JP2009139240A - Vehicle perimeter surveillance device, display control method of vehicle perimeter surveillance device and display control program executed in vehicle perimeter surveillance device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle perimeter surveillance device automatically displaying an imaged image by accurately determining necessity of images with imaging cameras of a vehicle front part. <P>SOLUTION: The vehicle perimeter surveillance device includes a vehicle navigation system having map information of a road on which a vehicle currently travels and a display part for displaying images of perimeters of the vehicle. On the basis of the information inputted from the vehicle navigation system, the vehicle perimeter surveillance device includes a priority determining part for determining priority of a road on which the vehicle currently travels and another road intersecting forward of the road on which the vehicle currently travels. When the priority determining part determines that priority of the road on which the vehicle currently travels is lower than that of the other road intersecting forward, a display control part displays images of the perimeter of the vehicle imaged with the cameras provided on a vehicle front part on the display part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle surrounding monitoring device, a display control method for a vehicle surrounding monitoring device, and a display control program therefor.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a front camera system that can confirm the situation of an intersection road that becomes a blind spot from a driver's seat until entering the intersection at an intersection with poor visibility is known.

  A conventional front camera system includes a wide-angle camera, two cameras for left and right, and the like at a front portion of a vehicle such as an upper portion of a front bumper of the vehicle. And a wide angle camera etc. image the left-right direction of a vehicle based on directions operation from a driver. An image captured by a wide-angle camera or the like is displayed on a display device such as a liquid crystal display so that the image can be viewed from the driver's seat.

  When a vehicle driver enters an intersection, or enters a wide road from a narrow road with poor visibility, only a front portion of the vehicle on which a wide-angle camera or the like is mounted enters a portion of the vehicle into the intersection. Thereby, even if the driver's seat part and the vehicle body have not yet entered the intersection, a wide-angle camera or the like can take an image of the inside of the intersection. And it becomes possible to confirm the safety in the intersection and in the left-right direction through the image captured by the wide-angle camera.

  Also, in a vehicle equipped with a conventional navigation system, when approaching an intersection, the power of a wide-angle camera or the like is turned on by a driver's manual operation. Moreover, the liquid crystal display that displays the map of the navigation system is switched from a map image to a captured image of a wide-angle camera or the like by a driver's manual operation.

  By visually recognizing the switched captured image on the display, the driver can confirm the safety in the intersection that is not yet visible from the driver.

  As described above, in the conventional vehicle surrounding monitoring device, it is necessary for the driver to determine whether or not the driver needs to confirm the image of the imaging camera attached to the front portion of the vehicle. Further, when it is determined that the image needs to be confirmed, the driver has to perform an instruction operation for displaying the image of the imaging camera on the liquid crystal display.

  However, operation buttons and the like for performing power operations such as turning on and off the imaging camera and performing display instruction operations on the liquid crystal display are provided around the instrument panel and the steering unit in the vehicle cabin. On the other hand, the driver of the vehicle entering the intersection is in a situation where he / she needs to pay the most attention to the outside of the passenger compartment, and needs to pay special attention to the surroundings of the vehicle. For this reason, the driver who approaches the intersection and enters the vehicle into the intersection requires both the operation of the instruction operation button in the passenger compartment and the consideration of attention outside the passenger compartment at the same time.

  As an example of the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus described above, there is a front camera system that can automatically adjust the camera angle after displaying a captured camera image at an intersection.

This is a front camera that can automatically adjust the imaging directions of the two imaging cameras on the left and right without having to operate the driver according to the intersection angle of the road at the intersection after displaying the imaging camera image at the intersection. System. Such a technique is disclosed, for example, in Patent Document 1 below.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-278522

  However, in the technique disclosed in the related art, a driver of a vehicle entering an intersection needs to determine the necessity of an image from the imaging camera while paying particular attention to the periphery of the vehicle.

  Further, in the technique disclosed in the related art, a driver of a vehicle entering an intersection needs to display a captured image on a liquid crystal display by operating an operation button or the like in the passenger compartment while paying particular attention to the vicinity of the vehicle. was there. In other words, the driver is burdened with a high duty of care and quick judgment operations.

  For this reason, it is desired to provide a vehicle surrounding monitoring device that can assist the judgment and operation of the driver and reduce the burden on the driver.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and is a vehicle surroundings monitoring device capable of accurately determining a situation where an image from an imaging camera in a vehicle front portion is necessary and automatically displaying a captured image. The purpose is to provide.

  A vehicle surrounding monitoring device according to the present invention includes a vehicle navigation system having map information of a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling, and a display unit that displays map information supplied from the vehicle navigation system. A monitoring apparatus, comprising: a display control unit that controls whether or not to display an image around a vehicle imaged by a camera provided at a front part of the vehicle on the display unit, and the display control unit is a vehicle navigation system On the basis of input information from the vehicle, a priority determination unit that determines a priority between a road on which the vehicle currently travels and a road that intersects in front of the road on which the vehicle currently travels. When it is determined that the priority of the traveling road is lower than the priority of the road that intersects ahead, this display is taken as a display condition by the camera on the display unit. Characterized in that it is a display control unit for displaying an image of the surrounding of both.

  The vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus according to the present invention preferably includes a storage unit that stores a predetermined road priority corresponding to a road included in the map information included in the vehicle navigation system, and includes a priority determination unit. Uses the priority of the road read from the storage unit to determine the priority between the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling and the road that intersects ahead of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling. If it is determined that the priority of the road that is currently traveling is lower than the priority of the road that intersects ahead, this display is used as a display condition, and the display control unit displays an image around the vehicle captured by the camera on the display unit. It is characterized by being displayed.

  More preferably, in the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus according to the present invention, the priority determination unit is configured such that the priority of the road on which the vehicle currently travels is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold, and the priority of the road on which the vehicle currently travels is If it is determined that is lower than the priority of the road that intersects in front of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling, the display control unit causes the display unit to display an image around the vehicle imaged by the camera, using this determination as a display condition. It is characterized by.

  In the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus according to the present invention, more preferably, the display control unit has a traffic light at an intersection between a road on which the vehicle currently travels and a road that intersects ahead based on the traffic signal installation information of the vehicle navigation system. A traffic light presence / absence confirmation unit for confirming whether or not it is installed is provided, and the display control unit further displays a traffic signal at an intersection by the traffic light presence / absence confirmation unit as a display condition for displaying an image around the vehicle captured by the camera on the display unit. It is characterized in that display control is performed by adding the confirmation that the is not installed as a display condition.

  The vehicle surrounding monitoring device according to the present invention further preferably includes a distance calculation unit that calculates a distance between an intersection with a road that intersects ahead and a current vehicle, and a speed detection unit that detects the speed of the vehicle, As a display condition for displaying an image around the vehicle imaged by the camera on the display unit, the display control unit further has a distance calculated by the distance calculation unit equal to or less than a predetermined distance and a speed detected by the speed detection unit. Display control is performed by adding that the speed is equal to or less than a predetermined speed as a display condition.

  The display control method of the vehicle periphery monitoring device according to the present invention includes a vehicle navigation system having map information including the priority of a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling, and a display for displaying map information supplied from the vehicle navigation system. A threshold comparison step for comparing a priority of a road on which the vehicle currently travels with a predetermined threshold value, and a threshold comparison step, wherein the vehicle is currently A priority comparison step of comparing the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling and the priority of the road that intersects in front of the vehicle when the priority of the road to be traveled is smaller than a predetermined threshold value set in advance; In the priority comparison step, when the priority of the road on which the vehicle currently travels is lower than the priority of the road that intersects in front of the vehicle, the road on which the vehicle currently travels and the front of the vehicle When the distance between the intersection with the intersecting road and the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance and the vehicle speed is equal to or less than the predetermined speed, the image is captured on the display unit by a camera provided in the front part of the vehicle And a display step for displaying an image around the vehicle.

  The display control method of the vehicle periphery monitoring device according to the present invention includes a vehicle navigation system having map information including the priority of a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling, and a display for displaying map information supplied from the vehicle navigation system. In accordance with the display control method of the vehicle surrounding monitoring device, the traffic light is installed at the intersection of the road on which the vehicle currently travels and the road intersecting in front of the vehicle based on the traffic signal installation information of the vehicle navigation system. The vehicle currently travels in the traffic light presence / absence confirmation step for confirming whether the vehicle is running, the threshold comparison step for comparing the priority of the road on which the vehicle currently travels, and a predetermined threshold set in advance, and the threshold comparison step If the priority of the road is smaller than a preset threshold value, the traffic light presence / absence confirmation process may indicate that no traffic light is installed at the intersection. The priority comparison step of comparing the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling and the priority of the road intersecting in front of the vehicle, and the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling in the priority comparison step Is lower than the priority of the road intersecting in front of the vehicle, and the distance between the intersection of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling and the road intersecting in front of the vehicle and the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance. And when the vehicle speed is equal to or lower than a predetermined speed, the display unit includes a display step of displaying an image of the surroundings of the vehicle imaged by a camera provided in the front part of the vehicle.

  A display control program to be executed by a vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus according to the present invention displays a vehicle navigation system having map information including the priority of a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling, and map information supplied from the vehicle navigation system. A display control program that is executed by a vehicle surroundings monitoring device comprising: a threshold comparison step that compares a priority of a road on which the vehicle currently travels with a predetermined threshold that is set in advance; and a threshold comparison In the process, when the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is smaller than a predetermined threshold value set in advance, the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is compared with the priority of the road that intersects in front of the vehicle. In the priority comparison step and the priority comparison step, the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is lower than the priority of the road intersecting in front of the vehicle, and the vehicle If the distance between the intersection of the road where the vehicle is currently traveling and the road intersecting in front of the vehicle and the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance and the vehicle speed is equal to or less than the predetermined speed, the display unit displays The vehicle surroundings monitoring device is caused to execute a display step of displaying an image around the vehicle imaged by a camera provided in the front part.

  A display control program to be executed by a vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus according to the present invention displays a vehicle navigation system having map information including the priority of a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling, and map information supplied from the vehicle navigation system. A display control program to be executed by a vehicle surrounding monitoring device, and based on traffic signal installation information possessed by the vehicle navigation system, a road on which the vehicle currently travels and a road intersecting in front of the vehicle A signal presence / absence confirmation step for confirming whether or not a traffic signal is installed at an intersection, a threshold comparison step for comparing the priority of a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling, and a predetermined threshold value set in advance, and a threshold comparison step When the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is smaller than a predetermined threshold value set in advance, If the vehicle is not installed, the priority comparison step for comparing the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling and the priority of the road intersecting in front of the vehicle, and the priority comparison step, the vehicle The distance between the intersection of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling and the road that intersects in front of the vehicle, and the distance between the vehicle and the current traveling road is lower than the priority of the road that intersects in front of the vehicle A display step of displaying, on the display unit, an image around the vehicle imaged by a camera provided on the front part of the vehicle when the vehicle speed is equal to or less than a predetermined distance and the vehicle speed is equal to or less than the predetermined speed. It is made to perform by the surroundings monitoring apparatus for vehicles.

  It is possible to appropriately determine a situation where an image from an imaging camera mounted on the front portion of the vehicle is necessary, and to automatically display the captured image if necessary.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a vehicle surrounding monitoring device of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a configuration of a vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a vehicle surrounding monitoring device 100 includes an imaging unit 1 in a vehicle front portion such as a front grill. The imaging unit 1 is configured using a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD or a CMOS image sensor. The imaging unit 1 may be configured as a single wide-angle camera, or may be configured as a total of two cameras including a camera in each of the left and right directions.

  In addition, the vehicle surrounding monitoring device 100 includes an illumination unit 3 that irradiates the front of the vehicle and the traveling direction of the vehicle when the vehicle enters the intersection. The illumination unit 3 is a so-called headlight, a cornering lamp that is lit in conjunction with a direction indicator (not shown), or the like.

  The illumination unit 3 irradiates the front of the vehicle and the traveling direction of the vehicle, so that the driver can visually recognize the front of the vehicle and the traveling direction of the vehicle even at night. Moreover, when the illumination unit 3 irradiates the front of the vehicle and the vehicle traveling direction, the imaging unit 1 can capture the vehicle front and the vehicle traveling direction more clearly.

  The vehicle surrounding monitoring device 100 displays a captured image captured by the imaging unit 1 on the display unit 8. Further, the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 converts an image captured by the imaging unit 1 into a digital signal by the A / D conversion unit 2 and then performs desired image processing by the image processing unit 4.

  The image processing unit 4 performs, for example, white balance processing, gamma correction, gradation correction, and the like, and performs various image processing so that the captured image can be visually recognized continuously with good balance. The image processing unit 4 can be configured by an ASIC or the like.

  Further, since the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 displays an image captured by the imaging unit 1 on the display unit 8 in real time, it is necessary to perform image processing in the image processing unit 4 quickly. For this reason, it is more preferable that the processing delay time by the image processing in the image processing unit 4 is short. Therefore, what kind of image processing is performed in the image processing unit 4 can be determined by the relationship between the processing capability such as ASIC, the type of image processing, and the time required for processing.

  Further, the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 includes a CPU 10 that operates based on a processing program stored in the flash memory 6. The CPU 10 can be configured to control the entire vehicle surroundings monitoring device 100. Further, the CPU 10 may be configured as a multiprocessor system or the like.

  Further, the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 can rewrite a version upgrade program or the like in the flash memory 6 as necessary, and can update the program in response to so-called firmware upgrade or maintenance.

  The vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 includes an in-vehicle navigation system 20. The in-vehicle navigation system 20 has map information including the presence / absence of a traffic signal at an intersection, road width, road connection status, and the like.

  The in-vehicle navigation system 20 recognizes the current position and direction of the vehicle and the traveling road by matching position information such as GPS and gyro (not shown) with map information. The in-vehicle navigation system 20 can search for a route to the destination by the driver setting the destination and notify the driver of various guidance information such as the route to the destination and the required time. To do.

  In addition, the vehicle surrounding monitoring device 100 includes a storage unit 5 that stores in advance priority information of each road corresponding to the road included in the map information included in the in-vehicle navigation system 20. The storage unit 5 stores, for example, a road rank table that defines the ranking of roads corresponding to each road width as priority information based on road width information included in the in-vehicle navigation system 20. The storage unit 5 can be a non-volatile memory, and may be composed of a ROM, EEPROM, RAM, or the like.

  In addition, the CPU 10 includes a traffic signal presence / absence confirmation unit 11 that determines whether there is a traffic signal at an intersection ahead of the vehicle traveling direction based on traffic signal information included in the in-vehicle navigation system 20.

  Further, the CPU 10 includes a priority determination unit 12 that compares and determines the priority of a road intersecting in front of the vehicle and the current traveling road of the vehicle based on road information such as a road width of the in-vehicle navigation system 20.

  The priority determination unit 12 may compare and determine the road rank of the road intersecting in front of the vehicle and the road rank of the current road of the vehicle based on the road rank stored in advance in the storage unit 5. Further, the priority determination unit 12 calculates and compares and determines the priority of the road intersecting in front of the vehicle and the current road on which the vehicle is traveling based on various road information of the in-vehicle navigation system 20. Also good.

  For example, the priority determination unit 12 determines that the image display by the imaging unit 1 is necessary if a road intersecting in front of the vehicle has a higher priority. After the priority determination unit 12 determines that an image from the imaging unit 1 is necessary, the CPU 10 displays the image captured by the imaging unit 1 as a display unit when other necessary conditions such as whether or not the intersection has been approached to a predetermined distance are satisfied. 8 is displayed.

  In addition, the audio output unit 7 notifies the driver that an image around the vehicle captured by the imaging unit 1 is displayed on the display unit 8. For example, the voice output unit 7 outputs a guidance voice stored in advance in the storage unit 5 according to an instruction from the CPU 10. The guidance voice output by the voice output unit 7 can be, for example, “Starts display of front camera video”.

  The in-vehicle navigation system 20 uses map information such as road types such as national and prefectural roads, road standards, road width and length, types of intersections such as three-dimensional intersections, intersection conditions such as traffic lights, one-way streets and number of lanes. It has various road information such as the situation. The vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 determines whether or not to display an image captured by the imaging unit 1 on the display unit 8 using any of the above-described map information included in the in-vehicle navigation system 20.

  Typically, the vehicle periphery monitoring device 100 compares the road width of the current traveling road obtained from the in-vehicle navigation system 20 with the road width of the road that intersects in front of the vehicle, and which is the road with the higher priority. To decide.

  In addition, the vehicle surrounding monitoring device 100 changes the road width from the road rank table stored in advance in the storage unit 5 based on the road width of the current traveling road obtained from the in-vehicle navigation system 20 and the road width of the road intersecting in front of the vehicle. Read the corresponding road rank. And the priority determination part 12 determines which is a high priority road by comparing the read road rank.

  As described above, if there is an intersection that requires an image from the front camera in front of the vehicle, the vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus 100 automatically obtains the image of the front camera to the driver without any special setting. Can be presented.

  Next, the operation and processing of the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an operation flow of the vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus 100 shown in the first embodiment.

(Step S21)
Determine whether the vehicle engine is started. Here, the starting of the engine of the vehicle is shown as a typical example that means that the vehicle is ready to travel. Therefore, a vehicle that can travel even if the engine is not started, such as a hybrid car or an electric vehicle, may be in a travel standby state. If the engine has been started, the process proceeds to step S22. If the engine has not been started, the process stands by in step S21.

(Step S22)
The CPU 10 obtains current vehicle position information from the in-vehicle navigation system 20. The vehicle-mounted navigation system 20 always calculates and grasps the position and direction of the vehicle using GPS or the like. Therefore, the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 can recognize the current vehicle position information by the in-vehicle navigation system 20.

(Step S23)
The CPU 10 obtains map information corresponding to the current vehicle position information obtained in step S22 from the in-vehicle navigation system 20. The in-vehicle navigation system 20 always calculates the position and direction of the vehicle by GPS or the like, and is consistent with the map information. Therefore, the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 can acquire the map information of the surroundings corresponding to the current vehicle position information by the in-vehicle navigation system 20.

(Step S24)
The CPU 10 detects a road that first intersects in front of the vehicle. The in-vehicle navigation system 20 can recognize the road crossing ahead, the position of an intersection, and the like when searching for a route to the destination. Therefore, the CPU 10 can acquire map information related to the intersection road from the in-vehicle navigation system 20.

  Here, the map information that the CPU 10 obtains from the in-vehicle navigation system 20 includes the type / standard of the road on which the current vehicle travels, the width of the road, and the like. Further, the map information obtained by the CPU 10 from the in-vehicle navigation system 20 includes the type / standard of the road that intersects at the front intersection, the width of the road, the presence / absence of a traffic signal at the front intersection, and the like.

(Step S25)
The priority determination unit 12 compares the road on which the vehicle currently travels with the road that intersects ahead, and determines whether the road on which the vehicle currently travels has a lower priority. For example, the priority determination unit 12 may determine that a narrower road has a lower priority based on road width information included in the in-vehicle navigation system 20.

  In this case, the priority determination unit 12 determines that the priority of the road on which the vehicle currently travels is low if the width of the road on which the vehicle currently travels is narrower than the width of the road that intersects ahead. Further, the priority determination unit 12 determines that the priority of the road on which the vehicle currently travels is not low if the road width of the road on which the vehicle currently travels is wider than the road width of the road that intersects ahead.

  Further, the priority determination unit 12 may refer to a road rank table stored in the storage unit 5 in advance in relation to the road width. The priority determination unit 12 compares the road rank corresponding to the road width of the road on which the vehicle currently travels with the road rank corresponding to the road width of the road intersecting ahead. The priority determination unit 12 determines that the road on which the vehicle currently travels has low priority if the road rank of the road on which the vehicle currently travels is smaller than the road rank of the road that intersects ahead. When the current position of the vehicle is not a road, for example, the road rank corresponding to the position of the current vehicle is set to zero.

  For example, when going out from a parking lot onto a road with a road rank of 2, the road with a road rank of 2 goes from a road rank of zero, so it can be determined that the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is low. The road rank stored in the storage unit 5 may be set in association with various road information other than the road width.

  If the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is low, the process proceeds to step S26, and if the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is not low, the process returns to step S22.

(Step S26)
The CPU 10 turns on the power of the imaging unit 1. Further, the CPU 10 may turn on the power supply of the illumination unit 3 together with the imaging unit 1. Turning on the power of the imaging unit 1 typically means turning on the power of the imaging camera. However, the imaging camera may always take an image, and when the imaging unit 1 is turned on, an image taken by the imaging camera may be output in real time.

(Step S27)
The CPU 10 captures an image captured by the imaging unit 1. At this time, the CPU 10 may cause the image processing unit 4 to perform desired image processing such as brightness correction and color tone correction.

(Step S28)
The CPU 10 causes the display unit 8 to display an image captured from the imaging unit 1 and captured around the vehicle. CPU10 switches and displays an image, when the map information etc. are displayed by the vehicle-mounted navigation system 20 on the display part 8. FIG. Further, the CPU 10 may display the captured image as a so-called sub-screen using a part of the display unit 8 on which map information or the like is displayed.

  Moreover, CPU10 may display the image which images the circumference | surroundings of the vehicle taken in from the imaging part 1 on the display part 8 as a main screen, and may display map information etc. as a subscreen. Further, the CPU 10 can cause the display unit 8 to display the captured image of the imaging unit 1 by turning on the power of the display unit 8 or the like when the display unit 8 is turned off or nothing is displayed. .

  Here, the vehicle surrounding monitoring device 100 typically completes displaying the captured image of the imaging unit 1 on the display unit 8 when the vehicle passes through the intersection. Then, the vehicle surrounding monitoring device 100 can return the display unit 8 to, for example, the map screen of the vehicle-mounted navigation system 20 and display it. In addition, the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 completes the display of the captured image of the imaging unit 1 when, for example, a certain period of time sufficient to pass through the intersection has elapsed from the display of the captured image of the imaging unit 1, and the display unit 8 May be turned off.

  Next, an example in which the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 performs an operation process different from that of the first embodiment will be described.

(Other operation example 1)
FIG. 3 shows an operation flow in which the vehicle periphery monitoring device 100 determines whether or not a front camera image can be displayed using the traffic signal information of the intersection of the in-vehicle navigation system 20. In addition, about the part which overlaps with the step mentioned above, it demonstrates simply.

(Step S31)
Check if the engine is started. A vehicle that can travel without using an engine, such as a hybrid car or an electric vehicle, may determine whether or not it is in a travelable state. If the engine has been started, the process proceeds to step S32. If the engine has not been started, the process stands by in step S31.

(Step S32)
The vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 turns on the power of the imaging unit 1. In various driving conditions of the vehicle, the driving conditions that require a front camera image are limited to some extent. Therefore, it can be said that it is preferable from the viewpoint of power saving that the power supply of the imaging unit 1 is turned off except when necessary.

  On the other hand, it is also necessary to promptly confirm the safety by displaying an image captured by the imaging unit 1 on the display unit 8 quickly when necessary. In this sense, it is preferable that the power supply of the image pickup unit 1 is always turned on to always capture an image, and the image pickup unit 1 is on standby so as to be able to cope with an unexpected image display request. In this case, only when the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 determines that it is necessary, the captured image of the imaging unit 1 is quickly displayed on the display unit 8.

(Step S33)
The CPU 10 instructs to capture an image around the vehicle imaged by the imaging unit 1. The CPU 10 causes the image capturing unit 1 to capture an image and causes the image processing unit 4 to perform desired image processing on the image captured by the image capturing unit 1.

(Step S34)
The vehicle surrounding monitoring device 100 causes the vehicle-mounted navigation system 20 to grasp and confirm the position, direction, and the like of the current vehicle based on information such as GPS.

(Step S35)
The vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 refers to the map information corresponding to the position of the current vehicle confirmed in step S34. That is, the travel road, travel position, travel direction, and the like of the current vehicle are recognized in alignment with the map information.

  In addition, each process of step S34 and step S35 is good also as making the vehicle-mounted navigation system 20 perform all. And CPU10 is good also as reading the information, such as a traveling road, from the vehicle-mounted navigation system 20 as needed.

(Step S36)
CPU10 detects the road which cross | intersects at the intersection on the route ahead of a vehicle based on the map information etc. of the present vehicle obtained by step S34 and step S35. When the in-vehicle navigation system 20 grasps an intersection in front of the vehicle in route guidance to the destination or the like, the CPU 10 may acquire information on the intersection in front of the vehicle from the in-vehicle navigation system 20.

  The intersection information acquired by the CPU 10 is information that is a basis for determining priority such as the presence / absence of a traffic light, the width of a road that intersects, and a road rank.

(Step S37)
The traffic signal presence / absence confirmation unit 11 determines whether or not a traffic signal is installed at an intersection in front of the vehicle based on information of the in-vehicle navigation system 20. At intersections where traffic lights are installed, the need for safety confirmation using front camera images is considered to be low. For this reason, when a traffic light is installed at a front intersection, a captured image by the imaging unit 1 is not displayed on the display unit 8. If there is no traffic light at the front intersection, the process proceeds to step S38, and if there is a traffic light at the front intersection, the process returns to step S34.

(Step S38)
The priority determination unit 12 compares the road on which the vehicle currently travels with the road that intersects ahead, and determines whether the road on which the vehicle currently travels has a lower priority. If the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is lower, the process proceeds to step S39. If the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is not lower, the process returns to step S34. The priority determination unit 12 may compare and determine the priority using the road rank of the in-vehicle navigation system 20.

  In step S38, the priority determination unit 12 may determine whether the priority is high or low, and may proceed to step S39 even if the priority is the same. The priority determination unit 12 may proceed to step S39 if the priority difference is within a predetermined range when the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is not lower. Good. In this case, since the frequency of displaying the surrounding image of the vehicle imaged by the imaging unit 1 on the display unit 8 increases, the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 performs display control in consideration of safety. Become.

(Step S39)
The CPU 10 causes the display unit 8 to display a captured image around the vehicle imaged by the imaging unit 1. When the display on the display unit 8 is completed, the operation flow relating to the display timing control part is terminated. Note that the display form and the like are the same as those already described in step 28 and will not be described.

  Next, an example in which the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 performs an operation process different from that of the other operation example 1 will be described. In addition, the part which overlaps with the above-mentioned description is demonstrated easily.

(Other operation example 2)
FIG. 4 shows an operation flow in which the vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus 100 uses the priority stored in advance as a so-called cut-off determination element to determine whether or not to display a front camera image. In addition, about the part which overlaps with the operation | movement flow mentioned above, description is performed simply.

(Step S41)
The CPU 10 determines whether or not the vehicle engine is started. If the engine has been started, the process proceeds to step S42. If the engine has not been started, the process waits in S41.

(Step S42)
CPU10 confirms the present vehicle position based on the information of the vehicle-mounted navigation system 20. FIG.

(Step S43)
The CPU 10 refers to the map information corresponding to the current vehicle position and confirms the vehicle position, road, etc. on the map.

(Step S44)
The CPU 10 reads the priority corresponding to the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling from the storage unit 5. As the priority, for example, a road rank table that is defined in advance and stored in the storage unit 5 in correspondence with road width information included in the in-vehicle navigation system 20 is used. FIG. 7 shows an example of a road rank table.

  As illustrated in FIG. 7, a certain road width range is grouped according to the road width, and a number as a road rank is assigned. Further, the road rank is set larger as the width of the road becomes larger. Further, when the current vehicle travels in a parking lot or vacant land that is not a road, a road rank of zero is assigned.

  For example, if the road width on which the current vehicle travels is 12 meters, the CPU 10 reads the road rank 4 with reference to the road rank table stored in the storage unit 5. Further, for example, if the road width on which the current vehicle travels is 2 meters, the CPU 10 reads the road rank 1 with reference to the road rank table stored in the storage unit 5. In addition, the memory | storage part 5 is good also as a structure with which the vehicle-mounted navigation system 20 is provided.

(Step S45)
The priority determination unit 12 compares the road rank read by the CPU 10 from the storage unit 5 with a predetermined threshold value. If the result of the comparison by the priority determination unit 12 is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold, the process proceeds to step S46, and if not less than the predetermined threshold, the process returns to step S42.

  The predetermined threshold value may be configured such that the driver of the vehicle can set the vehicle surroundings monitoring device 100 from an operation unit (not shown). The predetermined threshold value may be a value set in advance in the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 as a fixed value in consideration of safety in relation to the type of vehicle on which the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 is mounted.

  For example, if the predetermined threshold is 3 and the road rank on which the current vehicle travels is 4, the process returns to step S42. For example, if the predetermined threshold is 3 and the road rank on which the current vehicle travels is 1, the process proceeds to step S46.

  That is, in step S45, when the current vehicle travels on a road or the like corresponding to a road rank that is not equal to or less than the predetermined threshold, the vehicle surroundings monitoring device 100 displays an image of the vehicle surroundings captured by the imaging unit 1 as a display unit 8 is a determination step in which the operation process to be displayed on 8 is not performed.

  A road to which a large road rank corresponding to a certain road width or more is assigned has a considerably high priority, and it can be inferred that the road can be preferentially passed to other intersecting roads. That is, when driving on a road with a high priority, it can be inferred that even if there is an intersection road, it is not necessary for the vehicle to slow down or temporarily stop to check the safety on the left and right. Therefore, in such a case, it is not necessary to display and confirm the front camera image. As described above, a typical example of a road having a considerably high priority is a highway.

(Step S46)
The CPU 10 detects the closest crossing road in front of the vehicle. The in-vehicle navigation system 20 has current position information and intersection information of each road in addition to map information. Therefore, the CPU 10 can acquire information on the intersection road from the in-vehicle navigation system 20. At the intersection of the three-dimensional intersection, since the vehicle cannot pass between the three-dimensional intersection roads, the safety confirmation is not necessary, and the CPU 10 does not detect it as an intersection road.

(Step S47)
The CPU 10 determines whether there is a traffic light at the closest intersection in front of the vehicle. The traffic signal installation information is acquired from the in-vehicle navigation system 20. If there is no traffic light, the process proceeds to step S48, and if there is a traffic light, the process returns to step S42. It should be noted that it is preferable in terms of safety that it is determined that there is no traffic signal at an intersection where the traffic signal information is not recorded in the in-vehicle navigation system 20, and the process proceeds to step S48.

(Step S48)
The CPU 10 reads the priority of the intersecting road from the storage unit 5. The priority read from the storage unit 5 is typically a road rank defined in association with a road width.

(Step S49)
The priority determination unit 12 compares the priority of the intersecting road read in step S48 with the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling. The priority determination unit 12 typically compares the road rank of the intersecting road read in step S48 with the road rank of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling. If the priority of the road on which the vehicle currently travels is low, the process proceeds to step S4a. If the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is not low, the process returns to step S42.

  Further, the priority determination unit 12 calculates the priority between the road that intersects the road that is currently running and the road that intersects the road based on road information such as the road width and road standard that the in-vehicle navigation system 20 has, and compares -Judgment processing may be performed.

(Step S4a)
The CPU 10 turns on the power of the imaging unit 1 and causes the imaging unit 1 to output a captured image. The image output by the imaging unit 1 is subjected to various processes by the A / D conversion unit 2 and the image processing unit 4 and becomes image data suitable for display.

(Step S4b)
The CPU 10 causes the display unit 8 to display an image captured by the imaging unit 1. The driver can confirm the left and right situations in the intersection, which are still not directly visible from the driver's seat, on the liquid crystal display or the like from the image on the display unit 8.

  In the operation flow of the vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 4, the captured image is displayed on the display unit 8 and the display control is ended. However, after displaying the captured image on the display unit 8, the CPU 10 can end the display of the captured image on the display unit 8 at a desired timing. For example, the CPU 10 may switch to the navigation screen display, switch to the audio screen, or turn off the display unit 8 after a certain period of time has elapsed since the captured image was displayed.

  Next, an in-vehicle navigation system 20 and a vehicle surrounding monitoring device 200 that performs operation processing in a highly coordinated manner will be described as an example.

(Second embodiment)
FIG. 5 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200 according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 5, the same components as those in the vehicle surrounding monitoring device 100 shown in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

  In the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200, the in-vehicle navigation system 20 is connected so that detection signals are input from the GPS 28, the operation unit 29, the direction sensor 23, the steering angle sensor 24, and the vehicle speed sensor 25.

  The vehicle-mounted navigation system 20 can confirm the vehicle position by the GPS 28. Further, the in-vehicle navigation system 20 can confirm the direction of the vehicle by the direction sensor 23. The in-vehicle navigation system 20 can check the steering angle by the steering angle sensor 24. The in-vehicle navigation system 20 can perform various setting operations using the operation unit 29.

  The vehicle-mounted navigation system 20 includes a display unit 26 that displays a map image. Moreover, the vehicle-mounted navigation system 20 has the memory | storage part 2 (21) which memorize | stores a road rank. The in-vehicle navigation system 20 includes an image synthesis processing unit 22 that performs a process of synthesizing vehicle guidance information with a captured image. The in-vehicle navigation system 20 includes a voice output unit 27 that notifies vehicle guidance information and notifies the display switching of the display unit 26.

  The CPU 10 of the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200 includes an intersection road detection unit 13 that detects a road that intersects in front of the vehicle, and a traffic signal presence / absence confirmation unit 11 that confirms whether or not a traffic signal is installed. In addition, the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200 includes a priority determination unit 12 that compares and determines the priority between the intersecting road and the road on which the vehicle currently travels, and an intersection shape determination unit that determines the shape of the intersection that intersects ahead. 14.

  Further, the CPU 10 of the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200 includes a distance calculation unit 15 that calculates the distance between the intersection and the position of the current vehicle. In addition, the CPU 10 includes a speed determination unit 16 that compares and determines the current vehicle travel speed with a predetermined threshold based on information from the vehicle speed sensor 25. In addition, the CPU 10 includes an orientation determination unit 17 that determines the current orientation of the vehicle based on information such as the steering angle sensor 24 and the orientation sensor 23. Note that each function of the CPU 10 may be provided in the in-vehicle navigation system 20.

  Next, the operation flow of the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an outline of the operation flow of the second embodiment.

(Step S61)
The vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200 confirms whether or not the vehicle engine is started. If the engine has been started, the process proceeds to step S62. If the engine has not been started, the process stands by in step S61.

(Step S62)
The CPU 10 confirms the current position of the vehicle. This operation process may be performed by the in-vehicle navigation system 20.

(Step S63)
The CPU 10 refers to map information corresponding to the current vehicle position. Further, the CPU 10 confirms and grasps the road, position, direction, and the like on which the vehicle currently travels on the map with reference to the map information.

(Step S64)
CPU10 reads and instruct | indicates the road rank corresponding to the road where the vehicle is drive | working currently stored in the memory | storage part 2 (21) with which the vehicle-mounted navigation system 20 is provided. The road rank is stored in advance in the storage unit 2 (21), for example, as a road rank table shown in FIG.

(Step S65)
The priority determination unit 12 compares the road rank of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling with a predetermined threshold value. If the road rank is less than or equal to the predetermined threshold, the process proceeds to step S66, and if not less than the predetermined threshold, the process returns to step S62. For example, when it is an expressway or the like and the process for determining the presence or absence of an intersection road is unnecessary, the subsequent process is not performed. As a result, more efficient operation processing can be achieved.

(Step S66)
The intersection road detection unit 13 detects a road that intersects on the navigation guidance route ahead of the vehicle. Further, the intersection shape determination unit 14 confirms that the intersection is a three-dimensional intersection or the like, and that the vehicle is not a three-dimensional intersection road that cannot travel directly. The intersection road detection unit 13 does not recognize a three-dimensional intersection as an intersection road based on information from the intersection shape determination unit 14. Note that the CPU 10 may cause the vehicle-mounted navigation system 20 to perform the process of step S66.

  Further, for example, when the road rank of a road that is currently running is zero and the current vehicle position is not on the road (for example, a parking lot or a vacant land), the intersection of the surrounding road and the vehicle is an intersection. You may judge. As such a situation, for example, a case of leaving a parking lot on a road is assumed.

(Step S67)
The traffic signal presence / absence confirmation unit 11 confirms whether or not a traffic signal is installed at the intersection detected in step S66 based on information of the in-vehicle navigation system 20 or the like. If no traffic light is installed at the intersection in front of the vehicle, the process proceeds to step S68. If a traffic light is installed at the intersection in front of the vehicle, the process returns to step S62.

(Step S68)
CPU10 reads the road rank of the road which crosses ahead from the memory | storage part 2 (21).

(Step S69)
The priority determination unit 12 compares the road rank of the intersection road read in step S68 with the road rank of the traveling road read in step S64. If the priority of the road rank of the traveling road read in step S64 is lower, the process proceeds to step S6a. If the priority of the road rank of the traveling road read in step S64 is not lower, the process returns to step S62.

(Step S6a)
The intersection shape determination unit 14 determines whether or not the intersecting road is a branch of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling. If the intersecting road is a branch road of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling, it can be estimated that it is almost an extension of the currently traveling road, although it is an intersection. In addition, if the intersecting road is a branch road of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling, it is considered that the traveling road is substantially straight ahead, and therefore it is possible to determine that the necessity of displaying the front camera image is considerably low.

  Therefore, if the intersection shape determination unit 14 determines that the intersecting road is not a branch of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling, the process proceeds to step S6b. If the intersection shape determination unit 14 determines that the intersecting road is a branch of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling, the process returns to step S62. In addition, the intersection shape determination unit 14 determines whether the forward intersection is a so-called T-shaped intersection or a Y-shaped intersection, and whether the vehicle can travel substantially straight.

(Step S6b)
When the process proceeds to step S6b, the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200 has already substantially completed the preliminary determination as to whether or not the front camera image needs to be displayed on the display unit 26 at the front intersection. . Therefore, when there is an intersection that needs to be displayed in front of the vehicle, the vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus 200 determines the timing at which the vehicle approaches the intersection that is the object of the determination in order to grasp the optimal timing to be displayed on the display unit 26. It is necessary to judge.

  Therefore, in order to determine whether or not the vehicle is approaching the intersection, the distance calculation unit 15 of the CPU 10 calculates the distance from the current position of the vehicle to the intersection. Further, the speed determination unit 16 of the CPU 10 detects the traveling speed of the vehicle. Further, the direction determination unit 17 of the CPU 10 detects the direction of the vehicle.

(Step S6c)
The speed determination unit 16 determines whether the speed of the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold. The predetermined threshold is, for example, 10 kilometers per hour. Typically, when the speed determination unit 16 determines that the speed of the vehicle is 10 kilometers or less, the process proceeds to step S6d. Moreover, if the speed judgment part 16 judges that the speed of a vehicle is not 10 kilometers or less, it will return to step S6b.

  It is considered that an intersection where it is necessary to confirm the safety by displaying the front camera image on the display unit 26 needs to slow down or temporarily stop. Therefore, the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200 helps to determine the approach timing to the intersection by monitoring the speed of the vehicle.

(Step S6d)
The direction determination unit 17 determines whether the direction of the vehicle is within, for example, plus or minus 45 degrees with respect to the direction on the map of the traveling road. Originally, if the vehicle is running completely along the road, the deviation angle from the direction of the road should be zero.

  Therefore, whether or not there is any misrecognition in the current position or travel road recognition can be confirmed based on whether or not the vehicle has a deviation angle within ± 45 degrees with respect to the travel road direction.

  If the direction determining unit 17 determines that the difference between the direction of the vehicle and the direction of the traveling road is within a deviation angle range within a predetermined threshold, the process proceeds to step S6e. If the direction determining unit 17 determines that the direction of the vehicle is not within the deviation angle range within the predetermined threshold, the process proceeds to step S6k.

(Step S6e)
The CPU 10 compares the distance to the intersection calculated by the distance calculation unit 15 with a predetermined threshold, and determines whether or not the vehicle has approached the distance below the predetermined threshold from the intersection. For example, if the CPU 10 determines that the distance between the vehicle and the intersection is 10 meters or less, the process proceeds to step S6f. If the CPU 10 determines that the distance between the vehicle and the intersection is not less than 10 meters, for example, the process returns to step S6b. Note that the steps 6c to 6e can be out of order with each other.

(Step S6f)
If it progresses to this step S6f, it will respond | correspond to having judged that the vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus 200 has approached the intersection which needs the display of a front camera image sufficiently. Therefore, the CPU 10 turns on the power of the imaging unit 1 and causes the imaging unit 1 to capture an image around the vehicle front part. Further, the CPU 10 causes the A / D conversion unit 2 to digitally convert the image data, and then causes the image processing unit 4 to perform desired image processing to process it as image data suitable for display.

(Step S6g)
The CPU 10 causes the display unit 26 to display an image around the vehicle captured from the imaging unit 1. The CPU 10 may instruct the image composition processing unit 22 of the in-vehicle navigation system 20 to synthesize and display the vehicle route guidance information together with the captured image around the vehicle captured by the imaging unit 1.

  FIG. 8 shows an example in which the image composition processing unit 22 synthesizes the captured image around the vehicle and the navigation guidance information and displays them on the display unit 26. As shown in FIG. 8, the image composition processing unit 22 superimposes the actual vehicle surrounding image and the guidance information and displays them on the display unit 26. Accordingly, it is preferable that the driver can receive navigation guidance on the captured image while confirming safety around the vehicle based on the captured image. In addition, it is particularly effective when there are intersections that turn right and left continuously in a short section on the navigation guidance route.

  For example, when the display of the front camera image at the first intersection is completed and the display of the front camera image at the second intersection is started at the same time, a plurality of right / left turns are necessary during that time. . For this reason, it is preferable to set it as the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200 which can superimpose a navigation guidance display simultaneously while displaying a front camera image. Note that voice guidance from the voice output unit 27 may be performed together with guidance display on the display unit 26.

  The display unit 26 also displays the distance to the next intersection shown in FIG. Further, the display unit 26 displays the direction of the imaging camera currently displayed, for example, the right camera or the left camera.

(Step S6h)
CPU10 judges whether the distance of a vehicle and an intersection became more than a predetermined threshold. When the vehicle leaves the intersection, it is not necessary to capture an image around the vehicle. For this reason, if CPU10 judges that the distance of a vehicle and an intersection is 10 meters or more, it will progress to step S6i. If the CPU 10 determines that the distance between the vehicle and the intersection is not, for example, 10 meters or more, the process returns to step 6g. For this reason, the distance calculation unit 15 continuously calculates the distance between the intersection and the vehicle even after passing the intersection based on the navigation information and the like.

(Step S6i)
The CPU 10 turns off the power of the imaging unit 1. By turning on the power supply of the imaging unit 1 only when an image is necessary and turning off the power supply of the imaging unit 1 when it is not necessary, the power-saving vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200 can be obtained.

(Step S6j)
The CPU 10 determines whether or not the vehicle engine is stopped. If the engine is stopped, the operation flow is terminated. If the engine is not stopped, the process returns to step S62.

(Step S6k)
If CPU10 judges based on the guidance route information of the vehicle-mounted navigation system 20 that there is no change in a guidance route, it will return to step S6b. If it is determined that there is a change in the guidance route, the process returns to step S62. If the direction of the vehicle is significantly different from the direction of the road, it is conceivable to change the course, destination, route, etc. Therefore, in step S6k, it is confirmed whether or not the course has been changed.

  In the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 100 and the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200 described above, it is not necessary for the driver of the vehicle to individually determine whether or not to display the front camera image for each intersection. Further, when displaying on the front camera image, the driver does not need to perform a display operation. In addition, the vehicle surrounding monitoring device can automatically and appropriately switch between the display of the front camera image and the display of the navigation screen, for example.

  Therefore, the vehicle surrounding monitoring device 100 and the vehicle surrounding monitoring device 200 are preferable because display control of the front camera image can be performed without bothering the driver. Moreover, it can be set as the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus which supports a driver | operator's driving | operation and contributes to a safe driving | operation.

  In addition, the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200 can receive desired setting values, threshold values, and operation programs customized to the storage unit 1 (51) and the flash memory 6 via an input operation from the operation unit 29 and an external interface (not shown). May be installable. For example, the CPU 10 performs desired weighting on the road rank stored in the storage unit 2 (21), or performs a customizing calculation process according to driver characteristics and vehicle characteristics to correct the navigation road rank, A new road rank for priority comparison may be calculated.

  Thus, the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200 can be customized without depending on the navigation characteristics. In addition, the configuration is such that the user of the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200 can set and register coordinates on the map and the vehicle orientation that the front camera wants to display. The vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus 200 has a distance between the vehicle position and the set and registered point within a predetermined range, and the vehicle direction is within ± 45 degrees of the set and registered direction, and the traveling speed is When the value is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold, the front camera image can be displayed.

  For example, it is possible to set and register predetermined roads and predetermined intersections that are frequently used daily, such as commuting routes and cross roads around the home. In this case, a front camera image can be preferentially displayed at the set registration point regardless of various determinations of the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus 200 described above, which is further preferable.

  It should be noted that the vehicle surrounding monitoring device 100 and the vehicle surrounding monitoring device 200 can be used by appropriately changing the configuration, operation and processing within an obvious range. For example, all the functions of the CPU 10 and the image processing unit 4 may be performed by the arithmetic processing device of the in-vehicle navigation system 20. In this case, the system may be configured as an in-vehicle navigation system with a front camera.

  Further, the vehicle surroundings monitoring device 100 and the vehicle surroundings monitoring device 200 may be configured as a high-function navigation system with options. In this case, for example, the imaging unit 1 shown in FIG. 1 or the like can be configured such that a part or all of the devices and functions can be added as options of the high-functional navigation system.

  Further, the traffic light presence / absence confirmation unit 11 and the priority determination unit 12 shown in FIG. 1 may be configured such that some or all of the functions can be added as options of the high-functional navigation system. For example, a processing program that causes a CPU or the like of a high-performance navigation system to perform determination functions such as the signal presence / absence confirmation unit 11 and the priority determination unit 12 may be optionally installed.

  Further, the imaging unit 1 may be optionally added as a wireless camera, and a wireless interface or the like that communicates with the wireless camera may be configured as an expansion card that can be inserted into an expansion slot of a high-performance navigation system. A function or processing program required for the vehicle surrounding monitoring device 100 and the vehicle surrounding monitoring device 200 can be mounted on the card as an additional expansion board in relation to the functions provided as a standard in the high-function navigation system. A card may be inserted into an expansion slot or the like of the high-function navigation system so that other necessary processes and operations can be executed.

1 is a conceptual diagram of a configuration of a vehicle surrounding monitoring device according to a first embodiment. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement flow outline | summary of 1st embodiment. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement flow which judges the display propriety using traffic signal information. It is a figure explaining the other operation example 2 of the operation | movement flow of this invention. It is a lineblock diagram of the surroundings monitoring device for vehicles concerning a second embodiment. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement flow outline | summary of 2nd embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the road rank table concerning 1st embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a display which synthesize | combined the picked-up image around a vehicle, and navigation guidance information.

Explanation of symbols

1 .. Imaging unit 2. A.D conversion unit 3. Illumination unit 4. Image processing unit 5. Storage unit 6. Flash memory 7. Audio output unit 8. Display unit 10... CPU, 11 .. Traffic signal presence / absence confirmation unit 12.. Priority determination unit 13.. Cross road detection unit 14.. Intersection shape determination unit 15. Speed judging unit, 17 ·· Direction judging unit, 20 ·· In-vehicle navigation system, 22 ·· Image compositing processing unit, 23 ·· Direction sensor, 24 ·· Steering angle sensor, 25 ·· Vehicle speed sensor, 27 ·· Voice Output unit, 28... GPS, 29 .. Operation unit, 100.

Claims (9)

A vehicle navigation system having map information of a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling;
A display unit for displaying map information supplied from the vehicle navigation system;
A vehicle surrounding monitoring device comprising:
A display control unit configured to control whether or not to display an image around the vehicle imaged by a camera provided on a front unit of the vehicle on the display unit;
The display control unit
Based on input information from the vehicle navigation system, a priority determination unit that determines a priority between a road on which the vehicle currently travels and a road that intersects ahead of the road on which the vehicle currently travels,
When the priority determination unit determines that the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is lower than the priority of the road that intersects in front of the vehicle, this determination is used as a display condition.
It is a display control part which displays the image around the said vehicle imaged with the said camera on the said display part. The vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. In the vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus according to claim 1,
Corresponding to the road included in the map information that the vehicle navigation system has, a storage unit that stores a predetermined priority of the road,
The priority determination unit determines a priority between a road on which the vehicle currently travels and a road that intersects in front of the road on which the vehicle currently travels using the priority of the road read from the storage unit. ,
When the priority determination unit determines that the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is lower than the priority of the road that intersects in front of the vehicle, this determination is used as a display condition.
The display control unit causes the display unit to display an image of the surroundings of the vehicle captured by the camera. In the vehicle surroundings monitoring device according to claim 1 or 2,
The priority determination unit is configured such that the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold, and the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling intersects in front of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling. If it is determined that the priority is lower than the road priority,
The display control unit causes the display unit to display an image of the surroundings of the vehicle captured by the camera. In the vehicle surrounding monitoring device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The display control unit
Based on traffic signal installation information that the vehicle navigation system has, a traffic signal presence / absence confirmation unit that confirms whether or not a traffic signal is installed at an intersection between a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling and a road that intersects in front of the vehicle,
The display control unit further displays a confirmation that no traffic signal is installed at the intersection by the traffic signal presence / absence confirmation unit as a display condition for displaying an image around the vehicle captured by the camera on the display unit. Display control in addition to the conditions,
A vehicle surrounding monitoring device characterized by the above. In the vehicle surrounding monitoring device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A distance calculation unit for calculating a distance between the intersection with the road intersecting in front and the current vehicle;
A speed detector for detecting the speed of the vehicle,
The display control unit further includes a display condition for displaying an image around the vehicle imaged by the camera on the display unit, and the distance calculated by the distance calculation unit is a predetermined distance or less, and the speed detection The display control is performed by adding that the speed detected by the unit is equal to or lower than a predetermined speed as a display condition.
A vehicle surrounding monitoring device characterized by the above. A display control method for a vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus, comprising: a vehicle navigation system having map information including a priority of a road on which the vehicle currently travels; and a display unit that displays map information supplied from the vehicle navigation system. In
A threshold comparison step of comparing the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling with a predetermined threshold set in advance;
In the threshold comparison step, when the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is smaller than the predetermined threshold value set in advance, the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling intersects with the road ahead of the vehicle. A priority comparison step for comparing the priorities of
In the priority comparison step, when the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is lower than the priority of the road that intersects in front of the vehicle, the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling and the front of the vehicle When the distance between the intersection with the road intersecting with the vehicle and the vehicle is equal to or smaller than a predetermined distance and the vehicle speed is equal to or smaller than the predetermined speed, the display unit includes a camera provided on a front portion of the vehicle. A display step of displaying an image around the vehicle imaged by:
A display control method for a vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus, comprising: A display control method for a vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus, comprising: a vehicle navigation system having map information including a priority of a road on which the vehicle currently travels; and a display unit that displays map information supplied from the vehicle navigation system. In
A traffic signal presence / absence confirmation step for confirming whether or not a traffic signal is installed at an intersection between a road on which the vehicle currently travels and a road intersecting in front of the vehicle based on traffic signal installation information of the vehicle navigation system; ,
A threshold comparison step of comparing the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling with a predetermined threshold set in advance;
In the threshold comparison step, when the priority of the road on which the vehicle currently travels is smaller than the predetermined threshold set in advance, the traffic light presence / absence confirmation step confirms that no traffic signal is installed at the intersection. A priority comparison step of comparing the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling and the priority of the road intersecting in front of the vehicle;
In the priority comparison step, when the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is lower than the priority of the road that intersects in front of the vehicle, the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling and the front of the vehicle When the distance between the intersection with the road intersecting with the vehicle and the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance, and the vehicle speed is equal to or less than a predetermined speed, the display unit is provided in the front part of the vehicle. A display step of displaying an image of the surroundings of the vehicle captured by the camera;
A display control method for a vehicle surrounding monitoring apparatus, comprising: A display to be executed by a vehicle surrounding monitoring device comprising: a vehicle navigation system having map information including a priority of a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling; and a display unit that displays map information supplied from the vehicle navigation system. A control program,
A threshold comparison step of comparing the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling with a predetermined threshold set in advance;
In the threshold comparison step, when the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is smaller than the predetermined threshold value set in advance, the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling intersects with the road ahead of the vehicle. A priority comparison step for comparing the priorities of
In the priority comparison step, when the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is lower than the priority of the road that intersects in front of the vehicle, the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling and the front of the vehicle When the distance between the intersection with the road intersecting with the vehicle and the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance, and the vehicle speed is equal to or less than a predetermined speed, the display unit is provided in the front part of the vehicle. A display step of displaying an image of the surroundings of the vehicle captured by the camera;
Display control program for causing the vehicle surrounding monitoring device to execute A display to be executed by a vehicle surrounding monitoring device comprising: a vehicle navigation system having map information including a priority of a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling; and a display unit that displays map information supplied from the vehicle navigation system. A control program,
A traffic signal presence / absence confirmation step for confirming whether or not a traffic signal is installed at an intersection between a road on which the vehicle currently travels and a road intersecting in front of the vehicle based on traffic signal installation information of the vehicle navigation system; ,
A threshold comparison step of comparing the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling with a predetermined threshold set in advance;
In the threshold value comparison step, when the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is smaller than the predetermined threshold value set in advance, when the traffic light presence / absence confirmation step confirms that no traffic signal is installed, the vehicle A priority comparison step of comparing the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling and the priority of the road intersecting in front of the vehicle;
In the priority comparison step, when the priority of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is lower than the priority of the road that intersects in front of the vehicle, the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling and the front of the vehicle When the distance between the intersection with the road intersecting with the vehicle and the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance, and the vehicle speed is equal to or less than a predetermined speed, the display unit is provided in the front part of the vehicle. A display step of displaying an image of the surroundings of the vehicle captured by the camera;
Display control program for causing the vehicle surrounding monitoring device to execute

Images