Vehicle mounted virtual visor system having a modular liquid crystal display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10699651-B2
Application number	US-201816131892-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 14, 2018
Priority date	Sep 22, 2017
Publication date	Jun 30, 2020
Grant date	Jun 30, 2020

Abstract

A modular virtual visor system is for a vehicle disclosed. The modular virtual visor system includes camera for detecting an illumination level on a face of a driver; a plurality of LCD panel modules mounted within the vehicle, and a controller. Each LCD panel module has LCD pixels configured to, (i) in an opaque state, block light from passing through the LCD screen and, (ii) in a transparent state, allow light to pass through the LCD panel module. The controller is configured to selectively operate each of the LCD pixels of each LCD panel module in either the opaque state or the transparent state so as to block high intensity light sources from shining on the face of the driver.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A modular visor system for a vehicle, the modular visor system comprising:
a sensor configured to detect an illumination level of at least one location within the vehicle;
a plurality of discrete liquid crystal display (LCD) panel modules mounted within the vehicle and arranged so as to physically abut one another, each discrete LCD panel module having a plurality of LCD pixels arranged in a grid formation and a discrete set of connections configured to receive control signals that operate the respective plurality of LCD pixels, each LCD pixel configured to, (i) in an opaque state, block light from passing through a corresponding area of the respective LCD panel module and, (ii) in a transparent state, allow light to pass through the corresponding area of the respective LCD panel module; and
a controller operably connected to the sensor and to the respective discrete set of connections of each discrete LCD panel module in the plurality of discrete LCD panel modules, the controller configured to (i) receive a sensor signal from the sensor, (ii) determine the illumination level of the at least one location based on the sensor signal, and (iii) selectively operate each pixel of the plurality of LCD pixels of each of the plurality of discrete LCD panel modules in the opaque state and the transparent state depending on the illumination level of the at least one location within the vehicle.

2. The modular visor system of claim 1 further comprising:
a bezel configured to surround and secure the plurality of LCD pixels of at least one LCD panel module of the plurality of discrete LCD panel modules.

3. The modular visor system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of discrete LCD panel modules are arranged in a grid formation.

4. The modular visor system of claim 1 , wherein a first LCD panel module of the plurality of discrete LCD panel modules is a different size than a second LCD panel module of the plurality of discrete LCD panel modules.

5. The modular visor system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a plurality of multiplexers, each multiplexer in the plurality of multiplexers operably connected to a subset of the plurality of discrete LCD panel modules, each multiplexer configured to route the control signals from the controller to the respective discrete set of connections of each of the respective subset of the plurality of discrete LCD panel modules.

6. The modular visor system of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one location includes a face of a driver of the vehicle; and
the controller is further configured to operate at least one LCD pixel in the plurality of LCD pixels of one of the LCD panel modules in the plurality of discrete LCD panel modules in the opaque state in response to one of (i) the illumination level on the face of the driver and (ii) a change in the illumination level on the face of the driver exceeding a predetermined threshold.

7. The modular visor system of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one location includes a face of a driver of the vehicle; and
the sensor is a camera mounted within the vehicle and pointed at the driver of the vehicle.

8. The modular visor system of claim 7 , the controller further configured to:
determine the illumination level on face of the driver based on image frames received from the camera; and
operate at least one LCD pixel in the plurality of LCD pixels of one of the LCD panel modules in the plurality of discrete LCD panel modules in the opaque state in response to one of (i) the illumination level on the face of the driver and (ii) a change in the illumination level on the face of the driver exceeding a predetermined threshold.

9. The modular visor system of claim 7 , the controller further configured to:
determine a baseline illumination level on the face of the driver based on previous image frames received from the camera;
determine a current illumination level on the face of the driver based on a most recent image frame received from the camera; and
compare the current illumination level with the baseline illumination level.

10. The modular visor system of claim 7 , the controller further configured to:
determine locations corresponding to eyes of the driver based on image frames received from the camera; and
determine an illumination level on the eyes on the driver based on illumination at the locations in the image frames corresponding to the eyes of the driver.

11. The modular visor system of claim 7 , the controller further configured to:
select the at least one LCD pixel to be operated in the opaque state to block light passing through the respective LCD panel module onto eyes of the driver, the at least one LCD pixel being selected based on a projection model that includes a mapping of the plurality of LCD pixels to corresponding locations on the face of the driver.

12. The modular visor system of claim 11 , the controller further configured to:
operate a subset of the plurality of LCD pixels of one of the LCD panel modules in the plurality of discrete LCD panel modules in the opaque state to project an illumination pattern onto the face of the driver;
detect the illumination pattern on the face of the driver based on image frames received from the camera; and
determine the mapping of the plurality of LCD pixels of the one of the LCD panel modules in the plurality of discrete LCD panel modules to corresponding locations on the face of the driver based on the location at which the illumination pattern was detected on the face of the driver.

13. A modular visor system for a vehicle, the modular visor system comprising:
a camera mounted within the vehicle and pointed at a face of the a driver of the vehicle, the camera configured to capture image frames of the face of the driver;
at least one liquid crystal display (LCD) panel module mounted within the vehicle, the at least one LCD panel module having a plurality of LCD pixels arranged in a grid formation, each LCD pixel configured to, (i) in an opaque state, block light from passing through a corresponding area of the at least one LCD panel module and, (ii) in a transparent state, allow light to pass through the corresponding area of the at least one LCD panel module; and
a controller operably connected to the camera and to the at least one LCD panel module, the controller configured to:
operate a subset of the plurality of LCD pixels of the at least one LCD panel module in the opaque state to project an illumination pattern onto the face of the driver;
detect the illumination pattern on the face of the driver based on image frames received from the camera; and
determine a projection mapping of the plurality of LCD pixels of the at least one LCD panel module to corresponding locations on the face of the driver based on locations at which the illumination pattern was detected on the face of the driver; and
selectively operate at least one LCD pixel of the plurality of LCD pixels in the opaque state to block light passing through the at least one LCD panel module onto eyes of the driver, the at least one LCD pixel being selected based on the projection mapping of the plurality of LCD pixels to the corresponding locations on the face of the driver.

Assignees

• Bosch Gmbh Robert

Inventors

• Todd Ryan P
• Zink Jason
• Woodrich Andy

Classifications

• G06F3/1431

  using a single graphics controller · CPC title

• G02F1/1313

  specially adapted for a particular application · CPC title

• G06F3/1446

  display composed of modules, e.g. video walls · CPC title

• G09G2300/026

  Video wall, i.e. juxtaposition of a plurality of screens to create a display screen of bigger dimensions · CPC title

• G09G2380/10

  Automotive applications · CPC title