Head up display (HUD)

• US 8,854,281 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2011
• Issued: 10/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Automotive Research & Testing Center
• Original Assignee: Automotive Research & Testing Center
• Inventors: Hsu, Jih-Tao, Chiang, Chih-Bin, Ho, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Lefkowitz, Sumati
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shen, Peijie
• Application Number:
  US13/309,747
• Publication Number:
  US 20130141311A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,040 Days
• Field of Search: 345/7, 340/425, 340/438, 340/461, 348/51, 359/295, 359/630, 359/632
• US Class Current: 345/7
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/0833 the reflecting element being a micromechanical device, e.g. a MEMS mirror, DMD G02B26/0825 takes precedence; micromechanical devices in general B81B
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0101 characterised by optical features G02B27/0172 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/12 Overlay of images, i.e. displayed pixel being the result of switching between the corresponding input pixels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/14 Solving problems related to the presentation of information to be displayed
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/10 Automotive applications
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/003 to produce spatial visual effects

Abstract

A Head Up Display (HUD), comprising: an image display unit, to generate input images; a virtual image generation unit, to receive said input images and generate at least a virtual image; a rotation mechanism, used to make said virtual image generation unit to change its projection angle, to project virtual images to a plurality of transmission mirrors; and a plurality of transmission mirrors, used to receive said virtual images and reflect them into a large area virtual image. Advantage of said HUD is that, size of lens and mirrors is reduced, so said HUD is miniaturized, while realizing large area image display, such that information frame of vehicle match that of outside view, hereby solving problems of single optical route display device of the prior art, that is only capable of displaying a small area image rather than a large area image.

Claims

1. A Head Up Display (HUD), comprising at least:

an image display unit generating one or more input images;

at least a virtual image generation unit including a plurality of magnifying optical elements arranged into a matrix array to form a digital micro-mirror device, said virtual image generation unit sequentially addressing each of a plurality of input image portions, each image portion including a plurality of pixels, said virtual image generation unit receiving said input image portions and producing a plurality of virtual images, each virtual image corresponding to a respective one of said input image portions;

a rotation mechanism controlling rotation angles of said virtual image generation unit, said rotation mechanism changing rotation angles of said virtual image generation unit to change a projection angle between a portion of said virtual images for display of said plurality of virtual images in spaced relation one from another; and

a plurality of transmission mirrors, each transmission mirror respectively receiving a portion of said plurality of virtual images at a different one of said projection angles and reflecting the plurality of virtual images to a viewer to thereby appear concurrently as a large area virtual image;

wherein each magnifying optical element of said plurality thereof corresponds to at least one of said pixels and is swayed by said rotation mechanism in a predetermined fashion to project a respective one of said plurality of virtual images generated thereat onto a respective one of said plurality of transmission mirrors, wherein said rotation mechanism has a plurality of swaying states, and wherein a number of said transmission mirrors in said plurality thereof substantially equals to a number of said swaying states of said rotation mechanism.

2. The Head Up Display (HUD), as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a light source generation unit, used to generate a light source, wherein said image display unit is a digital micro-mirror device and contains a plurality of micro-mirrors, said micro-mirrors being arranged a matrix array, such that said image display unit receives light from said light source to generate said input images, wherein, each said input image has a plurality of pixels, and each said micro-mirror corresponds respectively to each said pixel, so that number of said micro-mirrors substantially equals to that of said pixels.

3. The Head Up Display (HUD), as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rotation mechanism further includes an actuation unit and a power unit, wherein said power unit provides power to bring said actuation unit into action to control said virtual image generation unit, and wherein said power unit includes a step motor or a micro motor.

4. The Head Up Display (HUD), as claimed in claim 1, wherein said image display unit is a liquid crystal display or a digital optical projector.

5. The Head Up Display (HUD), as claimed in claim 1, wherein a vision converged range is provided, so that said each transmission mirror reflects to display said large area virtual image into said vision converged range.

6. The Head Up Display (HUD), as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

at least an image fetching unit and at least a processing unit connected to said image fetching unit and said image display unit, wherein said image fetching unit fetches an external signal, wherein said processing unit is used to receive said external signal from said image fetching unit, and process said external signal and a vehicle signal into an image signal, and wherein said processing unit transmits said image signal to said image display unit, so that said image display unit generates said input image.

7. The Head Up Display (HUD), as claimed in claim 6, wherein said external signal relates to a lane marking, a horizontal line, or an obstacle contour;

and wherein said vehicle signal relates to vehicle operation temperature, engine rotation speed, vehicle driving speed, guidance information, tire pressure, gear shift reminder, turning-around and back-up reminder, obstacle warning, flying attitude, flying speed, flying direction, vertical speed variations, vehicle inclination angle, wind direction, and vehicle moving-forward or slow-down.

8. The Head Up Display (HUD), as claimed in claim 1, wherein said virtual image generation unit includes at least one concave lens, at least one convex lens, or a combination of both.

9. The Head Up Display (HUD), as claimed in claim 1, wherein said each transmission mirror includes a planar plate of a high reflectivity optical thin film, with its transmission rate between 70% and 75%, and its reflection rate between 25% and 30%, and wherein a display angle of said each transmission mirror is adjustable and is adjusted to a proper display angle.