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EP-4312074-B1 - PICTURE GENERATION APPARATUS AND HEAD-UP DISPLAY INCLUDING SAME

EP4312074B1EP 4312074 B1EP4312074 B1EP 4312074B1EP-4312074-B1

Inventors

  • KIM, YOO NA
  • SONG, KI HYUK

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20230720

Claims (12)

  1. A picture generation apparatus (100) comprising: a printed circuit board, PCB, (360); one or more light sources (350) disposed on the PCB (360) and configured to emit light; a liquid crystal display, LCD, (310) configured to emit an image based on the light emitted from the one or more light sources (350); and an optical path control unit (330) disposed between the PCB (360) and the LCD (310) and configured to change a travel path of the light emitted from the one or more light sources (350), wherein the LCD (310) is disposed to be offset from an incident optical axis of external light, wherein the PCB (360) and the LCD (310) are parallel to each other, characterised in that the LCD (310) is configured to rotate in a first direction with respect to the incident optical axis of the external light, and wherein the optical path control unit (330) changes the travel path of the light to a second direction opposite to the first direction.
  2. The picture generation apparatus (100) of claim 1, wherein the optical path control unit (330) comprises a prism.
  3. The picture generation apparatus (100) of claim 1 or 2, wherein the optical path control unit (330) comprises a Fresnel lens.
  4. The picture generation apparatus (100) of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the optical path control unit (330) comprises one or more lenses.
  5. The picture generation apparatus (100) of claim 4, wherein each of the one or more lenses has a Fresnel lens-shape.
  6. The picture generation apparatus (100) of any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising an optical path guiding unit disposed between the PCB (360) and the optical path control unit (330) and configured to guide the light emitted from the light source to the optical path control unit (330).
  7. The picture generation apparatus (100) of claim 6, wherein the optical path guiding unit comprises one or more collimating lenses.
  8. The picture generation apparatus (100) of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the picture generation apparatus further comprises a control unit configured to rotate the PCB (360), the LCD (310) and the optical path control unit.
  9. The picture generation apparatus (100) of claim 8, further comprising a sensing unit configured to sense at least one of an intensity and an incident angle of the external light, wherein the control unit rotates the PCB (360), the LCD (310) and the optical path control unit (330) based on at least one of the intensity and the incident angle of the external light sensed by the sensing unit.
  10. The picture generation apparatus (100) of claim 9, wherein the PCB (360), the LCD (310) and the optical path control unit (330) are configured to rotate together.
  11. The picture generation apparatus (100) of claim 9 or 10, wherein the sensing unit comprises one or more sensors.
  12. A head-up display (10) comprising: the picture generation apparatus (100) according to any of claims 1 to 11; and one or more reflection members (11, 12) configured to reflect the image emitted from the picture generation apparatus (100).

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application claims priority to Patent Application No. 10-2022-0091802, filed on July 25 2022 in Korea. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a picture generation apparatus and a head-up display including the same. BACKGROUND The content described in this section merely provides background information on the present disclosure and does not constitute the prior art. A head-up display (HUD) is a device that allows a driver to see various pieces of information related to current speed, navigation, a fuel amount or the driving of a vehicle by illuminating a windshield of the vehicle. Since the driver may easily see various pieces of information related to the driving of the vehicle using the head-up display, the driver may keep eyes forward with little dispersion of viewpoints even while driving. The head-up display may include a case that defines a receiving space therein, a Picture Generation Unit (PGU) that outputs an image related to the driving information of the vehicle, a reflection member, a dust cover, etc. The head-up display is installed under the windshield of the vehicle due to its characteristics. The PGU may include a light source that emits light, a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) on which the light source is disposed, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) that outputs an image, a lens that uniformly focuses light transmitted from the light source on the LCD, and a diffuser that evenly diffuses the light to the LCD, etc. On the other hand, as external light (e.g. the sun) is incident on the PGU included in the head-up display of the vehicle, internal components may be deteriorated and damaged, or the reflected external light may be incident on a user's eye again. If the LCD is rotated and placed to prevent external light from entering the inside of the PGU and damaging components or to prevent the light from being reflected back to a driver's eye, there is a problem in that the image becomes non-uniform as a distance from the light source varies depending on each area of the LCD. US 2011/267702 A1 discloses a head up display system for vehicles that presents an image to be seen through a windshield by a vehicle occupant by projecting the display image onto the windshield from a display device placed inside the vehicle. The housing of the head up display is placed with respect to the windshield such that the external light reflected by the prism lens of the head up display impinges upon the walls of the housing. WO 2015/093294 A1 discloses a head-up display device that can suppress display characteristics from being deteriorated due to external light and can suppress a decrease in contrast. US 2022/026712 A1 discloses a virtual image display device for a vehicle that displays a virtual image. External light such as sunlight is incident on the display screen in the opposite direction to the light of the image. The external light is reflected in the reflection direction different from that of the light of the image. US 2020/124848 A1 discloses a head-up display in which a display unit is protected from damage caused by light entering from the outside and a method for its operation. In the event of strong light entering at the critical angle, this is detected by the sensor, whereupon the parking unit, driven by the control unit, moves the head-up display into a parking position in which the light entering at the critical angle does not fall onto the display element. US 2022/122498 A1 discloses a method and apparatus for determining whether to release a protection mode of the HUD based on vehicle information. SUMMARY In view of the above, the present disclosure provides a picture generation apparatus, in which an LCD is rotated to be offset from the incident optical axis of external light, thus preventing the external light from being incident on the picture generation apparatus to damage a component or preventing the reflected external light from being incident on a user's eye. According to an embodiment, a picture generation apparatus is configured such that a light source and an LCD arranged to be offset from the incident optical axis of external light are arranged to be parallel to each other, thus preventing an image from becoming non-uniform according to each area. According to an embodiment, a picture generation apparatus is configured such that the travel path of light emitted from a rotated light source is changed using an optical path control unit, thus preventing an image from being out of a user's field of view or being distorted. The objectives to be achieved by the present disclosure are not limited to the above-mentioned objectives, and other objectives which are not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description. According to an embodiment, a picture generation apparatus is advantageous in that an LCD is rotated to be offset from the incident optical axis of external light, thus preven