Three dimensional dial for vehicle

• US 20060092521A1
• Filed: 09/08/2005
• Published: 05/04/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens VDO Automotive Corporation (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Birman, Vyacheslav, Drury, Adam M., Sanders, Richard D.
• Application Number:
  US11/221,629
• Publication Number:
  US 20060092521A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 359/630
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 11/28 Structurally-combined illuminating devices
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/27 involving lenticular arrays

Abstract

A vehicle instrument panel assembly includes a first symbol having a first importance and a second symbol having a second importance that is less than the first importance. A lenticular sheet between an observer and the first and second symbols produces a first stereoscopic symbol that corresponds to the first symbol and a second stereoscopic symbol that corresponds to a second symbol. To an observer, the first stereoscopic symbol appears closer than the second stereoscopic symbol.

Claims

1. A vehicle instrument panel assembly comprising:

a first symbol having a first importance;

a second symbol having a second importance that is less than the first importance;

a lenticular viewing surface between a viewing point and the first and second symbols that produces a stereoscopic first symbol that corresponds to the first symbol and a stereoscopic second symbol that corresponds to the second symbol, wherein the stereoscopic first symbol is closer to the viewing point than the stereoscopic second symbol.

2. The assembly as recited in claim 1, further comprising a pointer that defines a reference point, and the first symbol is radially outward from said second symbol relative to the reference point.

3. The assembly as recited in claim 1, wherein the lenticular viewing surface comprises a sheet having a lenticular first side and a second side, and the first symbol and the second symbol are on a dial surface that is bonded to the second side.

4. The assembly as recited in claim 3, wherein the dial surface includes a multi-colored background.

5. The assembly as recited in claim 1, wherein the first symbol is a miles per hour speedometer tick mark and the second symbol is a kilometers per hour speedometer tick mark.

6. The assembly as recited in claim 1, wherein the first symbol and the second symbol are two-dimensional images.

7. The assembly as recited in claim 1, wherein the lenticular viewing surface includes a sheet having an array of parallel lenticules.

8. A vehicle instrument panel assembly observable from a viewing point, the vehicle instrument panel comprising:

a first symbol;

a pointer defining a pointer plane near the first symbol; and

a lenticular viewing surface between the pointer and the first symbol that produces a first stereoscopic symbol corresponding to the first symbol, and the first stereoscopic symbol is at least partially in the pointer plane.

9. The assembly as recited in claim 8, further comprising a housing that supports the pointer and the lenticular viewing surface.

10. The assembly as recited in claim 9, further comprising a light source supported by the housing that illuminates the first symbol.

11. The assembly as recited in claim 9, further comprising a lens spaced apart from the pointer.

12. The assembly as recited in claim 8, further comprising a second symbol adjacent to the first symbol, the lenticular viewing surface produces a stereoscopic second symbol that is at least partially in the pointer plane.

13. The assembly as recited in claim 12, wherein the first symbol comprises a number and the second symbol comprises a tick mark that corresponds to the number.

14. A method of communicating relative importance of selected automotive instrument panel symbols, comprising:

(a) generating stereoscopic first symbols a first distance from a viewing point that correspond to preferred importance symbols on an instrument dial; and

(b) generating stereoscopic second symbols a second distance from the viewing point that is different than the first distance, the second distance corresponds to less preferred symbols on the instrument dial.

15. The method as recited in claim 15, including positioning the preferred importance symbols radially outward from the less preferred symbols relative to a pointer.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, including generating the first stereoscopic symbol a closer distance to the viewing point than the second stereoscopic symbol.