JP4679816B2 - Vehicle periphery display control device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle periphery display control device that displays a captured image of a vehicle periphery and an image of the host vehicle on a display device.

Conventionally, there is such a vehicle periphery display control device (see, for example, Patent Documents 1, 2, and 3).
JP 2002-87160 A JP 2002-120675 A JP 2002-321580 A

  However, such a vehicle periphery display control device does not disclose a technique for changing the image of the host vehicle to be displayed in relation to the actual size, shape, user driving ability, and the like of the host vehicle.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to change an image of a host vehicle to be displayed in a vehicle periphery display control device that displays a captured image of the vehicle periphery and an image of the host vehicle on a display device. To do.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is directed to display control means for displaying a photographed image around the vehicle and an image of the own vehicle on a display device, and a plurality of forms of the own vehicle by an operation of the operator. An operation switch that can be selectively set, and an image generation means that generates an image of the entire host vehicle viewed from above based on information about the form of the host vehicle input by the operation switch. The display control unit is a vehicle periphery display control device that displays an image of the entire host vehicle generated by the image generation unit on the display device so as to be superimposed on a captured image around the host vehicle.

  Thereby, in the vehicle periphery display control device that displays the captured image of the vehicle periphery and the image of the host vehicle on the display device, the image of the host vehicle to be displayed can be changed based on the setting received by the setting receiving unit. can do.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle periphery display control device according to the first aspect , the form of the own vehicle includes information on the type of the own vehicle.

  Thereby, based on the form which changes for every vehicle model of the own vehicle, the image of the vehicle to display can be changed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle periphery display control device according to the first or second aspect , the form of the own vehicle includes information for specifying a total length and a full width of the own vehicle. .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle periphery display control device according to any one of the second or third aspects, the form of the host vehicle is a display of the captured image displayed by the display control means. The information includes whether or not to enlarge the display scale of the image of the host vehicle compared to the scale.

  As a result, for example, when the driver is not confident in driving, it is possible to make a setting for enlarging the image of the host vehicle displayed on the display device.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle periphery display control device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the image of the host vehicle generated by the image generating means is obtained when the door is opened. Both the image of the host vehicle and the image of the host vehicle when the door is closed, and the display control means displays an image of the host vehicle when the door is opened during parking.

  Accordingly, since the vehicle when the door is opened is displayed when the vehicle is parked, the driver can determine the open space of the door at a glance.

  Note that “when parked” means “at least when parked”, and is a concept that does not matter if the vehicle image is displayed when the door is opened even when not parked. It is.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle periphery display control device according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the image of the host vehicle generated by the image generating means is obtained when the door is opened. Both the image of the host vehicle and the image of the host vehicle when the door is closed, and the display control means is an image of the host vehicle when the door is opened based on a predetermined operation of a passenger of the host vehicle. Is displayed.

  Accordingly, since the vehicle when the door is opened is displayed based on the driver's selection, the driver can determine the open space of the door at a glance.

  An embodiment of a vehicle periphery display device to which the present invention is applied will be described below. A basic system configuration of this embodiment is shown in FIG. The vehicle periphery display device 1 includes a camera 2 (for example, a CCD camera) and an image capturing device 7 disposed at the rear of the vehicle c, and an in-vehicle monitor 3 (for example, a liquid crystal display) that is a display device disposed on a dashboard in the vehicle. And an image processing unit 5 that performs image processing, and an operation switch group 6 that can perform switching input such as power on / off of the vehicle peripheral display device 1.

 FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the input / output relationship between the image processing unit 5 and the device mounted on the vehicle c.

  The camera 2 converts the video behind the vehicle into an electrical signal and outputs it to the image capturing device 7.

  The image capturing device 7 converts the signal input from the camera 2 into digital image data, and outputs the captured image data to the image processing unit 5 at regular time intervals.

  The shift position sensor 10 detects the shift position of the vehicle or the state of the drive range (L, D, R, N, P, etc.) of the vehicle and outputs a signal based on each state to the image processing unit 5.

  The image processing unit 5 is a device that processes image data whose main part is an ECU. The image processing unit 5 has a CPU, RAM, ROM, and flash memory (not shown).

  The ROM stores in advance information such as a program to be executed by the CPU and a vehicle form information table. The vehicle form information table is data having a plurality of entries provided for each vehicle type. Each entry has, as elements, a model name, a total length, a total width, a door length, a door attachment position, a maximum door opening angle, and other detailed form information about the model. Other detailed form information includes, for example, the arrangement and shape of vehicle parts such as glass, headlights, door mirrors, etc., and vehicle types (sedans, wagons, minivans, 2 boxes, SUVs, etc.) of the vehicle type.

  The CPU operates by reading and executing a predetermined program from the ROM, and reads information from the ROM, RAM, and flash memory as necessary for the operation, and writes information to the RAM and flash memory. Further, this CPU receives signals from the operation switch group 6, the image capturing device 7, and the shift position sensor 10 during the operation, and outputs signals to the in-vehicle monitor 3 as necessary. In the following description, it is assumed that the processing by the CPU is processing by the image processing unit 5.

  As will be described later, the image processing unit 5 in the present embodiment functions as a vehicle periphery display control device that causes the vehicle-mounted monitor 3 to display a captured image of the vehicle periphery and the image of the host vehicle. The image processing unit 5 executes a setting program for specifying the vehicle image to be displayed on the in-vehicle monitor 3. For example, when the image processing unit 5 is attached to the vehicle c, or when the user of the vehicle c wants to correct the setting, this setting program allows the setting person to perform a predetermined operation on the operation switch group 6. Start with.

  FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of this setting program. First, in step 310, it is determined whether or not the vehicle type information is known. The vehicle type information refers to the vehicle type name of the vehicle c on which the image processing unit 5 is mounted. The fact that the vehicle type information is known means that information for specifying the vehicle type name of the vehicle c is included in a predetermined area of the ROM and flash memory of the image processing unit 5. If the vehicle type information is known, the process proceeds to step 380, and if not, the process proceeds to step 320.

  In step 320, a vehicle type selection screen is generated. Specifically, the in-vehicle monitor 3 is caused to display a screen for prompting the setter to input the vehicle type of the vehicle c. The screen displayed thereby includes a list display of all vehicle type names included in each entry of the vehicle form information table stored in the ROM of the image processing unit 5. And after performing this display, it waits for the input using the operation switch group 6 by the setter about specification of a vehicle type.

  If there is an input for specifying the vehicle type of the vehicle c, the process proceeds to step 330 to determine whether there is a corresponding vehicle type. Specifically, the input regarding the specification of the vehicle type received in step 320 is to specify any one of the vehicle types being displayed in the list, or does not correspond to any of the vehicle types being displayed in the list. It is determined whether or not it is an indication. If there is a corresponding vehicle type, the process proceeds to step 380; otherwise, the process proceeds to step 340.

  In step 340, an input screen for information specifying the form of the vehicle c, such as the type, total length, full width, door length, door attachment position, and maximum door opening angle of the vehicle c, is generated. Specifically, the in-vehicle monitor 3 is caused to display a screen for prompting the setter to input information specifying the form of the vehicle c. Then, after this display is performed, an input using the operation switch group 6 by the setter for these pieces of information is awaited.

  If there is an input as described above, the process proceeds to step 350 to accept the input data. Specifically, the input information such as the type, total length, full width, door length, door attachment position, and maximum door opening angle of the vehicle c is stored in a predetermined area of the RAM of the image processing unit 5. Then, the process proceeds to step 380.

  In step 380, an image of the host vehicle is generated, and the generated image is stored in the flash memory of the image processing unit 5. The generation of the image of the host vehicle is performed based on the vehicle model name of the vehicle c stored in the ROM or the flash memory in advance, the vehicle model name selected in steps 320 and 330, or the vehicle type information received in steps 340 and 350. Based on.

  When a vehicle type name is accepted, an entry including the vehicle type name is extracted from the vehicle form information table, and the total length, full width, door length, door attachment position, door position of the vehicle type included in the extracted entry are extracted. An image of the vehicle is generated in accordance with the maximum opening angle and other detailed configuration information about the vehicle type.

  When information on the form of the vehicle is received, an image of the vehicle in a form according to information such as the received full length, full width, door length, door attachment position, and maximum door opening angle is generated.

  The image of the vehicle to be generated is an image of the vehicle having the above form as viewed from above. Also, the image of the vehicle to be generated is 1) whether the door is closed or open, 2) an image that looks the same size as the actual size of the vehicle c, or an image that looks slightly larger than the actual size of the vehicle c, Four types are generated corresponding to each of the two items. To look the same size as the actual size means that the display scale of the captured image displayed on the in-vehicle monitor 3 by the image processing unit 5 is the same as the display scale of the image of the host vehicle. Further, “appearing larger than the actual size” means that the display scale of the image of the host vehicle is larger than the display scale of the captured image displayed on the in-vehicle monitor 3 by the image processing unit 5. “Slightly large” means, for example, an increase of about 10% in length.

  FIG. 4 schematically shows a format when the four types of images generated in this way are stored in the flash memory of the image processing unit 5. The image 21 is an image of the host vehicle c in which the door that looks the same size as the actual size is closed. The image 22 is an image of the host vehicle c with a door that looks the same size as the actual size. The image 23 is an image of the host vehicle c in which the door that looks larger than the actual size is closed. The image 24 is an image of the host vehicle c with the door that looks larger than the actual size opened.

  These four types of generated images are associated with two sets of values and stored in the flash memory so that they can be distinguished from other images. That is, if two values associated with each image are (I, J), I = 0 for an image that appears to be the same size as the actual size, and I = 1 for an image that appears slightly larger than the actual size. Also, J = 0 for an image with the door closed, and J = 1 for an image with the door open.

  The image processing unit 5 can receive settings for the vehicle type and vehicle form of the host vehicle c and generate an image of the host vehicle to be displayed on the in-vehicle monitor 3 based on the received settings by the setting program as described above. it can.

  The image processing unit 5 also has an image larger than the actual size (that is, an image associated with I = 1) among the images of the four vehicles c identified by the setting program, and an image that is the same as the actual size (that is, I = An enlargement setting program for determining which of the images associated with 0) is to be displayed on the in-vehicle monitor 3 is executed.

  This enlargement setting program is executed by the image processing unit 5 when a predetermined operation of the operation switch group 6 is performed by the user. As a result of this execution, the image processing unit 5 first performs generation processing of an input screen as to whether or not to enlarge the vehicle c. Specifically, the in-vehicle monitor 3 is caused to display a screen for prompting the setter to input whether or not to enlarge the vehicle c. Then, after this display is performed, an input using the operation switch group 6 by the setter about whether or not this enlarged display is possible is waited. And if there exists above-mentioned input, the input data will be received. Specifically, in accordance with the above input, information indicating whether or not to perform enlarged display is stored in the flash memory of the image processing unit 5. When the vehicle periphery display device 1 is attached, information indicating that the enlarged display is not performed is stored as a default value in the flash memory.

  The image processing unit 5 receives the setting about whether or not the enlarged display of the vehicle is possible by the processing of the enlargement setting program as described above, and specifies the image of the host vehicle to be displayed on the in-vehicle monitor 3 based on the received setting. Can do.

  Next, a vehicle periphery display program that the image processing unit 5 reads from the ROM and executes in the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of this program. The image processing unit 5 reads out and executes the vehicle periphery display program based on a predetermined user operation on the operation switch group 6.

  First, in step 510, setting information is read from the flash memory. This setting information is stored in advance in the flash memory when the vehicle periphery display device 1 is manufactured, or is stored in the flash memory by the setting program or the enlarged setting program described above. This setting information includes image data of the host vehicle c and a setting as to whether or not to enlarge the vehicle.

  Next, in step 520, it is determined whether or not the shift position is back (or the drive range is R). If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 530, while if the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 525. The shift position can be detected by a signal from the shift position sensor 10.

  In step 525, if the image data to be displayed is output to the in-vehicle monitor 3, the output ends. As a result, the in-vehicle monitor 3 displays another image, for example, a map image if the in-vehicle monitor 3 is a car navigation device. After step 525, processing returns to step 520.

  In step 530, an image output from the image capturing device 7, that is, an image around the vehicle c is acquired.

  In step 540, the image input from the image capturing device 7 is converted into a bird's eye view image, and the converted image data is output to the in-vehicle monitor 3. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the bird's-eye view image is converted by projecting the position data of the ground image onto the screen plane T at the focal length f from the camera position R at the height H from the ground g. It is the inverse transformation of the transformation to That is, the conversion to a bird's eye view image is a coordinate conversion of an image photographed by the camera 2 into data on the ground plane coordinate system projected from the camera 2 as a viewpoint. This conversion technique is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-14-087160 and JP-A-10-211849.

  In addition, the image output to the in-vehicle monitor 3 includes the portion of the camera 2 that is out of the field of view by estimating the position of the portion. Specifically, a region that matches between two temporally-viewed bird's-eye view images acquired from the image capturing device 7 in the repetitive processing of steps 103 to 120 is extracted, and based on this, the current camera 1 is out of the field of view. Extract moving area. Then, the image of the portion other than the field of view of the camera 2 in the bird's-eye view is shifted by the amount of movement in the bird's-eye view of the matching region, and then the image of the movement region is drawn (a composite image is created). Furthermore, an inverse V-shaped line indicating the host vehicle and the viewing angle is drawn.

  When the image data including the parking mass line 41 and the car stop 94 drawn on the ground as shown in the left diagram of FIG. 7 is converted into a bird's eye view that further includes the vehicle c and the inverted V-shape 43 as shown in the figure on the right side, and is displayed on the in-vehicle monitor 3.

  Next, at step 550, it is determined whether or not to enlarge the host vehicle c. This is determined using the setting of whether or not to enlarge the vehicle among the settings read in step 510. In the case of performing enlarged display, the process proceeds to step 560, where an area of variable I is secured in a predetermined area of the RAM of the image processing unit 5, and the value of variable I is set to 1. When the enlarged display is not performed, the process proceeds to step 555, where a variable I area is secured in a predetermined area of the RAM of the image processing unit 5, and the value of the variable I is set to zero.

  After steps 555 and 560, the process proceeds to step 570 to determine whether or not the vehicle c is parked. Whether or not the vehicle c is parked is determined by identifying the relative position of the parking mass line 41 with respect to the vehicle by image recognition, and based on the image of the vehicle c read in step 510, the own vehicle is included in the parking mass line 41. It is determined whether the entire vehicle c is in the vehicle, and if the entire vehicle c is in the parking mass line 41, it is determined that the vehicle is parked.

  Whether or not the vehicle c is parked is determined by the image processing unit 5 receiving a signal from an ignition line (not shown in FIG. 2). When the vehicle is in ACC, it may be determined that the vehicle c is parked. Further, whether or not the vehicle is parked may be determined by a signal from the shift position sensor 10 that the drive range of the vehicle is at P.

  If the vehicle is parked, the process proceeds to step 580, where an area of variable J is secured in a predetermined area of the RAM of the image processing unit 5, and the value of variable J is set to 1. If the vehicle is not parked, the process proceeds to step 575 where a variable J area is secured in a predetermined area of the RAM of the image processing unit 5 and the value of the variable J is set to zero.

  After steps 575 and 580, the process proceeds to step 590 to draw an image of the host vehicle c. Specifically, the image of the vehicle c is displayed on the in-vehicle monitor 3 so that the vehicle c overlaps the position where the vehicle c exists with respect to the periphery of the vehicle drawn as the bird's-eye view in the bird's-eye view output to the in-vehicle monitor 3 in step 540. Output. The image of the vehicle c to be displayed corresponds to the value of the set of variables (I, J) specified in steps 550 to 580 among the four images stored in the flash memory in step 380 of FIG. Use images.

  FIG. 8 shows a specific example of an image in which the vehicle c is superimposed on the captured image around the vehicle c. In this example, the vehicle c is about to be parked in a parking mass 95 having two car stops 94.

  After step 590, the process returns to step 520.

 While the vehicle c is backing by repeating the steps 540 and 590 of the processing of the image processing unit 5 and the vehicle periphery display program as described above, the image of the vehicle c (that is, the host vehicle) is displayed in the image around the vehicle. An image synthesized by overlapping is displayed on the in-vehicle monitor 3. The displayed image of the vehicle c follows the setting of the form of the vehicle c received by the setting program. Therefore, in the image processing unit 5 that displays the captured image of the periphery of the vehicle c and the image of the host vehicle c on the in-vehicle monitor 3, the image of the host vehicle c to be displayed can be changed based on the received setting. it can.

  And as a setting of the form of the own vehicle c, there are a vehicle type, a total length, a full width, a door length, a door mounting position, a maximum opening angle of the door, and other detailed form information about the vehicle type. By displaying the image of the host vehicle generated based on the morphological information, the positional relationship between the host vehicle and the periphery of the vehicle becomes detailed in the display on the in-vehicle monitor 3.

  In addition, the setting of the form of the host vehicle c includes information on whether or not to increase the display scale of the image of the host vehicle c compared to the display scale of the captured image to be displayed. Steps 550, 555, and 560 specify the size of the image of the host vehicle c to be displayed based on this setting, and step 590 displays the specified image.

  In this way, for example, when the driver is not confident in driving such as parking and handling of the vehicle c, etc., so as to reduce the possibility of contact with obstacles such as other vehicles, The image of the host vehicle displayed on the display device can be enlarged more than the actual image.

  Further, the image processing unit 5 displays an image of the host vehicle when the door is opened at the time of parking by the processing of steps 570, 575, and 580. Thus, when the vehicle c is parked, an image of the vehicle c when the door is opened is displayed, so that the driver can determine the open space of the door at a glance. Therefore, it becomes easy for the driver of the vehicle c to adjust the degree of opening of the door so as not to hit the obstacle or to park the vehicle at an interval where the door does not hit the obstacle.

  In the above-described embodiment, the image processing unit 5 executes steps 550, 555, 560, 570, 575, and 580 of the setting program, the enlargement setting program, and the vehicle periphery display program, thereby capturing the surroundings of the vehicle. Display control means for displaying an image and an image of the host vehicle on a display device is realized.

  Further, the image processing unit 5 executes step 590 of the vehicle periphery display program, thereby accepting the setting of the form of the own vehicle and specifying the image of the own vehicle to be displayed on the display device based on the accepted setting. Configure setting accepting means.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, when the vehicle c is parked, an image of the host vehicle c that has opened the door is displayed. However, this is not necessarily the case. When an occupant performs a predetermined operation on the operation switch group 6, an image of the host vehicle c with the door opened may be displayed. Moreover, you may display the image of the own vehicle c which opened the door both at the time of parking and at the time of a passenger | crew's predetermined | prescribed operation.

  Further, in step 380 of the setting program shown in FIG. 3, the image of the host vehicle is generated based on the settings received in steps 310 to 370, but the image need not necessarily be generated. For example, when the image data of the vehicle for each vehicle type is stored in advance in the ROM of the image processing unit 5 and the vehicle type of the host vehicle c is specified in step 330, an image corresponding to the specified vehicle type is mounted on the vehicle. It only needs to be specified as an image to be displayed on the monitor 3. That is, it is sufficient if an image to be displayed on the in-vehicle monitor 3 is specified based on the setting.

  In the above-described embodiment, the present invention is realized as the dedicated image processing unit 5. However, as one function of a car navigation device that receives an input of a video signal from a vehicle-mounted rear camera, for example, The function may be realized.

It is a figure which shows the main system structures in embodiment of this invention. 3 is a block diagram showing an input / output relationship with an apparatus mounted on the vehicle c of the image processing unit 5. FIG. It is a flowchart of a setting program. It is a figure which shows an example of the image of the vehicle c produced | generated by the setting program. It is a flowchart of a vehicle periphery display program. It is a figure explaining the conversion to the bird's-eye view image in step 540 of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the image before and behind conversion into the bird's-eye view image in step 540 of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the image synthesize | combined by the process of step 590 of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle periphery display apparatus, 2 ... Camera, 3 ... Vehicle-mounted monitor, 5 ... Image processing unit,
6 ... operation switch group, 7 ... image capturing device, 10 ... shift position sensor,
21-24 ... Image of own vehicle c, 41 ... Parking mass line, 94 ... Car stop,
95 ... Parking mass.

Claims (6)

Display control means for causing a display device to display a photographed image around the vehicle and an image of the host vehicle;
An operation switch that can be selectively set for a plurality of forms of the host vehicle by an operator's operation,
Image generating means for generating an image of the entire host vehicle viewed from above based on information about the form of the host vehicle input by the operation switch;
With
The vehicle periphery display control device, wherein the display control means displays an image of the entire host vehicle generated by the image generation unit on the display device so as to overlap a photographed image around the host vehicle.   The vehicle periphery display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the form of the own vehicle includes information on a vehicle type of the own vehicle.   The vehicle periphery display control device according to claim 1, wherein the form of the own vehicle includes information for specifying a total length and a full width of the own vehicle.   The form of the own vehicle includes information as to whether or not to enlarge the display scale of the image of the own vehicle as compared with the display scale of the captured image displayed by the display control means. The vehicle periphery display control apparatus as described in any one of these.   The image of the host vehicle generated by the image generating unit is both an image of the host vehicle when the door is opened and an image of the host vehicle when the door is closed, and the display control unit The vehicle periphery display control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein an image of the host vehicle when the vehicle is opened is displayed.   The image of the host vehicle generated by the image generation unit is both an image of the host vehicle when the door is opened and an image of the host vehicle when the door is closed. The display control unit is an occupant of the host vehicle. 6. The vehicle periphery display control device according to claim 1, wherein an image of the host vehicle when the door is opened is displayed based on the predetermined operation.

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