Vehicle-mounted display system and display method

• US 6,653,948 B1
• Filed: 06/05/2000
• Issued: 11/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai RIKA Denki Seisakusho
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai RIKA Denki Seisakusho
• Inventors: Hirano, Yoshihisa, Nishikawa, Masato, Kunimatsu, Yoshimasa, Nagasaka, Chikao
• Primary Examiner(s): SWARTHOUT, BRENT
• Application Number:
  US09/586,807
• Time in Patent Office: 1,268 Days
• Field of Search: 340/995, 340/990, 340/995.19, 340/995.16, 340/995.23, 340/995.1, 701/208, 701/209, 701/211, 701/212, 701/213
• US Class Current: 340/995.19
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3647 Guidance involving output of stored or live camera images or video streams
• 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

Abstract

A display system featuring improved operability when plural screens are displayed on a display and when many functions are provided, and a method of display for the display system. A screen is selected from plural screens displayed on a display portion 20A of a display 20. The selected screen is displayed on an entire surface of the display portion 20A together with an operation menu corresponding to the selected screen.

Claims

1. A vehicle-mounted display system comprising:

an output device which outputs data;

a display for displaying, on an entire surface of a display portion of the display, a screen based on the data output from the output device, the display portion being divided into plural regions which display screens based on different data output from the output device;

a screen selecting device for selecting any one of the plural screens displayed on the display; and

a display control device means for displaying the screen selected by the screen selecting device on the entire surface of the display portion of the display, and for simultaneously displaying, on the display portion and together with the selected screen, an operation menu corresponding to the selected screen at the time said selected screen is selected, wherein said operation menu is substantially uniformly displayed over said entire surface of said display portion, and said operation menu covers a substantial portion of an area of said entire surface of said display portion until an item on the operation menu is selected.

2. A vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 1, further comprising a detecting device for detecting a traveling state of the vehicle, wherein when a screen is selected from the plural screens by the screen selecting device, the display device means displays, on the display portion, an operation menu containing an operation item corresponding to the traveling state of the vehicle.

3. A vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 2, wherein the detecting device detects, as the traveling state of the vehicle, a state where the vehicle is traveling and a state where the vehicle is stopped.

4. A vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 1, wherein the output device is at least one of a navigation device, a VICS (vehicle information and communication system) device and an audio device.

5. A vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 1, wherein the screen selecting device is a remote controller having a touch pad with a protuberance forming boundaries of division, the touch pad being divided in accordance with division of the screen and enabling the boundaries of division to be perceived upon touching by hand.

6. A vehicle-mounted display system comprising:

an output device which outputs data;

a display for displaying, on a display portion of the display, a screen based on the data outputted from the output device;

a detecting device for detecting a traveling state of the vehicle;

a display selecting device for selecting a suitable operation menu such that an operation menu containing at least one operation item corresponding to the screen displayed on the display is displayed; and

a display control device means for displaying the screen selected by the screen selecting device on the entire surface of the display portion of the display, and for simultaneously displaying, on the display portion and together with the selected screen, as an item of the operation menu, at least one predetermined operation item corresponding to the traveling state of the vehicle detected by the detecting device, wherein said operation menu is substantially uniformly displayed over said entire surface of said display portion, and said operation menu covers a substantial portion of an area of said entire surface of said display portion until an item on the operation menu is selected.

7. A vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 6, wherein characters expressing functions of the operation items are not displayed for operation items that do not correspond to the screen displayed on the display, and are not displayed for operation items that do not correspond to the traveling state of the vehicle.

8. A vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 6, wherein the detecting device detects, as the traveling state of the vehicle, a state where the vehicle is traveling and a state where the vehicle is stopped.

9. A vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 6, wherein the output device is at least one of a navigation device, a VICS (vehicle information and communication system) device and an audio device.

10. A vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 9, wherein the navigation device outputs a travel route from a position of the vehicle to a destination, and when the display control device means displays a map screen indicating the position of the vehicle and a map screen indicating the destination, an operation menu for the map screen indicating the position of the vehicle is different from an operation menu for the map screen indicating the destination.

11. A display method for a vehicle-mounted display system comprising the steps of:

(a) outputting data;

(b) displaying, on an entire surface of a display portion, a screen based on the data output in step (a), and dividing the display portion into plural regions displaying screens based on different data outputted in step (a) on the plural divisional regions;

(c) selecting any one of the plural screens displayed in step (b); and

(d) displaying the screen selected in step (c) on the entire surface of the display portion, and simultaneously displaying an operation menu corresponding to the selected screen on the display portion together with the selected screen at the time the selected screen is selected, wherein said operation menu is substantially uniformly displayed over said entire surface of said display portion, and said operation menu covers a substantial portion of an area of said entire surface of said display portion until an item on the operation menu is selected.

12. A display method for a vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 11, further comprising the step of:

(e) detecting a traveling state of a vehicle, wherein

when one of the plural screens is selected in step (c), an operation menu containing an operation item corresponding to the traveling state of the vehicle is displayed in step (d) on the display portion together with the selected screen.

13. A display method for a vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 12, wherein in step (e), a state where the vehicle is traveling and a state where the vehicle is stopped are detected as the traveling state of the vehicle.

14. A display method for a vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 11, wherein the data outputted in step (a) is outputted from at least one of a navigation device, a VICS (vehicle information and communication system) device and an audio device.

15. A display method for a vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 11, wherein in step (e), one of the plural screens is selected by using a remote controller having a touch pad with a protuberance forming boundaries of division, the touch pad being divided in accordance with division of the screen and enabling the boundaries of division to be perceived upon touching by hand.

16. A display method for a vehicle-mounted display system comprising the steps of:

(a) outputting data;

(b) displaying, on a display portion, plural screens based on the data output in step (a);

(c) detecting a traveling state of a vehicle;

(d) selecting one of said plural screens;

(e) selecting a suitable operation menu such that an operation menu containing at least one operation item corresponding to the screen displayed in step (d) is displayed; and

(f) displaying over said entire display portion said selected screen and simultaneously displaying over said selected screen at least one predetermined operation item corresponding to the traveling state of the vehicle detected at the step (c) as the item of the operation menu, wherein said operation menu is substantially uniformly displayed over said entire surface of said display portion, and said operation menu covers a substantial portion of an area of said entire surface of said display portion until an item on the operation menu is selected.

17. A display method for a vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 16, wherein the characters expressing functions of the operation items are not displayed for operation items that do not correspond to the screen displayed in step (d), and are not displayed for operation items that do not correspond to the traveling state of the vehicle at the step (e).

18. A display method for a vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 16, wherein in step (c), a state where the vehicle is traveling and a state where the vehicle is stopped are detected as the traveling state of the vehicle.

19. A display method for a vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 16, wherein the data outputted in step (a) is outputted from at least one of a navigation device, a VICS (vehicle information and communication system) device and an audio device.

20. A display method for a vehicle-mounted display system according to claim 19, wherein the navigation device outputs a travel route from a position of the vehicle to a destination in step (a), and when a map screen indicating the position of the vehicle and a map screen indicating the destination are displayed in step (b), operation items of the operation menu selected in step (d) differ for an operation menu for the map screen indicating the position of the vehicle and an operation menu for the map screen indicating the destination.