JPH08175228A - Driving support device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To recognize an obstacle rapidly, by forming an outline image from an image signal of a photographing means, monitoring an article in the divided area detected by an article detecting means, and when the article is an obstacle, displaying it by extracting by an outline image extracting means. CONSTITUTION: A multibeam scanning type FM radar module 2 of an article detecting means feeds an article signal from a photographing means 3 to an outline extracting circuit 4a by the beams of FM signals whose directions are slipped a little each other, and writes the outline image in a frame memory 4b. And a monitoring controller 1a in a CPU 1 divides the detected front side space of the vehicle into ten areas, and when a detected article is an obstacle, the concerned divided area is reported to an image processor 1b, and then, an alarm sound is generated to a speaker 11 through an input/output interface circuit 9. At the same time, only an area where an obstacle is detected is read, it is written in a frame memory 5 for display, and a display controller 6 feeds the outline image to a projector 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a driving assistance device such as a vehicle collision warning device, and more particularly to a driving assistance device using a head-up type display device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, various driving support devices have been developed for supporting safe driving and comfortable driving of vehicles. This kind of driving support device monitors an object detecting means for detecting an object in the vicinity of a vehicle, and monitors whether or not the detected object interferes with the traveling of the vehicle, and issues an alarm when the obstacle occurs. It is provided with a monitoring means, a speaker and a display means for transmitting this alarm to the driver by sound or image.

A "dangerous situation warning device", which is a typical example of the driving support device, is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-215300. This danger situation warning device includes a radar device, a television camera, and the like as object detection means. Further, as the monitoring means, it is determined whether or not the object detected by the radar device or the like corresponds to an obstacle that causes an accident in the light of the traveling condition of the vehicle such as the vehicle speed. It is equipped with a means for issuing an alarm. Further, as the display means, there is provided a head-up type display device that warns the driver by displaying a red frame or the like surrounding the corresponding obstacle existing in the driver's visual field.

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention Since the above-mentioned prior art driving support device is configured to only display a red frame surrounding a detected obstacle, obstacles in the red frame visually recognized by the driver are present. Work to recognize objects is required. Because, according to the basic design concept of this kind of driving support system,
Since it is general to give priority to prevention of omission of detection rather than improvement of detection accuracy, a wide range of alarms will be generated including suspicious cases, and unnecessary alarms will be filtered out visually from them. Is.

Since the obstacles in the red frame can be recognized relatively quickly during the daytime in fine weather, it is not a big problem. However, if the amount of incident light is insufficient, such as at night, or if the windshield is cloudy during rainfall, it takes a considerable amount of time to recognize obstacles in the red frame. Correspondence such as braking and steering wheel operation is delayed by the time required for this recognition, which is a problem as a driving support device for avoiding danger. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a driving support device that can speed up the recognition of obstacles by the driver.

[0006]

The driving support device of the present invention is photographed by photographing a scene in front of a vehicle and outputting a video signal, and by processing the video signal output from the photographing means. A contour line image creating means for extracting a contour line of an image included in a front scene and replacing the image with the contour line to create a contour line image, and an object existing in a space in front of the vehicle is divided into a plurality of parts. The object detection means for detecting each of the divided areas, and whether or not the objects in each divided area detected by the object detection means correspond to obstacles that may cause an accident. If the object corresponds to an object, a monitoring means for issuing an alarm and a notification regarding the divided area in which the obstacle exists are received from the monitoring means, and within the divided area of the contour line image created by the contour line image creating means. It includes a contour image extracting means for extracting those contained, a head-up display device for displaying the extracted contour image.

[0007]

The outline of the object in the divided area relating to the alarm generation is extracted and displayed on the head-up type display device.
The driver can quickly recognize the obstacle. In particular, even when the amount of incident light is insufficient such as at night or when the glass is cloudy due to rain, the driver can quickly recognize the obstacle by highlighting the contour line with high brightness. Less than,
The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to Examples.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a driving support device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is a CPU and 2 is a CPU.
1 and a multi-beam scanning type F which constitutes an object detecting means.
The M radar module, 3 is a photographing means including a television camera 3a and an A / D conversion circuit 3b, and 4 is a contour line image creating means including a contour extracting circuit 4a and a frame memory 4b.

Reference numeral 5 is a screen memory, 6 is a display control circuit, 7 is a projector, 8 is a screen, 9 is an input / output interface circuit, 10 is a keyboard, and 11 is a speaker.
The screen 8 is arranged between the driver's seat and the windshield as in the case of the conventional device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-83424, and the contour enhancement projected on the screen 8 by the driver is performed. It is configured so that an image and a front view of the vehicle can be perceived in a superimposed state.

The multi-beam scanning FM radar module 2 includes five transmission / reception channels for emitting five beams of FM signals whose directions are slightly shifted to the front of the vehicle and receiving the reflected signals, and each transmission / reception channel. Regarding a mixing circuit that mixes the received reflected signal and the FM signal before radiation to generate a beat signal of a difference frequency, and the fast Fourier transform (F
FT) to create a frequency spectrum of the beat signal and supply the frequency spectrum to the CPU 1 and the like.

The photographing means 3 comprises a television camera 3a installed toward the front of the vehicle, and an A / D conversion circuit 3b for converting an analog video signal output from the television camera 3a into a digital video signal. It is configured. The field of view of the television camera 3a is set so as to be substantially the same as the object detection space by the multi-beam scanning FM radar module 2, but the details will be described later. The digital video signal output from the photographing means 3 is supplied to the contour extracting circuit 4a.

The contour extracting circuit 4a is configured to include a differentiating circuit and the like, extracts a contour line of an image appearing on the television screen, and creates a contour line image by replacing this image with the contour line. The contour image for one frame created by the contour extraction circuit 4a is overwritten on the contour image of the immediately preceding frame in the frame memory 4b.

The monitoring control unit 1a in the CPU 1 receives various sensor signals representing vehicle running conditions such as vehicle speed, acceleration, steering angle and yaw rate from various sensors (not shown) via the input / output interface unit 9 and The received sensor signals are processed to create various control signals, and the created control signals are output to various corresponding actuators (not shown) via the input / output interface unit 9.

The monitoring control unit 1a in the CPU 1 analyzes the frequency spectrum of the beat signal of each transmission / reception channel received from the multi-beam scanning FM radar module 2 in time division multiplex with the above-mentioned monitoring control processing,
The distance to the object that generated the reflected signal is calculated for each transmission / reception channel. The space in front of the vehicle detected by the five transmission / reception channels is divided into 10 areas A to J as illustrated in FIG. The divided areas A and F are detection areas of an object by a transmission / reception channel that emits a beam of an FM signal to the far left of the front of the vehicle, and whether the distance of the detected object is smaller or larger than a predetermined threshold value Rth. It is divided into A and F accordingly.

The divided areas B and G are areas to be detected by the transmission / reception channel that emits a beam of an FM signal to the left of the front of the vehicle, and whether the distance of the detected object is smaller than a predetermined threshold value Rth. It is divided into B and G depending on whether it is large. In the same manner, the remaining six divided areas (C, H), (D, I) and (E, J) are defined. In this way, a total of 10 divided areas are defined according to the combination of 5 types of quantized directions and 2 types of distances.

Each of the ten divided areas A to J is set in the scene in front of the vehicle as seen through the windshield by the driver as illustrated in FIG. 3A. Are set to correspond to each. The installation position and orientation of the television camera 3a and the optical characteristics of the lens are set so that the sight of the front of the vehicle, which is composed of each of the 10 divided areas a to j, is the field of view.

The monitoring control unit 1a in the CPU 1 is an obstacle in which an object detected in any of the 10 divided areas A to J may cause an accident in the light of the running condition of the vehicle. When it is determined that the divided area in which the obstacle is detected is notified to the image processing section 1b, an alarm sound is generated in the speaker 11 via the input / output interface circuit 9. In the example of FIG. 3, it is assumed that such an obstacle is detected in the divided area g.

The image processing section 1b, which has received the notification from the monitoring control section 1a, divides the divided area g in which the obstacle is detected in the latest contour image of one frame written in the frame memory 4c. Selectively read only the one inside,
A high-intensity red display color and a flashing (blinking) display are designated for highlighting and written in the frame memory 5 for display. In the example of FIG. 3, an outline image of an obstacle (a person in this case) as shown in FIG. 3B is written in the area corresponding to the divided area g in the frame memory 5. Display control unit 6
Reads out the contour image of the display color of high-intensity red from the frame memory 5 at a constant cycle for blinking display, and the projector 7
Supply to.

The image projected from the projector 7 is reflected by the screen 8 and enters the eyes of the driver. Therefore,
As shown in FIG. 3C, the driver sees the scene in front of the vehicle directly viewed through the windshield and the outline of the person displayed by the high-intensity red blinking superimposed on the scene. Therefore, the contour of the person can be clearly recognized by the contour image even when the windshield is significantly clouded at night or during rain.

The configuration in which the contour image is always highlighted is described above. However, in the daytime, as in the case of the conventional device, a red frame surrounding the obstacle and an operation mode for displaying the boundary line of the divided areas a to j in which the obstacle is detected are selected, and at night or during rain. It is also possible to switch to the operation mode in which the contour line image is emphasized as described above by issuing a command from the keyboard 10 only when the front view is unclear due to severe clouding of the glass.

Further, the structure using the frame memory 5 having a size of one frame which can be projected by the projector 7 for displaying the contour image is exemplified, but a small screen memory corresponding to one divided area is installed. Alternatively, the display control unit 6 may be configured to instruct the display position within one frame.

Further, the configuration in which the image processing unit 1b controls the emphasizing display mode such as the coloring value, the brightness and the blinking has been exemplified. However, the display control unit 6 may be configured to execute the highlighted display according to a predetermined highlighted display mode.

Further, a configuration for detecting an obstacle in front of the vehicle by using the FM radar module has been illustrated. However, this obstacle is detected by using a pulse radar, an AM radar, or a principle of triangulation using a plurality of television cameras.
Other appropriate methods such as a method of emitting a laser beam or an ultrasonic wave and receiving a reflected wave can be adopted.

[0024]

As described in detail above, the driving support system of the present invention has a structure in which the contour line of the object in the divided area relating to the alarm generation is extracted and displayed on the head-up type display device. The driver can quickly recognize the obstacle by its contour. In particular, even when the amount of incident light is insufficient such as at night or when the glass is cloudy due to rain, the driver can quickly recognize the obstacle by highlighting the contour line with high brightness.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a driving support device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an example in which the space to be monitored in the above embodiment is divided into a plurality of areas.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a front scene (A), a contour line image (B) in a certain divided area, and a state in which this contour line image and a scene in front of the vehicle are superimposed according to the above-described embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 CPU 2 Object detecting means 3 Imaging means 4 Contour line image creating means 5 Frame memory 6 Display control circuit 7 Projector 8 Screen

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Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A photographing means for photographing a scene in front of a vehicle and outputting a video signal, and a contour line of an image included in the front scene photographed by processing a video signal outputted from the photographing means. A contour line image creating means for creating a contour line image by extracting the image and replacing the image with a contour line, and an object detection for detecting an object existing in a space in front of the vehicle for each of a plurality of divided areas. Means, and monitoring means for monitoring whether or not the object in each divided area detected by the object detecting means corresponds to an obstacle that may cause an accident, and gives an alarm if the obstacle is detected. And a contour image for notifying the divided area where the obstacle exists from the monitoring means and extracting the contour image created by the contour image creating means contained in the divided area. A driving support device comprising: an extraction unit and a head-up type display device that displays the extracted contour line image. 2. The driving support device according to claim 1, wherein a boundary line of a divided area in which the obstacle is detected is displayed instead of the extracted contour line image in accordance with a command issued by a driver. . 3. The operation according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the front head-up type display means emphasizes and displays the contour line image extracted forward with high brightness and blinking in a predetermined cycle. Support device. 4. The driving assistance device according to claim 1, wherein the front object detecting means includes a multi-beam scanning FM radar module.