Vehicle display device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018210210-A1
Application number	US-201615744745-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 26, 2016
Priority date	Jul 27, 2015
Publication date	Jul 26, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A vehicle display device includes: a viewpoint position acquisition unit acquiring a user viewpoint position of a user seated in a driver seat of a vehicle; a forward information acquisition unit acquiring forward information of the vehicle; an image generation unit generating an image obtained by reflecting the forward information included within a prescribed area among the forward information acquired by the forward information acquisition unit; an image display unit having a display surface capable of displaying the image generated; and a projection unit projecting the image toward a vehicle's translucent member such that a virtual image is visible to the user. The image generation unit determines the position and the size of a first image element to be displayed, among image elements included in the generated image, on the display surface, according to the user viewpoint position in the vertical direction acquired by the viewpoint position acquisition unit.

First claim

1 . A vehicle display device, comprising:
a viewpoint position acquisition unit that acquires a position of a viewpoint of a user sitting in a driver seat of a vehicle; a forward information acquisition unit that acquires forward information that is information on a forward direction of the vehicle; an image generation unit that generates an image reflecting the forward information included in a predetermined area of the forward information acquired by the forward information acquisition unit; an image display unit having a display surface capable of displaying the image generated by the image generation unit, and a projection unit that projects the image toward a translucent member of the vehicle so that the user sitting in the driver seat is allowed to visually recognize a virtual image by reflecting the image displayed on the display surface by the translucent member of the vehicle, wherein the image generation unit determines a position and a size of displaying a first image element among the image elements included in the generated image on the display surface in accordance with the viewpoint position of the user in a vertical direction acquired by the viewpoint position acquisition unit.

2 . The vehicle display device according to claim 1 , wherein:
as the viewpoint position of the user acquired by the viewpoint position acquisition unit moves upward in a vertical direction, the image generation unit determines the position of displaying the first image element on the display surface in a direction corresponding to the upper side in the vertical direction, and determines the size of displaying the first image element to be large in a direction corresponding to the vertical direction, and as the viewpoint position of the user acquired by the viewpoint position acquisition unit moves downward in a vertical direction, the image generation unit determines the position of displaying the first image element on the display surface in a direction corresponding to the lower side in the vertical direction, and determines the size of displaying the first image element to be small in a direction corresponding to the vertical direction.

3 . The vehicle display device according to claim 1 , wherein the image generation unit determines the position and the size of displaying the first image element on the display surface so that a range of distance on a road surface of a scene, on which a virtual image related to the first image element is superimposed, in scenery seen by the user through the translucent member, becomes constant without being influenced by a change in the viewpoint position of the user in the vertical direction.

4 . The vehicle display device according to claim 1 , wherein the image generation unit determines the position of displaying a second image element different from the first image element among the image elements included in the generated image on the display surface in accordance with the viewpoint position of the user in a vertical direction acquired by the viewpoint position acquisition unit.

5 . The vehicle display device according to claim 4 , wherein:
as the viewpoint position of the user acquired by the viewpoint position acquisition unit moves upward in a vertical direction, the image generation unit determines the position of displaying the second image element on the display surface in a direction corresponding to the upper side in the vertical direction, and as the viewpoint position of the user acquired by the viewpoint position acquisition unit moves downward in a vertical direction, the image generation unit determines the position of displaying the second image element on the display surface in a direction corresponding to the lower side in the vertical direction.

6 . The vehicle display device according to claim 4 , wherein:
the display surface of the image display unit includes at least a first use area used for displaying the first image element and a second use area used for displaying the second image element, the image generation unit determines the position and the size of displaying the first image element on the display surface by determining the position and size of the first use area in accordance with the position of the viewpoint of the user in a vertical direction acquired by the viewpoint position acquisition unit, and the image generation unit determines the position and the size of displaying the second image element on the display surface by determining the position and size of the second use area in accordance with the position of the viewpoint of the user in a vertical direction acquired by the viewpoint position acquisition unit.

7 . The vehicle display device according to claim 6 , wherein the first use area and the second use area are arranged on the display surface side by side in a direction corresponding to a vertical direction or a direction corresponding to a left and right direction of the vehicle.

8 . The vehicle display device according to claim 2 , wherein the image generation unit determines the position and the size of displaying the first image element on the display surface so that a range of distance on a road surface of a scene, on which a virtual image related to the first image element is superimposed, in scenery seen by the user through the translucent member, becomes constant without being influenced by a change in the viewpoint position of the user in the vertical direction.

9 . The vehicle display device according to claim 2 , wherein the image generation unit determines the position of displaying a second image element different from the first image element among the image elements included in the generated image on the display surface in accordance with the viewpoint position of the user in a vertical direction acquired by the viewpoint position acquisition unit.

10 . The vehicle display device according to claim 3 , wherein the image generation unit determines the position of displaying a second image element different from the first image element among the image elements included in the generated image on the display surface in accordance with the viewpoint position of the user in a vertical direction acquired by the viewpoint position acquisition unit.

11 . The vehicle display device according to claim 5 , wherein:
the display surface of the image display unit includes at least a first use area used for displaying the first image element and a second use area used for displaying the second image element, the image generation unit determines the position and the size of displaying the first image element on the display surface by determining the position and size of the first use area in accordance with the position of the viewpoint of the user in a vertical direction acquired by the viewpoint position acquisition unit, and the image generation unit determines the position and the size of displaying the second image element on the display surface by determining the position and size of the second use area in accordance with the position of the viewpoint of the user in a vertical direction acquired by the viewpoint position acquisition unit.

Assignees

• Nippon Seiki Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yamamura Ayako

Classifications

• G02B2027/0181

  Adaptation to the pilot/driver · CPC title

• G02B2027/014

  comprising information/image processing systems · CPC title

• G02B2027/0138

  comprising image capture systems, e.g. camera · CPC title

• G02B2027/0187

  slaved to motion of at least a part of the body of the user, e.g. head, eye · CPC title

• G02B27/0101

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