JP2004355341A - Moving object notification device - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a moving object notification device that can detect a moving object such as a pedestrian existing in front of a vehicle and can appropriately instruct an action to be taken by a driver after the detection.
A laser diode for irradiating an electromagnetic wave beam in front of a vehicle, a two-dimensional scanner for scanning the irradiated electromagnetic wave beam, an infrared camera for detecting a pedestrian to be marked, and the infrared camera 3, a position detecting means 6 for detecting the position of the pedestrian 24 based on the photographing result, and a control circuit for changing the irradiation pattern by the laser diode 1 according to the position of the pedestrian 24 detected by the position detecting means 6. The control circuit 2 adjusts the electromagnetic wave beam emitted from the laser diode 1 in accordance with the scanning position of the two-dimensional scanner 8, and generates an arbitrary marker in a predetermined area. I do.
[Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a moving object notifying device that detects a moving object such as a pedestrian existing in front of a host vehicle at night, at dusk, or when the surroundings are dark, such as a pedestrian, and notifies the occupant of the vehicle of the detection. .
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a technique for following a moving object, for example, a moving body following spotlight control device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-83383 (Patent Document 1) and a method for detecting and controlling the moving body have been known. The invention disclosed in Patent Literature 1 provides a technique for embodying an autonomous surveillance vehicle suitable for crime prevention by causing the irradiation position of a spotlight to follow the position of an unspecified moving object.
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2002-83383
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, as described in Patent Document 1 described above, the method of irradiating a spotlight following a moving object such as a human body, when applied to a vehicle, involves the following (a) to (c). The following problems arise.
[0005]
(B) Since the driver needs to constantly perform various confirmation actions such as rearward, lateral and in-vehicle, as well as monitoring the condition of the road ahead, simply irradiating a spotlight on a moving object such as a human body, The driver may not notice.
(B) Since many checks and operations are performed at the same time while the vehicle is driving, it takes time to think about what kind of evasion operation to perform immediately even if the moving object is simply informed to the driver. That is, after confirming the moving object, whether there is a space for avoiding the own vehicle around this moving object, whether there is a deceleration, or whether or not it can be avoided only by operating the steering wheel, If there is no space to avoid the car, it is necessary to determine whether to stop or to decelerate and pass immediately.
[0006]
(C) When a moving object such as a human body exists near the oncoming vehicle, the spotlight is irradiated not only on the human body but also on the oncoming vehicle, which may cause dazzling for the driver of the oncoming vehicle.
[0007]
The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and an object of the present invention is to detect a moving object existing in front of a vehicle and accurately determine an action to be taken by a driver after the detection. The object of the present invention is to provide a moving object notification device capable of giving an instruction to a moving object.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a moving object notification device that detects a moving object existing in front of a vehicle and notifies the occupant of the vehicle of the moving object. Moving object detecting means for detecting the moving object to be a target, position detecting means for detecting the position of the moving object based on the detection result of the moving object detecting means, and detecting the position of the moving object by the position detecting means. An irradiation state changing unit that changes an irradiation pattern by the marker irradiation unit in accordance with a position of a moving object, wherein the marker irradiation unit emits an electromagnetic wave beam and emits an electromagnetic wave beam in front of the vehicle. A beam scanning unit that scans within a predetermined area of the electronic device, wherein the irradiation state changing unit is configured to control the electromagnetic irradiation according to a scanning position of the beam scanning unit. Adjust the electromagnetic beam emitted from the beam irradiation unit, and generating an arbitrary marker in the predetermined area.
[0009]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, when a moving object is present in front of the vehicle, information for avoiding approach to the moving object is displayed as a marker in a predetermined area in front of the vehicle, so that the driver himself It is possible to immediately recognize the action to be taken and to support appropriate action determination in an emergency.
[0010]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a moving object notification device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the moving object notification device includes an infrared camera 3 and a visible camera 4 for photographing a detection target 7 existing in front of the vehicle, and a detection target 7 (for example, a pedestrian) emitting millimeter waves. It has a millimeter-wave radar (distance measuring means) 5 for measuring the distance up to and a position detecting means 6 for detecting the position of the detection target 7 based on these outputs.
[0011]
The moving object notification device also includes a laser diode (electromagnetic wave beam irradiation means) 1 for emitting a laser beam toward a detection target 7, and an output side of the laser diode 1, which emits a laser beam in a horizontal direction. The apparatus includes a two-dimensional scanner (beam scanning unit) 8 that scans in the vertical direction, and a scanner driving unit 10 that controls the scanning direction of the two-dimensional scanner 8.
[0012]
Further, scanning position detecting means 9 for detecting the horizontal and vertical scanning positions of the two-dimensional scanner 8 and converting them into digital signals, and the irradiation direction of the laser scanned by the two-dimensional scanner 8 is the direction of the detection target 7. And a control circuit (irradiation state changing means) 2 for reflecting a laser so as to face the laser.
[0013]
The control circuit 2 controls the laser emission by the laser diode 1 based on the position information of the detection target 7 detected by the position detection means 6, and performs the horizontal and vertical directions by the two-dimensional scanner 8 according to a procedure described later. Is output to the scanner driving means 10. Further, a two-dimensional memory 2a for storing an alarm pattern described later is provided.
[0014]
Next, the operation of the moving object notification device according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 and the explanatory diagrams shown in FIGS.
[0015]
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing an image in front of the own vehicle. An opposite lane 22 exists on the right side of the own lane 20 where the own vehicle is traveling with a center line 23 interposed therebetween, and a road shoulder on the left side. 21 are present. Then, a pedestrian (moving object) 24 enters the own lane 20 from the left shoulder to the right in the drawing from the shoulder 21 at a distance of about 50 m ahead of the own vehicle.
[0016]
In the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, the logic described below operates in the position detecting means 6 and the control circuit 2.
[0017]
First, in step S10, when the driver turns on a system switch (not shown), the present system operates.
[0018]
In step S20, an image captured by the infrared camera 3 is captured in one frame. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the state at this time, and only the pedestrian 24 is imaged with emphasis due to its sensitivity to body temperature.
[0019]
Next, in step S30, one frame of the image detected by the millimeter wave radar 5 is captured. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the state at this time. The pedestrian 24 as a target and the street tree 25 reflect millimeter waves, and the distance to these targets is calculated. In this figure, the distance to the pedestrian 24 is calculated to be 50 m, and the distance to the street tree 25 is calculated to be 30 m.
[0020]
In step S40, an image captured by the visible camera 4 is captured in one frame. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the state at this time. Only a white or yellow line (partition line on the road) is extracted due to a difference in color tone value, and the first roadside line 26, The center line 23 and the second roadside line 27 are extracted.
[0021]
Further, in step S40, in order to identify the own lane 20, the amount of change (edge) in the color gradation of the first roadside line 26, the center line 23, and the second roadside line 27 is extracted, and the center of the own lane 20 is extracted. The coordinates of the edge are extracted in the order from the position closer to the left and right. Then, the left and right inner edges of the first roadside line 26 and the left and right inner edges of the center line 23 are extracted. The continuity and straight line likelihood of these edge line segments are subjected to numerical processing such as a known Hough transform, and grouping is performed as continuous line segments. The area surrounded by the line segment extracted as described above is identified as the own lane 20. FIG. 7 shows an area of the own lane 20 identified in the above processing.
[0022]
In step S50, a logical sum of the area extracted by the infrared camera 3 in step S20 and the area extracted by the processing in step S30 is taken, and the one having infrared sensitivity and having the distance information is the pedestrian 24. Recognize that there is. Here, the street tree 25 is excluded because it has no sensitivity to infrared rays.
[0023]
In step S60, the lateral position and the distance of the pedestrian 24 are calculated. The horizontal position is calculated by calculating the horizontal pixel value of the image of the infrared camera 3 captured in step S20, and the distance is calculated using the output information of the millimeter wave radar 5 captured in step S30.
[0024]
In step S70, it is determined whether the pedestrian 24 extracted in step S60 exists in the own lane extracted in step S40. If not, the process returns to step S20; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S80. The own lane may be slightly enlarged in the left-right direction in the figure by image processing means such as expansion if necessary.
[0025]
This is because the pedestrian 24 has a region in the height direction, so when the own lane is strictly defined, the warning output indicating the presence of the pedestrian 24 and the definition of the own lane give the driver an uncomfortable feeling. It is effective in the case. However, if the amount of inflation is too large, a warning will be given to a pedestrian who walks on the road shoulder 21 which is not a problem, which may cause a false alarm. Therefore, it is necessary to set an appropriate value. is there.
[0026]
In step S80, it is determined whether the distance to the pedestrian 24 is greater than 100 m. If it is determined that the distance is longer than 100 m, a first alarm described below is activated, and the process proceeds to step S110. On the other hand, if it is determined that the distance is 100 m or less, the process proceeds to step S90.
[0027]
In step S90, it is determined whether the distance to pedestrian 24 is in the range of 50 m to 100 m. If it is within this range, a second alarm described below is activated, and the process proceeds to step S110. If not, the process proceeds to step S100.
[0028]
In step S100, it is determined whether the distance to the pedestrian 24 is less than 50 m. If the distance is 50 m or less, a third alarm described below is activated, and the process proceeds to step S110. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S110 as an error.
[0029]
In step S110, it is determined whether or not the system is ON, that is, in an operating state. If the system is ON, the process returns to step S20, and if it is OFF, the process ends.
[0030]
FIG. 8 to FIG. 10 are explanatory diagrams showing the operation when the above-described first to third alarms are generated.
[0031]
When it is determined in step S80 in FIG. 2 that the pedestrian is present at a position exceeding 100 m, the operation of the first alarm is started, and the memory stored in the two-dimensional memory 2a as shown in FIG. The pattern is selected.
[0032]
In the two-dimensional memory 2a having an arrangement of 200 in the horizontal direction and 100 in the vertical direction, an alarm display pattern is input in advance as a memory pattern. FIG. 8 shows a memory pattern used for the first alarm. As shown in FIG. 8, the memory pattern may be, for example, a memory pattern in which a broken arrow dotted line is drawn. The memory address in the horizontal direction is represented by x, the memory address in the vertical direction is represented by y, and the address of each memory is represented by (x, y).
[0033]
In the figure, drawing data of a broken line and an arrow from (80, 5) to bend (100, 60) via (85, 45) are recorded as 1-bit data in each memory.
[0034]
The structure of this memory will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing only the memory arrays (78, 5) to (83, 10) in the memory array shown in FIG. 8, and corresponds to the start area indicated by the broken line in FIG. . FIG. 11 shows the address x on the horizontal axis and the address y on the vertical axis. When described in the form of (x, y), (80, 5), (80, 6), (80, 8), (80) The data at the memory addresses 81, 9) and (81, 10) is "1", and the data at the other addresses are "0".
[0035]
As described above, in FIG. 8 as well, by storing data of “0” or “1” at each address of a total of 20,000 memories, 200 in the horizontal direction and 100 in the vertical direction, Image data can be stored in the two-dimensional memory 2a.
[0036]
Similarly, in step S90 of FIG. 2, when the pedestrian is at a position of 100 m or less and more than 50 m, the operation enters the branch of the operation of the second alarm, and in this case, as shown in FIG. The memory pattern is selected.
[0037]
In FIG. 9, the data is bent from the memory address (80, 5) via (81, 30), and the drawing data of the broken line and the arrow from (110, 50) is recorded as 1-bit data in each memory.
[0038]
Similarly, in step S100, if the pedestrian is present at a position of 50 m or less, the process enters the third alarm operation branch, and the memory pattern in FIG. 10 is selected.
[0039]
FIG. 10 shows a memory storage pattern used for the third alarm. In FIG. 10, the drawing data is bent from (80, 5) to (82, 20), and the drawing data of a broken line and an arrow from (110, 40) is stored in each memory. Is recorded as 1-bit data.
[0040]
The output signal of the scanning position detection circuit 9 always detects, as two-dimensional position data, which of 200 memory addresses in the horizontal direction and 100 memory addresses in the vertical direction is present. , Sequentially read the memory value of the corresponding address.
[0041]
If the memory value is “1”, the control circuit 2 outputs a light emission command to the laser diode 1. On the other hand, when the memory value is "0", no light emission command is sent.
[0042]
By performing the above operation by intermittently irradiating the laser beam forward of the laser radar corresponding to 200 horizontal and 100 vertical data at the memory address, a laser beam having a pattern equal to the memory pattern is used as a marker in front of the own vehicle. As a result, the driver can recognize a marker equal to the memory pattern on the road surface ahead of the own vehicle. Therefore, the driver can immediately recognize the presence of the moving object by the emphasized notification by the symbol information.
[0043]
FIG. 12 shows a scene in front of the vehicle in a state where the second alarm is notified, and the marker 28 is illuminated on the road surface so as to avoid the pedestrian 24. Further, as a modified example of the present embodiment, in step S60, the memory pattern of the alarm may be changed depending on whether the pedestrian 24 is located on the left or right of the own vehicle traveling lane.
[0044]
For example, the alarm memory patterns shown in FIGS. 8 to 10 are described using a memory pattern appropriate for a situation where the pedestrian 24 is located on the left side of the own lane. The pedestrian 24 is an effective notification method because the risk is high when the pedestrian 24 is mainly located on the left side of the own lane. In rare cases, the pedestrian 24 may be located on the right side of the own lane.
[0045]
In this case, according to the lateral position information of the pedestrian in step S60, when the pedestrian is located on the right side of the own lane, as shown in FIG. May be drawn, or a stop symbol may be drawn.
[0046]
Although the present embodiment has been described based on a configuration in which the degree of urgency of an alarm is variable in three stages from a first alarm to a third alarm, an arbitrary alarm stage may be set as necessary. You may.
[0047]
Further, in the present embodiment, a configuration in which a laser beam is irradiated by one laser diode 1 is described. However, as an example of changing the irradiation pattern of the marker described in claim 2, a laser diode of three colors RGB is used. It is also possible to make the color of the marker 28 variable by controlling the light emission output of each diode, and to make the marker 28 blink by making the irradiation interval of the laser diode 1 variable. . According to such a configuration, it is possible to facilitate information recognition by the driver.
[0048]
Further, as described in claim 3, by utilizing the fact that the distance to the pedestrian 24 is known based on the signal of the position detecting means 6, as shown in FIG. It is also possible to present the attention marker 29 at a position on the near side by 5 m. According to such a configuration, it is possible to prevent irradiation of the human body with the electromagnetic wave beam, and as a result, a situation occurs in which a person is surprised by suddenly being irradiated with light and stops at the place. Can be prevented.
[0049]
In addition, since the marker is displayed as information on the traveling route that guides the vehicle around the host vehicle, it is possible to intuitively determine how the driver should immediately perform the avoidance operation. Can be done fast.
[0050]
In addition, as described in claim 1, without depending on the distance information, based on the pseudo distance detection logic that the upper part is far and the lower part is short distance in the vertical direction of the own vehicle forward viewing angle. However, to realize the operation described in the present embodiment is also effective from the viewpoint of cost reduction.
[0051]
Further, as described in claim 5, when a vehicle is present in the opposite lane 22, that is, the interval between the headlights of the oncoming vehicle detected by the infrared camera 3 and the oncoming vehicle detected by the millimeter wave radar 5, When the control circuit 2 recognizes that the object existing in the oncoming lane 22 is an oncoming vehicle by determining whether or not the vehicle is an oncoming vehicle, which is calculated according to the distance to the vehicle, as shown in FIG. The irradiation restriction area 30 is set to be substantially the same as the area where the oncoming vehicle is detected, and when the pedestrian 24 is detected in the main irradiation restriction area 30, as described in claim 3, 5 m ahead of the pedestrian 24. By irradiating the marker 28 to the position of, the dazzling given to the oncoming vehicle can be prevented.
[0052]
As described above, in each embodiment, it is also possible to control the drawing of the marker 28 according to the traveling speed of the own vehicle. For example, when the vehicle speed is high, the irradiation area is set to a distant place, the irradiation light amount is increased, the color of the irradiation indicates a higher degree of risk, for example, the yellow or red spectral component is increased, and the irradiation interval is shortened. And the like.
[0053]
Similarly, when the amount of light in the surroundings is low, for example, in the case of night, at dusk, and in the daytime, the control amount is made variable, and in the case of rain, fog, snow, and the like, these various control amounts are made variable. It may be added.
[0054]
In the above embodiments, the detection target 7 is described as a human, but may be applied to a bicycle, a motorcycle, and a vehicle.
[0055]
Furthermore, each of the above embodiments has been described based on the configuration using the infrared camera 3 for detecting a thermal object, the millimeter wave radar 5 for detecting a distance, and the visible camera 4 for detecting a road partition line such as a white line. If a hot object in front of the own vehicle is detected and an alarm is issued without specifying the camera, the visible camera 4 is unnecessary.
[0056]
When it is not necessary to accurately measure the distance to the thermal object (human body), the distance to the thermal object is simply measured by distance correspondence information calculated from the pixel values of the infrared camera 3 in the vertical direction. You may. Further, the detection of an obstacle such as a human body without specializing in heat is not limited to the infrared camera 3, but a visible camera 4, a laser radar, an ultrasonic Alternatively, obstacle detection means using electromagnetic waves may be used instead.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a moving object notification device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the moving object notification device according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an image in front of a host vehicle.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an image of a thermal object (pedestrian) existing in front of the host vehicle.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an image of an obstacle ahead of the vehicle detected by the millimeter wave radar.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing images of an own lane and an oncoming lane existing in front of the own vehicle.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an image of an own lane existing ahead of the own vehicle.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a display pattern of a first alarm stored in a two-dimensional memory.
FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a display pattern of a second alarm stored in a two-dimensional memory.
FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a display pattern of a third alarm stored in a two-dimensional memory.
FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing bit patterns stored in a memory.
FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a marker that displays a display pattern of a first warning in front of the own vehicle using a laser diode, and is a display example when a pedestrian enters the own lane from the left side. .
FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a marker for displaying a display pattern of a first warning in front of the own vehicle using a laser diode, and is a display example when a pedestrian enters the own lane from the right side. .
FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a case where a caution marker is irradiated in front of a pedestrian to be marked;
FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing an irradiation restriction area set when an oncoming vehicle is present.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Laser diode 2 Control circuit 3 Infrared camera 4 Visible camera 5 Millimeter wave radar 6 Position detecting means 7 Detected object 8 Two-dimensional scanner 9 Scanning position detecting circuit 10 Scanner driving means 11 Reflecting mirror 20 Own lane 21 Road shoulder 22 Opposite lane 23 Center line 24 Pedestrian 25 Street tree 26 First roadside line 27 Second roadside line 28 Marker 29 Attention marker 30 Irradiation restricted area

Claims (5)

In a moving object notification device that detects a moving object existing in front of the vehicle and notifies the occupant of the vehicle of this detection,
Marker irradiating means for irradiating the marker in front of the vehicle,
Moving object detecting means for detecting the moving object to be marked,
Position detection means for detecting the position of the moving object based on the detection result of the moving object detection means,
An irradiation state changing unit that changes an irradiation pattern by the marker irradiation unit according to the position of the moving object detected by the position detection unit,
The marker irradiating unit includes an electromagnetic wave beam irradiating unit that irradiates an electromagnetic wave beam, and a beam scanning unit that scans the electromagnetic wave beam in a predetermined area in front of the vehicle,
The irradiation state changing unit adjusts an electromagnetic wave beam irradiated from the electromagnetic wave beam irradiation unit according to a scanning position of the beam scanning unit, and generates an arbitrary marker in the predetermined area. Moving object notification device. Providing distance measuring means for measuring the distance from the vehicle to the moving object, the position detecting means, based on the distance to the moving object measured by the distance measuring means, detects the position of the moving object,
The moving object notification device according to claim 1, wherein the irradiation state changing unit changes an irradiation pattern of the marker based on a measurement result of the distance measurement unit. The moving object notification device according to claim 1, wherein the marker is projected and illuminated on a portion on the near side with respect to the moving object to be marked. The moving object notification device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the marker is runway information that guides the moving object around a vehicle. The position detecting means has a function of detecting an oncoming vehicle, and the marker irradiating means limits the irradiation of the marker to an area where the oncoming vehicle exists when the oncoming vehicle is detected. The moving object notification device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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