Display system

Abstract

An instrument panel display system displays vehicle information, amenity information, and safety information as images. In this instrument panel display system, data (image data, image layout data, and image output control data) for displaying the images are generated in a shared manner by a vehicle system processor, an amenity system processor, and a safety system processor. On account of this, the stability of image display on an instrument panel of a vehicle or the like is improved and hence safety of driving is increased.

1 . A system comprising:
 a display system mounted on a controllable movable body; and   a display device included in the display system, the display device being arranged to simultaneously display images which indicate different sets of information including information about the movable body;   the display system further comprising:
 at least one processor arranged to generate image data in order to display the images simultaneously in a shared manner; and 
 a display data output device arranged to generate display data to display an image on the display device and output the display data to the display device, the display data output device is connected to both the display device and the at least one processor; wherein 
   the display data output device generates the display data by laying out the image data transmitted from the at least one processor, based on an image layout registered in advance in the display data output device, and outputting the generated display data to the display device.   
   
   
       2 . The system according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a transmission path which connects the display data output device with the at least one processor and along which the image data is transmitted; wherein   the display data output device generates the display data by laying out the image data transmitted from the at least one processor via the transmission path, based on the image layout registered in advance in the display data output device, and outputting the generated display data to the display device.   
   
   
       3 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein, the display data output device includes an image layout table which:
 determines, in advance, a relationship between (i) movable body data which is supplied via a LAN in the movable body and includes data about the movable body, and (ii) image layout data;   generates the image layout data with reference to the image layout table corresponding to the movable body data; and   generates the display data based on the generated image layout data and the image data transmitted from the at least one processor.   
   
   
       4 . The system according to  claim 3 , wherein the image layout table is changeable. 
   
   
       5 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the display data output device includes a standard image interface arranged to receive the image data from the at least one processor. 
   
   
       6 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the at least one processor includes a plurality of processors; and   data for displaying an image corresponding to highly important information is generated by one of the plurality of processors that is different from another of the plurality of processors by which data for displaying an image corresponding to other types of information is generated.   
   
   
       7 . The system according to  claim 6 , wherein the highly important information is information relating to a performance state of the moveable body. 
   
   
       8 . The system according to  claim 7 , wherein the highly important information is information indicating a speed of the movable body. 
   
   
       9 . The system according to  claim 7 , wherein, the highly important information is information indicating a number of engine revolutions. 
   
   
       10 . The system according to  claim 7 , wherein the highly important information is information indicating an oil amount. 
   
   
       11 . The system according to  claim 7 , wherein the highly important information is information indicating warning information. 
   
   
       12 . The system according to  claim 7 , wherein the highly important information is information relating to a blinking indicator. 
   
   
       13 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein, data for displaying an image corresponding to information which places a relatively heavy processing load is generated by a processor which is different from a processor by which data for displaying an image corresponding to other types of information is generated. 
   
   
       14 . The system according to  claim 13 , wherein the information which produces the relatively heavy processing load is information corresponding to a navigation image. 
   
   
       15 . The system according to  claim 13 , wherein the information which produces the relatively heavy processing load is information corresponding to a DVD image. 
   
   
       16 . The system according to  claim 13 , wherein the information which produces the relatively heavy processing load is information corresponding to a television image. 
   
   
       17 . The system according to  claim 13 , wherein the information which produces the relatively heavy processing load is information corresponding to a CCD image. 
   
   
       18 . A display system which is mounted on a controllable movable body and simultaneously displays, on a display device, images which indicate sets of information including information regarding the movable body, wherein
 the display system is arranged such that, the sets of information include movable body information about the movable body and multimedia information which is different from the movable body information;   data for displaying an image corresponding to the movable body information is generated by a processor which is different from a processor which generates an image corresponding to the multimedia information; and   the sets of information include amenity information and safety information;   the display system comprising:
 a movable body system processor which processes the movable body information; 
 an amenity system processor which processes the amenity information; and 
 a safety system processor which processes the safety information; and 
   the movable body system processor generates image data which corresponds to the movable body information, the amenity system processor generates image data which corresponds to the amenity information, and the safety system processor generates image data which corresponds to the safety information.   
   
   
       19 . The display system according to  claim 18 , wherein, the display data output device controls image display by using the sets of data generated by the processors. 
   
   
       20 . A display system which is mounted on a controllable movable body and simultaneously displays, on a display device, images which indicate sets of information including information regarding the movable body, the display system comprising:
 at least one processor arranged to generate image data to display the images simultaneously in a shared manner;   a display data output device arranged to generate display data from the image data and image layout data, the display control device being connected to the display device and the at least one processor; and   a storage device arranged to store still image data included in the display data in advance, the storage device being provided in the display data output device.   
   
   
       21 . The display system according to  claim 20 , further comprising a transmission path which connects the display data output device with the at least one processor and along which the image data is transmitted. 
   
   
       22 . The display system according to  claim 20 , wherein,
 a process to generate a layout of the images is a main event, and a process to change appearances of the images in the layout is a sub event;   the display data output device executes the main event and the sub event in accordance with the image layout data and the image data, and outputs a result of execution as the display data.   
   
   
       23 . The display system according to  claim 22 , wherein, among the image data used in the main event and the sub event, the still image data is stored in the storage device. 
   
   
       24 . The display system according to  claim 22 , wherein, among the image data used in the main event, still image data is stored in the storage device, and
 the image data used in the sub event is generated by the at least one processor.   
   
   
       25 . The display system according to  claim 22 , wherein, the image data used in the main event is generated by the at least one processor, and
 among the image data used in the sub event, the still image data is stored in the storage device.   
   
   
       26 . The display system according to  claim 22 , wherein, the still image data used in the main event and the sub event is generated by the at least one processor. 
   
   
       27 . The display system according to  claim 22 , wherein, the image data processed in the main event constitutes a fuel gauge, a shift indicator or a needle of a speedometer, and the image data processed in the sub event changes an appearance of an image which is displayed using the image data processed in the main event. 
   
   
       28 . The display system according to  claim 22 , wherein, when images displayed using the display data partly overlap one another, the display data output device alpha-blends an overlapped portion of the images. 
   
   
       29 . The display system according to  claim 1 , wherein the display system is mounted on a vehicle. 
   
   
       30 . A display data output device which outputs, to a display device mounted on a controllable movable body, display data which includes an image indicating information regarding the movable body, the display data output device comprising:
 a display control device arranged to fetch image data from outside and/or inside of the display data output device, and to generate the display data by laying out the fetched image data based on image layout data which corresponds to movable body data including data concerning the movable body.   
   
   
       31 . The display data output device according to  claim 30 , further comprising:
 a storage device arranged to store a still image indicating information regarding the movable body, wherein   the display control device fetches, as image data, sets of information including information about the movable body, from outside, and generates the display data by laying out the fetched image data and/or still image data which is the image data from inside, indicating the information regarding the movable body; and   the information is stored in the storage device, based on image layout data which corresponds to the movable body data.   
   
   
       32 . The display data output device according to  claim 31 , wherein,
 the display control device includes an image layout table which determines in advance a relationship between (i) the movable body data which is supplied via a LAN in the movable body and includes data about the movable body, and (ii) the image layout data; and   the display control device (I) generates the image layout data with reference to the image layout table corresponding to the movable body data, (II) generates the display data based on the image layout data and still image data which is either the image data which is supplied from outside the display data output device and including the information regarding the movable body or the image data which is fetched from inside the display data output device, is stored in the storage device, and indicates the information regarding the movable body, and (III) outputs the generated display data to the display device.   
   
   
       33 . The display data output device according to  claim 32 , wherein, the image layout table is changeable. 
   
   
       34 . The display data output device according to claim  30 , wherein, the display control device includes a standard image interface which receives the image data from outside. 
   
   
       35 . A system comprising:
 a display control device which is provided in a display data output device which outputs, to a display device mounted on a controllable movable body, display data which includes an image indicating information about the movable body, the display control device comprising a display data generating section arranged to fetch image data from outside and/or inside of the display data output device, and generate the display data by laying out the fetched image data based on image layout data which corresponds to movable body data including data about the movable body.   
   
   
       36 . The system according to  claim 35 , further comprising:
 a storage device arranged to store an image indicating the information regarding the movable body in advance;   the display data generating section fetching, as image data, images including the information about the movable body, from outside, and generating the display data by laying out the fetched image data and/or still image data which functions as the image data fetched from inside, is stored in the storage device, and indicates the information about the movable body, based on image layout data which corresponds to movable body data including data about the movable body.   
   
   
       37 . The system according to  claim 36 , further comprising:
 an image layout table which determines, in advance, a relationship between (i) the movable body data which is transmitted via a LAN in the movable body and includes data regarding the at least one of the speed and the shift position of the movable body, and (ii) the image layout data; wherein   the display data generating section (I) generates the image layout data with reference to the image layout table corresponding to the movable body data; and (II) generates the display data based on the image layout data and still image data which is either the image data which is supplied from outside and including the information in regard to the movable body or the image data which is fetched from inside, is stored in the storage device, and indicates the information about the movable body.   
   
   
       38 . The display control device according to  claim 35 , further comprising a standard image interface arranged to receive image data from outside the system. 
   
   
       39 . A display control method for a display system which is mounted on a controllable movable body and simultaneously displays, on a display device, images which indicate sets of information about the movable body, the display system including:
 at least one processor arranged to generate image data for displaying the images simultaneously in a shared manner; and   a display data output device arranged to generate display data for an image on the display device and output the display data to the display device, the display data output device being connected to the display device and the at least one processor;   the method comprising the steps of:   (i) generating the display data by at least laying out the image data transmitted from the at least one processor, based on an image layout which is registered in advance in the display data output device; and   (ii) outputting the display data generated in the step (i) to the display device.   
   
   
       40 . A computer readable medium storing a display control program, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the steps recited in  claim 39 .