Abstract:
A vehicle occupant (22) is illuminated with infrared light by an apparatus including a display apparatus (20/20') illuminated with visible light for displaying information to the occupant (22) and an infrared illuminator (28) hidden behind the display apparatus (20/20') for illuminating the occupant (22) through the display apparatus (20/20'). In a preferred embodiment, the display apparatus (20/20') is a liquid crystal display (LCD) (32) mounted in the vehicle instrument panel (14) for displaying images and data to the driver (22), and infrared light emitted by the infrared illuminator (28) is transmitted through the LCD (32) to illuminate the occupant (22).
Abstract:
A projection display apparatus (36) that presents a high-mount image (46) to the driver (24) of a vehicle includes an LCD or OLED display device (38) and a set of projection mirrors (40, 42) embedded in an instrument panel (18) forward of the driver (24). The display (38) includes a first display portion (38a, 50) facing away from the driver (24), on which a first image (46) for high-mount presentation is formed. The projection mirrors (40, 42) project the first image (46) back into the driver compartment (10) for presentation to the driver (24) in a high-mount location (30). Preferably, the display (38) further includes a second display portion (38b, 56) facing toward the driver (24), on which a second image (48) for cluster presentation is formed. In the preferred arrangement, the driver (24) directly views the second image (48) in a cluster location (34) disposed below the high mount location (30).