JPH05294184A - On-vehicle camera device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] When a camera is mounted on a vehicle, a vehicle-mounted camera device that can obtain a clear image without being affected by the vibration of the vehicle and that can be installed outside the vehicle without failure or the like is provided. The purpose is to do. A VAP 2 is arranged in the door mirror 1, a video lens 3 and an image pickup device 4 such as a CCD are arranged, and the glass plate 2g of the VAP 2 is used as a half mirror to serve also as a mirror portion of the door mirror 1. The VAP 2 has its apex angle displaced according to the vibration of the vehicle detected by the vibration detection sensor 2f, and the image pickup element 4 captures an image without blurring.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted camera device mounted on a vehicle and monitoring images around the vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to improve the running safety of a vehicle, there are some devices which are equipped with an image pickup means such as a television camera to pick up a visual field in the front-rear direction of the vehicle and retrieve and use various information contained in the image. Or is proposed.

For example, in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 57-57760, there is a system that detects an image motion, that is, a motion of an automobile from an image signal taken in by an optical correlation system, and gives a warning to a driving vehicle depending on a lateral direction, a distance of a surrounding automobile and a speed. Proposed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-265400 proposes a system for recognizing a sign by searching a predetermined position in the "road region" of an image that has been picked up and recognized.

In addition, JP-A-59-127200 and JP-A-59-127200
Many related systems such as 2-95698 have been proposed.

[0006]

By the way, when a camera is mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile, an image cannot be stably captured if the anti-vibration measures are insufficient. For this reason, various anti-vibration measures have been proposed, such as holding the camera body by an anti-vibration mechanism, but this has led to an increase in the size of the device and restrictions on the position of the camera, making it particularly unsuitable for passenger cars and the like. Is.

On the other hand, a conventional camera used for imaging is behind a windshield of an automobile protected from weather effects, inside a vehicle such as a rear surface of a rearview mirror, or inside a hood of a vehicle (near a headlamp). Was placed in a place with good visibility.

[0008] However, if the camera is arranged in the vehicle compartment, there is a problem in terms of aesthetics, a decrease in comfort, and a problem that the driver's visual field is narrowed.

Further, when the camera is arranged in the bonnet, the surrounding environment is very bad, which causes a problem such as a failure of the camera.

Further, when the camera is arranged around the vehicle, for example, on the side surface of the door or on the bonnet, various problems occur in terms of stability, performance, such as design and aerodynamic resistance.

A first object of the present invention is to provide an on-vehicle camera device having a compact structure which enables photographing without being affected by the vibration of the vehicle.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle-mounted camera in which a camera provided with anti-vibration measures can be placed in a place where there are no problems in terms of vehicle safety, design, performance, etc. and there are few failures. To provide a device.

[0013]

The specific construction of the vehicle-mounted camera device for realizing the object of the present invention is as set forth in the claims.

[0014]

1 is a schematic view showing a first embodiment of an in-vehicle camera device according to the present invention.

The vehicle-mounted camera device of this embodiment is provided on the door mirror 1 of an automobile shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, 2 is a variable apex prism (variable angle prism, hereinafter abbreviated as VAP) which also serves as a mirror portion of the door mirror 1, 3 is a video lens, and 4 is CC.
In the image pickup device such as D, the video lens 3 and the image pickup device 4 are integrally assembled to form a video camera, and light passing through the VAP 2 is received. The photoelectric conversion signal from the image pickup device 4 is output to a signal processing circuit 7 provided in the vehicle compartment via a signal transmission cable 5 such as a flexible printed wiring board, and a video output from the signal processing circuit 7 is output to a monitor 6,
It is output to the image recognition device 8. The video camera is directly attached to the door mirror 1.

In VAP2, a liquid is sealed between the glass plate 2g and the glass plate 2h which face each other, and the glass plate 2g and the glass plate 2h move so that both glass plates 2g, 2g
Since the apex angle formed by h is variable, and its operating principle is known, its description is omitted.

The glass plate 2g on the front side is formed into a half mirror by the coating 2a on the surface, and the glass plate 2h is made of transparent glass. Therefore, although the glass plate 2g provides a rear view to the driver like the mirror portion of a normal door mirror, the glass plate 2g
The optical image passing through g is photographed by the camera through VAP2. As a result, by placing the monitor 6 at a position where it can be easily seen by the driver or fellow passenger, it is possible to easily grasp the condition of the rear portion of the side surface of the vehicle.

The actuator 2 drives the glass plate 2g.
b, the glass plate 2h is driven by the actuator 2d, and the angle of the glass plate 2g is measured by the sensor 2
The angle of the glass plate 2h is detected by the sensor 2
The actuators 2b and 2d and the sensors 2c and 2e are attached to the door mirror 1 via a gimbal support mechanism described later. Further, the vibration detection sensor 2f is attached to the video lens 3.

VAP2 half mirror 2g and glass plate 2
h is supported by a gimbal support mechanism having the same structure, and FIG. 2 shows a gimbal support mechanism for the half mirror 2g. Since the gimbal support mechanism for the glass plate 2h has the same structure, its description is omitted.

In FIG. 2, 10 is an annular inner ring member for holding the half mirror 2g, and pins 10a and 10b which are rotatable about the axis 16 are provided on the axis 16 so as to face each other. A middle ring member 11 is arranged on the outer circumference of the inner ring member 10, and pins 10a and 10b of the inner ring member 10 are pivotally supported by the middle ring member 11.

Pins 11a and 11b project from the center ring member 11 on an axis 15 orthogonal to the axis 16 and the outer ring member 12 pivotally supports the pins 11a and 11b, so that the center ring member 11 is supported by the axis 15. It is possible to rotate around. The outer ring member 12 is attached to the door mirror 1.

Coils 2b-a and 13 and slits 2c-a and 14 are attached to the ring members 10 and 11, respectively, and actuators for applying torques about axes 15 and 16 and axes 15 and 16 are provided. It is a constituent member of a sensor for detecting a peripheral angular displacement.

The operating principle of the actuator and the sensor will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 3 shows the operating principle of the actuator.

2b-b is a magnet, 2b-c, 2b-
Reference numeral d denotes a yoke, which is attached to the fixed portion of the door mirror unit 1. By energizing the coil 2b-a attached to the inner ring member 10, an electromagnetic force is generated between the magnet 2b-b and the coil 2b-a, and FIG.
The coil 2b-a can move in the direction of the arrow. This allows the half mirror 2 to move around the axis 16 in FIG.
It is possible to give a rotatable torque to g. With respect to the coil 13, it is possible to give a rotational torque about the axis 15 by using the same actuator configuration.

FIG. 4 shows the operating principle of the sensor.

2c-b is a light receiving element such as PSD, and 2c-c
Is a light emitting element such as iRed, and 2c-d are members for holding the same, which are attached to the fixed portion of the door mirror unit 1. 2c-a is a slit, and as shown in FIG. 4B, the slit 2c-a is attached to the inner ring member 10 and moves in the direction of the arrow together with the inner ring member 10 to emit light. The displacement of the slit 2c-a can be detected by changing the position of the light on the light receiving surface 2c-b 'which strikes the light receiving element 2c-b from the element 2c-c. Thereby, the inner ring member 10
It becomes possible to detect the angular displacement of. The angular displacement of the middle ring member 11 can be detected in the same manner for the slit 14.

As described above, the half mirror 2g can realize the movement with biaxial freedom by the gimbal support mechanism. Further, the glass plate 2h can also be made to have a completely similar structure to realize a movement with two degrees of freedom. Therefore, the half mirror 2g and the glass plate 2h can move independently.

Next, FIG. 5 shows a circuit block for image stabilization operation. Although the operation around only one axis is described in FIG. 5, the description about the operation about the other axis is omitted because it has the same configuration and is controlled independently.

Since the mirror portion on the front surface of the VAP 2 is the half mirror 2g, the driver's vehicle judges the surroundings by looking at the image of the half mirror 2g. However, the vehicle always vibrates depending on the road surface condition and the running condition, and the image displayed on the half mirror may vibrate and become difficult to see.

Therefore, this vibration is detected by the shake detection sensor 2
It is detected by f and the shake detection circuit 19. The detected signal is compared with the signals from the angle detection sensor 2c of the half mirror 2g and the detection circuit 18 by the anti-vibration control circuit 9, and displacement information according to the vibration is sent to the coil drive circuit 17, and the half mirror 2g. By driving the glass plate 2h, it is possible to provide the driver with a stable image without shaking.

The image captured by the video camera is also shaken for the same reason, and a stable image can be provided to the image pickup device 4 by giving a displacement corresponding to the shake to the glass plate 2h in exactly the same manner. This makes it possible to perform highly accurate processing even when various treatments are performed as described in the conventional example.

Details of the image stabilization operation of the VAP 2 will be described with reference to FIG. Although the operation of only one axis is shown in this figure, the same applies to the other one axis, and therefore the description thereof is omitted here.

FIG. 6A shows a state in which no shake is generated, and the driver 22 obtains a rear visual field by the half mirror 2g. The video camera also obtains an image of the rear of the car.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 6B and 6C, the angle α
First, correction of the half mirror 2g will be described with reference to FIG.

If the entire vehicle swings by an angle α, the driver 22 naturally swings by a certain angle. Similarly, if the driver is completely fixed to the car, α
Although the driver 22 swings, in reality, the driver 22 has a degree of freedom with respect to the automobile, and therefore the driver 22 does not have the same angle as α. Therefore, it is assumed that the driver's line of sight is swung by an angle (mα) obtained by weighting α. Here, m is a constant determined by the specifications of each vehicle because it differs depending on the positional relationship between the vehicle and the mirror.

When the driver's line of sight is swung by mα, the driver 22 can see the same entity at the same position in the visual field by tilting the mirror by mα / 2 with respect to the position shown in FIG. 6 (a). Therefore, with respect to the shake α detected by the shake sensor 2f, the half mirror 2g moves mα in the same direction as the shake α.
A stable image can be obtained by tilting / 2. Actually, since VAP2 is also tilted in the same direction as the camera when nothing is driven, the actual driving is (α-m
Only α / 2) is driven in the direction opposite to the shake direction (clockwise in FIG. 6C).

Next, the image stabilization of the video camera will be described with reference to FIG.

When the apex angle of VAP2 is ε and the refractive index of the liquid enclosed in VAP is nd, the inclination α of the optical axis is α.
On the other hand, the relational expression of α = ε (nd−1) is established. Therefore, when the shake α occurs, the apex angle of VAP2 can be obtained by ε = α / (nd−1). If the apex angle of VAP2 is ε = α / (nd−1) when the vehicle shakes at an angle α, the image of the video camera can obtain a stable image without shaking. ..

From the above, the actual drive angle of the glass plate 2h is
(Α / (nd-1) -mα / 2 + α), and by driving only (α / (nd-1) -mα / 2 + α) in the direction opposite to the shake direction, a stable image with no shake on the video camera Can be provided.

FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of the image stabilization operation described above, and the operation will be described below.

Step 1: The shake angle of the door mirror 1 is detected. Specifically, the shake detection circuit 19 amplifies the output of the shake detection sensor 2f fixed to the door mirror 1,
Output to the image stabilization control circuit 9.

Step 2: The drive angle (α-mα) of the half mirror 2g is calculated by the deflection angle α output in Step 1.
/ 2) is calculated and a command signal is output to the actuator drive circuit 17.

Step 3: The actuator coil is energized by the signal output from the image stabilization control circuit 9.

Step 4: Driven half mirror 2g
VAP is the output from the VAP apex angle sensor 2c.
It is amplified by the apex angle detection circuit 18 and output to the image stabilization control circuit 9.

Step 5: The signal from the VAP apex angle detection circuit 18 causes the angular displacement of the half mirror 2g to be (α-m
Continue driving the mirror 2g until it becomes (α / 2), and (α-m
When it becomes α / 2), return to step 1.

Step 6: The driving angle of the glass plate 2h is calculated by [α / (nd
−1) + α−mα / 2], and outputs a command signal to the coil drive circuit 20.

Step 7: The actuator coil 2d is energized by the signal output from the image stabilization control circuit 9.

Step 8: The angular displacement of the driven glass plate 2h is amplified by the VAP apex angle detection circuit 21 by the VAP apex angle detection circuit 21 and output to the image stabilization control circuit 9.

Step 9: According to the signal from the VAP apex angle detection circuit 21, the angular displacement of the glass plate 2h is [α / (nd-1).
The glass plate 2h is continuously driven until + α-mα / 2] is reached, and when [α / (nd-1) + α-mα / 2] is reached, the process returns to step 1.

By continuing the above steps 1 to 9, it becomes possible to perform a good vibration isolation operation.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By displacing the optical path according to the vibration of the vehicle, the imaging means can capture an image without blurring.

In particular, since a vehicle mirror device such as a door mirror or a fender mirror is used, weather effects, vehicle safety are maintained, and design and aerodynamic characteristics are not deteriorated.

Furthermore, since the mirror part of the mirror device is also used as an optical means such as VAP, the image directly seen by the driver through the half mirror and the image taken by the image pickup means can be in the same state. ..

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a first embodiment of an in-vehicle camera device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a VAP support mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a VAP actuator.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a VAP sensor.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a VAP drive circuit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the operation of VAP.

FIG. 7 is an external perspective view of a vehicle equipped with the vehicle-mounted camera device of the first embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a vibration isolation operation according to the first embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Door mirror 2 ... Variable vertical angle prism (vari angle prism: VA
P) 2g ... Half mirror 3 ... Video lens 4 ... Imaging element 5 ... Signal transmission cable 6 ... Monitor 7 ... Signal processing circuit 8 ... Image recognition device 9 ... Anti-vibration control circuit 10 ... Inner ring member 11 ... Medium ring member 12 ... Outer ring member

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page (72) Inventor Katsumi Azusa 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Wada 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Kya Non-Incorporated (72) Inventor Takashi Kawabata 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Koichi Omori 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. Within

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A mirror device provided outside a vehicle in which a liquid is sealed between a pair of glass plates facing each other and the apex angle formed by the pair of glass plates is relatively moved to be variable. An in-vehicle camera device comprising: arranged optical means; and image pickup means mounted in the mirror device for picking up an optical image that has passed through the optical means. 2. A drive control means for driving a pair of glass plates of an optical means relative to each other by a predetermined amount based on vibration information from a vibration detection means for detecting a vibration of a vehicle. In-vehicle camera device. 3. The vehicle-mounted camera device according to claim 1, wherein one of the glass plates of the optical means is a half mirror that also serves as a mirror portion of the mirror device. 4. The vehicle-mounted camera device according to claim 1, wherein the pair of glass plates of the optical means are attached to the mirror device via a gimbal support mechanism.