Head-up display device and vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10120188-B2
Application number	US-201715671299-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 8, 2017
Priority date	Mar 24, 2016
Publication date	Nov 6, 2018
Grant date	Nov 6, 2018

Abstract

A head-up display device includes a display element, a beam splitter, a movable mirror, first and second mirrors, and a movable unit. The display element emits light to form a display image. The beam splitter being an optical member that reflects light or through which light is transmitted, reflects light emitted from the display element. The movable mirror reflects light reflected off the beam splitter. The first and second mirrors that reflect light movable mirror, or through which the light transmitted through the beam splitter is transmitted, project a virtual image. The movable unit adjusts a distance between the movable mirror and the beam splitter to adjust a projection distance of the virtual image.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A head-up display device comprising:
a display that emits light to form a display image;
a light separator being an optical member that reflects light or through which light is transmitted, and that reflects light emitted from the display;
a first optical member that reflects light reflected off the light separator;
a second optical member, wherein the light reflected off the first optical member is transmitted through the light separator directly to the second optical member, which then reflects or transmits the light, to project a virtual image; and
an adjuster that moves the first optical member relative to the second optical member and that adjusts a distance between the first optical member and the light separator to adjust a projection distance of the virtual image.

2. The head-up display device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an image processor that adjusts the display image in the display,
the image processor adjusting display magnification of the display image in accordance with a projection distance of the virtual image.

3. The head-up display device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an image processor that adjusts display image information in the display,
the image processor correcting image distortion of the display image in accordance with a projection distance of the virtual image.

4. The head-up display device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one wavelength plate provided between the display and the light separator, or between the light separator and the first optical member, wherein the light separator is a wire grid polarizing element.

5. The head-up display device according to claim 1 , wherein the second optical member includes a spherical concave mirror, a spherical convex mirror, a non-spherical concave mirror, a non-spherical convex mirror, or a free-form surface mirror.

6. The head-up display device according to claim 1 , wherein the second optical member includes a spherical lens, an aspherical lens, or a free-form surface lens.

7. The head-up display device according to claim 1 , wherein the display is a liquid crystal display element.

8. The head-up display device according to claim 1 , wherein the display includes a plurality of laser beam sources, a scan unit that scans a beam emitted from the laser beam source, and a screen on which scanned light from the scan unit forms an image.

9. The head-up display device according to claim 1 , wherein the adjuster adjusts a distance between the first optical member and the light separator according to location information on a vehicle.

10. The head-up display device according to claim 1 , wherein the adjuster adjusts a distance between the first optical member and the light separator according to travel information on the vehicle.

11. The head-up display device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a third optical member that reflects light reflected off the light separator,
wherein the second optical member reflects light transmitted through the light separator after being reflected off the third optical member, or allows the light transmitted through the light separator to be transmitted through the second optical member, to project a virtual image different from the virtual image described above.

12. A vehicle comprising the head-up display device according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Matsuzaki Keiichi
• Yamagata Michihiro

Classifications

• G02B2027/0154

  with movable elements · CPC title

• G02B27/40

  Optical focusing aids · CPC title

• G02B2027/0187

  slaved to motion of at least a part of the body of the user, e.g. head, eye · CPC title

• G02B2027/0185

  Displaying image at variable distance · CPC title

• G02B26/10

  Scanning systems · CPC title