# US 2018/0023970 A1 · Vehicle display control device and vehicle display control method

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- Number: US 2018/0023970 A1
- Document ID: US20180023970A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 15/549,491
- Filed: 2016-02-01
- Published: 2018-01-25
- Earliest claimed: 2015-02-09
- Assignees: Denso Corporation
- Applicants: Denso Corporation
- Inventors: Sei IGUCHI
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20180023970A1

## CPC

- 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}
- B60K 35/10: Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor
- B60K 35/215: characterised by the combination of multiple visual outputs, e.g. combined instruments with analogue meters and additional displays
- B60K 35/234: controlling the brightness, colour or contrast of virtual images depending on the driving conditions or on the condition of the vehicle or the driver
- B60K 35/28: characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver
- B60K 35/81: for controlling displays
- B60W 30/0956: {the prediction being responsive to traffic or environmental parameters}
- G02B 27/01: Head-up displays
- G08G 1/096805: {where the transmitted instructions are used to compute a route}
- G08G 1/096861: {where the immediate route instructions are output to the driver, e.g. arrow signs for next turn}
- 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)
- B60K 2360/166: Navigation
- B60K 2360/177: Augmented reality
- B60K 2360/334: Projection means
- B60W 30/08: {Active safety systems} predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision {or attempting to minimise its consequences}
- B60W 2050/146: {Display means}
- G02B 2027/0138: {comprising image capture systems, e.g. camera}
- G02B 2027/0141: {characterised by the informative content of the display}
- G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S)
- B60K: ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PROPULSION UNITS OR OF TRANSMISSIONS IN VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PLURAL DIVERSE PRIME-MOVERS IN VEHICLES; AUXILIARY DRIVES FOR VEHICLES; INSTRUMENTATION OR DASHBOARDS FOR VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH COOLING, AIR INTAKE, GAS EXHAUST OR FUEL SUPPLY OF PROPULSION UNITS IN VEHICLES
- B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
- G02B: OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93})
- G09G: ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION (arrangements for transferring data between digital computers and displays G06F3/14; static indicating arrangements comprising an association of a number of separate sources or light control cells G09F9/00; static indicating arrangements comprising integral associations of a number of light sources H01J, H01K, H10H, H05B33/12; scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission, details thereof H04N1/00)

## Abstract

A vehicle display control device controls a virtual image display performed by a head-up display which superimposes a display image on outside scenery of the host vehicle. The host vehicle is equipped with an automatic control unit which executes an automatic control to the host vehicle. The vehicle display control device includes: a route information acquisition unit that acquires route information related to a scheduled route of the host vehicle, the automatic control unit setting the scheduled route for the host vehicle; and a route image formation unit that forms a route image indicative of the scheduled route based on the route information acquired by the route information acquisition unit. The head-up display projects the route image as the display image in a virtual image display region that is superimposed on a forward traveling road included in the outside scenery.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A vehicle display control device executing a control to a virtual image display performed by a head-up display, wherein the head-up display superimposes a display image related to a traveling state of a host vehicle on an outside scenery of the host vehicle to perform the virtual image display, and an automatic control unit is equipped to the host vehicle and executes an automatic control to the traveling state of the host vehicle,
the vehicle display control device comprising:
a route information acquisition unit that acquires route information related to a scheduled route of the host vehicle, the automatic control unit setting the scheduled route for the host vehicle;
a route image formation unit that forms a route image indicative of the scheduled route based on the route information acquired by the route information acquisition unit, the head-up display projecting the route image as the display image in a virtual image display region that is superimposed on a forward traveling road included in the outside scenery;
a start information acquisition unit that acquires start information related to a scheduled start position where the automatic control executed by the automatic control unit is scheduled to start; and
a start image formation unit that forms a start image indicative of the scheduled start position as the display image based on the start information acquired by the start information acquisition unit, the head-up display projecting the start image as the display image in the virtual image display region that is superimposed on the forward traveling road,
wherein the route information acquisition unit, the route image formation unit, the start information acquisition unit, and the start image formation unit are implemented by the at least one processor.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The vehicle display control device according to claim 1, wherein
the host vehicle is equipped with, as the automatic control unit, a lane control unit that executes, as the automatic control, a lane control for automatically controlling a width direction position of the host vehicle within a traveling lane of the host vehicle, and
the route image formation unit forms the route image indicative of the scheduled route to be traveled by the host vehicle under the lane control of the lane control unit, and the route image is used in the control of the virtual image display in the host vehicle.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The vehicle display control device according to claim 2, wherein
the route image formation unit repeatedly forms the route image in a moving image fashion so that the route image repeatedly formed in the moving image fashion gradually extends from the host vehicle in a forward direction.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The vehicle display control device according to claim 2, wherein
the route image formation unit repeatedly forms the route image in a moving image fashion, and each route image is positioned and superimposed on a predetermined place on the forward traveling road so that the route image repeatedly formed in the moving image fashion approaches the host vehicle corresponding to a vehicle speed of the host vehicle.

### Claim 5

(canceled)

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The vehicle display control device according to claim 1, further comprising:
a termination information acquisition unit that acquires termination information related to a scheduled termination position where the automatic control executed by the automatic control unit is scheduled to terminate after the automatic control is started; and
a termination image formation unit that forms a termination image indicative of the scheduled termination position as the display image based on the termination information acquired by the termination information acquisition unit, the head-up display projecting the termination image in the virtual image display region that is superimposed on the forward traveling road,
wherein the route information acquisition unit, the route image formation unit, the start information acquisition unit, the start image formation unit, the termination information acquisition unit, and the termination image formation unit are implemented by the at least one processor.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The vehicle display control device according to claim 6, wherein
the termination image formation unit sets a display color of the termination image to be different from a display color of the start image set by the start image formation unit.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The vehicle display control device according to claim 7, wherein
the route image formation unit sets a display color of the route image identical to the display color of the termination image during a period while the termination image is formed by the termination image formation unit.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The vehicle display control device according to claim 1, wherein
the host vehicle is equipped with, as the automatic control unit, a cruise control unit that executes, as the automatic control, a cruise control for automatically controlling a cruise of the host vehicle during a follow-up traveling or an independent traveling, the follow-up traveling or the independent traveling is defined according to presence or absence of a preceding vehicle in the outside scenery,
the vehicle display control device further includes:
a forward information acquisition unit that acquires forward information related to the preceding vehicle; and
an emphasized image formation unit that forms, as the display image, an emphasized image in which the presence or absence of the preceding vehicle the host vehicle follows under the cruise control of the cruise control unit is displayed in an emphasized manner based on the forward information acquired by the forward information acquisition unit, the head-up display projecting the emphasized image as the display image in the virtual image display region that is superimposed on the forward traveling road, and
the route information acquisition unit, the route image formation unit, the forward information acquisition unit, and the emphasized image formation unit are implemented by the at least one processor.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The vehicle display control device according to claim 9, wherein
the emphasized image formation unit repeatedly forms the emphasized image in a moving image fashion so that the emphasized image repeatedly formed gradually moves away from the host vehicle in a forward direction.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The vehicle display control device according to claim 10, wherein,
during the follow-up traveling under the cruise control of the cruise control unit, the emphasized image formation unit repeatedly forms the emphasized image in a moving image fashion so that the emphasized image repeatedly formed gradually moves from the host vehicle toward the preceding vehicle.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The vehicle display control device according to claim 11, wherein,
during the follow-up traveling under the cruise control of the cruise control unit, the emphasized image formation unit repeatedly forms the emphasized image in the moving image fashion so that the emphasized image has an annular shape that surrounds the preceding vehicle after the emphasized image repeatedly formed gradually moves to the preceding vehicle.

### Claim 13 (depends on 10)

The vehicle display control device according to claim 10, wherein,
during the independent traveling under the cruise control of the cruise control unit, the emphasized image formation unit repeatedly forms the emphasized image in a moving image fashion so that the emphasized image repeatedly formed gradually moves from the host vehicle toward a horizontal line of the forward traveling road.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The vehicle display control device according to claim 1, further comprising:
an operation information acquisition unit that acquires operation information related to an operation state of the automatic control unit; and
an operation image formation unit that forms, as the display image, an operation image indicative of the operating state of the automatic control unit based on the operation information acquired by the operation information acquisition unit, the virtual image display region being defined as a first virtual image display region, the head-up display projecting the operation image as the display image in a second virtual image display region which is disposed below the first virtual image display region close to the host vehicle,
wherein the route information acquisition unit, the route image formation unit, the operation information acquisition unit, and the operation image formation unit are implemented by the at least one processor.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The vehicle display control device according to claim 14, wherein
the operation image formation unit changes a display color of the operation image when the operation state of the automatic control unit is switched.

### Claim 16

A vehicle display control method for executing a control to a virtual image display performed by a head-up display, wherein the head-up display superimposes a display image related to a traveling state of a host vehicle on an outside scenery of the host vehicle to perform the virtual image display, and an automatic control unit is equipped to the host vehicle and executes an automatic control to the travelling state of the host vehicle,
the vehicle display control method comprising:
acquiring route information related to a scheduled route of the host vehicle, the automatic control unit setting the scheduled route for the host vehicle;
forming a route image indicative of the scheduled route based on the route information that is acquired, the head-up display projecting the route image as the display image in a virtual image display region that is superimposed on a forward traveling road included in the outside scenery,
acquiring start information related to a scheduled start position where the automatic control executed by the automatic control unit is scheduled to start; and
forming a start image indicative of the scheduled start position as the display image based on the start information that is acquired, the head-up display projecting the start image as the display image in the virtual image display region that is superimposed on the forward traveling road,
wherein the acquiring of the route information, the forming of the route image, the acquiring of the start information, and the forming of the start image are executed by at least one processor.

### Claim 17 (depends on 1)

The vehicle display control device according to claim 1, wherein
the head-up display displays the route image formed by the route image formation unit after a display of the start image formed by the start image formation unit is terminated.

### Claim 18 (depends on 1)

The vehicle display control device according to claim 1, wherein
the head-up display displays the route image formed by the route image formation unit together with a display of the start image formed by the start image formation unit.