KR102730703B1 - Apparatus for cleaning use for electronic side mirror and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a foreign matter removal device for an electronic side mirror, and more specifically, to a foreign matter removal device characterized in that a camera module for taking pictures is installed on the upper side of a flat plate installed inside a housing of an electronic side mirror, a motor is attached to the lower side of the flat plate, a flat circular lens is placed in front of the camera module to protect the lens of the camera module, a ring-shaped gear train is attached to the edge of the flat circular lens, and the flat circular lens attached to the gear train rotates in accordance with the rotation of a driving gear coupled to the shaft of the motor, and foreign matters existing on the surface of the flat circular lens are removed by a wiper coming into contact with the surface of the flat circular lens.

Description

{Apparatus for cleaning use for electronic side mirror and its control method}

The present invention relates to a foreign matter removal device for an electronic side mirror, and more specifically, to a foreign matter removal device characterized in that a camera module for taking pictures is installed on the upper side of a flat plate installed inside a housing of an electronic side mirror, a motor is attached to the lower side of the flat plate, a flat circular lens is placed in front of the camera module to protect the lens of the camera module, a ring-shaped gear train is attached to the edge of the flat circular lens, and the flat circular lens attached to the gear train rotates in accordance with the rotation of a driving gear coupled to the shaft of the motor, and foreign matters existing on the surface of the flat circular lens are removed by a wiper coming into contact with the surface of the flat circular lens.

Recently, as autonomous driving technology for automobiles has developed, various electronic components and sensors are being applied to automobiles.

In particular, this electronic technology is being applied to the side mirrors of automobiles that are installed in automobiles and project the rear view. Considering the appearance and aerodynamic performance, a small camera is installed instead of a mechanical mirror to take pictures of the rear view.

However, unlike mechanical mirror side mirrors, electronic side mirrors that use cameras may have their image quality deteriorated if the camera lens becomes contaminated with foreign substances, which may cause safety issues while driving.

Conventionally, automobile windshields employ wipers to remove foreign substances. The technology of a dome-shaped wiper device utilizing the principle of such wipers is known in U.S. Patent Publication No. US2008/0072393. This technology is configured to remove foreign substances from the lens as the wiper rotates or slides.

However, the technology of the above dome-shaped wiper device has a disadvantage in that the camera module is covered when the wiper rotates or slides to remove foreign substances, resulting in a phenomenon in which the image is cut off.

In addition, the technology of a cleaning device for an automobile camera lens of Korean Patent Registration Publication No. 10-1813133 has a structure that removes foreign substances by spraying cleaning water on the lens to automatically clean foreign substances on the camera lens.

However, the above technology has the disadvantage that the camera image quality may deteriorate because the cleaning water remains adsorbed on the lens until it dries, and it is difficult to remove foreign substances adhered to the lens by simply spraying the cleaning water.

Furthermore, the technology of non-powered side mirror cleaning disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2013-40535 forms an air passage in the side mirror to remove foreign substances on the side mirror by air flowing through the air passage when the car is driven. However, it is a technology in which it is difficult to remove foreign substances adhered to the lens by air flow alone, and furthermore, there is a risk of foreign substances being introduced through the air passage.

The present invention has been created to solve the above-mentioned problems of the related art, and provides a configuration of a foreign substance removal device for an electronic side mirror, which can cleanly remove foreign substances formed on an electronic side mirror, prevent a phenomenon in which a camera image is obscured when the wiper is operated, prevent a lens mounted on a camera from being distorted due to a phenomenon in which a light refraction phenomenon occurs, and facilitate the replacement of a wiper for removing foreign substances.

In order to achieve the above technical task, the configuration of the foreign substance removal device for an electronic side mirror of the present invention is characterized in that a camera module for performing photography is installed on the upper side of a flat plate installed inside a housing of an electronic side mirror, a motor is attached to the lower side of the flat plate, a flat circular lens is placed in front of the camera module to protect the lens of the camera module, a ring-shaped gear train is attached to the edge of the flat circular lens, and the flat circular lens attached to the gear train rotates in accordance with the rotation of a driving gear coupled to the shaft of the motor, and foreign substances existing on the surface of the flat circular lens are removed by a wiper coming into contact with the surface of the flat circular lens.

The effects of the foreign substance removal device of the electronic side mirror of the present invention having the above configuration are as follows.

The foreign substance removal device of the present invention directly wipes the lens of a camera using a wiper, thereby achieving the effect of cleanly removing foreign substances adhered to the lens.

In addition, since the lens rotates while the wiper is fixed, the problem of the camera module being covered and the image being cut off when the wiper is in operation, as in the past, is resolved, providing the driver with a continuous rear view, thus promoting safe driving.

In addition, the present invention has the advantage of minimizing the phenomenon of image distortion due to refraction of light by using a flat circular lens.

In addition, we have obtained an effect that can be applied to cleaning not only cameras but also various sensors used in autonomous driving.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a foreign substance removal device of an electronic side mirror of the present invention.
Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the foreign substance removal device of the electronic side mirror of the present invention.
Figure 3 is a front detailed view of the foreign matter removal device of the electronic side mirror of the present invention.
Figure 4 is a detailed rear view of the foreign matter removal device of the electronic side mirror of the present invention.
Figure 5 is an operation status diagram of the foreign substance removal device of the electronic side mirror of the present invention.
Figure 6 is an operational state diagram for removing the wiper of the foreign substance removal device of the electronic side mirror of the present invention.
Figure 7 is a control flow chart of a foreign matter control device of an electronic side mirror of the present invention.
Figure 8 is a flow chart showing the detailed configuration of the foreign substance detection sequence of the foreign substance control device of the electronic side mirror of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a drawing showing the central area of an image used in a foreign substance removal device of an electronic side mirror of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the foreign substance removal device of the electronic side mirror of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

However, the disclosed drawings are provided as examples to ensure that the spirit of the present invention can be sufficiently conveyed to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to the drawings presented below and may be embodied in other aspects.

In addition, unless otherwise defined, terms used in the specification of the present invention have meanings commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains, and detailed descriptions of well-known functions and configurations that may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention in the following description and accompanying drawings are omitted.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a foreign substance removal device for an electronic side mirror of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a foreign substance removal device for an electronic side mirror of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a front detailed view of a foreign substance removal device for an electronic side mirror of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a back detailed view of a foreign substance removal device for an electronic side mirror of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the foreign substance removal device of the present invention is installed on the side of the body of a vehicle (1) and is installed in an electronic side mirror (10) that projects the rear.

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 4, the electronic side mirror (10) includes a housing (20) that forms the exterior of the side mirror and has a flat plate (21) that divides the internal space into upper and lower parts, and a bracket (30) attached to the side (22) for connection to the body of a car (1).

The housing (20) has a conventional pipe shape with the back side closed and the front side open, and a camera module (40) for taking pictures is installed on the upper side of a flat plate (21) that divides the internal space of the housing (20), and a motor (50) is attached to the lower side of the flat plate (21).

The above camera module (40) is a small, publicly known shooting module that has built-in camera accessories such as a normal lens (41).

In addition, a flat circular lens (60) is placed in front of the camera module (40) to protect the lens (41) of the camera module (40). At this time, a circular ring-shaped gear train (61) is attached to the edge of the flat circular lens (60), and as the gear train (61) rotates according to the rotation of the driving gear (51) coupled to the shaft of the motor (50), the flat circular lens (60) located inside the gear train (61) can also rotate clockwise or counterclockwise.

At this time, in order to sequentially transmit the rotational power of the motor (50) to the gear train (61), a driven gear (52) that transmits the rotational power of the drive gear (51) to the gear train (61) is installed between the drive gear (51) coupled to the shaft of the motor (50) and the gear train (61) of the circular flat lens (60), and an auxiliary gear (53) that rotates while supporting the rotation of the gear train (61) is installed on the outside of the gear train (61).

In addition, the opening in the front of the housing (20) is covered by a cover (70), and the cover (70) has a through hole (71) formed to expose the lens (41) of the camera module (40), and an insertion hole (72) is perforated on the side of the camera (70) into which a wiper (80) is inserted to remove foreign substances such as dust or stains present on the surface by coming into contact with the surface of the flat circular lens (60).

The above wiper (80) includes a lever (81) that engages with the insertion hole (72) of the cover (70) and a blade (82) that extends laterally from the lever (81), and the blade (82) is positioned to come into contact with the surface of the flat circular lens (50).

Accordingly, as the flat circular lens (50) rotates, foreign substances present at the contact portion with the blade (82) are detached from the surface of the flat circular lens (50) due to friction with the blade (82).

The material of the above blade (82) may be any known material capable of cleaning the surface of a glass material such as a lens, and for example, a rubber material used as a wiper blade for an automobile or a woven material made of ultra-fine cleaning fibers may be used.

Meanwhile, in order to seal the space between the cover (70) and the flat circular lens (60), a sealing O-ring (90) is placed on the back surface of the through hole (71) of the cover (70).

Preferably, the flat circular lens (60) of the present invention is made of a transparent material and has a flat shape, so that the phenomenon of image distortion due to the photorefraction phenomenon can be minimized.

In addition, the driving, rotation direction, and rotation amount of the motor (50) are controlled by the electronic control unit (ECU) (110) of the automobile, and if a foreign substance exists on the surface of the flat circular lens (60), this is detected and the motor (50) is automatically driven.

In addition, the embodiment of the present invention installs a switch (100) that can manually operate the foreign substance removal device of the present invention on the console of a car, and when a user activates the switch (100), the motor (50) of the foreign substance removal device is driven to remove the foreign substance. A specific control method for this will be described later.

The operation of the foreign substance removal device of the electronic side mirror of the present invention configured as described above is described.

Figure 5 is an operating state diagram of a foreign substance removal device of an electronic side mirror of the present invention.

First, referring to the drawing (a), if a foreign substance (D) such as dust exists on the flat circular lens (60) corresponding to the part where the lens (41) of the camera module (40) is exposed, the electronic control unit (ECU) that detects the foreign substance automatically operates or the driver operates according to a switch input signal for driving the foreign substance removal device.

Then, due to the rotation of the motor (50), the driving gear (51) coupled to its shaft rotates, the driven gear (52) meshed with the driving gear (51) rotates in the opposite direction to the driving gear, and due to the rotation of the driven gear (52), the gear train (61) meshed with the driven gear (52) rotates along the rotational direction of the driven gear (52) while receiving support from the auxiliary gear (53).

Then, the flat circular lens (60) attached to the inside of the gear train (61) is also rotated by the gear train, and as shown in the drawings (b) and (c), the foreign matter (D) existing on the lens (60) is continuously moved toward the wiper (80), and as shown in the drawings (d), the foreign matter is removed from the surface of the lens (60) by friction with the blade (82) of the wiper (80) in contact with the surface of the lens (60).

Therefore, the foreign substance removal device of the side mirror of the present invention, which operates as described above, can cleanly remove foreign substances existing on the surface of the lens (60) using the wiper (80).

In addition, since the lens (60) rotates while the wiper (80) is fixed, the problem of the camera module being covered and the image being cut off when the conventional wiper is in operation is resolved, thereby providing the driver with a continuous rear view, thereby promoting safe driving.

Figure 6 is an operation state diagram for removing the wiper of the foreign substance removal device of the electronic side mirror of the present invention.

The foreign substance removal device of the present invention is configured so that the wiper (80) itself can be replaced and used when the blade (82) of the wiper (80) becomes contaminated due to long-term use.

Referring to FIG. 6, when the lever (81) of the wiper (80) coupled to the insertion hole (72) formed on the side of the cover (70) that shields the opening of the housing (20) is pulled toward the outside of the housing (20), the engagement state of the lever (81) is released from the insertion hole (72) and the blade (82) portion of the wiper (80) is pulled out toward the outside of the housing (20) and removed from the housing (20).

In this state, a new wiper (80) is prepared and inserted from its blade (82) into the insertion hole (72) on the side of the cover (70) and the wiper (80) is replaced by pushing the wiper (80) into the housing (20) until the lever (81) is caught by the insertion hole (72).

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the control of a foreign substance removal device of an electronic side mirror of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the detailed configuration of a foreign substance detection sequence of a foreign substance removal device of an electronic side mirror of the present invention, explaining the control of the foreign substance removal device of the present invention that operates as described above.

The foreign substance removal device of the present invention is controlled by an electronic control unit (ECU) (110) of an automobile that controls an electronic side mirror (10).

Specifically, the electronic control unit (110) performs an operation mode confirmation procedure to check whether the operation mode of the foreign substance removal device is automatic mode or manual mode (S1).

The above automatic mode is a mode in which the electronic control unit (110) detects the presence of foreign substances on the flat circular lens (60) and, if it is determined that a foreign substance is present, drives the motor (50) to remove the foreign substance. The above manual mode is a mode in which, when the user turns on the switch (100) installed on the console, etc., and transmits a switch input signal, the motor (50) is driven to remove the foreign substance.

In the embodiment of the present invention, if the switch (100) is in the ON state, it is determined as a manual mode, and if the switch (100) is in the OFF state, it is determined as an automatic mode.

If it is determined to be in manual mode in the above S1 sequence, the electronic control unit (110) drives the motor (50) only when the switch (100) is in the ON state to rotate the flat circular lens (60) as described above to remove foreign substances (S6).

On the other hand, if it is determined to be in automatic mode in the above S1 sequence, the electronic control unit (110) performs a windshield wiper switch confirmation sequence to determine whether the windshield wiper switch is activated (S2).

The reason for determining whether the windshield wiper switch is activated in the above S2 sequence is that if the windshield wiper switch of the car is in the ON state, it is assumed that it is currently raining or snowing, so the foreign matter removal device of the electronic side mirror also operates in conjunction with the windshield wiper to secure the rear view of the car to the maximum extent possible in bad weather.

Therefore, if the windshield wiper switch is activated and turned ON in the above S2 sequence, the electronic control unit (110) automatically controls the operation of the motor (50) according to the operating speed of the windshield wiper (S3).

However, if the windshield wiper switch is deactivated and turned OFF in the above S2 sequence, the electronic control unit (110) performs a foreign substance detection sequence to determine whether a foreign substance is detected on the flat circular lens (60) (S4). The specific configuration of the foreign substance detection sequence of the above S4 step is described later with reference to FIG. 8.

And, if a foreign substance is detected on the flat circular lens (60) at the above step S4, the electronic control unit (110) drives the motor (50) to remove the foreign substance present on the flat circular lens (60) (S5), and conversely, if a foreign substance is not detected at the above step S3, the process returns to the above step S2 and operates the motor (50) depending on whether the windshield wiper switch is activated.

Next, a more specific configuration of the foreign substance detection procedure of step S3 will be described with reference to FIG. 8.

Referring to the drawing, the foreign substance detection procedure by the electronic control unit (110) of the above S4 procedure first determines whether the vehicle is in a driving state or a stopped state by receiving speed data from the electronic control unit (110) from a speed sensor installed in the vehicle (S10).

If the vehicle is stopped at the above step S10, it returns to the above step S2 and operates the motor (50) depending on whether the windshield wiper switch is activated.

However, if the vehicle is in a driving state at step S10, the electronic control unit (110) receives illumination data from a illumination sensor installed in the vehicle and determines whether the current external environment of the vehicle is daytime or nighttime (S11).

The distinction between daytime and nighttime environments in the above step S11 is intended to apply different reference values required for judgment in the analysis process of image data captured by the camera module (40) to be described later, and details will be described later.

If the external environment of the vehicle is determined to be daytime in the above step S11, the electronic control unit (110) reads out the image data generated by the camera module (40) and analyzes how many pixels do not change during the preset daytime standard time compared to the total pixels (S12). In the embodiment of the present invention, the daytime standard time is set to 30 seconds.

The reason for analyzing pixels that do not change during the reference time in the above step S12 is that if a pixel does not change while the car is driving, it means that the corresponding pixel portion is covered by a foreign substance.

Next, when the above analysis is completed, the electronic control unit (110) determines whether the number of pixels that have not changed during the weekly reference time is greater than or equal to a preset weekly reference percentage compared to the total number of pixels (S13). In the embodiment of the present invention, the weekly reference percentage is set to 10%.

If the number of pixels that have not changed in the above step S13 is judged to be greater than the weekly standard percentage, the electronic control unit (110) determines that there is a foreign substance on the flat circular lens (60) covering the camera module (40) and drives the motor (50) to perform an operation to remove the foreign substance (step S5 of FIG. 7).

However, if the number of pixels that have not changed in the above step S13 is determined to be less than the weekly reference percentage, the electronic control unit (110) determines whether the number of pixels that have not changed among the pixels located in the image center area of the image data captured by the camera module (40) is greater than or equal to the preset weekly center reference percentage compared to the total number of pixels (S14). In the embodiment of the present invention, the weekly center reference percentage is set to 5%.

At this time, as illustrated in FIG. 9, in the image captured by the camera module (40) in step S14, an area having a radius (r) of a predetermined length from the center (C) is set as the central area, and even if the number of pixels that did not change in step S13 is determined to be less than the weekly standard percentage, this is to prevent foreign substances from existing in the central area, which occupies a significant portion of the rear image.

And, if the number of pixels that have not changed in the central area is determined to be greater than the weekly central area standard percentage in step S14, the process returns to step S12 described above to analyze the number of pixels that have not changed during the weekly standard time, and if the number of pixels that have not changed in the central area is determined to be less than the weekly central area standard percentage in step S14, the process returns to step S10 and repeats the process of determining whether the vehicle is driving.

Next, we will explain the control when the external environment of the vehicle is determined to be at night in the above step S11.

If the external environment of the vehicle is determined to be nighttime in the above step S11, the electronic control unit (110) reads out the image data generated by the camera module (40) and analyzes how many pixels do not change during the preset nighttime reference time compared to the total pixels (S15). In the embodiment of the present invention, the nighttime reference time is set to 40 seconds.

Next, when the above analysis is completed, the electronic control unit (110) determines whether the number of pixels that have not changed during the night-time reference time is greater than or equal to a preset night-time reference percentage compared to the total number of pixels (S16). In the embodiment of the present invention, the night-time reference percentage is set to 20%.

If the number of pixels that have not changed in the above step S16 is determined to be greater than the night-time standard percentage, the electronic control unit (110) determines that there is a foreign substance on the flat circular lens (60) covering the camera module (40) and drives the motor (50) to perform an operation to remove the foreign substance (step S5 of FIG. 7).

However, if the number of pixels that have not changed in the above step S16 is determined to be less than the night-time reference percentage, the electronic control unit (110) determines whether the number of pixels located in the center area of the image data captured by the camera module (40) that have not changed is greater than or equal to the preset night-time reference percentage compared to the total number of pixels (S17). In the embodiment of the present invention, the night-time reference percentage is set to 10%.

And, if the number of pixels that have not changed in the central area is determined to be greater than the night-time central area standard percentage in step S17, the process returns to step S15 described above to analyze the number of pixels that have not changed during the night-time standard time, and if the number of pixels that have not changed in the central area is determined to be less than the night-time central area standard percentage in step S17, the process returns to step S10 and repeats the process of determining whether the vehicle is driving.

1; car
10; Electronic side mirrors
20; Housing
21; reputation
22; side
30; bracket
40; Camera module
41; Lens
50; motor
51; Drive Gear
52; Passive gear
53; Auxiliary gear
60; Flat circular lens
61; Gear train
70; cover
71; through hole
72; insert hole
80; wiper
81; lever
82; Blade
90; O-ring
100; switch
110; Electronic Control Unit

Claims (10)

In a foreign substance removal device for an electronic side mirror (10) of an automobile (1),
A camera module (40) that performs shooting is installed on the upper side of a flat plate (21) installed inside the housing (20) of an electronic side mirror (10), and a motor (50) is attached to the lower side of the flat plate (21).
In order to protect the lens (41) of the camera module (40) in front of the above camera module (40), a flat circular lens (60) is placed, and a ring-shaped gear train (61) is attached to the edge of the flat circular lens (60).
As the drive gear (51) coupled to the shaft of the above motor (50) rotates, the flat circular lens (60) attached to the gear train (61) rotates, and foreign substances existing on the surface of the flat circular lens (60) are removed by the wiper (80) that comes into contact with the surface of the flat circular lens (60).
A driven gear (52) that transmits the rotational power of the driving gear (51) to the gear train (61) is installed between the driving gear (51) coupled to the shaft of the motor (50) and the gear train (61) of the circular flat lens (60), and an auxiliary gear (53) that rotates while supporting the rotation of the gear train (61) is installed on the outside of the gear train (61).
The opening in the front of the housing (20) is covered by a cover (70), and the cover (70) has a through hole (71) formed to expose the lens (41) of the camera module (40), and an insertion hole (72) into which the wiper (80) is inserted is perforated on the side of the cover (70).
The above wiper (80) includes a lever (81) that engages with the insertion hole (72) of the cover (70) and a blade (82) that extends laterally from the lever (81), and the blade (82) is characterized by a configuration in which it comes into contact with the surface of a flat circular lens (50).
delete delete delete In paragraph 1,
The above flat circular lens (60) is a foreign substance removal device characterized by having a flat shape that minimizes the phenomenon of image distortion due to light refraction.
In paragraph 1,
The above motor (50) is controlled by the electronic control unit (ECU) (110) of the automobile.
A foreign substance removal device characterized in that when a foreign substance exists on the surface of the flat circular lens (60), the electronic control unit (110) detects the foreign substance and performs an automatic mode to drive the motor (50).
In paragraph 1,
To perform manual mode for manually operating the foreign substance removal device,
A foreign substance removal device characterized by a configuration in which a switch (100) for driving the above motor (50) is installed.
In a control method of a foreign substance removal device in which a camera module (40) and a motor (50) are installed inside a housing (20) of an electronic side mirror (10), a flat circular lens (60) is placed in front of the camera module (40), and foreign substances existing on the surface of a flat circular lens (60) are removed by a wiper (80) that comes into contact with the surface of the flat circular lens (60) as the flat circular lens (60) rotates according to the rotation of the motor (50) controlled by the electronic control unit (110) of the automobile,
An operation mode confirmation procedure (S1) in which the electronic control unit (110) checks whether the operation mode of the foreign substance removal device is automatic mode or manual mode;
If the above S1 sequence is judged to be in automatic mode, the electronic control unit (110) determines whether the windshield wiper switch is activated through a windshield wiper switch confirmation sequence (S2);
If the windshield wiper switch is activated and turned ON in the above S2 sequence, the electronic control unit (110) automatically controls the operation of the motor (50) according to the operating speed of the windshield wiper (S3);
If the windshield wiper switch is deactivated and turned OFF in the above S2 sequence, the electronic control unit (110) determines whether a foreign substance is detected on the flat circular lens (60) in the foreign substance detection sequence (S4);
A control method of a foreign substance removal device characterized by a configuration in which, when a foreign substance is detected on the flat circular lens (60) at the above step S4, the electronic control unit (110) drives the motor (50) to remove the foreign substance present on the flat circular lens (60) (S5);
In the 8th paragraph, the foreign substance detection procedure of S4 is:
Step (S10) in which the electronic control unit (110) receives speed data from a speed sensor installed in the vehicle and determines whether the vehicle is in a driving state or a stationary state;
When the vehicle is in a driving state, the electronic control unit (110) receives illumination data from a illumination sensor installed in the vehicle and determines whether the current external environment of the vehicle is daytime or nighttime (S11);
When the external environment of the vehicle is determined to be daytime, the electronic control unit (110) reads out the image data generated by the camera module (40) and analyzes the number of pixels that do not change during the preset daytime standard time compared to the total pixels (S12);
When the above analysis is completed, the electronic control unit (110) determines whether the number of pixels that have not changed during the weekly standard time is greater than or equal to a preset weekly standard percentage compared to the total number of pixels (S13);
If the number of pixels is determined to be greater than the weekly standard percentage, the electronic control unit (110) determines that there is a foreign substance on the flat circular lens (60) covering the camera module (40) and performs an operation to drive the motor (50) to remove the foreign substance (S20);
If the number of pixels that have not changed in the above step S13 is determined to be less than the weekly reference percentage, the electronic control unit (110) is configured to include a step (S14) for determining whether the number of pixels that have not changed among the pixels located in the image center area of the image data captured by the camera module (40) is greater than or equal to the preset weekly center reference percentage compared to the total number of pixels.
If the number of pixels that have not changed in the central area in the above step S14 is judged to be greater than the weekly central area standard percentage, the process returns to step S12 and analyzes the number of pixels that have not changed during the weekly standard time.
A control method for a foreign substance removal device characterized by a configuration in which, if the number of pixels that have not changed in the central area in step S14 is determined to be less than the weekly central area reference percentage, the process of returning to step S10 and determining whether the vehicle is driving is repeated.
In Article 9,
If the external environment of the vehicle is judged to be nighttime in the above step S11,
The electronic control unit (110) reads out image data generated by the camera module (40) and analyzes how many pixels do not change during a preset night-time standard time compared to the total pixels (S15);
When the above analysis is completed, the electronic control unit (110) determines whether the number of pixels that have not changed during the night-time reference time is greater than or equal to a preset night-time reference percentage compared to the total number of pixels (S16);
If the number of pixels that have not changed in the above step S16 is judged to be greater than the night-time standard percentage, the electronic control unit (110) determines that there is a foreign substance on the flat circular lens (60) covering the camera module (40) and drives the motor (50) to perform an operation to remove the foreign substance (S21).
If the number of pixels that have not changed in the above step S16 is determined to be less than the night-time standard percentage, the electronic control unit (110) is configured to include a step (S17) for determining whether the number of pixels that have not changed among the pixels located in the center area of the image data captured by the camera module (40) is greater than or equal to the preset night-time standard percentage compared to the total number of pixels.
A control method for a foreign substance removal device characterized by a configuration in which the process is repeated from the process of analyzing the number of pixels that do not change during the night-time standard time by returning to ... using the process of analyzing the number of pixels that do not change during the night-time standard time by using the process of analyzing the number of pixels that