JP3352096B2 - Vehicle exterior monitoring device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle exterior monitoring device, and more particularly to a vehicle exterior monitoring device installed in a vehicle for monitoring the distance and proximity of the vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional vehicle exterior monitoring apparatus uses a wide-angle lens because a wide viewing angle is required. Therefore, a distant object has a problem that its image is small and very difficult to see. Further, since the sense of distance is also greatly exaggerated, even if a distant object approaches, it seems that the distance is longer than it actually is, and there is a possibility that the driver may be misunderstood. To solve this problem, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 1-172784, an additional lens is provided in addition to the wide-angle lens of the monitoring camera for a vehicle, and a wide-angle lens and two additional lenses are combined to enlarge a distant area. Display devices have been devised.

[0003]

However, since the above-mentioned conventional device is a mechanical mechanism that combines two lenses, a wide-angle lens and an additional lens,
In order to switch the display of the vicinity, there is a problem that the additional lens must be moved one by one.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and is intended for a vehicle capable of performing processing of image data picked up by an image pickup means without using an additional lens so as to be able to switch between perspective and near. It is an object to provide a vehicle exterior monitoring device.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an image pickup means for picking up an image of a predetermined area outside a vehicle, and image data picked up by the image pickup means is stored in a memory. In a vehicle exterior monitoring device having a function of displaying a stored image on a display unit after being stored in a circuit, a predetermined partially fixed region of the captured image data is extracted, and the extracted partially fixed region is extracted. Extracting and enlarging means for enlarging the image according to the size to be displayed, and displaying the vicinity of the vehicle on the display means when the reverse gear of the vehicle is engaged or when the vehicle is stopped, and the reverse gear of the vehicle is displayed. Display control means for automatically displaying an image extracted and enlarged by the extraction and enlargement means on a display means when the vehicle is not in the vehicle and the vehicle is not stopped .

[0006]

With the above arrangement, it is assumed that an image of a predetermined area outside the vehicle is taken, the taken image data is stored in a memory circuit, and the stored image is displayed on a display means.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, a predetermined fixed area of the captured image data is extracted by the extracting and enlarging means, and the extracted image related to the fixed area is enlarged to a size to be displayed. Then, when the vehicle is in reverse gear or when the vehicle is stopped, the vicinity of the vehicle is displayed on the display means, and when the vehicle is not in reverse gear and the vehicle is not stopped, the display means is displayed. Automatically display the extracted and enlarged image .

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail based on an embodiment shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention.

The super wide-angle lens unit 1 is installed at the rear of the vehicle and checks the rear of the vehicle. The super wide-angle lens unit 1 is a 1 / 2-inch CCD optical system lens unit, and uses a wide-angle lens with a focal length f of about 2.5 mm. With this focal length, the angle of view is 101 ° vertically (vertically) and 128 ° horizontally (horizontally).
Therefore, it is possible to simultaneously photograph the direction directly below and the horizontal direction at the rear of the vehicle, and to obtain a very wide field of view. further,
Because this lens is a wide-angle lens, 0.5m from infinity
A fixed focus method is used for focusing within a certain range. The light amount adjustment of the super wide angle lens unit 1 is performed by C
This is an electronic iris system using the variable speed electronic shutter function of the CD drive circuit unit 3.

The CCD image sensor 2 has 5 effective pixels.
It is about 250,000 pixels of 12 (H) × 492 (V). Normally, a display device such as a CRT for a vehicle has a size of 6 inches or less, so even when performing enlarged display, this number of pixels is sufficient. However, when the magnification of the enlarged display is large, a higher quality image can be obtained by using a high resolution CCD having 350,000 pixels or the like. Further, the CCD image sensor 2 has a mirror image inversion output function. With this function, when checking the rear of the vehicle, the display visually recognized by the occupant such as a CRT can be reversed left and right in accordance with the rearview mirror display.

The CCD driving circuit 3 includes a timing generating circuit for a video signal of a standard such as NTSC and PAL and a CCD driving circuit.
And a synchronizing pulse signal generating circuit necessary for operating the memory control circuit 8, such as a horizontal driving pulse and a vertical driving pulse.
These signals are output to the CD image sensor 2.

The CDS and AGC circuit 4 includes a sample-and-hold circuit for detecting only image information from the output signal of the CCD image sensor 2 and an output signal of the CCD image sensor 2 so that the output signal of the CCD image sensor 2 does not become small at low illuminance. From an automatic gain control circuit that amplifies the gain.

The A / D converter 5 has a resolution of 9 bits and converts the output of the CDS and AGC circuit 4 into 9-bit digital data. The luminance (Y) and color (C) signal processing circuit 6 has a line memory for two scanning lines.

The frame memory 7 stores a luminance (Y) signal and a color (C) signal from the luminance (Y) signal and color (C) signal processing circuit 6.
This is a memory for holding signals for one screen. The memory control circuit 8 performs an image enlargement process according to the switching signal. The memory control circuit 8 is configured by a gate array or the like, and performs a calculation process of FIG. 6 described later.

The encoder circuit 9 is a circuit for performing signal processing for making the signal of the frame memory 7 conform to the standards such as NTSC and PAL. D / A converter 10
Is composed of two D / A converters having an 8-bit resolution. The display device 11 is a display device such as a CRT installed in the driver's seat of the vehicle.

The switching control signal 12 is a request signal for switching the display of a reverse gear switch of a shift lever or a switching switch provided on a display device of a driver's seat.
The operation of the vehicle surveillance camera configured as described above will be described.

The super wide angle lens unit 1 receives light from the rear of the vehicle through the wide angle lens. And
This light reaches the CCD image sensor 2. In the CCD image sensor 2, the CCD driving circuit 3
When a signal necessary for the operation of the lens is input, electrons are excited by incident light from the ultra-wide-angle lens unit 1, become photoelectrons, are accumulated as signal charges, are sequentially sent to adjacent pixels, and finally have CDS and The signal is output to the AGC circuit 4.

The output signal of the CCD image sensor 2 is C
When input to the DS and AGC circuit 4, only the image information is detected by the built-in sample and hold circuit.
Here, when the output signal of the CCD image sensor 2 is small at low illuminance, this output signal is amplified by the built-in automatic gain control circuit.

Thereafter, the output of the CDS and AGC circuit 4 is input to an A / D converter 5, and the analog signal thus far is converted into a 9-bit digital signal. The digital signal converted by the A / D converter 5 has luminance (Y), color (C)
The signal is input to the signal processing circuit 6 and separated into an 8-bit luminance (Y) signal and color (C) signal by a line memory for two scanning lines. Separated 8-bit luminance (Y) signal, color (C)
The signal is then input to the frame memory 7 and held for one screen. In this state, the display near the rear of the vehicle is CR
It is visually recognized on a display such as T.

The synchronization signal output from the CCD driving circuit 3 and the switching control signal 12 are sent to the memory control circuit 8.
When a request signal for display switching from is input, the area to be actually displayed is determined from the data held for one screen in the frame memory 7 as shown in FIG. Under the control of the memory control circuit 8, FIG.
This area is enlarged as shown in FIG. That is,
The output address of the frame memory 7 is calculated in the memory control circuit 8, the output data is determined, and the output data is subjected to enlargement processing. Under the control of the memory control circuit 8, on this frame memory 7, as shown in FIG.
The enlargement process is performed. Here, FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing control of switching timing for display switching in the memory control circuit 8.

In step 10, the process is started by turning on the power supply of the entire apparatus shown in FIG. 1. In step 20, it is determined whether or not a synchronization signal is input to the memory control circuit 8 from the CCD drive circuit 3. If it has been input, it is determined that the image data for one screen has been arranged on the CCD image sensor 2, and the process proceeds to step 30, and if not, the control is temporarily terminated without performing the subsequent control. Step 30
In step 40, it is determined whether the reverse gear is engaged and whether the vehicle is stopped. This step 30
If it is determined in step 40 that either one is YES, the process proceeds to step 70, and the data held for one screen in the frame memory 7 is displayed on the display device 11 as it is via the circuits below the encoder circuit 9. Thereby, the vicinity of the vehicle is displayed. If both are determined to be NO, the process proceeds to step 50, where the area to be actually displayed is determined from the data held for one screen in the frame memory 7, and this area is enlarged. Then, step 60
Then, the enlarged area is displayed on the display device 11 through the circuits below the encoder circuit 9 so that the far area of the vehicle is displayed.

As described above, in the control of the memory control circuit 8, as shown in the flow chart, when the back gear is engaged or the vehicle is stopped while the CCD drive circuit 3 is being driven, the vicinity is controlled. In other cases, a part of the near display image is enlarged to display a distant place.

Thereafter, the 8-bit luminance (Y) signal and chrominance (C) signal output from the frame memory 7 are input to an encoder circuit 9 and are adjusted to a standard such as NTSC, PAL or the like. At 10, the digital signal is D / A converted into an analog signal, and output as a luminance (Y) signal and a color (C) signal, respectively. When a composite signal is required, a luminance (Y) signal and a color (C) signal may be combined.

The output signal is input to a display device 11 such as a CRT installed in the driver's seat of the vehicle, and is visually recognized by an occupant. As described above, the present embodiment has a configuration in which image enlargement processing is performed according to the switching signal. Therefore, if the display is distant during normal driving, display on a CRT or the like is performed in the same manner as a normal rearview mirror. You can see.
Then, when the vehicle is in reverse gear or when the vehicle is stopped, the distant display can be switched to see the near display. Moreover, the switching can be performed instantaneously electrically.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the second embodiment, it is assumed that the vehicle surveillance camera of the present invention is installed at the rear of a large truck as shown in FIG. In this case, since the camera is installed at a high place above the ground, an object on the ground is displayed very small. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the separated 8-bit luminance (Y) signal, color (C)
The image is enlarged in accordance with the switching signal not only at the time of displaying the signal at a distance as shown in FIG. 4B, but also at the time of displaying the signal as shown in FIG. 4C. By performing this processing, the vicinity display can be further enlarged, and an object on the ground can be displayed larger.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified as described below without departing from the gist thereof. . When checking the rear of the vehicle, the display on the CRT or the like is turned left and right in accordance with the rearview mirror display.
In the frame memory 7, image data in the memory may be inverted by a control signal of the memory control circuit 8.

[0026] In this embodiment, a luminance (Y) signal,
The order of the color (C) signal processing circuit 6, the frame memory 7, and the memory control circuit 8 can be interchanged, and the data after A / D conversion can be directly enlarged.

Further, in the present embodiment, the signal processing of the CCD is performed by digital processing. However, the signal processing is performed by analog processing, and the video signal after the signal processing is A / D converted.
It is also possible to enlarge and display by the frame memory 7 and the memory control circuit 8. That is, the order of the A / D converter 5, the luminance (Y) signal, and the color (C) signal processing circuit 6 may be changed.

[0028] In this embodiment, the frame memory 7
The enlargement operation is performed by outputting a partial area of the above data. However, this operation can be performed in front of the frame memory. That is, the CCD image sensor 2
Of the output, the portion to be the enlarged display area may be determined at the time of writing to the frame memory 7, and the enlarged image may be written.

[0029] The area to be enlarged and displayed is not fixed, and the display can be switched by operating a switch on a display or the like. As shown in FIG. 5, the center coordinates A (X, Y) in the portion to be enlarged (the portion indicated by oblique lines) are designated by pressing the touch switch 13, and the coordinates are serially transmitted to the control circuit 14 of the camera. Transmission via communication, etc., and the camera control circuit 1
Reference numeral 4 creates an enlarged image centered on the designated coordinates, and enlarges and displays a portion specified by the driver. Then, pressing the return switch returns to the image before the enlargement.

Arrows (↑, ↓, ←, →) during enlarged display
By operating the switch, the screen scrolls in the direction opposite to the arrow, and the image can be moved in the up, down, left, and right directions. Thus, the camera can be swung without mechanically moving the camera.

[0031] In this embodiment, not only rearward monitoring but also mounting in the front bumper, headlights, etc. of the vehicle enables confirmation of the front left / right direction and the like. It is effective for

[0032]

According to the vehicle exterior monitoring device of the present invention,
Since the process of extracting and enlarging a part of the image data is performed, the switching display between the vicinity and the distant of the vehicle can be performed only by processing the image data captured by the imaging unit without using an additional lens. In particular, according to the first aspect, an image in which the vicinity of the vehicle is displayed when the reverse gear of the vehicle is engaged or the vehicle is stopped, and an image in which a predetermined fixed area is enlarged in other cases. Can be displayed automatically .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining installation of a second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining display switching of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a display according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a means for switching display.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing switching timing for display switching.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 super wide-angle lens unit 2 CCD image sensor 3 CCD drive circuit 4 CDS and AGC circuit 5 A / D converter 6 luminance (Y) and color (X) signal processing circuit 7 frame memory 8 memory control circuit 9 encoder circuit 10 D / A converter 11 Display device 12 Switching control signal

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-2-158436 (JP, A) JP-A-2-306295 (JP, A) JP-A-3-10281 (JP, A) JP-A-63-1988 34261 (JP, A) Japanese Utility Model 1983-189670 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model 64-8447 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Utility Model 63-192789 (JP, U) (58) Fields surveyed (Int. ⁷ , DB name) B60R 1/00 H04N 5/225 H04N 7/68

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An external monitor for a vehicle having an image capturing means for capturing an image of a predetermined area outside a vehicle, having a function of storing image data captured by the image capturing means in a memory circuit and displaying the stored image on a display means. In the apparatus, extraction and enlargement means for extracting a predetermined fixed area of the captured image data and expanding the extracted image related to the fixed area to a size to be displayed, and a back gear of the vehicle. When the vehicle is stopped or when the vehicle is stopped, the vicinity of the vehicle is displayed on the display means, and when the reverse gear of the vehicle is not engaged and the vehicle is not stopped, the image extracted and expanded by the extraction and expansion means is displayed. And a display control means for automatically displaying the information on a display means.