Patent Application
20170374287
The present invention relates to a system for visually depicting fields of view of a commercial vehicle within a driver's cab of the commercial vehicle.
In motor vehicles, “fields of view” are for example legally-prescribed (required by law) or in any other way individually defined in accordance with the type of the motor vehicle, such as e.g. motor cycles, motor vehicles for transporting passengers, motor vehicles for transporting goods, etc. The fields of view must be provided by one or more “device for indirect viewing”, which is conventionally a mirror, and the fields of view must be visible or viewable by a driver sitting in the driver's seat using the device(s) for indirect viewing. Depending upon the type of the vehicle and, in particular, which areas around the vehicle that can be directly seen by the driver, different legal provisions require that certain fields of view can be seen at all times using the device(s) for indirect viewing.
For commercial vehicles, such as e.g. trucks or delivery vehicles, e.g. a primary mirror is currently provided on each of the driver's side and the passenger's side as devices for indirect viewing. Using the primary mirror, the vehicle driver can see a level and horizontal part of the road surface of a certain width, which extends from a stipulated distance behind the vehicle driver's eye point up to the horizon. In addition, a band of lesser width must be visible or viewable for the driver using this mirror, which band begins at a short distance behind the driver's eye point.
In accordance with applicable legal provisions for implementing or providing the required fields of view, commercial vehicles use camera monitor systems in addition to legally-prescribed mirrors for allowing a vehicle driver to monitor the area around the commercial vehicle at all times. Camera monitor systems are often used in road vehicles to present a specific field of view inside the vehicle corresponding to the legally prescribed field of view and captured by one or more cameras, for example. Such camera monitor systems are in particular regulated in the International Standard ISO 16505.
In particular, according to the handbook “ATA's TMC 2014-2015 Recommended Practices Manual” published by the Technology Maintenance Council (TMC) of the American Trucking Association (ATA), a field of view of indirect vision systems is measured according to a cylinder target approach. Therefore, fields of view are typically prescribed by the use of a cylinder placed at specific locations around the vehicle, using the vehicle's geometry as the reference grid to set them up. According to cylinder target approach, the visibility around a vehicle is measured and quantified for dividing the space around the vehicle into different zones.
Besides the above-mentioned International Standard ISO 16505, a further standard called ECE R-46 has been established.
However, in spite of the above-mentioned legally-prescribed mirrors and/or devices for indirect viewing, it is scarcely possible and/or very difficult for a vehicle driver to completely and sufficiently maintain in view at all times the areas around a commercial vehicle that are prone to accidents. Moreover, due to the plurality of mirrors, the burden on the vehicle driver to substantially simultaneously maintain all of these mirrors in view increases. Moreover, because the fields of view are provided using mirrors, the mirrors disrupt the smooth flow of air around the vehicle while driving as a consequence, such that vehicle drag is increased and thus fuel consumption is increased.
In view of the above disadvantages, display devices have been developed for visually depicting the prescribed fields of view of a commercial vehicle. However, for certain commercial vehicles, for example trucks commonly used in North America, it is often difficult to appropriate arrange the display device within a driver's cab of the commercial vehicle, because an inclination of the A-pillar of the driver's cab is substantially less than 90° with respect to the horizontal plane, i.e. an angle of slope of the glass windshield is typically less than 90°, so that it is difficult to arrange the display device such that the driver of the commercial vehicle can easily monitor fields of view displayed on the display device.
Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide a system for visually depicting the prescribed fields of view of a commercial vehicle, with which the fields of view can be monitored in clearly arranged and simple manner, even in commercial vehicles having a glass windshield inclination of less than 90°.
The concept underlying the present system is to provide at least one display device disposed within the driver's cab and comprising at least one display unit being configured to display at least one field of view, wherein the at least one display device is configured to be arranged within the driver's cab of the commercial vehicle such that the longitudinal axis thereof is substantially horizontally aligned.
In addition, according to the system of the present invention, at least two different fields of view are displayed on the at least one display device in a common image. According to the present teachings, the field of views are for example displayed on one or more of the display units of the display device in real-time or at least with less than 200 ms delay.
For allowing a driver to easily monitor the display device, the at least one display device is configured to be substantially disposed upright on a driver's side and/or a co-driver's side. For further ensuring that the driver or co-driver can easily at any time monitor the display device, the at least one display device is further configured to be pivotally disposed with respect to the horizontal plane. This allows an easily and quick adaption of the display device to the inclination angle of the A-pillar of the driver's cab or to the inclination of the glass windshield.
The display device used in the system according to the present teaching can be utilized for all of the prescribed fields of view of a commercial vehicle or for only a selected portion thereof. The expression “prescribed field of view” as used according to the present teaching includes a legally-prescribed field of view as well as any other individually defined field of view. In particular, it is possible, e.g., to replace the passenger-side primary and wide-angle mirrors of the commercial vehicle, which are opposite of the driver's side, with the present display device, whereas other mirrors, e.g. the driver's side primary and wide-angle mirrors can be maintained. In the alternative, some or all of the devices for indirect viewing, which have been embodied as mirrors up to now, can be replaced with the display device, if legal conditions allow such a substitution.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the display device is further configured to be disposed on a driver's side of a commercial vehicle and to depict a field of view on the at least one display unit corresponding to an area left next to the commercial vehicle in forward driving direction. Similar, the display device is further configured to be disposed on the co-driver's side of the commercial vehicle and to depict a field of view on the at least one display unit corresponding to a right area next to the commercial vehicle in forward driving direction.
The fields of view corresponding to fields of views of a mirror, for example a primary mirror, a wide-angle mirror, a fender mirror, a ramp mirror or other commonly known mirrors used for commercial vehicles for monitoring the environment thereof, can be captured, sensed, recorded or detected by at least one image capture unit configured to capture image data representing at least one field of view. The at least one image capture unit is, for example, configured to be integrally formed with a mirror attached to the commercial vehicle, for example with a primary mirror providing a prescribed field of view. It is also possible to provide the image capture unit separate from the mirror.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a display device is configured to display fields of view of a ramp mirror, a roof mirror, a wide-angle mirror and/or fender mirror, for example, on one or more display units directly bordering each other, separate from each other and/or overlapping each other.
According to an embodiment, at least one field of view contains a field view of a left primary mirror and/or the field of view of a left wide-angle mirror and the field of view of a right primary mirror and/or the field of view of a right wide-angle mirror. In particular, according to the present invention, the display device is adapted to depict the field of view of a left primary mirror and/or the field of view of the left wide-angle mirror on a left side of the at least one display unit.
More preferably, the visual depiction on the display unit(s) of the display device contains the fields of view of a left primary mirror and/or a left wide-angle mirror as well as the fields of view of a right primary mirror and/or a right wide-angle mirror. It is thus particularly preferred to visually depict on the display unit the field of view of the left primary mirror and/or the left wide-angle mirror on the left side and to visually depict on the display unit the field of view of the right primary mirror and/or the right wide-angle mirror on the right side. For the driver, this simplifies the orientation on the display unit, because it corresponds to the orientation of the conditions around the vehicle when the driver is looking in the forward vehicle direction. The orientation in the up-down (vertical) direction of the fields of view of a primary mirror or a wide-angle mirror is preferably arranged such that, with reference to the driver, farther forward-lying areas are portrayed farther above in the image and, with respect to the driver, farther rearward-lying areas are portrayed farther below in the image.
As used in this specification, the directions “forward”, “rearward”, “left” and “right” are each based upon the forward driving direction of the commercial vehicle.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, the display device is adapted to permanently depict the fields of view on the at least one display unit at the same position and with the same size. If the fields of view are permanently depicted on the display unit at the same position and with the same size, it is easier for the driver to readily comprehend which areas he/she is viewing on the display unit. This means, that, independent of the driving situation or other exterior influences, the fields of view are always depicted at the same position in the screen and with the same size.
In the alternative, it is possible to visually depict the fields of view on the display unit in a varying manner, e.g. with respect to their size or position, depending upon, e.g. the driving situation or state. For example, the fields of view may be displayed in accordance with vehicle parameters including at least one or more of steering angle, steering wheel movement, braking amount, vehicle speed, direction indicator and/or turn signal. For example, if a steering angle, steering wheel movement or direction indicator represents a driving situation corresponding to a right turn, only one or more fields of view on the co-driver side may be displayed. Other vehicle parameters based on which the fields of view are displayed, different from the above mentioned may be used. However, it must be ensured that the prescribed fields of view are depicted and are visible (viewable) at all times. For example, it is possible to adapt or modify the visual depiction of the fields of view depending upon the driving speed, so that the visual depiction of the information from the front area of the vehicle is enlarged and the visual depiction of information from the tail area is smaller when slowly driving; on the other hand, the visual depiction of the front area is scaled down and the visual depiction toward the rear is enlarged when driving faster. Finally, when driving in reverse, the focus can lie on the depiction of the information around the passenger side.
In a preferred embodiment, the display device may be further adapted to visually depict additional viewing areas on the display unit, i.e. in addition to the prescribed fields of view. In such an embodiment, a dynamic, i.e. varying depiction of the contents on the display unit is particularly preferred. Such additional viewing areas may include areas that lie outside the prescribed fields of view. Such additional viewing areas can contain, e.g. information from the front area of the commercial vehicle that is outside the prescribed fields of view and/or information from the tail area of the commercial vehicle, which is captured, e.g. by one or more additional reverse driving (rear view) image capture units. In such an embodiment, it is particularly useful when the image contents are dynamically depicted to show a forwardly-expanded view on the display unit when driving slowly. That is, when driving slowly, for example, an additional viewing area that shows information from the front area of the commercial vehicle may be depicted. However, information up to the horizon in the tail area may be omitted. On the other hand, when driving faster, supplemental information from viewing areas in the tail area could be simultaneously depicted in addition to the prescribed fields of view. For example, information captured by one or more rear view cameras and/or image capture units in the tail area may be displayed together with information from fields of view of the primary mirror and the wide-angle mirror.
The information is thus preferably depicted on the display unit such that the information from the viewing areas in the area behind the vehicle is at least partially overlapping and/or blended with fields of view from the primary mirror and the wide-angle mirror. In this case, when driving forward fast, e.g. during a passing manoeuvre, a vehicle, which is not located in the prescribed field of view, but is located in the additionally depicted viewing area(s), is recognizable in the image display of the side vehicle surroundings. This additional visual information further increases driving safety.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a display device may be designed such that it has a single display unit, independent of the number of depicted fields of view. For example, the visual information normally provided by all of the replaced (omitted) mirrors, e.g. the primary mirror and the wide-angle mirror of both the driver's side and the passenger's side, as well as the front mirror and the close-proximity mirror, could be displayed using a single display unit, e.g. a screen, which is disposed, e.g. on a dashboard in the driver's cab. As mentioned above, such a screen is preferably horizontally aligned, i.e. the longitudinal axis of such a screen is substantially horizontally aligned and substantially disposed upright, so that a driver or a co-driver can easily monitor the screen.
In the alternative, it is possible to provide a plurality of display units, which are separated from one another and which could be disposed, as required, at different positions on the display device. For example, if the primary mirror and/or the wide-angle mirror of both vehicle sides are replaced, then separate display units could be provided for the field of view of the left primary mirror and/or the field of view of the left wide-angle mirror and for the field of view of the right wide-angle mirror and/or the field of view of the right primary angle mirror, respectively. In the alternative, such separated display units could be disposed at a central location in the driver's cab. In this case, it is preferred to arrange the display device so as to correspond to the depicted positions of the vehicle surroundings, e.g. to depict left side areas of the vehicle on the left side display unit and to depict right side areas of the vehicle on the right side display unit.
For capturing the information of the to-be-depicted fields of view, at least one image capture unit, preferably a plurality of image capture units, is provided such as e.g. cameras, image sensors and/or other image capturing means. The number of image capture units is at least equal preferably greater than the number of display units. Such an embodiment offers the advantage, e.g. of enabling information for each to-be captured field of view to be redundantly captured by at least two image capture units. Therefore, if one of the image capture units breaks down, the permanent display of the prescribed field of view remains ensured. In addition, to provide a plurality of image capture units for certain to-be-depicted areas, the required dynamics in the display of the fields of view can be ensured more easily.
Preferably, the resolution of the image capture units is higher than the resolution of the at least one display unit. The higher the resolution of the image capture unit is, the better is the possibility to optimize the display of the to-be-depicted information, i.e. the fields of view, because more inputted information is available than to-be-outputted information. Preferably, when a plurality of image capture units is utilized, different resolutions are utilized in the respective image capture units, according to necessity and distance to the to-be-captured area, for example. Thus, it is further preferred that the resolution of the image capture unit for the field of view of the primary mirror is for example higher that the resolution of the image capture units of other fields of view.
Preferably, the display units include a power supply that is independent of the on-board power supply. This is particularly important in order to make the display of the fields of view available also in vehicle situations, in which the vehicle is stationary and is turned-off, i.e. the ignition is off. It is particularly important that a vehicle driver can view, at least when necessary, information within the prescribed fields of view and, if necessary, additional viewing areas when the vehicle is stationary and the ignition is off. This embodiment increases safety and reduces the likelihood of accidents.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.
In the following, the invention will be described in purely exemplary manner with the assistance of the figures. Same reference numbers generally indicate identical or at least corresponding components throughout the figures.
Further, the system 1 according to the present teaching and shown in
In addition, according to a further development of the present invention, the system 1 according to
In the embodiment illustrated in
Information that is sensed by the image capture unit(s) 5 is supplied to the CPU(s) 4, as well as information from the sensor(s) 6, if provided. The CPU(s) 4 process(es) this information so that, by suitably outputting the processed information to the one or more display units 3, the prescribed fields of view of a commercial vehicle can be depicted on the display unit(s) 3. Two of the prescribed fields of view can be shown in a common image on at least one of the display units 3.
The power supply device 7 preferably outputs a regulated current and voltage suitable for driving at least the display unit 3, although it preferably also drives the CPU 4, image capture unit(s) 5 and sensor(s) 6, if provided, so that the entire system can operate, even if the vehicle ignition switch is turned off.
The power supply device 7 can be adapted to obtain power directly from the vehicle battery and/or the vehicle alternator/generator system. In the alternative, the power supply device 7 may contain a separate rechargeable battery that may be connectable to an external energy source or to solar cells or even to an alternator/generator configured to recover energy from deceleration of the vehicle (e.g. an electronic brake).
The display device 1 of
Further, referring to
Such fields of view A, B, C as displayed on the display unit 3 are for example captured by one or more image capture units 5 as shown in
Further, referring to
According to the present teaching, the display device is aligned such that the longitudinal axis thereof is substantially horizontal as explained in more detail with reference to
Although only three fields of view A, B, C are mentioned above, of course less or more may be displayed.
According to the present teachings, each of these mirrors may be integrally formed together with the above-mentioned image capture unit 5 as shown in
As mentioned above, according to the present teachings, the system 1 shown in
In particular, referring to
Referring to
As shown in
Further, as shown in
As shown in
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
As shown in
As mentioned above, more than two display units could be provided in the display device 2.
Representative, non-limiting examples of the present invention were described in detail above with reference to the attached drawings. This detailed description is merely intended to teach a person of skill in the art further details for practicing preferred aspects of the present teachings and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Furthermore, each of the additional features and teachings disclosed below may be utilized separately or in conjunction with other features and teachings to provide improved display.
Moreover, the combinations of features disclosed in the above detailed description may not be necessary to practice the invention in the broadest sense, and are instead taught merely to particularly describe representative examples of the invention. Furthermore, various features of the above-described representative examples, as well as the various independent and dependent claims, may be combined in ways that are not specifically and explicitly enumerated in order to provide additional useful embodiments of the present teachings.
All features disclosed in the description and/or the claims are intended to be discloses separately and independently from each other for the purpose of original written disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject-matter, independent of the compositions of the features in the embodiments and/or the claims. In addition, all value ranges or indication of groups of entities are intended to disclose every possible intermediate value or intermediate entity for the purpose of original written disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject-matter.
All above mentioned image capture units are for example digital CCD-cameras, wherein the resolution of the CCD sensor thereof is for example 1,3 Mexapixel or higher. Further, a viewing angle of a field of view corresponding a wide-angle mirror is for example more than 50 degree and less than 60 degree, whereas a viewing angle of a field of view corresponding to a ramp mirror, primary mirror and/or fender mirror is more than 90 degree, for example. Other values for resolution and viewing angle may be used without leaving the scope of the invention.
Thus, while there have shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.
