JP2007336466A - Vehicle peripheral information presenting apparatus, and vehicle peripheral information presenting method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a driver to instantaneously confirm which region of a video image displayed on a display device is invisible. <P>SOLUTION: A peripheral effective visual field range setting section 6 sets an effective visual field range of a driver M for the periphery of a vehicle 1 as a peripheral effective visual field range and an image quality converting section 8 changes the image quality of a video region corresponding to the peripheral effective visual field range, in the video region imaged by a peripheral image pickup section 3 with respect to image quality of the other video region. Thus, image quality in the video region corresponding to the peripheral effective visual field range of the driver is different from that in the video region corresponding to the region invisible for the driver, thereby enabling the driver to instantaneously confirm which region of the video image displayed on a display section 5 is invisible from the difference of image quality. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle periphery information presentation device and a vehicle periphery information presentation method that support driving operation of a host vehicle by presenting a video around the host vehicle to a driver.

Conventionally, a vehicle that takes an image of the vicinity of the own vehicle using an image pickup device installed at the front, rear, or side of the own vehicle, and displays the imaged image on a display device installed in the vehicle interior A peripheral information presentation device for use is known (see Patent Document 1). According to such a device, the driver of the own vehicle can check the situation around the own vehicle that cannot be directly confirmed by his / her own eyes from the image displayed on the display device. Operation safety can be increased.
JP-A-10-258682

  However, since the conventional vehicle peripheral information presentation device is configured to simply display the image captured by the imaging device on the display device, the driver can visually check which region of the image displayed on the display device. It is not possible to instantly confirm whether the area is not possible. For this reason, according to the conventional vehicle periphery information presentation device, it takes a long time for the driver to gaze at the display device in order to check whether or not there is an invisible region in the image captured by the imaging device. There was.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and the object thereof is a vehicle periphery in which a driver can instantly confirm which area of an image displayed on a display device is invisible. An object is to provide an information presentation device and a vehicle surrounding information presentation method.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the vehicle surrounding information presentation device and the vehicle surrounding information presentation method according to the present invention provide an image quality of an image area corresponding to an area that can be viewed by a driver among images around the host vehicle. Is different from the image quality of the video area corresponding to the area that the driver cannot see.

  According to the vehicle surrounding information presentation device and the vehicle surrounding information presentation method according to the present invention, the image quality is different between the video area corresponding to the area that the driver can view and the video area corresponding to the area that the driver cannot view. Therefore, the driver can instantly confirm which region of the image displayed on the display device is an invisible region because of the difference in image quality.

  Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the vehicular peripheral information presentation device according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
[Configuration of Vehicle Peripheral Information Presentation Device]
As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle peripheral information presentation device according to the first embodiment of the present invention is mounted on a vehicle 1 and includes a peripheral distance measuring unit 2, a peripheral image capturing unit 3, a controller 4, and a display unit 5. Is provided as a main component, and the driving operation of the driver is supported by outputting an image of the periphery of the vehicle 1 on the display unit 5.

  The peripheral distance measuring unit 2 is configured by a device that can measure the distance between the vehicle 1 and an obstacle, such as a laser scanner or a stereo camera, and is installed at the front, rear, and side portions of the vehicle 1. The peripheral distance measurement unit 2 measures the time from when the light or radio wave is irradiated in the measurement direction until the reflected wave is detected, or by calculating the parallax of the stereo camera, and the obstacle existing around the vehicle 1 The distance between the vehicle 1 and the vehicle 1 is measured, and the measured distance information is output to the controller 4. The peripheral distance measuring unit 2 can also measure the size of the obstacle in the height direction by changing the light or radio wave irradiation direction in the vertical direction.

  The peripheral image capturing unit 3 is configured by an imaging device such as a CCD camera or an infrared camera installed at the front, rear, and side portions of the vehicle 1 and captures images around the vehicle 1. The peripheral image capturing unit 3 outputs the captured video information to the controller 4. When the peripheral image capturing unit 3 is caused to function as a front view monitor that captures a left and right front image of the vehicle 1, the peripheral image capturing unit 3 is installed at the left and right positions in front of the vehicle 1 as illustrated in FIG. 2. The example shown in FIG. 2 is an example in which the peripheral image capturing units 3 are installed one by one at the left and right positions in front of the vehicle 1, but the one peripheral image capturing unit 3 reflects the light beam using a mirror, a prism, or the like. You may image the image of the vehicle 1 right and left front. When the peripheral image capturing unit 3 is caused to function as a back view monitor that captures a rear image of the vehicle 1, the peripheral image capturing unit 3 is positioned at a rear position of the vehicle 1 such as near the bumper center position behind the vehicle 1 as shown in FIG. 3. Installed. When the peripheral image capturing unit 3 functions as a side view monitor that captures images on the left and right sides of the vehicle 1, the peripheral image capturing unit 3 is in a state where the imaging direction is directed to the front of the vehicle 1 as illustrated in FIG. 4. Installed at the bottom of the door mirror.

  The controller 4 is configured by an information processing device such as a microcomputer, and functions as a peripheral effective visual field range setting unit 6, a region conversion unit 7, and an image quality conversion unit 8 when a CPU in the information processing device executes a computer program. . The functions of the peripheral effective visual field range setting unit 6, the region conversion unit 7, and the image quality conversion unit 8 will be described later. The display unit 5 includes a display device such as a liquid crystal display device installed in the vehicle 1, and displays and outputs various information according to instructions from the controller 4.

  The vehicle peripheral information presentation device having such a configuration executes which peripheral information presentation processing described below to determine which region of the image around the vehicle 1 displayed on the display unit 5 is an invisible region. The driver of the vehicle 1 can be confirmed instantly. Hereinafter, with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 5, the operation of the vehicle surrounding information presentation device when executing this surrounding information presentation processing will be described.

[Peripheral information presentation process]
The flowchart shown in FIG. 5 starts at the timing when the ignition switch of the vehicle 1 is switched from the off state to the on state, and the peripheral information presentation process proceeds to the process of step S1. This peripheral information presentation process is repeatedly executed until the ignition switch of the vehicle 1 is turned off.

  In the process of step S1, the peripheral effective visual field range setting unit 6 subtracts an area that the driver cannot see through the vehicle body of the vehicle 1 from the peripheral vision area of the driver based on the vehicle body dimensions and the eyeball position EP of the driver of the vehicle 1. The region is set as the driver's peripheral effective visual field range EA (see FIGS. 2, 3 and 4). Specifically, when the driver views the outside of the vehicle in the horizontal direction from the interior of the vehicle, a blind spot area DA that cannot be seen by the driver M as shown in FIG. Is done. Similarly, in the vertical direction, the field of view is shielded by the hood, fender, trunk lid, etc. of the vehicle body to form a blind spot area DA that cannot be seen by the driver M as shown in FIG. 6B.

  Therefore, the peripheral effective visual field range setting unit 6 sets the range of the blind spot area DA from the eyeball position EP of the driver M and the vehicle body size, and subtracts the blind spot area DA from the peripheral view area of the driver M, thereby The peripheral effective visual field range EA is set geometrically. The method for setting the eyeball position of the driver is already known at the time of filing of the present invention and will not be described in detail. For example, the position of the driver seat and the mirror (at least one of the side mirror and the rearview mirror) The angle is detected, and the driver's eye position corresponding to the detected driver's seat position and mirror angle is retrieved from the table data indicating the correspondence between the driver's seat position and mirror angle and the driver's eye position. It can be set by doing. Thereby, the process of step S1 is completed and the peripheral information presentation process proceeds to the process of step S2.

  In the process of step S <b> 2, the peripheral image capturing unit 3 captures a video around the vehicle 1 and outputs the captured video to the region converting unit 7. Thereby, the process of step S2 is completed and the peripheral information presentation process proceeds to the process of step S3.

  In the process of step S3, the area conversion unit 7 performs coordinate conversion of the peripheral effective visual field range EA set by the process of step S1 into the video area EB imaged by the peripheral image imaging unit 2 (see FIG. 4), and the conversion result Are output to the image quality conversion unit 8 together with the video information. Thereby, the process of step S3 is completed and the peripheral information presentation process proceeds to the process of step S4.

  In step S4, the image quality conversion unit 8 refers to the conversion result output from the region conversion unit 7, and changes the image quality of the video area corresponding to the peripheral effective visual field range EA with respect to the image quality of other video areas. After that, the video captured by the peripheral image capturing unit 2 is output to the display unit 5. Note that the image quality of the image area corresponding to the peripheral effective visual field range EA is, for example, lowering the resolution, changing the color tone (monochrome, emphasizing red, green, yellow, etc.) or lowering the brightness (contrast). Or by applying a shading process. In addition, the image quality conversion unit 8 draws a straight line at the boundary line between the video area corresponding to the peripheral effective visual field range EA and the other video areas, and thereby the video area corresponding to the peripheral effective visual field range EA and the other video areas May be divided and displayed. Thereby, the process of step S4 is completed, and the peripheral information presentation process proceeds to the process of step S5.

  In the process of step S5, the display unit 5 displays and outputs the video information output from the image quality conversion unit 8. According to such processing, the left and right front images of the vehicle 1 captured by the peripheral image capturing unit 3 have areas Rl and Rr (peripheral effective visual field range EA) that can be viewed by the driver, as shown in FIG. It is displayed separately from invisible areas. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the video behind the vehicle 1 captured by the peripheral image capturing unit 3 is displayed separately from the area where the area Rl (peripheral effective visual field range EA) that can be viewed by the driver cannot be viewed. The Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the image of the side part of the vehicle 1 captured by the peripheral image capturing unit 3 is distinguished from the area where the area R (peripheral effective visual field range EA) that can be viewed by the driver cannot be viewed. Is displayed. Therefore, the driver can instantly confirm which region of the image displayed by the display unit 5 cannot be visually confirmed by himself / herself. Thereby, the process of step S5 is completed and a series of surrounding information presentation processes are complete | finished.

  As is apparent from the above description, according to the vehicle peripheral information presentation device according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the peripheral effective visual field range setting unit 6 surrounds the driver's effective visual field range around the vehicle 1. The image quality conversion unit 8 is set as the effective visual field range EA, and the image quality of the video region corresponding to the peripheral effective visual field range EA among the video regions captured by the peripheral image capturing unit 3 is set to the image quality of other video regions. Change. According to such a configuration, since the image quality is different between the video area corresponding to the driver's peripheral effective visual field range EA and the video area corresponding to the area that the driver cannot see, the driver can It is possible to instantly confirm which region of the video displayed on the display unit 5 is a region that cannot be viewed. In addition, the driver can instantly understand which position in the periphery of the vehicle 1 corresponds to the region that cannot be viewed compared to the case where only the image of the region that cannot be viewed is presented to the driver.

  Note that the controller 4 uses the distance information output from the peripheral distance measurement unit 2 to determine whether to activate the display unit 5, or there is an obstacle at a close distance of the peripheral image capturing unit 3. In such a case, it may be determined that effective video information cannot be obtained, and processing such as not displaying the video information may be performed.

[Second Embodiment]
[Configuration of Vehicle Peripheral Information Presentation Device]
As shown in FIG. 10, the vehicle periphery information presentation device according to the second embodiment of the present invention includes a vehicle position setting unit in addition to the components of the vehicle periphery information presentation device according to the first embodiment. 11, a map position information unit 12, a vehicle information acquisition unit 13, and an audio output unit 14. Further, the controller 4 executes a computer program executed by the CPU in the information processing apparatus, so that the peripheral effective visual field range setting unit 6, the region conversion unit 7, the image quality conversion unit 8, the peripheral effective image range setting unit 15, the system operation determination Functions as the unit 16 and the comparison determination unit 17. Further, in the present embodiment, the peripheral distance measurement unit 2 is disposed at a position below the driver's viewpoint position EP and ahead of the distance Ldn from the viewpoint position EP (see FIG. 12). The functions of the peripheral effective visual field range setting unit 6, the region conversion unit 7, the image quality conversion unit 8, the peripheral effective image range setting unit 15, the system operation determination unit 16, and the comparison determination unit 17 will be described later.

  The own vehicle position setting unit 11 is configured by a known position information acquisition device such as GPS (Global Positioning System), and acquires position information (coordinate values) of the vehicle 1. The map position information acquisition unit 12 sets the position of the vehicle 1 on the map based on the position information of the vehicle 1 acquired by the own vehicle position setting unit 11. The vehicle information acquisition unit 13 includes a speed sensor, and detects the speed of the vehicle 1 as vehicle information. The audio output unit 14 is configured by a known audio output device such as a speaker, and outputs audio to the driver M in accordance with instructions from the comparison determination unit 17.

  The surrounding information presentation device having such a configuration executes the following surrounding information presentation processing to determine which region of the image around the vehicle 1 displayed on the display unit 5 is an invisible region. The driver can immediately check. Hereinafter, with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 11, the operation of the peripheral information presentation device when executing this peripheral information presentation processing will be described.

[Peripheral information presentation process]
The flowchart shown in FIG. 11 starts at the timing when the ignition switch of the vehicle 1 is turned on, and the peripheral information presentation process proceeds to the process of step S11. This peripheral information presentation process is repeatedly executed until the ignition switch of the vehicle 1 is turned off.

  In the process of step S <b> 11, the own vehicle position setting unit 11 acquires the position information of the vehicle 1, and the map position information acquisition unit 12 is based on the position information of the vehicle 1 acquired by the own vehicle position setting unit 11. Set the position of 1 on the map. And the map position information acquisition part 12 discriminate | determines whether the vehicle 1 is approaching the intersection of the sight where the signal is not installed based on the position on the map of the set vehicle 1, and is approaching If there is, the peripheral information presentation process proceeds to the process of step S12.

  In the processing of step S12, the peripheral effective visual field range setting unit 6 calculates the left and right line-of-sight distances Ldl and Ldr at the current position of the vehicle 1 (point A shown in FIG. 13) by the peripheral distance measurement unit 2, and the calculated left and right Are set as the peripheral effective visual field range EA of the driver at a position ahead of the distance Ldn (point B shown in FIG. 13) from the current position of the vehicle 1. Note that the method for calculating the line-of-sight distance is already known at the time of filing of the present invention and will not be described in detail. For example, it can be calculated as follows. In other words, the peripheral distance measurement unit 2 measures the edge positions Edl and Edr of an obstacle such as a building by irradiating light or radio waves from the horizontal direction upward at an angle θ and detecting the reflected waves (see FIG. 12), the peripheral effective visual field range setting unit 6 refers to the map information acquired by the map position information acquisition unit 12, and the vehicle 1 travels with the extension lines of the edge positions Edl and Edr as shown in FIG. Intersections Cdl and Cdr with the road intersecting with the road are calculated. Then, the peripheral effective visual field range setting unit 6 calculates the distances between the intersection center points Ol and Or and the intersection points Cdl and Cdr as the left and right line-of-sight distances Ldl and Ldr. As shown in FIG. 12, the angle θ indicates an angle at which the light or radio wave irradiated by the peripheral distance measurement unit 2 intersects the driver's line of sight with respect to the horizontal direction, and is a value set based on the driver's viewpoint position EP. It is.

  The peripheral effective visual field range setting unit 6 calculates the angles of the straight lines connecting the edge positions Edl and Edr and the peripheral distance measuring unit 2 with respect to the traveling direction of the vehicle 1 as the left and right line-of-sight angles θdl and θdr at the current position of the vehicle 1. Accordingly, the left and right line-of-sight angles θdl and θdr may be calculated instead of the left and right line-of-sight distances Ldr and Ldl. As described above, the peripheral distance measuring unit 2 is disposed in front of the distance Ldn from the viewpoint position EP of the driver. Therefore, the left and right line-of-sight distances Ldl and Ldr (or line-of-sight angles θdl and θdr) measured at the current position of the vehicle 1 are the left and right line-of-sight distances Ldl and Ldr of the driver at a position ahead of the distance Ldn from the current position of the vehicle 1. (Or viewing angle θdl, θdr). Thereby, the process of step S12 is completed and the peripheral information presentation process proceeds to the process of step S13.

  In the process of step S13, the system operation determination unit 16 multiplies the left line-of-sight distance Ldl by the travel classification coefficient k, and both the right line-of-sight distance Ldr and the multiplication value are equal to or less than a predetermined value L (about 20 [m]). It is determined whether or not there is. If both are not less than or equal to the predetermined value as a result of the determination, the system operation determination unit 16 determines that the driver's prospect at the intersection is sufficient, and ends the peripheral information presentation process. On the other hand, when both are less than or equal to the predetermined value, the system operation determination unit 16 determines that the driver's prospect at the intersection is not sufficient, and advances the peripheral information presentation process to the process of step S13.

  In a country with a left-handed travel category such as Japan, the collision time for an intersecting vehicle traveling from the right side of the vehicle 1 proceeds from the left side of the vehicle 1 even when the line-of-sight distance is the same. It becomes shorter than the collision time for the crossing vehicle. Therefore, in the present embodiment, as described above, the left line-of-sight distance is set shorter than the right line-of-sight distance by multiplying the left line-of-sight distance Ldl by the travel classification coefficient k. When the left and right line-of-sight angles θdl and θdr are calculated in the process of step S12 described above, the same determination process is performed using the left and right line-of-sight angles θdl and θdr.

  In the process of step S14, the peripheral effective image range setting unit 15 calculates the left and right line-of-sight distances Lsl and Lsr at the position ahead of the distance Ldn (point B shown in FIG. 13) from the current position of the vehicle 1, and the calculated left and right The range of the line-of-sight distances Lsl and Lsr is set as a peripheral effective image range (a range that can be seen by the peripheral image capturing unit 3). Specifically, the peripheral distance measuring unit 2 measures the edge positions Esl and Esr of an obstacle such as a building by irradiating light or radio waves in the horizontal direction and detecting the reflected wave, and the peripheral effective As shown in FIG. 13, the field-of-view range setting unit 6 refers to the map information acquired by the map position information acquisition unit 12, and the road intersecting the extension line of the edge positions Esl and Esr and the road on which the vehicle 1 travels. Intersections Csl and Csr are calculated. Then, the peripheral effective visual field range setting unit 6 calculates the distances between the intersection center points Ol and Or and the intersection points Csl and Csr as the left and right line-of-sight distances Lsl and Lsr. When the left and right viewing angles θdl and θdr are calculated in the process of step S12 described above, the peripheral effective visual field range setting unit 6 determines that the left and right viewing angles θsl and θsr is calculated. The timing at which the vehicle 1 reaches the position ahead of the distance Ldn from the current position can be detected based on the speed of the vehicle 1 acquired by the vehicle information acquisition unit 13. Thereby, the process of step S14 is completed, and the peripheral information presentation process proceeds to the process of step S15.

  In the process of step S15, the area conversion unit 7 performs coordinate conversion of the peripheral effective visual field range EA and the peripheral effective image range set by the process of step S12 into the video area EB imaged by the peripheral image imaging unit 3, and the peripheral effective A video area corresponding to the visual field range EA and an area other than the peripheral effective image range is determined as an image quality conversion area. Thereby, the process of step S15 is completed and the peripheral information presentation process proceeds to the process of step S16.

  In step S16, the image quality conversion unit 8 changes the image quality of the image quality conversion region determined by the region conversion unit 7, and then outputs the video imaged by the peripheral image imaging unit 2 to the display unit 5 for display. The unit 5 displays and outputs the video output from the image quality conversion unit 8. According to such processing, as shown in FIG. 14 and FIG. 15, the driver cannot see through the left and right eyelids, but the ranges R1l and R1r (R1) captured by the peripheral image capturing unit 3 are clear. The image areas R2l and R2r (R2) corresponding to the range that can be seen by the driver are displayed with the image quality changed. In addition, among the video areas captured by the peripheral image capturing unit 3, videos in the areas R 3 l and R 3 r (R 3) (areas outside the peripheral effective image range) that do not contribute to the line of sight are displayed in a solid color.

  In the example illustrated in FIG. 14, the image quality conversion unit 8 may divide the region that can be viewed by the driver into left and right and output the divided region to the display unit 5 as illustrated in FIG. 16. According to such processing, it is possible to reduce the time required for calculating the peripheral effective visual field range and the peripheral effective image range. In addition, as shown in FIG. 17, the image quality conversion unit 8 may change only the image quality of a region that is equal to or higher than a predetermined height in the region that is visible to the driver. According to such processing, the driver M's attention can be directed only to a range close to the vehicle 1. Further, as shown in FIG. 18, the image quality conversion unit 8 draws boundary lines Ll and Lr between the region where the image quality is changed and the region where the image quality is not changed, and outputs it to the display unit 5. Good. Thereby, the process of step S16 is completed and the peripheral information presentation process proceeds to the process of step S17.

  In the processing of step S17, the comparison determination unit 17 calculates the ratio of the area whose image quality has been changed by the image quality conversion unit 8 in the video area captured by the peripheral image capturing unit 3, and the calculated ratio is 50%. It is determined whether or not: If the result of determination is not 50% or less, the comparison / determination unit 17 advances the peripheral information presentation process to the process of step S19. On the other hand, if it is 50% or less, the comparison / determination unit 17 advances the peripheral information presentation process to the process of step S18.

  In the process of step S18, the comparison / determination unit 17 determines that the vehicle 1 is about to enter an intersection with poor visibility, and controls the audio output unit 14 so that it is an intersection with poor visibility. Is output to support the driving operation of the vehicle 1 at an intersection with poor visibility. Thereby, the process of step S18 is completed, and the peripheral information providing process proceeds to the process of step S19.

  In the process of step S <b> 19, the vehicle position setting unit 11 acquires the position information of the vehicle 1, and the map position information acquisition unit 12 is based on the position information of the vehicle 1 acquired by the own vehicle position setting unit 11. Set the location on the map. And the map position information acquisition part 12 discriminate | determines whether the vehicle 1 passed the intersection based on the position on the map of the vehicle 1 set. As a result of the determination, if the vehicle 1 has not passed the intersection, the map position information acquisition unit 12 returns the surrounding information provision process to the process of step S12. On the other hand, when the vehicle 1 passes through the intersection, the map position information acquisition unit 12 ends the series of surrounding information provision processing.

  As is clear from the above description, according to the vehicular peripheral information providing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the peripheral effective visual field range setting unit 6 has the left and right lines of sight measured by the peripheral distance measuring unit 2. Since the peripheral effective visual field range EA is set using the distances Ldl and Ldr or the line-of-sight angles θdl and θdr, the driver instantly confirms a video region that can be seen out of the images captured by the peripheral image capturing unit 3. Can do.

  In addition, the vehicular peripheral information providing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention uses the left and right line-of-sight distances Ldl and Ldr or the line-of-sight angles θdl and θdr measured by the peripheral distance measurement unit 2. 3, the peripheral effective image range setting unit 15 that sets the image range that can be seen by 3 as the peripheral effective image range, and the image quality conversion unit 8 is an image corresponding to the peripheral effective visual field range among the images captured by the peripheral image capturing unit 3. Since the image quality of the image range corresponding to a range other than the image quality of the range and the peripheral effective image range is changed, the driver cannot obtain a range that can be seen by the peripheral image capturing unit 3 or effective information from the peripheral image capturing unit 3. That can be confirmed instantly.

  Further, according to the vehicle surrounding information providing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the surrounding distance measuring unit 2 uses the light, radio waves, or the parallax of the stereo camera, and the line-of-sight distances Ldl, Ldr or the line-of-sight. Since the angles θdl and θdr are measured, the left and right line-of-sight distances Ldl and Ldr or the line-of-sight angles θdl and θdr are accurately measured even when the viewpoint position EP of the driver and the installation position of the peripheral image capturing unit 3 are different. be able to.

  In addition, according to the vehicle surrounding information providing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the comparison determination unit 17 has a video corresponding to the peripheral effective visual field range EA in the video captured by the peripheral image capturing unit 3. When the ratio occupied by the area is calculated and the calculated ratio is 50% or less, the voice output unit 14 outputs a message indicating that the prospect is poor, so the driver displays the video displayed on the display unit 5. The timing for visual recognition is known, and the number of times of visual recognition can be reduced.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment which applied the invention made by the present inventors was described, this invention is not limited by the description and drawing which make a part of indication of this invention by this embodiment. That is, it should be added that other embodiments, examples, operation techniques, and the like made by those skilled in the art based on this embodiment are all included in the scope of the present invention.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the periphery information presentation apparatus for vehicles used as the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the attachment position at the time of attaching the periphery image pick-up part shown in FIG. 1 in the vehicle front. It is a figure which shows an example of the attachment position at the time of attaching the periphery image pick-up part shown in FIG. 1 to a vehicle back. It is a figure which shows an example of the attachment position at the time of attaching the periphery image pick-up part shown in FIG. 1 to a vehicle side. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the periphery information presentation process which becomes the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the setting method of the peripheral effective visual field range which becomes the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the vehicle front image shown by the vehicle periphery information presentation apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the vehicle back image shown by the vehicle periphery information presentation apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the vehicle side image shown by the vehicle periphery information presentation apparatus shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the vehicle periphery information presentation apparatus used as the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the periphery information presentation process which becomes the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the measurement direction of a periphery distance measurement part. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the setting method of the peripheral effective visual field range and the setting method of a peripheral effective image range which become the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the vehicle front image shown by the vehicle periphery information presentation apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the other example of the vehicle front image shown by the vehicle periphery information presentation apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the other example of the vehicle front image shown by the vehicle periphery information presentation apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the other example of the vehicle front image shown by the vehicle periphery information presentation apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the other example of the vehicle front image shown by the vehicle periphery information presentation apparatus shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1: vehicle 2: peripheral distance measuring unit 3: peripheral image capturing unit 4: controller 5: display unit 6: peripheral effective visual field range setting unit 7: area converting unit 8: image quality converting unit

Claims (13)

Peripheral effective visual field range setting means for setting the effective visual field range of the driver around the host vehicle as the peripheral effective visual field range;
Peripheral image capturing means for capturing an image around the host vehicle;
Area conversion means for coordinate-converting the peripheral effective visual field range set by the peripheral effective visual field range setting means into an image space imaged by the peripheral image imaging means;
Image quality conversion means for outputting image information after changing the image quality of the image range corresponding to the peripheral effective visual field range set by the peripheral effective visual field range setting means among the image ranges captured by the peripheral image imaging means; ,
A vehicle surrounding information presentation device, comprising: a display unit provided in a passenger compartment of the host vehicle and presenting image information output from the image quality conversion unit to a driver. The vehicle surrounding information presentation device according to claim 1,
The peripheral effective visual field range setting means sets, as the peripheral effective visual field range, a visual field range obtained by subtracting a visual field range that becomes a blind spot by the vehicle body of the host vehicle from a visual field range around the host vehicle viewed from the eyeball position of the driver. Vehicle peripheral information presentation device. The vehicle surrounding information presentation device according to claim 1,
It further comprises line-of-sight measurement means for measuring the line-of-sight distance or line-of-sight angle around the host vehicle, and the peripheral effective visual field range setting means uses the line-of-sight distance or line-of-sight angle measured by the line-of-sight measurement means. A peripheral information presentation device for a vehicle, characterized in that The vehicle periphery information presentation device according to claim 3,
The image quality conversion means further includes a peripheral effective image range setting means for setting an image range that can be seen by the peripheral image imaging means as a peripheral effective image range by using the visual distance or the visual angle measured by the visual measurement means. The image quality of the image range corresponding to the peripheral effective visual field range set by the peripheral effective visual field range setting means out of the image range captured by the peripheral image imaging means and the peripheral effective image range setting means set A vehicle peripheral information presentation device that outputs image information after changing the image quality of an image range corresponding to a range other than a peripheral effective image range. The vehicle surrounding information presentation device according to claim 3 or 4,
The vehicle peripheral information presentation device, wherein the line-of-sight measurement means measures line-of-sight distance or line-of-sight angle using light or radio waves. The vehicle surrounding information presentation device according to claim 3 or 4,
The vehicular peripheral information presentation device, wherein the line-of-sight measurement means measures a line-of-sight distance or a line-of-sight angle using parallax of a stereo camera. The vehicle surrounding information presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
A comparison determination unit that calculates a ratio of an image range corresponding to the peripheral effective visual field range in an image range captured by the peripheral image capturing unit, and determines whether the calculated ratio satisfies a predetermined condition; An apparatus for presenting vehicle peripheral information, further comprising: voice means for outputting a predetermined message to the driver when the comparison determination means determines that the calculated ratio satisfies a predetermined condition. The vehicle surrounding information presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The image quality conversion means draws a straight line at the boundary line between the image range corresponding to the peripheral effective visual field range and the other image range, and then outputs the image captured by the peripheral image capturing means to the display means. A vehicle periphery information presentation device, which is characterized.   The vehicle peripheral information presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the image quality conversion means sets the resolution of the image range corresponding to the peripheral effective visual field range to other image ranges. A vehicular peripheral information presentation device that changes the image quality of an image range corresponding to a peripheral effective visual field range by lowering the resolution.   The vehicle peripheral information presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the image quality conversion unit changes a color tone of an image range corresponding to a peripheral effective visual field range, A vehicle peripheral information presentation device that changes the image quality of an image range corresponding to a peripheral effective visual field range.   The vehicle peripheral information presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the image quality conversion means sets the brightness of the image range corresponding to the peripheral effective visual field range to other image ranges. A vehicular peripheral information presentation device that changes the image quality of an image range corresponding to a peripheral effective visual field range by lowering the brightness.   The vehicle surrounding information presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein a distance measuring unit that measures a distance between the host vehicle and an obstacle around the host vehicle, A vehicle peripheral information presentation device comprising: control means for controlling on / off of the display means according to the distance measured by the distance measuring means. A process of setting the effective visual field range of the driver around the host vehicle as the peripheral effective visual field range;
Processing to capture an image of the surroundings of the vehicle;
A process of coordinate-transforming the peripheral effective visual field range into an image space around the subject vehicle;
A vehicle surrounding information presentation method, comprising: processing to display and output image information after changing an image quality of an image range corresponding to the surrounding effective visual field range of the imaged area surrounding the host vehicle. .

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