Vehicular heads-up display system with adjustable viewing

1. A vehicle, comprising:

a seat in which an occupant sits;

a forming system that forms an image of text and/or graphics in a field of view of the occupant, said forming system including a processor that receives or generates the image to be formed and an imager coupled to said processor and which is controlled by said processor to form the image received or generated by said processor;

a determining system that obtains information about a position of the occupant in said seat, said determining system including at least one sensor that obtains data about the position of the occupant or a part thereof and a processor coupled to said at least one sensor and that receives the data about the position of the occupant or part thereof obtained by said at least one sensor and determines the information about the occupant based thereon;

an adjustment system coupled to said seat and said determining system and that adjusts said seat based on the occupant's position information as obtained by said determining system and without manual intervention to thereby change the orientation of the occupant relative to the image as formed by said forming system; and

an interacting system coupled to said forming system and that detects an action by the occupant such that detection of the action by the occupant by said interacting system causes said forming system to change the image formed by said forming system or another vehicular system to perform an operation.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein said interacting system comprises a microphone that detects sounds generated by the occupant's mouth.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein said interacting system comprises at least one touch pad that detects a touching action by the occupant such that detection of the touching action by the occupant by said at least one touch pad causes said forming system to direct the another vehicular system to perform an operation, said forming system forming the image apart from said at least one touch pad.

4. The vehicle of claim 3 , further comprising a steering wheel, said at least one touch pad being arranged on said steering wheel.

5. The vehicle of claim 3 , further comprising a steering wheel having an airbag module having a deployable airbag and a cover that covers said airbag, said at least one touch pad being arranged over said cover of said airbag module and being constructed to break upon deployment of said airbag from said airbag module.

6. The vehicle of claim 3 , further comprising a correlation system that correlates a location on each of said at least one touch pad which has been touched by the occupant to the image such that touching of said touch pad by the occupant causes a change in the image formed by said forming system or the another vehicular system to perform an operation, said correlation system being coupled to said forming system causing said forming system to display an indicator in the image which correlates to the location on said touch pad touched by the occupant.

7. The vehicle of claim 3 , further comprising a correlation system that correlates a location on each of said at least one touch pad which has been touched by the occupant to the image and causes the vehicular system to perform the operation based on the location on said touch pad which has been touched by the occupant.

8. The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein said at least one touch pad is separable from the vehicle.

9. The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein said at least one touch pad and said forming system each include a system that establishes wireless communication between said at least one touch pad and said forming system.

10. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising an armrest, said interacting system being at least partly arranged in said armrest.

11. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising an instrument panel, said interacting system being arranged in connection with said instrument panel and being movable between a storage position in which said interacting system is inaccessible to the occupant and a use position in which said interacting system is accessible to the occupant.

12. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein said interacting system detects an action by the occupant such that detection of the action by the occupant by said interacting system causes said forming system to direct another vehicular system to perform an operation.

13. The vehicle of claim 12 , wherein said interacting system further detects an action by the occupant such that detection of the action by the occupant by said interacting system causes said forming system to change the image formed by said forming system.

14. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein said interacting system comprises a microphone that detects sounds generated by the occupant's mouth and said determining system locates a position of the occupant's mouth.

15. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein determining system comprises at least one receiver for receiving waves from a space above said seat in which the occupant is situated.

16. The vehicle of claim 15 , wherein said determining system further comprises at least one transmitter for transmitting waves into the space above said seat, said at least one receiver receiving the transmitted waves after the waves have passed at least partially through the space above said seat in which the occupant is situated.

17. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein said determining system determines a location of the eyes of the occupant for optimum viewing of the image, and said adjustment system adjusts said seat based on the determined location of the eyes of the occupant to thereby move the occupant and thus the occupant's eyes.

18. The vehicle of claim 17 , wherein said determining system comprises at least one receiver that receives waves from a space above said seat and a pattern recognition system that determines the position of the occupant based on the waves received by said at least one receiver and determines a location of the eyes of the occupant from the determined position of the occupant.

19. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein said forming system comprises a heads-up display.

20. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein said forming system forms an image of objects exterior of the vehicle.

21. The vehicle of claim 20 , wherein said forming system adds an overlay image to the image and determines the type of overlay image to be added, the types of overlay images including warning messages, projected vehicle trajectories, and images of objects in the exterior environment in a path of the vehicle.

22. A vehicle, comprising:

a seat in which an occupant sits;

a heads-up display system that forms an image of text and/or graphics in a field of view of the occupant;

an occupant position sensor system that determines a position of the occupant or part thereof;

a system coupled to said occupant position sensor system that changes an orientation of the occupant relative to the image being formed by said heads-up display system based on the position of the occupant or part thereof as determined by said occupant position sensor system and thus changes the position of the occupant's eyes relative to the image being formed by said heads-up display system; and

an interacting mechanism coupled to said heads-up display system and that detects an action by the occupant such that detection of the action by the occupant by said interacting mechanism causes said heads-up display system to change the image formed by said heads-up display system or directs another vehicular system to perform an operation.

23. The vehicle of claim 22 , wherein said system comprises an adjustment system that adjusts said seat based on the occupant's position as determined by said occupant position sensor system.

24. The vehicle of claim 23 , wherein said occupant position sensor system determines a location of the eyes of the occupant for optimum viewing of the image, and said adjustment system adjusts said seat based on the determined location of the eyes of the occupant to thereby move the occupant and thus the occupant's eyes.

25. The vehicle of claim 22 , wherein said system that changes an orientation of the occupant relative to the image being formed by said heads-up display system is arranged to move the image being formed by said heads-up display.

26. The vehicle of claim 22 , wherein said interacting mechanism comprises a touch pad that detects a touching action by the occupant, said heads-up display system forming the image apart from said touch pad, a location on said touch pad which has been touched by the occupant being correlated to the image such that the occupant's touching of said touch pad causes a change in the image formed by said heads-up display system or directs the another vehicular system to perform an operation and such that an indicator is displayed in the image which correlates to the location on said touch pad touched by the occupant.

27. The vehicle of claim 22 , wherein said interacting mechanism comprises a microphone that detect sounds generated by the occupant's mouth and said occupant position sensor system determines a location of the occupant's mouth.

28. The vehicle of claim 22 , wherein said occupant position sensor system comprises at least one receiver that receives waves from a space above said seat.

29. The vehicle of claim 28 , wherein said occupant position sensor system further comprises at least one transmitter that transmits waves into the space above a seat in the vehicle, said at least one receiver receiving the transmitted waves after the waves have passed at least partially through the space above said seat.

30. The vehicle of claim 22 , wherein said occupant position sensor system comprises at least one receiver that receives waves from a space above said seat and a pattern recognition system that determines the position of the occupant based on the waves received by said at least one receiver such that a location of the eyes of the occupant is determined from the position of the occupant.

31. The vehicle of claim 22 , wherein said heads-up display system forms an image of objects exterior of the vehicle.

32. The vehicle of claim 31 , wherein said heads-up display system adds an overlay image to the image and determines the type of overlay image to be added, the types of overlay images including warning messages, projected vehicle trajectories, and images of objects in the exterior environment in a path of the vehicle.

33. The vehicle of claim 22 , wherein said interacting mechanism comprises a microphone that detects sounds generated by the occupant's mouth.

34. The vehicle of claim 31 , wherein said heads-up display system represents the objects exterior of the vehicle by icons.

35. A vehicle, comprising:

a seat in which an occupant sits;

a forming system that forms an image of text and/or graphics in a field of view of the occupant, said forming system including a processor that receives or generates the image to be formed and an imager coupled to said processor and which is controlled by said processor to form the image received or generated by said processor;

a determining system that obtains information about a position of the occupant in said seat, said determining system including at least one sensor that obtains data about the position of the occupant or a part thereof and a processor coupled to said at least one sensor and that receives the data about the position of the occupant or part thereof obtained by said at least one sensor and determines the information about the occupant based thereon; and

an adjustment system coupled to said seat and said determining system and that adjusts said seat based on the occupant's position information as obtained by said determining system and without manual intervention to thereby change the orientation of the occupant relative to the image as formed by said forming system, and

wherein said forming system forms an image of objects exterior of the vehicle and represents the objects exterior of the vehicle by icons.

36. A vehicle, comprising:

a seat in which an occupant sits;

a heads-up display system that forms an image of text and/or graphics in a field of view of the occupant;

an occupant position sensor system that determines a position of the occupant or part thereof; and

a system coupled to said occupant position sensor system that changes an orientation of the occupant relative to the image being formed by said heads-up display system based on the position of the occupant or part thereof as determined by said occupant position sensor system and thus changes the position of the occupant's eyes relative to the image being formed by said heads-up display system, and

wherein said heads-up display system forms an image of objects exterior of the vehicle and represents the objects exterior of the vehicle by icons.

37. The vehicle of claim 20 , wherein said forming system represents the objects exterior of the vehicle by icons.