IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,447,011
Granted Patent B2
US 11,447,011 · App. 16/754,763 · Granted Sep 20, 2022

Information display apparatus

Inventors: Koji Hirata (Kyoto, JP); Yasuhiko Kunii (Kyoto, JP)
Assignee: MAXELL, LTD.
B60K35/00G02B26/0833G02B26/10G02B27/0179B60K2370/1529B60K2370/31B60K2370/347B60K2370/785G02B2027/0183
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,447,011
App. No.
16/754,763
Granted
Sep 20, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

In an information display apparatus displaying information onto a vehicle, an information display apparatus capable of acquiring a lot of pieces of image information while reducing point-of-view motion of a viewer is provided. An information display apparatus displaying information onto a vehicle includes a first information display apparatus displaying image information of a virtual image by allowing a windshield glass of a vehicle to reflect light, a second information display apparatus acquiring a practical image by scanning the windshield glass with laser light using a MEMS element and a third information display apparatus using an instrument panel of the vehicle.

Claims (44)

1. An information display apparatus displaying image information onto a vehicle comprising:

a first information display apparatus and a second information display apparatus arranged between a windshield glass of the vehicle and an instrument panel of the vehicle,

wherein the instrument panel includes a direct-view type image display apparatus,

the first information display apparatus includes a virtual-image optical system displaying an image based on a virtual image onto a forward part of the vehicle by allowing a concave mirror to reflect light emitted from the image display apparatus displaying the image information, and allowing the windshield glass to reflect the reflected light, and

the second information display apparatus includes a practical-image optical system acquiring a practical image by projecting the light onto the windshield glass so that the practical image corresponds to the virtual image created by the first information display apparatus,

the first information display apparatus, the second information display apparatus and the instrument panel are arranged so that a center of a display position of each displayed image is near a line including a rotational center axis of a steering of the vehicle,

when a viewer who is a driver of the vehicle views the forward part of the vehicle, a first display region based on the first information display apparatus, a second display region based on the second information display apparatus, and a third display region based on the instrument panel are arranged in a vertical direction from an upper side to a lower side in this order,

the virtual image displayed in the first display region is arranged to be farther than the practical image displayed in the second display region in a depth direction, and

a horizontal-directional display position of the image to be displayed by at least one of the first information display apparatus and the second information display apparatus is changed in at least one of the first display region and the second display region in accordance with a speed of the vehicle so that the larger the speed is, the closer the display position is to a front side, while the smaller the speed is, the closer the display position is to a right or left side.

2. The information display apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein an optical element for use in suppressing a P-polarized wave component is arranged to be close to a light emission side of the image display apparatus of the first information display apparatus,

the concave mirror of the first information display apparatus has a function of reflecting visible light to the first display region and removing a light component other than the visible light,

the second information display apparatus displays the practical image by performing scanning with laser light of an S-polarized light flux to the second display region of the windshield glass, and

the second display region, based on the second display apparatus, on the windshield glass, has a property that has a reflectance against S-polarized waves different from a reflectance against P-polarized waves.

3. The information display apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the first display region and the second display region are separate from each other.

4. The information display apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein a part or an entirety of the first display region and the second display region are overlapped with each other.

5. The information display apparatus according to claim 4 ,

wherein the first display region and the second display region are partially overlapped with each other in the depth direction.

6. The information display apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein a horizontal-directional display dimension of the first display region on the windshield glass in image display on the basis of the virtual image created by the first information display apparatus, viewed by the viewer through the windshield glass, is smaller than a horizontal-directional display dimension of the second display region in display of the practical image created by the second information display apparatus.

7. The information display apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising

a viewing camera for use in viewing a state including a point of view of the viewer in the vehicle,

wherein, on the basis of information of the state including the point of view of the viewer using the viewing camera, at least any of a display position, display time and a display content of each image displayed by the first and second information display apparatuses and the instrument panel changes, and

in turning of the vehicle, the display position of the first information display region or the second information display region is changed to follow a turning direction on the basis of information of motion of the point of view.

8. The information display apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising

a viewing camera for use in viewing a state including a point-of-view direction of the viewer in the vehicle,

wherein, on the basis of information of the state including the point-of-view direction of the viewer using the viewing camera,

a health state and sleepiness of the viewer are sensed, and

attention-seeking image display is performed on the basis of the sensed information by using the first information display apparatus or the second information display apparatus.

9. The information display apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the second information display apparatus displays the practical image by performing the scanning with the laser light to the second display region of the windshield glass by using a MEMS element, and

an optical system made of a concave lens or a convex mirror for use in enlarging the laser light out of the MEMS element is arranged between the MEMS element and the windshield glass.

10. The information display apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the second information display apparatus displays the practical image by performing the scanning with the laser light to the second display region of the windshield glass by using a MEMS element, and

as a scan angle of the scanning of the MEMS element, a scan angle in a horizontal direction is twice a scan angle in a vertical direction.

11. The information display apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the second information display apparatus displays the practical image by performing the scanning with the laser light to the second display region of the windshield glass by using a MEMS element, and

a frame rate of the image displayed in the second display region is changed in accordance with a speed of the vehicle so that the larger the speed, the larger the frame rate and the smaller a horizontal-directional dimension of the second display region.

12. The information display apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the second information display apparatus displays the practical image by performing the scanning with the laser light to the second display region of the windshield glass by using a MEMS element,

in the second information display apparatus, the MEMS element includes a first MEMS element and a second MEMS element, and

the first MEMS element performs a first scanning on the second display region while the second MEMS element performs a second scanning thereon to shift by ½ frame from the first scanning.

Assignments (3)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Dec 3, 2021
From: MAXELL HOLDINGS, LTD.
To: MAXELL, LTD.
Reel/Frame 058666/0407 →
MERGER Recorded Nov 29, 2021
From: MAXELL, LTD.
To: MAXELL HOLDINGS, LTD.
Reel/Frame 058255/0579 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 10, 2020
From: HIRATA, KOJI; KUNII, YASUHIKO
To: MAXELL, LTD.
Reel/Frame 052366/0633 →
Priority Claims (1)
JP JP2017-196578 · Oct 10, 2017 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20200298704A1 · Sep 24, 2020