Vehicle information display control device, and method for displaying automatic driving information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10559284-B2
Application number	US-201616065933-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 1, 2016
Priority date	Feb 1, 2016
Publication date	Feb 11, 2020
Grant date	Feb 11, 2020

Abstract

A vehicle information display control device includes: an automatic driving information obtaining unit that obtains automatic driving information including information indicating whether each of actuators of a vehicle is in a manual control mode or an automatic control mode; and a display controller that causes a display to display an image based on the automatic driving information. The display controller simultaneously displays a first image and a second image representing the manual control mode and the automatic control mode, respectively, of each of the actuators, and displays (i) the first image of an actuator in the manual control mode closer than the second image of the actuator in the manual control mode and (ii) the second image of an actuator in the automatic control mode closer than the first image of the actuator in the automatic control mode.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle information display control device, comprising:
a memory to store a program and a processor to execute the program to perform the method of:
defining a first image and a second image for each of the actuators, the first image representing a manual control mode, the second image representing an automatic control mode;
obtaining automatic driving information including information indicating whether each of actuators of a vehicle is in the manual control mode or the automatic control mode; and

causing a display to simultaneously display the first image and the second image of each of the actuators and to display, based on the automatic driving information, (i) the first image of an actuator in the manual control mode closer in position to a driver of the vehicle than the second image of the actuator in the manual control mode and (ii) the second image of an actuator in the automatic control mode closer in position to the driver of the vehicle than the first image of the actuator in the automatic control mode.

2. The vehicle information display control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor causes the display to display the first image and the second image overlaid on one another so that a display position of the first image deviates from a display position of the second image.

3. The vehicle information display control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the automatic driving information further includes information indicating whether the automatic control mode of each of the actuators allows intervention with a manual operation, and
the processor represents whether the automatic control mode allows intervention with the manual operation, by a display mode or a display position of the first image of the actuator in the automatic control mode.

4. The vehicle information display control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the automatic driving information further includes information indicating whether the automatic control mode of each of the actuators allows intervention with a manual operation, and
the processor causes the display to display a third image representing whether the automatic control mode of the actuator in the automatic control mode allows intervention with the manual operation.

5. The vehicle information display control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the automatic driving information further includes information on a distance or a time until the actuator in the automatic control mode needs to be switched to the manual control mode, and
the processor represents, by a difference in display position between the first image and the second image, the distance or the time until the actuator in the automatic control mode needs to be switched to the manual control mode.

6. The vehicle information display control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the automatic driving information further includes information on a distance or a time until the actuator in the manual control mode can be switched to the automatic control mode, and
the processor represents, by a difference in display position between the first image and the second image, the distance or the time until the actuator in the manual control mode can be switched to the automatic control mode.

7. The vehicle information display control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first image and the second image are identical or similar in shape.

8. The vehicle information display control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first image is more visible than the second image.

9. The vehicle information display control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein a display mode of each of the first image and the second image is changed, depending on whether the image is displayed closer or deeper.

10. The vehicle information display control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor uses an animation effect when switching a depth relationship between the first image and the second image.

11. The vehicle information display control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor renders the first image and the second image in perspective to represent a depth relationship between the first image and the second image.

12. The vehicle information display control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the display can display an image with a depth, and
the processor controls depths at display positions of the first image and the second image to represent a depth relationship between the first image and the second image.

13. The vehicle information display control device according to claim 12 ,
wherein the display is a head up display that can display a plurality of images with different depths.

14. The vehicle information display control device according to claim 12 ,
wherein the display is a display including a plurality of display layers with physically different depths.

15. The vehicle information display control device according to claim 12 ,
wherein the display is a three-dimensional image display.

16. A method for displaying automatic driving information to cause a display to display an image representing a control mode of each of actuators of a vehicle, the method comprising:
defining a first image and a second image for each of the actuators, the first image representing a manual control mode, the second image representing an automatic control mode;
obtaining the automatic driving information including information indicating whether each of the actuators is in the manual control mode or the automatic control mode; and
causing the display to simultaneously display the first image and the second image of each of the actuators and to display, based on the automatic driving information, (i) the first image of an actuator in the manual control mode closer in position to a driver of the vehicle than the second image of the actuator in the manual control mode and (ii) the second image of an actuator in the automatic control mode closer in position to the driver of the vehicle than the first image of the actuator in the automatic control mode.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Miyahara Tadashi
• Shimotani Mitsuo
• Inoue Satoru
• Sato Yoshio
• Sakai Yuki
• Karita Yuji

Classifications

• G06T13/80

  Two-dimensional [2D] animation, e.g. using sprites · CPC title

• G06T11/60

  Creating or editing images; Combining images with text · CPC title

• G09G2340/12

  Overlay of images, i.e. displayed pixel being the result of switching between the corresponding input pixels · CPC title

• G09G5/024

  using colour registers, e.g. to control background, foreground, surface filling (G09G5/06 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G09G3/003

  to produce spatial visual effects · CPC title