JP2001219783A - Vehicle periphery visually recognizing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle periphery visually recognizing device capable of instantly displaying a peripheral image if necessary in response to a will of a driver. SOLUTION: When a driver encounters a place with bad visibility during driving and vocalizes a command 'monitor', a voice recognizing control part 60 recognizes this voice and generates a changeover signal for exchanging a changeover part 40 so as to send an image signal of an image pickup part 10 to a display part 80. The changeover part 40, in response to this, change so as to send only the image signal form the image pickup part 10 to the display part 80. After right and left states of the forward part of a vehicle are displayed on the display part and safety is recognized, the operator vocalizes a command 'monitor off', the voice recognizing control part 60 recognizes it and controls the changeover part 40 to change to the original display screen.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image pickup device mounted on the outside of a vehicle, which simultaneously picks up peripheral images around the vehicle in two directions which are substantially horizontal and substantially opposite to each other at the same time. The present invention relates to a device for visually recognizing a periphery of a vehicle, which visually displays an image on a display unit provided in the vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Approaching from an intersection or a narrow street to a main road,
In places with poor visibility, such as when entering a road from a garage, the driver needs to pay attention to the situation around the vehicle. Image)) is an issue. In response to this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-2
A vehicle periphery recognition device provided with an imaging device for capturing a peripheral image as described in JP-A-93098 and JP-A-10-264722 has been developed.

[0003] Of these, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-293098
In the device of the publication, an intersection with poor visibility is registered in advance in the car navigation system, and when the vehicle position detection device of the car navigation system detects that the monitoring position has been reached during traveling, the imaging device is activated and the vehicle is started. The left and right peripheral images are captured and displayed on the display in the vehicle compartment.

In the device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-264722, a vehicle speed and a shift position (drive or neutral, etc.) are detected. It is displayed on the indoor display.

[0005]

However, situations with poor visibility are not limited to intersections registered in advance,
It also occurs daily at other intersections. When judging from the vehicle speed, the shift position, and the like, the peripheral image may be displayed in unnecessary scenes. For example,
Traffic jams, signal waiting, etc.

An object of the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a device for visually recognizing a periphery of a vehicle which can immediately display a peripheral image when needed by a driver's will.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that imaging means mounted on the outside of the vehicle provides two directions substantially horizontal and substantially opposite to each other around the vehicle. A vehicle periphery visual recognition device that simultaneously captures a peripheral image and visually displays the peripheral image on a display unit provided inside the vehicle, further comprising: a first display that displays the peripheral image. Switching means for switching between a state and a second display state which is another display state, and at least a peripheral display start command by a driver's voice is recognized, and based on the peripheral display start command, the second display state by the switching means. And voice recognition control means for controlling switching from the first display state to the first display state.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the apparatus for visually recognizing the periphery of a vehicle according to the first aspect, wherein the voice recognition control means further recognizes a peripheral display end command by a driver's voice and outputs the peripheral display command. The switching from the first display state to the second display state by the switching means is also controlled based on a display end command.

Further, the invention according to claim 3 is the apparatus for visually recognizing a vehicle surroundings according to claim 1, further comprising: detecting means for detecting at least one of the speed and acceleration of the vehicle; And determining whether the vehicle is in a starting state based on a detection result of at least one of acceleration and, when it is determined that the vehicle is in a starting state,
Control means for controlling switching from the first display state to the second display state by the switching means.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<1. First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle periphery recognition device 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle periphery visual recognition device 1 is mounted on an automobile, and mainly includes an imaging unit 10, a known car navigation system (hereinafter, abbreviated as “car navigation”) 20 for notifying the position of the automobile and its course. The apparatus includes a television tuner 30 that receives a television broadcast wave and obtains a video signal, a switching unit 40, an input unit 50, a voice recognition control unit 60, a microphone 70, and a display unit 80.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which the image pickup unit 10 in the vehicle periphery visual recognition device 1 is mounted on an automobile. The imaging unit 10 is a known imaging unit that captures an image of the left and right scenes in front of the vehicle, and a light receiving unit 11 that receives light (incident light L) from right and left in the vicinity of a license plate 6 in the center of the upper surface of the bumper 5 at the front of the vehicle. Is exposed in a state of being exposed above the bumper 5.

Hereinafter, an outline of the configuration of the imaging unit 10 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, a transparent window 11 for transmitting the incident light L is provided on the positive and negative side surfaces of the case 110 on the X axis.
1 (one not shown) is provided. Also,
The light receiving unit 11 is provided with an optical system (not shown) and a waterproof case 110.
(See FIG. 2). And
The incident light L from the right and left incident from the window 111 is condensed by the optical system on the light receiving surface of a CCD image sensor (not shown) provided inside the bumper 5 individually.

With such a configuration, the imaging unit 10 captures the light incident on the two windows 111 of the light receiving unit 11 by the CCD image sensor, and thereby converts the image signals of the peripheral images, which are the images of the left and right scenes in front of the vehicle. Can be generated.

The switching unit 40 transmits an image signal from any of various video devices, in the first embodiment, the imaging unit 10, the car navigation 20, or the TV tuner 30 to the display unit 80 described later. Is switching means for switching between. As a result, an image from any video device can be displayed on the display unit 8.
The display is switched to 0. In addition, this switching
Switching is performed by a switching signal from an input unit 50 and a speech recognition control unit 60 described later.

The input unit 50 is a switch for performing a normal switching operation, that is, a manual display switching by the occupant, and is installed within a range in which the occupant can reach the passenger compartment. The input unit 50 transmits a switching signal to the switching unit 40 according to the operation by the passenger.

The voice recognition control unit 60 includes a CP (not shown).
U, RAM, ROM, etc., a microcomputer configured to recognize a driver's intention to display an image around the vehicle, and to control the display switching of the display unit 80 by the switching means accordingly. Means. The voice recognition control unit 60 includes a program for realizing a known voice recognition technique, and can obtain a real voice voice signal generated by the driver obtained by the microphone 70. As a specific speech recognition method, the following method is used. First, the voice signal is frequency-analyzed by the microphone 70 and is subjected to phoneme decomposition with reference to a predetermined phoneme model, and then word recognition is performed with reference to a predetermined word model to reduce an error rate. Recognize only those commands. At this time, a dictionary file including the phoneme model and the word model stored in the ROM in advance is referred to.

The voice recognition control unit 60 controls the display switching by the switching unit 40 in accordance with the obtained command. Specifically, the switching is performed by transmitting a switching signal corresponding to the command to the switching unit 40.

The display section 80 is a liquid crystal display provided in the vehicle interior and having a display control circuit (not shown).
An image is displayed based on an image signal from the TV tuner 30.

Next, a description will be given of the switching operation between the vehicle periphery display and other displays by the sound of the vehicle periphery recognition device 1.

During operation, video equipment other than the image pickup unit 10, specifically, the car navigation 20 or the TV tuner 3
In the state where the image according to 0 is displayed on the display unit 80 (second display state), when the driver encounters a scene with poor visibility, for example, the driver receives a command (peripheral display start command) corresponding to the start of display of the peripheral image. "Monitor". Then, the voice recognition control unit 60 recognizes this voice and issues a switching signal. Then, the switching unit 40 receives the switching signal, and switches to transmit only the image signal of the peripheral image from the imaging unit 10 to the display unit 80 in response to the switching signal.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state of the peripheral recognition screen on the display unit 80. As shown in FIG. On the display unit 80 in the vehicle periphery visual recognition device 1 of the first embodiment, the left and right states in front of the vehicle obtained by the imaging unit 10 are simultaneously divided and displayed on the same screen (first display state). That is, the left and right images, that is, the two windows 111 in the light receiving unit 11 of the imaging unit 10
And the two images (the left image 81a and the right image 81b) by the incident light L incident on the image are combined and displayed as the peripheral image 81 on the same screen.

In this manner, the left and right states in front of the vehicle are displayed on the display unit 80, and after the driver confirms the safety by visually recognizing the state, the driver responds to the command (corresponding to the end of the display of the peripheral image). "Monitor off" as peripheral display end command)
To say. Then, the voice recognition control unit 60 recognizes this, and controls the switching unit 40 to switch the display on the display unit 80 to the original display screen (second display state).

[0024] By such a switching by voice, when the driver needs, without releasing the hand from the steering wheel,
The image around the vehicle can be displayed immediately, and the safety is improved.

As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the command "monitor", which is a peripheral display start command by the driver's voice, is recognized, and the display unit 80 is controlled based on the command. The display state is changed from the second display state to the first display state.
Since the display is switched to the display state, the surrounding image can be immediately displayed when needed without releasing the hand from the steering wheel, according to the driver's will.

Further, since the command "monitor off", which is a peripheral display end command by the driver's voice, is recognized, the display state of the display unit 80 is switched from the first display state to the second display state based on the command. When the driver does not need to display the peripheral image, the display of the peripheral image can be immediately terminated.

Further, since the command is based on only limited words such as "monitor" and "monitor off", the dictionary file for voice recognition is smaller than in the case of performing multi-vocabulary voice recognition. (In the above speech recognition method, a phoneme model and a word model are small, and a sentence recognition is unnecessary, so a language model is not necessary.) A high recognition rate can be obtained, and storage of a storage element necessary for storing a dictionary file can be obtained. The capacity is small.

<2. Second Embodiment> FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle periphery recognition device 2 according to a second embodiment. In the first embodiment, the switching to the original image is performed based on the recognition of the voice of the command “monitor off” corresponding to the end of the display of the peripheral image, but in the second embodiment, the switching to the original image is performed. The operation state of the vehicle is detected based on the vehicle speed (hereinafter referred to as "vehicle speed") or acceleration, and the display of the peripheral image is terminated based on the detected operation state.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, a speedometer 90 for detecting a vehicle speed, an acceleration is calculated based on a change in the vehicle speed, and the vehicle is stopped or slowed down based on at least one of the speed and the acceleration. It is determined whether or not the vehicle is in a start state in which the vehicle shifts to a normal traveling speed. If it is determined that the vehicle is in the start state, the display of the peripheral image is terminated (switching from the first display state to the second display state). )
The control unit 95 controls the switching unit 40 as described above.
As specific control, when the vehicle speed detected by the speedometer 90 increases to a predetermined value or more, for example, when it becomes 30 km / h or more, or when the acceleration obtained by the control unit 95 based on the vehicle speed is a predetermined value or more, When the vehicle rises, for example, when it becomes 0.1 G or more, it is determined that the vehicle is in the transmission state, and the display of the peripheral image by the display unit 80 ends.

As in the first embodiment, the start of the display of the peripheral image is performed in response to the voice of the command "monitor" (peripheral display start command) uttered by the driver in the first embodiment. The configuration of each unit is the same as that of the first embodiment.

With this configuration, according to the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the driver immediately releases his / her surroundings when necessary without releasing his / her hand from the steering wheel. In addition to being able to display the image, the display of the peripheral image on the display unit 80 can be terminated based on the detection result of at least one of the speed and the acceleration, thereby reducing the driver's work load for the operation. Can be reduced.

<3. Modifications> In the above-described embodiment, an example of the vehicle periphery recognition device has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this.

For example, in the above embodiment, the preset commands "monitor" and "monitor off" are recognized. However, a non-volatile storage means such as a flash ROM is provided, and any command corresponding to these commands is provided. Can be arbitrarily set by the driver, for example, by storing the phoneme model, word model, etc. obtained by the driver in the non-volatile storage means, and referencing it during voice recognition. It may be.

In the above embodiment, only the command uttered by the driver is accepted, but the command uttered by the fellow passenger may be accepted.

Further, in the above embodiment, the display screen is switched in response to the command "monitor" to display the peripheral image (first display state), and then the command "monitor off"
The display is returned to the original display screen (second display state) in response to the above. However, the on / off switching of the display means can be performed by the switching means, and the original display state of the display means (display unit 80) is changed. If it is in the off state (second display state), display by the display means is started in response to the command "monitor", the surrounding image is displayed, and the display means is turned off in response to the command "monitor off". (Second display state).

[0036]

As described above, according to the first to third aspects of the present invention, at least the peripheral display start command by the driver's voice is recognized, and the display of the display means is performed based on the peripheral display start command. Since the state is switched from the second display state to the first display state, the peripheral image can be immediately displayed when necessary according to the driver's will.

In particular, according to the second aspect of the present invention,
The display state of the display means is switched from the first display state to the second display state based on the peripheral display end instruction by the driver's voice and the peripheral display end instruction is recognized based on the peripheral display end instruction. When the display becomes unnecessary, the display of the peripheral image can be ended immediately.

In particular, according to the third aspect of the present invention,
It is determined whether or not the vehicle is in a start state based on a result of detection of at least one of the speed and the acceleration. When it is determined that the vehicle is in a start state, the display state of the display means is changed from the first display state to the first display state. Since the display is switched to the two-display state, the display of the peripheral image can be automatically terminated, and the work load on the driver can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a vehicle periphery recognition device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which an imaging unit in the vehicle periphery visual recognition device is mounted on an automobile.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state of a peripheral recognition screen on a display unit.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle periphery recognition device according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, vehicle periphery recognition device 10 imaging unit 40 switching unit 60 voice recognition control unit 80 display unit 90 speedometer (speed detection unit) 95 control unit (acceleration detection unit, control unit in combination with 90)

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masayoshi Imoto 1-7-10 Kikuzumi, Minami-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi F-term in Harness Research Institute, Inc. (reference) 5C054 CA04 CC03 CH05 FA02 FE03 FE22 FE26 HA30

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An imaging device mounted outside a vehicle,
A vehicle periphery visual recognition device that simultaneously captures peripheral images in two directions substantially horizontal and substantially opposite to each other around a vehicle, and displays the peripheral images so as to be visible on display means provided inside the vehicle, Switching means for switching the display means between a first display state for displaying the peripheral image and a second display state as another display state; and recognizing at least a peripheral display start command by a driver's voice. Voice recognition control means for controlling switching from the second display state to the first display state by the switching means based on a peripheral display start command. 2. The apparatus for visually recognizing a periphery of a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the voice recognition control unit further recognizes a peripheral display end command by a driver's voice, and based on the peripheral display end command. A device for visually recognizing around a vehicle, wherein switching of the first display state to the second display state by switching means is also controlled. 3. The device for visually confirming the vicinity of a vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising: detecting means for detecting at least one of speed and acceleration of the vehicle; and at least one of speed and acceleration by said detecting means. It is determined whether or not the vehicle is in the starting state based on the detection result, and when it is determined that the vehicle is in the starting state, the switching of the switching means from the first display state to the second display state is controlled. And a control unit that performs the above operation.