JP2010283555A - On-board camera device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive on-board camera device which can minimize a vertical photographing range and expand a horizontal photographing range with a simple structure. <P>SOLUTION: The on-board camera device 10 includes: a mirror 12 having a reflecting surface that is horizontally convex, and vertically planar or concave; and a camera 11 for photographing a reflected image obtained from the reflecting surface of the mirror. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle camera device, and more particularly to a structure that is attached to a vehicle and expands a range of a field of view of a camera unit that captures a periphery such as a traveling direction of the vehicle and the rear.

  It is a viewpoint that makes it easier to judge visual information for the driver of a vehicle traveling on a road that is orthogonal to the traffic road of the host vehicle at an intersection with poor visibility, etc. Several imaging devices mounted on vehicles that capture and capture images as images have been proposed. As one of them, in Patent Document 1, photographing devices are installed at four corners of the own vehicle, and driving assistance for switching and enlarging the image on the photographing device according to the traveling direction and intersection angle of the own vehicle. A device has been proposed. Patent Document 2 proposes a vehicle camera device in which a camera is installed on each side of the front of the host vehicle, and a driver's blind spot at an intersection is imaged and displayed.

  However, Patent Documents 1 and 2 also install cameras on at least two front corners or two side parts of the own vehicle and individually display images taken by each camera, or on one screen. Since it is distinguished and displayed simultaneously, it is necessary to switch left and right, the operability is bad, and it is difficult to see because it is different from the view from the actual driver. Furthermore, it is expensive to install a plurality of cameras.

  Also, as shown in FIG. 4, when the vehicle 20 stops before an intersection with poor visibility, there is a distance from the driver's position to a shield such as a bag, so the driver's viewing angle is set at the forefront of the vehicle 20. The angle of view of the camera unit 30 is smaller. Therefore, the field-of-view image that can be seen from the actual driver is blocked by a moat or the like as shown in FIG. 5, and the situation of other vehicles and pedestrians on the road orthogonal to the traveling direction of the host vehicle cannot be grasped. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, a camera unit 30 is installed at the forefront of the vehicle 20 to reduce the blind spot in the driver's field of view, and the shooting angle of view of the camera unit 30 is increased as shown in FIG. The field of view can be expanded by widening the range.

  However, as shown in FIG. 5, the shooting angle of view should be large in the horizontal direction, but need not be so large in the vertical direction. This is because, since the line of sight is in the horizontal direction, if the shooting angle of view of the taking lens is set to 180 °, the vertical shooting range will be from the vertical bottom of the car to the top of the sky. It is sufficient that the vertical photographing range actually required for the driver is at least 30 ° above the horizontal plane.

  The present invention is intended to solve these problems, and provides an inexpensive on-vehicle camera apparatus that can minimize the vertical shooting range and expand the horizontal shooting range with a simple structure. With the goal.

  In order to solve the above problems, an in-vehicle camera device of the present invention includes a mirror unit having an aspherical reflection surface and a camera unit that captures a reflection image obtained by the reflection surface of the mirror unit. There are features. Therefore, it is possible to provide an inexpensive on-vehicle camera device that has a simple structure, minimizes the vertical shooting range, and can expand the horizontal shooting range.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the reflecting surface of the mirror portion has a convex shape in the horizontal direction and a flat surface or a concave shape in the vertical direction.

  The in-vehicle camera device of the present invention includes a mirror unit having an aspherical reflecting surface and a camera unit that captures a reflected image obtained by the reflecting surface of the mirror unit. Therefore, the horizontal field of view is wider than the conventional technology in which only the camera unit is attached to the front of the vehicle at the intersection with poor visibility, including the driver's blind spot, and for safety confirmation of the driver It is also possible to eliminate the driver's uncomfortable feeling by suppressing the vertical shooting angle of view, which is the minimum required landscape. Therefore, it is possible to provide an inexpensive on-vehicle camera device that has a simple structure, minimizes the vertical shooting range, and can expand the horizontal shooting range.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a general | schematic fragmentary sectional view which shows the mode of the mounting to the vehicle of the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus which is this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the picked-up image by the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus of this Embodiment. It is the schematic which shows the driver | operator's viewing angle in the intersection with bad visibility, and the imaging | photography field angle of the camera part installed in the forefront part of the vehicle. It is a figure which shows the visual field image by a driver | operator's visual angle. It is a figure which shows the picked-up image of the camera part installed in the forefront part of the vehicle.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an in-vehicle camera device according to an embodiment of the present invention. (A) of the figure is a perspective view, (b) of the figure is a plan view, and (c) of the figure is a side view. The in-vehicle camera device 10 according to the present embodiment shown in the figure includes a camera unit 11 and a mirror unit 12. And the reflective surface of the mirror part 12 has faced the front of the vehicle to attach. As can be seen from (c) of the figure, the camera unit 11 is installed so that the photographing direction faces the reflecting surface of the mirror unit 12 provided at a predetermined position in the obliquely lower front part. That is, the relative position of the camera unit 11 and the mirror unit 12 is a positional relationship in which the image of the camera unit 11 itself is not reflected within the camera shooting angle of view due to the reflection of the mirror unit 12. In addition, the mirror surface of the mirror portion 12 is aspheric, and preferably has a convex shape in the horizontal direction as can be seen from (b) of the figure, and has a concave shape in the vertical direction as can be seen from (c) of the figure. ing. Due to the aspherical shape of the mirror unit 12, the minimum required field angle of view of the camera unit 11 is as wide as 180 ° in the horizontal direction, as shown in FIG. The range is 10 ° to 30 ° upward and 20 ° or less downward, and thus the range is 10 ° to 50 °. In this way, by changing the horizontal and vertical characteristics of the reflected image, the shooting angle of view can be changed. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 10 of this invention is attached to the forefront part of a vehicle using the attachment metal fitting 13. As shown in FIG. The support member of the mounting bracket 13 is installed so as to be outside the range of the field of view taken by the camera unit 11, or the support member is made of a transparent member, and the support member of the mounting bracket 13 is captured by the camera unit 11. Prevent it from appearing on the screen. Moreover, you may accommodate the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 10 of this Embodiment in a waterproof seal cover.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, an actual captured image by the in-vehicle camera device 10 according to the present embodiment has a wide visual field in the horizontal direction and a narrow visual field in the vertical direction. Note that a wide-angle photographic lens is necessary in the left-right direction, but on the other hand, in the up-down direction, the image range considered necessary for driving safety is from the foot of the vehicle to a range slightly above the horizon. Thereby, the visibility for a driver | operator's safety confirmation increases more.

  In the present embodiment, the in-vehicle camera device is installed at the foremost part of the vehicle, but may be installed at both sides or the rearmost part of the vehicle. In addition, it is possible to relatively change the shooting angle of view of the fixed camera unit so that the mirror unit can be moved horizontally or vertically or can be rotated. Furthermore, the camera unit itself can be rotated to change the shooting direction of the camera unit.

  Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications, substitutions, and applications are possible as long as the description is within the scope of the claims.

10; On-vehicle camera device, 11, 30; Camera part, 12; Mirror part,
13: Mounting bracket, 20: Vehicle.

Japanese Patent No. 4,207,299 Japanese Patent No. 3,287,817

Claims (2)

  An in-vehicle camera device comprising: a mirror portion having an aspherical reflection surface; and a camera portion that captures a reflection image obtained by the reflection surface of the mirror portion.   The in-vehicle camera device according to claim 1, wherein the reflecting surface of the mirror portion has a convex shape in the horizontal direction and a flat surface or a concave shape in the vertical direction.

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