Combined Display System for Use in a Vehicle

Abstract

A combined display system includes a plurality of displays which are each configured to generate a partial beam of a combined projection light beam having an associated partial display content, the display surfaces of which are adjacent to one another and offset with respect to one another in the beam propagation direction and/or have different spatial orientations; and a combiner screen which is continuously contiguous, is reflective on the user side and preferably transparent on the rear, and is mountable or mounted in the beam path of the combined projection light beam in the vehicle in front of the windscreen such that behind the latter, a virtual image is generated, which is displayed in the user's field of view and is composed of the partial display contents of the plurality of displays.

Claims

1.-10. (canceled)

11. A combined display system for a vehicle to show a virtual image in a field of view of a user, the combined display system comprising: a plurality of displays, each of which is configured to generate a partial beam of a composite projection light beam having an associated partial display content, and display surfaces of which are arranged adjacent to one another and offset in relation to one another and/or spatially aligned differently in a beam propagation direction; and a continuously coherent combiner screen, which is reflective on a user side, and which is attachable or is attached in a beam path of the composite projection light beam in the vehicle in front of a windshield such that a virtual image shown in the field of view of the user, which is composed of the partial display contents of the duality of displays, is generated behind the combiner screen.

12. The combined display system according to claim 11, wherein the combiner screen is integrally formed.

13. The combined display system according to claim 11, wherein the combiner screen is transparent on a rear side.

14. The combined display system according to claim 11, wherein the combiner screen is curved having curvature parameters which are steady in a surface.

15. The combined display system according to claim 14, wherein the curvature parameters are constant.

16. The combined display system according to claim 11, wherein at least some of the plurality of displays are positioned or positionable at display distances different from one another from the combiner screen, which are measured in a direction of the respective partial beam, to show the associated partial display contents in the virtual image in predetermined projection distances different from one another from the combiner screen.

17. The combined display system according to claim 11, wherein: the combiner screen is curved around a vertical plane, and the combiner screen, in a horizontal extension direction perpendicular thereto, covers a viewing angle of at least 30° from a spatial region predetermined for user eyes.

18. The combined display system according to claim 17, wherein the combiner screen is curved symmetrically around the vertical plane.

19. The combined display system according to claim 11, wherein: the combiner screen is curved around a vertical plane, and the combiner screen, in a horizontal extension direction perpendicular to the vertical plane, has a constant radius of curvature.

20. The combined display system according to claim 19, wherein the radius of curvature approximately corresponds to a mean user distance from the combiner screen.

21. The combined display system according to claim 19, wherein the combiner screen is curved symmetrically around the vertical plane.

22. The combined display system according to claim 11, wherein: the combiner screen is curved around a vertical plane and extends in a horizontal extension direction perpendicular to the vertical plane, the plurality of displaces are an odd number of displays, of which: a central display is arranged opposite to a central section of the combiner screen in a middle in the horizontal extension direction and is aligned symmetrically with respect to the vertical plane, and the remaining displays are lateral displays, which are arranged on both sides of the central display opposite to lateral sections of the combiner screen, into which the central section merges in the horizontal extension direction, and are aligned approximately along the horizontal extension direction, in each case symmetrically in pairs with respect to the vertical plane.

23. The combined display system according to claim 22, wherein the combiner screen is curved symmetrically around the vertical plane.

24. The combined display system according to claim 22, further comprising a control unit for activating the duality of displays and for providing display contents to be displayed, wherein: the central display and the control unit are configured to show a partial display content in the field of the view of the user via the central display and the central section of the combiner screen, which comprises predetermined static and/or dynamic items of information about a current vehicle system or movement state and/or about an upcoming route section, for assisting the vehicle operation, for navigation, and/or for entertaining the user; and/or the lateral displays and the control unit are configured to show partial display contents, which replace a view into a left or right side mirror of the vehicle, in the field of view of the user via the lateral displays and the lateral sections of the combiner screen.

25. A vehicle comprising: a windshield; a dashboard arranged underneath the windshield; a vehicle seat arranged in front of the dashboard; and a combined display system according to claim 11, wherein: the plurality of displays are arranged in the dashboard, and the combiner screen is arranged in the beam path of the composite projection light beam generated by the plurality of displays in front of the windshield such that the virtual image is shown in the field of the user when the user looks through the combiner screen and the windshield.

26. The vehicle according to claim 25, wherein the combined display system is arranged and aligned symmetrically around a vertical vehicle longitudinal plane going centrally through a vehicle seat of the user.

27. The vehicle according to claim 25, wherein the vehicle is configured as a single-track vehicle in which the combined display system is arranged and aligned symmetrically around a vertical vehicle longitudinal plane extending in the middle in the vehicle.

28. The vehicle according to claim 27, wherein: the windshield is delimited by an A-pillar on both sides in a vehicle transverse direction; and the combiner screen extends in front of the windshield over an entire width in the vehicle transverse direction, from one A-pillar to the other A-pillar or over an entire horizontal angle range delimited by the A-pillars, which is seen from a spatial region predetermined for eyes of the user.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] FIG. 1 shows a schematic side view of a combined display system of the type described herein in a single-track vehicle to show a virtual image in the field of view of a driver, whose average eye position is indicated.

[0031] FIG. 2 shows a perspective front view of the combined display system according to FIG. 1 from the interior of the single-track vehicle diagonally from above.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032] All different embodiments, variants, and specific design features of the combined display system and the vehicle according to the above aspects of the invention which are mentioned further above in the description and in the following claims can be implemented in the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. They are therefore not all repeated once again hereinafter. This also applies accordingly to the term definitions and effects already indicated further above with respect to individual features, which are shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2.

[0033] FIG. 1 shows a simplified schematic side view of an example of a combined display system 1 of the type described herein, which is installed in this example in the cockpit region of a single-track vehicle 2, of which only a windshield 3 and a dashboard 4 arranged underneath it are indicated in FIG. 1. In this example, the single-track vehicle 2 is a motor vehicle, and the combined display system 1 is designed to show a virtual display image V in the field of view of a user, in this case a driver 5, when he looks through the windshield 3. An average eye position E of the driver 5 is also schematically indicated and is located within an eye box of the combined display system 1, which can be adaptable, for example, in a way known per se manually or via eye tracking to a present position of the driver 5 in the single-track vehicle 2.

[0034] The combined display system 1 comprises multiple, in this example three, displays D1, D2, and D3 (cf. FIG. 2) integrated in the dashboard 4, which in operation each generate a partial beam L1, L2, and L3 of a composite projection light beam L having an associated partial display content A1, A2, and A3, and the display surfaces of which, which are planar solely by way of example, are arranged adjacent to one another and offset in relation to one another and spatially aligned differently in the beam propagation direction. In the side view of FIG. 1, only two of the displays D1-D3 can be seen, while the mutual arrangement of the displays D1, D2, and D3 and the associated partial beams L1, L2, and L3 can be inferred from a perspective front view according to FIG. 2.

[0035] Furthermore, the combined display system 1 comprises a continuously coherent, in this example integrally formed, combiner screen 6 which is reflective on the user side and transparent on the rear side and which is attached in the beam path of the composite projection light beam L in the single-track vehicle 2 in front of its windshield 3 in such a way that when the driver looks through the windshield 3, a virtual image V is shown in his field of view, which is composed of the partial display contents A1, A2, and A3 of the displays D1, D2, and D3.

[0036] FIG. 2 shows a perspective front view of the combined display system according to FIG. 1 from the interior of the single-track vehicle 2 diagonally from above. As can be seen particularly well in FIG. 2, in this example the display, i.e. the virtual image V, is divided into three parts. A central large display, which comprises the partial display content A2 generated by the central display D2, is used to display items of driver information or entertainment content. This central display is supplemented in FIG. 2 on the left and right by a further display in each case, which comprise partial display contents A1 and A3 generated by the lateral displays D1 and D3, respectively. This lateral display region is designed in this example, among other things, for displaying a CMS display (camera monitoring system) of an outside mirror replacement system, for example a camera image of a left/right outside mirror of the single-track vehicle 2. The mentioned displays are virtual partial images of the composite virtual image V, which are generated by reflecting the displays D1-D3 integrated in the dashboard 4 into the combiner screen 6.

[0037] The combiner screen 6 is embodied here as a curved surface having a radius which approximately corresponds to the distance to the driver position. The distance of the driver from the combiner screen 6 and above all the viewing angle on the combiner screen 6 thus remain constant for the central and the lateral displays.

[0038] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the three displays D1, D2, and D3, which are used as the image source, are not arranged in one plane but rather each is aligned optimally for itself on the visible beam, i.e. the respective partial beam L1, L2, or L3. An arrangement thus results in which the location of the displays D1, D2, and D3 follows the curvature of the combiner screen 6.

[0039] The arrangement having three individual displays D1, D2, and D3 also provides the option here of influencing the projection distance of the individual display regions, in which the respective partial display contents A1, A2, and A3 are shown, independently of one another. In the illustrated example, this was used to differentiate the outer (outside mirror) displays from the central infotainment display and display them at a greater distance.

[0040] The quality, the resolution, the contrast, etc. for the respective partial display contents A1, A2, and A3 can be individually optimized here by the three separate displays D1, D2, and D3. There is also the possibility of selecting the individual displays D1, D2, and D3 according to options from an existing display kit with respect to their size and aspect ratio, instead of requiring a single large display in a special stretch format.

[0041] The combined display system 1 proposed herein is suitable in particular for single-track vehicles, in which, as in the single-track vehicle 2 shown according in FIG. 1, for example, an integration of an HUD based on windshield reflection of the type mentioned at the outset would not be possible due to an extremely flatly horizontally extending windshield 3, in which the location of an imaging display would have to travel extremely far forward, for example. The combined display system 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 can just as well also be used in a conventional motor vehicle having multiple front seats, however, in that it is arranged symmetrically, for example, around a vehicle seat of the respective user, such as a driver or front passenger.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0042] 1 combined display system [0043] 2 single-track vehicle [0044] 3 windshield [0045] 4 dashboard [0046] 5 driver [0047] 6 combiner screen [0048] E average eye position of the driver [0049] D1, D2, D3 multiple displays [0050] A1, A2, A3 partial display content of the respective display [0051] L1, L2, L3 partial beam of the respective display [0052] L projection light beam composed of the partial beams [0053] V virtual display image