JPH06131599A - Object detector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow a driver to quickly apply proper countermeasure for an obstacle by displaying the obstacle existing in the front of a vehicle to the driver as an image, measuring a distance up to the obstacle and displaying the measured result as an image. CONSTITUTION:This object detector is provided with a video camera 1 loaded on a vehicle to photograph an outside image, an actual steering angle detecting means 4 for detecting the actual steering angle of a handle, an image processing means 3 for displaying an image on an image displaying means 7 based upon an image signal outputted form the camera 1 and setting up an object detecting band on a displayed picture based upon the detected actual steering angle, and an obstacle detecting means 5 for computing a distance up to an object displayed in the object detecting band based upon the image signal and detecting an obstacle.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an object detecting device, and more particularly to an object detecting device for displaying an obstacle existing in front of a vehicle as an image and measuring a distance to the obstacle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an apparatus of this kind, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 51-7892, electromagnetic waves,
There is an obstacle detection device that irradiates energy waves such as ultrasonic waves and laser light forward and detects obstacles by the reflected waves. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a method of mounting such an obstacle detection device on a vehicle to detect an obstacle in front of the vehicle. In the figure, 41 is a detector 41A which constitutes an obstacle detection device.
Is a vehicle equipped with the vehicle in front of the vehicle, and 42 is a preceding vehicle as an obstacle traveling in the front. Incidentally, the detector 41A
Transmits, for example, an electromagnetic wave transmitted from a transmitting / receiving device constituting the obstacle detecting device to the obstacle, and receives an electromagnetic wave reflected from the obstacle and sends the electromagnetic wave to the transmitting / receiving device.

As is apparent from the figure, when the vehicle 41 is going to travel on a curved forecasted trajectory 43, this forecasted trajectory 4
Numeral 3 is sandwiched between an outer circle 43A and an inner circle 43B formed by the traveling loci of the inside and outside of the vehicle, and has an approximately donut shape. Therefore, when a beam of an electromagnetic wave or the like is emitted from the detector 41A to the preceding vehicle 42 that travels on the predicted trajectory similarly to the own vehicle 41, the preceding vehicle 4 measured by the reflected wave from the preceding vehicle 23.
The maximum measurable distance up to 2 is the vehicle axle 41B of the host vehicle 41.
And the distance L from the intersection C1 of the outer circle 43A to the detector 41A
Becomes ₁ .

However, the detector 41A is replaced with a rotating device (not shown) which is rotated by a detection signal from an actual steering angle detecting device (not shown) for detecting the actual steering angle of a steering wheel (not shown) of the vehicle. When the attachment and the detector 41A are horizontally rotated at an angle corresponding to the actual steering angle so that the preceding vehicle 42 is tracked, the maximum measurable distance of the obstacle detection device is the tangent line 41C from the wave axis of the beam to the inner circle 43B. Draw this tangent line 41
The distance L is from the intersection C2 of C and the outer circle 43A to the detector 41A.

When the detector 41A is rotated according to the actual steering angle in this way, an obstacle existing in front of the host vehicle 41 can be detected over a wide range, and therefore an obstacle in the direction of the axle 41B of the host vehicle 41. Not only can obstacles existing on the predicted trajectory of the vehicle be detected far ahead.

[0006]

Since the conventional obstacle detection device detects the obstacle by the reflection of the beam as described above, whether the obstacle is a stationary object such as a guardrail, a roadside signboard or a sign, Another problem is that it cannot be immediately identified whether the vehicle is traveling ahead. Further, since the detector uses a mechanical operation of rotating the detector by a predetermined angle against the force of the spring, there is a problem in mechanical durability when it is frequently operated.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and can display an image of a detected obstacle, and even if the preceding vehicle is tracked, its mechanism does not need a mechanically movable part. An object of the present invention is to obtain an object detecting device.

[0008]

An object detecting device according to the present invention is mounted on a vehicle to capture an image of the outside of the vehicle, an actual steering angle detecting means to detect an actual steering angle of the steering wheel of the vehicle, and the imaging. Image processing for displaying an image obtained by processing the image signal output from the means on the image display means, and setting an object detection band on the display screen of the image display means based on the detected actual steering angle. And means for calculating the distance to the object displayed in the object detection band based on the image signal and detecting the distance of the object according to the distance.

[0009]

The object detecting device according to the present invention superimposes the image of the object detecting band set based on the actual steering angle of the steering wheel on the image outside the vehicle, displays the image on the image display means, and displays the image in the object detecting band. By calculating the distance to the object by the object detecting means, the obstacle existing in the traveling direction of the vehicle can be recognized in the image, and the distance can be measured by focusing on the obstacle in the display image.

[0010]

【Example】

Example 1. An example in which one embodiment of the present invention is applied to a case where an obstacle existing in front of a vehicle is detected will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the object detection device according to this embodiment. In the figure, 1 is a video camera as an image pickup means installed in the vicinity of a front window in a vehicle, 2 is a memory as a storage means for storing an image signal output from the video camera 1, 3 is an image processing means, The image signal stored in the memory 2 is processed to generate image display data, and the obstacle detection band in the display screen is set based on the detected angle from the actual steering angle detection means 4 for detecting the actual steering angle of the vehicle handle. Set.

Reference numeral 5 is an obstacle detecting means for detecting an object displayed in the set obstacle detection band to detect the presence or absence of an obstacle in front of the vehicle and for calculating a distance to the obstacle. An alarm means for issuing an alarm when an obstacle is detected, and 7 is an image display means for displaying the obstacle detection band together with an image outside the vehicle in front of the vehicle in accordance with the image display data output from the image processing means.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware structure of an obstacle detecting device composed of the respective means shown in FIG. Reference numerals 9 and 10 denote a pair of lenses which are arranged symmetrically with each other with a base line length L apart from each other.
It forms an image at 1 and 12. 13 and 14 are image sensors 1
A / D converter for digitally converting the outputs from 1 and 12;
Reference numerals 15 and 16 are memories for storing the A / D converted output as image data of the preceding vehicle 8, and 17 is a memory for storing image display data processed by a CPU described later.

Reference numeral 19 is a CPU, which is a memory 15, 16,
Image data read from 17 is processed to generate image display data, an image of an object in front of the vehicle including the preceding vehicle 8 is displayed on the display device 18, and when the preceding vehicle 8 is an obstacle, the preceding vehicle 8 is reached. Calculate the distance of. 20 detects the actual steering angle of the steering wheel of the own vehicle, and the detected angle value is detected by the CPU.
An actual steering angle detection device for outputting to 19 and an obstacle monitoring band forming device 21 form mask data for setting an obstacle monitoring band to be displayed on the screen of the display device 18. Reference numeral 22 is an alarm device that issues an alarm as an obstacle detection when an object is displayed within the obstacle monitoring band. Incidentally, the lenses 9, 10,
The image sensors 11 and 12, the A / D converters 13 and 14 partially detect the video camera 1, the memories 15, 16 and 17 use the storage unit 2, the CPU 19 uses the image processing unit 3 and the object detection unit to detect an obstacle. The means 5 is replaced with the actual steering angle detection device 20.
The actual steering angle detection means 4 and the alarm device 22 the alarm means 6,
The display device 18 constitutes the image display means 7.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
The CPU 19 reads the image signal from the memories 15 to 16 and processes it to display an image in front of the host vehicle on the display device 18, while inputting the actual steering angle from the actual steering angle detection device 20 to go straight, turn right, or turn the host vehicle. When it is detected that the vehicle is turning left and is in a straight traveling state, mask data for displaying the obstacle monitoring band 18A is input from the obstacle monitoring band forming device 21 as shown in FIG. An object monitoring band image is generated and displayed in the center of the screen of the display device 18 together with the image currently being displayed.

Further, if it is determined from the actual steering angle detected by the actual steering angle detecting device 20 that the host vehicle is in the left turn state, the obstacle monitoring band 18A is displayed on the left side of the screen as shown in FIG. 3 (b). It is displayed and it is displayed that it is in a left turn state. If it is determined that the host vehicle is making a right turn, the obstacle monitoring band 18A is displayed on the right side of the screen as shown in FIG. 3B to indicate that the vehicle is making a right turn. Next, if an object is displayed in the obstacle monitoring band 18A, the CPU 19 determines the object as an obstacle, activates the alarm device 22 to call the driver's attention, and measures the distance to the obstacle. Display device 18
To display.

The preceding vehicle 8 which is an obstacle by the CPU 19
The method of measuring the distance to is explained. CPU 19 is memory 1
Image signals a1 and b1 are read from the pixels arranged at the upper left corners of the image sensors 11 and 12 from 5 and 16, respectively, and the absolute value of the difference between the image signals c11 = | a1-b1.
| Ask. Furthermore, 1 from the left end of the image sensors 11 and 12
The image signals a2 and b2 are read from the pixels arranged on the right side of the two, and the absolute value of the difference between the image signals is c11 = |
a1-b1 | Such an operation is performed on all the pixels of the image sensors 11 and 12, and the sum s1 = Σc1i of all absolute values is obtained.

When the total sum s1 of absolute values is obtained as described above, the CPU 19 then reads the image signal a1 from the pixel arranged at the upper left end of the image sensor 11 from the memory 15 and the image from the memory 16. The image signal b2 is read from the pixel arranged on the right side from the upper left end of the sensor 12, and the absolute value of the difference between the image signals is c21 = | a1.
-B2 | Calculate. Further, the image signal a2 is read from the pixel arranged one right from the upper left end of the image sensor 11, and the image signal b3 is read from the pixels arranged two more right from the upper left end of the image sensor 12, respectively. The absolute value c22 = | a2-b3 | Such an operation is performed for all pixels of the image sensors 11 and 12, and the sum total of all absolute values s2 = Σc2i
Ask for.

As described above, the CPU 21 has the memories 15 and 1
Each pixel of the image sensors 11 and 12 is connected to n (n
= 1.2.3. ． ) The image signals are read out repeatedly while shifting each time, and the sum of absolute values of the differences between the image signals is obtained. Then, when the sum level becomes the highest, it is determined that the image signals of both image sensors are the best match,
The number of shifts n of the image sensor at that time, the base line length L of each lens 9, 10, the focal length f of the lenses 9, 10 and the pitch width p between the pixels forming the image sensors 11, 12.
By substituting into the following equation, the distance R from the lenses 9, 10 to the preceding vehicle 8 is determined by the principle of triangulation.

R = (f * L) / (n * p)

By thus obtaining the image of the distance to the preceding vehicle 8 and displaying the image, the driver can perform an operation such as braking, retreating, or continuing the operation of the vehicle with a margin according to the distance. .

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, the image pickup means mounted on the vehicle for photographing the outside of the vehicle, the actual steering angle detection means for detecting the actual steering angle of the steering wheel of the vehicle, and the output from the image pickup means An image processing means for displaying an image on the image display means based on the generated image signal, and for setting an obstacle detection zone on the display screen of the image display means based on the detected actual steering angle; Obstacles are recognized in the image because the distance to the obstacle displayed in the obstacle detection zone is calculated based on the image signal and the object detection means for detecting the distance of the object according to the distance is provided. In addition to being able to measure the distance, the driver can handle obstacles with a sufficient margin, which is effective in maintaining safe driving.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an object detection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the object detection device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example when an obstacle monitoring band is displayed on the screen of the display device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an obstacle detection method by a conventional obstacle detection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Video Camera 3 Image Processing Means 4 Actual Steering Angle Detection Means 5 Obstacle Detection Means 7 Image Display Means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup means mounted on a vehicle for photographing the outside of the vehicle, an actual steering angle detection means for detecting an actual steering angle of a steering wheel of the vehicle, and an image based on an image signal output from the imaging means. Image display means for displaying the image on the image display means and setting an object detection zone on the display screen of the image display means based on the detected actual steering angle, and an object displayed in the object detection zone An object detection device comprising: an object detection unit that calculates a distance based on an image signal and detects the distance of an object according to the distance.