JP2003319383A - On-vehicle image processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing apparatus capable of supplementing a dead angular area caused by a vehicle existing in front. <P>SOLUTION: The image processing apparatus produces a composite image AB0 resulting from composing an image B0 photographed by a camera of a vehicle existing in front of its own vehicle with an image A0 photographed by a camera of its own vehicle so as to supplement a part A1 being a dead angular area by the vehicle existing in front of its own vehicle. Further, the image processing apparatus overlaps a contour line F symbolizing the shape and the position or the like of the vehicle existing in front of its own vehicle to the position of the vehicle existing in front of its own vehicle and displays the images as if the vehicle existing in front of its own vehicle were seen through and the driver of its own vehicle were able to visually confirm the front scene. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus for a vehicle, and more particularly to an on-vehicle image processing apparatus for generating an image of a blind spot area produced by a vehicle ahead.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A driver of a vehicle that is running checks the scenery in the direction of travel and enters the field of view, and appropriately operates the vehicle according to the recognized situation. For example, the driver recognizes a signal at a distant intersection, predicts the color of the signal when the vehicle is passing, and adjusts the traveling speed of the vehicle. On the other hand, when the vehicle is congested, another vehicle may exist in front of the host vehicle. In such a case, the front vehicle is blocked by the vehicle in front and a blind spot occurs. Especially when the vehicle in front is a large vehicle with a high vehicle height such as a truck or a bus,
In particular, the field of view is obstructed over a wide range, and the blind spot region that the driver cannot recognize becomes wide. In such a case, in order to put the visual information into the field of view, the driver tries to move the head greatly from side to side or slightly move the vehicle left and right to change the viewpoint. Also,
There is no choice but to adopt a method such as recognizing the situation in front of the vehicle in front of the vehicle in front of it or increasing the distance between the vehicles.

[0003]

However, the act of the driver moving the head to the left or right may distract the driver's consciousness and impair the maneuvering operation. It does not provide the desired information. Further, when the vehicle is congested, widening the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle causes discomfort to the following vehicle and induces interruption. On the other hand, since the information on the front side cannot be obtained, the immediately preceding traffic light cannot be recognized, and there is a risk of entering the intersection even though the traffic light turns red.
In addition, similarly, there is a possibility that the guide plate cannot be seen and an unintended lane is entered.

Further, even on the driver side, there is a problem that stress is accumulated due to lack of necessary information, and excessive fatigue is accumulated as compared with the case of normal driving. An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing device that can complement a blind spot area generated by a vehicle in front.

[0005]

The above objects are achieved by the present invention described below. (1) Image capturing means for acquiring an image of the traveling direction of the own vehicle, forward vehicle image receiving means for receiving the image of the traveling direction acquired by the front vehicle from the front vehicle, and reception by the front vehicle image receiving means. An in-vehicle image processing device, comprising: an image; and an image generation unit that generates an image that is transmitted through a vehicle in front based on the image acquired by the imaging unit.

(2) Image pickup means for obtaining an image of the traveling direction of the own vehicle, and image correction of the own vehicle for correcting the image of the traveling direction of the own vehicle obtained by the image pickup means to an image from the viewpoint of the driver. Means, and a front vehicle image receiving means for receiving an image of the traveling direction acquired by the front vehicle from the front vehicle,
The image received by the front vehicle image receiving means based on the distance between the distance calculating means for calculating the distance to the imaging position of the image received by the front vehicle image receiving means and the front vehicle calculated by the distance calculating means. Is a front vehicle image correction means for correcting the image of the viewpoint seen from the driver,
An in-vehicle image processing device comprising: an image synthesizing unit configured to synthesize an image corrected by the own vehicle image correcting unit and an image corrected by the front vehicle correcting unit.

(3) A contour line extracting means for extracting a contour line of a front vehicle from the image corrected by the own vehicle image correcting means is provided, and the contour line extracted by the contour line extracting means is used for the image synthesizing means. The in-vehicle image processing device according to (1) or (2), characterized in that the image is overlaid on the image synthesized in (1).

(4) A contour line receiving means for receiving a contour line of a vehicle body shape including at least one of the shapes of a vehicle body, a bumper, a light, a wiper, a tire, a seat, and a window of a front vehicle is provided, and the contour line is provided. The vehicle-mounted image processing device according to (1) or (2) above, characterized in that the contour line of the front vehicle received by the receiving means is superimposed on the image combined by the image combining means.

(5) The vehicle-mounted image processing according to any one of the above (1) to (4), further comprising a rear transmission means for transmitting the image synthesized by the image synthesis means to a rear vehicle. apparatus.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an in-vehicle image processing apparatus 1 of the present invention. The vehicle-mounted image processing device 1 includes an arithmetic processing device 12 for performing image processing, a camera 13 as an image pickup means attached to a vehicle body, a display device 14 as display means for displaying an image, and a current position detection device 15.
A data communication device 19 and a storage device 10 are provided, and these devices are mutually connected via a system bus 11.

The camera 13 is connected to the system bus 11 via an A / D converter 131. The camera 13 is attached toward the front of the vehicle (the traveling direction when moving forward), and is attached so that an image of the traveling direction of the vehicle can be taken. The image signal output from the camera 13 is A
It is converted into a digital signal by the / D converter 131.
Further, if the connected camera 13 is capable of outputting a digital signal, the A / D converter is not necessary.
The camera 13 uses a fisheye lens.

The present position detecting device 15 includes a steering angle sensor 15
1, a vehicle speed sensor 152, a GPS receiver 153, a direction sensor 154, and a distance sensor 155. The steering angle sensor 151 detects the steering angle of the vehicle. The steering angle is obtained by detecting the rotation angle of the steering wheel or the angle of the front wheels. The vehicle speed sensor 152 detects the traveling speed of the vehicle. GPS
The receiving device 153 detects the absolute position of the vehicle. The direction sensor 154 detects the direction of the vehicle. Distance sensor 15
5 detects the moving distance of the vehicle.

The storage device 10 stores a vehicle data storage section 16 for storing vehicle data, a received data storage section 17 for storing data received from a vehicle in front, and data obtained by combining vehicle data and received data. Composite data storage unit 1 to be stored
8 and.

The vehicle data storage unit 16 includes a position data memory 161, an image data memory 162, a vehicle data memory 163, a camera setting data memory 164, a driver's viewpoint data memory 165, and a viewpoint conversion parameter memory 166. And a viewpoint conversion image data memory 167. The position data memory 161 is a memory that stores the position data of the vehicle detected by the current position detection device 15. The image data memory 162 is a memory that stores images captured by the camera 13, and images that are output from the camera 13 are continuously stored. Vehicle data memory 163
Is the contour line data representing the contour of the car body, the total length, the full width,
It is a memory that stores dimension data such as the total height.

The camera setting data memory 164 is specified by the installation position specified by the lens characteristics of the camera 13, the angle of view, the relative position of the vehicle body from the reference position, and similarly by the relative position of the vehicle body from the reference position. This is a memory that stores the viewpoint position, the shooting direction, and the like. The lens characteristics include, for example, a shooting method, a lens type, and an image distortion rate in the range of the angle of view. The shooting direction can be determined by acquiring two or more direction sensors or position data. Examples of the reference position of the vehicle body include the position of the antenna of the GPS receiving device, the position of the front wheels or the rear wheels, and the installation position of other sensors such as the direction sensor. The driver's viewpoint data memory 165 is a memory for storing the position of the driver's viewpoint defined as a relative position from the reference position of the vehicle body. The viewpoint conversion parameter memory 166 is
This is a memory for storing the relative distance calculated from the viewpoint position of the camera included in the camera setting data 164 and the viewpoint position of the driver included in the driver viewpoint data. The viewpoint-converted image data memory 167 is a memory that stores the image data after the viewpoint conversion processing is performed on the image data.

As for the data stored in the vehicle data memory 163, the camera setting data memory 164, and the driver's viewpoint data memory 165, the numerical values of which are not changed, the read-only memory [of the arithmetic processing unit 12 will be described later]. ROM] 122.

The reception data storage unit 17 includes a position data memory 171, an image data memory 172, a vehicle data memory 173, a camera setting data memory 174, a viewpoint conversion parameter memory 175, and a viewpoint conversion image data memory 176. Is equipped with. Position data memory 171
Is a memory in which the position data of the vehicle ahead is stored.
The image data memory 172 is a memory in which the image data acquired by the camera of the vehicle ahead is stored. The vehicle data memory 173 is a memory that stores contour line data representing the contour of the vehicle body of the vehicle ahead, and dimension data such as the total length, the total width, and the total height. The contour line data is, for example, line drawing information expressing a contour line when the vehicle is viewed from the rear.
An example of the contour line may be a contour line of a portion that symbolizes the vehicle body, and is, for example, a contour line including at least one of the vehicle body, bumper, tail lamp, rear window shape, rear window wiper, rear wheel, and the like.

The camera setting data 174 includes the installation position specified by the lens characteristics of the camera, the angle of view, the relative position of the vehicle body with respect to the reference position, and the viewpoint specified by the relative position of the vehicle body with respect to the reference position. It is a memory that stores a position, a shooting direction, and the like. Viewpoint conversion parameter memory 175
Is a memory that stores the relative distance calculated from the viewpoint position of the camera of the vehicle ahead and the viewpoint position of the driver included in the camera setting data 174. The viewpoint-converted image data memory 176 is a memory that stores the image data after the viewpoint conversion processing is performed on the image data.

The composite data storage unit 18 includes a position data memory 181, an image data memory 182, a vehicle data memory 183, and a camera setting data memory 184.

The position data memory 181 stores the vehicle position data. The image data memory 182 stores combined image data obtained by combining the image data acquired by the own vehicle and the received image data of the preceding vehicle. The vehicle data memory 183 stores the vehicle data 163 of the own vehicle data, and the camera setting data memory 184, which will be described in detail later, receives the data from the vehicle in front and synthesizes the data. The viewpoint data 165 is stored, and if the composition is impossible, the camera setting data 1
64 is stored.

The image display device 14 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display or the like, and displays the composite image stored in the image data 182 of the composite data storage section 18. The data sent to the image display device 14 is converted into an analog signal via the D / A converter 141. In addition, the image display device 14
If a digital signal can be input to the device, the D / A converter becomes unnecessary.

The data communication device 19 receives the data transmitted from the preceding vehicle using the wireless communication means, and stores the received data in the buffer 191. The stored forward vehicle data is sent to each memory of the reception data storage unit 17 via the bus line 11. Further, when there is a vehicle that can communicate with the vehicle behind, the data to be transmitted is transmitted to the vehicle behind. The data to be transmitted will be described later in detail.

The arithmetic processing unit 12 is a central processing unit [CP
U (Central Processing Unit)] 121, a read only memory [ROM] 122, and a random access memory [RAM] 123. The central processing unit 121 calculates information about the relative position between the front vehicle and the own vehicle from the position data obtained from the current position detection device 15 and the direction of the vehicle, and the received position data regarding the front vehicle, for example. Alternatively, the image data of the own vehicle and the received image data of the preceding vehicle are acquired from the storage device 10,
It has operations such as generating composite image data from these data. The ROM 122 stores, for example, software for the central processing unit 121 to perform image processing, and the RAM 123 is used as a working area, for example.

The image processing apparatus of the present invention operates as follows. FIG. 2 shows a host vehicle 21 equipped with the image processing apparatus of the present invention and a front vehicle 2 located in the traveling direction (front) thereof.
2 is an overall side view showing the positional relationship of 2. FIG. In the shooting area a of the camera 13a that reflects the front of the own vehicle 21,
The forward vehicle 22 is located in the same direction as the traveling direction (forward). Such a front vehicle 22 is equipped with a camera 13b that projects the front like the host vehicle 21. Further, the front vehicle 22 is equipped with the same vehicle-mounted image processing device as the own vehicle 21, and the image acquired by the camera 13b can also be subjected to image processing such as viewpoint conversion processing. Further, the front vehicle 22 transmits the image photographed by the camera 13b to the rear own vehicle 21 via the wireless communication means.

In the photographing area a of the own vehicle 21, a blind spot area b blocked by the front vehicle 22 is generated. The blind spot area b further overlaps with the shooting area c of the camera 13b of the front vehicle 22. Therefore, the signal 23 located in front of the front vehicle 22 is included in the blind spot region b, and the own vehicle 2
The driver on the first side cannot recognize it, but since it is reflected on the camera 13b of the front vehicle 22, the color state of the signal 23 in the blind spot area b is grasped by acquiring the image data of the front vehicle 22. can do. Camera 13
The installation positions of a and 13b are most preferably the position of the driver's viewpoint, but may be a position close to the position of this viewpoint. For example, the position of the rearview mirror, the vicinity of the center of the dashboard, the position of the shoulder opening of the seat, etc.

The operation of the image processing apparatus 1 of the present invention configured as above will be described. FIG. 3 shows the processing device 12.
3 is a flowchart showing the operation of FIG. The process is started by an operation such as turning on the ignition or turning on the device. The reason for switching on is
It may be when the shift change lever is set to the D position. First, initialization processing is performed (step S1).
01). FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a subroutine of initialization processing. In the initialization process, first, the own vehicle data is checked (step S201). The own vehicle data includes vehicle data, camera setting data, and driver viewpoint data. It is judged whether or not the checked data has insufficient data (step S203). If there is insufficient data, the insufficient data is input and written to the storage device 10 (step S205).

If there is no data shortage, viewpoint conversion parameters are calculated (step S207). The viewpoint conversion parameter is calculated from the viewpoint position of the camera included in the camera setting data and the viewpoint position of the driver included in the driver viewpoint data. The calculated viewpoint conversion parameter is written in the viewpoint conversion parameter memory 166 (step S2).
09).

The data stored in the image data memory 162 is searched so that the image data and the like can be written in the storage area. If there is no storable area, the data to be acquired next must be overwritten. In addition, referring to the distance and time stored together with the image data, preparation for writing data such as erasing data not used in the future is performed (step S211). For example, a variable for monitoring a set value for determining whether to update the stored data of the image stored in the viewpoint conversion image data memory 167 or the like is initialized.

As described above, the initialization process (step S10)
When 1) ends, data is then acquired from the current position detection device 15 and the camera 13a (step S10).
3). The position data is acquired from the current position detection device 15, and the image data is acquired from the camera 13a. As described above, the image of the traveling direction in the vehicle is acquired, which is the image pickup means of the present invention.

The acquired position data is written in the position data memory 161 of the own vehicle data storage unit 16, and the acquired image data is similarly image data memory 162.
(Step S105). The viewpoint conversion parameter is read from the viewpoint conversion parameter memory 166 of the vehicle data storage unit 16 (step S107). According to the read viewpoint conversion parameter, the own vehicle image data is converted into the own vehicle driver's viewpoint image (step S109). For example, the distances in the up-down direction and the left-right direction between the camera installation position and the driver's viewpoint position are defined in advance, and according to the distances, from the center point of the image data (the position where the optical axes of the lenses are orthogonal), Correction is performed so that the position corrected based on the specified value of is the center. An image in which the corrected center point is the center position of the image is a viewpoint conversion image. In this way, by correcting the image of the own vehicle and the image of the viewpoint of the driver, the own vehicle image correction means of the present invention is provided. The viewpoint-converted image data is written in the viewpoint-converted image data memory 167 (step S111).

It is determined whether or not data can be received from the front vehicle 22 (step S113). Whether or not the data communication is possible is determined by, for example, providing a distance sensor in advance, measuring the distance to the vehicle 22 in front, and determining whether communication is possible from this measured distance.
Judge as impossible. If the data can be received, the data is received from the preceding vehicle 22 (step S115). The data to be received is the position data of the front vehicle 22, the front vehicle 2
Image data acquired by the second camera 13b, the front vehicle 22
2 is the camera setting data and vehicle data. The vehicle data includes the vehicle body of the front vehicle, bumper, light, wiper,
A contour line of a vehicle body shape including at least one of the shapes of a tire, a seat, and a window, and receiving the contour line of the vehicle body shape constitutes the contour line receiving means of the present invention.

The received data is stored in the reception buffer 191 via the data communication device 19 (step S117). Data is read from the reception buffer 191, and corresponding data is written as reception data in the position data memory 171, the image data memory 172, the vehicle data memory 173, and the camera setting data memory 174 of the reception data storage unit 17 (step S119). . In this way, the image of the traveling direction acquired by the front vehicle is received from the front vehicle to form the front vehicle image receiving means of the present invention.

The received image data viewpoint conversion processing is performed on the received image data (step S121). Figure 5
6 is a flowchart showing a received image data viewpoint conversion processing subroutine. The received image data viewpoint conversion process will be described below. The position data of the own vehicle and the driver's viewpoint data are read from the own vehicle data storage unit 16 (step S301).

The coordinates of the driver's viewpoint are calculated based on the read position data and the driver's viewpoint data (step S3).
03). Specifically, the coordinate value of the antenna of the GPS receiver 153 is obtained as the position data. And GP
Using the antenna of the S reception device 153 as a reference position, the coordinate value of the driver's viewpoint is calculated from the driver's viewpoint data defined as a relative position from this reference position.

From the reception data storage unit 17, the forward vehicle 22
Position data and camera setting data are read (step S305). From the read position data and camera setting data, the coordinate value of the camera viewpoint of the vehicle ahead is calculated (step S307). Specifically, the coordinate value of the antenna of the GPS receiving device of the front vehicle 22 is obtained as the position data. Then, using the antenna of the GPS receiver as a reference position, the coordinate value of the camera viewpoint is calculated from the camera installation position (viewpoint position) data defined as the relative position from this reference position. As described above, the distance calculation means of the present invention is to calculate the distance to the imaging position of the received image.

Own vehicle 21 calculated in step S303
A viewpoint conversion parameter is calculated from the coordinate value of the driver's viewpoint position and the camera viewpoint coordinate value of the front vehicle 22 calculated in step S307 (step S309). The calculated viewpoint conversion parameter is written in the viewpoint conversion parameter memory 175 (step S311).

Next, the image data of the front vehicle 22 is read from the image data memory 172 of the reception data storage unit 17 (step S313), and the viewpoint conversion parameter memory 1 is read.
Based on the viewpoint conversion parameters stored in 75,
The received image data is converted into a driver's viewpoint image of the own vehicle (step S315). The viewpoint-converted image data memory 17 uses the viewpoint-converted image data as viewpoint-converted image data.
6 (step S317). As described above, based on the distance calculated by the distance calculating means, the received image of the front vehicle is corrected to the image of the viewpoint viewed from the driver, thereby forming the front vehicle image correcting means of the present invention.

When the reception image data viewpoint conversion processing as described above is completed, the viewpoint conversion is performed from the viewpoint conversion image data memory 167 of the vehicle data storage unit 16 and the viewpoint conversion image data memory 176 of the reception data storage unit 17, respectively. The image data is read (step S123). The two viewpoint-converted image data are combined (step S125). Figure 6
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an image synthesizing method. Received data storage unit 1
The viewpoint conversion image B0 is read from the viewpoint conversion image data memory 176 of No. 7 and the viewpoint conversion image B0 is read at a magnification corresponding to the distance between the driver's viewpoint of the own vehicle and the camera viewpoint of the vehicle ahead.
0 is reduced (image B12). The reduced image is superimposed and combined with the area corresponding to the own-vehicle viewpoint conversion image A0.
The figure of the vehicle ahead disappears from the combined image AB0.

Next, a contour display position / size calculation process is performed (step S127). FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a contour line display position / size calculation processing subroutine. Vehicle data memory 17 of reception data storage unit 17
3 from the vehicle data, the camera setting data memory 174 from the camera setting data, the viewpoint conversion parameter memory 17
The viewpoint conversion parameter is read out from step 5 (step S40).
1). Further, the angle of view of the field of view displayed on the monitor is read from the camera installation data memory 164 of the vehicle data storage unit 16 (step S403).

Then, the viewpoint conversion parameter calculated in step S309 and the contour line data acquired from the vehicle data 173 of the received data storage unit 17 are used to draw and generate a three-dimensional contour line based on the camera viewpoint position of the vehicle ahead. Then, the display position of the contour line on the screen and the display size are calculated (step S405).

FIG. 8A shows the driver's viewpoint position T of the own vehicle.
1 is a plan view showing a positional relationship between 1 and a front vehicle 22,
FIG. 8B shows the state of the composite image in which the same state is displayed on the display screen of the vehicle.

From the received vehicle data, the total length (9 m) and width (3 m) of the forward vehicle 22, and from the camera installation data, the positional information of the camera 13 b (the center position in the width direction, the position 0.5 m from the front end) ) Is obtained. Also, camera 1
From the coordinate value of 3b and the coordinate value of the driver's viewpoint position, the distance in the front-rear direction (15 m) and the distance in the left-right direction (2 m) are also calculated. Further, the camera angle of view (60 degrees) in the range displayed on the screen is acquired from the camera installation data of the own vehicle. Then, the width a at the rear end position of the front vehicle 22 in the image captured by the camera 13a of the own vehicle is calculated from the above values. That is, since the camera field angle in the range displayed on the screen is 60 degrees, a = [{15- (9-0.5)} / √3] × 2 from the ratio of the sides of the equilateral triangle √3: 1. = 7.5
(M) Further, the distance b from the left end of the image of the contour line is b = 7.5 / 2-2-3 / 2 = 0.25 (m).

Therefore, the contour line of the rear part of the bus starts from the position 3.3% (= 0.25 / 7.5) of the screen width from the left end of the screen,
The size may be adjusted (enlarged or reduced) to a length of 40% (= 3 / 7.5) of the screen width. Since the generated contour line is drawn three-dimensionally, the side surface of the front vehicle is also displayed on the screen in FIG. 8 (B).

The contour line of the front vehicle is not obtained from the received data, but the contour line extraction means for extracting only the contour line of the front vehicle 22 from the image data taken by the camera 13a of the vehicle is used. The line may be acquired. The contour line extracting means can perform processing of emphasizing the contour by, for example, Sobel filter processing or Laplacian filter processing, and processing of extracting only the contour line.

The contour line image F calculated as described above
Is superposed on the composite image generated in step S125 (step S129). As shown in FIG. 6, a contour line F is added to the screen, and it becomes an image AB in which the front side can be recognized as if the front side vehicle is transparent. The image generated by superimposing is written in the image data memory 182 of the combined data storage unit 18 as combined data, the position data of the own vehicle is written in the position data memory 181, and the vehicle data of the own vehicle is the vehicle data. The camera setting data of the own vehicle and the driver's viewpoint data of the own vehicle written in the memory 183 are written in the camera setting data memory 184 (step S131). The own-vehicle driver viewpoint data is written when the composite image is generated.

The normal image conversion process is performed on the composite image data (step S133). In FIG. 6, in order to make the explanation easy to understand, the image after the normal image conversion processing is used, and the contour line is not a three-dimensional one but a two-dimensional display. Step S1
The image processing up to 29 is performed with the fisheye lens image as it is. The images acquired by the cameras 13a and 13b may be first subjected to the normal image conversion processing, and then the image processing up to step S129 may be performed.

The composite image data that has undergone the normal image conversion is output to the display device 14 (step S134). Display device 1
By visually recognizing the image output to 4, the driver can visually recognize the state of the other side of the front vehicle 22. Since the contour lines are displayed in an overlapping manner, it is possible to recognize the front vehicle 22 as if it was transparent, and it is possible to grasp the situation in the front including the positional relationship with the front vehicle 22.

The position data, the image data, the vehicle data, and the camera setting data stored in the composite data storage unit 18 are stored in the transmission buffer 191 (step S135) and then transmitted by the data communication device 19. (Step S137). As described above, transmitting the combined image to the rear vehicle is the rear transmitting means of the present invention. The transmitted data is received by the following vehicle of the own vehicle and processed as the received data of the following vehicle.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S113 that data cannot be received from the vehicle ahead, the viewpoint-converted image data of the own vehicle is converted into the viewpoint-converted image data memory 16
7 is read out and this is subjected to normal image conversion (step S1)
41). The image data subjected to the normal image conversion is output to the display device 14 (step S143). Then, the position data, the image data, which are stored in the vehicle data storage unit 16,
The vehicle data and the camera setting data are transmitted to the transmission buffer 191.
(Step S135), and step S137 is executed.

In the vehicle-mounted image processing apparatus of the present invention which operates as described above, the installation height of the cameras mounted on all vehicles is adapted to the installation height of the cameras of ordinary cars having the lowest vehicle height. be able to. In this case, the load on the device for the viewpoint conversion processing is reduced, so that the image processing time can be shortened. Also, the difference between the actual image and the converted image is reduced.

Further, the camera mounted on a large vehicle may be mounted on the upper part of the vehicle body. In this case, it is possible to obtain an image looking far away. Further, it may be mounted inside the windshield of a bus or truck. In this case, the mounting is facilitated, and since it is installed in the vehicle, it is not exposed to external impacts or wind and rain, so that the occurrence of failure can be suppressed.

The color of the contour line may be changed corresponding to the background color of the composite image AB so that the contour line can be visually identified. For example, a color that is complementary to the background color is set. Particularly vivid colors (prominent colors) such as red and yellow may be used. In the case of night, the color has a high lightness, and in the daytime, the color has a low lightness. In this case, the color may be switched according to the on / off of the side lights. Further, the color change may be performed for each pixel,
You may perform with respect to the average value of the pixel contained in every certain area. Further, the contour line may be expressed by monochrome binary such that the bright background is black and the dark background is white. Further, it is also possible to make the display of the contour line blink so as to stand out from the background. Further, when the inter-vehicle distance becomes equal to or less than a certain distance, the color may be changed to red to give a warning. Further, it is not limited to the configuration in which only the contour line is combined, and the front vehicle may be made semitransparent and combined.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the road showing a state where a plurality of rear vehicles are lined up in a horizontal row while traveling on a road with a plurality of lanes. Each vehicle 21a, 21b, 21
Each c independently receives data transmitted from the front vehicle 22, performs image processing, replaces the front vehicle 22 with a contour line, and superimposes and displays the composite image.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the road showing a state in which a plurality of vehicles in front are lined up in a horizontal line while traveling on a road with a plurality of lanes. In this case, the own vehicle 2 behind
1 performs image processing in the order in which data is received from the front vehicles 22a, 22b, 22c. Further, if an identification signal is given to each vehicle and the front vehicle can be identified by the received signal, the front vehicle 22a located immediately before can be preferentially processed.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a road when there is a vehicle traveling in an oncoming lane. In this case, the transmission data is also added to the transmission data so as to prevent the transmission data from being picked up by a vehicle traveling in an oncoming lane. Then, the receiving side can prevent the image processing on the vehicle side of the oncoming lane by configuring to receive only the data in the same direction as the traveling direction.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of the road showing a state of being congested. When the vehicle 23 is present also in front of the forward vehicle 22, and the vehicles 24 are continuously present, the data transmitted from the leading vehicle 24 is received by the next vehicle 23, and the combining processing,
After the contour line adding process is performed, the process of further transmitting to the rear vehicle 22 is repeated, whereby the rearmost vehicle 21
Also, the image of the front vehicle can be acquired. Especially in the case of traffic congestion, it is useful for understanding the situation ahead. Here, if all the contour lines processed by the connected vehicle in the front are displayed, there is an excessive number of contour lines in the vehicle behind, and there is a possibility that sufficient information cannot be obtained from the displayed image. Therefore,
The color of the contour line can be changed for each vehicle, or only the contour line of the immediately preceding vehicle can be displayed.

[0058]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since an image of a vehicle in front is transmitted, it is possible to reduce anxiety about a road condition, a road sign being overlooked and a blind spot. According to the invention described in claim 2, since the image pickup means processes the image as if it were installed at the position of the driver's viewpoint,
The displayed image becomes an image close to the driver's visual field, and the road condition in the traveling direction can be easily grasped from the image.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the contour line of the front vehicle is extracted from the image, the contour line that matches the actual state of the front vehicle can be superimposed. According to the invention described in claim 4, since the image information of the contour line already formed is received, the processing for detecting the contour line is not necessary, and the image processing time can be shortened.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, by providing means for further transmitting the combined image to the rear vehicle, the image of the vehicle located at the forefront among the vehicles traveling in the longitudinal direction is provided. Information can be received by the rearmost vehicle, and the range of forward conditions that can be acquired can be expanded.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of two vehicles equipped with the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a procedure of image processing.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a positional relationship between a driver's viewpoint position of the own vehicle and a front vehicle and a view of a combined screen.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the road showing a state where a plurality of rear vehicles are lined up in a horizontal row while traveling on a road with a plurality of lanes.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the road showing a state in which a plurality of vehicles in front are lined up in a horizontal row while traveling on a road with a plurality of lanes.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a road when there is a vehicle traveling in an oncoming lane.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of a road showing a state of congestion.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Image processing device 10 storage device 12 Processor 13 cameras 14 Image display device 15 Current position detector 16 Own vehicle data storage 17 Received data storage 18 Synthetic data storage 19 Data communication equipment 21 own vehicle 22 Forward vehicle

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) B60R 21/00 628 B60R 21/00 628B G06T 1/00 330 G06T 1/00 330B 3/00 100 3/00 100 300 300 F term (reference) 5B057 AA16 CD11 CE08 CH01 CH11 CH14 DA16 5C054 AA05 CA04 CE12 CH04 DA01 DA07 EA05 EB05 FC14 FD03 FE13 GA04 GB02 HA30

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup means for acquiring an image of a traveling direction of a host vehicle, a front vehicle image receiving means for receiving an image of a traveling direction acquired by a front vehicle from the front vehicle, and the front vehicle image receiving means. An in-vehicle image processing device, comprising: an image received by the image capturing means; and an image generating means for generating an image of a vehicle passing through the vehicle ahead based on the image acquired by the image capturing means. 2. An image pickup means for obtaining an image of the vehicle in the traveling direction, and an image of the vehicle in the traveling direction obtained by the image pickup means.
The vehicle image correction means for correcting the image from the viewpoint of the driver, the forward vehicle image receiving means for receiving the image of the traveling direction acquired by the front vehicle from the front vehicle, and the front vehicle image receiving means for receiving the image. Based on the distance between the distance calculation means for calculating the distance to the image pickup position and the front vehicle calculated by the distance calculation means, the image received by the front vehicle image reception means is changed from the viewpoint of the driver. An in-vehicle device comprising: a front vehicle image correcting unit that corrects an image, an image combining unit that combines the image corrected by the own vehicle image correcting unit, and the image corrected by the front vehicle correcting unit. Image processing device. 3. A contour line extracting means for extracting a contour line of a forward vehicle from an image corrected by the own vehicle image correcting means, wherein the contour line extracted by the contour line extracting means is used by the image synthesizing means. The vehicle-mounted image processing device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle-mounted image processing device is superimposed on the combined image. 4. A contour line receiving means for receiving a contour line of a vehicle body shape including at least one of a shape of a vehicle body, a bumper, a light, a wiper, a tire, a seat, and a window of a front vehicle, the contour line receiving means. The contour line of the forward vehicle received by the means,
The vehicle-mounted image processing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the image is superimposed on the image combined by the image combining unit. 5. The vehicle-mounted image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a rear transmitting unit that transmits the image combined by the image combining unit to a rear vehicle.