Picture synthesizing apparatus
First Claim
1. A picture synthesizing apparatus comprising:
- an image pickup means that is in operative association with a vehicle disposed on a road surface and that is adapted to obtain an original image of an object outside said vehicle as viewed from a viewpoint of the image pickup means;
a viewpoint change image synthesizing means that is adapted to produce a synthesized image, in which the outside object is viewed from a virtual viewpoint different from the viewpoint of the image pickup means and different, from the original image obtained by said image pickup means;
wherein said synthesizing means is adapted to draw the synthesized image on a plane corresponding to the road surface;
a vehicle locus line generation means that is adapted to generate a locus line of said vehicle placed at an arbitrary height above the road surface;
a vehicle locus line drawing means that is adapted to draw the locus line, generated by said vehicle locus line generation means, on the synthesized image produced by said viewpoint change image synthesizing means such that the drawn locus line is adapted to be viewed from the viewpoint of the image pick up means, wherein when the locus line as viewed from the viewpoint of the image pickup means is projected onto the road surface to form a first projected line, the first projected line is viewed from a virtual viewpoint, and the first projected line viewed from the virtual viewpoint is again projected onto the plane corresponding to the road surface to obtain a second projected line as the locus line drawn on the synthesized image;
a storage means that is adapted to store predetermined auxiliary data; and
a drawing means that is adapted to superimpose stored auxiliary data upon a synthesized image produced by said viewpoint change image synthesizing means based on auxiliary data read from said storage means;
wherein said image pick up means is adapted to obtain an original image in which a rear part of said vehicle is positioned in a view field; and
wherein said picture synthesizing apparatus is adapted to represent said vehicle by an illustration of a skeleton or a wire frame, and is adapted to provide an image including a portion of said vehicle comprising a tire that is likely to come into contact with said outside object.
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Accused Products
Abstract
There is disclosed a picture synthesizing apparatus for superimposing an auxiliary image upon an image converted as if the image were photographed with a virtual viewpoint, displaying the image in a monitor, and providing the image such that an approach to a surrounding solid object can easily be predicted from the monitor image. The picture synthesizing apparatus includes: an image pickup unit 101 disposed in a car; a viewpoint change image synthesizing unit 102 for changing a viewpoint of the image obtained by the image pickup unit 101 and synthesizing the image; a car straight locus line generation unit 103 for generating a locus line at an arbitrary height of the car, when the car linearly advances; and a car locus line drawing unit 104 for drawing the locus line generated by the car straight locus line generation unit 103 on the image synthesized by the viewpoint change image synthesizing unit 102.
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Citations
60 Claims
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1. A picture synthesizing apparatus comprising:
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an image pickup means that is in operative association with a vehicle disposed on a road surface and that is adapted to obtain an original image of an object outside said vehicle as viewed from a viewpoint of the image pickup means; a viewpoint change image synthesizing means that is adapted to produce a synthesized image, in which the outside object is viewed from a virtual viewpoint different from the viewpoint of the image pickup means and different, from the original image obtained by said image pickup means;
wherein said synthesizing means is adapted to draw the synthesized image on a plane corresponding to the road surface;a vehicle locus line generation means that is adapted to generate a locus line of said vehicle placed at an arbitrary height above the road surface; a vehicle locus line drawing means that is adapted to draw the locus line, generated by said vehicle locus line generation means, on the synthesized image produced by said viewpoint change image synthesizing means such that the drawn locus line is adapted to be viewed from the viewpoint of the image pick up means, wherein when the locus line as viewed from the viewpoint of the image pickup means is projected onto the road surface to form a first projected line, the first projected line is viewed from a virtual viewpoint, and the first projected line viewed from the virtual viewpoint is again projected onto the plane corresponding to the road surface to obtain a second projected line as the locus line drawn on the synthesized image;
a storage means that is adapted to store predetermined auxiliary data; anda drawing means that is adapted to superimpose stored auxiliary data upon a synthesized image produced by said viewpoint change image synthesizing means based on auxiliary data read from said storage means; wherein said image pick up means is adapted to obtain an original image in which a rear part of said vehicle is positioned in a view field; and wherein said picture synthesizing apparatus is adapted to represent said vehicle by an illustration of a skeleton or a wire frame, and is adapted to provide an image including a portion of said vehicle comprising a tire that is likely to come into contact with said outside object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. An image synthesis/display apparatus comprising:
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a picture synthesizing apparatus comprising; an image pickup means that is adapted to be attached to a vehicle, that is adapted to be disposed on a road surface, and is enabled to obtain an original image of an object that is outside said vehicle and is adapted to be viewed from a viewpoint of the image pickup means; a viewpoint change image synthesizing means that is adapted to produce a synthesized image, in which the outside object is viewed from a virtual viewpoint that is different from the viewpoint of the image pickup means, from the original image obtained by said image pickup means and is adapted to draw the synthesized image on a plane corresponding to the road surface; a vehicle locus line generation means that is adapted to generate a locus line of said vehicle placed at an arbitrary height from the road surface; and a vehicle locus line drawing means that is adapted to draw the locus line generated by said vehicle locus line generation means on the synthesized image produced by said viewpoint change image synthesizing means such that the locus line is viewed from the viewpoint of the image pickup means, wherein the locus line viewed from the viewpoint of the image pickup means is adapted to be projected onto the road surface to obtain a first projected line on the road surface, the first projected line is adapted to be viewed from the virtual viewpoint, and the first projected line as viewed from the virtual viewpoint is adapted to again be projected onto the plane corresponding to the road surface to obtain a second projected line as the locus line drawn on the synthesized image; a display means that is adapted to display a combined image of the synthesized image and an image of the locus line drawn on the plane by said picture synthesizing apparatus; a display data conversion means that is adapted to convert said combined image to be displayed into data suitable for said display means storage means that is adapted to store auxiliary data; and a drawing means that is adapted to superimpose stored auxiliary data upon a synthesized image produced by said viewpoint change image synthesizing means based on auxiliary data read from said storage means; wherein said image pick up means is adapted to obtain an original image in which a rear part of said vehicle is positioned in a view field, wherein said viewpoint change image is adapted to produce a synthesized image including an image of at least a rear portion of said vehicle, and wherein said picture synthesizing apparatuis is adapted to represent said vehicle by an illustration of a skeleton or wire frame, and is adapted to provide an image that is adapted to explicitly indicate a portion of said vehicle comprising a tire that is adapted to come into contact with said outside object. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51)
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52. An image acquirement warning apparatus comprising:
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detection means for detecting an approaching state of an object that is outside a vehicle and is immanent to collide with said vehicle, wherein the direction of the approaching state indicates that the object is adapted to collide with the vehicle; a picture synthesizing apparatus comprising; an image pickup means that is attached to said vehicle and/or said object and is adapted to obtain an original image of an object outside said vehicle viewed from a viewpoint of the image pickup means; a viewpoint change image synthesizing means that is adapted to produce a synthesized image, in which the outside object is adapted to be viewed from a virtual viewpoint different from the viewpoint of the image pickup means, and different from the original image obtained by said image pickup means and is adapted to draw the synthesized image on a plane corresponding to the road surface; a vehicle locus line generation means adapted to generate a locus line of said vehicle placed at an arbitrary height above the road surface; a vehicle locus line drawing means adapted to draw the locus line generated by said vehicle locus line generation means on the synthesized image produced by said viewpoint change image synthesizing means such that when the locus line is viewed from the viewpoint of the image pickup means, the locus line viewed from the viewpoint of the image pickup means is adapted to be projected onto the road surface to obtain a first projected line on the road surface, the first projected line is adapted to be viewed from a vertical viewpoint, and the first projected line viewed from the vertical viewpoint is again projected onto the plane corresponding to the road surface to obtain a second projected line as the locus line drawn on the synthesized image; warning means for generating a warning signal as a result of said approaching state determined by said detection means and/or a relation between said vehicle and said outside object in the image synthesized by said picture synthesizing apparatus a storage means that is adapted to store predetermined data beforehand; a drawing means that is adapted to superimpose predetermined auxiliary data upon the synthesized image produced by said viewpoint change image synthesizing means based on the data read from said storage means; wherein said image pickup means is adapted to obtain an original image in which a rear part of said vehicle is positioned in a view field; and wherein said picture synthesizing apparatus is adapted to represent said vehicle by an illustration of a skeleton or a wire frame, and is adapted to provide an image including a portion of said vehicle, comprising a tire, that is likely to come into contact with said outside object. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56)
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57. A vehicle position recognition apparatus comprising:
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a picture synthesizing apparatus comprising; a plurality of image pickup means that are adapted to be attached to a vehicle that is adapted to be disposed on a road surface, and includes a rear image pickup means for picking up an original image of an outside object disposed behind said vehicle; a viewpoint change image synthesizing means that is adapted to produce a synthesized image, in which the outside object is viewed from a virtual viewpoint different from the viewpoints of the image pickup means, and from the original image obtained by said image pickup means, and is adapted to draw the synthesized image on a plane corresponding to the road surface; a vehicle locus line generation means that is adapted to generate a locus line of said vehicle placed at an arbitrary height from the road surface; a vehicle locus line drawing means that is adapted to draw the locus line generated by said vehicle locus line generation means on the synthesized image produced by said viewpoint change image synthesizing means such that the locus line is adapted to be viewed from the viewpoint of the image pickup means, the locus line viewed from the viewpoint of the image pickup means is adapted to be projected onto the road surface to obtain a first projected line on the road surface, the first projected line viewed from the vertical viewpoint is adapted to again be projected onto the plane corresponding to the road surface to obtain a second projected line as the locus line drawn on the synthesized image; an image detection means that is adapted to detect an image of an arbitrary object from the original image obtained by said rear image pickup means or the synthesized image produced by said picture synthesizing apparatus; a recognition means that is adapted to recognize a spatial relation between the image of the arbitrary object detected by said image detection means and the image of said vehicle; a comparison means that is adapted to compare said spatial relation recognized by said recognition means with a predetermined position relation, and is adapted to detect an amount of deviation between the recognized spatial relations from the predetermined position relations; a storage means that is adapted to store predetermined data beforehand; a drawing means that is adapted to superimpose predetermined auxiliary data upon the synthesized image produced by said viewpoint change image synthesizing means based on the data read from said storage means; wherein said image pickup means is adapted to obtain an original image in which a rear part of said vehicle is positioned in a view field; and wherein said picture synthesizing apparatus is adapted to represent said vehicle by an illustration of a skeleton or a wire frame, and is adapted to provide an image including a portion of said vehicle, comprising a tire, that is likely to come into contact with said outside object. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60)
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Specification