JP2001023092A - Monitoring device for vehicle peripheral area - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a monitoring device for vehicle peripheral area, which precisely and speedily discriminates a close state of a vehicle or the like and the danger of collision by judging whether the vehicle is in a condition to be warned and selecting a picture processing means based on the judgment. SOLUTION: When a system becomes a warning state such as a case when a lane is changed, track data of a monitoring object like a subsequent vehicle which is recorded in a case when the system is not in the warning state is taken into a narrowing area setting circuit 11 in a warning condition judgment part 5. The narrowing area setting circuit 11 recognizes a picture of the track data (close vehicle) in comparison with a still picture and a monitoring area is narrowed to an area whether the track data exit in a masking processing. Pixel data in the narrowed area is taken into a warning judgment part 12 and the warning judgment part 12 executes warning judgment in a regular picture processing. When the warning judgment part 12 judges the warning state, a warning display output part 13 outputs a prescribed warning.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for monitoring the area around a vehicle, and more particularly to a device for monitoring the rear (including the rear side) using a CCD camera (solid-state image sensor camera) installed in the vehicle. The present invention relates to a vehicle surrounding area monitoring device that detects a vehicle or an obstacle approaching from the side and issues a warning to a driver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When changing lanes to an adjacent lane while a vehicle is running, a vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane at a speed higher than the own vehicle or an obstacle (a stopped vehicle, a construction, etc.) in the adjacent vehicle is overlooked. In any case, there is a possibility that an accident may occur in any case, such as when sudden braking is applied without knowing that a following vehicle in the same lane as the own vehicle has suddenly approached. For this reason, conventional CCD
Various types of vehicle surrounding area monitoring devices have been proposed that perform image processing on images captured rearward and rearward by using a camera to perform image recognition of the approaching vehicle and obstacles to warn a driver. ing.

For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-50769 (prior art 1), a CCD camera is provided from the rear of a traveling vehicle.
(Video camera) When capturing a rear image, pay attention to the point that the rear nearby object moves in the direction of converging to the point at infinity as the vehicle moves away due to the forward traveling of the vehicle, and pay attention to the image captured at every Δt time interval. Is extracted, the amount of pixel movement connecting the points of the previous image and the subsequent image is obtained as an optical flow, and the velocity vector component of the optical flow is calculated to compare the moving image with the still image. Recognition. That is, a still image such as a landscape or a mark on a road surface travels to the point at infinity with a vector length corresponding to the traveling speed of the own vehicle, but in the case of an approaching vehicle, the vector length depends on the relative speed with the own vehicle. Are different from each other, it is possible to determine the approaching state of the vehicle or the like by comparing the vector lengths.

In Japanese Patent No. 2701651 (Prior Art 2), a left and right target area corresponding to a traveling lane is searched for in a vehicle monitoring band in a rear image captured by a CCD camera (television camera). Car images located in each area (running lane) are considered as existence candidates, and it is possible to determine the approaching state of the vehicle or the likelihood of collision by detecting the state in which the vehicle image moves left and right and to the center between the lanes. Becomes

[0005]

In each of the above techniques, a CCD is used to improve the monitoring accuracy and avoid the danger of collision.
It is necessary to widen the angle of view of the camera to monitor a wide area from the rear left part to the center part to the right part, in other words, scan the CCD pixels in a wide range to perform image processing. However, if the monitoring area of the CCD image becomes large, image processing such as grayscale binarization conversion and arithmetic processing for each pixel becomes complicated, and processing time is required. As a result, it is impossible to predict a collision or the like in a short time. There was a big problem in actual operation. In order to solve such a drawback, it is possible to reduce the processing time by performing a thinning process in the monitoring area, but this degrades detection performance and detection accuracy.

In view of the drawbacks of the prior art, the present invention collects trajectory information of a vehicle to be detected in advance and sets an area with a high detection frequency as a monitoring area, thereby reducing the monitoring area and performing thinning processing and the like. Without performing operations that reduce detection accuracy,
To provide a vehicle peripheral area monitoring device capable of shortening the processing time while maintaining the detection accuracy required for detecting a collision or the like and thereby accurately and promptly determining the approaching state of a vehicle or the like and the possibility of a collision. With the goal.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an image pickup means provided in a vehicle for picking up an image in a predetermined direction from the vehicle, and an image pickup means provided by the image pickup means. Monitoring area setting means for setting a monitoring area based on the obtained image; first image processing means for performing image processing by thinning the set monitoring area; and trajectory data of the monitoring object from the first image processing means. Trajectory data collecting means for collecting, a second image processing means for narrowing the monitoring area to a danger prediction area based on the trajectory data obtained from the trajectory data collecting means and performing normal or fine image processing, Alarm condition determining means for determining whether a condition to be warned is provided, and selection for selecting the first image processing means or the second image processing means based on the determination from the alarm condition determining means means To provide a vehicle surrounding area monitoring device characterized by comprising a.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, when the second image processing means is selected by the selecting means, the second image processing means is selected based on the image processing data from the second image processing means. It is characterized in that an alarm judgment is made, and if an alarm state is judged, an alarm is issued by an alarm means.

Here, the alarm state determination signal is a direction indicator.
(Winker) signal, steering wheel angle signal, brake signal, accelerator signal, turbo signal, speed sensor, fog lamp signal, etc. are raised. In addition, the danger prediction area is the rear side corresponding to the adjacent lane to be turned in the case of a lane change based on a turn signal or a steering wheel angle signal, and becomes the rear front in the case of sudden braking based on a brake signal, and an accelerator signal, In the case of rapid acceleration based on a turbo signal and a speed sensor, the vehicle is located ahead. Therefore, the monitoring area refers to not only the rear area but also one or more of the rear side, left and right side, front, and front side.

Japanese Patent No. 264 discloses a technique in which a turn signal is used as a detection signal of a vehicle collision prevention device.
Although this technology is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 1562, this technology simply determines the presence or absence of an alarm by ANDing with the following vehicle detection means, and does not narrow the monitoring area, but is a technology different from the present invention. .

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings. However, unless otherwise specified, dimensions, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of the components described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the invention, but are merely illustrative examples. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a vehicle peripheral area monitoring device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart thereof. In the present embodiment, the direction indicator signal is used as an alarm condition signal, and is a monitoring device for the purpose of preventing a collision with a following vehicle in the case of changing lanes. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a CCD camera.
(Charge-coupled device camera) widens the angle of view, and captures images from inside the vehicle to the rear of the vehicle and to the rear of the adjacent lane. This is (S
This corresponds to the image input unit in 1).

Since the rear image picked up by the CCD camera 1 is analog data, it is converted into a digital gradation image by the AD converter 2, and then the digital gradation image is converted into a digital gradation image.
After the black level of a predetermined length or less is extracted by the gray level conversion means in the binarization conversion circuit 3, the data is converted into binary image data by being converted into binary image data by the floating binarization means. expand.

In the alarm condition judging section 5, when the alarm condition is not in the alarm state (S2) (for example, when the direction indicator is turned on as an alarm condition, it indicates the direction indicator off state. The area selection circuit 6)
By transmitting a wide area selection signal to mask the unnecessary portion of the image developed in the video memory 5, thereby setting a wide monitoring area 60 that can be detected by a following vehicle in an adjacent lane area, for example. (S3). In this case, the masking can be set arbitrarily, but in the case of the present embodiment, since it is rearward monitoring in the case of a lane change,
Only the portion corresponding to the own vehicle traveling lane on the rear rear side of the own vehicle is masked, and the left and right adjacent lane regions and the portion corresponding to the guardrail outside thereof are put into the monitoring area.

Further, even on a road with no clear lane or a road with no white line such as a snowy road, the masking range may be limited to set a wide monitoring area including a phage portion. By setting the monitoring area to a wide area in this way, not only a road or a snowy road where the traveling lane is not clear, but also the entire adjacent lane area can be captured even when the imaging road has a curved curve.

Next, while the monitoring area is thinned by the thinning processing circuit 7 (S4), the arithmetic circuit 8 calculates and collects optical flow data (S5). One example of the calculation and collection of the optical flow data is also described in the prior art 1, and the detailed description thereof is omitted. The trajectory memory 9 stores the trajectory of a monitored object such as a following vehicle or an obstacle as data based on the flow data.
(S6).

In the first routine, the thinning process of the monitoring area is performed. However, since this routine is not the data for instantaneous determination but the data collection for the trajectory collection of a long term, after the thinning process, Pixel data is sufficient.

On the other hand, if an alarm state (for example, the direction indicator is turned on) as in the case of changing lanes is made (S11), the process proceeds to the second routine, and if the alarm state is not the following, the following vehicle is recorded. The trajectory data of the monitored object, such as the trajectory data, is taken into the aperture area setting circuit 11, and the setting circuit 11 performs image recognition of the trajectory data (approaching vehicle) in comparison with a still image. The monitoring area is narrowed down to the area to be performed (S12). As a result, the monitoring area can be narrowed to an area where objects to be warned appear most, that is, an area where an accident such as a collision is likely to occur due to an approaching vehicle or the like.

Then, the pixel data of the narrowed area is taken into the alarm judging section 12, and the alarm judging section 12 makes an alarm judgment by the normal image processing without performing the thinning-out processing as in the first routine. (S13). When the determination unit 12 determines that the state is the alarm state, the alarm display output unit 13 outputs a predetermined alarm (S14).

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, an area where an object to be monitored is likely to appear is concentrated and monitored, so that a processing time for monitoring an extra area can be reduced. As much as possible, since there is no thinning in the monitoring area, the accuracy improvement detection performance can be improved. Further, as shown in the preceding example 2, compared to a monitoring area setting method of recognizing a driving lane and setting a monitoring area, the present invention is more effective on a road where the driving lane is not clear or a road without a white line such as a snowy road. The monitoring area can be set.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a vehicle surrounding area monitoring device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 CCD camera (Charge-coupled device camera) 3 Binary conversion circuit 4 Video memory 5 Alarm condition judgment part 6 Area selection circuit 7 Thinning processing circuit 9 Trace memory 11 Aperture area setting circuit 12 Alarm judgment part 13 Alarm display output part

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat II (reference) H04N 7/18 H04N 7/18 JWF term (reference) 5C022 AA04 AB00 AC42 5C054 AA01 CA04 CC02 CH01 DA01 DA08 EA05 ED17 EJ04 FC05 FC12 FE28 FF03 FF06 GA00 GB15 HA26 5H180 AA01 CC04 LL01 LL02 LL08

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup means provided in a vehicle for imaging a predetermined direction from the vehicle, a monitoring area setting means for setting a monitoring area from an image obtained from the image pickup means, and First image processing means for performing image processing by thinning, trajectory data collection means for collecting trajectory data of a monitored object from the first image processing means, and trajectory data obtained from the trajectory data collection means Second image processing means for narrowing the monitoring area to a danger prediction area and performing normal or precise image processing; alarm condition determining means for determining whether or not the vehicle is in a condition to warn; Selecting means for selecting either the first image processing means or the second image processing means based on a determination from the means. 2. When the second image processing means is selected by the selection means, an alarm determination is made based on image processing data from the second image processing means. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the alarm is issued by a means.