JP2005215878A - Image display device for vehicle, image display method for vehicle and image display program for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an accident by casting aside a driver's insecurity at the time of traveling on a curve and to prevent the driver's misconception based on a virtual road display. <P>SOLUTION: When an image is displayed so as to overlap with an actual scene visually confirmable through a window 1100 when seen from the driver of a vehicle, a curve ahead of the road in which the vehicle is traveling is detected, and a dead angle which the driver cannot directly visually confirm due to an obstacle 210 present on the inside of the curve is detected. Shape data of the road present in the dead angle are extracted from preliminarily stored map data, a virtual road image 200 showing the road present in the dead angle is generated based on the shape data, and the virtual road image 200 is displayed in a position overlapping with the obstacle so as to be recognizable as the actual scene. Further, a virtual obstacle 220, for example, an oncoming vehicle, is displayed on the virtual road 200 as if it is traveling ahead. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image display technique for a vehicle that transmits information to a driver by displaying an image so as to be superimposed on a real landscape.

  Conventionally, there is a system that provides information about various facilities to a driver of a vehicle.

  In particular, in recent years, as the traffic network has developed and the driver can move freely over a wide area, it has become difficult for the driver to always grasp the complicated and changing road conditions. As a method for solving this problem, a navigation system that provides guidance information when moving to a destination by a vehicle such as an automobile is known and is widely used.

As an advanced form of such a navigation system, a system has been developed that displays an image in the vicinity of the front window so as to overlap the actual scenery. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an apparatus that captures an actual scene with a camera and displays an image representing attribute information of the structure so as to be superimposed on the structure in the actual scene. Further, in Patent Document 2, a road that intersects the traveling direction of a vehicle that becomes a blind spot from the driver in a narrow crossroad is photographed with a camera, displayed on a side window, and from the intersecting road to another vehicle or person's crossroads. A safety confirmation system that can confirm the entry of a vehicle is disclosed.
JP 11-0665431 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-101666

  However, there is no conventional system that generates an image representing a road existing at the blind spot of a curve in the traveling direction and displays it as a virtual road. Therefore, when driving on a so-called blind curve with a blind spot that runs at a relatively high speed, unlike a low-speed crossroad, the vehicle is driving while imagining the shape of the road ahead in the direction of travel. If the curve is narrow or the curve curvature changes suddenly, it was easy to cause an accident. In addition, the driver was anxious because the road shape ahead could not be grasped without causing an accident.

  In particular, if it is difficult for the driver to recognize the virtual road image and the road in the real scenery, the virtual road image will be mistaken for the road in the real scenery, the attention will be distracted, the inside of the curve will be distracted, and the opposite lane There is a tendency to protrude. Also, if it is difficult for the driver to recognize the virtual road image and the road in the real scenery, the virtual road image is mistaken for the road in the real scenery, and it is assumed that there are no obstacles on the road in the traveling direction. Attention tends to be distracting. Furthermore, when a virtual road image is displayed over a real-life road, it is difficult to see the farthest part of the real-world road where real oncoming vehicles and obstacles begin to appear, and the driver's response tends to be delayed. There is also a safety issue.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, and the object of the present invention is to eliminate the driver's anxiety when traveling on a curve, prevent an accident, and prevent a virtual road. Because it is difficult for the driver to recognize the image and the road in the actual scenery, the virtual road image is mistaken for the road in the actual scenery, and the attention is distracted or the curve goes inward and protrudes into the oncoming lane An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular image display device, a vehicular image display method, and a vehicular image display program that can prevent the driver from misunderstanding based on virtual road display.

  In addition, it eliminates the driver's anxiety when driving on a curve, prevents accidents, and makes it difficult for the driver to recognize the virtual road image and the road in the actual landscape, so that the virtual road image For vehicles that can be mistaken as roads, assume that there are no obstacles on the road in the direction of travel, eliminate the tendency to distract attention, and prevent the illusion that there are no obstacles An object is to provide an image display device, a vehicle image display method, and a vehicle image display program.

  Furthermore, the driver's anxiety when driving on a curve is dispelled, accidents are prevented, and virtual road images are displayed over real roads so that real oncoming vehicles and obstacles can be seen. An image display device for vehicles that improves safety by eliminating the tendency for the driver's response to be delayed due to difficulty in seeing the farthest part of the road in the beginning of the actual scenery, and for quickly finding oncoming vehicles and obstacles Another object is to provide a vehicle image display method and a vehicle image display program.

  In order to solve this problem, the vehicular image display device of the present invention is a vehicular image display device that displays an image so as to be superimposed on an actual scenery that can be viewed through a window from a vehicle driver. Detecting means for detecting a curve ahead of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, and detecting a blind spot that cannot be directly recognized by an obstacle inside the curve, and road shape data existing in the blind spot And a virtual road image representing a road existing in the blind spot based on the shape data, and a position where the virtual road image appears to overlap the obstacle. And a display control means for displaying the scene so as to be distinguishable from the actual scenery.

  Here, the display control means displays the vicinity of the road of the actual landscape in the virtual road image so as to be distinguishable from the road of the actual landscape. The display control means includes means for recognizing the color of the road in the real scenery, and displays the color for displaying the virtual road image so as to be distinguishable from the color of the road in the real scenery. The image processing apparatus further includes setting means for setting a color for displaying the virtual road image. Further, the display control means selects a color for displaying the virtual road image according to the color of the road in the real landscape and the color of the obstacle.

  An image display device for a vehicle that displays an image so as to be superimposed on an actual scenery that can be viewed through a window from a driver of the vehicle, and detects a curve ahead of a road on which the vehicle is traveling. Detecting means for detecting a blind spot that is not directly visible by an obstacle inside the curve, an extracting means for extracting road shape data existing in the blind spot from map data stored in advance, and the shape Based on the data, a virtual road image representing the road existing in the blind spot and a virtual obstacle on the virtual road are generated, and the virtual road image and the virtual obstacle are positioned so as to be seen overlapping with the obstacle. Display control means for displaying.

  Here, the display control means has means for recognizing the curvature of the road of the virtual road image, and displays the virtual obstacle at a position where the curvature of the road of the virtual road image is maximum. The display control means displays the virtual obstacle so that it is displaced forward with respect to the road of the virtual road image. The virtual obstacle includes a virtual oncoming vehicle.

  An image display device for a vehicle that displays an image so as to be superimposed on an actual scenery that can be viewed through a window from a driver of the vehicle, and detects a curve ahead of a road on which the vehicle is traveling. Detecting means for detecting a blind spot that is not directly visible by an obstacle inside the curve, an extracting means for extracting road shape data existing in the blind spot from map data stored in advance, and the shape Display control means for generating a virtual road image representing the road existing at the blind spot based on the data, and displaying the virtual road image at a position where the virtual road image appears to overlap the obstacle so as not to hinder the visual recognition of the real scenery; It is characterized by providing.

  Here, the display control means displays lightly the vicinity of the road in the actual landscape of the virtual road image. Further, the display control means does not display the vicinity of the road in the actual landscape of the virtual road image.

  Furthermore, a vehicle image display method corresponding to the vehicle image display device, a vehicle image display program for realizing the method, and a storage medium for storing the program in a computer-readable manner are also provided.

  According to the present invention, a virtual road image representing a road existing in a blind spot is generated, and the virtual road image is displayed so as to appear to overlap the blind spot, thereby eliminating the driver's anxiety when driving on a curve. Accidents can be prevented in advance. Also, if it is difficult for the driver to recognize the virtual road image and the road in the actual scenery, the virtual road image will be mistaken for the road in the actual scenery, and the attention will be distracted or the inside of the curve will turn in the opposite lane Although it tends to stick out, it is displayed so that the driver can recognize that it is a virtual road image, so that it is possible to prevent misunderstanding of the driver based on the virtual road display.

  In addition, since the vicinity of the road in the actual scenery is displayed so as to be distinguishable from the road in the actual scenery, it can be confirmed that the display is a virtual road display, and the area other than the vicinity of the road in the actual scenery can be visually recognized as a normal road.

  In addition, since the color for displaying the virtual road image is displayed so as to be distinguishable from the color of the road in the actual scenery, the identification can be made more intuitive.

  Moreover, since the setting means which sets the color which displays a virtual road image is further provided, a driver's favorite color can be selected.

  Further, since the color for displaying the virtual road image is selected according to the color of the road in the real scenery and the color of the obstacle, the virtual road display can be recognized in any situation.

  In addition, if it is difficult for the driver to recognize the virtual road image and the road in the real scenery, the virtual road image is mistaken as a road in the real scenery, and it is assumed that there are no obstacles on the road in the traveling direction. Although attention tends to be distracted, a virtual obstacle is displayed on the virtual road, so that the illusion that there is no obstacle can be prevented.

  In addition, since the virtual obstacle is displayed at the position where the curvature of the road of the virtual road image is the maximum, the driver can pay close attention.

  In addition, since the virtual obstacle is displayed so as to be displaced forward with respect to the road of the virtual road image, the driver's attention can be more alerted.

  Moreover, since a virtual oncoming vehicle is displayed as a virtual obstacle, the driver can be urged to feel nervous.

  Also, if the virtual road image and the road in the real landscape are difficult to recognize for the driver, the virtual road image will be mistaken for the road in the real landscape, and the attention will tend to be distracted. When the image is displayed over a real road, it tends to be difficult to see the farthest part of the real road where real oncoming vehicles and obstacles begin to appear, and the driver's response tends to be delayed. Since the virtual road image is displayed so as not to hinder the visual recognition of the real scenery, it is possible to prevent misunderstanding of the driver and misunderstanding of the real scenery based on the virtual road display, and the real oncoming vehicles and obstacles can be seen. Since the farthest part in the range where the road of the real scenery can be seen is surely seen, oncoming vehicles and obstacles can be found quickly, so safety is improved.

  Further, since the vicinity of the road of the actual road in the virtual road image is displayed lightly or the vicinity of the road of the actual road in the virtual road image is not displayed, visual recognition of the actual scenery is not hindered.

  Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the relative arrangement of components, the display screen, and the like described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to those unless otherwise specified.

  The image display device for a vehicle according to the present invention relates to a curve so as to be superimposed on an actual scenery that can be viewed through a window from the driver of the vehicle in order to provide information regarding the curve that has become a blind spot ahead of the vehicle. An image is displayed. As an embodiment of the vehicle image display device according to the present invention, an in-vehicle system that provides information on various curves to the driver in conjunction with a car navigation system is conceivable. Only the part displaying the curve will be described.

<Example of vehicle equipped with in-vehicle system of this embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a vehicle 1000 equipped with an in-vehicle system according to the present embodiment.

  The position of the eye (eye point) 10a of the driver 10 sitting in the driver's seat of the vehicle 1000 is a position corresponding to the body shape and posture. Then, as shown in FIG. 1, the driver 10 can see a real landscape spreading in front of the vehicle 1000 through the front window 1100. That is, the field of view 10b from the eye point includes a partial area of the front window 1100 and a real landscape spreading in front of the vehicle. Therefore, in the present embodiment, information on the blind spot curve is provided by displaying an image (computer graphics) on the front window 1100 (or in the vicinity thereof) using the display unit 110 and displaying the image superimposed on the actual scenery. To do. For this reason, the vehicle 1000 has a blind spot according to the eye point camera 150 for detecting the position of the eye point 10a of the driver 10, the position of the eye point 10a of the driver 10, the vehicle position, 3D map data, and the like. The control unit 100 is provided for generating an image of the curve and displaying it from the display unit 110. Further, the vehicle 1000 is provided with a camera 160 for photographing the front of the vehicle, and the photographed image is used for blind spot detection and matching of curve display.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image displayed by the in-vehicle system according to the present embodiment. For convenience, the driver is not shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the driver can visually recognize mountains, roads, buildings, and the like through the front window 1100 as actual scenery. Then, an image 200 of the virtual road is displayed so that the curve appears to be superimposed on the blind spot portion 210 of such a real landscape curve. 220 is a virtual vehicle coming in the opposite lane. A broken line portion indicated by 230 indicates the vicinity of the road in the actual landscape on the virtual road.

  For the image 200 of the virtual road, it is necessary to improve the convenience and security for the driver, and to prevent the virtual road display from being inadvertent or misidentified by the driver. In the display control of the virtual road image 200 according to the present embodiment, the following measures are taken.

First, control is performed so that the driver always recognizes that the display is a virtual road display. For example, the following contrivances that can be distinguished from the actual scenery are included.
(1) Display the vicinity of the road in the virtual landscape image so that it can be distinguished from the road in the real landscape.
(2) The color for displaying the virtual road image is displayed so as to be distinguishable from the color of the road in the real landscape.
(3) The color for displaying the virtual road image can be set.
(4) The color for displaying the virtual road image is selected according to the color of the road in the actual scenery and the color of the obstacle.

In addition, the following control is performed to make the driver always recognize the possibility that there is an obstacle (for example, an oncoming vehicle) on the real road corresponding to the virtual road.
(1) Generate a virtual obstacle on the virtual road and display the virtual obstacle on the virtual road image.
(2) The virtual obstacle is displayed at the position where the road curvature of the virtual road image is maximum.
(3) The virtual obstacle is displayed so as to be displaced forward with respect to the road of the virtual road image.
(4) The virtual oncoming vehicle 220 is displayed as a virtual obstacle.

Further, the following control is performed so that the virtual road display does not interfere with the visual recognition of the actual scenery.
(1) The road neighborhood 230 in the actual scenery of the virtual road image is displayed lightly.
(2) The road neighborhood 230 in the actual scenery of the virtual road image is not displayed.

  In addition, the said device is a typical example and is not limited to these. Also, control combining a plurality of these examples is possible.

<Configuration example of in-vehicle system of this embodiment>
Next, the configuration of the in-vehicle system will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the in-vehicle system according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 3, this system includes a display control unit 100 that controls the entire system and a display unit 110 that displays an image on the front window. The display control unit 100 calculates a current position as a peripheral device. A GPS receiver 120 for receiving GPS signals, a map database 130 used for detection of blind spots and curve images, a position sensor 140 for detecting a driver's position (head), and a driver An eye point camera 150 that captures and detects an eye point position, a camera 160 that captures the front of the vehicle, a wireless communication device 170 that communicates via a network with a server installed in the information center 200 outside the vehicle, and the like It has a sensor 180 for detecting the traveling speed and a sensor 190 for detecting the vibration of the vehicle.

  For use as a navigation system, a microphone that receives instructions from the driver, a speaker that provides information to the driver by voice, an operation unit that inputs instructions from the driver, and various types that detect the behavior and position of the vehicle. It also has a sensor (not shown).

  If a head-up display using a hologram is used as the display unit 110, the focus of the driver's eyes can be made substantially the same as when viewing a real landscape. However, the display unit 110 here is not limited to this, and any unit can be used as long as it can display an image so as to be superimposed on the actual scenery when viewed from the driver. . For example, a configuration in which an image is projected by a projector on a translucent screen attached to the front window may be used, or a configuration in which a transflective liquid crystal display is attached to the front window and a liquid crystal display is driven to display a desired image may be used. The details of such a display method have been disclosed in various past documents (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-219883 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-125679).

  The GPS receiver 120 mainly performs spread spectrum communication using the DS (Direct Sequence) method, detects and demodulates the received radio waves from the GPS satellites, obtains positioning data, and based on that, obtains the positioning data of the vehicle by GPS navigation. The current position and traveling direction are calculated.

  The map database 130 is composed of map information stored on a large-capacity disk, CD, or the like. From the 3D information that can detect the blind spot of the curve to the one that is sequentially downloaded from the information center 200 with only a part of the map information according to the capacity There can be.

  The driver position sensor 140 detects the position of the driver's head in the vehicle. The driver position sensor 140 may be shared by the eye point camera 150.

  The eye point camera 150 is a camera that captures the driver's head, identifies the driver's eyes from the captured image, and calculates the position of the eyes and the direction of the line of sight.

  The vehicle front camera 160 is disposed on the upper part of the front window, the upper part of the cabinet, etc., and captures information such as photographing the road and scenery in front of the vehicle and detecting blind spots and matching the curve display.

  The wireless communication device 170 can access the communication network by downloading radio waves to the base station closest to the vehicle, and download the latest map data from a specific server. The downloaded map data is stored in the map database 130 or the display control unit 100. Data can be uploaded to the server from the driver's home or the like, and the data can be downloaded by the wireless communication device 170. Furthermore, it is also possible to incorporate the data into the map data on the server side and download it via the wireless communication device 170.

  The speed sensor 180 is a sensor such as a rotary encoder, for example, and detects the speed of the vehicle by taking in vehicle speed pulses. The vibration sensor (acceleration sensor) 190 detects the acceleration applied to the vehicle by taking pressure change information using inertia such as a diaphragm, for example.

  In addition, an operation unit (not shown) includes input operation keys such as a numeric keypad and various touch switches and an interface circuit thereof, and receives an operation input from an occupant such as a driver. The operation unit may have a display for displaying various setting contents. Further, the other various sensors include an orientation sensor and the like. The direction sensor detects the direction of the vehicle using a gyro mechanism such as a gimbal, for example. Note that the positioning of the current position and the determination of the heading are performed by mixing and correcting the data from GPS navigation and the data from autonomous navigation. 8-11170 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-307036), details of which are disclosed, and the description thereof is omitted.

(Configuration example of control unit 100)
The display control unit 100 fetches information from the peripheral devices every predetermined period in the course of executing various programs, comprehensively determines such information, and derives an image to be output to the display unit 110.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the display control unit 100 includes a display control unit 201, a blind spot detection unit 202, a display image creation unit 203, a visual recognition position / direction detection unit 204, a display color determination unit 205, a connection unit control unit 206, a virtual failure Each function block of the object creation unit 207 is included.

  Here, the display control unit 201 controls image display of the display unit 110 based on information from the blind spot detection unit 202 and the display image creation unit 203. The display image creation unit 203 creates a display image based on information from the visual recognition position direction detection unit 204, the display position determination unit 205, the connection unit control unit 206, and the virtual obstacle creation unit 207.

  The blind spot detection unit 202 detects that there is a blind spot due to an obstacle on the curve ahead of the vehicle, for example, in the following procedure. (1) The distance in the curve direction measured by the radar (not shown) is compared with the distance to the curve on the map. If the measured distance is short, it is determined that there is a blind spot. (2) The image captured by the vehicle front camera 160 is compared with an obstacle image held in advance, and if there is an obstacle image in the captured image, it is determined that there is a blind spot. (3) It is determined that there is a blind spot based on the current position from the 3D image of the map database.

  The display image creation unit 203 uses the map information from the map database 130 and the eye position and line-of-sight direction of the driver of the visual position / direction detection unit 204 so that the position of the virtual road does not deviate from the actual position. A display image of the virtual road to be displayed on the front window 1100 is created and its display position is calculated so that the landscape road and the virtual road are smoothly connected. As will be described later, it is desirable to form the display image until the end of the curve. Further, a display image as shown in FIG. 2 is created under the control of information from the display position determination unit 205, the connection unit control unit 206, and the virtual obstacle creation unit 207.

  The visual recognition position / direction detection unit 204 detects the visual recognition position and direction of the driver from the information of the driver position sensor 140 and the eye point camera 150, and uses the information for the image creation and display position of the display image creation unit 203. Used for calculation.

  The display color determining unit 205 determines the color of an obstacle that becomes a real road and / or a blind spot from the image from the vehicle front camera 160 and determines the display color of the virtual road or the virtual obstacle. For example, a selection is made such that a different color distinguishable from the actual image, but a highly saturated color that is exciting to the driver is avoided.

  The connection control unit 206 is a part where the real road and the virtual road are connected, and the virtual road on the front window is displayed in the driver's eye perception from the real road. Display that does not obstruct, for example, control is performed so that the virtual road is lightly displayed or not displayed near the real road.

  The virtual obstacle creating unit 207 creates a virtual obstacle to be displayed on the virtual road in order to prevent the driver from misidentifying that there is no obstacle on the real road by looking at the virtual road. As a virtual obstacle, an oncoming vehicle on the oncoming lane is desirable. It is further desirable to display the virtual oncoming vehicle as if it is running on a virtual road.

  Note that the display control unit 201, the blind spot detection unit 202, the display image creation unit 203, the visual recognition position direction detection unit 204, the display position determination unit 205, the connection unit control unit 206, the virtual component that configure the display control unit 100 of FIG. Each function of the obstacle creating unit 207 is realized by the CPU 101 reading and executing the program module stored in the ROM 102 of FIG.

  Although not shown in FIG. 3, means for calculating a curve curvature from a 3D map performs processing based on information from a peripheral device, but this is not described in detail here.

(Example of hardware configuration of display control unit 100)
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the display control unit according to the present embodiment.

  The display control unit 100 internally stores a CPU (specifically a microprocessor) 101 for arithmetic control, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 102 for storing fixed values and various program modules, and temporarily stores various data and programs. A random access memory (RAM) 103, a hard disk drive (HDD) 104 that stores 3D map data 104 and various setting data 104b, and an input / output port (I / O) 106 with an external unit are further provided. . Here, 3D map data and setting data are stored in the HDD 104, but this can be replaced by a drive of a recording medium such as a DVD or a CD-ROM, or a nonvolatile semiconductor memory such as a flash memory. is there. The 3D map data 104a corresponds to the map database 130 in FIG. 3, and each peripheral device in FIG. 4 corresponds to each peripheral device in FIG. The various program modules may be stored in the HD 104, loaded into the RAM 103, and executed by the CPU 101.

  The CPU 101 controls the entire in-vehicle system by executing a main routine program stored in the ROM and various program modules.

  The ROM 102 includes a display control module 102a for controlling the display of the curve generated from the 3D map data 104a on the display unit 110 of the virtual road, and when there is a blind spot due to an obstacle on the curve, from the 3D map data 104a Based on the display image creation module 102b that creates a display image on the front window based on the viewing position direction, a separation distance by a radar (not shown), a front shot image by a vehicle front camera, 3D map data, and the like, the tip of the curve A blind spot detection module 102c that detects whether there is a blind spot obstructed by an obstacle, and a color of an actual road and / or an obstacle that becomes a blind spot from an image from the vehicle front camera 160, a virtual road or a virtual obstacle A display color determination module 102d for determining the display color of an object, and a portion where a real road and a virtual road are connected The connection control module 102e that performs display control so that the display of the virtual road does not hinder the visual recognition of the real road, the virtual obstacle creation module 102f that creates a virtual obstacle to be displayed on the virtual road, and the like are stored. ing.

  The RAM 103 temporarily stores a program execution area 103a for executing various programs, a map data storage area 103b for temporarily storing 3D map data 104a read from the HDD 104, and a display image created by the display image creation module 102b. Display data storage area 103c to be stored automatically, and vehicle data storage area 103d to temporarily store data relating to the behavior and position of the vehicle input from cameras 150, 160 and various sensors 140, 180, 190, and the like.

  The 3D map data 104a includes data on the shape and position of buildings, parks, roads, intersections, and other natural objects such as mountains. Further, road information on road routes and road widths, and positions of road intersections are included. Contains information and other data. The setting contents stored in the various setting data 104b can be set by a personal computer connected to the operation unit or the server via a network, and are used for navigation. However, since they are not main information in this embodiment, they will not be described in detail.

<Example of processing procedure of in-vehicle system of this embodiment>
A basic flow performed in the in-vehicle system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This basic flow is illustrated as a flow that also serves to provide facility information for displaying a target facility or the like as navigation, together with the virtual road display of the curve on the front window of the present embodiment.

  First, when the engine of the vehicle is started, initial setting of the system is performed in step S10. Next, in step S20, the destination is set from the operation unit. In step S30, the current location of the vehicle is detected by a signal from the GPS receiver.

  Step S40 is a characteristic process in the present embodiment, and information is also provided regarding the blind spot due to the obstacle on the curve. Details will be described with reference to FIG.

  In step S50, facility information is displayed and provided on the front window in connection with navigation to the destination.

(Procedure for providing detailed curve blind spot information)
Here, the curve blind spot information provision processing in step S40, which is a characteristic part of the present embodiment, will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The flowchart of FIG. 6 shows the best mode for how to change the display mode of the virtual road image when the conditions are satisfied in step S40. It is not necessary to include all of them, and even if each condition is evaluated and controlled independently, each effect can be obtained.

  First, in step S41, map information around the current location is downloaded from a 3D map database or an information center and read.

  In step S42, it is detected whether or not there is a blind spot where the curve ahead of the vehicle is blocked by an obstacle. If there is no blind spot, return. There are various methods for detecting the blind spot. For example, (1) The distance in the curve direction measured by the radar (not shown) is compared with the distance to the curve on the map. Is determined. (2) The image captured by the vehicle front camera 160 is compared with an obstacle image held in advance, and if there is an obstacle image in the captured image, it is determined that there is a blind spot. (3) It is determined that there is a blind spot based on the current position from the 3D image of the map database. and so on.

  If a blind spot is detected, the process proceeds to step S43, and a virtual road is displayed at a predetermined start / end timing according to the curve blind spot. In addition, from the idea of displaying as few virtual roads as possible, the display of virtual roads after the current curve becomes useless or obstructive when the curve continues from a straight line or the opposite curve. Only display it. The detailed control in step S43 will be described later in detail according to FIG.

  In step S44, it is determined that the display is finished, for example, when the distance until the blind spot is more than a predetermined distance (for example, 15m: this value is preferably changed according to the vehicle speed) and the like, Finish displaying the road.

  The control of this embodiment of the virtual road display according to the curve blind spot in step S43 will be described in detail according to the flowchart of FIG. It should be noted that the steps of FIG. 7 can solve the problems of the present invention even if they are executed independently or in any selected combination. Therefore, before and after the processing of steps S432 to S434 is not specified. FIG. 7 shows an example in which all steps are executed as the best mode.

  In step S431, the color of the real road and the color of the obstacle that caused the blind spot are detected from the image from the vehicle front camera 160. In step S432, the color of the virtual road is determined to be different from the color of the real road and the obstacle object. However, a color is selected so that the display of the virtual road does not interfere with the visual recognition of the real scenery behind. It is also possible to make the driver select such a color.

  Next, in step S533, for example, (1) the road vicinity 230 of the real landscape in the virtual road image is displayed lightly so that the virtual road near the road of the real landscape is not disturbed. (2) The road neighborhood 230 in the actual scenery of the virtual road image is not displayed. Control such as.

  Next, in step S434, a virtual obstacle such as an oncoming vehicle is displayed on the virtual road together with the virtual road. For example, it is preferable to display the virtual obstacle at a position where the curvature of the road in the virtual road image is maximum. Further, it is preferable that the virtual obstacle is displayed so as to be displaced forward with respect to the road of the virtual road image. Moreover, it is preferable to display a virtual oncoming vehicle as a virtual obstacle. That is, preferably, as shown in FIG. 2, the oncoming vehicle 220 is controlled to move so as to run on the virtual road 200.

<Effect of embodiment>
According to the present embodiment, since the road that becomes a blind spot due to an obstacle on the curve is displayed so as to be superimposed on the real landscape in the virtual road image, the driver is not anxious when driving the curve while driving. In addition, accidents can be prevented in advance, and the fact that the image is a virtual road image is displayed in a recognizable manner to the driver, so that adverse effects of the virtual road display on the driver can be prevented. .

<Other embodiments>
In the above embodiment, the above-described effect is achieved by the CPU 101 described above reading out and executing a program capable of realizing each processing described in FIG. 6 from some storage medium. In addition to a readable / writable semiconductor memory and a hard disk, any storage device such as an optical disk, a magnetic disk, or a magneto-optical disk can be employed, and such a storage medium and a program itself are also included in the scope of the present invention. Therefore, data transmitted through a telecommunication line by using the Internet or the like can be included in the scope of the present invention. Moreover, the vehicle image display apparatus according to the present invention may be a part of the in-vehicle system as shown in the above embodiment, or may be a single dedicated unit.

1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a vehicle equipped with an in-vehicle system according to the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the image displayed by the vehicle-mounted system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the vehicle-mounted system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the hardware structural example of the vehicle-mounted system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the operation | movement of the whole vehicle-mounted system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a flowchart for demonstrating in detail the operation example of curve blind spot information provision of the vehicle-mounted system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining in detail the display of the virtual road of the vehicle-mounted system which concerns on this embodiment.

Claims (21)

An image display device for a vehicle that displays an image so as to be superimposed on an actual scenery that can be viewed through a window from a driver of the vehicle,
Detecting means for detecting a curve in front of the road on which the vehicle is running, and detecting a blind spot that the driver cannot directly see by an obstacle inside the curve;
Extraction means for extracting shape data of a road existing in the blind spot from map data stored in advance;
Display control means for generating a virtual road image representing a road existing in the blind spot based on the shape data, and displaying the virtual road image so as to be distinguishable from a real landscape at a position where it appears to overlap the obstacle;
A vehicle image display device comprising:   The vehicular image display device according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit displays the vicinity of the road of the actual landscape in the virtual road image so as to be distinguishable from the road of the actual landscape.   The display control means includes means for recognizing a color of a road in a real landscape, and displays the color for displaying the virtual road image so as to be distinguishable from the color of the road in the real landscape. Or the image display apparatus for vehicles of 2.   4. The vehicular image display device according to claim 3, further comprising setting means for setting a color for displaying the virtual road image.   4. The vehicular image display device according to claim 3, wherein the display control means selects a color for displaying the virtual road image according to a color of the road in the real scenery and a color of the obstacle. . An image display method for a vehicle that displays an image so as to be superimposed on an actual scenery that can be viewed through a window from a driver of the vehicle,
Detecting a curve ahead of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, and detecting a blind spot that the driver cannot directly see due to an obstacle inside the curve;
Extracting shape data of the road existing in the blind spot from map data stored in advance;
Generating a virtual road image representing a road existing in the blind spot based on the shape data, and displaying the virtual road image so as to be distinguishable from a real landscape at a position where the obstacle appears to overlap;
An image display method for a vehicle, comprising: An image display program for a vehicle that displays an image so as to be superimposed on an actual scenery that is visible from a driver of a vehicle through a window,
Detecting a curve ahead of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, and detecting a blind spot that the driver cannot directly see due to an obstacle inside the curve;
Extracting shape data of the road existing in the blind spot from map data stored in advance;
Generating a virtual road image representing a road existing in the blind spot based on the shape data, and displaying the virtual road image so as to be distinguishable from a real landscape at a position where the obstacle appears to overlap;
A vehicle image display program comprising:   A storage medium for storing the vehicle image display program according to claim 7 in a computer-readable manner. An image display device for a vehicle that displays an image so as to be superimposed on an actual scenery that can be viewed through a window from a driver of the vehicle,
Detecting means for detecting a curve in front of the road on which the vehicle is running, and detecting a blind spot that the driver cannot directly see by an obstacle inside the curve;
Extraction means for extracting shape data of a road existing in the blind spot from map data stored in advance;
Based on the shape data, a virtual road image representing a road existing at the blind spot and a virtual obstacle on the virtual road are generated, and the virtual road image and the virtual obstacle appear to overlap the obstacle. Display control means for displaying the position;
A vehicle image display device comprising:   10. The display control means includes means for recognizing a road curvature of the virtual road image, and displays the virtual obstacle at a position where the road curvature of the virtual road image is maximum. The image display apparatus for vehicles as described.   10. The vehicular image display device according to claim 9, wherein the display control means displays the virtual obstacle so as to be displaced toward the front of the road of the virtual road image.   The vehicular image display device according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein the virtual obstacle includes a virtual oncoming vehicle. An image display method for a vehicle that displays an image so as to be superimposed on an actual scenery that can be viewed through a window from a driver of the vehicle,
Detecting a curve ahead of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, and detecting a blind spot that the driver cannot directly see due to an obstacle inside the curve;
Extracting shape data of the road existing in the blind spot from map data stored in advance;
Based on the shape data, a virtual road image representing a road existing at the blind spot and a virtual obstacle on the virtual road are generated, and the virtual road image and the virtual obstacle appear to overlap the obstacle. A step to display in position,
An image display method for a vehicle, comprising: An image display program for a vehicle that displays an image so as to be superimposed on an actual scenery that is visible from a driver of a vehicle through a window,
Detecting a curve ahead of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, and detecting a blind spot that the driver cannot directly see due to an obstacle inside the curve;
Extracting shape data of the road existing in the blind spot from map data stored in advance;
Based on the shape data, a virtual road image representing a road existing at the blind spot and a virtual obstacle on the virtual road are generated, and the virtual road image and the virtual obstacle appear to overlap the obstacle. A step to display in position,
A vehicle image display program comprising:   A storage medium for storing the vehicle image display program according to claim 14 in a computer-readable manner. An image display device for a vehicle that displays an image so as to be superimposed on an actual scenery that can be viewed through a window from a driver of the vehicle,
Detecting means for detecting a curve in front of the road on which the vehicle is running, and detecting a blind spot that the driver cannot directly see by an obstacle inside the curve;
Extraction means for extracting shape data of a road existing in the blind spot from map data stored in advance;
Display control for generating a virtual road image representing a road existing in the blind spot based on the shape data and displaying the virtual road image at a position where the obstacle appears to overlap with the obstacle so as not to hinder the visual recognition of the actual scenery. Means,
A vehicle image display device comprising:   17. The vehicular image display device according to claim 16, wherein the display control means displays the road neighborhood of the actual landscape of the virtual road image lightly.   17. The vehicular image display device according to claim 16, wherein the display control means does not display the vicinity of the road in the actual landscape of the virtual road image. An image display method for a vehicle that displays an image so as to be superimposed on an actual scenery that can be viewed through a window from a driver of the vehicle,
Detecting a curve ahead of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, and detecting a blind spot that the driver cannot directly see due to an obstacle inside the curve;
Extracting shape data of the road existing in the blind spot from map data stored in advance;
Generating a virtual road image representing a road existing in the blind spot based on the shape data, and displaying the virtual road image at a position where the obstacle appears to overlap with the obstacle so as not to hinder visual recognition of the real scenery; ,
An image display method for a vehicle, comprising: An image display program for a vehicle that displays an image so as to be superimposed on an actual scenery that is visible from a driver of a vehicle through a window,
Detecting a curve ahead of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, and detecting a blind spot that the driver cannot directly see due to an obstacle inside the curve;
Extracting shape data of the road existing in the blind spot from map data stored in advance;
Generating a virtual road image representing a road existing in the blind spot based on the shape data, and displaying the virtual road image at a position where the obstacle appears to overlap with the obstacle so as not to hinder visual recognition of the real scenery; ,
A vehicle image display program comprising: A storage medium for storing the vehicle image display program according to claim 20 in a computer-readable manner.

Images