JP2009035048A - Display device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a display device for a vehicle preventing a vehicle driver from feeling a sense of incongruity and dazzlingness when the vehicle is stopped at night. <P>SOLUTION: This display device is provided with a speed meter 1 (display means) for displaying an operation state of the vehicle, a LED 2 (lighting light source) for lighting the speed meter 1, an operation switch 3 (operation means) to be operated by the vehicle driver to turn off the LED 2, and a microcomputer 4 (control means) for turning on/off the LED 2. The microcomputer 4 controls to turn on the LED 2 in an ON state of an IGN switch 5 of the vehicle, and to turn off the LED 2 based on prescribed input information when the operation switch 3 is operated. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular display device including a display unit that displays an operation state of a vehicle and an illumination light source that illuminates the display unit.

  As a conventional vehicle display device, there is, for example, Patent Document 1. The vehicle meter (vehicle display device) described in Patent Document 1 includes a speedometer (display means) for displaying the operating state of the vehicle (for example, the speed of the vehicle). The covering translucent coloring member 6 is made of a dark translucent synthetic resin. Therefore, when the vehicle IGN switch is off, the display board 5 of the speedometer is not visually recognized even when it is bright in the daytime, but when the IGN switch is turned on, the light source 9 arranged behind the display board 5 is turned on to display The indicator portion 51 of the plate 5 is transmitted and illuminated.

  Although not described in Patent Document 1, the luminance of the light source 9 is increased so that the display panel 5 can be seen well so that the visibility of the indicator 51 does not deteriorate due to ambient brightness. . Further, in the vehicle instrument of Patent Document 1, the transflective coloring member 6 is disposed between the pointer 4 and the display board 5, but for vehicles in which a dark translucent colored member is disposed in front of the pointer 4. There are also instruments.

Further, when the vehicle enters the tunnel at night or in the daytime, the headlamp of the vehicle is turned on. The driver's lighting may be too bright and the driver may feel dazzled. Therefore, when the headlamp is turned on, the light emission luminance of the light source 9 is reduced compared to when the headlamp is turned off in the daytime. (Although not described in the vehicle instrument of Patent Document 1, such a vehicle instrument is interlocked with the lighting and extinguishing of the headlight of the vehicle, and the light of the light source 9 is dimmed when lighting, (In general, it increases when the lights are turned off.)
JP 2004-257881 A

  By the way, when the vehicle stops at night, for example when waiting for a signal, the headlamp of the vehicle is turned off so as not to give glare to the driver, passenger, or pedestrian of the other vehicle. It is customary.

  However, when the vehicle is stopped at night, if the headlamp is switched from the on state to the off state, the illumination brightness (brightness) of the display panel 5 increases as compared with the time when the headlamp is turned on as described above. . When the vehicle driver does not necessarily need to know the operating state of the vehicle and the illumination brightness of the display panel 5 of the vehicle instrument is higher than when traveling, the driver feels uncomfortable and feels dazzled. Become.

  The present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle display device in which a vehicle driver does not feel uncomfortable or dazzled when the vehicle is stopped at night.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises display means for displaying an operating state of a vehicle, an illumination light source for illuminating the display means, and a control means for turning on, turning off, or dimming the illumination light source. The means controls the illumination light source to be extinguished or dimmed based on predetermined input information when the illumination light source is turned on with the IGN switch of the vehicle turned on.

  Further, a display means for displaying the operating state of the vehicle, an illumination light source for illuminating the display means, an operation means for operating the driver of the vehicle to turn off or dimm the illumination light source, and the illumination light source. Control means for turning on, turning off, or dimming, and the control means is configured to perform a predetermined operation when the illumination light source is turned on with the vehicle IGN switch turned on and the operation means is operated. The illumination light source is controlled to be extinguished or dimmed based on input information.

  The predetermined input information is at least one of a case where no speed pulse signal is input from the vehicle speed sensor of the vehicle or an operation signal from the brake sensor of the vehicle.

  Further, the control means gradually turns off or dims the illumination light source.

  The control means controls the illumination light source to be turned on when a speed pulse signal is input from a vehicle speed sensor of the vehicle after the illumination light source is turned off or dimmed. is there.

  A vehicle display device can be obtained in which the vehicle driver does not feel uncomfortable or dazzled when the vehicle is stopped at night.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a vehicle display device showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the vehicle display device.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a speedometer as display means for displaying an operating state (for example, traveling speed) of a vehicle. Reference numeral 2 denotes, for example, an LED as an illumination light source that illuminates the speedometer 1. Reference numeral 3 denotes an operation switch as an operation means that is operated by the vehicle driver to turn off the LED 2. Reference numeral 4 denotes a microcomputer as control means for turning on or off the LED 2 based on predetermined information from the vehicle side. Reference numeral 5 denotes a vehicle IGN switch. A vehicle speed sensor 6 is attached to a vehicle mission or the like and detects a pulse corresponding to the vehicle speed. A brake sensor 7 detects an operating state of a parking brake such as a hand brake of the vehicle.

  The operation will be described with reference to FIG. When the vehicle is driven at night, the vehicle IGN switch 5 is turned on (S1) and the vehicle headlamp is turned on. By turning on the IGN switch 5, the LED 2 that illuminates the speedometer 1 is turned on (S2). At this time, as described above, the light emission luminance of the LED 2 is reduced as compared with the daytime running (the headlamp is turned off). Therefore, the driver of the vehicle does not feel dazzled because the illumination of the speedometer 1 is too bright when traveling at night.

  When the vehicle is stopped by waiting for a signal or the like, as described above, the vehicle headlamp is turned off so as not to give glare to the driver, passenger, or pedestrian of the other vehicle. By turning off the headlamp, the light emission luminance of the LED 2 that illuminates the speedometer 1 is increased, and the user feels dazzling. Therefore, an operation such as pressing the operation switch 3 is performed to turn off the LED 2 (S3). The operation switch 3 may be shared with, for example, a switch for zero-setting the trip accumulator of the speedometer 1 or may be provided exclusively.

  Next, it is determined by the microcomputer 4 whether or not the vehicle is stopped (S4). Specifically, when there is no input of a speed pulse signal from the vehicle speed sensor 6, that is, when it is determined that the vehicle is stopped, the LED 2 that illuminates the speedometer 1 is turned off (S5). If there is an input of a speed pulse signal from the vehicle speed sensor 6, that is, if it is determined that the vehicle is moving, the LED 2 is not turned off and the process returns from S4 to S2. At this time, it may be determined whether or not the vehicle is stopped without operating the operation switch 3.

  In order to determine that the vehicle is at a stop, there may be an operation signal from the brake sensor 7 of the vehicle. That is, when it is determined that the parking brake is in an actuated (applied) state, the LED 2 that illuminates the speedometer 1 is turned off. The fact that the parking brake is operating means that the vehicle is stopped.

  Further, in order to determine that the vehicle is stopped, it is possible to determine whether or not there is no input of a speed pulse signal from the vehicle speed sensor 6 of the vehicle or at least one of cases where there is an operation signal from the brake sensor 7 of the vehicle. It ’s fine. The case where there is an operation signal from the brake sensor 7 of the vehicle includes the case where the select lever is in the parking position (P position) in the AT vehicle.

  Then, it is confirmed by the microcomputer 4 that the vehicle has changed from the stopped state to the traveling state, that is, the speed pulse signal has been input, and processing (control) is performed so that the LED 2 is turned on from the unlit state. The input of the speed pulse signal means that the parking brake is released or the select lever is at a position other than the parking position.

  In this manner, when the vehicle IGN switch 5 is on and the LED 2 (illumination light source) of the speedometer 1 (display means) is lit when the vehicle is stopped at night, based on predetermined input information. By controlling the LED 2 that illuminates the speedometer 1 to be turned off, it is possible to provide a vehicle display device in which the vehicle driver does not feel uncomfortable or dazzling. Further, since the LED 2 is turned off or dimmed when the vehicle is stopped, power consumption can be suppressed.

  Further, since the operation switch 3 is provided so as to be operable by the vehicle driver, it may be operated when the driver feels that the LED 2 needs to be turned off, which is highly convenient. Further, by confirming that the speed pulse signal has been input (the vehicle has started running) and turning on the LED 2, the illumination of the speedometer 1 suitable for night driving can be automatically obtained.

  The speedometer in the above embodiment may be an analog type or a digital type. Further, in a vehicle display device provided with a tachometer or an auxiliary meter (for example, a fuel meter or a thermometer) in addition to a speedometer, it is natural to turn off all these LEDs (illumination light sources) when the vehicle is stopped. It is.

  In the above embodiment, the LED is changed from the lighting state to the extinguishing state. However, the LED may be changed from the lighting state to the dimming state. It may be turned off or dimmed. By gradually turning off or dimming the LED, the vehicle driver can easily recognize that the off or dimming function has been activated.

  In the embodiment, the LED 2 is turned off when the vehicle is stopped by a predetermined operation using the operation switch 3. However, the operation switch 3 is not necessarily provided in the present invention according to claim 1, The LED 2 is automatically turned off or dimmed by the control means based on the input information (speed pulse signal) from the vehicle, and the LED 2 is automatically turned on by the input information from the vehicle. Effects can be obtained.

The block diagram of the display apparatus for vehicles which shows the embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the display apparatus for vehicles.

Explanation of symbols

1 Speedometer (display means)
2 LED (illumination light source)
3 Operation switch (operation means)
4 Microcomputer (control means)
5 IGN switch 6 Vehicle speed sensor 7 Brake sensor

Claims (5)

  Display means for displaying the operating state of the vehicle, an illumination light source for illuminating the display means, and a control means for turning on / off or dimming the illumination light source, wherein the control means has an IGN switch of the vehicle turned on When the illumination light source is turned on, the vehicle display device is controlled so that the illumination light source is turned off or dimmed based on predetermined input information.   Display means for displaying the operating state of the vehicle, an illumination light source for illuminating the display means, an operating means for the driver of the vehicle to operate to turn off or dimm the illumination light source, and turn on or turn off the illumination light source Control means for turning off or dimming the light, and when the IGN switch of the vehicle is on and the illumination light source is turned on and the operation means is operated, the control means The vehicle display device is controlled to turn off or dimm the illumination light source based on the above.   The predetermined input information is at least one of a case where no speed pulse signal is input from a vehicle speed sensor of the vehicle or an operation signal from a brake sensor of the vehicle. The vehicle display device according to claim 1 or 2.   The vehicle display device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the control means gradually turns off or dims the illumination light source.   The control means controls to turn on the illumination light source when a speed pulse signal is input from a vehicle speed sensor of the vehicle after the illumination light source is turned off or dimmed. The vehicle display device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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