JP2018022958A - Vehicle display controller and vehicle monitor system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible, in the case of making an image on the periphery of a vehicle formed by a camera used by the vehicle be displayed on a display, to reduce ghosting of the display while reducing a driver's troublesomeness caused by display of the image.SOLUTION: A vehicle display controller comprises: a display control unit 104 for making each of lateral side indicators 40a, 40b successively display an image on a rear lateral side of the own vehicle successively formed by a camera fitted to the vehicle on a display area of an EL panel positioned inside an interior of the vehicle; and a line-of-sight movement identification unit 103 for identifying a movement direction of a line of sight from a direction of the line of sight successively identified by a line-of-sight identification unit 102. The display control unit 104, even when the direction of a line of sight identified by the line-of-sight identification unit 102 is directed to the display area of the EL panel, makes a suppressed image whose visibility is made to be lower than that of a normal image be displayed, on the basis of a variation showing passage on the display area in a movement direction of the line of sight identified by the line-of-sight movement identification unit 103.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle display control device that displays an image around a vehicle imaged by a camera used in the vehicle and a vehicle monitor system including the vehicle display control device.

  Conventionally, instead of displaying the rear side image of the vehicle on the side mirror or the rear side image of the vehicle on the rear view mirror, the rear side and rear images captured by the camera used in the vehicle are displayed on the display. A vehicle monitor system such as an electronic mirror system is known. However, in the electronic mirror system, if the display continues to display an image with high visibility other than the timing when the driver confirms the display, the driver may feel annoying the image.

  Therefore, as means for solving this problem, for example, in Patent Document 1, the driver's line of sight is directed to a display area located in front of the driver's seat of a display that displays captured images of the rear side and the rear of the vehicle. A technique is disclosed in which a normal image is displayed on the display when the image is displayed, and a suppressed image with reduced visibility is displayed when the image is directed outside the display area. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228867 discloses a technique for suppressing a sense of incongruity due to switching of image visibility by maintaining normal image display that does not inhibit visibility for a predetermined time even when the driver's line of sight deviates from the display area. It is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-55801

  However, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, even when the driver directly confirms the left and right sides of the vehicle by visual observation, the normal image is continuously displayed in the display area for a predetermined time even if the line of sight passes through the display area. Become. Therefore, although the driver does not intend to confirm the display area, the normal image continues to be displayed unnecessarily, and the driver may feel annoyed. In addition, although the driver does not intend to confirm the display area, a normal image having a higher visibility than the suppression image is continuously displayed wastefully, so that a display that displays an image in the display area is burned.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to bother a driver by displaying an image when an image around the vehicle captured by a camera used in the vehicle is displayed on a display. Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle display control apparatus and a vehicle monitor system that can further reduce the image quality and reduce burn-in of the display.

  The above object is achieved by a combination of the features described in the independent claims, and the subclaims define further advantageous embodiments of the invention. Reference numerals in parentheses described in the claims indicate a correspondence relationship with specific means described in the embodiments described later as one aspect, and do not limit the technical scope of the present invention. .

  In order to achieve the above object, a display control apparatus for a vehicle according to the present invention is used in a vehicle, and displays images (40a, 40b) around the vehicle that are sequentially captured by cameras (20a, 20b) attached to the vehicle. The display control unit (104) for sequentially displaying in the display area located in the vehicle interior of the vehicle and the line-of-sight specifying unit (102) for sequentially specifying the line-of-sight direction of the driver of the vehicle are provided. The display control device for a vehicle displays a suppressed image with a lower visibility than the reference visibility based on the fact that the line-of-sight direction specified by A line-of-sight movement specifying unit (103) that specifies the direction of movement of the line of sight from the line-of-sight direction to be specified is provided, and the display control unit is configured to view even when the line-of-sight direction specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit is facing the display area. Based on the movement direction of the line of sight to a specific mobile identification unit had a change passing through the display area to display the suppressed image rather than visibility of an image serving as a reference.

  In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle monitoring system of the present invention is used in a vehicle, is attached to the vehicle, and is a camera (20a, 20b) that captures images around the vehicle, and a vehicle that sequentially captures images with the camera. The display (40a, 40b) which displays a surrounding image sequentially on the display area located in the vehicle interior of the vehicle, and the vehicle display control device (10) of the present invention are included.

  When the movement of the driver's line of sight has changed through the display area for displaying an image around the vehicle on the display, there is a high possibility that the driver does not intend to confirm the display area. On the other hand, according to the configuration of the present invention, even if the line-of-sight direction specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit is facing the display area, the line-of-sight movement direction specified by the line-of-sight movement specifying unit passes through the display area. Based on this change, a suppressed image is displayed instead of the reference visibility image. Therefore, even when the line-of-sight direction is directed to the display area, it is possible to display a suppression image in a situation where there is a high possibility that the driver does not intend to confirm the display area. Therefore, in a situation where there is a high possibility that the driver does not intend to confirm the display area, it is possible to prevent an image with higher visibility than the suppression image from being displayed wastefully. As a result, when an image around the vehicle captured by a camera used in the vehicle is displayed on the display, it is possible to further reduce the driver's troublesomeness due to the display of the image and to reduce the burn-in of the display.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of an electronic mirror system 1. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the attachment position of EL panel 41a of the right side indicator 40a, and EL panel 41b of the left side indicator 40b. It is a figure which shows an example of a schematic structure of HCU10. It is a figure which shows an example of the positional relationship of the display area of EL panel 41a, 41b, and the gaze direction of the driver | operator of the own vehicle. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the flow of the display control related process in HCU10. 6 is a timing chart for explaining an example of visibility switching in the first embodiment.

  A plurality of embodiments and modifications for disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. For convenience of explanation, between the plurality of embodiments and the modified examples, parts having the same functions as those shown in the drawings used for the explanation so far are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted. There is a case. For the portions denoted by the same reference numerals, the description in other embodiments and / or modifications can be referred to.

(Embodiment 1)
<Schematic configuration of electronic mirror system 1>
Hereinafter, the electronic mirror system 1 in Embodiment 1 of this invention is demonstrated using drawing. The electronic mirror system 1 according to the first embodiment is a vehicle monitoring system that displays an image imitating an image reflected on a side mirror on a display instead of reflecting an image of the rear side of the vehicle on a side mirror (for example, a door mirror). is there. As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic mirror system 1 includes an HCU (Human Machine Interface Control Unit) 10, a right rear side camera 20a, a left rear side camera 20b, a peripheral monitoring ECU 30, a right side display 40a, and a left side display. And a DSM (Driver Status Monitor) 50. Hereinafter, a vehicle using the electronic mirror system 1 is referred to as a host vehicle.

  The right rear side camera 20a and the left rear side camera 20b capture the rear side of the vehicle. The right rear side camera 20a and the left rear side camera 20b have an imaging device that converts incident light into an electrical signal, and an optical system that causes light to enter the imaging surface of the imaging device. As the imaging element, a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) image sensor, a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) image sensor, or the like may be used. The right rear side camera 20a and the left rear side camera 20b correspond to the claimed camera.

  The right rear side camera 20a is attached to the right side surface of the host vehicle in a posture with the imaging surface facing the rear side of the host vehicle. As an example, the right rear side camera 20a may be attached to a position similar to the installation position of the right door mirror in a vehicle including a door mirror. The right rear side camera 20a captures an image of a range from the right side of the own vehicle to the rear (hereinafter, right rear side) at a predetermined frame rate.

  The left rear side camera 20b is attached to the left side surface of the host vehicle in a posture with the imaging surface facing the rear side of the host vehicle. As an example, the left rear side camera 20b may be attached to a position similar to the installation position of the left door mirror in a vehicle equipped with a door mirror. The left rear side camera 20b captures a range from the left side of the host vehicle to the rear (hereinafter, left rear side) at a predetermined frame rate.

  The peripheral monitoring ECU 30 includes a microcomputer including a processor, a volatile memory, a nonvolatile memory, and a bus that interconnects these, and executes various processes by executing a control program stored in the nonvolatile memory. To do. The periphery monitoring ECU 30 controls the operation of each camera 20a, 20b. In addition, the periphery monitoring ECU 30 sequentially acquires images of the rear side of the host vehicle captured by the cameras 20a and 20b, and sequentially transfers them to the HCU 10.

  The right side display 40a is a display that displays on the organic EL display panel (hereinafter referred to as EL panel) 41a an image of the right rear side of the host vehicle captured by the right rear side camera 20a. The EL panel 41a of the right side display 40a may be configured to display the entire right rear side image captured by the right rear side camera 20a, or a trimmed image may be displayed. It may be configured. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the EL panel 41a of the right-side display 40a may be disposed in the vicinity of the base of the pillar located on the right side of the windshield in the cabin of the host vehicle. Further, the EL panel 41a may be attached to the structure of the host vehicle in a posture in which the display area is directed to the headrest of the driver's seat.

  The left side display 40b is a display that displays an image of the left rear side of the host vehicle captured by the left rear side camera 20b on the EL panel 41b in the same manner as the right side display 40a. As shown in FIG. 2, the EL panel 41b of the left side display 40b may be disposed in the vicinity of the pillar located on the left side of the windshield in the passenger compartment of the vehicle. Further, the EL panel 41b may be attached to the structure of the own vehicle in a posture in which the display area is directed to the headrest of the driver's seat.

  The right side display 40a and the left side display 40b may be configured to use a display other than an organic EL display such as a liquid crystal display. However, since the monitor system for vehicles requires the performance of displaying camera images without blurring and blurring under any environment, it is preferable to use an organic EL display with high response performance.

  Each side display 40a, 40b obtains information on the image of the side of the rear side of the vehicle displayed in the display area from the HCU 10. Each side display 40a, 40b displays an image of the side of the vehicle rear side in the display area based on this information input from the HCU 10.

  As an example, the DSM 50 includes a near-infrared light source and a near-infrared camera, a control unit that controls these, and the like. The DSM 50 is disposed, for example, on the steering column cover in a posture in which the near-infrared camera faces the driver's seat side of the own vehicle. The DSM 50 may be arranged at other positions as long as the face of the driver seated in the driver's seat of the own vehicle can be imaged, and is arranged at the upper surface of the instrument panel. There may be.

  The DSM 50 photographs the driver's head irradiated with near-infrared light from a near-infrared light source with a near-infrared camera. The image captured by the near-infrared camera is analyzed by the control unit. For example, the control unit sequentially detects the line-of-sight direction of the driver from the captured image. As an example, the DSM 50 detects parts such as a face outline, eyes, nose, and mouth by image recognition processing from a captured image obtained by capturing a driver's face with a near-infrared camera. Then, the face orientation of the driver is detected from the relative positional relationship of each part. Further, as an example, the DSM 50 detects the driver's pupil and corneal reflection from the captured image obtained by capturing the driver's face with a near-infrared camera, and detects the driver's pupil and corneal reflection from the positional relationship between the detected pupil and corneal reflection. The line-of-sight direction with respect to the indoor reference position is detected. The reference position may be, for example, the installation position of the near infrared camera. The line-of-sight direction may be detected in consideration of the face direction. The DSM 50 outputs information on the detected line-of-sight direction of the driver to the HCU 10.

  The HCU 10 includes a microcomputer that includes a processor, a volatile memory, a nonvolatile memory, and a bus that interconnects the processors. The processor executes various arithmetic processes based on the program. The volatile memory functions as a work area for operations by the processor. The nonvolatile memory is a non-transitional tangible storage medium that stores information such as programs. Details of processing in the HCU 10 will be described below.

<Schematic configuration of HCU10>
Subsequently, a schematic configuration of the HCU 10 will be described with reference to FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the HCU 10 includes a captured image acquisition unit 101, a line-of-sight specifying unit 102, a line-of-sight movement specifying unit 103, and a display control unit 104 as functional blocks. Note that some or all of the functions executed by the HCU 10 may be configured in hardware by one or a plurality of ICs. The HCU 10 corresponds to the vehicle image processing device of the claims.

  The captured image acquisition unit 101 sequentially acquires images of the rear side of the host vehicle captured by the cameras 20a and 20b, which are sequentially transferred from the periphery monitoring ECU 30. The captured image acquisition unit 101 outputs the acquired image to the display control unit 104.

  The line-of-sight specifying unit 102 sequentially specifies the line-of-sight direction of the driver of the host vehicle from the information on the line-of-sight direction of the driver sequentially output from the DSM 50. The line-of-sight specifying unit 102 specifies the line-of-sight direction of the driver of the own vehicle so that at least the line-of-sight direction of the driver of the own vehicle with respect to the display areas of the EL panels 41a and 41b (see FIG. 4) can be discriminated. As an example, the relationship between the reference position described above and the position of the display area of the EL panels 41a and 41b is stored in advance in the nonvolatile memory of the HCU 10, so that the driver that is sequentially output from the DSM 50 with reference to this relationship The direction of the driver's line of sight with respect to the display areas of the EL panels 41a and 41b may be specified from the information on the line of sight of the vehicle. The line-of-sight direction specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit 102 may be stored in a volatile memory of the HCU 10 for a certain period, for example.

  The line-of-sight movement specifying unit 103 specifies the movement direction of the line of sight from the line-of-sight directions sequentially specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit 102. Specifically, the line-of-sight movement specifying unit 103 specifies the line-of-sight movement direction from the time-series data of the line-of-sight direction sequentially specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit 102 stored in the volatile memory.

  Based on the image of the vehicle rear side acquired by the captured image acquisition unit 101, the display control unit 104 uses a reference visibility image of the vehicle rear side (hereinafter referred to as a normal image) and a normal image. In addition, the rear side image (hereinafter referred to as a suppression image) with reduced visibility is switched and displayed on each side display 40a, 40b. The reference visibility image referred to here may be an image having higher visibility than the suppression image, and is obtained by performing image processing on the images captured by the cameras 20a and 20b. However, the image processing may not be performed. The suppressed image may be an image in which the brightness of the image is suppressed as compared with the normal image. The suppression image is an image on the side of the rear side of the vehicle whose visibility is lower than that of the normal image, such as an image having a smaller image size than the normal image or an image having a resolution lower than that of the normal image. All you have to do is.

  When the line-of-sight direction specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit 102 does not face the display area of the EL panels 41a and 41b, the display control unit 104 displays a suppression image. Further, the display control unit 104 turns on the movement detection flag when the moving direction of the line of sight specified by the line-of-sight movement specifying unit 103 changes through the display area. The change in the movement direction of the line of sight passing through the display area refers to, for example, a change in which the line of sight passes from the outside of the display area to the outside of the display area while continuing to move in the right direction. Here, the case where the line of sight continues to move in the right direction is taken as an example, but the case where the line of sight continues to move in the left direction may be used, or even when the line of sight continues to move in the upward, downward, or diagonal directions. Good. Note that after the line of sight moves to the right and moves from outside the display area to the display area, the line of sight moves to the left and moves from within the display area to outside the display area. Regarding the change in the movement direction of the line of sight, the display control unit 104 does not turn on the movement detection flag.

  Until the movement detection flag is turned ON, the display control unit 104 displays a normal image when the line-of-sight direction specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit 102 faces the display area of the EL panels 41a and 41b. On the other hand, even if the line-of-sight direction specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit 102 is directed to the display area of the EL panels 41a and 41b within the specified time after the movement detection flag is turned on, the suppression image Is displayed. When the elapsed time after the movement detection flag is turned on exceeds a specified time, a normal image is displayed when the line-of-sight direction specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit 102 is directed to the display area of the EL panels 41a and 41b. Let

<Display control related processing in HCU10>
Here, an example of the flow of processing (hereinafter referred to as display control related processing) related to the processing of displaying the rear side image of the vehicle on each side display 40a, 40b in the HCU 10 using the flowchart of FIG. Will be described. The flowchart in FIG. 5 may be configured to start when, for example, the ignition power of the own vehicle is turned on.

  First, in step S1, the captured image acquisition unit 101 starts acquiring an image of the rear side of the host vehicle captured by the cameras 20a and 20b. Thereafter, it is assumed that the captured image acquisition unit 101 sequentially acquires images of the rear side of the host vehicle until the display control-related processing ends.

  In step S <b> 2, the line-of-sight specifying unit 102 specifies the line-of-sight direction of the driver of the host vehicle and stores it in the volatile memory of the HCU 10. When the line-of-sight direction is already stored in the volatile memory, the line-of-sight movement specifying unit 103 specifies the line-of-sight movement direction from the time-series data of the line-of-sight direction including the newly specified line-of-sight direction.

  In step S3, when the line-of-sight direction specified in S2 is facing the display area of the EL panel 41a or EL panel 41b (YES in S3), the process proceeds to step S4. On the other hand, when it is not suitable for the display area (NO in S3), the process proceeds to step S6. The determination in S3 may be configured to be performed by the display control unit 104, for example.

  In step S4, when the movement detection flag is already ON in the display control unit 104 (YES in S4), the process proceeds to step S11. On the other hand, if the movement detection flag is OFF (NO in S4), the process proceeds to step S5. In step S5, the display control unit 104 displays the suppression image on each side display 40a, 40b, and proceeds to step S12.

  In step S6, when the moving direction of the line of sight specified in S2 has changed through the display area (YES in S6), the process proceeds to step S7. On the other hand, if the change through the display area has not been made (NO in S6), the process proceeds to step S11. Note that the determination in S6 may be configured to be performed by the display control unit 104, for example.

  In step S7, if the movement detection flag has already been turned on in the display control unit 104 (YES in S7), the process proceeds to step S9. On the other hand, if the movement detection flag is OFF (NO in S7), the process proceeds to step S8. In step S8, the display control unit 104 turns on the movement detection flag, starts a timer, and proceeds to step S11.

  In step S9, when the elapsed time after starting the timer in S8 reaches a specified time, that is, when a time-out occurs (YES in S9), the process proceeds to step S10. On the other hand, if the timeout has not occurred (NO in S9), the process proceeds to step S11. The specified time here can be arbitrarily set as long as it is longer than the estimated round-trip time that it takes when the driver's line of sight who does not intend to check the display area passes back and forth through the display area. It ’s a great time. In addition, the specified time is such that when the line of sight of the driver who intends to confirm the display area happens to go to the display area after passing through the display area, it can be switched from the suppressed image to the normal image as quickly as possible. It is preferable that the time is short.

  In step S10, the display control unit 104 clears the movement detection flag to turn off the movement detection flag, clears the timer, and proceeds to step S11. In step S11, the display control part 104 displays a normal image on each side display 40a, 40b, and moves to step S12.

  In step S12, if it is the end timing of the display control related process (YES in S12), the display control related process is ended. On the other hand, if it is not the end timing of the display control related process (NO in S12), the process returns to S2 and the process is repeated. As the end timing of the display control related process, for example, when the ignition power source of the own vehicle is turned off can be cited.

<Visibility switching in Embodiment 1>
Subsequently, the relationship among the line-of-sight direction of the driver of the own vehicle, the direction of movement of the line-of-sight, the movement detection flag, and the visibility of the image behind the vehicle in the first embodiment will be described using the timing chart of FIG. . Further, as a comparative example, the relationship with the visibility of the image on the rear side of the host vehicle when it is assumed that the conventional technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 is applied will be described. In FIG. 6, after the driver of the own vehicle visually confirms the right side of the vehicle and returns the line of sight to the front, the right rear of the own vehicle displayed in the display area of the EL panel 41 a of the right side display 40 a is continuously displayed. An explanation will be given by taking as an example an operation of checking the side image and returning the line of sight to the front.

  A in FIG. 6 shows a temporal change in the line-of-sight direction. The vertical axis indicates the line-of-sight direction, and the horizontal axis indicates time. A shows a case where the line-of-sight direction type is set within the display area and outside the display area. B of FIG. 6 shows a temporal change in the movement direction of the line of sight. The vertical axis indicates the direction of movement of the line of sight, and the horizontal axis indicates time. B shows a case where the line-of-sight movement direction is left and right. C in FIG. 6 shows a temporal change in the movement state of the line of sight. The movement of the line of sight here refers to the situation where the line of sight is moving within the display area, the situation where the line of sight is moving outside the left area of the display area (hereinafter, outside the left display area), and There are three types, that is, a situation where the line of sight is moving outside the area on the right side of the display area (hereinafter, outside the right display area). The vertical axis of C shows the movement of the line of sight, and the horizontal axis shows time.

  D of FIG. 6 shows the time change of the movement detection flag. The vertical axis indicates ON / OFF of the movement detection flag, and the horizontal axis indicates time. E of FIG. 6 has shown the time change of the visibility of the image of the back side of the own vehicle in Embodiment 1. FIG. The vertical axis indicates the level of visibility, and the horizontal axis indicates time. The visibility is “high” when the normal image is displayed, and the visibility is “low” when the suppression image is displayed. F of FIG. 6 shows the change over time in the visibility of the image behind the host vehicle in the prior art. The vertical axis indicates the level of visibility, and the horizontal axis indicates time. The visibility is “high” when the normal image is displayed, and the visibility is “low” when the suppression image is displayed.

  First, description will be made until the driver visually confirms the right side of the vehicle. In a situation where the line of sight of the driver of the own vehicle is moving to the right outside the left display area, the suppression image is displayed in both the first embodiment and the conventional technique. Subsequently, in a situation where the line of sight reaches the display area and moves to the right in the display area, the normal image is displayed in both the first embodiment and the conventional technique. When the line of sight reaches the outside of the right display area (that is, when the line of sight passes through the display area), the display of the normal image is maintained for a predetermined time in the conventional technique, whereas the normal image is suppressed in the first embodiment. Switch to the image. Therefore, in the conventional technique, even if the line of sight deviates from the display area, the normal image is continuously displayed for a predetermined time, whereas in the first embodiment, this waste does not occur. In addition, when the display area is passed, the movement detection flag is turned ON.

  Next, a description will be given from the time when the driver visually confirms the right side of the vehicle until the line of sight is returned to the front. When the line of sight moves to the right outside the right display area, then turns back, moves to the left, and reaches the display area again, a normal image is displayed in the conventional technique, whereas in the first embodiment, a movement detection flag is displayed. Since is not OFF, a suppression image is displayed. While the line of sight moves to the left in the display area and passes through, the normal image is displayed in the conventional technique, and the suppression image is displayed in the first embodiment. Therefore, in the prior art, the normal image continues to be displayed wastefully even though the driver does not intend to confirm the display area, but in the first embodiment, this waste does not occur.

  When the line of sight reaches the outside of the left display area (that is, when it passes through the display area again), the display of the normal image is maintained for a predetermined time in the conventional technique, whereas in the first embodiment, the suppression image is displayed. The display will be maintained. Therefore, in the prior art, even at this timing, even when the line of sight is outside the display area, the normal image is continuously displayed for a predetermined time, whereas in the first embodiment, this waste does not occur. Further, when the elapsed time after the movement detection flag is turned on reaches a specified time, the movement detection flag is turned off.

  Subsequently, after the driver visually confirms the right side of the vehicle, the right rear side image of the host vehicle displayed in the display area of the EL panel 41a of the right side indicator 40a is confirmed, and the line of sight is set to the front. An explanation will be given until it is returned. In a situation where the line of sight of the driver of the own vehicle is moving to the right outside the left display area, the suppression image is displayed in the first embodiment, while the display of the normal image is maintained in the conventional technique. Subsequently, in a situation where the line of sight has reached the display area, the movement detection flag has already been turned on after passing through the display area in the past. An image will be displayed. Even in the prior art, a normal image is displayed. Then, when the line of sight moves back to the left and returns from the display area to the outside of the left display area, the display of the normal image is maintained for a predetermined time in the conventional technique, whereas in the first embodiment, the normal image is displayed. Switching to the suppression image. Therefore, in the prior art, even at this timing, even if the line of sight departs from the display area, the normal image is continuously displayed for a predetermined time. In the first embodiment, this waste does not occur.

<Summary of Embodiment 1>
According to the configuration of the first embodiment, as described above, when the line-of-sight direction does not face the display area, the suppression image is displayed. Therefore, the visual recognition is more visible than the suppression image compared to the conventional technique disclosed in Patent Document 1. It is possible to prevent a normal image with high performance from being displayed wastefully.

  Further, according to the configuration of the first embodiment, as described above, even when the line-of-sight direction is directed to the display area, the driver within a specified time after the movement of the line-of-sight passing through the display area is indicated. In a situation where there is a high possibility that there is no intention to confirm the display area, a suppression image is displayed. Therefore, in a situation where there is a high possibility that the driver does not intend to confirm the display area, it is possible to prevent a normal image having higher visibility than the suppressed image from being displayed wastefully.

  Furthermore, according to the configuration of the first embodiment, when a specified time has passed after the line of sight has shown movement through the display area, the normal image is displayed when the line of sight is directed to the display area. Can do. Therefore, even if the driver tries to check the display area and happens to pass the display area and then turns the line of sight to the display area, the driver can quickly switch from the suppressed image to the normal image.

  Since the EL panels 41a and 41b use self-luminous elements, when a normal image having higher visibility than the suppressed image is displayed wastefully, the luminance decreases due to element deterioration. On the other hand, according to the configuration of the first embodiment, it is possible to reduce a decrease in luminance due to element deterioration of the EL panels 41a and 41b in order to prevent a normal image from being displayed wastefully.

(Modification 1)
In the first embodiment, the configuration in which the side indicators 40a and 40b use the EL panels 41a and 41b is shown, but the configuration is not necessarily limited thereto. For example, each side display 40a, 40b may be configured to use a liquid crystal panel or the like instead of an EL panel.

(Modification 2)
In the first embodiment, the configuration in which the line-of-sight direction of the driver is detected by the DSM 50 is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the line-of-sight direction of the driver may be detected from the electrooculogram of the driver detected by the electrooculogram sensor and the face direction of the driver. Further, the face orientation of the driver is not limited to a configuration that is detected from a face image captured by a camera, and may be a configuration that is detected using an inertial sensor such as a G sensor. In addition, the distance to multiple points on the driver's head, shoulders, etc. is measured by multiple ranging sensors such as infrared sensors on the driver's seat and headrest. It is good also as a structure which detects the face orientation of.

(Embodiment 2)
In the first embodiment, the case where the rear side image of the own vehicle is displayed on each side display 40a, 40b has been described as an example, but the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto. The present invention may be applied to a configuration in which an image around the host vehicle is displayed on another display as long as the image is constantly displayed on the display in the passenger compartment while the host vehicle is traveling.

  For example, you may apply to the structure which displays the image of the back of the own vehicle on a display. In this case, the display may be configured so that the display area is provided toward the headrest of the driver's seat at the same position as the position of the room mirror in the vehicle including the room mirror. In addition, the display may be a HUD (Head-Up Display) that projects an image on a windshield or combiner in front of the driver's seat. In the case of using HUD, a configuration in which an image of the rear or rear side of the own vehicle is displayed in the display area may be used. Even when the HUD is used, it is possible to reduce the burn-in in the panel of the projection unit of the HUD.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and modifications, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the claims, and technical means disclosed in different embodiments and modifications, respectively. Embodiments obtained by appropriately combining the above are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electronic mirror system (vehicle monitor system), 10 HCU (vehicle display control apparatus), 20a Right rear side camera (camera), 20b Left rear side camera (camera), 30 Perimeter monitoring ECU, 40a Right side display (Display), 40b Left side display (display), 41a, 41b EL panel, 50 DSM, 101 Captured image acquisition unit, 102 Gaze identification unit, 103 Gaze movement identification unit, 104 Display control unit

Claims (6)

Used in vehicles,
A display control unit (104) for sequentially displaying images around the vehicle, which are sequentially captured by cameras (20a, 20b) attached to the vehicle, in a display region located in the vehicle interior of the vehicle by a display (40a, 40b). When,
A line-of-sight specifying unit (102) for sequentially specifying the line-of-sight direction of the driver of the vehicle,
The display control unit displays a suppressed image in which the visibility is lower than the reference visibility based on the fact that the line-of-sight direction specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit does not face the display area. A control device,
A line-of-sight movement specifying unit (103) for specifying a moving direction of the line of sight from the line-of-sight direction sequentially specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit;
The display control unit is configured to change the movement direction of the line of sight specified by the line-of-sight movement specifying unit through the display area even when the line-of-sight direction specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit faces the display area. Therefore, the vehicle display control apparatus displays the suppression image instead of the reference visibility image. In claim 1,
The display control unit is configured such that, even when the line-of-sight direction specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit faces the display area, the line-of-sight movement direction specified by the line-of-sight movement specifying unit is displayed from outside the display area. A vehicle display control apparatus that displays the suppression image instead of the reference visibility image based on passing through the region and changing outside the display region. In claim 2,
The display control unit is configured such that, even when the line-of-sight direction specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit faces the display area, the line-of-sight movement direction specified by the line-of-sight movement specifying unit is displayed from outside the display area. A vehicle display control device that displays the suppression image instead of the reference visibility image until a predetermined time has elapsed after passing through the region and changing outside the display region. In claim 3,
Even if the display control unit identifies a change in the direction of movement of the line of sight that passes through the display area from outside the display area and changes to the outside of the display area, when the specified time has elapsed, A vehicle display control device that displays not the suppression image but the reference visibility image when the line-of-sight direction specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit faces the display area. In any one of Claims 2-4,
When the display control unit has not specified a change in the movement direction of the line of sight that passes through the display region from outside the display region and changes to the outside of the display region, the line-of-sight direction specified by the line-of-sight specifying unit A vehicle display control apparatus that displays a reference visibility image when is directed to the display area. Used in vehicles,
Cameras (20a, 20b) attached to the vehicle and capturing images around the vehicle;
A display (40a, 40b) for sequentially displaying images around the vehicle, which are sequentially captured by the camera, in a display area located in a vehicle interior of the vehicle;
A vehicle monitor system including the vehicle display control device (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

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