VEHICLE DEVICE, AND NON-TRANSITORY TANGIBLE COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM

• US 20190111844A1
• Filed: 01/16/2017
• Published: 04/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: SUZUKI, Takamitsu, KONDO, Masayuki, KUSUNOSE, Yuji
• Granted Patent: US 10,703,272 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/149 Instrument input by detecting viewing direction not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/334 Projection means
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/149 Input by detecting viewing direction
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/1529 Head-up displays
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/10 Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/23 Head-up displays [HUD] optical aspects of head-up displays G02B27/01
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/654 the user being the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/24 in front of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/205 using a head-up display
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/304 using merged images, e.g. merging camera image with stored images
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/306 using a re-scaling of images
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/308 by overlaying the real scene, e.g. through a head-up display on the windscreen
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/014 comprising information/image processing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0181 Adaptation to the pilot/driver
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0187 slaved to motion of at least a part of the body of the user, e.g. head, eye
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0093 with means for monitoring data relating to the user, e.g. head-tracking, eye-tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/01 Head-up displays
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0101 characterised by optical features G02B27/0172 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0179 Display position adjusting means not related to the information to be displayed
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 : Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence

Abstract

An ECU as a vehicle device includes an image generation unit that generates an image in a predetermined reference coordinate system, a viewpoint position identification unit that identifies a viewpoint position of a driver; a superimposed position identification unit that identifies a display position at which the image is displayed within an eyesight of the driver; an image conversion unit that generates a converted image obtained by converting the image into a coordinate system having the viewpoint position of the driver as a reference point; and a notification unit that displays a display image falling within the converted image so as to be superimposed on the eyesight of the driver with the projection device.

Claims

1. A vehicle device that notifies a driver of information with a projection device for displaying an image on a projection surface, the vehicle device comprising:

an image generation unit that generates the image to be notified to a driver in a predetermined reference coordinate system;

a viewpoint position identification unit that identifies a viewpoint position indicative of a position of a driver'"'"'s eye in a vehicle compartment based on the position of the driver'"'"'s eye detected by a viewpoint detection unit for detecting the position of the driver'"'"'s eye;

a superimposed position identification unit that identifies a display position, at which the image generated by the image generation unit is displayed within an eyesight of the driver, based on the viewpoint position of the driver;

an image conversion unit that generates a converted image obtained by converting the image generated by the image generation unit into a coordinate system having the viewpoint position of the driver as a reference point; and

a notification unit that notifies the driver of the information by displaying the converted image to be superimposed on the eyesight of the driver with the projection device.

2. The vehicle device according to claim 1, wherein:

the image conversion unit corrects the converted image according to a shape of the projection surface; and

the notification unit displays a corrected converted image to be superimposed within the eyesight of the driver.

3. The vehicle device according to claim 1, wherein:

the image conversion unit corrects the converted image according to the viewpoint position of the driver; and

the notification unit displays a corrected converted image to be superimposed within the eyesight of the driver.

4. The vehicle device according to claim 1, wherein:

the image conversion unit reconverts the image generated by the image generation unit according to a movement of the viewpoint position of the driver.

5. The vehicle device according to claim 1, wherein:

the image generation unit generates a boundary image that is an image to be displayed on the projection surface and indicates a display range of the projection surface; and

the notification unit displays the boundary image together with the converted image to be superimposed within the eyesight of the driver.

6. The vehicle device according to claim 1, wherein:

the image conversion unit converts the image generated by the image generation unit to have a driver'"'"'s dominant eye as a starting point.

7. The vehicle device according to claim 1, further comprising:

an estimation unit that estimates the viewpoint position of the driver based on a travel history indicating a change in the viewpoint position of the driver in a chronological order, wherein;

the image conversion unit converts the image generated by the image generation unit to according to the viewpoint position corresponding to an estimated position of a face.

8. The vehicle device according to claim 1, wherein:

the image generation unit generates the image to be notified the driver using a coordinate system having a three-dimensional space identified by an attachment position of an imaging unit as the reference coordinate system.

9. The vehicle device according to claim 1, wherein:

the image generation unit generates the image to be notified the driver using a coordinate system having a three-dimensional space identified by map data as the reference coordinate system.

10. The vehicle device according to claim 1, wherein:

the image conversion unit converts the image generated by the image generation unit or corrects the converted image using a coordinate conversion filter designed according to a vision of an actual human who views the image from a driver'"'"'s seat.

11. A non-transitory tangible computer readable medium comprising instructions being executed by a computer, the instructions including a computer-implemented method for controlling a control unit for a vehicle device, which notifies a driver of information with a projection device for displaying an image on a projection surface the instructions including:

generating the image to be notified to the driver in a predetermined reference coordinate system;

identifying a viewpoint position indicative of a position of driver'"'"'s eye in a vehicle compartment based on the position of the driver'"'"'s eye detected by a viewpoint detection unit for detecting the position of the driver'"'"'s eye;

identifying a display position, at which the image generated by the image generation unit is displayed within an eyesight of the driver, based on the viewpoint position of the driver;

generating a converted image obtained by converting the image generated by the image generation unit into a coordinate system having the viewpoint position of the driver as a reference point; and

notifying the driver of the information by displaying the converted image to be superimposed on the eyesight of the driver with the projection device.

12. A non-transitory tangible computer readable medium comprising instructions being executed by a computer, the instructions including a computer-implemented method for controlling a control unit for a vehicle device, which notifies a driver of information with a projection device for displaying an image on a projection surface the instructions including:

generating a reference image to be notified in a predetermined reference coordinate system;

identifying a viewpoint position indicative of a position of an eye of a person disposed in a driver'"'"'s seat based on the position of the eye detected by a viewpoint detection unit for detecting the position of the eye of the person disposed in the driver'"'"'s seat;

identifying a display position, at which the image generated by the image generation unit is displayed within an eyesight based on an identified viewpoint position;

generating a converted image obtained by converting the image generated by the image generation unit into a coordinate system having the viewpoint position of the person disposed in the driver'"'"'s seat based on the identified viewpoint position;

displaying the converted image to be superimposed on the eyesight of the driver with the projection device;

correcting distortion of a displaying image according to an operation of the person disposed in the driver'"'"'s seat;

acquiring a correction amount when correcting the distortion of the image; and

designing a coordinate conversion filter in which the correction amount at the viewpoint position is identified by connecting an acquired correction amount and the viewpoint position to each other.