Display device for vehicle

Abstract

To provide a display device for a vehicle capable of reducing discomfort of a driver.SOLUTION: An image includes a both-eye region CB being a region visually recognized by both eyes by a driver 200; and a one-eye region CRL being a region visually recognized by one eye of the driver 200. A control unit 23 sets a non-display region CN in a boundary portion between the both-eye region CB and the one-eye region CRL and performs control such that at least a still image is not displayed in the non-display region CN.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a display device for a vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, there have been known display devices for vehicles, such as head-up displays that allow a driver to view an image as a virtual image from the driver's eye position (eye point). For example, Patent Document 1 describes a display device that improves visibility by making the luminance of a one-eye region of an image that can be viewed only with one eye higher than the luminance of both-eye regions of an image that can be viewed with both eyes. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2016-130771 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, an image displayed near the boundary between the one-eye region and the both-eye region may cross the boundary due to the driver's head movement, etc. When the image crosses the boundary in this way, the driver may feel uncomfortable.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and has an object to provide a display device for a vehicle that can reduce the sense of discomfort felt by the driver. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, the vehicle display device according to the present invention has the following features. an image display unit that emits display light for an image; an optical system that projects display light emitted from the image display unit toward a reflective surface in front of a driver; A control unit that controls the image display unit, The image has a binocular region that is a region viewed by both eyes of the driver, and a one-eye region that is a region viewed by only one eye of the driver, The control unit sets a non-display area at a boundary between the both-eye area and the one-eye area, and controls so that at least a still image is not displayed in the non-display area. It is a display device for vehicles. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a display device for a vehicle that can reduce the sense of discomfort felt by the driver.

[0008] The present invention has been briefly described above. Furthermore, the details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading the following description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention (hereinafter, referred to as "embodiment") with reference to the accompanying drawings. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a display device for a vehicle according to the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the optical positional relationship between the virtual image, the second mirror, and the driver's eyes when the driver's eyes are located at the center of the eye box in the left-right direction. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the optical positional relationship between the virtual image, the second mirror, and the driver's eyes when the driver's eyes are positioned to the right of the eye box. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the arrangement of each area of ​​a virtual image superimposed on the driver's foreground. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control unit constituting the vehicle display device shown in FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0011] For the sake of convenience, the following definitions are used for "front", "rear", "left", "right", "upper" and "lower" as shown in Figures 1 to 3. The "front-rear direction", "left-right direction" and "up-down direction" are mutually orthogonal. The left-right direction corresponds to the "horizontal direction" of the present invention.

[0012] As shown in Fig. 1, the vehicle display device 1 of this embodiment is mounted on a vehicle 100 and constitutes a head-up display. The vehicle display device 1 is disposed, for example, inside an instrument panel 101. The instrument panel 101 has an opening 101a that opens upward. The opening 101a faces a windshield 102 in the up-down direction of the vehicle 100.

[0013] The vehicle display device 1 has a housing 4, a cover 5, an image display unit 20, a control unit 23, and an optical system 25. The image display unit 20, the control unit 23, and the optical system 25 are housed inside the housing 4. The housing 4 has a main body 2 and a lid member 3 that engages with the main body 2. The main body 2 has an opening that opens upward. The lid member 3 closes the opening of the main body 2 from above. The lid member 3 has a wall portion 30 that faces the opening 101a. The wall portion 30 has an opening 31 that opens upward. The housing 4 is arranged so that the opening 31 faces the opening 101a. The cover 5 is a plate-shaped member that closes the opening 31 of the lid member 3. The cover 5 is formed of a translucent resin such as polycarbonate (PC) or acrylic.

[0014] The image display unit 20 is a device that emits display light 70 of an image. The illustrated image display unit 20 is a liquid crystal display device, for example, a TFT-LCD (Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display). However, the image display unit 20 is not limited to a liquid crystal display device. The image display unit 20 may be, for example, a device that scans laser light to generate an image on a transparent screen.

[0015] The optical system 25 has a first mirror 21 and a second mirror 22. The first mirror 21 reflects the display light 70 emitted from the image display unit 20 toward the second mirror 22. The first mirror 21 is, for example, a flat mirror. The second mirror 22 reflects the display light 70 toward the windshield 102. The shape of the reflecting surface of the second mirror 22 is, for example, a free-form surface. The second mirror 22 is, for example, a concave mirror that magnifies the display light 70.

[0016] The display light 70 reflected by the second mirror 22 passes through the opening 31 and the opening 101a, and is reflected by the reflecting surface 102a of the windshield 102 toward the driver 200. A virtual image is formed by the display light 70 incident on the eye 201 of the driver 200. The instrument panel 101 is provided with a cylindrical wall portion 103. The wall portion 103 surrounds the optical path of the display light 70 traveling from the opening 31 toward the opening 101a.

[0017] 2 and 3, the image displayed on the image display unit 20 and displayed as a virtual image to the driver 200 has a both-eye region CB which is a region that is viewed by both eyes of the driver 200, a right-eye region CR which is a region that is not viewed by the left eye and is only viewable by the right eye, and a left-eye region CL which is a region that is not viewed by the right eye and is only viewable by the left eye. The right-eye region CR and the left-eye region CL are regions on the left-right end side of the both-eye region CB. Hereinafter, the right-eye region CR and the left-eye region CL are collectively referred to as the "one-eye region CRL."

[0018] Fig. 4 shows the arrangement of the regions of the virtual image superimposed on the foreground of the driver 200. As shown in Fig. 4, the left edge region of the virtual image corresponds to the right eye region CR, the central region of the virtual image corresponds to the both eye region CB, and the right side region of the virtual image corresponds to the left eye region CL.

[0019] The control unit 23 has a control circuit configured to control the image display unit 20. The control unit 23 is mounted on, for example, a control board arranged inside the housing 4. The control unit 23 controls the image display unit 20 to generate an image according to, for example, a program stored in advance.

[0020] Vehicle 100 has a driver monitor 104. Driver monitor 104 includes a camera arranged in front of driver 200. Driver monitor 104 captures an image of driver 200 to generate a driver image. Driver monitor 104 detects the position of the head of driver 200 and the position of eyes 201 of driver 200 (viewpoint position) based on the driver image. The detection result by driver monitor 104 is sent to control unit 23.

[0021] Control unit 23 sets both-eyes region CB and one-eye region CRL (see Figs. 2 and 3) on the display screen of image display unit 20, and changes the luminance between both-eyes region CB and one-eye region CRL. Control unit 23 also sets a non-display region CN (see Figs. 2 and 3) at the boundary between both-eyes region CB and one-eye region CRL on the display screen of image display unit 20, and performs control so that a still image is not displayed in the non-display region CN.

[0022] Next, the details of the above-mentioned both-eyes region CB and one-eye region CRL will be described with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the optical positional relationship between a virtual image, a second mirror, and an eye 201 of the driver 200. The position of the eye 201 shown in FIG. 2 is the center position in the left-right direction in the eye box EB. The eye box EB is a range assumed in advance as a range within which the position of the eye 201 moves. The eye box EB has a predetermined width in the left-right direction. The vehicle display device 1 is configured so that an image can be viewed by the driver 200 when the eye 201 is inside the eye box EB.

[0023] 2, when the light reflected by the entire surface of the second mirror 22 is viewed, the left end position of the right eye region CR is on an extension of a light ray "L1" connecting the right eye of the driver 200 and the left end position of the second mirror 22. Also, the right end position of the left eye region CL is on an extension of a light ray "L2" connecting the left eye of the driver 200 and the right end position of the second mirror 22. Note that the driver 200 cannot view the left end position of the right eye region CR with the left eye, and cannot view the right end position of the left eye region CL with the right eye.

[0024] In addition, the left end position of the eye region CB is on an extension line of the configuration "L3" that connects the left eye of the driver 200 and the left position of the second mirror 22. The right end position of the eye region CB is on an extension line of the configuration "L4" that connects the right eye of the driver 200 and the left position of the second mirror 22.

[0025] As is clear from Figure 2, when the viewpoint position of driver 200 is in the center position in the left-right direction of eye box EB, the eye area CB, right eye area CR and left eye area CL can be set based on the distance between the eyes of driver 200 and the position of optical system 25.

[0026] Fig. 3 shows a state in which the position of eye 201 is shifted to the right side within eye box EB. In this case, both eye regions CB, right eye region CR, and left eye region CL are shifted to the left side from the positions shown in Fig. 2. Conversely, when the position of eye 201 is shifted to the left side within eye box EB, both eye regions CB, right eye region CR, and left eye region CL are shifted to the right side from the positions shown in Fig. 2. That is, both eye regions CB, right eye region CR, and left eye region CL change depending on the position (viewpoint position) of eye 201 of driver 200.

[0027] Therefore, in this embodiment, the control unit 23 changes the position of the non-display area CN according to the position of the eyes 201 detected by the driver monitor 104. Also, in this embodiment, the control unit 23 obtains an average of the left-right head shaking width based on the head position detected by the driver monitor 104. Then, the control unit 23 sets the width W (see FIG. 4) of the non-display area CN based on the average.

[0028] Next, the operation of the control unit 23 outlined above will be described with reference to the flowchart of Fig. 5. When the ignition switch is turned on, the control unit 23 starts processing. First, the control unit 23 measures the distance between the eyes of the driver 200 based on the driver image from the driver monitor 104 (S1).

[0029] Next, the control unit 23 sets the both-eyes area CB, one-eye area CRL and non-display area CN on the display screen of the image display unit 20 when the eye 201 of the driver 200 is in the center position in the left-right direction of the eye box EB based on the measured distance between the eyes and the known position of the optical system 25 (S2).

[0030] Thereafter, the control unit 23 functions as a first acquisition unit and acquires the position of the eye 201 of the driver 200 detected by the driver monitor 104 (S3). Next, the control unit 23 functions as a first setting unit and changes the positions of the both-eye region CB, the one-eye region CRL, and the non-display region CN based on the position of the eye 201 of the driver 200 acquired in S3 (S4).

[0031] In S4, if the position of the eye 201 of the driver 200 is shifted to the right side in the eye box EB, the control unit 23 shifts the positions of the both eye region CB, the one eye region CRL, and the non-display region CN to the left from the positions set in S2 according to the shift. Also, if the position of the eye 201 of the driver 200 is shifted to the left side in the eye box EB, the control unit 23 shifts the positions of the both eye region CB, the one eye region CRL, and the non-display region CN to the right from the positions set in S2 according to the shift.

[0032] Next, control unit 23 functions as a second acquisition unit and acquires the movement of the head of driver 200 from the position of the head of driver 200 detected by driver monitor 104 (S5). After that, control unit 23 changes width W of non-display area CN based on the movement of the head acquired in S5 (S6).

[0033] In S5, the control unit 23 mainly acquires the left-right movement of the head of the driver 200. In S6, the control unit 23 changes the width W of the non-display area CN based on, for example, the average left-right swing width of the head. To explain in detail, when the average left-right swing width of the head is large, the control unit 23 changes the width W of the non-display area CN to a large value, and when the average head swing width is small, the control unit 23 changes the width W of the non-display area CN to a small value.

[0034] When S6 ends, the control unit 23 returns to S3 again and periodically changes the positions of the both-eye region CB, the one-eye region CRL and the non-display region CN, and the width of the non-display region CN.

[0035] The control unit 23 controls the image display unit 20 based on the both-eye area CB, the one-eye area CRL, and the non-display area CN set by the operation in the flowchart shown in Fig. 5. The control unit 23 prevents a still image from being displayed in the non-display area CN. For example, when independent designs representing route guidance, speed, and time are displayed side by side in the left-right direction, the control unit 23 prevents each design from being displayed within or across the non-display area CN.

[0036] According to the above-described embodiment, a still image is not displayed in the non-display area CN, which is the boundary between the both-eye area CB and the one-eye area CRL. This prevents a still image from being displayed across the boundary, thereby reducing the sense of discomfort felt by the driver 200.

[0037] According to the above-described embodiment, the control unit 23 sets the width of the non-display area CN based on the movement of the head of the driver 200. This reduces the display of still images across the boundary area, even if the head of the driver 200 moves and the positions of the both-eye area CB and the one-eye area CRL change, thereby reducing the sense of discomfort felt by the driver 200.

[0038] According to the above-described embodiment, the control unit 23 sets the both-eye region CB, one-eye region CRL, and non-display region CN based on the position of the eye 201 of the driver 200. This makes it possible to set the non-display region CN at the boundary between the both-eye region CB and the one-eye region CRL with high accuracy.

[0039] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately modified, improved, etc. In addition, the material, shape, size, number, arrangement location, etc. of each component in the above-described embodiment are arbitrary as long as the present invention can be achieved, and are not limited.

[0040] In the above embodiment, the case where the light reflected by the entire surface of the second mirror 22 is visually recognized by the driver 200 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the image may be cut off by the cover member 3. In this case, the both-eyes region CB and the one-eye region CRL are determined by lines connecting the eye 201 of the driver 200 and the right and left end positions of the opening 31 of the cover member 3.

[0041] In the above embodiment, the control unit 23 measures the distance between the eyes based on the driver image, and sets the both-eyes area CB, the one-eye area CRL, and the non-display area CN based on the measured distance between the eyes, but this is not limited to the above. The control unit 23 may set the both-eyes area CB, the one-eye area CRL, and the non-display area CN based on a predetermined average distance between the eyes without measuring the distance between the eyes.

[0042] In the above-described embodiment, the control unit 23 changes (sets) the width W of the non-display area CN based on the average of the head shaking width in the left-right direction, but this is not limited to this. The control unit 23 may change the width W of the non-display area CN based on the maximum value and median value of the head shaking width in the left-right direction.

[0043] In the above-described embodiment, the head movement is periodically acquired and the width W of the non-display area CN is changed, but this is not limited to the above. For example, the head movement during the first predetermined time after the ignition is turned on may be acquired, the width W of the non-display area CN may be set based on the acquired head movement, and the width W may not be changed thereafter.

[0044] Here, the features of the above-described embodiment of the display device for a vehicle according to the present invention will be briefly summarized and listed in the following [1] to [3].

[0045] [1] an image display unit (20) that emits image display light (70); an optical system (25) that projects display light (70) emitted from the image display unit (20) toward a reflecting surface in front of a driver (200); a control unit (23) that controls the image display unit (20), The image has a binocular region (CB) which is a region viewed by both eyes of the driver (200) and a single-eye region (CRL) which is a region viewed by only one eye of the driver (200), The control unit (23) sets a non-display area (CN) at a boundary between the both-eye area (CB) and the one-eye area (CRL), and controls so that at least a still image is not displayed in the non-display area (CN). Vehicle display device (1).

[0046] According to the vehicle display device (1) having the configuration [1] above, a still image is not displayed in the non-display area (CN) which is the boundary between the both-eye area (CB) and the one-eye area (CRL). This reduces the display of still images across the boundary, thereby reducing the sense of discomfort felt by the driver (200).

[0047] [2] In the vehicle display device (1) described in [1], A first acquisition unit (23) that acquires a movement of a head of the driver (200); and a first setting unit (23) that sets a horizontal width of the non-display area (CN) based on the movement of the head of the driver (200) acquired by the first acquisition unit (23). Vehicle display device (1).

[0048] According to the vehicle display device (1) having the configuration [2] above, even if the head of the driver (200) moves and the positions of the both-eye region (CB) and the one-eye region (CRL) change, the display of a still image across the boundary can be reduced, thereby reducing the sense of discomfort felt by the driver (200).

[0049] [3] In the vehicle display device (1) described in [1], A second acquisition unit (23) that acquires a viewpoint position of the driver (200); and a second setting unit (23) that sets a position of the non-display area (CN) based on the viewpoint position of the driver (200) acquired by the second acquisition unit. Vehicle display device (1).

[0050] According to the vehicle display device (1) having the above configuration (3), the non-display area (CN) can be set with high accuracy in the boundary between the both-eye area (CB) and the single-eye area (CRL). [Explanation of symbols]

[0051] 1 Vehicle display device 20 Image display unit 23 control unit (first acquisition unit, first setting unit, second acquisition unit, second setting unit) 25 Optical system 70 display light 200 Drivers CB Eye area CN hidden area CRL Sheet Area

Claims

1. an image display unit that emits display light for an image; an optical system that projects display light emitted from the image display unit toward a reflective surface in front of a driver; A control unit that controls the image display unit, The image has a binocular region that is a region viewed by both eyes of the driver, and a one-eye region that is a region viewed by only one eye of the driver, The control unit sets a non-display area at a boundary between the both-eye area and the one-eye area, and controls so that at least a still image is not displayed in the non-display area. Vehicle display device.

2. The display device for a vehicle according to claim 1, A first acquisition unit that acquires a movement of the head of the driver; A first setting unit that sets a horizontal width of the non-display area based on the movement of the driver's head acquired by the first acquisition unit, Vehicle display device.

3. The display device for a vehicle according to claim 1, A second acquisition unit that acquires a viewpoint position of the driver; A second setting unit that sets a position of the non-display area based on the viewpoint position of the driver acquired by the second acquisition unit. Vehicle display device.

Images