JP2004331021A - Night obstacle informing device at night - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an obstacle informing device at night enabling not only one's own vehicle but also a peripheral vehicle to recognize existence of an obstacle such as a pedestrian and bicycle moving around the vehicle. <P>SOLUTION: This obstacle informing device detects objects around the vehicle and repeatedly detects their positions, and estimates moving positions of the objects after a predetermined time based on the time variation of the detected positions. The obstacle informing device applies an electromagnetic wave marker to the estimated moving positions, and adjusts the application direction of the electromagnetic wave marker in response to the movement of the estimated moving positions. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device for notifying the position of an obstacle such as a pedestrian moving around a vehicle at night.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art A moving body following spotlight control device that detects the position of an unspecified moving body and irradiates a spotlight on the moving body is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[0003]
Prior art documents related to the invention of this application include the following.
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2002-083383
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, it is conceivable to mount the above-mentioned conventional moving body following spotlight control device on a vehicle, irradiate a spotlight following a pedestrian crossing a pedestrian crossing, and make the driver recognize the presence of the pedestrian.
[0005]
However, when a pedestrian crosses just before or immediately after a large vehicle equipped with a spotlight, such as a bus or truck, is stopped on the roadside, the spotlight follows the pedestrian from the large vehicle. Therefore, the driver of the large vehicle can recognize that the pedestrian is crossing immediately before or immediately after the own vehicle. However, the driver of a vehicle traveling around a large vehicle must find the pedestrian who is crossing, even if the pedestrian who is crossing is spotlighted by the large vehicle. Can not. Drivers of other vehicles traveling around a large vehicle must first discover spotlighted pedestrians when the pedestrian is out of the blind spot of the large vehicle and jumps out of the vehicle. become. Therefore, in such a case, the large vehicle equipped with the spotlight itself can recognize the presence of the pedestrian, but other vehicles located around the large vehicle have the large vehicle equipped with the spotlight. However, there is a problem that the presence of a pedestrian cannot be sufficiently recognized.
[0006]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a nighttime obstacle notifying device that makes it possible to recognize the presence of an obstacle such as a pedestrian or a bicycle moving around the vehicle from not only the own vehicle but also the surrounding vehicles.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention detects objects in the vicinity of a vehicle, repeatedly detects their positions, and predicts a moving position of the objects after a predetermined time based on a temporal change in the detected positions. Then, the electromagnetic wave marker is irradiated to the predicted movement position, and the irradiation direction of the electromagnetic wave marker is adjusted according to the movement of the predicted movement position.
[0008]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, the existence of obstacles such as pedestrians and bicycles moving around the vehicle can be recognized not only from the own vehicle but also from the surrounding vehicles.
[0009]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment. The laser projector 1 emits a laser beam. In this laser projector 1, a laser beam emitted from a laser diode (not shown) having a small beam diameter and shaped into parallel light is reflected once by a two-dimensional scanner (not shown), and the irradiation direction of the laser light is changed horizontally and vertically. Can be changed in any direction. Further, by intermittently irradiating the irradiation timing of the laser diode of the laser projector 1 with the operation of the two-dimensional scanner, a laser light marker having an arbitrary pattern can be drawn on the road surface. As will be described in detail later, in this embodiment, a marker is drawn by irradiating a laser beam on a road surface one step ahead of a pedestrian crossing the front of the vehicle.
[0010]
The laser projector 1 can be freely rotated in the direction A in the figure, that is, in the horizontal direction by a horizontal step motor 2, and can be freely rotated in the direction B in the figure, that is, in the vertical direction by a vertical step motor 3. It is. A horizontal step motor 2, a vertical step motor 3, a laser diode (not shown), and a two-dimensional scanner (not shown) of the laser projector 1 are respectively provided with a horizontal control line 4, a vertical control line 5, a laser control line 6, and a scanner control. It is controlled by a control circuit 8 via a line 7.
[0011]
The infrared camera 9 detects far infrared rays emitted from the pedestrian 10. The image processing device 11 processes an image captured by the infrared camera 9 and detects the presence of the pedestrian 10. The control circuit 8 obtains the moving direction and the moving amount of the pedestrian 10 based on the time change of the detected position of the pedestrian 10 by the image processing device 11, predicts the moving position of the pedestrian 10 after a predetermined time, and sets a laser at the predicted position. The horizontal stepping motor 2 and the vertical stepping motor 3 are controlled so that the projector 1 emits laser light.
[0012]
FIG. 2 shows a large vehicle equipped with a night pedestrian alerting device according to one embodiment. In this embodiment, an example in which a night pedestrian notification device is installed on a bus 20 as a large vehicle will be described. Note that the same devices as those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals and described. The laser projector 1 and the infrared camera 9 are installed at a high position near the destination display board on the front of the bus 20.
[0013]
Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described. Now, as shown in FIG. 3, the own vehicle, that is, the bus 20 runs on a one-lane road on one side of the center line 24 and stops at a bus stop 26 on the shoulder of the own lane 25. Is in a situation where there is a vehicle 27 overtaking the stopped bus 20. In this embodiment, both the irradiation range of the laser beam from the laser projector 1 and the detection range of the infrared camera 9 are the detection / irradiation range 28 shown in FIG. Here, it is assumed that a customer gets off from the stopped bus 20 and crosses immediately before the bus 20 to proceed to the sidewalk in the opposite lane. The trajectory of the pedestrian 10 traversing immediately before the bus 20 is represented by a circle every second, and the respective positions are a to g. Further, in order to make the operation easy to understand, the detection / irradiation range 28 is taken by the infrared camera 9 when the pedestrian 10 comes to each of the positions a to g.
[0014]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment. When a system switch (not shown) is turned on in step 1, the control circuit 8 starts a pedestrian notification process. In step 2, it is confirmed that the system switch is turned off. When the system switch is turned off, the process is terminated.
[0015]
If the system switch has not been turned off, an object that emits far-infrared light of a size corresponding to the pedestrian 10 exists in the detection / irradiation range 28 based on the image captured by the infrared camera 9 in step 3. It is determined whether or not such an object exists. If such an object exists, it is determined that the pedestrian 10 is in the detection / irradiation range 28, and the process proceeds to step 4. If no pedestrian exists, the process returns to step 2. Here, as described above, the photographing by the infrared camera 9 is performed every second.
[0016]
When the pedestrian 10 is detected, it is determined in step 4 whether the own vehicle (bus 20) is stopped or running. This determination is made based on a signal from a vehicle speed sensor (not shown) installed on the bus 20. When the bus 20 is stopped, the process proceeds to step 5, and when the bus 20 is running, the process proceeds to step 8.
[0017]
If the vehicle (the bus 20) is stopped, in step 5, the moving vector indicating the moving speed and the traveling direction of the pedestrian 10 existing in the detection / irradiation range 28 is calculated. The movement vector is obtained by calculating a time movement amount of the position of the pedestrian 10 detected at predetermined time intervals, in this embodiment, every second.
[0018]
FIG. 5 shows a situation where the infrared camera 9 detects the pedestrian 10 for the first time when the pedestrian 10 who gets off the bus 20 comes to the position c via the positions a and b. The situation one second before this, that is, when the pedestrian 10 is at the position b shown in FIG. 3, is not detected because the pedestrian 10 is out of the detection / irradiation range 28. When the pedestrian 10 arrives at the position c in the detection / irradiation range 28, the pedestrian 10 is detected for the first time by the laser projector 1 and the infrared camera 9, so that there is no movement vector, that is, 0.
[0019]
FIG. 6 shows a situation where a pedestrian who has arrived at the position d is detected. At this time, a movement vector c → d of the pedestrian 10 from c to d is detected with respect to the position c of the pedestrian in the previous image one second before. Now, assuming that the pedestrian 10 is moving immediately before the bus 20 toward the opposite lane at a speed of 1 m / sec per second, the moving vector in the direction crossing the road (here, the vertical direction) is 1 m / sec. The movement vector in the direction along the road (here, the horizontal direction) is calculated as 0 m / sec, and the movement vector of the pedestrian 10 is stored in the memory (not shown) of the control circuit 2 as a combined vector in the vertical and horizontal directions. Is done.
[0020]
In step 6, the pedestrian's moving position is estimated. Specifically, a position obtained by adding the movement vector of the pedestrian 10 calculated in step 5 with the current position of the pedestrian 10 as a base point is calculated as the estimated movement position 30. In the situation shown in FIG. 5, since the movement vector is 0, the estimated movement position is the same as the current position c. On the other hand, in the situation shown in FIG. 6, since the movement vector has been calculated, the position obtained by adding the movement vector c → d with the current position d as the base point is obtained as the estimated movement position 30.
[0021]
In step 7, the horizontal step motor 2 and the vertical step motor 3 are controlled, and the estimated movement position 30 is set as the laser light irradiation position 22, and the laser light is irradiated. In the situation shown in FIG. 5, since the estimated movement position 30 is the same as the current position c of the pedestrian 10, the laser light is emitted with the current position c of the pedestrian 10 as the laser light irradiation position 22. On the other hand, in the situation shown in FIG. 6, the laser beam is applied as the estimated movement position 30 obtained by adding the movement vector c → d to the current position d of the pedestrian 10.
[0022]
In FIG. 6, the driver 31 of the overtaking vehicle 27 cannot recognize the pedestrian 10 located at the position d because the driver 20 is in the blind spot of the bus 20. However, at this time, the laser light irradiation position 22 is at the estimated moving position 30 ahead of the current position d of the pedestrian 10, and this laser light irradiation position 22 can be visually recognized by the driver 31 of the overtaking vehicle 27. One second after the situation shown in FIG. 6, the situation shown in FIG. 7 is entered. During this time, as the pedestrian 10 moves to the oncoming lane, the laser beam irradiation position 22 also moves continuously to the oncoming lane, so that the vehicle is overtaken. Before visually recognizing the pedestrian 10, the driver 31 of the vehicle 27 moves something from immediately before the bus 20 to immediately before the overtaking vehicle 27 by moving the laser beam irradiation position 22 toward the opposite lane. Notice that. Therefore, an appropriate avoidance operation can be performed by operating the steering wheel or the brake pedal.
[0023]
Here, if the pattern of the laser light marker at the laser light irradiation position 22 is, for example, a pattern in which an exclamation mark “!” Expressing surprise is added inside a frame shown in FIG. Even the driver of the surrounding vehicle who experiences the notification device easily recognizes that a situation that requires the avoidance operation occurs immediately.
[0024]
FIG. 8 shows a situation when the pedestrian 10 comes to the position of f. At this time, similarly to the situation shown in FIG. 7, the movement vector e → f is detected, and the estimated movement position 30 obtained by adding the movement vector e → f to the current position f is calculated. The estimated moving position 30 is set as the laser light irradiation position 22 and the laser light is irradiated. Of course, in the situation shown in FIG. 8, the driver 31 of the overtaking vehicle 27 can visually recognize both the pedestrian 10 and the laser beam irradiation position 22.
[0025]
FIG. 9 shows a situation when the pedestrian 10 comes to the position of g. Since the position g is out of the detection / irradiation range 28, the infrared camera 9 cannot detect the pedestrian 10. When the pedestrian 10 is located at the position f, the pedestrian 10 is detected by the infrared camera 9 because the pedestrian 10 is inside the detection / irradiation range 28, and the processing of steps 4 to 7 in FIG. Comes to the position g, because it is out of the detection / irradiation range 28, the process returns to step 2 in FIG. Thus, the irradiation of the laser beam by the laser projector 1 is stopped, and the irradiation axis of the laser projector 1 is returned to the predetermined initial position by the horizontal step motor 2 and the vertical step motor 3.
[0026]
On the other hand, if it is determined in step 4 that the bus 20 is running, the process proceeds to step 8. In step 8, the position of the pedestrian 10 is detected by the infrared camera 9 and the image processing device 11, and the horizontal step motor 2 and the vertical step motor 3 are controlled so that the position of the pedestrian 10 is irradiated with laser light. Activate 1 Then, the process returns to step 2.
[0027]
As described above, the pedestrian and the bicycle that move around the vehicle are detected, the positions thereof are repeatedly detected, and the movement positions of the pedestrian and the bicycle after a predetermined time are predicted based on the time change of the detected positions. The laser beam marker is irradiated to the predicted movement position, and the irradiation direction of the laser light marker is adjusted according to the movement of the predicted movement position. It can be recognized not only by vehicles, but also by surrounding vehicles that enter the blind spot of large vehicles, thus ensuring the safety of pedestrians and bicycles.
[0028]
In the above-described embodiment, an example is shown in which the pattern of the laser light marker that irradiates the laser light irradiation position 22 is a circle or a pattern as shown in FIG. 10, but as shown in FIG. An elliptical pattern including the position (in this example, position d) and the estimated movement position 30 may be used. Alternatively, a rectangular or rhombic pattern including the current position of the pedestrian 10 and the estimated moving position 30 may be used. As a result, in addition to being able to recognize the presence of pedestrians and bicycles in the blind spot of large vehicles, when the vehicle goes out of the blind spot, it can immediately recognize pedestrians and bicycles, further ensuring the safety of pedestrians and bicycles. it can.
[0029]
In the above-described embodiment, an example is described in which the detection / irradiation range 28 is a uniform laser irradiation method. However, the detection / irradiation range 28 is divided into a plurality of regions, and each region is irradiated with laser light. The method may be changed. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 3, in a region near the oncoming lane of the detection / irradiation range 28, the urgency of the notification of the pedestrian 10 to the driver of the overtaking vehicle 27 is high. A high alert may be given.
[0030]
It is also effective to use laser diodes of three colors RGB for the laser projector 1 and control the emission output of each laser diode to change the color of the laser marker, and to adjust the color to a red color when the notification urgency is high. It is a target. Furthermore, the irradiation interval of the laser beam from the laser projector 1 may be made variable, and the irradiation interval may be shortened as the notification urgency is higher.
[0031]
In addition, pedestrians are notified more urgently during the night or dusk when the amount of light is low than in the daytime. Notification of persons may be performed.
[0032]
In the above-described embodiment, the pedestrian is targeted for notification, but a person riding a bicycle or a person riding a motorcycle is also targeted for notification.
[0033]
Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example is described in which the pedestrian detection processing by the infrared camera 9 is performed every second, but the detection processing may be performed at a high speed of, for example, 10 to 30 times per second. As the detection interval is shortened, the accuracy of detecting a pedestrian and the accuracy of following a laser beam irradiation can be improved.
[0034]
In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the infrared camera 9 for detecting a thermal object is used has been described. However, if an additional function of identifying a lane, detecting a thermal object only in the lane, and issuing an alarm is assumed. If used together with a visible camera, it is effective. When it is necessary to accurately measure the distance to a thermal object (human body), a distance meter such as a radar may be used together.
[0035]
Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which a thermal object such as a pedestrian is detected by the infrared camera 9 has been described. However, instead of detecting a thermal object, an obstacle such as a pedestrian, bicycle, or motorcycle is detected. A marking target may be used. In this case, a visible camera having sensitivity in the near-infrared region, a laser radar, an obstacle detecting unit using ultrasonic waves or electromagnetic waves can be used.
[0036]
In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the laser projector 1 and the infrared camera 9 of the night pedestrian alerting device are provided in front of the vehicle has been described. However, the installation location of these devices is not limited to the front of the vehicle. It may be installed behind or on the side. Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which the night pedestrian notification device is mounted on a large vehicle has been described. A similar effect can be obtained. In particular, a remarkable effect can be obtained by applying the present invention to a small car, a one-box car or a truck having a high height.
[0037]
The correspondence between the components of the claims and the components of the embodiment is as follows. The infrared camera 9 is an obstacle detecting unit, the image processing device 11 is a position detecting unit, the control circuit 8 is a moving position predicting unit, the laser projector 1 is a marker irradiating unit, the horizontal step motor 2, the vertical step motor 3 and the control unit. The circuit 8 constitutes the irradiation direction adjusting means. Note that each component is not limited to the above configuration as long as the characteristic functions of the present invention are not impaired.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the night pedestrian notification device according to the embodiment is installed in a large vehicle.
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.
FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a pattern example of a laser beam marker.
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a modification of the embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Laser projector 2 Horizontal step motor 3 Vertical step motor 4 Horizontal control line 5 Vertical control line 6 Laser control line 7 Scanner control line 8 Control circuit 9 Infrared camera 10 Pedestrian 11 Image processing device 20 Bus 21 Road surface 22 Laser light irradiation position 23 Laser beam 24 Center line 25 Own lane 26 Bus stop 27 Overtaking vehicle 28 Detection / irradiation range 30 Estimated moving position 31 Driver

Claims (3)

Obstacle detection means for detecting an object around the vehicle;
Position detection means for repeatedly detecting the position of the object detected by the detection means,
Moving position estimating means for estimating the moving position of the object after a predetermined time based on the time change of the detected position by the position detecting means,
Marker irradiating means for irradiating an electromagnetic wave marker to a predicted moving position by the moving position predicting means,
A night-obstacle notification device, comprising: an irradiation-direction adjusting unit that adjusts the irradiation direction of the marker irradiation unit in accordance with the movement of the predicted movement position by the movement-position prediction unit. The nighttime obstacle notification device according to claim 1,
The marker irradiating unit and the irradiation direction adjusting unit may irradiate the electromagnetic wave marker to a range including the moving position predicted by the moving position predicting unit and the current position of the object detected by the position detecting unit. Characteristic night-time obstacle notification device. The nighttime obstacle notification device according to claim 1 or 2,
A traveling state detecting means for detecting a traveling state of the vehicle,
The marker irradiating means and the irradiation direction adjusting means irradiate an electromagnetic wave marker to a current position of the object detected by the position detecting means while the running state is detected by the running state detecting means. A nighttime obstacle notification device.

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