Abstract:
A camera taking an image in a wide range of a visual field cuts out, an image of a vehicle&#39;s rear part of the image picked up by the camera. The camera rotates or inverts the image and adjusts the image in the direction corresponding to a mirror image of a door mirror. The rearward image that can be sensitively, easily and visually recognized by a driver can be provided. A forward image or the sideward image is properly switched as required. When a part of the image picked up by the camera is cut out, images showing the range of the visual field of the cut out image are synthesized and displayed in a display device.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a vehicle peripheral visual confirmation apparatus by which a driver visually recognizes a vehicle peripheral that cannot visually recognized from a driver&#39;s seat of vehicle.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     When the driver visually recognizes the position that is not open to the eye of the driver in the driver&#39;s seat of the vehicle, the images of prescribed directions in the periphery of the vehicle have been hitherto picked up by a camera provided in the vehicle and the picked-up images have been displayed on a display device disposed in the vehicle.  
         [0005]     For instance, in the case of a vehicle  1  having a right handle, a camera  3  has been ordinarily disposed only in a left side as shown in  FIG. 20 , the image of a scene located in a prescribed range  4  of the left side of the vehicle  1  including the front wheel of the vehicle has been usually picked up by the camera  3 . Then, the driver visually recognizes the picked up image displayed on the display device to recognize a positional relation between an obstacle and the user&#39;s vehicle. The camera  3  is embedded and installed in, for instance, a side mirror (a door mirror)  5 .  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     As described above, when the images of right and left scenes are picked up by the camera  3 , the images of the scenes of a wide range are desirably picked up by the camera  3  as much as possible. Accordingly, a proposal has been made that a fisheye lens is provided in the camera  3  to increase the range of a visual field.  
         [0007]     However, when the range of the visual field of the camera  3  is widened by the fisheye lens or the like, even if the picked up image is directly displayed on the display device, in most of cases, the direction of the picked up image is hardly sensitively grasped. Consequently, the driver undesirably hardly visually recognizes the picked up image.  
         [0008]     It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle peripheral visual confirmation apparatus that can provide an image easily seen by a driver.  
         [0009]     According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a vehicle peripheral visual confirmation apparatus including: a camera being disposed in a side part of vehicle, and the camera being simultaneously capable of picking up at least one of an image in a front part of the side part of vehicle and an image in a rear part of the side part of vehicle, a display device displaying an image; and a display controller processing the image picked up by the camera to output the processed image to the display device, the display controller operable to cut out a part of the image picked up by the camera, the display controller operable to rotate the image, and the display controller operable to invert the image.  
         [0010]     According to another aspect of the invention, the display controller cuts out the image in the rear part of the vehicle among the images picked up by the camera. The display controller performs at least one of a rotation of the cut-out image in a direction corresponding to the mirror image of door mirror and a inversion of the cut-out image in a direction corresponding to the mirror image of door mirror.  
         [0011]     According to the above-aspect of the invention, when the camera can pick up an image in the front part of the side part of the vehicle and an image in the rear part of the side part of the vehicle at the same time, a part of the image picked up by the camera can be cut out, and the image can be rotated and inverted. Thus, the image in the rear part of the vehicle of the images picked up by the camera can be cut out and the image can be adjusted in the direction corresponding to the mirror image of a door mirror. Accordingly, the rearward image that can be sensitively visually recognized by a driver can be provided and a display can be switched so that a forward image or a sideward image can be suitably visually recognized as required.  
         [0012]     According to another aspect of the invention, the camera has a fisheye lens so that the two images can be picked up at the same time.  
         [0013]     Since the camera has a fisheye lens, both the images of the front part of the side part and the rear part of the side part of the vehicle can be easily picked up at the same time.  
         [0014]     According to another aspect of the invention, the camera is disposed in the door mirror.  
         [0015]     Since the camera is disposed in the door mirror, the appearance of the vehicle is not deteriorated.  
         [0016]     According to another aspect of the invention, when the display controller cuts out a part of the image picked up by the camera, the display controller synthesizes an image representing a range of a visual field of the cut-out image and controls the display device to display the synthesized image.  
         [0017]     According to the above-aspects of the invention, when the display controller cuts out a part of the image picked up by the camera, the display controller synthesizes an image showing the range of a visual field of the cut-out image and controls the display device to display the obtained image. Thus, the range of the visual field of the displayed image can be easily recognized. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0018]      FIG. 1  is a diagram showing a range of a visual field in which an image is picked up by a camera of a vehicle peripheral visual confirmation apparatus for a periphery of a vehicle according to one embodiment.  
         [0019]      FIG. 2  is a diagram showing the range of the visual field in which an image is picked up by the camera of the apparatus according to the one embodiment.  
         [0020]      FIG. 3  is a schematic view showing the camera of the apparatus according to the one embodiment.  
         [0021]      FIG. 4  is a diagram showing an image picked up by the camera of the apparatus according to the one embodiment.  
         [0022]      FIG. 5  is a diagram showing a state that the image picked up by the camera of the apparatus according to the one embodiment is rotated by 90°.  
         [0023]      FIG. 6  is a diagram showing a state that an obstacle located rearward the vehicle is reflected as a vertically inverted image.  
         [0024]      FIG. 7  is a diagram showing the obstacle reflected on a door mirror.  
         [0025]      FIG. 8  is a diagram showing a range of a visual field in which the image of the obstacle located rearward the vehicle is picked up.  
         [0026]      FIG. 9  is a diagram showing a state that a cut out and inverted image is displayed in the apparatus according to the one embodiment.  
         [0027]      FIG. 10  is a block diagram showing a specific structural example of the apparatus according to the one embodiment.  
         [0028]      FIG. 11  is a diagram showing a state that the front part of the vehicle is displayed in the apparatus according to the one embodiment.  
         [0029]      FIG. 12  is a diagram showing a state that an image is cut out and displayed in the apparatus according to the one embodiment.  
         [0030]      FIG. 13  is a diagram showing one state of the vehicle.  
         [0031]      FIG. 14  is a diagram showing the image of a rear part of the vehicle reflected on the door mirror under the state shown in  FIG. 13 .  
         [0032]      FIG. 15  is a diagram showing an example that a cut out and inverted image is displayed by the apparatus according to the one embodiment under the state shown in  FIG. 13 .  
         [0033]      FIG. 16  is a diagram showing the difference in the range of a visual field between the cut out and inverted image and a mirror image of the door mirror.  
         [0034]      FIG. 17  is a diagram showing one state of the vehicle.  
         [0035]      FIG. 18  is a diagram showing the image of the rear part of the vehicle reflected on the door mirror under the state shown in  FIG. 17 .  
         [0036]      FIG. 19  is a diagram showing an example that a cut out and inverted image is displayed by the apparatus according to the one embodiment under the state shown in  FIG. 17 .  
         [0037]      FIG. 20  is a schematic view showing a vehicle peripheral visual confirmation apparatus. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0038]     Firstly, a principle of a visually recognizing device for a periphery of a vehicle according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described.  
         [0039]     A vehicle peripheral visual confirmation apparatus picks up by a camera  13  installed on, for instance, a left side surface of a vehicle  11 , the image of a scene having a prescribed wide range R of a visual field including both a front part  15  and a rear part  17  viewed from a position where the camera  13  is installed, as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . Then, the apparatus displays obstacles  18  and  19  both in the front and rear parts of the vehicle included in the picked up image on a display device in the vehicle. Thus, a driver can easily visually recognize the obstacles  18  and  19  or a guide line (white line)  20  drawn on a road.  
         [0040]     Here, as shown in  FIG. 3 , the camera  13  is fitted to an installing hole  25  formed in the lower end part of a casing member  23  of a door mirror  21  to pick up an image about a lower part of the door mirror  21 . The camera  13  includes a lens system  27  using a fisheye lens to pick up the image of the wide range of a visual field including both the front part  15  and the rear part  17 , an image pick up element  29  such as a CCD, a circuit board  31  for inputting and processing an image picked up by the image pick up element  29  and a water-proof case  33  for accommodating them. The image picked up by the image pick up element  29  is converted to a signal of a prescribed system such as an NTSC signal and the signal is transmitted to the display device (an illustration is omitted) in the main body of the vehicle through the circuit board. Reference numeral  35  in  FIG. 3  designates a mirror body of the door mirror  21 . Reference numeral  37  designates a mirror driving actuator for adjusting the angle of the mirror body  35 , respectively.  
         [0041]     One example of the image picked up by the above-described camera  13  is shown in  FIG. 4 . The image shown in  FIG. 4  corresponds to the state of the vehicle shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . Reference numeral  41  in  FIG. 4  designates an image in a left side surface of the vehicle  11 . Reference numeral  43  designates an image of the obstacle  18  located left forward the vehicle  11 . Reference  45  designates an image of the obstacle  19  located rearward the vehicle  11 . Reference numeral  47  designates an image of the guide line  20  drawn on the road. Reference numeral  48  designates an image of a front wheel of a left side of the vehicle  11 . Reference numeral  49  designates an image of a rear wheel of a left side of the vehicle  11 , respectively.  
         [0042]     Since the image taken by the camera  13  needs to be picked up in a wide range of a visual field in forward and rearward directions, the image ordinarily has an aspect ratio of 3 to 4. The image is picked up so that a transverse direction as a longitudinal direction corresponds to the forward and rearward directions of the vehicle  11 . Thus, the image of the entire part of the forward and rearward directions of the side surface part of the vehicle can be picked up.  
         [0043]     However, since the picked up image shown in  FIG. 4  is taken in a positional relation at right angles to the direction of a driver, that is, the actual forward and rearward directions of the vehicle  11 , when such a picked up image is directly displayed on the display device, the driver hardly understand the relation between the picked up image and the direction of the vehicle  11 .  
         [0044]     Therefore, an ordinary coordinate transformation process is carried out to the picked up image to rotate the picked up image by 90° as shown in  FIG. 5  and display the image on the display device so that the upper side of the image corresponds the front part of the vehicle  11  and the lower side of the image corresponds to the rear part of the vehicle  11 . Thus, the driver can conveniently easily understand the relation between the picked up image displayed on the display device and the direction of the vehicle  11 .  
         [0045]     The picked up image  50  shown in  FIG. 5  is taken in the wide range of the visual field including the forward and rearward directions of the vehicle  11  from the visual point of the camera  13 . Accordingly, as described above, not only a part near the side part of the vehicle  11 , but also the image  43  of the obstacle  18  located left forward and the image  45  of the obstacle  19  located rearward the vehicle  11  are reflected.  
         [0046]     Here, when the image  45  of the obstacle  19  located rearward the vehicle  11  is noticed, in the picked up image  50  shown in  FIG. 5 , the image  45  of the obstacle  19  located rearward the vehicle  11  is reflected as shown in  FIG. 6 . The image  45  of the obstacle  19  shows an example in which vegetables  53  are planted on a planter  51 . However, the image is picked up from the visual point of the camera  13  so that the forward and rearward direction of the vehicle  11  corresponds to the longitudinal direction in the range of the visual field, and the picked up image is rotated by 90° as described above. Accordingly, the picked up image shown in  FIG. 6  appears to have an inverted positional relation in an upper part and a lower part to the actual obstacle  19 , that is, the planter  51  and the vegetables  53 .  
         [0047]     As a comparative example, the image of the obstacle  19  visually recognized by the driver by using the mirror body  35  of the door mirror  21  is shown in  FIG. 7 . As shown in  FIG. 7 , the image of the obstacle  19  that the driver visually recognizes by using the mirror body  35  of the door mirror  21  can be visually recognized as the image having the vegetables  53  planted on the upper side of the planter  51 . The upper and lower positional or vertical relation thereof corresponds to the actual upper and lower positional relation between the planter  51  and the vegetables  53 . Then, an image that the driver is ordinarily used to see when the driver recognizes the rearward part of the vehicle  11  represents a correct upper and lower positional relation as shown in  FIG. 7 .  
         [0048]     As compared therewith, the picked up image shown in  FIG. 6  whose upper and lower or vertical positional relation appears as an inverted positional relation to the actual upper and lower positional relation of the obstacle  19 . Thus, when the picked up image is displayed on the display device, the image  45  that is hardly sensitively understood is inconveniently displayed on the display device.  
         [0049]     Thus, in this embodiment, the lower part  57  of the picked up image  50  shown in  FIG. 5  (namely, an image in the range  59  of the visual field of the rear part of the vehicle  11  as shown in  FIG. 8 ) is cut out and an image  60  is formed by vertically inverting the cut out image as shown in  FIG. 9  (refer this image as to a “cut out and inverted image”, hereinafter).  
         [0050]     The cut out and inverted image  60  corresponds to a mirror image ( FIG. 7 ) in the rear part of the side part that the driver recognizes by using the mirror body  35  of the door mirror  21 . Further, the cut out and inverted image  60  can be displayed on the display device as an image in the range of the visual field wider than that of the mirror body  35  of the door mirror  21 . Accordingly, when the rear part of the side part is monitored, the rear part of the side part can be monitored with an amount of information larger than that of the door mirror  21  without an uneasy feeling. In this case, the cut out and inverted image  60  is desirably enlarged to meet the display resolution of the display device. In this case, the pixels of the image displayed on the display device may be possibly rough, however, when an ordinary interpolating process is employed, an image having no uneasiness can be displayed.  
         [0051]     A example of the vehicle peripheral visual confirmation apparatus will be described. The apparatus includes, as shown in  FIG. 10 , the above-described camera  13 , a display device  61  installed in, for instance, an instrument panel in an interior of the vehicle and a display controller  63  for processing the image of a video signal from the camera  13  and outputting the image to the display device  61 .  
         [0052]     The camera  13  is described above, so that an explanation thereof is omitted.  
         [0053]     As the display device  61 , a dot matrix type color liquid crystal display panel is employed that is provided as a monitor device of, for instance, a car navigation device.  
         [0054]     The display controller  63  has a function for cutting out a part of the picked up image from the camera  13 , a function for rotating the image and a function for inverting the image. As shown in  FIG. 10 , the display controller  63  includes an A/D converter  71  for sampling and quantizing an analog type video signal from the camera  13  and converting the vide signal to digital type video data, a work memory  73  for providing an area for temporarily storing the video data, a memory R/W device  75  for writing and reading the video data outputted from the A/D converter  71  relative to the work memory  73 , cutting out the image and performing a coordinate transformation and an interpolating process, a superimposing memory  77  for providing a temporarily storing area for synthesizing an image, an image synthesizing process part  79  for synthesizing the image of the contents of data in the superimposing memory  77 , a controller  81  for transmitting instruction signals (commands) respectively to the memory R/W device  75  and the image synthesizing process part  79  to control them and an encoder  83  for encoding the video data whose image is synthesized in the image synthesizing process part  79  to transmit a video signal to the display device  61 .  
         [0055]     Here, the controller  81  transmits the instruction signals respectively to the memory R/W device  75  and the image synthesizing process part  79  on the basis of signals from a vehicle speed sensor  91 , an ignition switch (SW)  93 , a shift position  95  and a changeover main switch (SW)  97 . An operation of the controller  81  will be described below.  
         [0000]     &lt;Operation&gt; 
         [0056]     An operation of the vehicle peripheral visual confirmation apparatus will be described below.  
         [0057]     For instance, while the ignition switch  93  is turned on, the controller  81  detects that the driver operates the changeover main switch  97  in accordance with the signal from the changeover main switch  97  to supply the instruction signal to the memory R/W device  75  and cut out the image and supply the instruction signal for synthesizing the image to the image synthesizing process part  79 , and controls the memory R/W device  75  and the image synthesizing process part  79  to output the image  50  shown in  FIG. 5  or the image  60  shown in  FIG. 9  to the display device  61  while suitably switching the images  50  and  60 .  
         [0058]     Thus, for instance, when the vehicle  11  is put into a garage, not only the driver can recognize the rear part or the guide line (white line)  20  by inclining the mirror body  35  of the door mirror  21  as shown in  FIG. 7  to put the vehicle into the garage, but also the driver can recognize a safety by the picked up image (reference numeral  50  in  FIG. 5  or reference numeral  60  in  FIG. 9 ) taken by the camera  30 . Further, when the driver parks the vehicle in the forward direction, the driver can recognize a space from an adjacent vehicle.  
         [0059]     Further, not only the image  50  shown in  FIG. 5  or the image  60  shown in  FIG. 9 , but also an image  99  including a part near a front wheel  48  in the forward part of the vehicle  11  may be superimposed and the obtained image may be displayed on the display device  61  as shown in  FIG. 11  in accordance with the switching operation of the changeover main switch  97   
         [0060]     Further, while the ignition switch  93  is turned on, the controller  81  automatically switches the image  50  shown in  FIG. 5 , the image  60  shown in  FIG. 9  (the cut-out and inverted image) and the image  99  shown in  FIG. 11  not only in accordance with the switching operation of the changeover main switch  97 , but also in accordance with a vehicle signal from the shift position  95  or the vehicle speed sensor  91 .  
         [0061]     As shown in  FIG. 12 , while the ignition switch  93  is turned on, when the shift position  95  is in a state of R (back), the cut out and inverted image  60  of the rear part is displayed on the basis of the instruction signal from the controller  81 . When the shift position  95  is in a state of D (move forward) and the vehicle speed of the vehicle speed sensor  91  is not higher than a prescribed value (for instance, 5 km/h), the image  99  at a dead angle in a left front part is displayed. Further, when the shift position  95  is in a state of P (parking) or N (neutral), an original image  50  is displayed. At this time, as shown by reference numeral  101  or  103  in  FIG. 12 , which direction of the image relative to the vehicle  11  is picked up is desirably displayed at a part of the display device  61 .  
         [0062]     The controller  81  may be independent from the shift position  95 . For example, the controller  81  may be configured such that a driver can switch the images with operation by hand. The controller  81  may switch the images automatically.  
         [0063]     In such a way, the image that driver can easily visually recognize can be displayed on the display device  61  depending on various kinds of states so that a convenience is improved.  
         [0064]     Especially, for the image obtained by picking up the rear part, since the above-described cut out and inverted image  60  can be displayed on the display device  61 , the image that the driver easily sensitively recognizes can be displayed.  
         [0065]     As shown in  FIG. 13 , when the vehicle  11  is moved forward to be put into a garage area  109  in which other vehicles  105  and  107  are respectively parked in both sides, a mirror image as shown in  FIG. 14  is reflected on the mirror body  35  of the door mirror  21 . As compared therewith, the cut out and inverted image  60  as shown in  FIG. 15  is displayed on the display device  61 . As shown in  FIG. 16 , the cut out and inverted image  60  having the range R 2  of the visual field wider than the range R 1  of the visual field of the mirror body  35  of the door mirror  21  can be displayed on the display device  61 .  
         [0066]     As shown in  FIG. 17 , when the vehicle  11  is moved backward to be put into the garage area  109  in which other vehicles  105  and  107  are respectively parked in both sides, a mirror image as shown in  FIG. 18  is reflected on the mirror body  35  of the door mirror  21 . As compared therewith, the cut out and inverted image  60  as shown in  FIG. 19  is displayed on the display device  61 . As shown in  FIG. 16 , the cut out and inverted image  60  having the range R 2  of the visual field wider than the range R 1  of the visual field of the mirror body  35  of the door mirror  21  can be displayed on the display device  61 .  
         [0067]     Accordingly, the driver can conveniently visually recognize the image that is easily sensitively recognized and has the wide range of the visual field including the dead angle.  
         [0068]     Various kinds of the images  50 ,  60  and  99  shown in  FIGS. 5, 9  and  11  are picked up by the single camera  13  having the lens system  27  that can pick up the image in the wide range of the visual field. The picked up image can be formed by image processes including a cutting out process, an enlarging process, a rotating process and an inverting process. Thus, various images that meet various types of conditions of a user can be easily provided only by using the camera  13  having the small number of parts.