JP2007022209A - Front vehicle deceleration predicting device, and front vehicle deceleration predicting system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a front vehicle deceleration predicting device, and a front vehicle deceleration predicting system capable of preventing abnormal approach to a front vehicle by predicting a deceleration position of the front vehicle. <P>SOLUTION: In informing processing by a computing device of a front vehicle deceleration predicting system, a deceleration position where the front vehicle decelerates is predicted on the basis of map information stored in an external storage device, road information stored in a RAM of a computing device, and a current position of its own vehicle detected by a GPS receiver and various sensors. When it is detected that a field of vision in front of its own vehicle is shielded (when a visual field shielding flag is turned ON), it is judged whether the current position of its own vehicle detected by the GPS receiver and various sensors approaches to the predicted deceleration position or not. Furthermore, the judgment results are informed to the occupant of its own vehicle. Accordingly, a deceleration position where the frontvehicle seems to decelerate can be informed to the occupant of its ownvehicle by informing processing, before the front vehicle actuallydecelerates. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a forward vehicle deceleration prediction device and a forward vehicle deceleration prediction system that predict a deceleration position of a forward vehicle.

  Conventionally, in order to make it easier for the rear vehicle to predict the deceleration position of the host vehicle, a camera that images the front of the host vehicle is arranged in front of the vehicle, and an image captured by the camera is displayed behind the vehicle. An information display device in which the device is arranged is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).

If you travel behind a vehicle equipped with such an information display device, you can see a display device that displays the front of the vehicle ahead from the host vehicle. The front of the vehicle can be visually confirmed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-261627

  However, even if the information display device is used, it is not very useful for predicting the deceleration position of the preceding vehicle when there is a vehicle that blocks the field of view further ahead of the preceding vehicle. That is, if the field of view is blocked further ahead of the preceding vehicle, the deceleration position of the vehicle traveling further ahead of the preceding vehicle cannot be predicted, and therefore the deceleration position of the preceding vehicle cannot be predicted.

For this reason, when the vehicle ahead suddenly decelerates, if the occupant of the vehicle is delayed in response to this, the vehicle may abnormally approach the vehicle ahead.
Accordingly, in view of such problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a forward vehicle deceleration prediction device and a forward vehicle deceleration prediction system that can predict a deceleration position of a forward vehicle and prevent abnormal approach to the forward vehicle. And

  2. The forward vehicle deceleration prediction device according to claim 1, wherein the deceleration position prediction means includes road information stored in the road information storage means and the host vehicle detected by the current location detection means. Based on the current location, a deceleration position where the vehicle ahead decelerates is predicted. The approach determining means predicts the current position of the own vehicle detected by the current position detecting means by the deceleration position predicting means when the blockage detecting means detects that the field of view ahead of the own vehicle is blocked. It is determined whether or not the vehicle has approached the deceleration position. Furthermore, the approach notification means notifies the passenger of the own vehicle of the determination result by the approach determination means.

That is, the forward vehicle deceleration prediction device of the present invention predicts a position where the vehicle ahead of the host vehicle is decelerated and notifies the occupant when the field of view ahead of the host vehicle is blocked.
Therefore, according to such a forward vehicle deceleration prediction device, the approach position notification means can notify the occupant of the own vehicle of the deceleration position where the forward vehicle is supposed to decelerate before the forward vehicle decelerates. The occupant can respond with sufficient margin to the deceleration of the vehicle ahead. For this reason, the abnormal approach with a preceding vehicle can be prevented.

  By the way, in the forward vehicle deceleration prediction device according to claim 1, as described in claim 2, traffic information receiving means for receiving traffic information of a road through which the host vehicle passes, and traffic information receiving means It is desirable to include road information storage means for storing the acquired traffic information as road information in the road information storage means.

  That is, the deceleration position prediction means may predict the vicinity of a specific type of store, an intersection, or the like as a deceleration position based on the map information stored in the road information storage means in advance. In particular, the deceleration position can be predicted based on traffic information.

  Therefore, according to such a forward vehicle deceleration prediction device, it is possible to deal with not only invariant information such as map information but also traffic information that changes according to time. Can be expected well.

The traffic information here means information that causes the vehicle ahead to decelerate, such as road traffic jam information, traffic stop information, and speed regulation information.
Next, in the forward vehicle deceleration prediction device according to claim 1 or 2, the shutoff detection means includes distance detection means for detecting the distance between the host vehicle and the forward vehicle as described in claim 3. When the distance detected by the distance detection means becomes shorter than the first threshold value set in advance, it is desirable to regard that the field of view ahead of the host vehicle is blocked by the preceding vehicle.

  That is, when the inter-vehicle distance is narrowed, the field of view that can be confirmed by the occupant of the host vehicle is narrowed, so that even a slight deceleration of the preceding vehicle may cause an abnormal approach to the preceding vehicle. Therefore, in the present invention, the distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle is detected, and this detection result is used to determine whether or not the field of view is blocked.

  Therefore, according to such a forward vehicle deceleration prediction device, it is possible to notify that the vehicle has approached the deceleration position when this distance is shorter than the first threshold, based on the distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle. Thus, it is possible to reliably prevent abnormal approach with the vehicle ahead.

  Furthermore, in the forward vehicle deceleration prediction apparatus according to claim 3, as described in claim 4, vehicle height detection means for detecting the vehicle height of the preceding vehicle, and of the forward vehicle detected by the vehicle height detection means. It is desirable to include threshold value changing means for changing the first threshold value to a second threshold value that is a larger value when the vehicle height is equal to or higher than a preset reference vehicle height.

  In other words, even if the distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle is the same, the higher the vehicle height of the preceding vehicle, the more obstructing the front view from the preceding vehicle, so the vehicle height of the preceding vehicle is the reference vehicle height. In the case described above, it is determined that the field of view ahead of the host vehicle is obstructed by the vehicle ahead even when the vehicle ahead is further away.

  Therefore, according to such a forward vehicle deceleration prediction device, when the vehicle height of the vehicle ahead is equal to or higher than the reference vehicle height, it is notified that the vehicle has approached the deceleration position even when there is a vehicle ahead. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably prevent abnormal approach with a preceding vehicle whose vehicle height is equal to or higher than the reference vehicle height.

Next, a forward vehicle deceleration prediction system according to a fifth aspect is characterized by including various means similar to the first aspect.
That is, the forward vehicle deceleration prediction system of the present invention actively indicates that various means constituting the forward vehicle deceleration prediction device according to claim 1 may be functionally distributed to a plurality of devices. is there.

  According to such a forward vehicle deceleration prediction system, since various means similar to those of the first aspect are provided, the same effect as the forward vehicle deceleration prediction device of the first aspect can be obtained.

Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a forward vehicle deceleration prediction system 1 (hereinafter also simply referred to as prediction system 1) to which the present invention is applied.

  The prediction system 1 shown in FIG. 1 is mounted on a vehicle such as a passenger car or a truck, and includes a navigation system 10, a radar 41 and a front monitoring camera 42 connected to the navigation system 10.

  The radar 41 is arranged in front of the vehicle and is used to measure the distance to an obstacle located in front of the vehicle (a vehicle traveling ahead: a vehicle ahead). That is, when the radar 41 receives a command from the navigation system 10 to transmit a radio wave, the radar 41 transmits a radio wave from a transmission unit (not shown), and is reflected by an obstacle located in front of the vehicle by a reception unit (not shown). Receive waves. When the radar 41 receives this reflected wave (exactly, some radio wave), it transmits this reception result to the navigation system 10.

The front monitoring camera 42 is arranged to be able to image the road surface in front of the vehicle and the front vehicle, and transmits the captured image data to the navigation system 10.
The navigation system 10 includes an arithmetic device 11, an external storage device 13, a GPS receiver 14, a vehicle speed sensor 15, an acceleration sensor 16, and a traffic information receiver 17. The navigation system 10 also includes a display device 19, an operation switch 20, and an audio output device 21.

  The arithmetic device 11 functions as a known microcomputer having a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like, and executes a known navigation process (such as a process for guiding the vehicle to the destination) based on a program stored in the ROM. The arithmetic device also executes various processes to be described later based on a program stored in the ROM.

  The ROM of the arithmetic unit 11 has a permissible time indicating a time interval for detecting the reflected wave after the radio wave is transmitted by the radar 41, which is used in the visibility determination process (FIG. 4), and the visibility by the vehicle ahead. A first threshold value and a second threshold value that represent the inter-vehicle distance as a criterion for determining whether or not the vehicle is blocked, and a reference ratio that is a criterion for determining the vehicle height of the preceding vehicle are stored in advance. Note that the second threshold value is set to a larger value between the first threshold value and the second threshold value.

  In addition, image data from the front monitoring camera 42 is temporarily stored in the RAM of the arithmetic unit 11. Further, in the RAM, when it is determined that the vehicle height flag that is set to ON when the vehicle height of the preceding vehicle is higher than the reference and the view from the vehicle on which the prediction system 1 is mounted is blocked by the preceding vehicle. Is provided with a storage area for storing a visibility blocking flag set to ON.

The external storage device 13 is composed of, for example, an HDD (hard disk drive) or the like, and stores, for example, map information (information such as intersections, signals, store positions, etc.).
The GPS receiver 14, the vehicle speed sensor 15, and the acceleration sensor 16 are mainly used for measuring the current location of the vehicle. The processing for measuring the current location of the vehicle is performed by the arithmetic unit 11 using these sensors. However, since this processing is a known technique, the description thereof is omitted here.

The display device 19 displays an image based on the command based on the display command from the arithmetic device 11.
Further, the operation switch 20 is disposed, for example, in the vicinity of the display device 19 and is used when a vehicle occupant inputs some command to the prediction system 1.

When the voice output device 21 receives a command from the arithmetic device 11, the voice output device 21 generates a voice corresponding to the command and outputs a voice generated from a speaker (not shown).
In such a prediction system 1, the arithmetic unit 11 performs the following vehicle height detection processing, visibility determination processing, information update processing, and notification processing in parallel with normal navigation processing.

First, the vehicle height detection process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a vehicle height detection process executed by the arithmetic unit 11.
The vehicle height detection process is a process for detecting the vehicle height of the vehicle ahead based on the image data from the front monitoring camera 42.

  This vehicle height detection process is a process executed at regular time intervals (for example, at intervals of 1 second). First, in S110, a front image (image data) captured by the front monitoring camera 42 is acquired. That is, image data for a certain frame among the image data transmitted from the front monitoring camera 42 is developed in the RAM.

And it transfers to S120, the front image acquired this time is compared with the front image acquired last time, and it transfers to S130.
In S130, as a result of the comparison in the process of S120, an area where the amount of color change is small is extracted near the center of the front image, and this area is recognized as a forward vehicle. At this time, the area indicating the road surface may be recognized as an area where the amount of color change is small, but the area indicating the road surface by recognizing the boundary line between the color of the road surface and the color of the vehicle. Is recognized and only the vehicle part is recognized.

And it transfers to S140 and calculates the ratio of the up-down direction which a front vehicle occupies in the front image acquired this time.
This process will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a front image captured by the front monitoring camera 42. In particular, FIG. 3A is an explanatory diagram showing a case where the vehicle height of the front vehicle is high, and FIG. 3B is an explanatory diagram showing a case where the vehicle height of the front vehicle is low.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, in the case where the vehicle equipped with the prediction system 1 is traveling following the rear of a vehicle (for example, a truck) with a high vehicle height, the processing in S140 The length of the middle x1 is recognized as the vehicle height, and the ratio (about 70% in the case of x1) to the vertical length of this image is calculated.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3B, when the vehicle equipped with the prediction system 1 follows the back of a vehicle having a low vehicle height (for example, a sedan type passenger car), S140 In this process, the length of x2 in the drawing is recognized as the vehicle height, and the ratio of the length to the vertical length of this image (about 40% in the case of x2) is calculated.

  Next, the process proceeds to S150, and it is determined whether the ratio of the vertical length occupied by the preceding vehicle in the vertical length of the image is equal to or greater than a reference ratio (for example, 50%) stored in the ROM. To do. If the ratio of the length in the vertical direction occupied by the preceding vehicle is greater than or equal to the reference ratio, the process proceeds to S160, and if the ratio of the length in the vertical direction occupied by the preceding vehicle is less than the reference ratio, the process proceeds to S170.

In S160, the vehicle height flag in the RAM is set to ON, and the vehicle height detection process ends.
On the other hand, in S170, the vehicle height flag in the RAM is set to OFF, and the vehicle height detection process ends.

Next, the visibility determination process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the visibility determination process executed by the arithmetic device 11.
The visibility determination process is, for example, a process that is periodically executed, and determines whether or not the forward visibility from the vehicle is obstructed by the preceding vehicle, and sets the determination result to be used in other processes. It is processing. In particular, in this embodiment, the distance from the preceding vehicle is measured by the radar 41 to determine whether or not the front view is blocked by the preceding vehicle.

In this process, first, a radio wave for distance measurement is transmitted from the transmission unit of the radar 41 in S210.
And it transfers to S220 and it is determined whether the receiving part of the radar 41 received some electromagnetic waves. If the receiving unit is receiving radio waves, the process proceeds to S230, and if the receiving unit is not receiving radio waves, the process proceeds to S240.

  In S230, it is determined whether or not the received radio wave is the radio wave transmitted in S210. This determination is made based on whether, for example, it is determined whether a radio wave corresponding to the frequency of the transmitted radio wave is received or whether a radio wave corresponding to the transmission pattern of the transmitted radio wave is received. .

In S230, if the received radio wave has been transmitted first, the process proceeds to S250, and if the received radio wave has not been transmitted previously, the process proceeds to S240.
In S240, it is determined whether or not an allowable time stored in advance in the ROM of the arithmetic unit 11 has elapsed since the instruction to transmit radio waves to the radar 41 has been transmitted. If the allowable time has elapsed, this visibility determination process is repeated from the beginning, and if the allowable time has not elapsed, the process returns to S220.

  Next, in S250, it is determined whether or not the vehicle height flag in the RAM is set to ON. If the vehicle height flag is set to ON, the process proceeds to S270, and if the vehicle height flag is set to OFF, the process proceeds to S260.

  In S260, based on the time difference between transmission and reception of radio waves by the radar 41, whether the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle (the distance between the vehicle on which the prediction system is mounted and the preceding vehicle) is less than the first threshold stored in the ROM. Determine whether or not. If the inter-vehicle distance is less than the first threshold, the process proceeds to S280, and if the inter-vehicle distance is equal to or greater than the first threshold, the process proceeds to S290.

  Next, in S270, based on the time difference between transmission and reception of radio waves by the radar 41, it is determined whether the inter-vehicle distance is less than the second threshold stored in the ROM. If the inter-vehicle distance is less than the second threshold, the process proceeds to S280, and if the inter-vehicle distance is equal to or greater than the second threshold, the process proceeds to S290.

In S280, the visibility blocking flag in the RAM is set to ON, and the visibility determination process is repeated from the beginning.
In S290, the visibility block flag in the RAM is set to OFF, and the visibility determination process is repeated from the beginning.

Next, the information update process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5A is a flowchart showing an information update process executed by the arithmetic device 11.
This information update process is a process of extracting a risk factor that may cause the vehicle ahead to decelerate from the traffic information received by the traffic information receiving device 17 and storing the extraction result in the RAM so that it can be used in other processes. .

  That is, this process is a process periodically executed, and it is determined whether or not traffic information is received via the traffic information receiving device 17 in S410. If the traffic information is received, the process proceeds to S420, and if the traffic information is not received, S410 is repeated.

In S420, the received traffic information is stored in the RAM of the computing device 11. This traffic information is used when traffic jam information is displayed in a known navigation process.
Next, the process proceeds to S430, and a risk factor is extracted from the traffic information stored in the RAM. Here, what is included in the risk factors in the traffic information includes, for example, the position of parking on the road, the position of the tail of the traffic jam, and the like.

Then, the process proceeds to S440, where the extracted risk factor is stored in the RAM, and the information update process is repeated from the beginning.
Next, the notification process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5B is a flowchart showing notification processing executed by the arithmetic device 11.

This notification process is a process for calling attention when a risk factor that the vehicle ahead is expected to decelerate approaches a predetermined distance (a distance that varies depending on the type of risk factor).
That is, in this process, first, in S510, it is determined whether or not the visibility block flag is set to ON. If the visibility cutoff flag is set to ON, the process proceeds to S520, and if the visibility cutoff flag is set to OFF, the notification process is repeated from the beginning.

  In S520, the risk element located within 300 m in the traveling direction (that is, forward) of the vehicle on which the prediction system 1 is mounted, and the distance to the risk element are extracted from the RAM of the external storage device 13 and the calculation device 11. The risk factor here is information (specifically, information included in the map information stored in the external storage device 13 in addition to the information stored in the RAM (the parking position on the road, the last position of the traffic jam)). , Location of intersections, location of detour stores (locations of convenience stores, family restaurants, stores with parking lots such as gas stations), and the like.

That is, in this process (S520), it is predicted that the position of the above-mentioned risk element is a deceleration position where the vehicle ahead decelerates.
Next, the process proceeds to S530, and it is determined whether or not there is a detour shop within 150m. If there is a branch store within 150m, the process proceeds to S540, and if there is no branch store within 150m, the process proceeds to S550.

  In S540, a preset voice is output via the voice output device 21, and image data for notifying a preset danger is output to the display device 19, and the notification process is repeated from the beginning.

  In S550, it is determined whether or not there is a traffic jam or on-street parking within 200 m. If there is a traffic jam tail or on-street parking within 200 m, the process proceeds to S560, and if there is no traffic jam tail or road parking within 200 m, the process proceeds to S570.

  In S560, a preset voice is output via the voice output device 21, and image data for notifying a preset danger is output to the display device 19, and the notification process is repeated from the beginning.

  In S570, it is determined whether there is a traffic signal within 300 m. If there is a traffic signal within 300 m, the process proceeds to S580, and if there is no traffic signal within 300 m, the notification process is repeated from the beginning.

  In S580, a preset voice is output via the voice output device 21, and image data for notifying a preset danger is output to the display device 19, and the notification process is repeated from the beginning.

  In the forward vehicle deceleration prediction system 1 described in detail above, the computing device 11 receives the map information stored in the external storage device 13 and the road information stored in the RAM of the computing device 11 and the GPS reception in the notification process. Based on the current position of the host vehicle detected by the device 14 and the various sensors 15 and 16, a deceleration position where the preceding vehicle decelerates is predicted. Then, when it is detected that the field of view ahead of the host vehicle is blocked by the field of view determination processing (when the field of view blocking flag is set to ON), it is detected by the GPS receiver 14 and the various sensors 15 and 16. It is determined whether or not the current location of the own vehicle has approached the deceleration position predicted in S520 of the notification process. Further, in the notification process, the determination result is notified to the passenger of the host vehicle.

That is, in the forward vehicle deceleration prediction system 1, when the view ahead of the host vehicle is obstructed, a position where the vehicle ahead of the host vehicle is decelerated is predicted and notified to the occupant.
Therefore, according to such a forward vehicle deceleration prediction system 1, it is possible to notify the occupant of the own vehicle of the deceleration position at which the forward vehicle is supposed to decelerate before the forward vehicle decelerates in the notification process. The occupant can respond to the deceleration of the vehicle ahead with a margin.

  On the other hand, in the forward vehicle deceleration prediction system 1, when the field of view ahead of the host vehicle is not obstructed by the forward vehicle, it is possible to cope with the deceleration of the forward vehicle with a sufficient margin. It is comprised so that it may not alert | report that it approached.

Therefore, according to such a forward vehicle deceleration prediction system 1, it is possible to prevent the occupant from being confused by reporting too much information to the occupant of the host vehicle.
Further, the forward vehicle deceleration prediction system 1 includes a traffic information receiving device 17 for receiving traffic information of a road through which the host vehicle passes, and the traffic information acquired by the traffic information receiving device 17 in the information update process. Is stored in the RAM of the arithmetic unit 11 as road information.

  Therefore, according to such a forward vehicle deceleration prediction system 1, not only invariable information such as map information but also traffic information that changes according to time can be dealt with, so that the deceleration position can be predicted more accurately. can do.

  Furthermore, the forward vehicle deceleration prediction system 1 includes a radar 41 that detects the distance between the host vehicle and the forward vehicle, and the distance detected by the radar 41 in the visibility determination process is greater than a preset first threshold value. Is also shorter, it is considered that the field of view ahead of the host vehicle is obstructed by the vehicle ahead.

  Therefore, according to such a forward vehicle deceleration prediction system 1, since the distance between the host vehicle and the forward vehicle is used as a reference, and when the distance is shorter than the first threshold, it is notified that the vehicle has approached the deceleration position. In addition, it is possible to prevent abnormal approach to the vehicle ahead.

  In addition, in the forward vehicle deceleration prediction system 1, the vehicle height of the forward vehicle is detected by the vehicle height detection process, and the vehicle height of the forward vehicle detected by the vehicle height detection process is preset in the visibility determination process. When the vehicle height is equal to or higher than the reference vehicle height, the first threshold value is changed to a second threshold value that is a larger value (that is, the second threshold value is selected).

  In other words, even if the distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle is the same, the higher the vehicle height of the preceding vehicle, the more obstructing the front view from the preceding vehicle, so the vehicle height of the preceding vehicle is the reference vehicle height. In the case described above, it is determined that the field of view ahead of the host vehicle is obstructed by the vehicle ahead even when the vehicle ahead is further away.

  Therefore, according to such a forward vehicle deceleration prediction system 1, when the vehicle height of the vehicle ahead is equal to or higher than the reference vehicle height, it is determined that the vehicle has approached the deceleration position even when the vehicle ahead is further away. Since the notification can be made, it is possible to more reliably prevent an abnormal approach with a preceding vehicle whose vehicle height is equal to or higher than the reference vehicle height.

The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can take various forms as long as it belongs to the technical scope of the present invention.
For example, in this embodiment, the radar 41 transmits a radio wave and measures the distance from the preceding vehicle by the time difference until the reflected wave is received. For example, a sound wave such as an ultrasonic wave or a light wave such as a laser beam is used. The distance to the vehicle ahead may be measured by the same method.

  Further, the forward vehicle deceleration prediction system 1 may be configured as a device housed in one housing, or the functions are distributed to a large number of devices and data communication is performed between the devices. You may comprise as a system which implement | achieves the function as the vehicle deceleration prediction system 1. FIG.

  Furthermore, the visibility determination process may be a visibility determination process as shown in FIG. 6 without using the radar 41. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a visual field determination process according to a modification executed by the arithmetic device 11.

In this visibility determination process, image data is acquired from the front monitoring camera 42 in S610, and the process proceeds to S620.
In S620, a white line (including yellow line) portion is extracted from the acquired image data. Here, in particular, the white line on the right side of the vehicle is extracted by image processing. Note that the image processing for extracting the white line portion is a known technique, and a description thereof will be omitted here.

  Next, the process proceeds to S630, and it is determined whether or not the extracted white line on the right side of the vehicle is a broken line. If the white line on the right side of the vehicle is a broken line, the process proceeds to S640. If the white line on the right side of the vehicle is not a broken line (that is, if it is a solid line), the process proceeds to S650.

  In S640, it is determined whether the number of extracted broken lines is three or more. If the number of extracted broken lines is 3 or more, the process proceeds to S680, and if the number of extracted broken lines is 2 or less, the process proceeds to S670. Here, the case where the number of extracted broken lines is three or more corresponds to the case where the distance from the preceding vehicle is relatively long, for example, as shown in FIG. That is, it is in a state where three or more broken lines extending forward from the right side of the vehicle can be confirmed without the view being blocked by the preceding vehicle.

  Further, the case where the number of extracted broken lines is two or less corresponds to the case where the distance from the preceding vehicle is relatively short, as shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b), for example. That is, a broken line extending forward from the right side of the vehicle enters the shadow of the preceding vehicle, and only two or fewer broken lines can be confirmed.

  Next, in S650, it is determined whether the ratio of the vertical length occupied by the white line in the vertical length of the image is equal to or greater than the reference ratio stored in the ROM. If the ratio of the vertical length occupied by the white line is equal to or greater than the reference ratio, the process proceeds to S680. If the ratio of the vertical length occupied by the white line is less than the standard ratio, the process proceeds to S670. Here, the length in the vertical direction occupied by the white line indicates, for example, a range (x3 in the figure) in which the white line on the right side of the vehicle is displayed from the lower end of the image data, as shown in FIG. 7B.

In step S670, the visibility blocking flag is set to ON, and the visibility determination process is repeated from the beginning.
In S680, the visibility block flag is set to OFF, and the visibility determination process is repeated from the beginning.

  Even in this case, the distance to the preceding vehicle can be measured.

It is a block diagram which shows a forward vehicle deceleration prediction system. It is a flowchart which shows a vehicle height detection process. In an Example, it is explanatory drawing which shows the front image imaged with the front monitoring camera. It is a flowchart which shows a visual field determination process. It is a flowchart (a) which shows an information update process. It is a flowchart (b) which shows alerting | reporting process. It is a flowchart which shows the visual field determination process of a modification. It is explanatory drawing which shows the front image imaged with the front monitoring camera in the modification.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Forward vehicle deceleration prediction system, 10 ... Navigation system, 11 ... Arithmetic unit, 13 ... External storage device, 14 ... GPS receiver, 15 ... Vehicle speed sensor, 16 ... Acceleration sensor, 17 ... Traffic information receiver, 19 ... Display Device: 20 ... operation switch, 21 ... audio output device, 41 ... radar, 42 ... forward monitoring camera.

Claims (5)

Blocking detection means for detecting that the field of view ahead of the host vehicle is blocked by the vehicle ahead;
Road information storage means for storing road information representing information on a road through which the host vehicle passes;
Current location detection means for detecting the current location of the vehicle;
Deceleration position prediction means for predicting a deceleration position at which the preceding vehicle decelerates based on the road information stored in the road information storage means and the current location of the host vehicle detected by the current location detection means;
When it is detected by the blocking detection means that the field of view ahead of the host vehicle is blocked, the current position of the host vehicle detected by the current position detection means approaches the deceleration position predicted by the deceleration position prediction means. An approach determination means for determining whether or not
An approach notifying means for notifying a passenger of the own vehicle of a determination result by the approach determining means;
A forward vehicle deceleration prediction apparatus comprising: Traffic information receiving means for receiving traffic information of a road through which the vehicle passes;
Road information storage means for storing the traffic information acquired by the traffic information receiving means as the road information in the road information storage means;
The forward vehicle deceleration prediction apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: The blocking detection means includes
Provided with a distance detection means for detecting the distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle,
2. The field of view ahead of the host vehicle is considered to be obstructed by a preceding vehicle when the distance detected by the distance detecting unit becomes shorter than a preset first threshold value. 2. A forward vehicle deceleration prediction device according to 2. Vehicle height detection means for detecting the vehicle height of the preceding vehicle;
Threshold changing means for changing the first threshold to a second threshold that is a larger value when the vehicle height of the preceding vehicle detected by the vehicle height detecting means is equal to or higher than a preset reference vehicle height;
The forward vehicle deceleration prediction apparatus according to claim 3, comprising: Blocking detection means for detecting that the field of view ahead of the host vehicle is blocked by the vehicle ahead;
Road information storage means for storing road information representing information on a road through which the host vehicle passes;
Current location detection means for detecting the current location of the vehicle;
Deceleration position prediction means for predicting a deceleration position at which the preceding vehicle decelerates based on the road information stored in the road information storage means and the current location of the host vehicle detected by the current location detection means;
When it is detected by the blocking detection means that the field of view ahead of the host vehicle is blocked, the current position of the host vehicle detected by the current position detection means approaches the deceleration position predicted by the deceleration position prediction means. An approach determination means for determining whether or not
An approach notifying means for notifying a passenger of the own vehicle of a determination result by the approach determining means;
A forward vehicle deceleration prediction system characterized by comprising:

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