JPH1063985A - Obstacle detecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively detect an obstacle matter to be an obstacle on the traffic of a vehicle or the like by detecting the obstacle on the road surface of a road based on a difference between the image pickup data picked up at the time when a right side illuminator is driven and the image pickup data at the time when a left side illuminator is driven. SOLUTION: Since an obstacle matter to be an obstacle on the traffic of a vehicle or the like is a three-dimensional object having a volume at a certain extent, the size of a difference between a shadow when an obstacle is irradiated by the left side illuminators 2a and 2b and the shadow when it is irradiated by the right side illuminators 1a and 1b different, so that a difference is generated in the image pickup area of an obstacle including each shadow. Then, in a detecting circuit 7, within the data picked up with a camera 4, the data is in a static object and a difference between the area of the data picked up when the right side illuminators 1a and 1b are lit up and the area of the data picked up when the left side illuminators 2a and 2b are lit up is larger than the prescribed value, the obstacle is judged as an obstacle to be the obstacle on the traffic of vehicles or the like, and the data of the occurrence of obstacle is notified to management center or the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an obstacle detecting device, and more particularly to an obstacle detecting device capable of quickly detecting an obstacle on a road in a tunnel or at night.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, obstacles on a road, such as those falling from a traveling vehicle, are reported to a road management center by a pedestrian such as a driver passing the road,
Obstacles that are found and reported by a patrol of a person in charge of managing the road and that have been notified are removed by the person in charge.

[0003]

By the way, obstacles on the road can be avoided in the daytime because the driver's view distance is long, so that the obstacles can be avoided. If it is day or night,
Observation of obstacles tended to be delayed because the driver's view distance was short, which could lead to a serious accident.

[0004] Therefore, the emergence of an obstacle detection device capable of quickly detecting an obstacle at night or in a tunnel has been awaited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to meet such a demand, and an object of the present invention is to provide an obstacle detection device capable of quickly detecting an obstacle on a road at night or in a tunnel. To provide.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an obstacle detecting means according to the present invention includes a right illuminator provided on the right side of a road and illuminating the road surface of the road, and a left illuminator on the left side of the road. A left illuminator that illuminates the road surface of the road, an illuminator control unit that alternately drives the right illuminator and the left illuminator, and the road that is synchronized with a driving state of the illuminator control unit. Imaging means for imaging the road surface, and detecting an obstacle on the road surface of the road based on a difference between the imaging data at the time of driving the right illuminator and the imaging data at the time of driving the left illuminator imaged by the imaging means. And detecting means.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an obstacle detection device according to an embodiment.
Is configured to detect an obstacle A on the road R shown in FIG.

That is, a plurality of (two in the illustrated example) right illuminators 1a and 1b shown in FIG. 1 are installed at a predetermined interval on the right side of the road R, and a plurality of (two in the illustrated example) are provided. The left illuminators 2a and 2b are installed at a predetermined interval on the left side of the road R.
b, 2a, and 2b are also configured to irradiate the road surface of the road R.

These illuminators 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b
The lighting devices 1a and 1b on the right side and the lighting devices 2a and 2b on the left side are alternately turned on by the lighting power phase control circuit 3 while being powered by a power supply circuit (not shown). For example, it is configured to be turned on by shifting the phase by 90 ° or 180 ° or every half wave.

In the figure, reference numeral 4 denotes a camera, such as a CCD camera, for capturing an image of the road surface on the road R, which is installed on the road side of the road R (the left side in the example of FIG. 2). And
The camera 4 is configured to be controlled by a phase signal from the illumination power phase control circuit 3.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 6 denotes an image processing device comprising a well-known image processing device. The image processing device stores image data of the camera 4 and performs image processing on the sampled image data by using a method such as a cutting process. Thus, the imaging data can be analyzed.

The detection circuit 7 is mainly composed of a microcomputer, and based on the analysis data obtained from the image processing device 6, the detected object is a moving object such as a vehicle or an obstacle on the road R. If an obstacle is determined, an "obstacle exists" is notified to a management center (not shown).
Alternatively, it is configured such that "there is an obstacle" can be displayed on the road information board.

That is, a moving object such as a vehicle is distinguished from an obstacle because the position of image data moves at each sampling. However, as shown in FIG. 2, when there is an obstacle A on the road R, the obstacle A occupies the same position for each sampling, so that it is found that there is some obstacle.

Moreover, since the obstacle a that may obstruct the passage of a vehicle or the like is a three-dimensional object having a certain volume, the obstacle a is illuminated with the left illuminator as shown in FIG. FIG. 2 shows the shadow S1 when illuminated by 2a and 2b.
As shown in (b), the size of the shadow S2 when illuminated by the right illuminators 1a and 1b is different, and the imaging area of the obstacle A including the shadows S1 and S2 is different. This shadow S1
, S2 is also promoted by the fact that the installation positions of the right illuminators 1a, 1b and the right illuminators 2a, 2b are usually shifted from each other.

Therefore, in the detection circuit 7, of the data captured by the camera 4, the area of the data captured when the right illuminators 1a and 1b are lit and the left illuminators 2a and 2a are stationary objects. When the difference from the area of the imaged data is larger than a predetermined value when 2b is turned on, it is determined that the object is an obstacle A that impedes traffic such as a vehicle, and the data of the occurrence of the obstacle is managed. Notified to the center etc. In this way, the obstacle a that becomes an obstacle to traffic is effectively detected and notified, and the safety of the road R is ensured.

[0016]

The obstacle detecting device according to the present invention comprises a right illuminator provided on the right side of a road and illuminating the road surface of the road, and a left illuminator provided on the left side of the road and illuminating the road surface of the road. An illuminator; an illuminator control unit for alternately driving the right illuminator and the left illuminator; an imaging unit for imaging the road surface in synchronization with a driving state of the illuminator control unit; Detecting means for detecting an obstacle on the road surface of the road based on a difference between the image data at the time of driving the right illuminator and the image data at the time of driving the left illuminator. An obstacle that can be an obstacle can be effectively detected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration diagram of an obstacle detection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2A is an explanatory diagram of a state in which a left illuminator is turned on, and FIG. 2B is an explanatory diagram of a state in which a right illuminator is turned on.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a, 1b Right illuminator 2a, 2b Left illuminator 3 Illumination power phase control circuit 4 Camera 5 Shutter control circuit 6 Image processing device 7 Detection circuit (detection means) R Road A Obstacle

Claims (1)

[Claims] A right illuminator provided on the right side of the road for illuminating the road surface of the road; a left illuminator provided on the left side of the road for illuminating the road surface of the road; Illuminator control means for alternately driving the left illuminator; imaging means for imaging the road surface of the road in synchronization with the driving state of the illuminator control means; and Detecting means for detecting an obstacle on the road surface of the road based on a difference between the image data and the image data at the time of driving the left illuminator.