Abstract:
Systems and methods are described for a graphical vehicle cluster display that conveys vehicle acceleration information. A controller is configured to receive a signal indicative of vehicle acceleration. A substantially circular icon is displayed on the screen when the signal indicates that the acceleration is approximately zero in a forward direction. A stretched elliptic icon is display on the screen when the acceleration of the vehicle in a forward direction is greater than zero. A compressed elliptic icon is displayed on the screen when the acceleration of the vehicle in the forward direction is less than zero.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/822,050, filed on May 10, 2013, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to vehicle display systems. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    In various embodiments, the invention provides systems and methods for improving communication of vehicle parameters to an operator of the vehicle. In particular, the systems provide a graphical indication of vehicle performance attributes such as, for example, engine speed (RPM), longitudinal acceleration, lateral acceleration, and shift-points. Based on this information, the operator of the vehicle can better control the vehicle. 
         [0004]    In one embodiment, the invention provides a graphical display unit for a vehicle including a screen and a controller. The controller is configured to receive a signal indicative of vehicle acceleration. A substantially circular icon is displayed on the screen when the signal indicates that the acceleration is approximately zero in a forward direction. A stretched elliptic icon is display on the screen when the acceleration of the vehicle in a forward direction is greater than zero. A compressed elliptic icon is displayed on the screen when the acceleration of the vehicle in the forward direction is less than zero. 
         [0005]    In some such embodiments, the primary access on which the icon is stretched or compressed is tilted to indicate lateral acceleration of the vehicle. The diameter of the circular icon is also increased or decreased based on a current engine speed of the vehicle and a numeric value indicative of the current engine speed is displayed on the circular icon. The color of the circular icon may also be changed during operation to indicate whether the vehicle is currently being operated in a recommended gear. 
         [0006]    In another embodiment, the invention provides a graphical display unit for a vehicle including a screen and a controller. An acceleration map is displayed on the screen and a first signal is received that is indicative of a current linear acceleration and a current lateral acceleration. A first icon is displayed on the acceleration map at a first location. The horizontal position of the first icon is indicative of the current lateral acceleration and the vertical position is indicative of the current linear acceleration. A second signal indicative of a subsequent lateral and linear acceleration is received and the position of the first icon is changed based on the second signal. A second icon is displayed at the first location if the first location is further from a center point of the acceleration map than the second location. The second icon is indicative of a maximum detected acceleration of the vehicle. 
         [0007]    In some embodiments, the invention provides a vehicle display system including a vehicle display and a display controller. The display controller causes the vehicle display to show a performance ball indicator representing acceleration forces acting on the vehicle. Longitudinal forces are illustrated by stretching the ball shape when longitudinal acceleration is detected and compressing the ball when longitudinal deceleration (i.e., braking) is detected. Lateral forces are illustrated by rotating the position of the ball on the display. The degree and direction of rotation correspond to the magnitude and direction of the detected lateral acceleration. 
         [0008]    In other embodiments, the invention provides a vehicle display system including a vehicle display and a display controller. The display controller causes the vehicle display to show a radial grid to illustrate acceleration forces acting on the vehicle. A ball moves in two dimensions on the radial grid to illustrate both lateral and longitudinal accelerations. The ball moves one direction (e.g., backward) on the grid when longitudinal acceleration is detected and moves in the opposite direction (e.g., forward) on the grid with longitudinal deceleration (i.e., braking) is detected. The ball moves to the left when lateral acceleration is detected in a first direction and to the right when lateral acceleration is detected in the opposite direction. 
         [0009]    Other aspects of the invention will become apparent by consideration of the detailed description and accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a front view of a vehicle display cluster according to one embodiment. 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is an alternate display of the vehicle display cluster of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a front view of a vehicle display cluster according to another embodiment. 
           [0013]      FIGS. 4A ,  4 B,  4 C,  4 D,  4 E, and  4 F are front views of an indicator component of the vehicle display cluster under a variety of different vehicle operating conditions. 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of a system for controlling a vehicle display cluster. 
           [0015]      FIG. 6  is a functional flow-diagram illustrating the flow of information during operation of the system of  FIG. 5 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0016]    Before any embodiments of the invention are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the following drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. 
         [0017]      FIG. 1  illustrates a first construction of a dynamic vehicle display cluster. The display includes a speedometer component  101  that shows the speed of the vehicle in miles-per-hour, km-per-hour, or according to another applicable unit. To the left of the speedometer component is a temperature gauge and to the right is a fuel gauge. However, in other constructions, the gauges to the immediate left and right of the speedometer component  101  can be used to illustrate other information. A numeric scale indicator  103  is provided across the top of the display. In this example, the numeric scale indicator  103  includes integer numbers from one through eight and is used as a tachometer indicating engine speed on an ×100 scale. However, a similar numeric scale can be used in other constructions to indicate other engine performance characteristics. 
         [0018]    The display also includes a longitudinal incline indicator  105  that displays the current inclination/declination of the vehicle as determined based on information from one or more vehicle sensors includes, for example, force sensors or gyroscopic incline sensors. 
         [0019]    A user of the vehicle can change the display of  FIG. 1  to show additional information in a different view screen.  FIG. 2  illustrates a second view screen for the vehicle display of  FIG. 1 . This second view screen still includes the speedometer component  201  and the numeric scale indicator  203 , but also includes a vehicle G-force indicator  205 . The G-force indicator  205  includes a circular field positioned between a visual indication of the four wheels of the vehicle. The color of each wheel of the vehicle are changed when the vehicle is under the active influence of a compensatory vehicle control system such as, for example, ABS, ESP, or TCS systems. In the example, of  FIG. 2 , the front driver-side wheel is colored black indicating that its operation is not being directly modified by any vehicle compensation system. However, each of the remaining three wheels is colored yellow, thereby indicating that intervention is being applied. 
         [0020]    The circular field is a radial grid for identifying g-force magnitudes and directions. The field includes a ball that moves around the radial grid to identify the real-time vector g-force being measured. A stationary faded ball is also displayed that marks the most recent maximum g-force measured. A vector indicator (showing both a magnitude and a direction) for the lateral acceleration (e.g., left-to-right) is shown on the right hand side of the radial grid. A vector indicator of the longitudinal acceleration (e.g., front-to-rear) is shown underneath the radial grid. A maximum vector indicator (again, both magnitude and direction) for the longitudinal and lateral acceleration is shown at the bottom of the g-force indicator component  205 . 
         [0021]    When operating, the real-time ball will move about the radial grid in response to longitudinal and lateral acceleration inputs. When the vector magnitude of a g-force signal is larger than a threshold value, the faded ball will appear on the radial grid to indicate the sensed acceleration. The vector components of this maximum will also be displayed on the Gmax.force indicator at the bottom. After a threshold amount of time, the maximum g-force components as well as the faded ball will reset and wait for another maximum value that is larger than the threshold value. 
         [0022]    A display controller for this system (described in further detail below) reads a new longitudinal and lateral acceleration signals from the CAN bus (also described below) using a calibrated sampling rate. The controller combines these components vectorially to find the magnitude of the sensed acceleration and stores it in a memory. The controller retains in the memory a calibrated number of previous acceleration magnitude values. The calibrated number of previous magnitude values together with the calibrated sampling rate defines the real-time window of acceleration being observed. The saved array of g-force magnitudes is parsed to search for a maximum. The maximum can be identified by observing increasing values of g-force magnitude followed by decreasing values. If the number of increasing values and decreasing values satisfy a calibrated threshold, then a reliable maximum has been identified. When a reliable maximum is identified and if its magnitude is greater than a calibrated maximum threshold, the faded ball and the maximum g-force components on the display are updated. After a calibrated amount of time, if no new reliable maximum g-force values with thresholds greater than the calibrated threshold are observed the faded ball and the maximum g-force display components are both reset to zero. In this way, the display resets the maximum observed g-force and waits to update again once a new large g-force value is sensed. 
         [0023]      FIG. 3  illustrates another construction of a dynamic graphic display cluster. This display includes a textual indication of vehicle speed  301  and a fuel gauge  303 . The fuel gauge in this example is configured to display the estimated fuel range of the vehicle based on observed fuel efficiency and the volume of fuel in the fuel tank of the vehicle. The display also shows a navigation system  305  and additional textual information  307  related to vehicle performance. 
         [0024]    The display of  FIG. 3  also includes a component for indicating vehicle performance in the form of a performance ball  309 . The performance ball  309  in this example is presented as a two-dimensional illustration of a three-dimensional ball. The measured engine speed of the vehicle is displayed on the surface of the performance ball  309 . As illustrated in further detail in  FIGS. 4A-4F , the shape, size and color of the performance ball  309  changes based on measured vehicle performance values. 
         [0025]    In  FIG. 4A , the performance ball  309  is colored blue and shown as a perfectly spherical shape. As the engine speed (i.e., RPM) increased, the size of the performance ball is also increased. As the vehicle accelerates, the shape of the performance ball is stretched as shown in  FIG. 4B . Conversely, as braking is applied and the vehicle decelerates, the shape of the performance ball is compressed as shown in  FIG. 4C . To indicate lateral g-forces acting on the vehicle (e.g., as the vehicle turns), the performance ball is rotated on the display as illustrated in  FIG. 4D . 
         [0026]    The performance ball  309  also indicates recommended shift points for a vehicle with a standard/manual transmission. When the performance ball is colored green (as shown in  FIG. 4E ), the display indicates that the vehicle is being operated in the optimal gear. However, when downshifting is recommended, the performance ball is colored blue (as shown in  FIGS. 4A-4D ). Lastly, when shifting to a higher gear is recommended, the display shows the performance ball colored red as in  FIG. 4F . 
         [0027]      FIG. 5  illustrates various hardware components that provide for the operation of the dynamic vehicle display clusters illustrated in  FIGS. 1-4F  above. The instrument cluster  501  is connected to a vehicle CAN (“controller area network”) bus  503 . Also connected to the bus  503  are an engine control module  505  that, among other things, determines the engine speed (i.e., RPM) of the vehicle. A body control module  507  communicates with a number of sensors, including lateral and longitudinal acceleration sensors, to determine various accelerations being experienced by the vehicle. Lastly, a transmission control module  509  monitors operation of the transmission system and communicates optimal transmission shift points to the CAN bus  503 . 
         [0028]      FIG. 6  illustrates the steps performed by the instrument cluster system to translate messages from the other vehicle systems (received through the CAN bus) to information that is displayed on the cluster display. The method illustrated in  FIG. 6  specifically describes the operation of the vehicle display of  FIG. 3 . However, similar actions and communications also provide for the operation of the vehicle display illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
         [0029]    CAN messages are communicated by various connected components to the CAN bus (step  601 ). The CAN controller software component receives the CAN messages from the Can bus (step  603 ). Messages are buffered until retrieved from other software components. The internal communication data bus retrieves the Can messages from the Can controller and makes them available to other software components through a software bus such as D-BUS (step  605 ). The sensor algorithm software components retrieve the messages from the internal communication bus and process the CAN messages into a smooth output for the graphics subsystem (step  607 ). The sensor algorithms also determine the maximum and minimum levels to be sent to the graphics subsystem. The graphics subsystem (i.e., the cluster image controller) takes the smoothed sensor data and modifies the graphical images to be shown on the cluster display (step  609 ). Images are retrieved from internal memory and modified using an internal graphical framework to modify color, size, and shape of the images based on the sensor input. The display controller outputs the new graphical images retrieved from the graphical subsystem at the frame rate to which the display controller is able to display (step  611 ). Lastly, the updated images are shown on the image cluster display (step  613 ). 
         [0030]    Thus, the invention provides, among other things, a dynamic vehicle display system for graphically illustrating vehicle performance characteristics, including, for example, real-time g-forces acting upon the vehicle. Various features and advantages of the invention are set forth in the following claims.