JP2989960B2 - Vehicle visibility measuring method and device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for measuring the visibility of an automobile for measuring the visibility of a driver in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When measuring the field of view of a developed vehicle, design evaluation is usually performed using the clay model, and after passing the design, the body of the developed vehicle is made into a drawing by CAD, and the range of view is confirmed based on the drawing data. .

[0003]

Therefore, if the field of view fails, the design must be reevaluated after the clay model has been reworked, and the CAD data must also be corrected. In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for measuring the visibility of a vehicle that enable the visibility of a driver to be measured from outside the vehicle compartment without depending on the drawing.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a method for measuring the visibility of a motor vehicle for measuring the visibility of a driver in the front-rear direction. A mirror having a mirror surface is erected across the vehicle body in the vehicle width direction above or below the test vehicle body portion in front of or behind the windshield position or the rear glass position, so that the emission angle of the light beam swings so that surface scanning can be performed. The light beam emitter is arranged opposite to the mirror so that the swing center occupies the symmetrical position of the eye point with respect to the mirror surface, and the field of view to be measured on the mirror surface is scanned with the light beam, It is characterized in that the presence or absence of reflection of the light beam on the test vehicle body is confirmed.

In order to improve the efficiency and accuracy of scanning the mirror surface, the emission angle of the light beam automatically swings so that the surface can be scanned, and the center point of the swing determines the symmetrical position of the eye point with respect to the mirror surface. Occupation is performed by a light beam emitter placed opposite the mirror.

A vehicle visibility measurement device for measuring a driver's visibility in the front-rear direction according to the present invention has a mirror surface perpendicular to a floor surface at a measurement location and is located forward of a windshield position or a rear glass position. Or, a mirror that is erected across the vehicle body in the vehicle width direction above the test body part in the rear, and the launch angle of the light beam automatically swings so that surface scanning can be performed, and the swing center point is an eye point with respect to the mirror surface. A light beam emitter arranged opposite to a mirror so as to occupy a symmetrical position, an image sensor for capturing an image of the test vehicle body from above, and specifying an image signal of the image sensor to determine a plane position of the test vehicle body. Image processing for superimposing and storing in a memory a grid-like number line image signal for performing
And a display device.

[0007]

The swing center point of the light beam occupies a symmetrical position of the eye point with respect to the mirror surface, so that the swing center point becomes a virtual eye point, and the reflection corresponding to the launch angle of the light beam emitter during surface scanning. The horizontal and vertical angles of the light correspond to the viewing angles of the eye points. As a result, when the field of view to be measured on the mirror surface is scanned with the light beam, the field of view ahead of the mirror surface is scanned by the reflected light from the mirror surface. The beam is reflected.

[0008]

1 and 2 show an embodiment in which the method of the present invention is applied to a clay model as a test vehicle body. Above the hood 2b in front of the vehicle from the windshield position 2a of the clay model 2 placed on the floor 1 of the inspection place, there is a mirror surface 11a perpendicular to the floor 1 and legs 11 on both sides thereof.
The mirror 11 having a lower portion b is erected across the hood 2b in the vehicle width direction. The shape of the mirror surface 11a is such that the lower end has a slight gap in the hood 2b, and the upper end and both side ends are set to be larger than the visibility range to be measured at the erection position. Further, the mirror 11 occupies the eye point 5 closer to the front measurement range.

At a position facing the mirror surface 11a, a laser light source 12 as a light beam emitter whose emission angle can swing so that the mirror surface 11a can scan the surface of the mirror surface with the laser beam light is disposed. The depression angle and the azimuth angle can be adjusted. The swing center point O is set so as to occupy a symmetric position of the standard eye point 5 with respect to the mirror surface 11a, and an optical axis passing through the swing center point O and orthogonal to the mirror surface 11a coincides with the eye point 5. The distance between the swing center point O and the eye point 5 with respect to the mirror surface 11a is equal.

At the time of measurement, the azimuth of the laser beam in the horizontal plane is gradually changed from the upper end of one side end of the mirror surface 11a to the side of the other side end by manual operation, and the setting is performed. Is changed toward the lower end of the mirror surface 11a, and at least the field of view of the mirror surface 11a is scanned.

[0011] During such a measurement, it is also possible to check the light irradiation state by photographing from above with the video camera 13 and reproducing it with the TV receiver. The scanning of the mirror surface 11a can be performed with high accuracy and high efficiency by automatically mounting the laser light source 12 on a base 20 rotatable about two horizontal and vertical orthogonal axes, which will be described later. Alternatively, an image may be taken by the video camera 13 during this time.

For example, in FIG. 1 and FIG.
2, ie, at the azimuth angle θ2 from the eye point 5, the front end portion 9 of the hood 2b is irradiated with the laser beam with respect to the depression angle θ1, ie, the depression angle θ1 of the eye point 5, and therefore, the depression angle forward of the front end portion 9 It can be easily confirmed that the range larger than θ1 is out of the field of view. If the hood 2b is not irradiated with light in the scanning range, it can be seen that the hood 2b does not interfere with the scanning viewing angle. Thus, the field of view can be easily and accurately checked at the clay model stage where the driver cannot enter the driver's seat.

In the above-described measurement, the field of view was inspected by irradiating the entire area of the mirror surface with a laser beam. However, when the mirror surface does not correspond to the field of view and has a large shape, the launch angle of the laser beam is large. Check while measuring. Further, even if the mirror 11 is shifted back and forth from the illustrated state, the measurement can be performed on the same principle by shifting the laser light source 12 so that the symmetrical relationship is maintained. Measurement of the luggage door portion behind the vehicle from the rear glass position (not shown) can be similarly performed. The present invention can be applied not only to the clay model but also to other types of models or actual vehicle bodies.

FIG. 3 shows an automated field-of-view measuring device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The laser light source 12 is mounted on a base 20 rotatable about two axes, that is, a horizontal axis and a vertical axis. That is,
The base 20 is a base 2 on which the laser light source 12 is mounted.
1, a drive unit 2 driven by a motor about the X axis with a swing center point O at an intersection of an optical axis 12a of the laser beam light, an X axis in the horizontal direction, and a Y axis in the vertical direction.
2 and a drive unit 23 driven to rotate by a motor about the Y axis
By controlling these drive units, the mirror surface 1
And a control circuit 24 for scanning 1a. With respect to the control circuit 24, the range of the swing angle about the X axis and the Y axis can be set externally according to the test vehicle body.

Reference numeral 29 denotes a CCD camera as an image sensor, which captures an image of a measurement surface from above and converts the image signal into an image processing / display device 3 using a personal computer.
Supply 0. This device includes a CPU 31 that operates in accordance with an operation program stored in a ROM area of a memory 32 and operation of a key operation unit 34, an external memory 33 such as a floppy disk, an image display unit 35, and the like.

The CPU 31 takes in the image signal of the CCD camera 29 and displays it on the image display unit 35. In addition, these image signals are temporarily stored in the RAM area of the memory 32 according to the setting of the key operation unit 34. Then, a line image of the outer shape of the vehicle body is created from the image signal, and the reflected image of the laser beam is detected by discriminating that the image signal level exceeds the reference level. For example, reflection area data during scanning by a dotted line is created. Further, the data is stored in the external memory 33 together with the number line data read from the ROM section of the memory 32. By taking in the azimuth and depression angle data from the control circuit 24, for example, a mark can be given to a specific area to display the scanning angle data.

At the time of measurement, an azimuth angle and a depression angle corresponding to the visual field to be tested corresponding to the shape of the clay model 2 are set in the control circuit 24. By operating the driving units 22 and 23 at the same time, the laser beam is swung in the horizontal direction while repeating reciprocating swings in the vertical direction to scan the mirror surface 11a. At that time, the image display unit 35
Can monitor the input image. During the surface scanning, the above-described processing of the image signal is performed simultaneously. After completion of the measurement in the arrangement shown in FIG. 1, a mirror 11 is erected across the luggage door at the rear of the clay model 2, and a laser light source 12 is arranged at a symmetric position of the mirror surface 11a to perform the same measurement. Do. After both front and rear measurements, by reading the external memory 33 and displaying the measurement result by setting of the key operation unit 34, as shown in FIG. An area 39 is displayed in an area.

[0018]

As described above, according to the method of the present invention, the driver's field of view can be easily measured or confirmed with a predetermined positional relationship between the mirror and the light beam emitter at the measurement portion outside the vehicle compartment. These devices can be measured against a clay model or during the production of the clay model for placement outside the vehicle compartment. According to the apparatus of the present invention, the mirror can be automatically scanned by the light beam emitter, and the image of the measurement portion is monitored or stored together with the scan angle and the line data by providing the image processing / display device. It becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of a method of measuring a visibility of an automobile according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a vehicle visibility measuring device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the visibility measuring device according to the embodiment of FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Clay model 5 Eye point 11a Mirror surface 12 Laser light source 20 Base 22, 23 Drive unit

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-306946 (JP, A) JP-A-1-134232 (JP, A) JP-A-1-237409 (JP, A) (58) Survey Field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G01B 11/00-11/30 102

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vehicle visibility measuring method for measuring a driver's visibility in the front-rear direction, wherein a mirror having a mirror surface perpendicular to a floor surface at a measurement location is provided in front of or behind a windshield position or a rear glass position. A light beam emitter, which is erected in the vehicle width direction so as to traverse the vehicle body in the vehicle width direction, so that the emission angle of the light beam swings so that surface scanning can be performed, the swing center point with respect to the mirror surface The mirror is arranged to face the mirror so as to occupy the symmetrical position of the eye point, and the field of view to be measured on the mirror surface is scanned with a light beam, and the presence or absence of reflection of the light beam on the test vehicle body portion is determined. A method for measuring the visibility of an automobile, comprising the steps of: 2. A field-of-view range to be measured on a mirror surface is scanned by a light beam by a light beam emitter that automatically swings an emission angle of the light beam so as to scan a surface. How to measure the visibility of a car. 3. A visibility measuring device for a vehicle for measuring a visibility of a driver in a front-rear direction, the device having a mirror surface perpendicular to a floor surface of a measurement place and being located in front of or behind a windshield position or a rear glass position. A mirror erected in the vehicle width direction so as to traverse the vehicle body in the rear direction, a light beam launch angle automatically swings so that surface scanning can be performed, and a swing center point is an eye point with respect to the mirror surface. A light beam emitter arranged to face the mirror so as to occupy the symmetrical position of the mirror, an image sensor for imaging the test vehicle body portion from above, and an image signal of the image sensor, Image processing / display for superimposing a grid-like line image signal for specifying a position, storing it in a memory, and reading it out from the memory and displaying it on a monitor surface Vision measuring apparatus of a vehicle, characterized in that a location.