In-vehicle image correcting device and night driving view field supporting device

• US 7,433,496 B2
• Filed: 12/26/2002
• Issued: 10/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Yazaki Corporation
• Original Assignee: Yazaki Corporation
• Inventors: Ogawa, Masayuki, Ishii, Koji
• Primary Examiner(s): Desire; Gregory M
• Application Number:
  US10/327,897
• Publication Number:
  US 20030123752A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,112 Days
• Field of Search: 340/436, 340/905, 345/7, 348/142, 348/154, 348/174, 348/148, 348/149, 348/152, 348/115, 348/143, 348/155, 362/510, 362/512, 382/103, 382/104, 382/154, 382/165, 382/260, 382/286, 382/167, 382/263, 382/274
• US Class Current: 382/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10048 Infrared image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30261 Obstacle
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/40 using histogram techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/92 based on global image properties

Abstract

An in-vehicle image correcting device for correcting an image picked up by a near-infrared camera ahead of one'"'"'s own vehicle in which an obstacle is difficult for a driver to visually recognize captures the image picked up by the near-infrared camera; and corrects the image captured by the image capturing means so that a density of a pixel having a higher density than an obstacle density representative of the density of a pixel corresponding to the obstacle becomes lower than the obstacle density. In this configuration, the image picked up by the near-infrared camera is corrected so that the obstacle can be easily recognized.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle image correcting device for correcting an image picked up by a near-infrared camera ahead of one'"'"'s own vehicle in which an obstacle is difficult for a driver to visually recognize, comprising:

image capturing means for capturing the image picked up by said near-infrared camera; and

correcting means for correcting the image captured by said image capturing means so that a density of a pixel having a higher density than an obstacle density representative of the density of a pixel corresponding to said obstacle becomes lower than the obstacle density, further comprising;

defining means for defining said obstacle density on the basis of a distribution of densities of pixels constituting the image captured by said image capturing means,

wherein said correcting means corrects the image captured by said image capturing means on the basis of the obstacle density defined by said defining means.

2. A night driving view field supporting device including a near-infrared camera and an in-vehicle image correcting device comprising:

a head up display on which the image picked up by said near-infrared camera and corrected by said in-vehicle image correcting device according to claim 1 is displayed so that a driving view field is supported during night driving.

3. An in-vehicle image correcting device for correcting an image picked up by a near-infrared camera ahead of one'"'"'s own vehicle in which an obstacle is difficult for a driver to visually recognize, comprising:

image capturing means for capturing the image picked up by said near-infrared camera; and

correcting means for correcting the image captured by said image capturing means so that a density of a pixel having a higher density than an obstacle density representative of the density of a pixel corresponding to said obstacle becomes lower than the obstacle density, wherein said correcting means corrects the image captured by said image capturing means for a specified area in which a pixel density becomes low radially.

4. An in-vehicle image correcting device for correcting an image picked up by a near-infrared camera ahead of one'"'"'s own vehicle in which an obstacle is difficult for a driver to visually recognize, comprising:

image capturing means for capturing the image picked up by said near-infrared camera; and

correcting means for correcting the image captured by said image capturing means so that a density of a pixel having a higher density than an obstacle density representative of the density of a pixel corresponding to said obstacle becomes lower than the obstacle density, further comprising;

an adjusting means which when a boundary is detected in which a density difference between adjacent pixels which exceeds a prescribed value for the image corrected by said correcting, means, adjusts the density of the pixel with the higher density in the vicinity of the boundary so that it becomes gradually low from the boundary over a prescribed range.

5. An in-vehicle image correcting device for correcting an image picked up by a near-infrared camera ahead of one'"'"'s own vehicle in which an obstacle is difficult for a driver to visually recognize, comprising:

image capturing means for capturing the image picked up by said near-infrared camera;

road area detecting means for detecting a road area representative of a road on the image captured by said image capturing means;

unnecessary area specifying means for specifying an unnecessary area of the image which may not be visually recognized by the driver on the basis of the road area detected by said road area detecting means; and

correcting means for correcting the image captured by the image capturing means so that the pixel corresponding to the unnecessary area specified by said unnecessary area specifying means has a density lower than an obstacle density representative of a density of the pixel corresponding to said obstacle.

6. An in-vehicle correcting device according to claim 5, further comprising:

obstacle area detecting means for detecting an obstacle area corresponding to said obstacle on the image captured by said image capturing means,

wherein said unnecessary area specifying means specifies the unnecessary area on the basis of the obstacle area specified by said unnecessary area specifying means.

7. A night driving view field supporting device including a near-infrared camera and an in-vehicle image correcting device comprising:

a head up display on which the image picked up by said near-infrared camera and corrected by said in-vehicle image correcting device according to claim 5 is displayed so that a driving view field is supported during night driving.

8. An in-vehicle image correcting device for correcting an image picked up by a near-infrared camera ahead of one'"'"'s own vehicle in which an obstacle is difficult for a driver to visually recognize, comprising:

image capturing means for capturing the image picked up by said near-infrared camera;

irradiated area information storing means for storing irradiated area information representative of an irradiated area irradiated with a headlight of one'"'"'s own vehicle on the image captured by said image capturing means;

correcting means for correcting the image captured by said image capturing means so that the pixel corresponding to said irradiated area has a lower density than an obstacle density representative of the density of a pixel corresponding to an obstacle.

9. A night driving view field supporting device including a near-infrared camera and an in-vehicle image correcting device comprising:

a head up display on which the image picked up by said near-infrared camera and corrected by said in-vehicle image correcting device according to claim 8 is displayed so that a driving view field is supported during night driving.