Display device

Abstract

The present invention provides a display device that makes a driver aware of their contribution to environmental protection by displaying information on the origin of the electric power stored in a storage battery of a vehicle.　A display device 1 comprises: an information acquisition unit 12 that acquires information on the origin of electric power supplied to charge a storage battery of a vehicle; a display information generation unit 15 that generates, on the basis of the result of a calculation performed by a calculation unit 14 on the basis of the electric power origin information, display information regarding percentages, broken down by origin, of the electric power stored in the storage battery; and a display unit 40 that displays the display information. The display device 1 comprises a location information acquisition unit 11 that acquires information on locations where the storage battery of the vehicle was charged, and the information acquisition unit 12 acquires origin information linked to the location information.

Description

display device

[0001] The present invention relates to a display device.

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, from the viewpoint of environmental protection, electric vehicles and the like equipped with storage batteries that can be charged from an external power source have become widespread.

[0003] Generally, electric vehicles are equipped with a display device that displays the remaining charge of the battery, the cruising range, etc., to alert the driver so that the battery does not become completely discharged while traveling. For example, one such technology has been proposed in which the remaining charge of the battery is displayed on a meter assembly that is configured to display speed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0004] JP 2010-149553 A

[0005] From the viewpoint of environmental protection, it would be ideal if the power for charging the storage batteries of electric vehicles and the like were supplied entirely from renewable energy sources (power generated using solar power, etc.), but in general, the power is supplied from both power generated from fossil fuels, etc. and power generated from renewable energy sources. However, the technology described in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 does not display information about the origin of the power stored in the vehicle's storage battery, which poses a problem in that it is not possible to make the driver aware of the degree of contribution to environmental protection.

[0006] Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a display device that allows the driver to recognize the degree of contribution to environmental protection by displaying information about the origin of the electricity stored in the vehicle's storage battery.

[0007] Form 1: One or more embodiments of the present invention propose a display device comprising: an information acquisition unit that acquires origin information of electricity supplied to charge a vehicle storage battery; a display information generation unit that generates display information regarding the proportion of each origin of electricity stored in the storage battery based on the origin information; and a display unit that displays the display information.

[0008] Form 5: One or more embodiments of the present invention propose a display device comprising one or more processors, one or more memories communicatively connected to the one or more processors, and a display unit, wherein the one or more processors include an information acquisition unit that acquires origin information of electricity supplied to charge a vehicle storage battery, and a display information generation unit that generates display information regarding the proportion of each origin of electricity stored in the storage battery based on the origin information, and wherein the display information is displayed on the display unit.

[0009] According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, by displaying information about the origin of the electricity stored in the vehicle's battery, it is possible to make the driver aware of the degree of contribution to environmental protection.

[0010] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a processor of the display device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of power origin information acquired by the display device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display of the display device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a processing flow of the display device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of a display device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the configuration of a processor of the display device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a processing flow of the display device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0011] The display device according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0012] First Embodiment A display device 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. FIG.

[0013] <Configuration of Display Device 1> As shown in FIG. 1, the display device 1 according to this embodiment includes a processor 10, a memory 20, a communication unit 30, and a display unit 40.

[0014] The processor 10 acquires, for example, information regarding the start / end of charging and information regarding the remaining charge of the storage battery from the charge control device 100 that controls charging of the storage battery of the vehicle. The processor 10 displays information regarding the proportion of each source of power stored in the storage battery of the vehicle on the display unit 40. The configuration of the processor 10 will be described later.

[0015] The memory 20 includes a read-only memory (ROM) and a random access memory (RAM), both of which are not shown. The memory 20 stores, for example, a control program and various data received from the processor 10.

[0016] The communication unit 30 is a wireless communication module that can be connected to a network. The communication unit 30 communicates with a server that stores information about the origin of power, for example, via the Internet.

[0017] The display unit 40 is, for example, a display panel such as a liquid crystal display, and displays the display information received from the processor 10. The display unit 40 may be, for example, a meter panel provided in the vehicle.

[0018] 2, the processor 10 includes a position information acquisition unit 11, an information acquisition unit 12, a control unit 13, a calculation unit 14, and a display information generation unit 15. Each unit of the processor 10 and the memory 20 transmits and receives various information via a bus line BL.

[0019] The location information acquisition unit 11 acquires location information of the location where the vehicle's storage battery is charged. The location information acquisition unit 11 acquires location information based on radio waves received from GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites. The location information acquisition unit 11 acquires location information when it receives information indicating that charging of the storage battery is to begin from the control unit 13 (described later). The location information acquisition unit 11 transmits the acquired location information to the control unit 13 (described later) via the bus line BL.

[0020] The information acquisition unit 12 acquires information on the origin of the power supplied to charge the vehicle's storage battery. The information acquisition unit 12 acquires information on the ratio of power generated using renewable energy to power generated using non-renewable energy in the power supplied to charge the storage battery. Hereinafter, power generated using renewable energy will be referred to as "renewable energy power," and power generated using non-renewable energy will be referred to as "general power." Examples of the renewable energy power include power generated using solar power, wind power, hydropower, geothermal power, solar heat, or biomass. Examples of the general power include power generated using fossil fuels such as oil, coal, or natural gas, or buried resources such as uranium.

[0021] The information acquisition unit 12 acquires origin information linked to the location information. The information acquisition unit 12 acquires origin information of electricity supplied to a region including the location information received from the location information acquisition unit 11. The information acquisition unit 12 connects via the communication unit 30 to a server storing origin information of electricity for each region, as shown in FIG. 3, for example, and acquires information regarding the ratio of renewable energy electricity to general electricity. The information acquisition unit 12 acquires origin information of electricity for the region including the location information received from the control unit 13, which will be described later. The information acquisition unit 12 transmits the acquired origin information of electricity to the control unit 13, which will be described later, via the bus line BL.

[0022] The control unit 13 controls the entire display device 1 in accordance with a control program stored in the memory 20. In this embodiment, the control unit 13 acquires, for example, information regarding the start / end of charging and information regarding the remaining charge of the storage battery from the charge control device 100. In this embodiment, the control unit 13 determines whether charging of the storage battery has started, for example, based on the information acquired from the charge control device 100. If the control unit 13 determines that charging of the storage battery has started, it transmits an instruction to start charging to the location information acquisition unit 11 and the information acquisition unit 12 via the bus line BL. In this embodiment, the control unit 13 calculates the amount of power charged to the storage battery, for example, based on the remaining charge at the start and end of charging. The control unit 13 transmits, for example, the amount of power charged to the storage battery, the remaining charge of the storage battery, and information regarding the origin of the power to the calculation unit 14 (described later), via the bus line BL. The control unit 13 controls the display unit 40 to display information regarding the proportion of each source of power stored in the storage battery. The control unit 13 transmits the display information received from the display information generation unit 15 (described later) to the display unit 40 .

[0023] The calculation unit 14 calculates the ratio of each source of electricity stored in the storage battery based on the electricity origin information. The calculation unit 14 calculates the ratio of renewable energy electricity to general electricity stored in the storage battery based on, for example, the amount of electricity charged in the storage battery, the remaining charge of the storage battery, and the electricity origin information received from the control unit 13. The calculation unit 14 transmits the calculation result to the control unit 13 via the bus line BL.

[0024] The display information generation unit 15 generates display information regarding the proportion of each source of electricity stored in the storage battery. The display information generation unit 15 generates the display information regarding the proportion of each source of electricity stored in the storage battery based on the amount of electricity charged in the storage battery, the remaining charge of the vehicle's storage battery, and the calculation result of the calculation unit 14, all of which are received from the control unit 13. As shown in FIG. 4 , the display information generation unit 15 generates a graph in which the amount of electricity in a fully discharged state of the storage battery is 0% and the amount of electricity in a fully charged state is 100%. The display information generation unit 15 generates a graph showing the proportion of renewable energy electricity and general electricity in the amount of electricity currently stored in the storage battery based on, for example, the remaining charge received from the control unit 13 and the calculation result of the calculation unit 14. The display information generation unit 15 generates display information indicating the numerical value of the origin information of electricity charged from the charging device based on, for example, the electricity origin information received from the information acquisition unit 12. As shown in FIG. 5 , the display information generation unit 15 updates the display information when electricity from the storage battery is consumed due to, for example, vehicle travel. The display information generation unit 15 transmits the generated display information to the control unit 13 via the bus line BL. The display information generation unit 15 is only required to display the ratio of renewable energy power and general power stored in the storage battery on the display unit 40, and therefore the display format displayed on the display unit 40 is not limited to the display format described above.

[0025] <Processing of Display Device 1> The processing flow of the display device 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0026] 6, the control unit 13 determines whether charging of the storage battery has started (step S110). If the control unit 13 determines that charging of the storage battery has not started ("NO" in step S110), the control unit 13 returns the process to the standby state. If the control unit 13 determines that charging of the storage battery has started ("YES" in step S110), the control unit 13 proceeds to step S120.

[0027] The control unit 13 transmits information to the location information acquisition unit 11 to the effect that charging of the storage battery will be started, and causes the location information acquisition unit 11 to acquire the vehicle's location information (step S120).

[0028] The control unit 13 transmits information to the information acquisition unit 12 indicating that charging of the storage battery is to be started, and causes the information acquisition unit 12 to acquire the origin information of the power linked to the location information acquired in step S120 (step S130).

[0029] The control unit 13 transmits the amount of electricity charged to the storage battery, the remaining charge of the storage battery, and information on the origin of the electricity to the calculation unit 14, and causes the calculation unit 14 to calculate the proportion of the electricity stored in the storage battery from each source (step S140).

[0030] The control unit 13 transmits the amount of electricity charged to the storage battery, the remaining charge of the vehicle's storage battery, and the calculation result calculated in step S140 to the display information generation unit 15, and generates display information regarding the proportion of electricity stored in the storage battery from each source (step S150).

[0031] The control unit 13 transmits the display information generated in step S150 to the display unit 40 (step S160), and ends the process.

[0032] <Actions and Effects> As described above, the display device 1 according to this embodiment includes an information acquisition unit 12 that acquires origin information of electricity supplied to charge the vehicle's storage battery, a calculation unit 14 that calculates the proportion of each origin of electricity stored in the storage battery based on the origin information of the electricity, a display information generation unit 15 that generates display information regarding the proportion of each origin of electricity stored in the storage battery based on the calculation result of the calculation unit 14, and a display unit 40 that displays the display information. In other words, the display device 1 visualizes and displays the proportion of each origin of electricity stored in the vehicle's storage battery. This allows the driver to recognize the degree of contribution to environmental protection.

[0033] The information acquisition unit 12 of the display device 1 according to this embodiment acquires the ratio of power generated using renewable energy to power generated using non-renewable energy. In other words, the display device 1 visualizes that the power stored in the vehicle's storage battery includes renewable energy power. This allows the driver to recognize that they are contributing to environmental protection.

[0034] The display device 1 according to this embodiment includes a location information acquisition unit 11 that acquires location information of the location where the vehicle's storage battery was charged, and an information acquisition unit 12 that acquires origin information linked to the location information. That is, the information acquisition unit 12 acquires information on the origin of the electricity supplied to the area where the charging device that actually charged the vehicle is installed. This allows the display device 1 to accurately display the proportion of each source of electricity stored in the storage battery.

[0035] Second Embodiment A display device 1A according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 7 to 9. Components with the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment have the same functions, and therefore detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

[0036] <Configuration of Display Device 1A> As shown in FIG. 7, the display device 1A according to this embodiment includes a processor 10A, a memory 20, a communication unit 30A, and a display unit 40.

[0037] The processor 10A acquires information relating to the start / end of charging and information relating to the remaining charge of the storage battery from, for example, a charge control device 100 that controls charging of the storage battery of the vehicle. The processor 10A will be described later.

[0038] The communication unit 30A is a communication device for communicating with the charging device 200. The communication unit 30A communicates with the charging device 200 via a charging cable of the charging device 200, for example, by using a controller area network (CAN) communication or a power line communication (PLC) communication.

[0039] Charging device 200 is a device that charges a storage battery of a vehicle. Charging device 200 acquires in advance, for example, from a server that stores the power origin information, information on the origin of the power, of the power supplied to the area where charging device 200 is installed. Charging device 200 stores the acquired power origin information in a memory provided in charging device 200. Charging device 200 connected to a solar panel or the like may calculate the ratio of renewable energy power to general power, for example, based on the amount of power generated by the solar panel or the like and the power origin information acquired from the server.

[0040] 8, the processor 10A includes an information acquisition unit 12A, a control unit 13, a calculation unit 14, and a display information generation unit 15. Each unit of the processor 10A and the memory 20 transmits and receives various information via a bus line BL.

[0041] The information acquisition unit 12A acquires origin information of the power supplied to charge the vehicle's storage battery. The information acquisition unit 12A acquires information regarding the ratio of renewable energy power to general power in the power supplied to charge the storage battery. The information acquisition unit 12A acquires the origin information from the charging device 200 that charged the storage battery. For example, when the information acquisition unit 12A receives information from the control unit 13 indicating that charging of the storage battery will start, the information acquisition unit 12A acquires information regarding the ratio of renewable energy power to general power in the power supplied from the charging device 200 via the communication unit 30A. The information acquisition unit 12A transmits the acquired origin information of the power to the control unit 13 via the bus line BL.

[0042] <Processing of Display Device 1A> The processing flow of the display device 1A will be described with reference to FIG.

[0043] 9, the control unit 13 determines whether charging of the storage battery has started (step S210). If the control unit 13 determines that charging of the storage battery has not started ("NO" in step S210), the control unit 13 returns the process to the standby state. If the control unit 13 determines that charging of the storage battery has started ("YES" in step S210), the control unit 13 proceeds to step S220.

[0044] The control unit 13 transmits information to the information acquisition unit 12A indicating that charging of the storage battery is to be started, and causes the information acquisition unit 12A to acquire the origin information of the power from the charging device 200 (step S220).

[0045] The control unit 13 transmits the amount of electricity charged to the storage battery, the remaining charge of the storage battery, and information on the origin of the electricity to the calculation unit 14, and causes the calculation unit 14 to calculate the proportion of the electricity stored in the storage battery from each source (step S230).

[0046] The control unit 13 transmits the amount of electricity charged to the storage battery, the remaining charge of the vehicle's storage battery, and the calculation result calculated in step S230 to the display information generation unit 15, and generates display information regarding the proportion of electricity stored in the storage battery from each source (step S240).

[0047] The control unit 13 transmits the display information generated in step S240 to the display unit 40 (step S250), and ends the process.

[0048] <Actions and Effects> As described above, the display device 1A according to the present embodiment includes an information acquisition unit 12A that acquires origin information of the power supplied to charge the vehicle's storage battery, a calculation unit 14 that calculates the proportion of each source of power stored in the storage battery based on the power origin information, a display information generation unit 15 that generates display information regarding the proportion of each source of power stored in the storage battery based on the calculation results of the calculation unit 14, and a display unit 40 that displays the display information. The information acquisition unit 12A acquires the power origin information from the charging device 200 that charged the storage battery. In other words, the display device 1A visualizes the proportion of each source of power stored in the storage battery based on the power origin information acquired from the charging device 200 that actually charged the vehicle. This allows the driver to recognize that the vehicle is running using renewable energy power, thereby recognizing that the driver is contributing to environmental protection.

[0049] <Variation 1> If, for some reason, the display device 1 and display device 1A according to the present embodiment described above are unable to acquire the power origin information, they may display the percentage of each source of power stored in the storage battery based on the power origin information stored in advance in memory 20. For example, the display device 1 and display device 1A display the percentage of each source of power stored in the storage battery based on information regarding the ratio of renewable energy power to general power nationwide. In this way, even if the display device 1 and display device 1A are unable to acquire the power origin information, they can display the percentage of each source of power stored in the storage battery, thereby making the driver aware that they are contributing to environmental protection.

[0050] <Modification 2> The display device 1 and the display device 1A according to the above-described embodiment may add the amount of electricity charged to the storage battery by regenerative braking to the renewable energy electricity, and display the percentage of the electricity stored in the storage battery by each source. In this way, the display device 1 and the display device 1A can make the driver aware that the electric vehicle is contributing to environmental protection.

[0051] <Modification 3> The display device 1 according to the above-described embodiment may, for example, display the power origin information for each region superimposed on map information based on the power origin information acquired from the server. For example, the display device 1 displays recommended charging regions with a high proportion of renewable energy power on the map and recommends charging to the driver in the recommended charging region. This allows the driver to recognize that charging the vehicle in a recommended charging region is contributing more to environmental protection.

[0052] The display device 1 and the display device 1A of the present invention can be realized by recording the processes of the control unit 13, the calculation unit 14, and the display information generation unit 15 on a recording medium readable by a computer system, and loading the program recorded on the recording medium into memory and executing it. The above-mentioned computer system includes hardware such as an OS and peripheral devices.

[0053] The above computer system also includes a homepage providing environment (or display environment) if it utilizes a WWW (World Wide Web) system. The above program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by transmission waves in the transmission medium. The transmission medium for transmitting the above program refers to a medium having the function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line.

[0054] The above program may be a program for realizing some of the above-mentioned functions, or may be a so-called differential file (differential program) that can realize the above-mentioned functions in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system.

[0055] The above describes in detail an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings, but the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes designs within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

[0056] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1; display device 1A; display device 10; processor 10A; processor 11; position information acquisition unit 12; information acquisition unit 12A; information acquisition unit 13; control unit 14; calculation unit 15; display information generation unit 20; memory 30; communication unit 30A; communication unit 40; display unit 100; charging control device 200; charging device

Claims

1. An information acquisition unit that acquires information on the origin of the power supplied to charge the vehicle's battery, A display information generation unit generates display information regarding the proportion of electricity stored in the battery by origin based on the aforementioned origin information, A display unit that displays the aforementioned display information, Equipped with, The aforementioned origin information is characterized by being the ratio of electricity generated using renewable energy to electricity generated using non-renewable energy sources for the electricity supplied in each region.

2. The vehicle is equipped with a location information acquisition unit that acquires location information for the location where the vehicle's battery has been charged. The display device according to claim 1, characterized in that the information acquisition unit acquires the origin information linked to the location information.

3. The display device according to claim 1, characterized in that the information acquisition unit acquires the origin information from the charging device that has charged the storage battery.

4. It comprises one or more processors, one or more memories communicately connected to the one or more processors, and a display unit. The one or more processors described above are An information acquisition unit that acquires information on the origin of the power supplied to charge the vehicle's battery, A display information generation unit generates display information regarding the proportion of electricity stored in the battery by origin based on the aforementioned origin information, Includes, A display device that displays half-display information on the display unit, The aforementioned origin information is characterized by being the ratio of electricity generated using renewable energy to electricity generated using non-renewable energy sources for the electricity supplied in each region.