KR20160034670A - Environment monitoring apparatus and method for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for ambient monitoring of a vehicle and, more specifically, to an apparatus and a method for ambient monitoring of a vehicle, which enable to easily monitor surroundings of the vehicle and easily determine the position of an obstacle around the vehicle. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus for ambient monitoring, comprises: an image obtaining unit which obtains an image with respect to one or more directions around the vehicle; an ambient image generating unit which generates an ambient image of the vehicle using the obtained image; an obstacle sensor which senses one or more obstacles positioned around the vehicle; a guideline creation unit which creates a guideline of which a synthesizing position synthesizing with the ambient image varies in accordance with the position of a sensed obstacle; a monitoring image generation unit which generates a monitoring image by synthesizing the created guideline with the ambient image; and a display unit which displays the generated monitoring image.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to an environment monitoring apparatus and method for a vehicle,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for monitoring a periphery of a vehicle, and more particularly to a device and method for monitoring a periphery of a vehicle, .

In general, the vehicle is easy to monitor in front of the driver's seat, but it is relatively difficult to observe the side or backside of the vehicle, resulting in a blind spot. Most accidents such as human accidents or structural damage occurring during the operation of the vehicle, Occurs in the zone.

The driver monitors the surroundings, particularly the blind spot, through one or more mirrors provided in the vehicle. However, since monitoring by the mirror requires continuous attention of the driver, the driver's fatigue is increased, There is a limit to the safe operation of the vehicle due to the obstruction.

In particular, in the case of a large-sized vehicle such as a dump truck, the possibility of a safety accident is higher because the visibility disturbance due to the vehicle itself is relatively larger than that of a small-sized vehicle.

Recently, a camera is installed in a vehicle, and an image photographed by a camera is displayed in a driver's seat of a vehicle so that a driver can identify an obstacle around the vehicle.

However, when the camera installed in the vehicle is installed and the surroundings are monitored during the vehicle operation, it is difficult for the driver to accurately determine the exact distance between the vehicle and the surrounding obstacle, and the surroundings are sensed only through the image of the direction of the camera. There are still blind spots around.

Accordingly, there is a need for a method for more effectively monitoring the surroundings of a vehicle in order to prevent a safety accident during vehicle operation.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-2011-0019821 (Mar. 23, 2011)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle control system and a control method thereof, which are capable of synthesizing a guide line that varies according to the position of an obstacle, And an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a method for monitoring the surroundings of a vehicle which enable intuitive recognition.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus and method capable of printing a working range of a vehicle and an obstacle position around the vehicle together so as to prevent a safety accident.

The problems of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned problems, and other problems not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for monitoring a periphery of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising: an image acquiring unit acquiring an image of at least one direction around the vehicle; An obstacle detection unit for detecting one or more obstacles located in the vicinity of the vehicle, a guide line generation unit for generating a guide line whose composite position is synthesized with the surrounding image according to the detected position of the obstacle, A supervisory image generation unit for synthesizing the generated guide line with the peripheral image to generate a supervisory image, and a display unit for displaying the generated supervisory image.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for monitoring a periphery of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising: an image acquiring unit acquiring an image of at least one direction around the vehicle; An obstacle detection unit for detecting at least one obstacle located in the vicinity of the vehicle, a reference guide line for the vehicle, and a position of the detected obstacle, A supervisory image generator for generating a supervisory image by combining the reference guideline and the variable guideline with the peripheral image, and a display unit for displaying the generated supervisory image, .

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle surroundings monitoring method comprising: obtaining an image of at least one direction around a vehicle; generating a surrounding image of the vehicle using the obtained image; The method comprising the steps of: detecting one or more obstacles located in the vicinity of the vehicle; generating a guide line in which synthesized positions are synthesized with the surrounding image according to the detected obstacle position; Generating a supervisory image by combining guide lines having different colors with the peripheral image, and displaying the generated supervisory image.

The details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and drawings.

According to the vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus and method of the present invention, one or more of the following effects can be obtained.

It is possible to intuitively recognize the position of the obstacle by making the position of the guideline synthesized with the peripheral image of the vehicle variable according to the position of the obstacle around the vehicle.

In addition, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a safety accident in advance by generating a guide line indicating a working range of the vehicle and a guide line corresponding to an obstacle position around the vehicle.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description of the claims.

1 is a block diagram showing a vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;
2 is a schematic view showing a camera installed in a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention;
3 is a schematic view showing a peripheral image of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 and 5 are schematic diagrams illustrating a guideline according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a guideline when a plurality of obstacles are located according to an embodiment of the present invention;
7 is a schematic diagram showing a reference guide line and a variable guide line according to an embodiment of the present invention;
8 is a flowchart showing a method of monitoring a vehicle periphery according to an embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a flowchart showing a method of monitoring a vehicle periphery according to another embodiment of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The advantages and features of the present invention, and the manner of achieving them, will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. To fully disclose the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification.

Thus, in some embodiments, well known process steps, well-known structures, and well-known techniques are not specifically described to avoid an undue interpretation of the present invention.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of illustrating embodiments and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. In the present specification, the singular form includes plural forms unless otherwise specified in the specification. It should be understood that the terms comprising and / or comprising the terms used in the specification do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other components, steps and / or operations other than the stated components, steps and / . And "and / or" include each and any combination of one or more of the mentioned items.

Further, the embodiments described herein will be described with reference to the perspective view, cross-sectional view, side view, and / or schematic views, which are ideal illustrations of the present invention. Thus, the shape of the illustrations may be modified by manufacturing techniques and / or tolerances. Accordingly, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the specific forms shown, but also include changes in the shapes that are generated according to the manufacturing process. In addition, in the drawings of the present invention, each constituent element may be somewhat enlarged or reduced in view of convenience of explanation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The peripheral monitoring apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes an image obtaining unit 100, a peripheral image generating unit 200, an obstacle detecting unit 300, a guide line generating unit 400, A supervisory image generation unit 500, and a display unit 600. [0040]

The image acquisition unit 100 may include at least one camera installed in the vehicle 10 as shown in FIG. 2. In the embodiment of the present invention, And a plurality of cameras 110 to 140 installed to acquire images.

Hereinafter, a plurality of cameras 110 to 140 will be referred to as a first camera 110, a second camera 120, a third camera 130 and a fourth camera 140, respectively, in the embodiment of the present invention, The images obtained by the cameras 110 to 140 are referred to as a first image 111, a second image 121, a third image 131, and a fourth image 141, respectively.

The plurality of cameras 110 to 140 can acquire images of the surroundings of the vehicle 10 in all around directions, and the installation direction or the number of installations can be variously changed depending on the type of the camera.

For example, when a plurality of cameras 110 to 140 use a wide-angle lens or a fisheye lens having a relatively large angle of view, the number of mountings can be reduced, and if not, the number of mountings can be increased.

At this time, the image obtained by the plurality of cameras 110 to 140 may be an image in the all around direction of the vehicle 10, that is, in the 360 degrees direction, and the plurality of cameras 110 to 140 may be images of the vehicle 10 When installed in the front, rear, left, and right directions, each camera may be a camera using a wide-angle lens having an angle of view of approximately 180 degrees.

The plurality of cameras 110 to 140 do not necessarily have to be installed in the front, back, left, and right directions of the vehicle 10 in order to acquire an image of the vehicle 10 in all directions around the vehicle 10, The installation position can be changed variously under the condition that the image can be acquired.

As described above, when the wide-angle lens or the fisheye lens is used for the plurality of cameras 110 to 140, the focal length is not short and the geometrical distortion of the lens, for example, radial distortion or tangential distortion The image obtained by the plurality of cameras 110 to 140 can be subjected to distortion correction processing by the distortion correction algorithm.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the vehicle 10 is a dump truck, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the vehicle 10 may be a dump truck, In addition, heavy equipment or construction equipment such as bulldozers, forklifts, etc., which are used in various civil engineering works and construction works, may be included.

The peripheral image generating unit 200 may generate the peripheral image 210 of the vehicle 10 using the image obtained by the image obtaining unit 100 as shown in FIG.

That is, the peripheral image generating unit 200 integrates the first to fourth images 111 to 141 obtained through the first to fourth cameras 110 to 140 and the distortion is corrected, 10 and a top view type peripheral image 210 as viewed from above the vehicle 10 can be generated.

At this time, the peripheral image 210 may be generated so as to include an area ranging from the vehicle 10 to a predetermined distance according to the type of the plurality of cameras 110 to 114, and may be located at a predetermined distance from the vehicle 10 The position in the corresponding peripheral image 210 can be obtained by converting the coordinates of the remote position from the vehicle 10 into the image coordinates of the peripheral image 210. [

The obstacle sensing unit 300 senses one or more obstacles located in the vicinity of the vehicle 10 and senses the position or distance of the sensed obstacle. In the embodiment of the present invention, the obstacle sensing unit 300 includes an ultrasonic sensor, An infrared sensor, a radar, and the like may be used. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the type and number of sensors used in the obstacle sensing unit 300 may be variously changed.

In addition, the obstacle sensing unit 300 may sense one or more obstacles located around the vehicle 10 at regular intervals to update the position of the obstacle.

4 and 5, the guideline generating unit 400 generates the guideline of the obstacle 11 and 12 based on the position of the obstacle 11 and 12, The synthesized position of the guide line 410 can be varied.

For example, the guideline generation unit 400 converts the position of the detected obstacles 11 and 12 into the image coordinates in the surrounding image 210, and then generates the guide line 410 using the converted image coordinates can do.

The guide line generator 400 may generate guide lines 410 having different colors according to the positions of the obstacles 11 and 12. For example, the obstacle 12 of FIG. 4 and 5 are different from each other so that the driver of the vehicle 10 is guided by the guideline 410. In other words, The position of the obstacles 11 and 12 can be more intuitively determined through the colors of the guide lines 410 and 410, thereby preventing a safety accident.

4 and 5 illustrate the case in which the guideline 410 is generated when a single obstacle 11 or 12 is detected. However, the present invention is not limited to this, When a plurality of obstacles 13 and 14 are located around the obstacle 13, the guideline 410 can be generated based on the obstacle 13 having a high priority in accordance with a predetermined priority.

In Fig. 6, when a plurality of obstacles 13 and 14 are located around the vehicle 10, an obstacle 13 closer to the vehicle 10 based on the distance from the vehicle 10 to determine its priority However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the priority order can be determined by various criteria, for example, the type of the obstacle, the position of the obstacle, and the like.

6 illustrates a case in which the guide line 410 is generated based on any one of the plurality of obstacles 13 and 14. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of obstacles 13 and 14 ), Respectively. ≪ / RTI >

7, the guideline generator 400 generates a guideline according to the position of the obstacle. However, the guideline generator 400 is not limited to this, A predetermined guideline guideline 421 and a variable guideline 422 depending on the position of the obstacle may be generated together.

The reference guide line 421 is a guideline predetermined according to the working range of the vehicle 10 and may be different from the reference guide line 421 according to the type of the vehicle 10 because the working range differs depending on the type of the vehicle 10. [ Can be generated.

For example, because a dump truck has a relatively small work area compared to a forklift, the reference guideline of the dump truck can be created to be positioned relatively closer to the forklift.

The variable guideline 422 can be understood as the guideline 410 of FIGS. 4 and 5, which is generated according to the obstacle located around the vehicle 10, and the variable guideline 422 can be changed according to the position of the obstacle They can be created to have different colors.

In other words, since the reference guide line 421 indicates the working range of the vehicle 10, the possibility of occurrence of a safety accident becomes relatively higher as the obstacle approaches the reference guide line 421, It is possible to prevent a safety accident by allowing the driver of the vehicle 10 to easily recognize that the obstacle is positioned close to the guide line 421 by changing the color.

The supervised image generating unit 500 may generate a supervised image by synthesizing the guideline generated by the guideline generating unit 400 with the surrounding image 210. [

For example, when only the guide line according to the position of the obstacle is generated by the guide line generation unit 400, the supervision image generation unit 500 generates a guide line in the peripheral image 210 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, (410) may be combined to generate a surveillance image.

7, when the reference guide line 421 and the variable guide line 422 are generated by the guide line generation unit 400, the supervised image generation unit 500 generates a reference image A supervised image can be generated by combining the guideline 421 and the variable guideline 422.

The monitoring image generating unit 500 may update the monitoring image according to the period when the obstacle sensing unit 300 detects the obstacle or may update the monitoring image when the position of the obstacle is changed, The period of updating the surveillance image may be variously changed.

The display unit 600 may display the generated surveillance image. In the embodiment of the present invention, the display unit 600 may include a display device such as a navigation system, a HUD, and an AV system provided in the vehicle 10, And a display device.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of monitoring a vehicle periphery according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of generating a guide line 410 according to the position of an obstacle around the vehicle 10 as shown in FIGS. Is an example.

As shown in the figure, a method of monitoring a vehicle periphery according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a step of detecting a direction of at least one direction around the vehicle 10 through a plurality of cameras 110 to 140 included in the image acquisition unit 100, An image is obtained (S110).

The peripheral image 210 of the vehicle 10 is generated using the acquired image (S120).

In this case, when the first to fourth cameras 110 to 140 use the wide angle lens or the fisheye lens, the first through fourth images 111 through 141 undergo a distortion correction process when the surrounding image 210 is generated And combines them to generate a top-view type peripheral image 210 as shown in FIG.

One or more obstacles located around the vehicle 10 are sensed (S130).

A guideline 410 in which the synthesized position of the synthesized position of the peripheral image 210 is varied according to the position of the obstacle based on the position of the detected obstacle is generated (S140). At this time, the guide line 410 may have different colors depending on the position of the obstacle. When a plurality of obstacles are detected, a guide line 410 may be generated based on an obstacle having a high priority, or a guide line may be generated for each of a plurality of obstacles.

The created guide line 410 is synthesized with the surrounding image 210 to generate a surveillance image (S150), and the generated surveillance image is displayed (S160).

Thereafter, steps S130 through S160 are repeatedly performed until the peripheral surveillance of the vehicle 10 is stopped (S170).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method of monitoring a vehicle periphery according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method of generating a reference guide line 421 and a variable guide line 422 together as shown in FIG. For example.

As shown in the figure, in the vicinity monitoring method of a vehicle according to another embodiment of the present invention, an image of at least one direction around the vehicle 10 is acquired through the image acquisition unit 100 at step S210.

And a peripheral image of the vehicle 10 is generated using the acquired image (S220).

A reference guide line 421 according to the type of the vehicle 10 is generated (S230). In this case, the reference guide line 421 may be different according to the operation range of each vehicle 10, and in the embodiments of the present invention, the case where the vehicle 10 is a dump truck is exemplified, (421) represents a working range of the dumped truck, for example, a working range of the loading box will be described as an example.

One or more obstacles located around the vehicle 10 are sensed (S240), and a variable guideline 422 corresponding to the detected position of the obstacle is generated (S250). In this case, when a plurality of obstacles are detected, the variable guideline 422 may be generated based on the obstacles having high priority or may be generated for each of the plurality of obstacles.

A supervisory image is generated by combining the reference guideline 421 and the variable guideline 422 in which the composite position synthesized in the surrounding image 210 is varied according to the position of the obstacle in the peripheral image 210 in operation S260, (S270).

Thereafter, the above-described steps S240 to S270 are repeatedly performed until the peripheral surveillance of the vehicle 10 is stopped (S280).

9 illustrates a case where the reference guide line 421 is generated and then the variable guide line 422 is generated according to the position of the obstacle. However, the reference guide line 421 and the reference guide line 422 are not limited thereto. The order of generating the variable guideline 422 may vary.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. It is therefore to be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing detailed description, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and range of the claims and the equivalents thereof are included in the scope of the present invention Should be interpreted.

100:
200: peripheral image generating unit
300: Obstacle detection unit
400: Guideline generation unit
500:
600:

Claims (11)

An image acquiring unit acquiring an image of at least one direction around the vehicle;
A peripheral image generating unit for generating a peripheral image of the vehicle using the acquired image;
An obstacle detection unit detecting one or more obstacles located in the vicinity of the vehicle;
A guideline generation unit for generating a guideline in which a synthesized position synthesized in the surrounding image is varied according to a position of the detected obstacle;
A supervisory image generation unit for generating a supervisory image by synthesizing the generated guide line with the peripheral image; And
And a display unit for displaying the generated surveillance image. The method according to claim 1,
The vehicle includes:
Surveillance equipment for heavy equipment or construction equipment. The method according to claim 1,
The guideline generation unit may generate,
And generates a guide line having different colors according to the position of the obstacle. The method according to claim 1,
The obstacle detection unit
Detecting a plurality of obstacles located in the vicinity of the vehicle,
The guideline generation unit may generate,
And generates the guideline based on a position of an obstacle having a high priority according to a predetermined priority among the plurality of obstacles. 5. The method of claim 4,
The plurality of obstacles may include:
And has a higher priority as it approaches the vehicle. An image acquiring unit acquiring an image of at least one direction around the vehicle;
A peripheral image generating unit for generating a peripheral image of the vehicle using the acquired image;
An obstacle detection unit detecting one or more obstacles located in the vicinity of the vehicle;
A guideline generation unit for generating a variable guideline varying a combined position to be synthesized with the surrounding image according to a reference guideline according to the vehicle and a position of the detected obstacle;
A supervisory image generation unit for synthesizing the reference guide line and the variable guideline to the peripheral image to generate a supervised image; And
And a display unit for displaying the generated surveillance image. The method according to claim 6,
The reference guide line includes:
And a predetermined distance from the vehicle according to a working range of the vehicle. The method according to claim 6,
The variable guiding line includes:
Wherein the vehicle has different colors depending on the position of the obstacle based on the reference guide line. Obtaining an image of at least one direction around the vehicle;
Generating a peripheral image of the vehicle using the acquired image;
Sensing one or more obstacles located around the vehicle;
Generating a guide line in which a synthesized position synthesized in the peripheral image is varied according to a position of the detected obstacle;
Generating a supervisory image by synthesizing a guide line having different colors according to a position of the detected obstacle to the peripheral image; And
And displaying the generated surveillance image. 10. The method of claim 9,
The generating of the guideline comprises:
Generating a predetermined reference guideline according to a working range of the vehicle; And
And generating a variable guiding line having a different color depending on the position of the obstacle based on the reference guideline and varying the combining position. 10. The method of claim 9,
The generating of the guideline comprises:
And generating the guideline based on an obstacle having a higher priority among the plurality of obstacles.

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