The automobile industry is entering an era of change due to the technological domain of CASE (Connectivity: Connectivity, Autonomous: Autonomous Driving, Shared & Services: Sharing Services, Electric: Electrification), and how drivers and occupants spend their time in the car. Is also required to change.In an autonomous driving environment, the driver will be freed from driving and want to spend more comfortably in the car with the rest of the occupants.Therefore, the importance of in-vehicle HMI (Human Machine Interface) that connects cars and people is increasing.Therefore, from the aspect of patent application, we investigated how the degree of attention to in-vehicle HMI is changing.
XNUMX. XNUMX.Technical overview
The target technology is in-vehicle HMI, which is equipment and software for exchanging information between cars and people.In-vehicle HMIs include a navigation system for inputting destinations and a head-up display (HUD) that projects instruments that were conventionally displayed on the instrument panel onto the windshield. The mainstream HUDs are the windshield projection type, which projects information onto the windshield, and the combiner type, which projects information onto a small, translucent plate-shaped member called a "combiner."
In this search, a patent population was created under the following search strategy.
Only Japanese applications are targeted for the purpose of grasping domestic trends.
Applications for the most recent 10 years after January 2010, 1 are eligible. (Search as of May 1)
Create a group ① of in-vehicle HMI. An FI that broadly captures the HMIG06F3 / 00F-term given from the technical point of view of "UI for controlling automobiles / in-vehicle devices"5E555-BA23To use.
Create a group (XNUMX) focusing on HUD, which is a typical in-vehicle HMI.HUD FI used for vehiclesB60K 35/00 @ AUse the application granted.
The above two groups (group ① and group ②) were added up to make 2 cases as the population.
<Patent classification>
5E555-BA23
･ Automobiles, in-vehicle devices <Targets that users operate / control with UI <User interface (Corresponding FI: G06F3 / 00 Input device for converting data into a format that can be processed by a computer; Output device for transferring data from a processing unit to an output unit, eg, an interface device)
B60K 35/00 @ A
Head-up <Instrumentation or application <Vehicle instrumentation or instrumentation panel
XNUMX.Application trends
XNUMX-XNUMX Overall application trends
The number of patent applications for in-vehicle HMIs and HUDs has been on the rise since 2012, and peaked in 2016, the year after 2017 when Mercedes announced "CASE" (Fig. 1). The number of applications from 2018 to 2019 is undecided because some applications have not been published (the same applies hereinafter).
FIG. XNUMX: Number of patent applications for in-vehicle HMI and HUD
Next, we ranked the applicants of the entire population by the number of applications, and analyzed the companies focusing on in-vehicle HMI (Fig. 2).
FIG. XNUMX Applicant ranking (top XNUMX)
Looking at the top 30 in the applicant ranking, automobile suppliers / OEMs such as Denso, Nippon Seiki, and Toyota Motor dominate the top.Among them, Panasonic is ranked 10th, and it can be said that many patent applications have been filed as a different industry. Panasonic supplies HUD to 2019 model Nissan Skyline※ 2, It can be seen that we are focusing on in-vehicle HMI.
Here, we compare the application transitions of the top three applicants and Panasonic (Fig. 3).
FIG. 3: Transition of applications between the top XNUMX applicants and Panasonic
Denso has filed more applications than other companies since 2010, and seems to be focusing most on in-vehicle HMI. It has been on the increase until its peak in 2014, and since then it has filed about 40 to 60 applications / year. On the other hand, Nippon Seiki, Toyota Motor, Panasonic and others have been on the increase since 2010, but the trend is slightly different from Denso, which is thought to have already reached its peak.Panasonic in a different industry filed many applications from 2015 to 2016, and it can be seen that Panasonic has recently entered the in-vehicle HMI in earnest.
XNUMX-XNUMX Panasonic application trends
XNUMX-XNUMX-XNUMX Application transition
We analyzed the trends of Panasonic, which has applied for many in-vehicle HMIs as a different industry (Fig. 4).Focusing on 2014 and after, when it started to increase, it increased significantly from 2015 to 2016, but it may have stagnated a little after 2017.
FIG. XNUMX: Number of patent applications for Panasonic in-vehicle HMI and HUD
Although the number of applications has stagnated since 2017, since the "VR simulator" was announced in 2019, we will promote the development of in-vehicle HMI that is involved in the entire vehicle interior by utilizing this simulator in the future. It is presumed that it will be done.
[VR simulator] Panasonic develops a VR (Virtual Reality) simulator that verifies in-vehicle HMI in virtual space and announces it in 2019※ 3, Published to the press on January 2020, 1.Usability can be confirmed quickly, and development man-hours can be expected to be reduced.※ 4
Also, looking at Panasonic's HUD applications, there were many applications related to the windshield projection type, which has a high degree of freedom in display, rather than the simple combiner type.
[Combiner type] (Example) Special application 2019-128559
[Windshield projection type] (Example) Special application 2018-138064
XNUMX-XNUMX-XNUMX Joint application
Of the Panasonic applications, two were jointly filed. One is an application with Toyota Motor Corporation and the other is an application with Mazda, which shows that they are jointly developing an in-vehicle HMI with an automobile OEM. The recently announced "VR simulator" can reduce the development cost of in-vehicle HMI.※ 4Is appealing.Therefore, there is a possibility that Panasonic's "VR simulator" will be utilized to accelerate joint development with other automobile OEMs.
XNUMX.Featured patent
We will take up one application each for Denso, which is the top in the applicant ranking, Toyota Motor, which is the top in the automobile OEM, and Panasonic's HUD, which is a applicant from a different industry that we paid attention to this time.
○ Many of DENSO's applications are for image display control (projection control), such as improving the visibility of virtual images and suppressing uneven brightness.Among them, an application for moving the display position of video information in a direction in which the driver's field of view is secured according to the vehicle condition will be introduced.
Since the display control device controls the optical unit so as to move the display position of the video information in the direction in which the driver's field of view of the vehicle is secured according to the vehicle state, the video information is displayed at the display position suitable for the vehicle state. can do.Further, since the optical unit is controlled so as to move the display position of the video information in the direction in which the driver's field of view of the vehicle is secured according to the vehicle condition, the video information can be displayed at the display position suitable for the vehicle condition. it can.
○ Many Toyota Motor applications are aimed at improving drivability, such as reducing driver discomfort and calling appropriate attention.Among them, we will introduce an application that can assist in recognizing the correct distance to an object by producing a sense of depth and changing the displayed image.
Patent No. 6617610
[Applicant] Toyota Motor Corporation [Application date] 2016/3/2 [Title of Invention] Display device for vehicles
The color shown in the displayed image becomes darker as it moves toward the vanishing point.Therefore, it is possible to assist the driver in recognizing the existence of the object, and it is also possible to enhance the sense of depth in the vanishing point direction and, by extension, the sense of correctly grasping the distance to the object in the displayed image. Become.Moreover, the driver recognizes that the distance between the object and the vehicle is changing because at least one of the brightness and the transparency in the displayed image changes according to the change in the distance between the object and the vehicle. It is also possible to assist by changing the displayed image.
○ Panasonic's applications tended to be similar to those of Denso and Toyota Motor's applications, such as controlling virtual images and alerting drivers, but with the above two companies that were aware of the mutual relationship with other in-vehicle devices. You can see applications from different perspectives.It can be said that it is an invention that can utilize the "VR simulator" announced this time.Introducing an application that can visually assist the driver in driving while looking away from the front.
When looking for something near the center console and staring at the center console, the actual traffic light seen through the windshield is not in sight, and the driver does not notice the change in the actual traffic light.However, the red traffic light pictogram displayed near the steering wheel is in the field of view, and the change in the traffic light pictogram can be noticed and the driving can be visually assisted.
Each company is focusing on the development of in-vehicle HMI in anticipation of the CASE era. Since the announcement of the CASE concept by Mercedes in 2016, the number of applications for HUDs and other in-vehicle HMIs has increased, and it is thought that the development of HMIs is desired with the advent of the CASE era.
In addition to traditional automobile suppliers / OEMs, entry into other industries such as Panasonic is beginning to be seen.
Panasonic is already in the process of joint development with an automobile OEM.There is a possibility of further accelerating joint development with automobile OEMs in the future.
Panasonic is developing a windshield projection HUD as a high-value-added product, and is also providing a solution for reducing R & D costs using a VR simulator.
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