JPH10250472A - Display device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To more properly control dimming of a display equipment, by estimating a condition considering a display device complicated. SOLUTION: In a navigation computer 10, based on the present place detected in a GPS device 12, from a map data memory part 14, brightness or the like in the periphery of a self vehicle is estimated. Based on an estimation result, necessity for dimming of a display 20 or the like is decided, based on a decision result, dimming is controlled. Accordingly, when necessity for preventing conspicuousness of the display 20 in a mountainous path or the like is large provided, proper dimming can be performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle display device mounted on a vehicle for performing various displays, and more particularly to a display device for preventing a display from disturbing a driver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, vehicles equipped with a display device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and displaying various information thereon have been increasing. In particular, in a vehicle equipped with a navigation device, a display device is indispensable for displaying a map around the position of the vehicle.

Further, there has been proposed a system in which various devices such as an air conditioner and an audio device can be operated by using a front surface of a screen of a display device as a touch panel.

Here, such a display device for a vehicle includes:
Since a large amount of information is displayed, a relatively large area is required. For example, for navigation displays,
Those having a size of about 5 to 6 inches are generally used. In addition, in the above-described touch panel display, it is necessary to make the screen a certain size in consideration of the operability of various devices.

[0005] Further, the navigation screen, such as the current position of the vehicle, changes every moment as the vehicle moves. Therefore, the screen display of the in-vehicle display is quite worrisome when the driver enters the field of view.

[0006] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-18767 discloses a display device which uses GPS to determine day and night and adjusts brightness and color tone according to the result of the determination. According to this device, the brightness and the color tone of the display device are suppressed at night when the screen is likely to be in the way, and the driver is less likely to feel annoying the driver.

[0007]

However, in the conventional example described in the above-mentioned publication, the distinction between day and night is only determined.
Therefore, when the display device enters the driver's field of view other than at night and is troublesome for the driver, suitable control cannot be performed.

For example, on a mountain road, there are many sharp curves, and there is a high probability that the display device enters the driver's field of view. Therefore, there is a high possibility that the display of the display device is bothersome, and there is a demand that the display device be made inconspicuous even in such a case.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a vehicle display device capable of predicting and controlling a situation in which the display device is considered to be cumbersome.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a vehicle display device mounted on a vehicle and performing various displays, comprising: map data storage means for storing map data such as road shapes; Self-vehicle position detecting means, estimating means for estimating necessity of dimming based on the map data stored in the map data storage means and the own-vehicle position detected by the self-vehicle position detecting means, And a display mode changing unit that changes the display mode of the display unit mounted on the vehicle based on the necessity of the dimming estimated by (1). In particular, it is preferable that the display mode changing unit changes the dimming of the display unit.

As described above, according to the present invention, map data is read out according to the position of the vehicle, and the necessity of dimming is estimated. Therefore, it is presumed that a display device such as a display or a meter display is easily seen on a mountain road or the like, and that the display device is easily perceived to be troublesome because the surrounding area is very dark, so that an appropriate display mode can be changed. The change of the display mode includes the stop of the blinking, but it is particularly preferable to change the dimming such as the change of the luminance, the contrast, and the color arrangement. Thereby, it is possible to effectively prevent the display from being bothered by the driver.

Further, in order to determine the necessity of dimming based on map data, when passing through a tunnel, dimming is started just before actually entering the tunnel, and brightening is started just before the exit of the tunnel. You can also. by this,
The dimming control of the display device can be performed based on the brightness of the field of view of the actual driver.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the display device according to the embodiment. A GPS (Global Positioning System) device 12 is connected to the navigation computer 10. This GPS device 1
2 recognizes time and position by receiving radio waves from a plurality of artificial satellites (GPS satellites). Where GPS
The position recognized by the device 12 is an absolute position that specifies latitude, longitude, and altitude. In addition, in the case of ordinary GPS, the accuracy of the position identification is not very high. For this reason, GPS
It is also preferable to use D-GPS (Differential-GPS) for correcting the position by using the error information of (1). Since the D-GPS error information is usually provided by FM multiplex broadcasting, it is preferable to mount an FM multiplex receiver on the vehicle.

A map data storage unit 14 is connected to the navigation computer 10. The map data storage unit 14 stores map data such as road shapes.
Further, a communication device 16 is connected to the navigation computer 10, and the communication device 16 communicates with an external information providing device 18 to obtain various data. The communication device 16 communicates with a roadside optical (or radio wave) beacon, communicates with another vehicle,
Those that perform satellite communication and those that use telephone lines are included.

A display 20 is connected to the navigation computer 10. This display 2
Reference numeral 0 denotes an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), which displays various data for route guidance. That is, the navigation computer 10 obtains the current position information from the GPS device 12 and reads out the map data around the current position from the map data storage unit 14 based on this. Then, a map is displayed on the display 20 based on the read map data. At this time, the current position is displayed on a map. Thereby, the driver can always recognize the current position as a position on the map. In particular, in the map data storage unit 14 of the present embodiment, information such as roads at which nighttime is expected to be dark due to few street lights and street lamps on the roadside at nighttime is stored.

Further, when a destination is input by input means (for example, a touch panel provided on the front of the screen of the display 20), the navigation computer 10
Searches for the optimal route from the current location to the destination. Then, when a route is set, route guidance by the display 20 is performed according to the set route. For example,
When approaching an intersection that makes a right or left turn, the intersection is enlarged and displayed, and the course is displayed here by arrows or the like. further,
It is also preferable to provide voice guidance such as turning right or left from a speaker. The brightness of the display 20 can be adjusted by the navigation computer 10.

An indicator panel 22 is also connected to the navigation computer 10. The indicator panel 22 displays a speedometer, a tachometer, a fuel indicator, and the like.
These lightings are adjustable. Then, the navigation computer 10 controls the display brightness of the indicator panel 22 and the like.

Next, the display mode control of the display device according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. First, the navigation computer 10 acquires GPS information (time and absolute position information) from the GPS device 12 (S1).
1). Then, it is determined whether the periphery is dark according to the time and the current position (S12). An illuminance sensor may be provided to determine that the surroundings of the vehicle are actually dark, or to determine that the surroundings are dark by turning on the headlights.

If the determination in S12 is YES and the surroundings are dark, it is next determined whether the display screen of the display 20 is a night image (S13). That is, the display on the display 20 can be switched between night and day images in conjunction with turning on / off of the headlights, etc. Therefore, when the surroundings are dark, the night image is often used. However, if the determination is NO, the screen is changed to night image (S14).
The night image has a relatively dark pattern (dark tone) and the day image has a relatively bright pattern (bright tone). These night drawings,
The data on day images is stored in advance as day and night palettes.

When the display 20 is set to the night image in this way, it is determined whether the point is a control target place (S15). This determination is made by the map data storage unit 14
Depending on the data read from That is, as described above, in the present embodiment, the map data storage unit 14 stores data on a place where the periphery of the vehicle becomes dark. Therefore, it is determined whether or not the current position corresponds to a place where the periphery of the vehicle becomes dark (control target place). Here, in the case where the location corresponds to the control target location, it is confirmed whether the vehicle is traveling (S16), and the screen is controlled (S17).
When the vehicle is not running, the screen is not controlled because the screen does not feel bothersome and it is better to view the screen.

The contents of the screen control are as follows: (i) lowering the brightness contrast to make it less noticeable; (ii) making the color scheme as a whole a tone lower so as to make it less noticeable;
i) Stop the blinking of the current location mark. By such means, when the display on the display 20 is in the driver's view, the driver is less likely to feel annoying the display. Note that the adjustment of the luminance is L
This is done by adjusting the brightness of the CD backlight.

Next, it is determined whether or not the accessory switch (ACC) is off (S18). If the accessory switch (ACC) is off, it indicates that the traveling has been completed, and the process is terminated.

In the above example, only the display on the display 20 has been described, but it is also preferable to adjust the brightness of the indicator. Further, in the case of a pop-up display as well as a display adjustment, this may be stored in S17.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the navigation computer 10 reads the data in the map data storage unit 14 from the current position obtained by the GPS device 12, and determines whether or not the surroundings are dark. Therefore, in a mountainous area or the like, the surroundings are dark and there are many curves, so that it is possible to recognize a situation in which the display feels cumbersome.

Further, from the traveling direction of the own vehicle, the place where the vehicle will travel is known in advance. Then, it can be anticipated that it will darken. In other words, it can be predicted that the surrounding area will be darkened before the surrounding area is actually darkened.

Next, processing when passing through a tunnel will be described with reference to FIG. First, it is determined from the current position detected by the GPS device 12 and the map data in the map data storage unit 14 whether there is a tunnel ahead (S2).
1). If YES in this determination, the brightness of the driver in the direction of view in front of the tunnel is calculated in consideration of the current vehicle speed and the attributes of the tunnel ahead, and the dimming timing of the display device is calculated (S22). ). That is, the timing to enter the tunnel can be determined by considering the current vehicle speed (based on the value detected by the vehicle speed sensor). Also, by tunnel
Since the brightness in the tunnel is different, the attributes of such a tunnel are taken into consideration. The attribute of the tunnel is stored in the map data storage unit 14. In this way, the timing of performing processing such as the color arrangement of display devices such as the display 20 and the indicator panel 22 and the reduction (dimming) of brightness is calculated. Then, it is determined whether or not the timing of dimming has come (S23), and when the timing has come, the display device is dimmed (S24).

Next, in consideration of the vehicle speed and the attributes of the tunnel, the brightness in the direction of the driver's view in front of the tunnel exit is calculated, and the timing of increasing the brightness of the display device is calculated (S25).
Then, it is determined whether or not the timing of brightening has come (S2).
6) When the light emission timing comes, the light is increased (S2).
7).

FIG. 4 schematically shows the dimming control of the display device. When the vehicle runs toward the tunnel and enters the tunnel, the driver can see the inside of the tunnel before entering the tunnel, so that the driver's view direction becomes dark in front of the tunnel. Therefore, this timing is calculated, and the dimming is started just before the entrance of the tunnel in consideration of the brightness in the direction of view. Then, also near the exit of the tunnel, the light increase is started just before the exit of the tunnel in consideration of the brightness in the direction of the driver's view. Conventionally, dimming and brightening are performed only in accordance with ON / OFF of a headlight (light). However, according to the processing of the present embodiment, it is possible to perform control in which the display device is less troublesome for the driver. It is also preferable to perform the dimming and the brightening stepwise.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a processing operation.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process when passing through a tunnel.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a process when passing through a tunnel.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 10 navigation computer, 12 GPS device, 14 map data storage unit, 16 communication device, 18
Information providing device, 20 display, 22 indicator panel.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle display device mounted on a vehicle and performing various displays, a map data storage means for storing map data such as a road shape, a vehicle position detecting means for detecting a vehicle position, Estimating means for estimating the necessity of dimming based on the map data stored in the map data storing means and the own vehicle position detected by the own vehicle position detecting means; Based on gender,
And a display mode changing means for changing a display mode of a display unit mounted on the vehicle. 2. The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein the display mode changing unit changes dimming of a display unit.