The present invention relates in particular to a window frame element for a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle,
A motor vehicle comprises several windows which are framed or surrounded by elements in particular to ensure a sealing around the window and also to highlight the glass panes by giving them a more luxurious appearance with trim elements, for example typically chromed, brushed or glossy black. An example of such a frame element is a side licker of a window, which is an elongated frame element that extends along an edge of a window, usually movable, and which can ensure both a sealing with this window, its licking to clean the latter as it descends and rises (hence its name), as well as an aesthetic finishing. The frame element may also extend along a front (windshield) or rear (rear window) glass edge, and/or not be in direct contact with the glass pane as in the case of a cowl grille trim element located opposite the bottom of the windshield,
Conventionally, a frame element comprises a body at least partly elastically deformable and configured to be carried by a support of the vehicle and to sealingly cooperate with a member, such as a window. In the case of a licker, the elastic body is for example attached to a rack of a door of the vehicle and sealingly cooperates with the movable or stationary window of this door.
A motor vehicle is equipped with several information displays devices for the user of the vehicle. These devices are usually located inside the passenger compartment of the vehicle.
It has already been proposed to display information to the exterior of the vehicle, for example on a window of the vehicle. However, these technologies are relatively complex and expensive to implement.
It was also proposed that frame elements of the type mentioned above be equipped with lighting devices. However, these technologies do not allow to display precise and varied information, in particular because the lighting devices used are limited to the display of a light spot having a specific colour and/or shape.
In addition, the aesthetics of these solutions are also highly questionable, as they do not integrate harmoniously with the neighbouring members, such as the window or the door casing.
The invention allows to remedy at least some of the above problems with a solution that is simple, effective and economical and combines aesthetics and information display.
The present invention relates to a window frame element for a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, this frame element being substantially horizontal and configured to extend, to the exterior of the vehicle, along a substantially horizontal edge of a window, and preferably in the extension of this window, and comprising a body configured to he carried by a support of the vehicle, characterised in that it further comprises at least one pixel information display screen and a control and communication system, which is configured to receive first signals and to transmit second signals to said at least one screen, which is configured to display information in accordance with said second signals.
The invention thus proposes to associate a display screen with a window frame element that virtually and visually extends the window, for example downwards, by a shiny surface of black appearance when it is switched off, and that can virtually enlarge the glass panes and allow the apparent shape of the glass panes of the vehicle to be changed. It is therefore also a new styling element that allows for a modelling of the vehicle design that the windows alone does not allow because of their vertical size and their shape are forced to drop and preferably disappear entirely into the door casing once they are open.
This screen is configured to display information and is therefore not a simple surface on which information is projected. The screen allows to virtually enlarge the glass pane surface area by extending it downwards, for example, and thus to improve the aesthetics (“design”) while providing information to the user. The screen in question is of the pixel type, i.e. it is not a single light spot or several light spots.
In the present application, “pixel” is understood to be a basic unit allowing for measuring the definition of a digital matrix image, i.e. organized in columns and rows. It is thus understood that the display screen comprises a matrix of pixels whose definition is selected according to the information to he displayed.
The invention allows to combine several functions in one place and one part of a vehicle, namely the frame element. The first function is the information display function through the screen, this solution being simple, effective and aesthetic and less expensive than other information display solutions. Another function is related to the improvement of the aesthetics of the window and therefore of the vehicle. The frame element is known to improve the finishing around a window and can be used, for example, to give the impression of a larger glass surface area.
The horizontal orientation of the frame element in use can allow to facilitate the display of certain information to the exterior of the vehicle, to a user, such as for example messages that can be read at a distance of several meters from the car. The frame element according to the invention may comprise one or more of the following characteristics, taken alone or in combination with each other:
The present invention also relates to a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, comprising at least one frame element as described above, this frame element being located to the exterior of the vehicle.
The vehicle according to the invention may comprise one or more of the following characteristics, taken alone or in combination with each other:
Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, for the understanding of which reference is made to the attached drawings in which:
First, reference is made to
In the following description, the terms “exterior”, “outer” and “interior”, “inner” refer to the exterior and interior of the vehicle, respectively. In the case where an element is located at the interior of the vehicle or oriented towards the interior of the vehicle, this element is located in the passenger compartment or on the side of the passenger compartment of the vehicle. On the other hand, in the case where an element is located to the exterior the vehicle or oriented towards the exterior of the vehicle, this element is located to the exterior of the passenger compartment or on the opposite side of the passenger compartment of the vehicle, When an element is present next to a window of the vehicle, it can be considered that this element is located to the exterior of the vehicle or to the exterior side of the vehicle when the plane in which the window extends separates this element from the passenger compartment of the vehicle. It can then be considered that an element located at the interior of the vehicle or on the interior side of the vehicle, is located with the passenger compartment on a same side as the plane of the window.
The vehicle 10 comprises several characteristics that are well known and therefore will not be described.
In the example shown, the vehicle 10 comprises several glass surfaces, one front, one rear, and two sides.
The vehicle here comprises five doors, i.e. four side doors, namely two front doors 14 and two rear doors 16, and a boot door 18.
The glass surface 12 extends along a major portion of the length of the vehicle 10 and comprises a plurality of separate and adjacent portions 12a , 12b , 12c , 12d .
The front portion 12a comprises a stationary window 20. The rear portion 12d also comprises a stationary window 20, The intermediate portions 12b , 12c comprise movable windows 22 which are carried by the front 14 and rear 16 doors respectively.
Each of the windows 20, 22 is surrounded by a frame that can extend around all or portion of the outline of this window. As used in this application, a window frame element is defined as an element that is part of a window frame and is intended to extend along an edge of this window. A frame element can he attached to a window or at a distance from this window.
Among the frame elements of a window, and in particular of a movable window 22, there is a licker 24 which is a substantially horizontal frame element that delimits a lower or low portion of the frame,
A frame element comprises an at least partly elastically deformable body configured to be carried by a support of the vehicle and to sealingly cooperate with a member of the vehicle. In the case of a licker, its body is attached to a rack of the door 14 or 16 and sealingly cooperates with the movable window 22 of this door.
In addition to at least partly surrounding the windows 20, 22, the frame elements may be configured to surround the entire circumference of the glass surface 12. That is, the frame elements are arranged next to each other along the periphery of the glass surface 12.
The frame elements may also comprise trim elements 26 which are intended to improve the aesthetic rendering of the glass surface 12 and thus of the vehicle, In the example shown, a continuous strip of several successive trim elements extends over the frame elements over the entire circumference of the glass surface 12. These trim elements 26 comprise, for example, metal or metallized profiles.
The invention proposes to associate or integrate at least one information display screen with one or more of the frame elements of a vehicle, as best seen in
Preferably, the screen or the screens are arranged to the exterior of the vehicle, and visible from the exterior of the vehicle.
In the example shown, a plurality of screens 28 are located on frame elements extending along the low portion of the glass surface 12, at the level of its various portions 12a , 12b , 12c , 12d.
The screens 28 are here seven per glass surface 12, although this is not limiting, Each frame element may comprise one or more screens 28, such as up to three or four screens. The screens 28 are of the pixel type, that is, the screens are each in the form of a matrix of basic display units (pixels), this matrix forming a digital image.
The screens 28 can be of various sizes and different from each other. For example, they each have a display surface area greater than 1 cm2, and preferably greater than 10 cm2.
The screens 28 can have various resolutions or definitions and different from each other, For example, they each have a definition greater than or equal to 50 dpi (i.e, 50 dots per inch or 50 light dots over a length of 2.54cm).
The screens 28 may be spaced apart and distributed over the length of the frame element, or the edge of the window of the glass surface.
The information displayed on each screen can be selected from: an opening and/or closing indication of door of the vehicle, an indicator of the charge level of a battery, in particular of the vehicle, a pressure of the tire or tires of the vehicle, a registration number, in particular of the vehicle, a message that the user has chosen to display on said screen from an electronic device connected to it, in particular his cell phone or srnartphone, an information about the quality of the air inside the vehicle or the air outside, an information in the form of text or colour code representing the pollutant emissions or gas discharges of the vehicle, an information about a preventive or urgent maintenance action to be carried out on the vehicle (deflated tires, oil level to be redone, wear of the brake pads/discs, technical inspection visit to be scheduled or scheduled on a particular date), an information on the state of the bodywork of the vehicle in the context of a rental of the vehicle, the accessibility of the vehicle to persons with reduced mobility, an information on the distance between said vehicle and the vehicles parked on either side of said vehicle, a regulatory information resulting from an activation by the police, a countdown of the remaining parking time, in particular in the context of the payment of this parking, a coded information (OR Code, encrypted message, password) allowing access to certain areas by a visual validation of an exterior device, a colour whose recognition triggers the validation of an access control, a time, a message, an alert, an indication of pollution of the vehicle or of the exterior environment, an indication of autonomous or manual state of the vehicle, an indication of an obstacle near the vehicle, etc.
The screens 28 can be of the OLED, DEL/LED, LCD, plasma, fabric, skin, especially interactive, type etc. They can be tactile so that a user of the vehicle can enter information or make a request.
In general, the screens 26 could integrate all the properties and all the functionalities of the screens of cell phones of the smartphone type.
As schematically represented in
The system 34 may be located to the exterior or to the interior of the vehicle. It can therefore be located on or in the body 32 or at a distance from the latter.
The system 34 is configured to receive first signals 36 and to transmit second signals 38 to the screens 28 that are configured to display information in accordance with those signals 38, or to loudspeakers configured to emit information in accordance with those signals 38.
The com nunication by the system 34 can be done remotely, i.e. wirelessly.
Advantageously, the system 34 is configured to communicate with at least one device selected from a cell phone 40 or an application 42 installed on a cell phone, a sensor 44, a key 46, a CAN data bus 48 of the vehicle, an internet or WiFI network SO, an actuator 51, a camera, a radar, a lidar, a cell allowing to recover energy, an energy storage/emitter, etc.
The sensor may be a door locking/unlocking sensor, a door opening/closing sensor, a window opening/closing sensor, a temperature sensor, a noise or voice sensor, an image or video sensor, a geographic position sensor, a parameter sensor (temperature, pressure, humidity, noise, pollution, etc.), an airbag trigger sensor, a proximity sensor, a radar or a lidar, a fingerprint sensor, a motion sensor, etc. The sensor can be of the ultrasonic, capacitive, accelerometer, gyroscope, tactile, visual, radio frequency type, etc,
The actuator can be an actuator allowing the opening/closing of one or more doors, the appearance of a door handle, a loudspeaker or an electrodynamic or piezoelectric actuator allowing for sounding the surface of this framing to broadcast sounds, warnings, music or spoken messages, etc.
The energy recovery cell is a solar or thermoelectric sensor recovering the light or the heat,
An energy storage/emitter composed of a battery allows to store and restore electricity.
The layer 52 may comprise an opaque portion 54 covering the body 32 and transparent or semi-transparent portions 56 covering the screens 28. The inner face 52b of the layer 28 may, for example, be opacified by serigraphy, the opaque serigraphy coating preferably being of a colour close to that of the body 32 to improve the aesthetics of the assembly. The body 32 and the serigraphy are for example black.
The frame element 30 could itself further comprise at least one sensor and for example an image sensor such as a radar or a camera that can be configured to film towards the front, rear, bottom and/or side of the vehicle, or a sensor from the following list:
The frame element 30 extends over substantially the entire length of the window 22 and the licker 24. It can be attached to the door 14 by gluing and/or hooking, as will be described in more detail below.
The frame element 30 can cover the original licker 24 of the car 10 or even replace it insofar as the element 30 would be equipped with a substitute licker intended to be mounted in place of the original licker (
The frame element 30 comprises a screen 28 that extends over a major portion of the surface of the external face 64a and is configured to display one or more pieces of information as discussed above, such as logos or messages with a font whose characters have a height greater than or equal to lcm and for example between 2 and 6 cm. The frame element 30 has for example a total height of between 6 and 12 cm. The greater the height of the characters, the more visible and readable the information is from a distance. Ideally, this information is readable from a distance of at least 5 or even 10 meters from the vehicle.
The standard portion 32a carries the screen 28 and the fitting portion 32b allows the standard portion 32a to be attached to the vehicle 10. It is thus understood that the portion 32b is interposed between the portion 32a and the vehicle 10 and that the portion 32a comprises the means for attaching to the vehicle.
In the example shown, which is not limiting, the portion 32b is in the form of a generally parallelepipedal or rectangular frame, hollow or not hollow. The portion 32b thus comprises two longitudinal and horizontal edges, respectively upper 32b1 and lower 32a2, and two lateral edges 32b3. The upper edge 32b1 extends beyond the side edges 32b3 and has an overall length depending on the length of the window 22 or the licker 24 to be covered or replaced. As can be seen in
Finally, the fitting portion 32b comprises, on the side of the visible face 64a , a peripheral groove 67a for mounting a peripheral edge 67b of the standard portion 32a . The portions 32a , 32b can be glued or welded together, for example, at the level of the nesting of the edge 67b into the groove 67a.
The standard portion 32a comprises a housing 70, preferably sealed, which has a generally elongated shape along the element 30 and encloses the screen 28 or even the control and communication system 34. The standard portion 32a comprises three segments 72, 74, 76 in the example shown, knowing that at least some of these segments could be formed in one part, i.e. simultaneously, by bi-material injection for example, or integrated for some of them with the portion 32b.
The portion 32a comprises a first segment 72 that is in the form of a generally parallelepipedal or rectangular frame. The second segment 74 is in the form of a transparent or translucent wall which is arranged on the segment 72, on the side of the visible face 64a , and which doses one side (external) of the aforementioned housing 70. This segment 72 covers the screen 28, which can be directly applied and attached, for example by gluing, to a face of the wall. The segments 72, 74 can be made independently of each other and attached together by gluing for example. Alternatively, they could be made simultaneously by bi-material injection or over-molding.
Alternatively, the fitting 32b and standard 32a portions would be formed in one part or would be connected to each other in a manner other than by nesting and, for example, by a hinge. Alternatively, the segment 74 could be part of the fitter part 32b rather than the standard part 32a . This segment 74 could also be connected by a hinge to the rest of the body.
The last segment 76 is in the form of a wall which is arranged on the segment 72, on the side of the face 64b , and which closes the other side (internal) of the aforementioned housing 70. This segment 76 or wall can be attached on the segment 72 by gluing for example.
In the event that the system 34 is integrated with the element 30, this system could he mounted in the housing 70. Alternatively, the system 34 would be located elsewhere in the vehicle 10 and would be connected to the screen 28 by, for example, a lap of conductors that would exit the housing 70 on the side of the face 64b and be fed to the system 34 passing through the rack of the door 14.
The frame element 30 according to the invention is preferably fed by an electric battery, which may be the battery of the vehicle or a stand-alone battery and for example a battery embedded in the element 30. in the last variant shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1913619 | Dec 2019 | FR | national |
1913621 | Dec 2019 | FR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2020/084024 | 12/1/2020 | WO |