JP2002029346A - System for supporting drive of automobile, and recording medium recorded with program for supporting drive - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To predict an obstacle against an automobile to adjust colors of an image, and to make a driver recognize easily the obstacle without optical illusion, so as to support safety drive. SOLUTION: This system is provided with a CCD camera 1 in each of left and right sides of the automobile, a liquid crystal panel 2 in a front window 6, an ultrasonic measuring instrument 3 in an upper part of the front window 6 and a controller for controlling them. A distance from the automobile upto the obstacle concerned in a subdivided area, a speed and the like are analyzed in the every subdivided area in the image provided by the CCD camera 1, to estimate a time until the automobile collides against the obstacle just after the obstacle is recognized, and the probability of collision. The colors of the image are regulated in response to a risk of the collision to control the obstacle (preceding vehicle) observed by naked eyes to be overlapped with an animation image in view of the driver.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Obstacles such as a preceding vehicle, a pedestrian, a road sign, and the like on a road and its surroundings, which cause damage to one or both of the vehicles when the vehicle collides, can cause the driver to collide early. It is necessary to detect sex and avoid collisions. A driving support system and a recording medium storing a driving support program for displaying the possibility of a collision of an automobile with such an obstacle and assisting the driver in safe driving.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to support safe driving of a car, a radar detects the distance between the car and an obstacle in the traveling direction of the car, and issues a warning to a driver or a three-dimensional image of a road or an obstacle. May be displayed to assist the driver in perspective. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-111834 reports a “vehicle stereo image display device” that displays a stereo image by a light-directional projection unit.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to ensure the safety of a vehicle driving at high speed, obstacles that are at a long distance, obstacles that approach suddenly, and other obstacles that may cause a collision. Need to be recognized for a short time, and in some cases instantaneously, to avoid the danger of collision.

When a driver of a car looks at an obstacle with the naked eye and recognizes the distance from the car to the obstacle and the relative speed between the two, the convergence angle (convergence) formed by the eyes of both eyes,
Although binocular parallax and the like are used, the accuracy of observation is limited by the distance between the eyes, and it is difficult to grasp the distance of an obstacle at a long distance. Also, the retinal image size (retinal size), texture gradient
Although potential knowledge about (texture gradient) and the like is also used, these visual judgments tend to cause an optical illusion.

[0005] By using an image device such as a CCD camera, the accuracy of distance measurement can be improved. However, in the stereo image display device reported in the above publication,
When an obstacle is projected as a three-dimensional image, it is difficult to instantaneously recognize the obstacle seen by the driver with the naked eye and the projected three-dimensional image because the direction of the line of sight and the distance from the eye are different.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a driving support system for predicting an obstacle of a vehicle and allowing a driver to easily grasp the obstacle without an illusion, and a driving medium for recording a driving support program.

[0007]

When a driver of an automobile recognizes the danger of an obstacle, the color of the obstacle itself is not important, and the color of the obstacle is determined by the distance between the automobile and the obstacle and the speed of the obstacle. Danger is more important. For this reason, CC
Driving is supported by adjusting the color of an image of an obstacle acquired by a D camera or the like in accordance with the danger, and making the danger of the obstacle instantly and easily recognized without causing an illusion.

[0008] Here, among the three attributes of hue, lightness and saturation of a color, hues such as red, blue and yellow are traffic signals,
It is established as a sign of safety or danger by traffic signs or the like, and red gives a strong stimulus to sensory nerves. In general, the greater the difference in brightness from the surroundings and the higher the saturation, the stronger the stimulus is applied to the sensory nerve.

[0009] However, although the paint colors of automobiles and the colors of pedestrian clothes have their own colors, they are not important from the viewpoint of danger of obstacles. For example, pedestrians in red clothing stand out but do not necessarily collide. Pedestrians in gray clothing that may collide with the car can be changed to a red hue to help the car driver clearly perceive the danger of a collision. In this case, by emphasizing or adding a red hue to the color of only the outline of the obstacle,
It becomes easy to associate an obstacle seen with the naked eye with an obstacle displayed as an image.

In addition, since the visual acuity at the central portion of the retina of the eyeball is about 5 degrees, the visual acuity is highest as compared with the peripheral portion. It is impossible to capture in the central retina.
Therefore, when the obstacle is a small object, it takes a long time to identify the obstacle, and it is not often impossible to avoid a collision.

An image of what is actually an obstacle and what is predicted to be an obstacle is projected so that the driver of the automobile can visually recognize the obstacle by superimposing the obstacle on the naked eye. The color of each image is adjusted according to the danger of an obstacle, and other light, sound, vibration and other alarm means are used as needed. As a result, the driver can easily recognize the danger in the visual field as an image while concentrating forward.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

[Driving Support System] In a preferred embodiment of the driving support system of the present invention, in a preferred embodiment, an image obtaining means for obtaining an image of an obstacle of an automobile, and an automobile and its Collision prediction means for predicting a collision with an obstacle relating to the area, color adjustment means for adjusting the hue, lightness and saturation of one or more of the image based on the prediction, and color adjustment means based on the adjustment And a video display device capable of displaying video.

The image acquisition means may use a radar device, an ultrasonic device, or the like. However, when two CCD cameras are used, an automobile is designed so that a large convergence angle can be obtained with respect to an obstacle in front. It is installed at the front left and right of the vehicle, and can analyze the distance between the car and the obstacle with high accuracy. Further, since a high resolution is not necessarily required for a video visually recognized by the driver, the analysis can be performed at high speed by subdividing the video into regions of an appropriate size.

When displaying the danger of an obstacle, the color of the obstacle itself (for example, the color of the skin of a pedestrian, the color of clothing) is not important, and the danger of a collision in an image taken by a CCD camera is not important. Perceive an image of an obstacle whose color has been adjusted based on the image (for example, if the approaching pedestrian is predicted to collide with a car, the color of the pedestrian is adjusted to an image in which red is emphasized) Thus, the danger of an obstacle can be instantaneously recognized without an illusion.

In a preferred embodiment of the driving support system according to the present invention, the collision predicting means estimates a time from when the image of the obstacle is obtained to when the vehicle collides with the obstacle.

The estimated time is derived from the distance between the vehicle and the obstacle and its time change. If this time is short, it means that the driver is more likely not to be able to perform an operation to avoid a collision, which is an important parameter for predicting the possibility of a collision.

[0018] In a preferred embodiment of the driving support system of the present invention, it is possible to accumulate characteristic information including a movable speed of an obstacle of an automobile, and to recognize an obstacle related to an image. Means for predicting the probability of a collision.

In addition to predicting a collision based on the relative speed between the vehicle and the obstacle at the time when the image of the obstacle is acquired by the image acquisition means, the shape, size, and speed of the obstacle obtained from the image and the like By collating information such as the information with the stored information, the type of the obstacle (for example, a pedestrian, a preceding vehicle, a building, etc.) is recognized. As a result, characteristic information such as the speed at which the obstacle can move is extracted from the accumulated information database, and the probability of collision between the vehicle and the obstacle is predicted. For example, a walking person can run at about 10 km / h, but the probability of continuing to walk at the same speed and not colliding with the car is high, and the probability of suddenly running toward the car and colliding with the car is small.

When estimating such a probability,
Although it may be assumed that the driver continues the same driving state in the time until the predicted collision, it is also necessary to consider the stochastic spread in the driving route of the vehicle due to road conditions, wobbling of steering wheel operation, etc. it can.

Here, assuming that the time from when the image is acquired to the time when the vehicle collides with the obstacle is t, and the probability that the obstacle moves at a speed v is R (v), the probability of collision within time T R (T) is represented by the following equation. R (T) = ∫R (v) dv, where the integral range is a range of v where t <T. The value of T (1−R (T)) is an index when displaying the danger of an obstacle, and is a parameter suitable for adjusting the color of an image of an obstacle.

In a preferred embodiment of the driving support system according to the present invention, the color adjusting means adjusts the color of the obstacle stepwise with two or more different colors based on the prediction.

Since the color to be viewed has constancy, when the color changes gradually and continuously, the driver of the automobile may not notice the change. For this reason, by changing the color gradually to a different color that can be clearly identified, the change is easily visually recognized.
It is also effective to blink the video.

In a preferred embodiment of the driving support system according to the present invention, when a collision between the vehicle and an obstacle relating to a region obtained by segmenting the acquired image is predicted, the color adjusting means may control the region. Adjust the color of the outline only.

Since the image of the obstacle adjusted to a color different from the actual one is different from the driver's conception of the obstacle, the obstacle that the driver sees with the naked eye and the obstacle displayed in the image are the same. May be difficult to recognize.
Therefore, only the outline of the obstacle needs to be displayed.

In a preferred embodiment of the driving assistance system according to the present invention, the image display device basically includes a video display panel which is transparent and capable of displaying images so as to be superimposed on a front window of an automobile. I have. As a result, the driver can visually recognize the obstacle and the image in an overlapping manner.

For example, an image display device projects a laser beam on a semi-transparent plate and deflects the projected image by a semi-transparent mirror (basically a transparent half mirror).
The driver can visually recognize the obstacle seen by the naked eye and the image projected on the translucent plate and reflected by the translucent mirror. Therefore, while the driver looks directly at the obstacle with the naked eye, the obstacle and the image can be clearly associated and visually recognized.

Further, the image is directly displayed on a basically transparent image display panel such as a liquid crystal panel, so that the obstacle which the driver sees with the naked eye and the projected image can be superimposed. It may be.

As described above, since the obstacle which the driver sees with the naked eye and the displayed image can be overlapped, the outline of the obstacle which is directly seen by the driver with the naked eye is emphasized as an image. Then, the driver is urged to concentrate his or her attention on the obstacle. It is not necessary for the driver to clearly recognize the image of the obstacle, and the driver only needs to keep the optic nerve focused on the obstacle seen by the naked eye, and it is only necessary that the driver can recognize the danger of the obstacle from the image.

In a preferred embodiment of the driving support system according to the present invention, the video display device can display the movement of the obstacle predicted by the collision prediction means by animation.

This allows the driver to more easily understand how an obstacle may collide with the vehicle and collide with the vehicle, and strongly influences the risk of collision to the driver's vision. In addition, the phenomenon that the image of the obstacle appears double due to the driver's binocular convergence angle is visually reduced.

In a preferred embodiment, the driving support system according to the present invention includes an eye point measuring device for measuring an eye point position of a driver of an automobile. Alternatively, even when the image is moved up and down, the control is performed so that the projection position and / or the projection size of the image changes according to the movement.

Thus, the movement of the driver's eye point is measured, and even if the driver moves, the image is controlled in accordance with the movement, so that the driver can visually recognize the obstacle and the displayed image. It always looks overlapping.

[Recording medium recording driving assistance program]
The driving support program of the present invention, in a preferred embodiment thereof, causes a computer to predict a collision between an automobile and an obstacle relating to the area for each of subdivided areas of an image of an automobile obstacle, Is adjusted for any one or more of hue, lightness and saturation.

As described above for the driving support system, when displaying the danger of an obstacle, the color of the obstacle itself is not important, and therefore, based on highly accurate video information obtained by a CCD camera or the like. By displaying an image or the like of an obstacle whose color has been adjusted based on the risk of collision and causing the driver to perceive it, the danger of the obstacle can be instantaneously recognized without an illusion.

In a preferred embodiment of the driving support program according to the present invention, in the case of making a prediction, the time from when the image is acquired to the time of the predicted collision is estimated.

The estimated time is derived from the distance between the vehicle and the obstacle and its time change. If this time is short, there is a high possibility that the driver cannot perform an operation to avoid a collision.

In a preferred embodiment of the driving support program according to the present invention, when prediction is made, real-time information such as video and speed is collated with recorded information on obstacles to estimate the probability of collision. Let it.

As in the above-described driving support system, the information such as the image and speed of the obstacle acquired in real time is collated with the information on the obstacle stored in the database, and the movable speed is extracted. Estimate the probability of collision between the car and the obstacle. This makes it possible to make objectively stable predictions.

In a preferred embodiment of the driving support program of the present invention, when the adjustment is made, the image of the obstacle is adjusted stepwise with two or more different colors based on the prediction of the collision.

The two or more different colors are such that the difference can be clearly discriminated, and it is effective for the driver to easily recognize the change by adjusting and changing it stepwise. .

In a preferred embodiment of the driving support program according to the present invention, when the adjustment is performed, the color of only the outline of the area where the collision is predicted is adjusted.

As described above, by displaying only the outline of the obstacle, even if the color of the obstacle that the driver sees with the naked eye and the color of the obstacle that is displayed in the video are different, they are the same. Can be easily recognized.

In a preferred embodiment of the driving support program of the present invention, an animation is generated for the movement of an obstacle which has predicted a collision.

Thus, the driver can more easily understand how the obstacle may approach and collide with the vehicle, and strongly influence the driver's vision on the danger of the collision.

In a preferred embodiment, the driving support program of the present invention controls the image position and / or image size of an obstacle whose collision is predicted according to the information on the eye point position of the vehicle driver. Let it.

In this way, the movement of the driver's head is measured, and the driver controls the driver so that the obstacle viewed by the naked eye and the displayed image always overlap.

[0048]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In order to further clarify the preferred embodiment of the present invention described above, an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4. FIG.

This embodiment is a recording medium in which a driving support system and a driving support program according to the present invention are recorded, as shown in FIG. 1, and a liquid crystal panel 2 is mounted on a front window 6. Further, two ultrasonic measuring devices 3 are provided above the front window 6. These are controlled by distance analysis, speed analysis, obstacle recognition, collision prediction, color adjustment, and video display control.

Each of the two CCD cameras 1 captures an image in front of the automobile. Assuming that the distance to the obstacle (preceding vehicle 4) is several tens of meters, the measurement of the distance by the CCD camera 1 requires a convergence angle (see FIG. 2) of about 1 degree.
Higher accuracy can be obtained as compared to a case where the convergence angle due to both eyes (eye point 5) of the driver is several minutes.

The distance analysis unit analyzes the distance from the car to the obstacles in each of the subdivided regions of the two images taken from the car. The obstacle recognition unit calculates the speed of the obstacle from the time change of the distance between the obstacle and the car and the speed of the car itself, and compares the characteristic information on the obstacle such as the size, shape, color, and speed with the database. Then, it outputs as a probability distribution for the speed range in which the obstacle can move. The collision prediction unit sets T (1-R), where T is the time until collision and R (T) is the probability of collision.
The color adjusting means adjusts the color of the subdivided region of the image according to the value of (T)).

In this case, as shown in FIG. 3, as the vehicle travels, the range surrounded by the outer contour of the vehicle (indicated by a double solid rectangle in FIG. 3) is defined by the curvature of the current traveling course. In addition to moving as it is, the outside contour (shown by a dotted rectangle in FIG. 3) that spreads left and right due to road conditions, driver's operation of the steering wheel, and the like is also considered as a range in which an obstacle collides.

The video display control unit ignores the color of the obstacle itself and adjusts the color according to the risk predicted by the collision prediction unit. If the value of T (1−T (T)) is within 20 seconds, the saturation of the image of the obstacle is emphasized and 1
If the time is less than 0 seconds, the yellow outline is displayed on the image of the obstacle by animation, and if the time is less than 5 seconds, the outline whose color is adjusted to red blinks.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which an obstacle in the scene seen by the driver with the naked eye and the color are adjusted, and the image is superimposed. In FIG. 4, the leading vehicle A in the center is too close to the vehicle and there is a high risk of collision, and the person on the left side is running near, so it is predicted that they will collide, and their outlines are highlighted in red. (Indicated by a thick line in FIG. 4). The movement of the obstacle seen by the driver is displayed as an animation as shown in FIG.

At this time, the ultrasonic measuring device 3 measures the position of the driver's head, and even when the driver's eye point 5 moves, the driver looks at the obstacle (preceding vehicle 4) with the naked eye. The display position of the image is controlled so that the direction and the direction in which the image is viewed always overlap.

[0056]

According to the present invention, the driver of the vehicle can easily recognize the danger in the visual field without illusion, depending on the predicted danger of collision with the obstacle, while concentrating his or her attention on the traveling direction. can do. In addition, since the CCD camera can obtain high sensitivity to invisible light such as infrared light,
The driving support system of the present invention has a favorable effect even in a situation where visibility is poor such as at night.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a driving support system and a recording medium on which a driving support program is recorded according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a schematic block diagram of the system.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram comparing a convergence angle by two CCD cameras and a convergence angle by the naked eye.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a predicted course for an outer contour of an automobile.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a driving support system and a recording medium on which a driving support program is recorded according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the situation.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a driving support system and a recording medium on which a driving support program is recorded according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein images of obstacles are shown in FIGS.
(C) and FIG. 5 (B) show the time when the video was acquired,
It is the animation which showed the time when the vehicle and the obstacle collided, and the intermediate time between them.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... CCD camera, 2 ... Liquid crystal panel, 3 ... Ultrasonic measuring device 4 ... Vehicle ahead, 5 ... Eye point of driver, 6 ... Front window,

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) B60R 21/00 626 B60R 21/00 626F 626G 626Z 1/00 1/00 A G06T 1/00 330 G06T 1 / 00 330B 13/00 13/00 A G08G 1/16 G08G 1/16 C H04N 7/18 H04N 7/18 J F term (reference) 5B050 BA08 BA13 EA09 FA02 FA09 FA17 5B057 AA16 BA11 CE17 DA08 DA16 DB03 DB06 DC02 5C054 AA01 CA04 CC02 CE00 CH01 EA01 EA05 ED01 EE04 EE06 FB03 FC12 FC13 FC14 FE05 FE06 FE09 FE24 FE26 FE28 HA30 5H180 CC04 EE02 LL01 LL08

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. An image acquiring means for acquiring an image of an obstacle of a car, a collision estimating means for estimating a collision between the car and an obstacle related to the area in a subdivided area of the image, Driving assistance, comprising: color adjustment means for adjusting the color of an area for one or more of hue, lightness and saturation, and a video display device capable of displaying the video based on the adjustment. system. 2. The driving support system according to claim 1, wherein said collision prediction means is a collision prediction means for estimating a time from when the image is obtained to when the collision occurs. 3. An obstacle recognizing means capable of accumulating characteristic information including a movable speed of the vehicle with respect to an obstacle and recognizing an obstacle related to the image, wherein the collision predicting means includes a collision predicting means. The driving support system according to claim 1, wherein the driving assistance system is a collision prediction unit that estimates a probability. 4. The driving support according to claim 1, wherein said color adjusting means is a color adjusting means for adjusting two or more different colors stepwise based on said prediction. system. 5. The driving support system according to claim 1, wherein the color adjusting means is a color adjusting means for adjusting only a color of an outline of the area where the collision is predicted. . 6. The video display device has a video display panel that is basically transparent and capable of displaying the video, so that a driver of the car can superimpose the obstacle on the video. The driving support system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the driving support system is a visual display device. 7. The driving support according to claim 1, wherein the video display device is a video display device capable of displaying, by animation, a movement of the obstacle whose collision is predicted. system. 8. An eye point measuring device for measuring an eye point position of a driver of the automobile, wherein the image display device is a video display device for moving a projection position of an image according to the movement of the eye point. The driving support system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: 9. A recording medium on which a program for controlling a video by a computer is recorded. The program relates to the computer and relates to the vehicle and the area for each area obtained by subdividing an image of a vehicle obstacle. A driving support program for predicting a collision with an obstacle and adjusting a color of the area with respect to any one or more of hue, lightness, and saturation in accordance with the prediction. 10. The driving support program according to claim 9, wherein the program causes the computer to estimate the prediction as a time from the time when the image is obtained to the time of the collision. recoding media. 11. The program according to claim 11, wherein said program causes a computer to compare real-time information about said obstacle including said video with information stored in a database to estimate the probability of said collision. A recording medium on which the driving support program according to 9 or 10 is recorded. 12. The recording according to claim 9, wherein the program causes the computer to adjust the adjustment stepwise with two or more different colors. Medium. 13. The driving support program according to claim 9, wherein the program causes the computer to adjust only the color of the outline of the area where the collision is predicted. recoding media. 14. The driving support program according to claim 9, wherein the program causes a computer to create an animation about the movement of the obstacle whose collision is predicted. Recording medium. 15. The program causes the computer to control an image position and / or an image size of the obstacle whose collision is predicted according to information on an eye point position of the driver of the vehicle. A recording medium storing the driving support program according to any one of claims 9 to 14.