JP2002264689A - Display device for vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a vehicle display device that can prevent a driver from looking at a display device for a long time. SOLUTION: A camera system 2, which detects whether or not the driver is gazing at the screen display device 10, a gazing point position calculating unit 7, a gaze movement frequency detecting unit 3, which detects a frequency of gaze movement of the driver, The vehicle includes a brightness detection unit 4 that detects the brightness around the host vehicle, a vehicle speed detection unit 6, and an inter-vehicle distance detection unit 5. Then, when it is detected that the driver gazes at the screen display device 10, the screen display device 10 is controlled based on the information on the frequency of the line of sight movement, the surrounding brightness, the traveling speed of the vehicle, and the following distance. A process for appropriately changing the display pattern of the screen border is performed. As a result, a display suitable for the driving situation becomes possible, and it is possible to effectively encourage the driver to look at the front side of the vehicle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display device for a vehicle which is mounted in a vehicle and displays various kinds of information on the vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional display device for a vehicle, for example, a display device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-329657 is used to change the display position of a vehicle state and an alarm state of the vehicle according to a line of sight of an occupant. And JP-A-8-24
A method of detecting a driver's state, an environmental state, and a vehicle state using a display device described in Japanese Patent No. 0444 and changing a time interval at which display contents are switched, and a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-28.
A method has been invented in which a display device described in Japanese Patent No. 7192 detects a vehicle speed of a host vehicle and a distance from a preceding vehicle, and displays an alarm and sounds an alarm buzzer.

[0003]

However, in such a method, the display position is changed to a position prompting the movement of the line of sight, the situation of the preceding vehicle is notified by a warning, and the troublesomeness of looking at the on-vehicle equipment is increased. Therefore, when the user looks into the display device, it is necessary to widen the field of view from the gazing state and then move the line of sight.

The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle for which a driver's line of sight can be smoothly moved in response to a change in situation. A display device is provided.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1 of the present application is directed to a vehicle display device having a display screen and displaying various information related to a vehicle on the display screen. Gaze detecting means for detecting whether or not the user is gazing at the display screen, and image display determining means for changing a display state of a border of the display screen when gaze of the display screen by the occupant is detected. , Is characterized.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the image display determining means changes a display state of a border of the display screen in accordance with various kinds of information relating to the host vehicle and the surroundings of the host vehicle.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a gaze position detecting means for detecting a gaze position of the occupant, an inter-vehicle distance detecting means for detecting an inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and a preceding vehicle, and a brightness around the own vehicle. And a means for detecting the vehicle speed of the own vehicle. The display screen is bordered based on the information detected by each of the detecting means and the running speed information of the own vehicle. It is characterized in that at least one of the display position, display timing, and display cycle of the section is changed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the display screen has a function of displaying a switch operation menu, further includes a switch operation detecting means for detecting that the switch operation menu has been operated, and a host vehicle. And inter-vehicle distance detecting means for detecting the inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle, and brightness detecting means for detecting the brightness around the own vehicle, including information detected by each of the detecting means, At least one of a display position, a display timing, and a display cycle of a border of the display screen is changed based on the traveling speed information.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a visual distance detecting means for detecting a distance between the position of the occupant's eyes and the display screen. And changing a display area of the screen border.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the display screen has a rectangular shape, and the display state of the border is changed by blinking any one of four sides simultaneously. .

The invention according to claim 7 is characterized in that the display screen has a rectangular shape, and the display state of the border portion is changed by any of the following (a) to (d).

(A) The borders of the four sides of the display screen are gradually blinked upward from below.

(B) The borders on the left and right sides of the display screen are
Blink slowly from bottom to top.

(C) The upper and lower edges of the display screen are
Blink slowly from bottom to top.

(D) The left and right edges of the display screen are
Flash left and right alternately.

[0016]

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, when the occupant gazes at the display screen, the occupant operates to change the display state of the border of the display screen, so that the occupant is particularly troublesome. Without giving, it is possible to call attention to the front of the vehicle before the occupant looks at the display screen for a long time.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the line of sight of the occupant is directed toward the display screen by the line of sight position detecting means, based on the information on the vehicle speed, the distance between vehicles, and the brightness around the own vehicle. Since the display position, display timing, or display cycle of the border of the display screen changes, it is possible to change the state of prompting the driver to look forward in accordance with the surrounding situation, and to effectively and comfortably provide the occupant with no discomfort. A warning can be issued to the user.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the switch operation menu is operated, it is determined that the line of sight of the occupant is directed to the display screen side. Since the display position, display timing, or display cycle of the border of the display screen changes based on each information of brightness, it is possible to change the state prompting to look ahead according to the surrounding situation. Thus, it is possible to effectively and safely issue a warning to the occupant without discomfort. Also,
The same effect as in claim 2 can be obtained simply without using a special device such as a line-of-sight position detecting device.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the area of the screen border changes according to the distance between the position of the occupant's eyes and the display screen, so that the effective field of view of the occupant can be effectively widened. It becomes possible. Also, by expanding the effective field of view,
It is possible to accurately grasp the surrounding situation even after moving the line of sight.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily widen the effective field of view of the occupant, so that the surrounding field can be accurately grasped even after moving the line of sight. it can.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily widen the effective field of view of the occupant, and to add an effect of encouraging the line of sight to look forward. Even after doing, the surrounding situation can be grasped accurately.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle display device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in the figure, the vehicle display device 1 captures a screen display device 10 having a rectangular display screen and an eyeball movement of a driver (occupant) of the host vehicle, and detects a gaze position of the driver. A camera system 2, a line-of-sight movement frequency detection unit 3 for detecting the frequency of the line-of-sight movement of the driver detected by the camera system 2, a brightness detection unit 4 for detecting the brightness around the vehicle, The vehicle includes an inter-vehicle distance detection unit 5 that detects an inter-vehicle distance between a vehicle and a vehicle traveling ahead, and a vehicle speed detection unit 6 that detects a traveling speed of the own vehicle.

A gazing point position calculating section (gazing detecting means) 7 for detecting whether or not the driver is gazing at the screen display device 10 from the information on the driver's line of sight detected by the camera system 2; A screen display determining unit (image display determining unit) 8 for determining whether to change the display of the border of the screen display device 10;
A viewing distance detecting section (viewing distance detecting means) 9 for detecting a distance between the position of the driver's eyes and the screen display device 10;

In this embodiment, an example in which the vehicle speed detector 6 is provided will be described. However, it is also possible to use vehicle speed data obtained from a vehicle speed detector of the own vehicle without providing the vehicle speed detector 6. is there.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the vehicle display device 1 according to the first embodiment. Hereinafter, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart.

The information obtained from the camera system 2, the gazing point position calculation unit 7, the line-of-sight movement frequency detection unit 3, the vehicle speed detection unit 6, the inter-vehicle distance detection unit 5, and the brightness detection unit 4 are sent to the screen display judgment unit 8. After being sent and judged by the screen display judging unit 8, the screen is displayed on the screen display device 10.

The detection of the driver's line of sight in the gazing point position calculator 7 is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-212082.
A method as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-210 (step ST1) can be used. If the driver frequently moves his or her line of sight while looking forward and performing a driving operation ("more" in step ST2), it is determined that the mode is the city area mode (step ST3), and the driver is less likely to do so. In this case ("less" in step ST2), it is determined that the mode is the highway mode (step ST4).

Similarly, the traveling speed of the own vehicle detected by the vehicle speed detecting section 6 is "low speed", "medium speed" or "high speed".
(Step ST5), the following distance detecting unit 5
(Step ST6), and whether the surrounding brightness detected by the brightness detector 4 is "bright" or "dark" (step ST7). ) Is sent to the screen display judging unit 8 and stored and saved in the screen display judging unit 8.

Then, the gazing point position calculating unit 7 monitors the gazing point position of the driver based on the information obtained from the camera system 2 (step ST8), and the driver's line of sight moves into the screen display device 10. In this case (YES in step ST9), and thereafter, when the vehicle has been stopped for a certain period of time (YES in step ST10), as shown below, the display pattern, display timing, and display cycle of the rim of the screen display device 10 will be described below. Then, a process of appropriately changing the display brightness is performed (step ST11).

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing patterns set according to various conditions and a display method on the screen display device 10 at that time, FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing display timing, and FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a display method of the display.

Regarding the display timing, as shown in FIG. 4, when the driver's line of sight is outside the display device, it is determined whether the line of sight movement is large or small, and when the driver's line of sight moves into the display device. Start time counting. Regulation time t
After reaching 1 or t2, display is performed after selecting a display pattern, and when the line of sight reaches outside the display device, the display operation is stopped.

Also, in the pattern "1" shown in FIG. 3, the city mode where the driver's line of sight frequently moves, the vehicle speed is lower than V1, the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle is short, and the surrounding brightness is daytime. Have been. Under these conditions, in an urban area,
Since it is necessary to expand the field of view in the left-right direction as much as possible and the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle is approaching, as shown in "C2" of FIG. Is displayed from the bottom to the top to encourage a line of sight to move forward in the vehicle while widening the field of view in the left-right direction.

In the pattern "2", since the peripheral brightness is nighttime as compared with the pattern "1", the flickering brightness is made darker than the pattern "1" so that the illusion is eliminated, and It is possible to encourage the gaze to move forward.

In the pattern "3", the urban area mode in which the sight line movement is large, the traveling vehicle speed is lower than V1, the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle is long, and the peripheral brightness is the daytime conditions. Under this condition, it is important to widen the field of view in the left-right direction. Therefore, as shown by “C3” in FIG. This makes it easier for the user to notice the surrounding situation while widening the field of view in the left-right direction.

In the pattern "4", since the peripheral brightness is at night compared with the pattern "3", the blinking brightness is made darker than the pattern "1", and is further shown in "C1" in FIG. As described above, by simultaneously blinking the left and right screen borders of the screen display device 10, the dazzling of the driver is eliminated,
This makes it easier to notice the surrounding situation.

In the pattern "5", the urban area mode in which the line of sight moves frequently, the traveling vehicle speed is a medium speed between V1 and V2, the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle is short, and the peripheral brightness is the daytime conditions. Under this condition, it is important to widen the field of view in all directions. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5A, by blinking the four screen borders of the screen display device 10 from bottom to top, While widening the field of view in all directions, it is possible to encourage the movement of the line of sight to the front of the vehicle.

Since the same display is performed for the pattern "6", the pattern "9", and the pattern "10", the same effect can be obtained.

In the pattern "7", the urban area mode in which the movement of the line of sight is large, the traveling vehicle speed is medium speed V1 to V2, the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle is long, and the peripheral brightness is the daytime condition. Under this condition, since the speed has reached the middle speed, the importance of the front increases, and it is important to further widen the field of view in the left-right direction. Therefore, as shown in FIG. By displaying the blinking of the screen borders on the upper and lower sides in the left and right directions, it is possible to widen the field of view in the left and right direction while guiding the line of sight to the front of the vehicle.

In the pattern “8”, in order to eliminate the dazzling, as shown in FIG. 5 “B1”, the display is lit only at the top and bottom of the screen rim, thereby eliminating the dazzling of the driver and surroundings. The situation can be easily noticed.

In the pattern "11", the line of sight movement is small (the frequency of gazing forward is high), the highway speed is higher than V2, the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle is long, and the surrounding brightness is daytime. It is a condition. Under this condition, it is important to move the line of sight forward, and it is necessary to widen the field of view in the vertical direction. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5 “B2”,
By displaying the blinking of the upper and lower sides of the screen border from bottom to top, it is possible to easily notice the surrounding situation while guiding the line of sight to the front of the vehicle.

In the case of the pattern "12", the display is darker than in the case of the pattern "11" in order to eliminate the illusion, so that the illusion can be eliminated and the surrounding situation can be easily noticed.

As described above, in the vehicle display device 1 according to the present embodiment, the screen of the screen display device 10 is changed according to the information of the driver's line-of-sight movement frequency, the traveling speed, the distance between vehicles, and the surrounding brightness. Since the display method of the border is changed as appropriate,
The driver does not look at the screen display device 10 for a long time,
It is possible to encourage the line of sight to move forward of the vehicle.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the vehicle display device according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle display device 11 includes a screen display device 10 and a switch operation detection unit (switch operation detection means) that detects whether a switch operation menu displayed on the screen display device 10 has been operated. ) 12, a switch operation time detection unit 13 for detecting whether a predetermined time has elapsed after the switch operation menu is operated, and a traveling road environment detection unit 14 for detecting a traveling road environment such as navigation.
A brightness detection unit 4, a vehicle speed detection unit 6, an inter-vehicle distance detection unit 5, a screen display determination unit 8, and a viewing distance detection unit 9.

The present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a camera system, a gaze movement detecting unit, and a gaze movement frequency detecting unit for detecting a gaze position are not provided.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the vehicle display device 11 according to the second embodiment. Hereinafter, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart.

First, based on information obtained from the traveling road environment detecting section 14 (step ST21), it is determined whether the traveling position of the own vehicle is in an urban area (step ST22) or an expressway (step ST23).

Further, the traveling speed of the own vehicle detected by the vehicle speed detecting section 6 is "low speed", "medium speed", or "high speed".
(Step ST24), information indicating whether the inter-vehicle distance detected by the inter-vehicle distance detection unit 5 is “close” or “far” (step ST25), and ambient brightness detected by the brightness detection unit 4. The information (step ST26) indicating whether the image is “bright” or “dark” is sent to the screen display determining unit 8, and the screen display determining unit 8 stores the information.

The switch operation detecting section 12 detects whether or not the switch operation menu is operated (step ST27). If the switch operation is being executed (YES in step ST28), the switch operation is further performed. It is determined whether or not has been executed for a predetermined time or more (step ST29).

If it is determined that the operation has been performed for the specified time or longer (YES in step ST29), the driver moves his or her line of sight to the screen display device 10 and determines that the line of sight has stopped. A process of appropriately changing the display pattern, display timing, display cycle, and display brightness of the border of the device 10 is performed (step ST30). Note that this processing is the same as that of the first embodiment described above (see FIG. 3), and a description thereof will be omitted. After the target option is determined by the switch operation, the display operation is stopped.

As shown in FIG. 8, the display timing is such that the driver's line of sight turns to the screen display device 10 after the switch operation is detected and the specified time t1 or t2 has elapsed. Then, a process of changing the display pattern of the screen border is performed. Then, when the switch operation is completed, the display operation is stopped.

As described above, in the vehicle display device 11 according to the second embodiment, the display method of the screen rim of the screen display device 10 according to the running speed of the vehicle, the inter-vehicle distance, and the surrounding brightness. Can be changed appropriately, so that the driver does not look at the screen display device 10 for a long time, and can prompt the sight line to move forward in the vehicle. Further, since there is no need to mount a camera system or a line-of-sight movement frequency detection unit for detecting the line-of-sight position of the driver, the configuration can be simplified.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. The display device for a vehicle according to the third embodiment is shown in FIG.
Has the same configuration as the block diagram shown in FIG. The difference from the first embodiment is that the process of changing the area of the screen border portion is performed using the information obtained from the viewing distance detection section 9 shown in FIG.

Hereinafter, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. It should be noted that, in FIG.
Since the flowchart is the same as the flowchart shown in FIG. 7, the added portion, that is, the operations in steps ST41 to ST43 will be described.

When the viewing distance detecting section 9 shown in FIG. 1 (here, the detection of the seat sliding position of the driver's seat) detects the seat sliding position (step ST41), based on this seat sliding position. As shown in FIG. 10, the distance L between the driver's eye point and the screen display device 10 is estimated (step ST42).

Thereafter, based on the estimated distance L, a specified vertical angle of view θv and a specified horizontal angle of view θh are obtained, and as shown in FIG. Calculate the display area.

Then, "A" and "B1 to B" shown in FIG.
3 ”and“ A1 ”shown in FIG.
Using “B1 to B3” and “C1 to C3”, the display method of the screen border is set.

As described above, in the vehicle display device according to the third embodiment, the screen display device 10 is controlled according to the information of the driver's line-of-sight movement frequency, the traveling speed, the inter-vehicle distance, and the surrounding brightness. Since the display method of the screen border portion is appropriately changed, the driver does not look at the screen display device 10 for a long time, and can prompt the sight line to move forward in the vehicle.

Also, the visual distance detection unit 9 detects
Since the process of changing the display area of the screen border portion is performed according to the distance L between the driver's eye point and the screen display device 10, the effective visual field of the driver can be effectively expanded according to the driving situation. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the vehicle display device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between various conditions relating to a vehicle and a display method of a screen border.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing display timing of the vehicle display device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing display patterns by various display methods according to the first and second embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a vehicular display device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the vehicle display device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing display timing of a vehicle display device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the vehicle display device according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a distance between a driver's eye point and a screen display device.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing display patterns according to various display methods according to the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 11 Display device for vehicles 2 Camera system 3 Line-of-sight movement frequency detection unit 4 Brightness detection unit 5 Inter-vehicle distance detection unit 6 Vehicle speed detection unit 7 Gaze point position calculation unit 8 Screen display determination unit 9 View distance detection unit 10 Screen display device 12 switch operation detection unit 13 switch operation time detection unit 14 traveling road environment detection unit

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yoshiharu Nakaji 2 Takaracho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Inventor Akinari Hirao 2nd Takaracho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa F-term in Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (reference) 3D044 BA21 BA22 BA26 BB01 BD02 BD13

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A vehicular display device having a display screen and displaying various information related to a vehicle on the display screen, wherein a gaze detecting means for detecting whether an occupant is gazing at the display screen, A display device for vehicles, comprising: image display determining means for changing a display state of a border of the display screen when gaze of the display screen is detected. 2. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the image display determining unit changes a display state of a border of the display screen in accordance with various kinds of information about the own vehicle and the surroundings of the own vehicle.
4. The display device for a vehicle according to claim 1. 3. A gaze position detecting means for detecting a gaze position of the occupant; an inter-vehicle distance detecting means for detecting an inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and a preceding vehicle; and a brightness detection for detecting brightness around the own vehicle. Means, and means for detecting the vehicle speed of the host vehicle, based on the information detected by the respective detecting means, and the running speed information of the host vehicle, the display position of the border of the display screen, display timing. The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the display periods is changed. 4. The display screen has a function of displaying a switch operation menu, further includes a switch operation detecting means for detecting that the switch operation menu has been operated, and an inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and a preceding vehicle. Distance detecting means for detecting the distance, and a brightness detecting means for detecting the brightness of the surroundings of the own vehicle, comprising information detected by each of the detecting means, based on the running speed information of the own vehicle, The vehicle display device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of a display position, a display timing, and a display cycle of a border of the display screen is changed. 5. A visual distance detecting means for detecting a distance between the position of the occupant's eyes and the display screen, and the visual frame detecting portion of the screen rim is provided in accordance with the distance detected by the visual distance detecting means. The display device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a display area is changed. 6. The display screen according to claim 1, wherein the display screen has a rectangular shape, and the display state of the border is changed by blinking any one of four sides simultaneously. The display device for a vehicle according to any one of the preceding claims. 7. The display screen according to claim 1, wherein the display screen has a rectangular shape, and the display state of the rim is changed by any one of the following items (a) to (d). The display device for a vehicle according to claim 1. (A) The four borders of the display screen are gradually blinked upward from below. (B) The left and right borders of the display screen are gradually blinked upward from below. (C) The upper and lower edges of the display screen are blinked gradually from the bottom upward. (D) The left and right borders of the display screen are turned on and off alternately.