Vehicle periphery video providing apparatus and method

• US 8,174,576 B2
• Filed: 09/08/2006
• Issued: 05/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Akatsuka, Takeshi, Oizumi, Ken
• Primary Examiner(s): Dastouri, Mehrdad
• Assistant Examiner(s): ANDERSON II, JAMES M
• Application Number:
  US11/517,361
• Publication Number:
  US 20070070197A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,069 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/605 the adjustment being automatic
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/802 for monitoring and displaying vehicle exterior blind spot views
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders

Abstract

A vehicle periphery video providing apparatus performs coordinate conversion for a video shot by a shooting device so that the same video as in a case where a vehicle outside is visible from an eye point position of a driver in such a manner that an installed area of a liquid crystal display becomes transparent can be displayed on the liquid crystal display.

Claims

1. A vehicle periphery video providing apparatus comprising:

a first shooting device adapted to shoot a first video of the periphery of a vehicle at a location that is not visible to a driver due to a structural member of the vehicle;

a second shooting device adapted to shoot a second video of the periphery of the vehicle at the location that is not visible to the driver due to the structural member of the vehicle, the second shooting device being located separately from the first shooting device and;

a distance detection device adapted to detect a distance to an obstruction present on a shooting direction side of the first and second shooting devices;

a video processing device adapted for;

setting a vertical reference surface at a location of the obstruction,

performing coordinate conversion on the first and second videos based on (i) the location of the vertical reference surface, (ii) information regarding at least one eye point position of the driver, and (iii) information regarding an installed state of the display device, and

providing a synthesis processed video by performing video synthesis processing on the first and second videos, the synthesis processing comprising;

comparing pixel values of each pixel of the first video with pixel values of each corresponding pixel of the second video,

when a pixel value of a pixel of the first video is the same as a pixel value of a corresponding pixel of the second video, setting the pixel value of the compared pixels as the pixel value of the corresponding pixel in the synthesis processed video, and

when a pixel value of a pixel of the first video is different from a pixel value of a corresponding pixel of the second video, determining an average of pixel values of peripheral pixels of the compared pixels and setting the average as the pixel value of the corresponding pixel in the synthesis processed video; and

a display device adapted to display the synthesis processed video, the display device being disposed at a location of the structural member.

2. The vehicle periphery video providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one eye point position comprises a plurality of eye point positions, and the coordinate conversion is performed such that the first and second videos include locations that would be visible to the driver from all of the plurality of eye point positions if not for the structural member.

3. The vehicle periphery video providing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an eye point position acquisition device adapted to acquire information regarding the eye point position of the driver, wherein the coordinate conversion performed by the video processing device is further based on the information acquired by the eye point position acquisition device.

4. The vehicle periphery video providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when a distance to the obstruction is greater than or equal to a predetermined distance, the video processing device does not set the vertical reference surface at the position of the obstruction, but instead sets the vertical reference surface on a ground.

5. The vehicle periphery video providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when distances to a plurality of the obstructions are detected by the distance detection device, the video processing device sets the vertical reference surface at a position of a closest obstruction among the plurality of obstructions.

6. The vehicle periphery video providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the video processing device is further adapted to set a second reference surface on a ground, perform the coordinate conversion for location in front of the obstruction based on the second reference surface, and perform the coordinate conversion for other locations based on the vertical reference surface.

7. A method for providing a vehicle periphery video the method comprising:

shooting a first video of the periphery of a vehicle at a location that is not visible to a driver due to a structural member of the vehicle from a first location;

shooting a second video of the periphery of the vehicle at the location that is not visible to the driver due to the structural member of the vehicle, from a second location that is different from the first location;

detecting a distance to an obstruction present in a direction of the shooting;

setting a vertical reference surface at a location of the obstruction;

performing coordinate conversion on the first and second videos based on (i) the location of the vertical reference surface, (ii) information regarding at least one eye point position of the driver, and (iii) information regarding an installed state of the display device;

providing a synthesis processed video by preforming video synthesis processing on the first and second videos, the synthesis processing comprising;

comparing pixel values of each pixel of the first video with pixel values of each corresponding pixel of the second video,

when a pixel value of a pixel of the first video is the same as a pixel value of a corresponding pixel of the second video, setting the pixel value of the compared pixels as the pixel value of the corresponding pixel in the synthesis processed video, and

when a pixel value of a pixel of the first video is different from a pixel value of a corresponding pixel of the second video, determining an average of pixel values of peripheral pixels of the compared pixels and setting the average as the pixel value of the corresponding pixel in the synthesis processed video; and

displaying the synthesis processed video, the display device being disposed at a location of the structural member.

8. A vehicle periphery video providing apparatus comprising:

means for shooting a first video of the periphery of a vehicle at a location that is not visible to a driver due to a structural member of the vehicle;

means for shooting a second video of the periphery of the vehicle at the location that is not visible to the driver due to the structural member of the vehicle, the means for shooting the second video being located separately from the means for shooting the first video;

means for detecting a distance to an obstruction present on a shooting direction side of the means for shooting the first video and the second video;

means for;

setting a vertical reference surface at a location of the obstruction,

performing coordinate conversion on the first and second videos based on (i) the location of the vertical reference surface, (ii) information regarding at least one eye point position of the driver, and (iii) information regarding an installed state of the display device, and

providing a synthesis processed video by performing video synthesis processing on the first and second videos, the synthesis processing comprising;

comparing pixel values of each pixel of the first video with pixel values of each corresponding pixel of the second video,

when a pixel value of a pixel of the first video is the same as a pixel value of a corresponding pixel of the second video, setting the pixel value of the compared pixels as the pixel value of the corresponding pixel in the synthesis processed video, and

when a pixel value of a pixel of the first video is different from a pixel value of a corresponding pixel of the second video, determining an average of pixel values of peripheral pixels of the compared pixels and setting the average as the pixel value of the corresponding pixel in the synthesis processed video; and

means for displaying the synthesis processed video, the means for displaying being disposed at a location of the structural member.