JP2012148710A - Image display apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image display apparatus that enables a driver to notice a noteworthy object more reliably.SOLUTION: The image display apparatus 1 for displaying an image on a windshield F of a vehicle includes: a visual point detection part 12 that detects a visual point of the driver of the vehicle; a visual field area calculation part 13 that calculates a visual field area A of the driver on the windshield F based on the visual point of the driver that is detected by the visual point detection part 12 and classifies the visual field area A into a center visual field area B and a neighboring visual field area C; a noteworthy object detection part 11 that detects the noteworthy object for the driver to watch out for in a vehicle front; and an image display part 14 that performs superimposed display of an enhanced image for highlighting the noteworthy object on the windshield F. The image display part 14 performs the superimposed display of a color enhanced image as the enhanced image within the center visual field area B and performs the superimposed display of a contrast enhanced image as the enhanced image within the neighboring visual field area C.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image display device that displays an image on a windshield of a vehicle.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a technique for displaying an image on a windshield of a vehicle, for example, a motorcycle head-up display device described in Patent Document 1 is known. In this motorcycle head-up display device, the driver's field of view is divided into a central field of view and a peripheral field of view, and an image is displayed in the area of the driver's peripheral field of view on the motorcycle screen. The driver can recognize the image while ensuring good visibility.

JP 2001-278153 A

  By the way, the technique which makes a driver | operator recognize presence of a caution target object by displaying the image which emphasizes caution objects, such as a pedestrian ahead of a vehicle, and another vehicle, on a windshield is known. However, there is still room for improvement in such a technique because the characteristics of the driver's visual field have not yet been fully considered.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an image display device that allows a driver to recognize a target object more reliably.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is an image display device that displays an image on a windshield of a vehicle, and includes a viewpoint detection unit that detects a viewpoint of a driver of the vehicle, and a driver detected by the viewpoint detection unit. Based on the viewpoint, the field of view of the driver on the windshield is calculated, and the field of view calculation means for dividing the field of view into the central field of view and the peripheral field of view, and the attention object that the driver should pay attention to in front of the vehicle An attention object detection means for detecting an object, and an image display means for superimposing and displaying an emphasized image for emphasizing the attention object on the windshield, wherein the image display means is a color enhanced image as an enhanced image in the central visual field region. Is superimposed and a light and dark emphasized image is superimposed and displayed as an emphasized image in the peripheral visual field region.

  In the image display device according to the present invention, the human visual field is distinguished from a central visual field that can distinguish colors and a peripheral visual field that is difficult to distinguish colors but can distinguish light and dark. An emphasized image that emphasizes an object is displayed as a color-enhanced image in the central visual field region, and is displayed as a light and dark emphasized image in the peripheral visual field region. Therefore, according to this image display device, it is possible to display an emphasized image that is easy to recognize according to the visual characteristics of the driver, so that the driver can recognize the attention object more reliably.

In the image display device according to the present invention, it is preferable that the image display means superimposes the blinking emphasized image as the emphasized image outside the visual field region.
According to the image display device of the present invention, the attention object outside the visual field area is not easily noticed by the driver. The object can be recognized by the driver.

In the image display device according to the present invention, it is preferable that the image display device further includes warning sound output means for outputting a warning sound to the driver when the attention object is located outside the driver's field of view on the windshield. .
According to the image display device according to the present invention, the attention object outside the visual field area is not easily noticed by the driver. Therefore, the warning sound that makes the driver notice the presence of the attention object is output more reliably. The driver can recognize the attention object outside the area.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to make the driver recognize the attention object more reliably.

1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image display device according to the present invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the visual characteristic test | inspection with respect to a driver | operator. It is a figure for demonstrating the superimposed display of the emphasized image by an image display apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the acquisition operation | movement of the visual characteristic information by an image display apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the emphasis image display operation | movement by an image display apparatus.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image display device 1 according to the present embodiment superimposes and displays on the windshield of a vehicle an emphasized image that emphasizes a cautionary object that a driver such as a pedestrian or another vehicle should be careful of. Thus, the driver is alerted to the presence of the target object. In this image display device 1, emphasis display that can be easily recognized by the driver is realized by changing the display mode of the emphasis image in consideration of the visual characteristics of the driver.

  Here, the visual characteristics of the driver will be described with reference to FIG. F shown in FIG. 2 is a windshield of the vehicle viewed from the driver. A field of view of the driver when the viewpoint of the driver is on the position P on the windshield F is indicated as A.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the driver's visual field area A is divided into a central visual field area B including the position P of the driver's viewpoint and a peripheral visual field area C surrounding the central visual field area B. A boundary line between the central visual field region B and the peripheral visual field region C is indicated as L1, and a boundary line between the peripheral visual field region C and the outer region is indicated as L2. The boundary line L2 is also a boundary line between the visual field area A that the driver can see on the windshield F and the area that the driver cannot see.

  The central visual field region B is a region on the windshield F corresponding to the central visual field in the driver's visual field. The central visual field has a three-color type color perception capable of discriminating the color of the object, and the driver can recognize the color of the object in the central visual field region B. Further, the peripheral visual field region C is a region on the windshield F corresponding to the peripheral visual field in the driver's visual field. Although the peripheral visual field is difficult to distinguish colors, it has a two-color color perception that can distinguish light and dark, and the driver can recognize the light and darkness of objects in the peripheral visual field region C.

  The image display device 1 performs a visual characteristic test for acquiring driver's visual characteristic information using a plurality of markers. The image display apparatus 1 includes a viewpoint fixing marker for fixing a driver's viewpoint at a position P, a color determination marker M for determining a central visual field B where the driver can determine a color, and a driver A light / dark discrimination marker N for determining the peripheral visual field region C where light / dark can be distinguished is displayed on the windshield F.

  The color discrimination marker M is a marker composed of two regions having different colors. For example, the color discrimination marker M has a red region M1 on the left side and a blue region M2 on the right side. Moreover, the light / dark discrimination marker N is a marker composed of two regions with different light and dark. For example, the light / dark discrimination marker N has a bright region N1 on the left side and a dark region N2 on the right side.

  The image display apparatus 1 allows the driver to input a position at which the driver cannot determine the color difference of the color determination marker M with the viewpoint fixed at the position P, so that the central visual field region B and the peripheral visual field region C are input. The boundary line L1 is detected. Similarly, the image display device 1 allows the driver to input a position at which the driver cannot determine the brightness of the light / dark discrimination marker N with the viewpoint fixed at P, so that the driver can input the peripheral visual field region C and the outside. The boundary line L2 with the area is detected.

  The image display device 1 determines the area inside the boundary line L1 as the central visual field area B. The image display device 1 determines the region between the boundary line L1 and the boundary line L2 as the peripheral visual field region C. In this way, the image display apparatus 1 performs a visual characteristic test for acquiring visual characteristic information related to visual characteristics such as the width of the driver's visual field area A and the division of the visual field area A.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the superimposed display of the emphasized image by the image display device 1. W1 shown in FIG. 3 represents a pedestrian within the central visual field B of the driver, and X1 represents an enhanced image that emphasizes the pedestrian W1. W2 represents a pedestrian in the driver's peripheral visual field region C, and X2 represents an enhanced image that emphasizes the pedestrian W2. W3 represents a pedestrian outside the driver's visual field area A, and X3 represents an enhanced image that emphasizes the pedestrian W3.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the image display device 1 changes the display mode of the emphasized image in accordance with the relationship between the position of an object of attention such as a pedestrian on the windshield F and the visual field area A of the driver. .

  Specifically, the image display device 1 displays a color-enhanced image emphasized by color on the windshield F as an enhanced image X1 for the pedestrian W1 in the driver's central visual field B. The color-enhanced image is, for example, a red frame image surrounding the pedestrian W1 on the windshield F.

  In addition, the image display device 1 displays, on the windshield F, a brightness / darkness-enhanced image that is enhanced by the brightness difference as the enhanced image X2 for the pedestrian W2 in the peripheral visual field region C of the driver. The brightness-and-darkness-enhanced image is, for example, an image of a frame made up of black and white dotted lines surrounding the pedestrian W1 on the windshield F.

  Furthermore, the image display device 1 displays on the windshield F a blinking emphasized image that is emphasized by blinking as an enhanced image X3 for the pedestrian W3 in the driver's visual field area A. The blinking emphasized image is an image in which a frame surrounding the pedestrian W1 on the windshield F blinks, for example. Further, when displaying the enhanced image X3 for the pedestrian W3 in the visual field area A of the driver, the image display device 1 outputs a warning sound for alerting the driver of the presence of the pedestrian W3.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the image display apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image display device 1 includes an ECU [Electronic Control Unit] 2 that controls the device 1 in an integrated manner. The ECU 2 is an electronic control unit including a CPU [Central Processing Unit], a ROM [Read Only Memory], a RAM [Random Access Memory], and the like. In the ECU 2, an application program stored in the ROM is loaded into the RAM and executed by the CPU, thereby executing arithmetic processing such as image generation.

  The ECU 2 is connected to a driver authentication unit 3, a driver imaging camera 4, a front image imaging unit 5, an HMI [Human Machine Interface] 6, and a HUD [Head Up Display] 7.

  The driver authentication unit 3 is a device that performs personal authentication of the driver of the vehicle. The driver authentication unit 3 performs personal authentication of the driver based on, for example, the driver's captured image, voice, and fingerprint. The driver authentication unit 3 transmits an authentication signal corresponding to the driver to the ECU 2.

  The driver imaging camera 4 is a camera that images the driver of the vehicle. The driver imaging camera 4 captures an image of the driver's head. The driver imaging camera 4 transmits the captured image of the driver's head to the ECU 2 as a driver image signal.

  The front image capturing unit 5 includes a stereo camera that captures the front of the vehicle. The front image capturing unit 5 transmits, to the ECU 2, an image in front of the vehicle captured by the stereo camera so as to be stereoscopically recognized as an image signal.

  The HMI 6 is an interface for inputting and outputting information between the device 1 and the driver. The HMI 6 includes a display panel that displays image information to the driver, operation buttons and a touch panel for the driver to perform input operations.

  The HUD 7 is a device that displays an image on the windshield F of the vehicle. The HUD 7 generates an enhanced image corresponding to the output signal from the ECU 2 and displays it on the windshield F. The driver can arbitrarily adjust the brightness, saturation, and hue of the emphasized image displayed by the HUD 7. The HUD 7 optimizes the brightness, saturation, and hue of the emphasized image according to the weather and the like.

  The ECU 2 includes a visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10, an attention object detection unit 11, a viewpoint detection unit 12, a visual field region calculation unit 13, an image display unit 14, and a warning sound output unit 15.

  The visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 acquires the driver's visual characteristic information. The visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 has a visual characteristic database that stores driver's visual characteristic information registered in the past. The visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 refers to the visual characteristic database based on the authentication signal of the driver authentication unit 3 to determine whether or not the driver's visual characteristic information is unregistered in the visual characteristic database.

  When it is determined that the driver's visual characteristic information is registered in the visual characteristic database, the visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 acquires the driver's visual characteristic information from the visual characteristic database. Further, when it is determined that the driver's visual characteristic information is not registered in the visual characteristic database, the visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 performs a visual characteristic test on the driver using the HMI 6 and the HUD 7. The visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 acquires the driver's visual characteristic information based on the inspection result of the visual characteristic inspection.

  The attention object detection unit 11 detects an attention object that should be noted by the driver in front of the vehicle. The attention object detection unit 11 detects an attention object such as a pedestrian or another vehicle based on the image signal of the front image capturing unit 5. The attention object detection unit 11 detects the position of the attention object on the windshield F as viewed from the driver.

  The viewpoint detection unit 12 detects the driver's viewpoint on the windshield F based on the driver image signal of the driver imaging camera 4 when the attention object detection unit 11 detects the attention object. The viewpoint detection unit 12 detects the driver's viewpoint by recognizing the direction of the driver's face from the driver's image, for example.

  The visual field area calculation unit 13 is based on the driver's visual characteristic information acquired by the visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 and the driver's viewpoint detected by the viewpoint detection unit 12, and the driver's visual field area A on the windshield F. Is calculated. Further, the visual field region calculation unit 13 divides the driver's visual field region A into a central visual field region B and a peripheral visual field region C based on the driver's visual characteristic information and the driver's viewpoint.

  Based on the position of the attention object on the windshield F detected by the attention object detection unit 11 and the visual field region A calculated by the visual field region calculation unit 13, the image display unit 14 displays an emphasized image that emphasizes the attention object. The display position is determined. The image display unit 14 generates an emphasized image having a display mode corresponding to the display position.

  The image display part 14 produces | generates the color emphasis image emphasized with a color as an emphasis image in the driver | operator's center visual field area | region B. FIG. Further, the image display unit 14 generates a light / dark emphasized image to be emphasized by a brightness difference as an emphasized image in the peripheral visual field region C of the driver. The image display part 14 produces | generates the blink emphasis image emphasized by blinking as an emphasis image outside the visual field area | region A of a driver | operator. The image display unit 14 superimposes and displays the emphasized image on the windshield F by transmitting an output signal corresponding to the generated emphasized image to the HUD 7.

  The warning sound output unit 15 outputs a warning sound for alerting the driver of the presence of a target object when the image display unit 14 generates a blinking emphasized image as an emphasized image outside the driver's visual field area A. . That is, the warning sound output unit 15 outputs a warning sound when an object of attention is located outside the driver's visual field area A on the windshield F. The warning sound may be in a form in which the type and volume of the sound are changed according to the type of the target object and the distance between the vehicle and the target object. Further, the warning sound output unit 15 may output a sound as a warning sound.

  Next, the operation of the image display device 1 described above will be described. First, the visual characteristic information acquisition operation by the image display device 1 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 4, in the image display apparatus 1, first, the driver authentication unit 3 performs a driver authentication process for personal authentication of the driver of the vehicle (S1). When the driver authentication unit 3 authenticates the driver, the visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 refers to the visual characteristic database based on the authentication signal of the driver authentication unit 3 so that the visual characteristic information of the driver is the visual characteristic. It is determined whether it is unregistered in the database (S2). If the visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 determines that the driver's visual characteristic information has been registered in the visual characteristic database, the visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 proceeds to step S4.

  On the other hand, when the visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 determines that the driver's visual characteristic information is not registered in the visual characteristic database, the visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 performs the driver's visual characteristic information acquisition process on the visual characteristic database (S3). .

  In step S4, the visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 performs a visual characteristic test to acquire visual characteristic information. The visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 first performs a central visual field region determination process for determining the central visual field region B of the driver.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 determines the driver's central visual field region B using the viewpoint marker for fixing the driver's viewpoint at the position P and the color determination marker M. The visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 changes the position of the color determination marker M in a state where the driver's viewpoint is fixed to P, and inputs a position where the color difference of the color determination marker M cannot be determined to the driver. Let The visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 determines the central visual field region B where the driver can determine the color difference based on the driver's input result.

  Subsequently, the visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 performs a peripheral visual field region determination process for determining the peripheral visual region C of the driver (S5). The visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 determines the peripheral visual field region C of the driver using the viewpoint marker and the light / dark discrimination marker N.

  The visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 changes the position of the light / dark discrimination marker N composed of the bright region N1 and the dark region N2 in a state where the viewpoint of the driver is fixed to P by the viewpoint marker, and the light / dark determination marker N The driver is made to input a position where the difference in light and darkness cannot be determined. The visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10 determines the peripheral visual field region C where the driver can determine the difference between light and dark based on the input result of the driver. As described above, the image display apparatus 1 acquires visual characteristic information regarding the width of the driver's visual field area A and the classification of the visual field area A.

  Next, the highlighting operation by the image display device 1 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the image display device 1 first determines whether or not the attention object detection unit 11 has detected an attention object that the driver should be aware of in front of the vehicle (S10). When the attention object detection unit 11 determines that the attention object is not detected, the image display device 1 returns to step S10 and repeats the determination.

  The viewpoint detection unit 12 of the image display device 1 determines that the driver on the windshield F is based on the driver image signal of the driver imaging camera 4 when it is determined that the attention object detection unit 11 has detected the attention object. A driver viewpoint detection process for detecting the viewpoint is performed (S11).

  Next, based on the driver's viewpoint detected by the viewpoint detection unit 12 and the driver's visual characteristic information acquired by the visual characteristic information acquisition unit 10, the visual field region calculation unit 13 displays the driver's viewpoint on the windshield F. A visual field calculation process for calculating the visual field A is performed (S12).

  Thereafter, the image display unit 14 determines the display position of the emphasized image that emphasizes the attention object based on the detection result of the attention object detection unit 11 and the calculation result of the visual field region calculation unit 13. First, the image display unit 14 determines whether or not to display an emphasized image in the central visual field region B (S13). If the image display unit 14 determines to display the emphasized image in the central visual field region B, the image display unit 14 performs color-enhanced image display processing for displaying the color-enhanced image as the emphasized image (S14).

  When it is determined that the emphasized image is not superimposed and displayed in the central visual field region B, the image display unit 14 determines whether or not the emphasized image is superimposed and displayed in the peripheral visual field region C (S15). If the image display unit 14 determines that the emphasized image is superimposed and displayed in the peripheral visual field region C, the image display unit 14 performs a light / dark emphasized image display process for displaying the light / dark emphasized image as the emphasized image (S16).

  If the image display unit 14 determines that the emphasized image is not superimposed and displayed within the peripheral visual field region C, the image display unit 14 determines that the emphasized image is superimposed and displayed outside the driver's visual field region A, and displays the blinking emphasized image as the emphasized image. A blinking emphasized image display process is performed (S17).

  In step S <b> 17, the warning sound output unit 15 performs a warning sound output process for outputting a warning sound for alerting the driver of the presence of the target object outside the visual field area A. Thereafter, the image display device 1 ends the operation on the attention object, returns to step S10, and determines the detection of a new attention object.

  In the image display apparatus 1 described above, the human visual field is distinguished from a central visual field that can distinguish colors and a peripheral visual field that is difficult to distinguish colors but can distinguish light and dark. An enhanced image that emphasizes the object is displayed as a color-enhanced image in the central visual field B and a light-dark enhanced image in the peripheral visual field C. Therefore, according to the image display device 1, an easily recognizable emphasized image according to the driver's visual characteristics can be displayed, so that the driver can recognize the attention object more reliably.

  Further, in this image display device 1, the attention object outside the visual field area A is not easily noticed by the driver. Therefore, the attention display outside the visual field area A can be performed more reliably by performing highlighting with a blinking emphasized image in which the image blinks. The object can be recognized by the driver. In addition, according to the image display device 1, the warning sound is output in order to make the driver aware of the presence of the attention object outside the visual field area A, so that the attention object outside the visual field area A can be driven more reliably. Can be recognized.

  The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above.

  For example, even if the driver's visual characteristic information is not registered in the visual characteristic database, it is not always necessary to perform the visual characteristic inspection. Visual characteristics information according to age etc. from driver's authentication information and input information by storing statistical data of visual characteristics information of many drivers classified by age and gender in the visual characteristics database in advance It may be.

  Further, the image display device 1 does not necessarily need to output a warning sound even when the attention object is located outside the driver's visual field area A. Moreover, it is not limited to the frame shape of the emphasized image, and various forms can be adopted.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image display apparatus 2 ... ECU 3 ... Driver authentication part 4 ... Driver imaging camera 5 ... Front image imaging part 10 ... Visual characteristic information acquisition part 11 ... Attention object detection part 12 ... Viewpoint detection part (viewpoint detection means) 13 View field calculation unit (view field calculation unit) 14 Image display unit (image display unit) 15 Warning sound output unit (warning sound output unit) A ... Field of view B ... Central field of view C ... Peripheral field of view F: Front Glass L1 ... Boundary line L2 ... Boundary line M ... Color discriminating marker N ... Light / dark discriminating marker P ... Viewpoint position W1-W3 ... Pedestrian X1 ... Color-enhanced image X2 ... Light / dark-emphasized image X3 ... Flashing-enhanced image

Claims (3)

An image display device for displaying an image on a windshield of a vehicle,
Viewpoint detection means for detecting the viewpoint of the driver of the vehicle;
Based on the driver's viewpoint detected by the viewpoint detection means, the driver's visual field area on the windshield is calculated, and the visual field area is divided into a central visual field area and a peripheral visual field area. Means,
Attention object detection means for detecting an attention object to be noted by the driver in front of the vehicle;
Image display means for displaying an emphasized image for emphasizing the attention object superimposed on the windshield;
With
The image display device is characterized in that a color emphasized image is superimposed and displayed as the emphasized image in the central visual field region, and a light and dark emphasized image is superimposed and displayed as the emphasized image in the peripheral visual field region.   The image display device according to claim 1, wherein the image display unit superimposes a blinking emphasized image as the emphasized image outside the visual field region. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising warning sound output means for outputting a warning sound to the driver when the attention object is located outside the visual field area of the driver on the windshield. Or the image display apparatus of Claim 2.

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