Vehicular information provision apparatus

• US 8,305,234 B2
• Filed: 01/24/2008
• Issued: 11/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Tauchi, Makiko, Matsumoto, Yuuji, Enokizaka, Tetsuya, Yamamoto, Mitsuo, Kiyohara, Hirofumi, Tsukahara, Hiroshi, Masutani, Osamu
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehmood, Jennifer
• Assistant Examiner(s): WILSON, BRIAN P
• Application Number:
  US12/010,339
• Publication Number:
  US 20080284615A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,748 Days
• Field of Search: 340/576, 340/988, 340/901, 340/905, 701/117
• US Class Current: 340/901
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/091 Traffic information broadcasting broadcasting communication H04H

Abstract

An information provision apparatus of the present invention includes a stop detector to detect a stop of a vehicle; a display unit to display various information; and a control unit to control the display unit to display a plurality of display contents in a manner that two successive contents of information differ with each other while the vehicle is standing at the temporal stop. When the vehicle is caught in a traffic congestion to stop temporarily, the driver of the vehicle is entertained by plural contents of the information appearing on the display unit for his/her diversion.

Claims

1. A vehicular information provision apparatus comprising:

a stop detector configured to detect a temporal stop of a vehicle that is having a travel;

a display unit configured to display various information at a position that is viewable by occupants in the vehicle, the display unit being an in-vehicle display unit;

an information database configured to memorize information organized as long time information and short time information;

a control unit configured to control the display unit to display a plurality of display contents in a manner that (a) information contents elected from the database are processed to conclude within a stop time of the temporal stop, the stop time being pre-determined from a stop start time, and (b) two successive contents of information differ from each other while the vehicle is standing at the temporal stop detected by the stop detector; and

a personal information accumulation device configured to accumulate personal information that at least includes a personal hobby and an idea of a driver of the vehicle, wherein

extraction of the information contents is performed according to the personal information of the driver, and

the extracted information contents are then elected from the information database and are processed for viewing by the driver.

2. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the control unit controls the display unit to display a content of information that is self-contained in one screen on the display unit as the short time information, and controls the display unit to display a content of information that is not self-contained in one screen as the long time information.

3. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 2,

wherein the control unit controls the display unit to guide attention of the driver to the provided information away from a reason for the temporal stop.

4. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a driver'"'"'s condition detector configured to detect a current driver'"'"'s condition; and

a condition determiner configured to determine that the driver is in a usual condition according to the current driver'"'"'s condition detected by the driver'"'"'s condition detector based on a predetermined criterion,

wherein, when the driver is determined to be in the usual condition, the control unit controls the display unit according to the driver'"'"'s condition to display the content of information including a content of a predetermined time length.

5. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 4, wherein

a current driver'"'"'s operation detected as being diverted from a history of driver'"'"'s operation stored in a database is used as one of predetermined criteria for determining that the driver'"'"'s condition is not normal, and

the determination of the driver'"'"'s condition not being normal is used to control the display unit to avoid displaying information that includes the content of the predetermined time length.

6. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 5, wherein

the information displayed on the display unit is configured to be edited in Consideration of driver'"'"'s condition.

7. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 4, wherein

a current driver'"'"'s operation in association with driver'"'"'s emotion that surfaces as voice tone, facial expression is detected as being diverted from a history stored in a database is used as one of predetermined criteria for determining that the driver'"'"'s condition is not normal, and

the determination of the driver'"'"'s condition not being normal is used to control the display unit to avoid displaying information that includes the content of the predetermined time length.

8. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 7, wherein

the information displayed finally on the display unit is the information that indicates that the vehicle is starting in a short time.

9. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the information displayed on the display unit shows a remaining time before the vehicle starts, and

the brightness of the information on the display unit is configured to be dimmed as time elapses.

10. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display contents are audio and/or visual entertainment acquired through an in- vehicle outside communications equipment.

11. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a stop time calculation unit configured to calculate the stop time of the vehicle.

12. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a communications unit configured to acquire traffic light information from a road-side infrastructure, wherein

the stop time of the vehicle in the temporal stop is determined based on the traffic light information.

13. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 1, wherein

a combination of short time information and long time information are elected from the information database, and

the information contents elected from the information database are played back to the driver without interruption and have an end of playback which substantially coincides with the stop time of the temporal stop.

14. A vehicular information provision apparatus comprising:

a stop detector configured to detect a temporal stop of a vehicle that is having a travel;

a display unit configured to display various information at a position that is viewable by occupants in the vehicle, the display unit being an in-vehicle display unit;

an information database configured to memorize information organized as long time information and short time information;

a control unit configured to control the display unit to display a plurality of information contents in a manner that (a) information contents elected from the information database are processed to conclude within a stop time of the temporal stop, the stop time being pre- determined from a stop start time, and (b) two successive information contents differ from each other while the vehicle is standing at the temporal stop; and

a personal information accumulation device configured to accumulate personal information that at least includes a personal hobby and an idea of a driver of the vehicle, wherein

extraction of the information contents is performed according to the personal information of the driver,

the extracted information contents are then elected from the information database and are processed for viewing by the driver, and

the information content displayed finally on the display unit is information to prompt a driver of the vehicle to start the vehicle.

15. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 14, wherein

two successive contents of information except for information displayed finally are serially displayed in a fade-out and fade-in manner between the two successive contents, and

the information displayed finally on the display unit is abruptly displayed without fading- in for providing impression for the driver that the vehicle is about to start.

16. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 14, wherein the display contents are audio and/or visual entertainment acquired through an in-vehicle outside communications equipment.

17. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 14, wherein

the control unit controls the display unit to display a content of information that is self-contained in one screen on the display unit as the short time information, and controls the display unit to display a content of information that is not self-contained in one screen as the long time information.

18. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 14, wherein

a combination of short time information and long time information are elected from the information database, and

the information contents elected from the information database are played back to the driver without interruption and have an end of playback which substantially coincides with the stop time of the temporal stop.

19. A vehicular information provision apparatus comprising:

a stop detector configured to detect a temporal stop of a vehicle that is having a travel;

a display unit configured to display various information at a position that is viewable by occupants in the vehicle, the display unit being an in-vehicle display unit;

an information database configured to memorize information organized as long time information and short time information;

a control unit configured to control the display unit to display a plurality of display contents in a manner that (a) information contents elected from the information database are processed to conclude within a stop time of the temporal stop, and (b) two successive contents of information differ from each other while the vehicle is standing at the temporal stop calculated by a stop detector a stop time calculation unit;

a driver'"'"'s condition detector configured to detect a current driver'"'"'s condition; and

a condition determiner configured to determine that the driver is in a usual condition according to the current driver'"'"'s condition detected by the driver'"'"'s condition detector based on a predetermined criterion,

wherein, when the driver is determined to be in the usual condition, the control unit controls the display unit according to the driver'"'"'s condition to display the content of information including a content of a predetermined time length,

wherein the control unit is configured to further determine the current driver'"'"'s condition based on a number of occupants in the vehicle,

wherein the control unit is configured to determine whether short time or long time information is to be displayed according to the current driver'"'"'s condition.

20. The vehicular information provision apparatus of claim 19, wherein the control unit further

determines whether the current driver'"'"'s condition is affected by a condition of a co-occupant in the vehicle based on the number of occupants,

includes a co-occupant condition in determining the current driver'"'"'s condition and determines the current driver'"'"'s condition to be different, when the current driver'"'"'s condition is determined to be affected by the condition of the co-occupant based on the number of occupants, in comparison to the current driver'"'"'s condition when the current driver'"'"'s condition is not determined to be affected by the condition of the co-occupant based on the number of occupants.