Light emitting device, driving support system, and helmet

• US 20050052348A1
• Filed: 08/16/2004
• Published: 03/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Kuwabara, Hideaki, Koyama, Jun, Yamazaki, Shunpei
• Granted Patent: US 7,598,927 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/44
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/06 responsive to incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/22 Psychological state; Stress level or workload
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/221 Physiology, e.g. weight, heartbeat, health or special needs
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/095 Predicting travel path or likelihood of collision
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/02 related to ambient conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/08 related to drivers or passengers
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/365 Guidance using head up displays or projectors, e.g. virtual vehicles or arrows projected on the windscreen or on the road itself
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/01 Head-up displays
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/017 Head mounted
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0172 characterised by optical features
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/30 Polarising elements light-modulating devices with active elements G02F1/00
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 2102/3031 Two-side emission, e.g. transparent OLEDs [TOLED]
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/86 Arrangements for improving contrast, e.g. preventing reflection of ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/12 Active-matrix OLED [AMOLED] displays

Abstract

It is an object to provide a driving support system and a display device suitable for the driving support system. According to the driving support system, change in driver'"'"'s mental and physical conditions can be caught instantaneously and a warning light emission display is given within the forward sight of the driver in order to call the driver'"'"'s attention. A light emitting device of the driving support system can display a far side of the display. A display may be switched between a transmission mode and a non-transmission mode by adjusting a movable polarizer.

Claims

1. A light emitting device mounted on a vehicle and provided within a forward sight of a driver, the light emitting device comprising:

a front polarizer and a back polarizer which cover a front surface and a back surface of the light emitting device, respectively,

wherein the light emitting device can switch between a display mode which can display with a front scene superposed and a display mode which can display with the front scene shielded by adjusting the back polarizer disposed between the driver and the light emitting device.

2. A light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of light emitting elements is disposed in matrix, and the light emitting element comprises a first electrode which transmits light, an organic compound layer, and a second electrode which transmits light.

3. A light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein a front polarizer and a back polarizer are disposed so that their polarizing axes are crossed at right angles with each other.

4. A light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle is one selected from the group consisting of a passenger car, a truck, a bus, a special purpose car, a special kind car, a specially equipped car, an electric train, and an automatic two-wheeled vehicle.

5. A driving support system comprising:

a means for shooting a picture of a front or a peripheral scene of a vehicle;

a judging means for judging if there is any vehicle ahead, an obstruction, or a living body information of a driver; and

a display means for displaying data on a drive of a vehicle or a warning data based on the judging means,

wherein the display means switch between a display with a front scene superposed in case of displaying data on the drive of the vehicle and a display with the front scene shielded in case of displaying the warning data.

6. A driving support system according to claim 5, further comprising an audio output means for outputting the warning data based on the judging means.

7. A driving support system according to claim 5, further comprising a location data calculating means for calculating a self-location based on a signal from a GPS receiver and a memory means for storing map data, and the map data is read out from the memory means based on the location data calculating means and outputted by the display means.

8. A driving support system according to claim 5, wherein the display means is a light emitting device by which a front scene can be viewed through a non-emitting part when non-emitting and a display can be switched to a display with the front scene shielded by adjusting a polarizer.

9. A driving support system according to claim 5, wherein the judging means for judging living body information of a driver is a means for judging driver'"'"'s mental and physical conditions comprising a sensor for catching living body information of the driver, a chaos attractor generating portion for calculating a chaos attractor by numerically processed data caught by the sensor, and a lyapunov index generating portion for calculating an index indicating to what degree the chaos attractor matches a definition of the chaos.

10. A driving support system comprising:

a means for shooting a picture of a front or a peripheral scene of a vehicle;

a judging means for judging if there is any vehicle ahead, an obstruction, or a living body information of a driver;

a display means for displaying data on a drive of a vehicle or a warning data based on the judging means; and

a surrounding circumstance detecting means for detecting a surrounding circumstance of a vehicle,

wherein a display with a front scene superposed and a display with the front scene shielded are switched automatically depending on a surrounding circumstance obtained by the surrounding circumstance detecting means.

11. A driving support system according to claim 10, wherein the surrounding circumstance detecting means is a sensor for detecting the light intensity in a car.

12. A driving support system according to claim 10, further comprising an audio output means for outputting the warning data based on the judging means.

13. A driving support system according to claim 10, further comprising a location data calculating means for calculating a self-location based on a signal from a GPS receiver and a memory means for storing map data, and the map data is read out from the memory means based on the location data calculating means and outputted by the display means.

14. A driving support system according to claim 10, wherein the display means is a light emitting device by which a front scene can be viewed through a non-emitting part when non-emitting and a display can be switched to a display with the front scene shielded by adjusting a polarizer.

15. A driving support system according to claim 10, wherein the judging means for judging living body information of a driver is a means for judging driver'"'"'s mental and physical conditions comprising a sensor for catching living body information of the driver, a chaos attractor generating portion for calculating a chaos attractor by numerically processed data caught by the sensor, and a lyapunov index generating portion for calculating an index indicating to what degree the chaos attractor matches a definition of the chaos.

16. A driving support system comprising:

a means for shooting a picture of a front or a peripheral scene of a vehicle;

a judging means for judging if there is any vehicle ahead, an obstruction, or a living body information of a driver;

a display means for displaying data on a drive of a vehicle or a warning data based on the judging means; and

a surrounding circumstance detecting means for detecting a surrounding circumstance of a vehicle,

wherein the display means for displaying warning emits a strong light from the whole surface instantaneously to a driver and to a forward sight of the driver.

17. A driving support system according to claim 16, further comprising an audio output means for outputting the warning data based on the judging means.

18. A driving support system according to claim 16, further comprising a location data calculating means for calculating a self-location based on a signal from a GPS receiver and a memory means for storing map data, and the map data is read out from the memory means based on the location data calculating means and outputted by the display means.

19. A driving support system according to claim 16, wherein the display means is a light emitting device by which a front scene can be viewed through a non-emitting part when non-emitting and a display can be switched to a display with the front scene shielded by adjusting a polarizer.

20. A driving support system according to claim 16, wherein the judging means for judging living body information of a driver is a means for judging driver'"'"'s mental and physical conditions comprising a sensor for catching living body information of the driver, a chaos attractor generating portion for calculating a chaos attractor by numerically processed data caught by the sensor, and a lyapunov index generating portion for calculating an index indicating to what degree the chaos attractor matches a definition of the chaos.

21. A helmet comprising:

a transparent shield; and

a light emitting device adjacent to the transparent shield, wherein the light emitting device can display with a front scene of a person who wears the helmet.

22. A helmet according to claim 21, wherein the helmet is equipped with a GPS receiver, and a vehicle is provided with a location data calculating means for calculating a self-location based on a signal from the GPS receiver and a memory means for storing map data, whereby map data is read out from the memory means based on the location data calculating means and outputted by the light emitting device.

23. A helmet according to claim 21, wherein the light emitting device is provided with a plurality of light emitting elements in matrix and by which a front scene of a person who wears the helmet can be viewed through a non-emitting part when non-emitting.