Visible laser beam projector

Abstract

A visible laser beam projector is arranged to provide information to passengers in a vehicle compartment by projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion in the compartment. The visible laser beam projector is arranged in front of an inner mirror of the compartment and projects the visible laser beam to only a front end portion on the upper surface of an instrument panel of the compartment. Thus, the visible laser beam is allowed to be projected in high intensity while suppressing the probability of its adverse effect on eyes of passengers in the compartment.

1 . A visible laser beam projector comprising:
 a projector for projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion of a vehicle in a compartment of the vehicle; and   a control unit for controlling a mode of projecting the visible laser beam to provide information to passengers in the compartment;   wherein the control unit expands a region of an object to which the visible laser beam is projected, when a traveling speed of the vehicle is higher than a reference speed.   
   
   
       2 . A visible laser beam projector comprising:
 a projector for projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion of a vehicle in a compartment of the vehicle; and   a control unit for controlling a mode of projecting the visible laser beam to provide information to passengers in the compartment;   wherein the control unit includes:
 seatbelt check means for checking whether a seatbelt of the vehicle has been fastened; and 
 region expansion means for expanding a region of an object to which the visible laser beam is projected, when the seatbelt check means determines that the seatbelt has been fastened. 
   
   
   
       3 . A visible laser beam projector comprising:
 a projector for projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion of a vehicle in a compartment of the vehicle; and   a control unit for controlling a mode of projecting the visible laser beam to provide information to passengers in the compartment;   wherein the control unit includes:
 passenger check means for checking whether a passenger is seated on a front passenger seat of the vehicle; 
 passenger seatbelt check means for checking whether a passenger seatbelt of the front passenger seat has been fastened; and 
 region expansion means for expanding a region of an object to which the visible laser beam is projected, when the passenger check means determines that the passenger is seated on the front passenger seat, and the passenger seatbelt check means determines that the passenger seatbelt of the front passenger seat has been fastened. 
   
   
   
       4 . The visible laser beam projector according to  claim 3 , wherein:
 the control unit further includes:
 driver seatbelt check means for checking whether a driver seatbelt of a driver seat has been fastened; and 
 vehicle speed check means for checking whether a traveling speed of the vehicle is higher than a reference speed, and 
   the region expansion means expands the region of an object, on additional condition that the driver seatbelt check means determines that the driver seatbelt has been fastened and the vehicle speed check means determines that the traveling speed is higher than the reference speed.   
   
   
       5 . The visible laser beam projector according to  claim 4 , further comprising:
 region contraction means for contracting the region of an object in a first case where the drivers seatbelt check means determines that the driver seatbelt has not been fastened, in a second case where the passenger check means determines that the passenger is seated on the front passenger seat and the seatbelt check means determines that the passenger seatbelt of the front passenger seat has not been fastened, and in a third case where the vehicle speed check means determines that the traveling speed is lower than the reference speed,   wherein the region expansion means further expands the region of an object, when the driver seatbelt check means determines that the driver seatbelt has been fastened, the passenger check means determines that no passenger is seated on the front passenger seat, and the vehicle speed check means determines that the traveling speed is higher than the reference speed.   
   
   
       6 . A visible laser beam projector comprising:
 a projector for projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion of a vehicle in a compartment of the vehicle; and   a control unit for controlling a mode of projecting the visible laser beam to provide information to passengers in the compartment,   wherein the projector is arranged in front of an inner mirror of the vehicle in the compartment, and projects the visible laser beam to only a front end portion on an upper surface of an instrument panel of the vehicle.   
   
   
       7 . A visible laser beam projector comprising:
 a projector for projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion of a vehicle in a compartment of the vehicle; and   a control unit for controlling a mode of projecting the visible laser beam to provide information to passengers in the compartment;   wherein the projector is arranged on an upper surface of a steering column of the vehicle in the compartment, and projects the visible laser beam to only a meter display portion of the vehicle.   
   
   
       8 . A visible laser beam projector comprising:
 a projector for projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion of a vehicle in a compartment of the vehicle; and   a control unit for controlling a mode of projecting the visible laser beam to provide information to passengers in the compartment;   wherein the projector and a region of an object to which the visible laser beam is projected are arranged within a partial space in the compartment, such that an optical path of the visible laser beam is limited within the partial space, the partial space being defined as a space which restricts a sphere of a diameter of  17  cm from entering thereinto without deformation.   
   
   
       9 . A visible laser beam projector comprising:
 a projector for projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion of a vehicle in the compartment;   a control unit for controlling a mode of projecting the visible laser beam to provide information to passengers in the compartment; and   an optical path interception detector for detecting a body that has entered in an optical path of the visible laser beam projected from the projector and for outputting a detection signal;   wherein the control unit includes:
 optical path interception check means for checking whether the body has entered in the optical path based on the detection signal output from the optical path interception detector; and 
 projection suppression means for suppressing an intensity of the visible laser beam, when the optical path interception check means determines that the body has entered in the optical path. 
   
   
   
       10 . The visible laser beam projector according to  claim 9 , wherein:
 the optical path interception detector includes an approach sensor for detecting the body in or near the optical path.   
   
   
       11 . The visible laser beam projector according to  claim 9 , wherein:
 the optical path interception detector includes a camera that takes an image of the optical path or a vicinity thereof; and   the optical path interception check means determines that the body has entered or is entering in the optical path if the image taken by the camera has changed from a reference image by more than a reference index.   
   
   
       12 . The visible laser beam projector according to  claim 9 , wherein:
 the control unit changes a direction in which the visible laser beam is projected, and changes a direction of detection by the optical path interception detector following a change in the direction of the visible laser beam.   
   
   
       13 . The visible laser beam projector according to  claim 9 , wherein:
 the optical path interception detector outputs the detection signal when the body enters into a region between a passenger and a region to which the visible laser beam is projected from the projector.   
   
   
       14 . The visible laser beam projector according to  claim 9 , wherein:
 the control unit produces a signal for turning on/off an operation of a device other than the visible laser beam projector in the compartment upon receipt of the detection signal from the optical path interception detector, when the projector projects no visible laser beam.   
   
   
       15 . A visible laser beam projector comprising:
 a projector for projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion of a vehicle in a compartment of the vehicle; and   a control unit for controlling a mode of projecting the visible laser beam to provide information to passengers in the compartment;   wherein the control unit includes:   seat check means for checking whether a passenger is seated on the seat of the vehicle; and   the seat decision means enables the projector to project the visible laser beam onto the seat or onto the vicinity of the seat if it is determined that no passenger is seated on the seat of the vehicle, the seat decision means including enable/prohibit means which prohibits the projector from projecting the visible laser beam onto the seat or onto the vicinity of the seat if it is determined that a passenger is seated on the seat of the vehicle.   
   
   
       16 . A visible laser beam projector comprising:
 a projector for projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion of a vehicle in a compartment of the vehicle; and   a control unit for controlling a mode of projecting the visible laser beam to provide information to passengers in the compartment,   wherein the control unit stores data related to positions of glasses defining the compartment, and prohibits the projector from projecting the visible laser beam onto the glasses based on the data related to the positions that are stored.   
   
   
       17 . A visible laser beam projector comprising:
 a projector for projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion of a vehicle in a compartment of the vehicle; and   a control unit for controlling a mode of projecting the visible laser beam to provide information to passengers in the compartment,   wherein the control unit stores data related to a position of a mirror surface in the compartment, and prohibits the projector from projecting the visible laser beam onto the mirror surface based on the data related to the position that is stored.   
   
   
       18 . A visible laser beam projector comprising:
 a projector for projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion of a vehicle in a compartment of the vehicle; and   a control unit for controlling a mode of projecting the visible laser beam to provide information to passengers in the compartment,   wherein the control unit increases an intensity of the visible laser beam projected from the projector with an increase in a rate of change in direction in which the visible laser beam is projected from the projector.   
   
   
       19 . A visible laser beam projector comprising:
 a projector for projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion of a vehicle in the compartment;   a control unit for controlling a direction of projecting the visible laser beam to provide information to passengers in the compartment; and   a plate member made of a material that permits transmission of the visible laser beam projected from the projector,   wherein the projector is arranged in front of an inner mirror provided in the compartment and projects the visible laser beam onto an upper surface of an instrument panel of the vehicle; and   the plate member is arranged at a position the same as or higher than a lower end of the inner mirror, and at a position lower than a position at which the visible laser beam is projected from the projector maintaining a space therebetween.   
   
   
       20 . A visible laser beam projector comprising:
 a projector for projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion of a vehicle in a compartment of the vehicle; and   a control unit for controlling a mode of projecting the visible laser beam to provide information to passengers in the compartment,   wherein the control unit changes at all times direction in which the visible laser beam is projected from the projector.   
   
   
       21 . A visible laser beam projector comprising:
 a projector for projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion of a vehicle in a compartment of the vehicle; and   a control unit for controlling a mode of projecting the visible laser beam to provide information to passengers in the compartment,   wherein the control unit allows and disables a change in direction of projection of the visible laser beam at all times when an intensity of the visible laser beam projected by the projector is set to a first intensity and a second intensity weaker than the first intensity, respectively.   
   
   
       22 . A visible laser beam projector comprising:
 a projector for projecting a visible laser beam onto a portion of a vehicle in a compartment of the vehicle; and   a control unit for controlling a mode of projecting the visible laser beam to provide information to passengers in the compartment,   wherein, when a portion in the compartment is designated as an object for providing the information, the control unit changes direction of projection of the visible laser beam at all times so that the position of the object to which the visible laser beam is projected changes at all time within the object.   
   
   
       23 . A method of projecting a visible laser beam from a visible beam projector to a specified portion in a vehicle to provide information to a person in the vehicle, the method comprising:
 checking whether the vehicle or a person in the vehicle is in a predetermined condition indicating that a head of the person is restricted from moving into a predetermined space in the vehicle, through which the visible laser beam is projected;   varying a region of an object to which the visible laser beam is projected to a first region and a second region narrower than the first region, when a result of checking the vehicle or the person indicates that a movement of the head of the person is restricted and allowed, respectively.   
   
   
       24 . The method according to  claim 23 , wherein:
 the checking determines that the vehicle is in the predetermined condition when a travel speed of the vehicle is higher than a reference speed.   
   
   
       25 . The method according to  claim 23 , wherein:
 the checking determines that the person is in the predetermined condition when a seatbelt of a seat on which the person is seated is fastened.