JPH0618261A - Distance detector for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize positive range finding of both remote and close objects even in the nighttime and of a solid color object having no pattern by projecting forward a light beam from a light emitting section to an image-picking up range. CONSTITUTION:A light emitting section 1 comprises a light emitting unit 11 comprising a light emitting diode or a laser diode and a lens section 12 and emits a light beam intermittently based on a signal delivered from an operational processing section 4. Light receiving section 2 has a paired structure for receiving optical inputs of forward scene at different positions, each comprising a reflector 21, a reflective prism 22, and a lens section 23. When a vehicle A running forward is irradiated with a light beam L from the light emitting section 1, a high-lighted point (a) appears and reflected light LL, LR are received by the light receiving section 2 and the contrast is grasped at the sensor section 3. Furthermore, the operational processing section 4 calculates the distance up to an object to be measured, i.e., the preceding vehicle A, based on the shift of imaging between right and left or upper and lower sensor sections 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is a vehicle which is installed in a vehicle and detects a distance between a vehicle in front of or behind the vehicle (hereinafter referred to as "front" only) and a distance between the vehicle and other objects in front of the vehicle. The present invention relates to a working distance detection device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a device for detecting an inter-vehicle distance or the like, there is known a means to which a distance measuring function of an object which is one of human visual functions called a stereo method is applied. This is a means for photographing the object to be measured from a plurality of positions, and the same target portion of the photographed image (simply 2 according to the threshold value after differential processing).
This is a method for calculating the distance from the object to be measured by computer processing the mutual deviation of the pixel coordinates of (values to specify the object to be measured) (JP-A-3-245012).
No. 3-245011).

However, in the two-dimensional image processing, the apparatus itself is large and complicated, and the amount of data processing is large, the processing time is long, and it is not practical. Therefore, one-dimensional image processing in which light-receiving sensors corresponding to the pixel configuration are arranged has been proposed. Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the light receiving unit 01 that is separated from the vehicle by a predetermined distance M and that inputs the front landscape in an overlapping manner, and the image captured by the light receiving unit 01 are processed by the prism 02 and the lens 03. A plurality of light receiving sensors lead to the sensor unit 04 having an image pixel configuration, and the distance is calculated from the pixel coordinates (predetermined light receiving sensor position in the sensor unit) of the coincident point of the image of the measurement target 05.

[0004]

The device employing the above-mentioned one-dimensional sensor may be obviously inconvenient as compared with the device employing the two-dimensional coordinates. That is, in order to discriminate the image of the preceding vehicle at a short distance, the discrimination by the horizontal line component in the two-dimensional image becomes clear, and in the case of the far distance preceding vehicle, the discrimination by the vertical line component is suitable. For this reason, when a one-dimensional sensor is adopted, there is a characteristic that it is suitable for long-distance measurement or short-distance measurement depending on the arrangement direction of the sensor elements. There is a case where the pattern (data for distance calculation) is not in the field of view (capture range), and the appropriate distance cannot be calculated.

As a measure against the above, the actual Kaihei 3-11
As shown in Japanese Patent No. 5808, it is proposed that a distance detection device including a vertically arranged sensor unit and a horizontally arranged sensor unit be provided in parallel. However, in this device, the installation distance of the light receiving unit is short and a highly accurate result (inter-vehicle distance) cannot be obtained, and moreover, the device itself has a plurality of configurations, which is wasteful. Moreover, the problem of short-distance measurement during night driving has not been solved by the above means. Therefore, the present invention proposes a vehicle distance detection device that can appropriately operate a one-dimensional sensor.

[0006]

A vehicle distance detection device according to the present invention comprises a plurality of image pickup means for taking a one-dimensional image of a front scene of a vehicle on which they are overlapped from different positions, and the same object in the image is captured. In a vehicle distance detection device for calculating and detecting a distance to an object in front of a vehicle, which is photographed based on pixel coordinates of points, a light emitting unit for emitting a beam of light in the direction of the photographing range in front of the vehicle is provided. It is a feature.

[0007]

The light beam emitted from the light emitting portion is projected on the object in front of the vehicle, and the projected portion becomes a bright spot, and the bright spot becomes a detection pattern of the primary sensor (image matching point of the measuring object), and the pixel on the sensor at the matching point. The distance to the vehicle front object can be measured by obtaining the distance to the projected bright point from the coordinates.

[0008]

EXAMPLES Next, examples of the present invention will be described. A vehicle distance detecting device according to the present invention includes a light emitting unit 1 and a light receiving unit 2.
And a sensor unit 3 and an arithmetic processing unit 4. The light emitting unit 1 includes a light emitting device 11 including a light emitting diode or a laser diode, and a lens unit 12 that uses the light from the light emitting device 11 as a beam light, and emits the beam light intermittently by a signal from the arithmetic processing unit 4. It is something that is emitted. The light beam is preferably an invisible light ray such as an infrared ray so as not to bother the driver and other vehicle drivers in the visual field.

The light receiving section 2 has a pair of constructions in which the scenery in front of the vehicle receives light at different positions, each of which comprises a reflection mirror 21, a reflection prism 22 and a lens group 23. 3 is projected. The sensor unit 3 includes a light receiving sensor group (about 6.2 m) corresponding to the pixel element.
36 photodiodes are arranged in parallel within the width of m) to grasp the brightness of the incident scene (imaging) of the light receiving section 2. Further, the arithmetic processing unit 4 includes the light emitting unit 1,
The operations of the light receiving unit 2 and the sensor unit 3 are synchronized, and the distance to the object in front of the vehicle is calculated and calculated based on the grasped image of the sensor unit 3.

When the device of the present invention is mounted on a vehicle and the traveling vehicle A in front of which the vehicle is traveling is irradiated with the beam light L from the light emitting portion 1, the portion irradiated with the beam light becomes the bright spot a. , The reflected lights LL and LR are captured by the light receiving unit 2,
The difference in lightness and darkness is grasped by the sensor unit 3, and the arithmetic processing unit 4 further calculates the distance from the preceding vehicle A, which is the object to be measured, based on the deviation of the images of the left, right, or upper and lower sensor units 3. . Therefore, the above-described operation is performed based on the synchronization signal of the arithmetic processing unit 4, and the distance to the object in front of the vehicle is measured and calculated in a timely manner, and the calculation result is, for example, an inter-vehicle distance display, a warning display, an automatic brake operation in an emergency, etc. It is used as data for various controls for traveling.

In particular, since the apparatus of the present invention is provided with the light emitting section 1 for the light beam, it is not necessary to consider the horizontal line component and the vertical line component as the appropriateness of the distance grasping in the image pickup, and the appropriate distance can be obtained regardless of the perspective. Even if it is possible to measure the distance and measure the distance to a plain wall surface where it is difficult to grasp the pattern at night or in imaging, the pattern formation (formation of bright spots) is forcibly performed by beam light irradiation. It also has the advantage that it can be used as a back sensor when parking or parking a car, as it can measure distances without any problems.

If the device of the present invention is provided with a predetermined light emitting part, a light receiving part, and a predetermined sensor part, the specific structure of the light emitting part, the means for introducing light from the light receiving part to the sensor part, and the sensor part itself. The calculation calculation means of the material and the distance can be arbitrarily determined. Further, the device of the present invention can be installed in the rear part of the vehicle to measure and calculate the distance to the rear object of the vehicle and be used as the control data of the above various devices.

[0013]

As described above, the present invention provides a vehicle distance detecting device which is provided with a plurality of one-dimensional image pickup means as described above and which calculates and detects the distance to a vehicle front object on the basis of pixel coordinates of a taken image. In particular, by providing a light emitting unit for irradiating a beam light to the object to be measured, the distance measurement at both far and near and the measurement at nighttime, which cannot be sufficiently handled by the conventional one-dimensional imaging means,
This is to ensure the distance measurement to an object that cannot grasp the pattern of the solid color.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Light emitting part 2 Light receiving part 3 Sensor part 4 Arithmetic processing part

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Koichi Kadori 2069 Hanamachi, Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture Toho Life Building Nihon Seiki Co., Ltd. Niigata Technical Center

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A front part of a vehicle equipped with a plurality of image pickup means for taking a one-dimensional image of a front or rear landscape of a mounted vehicle at different positions so as to overlap each other, the pixel coordinates of the same target point in the image being taken as a reference. A vehicle distance detecting apparatus for calculating and detecting a distance to an object, comprising a light emitting section for emitting a beam of light in a direction of a photographing range in front of the vehicle.