Helmet display including an information display horizontally aligned in a spaced relation along a curvature of a helmet jaw

A helmet display for displaying information to a user thereof while the user is riding, for example, a motorcycle. A display mounted on a helmet includes a plurality of display elements horizontally aligned in a spaced relation along the curvature of the jaw of the helmet. A reflector reflects the images of the display elements into the eyes of a user wearing the helmet. The images of the display elements form as a whole information to the user. The reflector may be a reflective surface provided at a lower portion on the shield of the helmet. The reflector may be mounted on the upper portion of the jaw and the reflective surface thereof may have a curvature substantially the same as that of the jaw of the helmet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a helmet display in which a display is 
disposed on the jaw of the helmet and a driver wearing the helmet sees a 
virtual image behind a reflector such as the shield of the helmet or a 
combiner which reflects the image of the display into the driver's eyes. 
2. Prior Art 
There has been a conventional display called a head-up display used in an 
automotive vehicle. A display is disposed on the dashboard of a vehicle 
and the image of the display is reflected by a reflector disposed on the 
windshield into a driver's eyes, so that the driver sees the virtual image 
of the display behind the reflector. The image appears on the windshield 
through which the driver sees the outside of the vehicle while driving. 
This is advantageous in that the driver only needs to slightly move his 
eyes in order to look at the image. FIG. 7 shows this type of head-up 
display which is referred to as a helmet display and is built in a helmet 
for a motorcycle driver. The helmet display is provided with a display 13 
on the interior of a jaw 2 of the helmet 1. The display 13 is so 
positioned that the display 13 projects its image upwardly towards the 
shield 4. The shield 4 reflects the image into the driver's eyes. The 
driver sees a virtual image Xo of the display behind the shield 4. 
FIG. 8 shows another conventional helmet display. The image of the display 
is not reflected by the shield 4 but is reflected by a combiner 15 mounted 
on the upper portion of the jaw 2 of the helmet 1. The light reflected by 
the combiner 15 enters the driver's eyes. The driver sees a virtual image 
Xo the display behind the combiner 15. The display 23 includes a liquid 
crystal 25 with a back light 24 and the image of the display 23 is 
enlarged by a lens 26. Thus, the driver sees the virtual image Xo as being 
a long way from the driver. The conventional helmet displays in FIGS. 7 
and 8 have advantages similar to those of the headup display used for 
conventional four-wheel vehicles. The display moves with the driver's 
face, so that the information such as vehicle speed and engine speed is 
always displayed at an optimum position for the driver to see. 
However, the aforementioned helmet displays have a single flat screen for 
displaying the image and therefore the reflective surface of the reflector 
must also be flat so that the image seen by the driver is not distorted. 
Thus, the shield 4 in FIG. 7 must have a flat surface. This requirement of 
a flat surface may result in an ugly or uncommon appearance of the helmet. 
Meanwhile, the helmet in FIG. 8 needs no flat surface of the shield 4 
since the helmet has a combiner as a reflector. However, the combiner is 
located very close to the driver's face and causes inconvenience if the 
driver wears glasses. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object of the present invention is to provide a helmet display with a 
compact display mounted thereon while maintaining the common appearance of 
a helmet. 
A helmet display displays information to a user thereof while the user is 
riding, for example, a motorcycle. A display mounted on a helmet includes 
a plurality of display elements horizontally aligned in a spaced relation 
along the inner curvature of the jaw of the helmet. A reflector reflects 
the images formed by the display elements into the eyes of a user wearing 
the helmet. The images of the display elements are perceived by the driver 
as forming information to the driver as a whole. The reflector may be a 
reflective surface provided at a lower portion of the shield of the 
helmet. The reflector may be mounted on the upper portion of said jaw and 
the reflective surface thereof may have a curvature substantially the same 
as that of the jaw of the helmet.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Construction 
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in 
detail with reference to the drawings. Elements similar to the prior art 
helmet have been given the same references. 
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a helmet display 
according to the present invention. A display 3 for displaying vehicle 
conditions such as engine speed and vehicle velocity is made up of a 
plurality of LEDs 3a. The LEDs are horizontally aligned in a spaced 
relation along the inner curvature of a jaw 2 of the helmet 1. A shield 4 
is provided with a reflective surface 4a. One type of reflective surface 
of the shield 4 is high reflection where the reflective surface 14 
reflects most of a light incident thereupon. This type of reflective 
surface is provided at a lower part of the shield 4 where the driver's 
visibility is not disturbed while he rides a motorcycle. Another type of 
reflective surface 14 is gradation where the light conductivity of the 
shield 4 gradually varies so that the part closer to the lower edge of the 
shield 4 is more reflective than the other. Thus, the driver is able to 
see through the part away from the lower edge of the shield 4. 
FIG. 2 is a side view of the helmet display of FIG. 1 when the driver wears 
the helmet. Strictly speaking, the shield 4 is vertically curved but is 
shown more like a flat surface for simple explanation. When the LEDs 3a 
light up, the reflective part 4a of the shield 4 reflects the lights into 
the driver's eyes. The driver sees the a virtual image of the lights so 
that the driver perceives the image behind the shield 4. FIGS. 5A-5D show 
images on the display 3 which are formed of a plurality of LEDs 3a and are 
seen by the driver. For example, FIG. 5A shows that the driver is cruising 
at a vehicle velocity of about 65 km/h and FIG. 5B shows that the engine 
speed is about 10,000 rpm. The display 3 is controlled by a controller, 
not shown, which receives information on the vehicle conditions such as 
vehicle velocity and engine speed, and sends the information to the 
display 3. The controller is provided with a selector switch with which 
the driver is able to selectively see either the vehicle velocity or 
engine speed on the reflective surface. 
Operation 
The operation of the helmet display in FIG. 1 is now described with 
reference to FIG. 4. When the driver operates the selector switch, the 
controller makes a decision to determine at step 1 S1 which one of the 
vehicle velocity and the engine speed is to be displayed. If the vehicle 
velocity is selected, then a display as shown in FIG. 5A appears. If the 
engine speed is selected, then a display as shown in FIG. 5B appears. The 
characters and rectangular segments in FIGS. 5A and 5B are formed of LEDs. 
The characters remain lit all the time during the use of the helmet. The 
rectangular segments are lit in accordance with the vehicle conditions so 
that the number of consecutive segments that are lit becomes a bar graph 
to indicate the velocity and engine speed. 
At step 2 S2, the controller checks for warning signals indicative of, for 
example, fuel run out and oil run out. When the controller detects a 
warning signal, all the LEDs 3a simultaneously cycle on and off rapidly as 
shown in FIG. 5C. Then, at step 3 S3, the controller checks for a flasher 
signal. If the flasher signal indicates a right turn, the controller 
causes the LEDs on the right half side to glow such that the right LED of 
any adjacent two LEDs is brighter than the left LED. This arrangement has 
an advantage of preventing the driver from forgetting to turn off the turn 
signal after right turning. When the flasher signal indicates a left turn, 
the operation is reverse. If a warning signal is not present nor is a turn 
signal, then either the vehicle velocity or the engine speed is displayed 
on the display 3. 
As shown in FIG. 6A, a highly reflective surface 14 of the shield 4 does 
not permit the driver to see through the reflective surface 14 which shows 
a vehicle speed of about 60 km/h. The hatched area in FIG. 6A represents 
the highly reflective surface 14. The reflective surface 4a reflects the 
image produced by the LEDs 3a as a high contrast image. In contrast, a 
gradation reflective surface 14 of the shield 4 permits the driver to see 
through a less reflective portion of the surface 14 as shown in FIG. 6B. 
It should be noted that the center line of the road is seen through the 
less reflective portion. Thus, the gradation reflective surface will not 
seriously disturb the driver's visibility. 
FIG. 3 is a side view of a second embodiment of a helmet display according 
to the invention. The shield 4 has no reflective surface. A separate 
plate-like reflector called a combiner 5 is used in place of the 
reflective surface 14 of the shield 4. The combiner 5 has a curvature 
substantially the same curvature as the jaw 2, and is mounted to the upper 
portion of the jaw 2. This arrangement is advantageous in that the driver 
is able to see the display even when the shield is lifted as well as the 
driver is not disturbed his visibility when the driver wears glasses. The 
combiner 5 can be adjustably tilted either in the direction of A or in the 
direction of B as shown such that the display image moves up and down and 
is suitable for a compact design of the helmet.