JP2001018682A - Display device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve visibility of a display image by selectively forming an image display image in only a specified area within a display possible area of a display unit according to eyes of an occupant when the image display image formed by the display unit provided within an instrument panel is expanded and displayed in the directions of the eyes of the occupant. SOLUTION: A controller 28 displays display information stored in a memory based on each various kind of vehicle information within a display possible area of a liquid crystal display panel 33 provided with a back light tube of a display unit 30 provided within an instrument panel 22. Light emitted by the back light is made incident on the liquid crystal display panel 33 via an optical diffusion plate and a cold filter, luminous flux of a display image of the liquid crystal display panel 33 is expanded and reflected by a concave mirror 25, is projected on windshield 24, is reflected by a combiner 27 and is made incident on eyes of a driver. At this time, the driver moves the display image within the display possible area of the liquid crystal display panel 33 by operating a display image moving operation switch 51 and the display image is made easy to visualized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention reflects an image display image such as a character or a figure formed on a display by an optical member so that the display image can be visually recognized as a virtual image and the position of the virtual image forming position of the display image can be visually recognized. The present invention relates to a vehicle display device capable of performing adjustment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, a vehicle display device 1 as shown in FIG. 9 has been known. The vehicular display device 1 is called a head-up display device that displays image information such as characters and graphics in front of a vehicle windshield in a manner superimposed on a scene. The head-up display device includes a display 3 provided in the instrument panel 2 and an opening 2 a provided on the upper surface of the instrument panel 2 with a light flux of an image display image such as a character or a graphic displayed on the display 3. And a concave mirror 5 that is enlarged and reflected toward the windshield 4 of the vehicle through the mirror.

The luminous flux of the display image projected on the windshield 4 from the display 3 through the opening 2a of the instrument panel 2 is, as shown in FIGS.
Is reflected in the direction of the driver's eyes by the driver,
By visually recognizing the luminous flux of the display image, the user can visually recognize the luminous flux in front of the driver's seat, that is, as if the display image is in front of the windshield 4 of the vehicle, by superimposing the scene around the front of the vehicle.

Here, the position of the driver's eyes when the driver sits in the driver's seat greatly differs depending on the physique, sitting posture, and the like of the driver. Regarding the lateral direction of the position of the driver's eyes, there is little variation among the drivers unless the driver takes an extremely unnatural sitting posture when sitting in the driver's seat. In practice, it can be considered that the light beam converges to almost one point. However, in the vertical direction of the eye position of the driver, the physique difference of each driver is reflected as it is, so that the variation becomes large.

[0005] However, even if the eye height position of each driver is greatly different, each driver must be able to visually recognize a display image from each height position. For this reason,
In the conventional head-up display device, the width L1 of the opening 2a of the instrument panel 2 is set to be large, and the concave mirror 5
The light flux of the display light reflected from the light source is made to cover a wide range. FIG. 10 shows that the vertical dimension of the display image formed on the display 3 is A = 20 mm, the radius of curvature of the concave boundary 5 is R = 1000 mm, and the distance between the display surface of the display 3 and the concave boundary 5 is B = 120 mm, light flux from the display 3 is concave boundary 5
The opening angle of the optical axis reflected by the lens is C = 30 °, the distance between the concave boundary 5 and the windshield 4 is D = 200 mm, the distance from the center of the eye range to the windshield 4 is E = 900 mm,
The virtual image formation distance is set to F = 360 mm from the windshield 4, and the eye point is set in the vertical direction with respect to the center of the eye range.
It shows a ray tracing result by simulation when the distance is changed by 61 mm. Note that, for simplicity, the windshield 4 is flat. FIG.
Shows an enlarged view of the display unit and the reflection unit in FIG.

However, from a design standpoint,
The opening provided in the instrument panel is preferably set small.

[0007] Therefore, even if the opening 2a of the instrument panel 2 is set small, a head-up display that allows a display image projected on the windshield 4 to be visually recognized regardless of the height position of the driver's eyes. An apparatus 10 has been proposed. The head-up display device 10 is provided with a rotating mechanism 16 for changing the direction of a concave mirror (enlarged reflection boundary) 15, as shown in FIGS. By changing the direction of the concave mirror 15 by the rotation mechanism 16, the traveling direction of the luminous flux of the display image from the display 13 can be changed in accordance with the height position of the driver's eye, as shown in FIGS. Thus, the width L2 of the opening 12a of the instrument panel 12 may be small. That is, by rotating the concave boundary, the opening 12a can be made smaller than when the concave boundary is not rotated (L1> L2).

FIG. 13 shows that a vertical dimension of a display image formed on the display 13 is A = 20 mm, a radius of curvature of the concave boundary 15 is R = 1000 mm, and a distance between the display surface of the display 13 and the concave boundary 15. Is B = 120 mm, and the central opening angle C of the optical axis at which the light flux from the display 13 is reflected at the concave boundary 15 is C = 30.
°, the distance between the concave boundary 15 and the windshield 14 is D = 2
00 mm, the distance from the center of the eye range to the windshield 14 is E = 900 mm, the virtual image formation distance is F = 360 mm from the windshield 14, and the concave boundary 15 is ± 2.3.
7 shows the results of ray tracing by simulation in the case of rotation by °. According to this, concave boundary 1
By rotating the lens 5 by ± 2.3 °, the eye range can be covered in a range of ± 61 mm in the vertical direction around the eye point center. FIG. 14 is an enlarged view of the display unit and the reflection unit in FIG.

[0009]

In the head-up display device 10 as described above, the concave mirror 15 is used.
Is provided, but such a mechanical rotation mechanism 16 is easily affected by disturbances such as heat and vibration. For this reason, the display image projected on the windshield 14 is disturbed by the heat in the vehicle interior, the vibration caused by the operation of the vehicle, and the like, and the display image becomes difficult for the driver to visually recognize.

Further, since the above-mentioned rotating mechanism requires a precise control mechanism for changing the direction of the concave mirror 15, it is difficult to manufacture the rotating mechanism 16, and the rotating mechanism 16 is mounted on a vehicle. There is a problem in that it is troublesome to handle when a failure occurs during mounting or after mounting.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problem, and has as its object to provide an eye range (JIS standard) from the upper end to the lower end of a driver without using a mechanical mechanism such as a concave boundary rotating mechanism. D0021-1984) is provided.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a display for forming an image display image such as a character or a figure is provided in an instrument panel, and the image display of the display is provided. In a vehicular display device including an optical member for enlarging and displaying an image in the direction of the occupant's eye, an image display image of the display device is selectively displayed only on a specific area within a displayable area of the display device by a position of the occupant's eye. Is formed.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of a vehicle display device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a head-up display device 20.
It shows the case where it is applied to. The head-up display device 20 includes a projector 21 provided in the instrument panel 22 and a combiner (translucent) provided on the windshield 24 of the vehicle and reflecting the luminous flux of the display image projected from the projector 21 toward the driver's eyes. (Reflection plate) 27. The projector 21 includes a display 30 that is a display unit that projects a light flux of a display image, and a light flux of the display image projected from the display 30 through an opening 22 a of the instrument panel 22 to a windshield 24.
And a concave mirror 25 that is an enlarged reflecting mirror that reflects toward the combiner 27 of FIG. The concave mirror 25 presents a virtual image obtained by enlarging the display image in front of the windshield 24.

The structure of the display 30 will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 31 denotes a storage case having an opening 32, and in the vicinity of the opening 32 in the storage case 31, a transmission type liquid crystal display panel 33 of a dot matrix display type capable of performing graphic display is arranged. Cold filters 34 and 35 are arranged on the front and back sides of the liquid crystal display panel 33, respectively. Reference numeral 33-1 denotes a polarizing plate of the liquid crystal display panel 33. Reference numeral 36 denotes a light diffusing plate disposed on the back side of the back side cold filter 35, and reference numeral 37 denotes a backlight tube disposed on the back side of the light diffusing plate 36, and a light reflecting plate behind the backlight tube 37. 3
8 are arranged. 39 is an inverter, 40 is a liquid crystal display controller board, and 41 is a cooling fan for cooling heat generated by the backlight tube 37.

The displayable area of the liquid crystal display panel 33 of the display 30 is extended at least in the vertical direction from the display image to be reflected and projected. That is, the display image formed on the liquid crystal display panel 33 has a margin in the vertical direction with respect to the displayable area of the liquid crystal display panel 33. The backlight tube 37 is a high-brightness hot cathode discharge lamp, and the drawing shows an axial section of the tube.

The display image displayed on the display 30 is controlled by a controller 28 such as a microcomputer provided in the instrument panel 22. That is, for example, the controller 28 appropriately selects from display information stored in a memory based on external information such as position information, route guidance, and the like, and internal information such as vehicle speed, engine rotation, fuel remaining amount, and the like, by a navigation system. Various display images are displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 33. Further, the controller 28 moves the display image 60 to be partially displayed in the displayable area of the liquid crystal display panel 33 in the vertical direction based on the operation of the display image movement operation switch 51,
The position of the display image 60 can be adjusted in the vertical direction.

The display image moving operation switch 51 is provided on the instrument panel 22. Reference numeral 50 denotes a display lighting switch provided on the instrument panel 22.

The concave boundary 25 is the instrument panel 22
Is fixedly disposed below the opening 22a.

Next, the operation of the head-up display device 20 of the above embodiment will be described.

When a display lighting switch 50 provided on the instrument panel 22 is turned on, the controller 28 displays the display information stored in a memory provided inside the controller 28 on the basis of vehicle information inside and outside the various vehicles. The image is partially displayed in the displayable area of the display panel 33. Further, the controller 28 controls the inverter 39 to cause the backlight tube 37 to emit light. The light emitted from the backlight tube 37 passes through the light diffusion plate to obtain a substantially uniform surface light source. The light transmitted through the light diffusion plate 36 enters the cold filter 35 and further enters the liquid crystal display panel. The on-dot portion of the liquid crystal display panel 33 transmits light, and the off-dot portion blocks light. A display image indicating display information is formed by the on-dot and off-dot of the liquid crystal display panel 33.

The luminous flux of the display image projected from the liquid crystal display panel 33 is enlarged and reflected by the concave boundary 25, and passes through the opening 22 a of the instrument panel 22.
Projected to 4. The luminous flux projected on the windshield 24 is combined with a combiner 2 formed on the windshield 24.
7 is directed toward the driver's eyes.
The driver sees the displayed image superimposed on the scenery as if the displayed image were in front of the driver's seat, that is, in front of the windshield 24.

Here, the case where the driver's eye position (eye point) is located at the upper end of the eye range will be described. The driver operates the display image moving operation switch 51,
The display image is displayed near the upper part in the displayable area of the liquid crystal display panel 33. That is, as shown in FIG. 3A, the display image is turned upside down due to the concave boundary 25, and an upside-down inverted display image is formed closer to the top in the displayable area of the liquid crystal display panel 33. As shown by the dashed line in FIG.
The light is reflected by the combiner 27 of FIG. 4 and travels in the direction of FIG. Therefore, from the position of FIG.
The virtual image 60 ′ of the display image 60 shown in FIG. Although the lower half of FIG. 3A is blacked out for the sake of explanation, the blacked out portion indicates a non-display portion in the displayable area of the liquid crystal display panel 33 and is a virtual image. It is not something that is visually recognized.

Next, the case where the driver's eye position (eye point) is located at the lower end of the eye range will be described. The driver operates the display image moving operation switch 51,
The display image is displayed near the lower part in the displayable area of the liquid crystal display panel 33. That is, as shown in FIG. 5 (A), in consideration of the fact that the display image is vertically inverted by the concave boundary 25, the vertically inverted display image is formed closer to the lower part of the displayable area of the liquid crystal display panel 33, As shown by the solid line in FIG.
The light is reflected by the combiner 27 of FIG. 4 and travels in the direction of FIG. Therefore, the position shown in FIG.
The virtual image 60 ′ of the display image 60 shown in FIG. Although the upper half of FIG. 5A is blacked out for the sake of explanation, the blacked out part indicates a non-display part in the displayable area of the liquid crystal display panel 33, and is a virtual image. It is not visible.

Similarly, the case where the driver's eye position (eye point) is located at the center of the eye range will be described.
The display image is displayed substantially at the center of the displayable area of the liquid crystal display panel 33. That is, as shown in FIG. 4A, the display image is turned upside down by the concave boundary 25, and
By forming a vertically inverted display image substantially at the center of the displayable area of the liquid crystal display panel 33, the luminous flux of the display image is reflected by the concave boundary 25 and the combiner 27 of the windshield 24, and the direction of FIG. Head for. Therefore, FIG.
A virtual image 6 of the display image 60 shown in FIG.
0 'can be visually recognized. FIG.
Although the vicinity of the upper end and the vicinity of the lower end of (A) are blacked out for the sake of explanation, the blacked out part indicates a non-display part in the displayable area of the liquid crystal display panel 33 and is visually recognized as a virtual image. It is not something to be done.

The controller 28 can move the display image displayed in the displayable area of the liquid crystal display panel 33 in the vertical direction based on the operation of the display image movement operation switch 51. By moving the display image 60 in the vertical direction according to the above, the virtual image 60 'can be visually recognized regardless of the height position of the driver's eye. Further, since the display image 60 is moved in the vertical direction according to the height position of the driver's eyes, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG.
It is not necessary to enlarge the opening 22a.

FIG. 6 shows that the vertical dimension of the display image formed on the display 30 is A = 20 mm, the radius of curvature of the concave boundary 25 is R = 1000 mm, and the distance between the display surface of the display 30 and the concave boundary 25 is shown. Is B = 120 mm, the opening angle of the optical axis at which the light flux from the display 30 is reflected at the concave boundary 25 is C = 30 °,
The distance between the concave boundary 25 and the windshield 24 is D = 200.
mm, the distance from the eye point center to the windshield is E = 900 mm, the virtual image formation distance is F = 360 mm from the windshield 24, and the windshield 2
4 is a simulation basic layout diagram which is a plane for simplicity of explanation.

FIG. 7 shows the basic layout diagram of FIG.
FIG. 9 shows a ray tracing result by a simulation in a case where the display image of the display device 30 is vertically moved by about 9.7 mm. According to this, by moving the display image of the display in the vertical direction by about 9.7 mm, the eye range of ± 61 mm in the vertical direction around the eye point center can be covered, and the opening 22a of the instrument panel is closed. It can be confirmed that the size can be reduced.
FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the display unit and the reflection unit of FIG.

Further, since the traveling direction of the luminous flux of the displayed image is not adjusted by the rotating mechanism which is a mechanical mechanism, the displayed image is disturbed due to the cause of the mechanical mechanism and heat, vibration, etc. There is no problem of being difficult. Further, since it is not necessary to attach the rotating mechanism to the concave mirror 15, there is no need to consider the difficulty in manufacturing the rotating mechanism, and when the rotating mechanism is attached to the vehicle or when the rotating mechanism 16 fails. There is no problem that the handling is troublesome.

In this embodiment, a transmissive liquid crystal display panel is used as the display.
A display unit using a natural light-emitting type display device capable of graphic display such as an RT, a plasma display, and a light-emitting diode display may be used. Although a concave mirror is used as the magnifying optical system, it goes without saying that a lens system may be used. Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a head-up display device is described. However, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the head-up display device and can be applied to various vehicle display devices.

[0031]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a display for forming an image display image of characters, figures, etc. is provided in the instrument panel, and the image display image of the display device is displayed on the occupant. In a vehicle display device provided with an optical member for enlarging and displaying in the direction of the eyes, an image display image of the display is selectively formed only in a specific area within a displayable area of the display by an occupant's eye position. As a result, the displayed image can be viewed from any height position of the driver's eyes without increasing the opening of the instrument panel and without changing the direction of the magnifying mirror. In addition, since it is not necessary to change the direction of the magnifying mirror, there is no need to provide a mechanical rotation mechanism for the magnifying mirror. Therefore, the display image is disturbed due to the mechanical mechanism, heat, vibration, and the like. This does not cause such a problem that it is difficult for the driver to visually recognize.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing a configuration of a vehicle head-up display device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a display according to the present invention.

3A and 3B illustrate adjustment of a display image when a driver's eye height position is at an upper end, where FIG. 3A is a display image on a liquid crystal display panel, and FIG. 3B is a virtual image that the driver visually recognizes in front of a windshield. is there.

4A and 4B show adjustment of a display image when the height position of the driver's eye is at the center, where FIG. 4A is a display image on a liquid crystal display panel, and FIG. 4B is a virtual image that the driver visually recognizes in front of a windshield. is there.

5A and 5B illustrate adjustment of a display image when the height position of the driver's eye is at the lower end, where FIG. 5A is a display image on a liquid crystal display panel, and FIG. 5B is a virtual image that the driver visually recognizes in front of a windshield. is there.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a basic layout of a ray tracing simulation of the head-up display device for a vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a ray tracing result of the vehicle head-up display device according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the display and the concave boundary reflection unit of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a schematic side view showing a configuration of a conventional vehicle head-up display device.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a ray tracing result of a conventional head-up display device of a vehicle.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged view of the display unit and the concave boundary reflection unit of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a schematic side view showing the configuration of another conventional vehicle head-up display device.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a ray tracing result of a head-up display device of another conventional vehicle.

FIG. 14 is an enlarged view of the display unit and the concave boundary reflection unit of FIG. 13;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 20 head-up display device 21 projector 22 instrument panel 22a opening 24 windshield 25 concave mirror 27 combiner 30 display 33 liquid crystal display panel 60 display image

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F-term (reference)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle for a vehicle, comprising: a display for forming an image display image such as a character and a figure in an instrument panel; and an optical member for enlarging and displaying the image display image of the display in the direction of an occupant's eye. A display device for a vehicle, wherein an image display image of the display device is selectively formed only in a specific region within a displayable region of the display device according to a position of an occupant's eye.