JP2000004385A - Multidirectional photographing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a multidirectional photographing device which can photograph objects of a plurality of directions with a single video camera and which can easily recognize safety, when it is especially mounted on a vehicle. SOLUTION: In a peripheral photographing device 10, the side end edges 32 and 42 of an objective lens 21 side are abutted by turning mirror faces 31 and 41 outward. Respective side end edges 33 and 43 on the opposite side are opened and are inclined in a V-form, and two mirrors 30 and 40 are installed in front of a video camera 20. At photographing of a front direction, the abutted side end edges 32 and 42 of the mirrors 30 and 40 are opened. At photographing of a periphery, the side end edges 32 and 42 are abutted on the center line of the objective lens 21.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-directional photographing apparatus using a video camera comprising, for example, a solid-state image pickup device (CCD). The present invention relates to a multidirectional photographing apparatus suitable for use as a peripheral confirmation apparatus for confirming the situation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art First, with reference to the drawings, a description will be given of a multidirectional photographing apparatus mounted on a conventional vehicle. FIG. 4 is a top view of a vehicle provided with a conventional peripheral confirmation device.

In recent years, as a multidirectional photographing apparatus used for vehicles such as automobiles, an apparatus using a video camera which is an electronic image photographing apparatus has been proposed. This vehicle 100
As shown in FIG. 4, for example, the multi-directional imaging device 110 includes video cameras 120, 130, and 140 disposed on the front and left and right of the front of the vehicle body 111, and these video cameras 120, 130, For example, a liquid crystal display (L) for displaying an image captured by
And a video display device 150 such as a CD).

[0004]

The multidirectional photographing apparatus 1
10, the video camera 120 is mainly used for the vehicle 10.
The video camera 130 captures an object in the front direction of 0 and confirms the presence or absence of an obstacle. The video camera 130 captures the left side and the video camera 130 captures the right side and confirms the presence or absence of an obstacle. The roles are shared. As described above, the conventional multidirectional photographing apparatus 110 has a video camera for each confirmation (or monitoring) direction, and requires a plurality of video cameras. Also,
In order to increase the viewing angle in the checking direction, a wide-angle lens is used as an object lens of each video camera. When this wide-angle lens is used, the object looks relatively small, making it difficult to check for obstacles. There is a problem of becoming.

The present invention is intended to solve these problems, and a single video camera can shoot an object in a plurality of directions, and especially when mounted on a vehicle, it is easy to confirm safety in a multi-direction. It is intended to obtain an imaging device.

[0006]

Therefore, according to the present invention, a multi-directional photographing apparatus is provided with a video camera provided with an objective lens, and a mirror surface provided in front of the objective lens of the video camera. A plurality of mirrors arranged so that the side edges on the objective lens side can be abutted, and the respective side edges on the opposite side are opened and inclined in a V-shape; And an image display device for displaying an image taken by the video camera, and an abutment side edge of each of the mirrors is opened when photographing in the forward direction, and the objective lens is used when photographing the periphery. A supporting device for causing a side edge of each of the mirrors to abut on the center line of the objective lens, and tilting a mirror surface of each of the mirrors with respect to the objective lens. I have.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multi-directional photographing apparatus, wherein the supporting device has one shaft connecting the plurality of mirrors and a plurality of shafts rotatably connected to a tip end of the shaft. And an arm.

Therefore, in the multidirectional photographing apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to confirm a multidirectional object with a single video camera in a relatively easy-to-see state. Further, in the multidirectional photographing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, a plurality of mirrors can be simultaneously opened and closed symmetrically.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a multidirectional photographing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a top view of an automobile provided with a multi-directional imaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the multi-directional imaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Top view of the state,
FIG. 3 is a top view schematically showing the multi-directional imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention in a state in which images are taken in the left-right direction from the state shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates a vehicle provided with a multidirectional photographing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the vehicle 1, a multidirectional photographing device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention is disposed and fixed at a front portion of a vehicle body 2, for example, at a center portion of a bumper portion 3, and photographed by the multidirectional photographing device 10. The images in the forward and leftward and rightward directions are displayed on a video display device 60 equipped with an LCD disposed near the driver's seat.

As shown in FIG. 2, the multidirectional photographing apparatus 10 includes a video camera 20, a pair of mirrors 30 and 40 disposed in front of the objective lens 21 on the left and right, and a pair of these mirrors 30. , 40 are supported.

The video camera 20 is disposed and fixed, for example, at the center of the bumper section 3 and has the objective lens 2 mounted thereon.
1 is provided. The pair of mirrors 30, 40 are shown in FIG.
, The back surfaces of the respective mirror surfaces 31 and 41 are vertically supported by support brackets 51 and 52 which are components of the support device 50 such that the mirror surfaces 31 and 41 are present on the outer sides.
Then, the respective mirrors 30 and 40 are attached to the respective support fittings 51 and 52 by the respective mirrors 3 on the objective lens 21 side.
As shown in FIG. 3, the side edges 32, 42 of 0, 40
Edges 33, 43 for abutment and on opposite sides
Are supported in such a manner that they are opened wider and inclined so as to form a substantially V-shape. These inclination angles are preferably set in the range of 40 ° to 50 ° with respect to the objective lens 21, but are set so that a necessary field of view can be obtained.

The support device 50 includes the support fittings 51, 5
2, T-shaped mounting base 53, one shaft 56,
It is composed of a pair of arms 57 and a plurality of guide pins 58. The mounting base 53 is a video camera 2
The mounting base 53 is fixed below the bumper part 3. At both ends of the T-shaped horizontal bar portion of the mounting base 53, a pair of mutually parallel slits 54, 5
5 are formed. The video camera 20 is fixed to a vertical bar portion of the mounting base 53 with a screw or the like.

A shaft 56 extending in the longitudinal direction is provided above the center of the vertical bar portion of the mounting base 53, and the base end of the shaft 56 has a driving device (not shown) such as an electromagnetic cylinder. And is driven back and forth. A pair of arms 57 of the same length are connected to the other end of the shaft 56 so as to be rotatable in the left and right directions.
The support fittings 51 and 52 are rotatably connected to the distal ends of these arms 57. And support bracket 5
Two guide pins 58, which are inserted into and guided by the pair of slits 54 and 55, respectively, are formed vertically on the lower surfaces of the first and second slits 54 and 55, respectively. The entire multi-directional imaging device 10 is covered and protected by a transparent cover 4.

Next, the operation of the multidirectional photographing apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described. First,
A case where an image is captured in the forward direction of the video camera 20 will be described. In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, the driving device is operated (or deactivated), and each of the mirrors 30,
Open the abutment side edges 32, 42 of the respective mirrors 30,
The images reflected from the 0 mirrors 30 and 40 are prevented from entering the objective lens 21. Thus, the objective lens 21
The mirrors 30 and 40 do not exist in the front direction, and the scene in the front direction can be directly photographed by the objective lens 21.

When photographing and confirming the left and right scenes from the state of confirming the forward direction, as shown in FIG. 3, the driving device is deactivated (or activated) and the objective lens 21 side is actuated. Side edge 32 of each of said mirrors 30, 40,
42 is aligned with the center line of the objective lens 21, and the mirror surfaces 31 and 41 of the mirrors 30 and 40 are
To a predetermined inclination angle with respect to. In this case, the shaft 56 retreats to the video camera 20 side, and both arms 57
The connecting portion of FIG. 3 also retreats, so that the guide pin 58 moves along the slits 54 and 55 from the outer ends of the slits 54 and 55 in the state shown in FIG. 2 to the inner ends in the state shown in FIG. Move up to. Following this movement, the mirror 30,
40 slides toward the objective lens 21, the side edges 32, 42 of the mirrors 30, 40 meet at the center of the objective lens 21, and the angles of the mirrors 30, 40 increase slightly. That is, the support device 50 has a function of converting the operation direction into the left and right movement of the mirrors 30 and 40 by the forward and backward movement of the shaft 56.

Thus, the surrounding scene reflected by the respective mirror surfaces 31, 41 of the mirrors 30, 40 is photographed by the video camera 20 via the objective lens 21, and the images thereof are displayed on the image display device 60 (FIG. 1). Are displayed on the left and right sides of the center of the display screen, and the driver can safely check the surrounding traffic conditions on the left and right.

The pair of mirrors 30, 4 disposed on the left and right
0, the mirrors 30 and 40 are moved obliquely forward by the operation of the shaft 56 in the front-back direction, and the side edges 32 and 42 on the objective lens 21 side are opened, and at the same time, the opposite side edges 33 and 43 is also supported by a supporting device 50 that opens, but a mechanism for opening and closing the side edges 32 and 42 may be, for example, other than the side edge 3 of each of the mirrors 30 and 40.
Side edges 3 on the objective lens 21 side around the rotation centers 3 and 43
You may comprise so that 2, 42 may be supported by the mechanism which can be opened and closed. It should be added that the support device 50 is an example of a mirror opening / closing mechanism.

Further, the multidirectional photographing apparatus 1 of the above embodiment
In the case of 0, two mirrors 30 and 40 are arranged so as to be able to open and close in the left and right direction in front of the video camera 20 so as to be able to photograph the left and right peripheral scenes. The two mirrors may be arranged so as to be openable and closable in the up-down direction so as to be able to capture the surrounding scenes in the forward direction and the up-down direction of the video camera. It can be arranged so that it can be opened and closed so that it can take pictures not only in the front direction of the video camera but also in the left, right, up and down directions.

Although the multidirectional photographing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied to a vehicle and described as an example in which the apparatus is mounted, the multidirectional photographing apparatus of the present invention is not limited to a vehicle. It should be noted that the present invention can also be applied to a monitoring peripheral photographing device generally used inside and outside a building such as a house or a company building.

[0021]

As is clear from the above description, the multidirectional photographing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention can confirm scenes in a plurality of directions with one video camera. 2. Since the field of view can be switched, there is no need to use a video camera equipped with a wide-angle lens as the objective lens, and the object looks relatively large compared to the case where a wide-angle lens is used, and it is easy to safely confirm. Since the number of expensive video cameras can be reduced, a number of excellent effects such as cost reduction can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a top view of an automobile equipped with a multidirectional imaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the multi-directional imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, showing a state in which an image is captured in a forward direction of a video camera.

FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of the multi-directional imaging device according to the embodiment of the present invention in a state in which images are taken in the left-right direction from the state shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a top view of an automobile equipped with a conventional multidirectional photographing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference numeral 10: a multidirectional photographing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; 20, a video camera; 21, an objective lens; 30, 40, a mirror;
1, 41: mirror surface; 32, 42: side edges of mirrors 30, 40 on the side of objective lens 21, 33, 43: mirror 30,
A side edge opposite to the side edges 32, 42 of 40;

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A video camera with an objective lens, in front of the objective lens of the video camera, with the mirror surface facing out, so that the side edge on the objective lens side can be abutted and opposite. A plurality of mirrors arranged so that each side edge of each side is opened and inclined in a V-shape; an image display device for displaying an image taken by the mirror and the video camera; If so, the abutting edge of each mirror is opened, and when photographing the periphery, the side edge of each mirror on the objective lens side abuts on the center line of the objective lens. A support device for inclining the mirror surface of each mirror with respect to the objective lens. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the support device includes a shaft connecting the plurality of mirrors, and an arm rotatably connected to a distal end of the shaft. 2. The multidirectional imaging device according to 1.