Head-Up Display Brightness Monitoring to Prevent Driver Glare

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current head-up displays in vehicles can cause user blinding in low ambient light conditions due to unadjusted brightness and potential signal interference, which compromises safety.

Innovation Solution

Incorporating an image brightness monitoring device connected to the image control unit and driver, which monitors and adjusts the image brightness in real-time to prevent excessive glare by reducing pixel brightness or switching off the display element, ensuring safety-critical information remains visible while minimizing interference risks.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Illumination intensity

If the display device operates at high brightness to ensure visibility of safety-critical information, then the visibility of critical information is improved, but the risk of user blinding and glare increases in low ambient light conditions

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveimage brightnessVSAvoiduser blinding and glare
Core Design Contradiction:
Illumination intensityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements preliminary action by monitoring image brightness before it reaches harmful levels. The image brightness monitoring device continuously checks the brightness of the displayed image and triggers a warning signal or automatically reduces brightness before blinding occurs, preventing the harmful effect rather than reacting to it after the fact.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies feedback by creating a closed-loop control system where the image brightness monitoring device continuously measures the actual brightness of the displayed image and feeds this information back to the control unit. Based on this feedback, the system automatically adjusts the brightness to maintain visibility while preventing glare and user blinding.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Reliability

If complex shielding measures are implemented to protect signal lines between the image control unit and display element, then signal interference protection is improved, but the device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesignal interference protectionVSAvoidshielding measures
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent uses an intermediary approach by introducing the image brightness monitoring device as a mediator between the image control unit and the display element. This monitoring device detects brightness issues early and triggers warnings or automatic corrections, serving as an intermediate protection mechanism that prevents signal interference from causing harmful effects without requiring complex physical shielding of the signal lines.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentEP4089469B1Head-up display with display device
Publication Date: 2024.07.24 CONTINENTAL AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGIES GMBH
  • EP4089469B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4089469B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4089469B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

The invention relates to a head-up display with a display device (1) comprising an image generation unit (10) with a display element (11) for displaying an image and a driver (12) for the display element (11), an optical unit (14) for projecting the image onto a projection surface (2, 20), and an image control unit (40) for controlling the display element (10) via its driver (12). The image generation unit (10) has an image brightness monitoring device (16) which has an image signal input (161) that is connected to an image signal output (401) of the image control unit (40), and a signal output (162) that is connected to a signal input of the display element (11).