Patent ID: 7149608

Claim:
An information providing device for a vehicle, comprising: an image obtainer that obtains image data around a vehicle; a distance detector that detects distance data to an object existing around the vehicle; a computer which controls an operation to obtain the image data by the image obtainer and an operation to obtain the distance data by the distance detector, and performs arithmetic processing of the image data and the distance data; and an information provider that provides information about an object around the vehicle, the image obtainer, the distance detector, the computer, and the information provider being provided to the vehicle, wherein the computer comprises: an area dividing function that divides the image data obtained by the image obtainer and the distance data detected by the distance detector into a plurality of areas, respectively, and sets divided areas to correspond with each other; a caution-requirement determining function that determines, by performing the arithmetic processing of the image data and the distance data, whether caution is required with respect to an object existing around the vehicle, the caution-requirement determining function having a function of performing processing of data in a predetermined divided area, determining, using the divided distance data, whether an object exists within a predetermined distance range from the vehicle, and determining whether an object against which caution is required exists in a divided area of the image data corresponding to an area where the object exists within the range of the predetermined distance; and an information providing function that outputs an instruction so as to provide information by the information provider to the occupants of the vehicle if it is determined that caution is required, a reference axis associated with obtaining an image is positioned at a center of a range for obtaining image data by the image obtainer, while a reference axis associated with detecting a distance is positioned at a center of a range for detecting distance data by the distance detector, and the image obtainer and the distance detector are arranged such that the reference axis associated with obtaining an image and the reference axis associated with detecting a distance are aligned coaxially.