JPH06255423A - On-vehicle monitor camera device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an on-vehicle monitor camera device which can inform the detailed condition out of the vehicle to the user. CONSTITUTION:An image taken by a camera 3 is output to an image signal processor 52 through an A/D converter 51. The image signal processor 52 makes the input image signal stored once in a RAM 55, reads an image signal corresponding to a specific expanding scope from the RAM 55, and produces an image signal to compose an expanding image plane. The image signal processor 52 reads a data of the distance scale corresponding to the expanding image plane from a ROM 56, superposes the distance scale on the image signal, and outputs it to a display device 54 through a D/A converter 53, so as to display the expanding image plane.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device that displays an image of the image in a vehicle, and particularly to a vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device that displays a situation such as a rear of a vehicle that is likely to be a blind spot for a driver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, vehicles are becoming more intelligent by integrating electronic technologies, and various safety devices are being installed. An on-vehicle surveillance camera device has been developed as one of the safety devices, and a high-performance on-vehicle surveillance camera device that further enhances safety is being developed.

A conventional vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a conventional vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device.

The on-vehicle surveillance camera device includes a camera section 21,
The video signal processing unit 22, the display device 23, and the scale creating unit 24 are included. The camera unit 21 is arranged at the rear of the vehicle, photographs the situation of the rear of the vehicle, and outputs a video signal to the video signal processing unit 22. The video signal processing unit 22, the display device 23, and the scale creating unit 24 are installed on the panel portion of the driver's seat in the vehicle. The video signal processing unit 22 outputs the normally output video signal to the display device 23 as it is, and the display device 23 displays the state behind the vehicle. The driver looks at the image displayed on the display device 23 and confirms obstacles, pedestrians, and the like existing behind, and safely operates the vehicle. Further, in the conventional vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device, a scale indicating the distance can be displayed on the display screen so that the actual distance to the obstacle, the pedestrian, etc. displayed on the display device 23 can be easily confirmed. Has become. This graduation is stored in advance in the graduation creating section 24, and the graduation information output from the graduation creating section 24 is combined with a video signal so that the video signal processing section 22 displays the video signal at a predetermined position on the display screen. It outputs to 23. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a display screen of the display device 23 in which scales are actually combined. Scale 2
Two of 5 is displayed on the left and right, and the scale becomes coarser as it goes deeper, giving a sense of perspective.

In order to further improve the accuracy of the distance interval, a vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device that displays a cursor on the screen and directly displays the distance to the position of the cursor is a utility model application publication No. 3-91117. Has been proposed by.
A display screen of the device disclosed in the publication is shown in FIG. In this device, the driver can move the cursor 27 to an arbitrary position and directly check the distance by looking at the distance display 26.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device, the super wide-angle lens is used in the camera section 21, and a wide range of images are displayed as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15. I could only do that. Therefore, the vicinity of the rear of the vehicle, that is, the lower part of the display screen is displayed to some extent large, but it is not possible to grasp the detailed situation, and the part away from the vehicle, that is, the upper part of the display screen is displayed in a very wide area. Therefore, it was not possible to grasp the detailed situation for that part.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device which can inform a user of a detailed situation outside the vehicle.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device, a photographing means for photographing a situation outside a vehicle, a magnifying means for magnifying a predetermined range of an image photographed by the photographing means, and a magnifying means. Display means for displaying the image enlarged by.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device,
The photographing means for photographing the situation outside the vehicle, the display means for displaying the image photographed by the photographing means, the measuring means for measuring the distance to the obstacle within the range photographed by the photographing means, and the measuring means. And means for communicating to the user the measured distance to the obstacle.

A vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to claim 3 is
The photographing means for photographing the situation outside the vehicle, the measuring means for measuring the distance to the obstacle within the range photographed by the photographing means, and the distance means for photographing according to the distance measured by the measuring means It includes a magnifying unit that magnifies a predetermined range of the image, and a display unit that displays the image photographed by the photographing unit or the image magnified by the magnifying unit.

[0011]

In the vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to the first aspect, the predetermined range of the image photographed by the magnifying means can be enlarged, and the enlarged image of the predetermined range can be displayed by the display means.

In the vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to the second aspect, since the distance to the obstacle can be measured by the measuring means, the user is always informed of the accurate distance regardless of the distance from the vehicle to the obstacle. You can

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle-mounted monitoring camera device, wherein the measuring means measures a distance to an obstacle,
The entire image or the enlarged image can be displayed by the display means according to the distance.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An on-vehicle surveillance camera device according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle camera system of the first embodiment.

In FIG. 1, the on-vehicle surveillance camera device is
The camera unit 3 and the monitor unit 5 are included. The camera unit 3 is fixed to the rear portion of the vehicle and captures an image behind the vehicle. The captured image is transmitted to the monitor unit 5 provided in the panel section of the driver's seat in the vehicle via the connection line provided in the vehicle.

The monitor unit 5 includes an A / D converter 51, a video signal processing unit 52, a D / A conversion unit 53, a display device 54, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 5 for temporarily storing an image.
5. ROM (Read Only) that stores distance scales in advance
Memory) 56, an input unit 6 for the user to input operation commands, etc.
Including 1. The video signal output from the camera unit 3 is A / D
The converter 51 converts the analog signal into a digital signal. The video signal converted into the digital signal is input to the video signal processing unit 52. The video signal processing unit 52 reads the data about the distance scale stored in the ROM 56 in advance,
The display of the distance scale is superimposed on the video signal so that the distance scale is displayed at a predetermined position on the display screen, and is output to the D / A converter 53. The D / A converter 53 converts the processed digital video signal into an analog video signal. The video signal converted into the analog signal is input to the display device 54. The display device 54 is composed of a cathode ray tube, a liquid crystal display device, or the like, and displays the input image. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the display screen. As shown in FIG. 2, since a wide-angle lens is used in the camera section 3 of this apparatus as well, a wide range of images can be displayed, and two distance scales 11 are displayed on the screen. , It is easier to check the sense of distance.

Next, in order to know the detailed situation of the obstacle 6 shown in FIG. 2, the operation of enlarging and displaying the area around the obstacle 6 will be described. Obstacles at the bottom of the display screen are displayed large to some extent, so the user can confirm the situation related to the obstacles to a certain extent by a distance scale or the like. Can only be seen as small, and the distance scales are also coarse, making it impossible to grasp the detailed situation regarding obstacles. For this reason, in this device, by enlarging and displaying an arbitrary range of the display screen, it is possible to easily grasp the detailed situation of an obstacle at any position. First, the user looks at the display screen of the display device 54 and inputs the enlargement range including the obstacle 6 and the enlargement display command from the input unit 61. Upon receiving the enlargement display command, the video signal processing unit 52 receives the A / D converter 51.
The video signal input from is output to the RAM 55 and stored therein. Next, the portion corresponding to the enlarged range is stored in the RAM 55.
Then, the information between each pixel is interpolated, the time axis of the signal is converted, and predetermined processing is performed to create a video signal corresponding to the enlarged screen. In addition, at this time, in order to change the scale etc. to match the scale display to the enlarged screen, ROM
Read the distance scale data stored in 56 in advance,
Superimpose on the enlarged video signal. The video signal on which the distance scale is superimposed is converted again into an analog signal by the D / A converter 53 and input to the display device 54. FIG. 3 shows the enlarged display screen. As shown in FIG. 3, the area around the obstacle 6 is enlarged, and the detailed situation of the obstacle can be easily grasped. Further, since the display of the distance scale 11 is also changed according to the enlarged screen, it is easy to check the distance to the obstacle.

Next, a vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to the second embodiment.

The on-vehicle surveillance camera device includes a camera section 3, a connection line 4, a monitor section 5, a distance sensor 7, and a harness 10. As shown in FIG. 4, the camera unit 3 is fixed to the rear portion of the vehicle 1. The monitor unit 5 is provided inside the panel portion of the driver's seat inside the vehicle 1, and is fixed at a position where the driver 2 can easily see it. The distance sensor 7 is embedded in the center of the bumper at the rear of the vehicle 1. The connection line 4 connects the camera unit 3 and the monitor unit 5.
Thus, the monitor unit 5 and the distance sensor 7 are connected by the harness 10. The camera unit 3 outputs the image of the rear portion of the vehicle 1 to the monitor unit 5 via the connection line 4. The distance sensor 7 measures the distance of the obstacle 6 within the range captured by the camera unit 3, and transmits the measured distance to the monitor unit 5 via the harness 10. The distance sensor 7 used here is an application of ultrasonic waves or laser light, and can measure the shortest distance to an object at a wide angle.

Next, a detailed block diagram is shown in FIG. 5 for explaining the present apparatus in more detail. The monitor unit 5 is A /
D converter 51, video signal processing unit 52, D / A converter 5
3, display device 54, arithmetic processing unit 57, alarm speaker 62
including. The monitor unit 5 displays the first screen when displaying a normal screen.
Since the same operation as that of the embodiment of
The distance measurement by the distance sensor 7 will be described below.

The distance sensor 7 measures the distance of the obstacle at the closest position to the vehicle and outputs a distance signal corresponding to the distance to the arithmetic processing unit 57. The arithmetic processing unit 57 is a CPU
(Central processing unit) and the like, the screens are combined from the input distance signal so that the distance is displayed at a predetermined position on the screen, and this signal is output to the video signal processing unit 52.
Therefore, the video signal processing unit 52 superimposes the normal video signal output from the A / D converter 51 and the distance display signal output from the arithmetic processing unit 57 and outputs the result to the D / A converter 53. The D / A converter 53 converts the superimposed video signal from a digital signal to an analog signal and outputs it to the display device 54. FIG. 6 shows an example of the display screen of the display device 54. As shown in FIG. 6, the distance to the obstacle 6 is displayed in the center of the screen. This display does not display the approximate distance by the user with the cursor as in the past, but it is the distance measured directly to the obstacle, so even if the obstacle is away from the vehicle, it is highly accurate. It is possible to display various distances and not to be influenced by the distance from the vehicle, and it is possible to grasp the obstacle, that is, the situation outside the vehicle in detail. In addition, the user does not need to move the cursor or the like, and can concentrate on driving and improve safety during use.

Further, the present apparatus is provided with the alarm speaker 62, and when the distance to the obstacle becomes equal to or less than the predetermined value, the arithmetic processing unit 57 operates the alarm speaker 62 so that the sound is in a dangerous state. Can be conveyed to the user. As a result, accidents such as collisions can be prevented in advance,
The safety can be further increased. This alarm sound is more effective if the volume or the like is changed according to the distance. As an alarm, the same effect can be obtained even if the alarm message is displayed on the display screen of the display device 54 without operating the alarm speaker 62.

Next, a vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to the third embodiment.

In FIG. 7, the on-vehicle surveillance camera device includes a camera unit 3, a monitor unit 5, and three distance sensors 7, 8, 9. The camera unit 3 and the distance sensors 7, 8 and 9 are the same as those in the second embodiment, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. The monitor unit 5 includes an A / D converter 51, a video signal processing unit 52, and a D / D converter 51.
A converter 53, display device 54, RAM 55, ROM 5
6, an arithmetic processing unit 57, an alarm speaker 60, a first input unit 58, and a second input unit 59. The operation of displaying the video signal input from the camera unit 3 on the display device 54 as it is is the same as that of the first embodiment, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the display device 54.
From the figure, it can be seen that both the obstacle 6 and the display scale 11 are clearly displayed.

The operation using the three distance sensors 7, 8 and 9 will be described in detail below. FIG. 9 is a top view of the rear part of the vehicle. As shown in FIG. 9, the distance sensor 7
Is fixed to the center of the bumper of the vehicle 1, the distance sensor 8 is fixed to the right end of the bumper, and the distance sensor 9 is fixed to the left end of the bumper. The distance sensors 7, 8 and 9 measure the shortest distance from each mounting position to the obstacle. Distance sensor 7,
The distance outputs 8 and 9 are processed by the arithmetic processing unit 57 including a CPU and the like to identify the position of the obstacle with respect to the vehicle 1. The arithmetic processing unit 57 sets the expansion range of the display screen corresponding to the position of the obstacle, and the expansion range is set to the video signal processing unit 5.
Command to 2. The video signal processing unit 52 performs the same processing as in the first embodiment and outputs a video signal corresponding to the enlarged screen to the display device 54, and the display device 54 displays the enlarged image on the display screen.

The arithmetic processing unit 57 is connected to the alarm speaker 60, and when the distance to the obstacle becomes a predetermined value or less, as in the second embodiment, the alarm speaker 60 is operated to make a sound. Tell the user that it is in a state.

Further, the arithmetic processing unit 57 includes a first input unit 5
8 and the second input unit 59 are connected. The first input unit 58 is installed in the vicinity of the display device 54 and allows the user to easily manually change the enlargement range. The second input unit 59 is used when changing data such as a distance scale stored in the ROM 56 in advance depending on the vehicle type, the mounting position of each distance sensor, and the like. Second input section 59
Since it is used only when installing the device, etc., it is installed in the part such as the bottom of the device where it is difficult to operate directly to prevent erroneous operation during use.

Next, a method for specifying the position of an obstacle using the three distance sensors 7, 8, 9 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. For example, when the obstacle 6 is located at the position C to the right of the vehicle position, the distance sensor 9 causes the obstacle 6 to move.
Is measured as the distance from the distance sensor 7 to the obstacle 6, and m is measured as the distance from the distance sensor 8 to the obstacle 6. The above measured values are r <m <l
Therefore, it can be seen that the obstacle 6 is located on the right side.
Next, when the obstacle 6 is at the position B, r = 1, r>
It is understood that m, l> m, and the obstacle 6 is at the center position. Next, when the obstacle 6 is at the position C, r> m
> 1, and it can be seen that the obstacle 6 is located on the left side. As described above, the position of the obstacle 6 can be specified by the magnitude relation of r, l, and m, and the position can be enlarged and displayed by the enlargement function. In the case where there is only one obstacle 6 as described above, the position of the obstacle 6 can be specified in the same manner if there are two distance sensors on the left and right without using the central distance sensor.

Next, a method for discriminating whether the number of obstacles is plural or singular will be described. For example, obstacle 6 is A, B
, The distance sensors 7, 8 and 9 detect the closest obstacle, so the distance sensor 9 detects the obstacle 6 at the position A and the distance sensors 7 and 8 indicate the position B. The obstacles 6 located at are measured to obtain measured values r, m, and l. When there is a single obstacle 6, the distance from the intersection of the circle of radius r centering on the mounting position of the distance sensor 9 and the circle of l centering on the mounting position of the distance sensor 8 to the mounting position of the distance sensor 7 is m. ', Then m'is equal to m. But,
When there are a plurality of obstacles 6 as described above, since the distance sensor 9 measures the obstacle 6 at the position A, r becomes smaller than when the obstacle at the position B is measured, and m> m. ’ Therefore, by comparing the magnitude relations of m and m ′, it is possible to determine that the number of obstacles is single when m and m ′ are equal, and the number of obstacles is plural when m and m ′ are not equal. Based on this judgment, if there is a single obstacle, the above enlarged display can be performed, while if there are multiple obstacles, it may not be possible to completely display the obstacle on the screen. It is possible to perform processing such as stopping the display.

Next, the enlargement display function using the above distance sensor will be specifically described. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing each process of the enlarged display function.

First, in step S1, when the user puts the gear of the vehicle in the back position, this operation is detected by the control unit (not shown) of the entire vehicle, and the vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device uses the camera unit 3 and the monitor. The power of the unit 5 is turned on and started.

Next, in step S2, as an initial state, the video signal photographed by the camera unit 3 is input to the video signal processing unit 52 via the A / D converter 51, and the distance scale data is read by the ROM 56. Is entered.
The video signal processing unit 52 synthesizes the two signals and the D / A converter 53
A normal display, which is a wide range display, is displayed on the display screen by being output to the display device 54 via.

Next, in step S3, the distances m, l, r to the obstacle are measured by the three distance sensors 7, 8, 9. The measured values m, l, r are the distance sensors 7, 8, 9
Is output to the arithmetic processing unit 57.

Next, in step S4, the arithmetic processing unit 57 calculates the position of the obstacle from the measured values l and r, and calculates the distance m'from this position to the distance sensor 7.

Next, in step S5, the arithmetic processing unit 57 compares the measured value m of the distance sensor 7 with the calculated value m'calculated from r and l. Since the measured values m, l, and r have some errors due to the performance of the distance sensor, etc., if the error is δ, m = m ′ if m is within m ′ ± δ.
Otherwise, m ≠ m ′. If m ≠ m ′, the number of obstacles is not singular, and therefore the process returns to step S2 without performing enlarged display, and the processes after step S2 are continued.

If m = m ', it is determined that the number of obstacles is singular, and the process proceeds to step S6. In step S6, the distance x between the vehicle and the obstacle is calculated. This distance x
Is calculated as the shortest distance from the values l and r measured by the distance sensors 8 and 9 to the obstacle.

Next, in step S7, the arithmetic processing unit 5
7 compares the distance x to the obstacle with a predetermined value k. The predetermined value k is a predetermined value and is a distance indicating a dangerous state, and is determined from the vehicle speed and the like. That is, if x> k,
If the obstacle is far away and x ≦ k, it is possible to hit the obstacle and inform the user of the alarm. That is, in the case of x> k, the obstacle is sufficiently away from the vehicle, and there is no need for enlarged display. Therefore, the process returns to step S2 and normal display is performed. On the other hand, if x ≦ k, the process proceeds to step S7, and the arithmetic processing unit 57 operates the alarm speaker 60. As the alarm sound, it is more effective if the volume is increased or the sound quality is increased as x becomes smaller.

Next, in step S9, the arithmetic processing section 57 compares r and l measured in step S3. Here, considering the measurement error of the distance sensors 8 and 9, the error δ
Compare including. That is, in the case of r−δ ≦ l ≦ r + δ, r and l are substantially equal to each other, so that it is determined that the obstacle is substantially in the center of the vehicle, and the process proceeds to step S10 to enlarge and display the central part. In the case of l> r + δ, it is determined that the obstacle is on the right side, and the process proceeds to step S11 to enlarge and display the part on the right side. If l <l-δ, it is determined that the obstacle is on the left side, and the process proceeds to step S12 to enlarge and display the left side portion. Here, since each magnified display is the same as that in the first embodiment, detailed description will be omitted. The display screen of each state before the enlarged display is shown in FIG.
2 shows the display screens after the enlarged display. 11 (a) and 12 (a) shows that when the obstacle is on the right side,
11 (b) and 12 (b) show the case where the obstacle is in the center, and FIGS. 11 (c) and 12 (c) show the case where the obstacle is on the left side. As shown in the figure, in each state, the obstacle is enlarged and the distance scale is also enlarged, so that it is very easy to see and the condition of the obstacle can be known in detail.

After each enlarged display, the process returns to step S3, the distance of the obstacle is measured again, and the subsequent processing is continued. By this processing, when a pedestrian or the like approaches the vehicle as a new obstacle, it is detected that there are a plurality of obstacles in step S5, and the normal display for displaying a wide range is returned.
You can always ensure safety.

Although three distance sensors are used in the above embodiment, the distance to the obstacle can be specified with one and the position of the obstacle can be specified with two. Since it can be enlarged and displayed based on the information of, the detailed situation of the obstacle can be grasped. With four or more, it is possible to grasp a more detailed situation including the number and position of obstacles.

In each of the above-described embodiments, the rearward monitoring of the vehicle has been mainly described, but the same means can be used to perform the frontal or lateral monitoring as well.

[0042]

In the vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the predetermined range can be enlarged and displayed by the enlargement means, the detailed situation outside the vehicle can be notified to the user.

In the vehicle-mounted surveillance camera apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the distance to the obstacle can be accurately known by the measuring means regardless of the distance from the vehicle. I can tell.

In the vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to the third aspect, since the whole image or the enlarged image can be displayed according to the distance to the obstacle measured by the measuring means, the detailed situation outside the vehicle is transmitted to the user. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen in a normal display state according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen in an enlarged display state according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a vehicle-mounted monitoring camera device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen in a normal display state of the vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a top view of a rear portion of a vehicle equipped with a vehicle-mounted monitoring camera device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an enlarged display function of a vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a display screen when the position of an obstacle is different in the normal display state of the vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a display screen when the position of an obstacle is different in the enlarged display state of the vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a conventional vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a conventional vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of another conventional vehicle-mounted surveillance camera device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 camera section 52 video signal processing section 54 display device 55 RAM 56 ROM 61 input section

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location H04N 5/225 C

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An in-vehicle device including: a photographing means for photographing a condition outside the vehicle; a magnifying means for magnifying a predetermined range of the image photographed by the photographing means; and a display means for displaying the image magnified by the magnifying means. Surveillance camera device. 2. A photographing means for photographing a situation outside the vehicle, a display means for displaying an image photographed by the photographing means, and a distance to an obstacle within a range photographed by the photographing means. An in-vehicle surveillance camera device including: a measuring unit; and a transmitting unit that notifies a user of a distance to an obstacle measured by the measuring unit. 3. A photographing means for photographing a situation outside the vehicle, a measuring means for measuring a distance to an obstacle within a range photographed by the photographing means, and a measuring means for measuring the distance according to the distance. An in-vehicle surveillance camera device comprising: a magnifying means for magnifying a predetermined range of an image photographed by the photographing means; and a display means for displaying the image photographed by the photographing means or the image magnified by the magnifying means.