Vehicular visual assistance system
First Claim
1. A vehicular visual assistance system, comprising:
- image pickup means mounted on a housing of a mirror mounted externally on a side portion of a vehicle, the image pickup means being capable of picking up an image of a fore-and-aft region extending from an outer edge of a vehicle tire outwardly along the side portion of the vehicle;
a display monitor provided within a vehicle compartment, the display monitor being visible to a vehicle driver; and
image processing means for displaying on the display monitor an image obtained by processing an image signal from the image pickup means,wherein the image pickup means is mounted on a lower part of the housing and is capable of picking up an image of a region which is continuous in the fore-and-aft direction while simultaneously including part of a front region directly viewed by a vehicle driver on a driver'"'"'s seat and part of a rear region indirectly viewed by the vehicle driver via said mirror, andwherein the image processing means displays on the display monitor a picked up image of a region, among the regions whose images have been picked up by the image pickup means, for which at least front and rear boundaries thereof overlap the rear edge of the directly viewed region and the front edge of the indirectly viewed region, respectively.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a vehicular visual assistance system, an image picked up by an image pickup device is processed by an image processing device, and displayed on a display monitor. The image pickup device is mounted on a lower part of a door mirror housing, and is capable of picking up an image of a region that is continuous in the fore-and-aft direction. The imaged region includes part of a front region directly viewed by a vehicle driver, and part of a rear region indirectly viewed by the vehicle driver via a door mirror. The image processing device displays, on the display monitor, an imaged region for which at least front and rear boundaries thereof of the viewed regions overlap. Thus, it is possible to avoid a blind spot from occurring between the direct and indirect views and the image based on the picked up image, thereby improving visibility.
26 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A vehicular visual assistance system, comprising:
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image pickup means mounted on a housing of a mirror mounted externally on a side portion of a vehicle, the image pickup means being capable of picking up an image of a fore-and-aft region extending from an outer edge of a vehicle tire outwardly along the side portion of the vehicle; a display monitor provided within a vehicle compartment, the display monitor being visible to a vehicle driver; and image processing means for displaying on the display monitor an image obtained by processing an image signal from the image pickup means, wherein the image pickup means is mounted on a lower part of the housing and is capable of picking up an image of a region which is continuous in the fore-and-aft direction while simultaneously including part of a front region directly viewed by a vehicle driver on a driver'"'"'s seat and part of a rear region indirectly viewed by the vehicle driver via said mirror, and wherein the image processing means displays on the display monitor a picked up image of a region, among the regions whose images have been picked up by the image pickup means, for which at least front and rear boundaries thereof overlap the rear edge of the directly viewed region and the front edge of the indirectly viewed region, respectively. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 15)
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8. In a vehicle of the type having a vehicle body and a plurality of tires operatively supporting the vehicle body, the improvement comprising a vehicular visual assistance system comprising:
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a camera mounted on a lower part of a mirror housing which contains a side mirror of the vehicle, the camera being capable of picking up a substantially continuous image of a fore-and-aft surface region extending from an outer edge of one of said tires outwardly along a side portion of the vehicle; a display monitor provided within a vehicle compartment, the display monitor being situated in the vehicle so as to be visible to a vehicle driver; and a processor for displaying, on the display monitor, an image obtained by processing an image signal from the camera, wherein the camera is capable of picking up an image of a surface region which is continuous in the fore-and-aft direction while simultaneously including part of a front surface region directly viewable by a vehicle driver on a driver'"'"'s seat, and part of a rear surface region indirectly viewable by the vehicle driver via the mirror, wherein during use of the vehicular visual assistance system, the processor displays a picked up image of a selected surface region, whose images have been picked up by the camera, on the display monitor, wherein at least front and rear boundaries of the selected surface region overlap the rear edge of the directly viewed surface region and the front edge of the indirectly viewed surface region, respectively, and wherein the camera is mounted on the lower part of the housing so that an optical axis intersects a straight line which runs through an outer edge of a contact area of the front wheel and another point, such that portions of the front wheel and the rear wheel are displayed on the display monitor.
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9. A vehicular visual assistance system, comprising:
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image pickup means mounted on a housing of a door mirror, the image pickup means being capable of picking up an image of a fore-and-aft region sideward of a vehicle; a display monitor provided within a vehicle compartment, the display monitor being visible to a vehicle driver; and image processing means for displaying on the display monitor an image obtained by processing an image signal from the image pickup means, wherein the image pickup means is mounted on a lower part of the housing so that an optical axis intersects a straight line which runs through an outer edge of a contact area of a front wheel of the vehicle and which is parallel to a fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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10. A vehicular visual assistance system, comprising:
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image pickup means mounted on a housing of a door mirror, the image pickup means being capable of picking up an image of a fore-and-aft region sideward of a vehicle; a display monitor provided within a vehicle compartment, the display monitor being visible to a vehicle driver; and image processing means for displaying on the display monitor an image obtained by processing an image signal from the image pickup means, wherein the image pickup means is mounted on a lower part of the housing so that an optical axis intersects a straight line joining together outer edges of contact areas of a front wheel and a rear wheel of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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11. A vehicular visual assistance system, comprising:
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image pickup means mounted on a housing of a door mirror, the image pickup means being capable of picking up an image of a fore-and-aft region sideward of a vehicle; a display monitor provided within a vehicle compartment, the display monitor being visible to a vehicle driver; and image processing means for displaying on the display monitor an image obtained by processing an image signal from the image pickup means, wherein the image pickup means is mounted on a lower part of the housing so that an optical axis intersects a straight line joining together an outer edge of a contact area of a front wheel of the vehicle and a point that is a projection on a road surface of an outer edge of a vehicle body positioned outside a rear wheel in a portion corresponding to the rear wheel of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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Specification