Antidazzle apparatus for movable bodies

• US 20070126255A1
• Filed: 11/30/2006
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Mitsui, Takao
• Granted Patent: US 7,690,712 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 296/97.200
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 3/0204 Sun visors
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 3/04 adjustable in transparency

Abstract

An antidazzle apparatus for movable bodies is capable of not hiding something a user wants to see while dimming sunlight. A transmissive display is disposed above ahead of a driver, and two dimmer portions are formed in the transmissive display. The dimmer portions are positioned on straight lines linking the driver'"'"'s right and left eyes with the sun, respectively, and are set to sizes a bit larger than the sizes of the pupils. In this case, sunlight is dimmed by the dimmer portions. Nevertheless, lines of sight leading to an entity which is located much closer than the sun is and which the driver wants to see are not intercepted by the dimmer portions. This allows the driver to see the entity.

Claims

1. An antidazzle apparatus for a movable body, the apparatus comprising:

a first dimmer portion, which is movable vertically and laterally relative to a user located in the movable body and is positioned on a straight line linking a user'"'"'s right eye and a sun; and

a second dimmer portion, which is movable vertically and laterally relative to the user and is positioned on a straight line linking a user'"'"'s left eye and the sun, wherein

a size of the first dimmer portion and a size of the second dimmer portion are determined to allow the first dimmer portion and second dimmer portion to interpose a non-overlapped portion therebetween.

2. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 1, wherein

each of the first and second dimmer portions is included in a transmissive display, which is disposed in front of the user, and a transmittance of the each of the first and second dimmer portions is decreased.

3. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 1, wherein

each of the first and second dimmer portions includes a dimmer plate.

4. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a camera to take an image of a face of the user;

a positions-of-shadows detecting means for analyzing an image taken by the camera to detect positions of shadows provided on the face by the first and second dimmer portions under sunlight;

a pupillary positions determining means for determining positions of user'"'"'s right and left pupils; and

a first positions-of-dimmer portions control means for controlling positions of the first and second dimmer portions so that the positions of the shadows are superimposed on the positions of the user'"'"'s right and left pupils.

5. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a position measuring instrument that measures a current position of the movable body;

a solar position determining means for determining a current solar position based on the current position of the movable body and a current date and time instant;

a pupillary positions determining means for determining positions of user'"'"'s right and left pupils; and

a second positions-of-dimmer portions control means for controlling positions of the first and second dimmer portions based on the current solar position and the positions of the user'"'"'s right and left pupils.

6. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an operating unit which the user manipulates so as to move the first and second dimmer portions and which transmits a moving direction signal representing a moving direction; and

a third positions-of-dimmer portions control means for controlling positions of the first and second dimmer portions based on the moving direction signal sent from the operating unit.

7. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

at least two of the antidazzle apparatuses of claims 4, 5, and 6; and

a priority memory unit that stores a priority order to indicate which is preferentially used among at least two of the first positions-of-dimmer portions control means, the second positions-of-dimmer portions control means, and the third positions-of-dimmer portions control means.

8. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 4, wherein

the pupillary positions determining means analyzes an image taken by the camera so as to detect the positions of the user'"'"'s right and left eyes.

9. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 2, wherein

the transmissive display is allowed to rotate about an axis which is parallel with a line linking the user'"'"'s right eye and the left eye.

10. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 9, wherein,

of each of the first and second dimmer portions, a length perpendicular to the axis gets larger along with an increase in an angle of the transmissive display with respect to a vertical plane containing the axis.

11. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

an angle-of-elevation determining means for determining a solar angle of elevation; and

a size-of-dimmer portions control means for increasing the size of each of the first and second dimmer portions along with a decrease in the solar angle of elevation.

12. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 11, further comprising

a size selecting means for selecting whether a size of each of the first and second dimmer portions is changed based on the solar angle of elevation or is set to a predetermined size designated irrespective of the solar angle of elevation, wherein,

when the size selecting means selects the predetermined size as the size of each of the first and second dimmer portions, the size-of-dimmer portions control means sets the size of each of the first and second dimmer portions to the predetermined size irrespective of the solar angle of elevation.

13. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 11, further comprising

a dim ratio control means for decreasing a dim ratio to be attained by each of the first and second dimmer portions along with a decrease in the solar angle of elevation determined by the angle-of-elevation determining means.

14. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 13, further comprising

a dim ratio selecting means for selecting whether the dim ratio is changed based on the solar angle of elevation or is set to a predetermined maximum dim ratio, wherein,

when the dim ratio selecting means selects the maximum dim ratio as the dim ratio to be attained by each of the first and second dimmer portions, the dim ratio control means sets the dim ratio to the maximum dim ratio irrespective of the solar angle of elevation.

15. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

a visions determining means for determining a vision indicating a degree of nearsightedness of each of the user'"'"'s right and left eyes based on manipulations performed by the user; and

a dimmer portions control means for increasing a size of each of the first and second dimmer portions and decreasing a dim ratio to be attained by each of the first and second dimmer portions along with a rise in the degree of nearsightedness.

16. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 15, further comprising

a dimmer portions selecting means for selecting whether the size and the dim ratio are changed based on the vision or are set to a predetermined size and a predetermined dim ratio which are designated irrespective of the vision, wherein,

when the dimmer portions selecting means selects the predetermined size and predetermined dim ratio as the size and the dim ratio, the dimmer portions control means sets the size of each of the first and second dimmer portions and the dim ratio to be attained by each of the first and second dimmer portions thereby to the predetermined size and predetermined dim ratio irrespective of the vision determined by the visions determining means.

17. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

a route designation unit that designates a route along which the movable body is moved; and

an estimating means for inferring from the route of the movable body, the current position of the movable body measured by the position measuring instrument, and the current solar position determined by the solar position determining means an incident that the movable body approaches a point where the user is to be dazzled by sunlight, wherein,

when the estimating means estimates the incident, the second positions-of-dimmer portions control means allows each of the first and second dimmer portions to move to a predetermined position before the movable body reaches the point.

18. The antidazzle apparatus of claim 2, wherein

the transmissive display is integrated with part or a whole of a windshield provided in a vehicle as the moving body.