Patent Grant
9139127
The present application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application Number 2013-076683, filed Apr. 2, 2013, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted display system provided in an instrument panel of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known vehicle-mounted display system provided in an instrument panel of a vehicle is a vehicle-mounted display system that includes two meters arranged next to each other in a horizontal direction and a liquid crystal display arranged between the two meters (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-32209). Each meter of this vehicle-mounted display system is equipped with a meter ring in which a portion of an end on the other meter side is cut away, and, in addition to various pieces of information, an image that connects two meter rings is displayed on the liquid crystal display.
Another known vehicle-mounted display system provided in an instrument panel of a vehicle is a vehicle-mounted display system that includes a liquid crystal display and a meter ring provided in such a manner as to be horizontally movable on a display surface of the liquid crystal display. In this vehicle-mounted display system, an image representing a meter is displayed inside the meter ring arranged at an intended position on the liquid crystal display, and thus the meter equipped with the meter ring at a certain position is able to be represented (for example, Japanese Patent No. 4648681).
In such a vehicle-mounted display system, the number of meters that are able to be represented and are equipped with a meter ring is fixed, and also the shape and size of a meter is substantially limited by the shape and size of the meter ring.
For this reason, it is difficult to represent a meter equipped with a meter ring in many different ways.
An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle-mounted display system enabling an indicator surrounded by a frame, such as a meter equipped with a meter ring, to be represented in a greater number of different ways,
In order to achieve the object, an embodiment of the present invention provides a vehicle-mounted display system that displays an information presentation image representing information to be presented to a user and is mounted in a vehicle. The vehicle-mounted display system includes: a display; a plurality of frame elements that are arranged on a display surface of the display and respectively have shapes corresponding to different portions constituting one closed frame; a movement mechanism that moves the frame elements along the display surface of the display; and a control unit that controls positions of the frame elements via the movement mechanism and also controls displays provided by the display. Here, in the control unit, a plurality of display modes is able to be set. When a first display mode among the plurality of display modes is set, the control unit controls the positions of the plurality of frame elements such that the frame elements are positioned away from each other; displays, on the display, frame interpolation part images representing frame portions that couple edges of the plurality of frame elements such that one closed frame is formed of the plurality of frame elements and the frame interpolation part images; and also displays the information presentation image inside the frame formed of the plurality of frame elements and the frame interpolation part images.
In such a vehicle-mounted display system, the plurality of frame elements are preferably capable of moving to a position at which the edges of the plurality of frame elements are brought into contact with each other. When the plurality of frame elements are positioned at the position at which the edges of the plurality of frame elements are brought into contact with each other, one closed frame is preferably formed of only the plurality of frame elements. In the control unit, when a second display mode among the plurality of display modes is set, the positions of the plurality of frame elements may be controlled such that the frame elements are positioned at the position at which the edges of the plurality of frame elements are brought into contact with each other, and the information presentation image may be displayed inside the frame formed of only the plurality of frame elements without displaying the frame interpolation part images.
In these vehicle-mounted display systems, as the plurality of frame elements, there are preferably provided a left frame element that has a shape of a left half of a closed frame and a right frame element that is arranged on a right side of the left frame element and has a shape of a right half of the closed frame. In the movement mechanism, the left frame element and the right frame element are preferably moved in a horizontal direction. In the control unit, when the first display mode is set, positions of the left frame element and the right frame element are preferably controlled such that the left frame element and the right frame element are horizontally positioned away from each other. As the frame interpolation part images, a frame upper interpolation part image that horizontally couples upper edges of the left frame element and the right frame element to each other and a frame lower interpolation part image that horizontally couples lower edges of the left frame element and the right frame element to each other may be displayed on the display such that one closed frame is formed of the left frame element, the right frame element, the frame upper interpolation part image, and the frame lower interpolation part image.
In this case, preferably, the left frame element has a shape of a left half of a circular ring-shaped meter ring and the right frame element has a shape of a right half of the circular ring-shaped meter ring. When the first display mode is set, the control unit may display, on the display, the frame upper interpolation part image and the frame lower interpolation part image such that one closed rounded rectangular frame is formed of the left frame element, the right frame element, the frame upper interpolation part image, and the frame lower interpolation part image.
As described above, in the case where the left frame element has a shape of a left half of a circular ring-shaped meter ring and the right frame element has a shape of a right half of the circular ring-shaped meter ring, in the control unit, when the first display mode is set, as the information presentation image, a first meter image representing a circular meter that is arranged such that a left half of the circular meter is surrounded by the left frame element and a second meter image representing a circular meter that is arranged such that a right half of the circular meter is surrounded by the right frame element may be displayed.
As described above, in the case where the left frame element has a shape of a left half of a circular ring-shaped meter ring and the right frame element has a shape of a right half of the circular ring-shaped meter ring, the left frame element and the right frame element are preferably capable of moving to a position at which upper edges of the left frame element and the right frame element are brought into contact with each other and at which lower edges of the left frame element and the right frame element are brought into contact with each other. When the left frame element and the right frame element are positioned at the position at which the upper edges are brought into contact with each other and at which the lower edges are brought into contact with each other, one closed circular ring-shaped frame is preferably formed of only the left frame element and the right frame element. Also, in the control unit, when a second display mode among the plurality of display modes is set, positions of the left frame element and the right frame element may be controlled such that the left frame element and the right frame element are positioned at the position at which the upper edges are brought into contact with each other and at which the lower edges are brought into contact with each other, and, as the information presentation image, a meter image representing a circular meter that is arranged so as to be surrounded by the circular ring-shaped frame formed of the left frame element and the right frame element may be displayed without displaying the frame upper interpolation part image and the frame lower interpolation part image.
As described above, in the vehicle-mounted display systems including the left frame element and the right frame element, the frame upper interpolation part image and the frame lower interpolation part image may each be an image whose brightness gradually reduces from edges towards a center of the image in the horizontal direction.
In the above-described vehicle-mounted display systems, as the plurality of frame elements, there may be provided an upper left frame element that has a shape of an upper left quarter of a closed frame, a lower left frame element that is arranged at a position which is vertically lower than a position of the upper left frame element and that has a shape of a lower left quarter of the closed frame, an upper right frame element that is arranged at a position which vertically coincides with the position of the upper left frame element and is horizontally more to right than the position of the upper left frame element and that has a shape of an upper right quarter of the closed frame, and a lower right frame element that is arranged at a position which vertically coincides with a position of the lower left frame element and is horizontally more to right than the position of the lower left frame element and that has a shape of a lower right quarter of the closed frame.
In the above-described vehicle-mounted display systems, in the control unit, brightness of the information presentation image may be reduced towards a lower side at a reduction rate that becomes higher towards the lower side, and the information presentation image may be displayed on the display.
According to the above-described vehicle-mounted display systems, movement of frame elements and display of frame interpolation part images enable a certain size and shape of a frame surrounding an information presentation image to be set. Thus, an indicator surrounded by a frame, such as a meter equipped with a meter ring, may be represented in many different shapes and sizes in a natural form exhibiting a sense of unity.
As described above, according to embodiments of the present invention, a vehicle-mounted display system enabling an indicator surrounded by a frame, such as a meter equipped with a meter ring, to be represented in a greater number of different ways may be provided.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
The vehicle-mounted system is a system mounted in a vehicle, and includes a display unit 10 that is constituted by a display 101, two frame elements 102, and a movement mechanism 103, as illustrated in
Examples of a functional system 15 include a monitoring system that monitors various states of the vehicle, a back camera system that captures an image of the rear of the vehicle with a back camera, an audio-visual (AV) system, and a navigation system. Each system outputs, to the control device 12, a graphical object that specifies an image and a screen to be displayed on the display 101.
Such a vehicle-mounted system may be a system configured by using a computer including a central processing unit (CPU) and a memory. In this case, the functional systems 15 and control device 12, or part thereof may be implemented by the computer executing a certain computer program.
Next,
Each movement unit provided for the corresponding frame element 102 is constituted by a screw 1042, a movement stage 1043 engaged with the screw 1042 in a nut-like manner, and an actuator 1044 that drives the screw 1042 to rotate it, which are arranged below the display 101. The actuator 1044 rotates the screw 1042, so that the movement stage 1043 moves horizontally. The actuator 1044 is configured by using, for example, a servomotor or a stepping motor.
A transparent top coupling member 1021 is fixed to the top of each frame element 102, and a transparent bottom coupling member 1022 is fixed to the bottom of the frame element 102. The bottom coupling member 1022 fixed to the frame element 102 is coupled to the movement stage 1043 of the movement unit corresponding to this frame element 102, and the top coupling member 1021 is slidably installed on the guide rail 1041. Thus, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
Referring back to
In the display object information items, for each of the display objects, which are graphical objects to be displayed on the display 101 when a corresponding display mode is set, there are registered an object name, which is an identifier of the display object, a size at which the display object is to be displayed, a position at which the display object is to be displayed, and display attributes of the display object, such as transparency and a color scheme.
In the display object information items of the display mode table, a graphical object output by each functional system 15 and a frame interpolation part image, which will be described below, may be registered as display objects. In frame element position items, positions at which the left and right frame elements 102 are respectively arranged when a corresponding display mode is set are registered.
As illustrated in
Next, in such a configuration, a display control process performed by the control device 12 will be described.
As illustrated in
The movement mechanism 103 is controlled so as to move the left and right frame elements 102 to positions registered in the frame element position items in the current display mode of the display mode table (step 406). Subsequently, display control is started on the basis of the acquired size, position, and display attributes of each display object whose object name has been acquired in step 404 (step 408). Then, the process returns to the monitoring process of step 402.
In accordance with the above-described configuration and operation, examples of displays implemented in the embodiment will be described below.
As illustrated in
In addition, in the “back camera addition mode”, as illustrated in
Next,
In addition, in the “navigation +player addition mode”, as illustrated in
Next,
As illustrated in
In addition, in the “normal mode”, as illustrated in
Now, in the arrangement illustrated in
Consequently, as illustrated in
As each frame interpolation part image 605, an image which gradually gets darker towards the center thereof in the horizontal direction is used. This may produce stereoscopic visual effects with which the rounded rectangular meter ring seems to the user to extend out towards the left and right sides and the front.
Next,
As illustrated in
In addition, in the “navigation addition mode”, as illustrated in
Furthermore, in the arrangement illustrated in
Consequently, as illustrated in
Here also, as each frame interpolation part image 614, an image which gradually gets darker towards the center thereof in the horizontal direction is used. This may produce stereoscopic visual effects so that the rounded rectangular meter ring seems to the user to extend out towards the left and right sides and the front.
Now, in the case where frame interpolation part images are displayed as illustrated in
An embodiment of the present invention has been described hereinabove.
In the embodiment, the brightness of an image generated by arranging display objects as described above is reduced, through image processing or control of driving of the display 101, towards a lower side at a reduction rate that becomes higher towards the lower side, and then the image is displayed on the display 101. Thus, a meter image may be displayed by using visual effects by which an upper portion of a meter seems to extend out towards the front with respect to a lower portion of the meter.
In the embodiment, display switching performed when a display mode is switched may be performed while applying an appropriate transition effect to the display control process. That is, for example, the control device 12 may control displays provided by the display 101 and movement of the right frame element 102 such that, when switching from the “back camera addition mode” illustrated in
In the embodiment, the semicircular ring-shaped left and right frame elements 102 are used. Alternatively, as illustrated in
In the embodiment, the left and right frame elements 102 are provided in such a manner as to be movable in the horizontal direction. Alternatively, as illustrated in
In the embodiment, the two semicircular ring-shaped left and right frame elements 102 are used. Alternatively, as illustrated in
Thus, even in the case where the four quarter-circular ring-shaped frame elements 901 are used, as in the case where the two semicircular ring-shaped left and right frame elements 102 are used, one circular ring-shaped meter ring may be formed by coupling the frame elements 901 together as illustrated in
In addition, the four quarter-circular ring-shaped frame elements 901 may be used together with displays of appropriate frame interpolation part images, thereby enabling three circular meter rings illustrated in
As described above, according to the embodiment, movement of frame elements and display of frame interpolation part images enable a certain size and shape of a frame to be set. Thus, an indicator surrounded by a frame, such as a meter equipped with a meter ring, may be represented in many different shapes and sizes in a natural form exhibiting a sense of unity.
While there has been illustrated and described what is at present contemplated to be preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made, and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the true scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation to the teachings of the invention without departing from the central scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that this invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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| 2013-076683 | Apr 2013 | JP | national |
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