JPH06305384A - Side collision warning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To safely and accurately prevent a side collision at the time of changing a traffic lane regardless of presence of a turn indicator signal by binarizing an image signal obtained from a visual sensor to compute coordinates of a traffic lane on a road, and selecting an output signal of an obstruction sensor from the coordinates to energize a warning unit when an obstruction is detected. CONSTITUTION:An image signal obtained from a visual sensor 1 for picking up an image of the forward of a vehicle is binarized to detect a traffic lane on a road and compute coordinates of this traffic lane. Based on the obtained coordinates of the lane, the movement direction of the vehicle with respect to this lane is obtained and an output signal of a right side obstruction sensor 3 or a left side obstruction sensor 4 of the vehicle is selected in compliance with the movement direction. When an obstruction is detected based on output signals of the obstruction sensor 3 or 4, a warning unit is energized. With this constitution, a side collision with an obstruction because of a lane change with lack of confirmation or involuntary side shifting to a road edge by a driver earn be prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a side collision warning device, and more particularly to a device for issuing a warning for preventing a side collision when changing lanes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a conventional side collision warning device, and a conventional example of such a side collision warning device is shown in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 189679/1987.

In the figure, reference numeral 2 is a winker, 3 is a right obstacle sensor, 4 is a left obstacle sensor, 5 is an alarm device, and 7 is an interface circuit (I / I) for converting an output signal of the winker 2 into a winker detection signal. F), 8 is an interface circuit for converting an analog signal output from the obstacle sensors 3, 4 into a digital signal, 9 is an interface circuit for converting an analog signal corresponding to the alarm device 5, and
Reference numeral 10 denotes a CPU as a signal processing unit that receives the output signals of the interface circuits 7 and 8 and outputs a control signal to the interface circuit 9.

The above-mentioned obstacle sensors 3 and 4 transmit a transmitter for generating an ultrasonic wave and a signal reflected by the ultrasonic wave when it hits an obstacle as shown in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 189679/1987. A known radar device composed of a receiver for receiving can be used.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing the structure when the conventional configuration example shown in FIG. 5 is actually attached to a vehicle 20,
FIG. 7 is a plan view of the conventional example of FIG. 5 when mounted on the vehicle 20.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7,
The right-side obstacle sensor 3 and the left-side obstacle sensor 4 are provided at the right end portion and the left end portion of the vehicle 20, respectively, and the alarm device 5 is an actuator drive circuit 51 that receives a control signal from the CPU 10 and the actuator drive circuit. Steering actuator 5 driven by circuit 51
It is composed of 2 and.

The operation of the conventional example will be described below.
U10 receives the output signal of the winker 2 from the interface circuit 7, determines the direction in which the vehicle 20 is going to travel (lane changing direction), and interfaces the output signal of the obstacle sensor 3 or 4 corresponding to the determined traveling direction. A steering actuator driving circuit is selected from the circuit 8 and the presence / absence of an obstacle is determined from the obstacle sensor. When an obstacle is detected, the steering actuator 52 constituting the alarm device 5 is connected to the steering actuator driving circuit via the interface circuit 9. 51
A control signal is given from the above to generate an alarm signal when the steering wheel 11 is vibrated.

[0008]

In such a conventional example, the warning process is limited to the side collision when the driver does not have enough confirmation, and the lane change without operating the turn signal or the inadvertent lane change. There was a problem that the alarm could not be issued if the vehicle deviated.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to realize a device capable of safely and accurately preventing a side collision at the time of changing lanes and giving an alarm regardless of the presence or absence of a turn signal.

[0010]

In order to solve the above problems, a side collision warning device according to the present invention is a visual sensor for photographing the front of a vehicle, obstacle sensors on the right and left sides of the vehicle, and an alarm device. And the image signal obtained from the visual sensor
By calculating the coordinates of the lane on the road surface by binarization, obtaining the moving direction of the vehicle from the coordinates of the lane, selecting the output signal of the obstacle sensor corresponding to the moving direction, and detecting the obstacle, Signal processing means for activating the alarm device.

Further, the signal processing means obtains not only the moving direction but also the moving amount of the vehicle, and when detecting the obstacle, continuously or intermittently energizes the alarm device according to the magnitude of the moving amount. Can be done by

Further, in the above invention, a winker operation detecting means is provided, and when the winker is operated, the signal processing means responds to the winker operating direction by using an output signal of the winker operation detecting means instead of the moving direction. The output signal of the obstacle sensor may be selected.

[0013]

In the present invention, the signal processing means binarizes the image signal obtained from the visual sensor for photographing the front of the vehicle to detect the lane on the road surface and calculates the coordinates of the lane.

Then, the signal processing means obtains the moving direction of the vehicle with respect to this lane from the obtained coordinates of the lane, and selects the output signal of the obstacle sensor provided on the right side or the left side of the vehicle corresponding to this moving direction. To do.

When an obstacle is detected from the output signal of the obstacle sensor, the alarm device is activated to warn the driver of a side collision at the time of changing lanes.

Further, the signal processing means obtains not only the moving direction but also the moving amount of the vehicle, and when an obstacle is detected as described above, it continuously gives an alarm or intermittently according to the magnitude of the moving amount. It is possible to select whether to give an alarm by giving a warning to the driver in stages.

Further, a winker operation detecting means is provided, and when the winker is operated, the obstacle is detected similarly according to the operation direction of the winker without using the moving direction of the vehicle as a parameter as described above. However, if the lane is uncertain due to scratches or the like, it is possible to reliably detect the obstacle by detecting the turn signal operation.

[0018]

1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a side collision warning device according to the present invention. This embodiment and FIG.
The difference from the conventional example shown in FIG. 1 is that a visual sensor 1 such as a line camera for detecting a lane and an interface circuit (I / F) for converting an analog output signal of the visual sensor 1 into a digital signal and giving it to the CPU 10. 6 and 6 are provided.

2 and 3 show a schematic structure when the side collision warning device according to the present invention shown in FIG. 1 is actually attached to a vehicle 20, and these FIGS. As can be seen by comparing FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 shown in the above-mentioned conventional example, the visual sensor 1 is provided at the center of the front part of the vehicle 20.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a control program stored in and executed by the CPU 10 shown in FIG. 1. Hereinafter, the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 will be described with reference to this flow chart. The operation of the example will be described.

Step S1: The output signal of the visual sensor 1 is input through the interface circuit 6.

Step S2: The output signal of the visual sensor 1 input in the above step 1 is binarized to extract the lanes L1 and L2 as shown in the figure.

Step S3: The coordinates of the lane are obtained from the lanes L1 and L2 extracted in step S2. This may be the coordinates X1 and X2 of one of the lanes L1 and L2 on both sides of the vehicle 20 as shown in the figure, or the intermediate coordinate X3 of these two lanes L1 and L2 may be obtained.

Step S4: The moving amount of the vehicle 20 is obtained from the lane coordinates thus obtained. The movement amount of the vehicle 20 is equivalent to obtaining the movement amount of the lane equivalently,
Since the flowchart of FIG. 4 is executed at a constant cycle, the amount of movement of the vehicle can be calculated by calculating how much the coordinates of the lane calculated in step S3 change during the constant cycle Δt. The amount of movement is one cycle Δ
It is also possible to accumulate a plurality of movement amounts of t.

Step S5: It is determined from the output signal of the winker 2 whether or not the winker is operated.
It should be noted that step S5 is not an essential step of the present invention, and paint on the lane or the like may become uncertain due to scratches or the like. This is because the alarm process can be performed.

Step S6: The moving direction of the lane with respect to the vehicle 20, that is, the moving direction of the vehicle 20 with respect to the lane can be calculated from the coordinates of the lane obtained in step S3.
In this case, the moving direction of the lane and the moving direction of the vehicle 20 are just opposite.

Step S7: It is determined whether the moving direction of the vehicle 20 obtained in step S6 is right or left.

Step S8: When it is determined in step S7 that the moving direction of the vehicle 20 is right (when it is determined that the moving direction of the lane is left), the interface circuit 8 causes the right obstacle sensor 3 to operate. Select the output signal of.

Step S9: When the moving direction of the vehicle 20 is left (when the moving direction of the lane is right), the output signal of the left obstacle sensor 4 is selected from the interface circuit 8.

Step S10 : When it is determined in step S5 that the winker 2 has been operated, it is determined whether the winker signal indicates a right operation or a left operation, and the right operation is performed. When it is shown, the process proceeds to step S8, and when it is determined that the left operation is performed, the process proceeds to step S9.

Step S11 : It is judged whether or not an obstacle is detected by the obstacle sensor 3 or 4 constituted by a radar device or the like.

Step S12 : It is determined whether or not the movement amount of the vehicle 20 obtained in the above step S4 exceeds the threshold value α. The threshold value α is a constant previously obtained by experiments or the like.

Step S13 : When the amount of movement of the vehicle 20 exceeds the threshold value α in step S12, there is a high possibility of a side collision, so that the CPU 10 issues a continuous warning through the interface circuit 9. The actuator drive circuit 51 of the alarm device 5 is driven by this, and thus the steering actuator 52 is continuously vibrated.

Step S14 : When it is determined in step S12 that the amount of movement of the vehicle 20 is smaller than the threshold value α, the possibility of a side collision is not great, so the alarm device 5 is controlled to give an intermittent alarm. To do.

In the above embodiment, the alarm is generated in two stages, that is, the continuous alarm (step S13) and the intermittent alarm (step S14), but it is also possible to set the alarm in multiple stages according to the amount of movement of the vehicle. . In this case, the alarm may be changed based on the position of the vehicle with respect to the lane instead of the amount of movement.

[0036]

As described above, according to the side collision warning device of the present invention, the coordinates of the lane on the road surface are calculated by binarizing the image signal in front of the vehicle obtained from the visual sensor. Then, the moving direction and preferably the moving amount of the vehicle is obtained from the coordinates of the lane, and when an obstacle is detected by selecting an output signal of an obstacle sensor corresponding to the moving direction, an alarm device is preferably activated according to the moving amount. Since it is configured to do so, it is possible to prevent a collision with a side obstacle due to the driver changing the lane due to insufficient confirmation or unconsciously approaching the lane, etc.Also, an unnecessary alarm is issued while going straight It is also possible to suppress that.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a side collision warning device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view schematically showing the structure when the side collision warning device according to the present invention shown in FIG. 1 is actually attached to a vehicle.

FIG. 3 is a plan view schematically showing the structure when the side collision warning device according to the present invention shown in FIG. 1 is actually attached to a vehicle.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a control program executed by the side collision warning device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional technique.

6 is a side view schematically showing the structure when the conventional configuration example shown in FIG. 5 is attached to an actual vehicle.

FIG. 7 is a plan view schematically showing the structure when the conventional configuration example shown in FIG. 5 is attached to an actual vehicle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Visual sensor (lane sensor) 2 Winker 3 Right-side obstacle sensor 4 Left-side obstacle sensor 5 Alarm device 51 Actuator drive circuit 52 Steering actuator 10 CPU (Signal processing means) 20 Vehicle In the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts. .

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A visual sensor for photographing the front of the vehicle, obstacle sensors on the right and left sides of the vehicle, a warning device, and a lane on the road surface by binarizing an image signal obtained from the visual sensor. Signal processing means for calculating coordinates, determining a moving direction of the vehicle from the coordinates of the lane, selecting an output signal of the obstacle sensor corresponding to the moving direction, and activating the alarm device when an obstacle is detected; A side collision warning device comprising: 2. The signal processing means obtains not only the moving direction but also the moving amount of the vehicle, and when the obstacle is detected, the urging of the alarm device is continued or interrupted depending on the magnitude of the moving amount. The lateral collision warning device according to claim 1, wherein the lateral collision warning device is performed. 3. A winker operation detecting means is provided, and when the winker is operated, the signal processing means uses the output signal of the winker operation detecting means instead of the moving direction of the obstacle sensor corresponding to the winker operating direction. The side collision warning device according to claim 1, wherein an output signal is selected.