Head-up display and head-up display program product

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016152184-A1
Application number	US-201414899515-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 3, 2014
Priority date	Jun 24, 2013
Publication date	Jun 2, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A head-up display ( 10 ) equipped to a vehicle includes a front view information acquisition unit ( 22, S 110, S 120 ), a virtual image display unit ( 22, S 180 ), and a size adjustment unit ( 22, S 140 -S 160 ). The front view information acquisition unit acquires front view information indicative of an object existing on a travelling road of the vehicle. The virtual image display unit controls lights generated for displaying an object marker corresponding to the object indicated by the front view information acquired by the front view information acquisition unit to be reflected on a windshield ( 6 ) and displays the object marker as a virtual image in front of the vehicle. When the object is positioned ahead of the virtual image of the object marker in a traveling direction of the vehicle, the size adjustment unit adjusts a size of the object marker so that a length of the object marker in a width direction of the vehicle is at least equal to or longer than a display reference length, which is defined as a length of a line segment that connects, along the width direction of the vehicle and passing through the position where the virtual image of the object marker is formed, a straight line connecting a right eye of a driver of the vehicle with the object and another straight line connecting a left eye of the driver with the object.

First claim

1 . A head-up display equipped to a vehicle comprising:
a front view information acquisition unit acquiring front view information indicative of an object existing on a road along which the vehicle travels; a virtual image display unit controlling lights, which are generated for displaying an object marker corresponding to the object indicated by the front view information acquired by the front view information acquisition unit, to be reflected on a windshield of the vehicle and displaying the object marker representing the object as a virtual image in front of the vehicle; and a size adjustment unit adjusting a size of the object marker displayed by the virtual image display unit when a position where the object exists is ahead of a position where the virtual image of the object marker is formed in a traveling direction of the vehicle, wherein the size adjustment unit adjusts the size of the object marker so that a length of the object marker in a width direction of the vehicle is at least equal to or longer than a display reference length, and the display reference length is defined as a length of a line segment that connects, along the width direction of the vehicle and passing through the position where the virtual image of the object marker is formed, a straight line connecting a right eye of a driver of the vehicle with the object and another straight line connecting a left eye of the driver with the object.

2 . The head-up display according to claim 1 , wherein
the virtual image display unit defines a shape of the object marker so that an upper side and a lower side of the shape of the object marker are parallel to the width direction of the vehicle and a shorter one between the upper side and the lower side of the shape of the object marker has a length equal to or longer than the length of the display reference length.

3 . The head-up display according to claim 2 , wherein
the object marker displayed by the virtual image display unit has an elongated shape which is longer in the width direction of the vehicle than in a height direction of the vehicle.

4 . The head-up display according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a brightness adjustment unit adjusting a brightness of the object marker displayed by the virtual image display unit so that the brightness at a central portion of the object marker in the width direction of the vehicle is higher than the brightness at both end portions of the object marker in the width direction of the vehicle.

5 . A computer-readable head-up display program product comprising instructions to be executed by a computer included in a head-up display equipped to a vehicle, the instructions for implementing:
acquiring front view information indicative of an object existing on a road along which the vehicle travels; controlling lights, which are generated for displaying an object marker corresponding to the object indicated by the front view information acquired in an acquiring step of the front view information, to be reflected on a windshield of the vehicle and displaying the object marker representing the object as a virtual image in front of the vehicle; and adjusting a size of the object marker displayed in a displaying step of the object marker when a position where the object exists is ahead of a position where the virtual image of the object marker is formed in a traveling direction of the vehicle, wherein the size of the object marker is adjusted so that a length of the object marker in a width direction of the vehicle is at least equal to or longer than a length of a line segment that connects, along the width direction of the vehicle and passing through the position where the virtual image of the object marker is formed, a straight line connecting a right eye of a driver of the vehicle with the object and another straight line connecting a left eye of the driver with the object.

Assignees

• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Ogawa Hiroaki
• Sakai Makoto
• Ando Hiroshi
• Fujikawa Takayuki

Classifications

• B60K35/234

  controlling the brightness, colour or contrast of virtual images depending on the driving conditions or on the condition of the vehicle or the driver · CPC title

• B60K35/233

  controlling the size or position in display areas of virtual images depending on the condition of the vehicle or the driver · CPC title

• 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

• G02B27/0101 Primary

  characterised by optical features (G02B27/0172 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06T19/006

  Mixed reality (object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00) · CPC title