JPH04214937A - Following run controlling device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To let a vehicle follow a preceding car which a driver determines to follow securely, and let the driver recognize which car the vehicle is following. CONSTITUTION:A preceding car to follow and a window are displayed in a display means of a vehicle, and the preceding car is followed by use of the window. A distance between the vehicle and the car is detected by a deflection from an image by an image sensor taking a reference of an image in the window, and a speed of the vehicle is adjusted to keep the distance as predetermined.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Field of Industrial Application] This invention relates to a tracking control device for a vehicle that controls vehicle speed so as to follow a preceding vehicle while maintaining a safe inter-vehicle distance. This relates to a vehicle that can reliably detect the distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle by tracking the vehicle.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of vehicle tracking control system uses a radar device that uses light or radio waves to be installed at the front of the vehicle body, and monitors the area in front of the vehicle to detect a preceding vehicle. For example, a device that calculates the relative distance to the preceding vehicle and controls the speed of the own vehicle so that the distance between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle becomes a safe distance is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-8.
This is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 6000 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-239900.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional device described above, since the preceding vehicle is detected by the radar device installed at the front of the vehicle body, for example, on the curved road shown in FIG. A preceding vehicle 32 on the overtaking lane may enter the detection area of the radar device, and if the flow of vehicles on the overtaking lane is faster than the flow of vehicles on the own lane, the own vehicle may enter the detection area of the preceding vehicle on the own lane. 33, and when it was slow, the following vehicle 34 in the own lane suddenly approached. Also, since the vehicle in front that the vehicle is following and whose distance is being detected is not clearly indicated, if there are multiple vehicles in front, it is difficult for the driver to know which vehicle in front the driver is following. The problem was that it gave a sense of anxiety.

[0004] This invention was made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to reliably follow the preceding vehicle specified by the driver even when multiple preceding vehicles are running, and also to By displaying an image of the vehicle in front that the vehicle is following, the driver can confirm the vehicle in front that the vehicle is following at any time, and also provides an alert when the vehicle in front changes lanes rapidly. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle follow-up travel control device capable of activating means and notifying a driver.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A tracking travel control device for a vehicle according to the present invention includes a display means for displaying one of an upper image and a lower image captured by an image sensor, and a display means for image tracking on the display means. means for setting a window; means for causing the image of the preceding vehicle to be tracked by the window when the image is displayed by the display means; and adjusting the speed of the own vehicle so that the inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle becomes a predetermined value. This means that a means has been established.

[0006] In addition to the above-mentioned means, the vehicle tracking control device according to the present invention also generates an alarm when the moving speed in the left-right direction of the window for image-tracking the image of the preceding vehicle exceeds a predetermined value. This means that a means has been established.

[0007]

[Operation] In this invention, when the driver specifies the preceding vehicle that he/she wishes to follow using the image tracking window, this window starts the tracking operation of the preceding vehicle image, and at the same time, the image in the window is used as a reference and the image of the preceding vehicle is compared with the other image. Based on the deviation, the inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle displayed in the window is detected, and the speed of the own vehicle is adjusted so that this inter-vehicle distance becomes a predetermined value.

Further, in the present invention, when the moving speed of the window in the left-right direction exceeds a predetermined value, an alarm is issued.

[0009]

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a vehicle tracking control device according to this embodiment, in which lenses 1 and 2 constitute an upper and lower optical system for capturing an image of a preceding vehicle 5 in front of the own vehicle; 3 and 4 are lenses 1; 2 is a two-dimensional image sensor installed corresponding to 2, 5 is a preceding vehicle to be followed, 6 and 7 are analog-to-digital converters, 8 and 9 are memories, 10 is a microcomputer, and 11 is an upper image sensor 4 This is a display unit that displays an image captured by the microcomputer 10, and is controlled by the microcomputer 10. 12 is a window setting unit that sets a window for image tracking; 13 is an image tracking instruction switch operated by the driver; 14 is a brake switch that detects brake operation; 15 is a vehicle speed sensor that detects vehicle speed;
16 is a follow-up switch operated by the driver; 17
18 is a speed adjustment section of the own vehicle, and 18 is a throttle valve of the engine 19, which is driven to open and close by an electric motor 20.

Next, the operation will be explained. For example, if an image 5a of a preceding vehicle 5 that the driver wishes to follow appears on the image of the upper image sensor 4 and is displayed on the display section 11 as shown in FIG. An image tracking window 21 surrounding the car image 5a is set on the display screen of the display unit 11. Subsequently, when the image tracking instruction switch 13 is turned on, no matter how the leading vehicle image 5a moves within the screen of the display unit 11, the window 21 moves accordingly. Tracking action takes place automatically. This image tracking function is similar to the conventional device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-33352 or Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-35305.

Next, the operation of detecting the distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle will be explained. First, microcomputer 1
0 reads the image signal within the window 21 tracking the preceding vehicle image 5a from the memory 9 and uses it as a reference image signal for calculating the inter-vehicle distance. Next, the microcomputer 10 selects an area corresponding to the window 21 in the memory 8 in which the image signal of the lower image sensor 3 is stored;
While sequentially shifting the image signal in the memory 8 pixel by pixel with respect to the reference image signal, the sum of the absolute values of the differences between the signals of the upper and lower pixels is calculated. That is, the position of the image that best matches the image within the window 21 is determined by sequentially shifting one pixel at a time.

At this time, the area involved in the calculation is the image area 22 in the memory 8 with respect to the reference image signal in the window 21, as shown in FIG. In this way, the upper and lower pixels are compared, and when the sum of the absolute values of the difference signals becomes the minimum, the pixel shift amount is n pixels, the pixel pitch is P,
If the base line of the optical system is L, the focal length of lenses 1 and 2 is f, and the distance to the preceding vehicle 5 is R, then R is R=f・L/nP
is required. In this way, once the preceding vehicle 5 is set, even if the preceding vehicle 5 moves left or right, it can be tracked and the inter-vehicle distance from the own vehicle can be continuously detected.

When the driver turns on the follow-up switch 16 after the image tracking of the preceding vehicle 5 has started as described above, the speed adjustment section 17 inputs the above-mentioned inter-vehicle distance detection signal from the microcomputer 10. The vehicle speed input from the vehicle speed sensor 15 is compared with a predetermined safe following distance, and if the following distance R to the preceding vehicle 5 is shorter than the safe following distance, the electric motor 20 is rotated to open the throttle valve. 18 to the closed side, and when the time is longer, the throttle valve 18 is opened to adjust the speed of the own vehicle.

As a result, the inter-vehicle distance R is controlled to a safe inter-vehicle distance, and the own vehicle follows the preceding vehicle 5 while maintaining a safe inter-vehicle distance. This follow-up travel control is stopped by an output signal from the brake switch 14 activated by the driver's brake operation or a release signal from the follow-up travel switch 16.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 4, the field of view that can be simultaneously imaged by the pair of image sensors 3 and 4 placed apart by the base line length L is the area A in the direction of the base line length, and the field of view in the direction perpendicular to this is the area A. It becomes B. When following the preceding vehicle as in the above embodiment, the preceding vehicle moves more horizontally than vertically with respect to the own vehicle, so the vehicle is arranged so that the wide field of view B becomes the left and right field of view. is preferable. Therefore, in this embodiment, by arranging the two image sensors 3 and 4 that capture images of the preceding vehicle substantially in the vertical direction, it is possible to detect the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle within a wide field of view in the left and right direction.

In the above embodiment, even when a plurality of preceding vehicles are running, the vehicle can always follow the preceding vehicle while maintaining a safe distance determined by the driver, and the image and window of the preceding vehicle can be displayed. By doing so, I was able to reliably specify the preceding vehicle that I wanted to follow, and the anxiety of not knowing which preceding vehicle I was following was also eliminated.

FIG. 6 shows the configuration of a vehicle follow-up travel control system according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and 23 is an alarm section consisting of a buzzer or the like. The other configurations are the same as in the first embodiment. Next, the operation will be explained, and the automatic image tracking function of the preceding vehicle image 5a by the window 21 is the same as in the first embodiment. At this time, the moving speed of the window 21 in the left and right direction is calculated by the microcomputer 10, and when this moving speed exceeds a predetermined value (for example, when the preceding vehicle 5 that the host vehicle is following rapidly changes the driving lane) ),
Image tracking of the preceding vehicle image 5a is stopped, and the alarm unit 23 is activated to notify the driver of the cancellation of the image tracking.

The operation for detecting the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle is also the same as in the first embodiment. After image tracking of the preceding vehicle image 5a is started, the throttle valve 18 is controlled so that the detected inter-vehicle distance becomes a safe inter-vehicle distance according to the vehicle speed. This inter-vehicle distance control (following control) is canceled by outputting the brake switch 14 or canceling the following travel switch 16, but when the horizontal movement speed of the window 21 exceeds a predetermined value and the image tracking control is canceled. At the same time, inter-vehicle distance control (traveling control) is also canceled. In this way, when the follow-up cruise control is canceled without the driver's operation, the alarm unit 23 issues an alarm as described above, and the vehicle continues to travel at the own vehicle speed at the time the control was canceled. This prevents the vehicle speed from changing against the driver's will.

In the second embodiment described above, the anxiety of not knowing which vehicle in front is being followed is eliminated, and at the same time, the vehicle in front quickly changes lanes due to the speed of movement of the window in the left and right direction. This will prevent dangerous follow-up driving.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the image of the preceding vehicle and the window for image tracking thereof are displayed on the display means, it is possible to reliably follow the preceding vehicle that you want to follow, and This eliminates the driver's anxiety about not knowing which vehicle in front he is following. In addition, a warning is generated when the speed of movement of the window in the left-right direction exceeds a predetermined value, so if the vehicle in front suddenly changes lanes, the driver can be alerted by the warning. This prevents the driver from following a vehicle in front of him in a different lane.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a window setting state of a display unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows images stored in each memory according to the invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a field of view that can be simultaneously imaged by a pair of image sensors according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a follow-up running state of a vehicle equipped with a conventional device.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a second embodiment of the device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

3,4 Image sensor 5 Leading vehicle 5a Image of leading car 10 Microcomputer 11 Display section 12 Window settings section 17 Speed adjustment section 18 Throttle valve 21 Window 23 Alarm section

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A pair of image sensors disposed substantially in the vertical direction for capturing images of a preceding vehicle, a display means for displaying one of an upper image and a lower image captured by the image sensors, and a display means. means for setting an image tracking window in the display means; means for causing the window to track the image of the preceding vehicle when it is displayed on the display means; 1. A vehicle follow-up travel control device comprising means for detecting an inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and a preceding vehicle, and means for adjusting the speed of the own vehicle so that the inter-vehicle distance becomes a predetermined value. 2. The vehicle tracking system according to claim 1, further comprising means for generating an alarm when the moving speed in the left-right direction of the window for image-tracking the image of the preceding vehicle exceeds a predetermined value. Control device.