System for Visually Depicting Fields of View of a Commercial Vehicle

Abstract

System for visually depicting fields of view for a commercial vehicle within a driver's cab of the commercial vehicle, the system having at least one display device disposed within the driver's cab and having at least one display unit being configured to display at least one field of view, wherein the at least one display device is configured to be arranged within the driver's cab of the commercial vehicle such that the longitudinal axis thereof is substantially horizontally aligned.

Claims

1. A system for visually depicting fields of view for a commercial vehicle within a driver's cab of the commercial vehicle, the system comprising: at least one display device disposed within the driver's cab and comprising at least one display unit being configured to display at least one field of view (A, B, C), wherein the at least one display device is configured to be arranged within the driver's cab (8) of the commercial vehicle such that the longitudinal axis thereof is substantially horizontally aligned.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one display device is configured to be substantially disposed upright on a driver's side and/or a co-driver's side.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one display device is configured to be substantially disposed upright on a driver's side and/or a co-driver's side and to be pivotally disposed with respect to the horizontal plane.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least on display device is configured to be disposed on a driver's side of the commercial vehicle and to depict a field of view on the at least one display unit, the field of view corresponding to an area left next to the commercial vehicle in forward driving direction.

5. The system according to claim 1, further comprising: at least one image capture unit configured to capture image data representing the at least one field of view, wherein the at least one image capture unit is configured to be integrally formed with a mirror attached to the commercial vehicle, the mirror providing a prescribed field of view.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is configured to display fields of view of a roof mirror, a wide-angle mirror and/or fender mirror on one or more display units directly bordering each other, separate from each other and/or overlapping each other on the at least one display device.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the system is configured to display the fields of view in accordance with vehicle parameters.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is configured to display adjacent fields of view (A, B, C) directly bordering each other on the at least one display device.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one field of view (A, B, C) contains the field of view of a left primary mirror and/or the field of view of a left wide-angle mirror and the field of view of a right primary mirror and/or the field of view of a right wide-angle mirror.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the system is adapted to depict the field of view of the left primary mirror and/or the field of view of the left wide-angle mirror on the left side of the at least one display unit.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein the system is adapted to depict the field of view of the right primary mirror and/or the field of view of the right wide-angle mirror on the right side on the display unit.

12. The system according to claim 10, wherein the system is adapted to depict the field of view of the right primary mirror and/or the field of view of the right wide-angle mirror on the right side on the display unit.

13. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is adapted to permanently depict the fields of view (A, B, C) on the at least one display unit at the same position and with the same size.

14. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is adapted to permanently depict the fields of view (A, B, C) on the at least one display unit at varying positions and/or with varying sizes.

15. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is adapted to depict at least one additional viewing area in accordance with the vehicle speed and/or vehicle driving direction.

16. The system according to claim 14, wherein the system is adapted to display, with reference to the commercial vehicle, position information superimposed with at least one of the fields of view (A, B, C) or the at least one of the viewing areas.

17. The system according to claim 1, wherein the display device includes two, three or four display units, which are separated from each other.

18. The system according to claim 1, wherein the display device includes at least two image capture units and the system is adapted to combine the field of view information for one to-be-depicted field of view from the field of view information of the at least two image capture units.

19. The system according to claim 1, wherein the display device includes at least two image capture units, which are adapted to sense redundant field of view information for one to-be-depicted field of view (A, B, C).

20. The system according to claim 1, wherein a first image capture unit having a first resolution for capturing a first angle of view and a second image capture unit having a second resolution for capturing a second angle of view, which is different from the first angle of view, are provided, and wherein the first resolution is higher than the second resolution, and wherein the two viewing areas captured by the image capture units are shown in a common display unit and do not substantially overlap, wherein the confluence portion of the field of view of a primary mirror and the field of view of a wide-angle mirror of the same vehicle side is shown, where-in preferably the first angle of view is smaller than the second image angle of view.

21. The system according to claim 1, further including a power supply device that is independent of an on-board power supply of the commercial vehicle.

22. A system for visually depicting fields of view for a commercial vehicle within a driver's cab of the commercial vehicle, the system comprising: at least one display device disposed within the driver's cab and comprising at least one display unit being configured to display at least two different fields of view (A, B, C), wherein the at least two different fields of view are displayed on the at least one display device in a common image, and the at least one display device is configured to be arranged within the driver's cab of the commercial vehicle such that the longitudinal axis thereof is substantially horizontally aligned.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein the at least one display device is configured to be substantially disposed upright on a driver's side and/or a co-driver's side.

24. The system according to claim 22, wherein the at least one display device is configured to be substantially disposed upright on a driver's side and/or a co-driver's side and to be pivot-ally disposed with respect to a horizontal plane.

25. The system according to claim 22, further comprising at least one image capture unit configured to capture image data representing the at least one field of view, wherein the at least one image capture unit is configured to be integrally formed with a mirror attached to the commercial vehicle, the mirror providing a prescribed field of view.

26. The system according to claim 22, wherein the system is configured to depict the different fields of view (A, B, C) on one or more display units overlapping each other.

27. The system according to claim 22, wherein the system is configured to be disposed on the co-driver's side within the driver's cab, wherein the at least two fields of view correspond to areas right next to the commercial vehicle in forward drive direction.

28. The system according to claim 22, wherein the system is configured to display fields of view of a roof mirror, ramp mirror, a wide-angle mirror and/or fender mirror on one or more dis-play units directly bordering each other, separate from each other and/or overlapping each other.

29. The system according to claim 28, wherein the system is configured to display the fields of view in accordance with vehicle parameters.

30. The system according to claim 22, wherein the system is configured to display adjacent fields of view directly bordering each other.

31. The system according to claim 22, wherein the at least one field of view contains the field of view of a left primary mirror and/or the field of view of a left wide-angle mirror and the field of view of a right primary mirror and/or the field of view of a right wide-angle mirror.

32. The system according to claim 31, wherein the system is adapted to depict the field of view of the left primary mirror and/or the field of view of the left wide-angle mirror on the left side of the at least one display unit.

33. The system according to claim 31, wherein the system is adapted to depict the field of view of the right primary mirror and/or the field of view of the right wide-angle mirror on the right side on the display unit.

34. The system according to claim 22, wherein the system is adapted to permanently depict the fields of view on the at least one display unit at the same position and with the same size.

35. The system according to claim 22, wherein the system is adapted to permanently depict the fields of view on the display unit at varying positions and/or with varying sizes.

36. The system according to claim 22, wherein the system is adapted to depict at least one additional viewing area in accordance with the vehicle speed and/or vehicle driving direction.

37. The system according to claim 36, wherein the system is adapted to display, with reference to the commercial vehicle, position information superimposed with at least one of the fields of view (A, B, C) or the at least one of the additional viewing areas.

38. The system according to claim 22, wherein the display device includes two, three or four display units, which are separated from each other.

39. The system according to claim 22, wherein the display device includes at least two image capture units and the display device is adapted to combine the field of view information for one to-be-depicted field of view from the field of view information of the at least two image capture units.

40. The system according to claim 22, wherein the display device includes at least two image capture units, which are adapted to sense redundant field of view information for one to-be-depicted field of view.

41. The system according to claim 22, wherein a first image capture unit having a first resolution for capturing a first angle of view and a second image capture unit having a second resolution for capturing a second angle of view, which is different from the first angle of view, are provided, and wherein the first resolution is higher than the second resolution, and wherein the two viewing areas captured by the image capture units are shown in a common display unit and do not substantially overlap, wherein the confluence portion of the field of view of a primary mirror and the field of view of a wide-angle mirror of the same vehicle side is shown, where-in preferably the first angle of view is smaller than the second image angle of view.

42. The system according to claim 22, further including a power supply device that is independent of an on-board power supply of the commercial vehicle.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] In the following, the invention will be described in purely exemplary manner with the assistance of the figures. Same reference numbers generally indicate identical or at least corresponding components throughout the figures.

[0031] FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of a system according to the present teachings.

[0032] FIG. 2 is another schematic illustration of a system according to the present teachings.

[0033] FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of the display device of the system of FIGS. 1 and 2 in more detail.

[0034] FIG. 4 shows another schematic illustration of the display device of the system of FIGS. 1 and 2 in more detail.

[0035] FIGS. 5a and 5b show plan views of a commercial vehicle for illustrating corresponding fields of view.

[0036] FIGS. 6 to 9 show several possibilities for arranging the system according to the present teachings within a driver's cab of a commercial vehicle.

[0037] FIGS. 10 to 14 show several possible fields of view displayed by the system according to the present teachings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0038] FIGS. 1 and 2 each schematically show a system 1 for visually depicting prescribed fields of view of a commercial vehicle. As shown in FIG. 1, the system comprises a display device 2 including a single display unit 3, whereas according to FIG. 2, a plurality of display units 3 is provided. This/these display unit(s) 3 is/are disposed in the driver's cab of the commercial vehicle, as described in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9.

[0039] Further, the system 1 according to the present teaching and shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes e.g. at least one CPU 4 or other computing unit(s) for processing the information captured by one or more image capture units 5 and for supplying this processed information to the display unit(s) 2 in the form of the prescribed fields of view according to the selected depiction, for example bird's eye view or perspective. The image capture units 5 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 can be provided in an arbitrary number as required, i.e. in accordance with the number and the nature of the fields of view to be depicted on the display unit(s) 2.

[0040] In addition, according to a further development of the present invention, the system 1 according to FIG. 1 includes connections to various sensors 6, e.g. one or more sensors for detecting the vehicle speed and/or the vehicle state, etc., in order to be able to dynamically, i.e. dependent upon the vehicle state and/or the vehicle speed, depict image contents and information on the display unit 3. For this purpose, the sensors 6 are also connected with the CPU(s) 4, which derive(s) or calculate(s) the to-be-depicted image from the sensor information and the image information from the image capture units 5.

[0041] In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, no sensors 6 are provided. Thus, the depiction of the image contents on the display unit 3 is independent of the vehicle speed and the vehicle state according to the system 1 shown in FIG. 2.

[0042] Information that is sensed by the image capture unit(s) 5 is supplied to the CPU(s) 4, as well as information from the sensor(s) 6, if provided. The CPU(s) 4 process(es) this information so that, by suitably outputting the processed information to the one or more display units 3, the prescribed fields of view of a commercial vehicle can be depicted on the display unit(s) 3. Two of the prescribed fields of view can be shown in a common image on at least one of the display units 3.

[0043] FIG. 1 also shows a power supply device 7 that supplies power to the display device 2, and in particular the display unit 3, independently of an on-board power supply supplying power to various vehicle systems, such as lights, dashboard displays, radio, etc. when the engine is running or when the ignition key has been turned to a power-on position.

[0044] The power supply device 7 preferably outputs a regulated current and voltage suitable for driving at least the display unit 3, although it preferably also drives the CPU 4, image capture unit(s) 5 and sensor(s) 6, if provided, so that the entire system can operate, even if the vehicle ignition switch is turned off.

[0045] The power supply device 7 can be adapted to obtain power directly from the vehicle battery and/or the vehicle alternator/generator system. In the alternative, the power supply device 7 may contain a separate rechargeable battery that may be connectable to an external energy source or to solar cells or even to an alternator/generator configured to recover energy from deceleration of the vehicle (e.g. an electronic brake).

[0046] The display device 1 of FIG. 2 optionally also may receive power from an independent power supply device in the manner similar to the embodiment of FIG. 1.

[0047] Further, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the display units 3 respectively depict fields of view A, B and C. As shown in FIG. 1, the display device 2 which includes a single display unit 3 depicts different fields of view A, B, C in a common image. Such common image could for example be an image in which the fields of view A, B, C are partly overlapped, so that a driver of the vehicle has the impression of a single image, as for example shown in FIG. 10. In particular, the field of view A for example corresponds to a fender mirror, the field of view B corresponds to a ramp mirror and the field of view C corresponds to a wide-angle mirror, for example.

[0048] Such fields of view A, B, C as displayed on the display unit 3 are for example captured by one or more image capture units 5 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0049] Further, referring to FIG. 2, the display unit 2 comprises three separate display units 3, each displaying a corresponding one of the fields of view A, B, C. In particular, the left display unit as shown in FIG. 2 displays a field of view A, which for example corresponds to a fender mirror, wherein the field of view B corresponds to a ramp mirror and wherein the field of view C corresponds to a wide-angle mirror, for example. As shown in FIG. 2, the corresponding display units 3 are separately arranged on the display device such that there is a gap between the display units. However, according to an alternative, the display units 3 as shown in FIG. 2 could be separate components which directly abut against each other without (or substantially without) a gap there between.

[0050] FIGS. 3 and 4 respectively show schematic illustrations of the display devices 2 according to FIGS. 1 and 2. As shown in FIG. 3, fields of view A and B are displayed on the display unit 3 next to each other, for example. As shown in FIG. 4, three fields of view A, B, C are displayed on the display unit 3 such that the field of view A is next to the field of view C in longitudinal direction of the display device 2, whereas the field of view B is located under the fields of view A, C, for example.

[0051] According to the present teaching, the display device is aligned such that the longitudinal axis thereof is substantially horizontal as explained in more detail with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9.

[0052] Although only three fields of view A, B, C are mentioned above, of course less or more may be displayed.

[0053] FIGS. 5a and 5b schematically illustrate a top view (view from above) of a commercial vehicle comprising a driver's cab 8 and a trailer 9. As shown in FIGS. 5a and 5b, fender mirrors 10 and ramp mirrors 11 are provided on a left side and a right side of the driver's cab, respectively. The ramp mirrors 11 shown in FIGS. 5a and 5b correspond to the primary mirrors shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, for example.

[0054] According to the present teachings, each of these mirrors may be integrally formed together with the above-mentioned image capture unit 5 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The image capture units provided in the fender mirrors 10 are configured to capture image data representing a field of view A, for example, which is laterally in front of the driver's cab 8, for example. Further, the image capture unit provided in the ramp mirror 11 is configured to capture image data representing for example a field of view B which is (left/right) next to the driver's cab 8. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 5b, the image capture unit provided in the ramp mirror 11 could be configured to capture image data corresponding to a field of view A directly in front of the driver's cab 8, for example. The differently shaded areas shown in FIG. 5a each correspond to a respective field of view which corresponds to image data captured by a corresponding image capture unit, wherein the corresponding fields of view are respectively displayed on the display device (display unit) as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0055] As mentioned above, according to the present teachings, the system 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is provided within the driver's cab 8 such that the corresponding fields of view can be displayed to the driver 12 of the driver's cab 8.

[0056] In particular, referring to FIGS. 6 to 9, different possible positions within the driver's cab 8 are illustrated for arranging the display device 2 of FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0057] Referring to FIG. 6, the display device 2 according to the present teaching is arranged within the driver's cab of the commercial vehicle such that the longitudinal axis L thereof is substantially horizontally aligned. As shown in FIG. 6, a display device 2 is provided on the driver's side and on the co-driver's side, for example. Of course, only one display device 2 may be provided either on the driver's side or on the co-driver's side.

[0058] As shown in FIG. 6, the longitudinal axis L of the display device 2 is horizontally aligned, so that an inclination a of the A-pillar of the vehicle is appropriately considered in the case that the inclination is less than 90°, for example 75°. Such an alignment facilitates mounting of the display device.

[0059] FIG. 7 shows the arrangement of a display device 2 on a driver's side and co-driver's side, wherein similar to FIG. 6, the longitudinal axis L of display device 2 is substantially horizontally aligned. However, in contrast to FIG. 6, the display devices 2 are a slightly inclined to the driving direction for facilitating monitoring fields of view displayed thereon. The display device 2 of the present teachings is for example pivotable around an axis perpendicular to the horizontal plane for achieving such an appropriate inclination to the driving direction. For improving mountability the display device 2 according to the present teachings is for example also pivotable around its longitudinal axis L. In this way, it is possible to correspondingly adapt the arrangement of the display device near the A-pillar of the vehicle by considering the inclination angle thereof.

[0060] Further, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, two primary mirrors 14 are provided respectively on the driver's side and the co-driver's side. These primary mirrors 14 provide a depicted field of view. The primary mirrors 14 having a size of at least 50 inch.sup.2 and being covered with flat glass. As shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, the display devices 2 are in addition provided to the primary mirrors 14 for improving driving safety.

[0061] As shown in FIG. 8, a display device 2 according to the present teachings is only provided on the co-driver's side and arranged such that the longitudinal axis L thereof is substantially horizontally aligned and slightly inclined in driving direction, similar to FIG. 7. In addition, FIG. 8 shows a monitor device 15 provided on the driver's side, wherein a longitudinal axis L′ thereof is arranged perpendicular to the horizontal plane, i.e. in contrast to the display device 2. Therefore, in cases that an angle of inclination of the glass windshield 13 (A-pillar) is less than 90°, the size of the display of the monitor device 15 must be smaller than the display device 2, due to its above mentioned orientation. Thus, according to the monitor device 15, the above mentioned advantages of the display device 2 are not achieved and the objection of the present invention cannot be solved.

[0062] Referring to FIG. 9, two monitor devices 15 are provided on each side of a driver's side and a co-driver's side, both having a small size compared to the display device 2, as explained above. Similar to FIG. 8, longitudinal axes L′ thereof are substantially orthogonal to the horizontal plane. In addition, as shown in FIG. 9, the display device 2 according to the present teaching is provided between the driver side and the co-driver side integrally mounted in the dashboard, for example, such that the longitudinal axis L thereof is substantially horizontally aligned.

[0063] FIGS. 10 to 14 show different possibilities for depicting fields of view on the display device according to the present teaching.

[0064] Referring to FIG. 10, the display device 2 shows three fields of view A, B, C, wherein the field of view A corresponds to the field of view of a fender mirror, the field of view B corresponds to the field of view of a ramp mirror and the field of view C corresponds to the field of view of a wide-angle mirror. According to FIG. 10, the fields of view are displayed as a single image in landscape mode. The three fields of view A, B, C are for example captured with a single image capture unit. In the case of FIG. 10, the side areas of the co-driver's side are in particular displayed.

[0065] Referring to FIG. 11, the display device 2 shows three fields of view A, B, C, wherein the fields of view A, B, are captured by an image capture unit and the field of view C is captured by a separate image capture unit, for example. Similar to FIG. 10, the field of view A corresponds to a field of view of fender mirror, the field of view B corresponds to a field of view of a ramp mirror and the field of view C corresponds to a field of view of a wide-angle mirror, for example. According to FIG. 11, no “blind area” of the co-driver's side is displayed because the fields of view A/B and C partly overlap.

[0066] FIG. 12 shows a display device 2 provided on the driver's side. As shown in FIG. 12, the field of view A corresponds to the field of view of a fender mirror, the field of view B corresponds to the field of view of a ramp mirror and the field of view C corresponds to the field of view of a wide-angle mirror. Similar to FIG. 11, no “blind area” of the driver's side is displayed because the fields of view A/B and C partly overlap.

[0067] As shown in FIG. 13, it is also possible according to the system of the present teaching to display less than two fields of view on the display device 2 in particular, the display device 2 of FIG. 13 only displays one field of view C corresponding to the wide-angle mirror, for example.

[0068] FIG. 14 shows a display device 2 substantially corresponding to FIG. 11, wherein the display device 2 comprises two display units 3. The display unit 3 on the left side of the display device 2 displays an image corresponding to fields of view A, B, whereas the display unit 3 on the right side of the display device 2 displays an image corresponding to the field of view C corresponding to a wide-angle mirror. The display unit 3 on the left side is separated from the display unit 3 on the right side of the display device 2, so that the corresponding images do not overlap.

[0069] As mentioned above, more than two display units could be provided in the display device 2.

[0070] Representative, non-limiting examples of the present invention were described in detail above with reference to the attached drawings. This detailed description is merely intended to teach a person of skill in the art further details for practicing preferred aspects of the present teachings and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Furthermore, each of the additional features and teachings disclosed below may be utilized separately or in conjunction with other features and teachings to provide improved display.

[0071] Moreover, the combinations of features disclosed in the above detailed description may not be necessary to practice the invention in the broadest sense, and are instead taught merely to particularly describe representative examples of the invention. Furthermore, various features of the above-described representative examples, as well as the various independent and dependent claims, may be combined in ways that are not specifically and explicitly enumerated in order to provide additional useful embodiments of the present teachings.

[0072] All features disclosed in the description and/or the claims are intended to be discloses separately and independently from each other for the purpose of original written disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject-matter, independent of the compositions of the features in the embodiments and/or the claims. In addition, all value ranges or indication of groups of entities are intended to disclose every possible intermediate value or intermediate entity for the purpose of original written disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject-matter.

[0073] All above mentioned image capture units are for example digital CCD-cameras, wherein the resolution of the CCD sensor thereof is for example 1,3 Mexapixel or higher. Further, a viewing angle of a field of view corresponding a wide-angle mirror is for example more than 50 degree and less than 60 degree, whereas a viewing angle of a field of view corresponding to a ramp mirror, primary mirror and/or fender mirror is more than 90 degree, for example. Other values for resolution and viewing angle may be used without leaving the scope of the invention.

[0074] Thus, while there have shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.