In-vehicle system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10866111-B2
Application number	US-201816215984-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 11, 2018
Priority date	Dec 28, 2017
Publication date	Dec 15, 2020
Grant date	Dec 15, 2020

Abstract

A position in a left-right direction of a display position of a facility figure representing a facility is set to a position overlapping with a virtual line parallel to a traveling lane as viewed from a driver (c). A position in an up-down direction of the display position is determined to be a position overlapping with a road surface on the front side, the position separated upward by H1 from a lower end of a display area of a heads-up display when a distance L from a current position CP to a position TP of a facility is a distance ThL (b1), to be a position separated by H4 (H4<h1) when the distance L is zero, and such that distances H2 and H3 separated upward from the lower end of the display area gradually change from the distance H1 to the distance H4 as the distance L decreases from the distance ThL to zero (b2 and b3). The distance H1 is set such that the facility figure is displayed below a point facing the facility on the road surface on the front side when the distance L is the distance ThL.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An in-vehicle system that displays a facility figure, which is a figure representing a facility using a heads-up display projecting an image such that a virtual image is displayed on a front side of a front windshield of an automobile with respect to a user aboard the automobile, the in-vehicle system comprising:
memory; and
a processor in communication with the memory, the processor configured to execute instructions in the memory and to:
control a display of the facility figure representing the facility using the heads-up display from a target facility distance, which is a distance from the automobile to the facility for which the facility figure is displayed positioned on a front side in a progressing direction of the automobile of a road on which the automobile is traveling becomes equal to or less than a first predetermined distance, until the target facility distance becomes a second predetermined distance smaller than the first predetermined distance,
wherein the processor is configured to use, as a display area, an area in up-down and left-right directions, which overlaps with an area that allows the heads-up display to display the virtual image as viewed from the user to set a display position of a facility figure using the heads-up display such that the facility figure moves along a road on a road surface of the road on which the automobile is traveling as viewed from the user while a position in the display area overlapping with the facility figure as viewed from the user is changed from a position at which a height in the display area becomes a predetermined first height to a position at which the height becomes a predetermined second height, lower than the first height, as the target facility distance changes from the first predetermined distance to the second predetermined distance, and causes the heads-up display to display a facility indicating figure, which is a figure extending from the facility figure to the facility as viewed from the user during a period in which the facility figure is displayed, and
wherein the position in the display area at which the height in the display area becomes the predetermined first height is a position below a point facing the facility on the road surface of the traveling road as viewed from the user when the target facility distance is the first predetermined distance.

2. The in-vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
set the display position of the facility figure using the heads-up display to a position overlapping with a virtual line as viewed from the user when the virtual line parallel to a lane on which the automobile is traveling is present on the road surface of the traveling road regarding a position in the left-right direction, and
set the display position of the facility figure using the heads-up display such that the position in the display area overlapping with the facility figure as viewed from the user becomes a position at the first height when the target facility distance is the first predetermined distance, becomes a position at the second height when the target facility distance is the second predetermined distance, and gradually changes from the position at the first height to the position at the second height as the target facility distance decreases from the first predetermined distance to the second predetermined distance regarding a position in the up-down direction.

3. The in-vehicle system according to claim 2 , wherein the virtual line corresponds to either a virtual line that is parallel to a lane on which the automobile is traveling and passes through an inside of the lane or a virtual line that is parallel to the lane on which the automobile is traveling and passes through an outside of the lane.

4. The in-vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein the display control unit sets a display size of a facility figure using the heads-up display to increase as a distance between a facility for which the facility figure is displayed and the automobile changes from the first predetermined distance to the second predetermined distance.

5. The in-vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein the second predetermined distance is a distance from the automobile to the facility when the automobile reaches the facility.

6. The in-vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein the facility figure is a figure representing a state where a mark representing a type of the facility is supported in an upright state by a pole erected on a base, and the facility indicating figure is a figure extending from a portion representing the base of the facility figure toward the facility as viewed from the user.

7. The in-vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein the facility figure is a figure representing an inclination state of a mark representing a type of the facility.

8. An in-vehicle system that displays a facility figure, which is a figure representing a facility using a heads-up display projecting an image such that a virtual image is displayed on a front side of a front windshield of an automobile with respect to a user aboard the automobile, the in-vehicle system comprising:
memory; and
a processor in communication with the memory, the processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory and to:
control a display of the facility figure representing the facility using the heads-up display from a target facility distance, which is a distance from the automobile to the facility for which the facility figure is displayed positioned on a front side in a progressing direction of the automobile of a road on which the automobile is traveling becomes equal to or less than a first predetermined distance until the target facility distance becomes a second predetermined distance smaller than the first predetermined distance,
wherein the processor uses, as a display area, an area in up-down and left-right directions, which overlaps with an area that allows the heads-up display to display the virtual image as viewed from the user to set a display position of a facility figure using the heads-up display such that the facility figure is at a position overlapping with a position on a road surface of the road on which the automobile is traveling as viewed from the user and a position in the display area overlapping with the facility figure as viewed from the user has a height in the display area being a predetermined height, and causes the heads-up display to display a facility indicating figure, which is a figure extending from the facility figure to the facility as viewed from the user during a period in which the facility figure is displayed, and
wherein the position in the display area that has the height in the display area being the predetermined height is a position below a point facing the facility on the road surface of the traveling road as viewed from the user when the target facility distance is the first predetermined distance.

9. The in-vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein the second predetermined distance is a distance from the automobile to the facility when the automobile reaches the facility.

10. The in-vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein the facility figure is a figure representing a state where a mark representing a type of the facility is supported in an upright state by a pole erected on a base, and the facility indicating figure is a figure extending from a portion representing the base of the facility figure toward the facility as viewed from the user.

11. The in-vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein the facility figure is a figure representing an inclination state of a mark representing a type of the facility.

Assignees

• Alpine Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Kimura Tsuyoshi

Classifications

• B60K35/60

  Instruments characterised by their location or relative disposition in or on vehicles (arrangements of lighting devices on dashboards B60Q3/10) · CPC title

• B60K35/81

  for controlling displays · CPC title

• B60K35/23 Primary

  Head-up displays [HUD] (optical aspects of head-up displays G02B27/01) · CPC title

• G01C21/3667 Primary

  Display of a road map (G01C21/3614 takes precedence; guidance using 3D or perspective road maps G01C21/3635) · CPC title

• G02B27/0103

  comprising holographic elements · CPC title