Robert Boschgmbh

Ryan P Todd

Jason Zink

Andy Woodrich

Jolene Castillo

Sarah Maynard

A virtual visor system includes a visor having a plurality of independently operable pixels that are selectively operated with a variable opacity. A camera captures images of the face of a driver or other passenger and, based on the captured images, a controller operates the visor to automatically and selectively darken a limited portion thereof to block the sun or other illumination source from striking the eyes of the driver, while leaving the remainder of the visor transparent. The virtual visor system advantageously snaps projected eye positions on the visor to a grid, which helps to minimize rapid and distracting changes in the optical state of the visor.

Vehicle mounted virtual visor system with grid snapping for jitter reduction

A virtual visor system is disclosed that includes a visor having a plurality of independently operable pixels that are selectively operated with a variable opacity. A camera captures images of the face of a driver or other passenger and, based on the captured images, a controller operates the visor to automatically and selectively darken a limited portion thereof to block the sun or other illumination source from striking the eyes of the driver, while leaving the remainder of the visor transparent. The virtual visor system advantageously adopts a gradient blocking mode for the optical state of the visor that includes a blocker and a transition gradient, which has the effect of making updates to optical state of the visor less distracting. Additionally, the transition gradient in the optical state of the visor makes the virtual visor system more robust against errors in positioning the blocker on the visor.

Vehicle mounted virtual visor system with gradient blocking modes

A virtual visor system is disclosed that includes a visor having a plurality of independently operable pixels that are selectively operated with a variable opacity. A camera captures images of the face of a driver or other passenger and, based on the captured images, a controller operates the visor to automatically and selectively darken a limited portion thereof to block the sun or other illumination source from striking the eyes of the driver, while leaving the remainder of the visor transparent. The virtual visor system advantageously updates the optical state with blocker patterns that including padding in excess of what is strictly necessary to block the sunlight. This padding advantageously provides robustness against errors, allows for a more relaxed response time, and minimizes frequent small changes to the position of the blocker in the optical state of the visor.

Vehicle mounted virtual visor system with optimized blocker pattern

A virtual visor system is disclosed that includes a visor having a plurality of independently operable pixels that are selectively operated with a variable opacity. A camera captures images of the face of a driver or other passenger and, based on the captured images, a controller operates the visor to automatically and selectively darken a limited portion thereof to block the sun or other illumination source from striking the eyes of the driver, while leaving the remainder of the visor transparent. The virtual visor system advantageously detects whether the driver of other passenger is performing particular head gestures and updates the optical state of the visor using suitable modified procedures that accommodate the intent or goals of the driver or other passenger that are inferred from the predefined head gesture. In general, the modified procedures reduce distracting or frustrating updates to the optical state of the visor.

Vehicle mounted virtual visor system that localizes a resting head pose

A virtual visor system is disclosed that includes a visor having a plurality of independently operable pixels that are selectively operated with a variable opacity. A camera captures images of the face of a driver or other passenger and, based on the captured images, a controller operates the visor to automatically and selectively darken a limited portion thereof to block the sun or other illumination source from striking the eyes of the driver, while leaving the remainder of the visor transparent. The virtual visor system advantageously limits the rate of change of the opacity of each pixel of the visor while updating the optical state of the visor. In this way, rapid and distracting changes in the optical state of the visor are avoided, thereby improving the safety of the vehicle.

Vehicle mounted virtual visor system with rate-limited optical state changes

A system for a vehicle comprises a medium arranged in front of a target in the vehicle, a target monitoring system arranged in front of the target in the vehicle capturing an image or a profile of the target, and a processing unit communicatively coupled the target monitoring camera to the medium, analyzed the captured image or profile of the target, wherein the processing unit arranged to analyze the obtained images or profile of the target and cause the medium to switch from a transparent mode to an opaque mode.

Vehicle mounted virtual visor system and method thereof

A modular virtual visor system is for a vehicle disclosed. The modular virtual visor system includes camera for detecting an illumination level on a face of a driver; a plurality of LCD panel modules mounted within the vehicle, and a controller. Each LCD panel module has LCD pixels configured to, (i) in an opaque state, block light from passing through the LCD screen and, (ii) in a transparent state, allow light to pass through the LCD panel module. The controller is configured to selectively operate each of the LCD pixels of each LCD panel module in either the opaque state or the transparent state so as to block high intensity light sources from shining on the face of the driver.

Growing community of inventors

Plymouth, MI, United States of America

Ryan P Todd