Driving assist apparatus, driving assist system, and driving assist camera unit

• US 9,007,462 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2010
• Issued: 04/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Mitsugi, Tatsuya
• Primary Examiner(s): Harold, Jefferey
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAHMAN, MUSTAFIZUR
• Application Number:
  US13/698,227
• Publication Number:
  US 20130057690A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,761 Days
• Field of Search: 348/148, 348/143, 348/142, 348/136, 348/118, 348/153, 348/159, 348/14.12, 348/36, 348/46, 348/49, 348/51, 348/54, 348/64, 348/202, 348/208.11, 348/222.1, 348/231.3, 348/231.6, 348/231.9, 348/333.01, 348/333.02, 348/333.1, 348/335, 348/425.1, 348/563, 348/571, 348/714, 348/744, 348/806, 348/837, 382/104, 382/106, 340/425.1, 340/441, 701/1, 701/36, 701/41
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/168 Driving aids for parking, e.g. acoustic or visual feedback on parking space

Abstract

A driving assist apparatus acquires vehicle information which includes a gear state and speed of a vehicle; judges a state of preparing for movement, a state of starting movement, and a state during movement; generates a wide-angle image that is an image that can see a wide range although having distortion when the vehicle state is the state of preparing for movement or the state of starting movement; and generates a no-distortion image that is an image in which the distortion due to the lens shape and the distortion by the projection system are eliminated from the camera image when the vehicle state is the state during movement.

Claims

1. A driving assist apparatus which is connected to a camera attached to a vehicle and having a wide-angle lens for imaging a road surface in a direction in which said vehicle moves, and displays on a display device an image based on a camera image that is an image imaged by said camera, said driving assist apparatus comprising:

an information storing section which stores information for generating images, the information including lens distortion information that shows distortion of the camera image due to a lens shape of said camera and projection information that shows distortion of the camera image by a projection system of said wide-angle lens;

a vehicle information acquisition section which acquires vehicle information including a gear state that is a state of a transmission of said vehicle and speed;

a vehicle state judgment section which judges a vehicle state that is a state of said vehicle based on the vehicle information; and

an image generation section which processes the camera image according to the vehicle state using the information for generating images, and generates an image to be displayed on said display device,

wherein said vehicle state judgment section judges;

a state of preparing for movement, which is a state where said vehicle is movable and stops;

a state of starting movement, which is a state until a predetermined condition during movement is established from starting movement and where said vehicle moves; and

a state during movement, which is a state where said vehicle moves after the condition during movement is established, as the vehicle state, and

said image generation section generates a wide-angle image that is an image that can see a wide range although having distortion when the vehicle state is the state of preparing for movement or the state of starting movement, and generates a no-distortion image that is an image in which the distortion due to the lens shape and the distortion by the projection system are eliminated from the camera image when the vehicle state is the state during movement.

2. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said information storing section stores viewpoint information composed of parallel movement information, which is a difference between a position of a viewpoint present at a different position from said camera and an attachment position of said camera, and rotation information, which is a difference between a direction of the viewpoint and a direction in which said camera is attached;

said vehicle state judgment section judges a state of shifting to stopping which is a state that detects that a predetermined condition of detecting shifting to stopping, which detects that said moving vehicle starts to stop, is established; and

said image generation section generates a different viewpoint no-distortion image, which is an image in which the distortion due to the lens shape and the distortion by the projection system are eliminated from the camera image and which is seen from the viewpoint when the vehicle state is the state of shifting to stopping.

3. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein said vehicle state judgment section judges a stop state that is a state in which said vehicle stops after the state of shifting to stopping;

and

said image generation section generates the different viewpoint no-distortion image when the vehicle state is the stop state.

4. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein said vehicle state judgment section judges a re-movement state that is a state where said vehicle moves after the stop state;

and

said image generation section generates the wide-angle image for a predetermined period of time of confirming circumstances of a movement direction after the vehicle state becomes the re-movement state.

5. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein said image generation section generates the different viewpoint no-distortion image when the vehicle state is the re-movement state after the period of time of confirming circumstances of the movement direction.

6. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein said vehicle state judgment section judges the re-movement state when said vehicle moves until a predetermined condition of determining stopping is established, and judges the state of preparing for movement, the state of starting movement, and the state during movement after the condition of determining stopping is established.

7. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein said vehicle state judgment section judges the re-movement state when said vehicle moves until a predetermined condition of determining stopping is established, and judges the state of preparing for movement, the state of starting movement, and the state during movement after the condition of determining stopping is established.

8. The driving assist apparatus according to claim 1,

further comprising:

a guide line information storing section which stores guide line spacing information on spacing of guide lines set on the road surface in the direction in which said vehicle moves, and attachment information that shows an attachment position and an attachment angle of said camera to said vehicle;

a guide line information generation section which generates guide line information on the position of an image of the guide lines set on the road surface based on the information stored in said guide line information storing section, the image being generated by said image generation section; and

a guide line image generation section which generates a guide line image that represents the guide lines based on the guide line information,

said display device displaying an image in which the guide line image is superimposed on the image generated by said image generation section.

9. A driving assist system comprising:

a camera attached to a vehicle and having a wide-angle lens for imaging a road surface in a direction in which said vehicle moves; and

a driving assist apparatus being connected to said camera and displaying on a display device an image based on a camera image imaged by said camera, said driving assist apparatus comprising;

an information storing section which stores information for generating images, the information including lens distortion information that shows distortion of the camera image due to a lens shape of said camera and projection information that shows distortion of the camera image by a projection system of said wide-angle lens;

a vehicle information acquisition section which acquires vehicle information including a gear state that is a state of a transmission of said vehicle and speed;

a vehicle state judgment section which judges a vehicle state that is a state of said vehicle based on the vehicle information; and

an image generation section which processes the camera image according to the vehicle state using the information for generating images, and generates an image to be displayed on said display device,

wherein said vehicle state judgment section judges;

a state of preparing for movement, which is a state where said vehicle is movable and stops;

a state of starting movement, which is a state until a predetermined condition during movement is established from starting movement and where said vehicle moves; and

a state during movement, which is a state where said vehicle moves after the condition during movement is established, as the vehicle state, and

said image generation section generates a wide-angle image that is an image that can see a wide range although having distortion when the vehicle state is the state of preparing for movement or the state of starting movement, and generates a no-distortion image that is an image in which the distortion due to the lens shape and the distortion by the projection system are eliminated from the camera image when the vehicle state is the state during movement.

10. A driving assist camera unit which images an image of a road surface in a direction in which a vehicle moves, and displays on a display device an image based on an imaged camera image, said driving assist camera unit comprising:

a camera attached to said vehicle and having a wide-angle lens for imaging the road surface;

an information storing section which stores information for generating images, the information including lens distortion information that shows distortion of the camera image due to a lens shape of said camera and projection information that shows distortion of the camera image by a projection system of said wide-angle lens;

a vehicle information acquisition section which acquires vehicle information including a gear state that is a state of a transmission of said vehicle and speed;

a vehicle state judgment section which judges a vehicle state that is a state of said vehicle based on the vehicle information; and

an image generation section which processes the camera image according to the vehicle state using the information for generating images, and generates an image to be displayed on said display device,

wherein said vehicle state judgment section judges;

a state of preparing for movement, which is a state where said vehicle is movable and stops;

a state of starting movement, which is a state until a predetermined condition during movement is established from starting movement and where said vehicle moves; and

a state during movement, which is a state where said vehicle moves after the condition during movement is established, as the vehicle state, and

said image generation section generates a wide-angle image that is an image that can see a wide range although having distortion when the vehicle state is the state of preparing for movement or the state of starting movement, and generates a no-distortion image that is an image in which the distortion due to the lens shape and the distortion by the projection system are eliminated from the camera image when the vehicle state is the state during movement.