JP4752284B2 - Vehicle periphery monitoring device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle periphery monitoring device.

As a background art, Patent Document 1 includes the following parking assistance device.
As shown in FIG. 8, the parking assist device of Patent Document 1 has CCD cameras (C1, C2, C3, C4) attached to the four corners of the vehicle. Then, the navigation images installed in the vicinity of the instrument panel in front of the user are captured images (P1, P2, P3, P4) of the CCD cameras (C1, C2, C3, C4) as shown in FIG. They are displayed side by side on the display of the device. As a result, information about the periphery of the vehicle, which is a blind spot of the user, is captured by the imaging device, and the captured image is displayed on the vehicle interior monitor to supplement the user's field of view.

  In Patent Document 2, there is a vehicle surrounding monitoring system as described below. Here, FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a state of arrangement of the camera C in the vehicle, and FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a display on a display device (not shown). As shown in FIG. 9, the vehicle periphery monitoring system of Patent Document 2 has a plurality of cameras C attached at predetermined positions on the front, rear, left and right sides of the vehicle. And the imaging area | region of each camera C is shown with the dashed-dotted line. Further, in a display device (not shown), the captured images of the plurality of cameras C are arranged and displayed as shown in FIG.

Further, Patent Document 3 has the following vehicle periphery monitoring system. Here, FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between the virtual viewpoint KS and the camera C. As shown in FIG. 11, the vehicle periphery monitoring system of Patent Document 3 has a plurality of cameras C attached to predetermined positions of the vehicle. The vehicle periphery is monitored based on a composite image generated by setting a virtual viewpoint KS above the vehicle.
JP 2000-168475 (paragraph 0025, FIG. 4) JP 2002-019556 A (paragraphs 0020-0032, FIGS. 4 and 7) Japanese Patent No. 3300334 (paragraphs 0035-0037, FIG. 4)

  However, in the parking assistance apparatus in Patent Document 1, when the imaging ranges of the cameras (C1, C2, C3, and C4) do not overlap, objects cannot be displayed seamlessly.

  Further, when images of the overlapping ranges (shaded portions in FIG. 9) of a plurality of cameras with overlapping imaging ranges are individually displayed as in the monitoring system in Patent Document 2, for example, as shown in FIG. When the camera image of a part and the camera image of a horizontal part are displayed on the same monitor apparatus, the object of the range which an imaging range overlaps is displayed as each camera image. This makes it difficult for the user of the monitoring system to recognize that there are two objects or to grasp the positional relationship between the vehicle and the object, and thus makes the image difficult for the user to understand.

  Furthermore, in the monitoring system in Patent Document 3, captured images of a plurality of cameras C are input, and a viewpoint at which the vehicle is looked down from the images of the cameras C is converted to a virtual viewpoint KS. In this case, when the viewpoint conversion reference is matched to the road surface, the shooting direction of the camera that captures the three-dimensional object changes, so the disappearance or duplication of the three-dimensional object occurs, and the three-dimensional object is imaged for each camera. Because it is different, it will not be connected neatly.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and objects in the overlapping range of the imaging range are displayed seamlessly and clearly, and the number of objects in the overlapping range of the imaging range can be accurately recognized. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle periphery monitoring device that can easily grasp the positional relationship between a vehicle and an object, and can accurately and easily grasp the presence of the object in the blind spot of the vehicle and its positional relationship. .

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following features.
(1) The present invention provides a first imaging means that is arranged on the side of a vehicle and captures a first image;
A second imaging unit that is disposed in front of the first imaging unit and included in the imaging range of the first imaging unit and that captures the second image, and a display that displays the first image and the second image Means for monitoring the periphery of the vehicle with the display means, and the first image and the second image when the first image and the second image are combined and displayed on the display means. The boundary position between two images is on a straight line connecting the position where the first image pickup means is arranged and the position where the second image pickup means is arranged, and the use range of the first image and the second image Image processing means for displaying the usage range side by side across the boundary line is provided.

(2) The present invention is arranged on the side of the vehicle to capture the first image , and to be disposed in front of the first imaging unit and included in the imaging range of the first imaging unit. In the vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus, comprising: a second imaging unit that captures the second image; and a display unit that displays the first image and the second image, wherein the display unit monitors the periphery of the vehicle. A boundary position between the first image and the second image when the first image and the second image are combined and displayed on a means, a position where the first imaging means is arranged, and the second imaging A straight line connecting the position where the means is disposed, and the boundary line between the image outside the vehicle from the boundary line in the first image and the image inside the vehicle from the boundary line in the second image And image processing means for displaying the images side by side .

( 3 ) The present invention is characterized in that, in the vehicle periphery monitoring device according to (1) or (2) , the first imaging means and the second imaging means are on the same side with respect to the vehicle.

The present invention having such characteristics can provide the following operations and effects.
(1) The present invention provides a first imaging means that is arranged on the side of a vehicle and captures a first image;
A second imaging unit that is disposed in front of the first imaging unit and included in the imaging range of the first imaging unit and that captures the second image, and a display that displays the first image and the second image Means for monitoring the periphery of the vehicle with the display means, and the first image and the second image when the first image and the second image are combined and displayed on the display means. The boundary position between two images is on a straight line connecting the position where the first image pickup means is arranged and the position where the second image pickup means is arranged, and the use range of the first image and the second image Image processing means for displaying the usage range side by side across the boundary line is provided .
(2) The present invention is included in an imaging range of the first imaging unit that is disposed on the side of the vehicle and that captures the first image, forward of the first imaging unit, and the first imaging unit. In a vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus that includes a second imaging unit that is arranged in a manner to capture a second image, and a display unit that displays the first image and the second image, and monitors the periphery of the vehicle by the display unit. A boundary position between the first image and the second image when the first image and the second image are combined and displayed on the display means is defined as a position where the first imaging means is disposed and the first position. 2 on the straight line connecting the position where the image pickup means is arranged, and the boundary line is defined as an image outside the vehicle from the boundary line in the first image and an image inside the vehicle from the boundary line in the second image. Image processing means for arranging and displaying in a sandwiched manner is provided.
Therefore, in the inventions of (1) and (2), the overlapping range of the imaging range uses only one of the images captured from the first imaging unit and the second imaging unit. Objects that exist on the boundary line can be displayed seamlessly and clearly, and since the number of objects that exist on the boundary line is accurately displayed on the image, the number of objects can be accurately recognized, Since the image captured from the first imaging means and the image captured from the second imaging means are connected and the positional relationship between the vehicle and the object is accurately displayed on the image, the user can accurately determine the positional relationship between the vehicle and the object. The effect which can be grasped easily and easily is acquired.

(3) The present invention includes the automotive environment monitoring device according to (1) or (2), since the first imaging means and second imaging means on the same side with respect to the vehicle, (1), (2 In addition to the effects described in (1 ) , by clearly displaying on the image the object existing in the area that is the blind spot of the user, the user can accurately determine the presence of the object existing in the area that is the blind spot and its positional relationship. An effect that can be easily grasped is obtained.

  Examples of the present invention will be described below.

  First, in describing the first embodiment, the configuration and processing flow of the vehicle periphery monitoring device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the vehicle periphery monitoring device of the present invention includes an imaging device 1, an imaging device 2, a switching processing unit 3, an image input unit 4, a capture buffer 5, a capture buffer 6, a coordinate conversion processing unit 7, and a coordinate conversion. It comprises a table 8, a display buffer 9, a drawing processing means 11, a display device 12, and the like. As shown in FIG. 3, a part composed of a switching processing unit 3, an image input unit 4, a capture buffer 5, a capture buffer 6, a coordinate conversion processing unit 7, a coordinate conversion table 8, a display buffer 9, and a drawing processing unit 11. Corresponds to an image processing apparatus.

  And the flow of the process by these structures is as follows. First, the switching processing means 3 inputs the image captured by the imaging device 1 and the imaging device 2 to the capture buffer 5 and the capture buffer 6 as image data while switching the image every predetermined time. Then, in accordance with the information in the coordinate conversion table 8 prepared in advance, a composite image is generated in the coordinate conversion processing means 7 based on the image data in the capture buffer 5 and the capture buffer 6. In the coordinate conversion table 8, information on the use range of the picked-up image in the image pickup apparatus 1 and the use range of the pick-up image in the image pickup apparatus 2 is created in order to define the boundary line in the composite image. The created composite image is input to the display buffer 9 and is output to the display device 12 after the drawing processing unit 11 performs drawing processing (processing such as adding a vehicle trajectory on the image). In addition, the arrow of FIG. 3 has shown the flow of processing.

  Therefore, the first embodiment will be specifically described. As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment includes a camera C1 as the imaging device 1 at the position of the left door mirror, and the imaging device 2 at the left position of the front fender in front of the vehicle or the left position of the bumper. The camera C2 is installed. More specifically, the camera C1 is installed diagonally forward and downward at the lower part of the door mirror, and the camera C2 is installed diagonally forward and downward at the front fender tip. An image captured by the camera C1 is used as a first image, and an image captured by the camera C2 is processed as a second image. As a result of performing image processing in the image processing apparatus described above, a monitor ( (Not shown). The user can confirm the information around the vehicle by looking at the monitor image.

  Here, when the imaging field of view of the camera is considered, as indicated by the hatching in FIG. 1, the camera C1 and the camera C2 have portions where the imaging ranges overlap. If the captured images of the camera C1 and the camera C2 are displayed side by side on the monitor while the captured images in the overlapping range are included, objects in the overlapping range of the imaging range are displayed in parallel as the camera images. For this reason, as described in the background art described above, the user misidentifies that there are two objects, and it becomes difficult to grasp the positional relationship between the vehicle and the object. Therefore, in the present invention, a boundary line is defined between the usage range of the captured image of the camera C1 and the usage range of the captured image of the camera C2, and the usage range of the captured image of the camera C1 and the usage range of the camera C2 are sandwiched between the boundary lines. The range of use of the captured image will be displayed on the monitor while segregating. By defining the boundary line in this way, objects in the overlapping range of the imaging range are not displayed in parallel as each camera image, and the user can accurately recognize the number of objects, It becomes easy to grasp the exact positional relationship.

  However, the following problems occur depending on the definition of the position of the boundary line. In general, when the imaging direction of the camera is different even for the same object, the imaging surface is different and the image is displayed as if another object was captured. Therefore, for example, when the boundary line is randomly defined, as shown in FIG. 4, a line connecting the camera C1 and an object (a child in FIG. 4) existing on the boundary line and the center line in the vehicle width direction of the vehicle (the main axis of the vehicle ) And the angle θ2 between the line connecting the camera C2 and the object existing on the boundary line and the center line (vehicle main axis) in the vehicle width direction of the vehicle are usually different. For this reason, the direction in which the camera C1 captures an object is different from the direction in which the camera C2 captures an object. Therefore, when the captured images of the cameras C1 and C2 are displayed side by side on the monitor, the shapes of the objects are not connected at all, and there is a possibility that the object is not recognized at all.

  Therefore, in the present invention, as a specific boundary line position, image conversion processing is performed so as to be on a straight line connecting positions where the camera C1 and the camera C2 are arranged as shown in FIG. More specifically, it is a straight line connecting the centers of the optical axes of the cameras C1 and C2 and the tip of the camera. In the embodiment, the left side of the boundary line is the use range A1 of the captured image of the camera C1, and the right side is the use range A2 of the captured image of the camera C2. Note that the positions of the camera C1 and the camera C2 are determined so that the fender portion does not enter the use range of the captured image of the camera C1.

  By defining the boundary line in this way, as shown in FIG. 5, a line connecting the camera C1 and an object (child in FIG. 5) existing on the boundary line and a center line (vehicle main axis) in the vehicle width direction of the vehicle And the angle θ2 between the line connecting the camera C2 and the object existing on the boundary line and the center line (vehicle main axis) in the vehicle width direction of the vehicle are equal. For this reason, the angle at which the camera C1 captures an object is equal to the angle at which the camera C2 captures an object, and the camera C1 and the camera C2 can obtain images obtained by viewing the object from the same direction. Therefore, when the captured images of the cameras C1 and C2 are displayed side by side on the monitor, the objects are connected and displayed, and the user can recognize information such as the shape of the object to some extent accurately. In particular, if the object is a child (human) as shown in FIG. 5, it can be sufficiently recognized that the object is a child (human). From the monitor display, it is possible to easily grasp the exact positional relationship between the vehicle and the child (human). Therefore, even if a child (human) jumps out, a traffic accident can be prevented by judgment of a habit.

  In general, in a right-hand drive vehicle, the left front of the vehicle, in particular, the vicinity of the lower portion of the left side of the front fender in front of the vehicle tends to be a blind spot for the user. Therefore, in the present invention, the camera C1 is installed at the position of the left door mirror, and the camera C2 is installed at the left position of the front fender in front of the vehicle. As a result, the image of the area that becomes the blind spot of the user can be captured from the camera C1 and the camera C2 and displayed on the monitor, so that the user does not have a person in the blind spot or the vehicle is placed in the groove. It can be confirmed accurately and easily on the monitor whether the tire does not fit into the groove when it is moved sideways.

The following effects can be obtained by the first embodiment as described above.
(1) The present invention includes a camera C1 that is disposed on the side of the vehicle and captures the first image, a camera C2 that is disposed in front of the camera C1 and captures the second image, and the first and second images. In a vehicle periphery monitoring device that includes a display means for displaying an image and monitors the periphery of the vehicle with the display means, the first image and the second image when the first image and the second image are combined and displayed on the display means Since the image processing means is provided that sets the boundary position between the two images on a straight line connecting the position where the camera C1 is disposed and the position where the camera C2 is disposed, the overlapping range of the imaging ranges is determined by the cameras C1 and C2. Since only one of the captured images will be used, objects existing on the boundary line can be displayed seamlessly and clearly, and the number of objects existing on the boundary line can be displayed on the image. Exactly table Therefore, the number of the objects can be accurately recognized, and further, the image captured from the camera C1 and the image captured from the camera C2 are connected, and the positional relationship between the vehicle and the object is accurately displayed on the image. The user can obtain an effect of accurately and easily grasping the positional relationship between the vehicle and the object.

(2) In the vehicle periphery monitoring device according to (1), since the camera C1 and the camera C2 are on the same side with respect to the vehicle, in addition to the effect described in (1), Since the object existing in the blind spot area is clearly displayed on the image, the user can accurately and easily grasp the presence of the object existing in the blind spot area and its positional relationship. .

  Next, Example 2 will be described. The vehicle periphery monitoring device 2 according to the second embodiment has the same configuration and arrangement as the first embodiment. However, the coordinate conversion processing means 7 converts the viewpoint of the camera C1 and the viewpoint of the camera C2 into the virtual viewpoint position shown in FIG. The position of this virtual viewpoint is set between the camera C1 and the camera C2 on the straight line connecting the positions where the camera C1 and the camera C2 are arranged as shown in FIG. Yes. Further, when viewed from the side of the vehicle, as shown in FIG. 6, the vehicle is disposed at a position within the vehicle height range.

  In this way, an object is imaged from one viewpoint called the virtual viewpoint on the straight line connecting the positions of the virtual viewpoints of the cameras C1 and C2 where the cameras C1 and C2 are arranged. Therefore, it is possible to seamlessly display objects on the composite image of images captured from the cameras C1 and C2. In addition, the number of objects can be accurately recognized, and the user can accurately and easily grasp the positional relationship between the vehicle and the object. Further, since the position of the virtual viewpoint is set between the camera C1 and the camera C2, the vicinity of the vehicle can be imaged, and the user can accurately and easily determine the presence of the object existing in the blind spot area and its positional relationship. The effect that can be grasped is obtained. In order to reliably obtain these effects, the position of the virtual viewpoint is preferably near the midpoint between the cameras C1 and C2.

According to the second embodiment as described above, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) The present invention provides the vehicle periphery monitoring device according to the first embodiment, in which a virtual viewpoint is provided on a straight line, and an image viewed from the virtual viewpoint is displayed on the display unit by viewpoint conversion based on the first image and the second image. Since it is displayed, in addition to the effects described in the first embodiment, an object is imaged from one viewpoint called a virtual viewpoint, so that an object on the composite image can be displayed seamlessly, and the number of objects can be set as follows. It can be recognized accurately, and the user can accurately and easily grasp the positional relationship between the vehicle and the object, and the imaging area from the virtual viewpoint extends to the area that becomes the blind spot of the user. Therefore, the user can obtain an effect of accurately and easily grasping the existence and the positional relationship of the object existing in the blind spot area.

(2) According to the present invention, in the vehicle periphery monitoring device described in (1), the virtual viewpoint is the midpoint between the position where the camera C1 is disposed and the position where the camera C2 is disposed. The effect described in (1) can be obtained more reliably even in a region near the midpoint between the position where the camera C1 is likely to become a blind spot of the vehicle and the position where the camera C2 is disposed.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various change is possible in the range which does not deviate from the meaning.

It is a figure which shows the duplication range of the imaging range of the camera C1 and the camera C2. It is a figure which shows the use range and its boundary line of the imaging range of the camera C1 and the camera C2. It is a figure which shows the structure of the vehicle peripheral device of this invention, and the flow of an image process. It is a figure which shows the imaging direction of the camera at the time of defining a boundary line at random. It is a figure which shows the imaging direction of the camera in this invention. It is a figure which shows the position of the virtual viewpoint at the time of seeing from the side surface of a vehicle. It is a figure which shows the position of the virtual viewpoint at the time of seeing from the upper surface of a vehicle. It is a schematic diagram of the parking assistance device of patent documents 1. It is a schematic diagram of the surveillance system of the circumference of vehicles of patent documents 2. It is a figure which shows the display content in the monitoring system of the vehicle periphery of patent document 2. FIG. It is a schematic diagram of the vehicle periphery monitoring system of patent document 3.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Imaging device 2 Imaging device 3 Switching processing means 4 Image input means 5 Capture buffer 6 Capture buffer 7 Coordinate conversion processing means 8 Coordinate conversion table 9 Display buffer 11 Drawing processing means 12 Display device C1 Camera C2 Camera

Claims (3)

First imaging means arranged on the side of the vehicle to capture the first image;
A second imaging unit that is disposed in front of the first imaging unit and included in an imaging range of the first imaging unit and that captures a second image;
A vehicle periphery monitoring device comprising: display means for displaying the first image and the second image, wherein the display means monitors the periphery of the vehicle;
A boundary position between the first image and the second image when the first image and the second image are combined and displayed on the display means is defined as a position where the first imaging means is disposed and the first position. The image processing means includes an image processing means for displaying the use range of the first image and the use range of the second image side by side with the boundary line on a straight line connecting the positions where the two image pickup means are arranged. A vehicle periphery monitoring device. First imaging means arranged on the side of the vehicle to capture the first image;
A second imaging unit that is disposed in front of the first imaging unit and included in an imaging range of the first imaging unit and that captures a second image;
A vehicle periphery monitoring device comprising: display means for displaying the first image and the second image, wherein the display means monitors the periphery of the vehicle;
A boundary position between the first image and the second image when the first image and the second image are combined and displayed on the display means is defined as a position where the first imaging means is disposed and the first position. 2 on a straight line connecting the position where the image pickup unit is arranged, and the boundary line includes an image outside the vehicle from the boundary line in the first image and an image inside the vehicle from the boundary line in the second image. A vehicle periphery monitoring device comprising image processing means for displaying images side by side . The vehicle periphery monitoring device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that on the same side with respect to the vehicle from the first imaging unit and the second imaging means.

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