DRIVING SUPPORT DEVICE, DRIVING SUPPORT METHOD, AND PROGRAM

• US 20110293145A1
• Filed: 04/15/2010
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Nogami, Tateaki, Waki, Yuki, Iwai, Kazuhiko
• Granted Patent: US 8,559,675 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/00 Optical viewing arrangements; Real-time viewing arrangements for drivers or passengers using optical image capturing systems, e.g. cameras or video systems specially adapted for use in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/26 to the rear of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/305 merging camera image with lines or icons
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/307 virtually distinguishing relevant parts of a scene from the background of the scene
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/804 for lane monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/8066 for monitoring rearward traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

Provided are a driving support device, a driving support method, and a program, in which the driver can more intuitively and accurately determine the distance to another vehicle in the side rear. A driving support device (100) is provided with an image-capturing section (110) for capturing side rear images of the vehicle, a distance measuring section (120) for measuring the distance between the vehicle and the another vehicle, and a vehicle detection section (130) for detecting the another vehicle in the captured images, wherein a superimposed image generating section (140) calculates the distance of units of the vehicle length units on the basis of information concerning the vehicle length stored in a vehicle length information storage section (150) and the distance to the another vehicle detected by the distance measuring section (120), and generates a superimposed image on the basis of the calculated distance. A display image generating section (160) synthesizes the generated superimposed image on a side peripheral image including the captured side rear images, and displays the image on a display section (170) installed in a position at which the field of front vision of the driver is not obstructed.

Claims

1. A drive support apparatus, comprising:

an imaging section that captures a side peripheral image of a subject vehicle;

a vehicle detecting section that detects other vehicles in the captured image;

a distance detecting section that detects distances between the subject vehicle and the other vehicles;

a subject vehicle length information storage section that stores the entire length of the subject vehicle as subject vehicle length information;

a superimposed image generating section that calculates a distance of a subject vehicle length unit based on the subject vehicle length information stored in the subject vehicle length information storage section and distances to the other vehicles detected by the distance detecting section and generates a superimposed image based on the detected distances;

a display image generating section that synthesizes the superimposed image generated by the superimposed image generating section on the captured side peripheral image and generates the display image; and

a display section that is installed in the subject vehicle and displays the display image generated by the display image generating section.

2. The drive support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the side peripheral image of the subject vehicle is a side rear image and/or a side front image of the subject vehicle.

3. The drive support apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the superimposed image generating section generates a superimposed image including a concatenation of frames configured with a line segment parallel to a width direction of a road and a line segment parallel to a road direction.

4. The drive support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the superimposed image generating section generates a superimposed image including a concatenation of frames drawn on a road surface of a lane adjacent to the present lane on the side peripheral image.

5. The drive support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the superimposed image generating section generates a superimposed image including a concatenation of a predetermined number of frames which are lined rearward starting from a position of a subject vehicle'"'"'s rear end in the side peripheral image.

6. The drive support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the superimposed image generating section generates a superimposed image including a concatenation of frames when distances to the other vehicles is included within a distance represented by the concatenation of frames.

7. The drive support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the superimposed image generating section generates a frame ahead of distances to the other vehicles as the superimposed image as a superimposed image.

8. The drive support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the superimposed image generating section generates, as a superimposed image, a connection section of a line segment that is parallel to a width direction of a road and at a side close to the present lane and a line segment that is connected to and perpendicular to the line segment as the superimposed image on a frame father than a frame ahead of distances to the other vehicles.

9. The drive support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the superimposed image generating section generates a superimposed image that has a compartment having a length of a subject vehicle length unit and includes a line segment viewed in a vehicle traverse direction and a subject vehicle and other vehicles whose symbols are displayed on the line segment.

10. The drive support apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the superimposed image generating section generates a superimposed image in which the symbols of the other vehicles are not displayed and the symbol of the subject vehicle is highlighted when a front end of the other vehicles is ahead of a rear end of the subject vehicle.

11. The drive support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display image selecting section that selects an image to be displayed on the display section based on a predetermined selection condition from among a plurality of images captured by the imaging section.

12. The drive support apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the selection condition includes information based on a distance from the subject vehicle, a relative speed relative to the subject vehicle, and time to collision (TTC).

13. A driving support method, comprising:

a step of capturing a side peripheral image of a subject vehicle;

a step of detecting other vehicles in the captured image;

a step of detecting distances between the subject vehicle and the other vehicles;

a step of storing the entire length of the subject vehicle as subject vehicle length information in advance;

a step of calculating a distance of a subject vehicle length unit based on the subject vehicle length information and distances to the other vehicles and generating a superimposed image based on the detected distance;

a step of synthesizing the generated superimposed image on the captured side peripheral image and generating the display image; and

a step of displaying the generated display image.

14. A program causing a computer to execute the steps of the support method according to claim 13.