according to any one of the preceding claims, when these instructions are executed by a processor belonging to the display management device (DGA).