Display control apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9452677-B2
Application number	US-201214353154-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 23, 2012
Priority date	Oct 24, 2011
Publication date	Sep 27, 2016
Grant date	Sep 27, 2016

Abstract

A display control apparatus for assigning a content to an area of a screen of an in-vehicle display and for displaying the content is disclosed. When a display Instruction to display a new content different from a present content to an area is generated during displaying of the present content on the area, the display control apparatus selects either one of the present content and the new content as a display target of the area based on an importance degree of the new content and an importance degree of the present content.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A display control apparatus for assigning a content to an area configured as a display region on a screen of a display mounted to a vehicle and for displaying the content, the display control apparatus comprising:
a controller, the controller is configured to
select, in a mediation section, either one of a present content and a new content different from the present content as a display target of the area based on an importance degree of a new instruction and an importance degree of an effective instruction when the new instruction, which is a new display instruction to display the new content to the area, is generated during displaying of the present content on the area, wherein the effective instruction is a display instruction to display the present content;
perform, in a content assignment section, assignment of the new content or the present content as the display target to the area based on a result of the selecting by the mediation section; and
store, by a storage control section, the new instruction as a wait instruction in an arrangement instruction management section when the new instruction is not selected,

wherein:
a display instruction has information indicating permission or prohibition of waiting;
when the new instruction has the information indicating the permission of waiting, the storage control section stores the new instruction as the wait instruction in the arrangement instruction management section;
after performing the assignment based on the content selected by the mediation section, the content assignment section assigns the content to the area based on the wait instruction stored in the arrangement instruction management section; and
when the new instruction has the information indicating the prohibition of waiting, the storage control section is prohibited from storing the new instruction as the wait instruction in the arrangement instruction management section.

2. The display control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the new display instruction is generated independent of an instruction from a user.

3. The display control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the importance degree of the content of the display instruction that is based on an instruction from a user is set to be larger than the importance degree of the content of the display instruction that is independent of an instruction from a user.

4. The display control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
when the present content becomes a non-display state in a situation where the new instruction is stored as the wait instruction in the arrangement instruction management section, the new content is selected by the mediation section.

5. The display control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
when a further-new display instruction is generated in a situation where the new instruction is stored as the wait instruction in the arrangement instruction management section, the mediation section selects one of a content of the further-new display instruction, the new content of the wait instruction and the displayed present content based on the importance degrees of the further-new display instruction, the new content of the wait instruction and the displayed present content.

6. A display control apparatus for assigning contents to a plurality of areas configured as display regions on a screen of a display mounted to a vehicle and for displaying the contents, the display control apparatus comprising:
a controller, the controller is configured to
execute, in a mediation section, mediation between a new instruction and an effective instruction based on an importance degree of the new instruction and an importance degree of the effective instruction, wherein the new instruction is an arrangement instruction to newly arrange a content to an area, wherein the effective instruction is an arrangement instruction presently adopted;
select, in a content assignment section, an arrangement instruction providing no duplication of the contents or the areas based on the mediation between the arrangement instructions by the mediation section, and perform assignment of the contents to the areas; and
store, by a storage control section, the new instruction as a wait instruction in an arrangement instruction management section when the new instruction is not selected,

wherein:
an arrangement instruction has information indicating permission or prohibition of waiting;
when a new instruction has the information indicating the permission of waiting, the storage control section stores the new instruction as the wait instruction in the arrangement instruction management section;
after performing the assignment based on the arrangement instruction selected by the mediation section, the content assignment section assigns the content to the area based on the wait instruction stored in the arrangement instruction management section; and
when a new instruction has the information indicating the prohibition of waiting, the storage control section is prohibited from storing the new instruction as the wait instruction in the arrangement instruction management section.

7. The display control apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein:
when an arrangement instruction has an insertion importance degree other than the importance degree, the mediation section executes the mediation based on the insertion importance degree of the new instruction and the importance degree of the effective instruction.

8. The display control apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein:
when the new instruction has inferior-to-superior information indicating inferiority or superiority relative to the effective instruction, the mediation section executes the mediation using the inferior-to-superior information together with the importance degrees.

9. The display control apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein:
the storage control section stores the new instruction as the wait instruction in the arrangement instruction management section so that a chronological order of the new instructions is maintained.

10. The display control apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein:
when the effective instruction is not selected, the storage control section stores the effective instruction as a return instruction in an arrangement instruction management section; and
after assigning the selected arrangement instruction, the content assignment section selects the return instruction providing no duplication of the contents or the areas based the return instruction stored in the arrangement instruction management section and performs the assignment of the contents to the areas.

11. The display control apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein:
an arrangement instruction has information indicating permission or prohibition of returning;
when the effective instruction has the information indicating the permission of returning, the storage control section stores the effective instruction as the return instruction in the arrangement instruction management section.

12. The display control apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein:
the storage control section stores the return instructions in the arrangement instruction management section so that a chronological order of the effective instructions is maintained.

13. The display control apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein:
the mediation section executes the mediation between the wait instruction and the return instruction based on the importance degrees; and
based on the mediation between the arrangement instructions by the mediation section, the content assignment section selects the arrangement instruction providi

Assignees

• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Ueda Yoshihiro
• Katoh Shigeo
• Sugiyama Hitoshi

Classifications

• G07C5/004 Primary

  Indicating the operating range of the engine (economical driving B60R16/0236, F02B77/084; measuring liquid fuel of an engine G01F9/00) · CPC title

• B60K35/81 Primary

  for controlling displays · 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

• B60K35/00 Primary

  Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles · CPC title

• B60K2350/352

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic