Vehicle meter

• US 20100002412A1
• Filed: 05/18/2009
• Published: 01/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Asao, Mizuho, Murasawa, Naoki
• Granted Patent: US 8,308,312 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 362/23
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/33 Illumination features
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/60 Instruments characterised by their location or relative disposition in or on vehicles arrangements of lighting devices on dashboards B60Q3/10
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 3/14 lighting through the surface to be illuminated
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 11/28 Structurally-combined illuminating devices
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 13/20 with luminescent markings

Abstract

A vehicle meter is provided including a dial 10 and light sources provided on the rear face of the dial. A plurality of characters can be arranged on the dial and can be displayed by transmitting light from the light sources (a plurality of LEDs 25) and formed differently from each other in amount of transmitted light. The characters arranged on the dial may be provided with an increased and decreased amount of transmitted light to improve the visibility of the character intended to be emphasized. This makes it easy to visually recognize the entire string of characters in the vehicle meter.

Claims

1. A vehicle meter, comprising:

a dial having a plurality of characters arranged thereupon; and

a light source provided on a rear face of the dial;

wherein the characters are displayed by transmitting light from the light source, and

wherein different characters are provided with a varying amount of transmitted light and a character with a small amount of transmitted light is arranged between characters with a large amount of transmitted light.

2. The vehicle meter according to claim 1, wherein the dial is configured such that adjacent characters have a given difference therebetween in the amount of transmitted light.

3. The vehicle meter according to claim 2, wherein the dial is configured such that a character with a large amount of transmitted light is displayed in large font size and a character with a small amount of transmitted light is displayed in small font size.

4. The vehicle meter according to claim 3, wherein the dial is configured such that the character displayed in the large font size is different in font from the character displayed in the small font size.

5. The vehicle meter according to claim 1, wherein the dial has a white color and the light emitted from the light source is red.

6. The vehicle meter according to claim 1, wherein the light source comprises a plurality of light-emitting diodes.

7. The vehicle meter according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle meter is included in a motorcycle.

8. A method, comprising:

providing a dial on a vehicle meter, said dial comprising a plurality of characters arranged thereupon;

providing a light source on a rear face of the dial;

displaying the characters by transmitting light from the light source; and

controlling an amount of transmitted light to each of the plurality of characters,

wherein a character with a small amount of transmitted light is arranged between characters with a large amount of transmitted light.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising controlling the amount of transmitted light such that adjacent characters have a given difference therebetween in the amount of transmitted light.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising configuring the characters such that a character with a large amount of transmitted light is displayed in large font size and a character with a small amount of transmitted light is displayed in a small font size.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the configuring comprises configuring the characters such that the character displayed in the large font size is different in font from the character displayed in the small font size.

12. The method according to claim 8, further comprising forming the dial in a white color, and wherein the light emitted from the light source is red.

13. The method according to claim 8, wherein said providing of the light source comprises providing a plurality of light-emitting diodes.

14. The method according to claim 8, further comprising mounting the vehicle meter on a motorcycle.

15. A vehicle meter comprising:

first providing means for providing a dial on a vehicle meter, said dial comprising a plurality of characters arranged thereupon; and

second providing means for providing a light source on a rear face of the dial;

displaying means for displaying the characters by transmitting light from the light source; and

controlling means for controlling an amount of transmitted light to each of the plurality of characters,

wherein a character with a small amount of transmitted light is arranged between characters with a large amount of transmitted light.