Information providing device for vehicle

• US 7,149,608 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2004
• Issued: 12/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/04/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Suzuki Motor Corporation
• Original Assignee: Suzuki Motor Corporation
• Inventors: Gotoh, Masashi, Chiba, Hisashi, Itoh, Kazutomo, Okada, Tohru
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thu V.
• Application Number:
  US10/870,952
• Publication Number:
  US 20050001715A1
• Time in Patent Office: 904 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/008 for anti-collision purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/87 Combinations of systems using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9315 Monitoring blind spots
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

An image obtainer, a distance detector, a computer, and an information provider are provided to a vehicle. The computer has a caution-determination function to determine whether caution is required with respect to objects existing around the vehicle by arithmetically processing image data and distance data, and an information providing function to output an instruction to provide information to the occupants of the vehicle by the information provider when it is determined that caution is required. A reference axis for obtaining image is positioned at the center of a range of obtaining the image data by the image obtainer, and a reference axis for detecting distance is positioned at the center of a range of detecting the distance data by the distance detector. The image obtainer and the distance detector are arranged such that the reference axes are coaxially aligned.

Claims

1. 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.

2. The information providing device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the caution-requirement determining function includes a function of determining, using the image data divided, whether an object approaching the vehicle exists, and determining whether an object against which caution is required exists in a divided area of the distance data corresponding to an area where the approaching object exists.

3. The information providing device for a vehicle according to claim 1, 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; and

a divided data loading function that controls operations of the image obtainer and the distance detector to obtain the image data and the distance data for each of the divided areas, and sets divided areas to correspond with each other, and

the caution-requirement determining function has a function of performing processing of data in a predetermined divided area.

4. The information providing device for a vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the caution-requirement determining function includes:

a load area specifying function that determines, using the distance data, whether an object exists within a range of a predetermined distance from the vehicle, and if an object exists within the range of the predetermined distance, that specifies a divided area on the image data corresponding to a divided area on the distance data where the object exists and specifies the divided data loading function; and

a function of determining, using data of the specified divided area obtained by the divided data loading function, whether an object against which caution is required exists, and

the divided data loading function includes a function of obtaining, by the image obtainer, the image data of the divided area specified, based on a notification from the load area specifying function.

5. The information providing device for a vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the caution-requirement determining function includes:

a load area specifying function that determines, using the image data, whether an object approaching the vehicle exists, and if the approaching object exists, that specifies a divided area on the distance data corresponding to a divided area on the image data where the object exists, and notifies the divided data loading function; and

a function of determining, using the distance data of the specified divided area obtained by the divided data loading function, whether an object against which caution is required exists, and

the divided data loading function includes a function of detecting by the distance detector the distance data of the divided area specified, based on a notification from the divided area specifying function.

6. The information providing device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the distance detector determines whether a detected object is within a predetermined distance to the vehicle, and outputs a position identifier identifying a position of the detected object, and

the computer selects image data corresponding to the position identifier and performs optical flow processing on only the selected image data to determine whether the detected object is approaching the vehicle.

7. The information providing device for a vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising a half mirror which aligns the reference axis associated with obtaining an image with the reference axis associated with detecting a distance.