JP7552064B2 - In-vehicle display device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an in-vehicle display device that is installed in various vehicles, such as automobiles.

Conventionally, this type of in-vehicle display device has been known, for example, as described in Patent Document 1 below. The in-vehicle display device described in Patent Document 1 is a vehicle instrument mounted in front of the driver's seat of a vehicle, and is mainly composed of a liquid crystal display panel (display unit) that displays various vehicle information such as the vehicle's traveling speed, and a resin case member that houses the liquid crystal display panel.

JP 2018-54291 A

In recent years, attention has been focused on practical application of a technology in which a camera module is mounted in a vehicle (at an appropriate location in the vehicle) to capture an image of the face of an occupant (viewer) who sits in the driver's seat of a vehicle and views the liquid crystal display panel, and to detect the state (behavior) of the occupant from the driver's facial movements, etc. However, the in-vehicle display device described in Patent Document 1 does not assume a configuration in which a camera module is mounted on the in-vehicle display device or its periphery in order to detect the state of the occupant, and therefore there is room for further improvement in this regard.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE In order to address the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an in-vehicle display device capable of detecting the state of a viewer.

The present invention is characterized in that it comprises a display unit that displays predetermined information, an optical member that is arranged on the viewer's side of the display unit when viewed from the viewer's side viewing the display unit and has an infrared light reflection function that is capable of reflecting infrared light irradiated from an infrared irradiation unit, and a case member that houses the display unit, wherein the infrared light is reflected by the optical member and irradiated toward the viewer's side, and the infrared light after irradiating the viewer is reflected by the optical member so as to be incident on an imaging means, and the optical member is a hot mirror that is arranged in a front opening of the case member so as to cover the display unit and is arranged so as to be parallel to the display unit .

The present invention is also characterized in that it comprises a display unit that displays predetermined information, an optical member that is arranged on the viewer's side of the display unit when viewed from the viewer's side viewing the display unit and has an infrared light reflection function that is capable of reflecting infrared light irradiated from an infrared irradiation unit, and a case member that houses the display unit, wherein the infrared light is reflected by the optical member and irradiated toward the viewer's side, and the infrared light after irradiating the viewer can be incident on an imaging means, and the optical member is a hot mirror that is arranged in a front opening of the case member so as to cover the display unit and is arranged so as to be parallel to the display unit .

The present invention also features a display unit that displays predetermined information, an optical member that is arranged on the viewer's side of the display unit when viewed from the viewer's side viewing the display unit and has an infrared light reflecting function, and a case member that houses the display unit, wherein infrared light irradiated from an infrared irradiation unit is irradiated toward the viewer's side, and the infrared light after irradiating the viewer is reflected by the optical member so as to be able to enter an imaging means, and the optical member is a hot mirror that is arranged in a front opening of the case member so as to cover the display unit and is arranged so as to be parallel to the display unit .

The present invention is also characterized in that the imaging means is provided on the steering column of the vehicle.

The present invention is also characterized in that the display unit is an organic EL panel.

The present invention provides an in-vehicle display device that can achieve the intended purpose and detect the state of the viewer.

1 is a diagram showing a simplified view of a main part of a vehicle interior when viewed forward from an occupant (viewer) side according to an embodiment of the present invention; 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 1 . FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of an in-vehicle display device according to a modified example of the embodiment.

One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to Figs. 1 and 2. In the following description, the viewer's side who views (recognizes) the in-vehicle display device (particularly the display element described below) is defined as the front side, and the opposite viewer's side is defined as the rear side. The viewer here means a vehicle occupant who is seated in the driver's seat of the vehicle so as to view the in-vehicle display device.

In FIG. 1, the in-vehicle display device according to this embodiment is mainly composed of a display unit 10 provided inside an instrument panel D located, for example, in front of the driver's seat of the vehicle, and a camera module 20 mounted on a steering column S also located in front of the driver's seat. In FIG. 1, 30 indicates the windshield of the vehicle. Note that the display unit 10 may be configured to be placed on the instrument panel D, which extends in the vehicle width direction (the direction of the arrow C in FIG. 1), rather than inside the instrument panel D.

The display unit 10 includes a display element 11 as a display unit that displays predetermined information as shown in FIG. 2, an optical member 12 that is arranged on the viewer E's side (i.e., the front side) of the display element 11 when viewed from the viewer E's side viewing the display element 11, a circuit board 13 that is arranged behind the display element 11 so as to be parallel to the display element 11, and a resin case member 14 that houses the display element 11 and the circuit board 13.

The display element 11 may be a display medium that is a substantially rectangular flat organic EL panel (self-luminous display element) arranged with its display surface facing forward. Information displayed on the display element 11 may include various types of vehicle information, such as vehicle speed information that indicates the vehicle's traveling speed. Note that instead of an organic EL panel, the display element 11 may be a liquid crystal display panel, which is a light-receiving display element.

The optical member 12 is a hot mirror that includes a light-transmitting substrate 12a made of a substantially rectangular acrylic resin and a reflective layer 12b made of a multi-layer interference film provided on the front side of the substrate 12a, and has an infrared light reflection function that can reflect infrared light emitted from an infrared irradiation section of the camera module 20, which will be described later.

The optical member 12 also has a visible light transmission function that allows the predetermined information displayed as visible light to pass through. Therefore, a viewer E viewing the display unit 10 can view the predetermined information through the optical member 12. The substrate 12a of the optical member 12, which is provided to cover the display element 11, has an outer shape that is slightly larger than the outer shape of the display element 11, and the front side of the substrate 12a may not have a flat shape, but may have a non-flat shape composed of a convex or concave surface with a predetermined curvature.

The circuit board 13 is, for example, a rigid wiring board in which a predetermined wiring pattern is applied to a glass epoxy-based base material, and a control unit 13a that controls the display element 11 and various circuit components such as resistors and capacitors are conductively connected to the wiring pattern. The circuit board 13 is electrically connected to the display element 11 using an appropriate conductive means.

The case member 14 is a resin case made of, for example, a synthetic resin material, and has a generally concave shape that is open on the display element 11 side (front side), and has a bottom wall portion 14a that covers the back side of the display element 11, and a side wall portion 14b that covers the side of the display element 11. The optical member 12 is arranged so as to cover the front opening portion 14c located on the front side of the case member 14. In other words, this means that the optical member 12 is provided to form a pair with the case member 14.

The camera module 20 captures an image of the face of the viewer E seated in the driver's seat and detects the state (behavior) of the viewer E from the facial movements of the viewer E, and is installed on the steering column S located in front of the display unit 10. The camera module 20 has an imaging means 21 capable of capturing an image of the state of the viewer E viewing the display unit 10, and an infrared irradiation unit 22 that irradiates infrared light (near-infrared light).

The imaging means 21 is a camera sensitive to the near-infrared region, and is mounted on the steering column S of the vehicle. The imaging means 21 here is configured to be placed on the steering column S so that the part that receives infrared light (infrared light here means secondary reflected infrared light, which will be described later) faces the optical member 12. This configuration has the advantage that the viewer E does not directly see (recognize) the part of the imaging means 21 that receives the above-mentioned infrared light, making it difficult for the viewer E to notice the presence of the imaging means 21.

The infrared irradiation unit 22 can be one or more infrared light sources (infrared LEDs) provided on the steering column S of the vehicle in a state where it is arranged in parallel with the imaging means 21. In this case, the infrared light irradiated from the infrared irradiation unit 22 is reflected by the optical member 12 and irradiated toward the viewer E, and the infrared light after irradiating the viewer E is configured to be reflected by the optical member 12 again and enter the imaging means 21.

To explain this in more detail, the infrared light L1 irradiated from the infrared irradiation unit 22 reaches the reflective layer 12b (optical element 12), and the infrared light L1 that reaches this reflective layer 12b is reflected forward as primary reflected infrared light L2 by the reflective layer 12b (optical element 12), which has the function of reflecting the infrared light, and reaches the face of the viewer E.

Furthermore, after irradiating the viewer E (the face of the viewer E), the infrared light L3 is reflected backward so as to follow an optical path opposite to that of the above-mentioned primary reflected infrared light L2, and reaches the reflective layer 12b (optical member 12). The infrared light L3 that reaches this reflective layer 12b can be incident on the imaging means 21 as secondary reflected infrared light L4 by the reflective layer 12b (optical member 12). The optical path of the secondary reflected infrared light L4 follows an optical path opposite to that of the above-mentioned primary reflected infrared light L2. As a result, the imaging means 21 can image the face of the viewer E illuminated by the infrared light, and obtain the above-mentioned indirectly reflected secondary reflected infrared light L4 as an image.

The control unit 13a judges the state of the viewer E based on the image captured by the imaging means 21. Specifically, the control unit 13a executes a process to judge the state of the viewer E, such as whether or not the viewer E is drowsy, whether or not the viewer E is looking away from the road while driving, based on the image captured by the imaging means 21.

For example, when the control unit 13a determines that the viewer E is drowsy, the control unit 13a executes a process to operate a speaker (not shown) mounted on the in-vehicle display device so that a warning sound (a "beep" sound effect) is emitted from the speaker to alert the viewer E. Note that instead of emitting a warning sound, a warning message to alert the viewer E may be displayed on the display element 11 under the control of the control unit 13a.

As described above, this embodiment includes a display element 11 that displays the specified information, and an optical member 12 that is arranged in front of the display element 11 and has an infrared light reflection function that can reflect the infrared light L1 and L3 irradiated from the infrared irradiation unit 22. The infrared light L1 is reflected by the optical member 12 and irradiated toward the front as primary reflected infrared light L2, and the infrared light L3 after irradiating the viewer E is reflected by the optical member 12 and is configured to be incident on the imaging means 21 as secondary reflected infrared light L4.

Therefore, even if an optical element 12 having an infrared light reflecting function is provided in front of the display element 11, and a camera module 20 is further installed on the steering column S located in front of the optical element 12, the state of the viewer E can be detected based on the image captured by the imaging means 21.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment and drawings. Changes (including deletion of components) can be made to the embodiment and drawings as appropriate without changing the gist of the present invention.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, both the imaging means 21 and the infrared irradiation unit 22 are installed on the steering column S, but the infrared irradiation unit 22 can be placed anywhere in the vehicle as long as the infrared light L1 reaches the optical member 12, and similarly, the imaging means 21 can be placed anywhere in the vehicle as long as it is capable of capturing an image of the face of the viewer E.

In the above-described embodiment, the reflective layer 12b is formed on the front side (front surface) of the substrate 12a. However, as a modified example, the reflective layer 12b may be formed on the rear side (back surface) of the substrate 12a as shown in FIG. 3. In this case, the infrared light L1 irradiated from the infrared irradiation unit 22 passes through the substrate 12a, and the infrared light L1 that has passed through the substrate 12a is reflected forward by the reflective layer 12b and exits the substrate 12a as primary reflected infrared light. Similarly, the infrared light L3 after irradiating the viewer E passes through the substrate 12a, and the infrared light L3 that has passed through the substrate 12a is reflected forward by the reflective layer 12b and exits the substrate 12a as secondary reflected infrared light, and the secondary reflected infrared light that exits the substrate 12a is incident on the imaging means 21.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the infrared light L1 emitted from the infrared irradiation unit 22 is irradiated toward the reflective layer 12b (optical member 12), but the infrared light L1 emitted from the infrared irradiation unit 22 may be irradiated directly toward the viewer E without passing through the reflective layer 12b (optical member 12).

In other words, the infrared irradiation unit 22 here is provided on the steering column S so that the infrared light emitted from the infrared irradiation unit 22 is irradiated directly toward the viewer E, and the optical member 12 is disposed in front of the display element 11 and has an infrared light reflection function, so that the infrared light irradiated from the infrared irradiation unit 22 is irradiated directly toward the viewer E, and the infrared light after irradiating the viewer E is reflected by the reflective layer 12b (optical member 12) and can enter the imaging means 21. Even with this configuration, the same effects as those of the above-mentioned embodiment can be obtained.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the infrared light L3 after irradiating the viewer E (the face of the viewer E) follows an optical path in the opposite direction to the optical path of the primary reflected infrared light L2 and reaches the optical element 12, but the infrared light L3 may be configured to be directly incident on the imaging means 21 without passing through the optical element 12.

In other words, the imaging means 21 here is provided on the steering column S so that the portion that receives the infrared light L3 faces the viewer E (i.e. so that the infrared light L3 can be directly incident), the optical member 12 is disposed on the front side of the display element 11 and has an infrared light reflection function that can reflect the infrared light L1 irradiated from the infrared irradiation unit 22, the infrared light L1 is reflected by the reflective layer 12b (optical member 12) and irradiated toward the viewer E as primary reflected infrared light L2, and the infrared light L3 after irradiating the viewer E can be incident on the imaging means 21. Even with this configuration, the same effects as those of the above-mentioned embodiment can be obtained.

10 Display unit 11 Display element (display section)
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 12 Optical member 12a Substrate 12b Reflective layer 13 Circuit board 13a Control unit 14 Case member 14a Bottom wall 14b Side wall 14c Front opening 20 Camera module 21 Imaging means 22 Infrared irradiation unit 30 Windshield D Instrument panel S Steering column L1, L3 Infrared light L2 Primary reflected infrared light L4 Secondary reflected infrared light

Claims (5)

A display unit that displays predetermined information;
an optical member that is disposed on a viewer's side of the display unit when viewed from the viewer's side viewing the display unit and has an infrared light reflection function that can reflect infrared light irradiated from an infrared irradiation unit;
a case member that houses the display unit,
The infrared light is reflected by the optical member and irradiated toward the viewer, and the infrared light after irradiating the viewer is reflected by the optical member and can be incident on the imaging means,
The vehicle-mounted display device, wherein the optical member is a hot mirror that is arranged in a front opening of the case member so as to cover the display unit and is arranged in parallel with the display unit . A display unit that displays predetermined information;
an optical member that is disposed on a viewer's side of the display unit when viewed from the viewer's side viewing the display unit and has an infrared light reflection function that can reflect infrared light irradiated from an infrared irradiation unit;
a case member that houses the display unit,
The infrared light is reflected by the optical member and irradiated toward the viewer, and the infrared light after irradiating the viewer can be incident on the imaging means,
The vehicle-mounted display device, wherein the optical member is a hot mirror that is arranged in a front opening of the case member so as to cover the display unit and is arranged in parallel with the display unit . A display unit that displays predetermined information;
an optical member that is disposed on a viewer's side of the display unit when viewed from the viewer's side and has an infrared light reflecting function;
a case member that houses the display unit,
The infrared light emitted from the infrared irradiation unit is irradiated toward the viewer, and the infrared light after irradiating the viewer is reflected by the optical member and can be incident on the imaging means,
The vehicle-mounted display device, wherein the optical member is a hot mirror that is arranged in a front opening of the case member so as to cover the display unit and is arranged in parallel with the display unit . The on-vehicle display device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the imaging means is provided on a steering column of the vehicle. 5. The in-vehicle display device according to claim 1 , wherein the display unit is an organic electroluminescence (EL) panel.

Images