JP2000185597A - Dead angle monitoring device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable forward area of dead angle in a front field of view of a driver of a mobile body to be monitored more accurately. SOLUTION: This dead angle monitoring device is set on a rear check mirror arranged on a dead angle side in a front field of view of a driver of a mobile body 10, to monitor a forward area 50 of the dead angle in the front field of view of the mobile body 10. In this dead angle monitoring device, a longitudinal length LD2 of a screen to take in image in order to monitor the forward area 50 is designed to be longer than a lateral length LD1 of the same.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle mounted on a rear-viewing mirror disposed on a blind spot in a field of view ahead of a driver of a moving body to monitor a forward blind spot. Blind spot monitoring device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a moving object will be described by taking a normal passenger car as an example. When a driver drives a car,
For example, as shown in FIG.
00 is running, and even if another small vehicle 350 is running on the left side of the vehicle 300, the driver 360 cannot directly see the small vehicle 350. Therefore, the driver 3 is provided on the door mirror 380 of the passenger car 370.
A CCD camera (charge-coupled device camera) 390 is provided as shown in FIG. This camera 390 is
In a passenger car in which the steering wheel 400 is set on the right side as shown in FIG. 13, the front area of the fender on the passenger seat side can be displayed on the monitor 410 as an image. In this case, as shown in FIG. 15, the aspect ratio of the camera 390 is set to, for example, 4: 3. Thus, the camera 390
When the aspect ratio of the camera 39 is set to 4: 3, the camera 390 is a so-called horizontal
As shown in FIG. 13, the image 430 to be captured by the “0” has a vertical length L1 and a horizontal length L2 of 3: 4.
It has become.

[0003]

For this reason, in the state where the left front area of the passenger car 370 in FIG. 13 is captured in the image 430 in FIG. 15, it is assumed that the curb 440 can be captured as shown in FIG. In addition, the vehicle 300 ahead and the small vehicle 350 cannot be captured in the image 430. For this reason, it is necessary to set another camera in order to obtain more image information of the front area of the vehicles 300, 350 and the like. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a vehicle-mounted blind spot monitoring device capable of more accurately monitoring a forward area on a blind spot side in a field of view of a forward side of a driver of a moving body. And

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a rear-view mirror disposed on a blind spot in a field of view ahead of a driver of a moving body is provided so as to be located in front of the moving body. A monitoring device provided to monitor a front area that becomes a blind spot on the side view, a vertical length of a screen that captures an image to monitor the front area is a left and right side of the screen that captures the image. A blind spot monitoring device for a vehicle, wherein the blind spot monitoring device is set to be larger than a length in a direction. According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the vertical length of the screen is set to be larger than the horizontal length of the screen, the image information of the blind spot in the field of vision on the front side of the moving object is determined. More can be captured. From this, it is possible to more accurately acquire information for safety in the blind spot area on the front side on which the moving body travels by setting only one blind spot monitoring device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle blind spot monitoring device according to the first aspect, a charge-coupled device is used as an image acquiring means for capturing the image.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle blind spot monitor according to the first aspect, the rear confirmation mirror is a door mirror set on a door of the moving body.
Thus, the blind spot in the front area of the door mirror can be accurately captured.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the on-vehicle blind spot monitoring device according to the second aspect, the vertical length of the screen for taking in the video and the horizontal length of the screen for taking in the video are provided. The ratio is set to 4: 3.

[0008]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the embodiments described below are preferred specific examples of the present invention,
Although various technically preferable limits are given, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these modes unless otherwise specified in the following description.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a four-wheel type passenger car as an example of a moving body provided with a vehicle blind spot monitoring device of the present invention. The passenger car 10 is a passenger car having a steering wheel (handle) 12 on the so-called right side as shown in FIGS. The driver M is sitting in the driver's seat on the steering wheel 12 side as shown in FIG. A so-called door mirror 16 is set on the door 14 on the left front side with respect to the front area 50 of the passenger car 10. FIG. 1 shows the door mirror 16, the left front door 14 and the left front fender 1.
8 and front windshield (windshield) 2
0 and the like are shown. The door mirror housing 22 of the door mirror 16 is attached to a support 24 on the door 14 side.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show a preferred example of the structure of the door mirror 16. Door mirror housing 2
2 is made of, for example, plastic or metal, and is attached to the support 24 by a door mirror opening / closing mechanism 2.
By actuating 8, it is possible to open and close in the R direction. FIGS. 2 and 3 show a state in which the door mirror housing 22 is used by being opened with respect to the door 14. Inside the door mirror housing 22, the door mirror opening / closing mechanism 28, the mirror operating mechanism 30, the mirror 32, the camera 34, the camera housing 36, and the camera housing 3
8 etc. are accommodated. The mirror 32 can be swung by a predetermined angle in the T direction by operating the mirror operation mechanism 30.

The on-vehicle blind spot monitor 40 has the above-described camera 34, camera housing 36, camera housing lid 38, prism 42, transparent cover 44, and the like.
As the camera 34, for example, a CCD camera (charge coupled device camera) can be used.
It has an image capture capability of about 10,000 pixels. A camera housing 36 and a camera housing lid 38 support the camera 34 in the door mirror housing 22, and the camera 3
4 is an axis P2 for swinging the mirror 32.
At a predetermined angle θ. Prism 4
2 is disposed between the camera housing lid 38 and the transparent cover 44. The transparent cover 44 is fitted into an opening 46 of the door mirror housing 22 and seals the opening 46 so that dust and water do not enter the prism 42 and the camera 34. The camera 34 can capture the information of the front area 50 at the viewing angle α via the prism 42. The optical axis OP1 of the camera 34 is bent by the prism 42 to become the optical axis OP2.
It is formed around P2.

Characteristically, as shown in FIG. 4, a CCD for taking in an image of a camera 34 as image acquisition means.
The aspect ratio of 54 is set as follows. That is, the vertical length LD2 of the CCD 54
And the ratio of the length LD1 in the left-right direction is preferably set to 4: 3. This vertical length LD2
Is a direction substantially parallel to the vertical direction V, and the length LD1 in the horizontal direction is substantially parallel to the horizontal direction H. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 5, it is possible to capture a so-called vertically placed image in which the ratio of the length LD2 in the up-down direction to the length LD1 in the left-right direction is 4.3, which is shown in FIG. .
FIG. 5 shows a comparison between a vertically acquired image AR1 shown by a solid line and a conventional acquired image AR2 shown by a dashed line. In the acquired image AR1 according to the embodiment of the present invention,
Left front fender 18 and left front wheel 18 of passenger car 10
A: It is possible to capture images of a large vehicle 300 traveling forward, a small vehicle 350 traveling forward, and a portion of a curb 440. On the other hand, in the conventional acquired image AR2, the left fender 18, the left wheel 18A and the curb 440 of the passenger car 10 can be captured,
Information on the vehicles 300 and 350 running ahead cannot be captured at all.

An acquired image AR according to the embodiment of the present invention
1, the information of the front area 50 is converted to a conventional acquired image AR2.
You can get more compared to. For example, in the conventional acquired image AR2, for example, only information up to the ground about 2.5 m away can be seen, but in the acquired image AR1 of the present invention, an image of the ground about 13.2 m away can be seen. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the image of a small vehicle 350 such as a motorcycle hidden behind a vehicle 300 such as a large truck can be reliably captured. Safety can be dramatically improved. On the other hand, in the conventional acquired image AR2, images of the vehicles 300 and 350 cannot be obtained,
Since the information in the front area 50 is considerably small, the security of the information in the front area cannot be enhanced.

FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 show a conventional acquired image AR.
2 and the acquired image AR1 in the embodiment of the present invention are shown in a plan view and a side view. In FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the area of the conventional acquired image AR2 is small, and the driver M
Is a small vehicle 350 even when viewing the display 106 of FIG.
Cannot be seen directly. That is, this small vehicle 3
50 cannot be seen directly because of the shadow of the large vehicle 300. Therefore, it is necessary to confirm the front by acquiring an image from the camera 34 on the side of the door mirror 16. In the conventional acquired image AR2, as shown in FIG.
Is very short, and the small vehicle 350 cannot be directly captured as an image.

On the other hand, in the acquired image AR1 in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, it is possible to reliably capture the image of the small vehicle 350 hidden by the shadow of the large vehicle 300. it can. This is because the image acquisition distance LT1 of the acquired image AR1 can be greatly extended as compared with the conventional image acquisition distance LT2. In the specific example of FIG. 6, a large vehicle 300 is traveling in the same lane at a predetermined distance in front of the passenger car 10, and a small vehicle 350 is traveling on the left side of the large vehicle 300. ing.

Next, the above-mentioned blind spot monitoring device 40 for a vehicle.
The in-vehicle monitor device 100 including the above will be described with reference to FIG. 9 and the like. In-vehicle monitor device 100
Has a function of not only monitoring the blind spot of the passenger car as described above, but also displaying the electronic navigation (navigation navigation) of the passenger car. Monitor device 10 for vehicle installation in FIG.
0 camera 34 is the above-described blind spot monitoring device 40 for in-vehicle use.
, And this camera is image acquisition means. A video (video) signal S1 of an obtained video AR1 as shown in FIG. 5 obtained by the camera 34 is sent to an input terminal 102 of a control box 101 as a control means. On the other hand, a navigation device (navigation box) 103 for guiding the navigation of a passenger car sends a navigation signal S2 to the control box 1
01 is input to the input terminal 104.
The navigation device 103 includes, for example, map information recorded in a computer and a position detection device (GPS: Global Positioning) using satellite radio waves.
System) to display the current location of a moving object such as a passenger car, or to perform automatic control or the like as necessary.

The control box 101 has a changeover switch 105.
Reference numeral 05 is selectively switched to the input terminal 102 or 104 by a control signal S3 from the display 106 as a display means. That is, the switch 105 transmits the video signal S1 or the navigation signal S2 to the signal input line 107 on the display 106 side.
Can be sent to the display 106 as a video signal S4 via the.

The display 106 is discriminated whether it is in the horizontal state as shown in FIG. 9A or in the vertical state as shown in FIG. 9B, and a control signal S3 is given to the switch 105 to switch the switch 105. Can be switched. FIG.
In FIG. 9A, the display 106 is set in the horizontal state, but in FIG. 9B, the display surface 110 of the display 106 is set in the vertical state. The conversion between the horizontal state and the vertical state of the display surface 110 of the display 106 can be performed manually by a driver, for example. When the display 106 is in the horizontal state as shown in FIG. 9A, the switch 105 is switched to the input terminal 104 side, whereby the navigation signal S2 on the navigation device 103 side is converted into a video signal S4 on the display 1.
It is sent to the 06 side. Accordingly, the display 106 displays the navigation information on the display surface 110.

On the other hand, the display 106 shown in FIG.
When rotated 90 ° in the vertical state as in (B), switch 105 switches from input terminal 104 to 102,
Thereby, the video signal S1 of the camera 34 is sent to the display 106 as the video signal S4. Therefore, the display surface 110 of the display 106 is, for example, the acquired image AR of FIG.
1 is displayed. The aspect ratio of the display surface 110 of the display 106 includes a shorter length LX1 and a longer length LX1.
The ratio of X2 is set to 3: 4 or 9:16. In this way, the driver can not only display the acquired image AR1 of FIG. 5 in the vertical state, but also perform the display for navigation by setting the display 106 to the horizontal state as necessary. it can. As shown in FIG. 8, the display 106 of FIG. 9 is set on the cockpit 106B of the passenger car 10, for example.

FIGS. 10 and 11 are different from the examples of FIGS. 6 and 7 in that the passenger car 10 has a left-hand drive type, that is, a type in which the steering wheel 12 is located on the left side in the traveling direction. Is shown. In this case, the vehicle-mounted blind spot monitoring device 40 described above is set for the door mirror 116 of the right front door 114. For example, in this example, the lane 18 where the passenger car 10 is traveling
This is an example in which a large vehicle 300 is traveling in the lane 181 further to the right of 0. The blind spot monitoring device 40 has a symmetrical shape with the blind spot monitoring device 40 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The camera 34 of the blind spot monitoring device 40 in FIGS. 10 and 11 can be monitored by the acquired image AR1 in the embodiment of the present invention. If a conventional blind spot monitoring device is used in such a left-hand drive passenger car, a conventional acquired image AR2 is obtained, and the vehicle 300 does not reach the vehicle 300 traveling diagonally forward. On the other hand, in the acquired image AR1 in the embodiment of the present invention, the image of the vehicle 300 in the lane 181 and the passenger car 10 in the lane 180 are displayed.
Can be checked to determine whether passing is possible. As shown in FIG. 11, the video acquisition distance LT1 according to the embodiment of the present invention is considerably larger than the conventional video acquisition distance LT2.

FIG. 12 shows still another embodiment of the blind spot monitor of the present invention. In the embodiment of FIG. 12, the camera 34 of the blind spot monitoring device 40 is disposed facing the rear of the transparent cover 144 of the door mirror housing 22, and unlike the example of FIG. A viewing angle α is formed with respect to the front region 50. That is, the viewing angle α is formed around the optical axis OP2. This optical axis OP2 corresponds to the optical axis of the camera 34. The other points of the door mirror 16 of FIG. 12 are the same as those of the door mirror 16 of FIG.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. In the above-described embodiment, a so-called CCD camera is used as a camera. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is of course possible to use another type of camera.
The aspect ratio of the display and camera is 4: 3
However, it is needless to say that 16: 9 or another aspect ratio can be adopted. As the moving object of the present invention,
Not only ordinary passenger cars but also other moving bodies, for example, other passenger cars such as lorries and buses, and track running cars such as trains are also included.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to more accurately monitor the front area on the side of the blind spot on the field of view on the front side of the driver of the moving body.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a preferred embodiment of a passenger car including a blind spot monitoring device for a moving object according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view having a cross section showing an example of the door mirror of FIG. 1 and a blind spot monitoring device mounted on a vehicle and built therein.

FIG. 3 is a rear view showing a door mirror and the like in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a camera, a prism, and the like of a blind spot monitoring device for a moving object.

FIG. 5 is an acquired image AR1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a comparison between a captured image AR2 of the related art.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an example of monitoring a blind spot in a traveling state of a passenger vehicle provided with the blind spot monitoring device of the present invention, and a large vehicle and a small vehicle traveling ahead.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a blind spot monitoring example of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged plan view showing an example of monitoring a passenger car, a preceding vehicle, and a blind spot.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a preferred embodiment of a vehicle-mounted monitor device according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a blind spot monitoring state in a traveling state of a passenger vehicle and a large vehicle traveling diagonally forward in front.

FIG. 11 is a side view showing the blind spot monitoring state of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a plan view having a cross section showing another embodiment of the blind spot monitoring device of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a plan view showing a conventional blind spot monitoring example.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a door mirror provided with a conventional blind spot monitoring device.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of an image acquired by a conventional blind spot monitoring device.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... passenger car (moving body), 16 ... door mirror,
34 ... camera, 40 ... mobile object blind spot monitoring device,
42 ... prism, 44 ... transparent cover, 50 ...
· Front area, 101 ··· Control box (control means), 103 ··· Navigation device, 106 ···
-Display (display means), AR1 ... Acquired image in the present invention, AR2 ... Conventional acquired image

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A rear view mirror arranged on a side where a blind spot is formed on a front side view of a driver of a moving body, and a front area which becomes a blind spot on the front side view of the moving body is set. A monitoring device provided for monitoring, wherein the vertical length of a screen that captures an image to monitor the front area is set to be larger than the horizontal length of the screen that captures the image. Blind spot monitoring device for vehicles. 2. The blind spot monitoring device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a charge coupled device is used as an image acquisition unit for acquiring the image. 3. The on-vehicle blind spot monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein the rear confirmation mirror is a door mirror set on a door of the moving body. 4. The ratio according to claim 2, wherein the ratio of the vertical length of the screen for taking in the video to the horizontal length of the screen for taking in the video is set to 4: 3. Blind spot monitoring device for vehicles.