Vehicular Heads-Up Display System

• US 20080276191A1
• Filed: 10/26/2007
• Published: 11/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Vehicular Sciences LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Automotive Technologies International Incorporated
• Inventors: Breed, David S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,818,647 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/771
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/002 Seats provided with an occupancy detection means mounted therein or thereon detection means responsive to presence or absence of children B60N2/266
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0244 with logic circuits
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0268 using sensors or detectors for adapting the seat or seat part, e.g. to the position of an occupant
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 23/3728 with wireless means
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0181 Adaptation to the pilot/driver
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0187 slaved to motion of at least a part of the body of the user, e.g. head, eye
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/01 Head-up displays

Abstract

Heads-up display arrangements for vehicles including a seat in which an occupant sits, a system for forming an image of text and/or graphics in a field of view of the occupant, a determination arrangement for determining a position of the occupant (or a part thereof) and an adjustment system for adjusting the seat based on the occupant'"'"'s determined position to thereby change the orientation of the occupant relative to the image. Change of the orientation of the occupant relative to the image may entail adjusting the seat and/or adjusting the image forming system, which is often a heads-up display system. Adjustment of the seat may involve moving the seat forward or backward and/or up or down, or any other direction or way possible given the construction of the seat.

Claims

1. A vehicle, comprising:

a seat in which an occupant sits;

a forming system arranged to form an image of text and/or graphics in a field of view of the occupant;

a determining system arranged to determine a position of the occupant; and

an adjustment system coupled to said determining system and arranged to adjust said seat based on the occupant'"'"'s determined position to thereby change the orientation of the occupant relative to the image being formed by said forming system.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising an interacting system coupled to said forming system for enabling the occupant to interact with said forming system to change the image formed by said forming system or direct another vehicular system to perform an operation.

3. The vehicle of claim 2, wherein said interacting system comprise a touch pad arranged to enable the occupant to interact with said forming system to direct the another vehicular system to perform an operation, said forming system being arranged to form the image apart from said touch pad.

4. The vehicle of claim 3, further comprising a steering wheel, said touch pad being arranged on said steering wheel.

5. The vehicle of claim 3, further comprising a steering wheel having an airbag module having a cover, said touch pad being arranged over said cover of said airbag module and being constructed to break upon deployment of an airbag from said airbag module.

6. The vehicle of claim 3, further comprising a correlation system for correlating a location on said touch pad which has been touched by the occupant to the image to enable the occupant to change the image formed by said forming system or direct the another vehicular system to perform an operation by touching said touch pad, said correlation system being coupled to said forming system and arranged to cause said forming system to display an indicator in the image which correlates to the location on said touch pad touched by the occupant.

7. The vehicle of claim 3, further comprising a correlation system for correlating a location on said touch pad which has been touched by the occupant to the image and causing the vehicular system to perform the operation based on the location on said touch pad which has been touched by the occupant.

8. The vehicle of claim 2, further comprising an instrument panel, said interacting system being arranged in connection with said instrument panel and being movable between a storage position in which said interacting system is inaccessible to the occupant and a use position in which said interacting system is accessible to the occupant.

9. The vehicle of claim 2, wherein said interacting system comprises a microphone and said determining system is arranged to locate a position of the occupant'"'"'s mouth.

10. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said determining system is arranged to determine a location of the eyes of the occupant for optimum viewing of the image, and said adjustment system is arranged to adjust said seat based on the determined location of the eyes of the occupant to thereby move the occupant and thus the occupant'"'"'s eyes and enable the occupant'"'"'s view of the image to be improved.

11. The vehicle of claim 10, wherein said determining system comprises at least one receiver for receiving waves from a space above said seat and a pattern recognition system for determining the position of the occupant based on the waves received by said at least one receiver and enable a location of the eyes of the occupant to be determined from the position of the occupant.

12. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said forming system is arranged to form an image of an exterior of the vehicle and add an overlay image to the image, said forming system being arranged to determine the type of overlay image to be added, types of overlay images including warning messages, projected vehicle trajectories, and images of objects in the exterior environment.

13. A vehicle, comprising:

a seat in which an occupant sits;

a heads-up display system arranged to form an image of text and/or graphics in a field of view of the occupant and exterior of the vehicle;

an occupant position sensor system arranged to determine a position of the occupant in said seat; and

means coupled to said occupant position sensor system for changing the orientation of the occupant relative to the image based on the determined position of the occupant to enable the occupant'"'"'s eyes to be positioned in an optimum position relative to the image.

14. The vehicle of claim 13, wherein said means comprises an adjustment system arranged to adjust said seat based on the occupant'"'"'s position as determined by said occupant position sensor system.

15. The vehicle of claim 14, wherein said occupant position sensor system is arranged to determine a location of the eyes of the occupant for optimum viewing of the image, and said adjustment system is arranged to adjust said seat based on the determined location of the eyes of the occupant to thereby move the occupant and thus the occupant'"'"'s eyes and enable the occupant'"'"'s view of the image to be improved.

16. The vehicle of claim 13, further comprising an interacting mechanism coupled to said heads-up display system and arranged to enable the occupant to interact with said heads-up display system to change the image formed by said heads-up display system or direct another vehicular system to perform an operation.

17. The vehicle of claim 16, wherein said interacting mechanism comprises a touch pad, said heads-up display system being arranged to form the image apart from said touch pad, a location on said touch pad which has been touched by the occupant being correlated to the image to enable the occupant to change the image formed by said heads-up display system or direct the another vehicular system to perform an operation by touching said touch pad and such that an indicator is displayed in the image which correlates to the location on said touch pad touched by the occupant.

18. A method for vehicular display, comprising:

forming images of text and/or graphics in a field of view of an occupant of the vehicle;

determining a position of the occupant; and

optimizing the visualization of the images of text and/or graphics by the occupant by changing the orientation of the occupant relative to the images when the determined occupant'"'"'s position is indicative that the occupant'"'"'s eyes are not in an optimum position for viewing the images.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of changing the orientation of the occupant relative to the formed images comprises adjusting a seat on which the occupant is seated based on the occupant'"'"'s position.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising enabling the occupant to interact with the heads-up display system to change the images or direct another vehicular system to perform an operation.