JP2010123012A - Wheel stop detection device and rearward image display apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stably detect a wheel stop CH by image processing even if a luminance difference between the wheel stop CH and a road surface RS is small. <P>SOLUTION: An image processing unit 42 has: statistic calculation processing 50 for dividing each of a plurality of detection areas 17 into an upper window 18 and a lower window 20 in an upper-and-lower direction corresponding to a longitudinal direction of a parking frame, and calculating statistics 30 of a luminance value of the upper window 18 and a luminance value of the lower window 20; difference value calculation processing 52 for calculating a difference value 32 between the statistic 30 of the upper window 18 and the statistic 30 of the lower window 20; candidate extraction processing 54 for deciding that a wheel stop candidate 34 is present when the difference values 32 are significant in both of a left detection area 12 and a right detection area 16; and separation detection processing 56 for deciding that the wheel stop candidate 34 is the wheel stop CH when the difference value 32 is not significant in a central detection area 14. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technical field for detecting a wheel stop (car stop) at the rear of a vehicle when a four-wheeled vehicle is parked, and more particularly to a technology for detecting a wheel stop by image processing.

  In recent years, in order to support the driving of a four-wheeled vehicle, technological development has been made such as photographing outside the vehicle including a blind spot and displaying it on a display unit, and detecting and warning about the possibility of some deviation. As a technique applied to this driving support, there is an image processing method for performing a certain detection or determination using a luminance distribution of an image taken by a camera. In addition, parking assistance to a parking lot is provided as driving assistance, and detection of a white line indicating a parking position and detection of a wheel stop are performed.

In Patent Document 1, for the purpose of measuring the relative position of a ring stop, an edge is extracted from an image obtained by photographing the rear, a linear parameter is detected by Hough transform, and compared with a previously stored ring stop image. Thus (paragraph 0008), a technique for detecting the position of the ring stop is disclosed.
In Patent Document 2, laser light is irradiated as pattern light so as to be scanned on the road surface RS in a line, and the figure (shape) generated on the road surface RS is compared with reference data prepared in advance. Thus (paragraph 0010), a method for determining the presence of a ring stop is disclosed.
In Patent Document 3, for the purpose of detecting a wheel stop, an image obtained by photographing the rear is converted into a bird's-eye view image, the moving distance of an object in the bird's-eye view image is calculated, and an object having a large moving distance is called a wheel stop. A technique (paragraph 0046) that seeks to make a determination is disclosed.

JP 2004-114840 JP JP 2004-276807 A JP 2008-99136 A

In Patent Document 1, it is not possible to stably detect a wheel stop in various parking lots in response to changes in various climates and solar radiation. In particular, when the wheel stop is made of concrete, unlike a white line such as a parking frame, it is difficult to obtain a luminance difference from the road surface, and good edge information cannot be obtained. That is, since the difference in brightness between the wheel stop and the road surface is small compared to the difference in brightness between the road surface and the white line, it is often difficult to obtain edge information that can be Hough-transformed. It is not possible to detect the ring stop stably.
In the above-mentioned Patent Document 2, a light source for projecting pattern light is necessary, and a new device needs to be added as in the conventional example using an ultrasonic sensor.
In Patent Document 3, the identity of an object in an image is determined from an overhead image and an attempt is made to capture the movement. However, it is difficult to determine that the object is the same in two images. Also, with this method, if there are no two images that are shifted in time, the stop cannot be detected and cannot be detected in real time.

[Problem 1] As described above, the conventional example has a disadvantage that the wheel stops cannot be detected by image processing if the difference in luminance between the wheel stops and the road surface is small.
[Problem 2] In the above-described conventional example, it is difficult to accurately detect the wheel stop even if it is shifted in the left-right direction by determining the left-right shift between the own vehicle and the wheel stop by image processing. There was an inconvenience.

  [Object of the Invention] An object of the present invention is to stably detect a wheel stop by image processing even if a difference in luminance between the wheel stop and the road surface is small.

  [Focus Point] The inventor of the present invention has focused on the point that it is better to detect a stop by catching a small difference in luminance value. And it came to the idea that the said subject could be solved by devising the method of the comparison of the detection area and luminance value according to the position of a ring stop.

[Problem Solving Means 1] A first group of the present invention corresponding to the first embodiment is predetermined by a camera that is installed at the rear of the vehicle and shoots the rear to generate a rear image, and a coordinate system of the rear image. And an image processing unit that determines whether or not the parking frame is locked based on the statistical values of the luminance values of the plurality of detection areas.
The image processing unit corresponds to a left-right direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the parking frame, and includes a left detection area, a center detection area, and a right detection area as the detection area, and the plurality of detections. Each area is divided into an upper window and a lower window in the vertical direction corresponding to the longitudinal direction, and a statistical value calculation for calculating the statistical value of the luminance value of the upper window and the statistical value of the luminance value of the lower window Processing, difference value calculation processing for calculating a difference value between the statistical value of the upper window and the statistical value of the lower window, and the left detection area and the right detection area, respectively. When the difference value is significant, the candidate extraction process determines that there is a ring stop candidate, and when the difference value 32 is not significant in the center detection area, the ring stop candidate is determined to be a ring stop. And separation detection processing to It adopts a cormorant configuration.
Thereby, the said subject 1 was solved.

[Problem Solving Means 2] As in the first group, the second group of the present invention corresponding to the second embodiment includes a camera and an image processing unit, and the image processing unit is different from the statistical value calculation processing and the difference value. A calculation process, a candidate spill process, and a separation detection process are provided.
And in the problem solution means 2, especially an image processing part respond | corresponds to the left-right direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the said parking frame, and contains a left detection area, a center detection area, and a right detection area as said detection area. A plurality of detection area sets, and a plurality of sets for determining that there is a ring stop when one or more detection area sets among the plurality of detection area sets are determined to be a ring stop by the separation detection process. The system is equipped with a process.
Thereby, the said subject 2 was solved.

  The present invention interprets the meaning of the terms described in each claim in consideration of the description of the present specification and the drawings, and certifies the invention according to each claim. There are the following advantageous effects in relation to

  [Advantageous Effect 1 of Invention] The ring stop detection device of Problem Solving Means 1 uses three detection areas to extract ring stop candidates using statistical values, and further determines that there is no object in the central portion. Therefore, it is possible to detect the ring stop even if the luminance difference is small. Furthermore, since the separation at the central portion is determined, only two independent ring stops can be detected, and erroneous detection of a white line or the like as a ring stop can be reduced.

  [Advantageous Effect 2 of Invention] The wheel stop detection device of Problem Solving Means 2 prepares a plurality of detection area sets in the left-right direction, and detects the presence or absence of a wheel stop. Even if it is shifted, it can be detected well.

  Three embodiments will be disclosed as the best mode for carrying out the invention. Examples 1 and 2 are wheel stop detection devices, and Example 3 is a rear image display device. Embodiments including Examples 1 to 3 are referred to as embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 1, the ring stop detection device includes a camera 40 and an image processing unit 42 as main components common to the embodiments. The camera 40 is installed in the rear part of the host vehicle MT, and generates the rear image 10 by photographing the rear. The image processing unit 42 determines the presence / absence of a lock CH of the parking frame PA based on the statistical value 30 of the luminance values of the plurality of detection areas 17 predetermined in the coordinate system of the rear image 10.
The image processing unit 42 corresponds to a left-right direction LR orthogonal to the longitudinal direction ST of the parking frame PA, and includes a left detection area 12, a center detection area 14, and a right detection area 16 as the detection area 17. . In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the image processing unit 42 further includes a statistical value calculation process 50, a difference value calculation process 52, a candidate extraction process 54, and a separation detection process 56.
The longitudinal direction ST of the parking frame PA is a direction parallel to the long side when the plane of the parked host vehicle MT is approximated by a rectangle, and is usually a direction in which the host vehicle MT goes straight when there is no steering wheel. . The left-right direction LR perpendicular to the longitudinal direction ST of the parking frame PA is a direction parallel to the stop CH in a real space where the parking frame PA is located. When the optical axis of the camera 40 is in a plane perpendicular to the road surface and including the longitudinal direction ST, the left and right direction LR is also on the rear image 10. In this example, two wheel stops CH are photographed on the left and right sides in the rear image 10, and the upper side in the rear image 10 is the back (rear) side of the parking frame PA, and the lower side is the front (front) side.

  Referring to FIG. 2, the wheel stop detection device includes a camera 40, a controller (for example, FPGA, Field Programmable Gate Array) 44, and a memory 46 as main hardware. The FPGA 44 can process the rear image 10 from the camera 40 in real time. The memory 46 stores a detection position 11 for designating the position of the rear image 10 in the detection area 17 in the coordinate system, and threshold values 32a and 32b for determining the significance of the difference value 32.

Further, in the example shown in FIG. 2, the display unit 70 such as a liquid crystal display that displays the rear image 10 toward the driver, and the image type of the rear image 10 displayed on the display unit 70 are switched and edited to each image type. Display control unit 72. Further, a sensor 48 that measures the state of the host vehicle MT and the state of operation by the driver, and an alarm output unit 80 that outputs an alarm in relation to the host vehicle MT and the state of operation and the detected wheel stop CH, You may make it provide.
The measurement object of the sensor 48 includes the speed of the host vehicle MT, the steering angle, the gear shift position, the winker operation, and the like. As an object of the alarm by the alarm output unit 80, for example, there is a contact alarm to the stop CH at the time of parking. This contact warning is applicable, for example, to the camera 40 attached to the front of the host vehicle MT and parking from the front.

  Referring to FIG. 3, the camera 40 takes a picture of the rear of the host vehicle MT from a height that is about half the height of the host vehicle MT. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the stop CH located at about 1.5 [m] from the rear of the host vehicle MT is detected. This distance is called a detection distance DL. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the ring stop CH is on the rear side of the parking frame PA surrounded by the white line WL, and serves as a guide for the position of the rear wheel when parking in the back. In general, two wheel stops CH are installed in one parking frame PA in accordance with the wheels. And since the stop CH plays the role which stops the wheel of the vehicle to park, since the center part of the back of parking frame PA is unnecessary, it is not installed in the center part of the left-right direction LR.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the ring stop CH has a ring stop upper surface CHt and a ring stop front surface CHf, and the wheel stop upper surface CHt and the ring stop front surface CHf are photographed. With respect to the road surface RS, with the stop CH as a boundary, there are a region that becomes the front stop road surface RSf on the side of the vehicle MT from the stop CH and a region that becomes the rear stop road surface RSb on the rear side and is photographed.

As shown in FIG. 4, the host vehicle MT parks backward in the right direction in the figure. This direction is the straight direction of the vehicle MT (longitudinal direction ST of the parking frame PA), and is usually the vertical direction in the rear image 10. The direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction ST is the left-right direction LR from the viewpoint of traveling of the host vehicle MT, and is also the left-right direction LR in the rear image 10. The left-right direction LR is the vertical direction because of the relationship shown in FIG. The camera 40 is preferably installed at the center position in the left-right direction LR of the host vehicle MT. The positional relationship in the left-right direction LR between the parking frame PA surrounded by the white line WL and the own vehicle MT is that in the left-right direction LR between the center position of the parking frame PA and the position of the camera 40 that is the center of the own vehicle MT. It is represented by the amount of lateral displacement and the tilt angle.
The definition of the longitudinal direction ST and the left-right direction LR is based on the direction in the real space. Depending on the installation position and orientation of the camera 40 and the distortion of the rear image 10 when the camera 40 has a wide-angle lens, the longitudinal direction ST and the left-right direction LR may not be orthogonal to each other in the rear image 10. For example, the direction parallel to the x-axis) and the left-right direction LR may not be parallel.
Since the direction of the real space is the reference, it is assumed that the detection area 17 is virtually installed at the position of the real space where the stop CH is to be detected in the real space, and the position projected on the rear image 10 is the detection area 17. And The three detection areas are defined as a left detection area 12, a center detection area 14, and a right detection area 16 in accordance with the left-right direction LR in the real space regardless of the direction and position on the image.
Definitions of terms such as direction are commonly used in each embodiment.

  FIG. 5 is an original image obtained by the camera 40 having a wide-angle lens. The rear image 10 has a high contrast between the white line WL indicating the parking frame PA and the road surface RS, and has a difference in luminance value. On the other hand, the ring stop CH is made of concrete and is not colored, and the difference in luminance value with the road surface RS is small. In particular, the difference in luminance value between adjacent pixels changing from the road surface RS to the ring stop front CHf and between adjacent pixels changing from the ring stop front CHf to the ring stop upper surface CHt is small. On the other hand, there is a difference in the distribution of luminance values between the ring stop upper surface CHt of the ring stop CH and the ring stop front surface CHf.

  In edge EG detection processing such as white line detection, a change in luminance value with an adjacent pixel is used for edge EG detection. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the white line is well extracted as the edge EG. However, in the case of the ring stop CH, there is no large luminance difference between the adjacent pixels as in the white line WL and the road surface RS. Therefore, in the difference in the luminance value of the adjacent pixels, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. A sufficient difference cannot be obtained in the CH portion. That is, the extraction of the edge EG of the ring stop CH is unstable. And since there are few features in a detection object, it is also difficult to use a moving stereo method, for example.

  FIG. 7 shows the line profile obtained by extracting the luminance of the ring stop CH portion from the top to the bottom in the image vertical direction. A vertical line 16a is located substantially at the center of the right side stop CH in FIG. 6 and passes through a position 16b and a position 16c. The line profile of the line 16a shown in FIG. 7 is the luminance change of the line 16a shown in FIG. 5, and the luminance change upward from the bottom in FIG. 5 is the luminance change from left to right in FIG. The change in brightness near the boundary between the road surface RS and the stop CH is gentle, and the difference is only about 50 at maximum.

<1 Wheel stop detection device>
<1.1 Three detection areas>
First, Example 1 of this embodiment is disclosed. In the first embodiment, the image processing of the rear image 10 is devised in order to detect the rear stop CH of the host vehicle MT.
As shown in FIG. 8, in order to make the detection area 17 a rectangular region, the rear image 10 after correcting the distortion of the image by the wide-angle lens is used. In the rear image 10, a road surface RS, a white line WL, a ring stop CH, and a parking frame PA surrounded by the white line WL are photographed. As for the ring stop CH, the ring stop upper surface CHt, the ring stop front surface CHf, and the central side surface are photographed. Between the two stop CHs is the road surface RS. On the side of the vehicle MT in the real space of the stop CH, the lower side in the coordinates of the rear image 10 is called the front stop road surface RSf, and the rear side is the wheel. This is referred to as stop rear road surface RSb. Further, in the example shown in FIG. 8, the dirt SP is photographed on a part of the ring stop front road surface RSf of the left ring stop CH.
And in the example shown in FIG. 8, the three detection areas 17 are the left detection area 12, the center detection area 14, and the right detection area 16, and are each surrounded by the ring stop front road surface RSf and the ring stop front surface CHf. .

Referring to FIG. 9A, the detection area 17 is divided into two regions in the vertical direction of the rear image 10, and the upper side is referred to as an upper window 18 and the lower side is referred to as a lower window 20. The length of the upper window 18 and the lower window 20 in the vertical direction is referred to as a window height 22, and the length in the left-right direction LR is referred to as a window width 24.
In the example shown in FIG. 9B, the detection area 17 includes a left column 26 and a right column 28, respectively. The upper window 18 of the left row 26 is also called 1 window, the upper window 18 of the right row 28 is called 2 windows, the lower window 20 of the left row 26 is also called 3 windows, and the lower window 20 of the right row 28 is also called 4 windows.
In the example shown in FIG. 9C, two detection areas 17 are defined in the vertical direction of the rear image 10. Since the upper side of the rear image 10 corresponds to the rear side in the real space, the upper side is referred to as a rear position 11b and the lower side is referred to as a front position 11a. If the stop CH is detected at the rear position 11b, the detection distance DL is long, and if the stop CH is detected in the detection area 17 at the front position 11a, the detection distance DL is short.
The window height 22 and the window width 24 of the detection area 17 and the respective positions may be defined as the detection position 11 and stored in the memory 46.

  Referring again to FIG. 1, the wheel stop detection device according to the first embodiment includes a camera 40 and an image processing unit 42. Then, the image processing unit 42 includes two independent blocks by detecting the ring stop CH in the left detection area 12 and the right detection area 16 and detecting the absence of the ring stop CH in the center detection area 14. A ring stop CH is detected. In order to perform this detection, the image processing unit 42 includes a statistical value calculation process 50, a difference value calculation process 52, a candidate extraction process 54, and a separation detection process 56.

The statistical value calculation process 50 divides each of the plurality of detection areas 17 into an upper window 18 and a lower window 20 in the vertical direction corresponding to the longitudinal direction ST of the parking frame PA, and the luminance value of the upper window 18. And the statistical value 30 of the luminance value of the lower window 20 are calculated. The statistical value 30 is preferably a numerical value that can be obtained by statistical processing that represents the characteristics of the distribution of luminance values such as an average value and a median value. Further, the variance value and standard deviation of the luminance value distribution may be set as the statistical value 30.
Usually, the longitudinal direction ST is the vertical direction of the rear image 10 (parallel to the Y axis). However, since the definition of this direction is also based on the definition of the real space with the parking frame PA, the direction in which the detection area 17 is divided is the direction in which the longitudinal direction ST of the real space is projected on the rear image 10 and the longitudinal direction In the direction ST, the depth direction is named up and the near side is named down. As long as the projection is in real space, the upper window 18 may be on the lower side 20 or the left and right sides of the lower window in the rear image 10. That is, the “vertical direction corresponding to the longitudinal direction ST” is the direction of the line when the longitudinal direction ST is projected onto the rear image 10, and is not necessarily parallel to the Y axis on the image.

  The difference value calculation process 52 calculates a difference value 32 between the statistical value 30 of the upper window 18 and the statistical value 30 of the lower window 20 for each of the plurality of detection areas 17. The difference value 32 is a difference or ratio of the statistical value 30 and is preferably a value in which a difference between the characteristics of the luminance distribution of the pixels in the upper window 18 and the characteristics of the luminance distribution of the pixels in the lower window 20 appears favorably. .

The candidate extraction process 54 determines that there is a ring stop candidate 34 when the difference value 32 is significant in both the left detection area 12 and the right detection area 16. The difference value 32 being significant means a state in which it can be determined that the difference value 32 is present or absent when the presence / absence is determined by information processing. For example, the difference value 32 or the absolute value thereof is compared with predetermined threshold values 32a and 32b, and the classification of presence / absence or the like is determined by information processing such as the magnitude relationship or the inside / outside determination of the range.
The candidate extraction process 54 uses, for example, the average value as the statistical value 30 and the difference between the average values as the difference value 32, and the absolute value of the difference value 32 is greater than the predetermined threshold value 32a. When it is larger, it is determined that there is a ring stop candidate 34.

  When the difference value 32 is not significant in the center detection area 14, the separation detection process 56 determines that the ring stop candidate 34 is a ring stop CH and determines that it is a detection wheel stop 36. That is, the separation detection process 56 searches for separation of the ring stop candidate 34 from the difference value 32 of the center detection area 14, contrary to the candidate extraction process 54. Even if the difference value 32 is significant between the left detection area 12 and the right detection area 16 by the separation detection process 56, if the difference value 32 of the center detection area 14 is also significant, the ring stop CH is Don't judge

  3 and 5 again, the detection distance DL in the coordinate system of the real space corresponds to the vertical direction in the coordinate system of the rear image 10. For this reason, the detection distance DL can be adjusted by adjusting the vertical installation position of the detection area 17. Also, the detection distance DL to the wheel stop CH can be measured by making the detection position 11 variable and performing detection processing while scanning the vertical position of the detection area 17.

  When the position of the detection area 17 is fixed in the vertical direction, it is preferable to process the rear image 10 in real time. If the process is slow, for example, depending on the vehicle speed, the ring stop CH passes through the detection area 17 during the process of obtaining the position where the luminance difference between the ring stop CH and the road surface RS is maximized. At present, real-time processing is difficult in software processing using a personal computer or the like. For this reason, an FPGA 44 is preferably used as shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 9B, the detection area 17 is further divided into two in the left-right direction LR to eliminate the influence of dirt SP and the like, and a left column 26 and a right column 28 are provided. good. That is, if the detection area 17 taking the statistical value 30 such as an average is wide sideways, the detection is likely to be unstable due to the influence of the dirt SP of the road surface RS. It is preferable to obtain a statistical value 30 such as. In addition, this division may be divided into three or more instead of dividing into the left column 26 and the right column 28.

  As shown in FIG. 9C, the detection area 17 may be arranged in the vertical direction of the screen, and the detection distance DL of the stop CH may be changed by selecting an area at an arbitrary position. For example, when the position is closer to the front position 11a, the detection distance DL is shorter, and when the position is further rearward 11b, the detection distance DL is longer. Further, the detection area 17 is arranged in the vertical direction of the screen, and the position where the wheel stop CH position is detected is tracked with a continuous image (moving image), whereby the detection distance DL between the host vehicle MT and the wheel stop CH is calculated. You may make it detect continuously.

In this example, the statistical value calculation processing 50 obtains the average of the luminance of the pixels in the first window, the second window, the third window, and the fourth window of the detection area 17. Then, the difference value calculation process 52 obtains the difference between each upper window 18 and the lower window 20.
In the candidate extraction process 54, the difference between the average values of the luminance values of the upper window 18 and the lower window 20 (difference value 32) in both the left column 26 and the right column 28 of the left and right detection areas 12, 16 is divided. When the threshold value is 32a or more, it is determined that the ring stop candidate 34 exists. For example, when the difference value 32 in the left column 26 of the left detection area 12 is significant and the right column 28 is not significant, the ring stop candidate 34 is not determined.

The separation detection process 56 detects that there is no luminance difference exceeding the threshold value 32b in the vertical direction corresponding to the longitudinal direction ST in the center detection area 14. Accordingly, by capturing that the ring stop candidate 34 is separated at the center portion, it is confirmed that it is not the horizontal white line WL, dirt SP, curbstone or the like in the real space, and is determined to be the ring stop CH.
In this way, in the three detection areas 17, a luminance difference exceeding the threshold value 32a is detected in the left column 26 and the right column 28 of the left and right detection areas 12, 16, and the left column 26 and the right of the center detection area 14 are detected. If a luminance difference exceeding the threshold value 32b is not detected in the column 28, it is determined that there are two separated pawls CH, not white lines WL or curbs.

As described above, the image processing unit 42 detects the ring stop candidate 34 when there is a difference of the threshold value 32a or more between the average values of the luminance of the windows 1 and 3 and the windows 2 and 4.
That is, only when (1 window> 3 windows and 2 windows> 4 windows) or (1 window <3 windows and 2 windows <4 windows), the rotation stop candidate 34 is detected.
Furthermore, in the road surface RS portion between the ring stops CH, when the difference in the average value of the brightness of the windows 1 and 3 and the windows 2 and 4 does not exceed the second threshold value 32b, the ring CH is present. judge.

  Referring to FIG. 10, the statistical value calculation process 50 first scans the rear image 10 to acquire the pixel position and the luminance value (step S <b> 11), and refers to the detection position 11 to determine whether or not it is within the detection area 17. (Step S12), if it is within the detection area 17, the detection area 17, the upper window 18 or the lower window 20, the left column 26 or the right column 28 are specified, and the luminance value is accumulated (step S13). . Steps S11 to S13 are repeated until one screen is finished (step S14).

  When the necessary luminance value for one screen is accumulated, the statistical value calculation process 50 calculates the statistical value 30 for the upper window 18 and the lower window 20 of the left column 26 and the right column 28 of the detection area 17 (step S15). ). The statistical value 30 is, for example, a median value or an average value. The difference value calculation process 52 calculates a difference value 32 for the plurality of upper windows 18 and lower windows 20, and outputs the difference value 32 together with a polarity 38 such as plus / minus of the difference value 32 if necessary (step S16).

Referring to FIG. 11, the candidate extraction process 54 acquires the difference value 32 of the left column 26 and the right column 28 of the left detection area 12 and the right detection area 16 (step S21), and the ring stop candidate 34 as follows. Whether or not there is is determined (step S22).
((Difference value from 1 window to 3 windows 32> threshold 32a) and (difference value from 2 windows to 4 windows 32> threshold 32a)) or
((Difference value from 3 windows to 1 window 32> threshold 32a) and (difference value from 4 windows to 2 windows 32> threshold 32a))
If this condition is satisfied in all the left column 26 and right column 28 of the left and right detection areas 12, 16, it is assumed that there is a ring stop candidate 34.

Subsequently, the separation detection process 56 determines the presence or absence of the detection wheel stop 36 as follows from the difference value 32 in the left column 26 and the right column 28 of the center detection area 14 (step S23).
((Difference value from 1 window to 3 windows 32 <threshold value 32b) and (difference value from 2 windows to 4 windows 32 <threshold value 32b)) or
((Difference value from 3 windows to 1 window 32 <threshold value 32b) and (difference value from 4 windows to 2 windows 32 <threshold value 32b))
If both the left row 26 and the right row 28 of the center detection area 14 satisfy this condition, it is determined that there is no object in the center portion of the ring stop candidate 34, and it is determined that the ring stop CH exists, and the detected wheel Suppose that there is a stop 36.
The detection wheel stop 36 is, for example, a wheel stop detection signal, a position of the wheel stop CH in the real space, or a detection distance DL. When the separation detection process 56 determines that the ring stop CH is detected (step S24), the separation detection process 56 outputs this ring stop detection signal (step S25). In order to output the distance in the real space, the image processing unit 42 stores in advance parameters for converting the camera coordinate system that is the coordinate system of the rear image 10 and the coordinate system in the real space. The detection distance DL or the like may be calculated from the coordinates of the detection position 11.

FIG. 12 shows an original image of the rear image 10 by the camera 40 using a wide-angle lens, and FIG. 13 shows a line profile centering on the left column 26 of the three detection areas 17.
FIG. 13A shows a line profile of the line 12a in FIG. As shown in FIG. 12, the line 12a has no significant luminance difference at the boundary position 12b between the ring stop front road surface RSf and the ring stop front surface CHf. Thereafter, there is a luminance change at the position of 40 pixels shown in FIG. This is considered to be near the boundary between the ring stop front surface CHf and the ring stop upper surface CHt shown in FIG. However, this luminance change is also gentle. Further, there is a luminance difference at the boundary position 12c between the ring stop upper surface CHt and the ring stop rear road surface RSb.
The line profile of the line 14a in FIG. 12 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 12, the line 14a passes only on the road surface, and the luminance change is small. As shown in FIG. 13B, the luminance change is small before and after the positions 14b and 14c.
The line profile of the line 16a in FIG. 12 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 12, the line 16a is gradually darkened at a boundary position 16b between the ring stop front road surface RSf and the ring stop front surface CHf. Thereafter, there is a luminance change at the position of 40 pixels shown in FIG. This is considered to be near the boundary between the ring stop front surface CHf and the ring stop upper surface CHt shown in FIG. And there exists a luminance difference in the boundary position 12c between the ring stop upper surface CHt and the ring stop rear road surface RSb.
In the present embodiment, the length from the boundary positions 12b and 16b between the wheel stop front road surface RSf and the wheel stop CH to the boundary positions 12c and 16c between the wheel stop CH and the wheel stop rear road surface RSb is determined as the height of the detection area 17. It is said. That is, the detection area 17 is divided into an upper window 18 and a lower window 20, and a length obtained by doubling the length of the window height 22 is the height of the detection area 17.
As shown in FIGS. 13A and 13C, when the detection area 17 is divided into two and the upper window 18 and the lower window 20 are defined, the luminance distribution of the upper window 18 and the luminance distribution of the lower window 20 are defined. There is a difference. That is, the luminance change before and after the ring stop is not a steep change that can extract the edge EG, but if the detection area 17 is categorized and height is devised, a difference in luminance distribution can be captured.

As described above, the distribution of the luminance value of the lower window 20 of the left detection area 12 is different from the distribution of the luminance value of the upper window 18, and a significant difference appears in the difference value 32 of the statistical value 30. The same applies to the right detection area 16 shown in FIG. Accordingly, if the detection value 17 of any one of FIGS. 9A to 9C is superimposed on the position of each line 12a, 12b, 12c in FIG. Is done.
On the other hand, in the center detection area 14 shown in FIG. 13B, there is no difference between the luminance value distribution of the lower window 20 and the luminance value distribution of the upper window 18, and the difference value 32 of the statistical value 30 is also significantly different. There is no. Thereby, it is determined that the left row 26 has the detection wheel stop 36.

1.1 Effect of three detection areas As described above, by using the three detection areas 17 to extract the ring stop candidate 34 using the statistical value 30, and further determining that there is no object in the central portion. Since the presence or absence of the ring stop CH is determined, the ring stop CH can be detected even if the luminance difference is small. Furthermore, since the separation at the central portion is determined, only two independent ring stops CH can be detected, and erroneous detection of the white line WL or the like as the ring stop CH can be reduced.
In particular, the difference value 32 (for example, difference) of the statistical value 30 such as the average value or the median value in the detection area 17 is calculated and compared with the threshold values 32a and 32b. The boundary between the stop CH and the road surface RS with a small luminance difference can be detected with high sensitivity. If the average value, the necessary processing is only addition / division and comparison / determination with the threshold values 32a and 32b, the system configuration can be simplified and the processing can be performed at high speed. Instead, processing in real time by the FPGA 44 or the like is possible.
Further, when the detection area 17 is divided into the left column 26 and the right column 28, the influence of the stain SP or the like can be reduced.

<1.2 Detection area height>
Referring to FIG. 7 again, there is a luminance difference of about 25 between the ring stop upper surface CHt, the ring stop front surface CHf, and the road surface RS. That is, the length (the number of scanning lines and the number of pixels) in the vertical direction (corresponding to the longitudinal direction ST of the host vehicle MT) of the rear image 10 of the ring stop upper surface CHt and the ring stop front surface CHf is obtained. When the average value and the median value of the luminance values on the line profile are obtained, a clear difference occurs in the average value in the case of the boundary between the stop CH and the road surface RS.
In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 14, the window height 22 that is the length in the vertical direction of the upper window 18 and the lower window 20 is preferably set to the ring stop height in the rear image 10. It is good to set to the length which becomes CHh. If the window height 22 between the upper window 18 and the lower window 20 is the ring stop height CHh, the statistical value 30 can be satisfactorily captured. In addition, if the upper window 18 and the lower window 20 have a window width 24 as narrow as possible, it is easy to cope with a change in the width of the ring stop CH and the gap in the central portion that are different for each parking lot.
As shown in FIG. 14, when the window height 22 between the upper window 18 and the lower window 20 is the ring stop height CHh, the following three detection opportunities can be obtained.
Fig. 14 (A) Change from wheel stop front road surface RSf to wheel stop front surface CHf Fig. 14 (B) Change from wheel stop front surface CHf to wheel stop upper surface CHt Fig. 14 (C) Wheel stop upper surface CHt to wheel stop rear road surface RSb Change to

1.2 Effect of detection area height As described above, when the size (vertical direction) of the detection area 17 is adjusted to the height of the ring stop CH shown in the image, the statistical value 30 can be well captured, The influence of a large or small texture (painting of the road surface RS) or the like on the stop CH can be eliminated. Moreover, the ring stop of various environmental conditions can be detected favorably by the above three detection opportunities.

<1.3 Polarity comparison>
Referring again to FIG. 1, the image processing unit 42 includes a polarity processing 58.
In the polarity processing 58, the combination of the polarities 38 of the detection areas 12 and 16 is different based on the combination of the polarities 38 of the difference value 32 of the statistical value 30 between the left detection area 12 and the right detection area 16. At this time, the ring stop candidate 34 is determined to be other than the ring stop CH.

Referring to FIG. 15A, it is assumed that the white line WL (or the dirt SP) drawn on the road surface RS is crossed obliquely. In the figure, hatching is white as a white line, and the background is gray. In the center detection area 14, there is no difference in luminance in the vertical direction, and in the left and right detection areas 12 and 16, the difference value 32 of the statistical value 30 is detected as significant although the direction of change is different from white to black and black to white. Therefore, it is erroneously detected as a ring stop CH.
For this problem, if there is a ring stop CH, assuming that the left and right ring CHs have the same color (brightness), the condition that the change direction of the brightness in the left and right detection areas 12 and 16 is the same. Pay attention to. That is, as shown in FIG. 15B, a combination of the polarities 38 of the difference value 32 of the statistical value 30 can be used for information processing.

  In the polarity processing 58, the polarities 38 of the difference between the average values of the luminance values of the windows 1 and 3 and the windows 2 and 4 are the same in the left and right stop CH detection frames. For example, if 1 window> 3 windows, 2 windows> 4 windows in the left detection area 12, detection is performed when the ring stop CH portion of the right detection area 16 is also 1 window> 3 windows, 2 windows> 4 windows. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 15B, when the combinations of the polarities 38 of the left and right detection areas 12 and 16 are different, the ring stop CH is not detected. That is, in the example shown in FIG. 15B, in the left detection area 12, the upper window 18 is negative and the lower window 20 is positive. However, in the right detection area 16, the polarities are opposite to each other, the upper window 18 is positive, and the lower window 20 is positive. Due to the difference in polarity between the left and right detection areas 12 and 16, it can be rejected without being determined as the ring stop CH. The polarity processing 58 may be processed after the candidate extraction processing 54 and before the separation detection processing 56 as shown in FIG. 1, or may be processed as part of the separation detection processing 56. .

1.3 Effect of Polarity Comparison As described above, if the polarity 38 of the calculated difference value 32 (for example, difference) of the statistical value 30 is the same in the left and right detection areas 12 and 16, the white line WL or the like is slanted. It is possible to eliminate false detections when crossing.

<Two-wheel stop detection device>
<2.1 Multiple detection area sets>
Next, Example 2 is disclosed. Referring to FIG. 16, the stop detecting device of the second embodiment includes a plurality of detection area sets 62 and a plurality of set processing 64 as main elements.
Similarly to the first embodiment, the camera 40 and the image processing unit 42 are provided. The image processing unit 42 includes a statistical value calculation process 50, a difference value calculation process 52, a candidate extraction process 54, and a separation detection process 56. And a polar treatment 58 if preferred.

As shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, if the own vehicle MT is displaced laterally with respect to the parking frame PA, it cannot be detected by the method of the first embodiment. In the example shown in FIG. 18, the windows of the detection area 17 are indicated by window numbers. As shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, if the ring stop CH overlaps only one of the left column 26 and the right column 28 in the left and right detection areas 12 and 16, the luminance distribution is different, so the ring stop candidate 34 is not detected, If a ring stop overlaps the center detection area 14, separation of the ring stop CH cannot be detected.
In the second embodiment, two different methods are disclosed for the left-right positional shift. The first technique is based on the multiple set process 64. In this example, as shown in FIG. 19, a plurality of sets of three detection areas are provided in the left-right direction in the rear image 10. In the example illustrated in FIG. 19, the image processing unit 42 prepares three sets of a first detection area set 62 a, a second detection area set 62 b, and a third detection area set 62 c in advance. In the example shown in FIG. 19, the three detection area sets 62a, 62b, and 62c are set so as not to overlap, but may be set so as to partially overlap.

  Then, the image processing unit 42 searches all of the plurality of detection area sets 62a, 62b, and 62c by the method disclosed in the first embodiment, and obtains the difference value 32 of the statistical value 30. When the plurality of detection area sets 62a, 62b, and 62c are determined to be a ring stop CH by the separation detection process 56 for the one or more detection area sets 62a, 62b, and 62c among the plurality of detection area sets 62a, 62b, and 62c. It is determined that there is a ring stop CH. By this multiple set processing, even if the own vehicle MT and the parking frame PA are displaced in the left-right direction, it can be detected by any of the detection area sets 62a, 62b, 62c. When detected by the detection area set 62b, there is almost no amount of lateral displacement of the host vehicle MT. When the host vehicle MT is shifted to the left (upper side in FIG. 4), the stop CH is detected by the detection area set 62a. Conversely, if the vehicle MT is shifted to the right side, it is detected by the detection area set 62c.

2.1 Effect of Multiple Detection Area Sets As described above, since a plurality of detection area sets are prepared in the left-right direction, even if the own vehicle MT and the parking frame PA are displaced in the left-right direction, it can be detected well. In particular, when the misalignment between the parking frame PA and the host vehicle MT is anticipated and the detection area sets are arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the detection area 17 that matches the position of the wheel stop CH can be used, thereby reducing non-detection. be able to. Further, by specifying the detection position 11 of the detection area set that can detect the ring stop CH, it is possible to capture the direction and degree of the positional deviation.

<2.2 Moving the detection area left and right>
As shown in FIG. 20, one detection area set 60 may be moved in the left-right direction in order to cope with the positional deviation in the left-right direction. In this example, a parking frame detection unit 60 that extracts the white line WL of the rear image 10 to detect the parking frame PA and calculates the distance and inclination between the parking frame PA and the position of the host vehicle MT is provided. The image processing unit 42 includes a detection position correction unit 66, and the detection position correction unit 66 is based on the position of the host vehicle MT (left and right position deviation amount) calculated by the parking frame detection unit 60. The detection position 11 is corrected. Thereby, the detection area 17 can be moved in the left-right direction.

The parking frame detection unit 60 can detect an edge by differentiating the rear image 10, and can detect a straight line by performing a Hough transform. As a result, only the straight line that becomes the white line WL can be extracted from the rear image 10. And since the coordinate system of the back image 10 is related to the coordinate system of the real space, by obtaining the distance between the vehicle MT and the white line WL, the amount of left-right positional deviation in the parking frame PA between the white lines WL can be calculated. Can be calculated.
The detection position correction unit 66 uses the result of the left / right positional deviation detection of the host vehicle MT with respect to the parking frame PA, according to the positional deviation (rightward positional deviation) shown in FIG. As shown, the detection area 17 is moved integrally. As a result, the stop CH can be detected in the parking frame PA regardless of the left and right positions of the host vehicle MT.
Specifically, the position of the detection area 17 is based on a rear image obtained by imaging a typical stop CH at a detection distance DL, and the left detection area 12 and the right are located at the center position in the left-right direction LR of each stop CH. The detection area 16 may be arranged, and the center detection area 12 may be arranged at the center position of the central gap portion where there is no ring stop CH. The detection position correction unit 66 calculates the center position of the white line WL in the left-right direction LR from the recognition result of the white line WL, and the center detection area 14 is located at the center position of the white line WL (parking frame PA) in the left-right direction LR. It is preferable to move the three detection areas 17 so that their center positions overlap.

2.2 Effect of left / right movement of detection area As described above, since the left / right position of the detection area 17 is corrected based on the amount of left / right displacement between the own vehicle MT and the parking frame PA, Even if there is a position shift, the ring stop CH can be detected well.

<3 rear image display device>
<3.1 Image type switching control>
Next, Example 3 is disclosed. Example 3 relates to a rear image display device including a display unit 70 that displays a rear image 10 of the host vehicle MT.
Referring to FIG. 21, the rear image display apparatus according to the third embodiment includes, as main components, a camera 40, a parking frame detection unit 60, a display unit 70, a display control unit 72, a feature amount calculation unit 74, And a ring stop detector 76. Further, the display control unit 72 includes a switching process 78.

  The camera 40 is installed in the rear part of the host vehicle MT and captures the rear to generate the rear image 10. The display unit 70 displays the rear image 10 to the driver. The display control unit 72 edits the rear image 10 to a designated image type among a plurality of predetermined image types, and controls display on the display unit 70.

  The parking frame detection unit 60 recognizes the white line WL in the rear image 10 to detect the parking frame PA and calculates the positional relationship between the parking frame PA and the host vehicle MT. For white line recognition, for example, edge extraction processing and Hough transform may be used. The parking frame PA is an area within the left and right white lines WL. The positional relationship is a left-right positional shift amount between the center of the left and right white lines WL and the center of the own vehicle MT in the left-right direction, and may further include an inclination of the own vehicle MT with respect to the white line WL.

  The feature amount calculation unit 74 calculates feature amounts of luminance values of a plurality of detection areas 17 that are predetermined in the coordinate system of the rear image 10. The feature amount is, for example, the statistical value 30 and the difference value 32 disclosed in the first embodiment. In this example, the feature quantity calculation unit 17 includes a statistical value calculation process 50 and a difference value calculation process 52 shown in FIG. The feature amount of the detection area 17 is not limited to the statistical value 30 and the difference value 32, but may be another value. Further, the detection position 11 of the detection area 17 may be a predetermined position as in the first embodiment, or from the parking frame detection section 60 as in the detection position correction section 66 shown in FIG. Alternatively, the detection position 11 may be corrected based on the left-right positional deviation amount. By correcting the detection position 11, even if there is a lateral displacement as shown in FIG. 18, the position of the detection area 17 is corrected as shown in FIG. Can do.

  The ring stop determination unit 76 detects a three-dimensional object in the left detection area 12 and the right detection area 16 based on the feature amount, and when the three-dimensional object is not detected in the center detection area 14, the three-dimensional object is detected. It is determined that the ring is CH. The ring stop determination unit 76 determines that the three-dimensional object separated and cut at the center is the ring stop CH, and outputs a signal that the detection wheel stop 36 is present (ring stop detection signal). For this reason, the white line WL and curbstone which continue in the left-right direction are not determined as the ring stop CH. The ring stop determination unit 76 may include a candidate extraction process 54, a separation detection process 56, and a polarity process 58 as necessary, as shown in FIG.

  In particular, in the third embodiment, the display control unit 72 switches the image type when the host vehicle MT is in the parking frame PA and the wheel stop CH is found by the wheel stop determination unit 76. A switching process 78 is provided. As shown in FIG. 22, the switching process 78 is performed when the wheel stop detection signal from the wheel stop determination unit 76 and the tilt signal from the parking frame detection unit 60 are input (step S31). And the vehicle MT is substantially parallel to the parking frame PA (for example, there is almost no inclination as illustrated in FIG. 4) and the vehicle MT is within the parking frame PA (step S32). The switching of the screen type is controlled (step S33). In this example, it is determined how much the reverse operation is advanced after the operation of the steering wheel is almost completed, and the state becomes a more suitable timing for switching to the overhead view image.

In an example in which a wide-angle lens is used, as the image type of the rear image 10, the distortion-removed image shown in FIGS. 23A and 24A, the overhead image shown in FIGS. 23B and 24B, and There is. An example of an original image using a wide-angle lens is shown in FIG.
In the example shown in FIGS. 23 and 24, the distortion-removed image shown in (A) is displayed on the display unit 70 until the ring stop CH is found, and when the ring stop CH is found, the bird's eye view image shown in (B) is switched. And good. Thereby, in the rear image display device (back camera for parking) having a function of switching to a bird's-eye view image, it is possible to detect the approach to the stop CH for the parking operation and automatically switch to the bird's-eye view image.

The timing at which the display control unit 72 switches the image type is when the wheel stop CH is found. The discovery of the stop CH is based on the feature amount of the detection area 17. For this reason, if the detection position 11 of the detection area 17 is changed, the timing at which the image type is switched can be changed. That is, the detection distance DL shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 can be adjusted depending on the position in the vertical direction of the rear image 10 where the detection area 17 is installed. Therefore, the image type is switched at the timing when the host vehicle MT becomes the detection distance DL. In addition, when the parking frame detection unit 60 calculates the inclination of the host vehicle MT with respect to the parking frame PA, the image type is switched when the stop CH is detected and the host vehicle MT is substantially parallel to the parking frame PA. You may do it.
When the detection distance DL is greatly changed, the size of the detection area 17 may be changed according to the height and size of the ring stop CH in the rear image 10, and the left and right position and the movement amount may be adjusted. If these adjustments are stepwise rather than continuous, the feature amount of the detection area 17 for each detection distance DL is stored in the ROM in advance as a data structure such as the detection position 11 and the like, and according to the driver's operation. Then, the detection distance DL may be changed by switching the feature amount.

  After the distortion control image is automatically switched to the overhead image, the display control unit 72 gives priority to the driver's switch operation when the driver performs a switching operation. On the other hand, when the driver does not operate the changeover switch, the bird's-eye view image is continued during the back gear, and when the back gear selection is stopped and selected again, it may be canceled. As another example, after switching to the bird's-eye view image, the image may be canceled after a predetermined time such as 5 seconds and returned to the distortion-removed image.

3.1 Effect of Image Type Switching Control As described above, the parking frame detection unit 60 detects the parking frame PA, the wheel stop determination unit 76 detects the wheel stop CH, and the display control unit 72 determines that the vehicle MT is In order to automatically switch the image type in the parking frame PA and when the wheel stop CH is found by the wheel stop determination unit 76, the image type is more useful depending on the stage of the driver's parking operation. The rear image 10 can be displayed.

<3.2 Tilt adjustment>
In the third embodiment, the parking frame detection unit 60 may calculate the inclination of the host vehicle MT with respect to the parking frame PA as the positional relationship. This inclination information can be used in various ways.
The processing of the display control unit 72 can prevent erroneous detection when the road surface RS has dirt SP or the like and a condition similar to the case where the ring stop CH exists is created. That is, if the inclination detection result by the parking frame detector 60 is substantially parallel to the parking frame PA, erroneous detection during the parking operation can be reduced. In this example, even if the wheel stop determination unit 76 erroneously determines the stain SP that is not actually the wheel stop CH as the wheel stop CH, the switching of the image type due to this error determination is prevented by the parallel condition in step S32. Can do.

On the other hand, tilt detection may not be possible. For example, if the inclination cannot be detected continuously due to the state of the white line WL in the rear image 10, for example, if the white line WL is short, the detection becomes impossible. In these cases, the inclination of the host vehicle MT with respect to the parking frame PA cannot be detected. Then, although the image of the stop CH is approaching the position of the detection area 17, the parallel condition in step S32 is not satisfied, so that the switching process cannot be performed.
For this reason, when it becomes impossible to detect after detecting an inclination once, it is good to continue the last detection result only for 0.5 second, for example. By continuing the detection result immediately before this, the stability of repeated detection is improved.

  Further, in the latter half of the parking operation, the white line WL of the parking frame PA that appears in the camera 40 becomes short, and thus the tilt detection becomes unstable (changes small). For this reason, at the time of parking operation, a hysteresis characteristic is given to the detection result from a position where the inclination is large to the inclination 0 (parallel) and the detection when the inclination is inclined again from the parallel so that the inclination detection result is stabilized. This measure can reduce non-detection. As hysteresis characteristics, for example, the inclination detection is made in 7 steps (parallel + 3 steps on the left and right), and the inclination detection result is updated step by step in the direction from large to parallel, while once it becomes parallel, The detection result should be fixed in parallel as long as it does not tilt in two steps.

・ 3.2 Effect of tilt adjustment As described above, the detection area is moved in accordance with the amount of lateral displacement of the host vehicle MT by combining the amount of lateral displacement with the parking frame PA based on the recognition of the white line WL and the wheel stop detection. It is possible to reduce non-detection.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of one Embodiment of this invention. (Examples 1 to 3) It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the hardware of one Embodiment of this invention. (Examples 1 to 3) It is a side view which shows the attachment position etc. of a camera. (Examples 1 to 3) It is a top view which shows the attachment position etc. of the camera shown in FIG. (Examples 1 to 3) It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the back image of this embodiment. (Examples 1 to 3) It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the edge extraction image of the image shown in FIG. (Examples 1 to 3) It is a graph which shows the luminance change of the ring stop part of the back image shown in FIG. (Examples 1 to 3) FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a rear image in the first embodiment. (Example 1) 9A to 9C are explanatory diagrams illustrating an example of the detection area in the first embodiment. (Example 1) It is a flowchart which shows an example of the information processing which calculates the feature-value of a detection area. (Example 1) It is a flowchart which shows an example of the information processing which determines the presence or absence of a ring stop. (Example 1) 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example in which a detection area is superimposed on a rear image in Embodiment 1. FIG. (Example 1) FIGS. 13A to 13C are explanatory diagrams illustrating an example of a line profile of each detection area. (Example 1) 14A to 14C are explanatory diagrams illustrating an example of information processing using three detection areas. (Example 1) FIGS. 15A and 15B are explanatory diagrams illustrating an example of information processing for performing polarity comparison. (Example 3) 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of Example 2. FIG. (Example 2) FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a rear image according to the second embodiment. (Example 2) FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a positional deviation according to the second embodiment. (Example 2) It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the information processing which uses multiple three detection areas. (Example 2) It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the information processing which correct | amends the left-right position of three detection areas. (Example 2) 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of Example 3. FIG. (Example 3) 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of information processing according to a third embodiment. (Example 3) 23A to 23C are explanatory diagrams illustrating an example of the rear image of the third embodiment. (Example 3) 23A and 23B are explanatory diagrams illustrating an example of a rear image according to the third embodiment. (Example 3)

Explanation of symbols

CH Wheel stop PA Parking frame DL Detection distance 10 Rear image 12 Left detection area 14 Center detection area 16 Right detection area 30 Statistical value 32 Difference value 34 Wheel stop candidate 36 Detection wheel stop

Claims (5)

A camera installed at the rear of the vehicle to capture the rear and generate a rear image;
An image processing unit that determines whether or not the parking frame is locked based on a statistical value of luminance values of a plurality of detection areas predetermined in the coordinate system of the rear image;
This image processing unit
Corresponding to the left-right direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the parking frame, the detection area comprises a left detection area, a center detection area, and a right detection area,
Each of the plurality of detection areas is divided into an upper window and a lower window in the vertical direction corresponding to the longitudinal direction, and the statistical value of the luminance value of the upper window and the statistical value of the luminance value of the lower window are calculated. Statistical value calculation processing,
For each of the plurality of detection areas, a difference value calculation process for calculating a difference value between the statistical value of the upper window and the statistical value of the lower window;
Candidate extraction processing for determining that there is a ring stop candidate when the difference value is significant in both the left detection area and the right detection area;
When the difference value is not significant in the central detection area, the separation detection process for determining that the ring stop candidate is a ring stop,
A ring stop detecting device characterized by that. The window height that is the length in the vertical direction of the upper window and the lower window was set to a length that is the height of a ring stop in the rear image,
The ring stop detection device according to claim 1. The image processing unit
Based on the combination of the polarities of the difference values of the statistical values of the left detection area and the right detection area, the polarity for determining the ring stop candidate as other than the ring stop when the combination of the polarities of the detection areas is different With processing,
The ring stop detection device according to claim 1 or 2. A camera installed at the rear of the vehicle to capture the rear and generate a rear image;
An image processing unit that determines whether or not the parking frame is locked based on a statistical value of luminance values of a plurality of detection areas predetermined in the coordinate system of the rear image;
This image processing unit
Corresponding to the left and right direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the parking frame, as the detection area, a plurality of detection area sets including a left detection area, a center detection area, and a right detection area,
Each of the plurality of detection areas is divided into an upper window and a lower window in the vertical direction corresponding to the longitudinal direction, and the statistical value of the luminance value of the upper window and the statistical value of the luminance value of the lower window are calculated. Statistical value calculation processing,
For each of the plurality of detection areas, a difference value calculation process for calculating a difference value between the statistical value of the upper window and the statistical value of the lower window;
Candidate extraction processing for determining that there is a ring stop candidate when the difference value is significant in both the left detection area and the right detection area;
When the difference value is not significant in the center detection area, separation detection processing for determining that the ring stop candidate is a ring stop,
Among the plurality of detection area sets, comprising one or more detection area sets, a plurality of set processing for determining that there is a ring stop when it is determined that there is a ring stop by the separation detection process,
A ring stop detecting device characterized by that. A camera installed at the rear of the vehicle to capture the rear and generate a rear image;
A display unit for displaying the rear image to the driver;
A display control unit that edits a rear image to a specified image type among a plurality of predetermined image types and controls display on the display unit;
A parking frame detection unit for recognizing a white line in the rear image and detecting a parking frame and calculating a positional relationship between the parking frame and the vehicle;
A feature amount calculation unit for calculating feature amounts of luminance values of a plurality of detection areas predetermined in the coordinate system of the rear image;
A three-dimensional object is detected in the left detection area and the right detection area based on the feature amount, and a non-rotating determination unit that determines that the three-dimensional object is a ring stop when the three-dimensional object is not detected in the center detection area. ,
The display control unit includes a switching process for switching the image type when the own vehicle is in the parking frame and a stop is detected by the stop determination unit.
A rear image display device characterized by that.