ARRANGEMENT FOR A PASSENGER COMPARTMENT OF A VEHICLE

Abstract

An apparatus for a passenger compartment of a vehicle includes a display panel having an external portion and an internal portion. The passenger compartment is delimited by paneling to separate the passenger compartment from a region outside of the passenger compartment. The internal portion of the display panel is in the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The external portion of the display panel, separated from the passenger compartment by the paneling, is in the region outside of the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The external portion of the display panel is to generate an external display content inside of the region. The apparatus includes a strip in a first opening of the paneling. The strip is to project the external display content of the external portion of the display panel out of the region that is separated from the passenger compartment by the paneling and into the passenger compartment.

Claims

1-8. (canceled)

9. An apparatus for a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising: a display panel including: an internal portion in the passenger compartment of the vehicle, the passenger compartment delimited by paneling to separate the passenger compartment from a region outside of the passenger compartment; and an external portion, in the region outside of the passenger compartment, to generate an external display content inside of the region; and a strip, in a first opening of the paneling, to project the external display content of the external portion out of the region separated from the passenger compartment by the paneling and into the passenger compartment.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, further comprising an instrument panel of the vehicle, wherein the external portion of the display panel to be arranged in the region is at least partially enclosed by the instrument panel.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the strip includes an at least partially transparent body to communicate the external display content into the passenger compartment.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the strip includes an at least partially transparent body to communicate the external display content into the passenger compartment.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the strip includes a reflecting surface to reflect the external display content out of the region and into the passenger compartment.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the strip includes a reflecting surface to reflect the external display content out of the region and into the passenger compartment.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the strip includes a reflecting surface to reflect the external display content out of the region and into the passenger compartment.

17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the strip includes a reflecting surface to reflect the external display content out of the region and into the passenger compartment.

18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the strip includes a touch-sensitive surface to detect a contact and to cause a function of the vehicle to be executed on the basis of the contact.

19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10 wherein the strip includes a touch-sensitive surface to detect a contact and to cause a function of the vehicle to be executed on the basis of the contact.

20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the strip includes a touch-sensitive surface to detect a contact and to cause a function of the vehicle to be executed on the basis of the contact.

21. The apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the strip includes a touch-sensitive surface to detect a contact and to cause a function of the vehicle to be executed on the basis of the contact.

22. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein the strip includes a touch-sensitive surface to detect a contact and to cause a function of the vehicle to be executed on the basis of the contact.

23. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the strip includes a touch-sensitive surface to detect a contact and to cause a function of the vehicle to be executed on the basis of the contact.

24. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the display panel is conducted out of the region outside the passenger compartment into the passenger compartment through a second opening in the paneling.

25. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the display panel is conducted out of the region outside the passenger compartment into the passenger compartment through a second opening in the paneling.

26. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, further comprising a motor in the region, the motor to move the display panel and to divide the display panel into the external portion and the internal portion.

27. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, further comprising a motor in the region, the motor to move the display panel and to divide the display panel into the external portion and the internal portion.

28. A method for making available a display content of a display panel to a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the method comprising: separating a display panel into an internal portion in the passenger compartment of the vehicle and an external portion outside of the passenger compartment, the passenger compartment delimited from a region outside of the passenger compartment by paneling; generating an external display content by the external portion of the display panel inside of the region; and projecting, by a strip in a first opening of the paneling, the external display content of the external portion out of the region and into the passenger compartment.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] These and other aspects and advantages will become more apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein identical components are identified by identical reference signs. In the figures:

[0025] FIG. 1 shows a first operating situation according to an example.

[0026] FIG. 2 shows a second operating situation according to an example.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] The example of the arrangement (or apparatus) 2 according to the present disclosure represented schematically in each of FIGS. 1 and 2 is arranged here, depending upon the operating situation, at least partially in an instrument panel 4 or dashboard of a passenger compartment or of a cockpit of a vehicle—here, a motor vehicle. The apparatus 2 includes a display panel 6, which here is flexible and/or elastically deformable, and a motor 8 or a kinematic unit, to which the display panel 6 has been fastened via an arm 10. In this case, paneling 12 or a wall of the instrument panel 4 has been configured to separate a region in which the motor 8 and the arm 10 are arranged from the passenger compartment, and to enclose this region, this region, however, being arranged here in the vehicle, by definition, outside the passenger compartment. Moreover, the paneling 12 of the instrument panel 4 includes a first opening 22 and a second opening 14, each opening 14, 22 having been configured to make available, respectively, a passage between the region of the instrument panel 4 and the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

[0028] The second opening 14 here takes the form of a slit, for instance, through which the display panel 6 has been conducted and is traversable or can be traversed with the motor 8 into the cockpit or the passenger compartment of the vehicle but also into the region that is enclosed by the paneling 12 of the instrument panel 4. An internal portion 16 of the display panel 6 is arranged in the passenger compartment outside the instrument panel 4, and an external portion 18 of the display panel 6 is arranged inside the instrument panel 4 and outside the passenger compartment. Correspondingly, the external portion 18 is arranged inside the instrument panel 4 and enclosed by the paneling 12, and the internal portion 16 is arranged in the passenger compartment outside the instrument panel 4, both portions 16, 18 having been formed coherently and/or in one piece. In each instance a surface area of a portion 16, 18 forms a part of an overall surface area of the display panel 6. The external portion 18 of the display panel 6 is partially bent inside the region.

[0029] Depending upon the position of the motor 8, the internal portion 16 of the display panel 6, which is visible in the passenger compartment and arranged outside the instrument panel 4, and consequently a surface area that is available for a visible display content outside the instrument panel 4, can be varied. The larger the internal portion 16 or—to be more exact—the surface area thereof in the passenger compartment outside the instrument panel 4, the smaller the external portion 18 or—to be more exact—the surface area thereof inside the instrument panel 4 or—to be more exact—inside the region that is arranged in the instrument panel 4 and separated from the passenger compartment by the paneling 12.

[0030] In the first operating situation represented in FIG. 1, when the display panel 6 has been retracted into the instrument panel 4, this internal portion 16 of the display panel 6 outside the instrument panel 4 is smaller than the external portion 18 of the display panel 6 inside the instrument panel 4. On the other hand, in the second operating situation represented on the basis of FIG. 2, when the display panel 6 has been extended from or pulled out of the instrument panel 4, the internal portion 16 of the display panel 6 outside the instrument panel 4 is larger than the external portion 18 of the display panel 6 inside the instrument panel 4.

[0031] Moreover, an internal display content of the display panel 6, generated outside the instrument panel 4, is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 by first arrows 20. In the first operating situation represented in FIG. 1, when the display panel 6 has been retracted into the instrument panel 4, this internal display content is smaller than in the second operating situation represented on the basis of FIG. 2, when the display panel 6 has been extended from or pulled out of the instrument panel 4.

[0032] In addition, depending upon the definition, the first opening 22 also takes the form of a component of the apparatus 2, a strip 24 of the apparatus 2 being arranged in the first opening 22. Here, the second opening 14 is arranged above the first opening 22 with respect to a vertical axis of the vehicle or of the cockpit. Correspondingly, the first opening 22, in which the strip 24 is arranged, is arranged below the second opening 14 through which the display panel 6 has been conducted.

[0033] The strip 24 has been configured to transmit an external display content of the display panel 6, generated inside the instrument panel 4 and indicated here by second arrows 26, from an interior space of the instrument panel 4, which is enclosed by the paneling 12 thereof, from a surface of the external portion 18 of the display panel 6 into the passenger compartment in the direction of an observer, the external display content being mirrored or reflected out of the instrument panel 4 from a reflecting surface of the strip 24, the observer—here, for instance, a driver of the vehicle—being represented schematically by an eye 28. The strip 24 further includes a body that is transmitting in respect of light, or transparent, and that here is trapezoidal in cross-section and has been configured to transmit the external display content out of the region enclosed by the instrument panel 4 into the passenger compartment.

[0034] In addition, FIGS. 1 and 2 show a hand 30 of the observer, in which connection the observer can manually operate a touch-sensitive surface of the strip 24, which here is arranged outside the instrument panel 4 and is accessible from the passenger compartment, with his/her hand 30, for instance with his/her fingers, and can bring about an execution of a function of the vehicle, which is symbolized by the external display content in the instrument panel 4 and is visible for the observer in the passenger compartment.

[0035] A description has been provided with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof and examples, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the claims which may include the phrase “at least one of A, B and C” as an alternative expression that means one or more of A, B and C may be used, contrary to the holding in Superguide v. DIRECTV, 358 F3d 870, 69 USPQ2d 1865 (Fed. Cir. 2004).

REFERENCE SYMBOLS

[0036] 2 arrangement (or apparatus) [0037] 4 instrument panel [0038] 6 display panel [0039] 8 motor [0040] 10 arm [0041] 12 paneling [0042] 14 opening [0043] 16, 18 portion [0044] 20 arrows [0045] 22 opening [0046] 24 strip [0047] 26 arrows [0048] 28 eye [0049] 30 hand