US-12623538-B2 - Device and method for displaying traffic signs with a supplementary sign

US12623538B2US 12623538 B2US12623538 B2US 12623538B2US-12623538-B2

Abstract

A device for improved visualization of an indication in an instrument cluster of a transportation vehicle and a corresponding system, method and computer program. Due to the greatly limited display area of the mini-FID in the instrument cluster, the device displays traffic signs, supplementary signs and warning lights in one display region. The supplementary signs information is displayed in reduced size in response to a warning light appearing above the traffic signs in the display region.

Inventors

Martin Hofmann
Johanna Sandbrink
Norwin Schmidt

Assignees

VOLKSWAGEN AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20220615
Priority Date: 20210708

Claims (14)

1 . A device for visualization of a notification for a transportation vehicle user in an instrument cluster of the transportation vehicle, the device comprising: an input interface that receives notification data containing information on the notification and indicator light data containing information on an operating state of the transportation vehicle, wherein the input interface receives notification data with information relating to a traffic sign recognized by components of the transportation vehicle; an analysis unit that determines a representation for the notification in response to on the notification data and the indicator light data and generates a control command that controls a display unit of the instrument cluster of the transportation vehicle; and an output interface that transmits the control command to the display unit of the instrument cluster of the transportation vehicle, wherein the control command controls display of an indicator light symbol on a display panel of the display unit in response to the analyzed indicator light data when the operating state of the transportation vehicle requires a message to be output by display of the indicator light symbol, wherein the control command controls display of the notification in a complete form including a display of the recognized traffic sign in response to an available display area of the display panel being sufficiently large to output a complete display of the notification, and wherein the control command controls display of the notification in a reduced form in response to the available display area of the display panel being smaller than a display area required for a complete display of the notification.
2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the output interface transmits the control command to a display unit as a mini-FID and is installed in a transportation vehicle and is part of an on-board computer, infotainment and/or navigation system.
3 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the analysis unit determines whether a recognized traffic sign comprises a main sign and/or a supplementary sign based on the notification data.
4 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the analysis unit prioritizes a recognized main sign and/or a recognized supplementary sign, and determines a control command which displays the traffic sign with low priority as a reduced output of a notification as a placeholder.
5 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the analysis unit assigns a recognized supplementary sign a lower priority than a recognized main traffic sign.
6 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the analysis unit assigns an indicator light symbol a higher priority than a recognized traffic sign.
7 . A system for improved visualization of a notification in an instrument cluster of a transportation vehicle, the system comprising: the device of claim 1 ; and a display unit in the instrument cluster for outputting an indicator light symbol and/or the notification in response to a control command of the device.
8 . A method for visualization for a transportation vehicle user of a notification in an instrument cluster of the transportation vehicle, the method comprising: receiving notification data with information on the notification and indicator light data with information on an operating state of the transportation vehicle, wherein the input interface receives notification data with information relating to a traffic sign recognized by components of the transportation vehicle; determining a representation for the notification in response to the notification data and the indicator light data; generating a control command for controlling a display unit of the instrument cluster of the transportation vehicle; and transmitting the control command to the display unit of the instrument cluster, wherein the control command controls display of an indicator light symbol on a display panel of the display unit in response to the analyzed indicator light data when the operating state of the transportation vehicle requires a message to be output by display of the indicator light symbol, wherein the control command controls display of the notification in a complete form including a display of the recognized traffic sign in response to an available display area of the display panel being sufficiently large to output a complete display of the notification, and wherein the control command controls display of the notification in a reduced form in response to the available display area of the display panel being smaller than a display area required for a complete display of the notification.
9 . A non-transitory computer readable medium with a computer program having program code for performing the method of claim 8 , when the computer program is executed on a computer or a corresponding computing unit.
10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the output interface transmits the control command to a display unit as a mini-FID and is installed in a transportation vehicle and is part of an on-board computer, infotainment and/or navigation system.
11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the analysis unit assigns a recognized supplementary sign a lower priority than a recognized main traffic sign.
12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the analysis unit assigns an indicator light symbol a higher priority than a recognized traffic sign.
13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the analysis unit determines whether a recognized traffic sign comprises a main sign and/or a supplementary sign based on the notification data.
14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the analysis unit prioritizes a recognized main sign and/or a recognized supplementary sign, and determines a control command which displays the traffic sign with low priority as a reduced output of a notification as a placeholder.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM This patent application is a U.S. National Phase of International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2022/066415, filed 15 Jun. 2022, which claims priority to German Patent Application No. 10 2021 207 259.3, filed 8 Jul. 2021, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. SUMMARY Illustrative embodiments relate to a device for improved visualization of a notification in an instrument cluster of a transportation vehicle and to a corresponding system, method and computer program. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Exemplary embodiments will be explained below with reference to the drawings, in which: FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a device for improved visualization of a notification in an instrument cluster of a transportation vehicle; FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of exemplary embodiment of a disclosed system; FIG. 3 shows a schematic representation of a further exemplary embodiment of a disclosed system in a transportation vehicle; FIG. 4 shows a schematic representation of an instrument cluster with a display unit; FIGS. 5a to 5g show schematic representations of outputs of the system on a mini-FID display unit; and FIG. 6 shows a schematic representation of a disclosed method. DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is known in modern transportation vehicles to provide the driver with traffic sign information. For example, a currently valid speed limit can be displayed as a traffic sign on the dashboard of the transportation vehicle. To determine the currently valid traffic sign information, the transportation vehicle may have various detection methods or mechanisms, such as a camera with an image processing unit. Furthermore, currently valid traffic sign information can be determined by electronic detection of radio signals that can transmit modern traffic signs, or from a database. In modern transportation vehicles, a wide variety of supplementary information and symbols to be displayed is provided. However, there is a lack of beneficial display options for the wide variety of symbols to display. From the unexamined application DE 10 2007 004 453 A1, a method for reproducing traffic sign information in a transportation vehicle is known, wherein information on a traffic sign is reproduced in the transportation vehicle. In addition, reliability information describing the reliability of the displayed traffic sign information is output. The drawback of this is that a dedicated display panel is provided for reproducing the traffic sign information. As the amount of information communicated to a driver while driving increases, the required display area is increasing constantly. This results in cost-intensive and space-intensive display units. From the unexamined application US 2017/174132 A1 it is known to recognize sign information of a traffic sign or road marking in front of a transportation vehicle. If two or more types of sign information with overlapping effective sections are detected, or if the sign information contains text information that contains a predetermined number of characters or more, simplified information obtained by simplifying the sign information is displayed on a Mobile Internet Device (MID) in the transportation vehicle. The drawback of this is that simplifying the text information is time-consuming and prone to errors. In particular, incorrectly simplified text information can lead to an increased traffic risk. The disclosed embodiments provide an improved way of displaying multiple symbols on a limited display panel. In particular, multiple symbols are to be displayed in a comprehensible form. This is achieved by a device for improved visualization of a notification in an instrument cluster of a transportation vehicle, having: an input interface for receiving notification data containing information on the notification and indicator light data containing information on an operating state of the transportation vehicle,an analysis unit for determining a representation for the notification based on the notification data and the indicator light data and for generating a control command for controlling a display unit of the instrument cluster; andan output interface for transmitting the control command to the display unit of the instrument cluster, wherein the control command displays an indicator light symbol on a display panel of the display unit when the operating state of the transportation vehicle requires a message to be output by an indicator light symbol, and displays the notification in a reduced form if the available display area of the display panel is smaller than a display area required for a complete display of the notification. The above is also achieved by a system for improved visualization of a notification in an instrument cluster of a transportation vehicle, having: a device as previously defined; anda display unit, in particular, a display unit in the instrument cluster, for outputting an indicator light symbol an