Surrounding monitor apparatus for a vehicle

• US 6,476,855 B1
• Filed: 05/25/1999
• Issued: 11/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Yasuhide
• Primary Examiner(s): Britton, Howard
• Assistant Examiner(s): WONG, ALLEN C
• Application Number:
  US09/318,434
• Time in Patent Office: 1,260 Days
• Field of Search: 348/148, 348/143, 348/150, 348/152, 348/153, 348/159, 340/461, 340/901, 340/937, 359/896, 382/104, 382/283
• US Class Current: 348/148
• 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 11/04 Mounting of cameras operative during drive; Arrangement of controls thereof relative to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2011/004 outside the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/105 using multiple cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/207 using multi-purpose displays, e.g. camera image and navigation or video on same display
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/30 characterised by the type of image processing
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/404 triggering from stand-by mode to operation mode
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/802 for monitoring and displaying vehicle exterior blind spot views
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/8066 for monitoring rearward traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/04 using optical or ultrasonic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

A trimming video image including a mask region (20) having vehicle side window shapes and a vehicle image (36) which are formed by an image forming device are overlapped on pickup video images of a CCD camera obtained by picking up the left and right forward images of a vehicle to form a synthesized image, and the synthesized image is displayed on a display device. Since the left and right pickup video images are displayed in display regions (11, 21) having side window shapes, respectively, and the vehicle image (36) is additionally used, the direction of a displayed pickup video image (track T or man M) is intuitively recognized.

Claims

1. A surrounding monitor apparatus for a vehicle, comprising:

an image pickup device for picking up images in a plurality of different directions from a vehicle;

an image forming device for forming a trimming video image picked up by the image pickup device and including mask regions having the shapes of vehicle windows corresponding to the plurality of directions and a vehicle image;

an image synthesizing device for overlapping the trimming video image and the vehicle image formed by the image forming device on the plurality of video images picked up by the image pickup device to form a synthesized image; and

a display device for displaying the synthesized image from the image synthesizing device, wherein

the plurality of directions in which the image pickup device picks up images includes a left direction and a right direction,

the mask region is constituted by an upper mask region for shielding an upper region of a display screen, a lower mask region for shielding a lower region of the display screen, a central mask region for shielding a central region of the display screen, a right mask region for shielding a region along a right side of the display screen, and a left mask region for shielding a region along a left side of the display screen to form display regions having left and right side window shapes of the vehicle,

the image synthesizing device makes a synthesized image by arranging the left and right direction video images picked by the image pickup device on the left and right side display regions, respectively, and

the upper mask region has lower edges inclined upward from a connection point between the upper mask region and the central mask region to the left and right sides.

2. A surrounding monitor apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the lower edges of the upper mask region are constituted by a plurality of straight lines having different inclinations.

3. A surrounding monitor apparatus for a vehicle, comprising:

an image pickup device for picking up images in a plurality of different directions from a vehicle;

an image forming device for forming a trimming video image picked up by the image pickup device and including mask regions having the shapes of vehicle windows corresponding to the plurality of directions and a vehicle image;

an image synthesizing device for overlapping the trimming video image and the vehicle image formed by the image forming device on the plurality of video images picked up by the image pickup device to form a synthesized image; and

a display device for displaying the synthesized image from the image synthesizing device, wherein

the plurality of directions in which the image pickup device picks up images are a left direction and a right direction,

the mask region is constituted by an upper mask region for shielding an upper region of a display screen, a lower mask region for shielding a lower region of the display screen, a central mask region for shielding a central region of the display screen, a right mask region for shielding a region along a right side of the display screen, and a left mask region for shielding a region along a left side of the display screen to form display regions having left and right side window shapes of the vehicle,

the image synthesizing device makes a synthesized image by arranging the left and right direction video images picked by the image pickup device on the left and right side display regions, respectively, and

the lower mask region has upper edges inclined downward from a connection point between the lower mask region and the central mask region to the left and right sides.

4. A surrounding monitor apparatus for a vehicle, comprising:

an image pickup device for picking up images in a plurality of different directions from a vehicle;

an image forming device for forming a trimming video image picked up by the image pickup device and including mask regions having the shapes of vehicle windows corresponding to the plurality of directions and a vehicle image;

an image synthesizing device for overlapping the trimming video image and the vehicle image formed by the image forming device on the plurality of video images picked up by the image pickup device to form a synthesized image; and

a display device for displaying the synthesized image from the image synthesizing device, wherein

the plurality of directions in which the image pickup device picks up images are a left direction and a right direction,

the mask region is constituted by an upper mask region for shielding an upper region of a display screen, a lower mask region for shielding a lower region of the display screen, a central mask region for shielding a central region of the display screen, a right mask region for shielding a region along a right side of the display screen, and a left mask region for shielding a region along a left side of the display screen to form display regions having left and right side window shapes of the vehicle,

the image synthesizing makes a synthesized image by arranging the left and right direction video images picked by the image pickup device on the left and right side display regions, respectively, and

the central mask region has a width-extending portion whose width increases upward up the lower edge of the mask region.

5. A surrounding monitor apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 4, wherein a side edge of the width-extending portion is constituted by a straight line.

6. A surrounding monitor apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 4, herein a side edge of the width-extending portion is constituted by a curved line.

7. A surrounding monitor apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the vehicle image is displayed on a lower part of the central mask region.