WO2018123547A1

WO2018123547A1 - Viewing device for vehicles

Info

Publication number: WO2018123547A1
Application number: PCT/JP2017/044429
Authority: WO
Inventors: 智宣市川; 利成中居
Original assignee: 株式会社東海理化電機製作所
Priority date: 2016-12-26
Filing date: 2017-12-11
Publication date: 2018-07-05
Also published as: JP2018107574A

Abstract

A control device (18) acquires a captured rearward image of a rearward camera (12), and performs mirror image conversion. Furthermore, the control device (18) acquires a captured peripheral image of a peripheral camera (14), cuts out, from the captured peripheral image, an area corresponding to the captured rearward image of the rearward camera (12), and performs viewpoint conversion and mirror image conversion. Moreover, the control device (18) compares each of the captured images which have been subjected to mirror image conversion, extracts the same point (an obstacle) in each of the captured images, and derives the distance to the obstacle using the stereo camera principle.

Description

Vehicle vision device

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a vehicle viewing device for viewing the periphery of a vehicle by capturing the periphery of the vehicle and displaying a captured image.

As a vehicle visual recognition device for displaying a photographed image of the periphery of a vehicle to visually recognize the periphery of the vehicle, for example, a technique described in JP-A-2011-77806 has been proposed.

In JP-A-2011-77806, it is used for synthesizing a bird's-eye view image based on a bird's-eye view image generation unit that converts images around the vehicle photographed by a plurality of cameras into a bird's-eye view image The vehicle surroundings monitoring device is provided with a composition area selection section for selecting the area to be selected, an overhead image composition section for synthesizing the overhead image based on the output of the composition area selection section, and a display section for displaying the overhead image It is done.

According to the technique of JP 2011-77806 A, cameras are provided at six positions including the positions of left and right side mirrors, the positions of left and right corner lamps at the rear of the vehicle, and the central position of the front and rear of the vehicle. The image is generated and displayed.

However, in the technology described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-77806, it is described that an object may be detected by image recognition instead of a sonar sensor that determines whether there is an obstacle around the vehicle. In the technique disclosed in JP-A-2011-77806, it may be difficult to detect the distance to the object. That is, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-77806, since the cameras for photographing the periphery of the vehicle are single-eye cameras, it is difficult to detect the distance to an obstacle present in the periphery of the vehicle when stopped, and there is room for improvement.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described facts, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle viewing device capable of deriving the distance to an obstacle.

In order to achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present disclosure, an imaging unit for imaging the rear side of the vehicle, a peripheral imaging unit for imaging the periphery of the vehicle including the rear side of the vehicle, and the peripheral imaging unit The distance to the obstacle on the rear side of the vehicle is derived by comparing the image of the area corresponding to the rear side photographed image photographed by the photographing unit in the peripheral photographed image with the rear side photographed image. And a derivation unit.

According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the imaging unit shoots the rear side of the vehicle, and the peripheral imaging unit captures the periphery of the vehicle including the rear side of the vehicle. That is, the peripheral captured image captured by the peripheral capturing unit includes the vehicle rear side. The peripheral captured image may include all or a part of the imaging range of the imaging unit. The peripheral imaging unit can image the vehicle periphery including the rear side of the vehicle by photographing the vehicle periphery in a wide area using, for example, a fisheye lens or the like.

Then, the derivation unit compares the image of the area corresponding to the rear side photographed image photographed by the photographing unit in the peripheral photographed image photographed by the peripheral photographing unit with the rear side photographed image to obtain the vehicle rear side. The distance to the other obstacle is derived. That is, according to the principle of a stereo camera, an obstacle can be detected and the distance to the obstacle can be derived.

Moreover, you may further provide the alerting | reporting part which alert | reports the distance derived | led-out by the derivation | leading-out part like the 2nd aspect of this indication. Thus, by notifying the occupant of the distance to the obstacle derived by the deriving unit, the occupant can be alerted to the obstacle.

In addition, as in the third aspect of the present disclosure, the periphery imaging unit may be disposed in the lower side of the vehicle in a housing provided with the imaging unit, and may image the side of the vehicle. By providing the peripheral imaging unit in the housing provided with the imaging unit, imaging of the vehicle periphery including the imaging range by the imaging unit becomes possible.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a vehicle viewing device capable of deriving the distance to an obstacle.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle viewing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram showing composition of a control system of vision equipment for vehicles concerning this embodiment. It is a figure which shows each imaging | photography range of a back side camera and a periphery camera. It is a flow chart which shows an example of display control performed with a control device of a visual recognition device concerning this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the picked-up image of a rear side camera. It is a figure which shows the image after mirror image conversion of FIG. 5A. It is a figure which shows an example of the imaging | photography image which cut out the area | region corresponding to the back side direction imaging | photography image from the periphery imaging | photography image of a periphery camera, and a periphery imaging | photography image and performed viewpoint conversion and mirror image conversion. It is a figure for demonstrating derivation | leading-out of the distance to an obstruction. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the distance to an obstacle.

Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle viewing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the vehicle visual recognition apparatus according to the present embodiment, the rear side camera 12 as the imaging unit, the peripheral camera 14 as the peripheral imaging unit, the monitor 16 as the notification unit, and the control device 18 as the derivation unit Are provided corresponding to each. Further, a center monitoring device 20 is provided at the center of the instrument panel.

The rear side camera 12 is installed outside at a vehicle front end of a vertically middle portion of a side door (front side door, not shown) of the vehicle and captures an image of the rear side of the vehicle. The rear side camera 12 is provided in a substantially rectangular box-shaped box-like housing 13 as a support, and a lens is disposed to the side of the rear side of the vehicle to photograph the rear side of the vehicle. The vehicle width direction inner side end portion of the housing 13 is attached to the side door, and the housing 13 is supported by the side door (vehicle body side) so as to be rotatable in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

The peripheral camera 14 is provided in the same housing 13 as the rear side camera 12 and photographs the periphery of the vehicle. The peripheral camera 14 is provided with a fisheye lens, and is disposed toward the lower side of the vehicle in order to suppress adhesion of dirt from above and freezing due to frost. In the present embodiment, the peripheral camera 14 captures an image of the vehicle periphery including the rear side of the vehicle with a fisheye lens. Specifically, the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction of the vehicle are photographed as an example of the vicinity of the vehicle. In the present embodiment, an example is described in which the peripheral camera 14 is disposed toward the lower side of the vehicle, but the lower side of the vehicle is not limited to just below. Also, it may be arranged horizontally and toward the side of the vehicle instead of the lower side of the vehicle.

The monitor 16 is provided near the lower end of the front pillar and mainly displays a rear side photographed image of the rear side camera 12. That is, the rear side of the vehicle can be visually recognized by checking the monitor 16 instead of the outer mirror.

The control device 18 is provided corresponding to each of the left and right, and performs display control of the photographed image of each of the left and right rear side cameras 12.

The center monitor device 20 can generate an overhead image centering on the vehicle from the peripheral image of the peripheral camera 14 and display it, or display an operation panel of an on-vehicle device (for example, a navigation device, an air conditioner, audio, etc.) It is assumed.

Subsequently, a configuration of a control system of the vehicle viewing device 10 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control system of the vehicle viewing device 10 according to the present embodiment.

The control device 18 is configured of a microcomputer in which a CPU 18A, a ROM 18B, a RAM 18C, and an I / O (input / output interface) 18D are connected to a bus 18E.

The ROM 18 </ b> B stores various programs for performing display control and the like for displaying a rear side photographed image of the rear side camera 12 on the monitor 16. The program stored in the ROM 18B is expanded on the RAM 18C and executed by the CPU 18A, whereby display control on the monitor 16 is performed.

The rear side camera 12, the peripheral camera 14, the monitor 16, and the center monitor device 20 are connected to the I / O 18D.

The rear side camera 12 obtains a rear side photographed image by photographing the rear side of the vehicle. The rear side photographed image obtained by the photographing is output to the control device 18 as the photographing result of the rear side camera 12.

The surrounding camera 14 obtains a surrounding photographed image by photographing the front and rear direction and the side direction of the vehicle as an example of the vehicle periphery including the rear side of the vehicle. The peripheral shot image obtained by shooting is output to the control device 18 as a shooting result of the peripheral camera 14. In the present embodiment, the peripheral photographed image is a photographed image in which the vehicle peripheral of a wider range than the rear side photographed image is photographed. Specifically, as shown by hatching in FIG. 3, the peripheral camera 14 has a whole area on the side of the vehicle as a photographing range by a fisheye lens. On the other hand, the rear side camera 12 shoots the rear side at a predetermined angle of view, and as shown in FIG. 3, a part of both shooting areas overlap. The imaging result of the peripheral camera 14 is also output to the center monitoring device 20. Further, in the example of FIG. 3, an example in which the entire area on the side of the vehicle is taken as an example of the imaging range of the peripheral camera 14 is shown. However, the example is not limited to the entire area on the side of the vehicle. It may be around the vehicle including one.

The monitor 16 displays a rear side photographed image photographed by the rear side camera 12. When displaying the rear side photographed image, image processing such as mirror image conversion for inverting the left and right of the photographed image is performed and displayed. In addition, when displaying the rear side photographed image on the monitor 16, a part of the rear side photographed image is cut out and displayed, and the display range can be changed by changing the cutout position. In the explanation of (1), the point of cutting out a part of the rear side photographed image is omitted.

As described above, the center monitor device 20 generates and displays a bird's-eye view image from the peripheral captured image of the peripheral camera 14. Further, as described above, the center monitor device 20 displays an operation panel or the like of the on-vehicle device (for example, an air conditioner, a navigation device, an audio, etc.). Although not shown, the center monitor 20 includes a microcomputer having a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and an I / O each connected to a bus, as with the control device 18. In addition, when displaying the peripheral captured image on the center monitor device 20, the peripheral monitor image may not necessarily be the overhead image.

Further, in the present embodiment, a pair of control devices 18 are provided corresponding to the left and right of the vehicle, so the other control devices 18 are connected to the respective I / Os 18D so as to enable mutual communication. The control device 18 may be configured to control the left and right rear side cameras 12 and the monitor 16 as one.

Further, the control device 18 has a function of deriving the distance to the obstacle based on the rear side photographed image and the peripheral photographed image. In the present embodiment, since the rear side camera 12 and the peripheral camera 14 are provided in the same housing 13 and a part of the respective photographing areas overlap, according to the principle of the stereo camera, the overlapping photographing areas Detect the obstacles present in and derive the distance to the obstacles.

Specifically, the control device 18 acquires a rear side photographed image of the rear side camera 12 and performs mirror image conversion. In addition, the control device 18 acquires a peripheral captured image of the peripheral camera 14, cuts out a region corresponding to the rear side captured image of the rear side camera 12 from the peripheral captured image, and performs viewpoint conversion and mirror image conversion. Then, the control device 18 compares the respective photographed images subjected to mirror image conversion, extracts the same point (obstacle) in each photographed image, and derives the distance to the obstacle according to the principle of the stereo camera. Further, in the present embodiment, the distance to the obstacle derived by the control device 18 is displayed on the monitor 16 to notify the occupant of the presence of the obstacle and the distance to the obstacle.

In addition, for the derivation of the distance based on the principle of the stereo camera, for example, from the image of the camera installed at two places where the positional relationship is known, the distance to the object according to the principle of triangulation from the position of the pixel where the same object is imaged Use a two-eye stereo method to find In the stereo method, the distance is measured by finding corresponding points between two images.

Then, the specific process performed by the control apparatus 18 of the visual recognition apparatus 10 for vehicles which concerns on this embodiment comprised as mentioned above is demonstrated. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of display control performed by the control device 18 of the vehicle viewing device 10 according to the present embodiment. The display control of FIG. 4 is started by executing a display control program stored in advance in the ROM 18B when an ignition switch (IG) (not shown) is turned on.

In step 100, the control device 18 controls the rear side camera 12 and the peripheral camera 14 to start photographing of the rear side camera 12 and the peripheral camera 14, and the process proceeds to step 102.

In step 102, the control device 18 acquires the imaging result of the rear side camera 12, performs mirror image conversion on the acquired rear side photographed image, starts display on the monitor 16, and shifts to step 104. That is, mirror image conversion is performed to reverse the left and right of the rear side photographed image in FIG. 5A, and the rear side photographed image shown in FIG. 5B is displayed on the monitor 16. Since the monitor 16 is provided near the lower end of the front pillar, it is possible to visually recognize the rear side by looking at the monitor 16 instead of the outer mirror.

In step 104, the control device 18 cuts out the area of the rear side photographed image from the peripheral photographed image of the peripheral camera 14 and shifts to step 106.

In step 106, the control device 18 performs correction such as distortion aberration correction on the cut out peripheral image and shifts to step 108.

In step 108, the control device 18 performs viewpoint conversion and mirror image conversion to convert the cut out peripheral captured image into the viewpoint of the rear side captured image and reverses the left and right, and proceeds to step 110. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, it is possible to obtain a photographed image corresponding to the rear side photographed image from the peripheral photographed image of the peripheral camera 14.

In step 110, the control device 18 determines whether an obstacle has been detected. When the determination is affirmed, the process proceeds to step 112, and when the determination is denied, the process returns to step 104 to repeat the above-described processing. For example, the determination is made by comparing the photographed images of the rear side photographed image after the mirror image conversion and the photographed images corresponding to the rear side photographed image of the peripheral photographed image after conversion and detecting the presence or absence of the misaligned part of the image Detect objects In addition, it may be determined whether or not there is an obstacle in the rear side photographed image by image processing such as pattern matching.

In step 112, the control device 18 derives the distance to the obstacle using the peripheral captured image which has been cut out and subjected to viewpoint conversion and mirror image conversion, and the mirror-transformed rear side captured image, and the process proceeds to step 114. Do. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the same points of obstacles in two photographed images are extracted. Then, with the distance between the rear side camera 12 and the peripheral camera 14 as the parallax, the distance to the point at which the obstacle is extracted is derived by the principle of the stereo camera.

In step 114, the control device 18 displays the distance to the obstacle on the monitor 16 and returns to step 104 to repeat the above-described processing. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the distance to the obstacle is notified to the occupant by displaying the distance to the obstacle derived in step 112 in the rear side image displayed on the monitor 16. Thereby, the occupant can be alerted to the obstacle. If the obstacle is not detected in step 110 during the repetition of the processes in steps 104 to 114, the display of the distance to the obstacle is stopped, and the process returns to step 104 to repeat the above-described process.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the distance to the obstacle on the side behind the vehicle can be derived based on the principle of the stereo camera using the rear-side captured image and the peripheral captured image.

In the above embodiment, in step 114, the distance to the obstacle is displayed and notified to the occupant. However, the notification method is not limited to this, and light and sound may be appropriately combined and notified. You may For example, the information corresponding to the distance may be notified by increasing the blinking speed of light as the distance approaches or shortening the sound generation interval. When the distance is displayed on the monitor 16, a figure such as a rectangle may be displayed around the corresponding obstacle so as to surround the obstacle so that the obstacle can be easily understood. Also, instead of the distance display, the color of the figure may be changed according to the distance to express the sense of distance.

Moreover, although the above-mentioned embodiment demonstrated the example which provided the monitor 16 near the lower end of the front pillar, the position of the monitor 16 is not restricted to this. For example, it may be provided at the position of the inner mirror. Alternatively, it may be provided in the combination meter.

Moreover, although the process performed by the control apparatus 18 in said embodiment was demonstrated as a process of software, it is not restricted to this. For example, processing may be performed by hardware, or processing combining both hardware and software may be used.

Further, the processing performed by the control device 18 in the above embodiment may be stored in a storage medium as a program and distributed.

Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-250744, filed December 26, 2016, is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Claims

An imaging unit for imaging the rear side of the vehicle;
A peripheral imaging unit for imaging the periphery of the vehicle including the rear side of the vehicle;
The obstacle on the rear side of the vehicle by comparing the image of the area corresponding to the rear side photographed image photographed by the photographing unit in the peripheral photographed image photographed by the circumference photographing unit with the rear side photographed image A derivation unit that derives the distance to the object;
Vehicle vision device equipped with
The vehicle viewing device according to claim 1, further comprising a notification unit that notifies the distance derived by the derivation unit.
The vehicle visual recognition apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the peripheral imaging unit is disposed in a lower direction of the vehicle in a housing provided with the imaging unit and captures an image of the side of the vehicle.