JP2003127771A - On-vehicle camera with auxiliary illumination - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an on-board camera with auxiliary illumination capable of securing sufficient visibility in the rear direction of vehicle without dazzling people outside of the vehicle with lighting, in a dark surrounding environment at night. SOLUTION: Infrared LEDs 10a, 10b are arranged at opposite sides of a lens 11. A solid-state image pickup element has sensitivity to light of infrared region wavelength. The color tone, even if the light of the infrared region wavelength is contained therein, is not greatly influenced by pseud coloring. The on-vehicle camera is installed at the rear surface of vehicle and a dead angle from a driver's seat is displayed on a liquid crystal display. As being illuminated within an infrared range, people are not dazzled by the lighting of LEDs 10a, 10b, so that the visibility can be surely enhanced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an on-vehicle camera with auxiliary lighting for confirming the rear of a vehicle when backing up.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a camera using a solid-state image sensor is installed in the rear of a vehicle to eliminate a blind spot in the rear of the vehicle, and when the camera is put in a back gear, the rear of the vehicle is displayed on a liquid crystal display for a car navigation system mounted on the vehicle. The device for displaying the image is used in practice. In addition, a back lamp is installed in the vehicle to notify a person outside the vehicle when the back gear is selected, and the camera used for rear blind spot monitoring uses the back lamp as a representative at night. It is used as lighting when the ambient illuminance is low.

[0003]

A camera using a conventional solid-state image pickup device for color has an increase in the gain of the image pickup device or an offset of a video signal in order to make up for the lack of illumination by these back lamps in a dark place such as at night. The sensitivity is increased by amplifying the voltage, but in reality, sufficient visibility is not obtained. Further, the problem that the fixed pattern noise of the image becomes conspicuous as the element sensitivity increases has not been solved yet (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-198).
725). Therefore, it is conceivable to turn on a more powerful lighting, but it is not preferable because it suddenly becomes bright and causes people outside the vehicle to be confused. An object of the present invention is to provide an in-vehicle camera equipped with an auxiliary light capable of ensuring sufficient visibility in the rear of the vehicle without being dazzled by a person outside the vehicle even when the light is turned on in a dark environment such as at night. It is in.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the vehicle-mounted camera with auxiliary illumination according to the present invention is sensitive to light in the infrared region wavelength and contains the light in the infrared region wavelength. A vehicle-mounted camera using a solid-state image sensor whose color tone is not significantly impaired by pseudo coloring, in which an infrared LED mainly having an infrared wavelength is arranged in the peripheral portion of the camera, When a captured image is displayed on a display unit installed at a distant position, the LED is turned on as invisible auxiliary light under a predetermined condition. Further, the vehicle-mounted camera according to the present invention is provided near the vehicle rear surface with the vehicle rear view as a field of view, and when the back gear signal is output by selecting the transmission of the vehicle as the back gear, the illumination is turned on. Get the output illumination signal,
Alternatively, the exposure value of the camera is detected, and the LED is turned on when the detected value is larger than a predetermined threshold value.

[0005]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view of a vehicle equipped with an on-vehicle camera with auxiliary lighting according to the present invention. A camera 2 is attached to the rear surface of the vehicle 1 so that the rear part of the vehicle, which is a blind spot, can be viewed. If you want to back
In addition to the normal backlight, the auxiliary light is illuminated at night by infrared LEDs provided around the camera 2. The camera 2 is connected to the controller 4 to send and receive signals relating to camera control, and its video output is sent to the liquid crystal display unit 5 for car navigation system provided in the driver's seat. Further, although the video signal is directly sent from the camera to the display unit in the drawing of the present embodiment, an image processing unit for applying image processing to the video signal sent from the camera may be interposed in the middle. The controller 4 can detect the back gear signal 6 output when the driver selects the back gear. Further, it is possible to detect the illumination signal 7 that is output when the driver turns on the illumination switch that controls lighting of the dashboard panel of the vehicle. Further, the exposure value 8 represented by the gain setting value, shutter speed setting value, and offset value of the camera is transmitted to and received from the camera.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the external appearance of the vehicle-mounted camera with auxiliary lighting according to the present invention. A lens 11 is provided near the center of the front surface of the camera 2, and infrared LEDs 10a and 10b having an infrared wavelength as a main sensitivity are arranged on both sides of the lens 11. The cable 12 is taken out from the rear surface of the vehicle-mounted camera 2, and the cable 12 is connected to the signals 6, 7, and 8 and the liquid crystal display unit 5 described above. The solid-state image sensor arranged in the camera 2 is sensitive to light in the infrared region wavelength, and even if the solid-state image sensor includes light in the infrared region wavelength, its color tone is greatly impaired by pseudo coloring. There is no such thing. Further, the number and arrangement of the LEDs used are optimized depending on the angle of view of the lens and the irradiation angle of the LEDs.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the circuit of the vehicle-mounted camera with auxiliary lighting according to the present invention. The controller 4 includes a camera setting control circuit 15 and an LED lighting control circuit 14. The camera setting control circuit 15 sets the exposure value of the camera that transmits and receives to and from the fixed image sensor to LE.
It is sent to the D lighting control circuit 14. LED lighting control circuit 1
Reference numeral 4 controls the lighting of the infrared LEDs 10a and 10b when the illumination signal is input on condition that the back gear signal is input, or when the exposure value of the camera is larger than a predetermined value. Based on the control, the camera setting control circuit 15
To the LED ON / OFF response signal.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the vehicle-mounted camera with auxiliary lighting according to the present invention. When the driver selects the back gear to move the vehicle backward, the back gear signal is turned on from the control circuit of the vehicle and sent to the controller 4. The LED lighting control circuit 14 of the controller 4 detects that the back gear signal is on (step (hereinafter referred to as “S”) 401) and determines whether the back gear is engaged (S402). When the back signal is off, the infrared LED is kept off.

When the back gear signal is on, the illumination signal is detected next (S403), and it is determined whether the illumination switch is turned on (S40).
4). When the illumination switch is turned on, it is determined that the outside of the vehicle is in a dark environment, and the infrared LED is turned on (S405). When the back gear signal and the illumination signal are off, the exposure value of the camera is detected (S407), and it is determined whether the exposure value is larger than the set threshold value (S408). Infrared LED if smaller than threshold
Is kept off (S409). If it is larger than the threshold value, the infrared LED is turned on (S405). And
The process returns to the original step (S406), and the back gear signal is monitored again.

[0010]

As described above, the present invention is a camera using a solid-state image pickup element having sensitivity to light in the infrared region wavelength, in which an infrared LED mainly having an infrared wavelength is provided around the camera. When a captured image is displayed on the display unit installed at a position remote from the vehicle-mounted camera under a predetermined condition,
The LED is turned on as an invisible auxiliary light. The camera is provided near the rear of the vehicle with the rear view as the vehicle, and when the back gear signal is output by selecting the transmission of the vehicle as the back gear, whether the illumination signal output by lighting the illumination is obtained or not.
Alternatively, the exposure value of the camera is detected, and the LED is turned on when the detected value is larger than a predetermined threshold value. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a vehicle-mounted camera having good visibility even in a dark place such as at night. Further, since it is the auxiliary light from the LED mainly in the infrared wavelength range, it is usually invisible to human eyes, so that there is an effect that a person outside the vehicle is not dazzled even when the auxiliary light is turned on.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a vehicle equipped with an on-vehicle camera with auxiliary lighting according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an external appearance of an on-vehicle camera with auxiliary lighting according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a circuit of an on-vehicle camera with auxiliary lighting according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the vehicle-mounted camera with auxiliary lighting according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 car 2 camera 3 auxiliary illumination light 4 controller 5 Display 6 Back gear signal 7 Illumination signal 8 Camera exposure settings 10a, 10b LED 11 lenses 12 cables 14 LED lighting control circuit 15 Camera setting control circuit

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Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A solid-state image sensor is used which is sensitive to light having a wavelength in the infrared region and whose hue is not greatly impaired by pseudo coloring even when the light having a wavelength in the infrared region is included. In a vehicle-mounted camera, an infrared LED mainly having an infrared wavelength is arranged in the peripheral portion of the camera, and when a captured image is displayed on a display unit installed at a position distant from the vehicle-mounted camera, a predetermined condition is met. Below, the LE
An in-vehicle camera with auxiliary illumination, characterized in that D is turned on as invisible auxiliary light. 2. The illumination provided by the illumination lighting when the vehicle-mounted camera is provided in the vicinity of the rear of the vehicle with a view toward the rear of the vehicle and a back gear signal is output by selecting the transmission of the vehicle as the back gear. The auxiliary lighting according to claim 1, wherein the LED is turned on when a signal is obtained or an exposure value of a camera is detected and the detected value is larger than a predetermined threshold value. In-vehicle camera.