Head-up display on a vehicle, with controlled brightness of warning light

• US 6,720,938 B2
• Filed: 05/07/2001
• Issued: 04/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Satomura, Masashi, Ohkawara, Osamu, Tsuji, Takayuki, Hattori, Hiroshi, Asami, Ken
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Kent
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHENG, TOM V
• Application Number:
  US09/850,243
• Publication Number:
  US 20010040534A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,072 Days
• Field of Search: 345/7-9, 359/13, 359/629-631, 340/435, 340/903, 340/907
• US Class Current: 345/7
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/12 using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0606 Manual adjustment
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/062 Adjustment of illumination source parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0626 for control of overall brightness
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0633 by amplitude modulation of the brightness of the illumination source
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3406 Control of illumination source illumination devices structurally associated with liquid crystal cells G02F1/1336
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T

Abstract

A head-up display on a vehicle, which calls the attention of the driver or passenger to a dangerous object and makes the driver or passenger reliably recognize a communicated alarm, comprises: an image display device for displaying an image taken by a camera; a detecting device for detecting a target object; a switching device for manually switching between a display state and a warm-up state; and a warning device for outputting a control signal based on the detected result, thereby making the image display device display the image. The brightness for displaying the image according to the control signal is higher than the brightness for displaying the image according to a manual operation of the switching device.

Claims

1. A head-up display on a vehicle, comprising:

an image display device for displaying an image taken by a camera built into the vehicle such that the image is visible to a vehicle occupant looking toward a windscreen of the vehicle;

a detecting device for detecting a target object in the vicinity of the vehicle;

a switching device for manually switching between a display state in which the image is displayed by the image display device and a warm-up state in which the image is invisible; and

a warning device for outputting a control signal based on a result detected by the detecting device, thereby making the image display device display the image,

wherein the brightness employed by the image display device for displaying the image according to the control signal is higher than the brightness employed by the image display device for displaying the image according to a manual operation of the switching device;

in the warm-up state, the image is displayed with a brightness by which the image is invisible to the driver or passenger of the vehicle; and

when a predetermined time has elapsed after the image display device starts to display the image, the display state is shifted to the warm-up state.

2. A head-up display as claimed in claim 1, wherein when the image display device displays the image according to the control signal from the warning device, the image display device reduces the brightness after a predetermined time from the starting of the display.

3. A head-up display as claimed in claim 1, wherein the image display device has a light source for changing the brightness of the displayed image according to an applied voltage supplied to the light source;

and

when the image display device is commanded to display the image by a manual operation of the switching device or the control signal output from the warning device, the image display device supplies the maximum applied voltage to be applied to the light source for a predetermined time.

4. A head-up display as claimed in claim 1, wherein the detecting device outputs an alarm signal when detecting a target object in the vicinity of the vehicle;

and

image display device displays a predetermined still image according to the alarm signal output from the detecting device, and

wherein the brightness employed by the image display device for displaying the still image according to the alarm signal is higher than the brightness employed by the image display device for displaying the image according to a manual operation of the switching device.

5. A head-up display as claimed in claim 4, wherein when the image display device displays the still image according to the alarm signal from the detecting device, the image display device reduces the brightness after a predetermined time from the starting of the display.

6. A head-up display as claimed in claim 4, wherein when both the control signal from the warning device and the alarm signal from the detecting device are output, the image display device displays the image taken by the camera and the still image which are overlapped.

7. A head-up display on a vehicle, comprising:

an image display device for displaying an image taken by a camera built into the vehicle such that the image is visible to a vehicle occupant looking toward a windscreen of the vehicle;

a detecting device for detecting a target object in the vicinity of the vehicle;

a switching device for manually switching between a display state in which the image is displayed by the image display device and a warm-up state in which the image is invisible; and

a warning device for outputting a control signal based on a result detected by the detecting device, thereby making the image display device display the image;

wherein the brightness employed by the image display device for displaying the image according to the control signal is higher than the brightness employed by the image display device for displaying the image according to a manual operation of the switching device;

the image display device has a light source for changing the brightness of the displayed image according to an applied voltage supplied to the light source;

when the image display device is commanded to display the image by a manual operation of the switching device or the control signal output from the warning device, the image display device supplies the maximum applied voltage to be applied to the light source for a predetermined time; and

after the image display device supplies the maximum applied voltage to be applied to the light source for the predetermined time, the image display device reduces the voltage supplied to the light source to either a level corresponding to a high brightness image display when the image display device is commanded to display the image by the control signal output from the warning device or a level corresponding to a lesser brightness image display when the image display device is commanded to display the image by the manual operation of the switching device.