JP2023004754A - Display controller for vehicle, method for display for vehicle, and display program for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a display controller for a vehicle, a method for display for a vehicle, and a display program for a vehicle that allow control of display at a proper luminance.SOLUTION: The angle of the direction of the neck of a passenger of a vehicle is acquired (S1). With reference to visible angle data of a database (S2), the probability distribution of a visible angle region of a vehicle passenger is specified from the angle of the direction of the neck (S3 to S5). A visible region is estimated on the basis of the probability distribution (S6), and the display luminance of a content to display in a display 2 is controlled on the basis of the estimated visible region. The display luminance of the content to display in the display can be controlled on the basis of the estimated visible region of the passenger estimated from the probability distribution.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle display control device, a vehicle display method, and a vehicle display program.

In recent years, it has been desired to increase the size of displays installed in vehicles. As the size increases, the display area visible to passengers also increases, making it more susceptible to outside light than before. The influence of external light has been blocked by anti-reflection (AR) processing and the use of hoods, but as the size of the display increases, it is no longer possible to support all display surfaces. In particular, a display without a hood is affected by both the scattering component of sunlight and the reflection of the scenery outside. A document described in Patent Document 1 can be mentioned as a document related to the present application.

JP 2020-47433 A

Considering the trend toward larger displays in recent years, it is becoming more and more important to display with appropriate luminance from the viewpoint of energy saving. Although Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-200002 presents the technical ideas of the "line-of-sight detection sensor" and the "line-of-sight direction calculation unit", the accuracy of line-of-sight detection and direction detection is inferior. Further, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, although there are descriptions of a “luminance calculation unit” and an “optimum luminance calculation unit”, as described above, the accuracy of line-of-sight detection and direction detection is inferior, so an appropriate detection is performed based on line-of-sight direction information. It becomes difficult to calculate the appropriate display brightness.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle display control device, a vehicle display method, and a vehicle display program that enable display control with appropriate luminance.

According to the first aspect of the invention, when the acquisition unit acquires the head angle of the occupant, the specifying unit specifies the probability distribution of the visual angle region from the head angle. The visible area estimation unit estimates the visible area based on the probability distribution, and the brightness control unit controls the display brightness of the display based on the estimated visible area, so that the visible area estimated based on the probability distribution The display brightness of the display can be controlled, and the display can be controlled with appropriate brightness.

FIG. 2 is a control image diagram of the vehicle display control device according to one embodiment. Electrical Configuration Diagram of Vehicle Display Control Device A flowchart outlining the process Explanatory diagram of how to detect the head angle Explanatory diagram of the relationship between the central viewing angle and the head angle Explanatory diagram of how to determine the display whose luminance is adjusted and controlled Control image diagram showing a modified example

An embodiment of a vehicle display control device will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the display system 1 for vehicles is comprised using the pillar-to-pillar display 2 and HCU10. The HCU 10 is an abbreviation for Human Machine Interface Control Unit, and corresponds to an information presentation control device and a vehicle display control device. The pillar-to-pillar display 2 is hereinafter referred to as the PtoP display 2 .

The PtoP display 2 is configured such that a plurality of displays 2a are arranged side by side in a horizontal direction, and each display 2a is configured by an organic EL display using OLED, and is configured so that the luminance can be adjusted for each light emitting element. OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode.

The PtoP display 2 is a large display provided on the dashboard between the left and right pillars of the vehicle. The PtoP display 2 is configured to be able to display various image contents such as meter images, images captured by a camera that captures the surroundings of the vehicle, entertainment images such as still and moving images, map images around the current position, etc. in full graphic display. It's becoming

Further, an HCU 10 that is a display control system ECU is configured in the vehicle, and controls display of various contents on the PtoP display 2 . As shown in FIG. 2, the HCU 10 is configured using a microcomputer including a processor, a storage unit 11, and the like. The HCU 10 executes various functions by executing programs stored in the storage unit 11 by a microcomputer. A visual angle database 11a is built in the storage unit 11, and the probability distribution of the visual angle area is stored. The probability distribution of the viewing angle area indicates the probability distribution that corresponds the head angle obtained based on the evaluation by the subject and the area of the viewing angle, and can be expressed by the median value of the head angle and the standard deviation σ. It shows the probability distribution of the normal distribution.

The HCU 10 is also connected to an in-vehicle network, and can input information from various in-vehicle systems 12, an occupant monitor 13, and other devices (not shown). The occupant monitor 13 detects the state of the occupant in the vehicle or the operation state. The occupant monitor 13 includes a camera that detects the state of the occupant in the driver's seat or the passenger's seat by photographing the state of the occupant in the driver's seat or the passenger's seat and outputs an image signal. The driver's occupant monitor is called DSM. DSM is an abbreviation for Driver Status Monitor.

The occupant monitor 13 is used to detect the state of the occupant such as the driver, the head angle, and the line-of-sight direction, particularly during driving support or automatic driving. The occupant monitor 13 can detect the head angle and line-of-sight direction of the occupant, and detection of the head angle has fewer errors than line-of-sight detection. The occupant monitor 13 includes a steering sensor that detects whether the steering wheel is being gripped or steered by the driver, a seating sensor that detects whether the driver is seated, an accelerator pedal or brake pedal depression sensor, and the like. may contain

A detailed operation of the above contents will be described. The HCU 10 functions as an acquisition unit 14, a specification unit 15, a visible region estimation unit 16, a brightness control unit 17, a display mediation unit 18, and a video signal generation unit 19 based on programs stored in the storage unit 11. come true. The HCU 10 acquires the head angle of the vehicle occupant from the occupant monitor 13 by the acquisition unit 14 in S1 of FIG. The HCU 10 refers to the viewing angle database 11a of the storage unit 11 for the acquired head angle. For example, in the viewing angle database 11a of the storage unit 11, the center angle of the viewing angle is stored in predetermined steps (for example, 10° steps) from 0° with the center of the display being 0°, and the probability distribution corresponds to remembered. The HCU 10 uses the specifying unit 15 to specify the probability distribution of the viewing angle region corresponding to the head angle. At this time, the central angle of the viewing angle is specified by linearly interpolating the head angle.

Consider the case where the head angle is determined to be 12°, as shown in FIG. At this time, the HCU 10 refers to the viewing angle data of the viewing angle database 11a in S2 of FIG. Read from the viewing angle database 11a. Next, the HCU 10 acquires the standard deviation σ in S4 of FIG.

In S5, the HCU 10 interpolates the reference data of the two viewing angles to obtain the center angle of the viewing angle. For example, if it is stored in the visual angle database 11a that the central angle of the visual angle is 20 degrees when the head angle is 10 degrees, and the central angle of the visual angle is 35 degrees when the neck angle is 20 degrees, the center of the visual angle Calculate the angle by linear interpolation. Then, the HCU 10 calculates the visual recognition area by adding the standard deviation σ of the fixed value stored in the storage unit 11 in S6 of FIG. 3 and a predetermined effective viewing angle (for example, 10°). Humans have an effective viewing angle, and the area around the point of gaze should be considered as a visible area, not just the direction of the line of sight that a person actually sees. Here, the effective viewing angle is considered. . The thus calculated visual recognition area is evaluated as an area having a predetermined (for example, 50%) or higher visual recognition probability.

The HCU 10 calculates the visibility probability of a specific area (for example, a certain area, for each pixel) in the PtoP display 2 by the vehicle occupant based on the probability distribution by calculating the area where the visibility probability is equal to or higher than a predetermined value. can decide. Then, the HCU 10 can use the visual recognition area estimating section 16 to estimate the visual recognition area in the PtoP display 2 where the probability of visual recognition by the vehicle occupants is higher than a predetermined value. The HCU 10 controls the display brightness of the display 2 a by the brightness control section 17 based on the visual recognition area estimated by the visual recognition area estimation section 16 .

For example, it is preferable to increase the brightness of the visible region of the display 2a in which the visibility probability is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold as compared with other regions, and conversely, the brightness is visible in the display 2a in which the visibility probability is less than the predetermined value. It should be lower than the brightness of the area.

As in the present embodiment, when the PtoP display 2 having a plurality of displays 2a is targeted for display control, the brightness control unit 17 determines and controls which display 2a among the plurality of displays 2a the brightness of which is to be controlled. It is desirable to It is also possible to fix the brightness for each entire area of the display 2a and adjust the brightness for each entire area of the display 2a. Also, the brightness may be adjusted for each block in a certain area of the display 2a.

For example, when the head angle is detected to be the front position A, among the plurality of displays 2a arranged adjacent to each other in the horizontal direction, the display 2a arranged at the left end is a predetermined percentage (for example, 80%). With the above probability, it can be determined that the vehicle is not seen by the crew. See the probability distribution shown in FIG. In this case, the display brightness of the display 2a arranged at the left end should be made darker than that of the other displays 2a.

Further, when adjusting the brightness more finely, the brightness may be adjusted step by step for each pixel in the display 2a. The luminance may be changed smoothly for each area in one display 2a. The level of brightness may be adjusted faithfully based on the normal distribution of visibility probability.

The display arbitration unit 18 arbitrates the display of a plurality of contents based on the vehicle parameters received from the in-vehicle system 12, and determines which content is displayed on which display 2a of the PtoP display 2, and which content is superimposed. to determine whether to display Then, the video signal generation unit 19 generates a video signal using the control parameter by the brightness control unit 17 and the content adjusted by the display mediation unit 18, and in S7 of FIG. display.

The features of this embodiment are summarized. Since the occupant monitor 13 can detect the neck angle and line-of-sight direction of the occupant, the parameter of the line-of-sight direction may be used. I have a problem. Also, if the luminance is changed abruptly with respect to the movement of the line of sight, there is a risk that the eye will be attracted and the danger will increase. Also, from the viewpoint of energy saving, it is important to reduce the brightness in areas where the passenger does not see.

According to the present embodiment, the head angle is obtained, the probability distribution of the viewing angle region corresponding to the neck angle is specified, the viewing region of the display is estimated based on this probability distribution, and the viewing region is estimated. is used to control the display luminance displayed on the display 2a. Thereby, the brightness can be adjusted without using the line-of-sight direction as a parameter. In addition, it is possible to reduce the brightness in areas that are not viewed by the occupants, thereby suppressing energy consumption. For example, when the occupant moves his/her eyes without moving his/her neck, the display does not respond to abrupt line-of-sight movement, and the brightness does not change abruptly with respect to the line-of-sight movement.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be implemented in various modifications, and can be applied to various embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the following modifications or extensions are possible.

Each display 2a of the PtoP display 2 may be configured by an LCD. When configured with an LCD, the luminance can be adjusted for each liquid crystal panel using a TFT liquid crystal. TFT is an abbreviation for Thin Film Transistor. In addition, by dividing the backlight arranged on the back side of the liquid crystal panel into a plurality of blocks and using local dimming in which the brightness is controlled for each block, the brightness can be controlled for each block. Therefore, luminance change control may be performed for each unit area whose luminance is controllable.

Although one HCU 10 controls the display of each display 2a of the PtoP display 2, the present invention is not limited to this. As shown in FIG. A system may be configured by the ECU 10, and each ECU 10 may individually control display for each display 2a.

Although the form of controlling the display on the PtoP display 2 has been shown, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be applied to a center information display consisting of one panel constituted by an LCD, or may be applied to other displays. Also good. In particular, as in-vehicle displays become larger, the number of mounted displays tends to increase. Since the area of the display that the passenger actually sees also increases, it is more effective when performing display control on a large number of displays.

The HCU 10, ECU 10 approach described in this disclosure may be implemented by a dedicated computer provided by configuring a processor and memory programmed to perform one or more functions embodied by a computer program. can be Alternatively, the HCU 10, ECU 10 and techniques described in this disclosure may be implemented by a dedicated computer provided by configuring a processor with one or more dedicated hardware logic circuits. Alternatively, the control apparatus and techniques described in this disclosure can be implemented by a combination of a processor and memory programmed to perform one or more functions and a processor configured by one or more hardware logic circuits. It may also be implemented by one or more dedicated computers configured. The computer program may also be stored as computer-executable instructions on a computer-readable non-transitional tangible storage medium.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments described above, it is understood that the invention is not limited to such embodiments or constructions. The present invention includes various modifications and modifications within the equivalent range. In addition, various combinations and configurations, as well as other combinations and configurations including one, more, or less elements thereof, are within the scope and spirit of the invention.

In the drawings, 2 is a pillar-to-pillar display (display), 2a is a display, 10 is an HCU (vehicle display control unit), 11a is a viewing angle database (database), 13 is an acquisition unit, 15 is a specification unit, and 16 is a visual recognition. A region estimator 17 indicates a luminance controller.

Claims (7)

an acquisition unit (13) for acquiring the head angle of the vehicle occupant;
a specifying unit (15) for specifying the probability distribution of the viewing angle region by the vehicle occupant from the head angle;
a visible area estimation unit (16) for estimating a visible area of a display based on the probability distribution;
a brightness control unit (17) for controlling display brightness of content to be displayed on the display (2, 2a) based on the estimated visual recognition area;
A vehicle display control device comprising: 2. The vehicle display control according to claim 1, wherein the probability distribution of the viewing angle region is constructed in a database (11a) obtained by corresponding the head angle and the viewing angle region based on evaluation by a subject. Device. configured to control display brightness on a plurality of said displays (2a);
3. The vehicle display control device according to claim 1, wherein the brightness control unit determines and controls which of the plurality of displays to control the brightness of. the display is composed of an OLED,
The vehicular display control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the brightness control section smoothly changes the brightness for each area in one display. the display comprises an LCD with a panel,
The vehicular display control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the brightness control unit changes the brightness for each panel of the LCD or for each predetermined region of a part of the panel of the LCD. A process of acquiring the head angle of the vehicle occupant by an acquisition unit (13);
a process of identifying a probability distribution of a viewing angle region by a vehicle occupant from the head angle by a identifying unit (15);
A process of estimating a visible area by a visible area estimation unit (16) based on the probability distribution;
a step of controlling display brightness of content to be displayed on a display based on the estimated visual recognition area by a brightness control unit (17);
A display method for a vehicle comprising: a procedure for causing an acquisition unit (13) to acquire the head angle of a vehicle occupant;
A procedure for causing a specifying unit (15) to specify a probability distribution of a viewing angle region by a vehicle occupant from the head angle;
A procedure for estimating a visible area by a visible area estimation unit (16) based on the probability distribution;
a procedure for causing a brightness control unit (17) to control the display brightness of content to be displayed on a display based on the estimated visual recognition area;
Display program for vehicles that executes

Images