JP2008090664A - Driving support device and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a driving support device and a program, predicting a travelling direction even before a driver performs a gear operation or switch operation, and displaying an image of the predicted travelling direction. <P>SOLUTION: In step 100, whether a vehicle is running forward or backward is acquired based on a signal showing a gear position from a vehicle drive sensor 33. In step 110, whether the vehicle is parked or not is determined. In step 120, position information of a parking place is acquired by a car navigation system. In step 130, inclination information for inclination angle and inclination direction is acquired based on a signal from an inclination sensor 35. In step 140, a travelling direction (forward/backward) at next start is predicted. In step 150, the predicted travelling direction at the next start and the inclination information are stored in an external memory 7. When starting, the prediction information for the travelling direction at start and inclination information stored in the external memory 7 are read, and an image of the travelling direction of the vehicle is displayed on a monitor 25 based on these pieces of information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving support apparatus and a program for monitoring driving around a vehicle and supporting driving.

  When the driver starts the vehicle, the safety around the vehicle is confirmed. Recently, however, as a peripheral monitoring device (driving support device) for assisting the driver in confirming safety, an image of the vehicle traveling direction is displayed on the monitor. There is something to display.

For example, Patent Document 1 below discloses a technique for supporting a safety check by displaying a backward image that is expected to be the traveling direction when a shift is put in a back gear.
Patent Document 2 below discloses a technique for supporting safety confirmation by displaying a video image of a camera provided around a vehicle (front, side, rear) by a driver's switch operation. With this technology, switching between “display / not display” and video switching (front / side / back) is possible by switch operation.
JP 2000-127851 A JP 2003-163925 A

  However, in the technique of Patent Document 1, since an image is displayed by a gear operation, it is not possible to confirm an image that is expected to be a traveling direction before the gear operation. In particular, when starting, if the safety in the direction of travel can be confirmed at an early stage before operating the gear, the accident rate will be reduced and the stress on the driver will be reduced, but the countermeasures are not sufficient.

  Further, in the technique of Patent Document 2, since video display / video switching is performed by a driver's operation, video cannot be displayed until the driver operates. In addition, due to an operation error, there is a possibility that the image selected by the driver for safety confirmation and the vehicle traveling direction may be inconsistent. In particular, a driver's operation mistake at the time of starting has a problem that the risk of an accident increases.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems. Attention is paid to the time when the vehicle starts, and the driver predicts the traveling direction before the gear operation or switch operation, and the image predicted as the traveling direction is displayed. An object of the present invention is to provide a driving support device and a program that can be displayed.

  (1) The invention of claim 1 relates to a driving support device for displaying an image of the periphery of the vehicle on a monitor based on a signal from a photographing means for photographing the periphery of the vehicle, and based on information at the time of parking. Predicting means for predicting the traveling direction of the vehicle at the start, and display control means for displaying a video of the traveling direction of the vehicle predicted by the predicting means out of the images photographed by the photographing means at the time of starting. And.

  In the present invention, based on the information at the time of parking, the direction of travel of the vehicle at the time of start is predicted, and at the time of start, the image of the predicted direction of travel is displayed on a monitor or the like. The direction of travel can be predicted before the operation. As a result, it is possible to quickly and surely confirm the direction of travel at the time of departure, and it can be expected that the load on the driver is reduced and the accident rate is reduced.

(2) The invention of claim 2 is characterized in that the traveling direction is predicted at the time of parking.
In the present invention, since the direction of travel at the next start is predicted at the time of parking, the calculation burden at the start can be reduced. In other words, if the prediction information of the direction of travel obtained by calculation is stored in the memory at the time of parking (also at the time of parking), it can be used simply by reading the prediction information from the memory at the time of starting. It is reduced.

(3) In the invention of claim 3, the information at the time of parking is at least one of the information on the parking place and the information on the traveling direction at the time of parking (parking forward, parking backward, etc.). To do.
The present invention exemplifies data used for calculation of the prediction of the traveling direction.

(4) The invention of claim 4 is characterized in that the parking place information is information on street parking or parking lot parking.
The present invention exemplifies information on a parking place. The road parking information preferably includes information on whether or not the vehicle can travel forward or backward. Moreover, it is preferable that the parking lot parking information includes information on parking lot divisions (for example, what kind of division, forward parking division or reverse parking division, etc.).

(5) The invention of claim 5 is characterized in that the information on the parking place is information indicating a state of inclination of the parking lot.
The present invention exemplifies information on a parking place. The tilt information includes the tilt direction and the degree of tilt (tilt angle).

(6) The invention of claim 6 is characterized in that when the predicted direction of the traveling direction of the vehicle at the time of starting is different from the descending direction of the parking lot, images before and after the vehicle are displayed.
When the inclination of the parking lot is large, it is conceivable that the vehicle slightly moves in the direction of the inclination at the start regardless of the driver's intention.

  Therefore, when the predicted direction of the traveling direction of the vehicle at the time of departure and the descending direction of the parking lot are different (particularly when the inclination is large), images before and after the vehicle are displayed. This further improves safety.

(7) The invention of claim 7 is a program for causing a computer to function as the prediction means and the display control means.
This program is provided to the program writing apparatus itself, a computer system, or a user who uses these programs via a recording medium such as an FD, a CD-ROM, or a memory card, or a communication network such as the Internet. .

  Hereinafter, an example (example) of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  The driving support device of the present embodiment predicts the traveling direction (starting direction) at the start of the vehicle based on the information at the time of the previous parking, and displays a video (image) of the predicted traveling direction on the monitor at the start. Is.

a) First, the structure of the driving assistance apparatus of a present Example is demonstrated based on FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the driving assistance apparatus of the present embodiment uses a car navigation system. As a basic configuration of the car navigation system, a position detector 1, a map data input device 3, an operation switch group. 5, external memory 7, display device (monitor) 9, transmitter / receiver 11, voice controller 13, speaker 15, voice recognition device 17, microphone 19, remote control sensor 21, and remote control terminal (remote control) 23. A connected control device 25 is provided.

  In particular, in the system used for driving assistance, in addition to the car navigation system, an imaging device 27, a parking brake switch 29, a vehicle drive sensor (gear sensor, vehicle speed sensor) 33, and a tilt sensor 35 are used. It is connected to the control device 25.

  Among these, the position detector 1 includes a geomagnetic sensor 37, a gyroscope 39, a distance sensor 41, and a GPS receiver 43. Since these sensors 37 to 43 have errors of different properties, they are configured to be used while being complemented by a plurality of sensors.

  The map data input device 3 is loaded with a storage medium (not shown), and inputs various data including map matching data, map data, and landmark data for improving the accuracy of position detection stored in the storage medium. It is a device for doing. As a storage medium, a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM is generally used because of the amount of data, but a memory card, HDD, or the like may be used.

  For example, a touch switch or a mechanical switch integrated with the display device 9 is used as the operation switch group 5, and various functions (for example, map scale change, menu display selection, destination setting) are performed by the switch operation. , Route search, route guidance start, current position correction, display screen change, volume adjustment, etc.).

  The remote controller 23 is provided with a plurality of operation switches (not shown), and various command signals are input to the control device 25 via the remote control sensor 21 by the switch operation, and the control device 25 executes various functions.

  The external memory 7 is a writable mass storage device such as an HDD. The external memory 7 has applications such as storing a large amount of data and data that should not be erased even when the power is turned off, and copying frequently used data from the map data input device 3 for use. The external memory 7 may be a removable memory having a relatively small storage capacity.

  The display device 9 displays a map, a destination selection screen, and the like as navigation, and can display full color, and can be configured using liquid crystal, organic EL, or the like. When the display device 9 is not used as a navigation monitor, the front and rear images of the vehicle taken by the imaging device 27 can be displayed as will be described later.

  The transceiver 11 receives traffic information, weather information, facility information, advertisement information, etc. provided from the outside (for example, infrastructure such as a VICS system: VICS sensor 45), and also provides vehicle information, driver information, etc. to the outside. It is a device to send. Information received from the outside is processed by the control device 25. If necessary, information processed by the control device 25 can be output from the transceiver 11.

The speaker 15 notifies the outside of a predetermined voice (guidance for guidance, explanation of screen operation, voice recognition result, etc.) based on the voice output signal input from the voice controller 13.
The microphone 19 inputs the voice uttered by the operator to the voice recognition device 17 as an electrical signal.

  The voice recognition device 17 collates the operator's input voice with vocabulary data in a recognition dictionary (not shown) stored therein, and inputs the highest matching score to the voice controller 13 as a recognition result.

  The voice controller 13 controls the voice recognition device 17 and controls talkback output (voice output) through the speaker 15 for an operator who has input voice. Moreover, the process which inputs the recognition result of the speech recognition apparatus 17 to the control apparatus 25 is also performed.

  The imaging device 27 has a function of capturing the situation in front of and behind the vehicle as an image, and for example, a camera or an infrared monitoring device can be used. Here, the vehicle front camera 27a and the vehicle rear camera 27b are used. The imaging device 27 is connected to the control device 25 so as to be easily detachable. Of course, the imaging device 27 may be incorporated in the control device 25 so that it cannot be easily attached and detached.

The vehicle drive sensor 33 has a function as a gear sensor that detects a gear (P, R, D) of the vehicle and a function as a vehicle speed sensor that detects a vehicle speed.
The inclination sensor 35 has a function of measuring inclination information of the inclination direction and inclination angle of the vehicle and communicating the inclination information to the control device 25. Note that the tilt sensor 35 may be incorporated in the gyroscope 39.

  The control device 25 is configured as a normal computer, and includes a well-known CPU, ROM, RAM, I / O, and a bus line (all not shown) for connecting these configurations.

  This control device 25 is input as a navigation function from the position detector 1, the map data input device 3, the operation switch group 5, the external memory 7, the transceiver 11, the voice controller 13, the voice recognition device 17, the remote control sensor 21, and the like. Based on the various information, predetermined processing (for example, map scale change processing, menu display selection processing, destination setting processing, route search execution processing, route guidance start processing, current position correction processing, display screen change processing, volume adjustment processing) And the result is output by the display device 9 and the speaker 15.

  For example, when the destination is set by the remote controller 23 or the operation switch group 5, the control device 25 automatically searches for and guides the optimum route from the current position detected by the position detector 1 to the destination. Set and display the route.

  The set route is superimposed and displayed together with the current position mark detected by the position detector 1 on the display map displayed on the display device 9 based on the information of the map data input device 3. In addition to the current position and route, other information displays such as the current time and traffic jam information can be additionally displayed on the display map.

  In particular, in this embodiment, as will be described later, the vehicle is controlled by the control device 25 based on the position of the vehicle from the car navigation system, information on the map, information from the vehicle drive sensor 33 and the inclination sensor 35, etc. Is predicted, and at the next start, an image of the predicted traveling direction of the vehicle (that is, an image captured by the imaging device 27) is displayed on the display device 9.

b) Next, a description will be given of the main processing contents of the present embodiment performed by the control device 25, that is, the procedure for predicting the traveling direction.
In the present embodiment, in the prediction of the traveling direction, information on the parking location and the traveling direction at the time of parking is used. Details will be described below.

(1) Acquisition of the situation at the time of parking Information acquired at the time of parking is shown in Table 1 below.

(2) Prediction of traveling direction The traveling direction is predicted by the algorithm shown in Table 2 below.

(3) The traveling direction predicted by the algorithm shown in Table 2 above, the inclination direction and the inclination angle of the parking lot are stored in a recording device (for example, the external memory 7).

(4) Next time after “ACC ON” of an ignition switch (not shown), the data stored in (3) is extracted from the external memory 7.
(5) If the parking lot has a large slope, the vehicle may move slightly in the direction of low altitude when starting due to the influence of gravity. Therefore, when the predicted traveling direction is opposite to the direction where the altitude is low, it is unclear which one moves forward and backward of the vehicle. In this case, the front and rear images are displayed on the same display device 9.

c) Next, the main processing of the present embodiment performed by the control device 25 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
(1) Processing at the time of parking This processing is started when “ACC ON”.

As shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2, in step (S) 100, information indicating whether the vehicle is moving forward or backward is acquired from a signal indicating the gear position from the vehicle drive sensor 33.
In the following step 110, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is parked. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the engine is off, the gear position is P (parking), and the handbrake is applied. If all the determinations are affirmative, it is determined that the vehicle is parked. Whether the hand brake is applied or not can be determined by turning on / off the parking brake switch 29.

  In the following step 120, the position information of the parking place is acquired by the car navigation system. Specifically, the current position of the parked vehicle (parking place: parking position) is obtained, and information on whether the parking position is a parking lot or on the road is acquired. And when a parking position is a parking lot, the information of the parking area of the parking lot is acquired. On the other hand, when the parking position is on the road, information on whether or not there is a road that can pass forward and information on whether or not there is a road that can pass behind are acquired.

In the subsequent step 130, the tilt information of the tilt angle and the tilt direction is acquired based on the signal from the tilt sensor 35.
In the following step 140, the traveling direction (forward / reverse) at the next start is predicted based on the algorithm shown in Table 2 as described later.

In subsequent step 150, the inclination information obtained in step 130 and the traveling direction at the next start predicted in step 140 are stored in the external memory 7, and the present process is temporarily terminated.
Here, the process of predicting the traveling direction in step 140 will be described in detail.

  As shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3, in step 200, as shown in Table 1, it is determined whether the parking place is on the road or on the basis of information acquired from the map data of the car navigation system.

If the vehicle is on the road, it is determined in step 210 whether the vehicle cannot pass forward, cannot pass backward, or can pass both forward and backward.
Then, as shown in FIG. 4, when forward traffic is impossible, in step 220, the next traveling direction is predicted to be a backward start, and this process is temporarily terminated.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, when it is not possible to pass backward, in step 230, the next advancing direction is predicted to be forward start, and the present process is temporarily terminated.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6, when both forward and backward passages are possible, the next traveling direction is predicted to be forward start in step 240, and this process is temporarily terminated.

  On the other hand, in step 250, which is determined to be parking at the parking lot in step 200, there is no information on the parking area for forward start or the reverse start based on similar map data, or there is no information on the parking area. Determine whether.

Then, as shown in FIG. 7, in the case of a forward start parking section, in step 260, the next advancing direction is predicted to be forward start, and this process is temporarily terminated.
Further, as shown in FIG. 8, in the case of a parking area for backward start, in step 270, the next advancing direction is predicted to be reverse start, and this process is temporarily terminated.

Further, when there is no information on the parking section, in step 280, the traveling direction during parking is determined based on the signal from the vehicle drive sensor 33.
If the gear position at the time of parking is forward (D range), the next traveling direction is predicted to be backward starting at step 290, and this processing is temporarily terminated.

If the gear position at the time of parking is reverse (R range), the next advancing direction is predicted to be forward start in step 295, and this process is temporarily terminated.
(2) Start process This process starts when “ACC ON”.

  As shown in the flowchart of FIG. 9, in step 300, when the vehicle starts, the prediction information and the inclination information of the traveling direction stored in the external memory 7 at the time of previous parking are read (extracted) from the external memory 7. If “ACC ON” is set, it is determined that the vehicle is starting.

In the subsequent step 310, it is determined whether the predicted traveling direction is forward or backward based on the read prediction information of the traveling direction.
If the vehicle is moving forward, it is determined in step 320 whether or not the vehicle is largely inclined backward based on the inclination information. If an affirmative determination is made here, the process proceeds to step 330, while if a negative determination is made, the process proceeds to step 350.

  In step 330, the predicted traveling direction is forward, but the road surface is greatly inclined backward, and there is a possibility that the road surface may slightly move backward first. Therefore, the front and rear images of the vehicle are displayed on the display device 9. .

  In the following step 340, it is determined based on the vehicle speed signal from the vehicle drive sensor 33 (that is, based on the vehicle speed) whether the start state is completed (that is, whether the vehicle speed is equal to or higher than a predetermined value). If an affirmative determination is made here, the process proceeds to step 420, while if a negative determination is made, the process returns to step 330.

On the other hand, in step 350, which is determined to be negative in step 320 and proceeds, the predicted traveling direction is forward, and the road surface is less inclined, so an image in front of the vehicle is displayed on the display device 9.
In the subsequent step 360, it is determined whether or not the start state has been completed based on the vehicle speed signal from the vehicle drive sensor 33. Here, if an affirmative determination is made, the process proceeds to step 420, while if a negative determination is made, the process returns to step 350.

  In step 370, which is predicted to be a backward start in step 310, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is largely inclined forward based on the inclination information. If an affirmative determination is made here, the process proceeds to step 380, whereas if a negative determination is made, the process proceeds to step 400.

  In step 380, although the predicted traveling direction is backward, the road surface is greatly inclined forward and may move slightly forward at first, so the images of the vehicle front and rear are displayed on the display device 9.

  In the following step 390, it is determined whether or not the start state has been completed based on the vehicle speed signal from the vehicle drive sensor 33. Here, if an affirmative determination is made, the process proceeds to step 420, while if a negative determination is made, the process returns to step 380.

On the other hand, in Step 400, which is determined to be negative in Step 370 and proceeds, the predicted traveling direction is backward, and the road surface is less inclined, so an image behind the vehicle is displayed on the display device 9.
In the subsequent step 410, it is determined whether or not the start state has been completed based on the vehicle speed signal from the vehicle drive sensor 33. Here, if an affirmative determination is made, the process proceeds to step 420, while if a negative determination is made, the process returns to step 400.

  In step 420, which is determined as affirmative in steps 340, 360, 390, and 410, the video display in the necessary direction is completed. Therefore, the video display is terminated, and the process is temporarily terminated.

  d) In this way, in this embodiment, the direction of travel at the next start is predicted at the time of parking, and the image of the necessary direction is displayed with the tilt information at the time of start. However, this is possible early and reliably. As a result, it is possible to expect a reduction in the load on the driver and a reduction in the accident rate.

  For example, step 140 corresponds to the prediction unit, and steps 330, 350, 380, and 400 correspond to the display control unit.

Next, the driving support device of the second embodiment will be described, but the description of the same contents as the first embodiment will be omitted.
The present embodiment re-predicts the traveling direction when parking on the road.

As shown in FIG. 10, even when it is predicted that the vehicle will start ahead when parking, another vehicle may park in front of the host vehicle.
In such a case, when the other vehicle ahead is recognized by the processing of the image taken by the vehicle front camera 27a at the start, the vehicle cannot start forward, so that it is predicted again as a backward start.

  Thereby, it becomes possible to cope with the change of the situation suitably.

Next, the driving support device of the third embodiment will be described, but the description of the same contents as the first embodiment will be omitted.
The present embodiment re-predicts the traveling direction when parking on the road.

As shown in FIG. 11, when the road ahead is not allowed due to traffic restrictions or the like, it is normally predicted that the vehicle will start backward when parking.
However, even if it is predicted to start backward, another vehicle may park behind the host vehicle.

  In such a case, when the other vehicle behind is recognized by processing the image captured by the vehicle rear camera 27b at the time of starting, the vehicle cannot start backward, so that it is predicted again as starting forward.

Thereby, it becomes possible to cope with the change of the situation suitably.
In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, It is possible to implement in various aspects.

For example, the prediction of the traveling direction is preferable when performed at the time of parking because the calculation burden at the time of starting is reduced, but it is also possible to predict the traveling direction at the time of starting.
Further, instead of determining the video to be displayed on the monitor in consideration of the tilt information at the time of departure, the video to be finally displayed may be determined in consideration of the tilt information at the time of parking.

  Furthermore, a program including the processing content of each of the above embodiments is also within the scope of the present invention.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the driving assistance device of Example 1. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the whole process at the time of parking of Example 1. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the progress prediction at the time of parking of Example 1. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the condition when the front cannot pass by street parking. It is explanatory drawing which shows the condition when the back cannot pass by street parking. It is explanatory drawing which shows the condition when both front and back can pass by street parking. It is explanatory drawing which shows the condition of parking in the parking area of forward start. It is explanatory drawing which shows the condition of the parking in the parking area of reverse start. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an overall process at the time of starting in the first embodiment. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation of the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation of the third embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Position sensor 7 ... External memory 9 ... Display apparatus 25 ... Control apparatus 27 ... Imaging device 33 ... Vehicle drive sensor 35 ... Tilt sensor

Claims (7)

In a driving support device that displays a video of the periphery of the vehicle on a monitor based on a signal from an imaging unit that captures the periphery of the vehicle,
A prediction means for predicting the traveling direction of the vehicle at the start based on the information at the time of parking;
Display control means for displaying an image of the traveling direction of the vehicle predicted by the prediction means among the images taken by the photographing means at the time of starting,
A driving support apparatus comprising:   The driving support device according to claim 1, wherein the traveling direction is predicted at the time of parking.   The driving support apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the information at the time of parking is at least one of information on a parking place and information on a traveling direction at the time of parking.   The driving support device according to claim 3, wherein the parking location information is information on street parking or parking parking.   The driving support apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the information on the parking place is information indicating an inclination state of the parking lot.   The driving support according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein when the predicted direction of the traveling direction of the vehicle at the time of starting is different from the descending direction of the parking lot, an image before and after the vehicle is displayed. apparatus.   A program for causing a computer to function as the prediction unit and the display control unit.