On-vehicle image display device, on-vehicle image display method for vehicle, and on-vehicle image setting device

• US 10,166,922 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2015
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Asai, Goro
• Primary Examiner(s): Elahi, Shan E
• Application Number:
  US15/303,715
• Publication Number:
  US 20170028921A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,362 Days
• Field of Search: 348148
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/00 Optical viewing arrangements; Real-time viewing arrangements for drivers or passengers using optical image capturing systems, e.g. cameras or video systems specially adapted for use in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/26 to the rear of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/28 with an adjustable field of view
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/802 for monitoring and displaying vehicle exterior blind spot views
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle

Abstract

An image display device includes an imaging unit that captures an area including at least a part of a rear wheel of the vehicle and an electronic control unit that: determines whether the vehicle will turn and travel; displays a whole or a part of the area on a display as a non-turning-time image when it is determined by the electronic control unit that the vehicle will travel without turning; displays the whole or a part of the area on the display as a turning-time image when it is determined by the electronic control unit that the vehicle will turn and travel; and sets the turning-time image in such a way that a driver visually recognizes a state of the rear wheel more easily through the turning-time image than through the non-turning-time image.

Claims

1. An on-vehicle image display device comprising:

a display unit;

an imaging unit configured to capture an imaging area on a side of a vehicle and behind the vehicle, the imaging area including at least a part of a rear wheel of the vehicle; and

an electronic control unit configured to determine whether the vehicle will turn and travel, the electronic control unit is configured to display a first portion of the imaging area, captured by the imaging unit, on the display unit as a non-turning-time image for the vehicle when the electronic control unit determines that the vehicle will travel without turning, and the electronic control unit is configured to display a second portion of the imaging area, captured by the imaging unit, on the display unit as a turning-time image for the vehicle when the electronic control unit determines that the vehicle will turn and travel,

wherein a greater amount of the rear wheel is visually displayed on the display unit in the second portion of the imaging area than is visually displayed on the display unit in the first portion of the imaging area.

2. The on-vehicle image display device according to claim 1, wherein the second portion of the imaging area is a larger area of the imaging area captured by the imaging unit than is the first portion of the imaging area.

3. The on-vehicle image display device according to claim 1, wherein

the turning-time image includes at least a grounding position between the rear wheel and a traveling road.

4. The on-vehicle image display device according to claim 1, wherein

the second portion of the imaging area captured by the imaging unit includes all of the first portion of the imaging area.

5. The on-vehicle image display device according to claim 1, wherein

the electronic control unit is configured to determine that the vehicle will turn and travel when a direction indicator switch lever is operated and a vehicle speed.

6. The on-vehicle image display device according to claim 1, wherein

the electronic control unit is configured to change the image, displayed on the display unit, from the turning-time image to the non-turning-time image when the state determined by the electronic control unit changes from the state, in which it is determined that the vehicle will turn, to the state in which it is determined that the vehicle will not turn.

7. The on-vehicle image display device according to claim 1, wherein

the electronic control unit is configured to change an image, displayed on the display unit, between the non-turning-time image and the turning-time image in a predetermined time.

8. The on-vehicle image display device according to claim 1, wherein

the non-turning-time image and the turning-time image has a same aspect ratio.

9. The on-vehicle image display device according to claim 1, wherein

the imaging unit is provided on each of a right side and a left side of a vehicle body of the vehicle,

the electronic control unit is configured to display the first portion of the imaging area or the second portion of the imaging area, captured by the imaging unit on each of the right side and the left side of the vehicle body, on the display unit each as an image and

the electronic control unit is configured to set only the turning-time image, captured by the imaging unit corresponding to a side that the vehicle is going to turn into, such that the driver visually recognizes the state of the rear wheel more easily through the turning-time image than through the non-turning-time image.

10. The on-vehicle image display device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to determine that the vehicle will turn and travel when a direction indicator switch lever is operated and a steering angle is equal to or larger than a predetermined steering angle.

11. The on-vehicle image display device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to determine that the vehicle will travel without turning when a direction indicator switch lever is not operated.

12. The on-vehicle image display device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to determine that the vehicle will travel without turning when a vehicle speed is higher than a predetermined vehicle speed and a steering angle is smaller than a predetermined steering angle.

13. The on-vehicle image display device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit is configured to change the image, displayed on the display unit, from the non-turning-time image to the turning-time image when a state determined by the electronic control unit changes from a state, in which it is determined that the vehicle will not turn, to a state in which it is determined that the vehicle will turn.

14. An on-vehicle image display method for a vehicle, the vehicle including an electronic control unit and a display unit, the on-vehicle image display method comprising:

determining, by the electronic control unit, whether the vehicle will turn and travel;

setting, by the electronic control unit, a non-turning-time image to be displayed on the display unit when the electronic control unit determines that the vehicle will travel without turning, the non-turning-time image being based on an area on a side of the vehicle and behind the vehicle, the area including at least a part of a rear wheel of the vehicle captured by an imaging unit;

setting, by the electronic control unit, an image in which a greater amount of the rear wheel can be viewed than through the non-turning-time image, as a turning-time image based on the area captured by the imaging unit, the turning-time image configured to be displayed on the display unit; and

displaying, by the electronic control unit, the non-turning-time image that has been set or the turning-time image that has been set, on the display unit.

15. An on-vehicle image setting device comprising:

a display device;

an imaging unit that captures an imaging area on a side of a vehicle and behind the vehicle, the imaging area including at least a part of a rear wheel of the vehicle; and

an electronic control unit configured to determine whether the vehicle will turn and travel, the electronic control unit is configured to output a first image when the electronic control unit determines that the vehicle will travel without turning, the electronic control unit is configured to output a second image when the electronic control unit determines that the vehicle will turn and travel, the first image is configured to be displayed on the display device based on an image captured by the imaging unit, the second image is configured to be displayed on the display device based on the image captured by the imaging unit,

wherein a greater amount of the rear wheel is visually displayed in the second image than is visually displayed in the first image.