JPH0656352B2 - Detecting device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facing detection device used in an optical axis detection device for adjusting and determining the irradiation direction of a vehicle headlight or the like.

[Prior art]

In order to detect the optical axis that is the irradiation direction of the vehicle headlight using the optical axis detection device, the optical axis detection device and the headlight must be correctly aligned. For this purpose, a confrontation detection device is used, and the configuration of a conventional confrontation detection device is shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 shows a front-facing detection device attached to an optical axis detection device for detecting the optical axis by a pair sensor type axis detection sensor. In the figure, 1 is a headlight, 2 is an axis detection sensor, and 3 is a connection. An image lens, 4 is a face-up detection sensor, and AX is an apparatus axis. The axis detection sensor 2 is provided with two pairs of light receiving sensors 2a and 2b on the upper and lower sides and on the left and right sides, and an opening 2c is provided in the central portion so that the light intensities of the upper and lower pairs of the light receiving sensors can be balanced. Then, the optical axis which is the axis of the irradiation direction of the headlight 1 is adjusted and determined. This axis detection sensor 2 and headlight 1
In order to detect whether or not and are correctly facing each other, the imaging lens 3 is provided so that the optical axis of the lens passes through the center of the axis detection sensor 2 and the optical axis of the lens is aligned, and the center of the lens is aligned with this axis AX. A pair detection sensor 4 is provided. Then, the lens 3 forms an image of the headlight 1 through the central opening 2C on the facing detection sensor 4, and the outputs of the two pairs of light receiving sensors 4a and 4b provided in the facing detection sensor 4 are The balance is output under the condition.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

However, the image of the headlight is generally as shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b). FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b) are images of the same headlight, but with the headlight angle slightly changed. As is clear from comparison between FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b), the bright portion A changes extremely. Therefore, it is difficult to accurately make a face-to-face detection with a face-to-face detection method such as that shown in FIG. For this reason, it has been attempted to partially blur the image to soften the characteristics of the bright portion, but this is not sufficient. The present invention is capable of detecting the frontal relationship between a headlight or the like and an optical axis detecting device without being affected by the movement of the bright part of the image of the headlight that occurs during the process of adjusting the optical axis of the headlight or the like. An object of the present invention is to provide a facing detection device that can be used.

[Means for solving problems]

An imaging lens installed so that the optical axis of the lens is aligned with the central axis of an optical axis detection device that is placed directly opposite to the vehicle headlight, and an image of the headlight is taken through the imaging lens An image pickup means for forming an image on the element and a video signal from the image pickup means
Using the binarizing means for binarizing, the image memory for storing the binary image data by the binarizing means, and the binary image data stored in the image memory, the front lens part of the headlight is used. A circumscribing frame including bright parts generated on four sides of the edge is obtained, a center point of the circumscribing frame is calculated, and means for setting the center point as a center position of the headlight is provided. So that the optical axis detecting device can be correctly faced.

[Action]

In the process of adjusting the optical axis of a vehicle headlight, etc., the bright part of the external appearance of the headlight moves extremely when looking at the headlight from the optical axis detection device or in the image formed by a lens etc. But
In most cases, there is a bright part on all four sides of the outer shape (edge of the front lens part) of the headlight, etc., and by detecting the circumscribing frame including them, the headlight etc. The circumscribing frame of the outer shape is extracted, and its center is calculated to be the center position of the headlight or the like.

Examples of the invention

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of a facing detection apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, 11 is an axis detection sensor, 12 is a camera lens (imaging lens), 13 is a television camera, and 14 is 2
A digitization circuit, 15 is an image memory, and 16 is a microcomputer. The axis detecting sensor 11 is the same as the axis detecting sensor 2 shown in FIG. 3, and includes two pairs of light receiving sensors 11a and 11a.
b and a central opening 11c. Further, the camera lens 12 and the television camera 13 are arranged in alignment with the central axis of the axis detection sensor 11. FIG. 2 is a view showing each image obtained by the facing detection apparatus according to the present invention. The facing detection apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. With the TV camera 13, the central opening 11 of the axis detection sensor 11
A headlight (not shown) is observed via c, and a headlight image is formed on the image pickup element surface in the television camera 13. The image at this time is as shown in FIG. The video signal from the television camera 13 is received by the binarizing circuit 14 to extract a binarized image (bright part binary image), and the binary image data is stored in the image memory 15. At this time, the binary image becomes as shown in FIG. The microcomputer 16 uses the data in the image memory 15 to represent the representative point A of the circumscribing frame as shown in FIG. 2 (c).
_{(X A, Y A),} B (X B, Y B) to extract, from those coordinates, the coordinate values of the center point C of the bounding box of the _{(X C, Y C),} XC = (X A + X _B) / 2 YC = calculated by _{(Y a + X B) /} 2, is the center point C and the center point of the headlamp. Various methods are conceivable as a method of obtaining the circumscribing frame by the microcomputer 16. For example, the projection data on the X-axis and the Y-axis is obtained from the binary image data, and the representative point A of the circumscribing frame is calculated from the X-coordinate and the Y-coordinate of each end of the projection data.
_{(X A, Y A),} B (X B, Y B) can be extracted.
In addition, among the X and Y coordinates when the data “1” is detected by scanning the binary image data for one screen, the largest X coordinate and Y coordinate, and the smallest X coordinate and Y coordinate are circumscribed frames. It is also possible to extract the representative points A (X _A , Y _A ) and B (X _B , Y _B ).

【The invention's effect】

According to the present invention, using a binary image of a vehicle headlight,
Since the circumscribing frame including the bright parts that occur on the four sides of the front lens of the headlight is detected and the center is set to the center position of the headlight, it is extremely difficult to adjust the optical axis of the headlight. The center position of the headlight can be reliably grasped regardless of the position of the bright part in the outer shape of the moving headlight.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a confrontation detection device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of each image obtained in the confrontation detection device according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram of a conventional confrontation detection device. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an image by a headlight. 11: axis detection sensor, 12: camera lens, 13: TV camera, 14: binarization circuit, 15: image memory, 16: microcomputer.

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Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An imaging lens installed so that the optical axis of the lens is aligned with the central axis of an optical axis detection device that is placed directly opposite to a vehicle headlamp, and the headlight is provided through the imaging lens. An image pickup means for forming an image of a lamp on an image pickup element; a binarization means for binarizing a video signal by the image pickup means; an image memory for storing binary image data by the binarization means; By using the binary image data stored in the image memory, a circumscribing frame including bright portions generated on four sides of the edge of the front lens part of the headlamp is obtained, a center point of the circumscribing frame is calculated, and the center is calculated. A directivity detection device comprising means for setting a point at a center position of the headlight, and causing the optical axis detection device to correctly face the vehicle headlight.