JP5903003B2 - Vehicle periphery monitoring device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle periphery monitoring device that alerts a driver based on an image captured by an imaging unit mounted on a vehicle.

  2. Description of the Related Art A vehicle periphery monitoring device is known that detects a front obstacle that is a danger in traveling of a vehicle with a radar or the like, and displays danger information about the detected obstacle on a display or the like (eg, Patent Document 1).

  In addition, a living body (pedestrian or animal) existing in front of the vehicle is detected using an infrared camera, and when a living body is detected, it is displayed on a display or a warning sound, or is notified by a warning sound. A vehicle periphery monitoring device that alerts the driver is also known.

JP 2009-151566 A

  Because the behavior pattern of animals is irregular, when an animal is detected, an alarm is issued regardless of the distance from the vehicle. Therefore, compared to other alarm objects (eg people), the vehicle The time to reach the animal is getting longer. This makes the driver feel uncomfortable with regard to warnings for animals, and improvements are desired.

  The objective of this invention is providing the vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus which can improve the alerting with respect to the animal ahead of a vehicle.

The vehicle periphery monitoring device of the first invention, based on the image captured by the imaging means mounted on a vehicle, a vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus for performing the alert to the driver, Animal image portion and human image portion in the captured image Image judging means for judging whether or not the image is included, and alerting the driver as soon as an animal is detected based on the judgment of the image judging means, and human detection based on the judgment of the image judging means Is calculated, the person's position is calculated, and whether or not the calculated person's position is in a person warning area set as a vehicle front area in front of the far side boundary line set a predetermined distance ahead from the vehicle. The alerting means for alerting the driver based on the above, and after the first alerting to the driver about the animal by the alerting means, the driver is within a predetermined time or within a predetermined travel distance. animal And sufficiency determining means for determining satisfaction of the predetermined condition as a predetermined condition that noticed standing, the when the satisfaction determining means is determined not to satisfy the predetermined condition, alert the second time the reminder means And the second alerting is performed before the position of the animal targeted for the first alerting reaches the far boundary line. The time or the predetermined travel distance is set .

According to the first invention, the vehicle periphery monitoring device recognizes the presence of the animal within a predetermined time or within a predetermined mileage after the first alerting to the driver about the animal by the alerting means. If the predetermined condition is not satisfied, the warning means will be alerted again (second time) , so the driver's inaccurate response while starting alerting the animal at an early stage Can be prevented, and unnecessary re-reminding can be prevented.

The vehicle periphery monitoring device of the second invention is the first invention, wherein the alerting means is a reminder of the second, or above the first reminder shall intensified and the same draw method, Or it is performed by a different awakening method.

  According to the second invention, it is possible to enhance the effect of calling attention again.

The vehicle periphery monitoring device of the third invention, in the first or second aspect of the invention, the sufficiency determining means after the first alert initiation to the driver of the animals with the alerting means, within said predetermined time or when the predetermined travel distance within the driver has performed a driving operation of the contact avoidance is characterized in that it is determined that the predetermined condition is satisfied.

  According to the third invention, it is possible to easily determine that the driver has noticed the existence of the animal by detecting that the contact avoidance operation by the driver with respect to the animal that has been the object of alerting is performed. .

The block diagram of a vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus. Explanatory drawing of the attachment aspect to the vehicle of the vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus shown in FIG. The flowchart of the detection process of the monitoring target and alarm determination process which an image processing unit implements. 4 is a flowchart of the alarm processing routine of FIG. Explanatory drawing about implementation of the alarm with respect to the person and animal which exist ahead of a vehicle. Explanatory drawing which points out the problem when a re-alarm is not implemented. Explanatory drawing of the alarm process containing a re-alarm.

  Referring to FIG. 1, a vehicle periphery monitoring device 1 includes a single infrared camera 2 (corresponding to “imaging means” of the present invention) mounted on a vehicle 10 and capable of detecting far-infrared rays. The driver is alerted based on the captured image.

  In addition to the infrared camera 2, the vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus 1 further includes a yaw rate sensor 3 that detects the yaw rate of the vehicle, a vehicle speed sensor 4 that detects the traveling speed of the vehicle, and a brake sensor that detects the amount of brake operation by the driver. 5 and an image processing unit 8 that detects a monitoring object (a pedestrian or the like) ahead of the vehicle from an image obtained by the infrared camera 2 and outputs an alarm when there is a high possibility that the monitoring object is in contact with the vehicle. A head-up display (hereinafter referred to as a speaker 6 for performing an alarm by voice and an image obtained by the infrared camera 2 and a display for allowing a driver to visually recognize a monitoring object having a high possibility of contact) , Referred to as HUD) 7.

  Referring to FIG. 2, infrared camera 2 is arranged at the center in the left-right direction of the front portion of vehicle 10, and outputs a captured image in which the output level increases (the luminance increases) as the temperature of the imaged object increases. The HUD 7 is provided so that the screen 7 a is displayed at a front position on the driver side of the front window of the vehicle 10.

  The X, Y, and Z coordinate axes are defined for the real space in front of the vehicle 10. The origin O is the center position of the infrared camera 2, the Z-axis is an axis extending horizontally in the front-rear direction of the vehicle 10 with the front side being positive, and the X-axis is an axis extending in the left-right horizontal direction of the vehicle 10 with the right side being positive. The Y axis is an axis extending in the vertical direction with the lower side being positive.

  The origin O of the real space coordinate system XYZ can be set at the center of the vehicle 10 in the left-right direction, and the infrared camera 2 can be set at a position shifted from the center of the vehicle 10 in the left-right direction or up and down. . In that case, the real space coordinates (X, Y, Z) for the object are obtained by correcting the position obtained from the captured image according to the distance between the origin O and the lens center of the infrared camera 2.

  Referring to FIG. 1, the image processing unit 8 converts an analog video signal output from the infrared camera 2 into digital data, takes it in an image memory (not shown), and captures the vehicle in front of the image memory. It has a function of performing various arithmetic processes on images. The image processing unit 8 is an electronic unit composed of a CPU, a memory, and the like. By causing the CPU to execute a program for monitoring the periphery of the vehicle 10, the image determination unit 21, the alerting unit 22, the satisfaction determination unit 23, and the control are performed. The function of the means 24 is realized.

  The details of the image determination unit 21, the alerting unit 22, the satisfaction determination unit 23, and the control unit 24 will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

  The image determination unit 21 determines whether or not the captured image includes a human image part or an animal image part. The alerting means 22 alerts the driver as soon as the presence of the animal is detected for the animal (corresponding to the “first object” of the present invention) based on the determination of the image determining means 21, For a person (corresponding to the “second object” of the present invention) based on the determination by the determination means 21, after the person's presence is detected, driving is performed when the estimated contact time for the second object becomes a predetermined value or less. To alert people. As a result, the distance from the vehicle 10 to the animal when the alerting means 22 starts the alarm for the animal becomes larger than the distance from the vehicle 10 to the person when the alerting means 22 starts the alarm for the person.

  Satisfaction determining means 23 determines that the driver has noticed the presence of the animal within a predetermined time or within a predetermined distance after starting to alert the driver about the animal by the alerting means 22 based on the satisfaction of the predetermined condition. To do. The control unit 24 causes the alerting unit 22 to perform alerting again when the satisfaction determining unit 23 determines that the predetermined condition is not satisfied.

  The predetermined condition includes a condition that a driver's contact avoidance operation is performed on the animal that has been a subject of alert.

  The alerting means 22 performs alerting for the second time in the same alerting method as the initial alerting and intensified, or in a different alerting method.

  Next, according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, the execution procedure of the monitoring target object detection process and the alarm determination process by the image processing unit 8 will be described.

  In STEP 1, the image processing unit 8 inputs a captured image signal from the infrared camera 2. The infrared camera 2 captures a scene in front of the vehicle 10 at a predetermined angle of view and outputs a captured image signal at regular time intervals.

  In STEP 2, the image processing unit 8 takes in a gray scale image obtained by converting a captured image signal (analog signal) into digital gradation (luminance) data into an image memory.

  The latest predetermined number (plural) of infrared images captured by the infrared camera 2 at regular time intervals are stored in the image memory as time-series gray scale images. The predetermined number of grayscale images in time series stored in the image memory is converted into the nearest predetermined number of grayscale images each time a certain time interval elapses and the infrared camera 2 generates the latest captured image. Updated.

  In STEP 3, the image processing unit 8 sets, for each pixel of the grayscale image, a pixel whose luminance is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold as “1” (white) as a high luminance pixel, and a pixel whose luminance is lower than the threshold as a low luminance. A binarized image is obtained by performing binarization processing for setting “0” (black) as a pixel.

  In STEP4, the image processing unit 8 has white in the horizontal direction (left and right direction of the binarized image) with respect to each vertical direction (vertical direction of the binarized image) position of each white image portion in the binarized image. Run-length data indicating the start pixel position and length of a continuous pixel row of pixels is calculated.

  In STEP 5, the image processing unit 8 extracts a white image portion as a binarized image of the object based on the run length data of the binarized image, and performs labeling (numbering) on the extracted white image portion. )I do.

  In STEP 6, the image processing unit 8 calculates the center of gravity and area of the labeled white image portion and the aspect (vertical / horizontal) ratio of the circumscribed rectangle of the white image portion.

  In STEP 7, the image processing unit 8 performs tracking of the object for the time. Specifically, with respect to the labeled white image portions included in the binarized images of the previous and current infrared images output by the infrared camera 2 at regular time intervals, the white image portions of the same object are determined based on the correlation. Associate. At that time, the image determination means 21 determines that the previous and current white image portions are within the predetermined threshold values within which the center of gravity, the area of the white image portion, and the aspect ratio of the circumscribed rectangle of the white image portion fall within the predetermined threshold values. Are determined to be white image portions of the same object.

  In STEP 7, the image processing unit 8 re-labels the white image portion determined to be the white image portion of the same object so that the label attached in the previous binarized image is inherited.

  In STEP 8, the image processing unit 8 measures the distance from the change rate of the size to the target object for the white image portions that are labeled the same in the previous binarized image and the current binarized image.

  In calculating the real space position of the pedestrian, for example, the following formula (1) is used as a calculation formula. The details are as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-113296.

Z = Rate · V · Δt / (1-Rate) (1)
In the above formula (1), the definition of each symbol is as follows.
Z: The position of the object in the Z-axis direction in FIG. 2, that is, the distance from the vehicle 10 to the object.
Rate: Dimension ratio of the width or height of the circumscribed rectangle of the white image portion determined to be the white image portion of the same object by tracking between the times in STEP 7 in the current and previous binarized images. If the width and height of the circumscribed rectangle in the current binarized image are w0 and h0, and the width and height of the circumscribed rectangle in the previous binarized image are w1 and h1, Rate = w1 / w0 or h1 / h0. Become. The dimensions h0, h1, w0, and w1 are expressed by the number of pixel pitches in the binarized image.
Δt: time difference between the imaging times of the binarized images that are the basis of the current and previous binarized images.
V: The vehicle speed of the vehicle 10.

  Z obtained by the equation (1) is further corrected by the turning angle of the vehicle 10. The turning angle of the vehicle 10 is calculated based on an integrated value obtained by integrating the output of the yaw rate sensor 3 by Δt. For this calculation, the method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-113296 can be used.

  The image processing unit 8 executes ROUTINE9 (alarm processing routine) after executing STEP8. The execution of ROUTINE 9 involves the image determination means 21, the alerting means 22, the satisfaction determination means 23 and the control means 24 of the image processing unit 8. The ROUTINE 9 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In STEP 21, the image determination unit 21 determines that the object represented by the white image portion of the relabeled white image portions in STEP 7 is determined to be a living body. Determine whether the type is animal or person. When the image determining means 21 determines that the animal is an animal, the process proceeds to STEP 22. When the image determining means 21 determines that the animal is a human, the process proceeds to STEP 36.

  The living body is hotter than the surroundings, while the general structure is colder than the living body. Therefore, a general structure does not become a white image portion in the binarized image. However, some structures may have a predetermined temperature or higher, and these are extracted as white image portions in the binarized image. Of the white image portion, the living body and the structure can be identified based on, for example, the shape, aspect ratio, luminance dispersion (the living body has less luminance dispersion), and the like.

  Whether the white image portion representing the living body is a human image portion or an animal image portion can be identified by the shape, the aspect ratio, or the like. The human image portion is vertically long, and the animal image portion is horizontally long.

  As described above, the alarm as an alert to the animal is performed as soon as the animal image portion is extracted from the infrared image of the infrared camera 2. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram regarding the execution of an alarm for the person 41 and the animal 42 present in front of the vehicle 10. X and Z shown in FIG. 5 correspond to the X and Z coordinate axes of the real space coordinate system defined in FIG. In FIG. 5, the angle of view of the infrared camera 2 (FIG. 2) is, for example, 12 °. The infrared image output from the infrared camera 2 is in the inner range of the left boundary line 53 and the right boundary line 54 that are symmetrical with respect to the Z axis depending on the angle of view of the infrared camera 2.

  The warning area for the person 41 includes an approach determination area 61, a left intrusion determination area 62, and a right intrusion determination area 63. The approach determination area 61 has a width of ± (vehicle width + 3 m) / 2 in the X-axis direction with respect to the Z-axis, and is set to a length in the range of 30 m to 80 m in the Z-axis direction. The left intrusion determination area 62 and the right intrusion determination area 63 are set to the left and right of the approach determination area 61 in the X-axis direction and inside the left boundary line 53 and the right boundary line 54, respectively. The length is set equal to 61. In FIG. 5, the approach determination area 61 is hatched with a slanting line that descends to the right, and the left intrusion determination area 62 and the right intrusion determination area 63 are hatched with a slanting line that rises to the right.

  Only the person 41 existing in the approach determination area 61, the left intrusion determination area 62, or the right intrusion determination area 63 is an alarm target for the driver of the vehicle 10. The image processing unit 8 is designed so that a living body located approximately 150 to 300 m away from the vehicle 10 in the Z-axis direction can be identified. The identification limit design value of 150 to 300 m is set as a range in which the high beam of the headlight can reach. As soon as the image processing unit 8 detects that the animal 42 is present closer to the discriminating limit design value within the angle of view from the vehicle 10, the animal 42 becomes a target of an alarm to the driver of the vehicle 10, and is outside the angle of view. If you move to, you will be removed from the alarm target.

  Whether or not the person 41 exists in the approach determination area 61, the left intrusion determination area 62, or the right intrusion determination area 63 is determined based on the real space coordinates (X, Y, Z) of the person 41. As a calculation method of the distance (Z coordinate) about the monitoring object, a compound eye method performed based on the parallax of two cameras and a dimensional change rate of the object image portion in a time-series captured image output from one camera are used. There are monocular methods to use.

  This vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus 1 uses a monocular system. For example, the method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-113296 can be used as a method for specifically calculating the real space position of the object by the monocular method. Briefly, the ratio of the width or height of the circumscribed rectangle of the object image portion in the time series of the image captured by the infrared camera 2 is calculated, and the Z coordinate of the person 41 is calculated based on the ratio and the vehicle speed. Further, the X coordinate and the Y coordinate of the person 41 are calculated based on the Z coordinate and the pixel position of the object image portion in the captured image. The output of the yaw rate sensor 3 is used when the real space coordinates (X, Y, Z) are corrected based on the turning angle of the vehicle 10.

  For the animal 42, calculating the real space coordinates (X, Y, Z) as the real space position is omitted. As described above, as soon as the presence of the animal 42 is detected in the captured image of the infrared camera 2, the warning sound output and the warning display are immediately performed without calculating the real space coordinates (X, Y, Z). Be started.

  Alarms by the vehicle periphery monitoring device 1 are implemented in two types: warning sound output and warning display. In the warning display, the vehicle periphery monitoring device 1 displays the animal image portion 71 or the human image portion 74 of the screen 7a (grayscale image) of the HUD 7 with a surrounding frame 72 or 75 and displays the animal 42 outside the angle of view. The person 41 is continued until it moves out of the warning area until it moves to. In the warning sound output, the vehicle periphery monitoring device 1 outputs a warning sound from the speaker 6 a predetermined number of times at the start of both the warning for the person 41 and the warning for the animal 42 and ends.

  In FIG. 5, arrows 48 and 49 indicate a state in which the person 41 and the animal 42 associated therewith are moving in the direction. Both the warning sound and the warning display are performed for the movement state of the arrow 48, and only the warning display is performed for the movement state of the arrow 49.

  The arrow 48 indicates that the person 41 existing in the approach determination area 61 is moving toward the vehicle 10 (the negative direction of the Z axis), and the person 41 existing in the left intrusion determination area 62 or the right intrusion determination area 63 is X The state which is moving toward the approach determination region 61 in the axial direction, or the state where the animal 42 existing in the inner region of the left boundary line 53 and the right boundary line 54 is moving in an arbitrary direction is shown.

  The arrow 49 indicates that the person 41 is moving in the left intrusion determination area 62 or the right intrusion determination area 63 without going from the left intrusion determination area 62 or the right intrusion determination area 63 to the approach determination area 61, or the left intrusion determination A state in which the person 41 who has moved from the area 62 to the approach determination area 61 further enters the right intrusion determination area 63 from the approach determination area 61 is shown.

  Returning to FIG. 4, in STEP 22, the alerting means 22 determines whether or not the first alarm has been performed. If it has been performed, the process proceeds to STEP 23, and if not, the process proceeds to STEP 30. Proceed.

  The first alarm in STEP 22 and the re-alarm in the next STEP 23 will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram that points out a problem when the re-alarm is not performed, and the vehicle periphery monitoring device 1 performs the alarm with the contents shown in FIG.

  6 and FIG. 7, the horizontal axis indicates the position of a person or animal existing in front of the vehicle 10 as a value converted to an elapsed time (TTC: Time-To-Collision) until they contact the vehicle 10. ing. TTC corresponds to the “estimated contact time” of the present invention. Since the TTC at each point represents the elapsed time from when each vehicle 10 passes the point to the present as positive, the TTC at the point ahead of the vehicle 10 is negative. The more the TTC is a negative number having a larger absolute value, the farther away the vehicle 10 is.

  The alarm process of FIG. 6 does not perform a re-alarm for the animal, whereas the alarm process of FIG. 7 performs a re-alarm for the animal. The alarm processing in FIGS. 6 and 7 has the same content for a person. Further, the alarm process for the animal in FIG. 6 corresponds to the first alarm process in the alarm process for the animal in FIG. The common alarm process in FIGS. 6 and 7 will be described first, and then the re-alarm in FIG. 7 will be described.

  As described with reference to FIG. 5, the vehicle periphery monitoring device 1 performs both warning sound and warning display alarms as soon as the animal 42 is recognized by the infrared image from the infrared camera 2. When the animal 42 enters the range between the left boundary line 53 and the right boundary line 54 in the Z-axis direction as the vehicle 10 travels, the warning sound output and the warning display start are performed as TTC = −T1. It will be the point of time. TTC = −T1 (T1 is a positive number) is a value when the animal 42 is still sufficiently far away from the vehicle 10. T1 is, for example, in the range of 10 to 20 seconds, and the Z-axis direction position corresponding to TTC = −T1 corresponds to the front of the vehicle 10 by an identification limit design value (approximately 150 to 300 m) in the Z-axis direction.

  The vehicle periphery monitoring device 1 attaches a yellow surrounding frame 72 to the animal image portion 71 in the grayscale image 70 displayed as the screen 7a at the time of TTC = −T1 as a warning display for the animal 42.

  The vehicle periphery monitoring device 1 continues the warning display for the animal 42 as long as the animal 42 remains in the range inside the left boundary line 53 and the right boundary line 54 after the time point TTC = −T1.

  The vehicle periphery monitoring device 1 outputs a warning sound from the speaker 6 twice, for example, at the time of TTC = −T1 in the warning by the warning sound for the animal 42 and ends.

  The warning display about the person 41 by the vehicle periphery monitoring device 1 is a person who exists in the approach determination area 61, the left intrusion determination area 62, and the right intrusion determination area 63 at the time of TTC = −T2 (= −5 seconds). 41 or a person 41 who has entered a region inside the left boundary line 53 and the right boundary line 54. TTC = −T2 corresponds to the case where the person 41 is present at a point 80 m ahead in the Z-axis direction of the vehicle 10 at the normal traveling speed of the vehicle 10. The specific content of the warning display for the person 41 is the same as the warning display for the animal 42, and the person image portion 74 is surrounded by a yellow surrounding frame 75 in the grayscale image 70. The warning display for the person 41 continues after TTC = −T2.

  The warning sound output for the person 41 by the vehicle periphery monitoring device 1 is performed when the person 41 exists in the approach determination area 61 at the time of TTC = −T2 or when the person 41 enters after the time of TTC = −T2. Is done. The vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus 1 outputs the warning sound twice from the speaker 6 as the warning sound output for the animal 42 as the warning sound output for the person 41, and ends.

  If the warning sound output for the animal 42 is limited to the time when the detection of the animal 42 is started as shown in FIG. 6, the driver continues the touch avoidance operation for the animal 42, although the warning display continues thereafter. It can be postponed.

  The vehicle periphery monitoring device 1 outputs a warning sound for the person 41 when the person 41 enters the approach determination area 61 and ends, but the warning sound output for the person 41 is output from the vehicle 10 to the person 41. Since it is relatively close, the driver immediately recognizes the person 41 to be alarmed with the naked eye. Therefore, the driver continues to pay attention to the person 41 from the start of the warning sound.

  The vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus 1 copes with such a problem in the alarm processing of FIG. 6 and re-executes the alarm for the animal 42. The contents of the re-alarm are as shown in FIG.

  That is, in the alarm processing of FIG. 7, the vehicle periphery monitoring device 1 determines the TTC as a time when a predetermined time has elapsed from the time TTC = −T1 or a time when the vehicle 10 has traveled a predetermined distance from the time TTT = −T1. At the time of == T3 (T1> T3> T2), the sufficiency determination unit 23 determines whether the driver of the vehicle 10 has already performed the contact avoidance operation on the person 41. The condition of the determination A corresponds to the “predetermined condition” of the present invention.

  The contact avoidance operation for the person 41 by the driver is, for example, depression of the brake pedal, relaxation of the depression force of the accelerator pedal, or rotation operation of the steering wheel, etc., and attempts to avoid contact with the animal 42. Includes all driving operations by the driver. The image processing unit 8 can detect whether the driver depresses the brake pedal based on the output of the brake sensor 5, and detects whether the driver rotates the steering wheel based on the output of the yaw rate sensor 3. In addition, the deceleration and reacceleration of the vehicle 10 accompanying the contact avoiding operation can be detected based on the output of the vehicle speed sensor 4.

  If the result of determination A by the satisfaction determination unit 23 is positive (satisfaction), the control unit 24 turns on the surrounding frame 72 of the animal image portion 71 in the grayscale image 70 even after the time TTC = −T3.

  If the result of determination A by the satisfaction determination unit 23 is negative (unsatisfied), the control unit 24 re-executes a warning sound output as a re-alarm at the time of TTC = −T3, or in the grayscale image 70. The surrounding frame 72 of the animal image portion 71 is switched from lighting to blinking display.

  The re-alarm is stronger than the first alarm at the time of TTC = −T1 so that the driver can effectively recognize the alarm. As a method for strengthening the re-output of the warning sound, (a) the number of times of output of the warning sound is increased (four times in FIG. 7), (b) the volume is increased, or (c) the first warning sound is In contrast to a simple buzzer sound, the re-warning sound may be a special sound such as ringtone (registered trademark).

  As a way to strengthen the warning display, in addition to switching the surrounding frame 72 surrounding the animal image portion 71 from lighting to flashing 78, it is also effective to switch the entire gray scale image 70 alternately between display and non-display. Is.

  The alerting means 22 may perform the re-alarm by a different alerting method from the initial alarm. As different arousal methods, for example, the driver's seat can be vibrated appropriately, or light can be emitted for a moment toward the driver's face and chest.

  Note that the satisfaction determination means 23 having made a positive conclusion with respect to the determination A means that the control means 24 has decided to stop the re-warning of the warning sound (corresponding to STEP 26 described later). In FIG. 7, both the re-execution of warning sound output and the flashing 78 are performed as re-alarm when the determination A is negative, but the flashing 78 is omitted only for re-execution of warning sound output. Thus, the surrounding frame 72 may remain lit, that is, the re-warning display may not be performed.

  Returning to FIG. 4, the processing of STEP23 to STEP25 and STEP31 corresponds to the processing of determination A in FIG. STEP 26 “re-alarm cancellation decision” corresponds to the flow when the determination A is positive in FIG. 7. “Re-alarm implementation” in STEP 32 corresponds to the flow when the determination A is negative in FIG.

  In STEP 23, the sufficiency determination means 23 determines whether the re-alarm for the animal 42 has been performed or the re-alarm stop has been determined. If the determination is positive, the process returns to the processing procedure of FIG. If the sufficiency determining means 23 determines NO, the sufficiency determining means 23 advances the process to STEP 24. The completion of the re-alarm for the animal 42 means that STEP 32 described later has been performed before the start of the current execution of ROUTINE9. The decision to stop the re-alarm for the animal 42 means that STEP 26 described later has been executed before the start of the current execution of ROUTINE9.

  In STEP 24, the sufficiency determination means 23 determines whether or not the driver has made a contact avoidance operation on the animal 42. If it is determined that there is a contact avoidance operation, the process proceeds to STEP 25. If it is determined that there is no contact avoidance operation, the process proceeds to STEP 31. .

  In STEP 25, the sufficiency determination means 23 determines whether the current time or the current location is within a predetermined time or a predetermined distance from the first alarm (the first alarm will be described later in STEP 30), and the determination is positive. If the answer is NO, the process proceeds to STEP 32.

  In STEP 26, the control means 24 determines to cancel the re-alarm. Thereafter, the control means 24 returns the processing to the processing procedure of FIG.

  In STEP 30, the alerting means 22 performs the first alarm. The first alarm corresponds to the alarm at the time of TTC = −T1 in FIG. Thereafter, the alerting means 22 returns the processing to the processing procedure of FIG.

  In STEP 31, as in STEP 25, the sufficiency determination means 23 determines whether the current time or current location is within a predetermined time or within a predetermined travel distance from the first alarm (warning sound output). If the determination is negative, the sufficiency determination means 23 advances the processing procedure to STEP 32, and if the determination is positive, returns the processing to the processing procedure of FIG.

  In STEP 32, the control means 24 performs a re-alarm of a warning sound and a warning display. Specific examples of the re-alarm are the re-output of the warning sound and the blinking 78 of the surrounding frame 72 performed at the time of TTC = −T3 in FIG.

  In STEP 36, the alerting means 22 determines whether or not the person 41 exists in the approach determination area 61, the left intrusion determination area 62, or the right intrusion determination area 63. If the determination is positive, the process proceeds to STEP 37. If the determination is negative, the processing returns to the processing procedure of FIG.

  In STEP 37, the alerting means 22 starts or continues an alarm according to the location of the person 41. Specifically, as described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, when the person 41 is in the approach determination area 61, both the warning sound and the warning display are performed, and the person 41 enters the left intrusion determination area 62 and the right intrusion. When in the determination area 63, only warning display is performed.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated about embodiment, this invention can be variously deformed and implemented within the scope of the gist. For example, in the embodiment, the “first object” and the “second object” of the present invention are the animal 42 and the person 41, respectively, but the animal or person is divided into two types (eg, unconfirmed size). An animal and a size-checking animal, or an adult and an infant), the “first object” may be a first type of animal or person, and the “second object” may be a second type of animal or person.

  In the embodiment, the object image portion is extracted from the captured image of the infrared camera 2 as the imaging means. However, instead of the captured image of the infrared camera 2, the extraction process of the object image portion is performed from the captured image of the visible light camera. It can also be done.

  For example, in the embodiment, the driver recognizes that the animal 42 is present based on whether the driver has performed a driving operation such as deceleration of the vehicle 10. It is also possible to determine that the driver has noticed the presence of the animal 42 if a camera that detects the driver's line of sight is deployed and the driver directs the line of sight toward the animal 42 in response to the first alarm.

  In the embodiment, the warning is displayed in the grayscale image 70 on the screen 7a. However, a simple display is provided near the speedometer on the instrument panel, and the animal 42 is displayed on the simple display as soon as the animal 42 is detected. A warning display method can also be used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus, 2 ... Infrared camera (imaging means), 10 ... Vehicle, 21 ... Image judgment means, 22 ... Attention alert means, 23 ... Satisfaction judgment means, 24 ... control means, 41 ... person (second object), 42 ... animal (first object), 70 ... grayscale image (captured image), 71 ... animal image part 72... Surrounding frame, 74... Human image portion, 78.

Claims (3)

A vehicle periphery monitoring device that carries out alerts to a driver based on an image captured by an imaging means mounted on a vehicle,
Image determination means for determining whether the captured image includes an animal image portion and a human image portion;
The driver is alerted as soon as an animal is detected based on the determination of the image determination means, and when a person is detected based on the determination of the image determination means , the position of the person is calculated and calculated. A reminder that alerts the driver based on whether or not the person's position is in a person warning area set as a vehicle front area in front of the far side boundary line set a predetermined distance ahead of the vehicle Means,
Satisfaction of the predetermined condition is determined based on a predetermined condition that the driver notices the presence of the animal within a predetermined time or within a predetermined mileage after the first warning to the driver about the animal by the warning means. A satisfaction determination means to
When it is determined that the satisfaction determination means does not satisfy the predetermined condition, the satisfaction determination means comprises a control means for causing the attention calling means to perform a second warning ,
The predetermined time or the predetermined travel distance is set so that the second alerting is performed before the position of the animal targeted for the first alerting reaches the far boundary line. The vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. The vehicle periphery monitoring device according to claim 1,
The vehicle perimeter monitoring device characterized in that the alerting means performs the second alerting in the same alerting method as the first alerting and is strengthened or in a different alerting method. . In the vehicle periphery monitoring device according to claim 1 or 2,
The sufficiency determining means, wherein after the first alert initiation to the driver for animals by alerting means, when the driver within or within the predetermined travel distance the predetermined time has performed a driving operation of the contact avoidance Determines that the predetermined condition is satisfied, the vehicle periphery monitoring device.