System for maintaining an orientation of characters displayed with a rotatable image

• US 4,527,155 A
• Filed: 03/02/1982
• Issued: 07/02/1985
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/1981
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Suzuki, Hidetaka, Yamaki, Kiyoshi, Tanaka, Haruto, Takeuchi, Yasuhisa
• Primary Examiner(s): Brigance, Gerald L.
• Application Number:
  US06/354,036
• Time in Patent Office: 1,218 Days
• Field of Search: 340/721, 340/727, 340/24, 340/723, 340/724, 340/745, 340/990, 340/995, 364/434, 364/448, 364/449
• US Class Current: 345/657
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/606 by memory addressing or mapping
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 1/00 Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with cathode-ray tube indicators; General aspects or details, e.g. selection emphasis on particular characters, dashed line or dotted line generation; Preprocessing of datacathode-ray oscilloscopes G01R13/20; radar display arrangements G01S7/04; display of digital non-picture data in television systems H04N7/0255

Abstract

A display of images on a screen which is installed in an automotive vehicle for displaying the driving direction and location of the automotive vehicle within a graphic pattern, such as a drive map, comprising: (a) a screen device; (b) a first memory unit in which data of a graphic pattern to be displayed on said screen device is stored; (c) a second memory unit in which at least one word and mark to be superimposed on the graphic pattern and those positional data on the graphic pattern are stored; (d) a signal generator which outputs a command signal to rotate the graphic pattern on said screen unit by an angle with respect to an original position; (e) a shift circuit which shifts the positions of all words and marks stored in said second memory unit to those rotated at the angle corresponding to the command signal from said signal generator; and (f) an image control unit which controls the display of graphic pattern rotated by the angle corresponding to the command signal from said signal generator on said screen unit and controls the superimposition of at least one word and mark stored in said second memory unit on the position of the graphic pattern shifted by said shift circuit.

Claims

1. Apparatus for displaying on a screen a graphic pattern and characters superimposed at predetermined positions on said graphic pattern comprising:

first memory means for storing graphic data from which said graphic pattern is generated on said screen;

second memory means for storing coded data from which said characters are generated on said screen, and for storing positional data for said predetermined positions on said graphic pattern;

signal generator means for outputting a command signal to rotate through an angle θ

said graphic pattern as displayed on said screen;

shift circuit means connected to said second memory means and said signal generator means for providing shifted positional data in accordance with the command signal; and

image control means connected to said first memory means, said second memory means, said shift circuit means, said signal generator means, and said screen for causing said graphic pattern to be rotated through said angle θ

as displayed on said screen, and for using said shifted positional data for superimposing said characters on said graphic pattern as displayed on said screen at said predetermined positions with respect to said graphic pattern so that said characters have a vertical orientation on said screen independent of said rotation of said graphic pattern.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said shift circuit means shifts said positional data according to the expressions

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said graphic pattern stored as graphic data in said first memory means is a road map, and said characters stored as coded data in said second memory means includes place-names and other designations for said road map.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said signal generator comprises means for detecting an orientation of a vehicle containing said screen, and for causing said command signal to be outputted according to said vehicle orientation.

5. A method of displaying on a screen a graphic pattern and characters superimposed at predetermined positions on said graphic pattern comprising the steps of:

(a) storing graphic data from which said graphic pattern can be generated on said screen;

(b) storing coded data from which said characters can be generated on said screen;

(c) storing positional data for predetermined positions of said characters on said graphic pattern;

(d) generating a command signal that said graphic pattern is to be rotated through an angle;

(e) shifting said positional data according to said command signal; and

(f) controlling display on said screen of said graphic pattern according to said stored graphic data, and said characters according to said stored coded data, by rotating said graphic pattern through said angle, and using said shifted positional data to superimpose said characters at said predetermined positions on said graphic pattern so that said characters have an orientation with respect to vertical on said screen independent of said rotation of said graphic pattern.

6. A method of displaying on a screen a graphic pattern and characters superimposed at predetermined positions on said graphic pattern for a vehicle road map display system comprising the steps of:

(a) storing graphic data from which said graphic pattern can be generated on said screen;

(b) storing coded data from which said characters can be generated on said screen;

(c) storing positional data for predetermined positions of said characters on said graphic pattern;

(d) sensing the orientation of said vehicle;

(e) rotating said graphic pattern in accordance with the sensed orientation of the vehicle;

(f) shifting said positional data according to degree of graphic pattern rotation; and

(g) controlling display on said screen of said graphic pattern according to said stored graphic data, and said characters according to said stored coded data, by rotating said graphic pattern, and using said shifted positional data to superimpose said characters at said predetermined positions on said graphic pattern so that said characters have a vertical orientation on said screen independent of said rotation of said graphic pattern.