JP2012076518A - Vehicle controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable low-cost and high fuel economy driving assistance when supporting a vehicle to travel toward a predetermined parking position such as an energy supply spot, on the basis of an image captured by an in-vehicle camera.SOLUTION: The system converts an image captured by an in-vehicle camera 3 into an top-view image by an image conversion means 41. A search means 42 searches for a circular pattern target position mark placed in a predetermined position of a parking position on a road surface from the top-view image by pattern matching. A distance and direction from the vehicle 1 to a parking position are calculated with high accuracy on the basis of a searched target position mark. The system assists the vehicle 1 to travel toward the parking position using an assist control means 44 on the basis of the calculated distance and direction.

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle control device that supports driving of a host vehicle to a predetermined parking position based on a photographed image of an in-vehicle camera, and more particularly to improvement of fuel consumption and realization of cost reduction.

  Conventionally, in vehicles (automobiles) such as electric vehicles, it is sometimes necessary to supply energy such as charging from the outside. Therefore, automatic driving or traveling to a parking position such as a supply spot of an energy source such as a charging spot is required. It is desired to provide driving support for guidance display.

  And in order to perform driving support to the parking position using the image captured by the in-vehicle camera, a mark of the target position is marked on the road surface (flat floor surface) near the parking position, and the target vehicle's running vehicle is marked with it. It has been proposed to take a picture with an in-vehicle camera, specify the positional relationship between the host vehicle and the target position from the photographed image, and display a guidance for parking assistance to the target position to the driver or perform automatic driving (automatic steering driving). (For example, see Patent Document 1 (paragraphs [0013]-[0027], [0044], FIGS. 1 to 3 etc.)).

JP 2008-174000 A

  In the case of the configuration described in Patent Document 1, the mark at the target position has a square shape that is a combination of four isosceles triangles that have been separately painted (see paragraph [0015] of FIG. 3 and FIG. 3), and is captured by the camera. A plurality of square feature points are extracted from the image to identify the relative position and orientation of the vehicle relative to the mark, and the vehicle is guided and guided to the ideal parking position based on the identified position and orientation. Support.

  In this case, if the mark of the captured image is detected and tracked every moment using a pattern matching method, the reference pattern having a characteristic pattern, for example, on the captured image is taken into consideration in consideration of the shape and orientation of the mark. The square pattern must be moved not only in parallel up and down and left and right, but also in combination with rotational movement, and the mark must be searched for in consideration of its orientation. Not only is it expensive, but it takes time and fuel consumption is reduced accordingly. In addition, in the search by pattern matching of the captured image, the image is deformed due to the shooting line of sight of the shooting camera, etc., so that an erroneous search is likely to occur and driving support becomes inaccurate, which may reduce fuel consumption.

  An object of the present invention is to enable driving support with low cost and good fuel efficiency when driving support of a host vehicle to a predetermined parking position based on a captured image of an in-vehicle camera.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, a vehicle control device of the present invention is a vehicle control device that supports driving of a host vehicle at a predetermined parking position, and includes an in-vehicle camera that images the periphery of the host vehicle, and an imaging of the in-vehicle camera. Image conversion means for converting an image into a top view image, search means for searching a target position mark of a circular pattern marked at a predetermined position of the parking position on a road surface by pattern matching from the top view image, and the search Calculating means for calculating a distance and direction from the own vehicle to the parking position based on the position of the target position mark searched by the means; and calculating the distance from the own vehicle to the parking position based on the distance and direction calculated by the calculating means. Support control means for performing support control of traveling is provided (claim 1).

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the target position mark is a circular pattern marked on the road surface (flat floor surface), and the captured image including the target position mark of the in-vehicle camera is converted into a top view image by the image conversion means. When converted, the target position mark becomes a circular pattern on the top view image. The circular pattern is different from the conventional square pattern and the like, and is the same circular symmetric pattern when viewed from any direction. The search means performs, for example, a reference image on the top view image by pattern matching. The target position mark (circular pattern) can be easily searched for with a small processing load by simply moving the circular pattern in parallel to the vertical and horizontal directions without combining rotational movement. In addition, the distance and direction in which the searched target position mark moves to a predetermined position in the top view image and the host vehicle moves from the current position to the parking position is taken into account, for example, the relative orientation of the host vehicle and the target position mark. Therefore, based on the distance and direction of movement calculated by the calculating means, automatic control to the parking position of the host vehicle and driving guidance support control can be accurately performed by the support control means.

  That is, when driving the vehicle to a predetermined parking position such as an energy supply spot based on the image taken by the in-vehicle camera, the target position mark is a circular pattern mark marked on the road surface, and the photographed image is converted. Since the target position mark has a circular pattern on the top view image, the search for the target position mark based on the image taken by the in-vehicle camera can be performed with a simple process of only parallel movement, and the processing load is low, and the vehicle control device is low. Cost can be reduced. In addition, since the target position mark is accurately detected by pattern matching, the driving support based on the search result can be performed accurately in a short time, and the fuel efficiency is improved.

It is a block diagram of one embodiment of a vehicle control device of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing of imaging | photography of the target position mark of the own vehicle carrying the vehicle control apparatus of FIG. (A)-(d) is explanatory drawing of the example of the target position mark marked on a road surface, respectively. It is explanatory drawing of an example of the picked-up image of the vehicle-mounted camera of FIG. 1, and its upper surface view image. It is a flowchart for operation | movement description of the vehicle control apparatus of FIG.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an example of a vehicle control device 2 of the present invention provided in the host vehicle 1, and the host vehicle 1 captures a captured image of the rear of the host vehicle as a captured image around the vehicle, for example, at a frame period of 1/30 seconds. Is mounted at a position at an appropriate height on the rear part of the host vehicle 1. The in-vehicle camera 3 is a monochrome or color monocular CCD camera, and specifically, is an existing back monitor camera attached to a position slightly above the rear window at the rear of the host vehicle 1.

  Reference numeral 4 denotes a travel support ECU, which forms an image conversion means 41, a search means 42, a calculation means 43, and a support control means 44 when a microcomputer executes a preset travel support program. The image conversion means 41 converts the captured image of the in-vehicle camera 3 into a top view image by projective conversion. The search means 42 searches the target position mark of a circular pattern marked at a predetermined position (near the parking position) of the parking position on the road surface from the top view image by pattern matching as will be described later. The calculation means 43 calculates the distance and direction from the current position of the host vehicle 1 to the parking position 9 based on the deviation of the position on the top view image of the target position mark searched by the search means 42 from the predetermined position. The assistance control means 44 outputs the distance and direction information calculated by the calculation means 43 to the automatic driving control ECU 5 as assistance control information for traveling to the parking position 9. Reference numeral 6 denotes a storage unit that holds a photographed image or a top view image that is momentarily recorded in a rewritable manner.

  The own vehicle 1 is a so-called electric automatic or hybrid vehicle. For example, when charging is required and the driver commands charging parking, a predetermined charging spot as a parking position is searched based on a captured image of the in-vehicle camera 3, and the search result According to the automatic driving (automatic steering operation), the vehicle travels backward (runs backward) to the parking spot and parks. In the case of this embodiment, the vehicle-mounted battery (see FIG. Charge).

  FIG. 2 schematically shows a target position mark 8 marked on the road surface 7 photographed by the in-vehicle camera 3 and a charging spot where a power supply side coil in the vicinity thereof is embedded, that is, a parking position 9. When the host vehicle 1 moves backward and parks so that the target position mark 8 is displayed at a predetermined position on the image taken by the in-vehicle camera 3, a coil (not shown) on the power receiving side of the host vehicle 1 supplies power. It can be charged directly above the coil on the side.

  3 (a) to 3 (d) each show an example of a circular pattern of the target position mark 8 marked on the road surface 7, (a) is a single circle pattern, (b) is a double circle pattern, (C) is a pattern of triple circles, and (d) is a pattern formed by changing the gradation continuously or stepwise so as to become deeper at the center. In addition, the circular pattern of the target position mark 8 may be a pattern of multiple circles with different colors.

  Then, for example, the driver operates the button for charging parking after the host vehicle 1 approaches the charging spot by the driver's driving operation and the target position mark 8 appears in the peripheral corner of the image taken by the mounted camera 3. The driving support ECU 4 is operated by the command, and the captured image of the in-vehicle camera 3 is converted into a top view image by the well-known projective conversion by the image conversion means 41 and temporarily stored in the storage unit 6.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the captured image Pa of the in-vehicle camera 3 and a top view image Pb obtained by projective transformation of the captured image Pa. Even if the target position mark 8 is slightly deformed in the captured image Pa, the imaging conditions of the in-vehicle camera 3 are shown. As a result of projective transformation in consideration of the above, the top view image Pb includes the target mark 8 in a good circular pattern.

  Each time a new photographed image is obtained, the search means 42 searches for the target position mark 8 of the circular pattern of the latest top view image Pb by pattern matching. At this time, the target position mark 8 is a circular symmetrical pattern, and the search means 42 translates the reference circular pattern set in consideration of, for example, the photographing magnification, etc., up, down, left and right on the top view image Pb. Thus, the target position mark 8 can be searched easily and accurately with a small processing load without combining rotational movement.

  Next, the calculation means 43 stores in advance the position (target position) of the target position mark 8 on the top view image Pb obtained when the host vehicle 1 is parked at the parking position 9 as a predetermined position. The target position is superimposed on the top view image Pb of the captured image Pa including the target position mark 8 every moment, and most simply, the target position mark 8 is formed from the straight path connecting the target position mark 8 and the target position. The distance and direction in which the vehicle 1 reaches the target position and moves from the current position to the parking position 9 is calculated.

  Then, the support control unit 44 outputs the distance and direction calculated by the calculation unit 43 to the automatic operation control ECU 5 as support control information, and the host vehicle 1 is controlled by the automatic operation control based on the support control information of the automatic operation control ECU 5. The vehicle is automatically driven so that the target position mark 8 reaches the target position in reverse travel, and the host vehicle 1 parks at that position. At this time, the host vehicle 1 is accurately parked at the parking position 9 of the charging spot, and charging is started.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the above processing of the driving support ECU 4. When parking support is started, the captured image Pa is projectively converted into the top view image Pb every time a new captured image Pa of the on-board camera 3 is obtained ( Step S1). Then, the target position mark 8 is searched by parallel pattern matching (step S2). Based on the search result, the distance by which the target position mark 8 reaches the target position and the host vehicle 1 moves from the current position to the parking position 9. And the direction are calculated (step S3), and based on the calculation result, the host vehicle 1 is automatically driven so that the target position mark 8 reaches the target position (step S4) until the target position mark 8 reaches the target position. Passes step S5 with NO, returns to step S1, repeats the process from step S1, and when the target position mark 8 reaches the target position and the host vehicle 1 parks at the parking position 9 of the charging spot, YES in step S5 Pass through to finish driving support.

  Therefore, in the case of the above-described embodiment, the target position mark 8 is the road surface 7 when performing driving support for automatically driving and parking the host vehicle 1 at the parking position 9 of the energy supply spot based on the captured image Pa of the in-vehicle camera 3. Since the target position mark 8 becomes a symmetrical circular pattern on the top view image Pb obtained by converting the photographed image Pa, the search for the target position mark 8 based on the photographed image Pa is performed on the top surface. It can be performed with a simple process with little burden of performing a pattern operation for parallel movement on the visual image Pb, and a complicated process combining rotational movement with the parallel movement is unnecessary. Therefore, the processing load on the travel support ECU 4 is small, and the cost of the vehicle control device 2 can be reduced. Further, the target position mark 8 on the top view image PB is a circular pattern, and the target position mark 8 is accurately detected by pattern matching. Therefore, driving support based on the search result can be performed accurately in a short time, and fuel consumption is improved. There is also an advantage to improve.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications other than those described above can be made without departing from the spirit thereof. For example, the parking position 9 is other than the charging spot. It may be an energy supply spot (for example, a fueling spot in a gasoline vehicle), and may be a predetermined parking position of a parking lot instead of an energy supply spot.

  Moreover, the vehicle-mounted camera of this invention may be mounted in the front part of the own vehicle 1, and may output the picked-up image ahead of the own vehicle, In this case, the own vehicle 1 moves forward and parks an energy supply spot. It is automatically driven to park at position 9 or the like.

  Furthermore, the travel support of the support control means 44 forms travel guidance data (map data and voice guidance data) for the distance and direction of movement from the current position of the host vehicle 1 to the parking position 9. It may be displayed on the display screen of the navigation device or may be voice-guided.

  Next, the target position mark 8 marked on the road surface 7 may of course be a circular pattern different from the circular patterns in FIGS. 3A to 3D. In this case, the circular pattern is a color pattern. It may be. The target position mark 8 may be set at an appropriate distance from the parking position 9 in consideration of the shooting range of the in-vehicle camera 3, and may coincide with the parking position 9 in some cases.

  Next, the processing procedure of each means 41-44 of driving assistance ECU4 may be what.

  The present invention can be applied to a vehicle control device that supports traveling of various vehicles driven by various energy to a predetermined parking position such as an energy supply spot.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Own vehicle 3 Car-mounted camera 7 Road surface 8 Target position mark 9 Parking position 41 Image conversion means 42 Search means 43 Calculation means 44 Support control means Pa Photographed image Pb Top view image

Claims (1)

A vehicle control device that supports driving of the host vehicle to a predetermined parking position,
An in-vehicle camera that images the area around the vehicle,
Image conversion means for converting a captured image of the in-vehicle camera into a top view image;
Search means for searching for a target position mark of a circular pattern marked at a predetermined position of the parking position on the road surface by pattern matching from the top view image;
Calculating means for calculating the distance and direction from the host vehicle to the parking position based on the position of the target position mark searched by the searching means;
A vehicle control apparatus comprising: a support control unit that performs support control for traveling to the parking position based on the distance and direction calculated by the calculation unit.

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