JPH10230805A - Driving assist device for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect a shape of an obstacle easily when visibility is very bad due to fog so as to complement information on the sense of sight by providing an infrared light projector and an infrared image receiver and providing a display device which displays a picture image of the infrared image receiver. SOLUTION: An infrared light projector 2 projects infrared rays in the direction of advance of an automobile 1 in a bad environment where the situation of the field of vision is very bad due to fog and heavy rain. The projected infrared ray is reflected by an obstacle in the front of the automobile and returns to the automobile 1 partially. The reflected infrared ray is caught by an infrared image receiver 3 and is converted to information on the sense of sight of the front of the automobile, and picture image information obtained by the infrared image receiver 3 is profile-emphasized and processed by a profile emphasizing means 4 and is displayed on a monitor 5 inside the automobile. Consequently, it is possible to display a large quantity of information on the front of the automobile when compared with the case where only visual information obtained through a window is used so that safe driving becomes possible.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a driving support system for a motor vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various systems such as a navigation system have been proposed as driving assistance devices for automobiles. As a system for detecting a forward obstacle and reporting to a driver in bad weather, there is a system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-158900. This is to detect a heat source at which an obstacle such as a preceding vehicle or a pedestrian is generated, make the driver recognize the presence of the obstacle, and assist driving.

[0003]

The driving assistance system for automobiles has been devised using an obstacle detection sensor, a proximity sensor, a video camera for detecting visual information of a blind spot position, and the like. Since these prior arts are mainly intended for automatic driving, they are configured to acquire accurate information on the position of an obstacle, and there has been a problem that the device becomes large and complicated.

On the other hand, as disclosed in JP-A-2-158900,
There is also a direction to simplify the configuration by specializing in providing the driver with obstacle image information, but these are often limited information such as heat source information and the distance to a specific obstacle, and can be presented to the driver. Visual information is inadequate.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to complement the visual information by detecting an obstacle shape or the like with a simple configuration, particularly when the visibility is extremely poor due to fog or the like.

[0006]

The above object is achieved, for example, by providing an infrared projector and an infrared receiver and a display device for displaying an image of the infrared receiver.

[0007]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.

Here, 1 is an automobile, 2 is an infrared projector, 3
Denotes an infrared receiver, 4 denotes an outline emphasizing means, and 5 denotes an in-vehicle monitor. The automobile 1 is equipped with an infrared projector 2 on the front of the vehicle body in addition to a normal headlight.

In a bad environment, such as fog or heavy rain, where visibility is poor, the infrared projector 2 emits infrared light in the traveling direction of the vehicle 1. The infrared light emitted from the infrared projector 2 is
It is reflected by the obstacle ahead and returns partially to the car 1. The infrared receiver 3 captures the reflected infrared light and converts it into forward visual information. Image information obtained by the infrared receiver 3 is subjected to contour enhancement processing by the contour enhancement means 4 and displayed on the in-car monitor 5.

The driver drives using the auxiliary visual information displayed on the in-vehicle monitor 5 in addition to the main visual information obtained from the window. Here, the image display means is assumed to be a liquid crystal monitor, but a display means such as a look-up monitor that is used in common with real image information or a display device such as a lenticular plate capable of three-dimensional display can be used.

The driving support device according to the present invention includes an optical filter 6 and a temperature control means 7.

At least one optical filter 6 having optical characteristics according to the weather condition is provided, and filters the reflected light as necessary. This is provided to prevent the image information presented to the driver from being deteriorated depending on the road surface condition.

For example, when the asphalt road surface is hot under hot weather, the amount of radiated infrared rays from the road surface is large, and there is a problem that sufficient image information cannot be obtained. in this case,
This problem can be alleviated by using an optical filter that is less permeable to infrared rays in the lower part.

The temperature control means 7 is provided to reduce the influence of a temperature difference between the inside and outside of the vehicle. For example, when the outside air temperature is low, dew condensation on the infrared receiver 3 is likely to occur, which affects image information acquisition. In this figure, a part of the exhaust gas is sent to the infrared receiver 3 to raise the temperature, thereby solving the above-mentioned problem of dew condensation. The temperature control means 7
As means for realizing the above, an electric heater, a heat pump, a Peltier element, or the like can be used.

The above configuration utilizes the feature that infrared light transmission is high. Visible light is blocked by fog, but infrared light is so transparent that it can illuminate the fog farther than visible light. Since the driver cannot directly detect infrared light, the infrared receiver 3 and the in-vehicle monitor 5
The forward information is confirmed based on the image information obtained by the above, and is used as support information during driving.

The use of infrared rays has the following effects. Pedestrians emit thermal radiation infrared rays according to their own body temperature. Since the infrared receiver 3 also detects the body temperature of the pedestrian by the thermal radiation infrared rays, the in-vehicle monitor 5 detects the pedestrian more sensitively than, for example, tree or road shape information. This feature is very convenient in preventing personal injury,
It has an advantageous feature as a driving assistance device for automobiles.

Next, the effect of the contour emphasizing means 4 will be described.

As described above, the present invention utilizes the ability to transmit infrared light, but the wavelength of infrared light is longer than that of visible light. Therefore, the image displayed on the in-vehicle monitor 5 is blurred as compared with the case where visible light is received. The contour emphasizing means 4 performs image processing on the blurred image to reduce the blur, and causes the driver to display an image that is not uncomfortable on the vehicle monitor 5.

Since the method of realizing the outline emphasis means 4 can be realized by a basic operator of image processing, a detailed description is omitted here. Very simply, the contour enhancement means 4
This can be realized by weighted linear combination of the outline image information and the raw image information by the outline detection operator.

Although the embodiment of the driving support device using infrared rays has been described above, the same effect can be obtained by using a laser length measuring device. Hereinafter, an example using a laser length measuring device will be described. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an infrared measuring device that realizes the present invention. Here, 11 is a laser length measuring device, 12 is a high-speed polygon mirror, 13 is a low-speed polygon mirror, and 14 is coordinate conversion means. The laser light generated by the laser length measuring device 11 is
High speed polygon mirror 12 and low speed polygon mirror 13
And emits a laser beam in the vehicle traveling direction.
High speed polygon mirror 12 and low speed polygon mirror 13
Has a function of rotating at a constant speed and oscillating the laser beam. The rotation axes of the high-speed polygon mirror 12 and the low-speed polygon mirror 13 are arranged so as to be orthogonal to each other. As a result, the oscillation range of the laser beam becomes a quadrangular pyramid with a rectangular bottom surface, and when the information is displayed on the in-vehicle monitor 5, there is no excess or deficiency in the information, which is convenient. Since the polygon mirror is a known technique widely used in a laser beam printer or the like, a detailed description is omitted.

The projected laser light is reflected by an obstacle, and is taken into the laser length measuring device 11 through a path reverse to that at the time of projection. Since the laser length measuring device is a known technology that is currently widely available on the market, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The distance r to the obstacle obtained by the laser measuring device, the rotation angle θ1 of the high-speed polygon mirror, and the rotation angle θ2 of the low-speed polygon mirror are taken into the coordinate conversion means 14,
The coordinates are converted into a coordinate system suitable for the in-vehicle monitor 5. For example, when displayed on a liquid crystal screen, it is converted into x, y, z coordinates,
The x, y coordinate data is used for screen display.

The present configuration has an advantage that a clear image can be provided because it is more resistant to a bad environment because a laser beam which is more straight-forward than infrared rays is used. 3
There is also an advantage that dimensional information can be obtained.

Although the laser light is oscillated by combining two polygon mirrors this time, the present invention is not lost even if it is realized by using another oscillating mechanism. Further, a configuration in which a large number of laser length measuring devices are arranged in a matrix to obtain image information may be used.

[0025]

According to the present invention, driving is supported by projecting infrared rays and providing reflected infrared image information to the driver. Since infrared rays have excellent transparency in fog and rainy weather, it is possible to display forward visibility information having a larger amount of information than in the case of only visual information obtained from a window. Therefore, safe driving can be performed even in bad weather.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the present invention using infrared light.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the present invention using a laser length measuring device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Car, 2 ... Infrared projector, 3 ... Infrared receiver, 4
... Outline emphasis means, 5 ... In-car monitor.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A driving assistance device for an automobile, comprising: an infrared projector and an infrared receiver; and a display device for displaying an image of the infrared receiver. 2. The driving support device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said display device has an outline emphasis means. 3. The driving support apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the infrared receiver has at least one optical filter. 4. The driving support device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said infrared receiver has a temperature control means. 5. A driving assistance system for a vehicle comprising a laser length measuring device, a laser beam oscillating means, a spatial information calculating means and a display device, wherein the laser length measuring device irradiates a laser beam in a traveling direction of the vehicle. The laser length measuring device detects the distance of an obstacle existing in the traveling direction of the vehicle using the reflected light of the laser light, the laser light swinging means changes the irradiation direction of the laser light, and The information calculating means calculates at least two-dimensional spatial information from the distance information obtained from the laser length measuring device and the swing amount information of the laser light swinging means, and the spatial information is displayed by the display device. Driving assistance device for automobiles. 6. The driving support device for an automobile according to claim 5, wherein said oscillating means is constituted by two polygon mirrors, and a rotation axis vector of said polygon mirror is orthogonal. 7. An automobile driving support apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said laser length measuring device has a temperature control means. 8. An automobile driving support apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said temperature control means includes a residual heat recycling means for recycling residual heat of an engine.