Communications: electrical – Land vehicle alarms or indicators – Internal alarm or indicator responsive to a condition of the...
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-02
2002-09-10
Pope, Daryl (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Land vehicle alarms or indicators
Internal alarm or indicator responsive to a condition of the...
C340S462000, C248S349100, C248S131000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06448893
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to multifunction display arrangements for motor vehicles which include an electronic display unit having a picture screen to display information in the form of signs and symbols and at least one control member within the driver's field of view in a part of the interior trim of the vehicle.
Increased traffic density and the desire of vehicle users for greater comfort have led to numerous electronic accessories in motor vehicles, such as guidance, warning, audio systems and mobile radios which provide large quantities of information and messages to be supplied to the operator. For presentation of such information, electronic display units, especially in the form of monitors or picture screens, which are increasingly coming into use, have the advantage that different data sets can be presented in time sequence at the same location. The reception of such a large quantity of information is necessary for the driver's operation of the vehicle but causes a diversion of the driver's attention from the road while reading the screen. For this reason, the duration of any such diversions must be kept as short as possible.
Various lighting conditions, incident light on the display screen and light or images reflected from the display screen may interfere seriously with reading of the displayed information. This results in a diversion of the vehicle driver's attention for time durations that are often unwarranted in terms of safety.
To reduce light reflection from picture screens or monitors, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,558 and German Offenlegungsschrifts Nos. 41 00 831 and 41 17 257 disclose the application of antireflection coatings either directly to the surface of a display screen or to a sheet of glass in front of it.
To provide a display in a motor vehicle, U.S. Pat. No. 4,521,078 further discloses arranging the display surface of the display screen at an angle between the display surface and the direction of the viewer's gaze which is different from 90° to prevent specular and other reflections, and presenting characters on the inclined display surface which are distorted in such a way that they are viewed without distortion by the user.
Further, to diminish specular reflection in the display surface of a display unit in a motor vehicle, German Offenlegungsschrift No. 44 25 204 discloses a covering glass for a display screen which is oriented so that, from a driver's average viewpoint, a portion of the instrument panel located in front of the display unit is reflected by the glass.
Because vehicle users have different stature and use different seat adjustments, however, such solutions do not always provide the desired result with every driver.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a multifunction display arrangement for a motor vehicle which overcomes disadvantages of the prior art.
Another object of the invention is to provide a multifunction display arrangement which, considering a vehicle user's individual ergonomy and the lighting conditions under which the vehicle is operated in each instance, is easily readable because the effects of light shining into the vehicle and/or specular and other reflections from light-colored interior surfaces can be avoided to a large extent or even eliminated completely.
These and other objects of the invention are attained by providing a multifunction display arrangement having a display screen which is supported for pivotal motion on at least two axes.
According to the invention, at least the electronic display unit of the multifunction display arrangement may be mounted in an aperture of the interior vehicle trim, pivotably on at least two axes, preferably a vertical and a horizontal axis, to improve readability.
This has the advantage that, beside permitting an optimal orientation of the display screen in relation to directly incident light, the display unit may be adjusted with respect to reflected light colored areas or surfaces in the motor vehicle to provide a viewing or reading direction which is convenient to the user.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the electronic display screen is part of a structural unit which also contains a control member or members, in which case the entire unit may advantageously be pivotable on the two axes.
Preferably for design reasons the angle through which the electronic display unit is pivotable in the aperture of the interior trim is no more than about 10-20° on each axis.
The pivotal suspension of the electronic display screen or unit may be achieved in many different ways. Thus, in one embodiment, the display screen or unit is pivotable about a mounting constructed, for example, in the manner of a ball-and-socket joint. In this case, a socket member is provided in which a ball member, having the configuration of a partial or complete sphere, is rotatably held so that, upon pivoting of the display screen or unit about the joint, individual points of the picture screen surface follow a spherical motion path having a center of curvature which is located more or less at the center of symmetry of a picture screen surface of rectangular, oval or circular shape. For this purpose, according to another aspect of the invention, the center of rotation for the mount consisting of a socket element and a ball element is in the region of the surface of the multifunction display screen. For a display screen or unit mounted in a housing so that the picture screen surface is substantially flush with the front of the housing, the center of rotation is thus moved into the region of the screen. The center of rotation can be positioned to the front or rear of the screen, depending on the application, to the extent that the mobility of the display screen or unit as a whole is not unduly impaired. In the ideal case, however, the center of rotation is located exactly at the picture screen surface. The socket element and the ball element may be associated either with the movable display screen or unit or, at least indirectly, with the interior trim.
According to another embodiment, the display screen or display unit of the multifunction display arrangement is pivotable about a position which is essentially flush with the front of the housing in a mounting constructed, for example, in the manner of a telescoping ball-and-socket joint. For example, at least three socket elements are provided, in which ball elements in the form of partial or complete spheres at the ends of movable piston rods are rotatably held and are also displaceable lengthwise perpendicular to the normal position of the display screen so that, by appropriate pressure on the display screen or unit, the position can be adjusted to the direction of view of a user. Because the screen or unit is supported at several positions, individual adjustability to the needs of the user and to prevailing visibility and lighting conditions is possible.
It will be understood that the components of the ball-and-socket mountings may be reversed if desired, that is, the end portions of the piston rods may be in the form of socket elements, and the corresponding ball elements may be affixed to the rear of the display screen or unit. Reversing the components of the ball-and-socket mounting in this manner will not limit the mobility of the display screen or unit.
In an advantageous modification of this embodiment, coupling arrangements are provided to connect bearing mounts. Coupling of the bearing mounts may be accomplished by various mechanisms, for example mechanical linkages such as cables, hydraulic lines, electrical servo motors and the like. Because of the linkages of the bearing mounts, at least when coordinated in pairs, the axis of rotation of the display screen or unit is located at the midpoint of a line connecting the coupled bearing mounts, in other words a line parallel to the visible surface of the display screen or unit. An advantage of coupling the bearing mounts is that only pressure need be applied to adju
Besel Klaus-Gert
Dobberkau Thomas
Golisch Frank
Kriegel Dieter
Lengfeld Olaf
Baker & Botts LLP
Pope Daryl
Volkswagen AG
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