Motor vehicle having a display apparatus, and method for activating a view protection device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12271071-B2
Application number	US-202218289433-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 4, 2022
Priority date	May 5, 2021
Publication date	Apr 8, 2025
Grant date	Apr 8, 2025

Abstract

According to a method for activating a privacy device and a motor vehicle having a display device, which may be arranged on a dashboard of the motor vehicle and may include a liquid crystal display screen which may be assigned at least to a front passenger position, the liquid crystal display screen is divided into a plurality of segments. A respective segment includes an electronically switchable privacy device, which is configured in an activated state, to block a display of a display image of the respective segments from the viewing direction of a driver position and to permit the display from the viewing direction of the passenger position, and, in a deactivated state, to permit the display from both viewing directions. The display device is configured to determine the segments on which a moving entertainment content is displayed, and to activate the privacy device for these segments.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A motor vehicle, comprising:
a display device, which is arranged on a dashboard of the motor vehicle and which is assignable to at least a front passenger position, the display device includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen and is divided into a plurality of segments;
each respective segment of the plurality of segments includes a privacy device which is electronically switchable and configured to:
in an activated state, block a display of a display image from a viewing direction of a driver position and to permit the display of the display image from a viewing direction of the front passenger position, and
in a deactivated state, permit the display of the display image from both the viewing direction of the driver position and the viewing direction of the front passenger position; and

the display device is configured to determine at least one segment of the plurality of segments on which a moving entertainment content is displayed, and to activate the privacy device for the at least one segment so that the at least one segment with the displayed moving entertainment content is in the activated state.

2. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the LCD screen includes a plurality of LCD layers and at least one LCD layer, from among the plurality of LCD layers, is the privacy device, which is actuatable in segments and is configured to collimate light beams in the viewing direction of the front passenger position when voltage is applied.

3. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the at least one LCD layer is a twisted nematic (TN) cell layer.

4. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the LCD screen includes a backlight and the at least one LCD layer is arranged between the backlight and the LCD screen or the at least one LCD layer is on a surface of the LCD screen.

5. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the at least one LCD layer includes multiple LCD layers, which are arranged one behind another and are aligned in relation to one another, as the privacy device.

6. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the LCD screen includes a backlight that is formed in two layers to provide the privacy device,
a first backlight layer of the two layers is configured to emit light diffusely,
a second backlight layer of the two layers is configured to emit light in a collimated manner in the viewing direction of the front passenger position,
the first backlight layer and the second backlight layer are configured to illuminate each respective segment of the plurality of segments separately, and in the activated state of the privacy device, only the second backlight layer emits light in each respective segment of the plurality of segments and the first backlight layer is deactivated in other segments of the plurality of segments.

7. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the second backlight layer includes at least one collimator device.

8. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of segments are formed as horizontal and/or vertical stripes.

9. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of segments are formed as rectangles and/or rhomboids.

10. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the display device is configured to determine whether the motor vehicle is moving or stationary and/or whether the motor vehicle is operated manually or autonomously, and to activate the privacy device if the motor vehicle is moving and/or is manually operated, and to deactivate the privacy device if the motor vehicle is stationary and/or is operated autonomously.

11. A method of activating a privacy device of a display device, which is arranged on a dashboard of a motor vehicle, the display device including a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen divided into a plurality of segments, the method comprising:
determining whether the motor vehicle is being driven in a manual driving operation;
determining at least one segment of the plurality of segments of the display device, on which a moving entertainment content is displayed;
activating the privacy device in the at least one segment in which the moving entertainment content is displayed if the motor vehicle is being driven in manual driving operation so that the at least one segment with the displayed moving entertainment content is in the activated state.

Assignees

• Audi Ag

Inventors

• Moll Tobias
• Müller Ulrich
• Sager Roland

Classifications

• B60K35/28

  characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver · CPC title

• B60K35/10

  Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor · CPC title

• B60K35/22

  Display screens · CPC title

• B60K35/29

  Instruments characterised by the way in which information is handled, e.g. showing information on plural displays or prioritising information according to driving conditions · CPC title

• B60K2360/1526

  Dual-view displays · CPC title