Daily Word - Head-up display (HUD)

A head-up display, or HUD, also erroneously known as a heads-up display, is any transparent display that presents data without obstructing the user's view. Although they were initially developed for military aviation, HUDs are now used in commercial aircraft, automobiles, and other applications. ---- Microsoft's UI Ambitions Not Limited to Tables: A New Windshield HUD Patent Ars Technica (08/27/07) Haselton, Todd Microsoft has filed a patent for an "adaptive heads-up user interface for automobiles" that could make driving a car more like flying a fighter jet. The automobile heads-up display (HUD) would replace the windshield and display navigational information, car speed, weather information, information on the driver's health, what music is playing, and possibly where the nearest parking space is. The display could also be used to control various functions in the car such as climate control, a communication system, and a general input device. The HUD display could be viewed and controlled similar to items on a computer monitor, with a hidden state, a collapsed state, a preview, and a full screen view. Microsoft says HUD is intended to improve the driver's awareness of his or her surroundings by alerting the driver to information on road conditions or accidents. The driver would be able to prepare and monitor road and vehicle conditions without having to look down from the windshield. HUD would also be able to display information about the driver, like heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature, and would be able to diffuse potentially dangerous situations caused by the driver, for example, by playing soothing music to calm road rage or sounding alarms to wake a sleepy driver. Source From ACM Technews 29'Aug'07