Communications: electrical – Visual indication
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-11
2002-10-29
Wu, Daniel J. (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Visual indication
C340S461000, C340S943000, C340S815500, C348S148000, C348S151000, C359S726000, C359S742000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06472995
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle surrounding viewing system for picking up images of surrounding scenes, which are located at dead angles for the driver in the right/left and the front/rear of the vehicle, in the situation that the visibility is bad, and then displaying them to the driver.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a vehicle reaches crossroads, safety confirmation is needed on the right and left sides of a road. At the crossroads in which the visibility is poor, the driver must slightly bring the vehicle into the crossroads to check the safety on both sides. That is, the driver must pay attention to entering into the crossroads, and check the safety by viewing directly both sides of the road respectively. Accordingly, such behaviors are mental burdens on the driver.
In order to solve the problems, Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Hei 10-229512 discloses a vehicle surrounding viewing system that can pick up images on both sides of the vehicle simultaneously to display the images on a display portion in a cabin of the vehicle.
In the vehicle surrounding viewing system, the images in both side directions are picked up simultaneously by a camera by providing a prism and a focusing lens on the front side of the camera, which is provided to the front bumper, etc. of the vehicle and then guiding the rays of light from both sides around the vehicle to the camera via the prism and the focusing lens, and then such images are displayed on the display portion in the cabin.
FIG. 13
shows a configuration of the vehicle surrounding viewing system in the conventional art. The vehicle surrounding viewing system
1
comprises a image pick-up device
11
that has a light shielding case
3
which is provided on the outside of the vehicle and has a pair of right and left transmit windows
2
R,
2
L on the right and left sides respectively; a image inverting process portion
12
; and a display portion
15
. In the light shielding case
3
, a prism
4
having the isosceles triangle section shape is installed/arranged to have an attitude that its vertical angle
5
is directed to the front portion of the case
3
(upper portion of the case
3
in
FIG. 13
) and its left and right prism side surfaces
8
L,
8
R facing to two equal sides of the isosceles triangle respectively are directed to the right and left transmit windows
2
R,
2
L sides respectively, and also an image pick-up element
10
for converting rays of light
18
L,
18
R, which are input from the prism side surfaces
8
L,
8
R and then the optical paths of which are changed by the prism
4
and which are then guided onto the image pick-up plane via the predetermined focusing lens
9
, into the image signals is installed/arranged on the rear side of the prism
4
. An image inverting process portion
12
executes the image inverting process of the image signal supplied from the image pick-up element
10
. A display portion
15
is provided in the cabin to display the image signal obtained from the image inverting process portion
12
.
Such a vehicle surrounding viewing system
1
is fitted to a front bumper
17
such that, as shown in
FIG. 2
, the front portion of the image pick-up device
11
(front portion of the case
3
) is directed to the front portion of the vehicle
16
and the right and left transmit windows
2
R,
2
L are directed to the right and left sides respectively, for example. In this situation, a ray of light
18
L, that enters into a transmit window
2
L from the left side scene, passes through a prism side surface
8
L, then internally reflects at the prism side surface
8
R, then emits from a prism rear surface
8
B, and subsequently is focused by the focusing lens
9
to be guided onto a left half plane
10
L of the image pick-up plane of the image pick-up element
10
. Similarly, a ray of light
18
R that enters into a transmit window
2
R from the right side scene passes through the prism side surface
8
R, then internally reflects at the prism side surface
8
L, and then emits from the prism rear surface
8
B, and subsequently is focused by the focusing lens
9
to be guided onto the right half plane
10
R of the image pick-up plane of the image pick-up element
10
. Then, both of the rays of light
18
L,
18
R are converted into the image signals by the image pick-up element
10
.
The left and right side scenes are picked up in this manner. Then, the picked-up image signals are subjected to the image inverting process by the image inverting process portion
12
and then supplied to the display portion
15
. Then, the left side scene that is introduced via the transmit window
2
L is displayed on the left half screen
15
L of the display portion
15
as the left half image, and also the right side scene that is introduced via the transmit window
2
R is displayed on the right half screen
15
R of the display portion
15
as the right half image.
However, according to such vehicle surrounding viewing system
1
, for example, in the situation that the vehicle that has a headlight
21
thereon is approaching from the front on the opposite lane in the night, in some cases a ray of light
21
a
emitted from the headlight
21
enters into the transmit window
2
L from the front side, for example, then passes through the prism side surface
8
L, then reflects toward the focusing lens
9
at this time, then emits from the prism rear surface
8
B without the internal reflection by the side surface of the prism
4
, and subsequently is guided directly onto the right half plane
10
R of the image pick-up plane of the image pick-up element
10
via the focusing lens
9
. The ray of light
21
a
of the headlight
21
guided to the right half plane
10
R enters into the transmit window
2
R from the right side scene, then passes through the prism side surface
8
R, then reflects internally at the prism side surface
8
L, and then emits from the prism rear surface
8
B, and subsequently is synthesized with the ray of light
18
R that is guided onto the right half plane
10
R of the image pick-up plane of the image pick-up element
10
and then subjected to the image processing.
In such case, the image
21
b
of the ray of light
21
a
of the headlight
21
, that is introduced from the front side via the transmit window
2
L, is overlapped with the image
22
R of the right side scene (the pitch-dark scene image herein), that is introduced via the transmit window
2
R, on the right half screen
15
R of the display portion
15
. In other words, a part of the scene introduced from the transmit window
2
L is reflected in the right half screen
15
R of the display portion
15
and then displayed erroneously thereon, and similarly apart of the scene introduced from the transmit window
2
R is reflected in the left half screen
15
L of the display portion
15
and then displayed erroneously thereon. Thus, there is such a drawback that the visibility of the driver is aggravated.
Moreover, according to the above vehicle surrounding viewing system in the conventional art, since the prism having the regular triangle sectional shape is employed, the prism having a high refractive index must be employed in order to pick up simultaneously the images in two mutually opposite directions.
For example, in the case that the above vehicle surrounding viewing system is constructed by using the prism having the regular triangle sectional shape and formed of the glass material BK
7
(refractive index n: 1.517), which is generally widely employed, and the camera having the half field angle of 22.5 degree, the image pick-up range just beside the vehicle
50
to the front side is +7.7 degree to +30 degree, as shown in
FIG. 14
, when the image pick-up available range of the camera is detected by the geometrical optic approach. Accordingly, the images located just beside the vehicle
250
cannot be picked up, and thus the bicycle
255
, etc. that are approaching the body of the vehicle
250
laterally cannot be checked.
In this case, the expansion of the image
Goins Davetta W.
Wu Daniel J.
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