Radiant energy – Photocells; circuits and apparatus – Photocell controlled circuit
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-09
2003-12-02
Epps, Georgia (Department: 2873)
Radiant energy
Photocells; circuits and apparatus
Photocell controlled circuit
C348S118000, C348S148000, C359S533000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06657176
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an on-vehicle image pick-up apparatus for picking up a dead angle area on left and right sides on the forward or backward side of a vehicle and a method of setting an image pick-up direction.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an automobile approaches an intersection, normally it will be necessary for a driver to ensure safety on left and right sides. At any intersection offering poor lateral visibility, however, the driver has had to cause the vehicle to enter the intersection zone a little bit so as to make sure of safety on left and right sides. Consequently, the driver needs paying careful attention to moving the vehicle into the intersection zone and also making sure of safety by directly watching scenes on both the left and right sides after entering the intersection zone, which has mentally given the driver a burden.
In order to reduce the aforementioned burden, there have recently been proposed a system of displaying images on the left and right sides of a vehicle, which images are picked up by image pick-up sensors such as CCDs fitted in the holes bored in the respective sides of an automotive bumper and displayed on a display unit such as a two-plane television installed in the vehicle; and a system of simultaneously displaying images on the left and right sides of a vehicle on a display unit provided in the vehicle by attaching a single image pick-up sensor onto the periphery of an automotive bumper or front glass and simultaneously taking in scenes on the left and right sides of the vehicle by means of the image pick-up sensor.
For example, JP-A-10-81173 discloses the formed system, whereas JP-A-6-344827 discloses the latter system.
As shown in
FIGS. 13 and 14
, there has been proposed an apparatus for watching around a vehicle wherein images in the image pick-up directions
3
L and
3
R corresponding dead angles respectively on both left and right sides in the direction of travel A of a vehicle are picked up by an image pick-up apparatus
1
installed in the front end portion (front grille in this case) of the vehicle and utilized for driving. Such an image pick-up apparatus
1
may otherwise be installed in the rear end portion of a vehicle in order to pick up images in image pick-up directions corresponding dead angles in the direction of moving back a vehicle.
FIG. 15
is a block diagram showing the structure of a conventional apparatus for watching around a vehicle; and
FIG. 16
, a side view of the principal part of what is shown in FIG.
15
. The apparatus for watching around a vehicle comprises a image pick-up apparatus
1
, a processing portion
5
, and a display unit
7
installed within a vehicle.
The image pick-up apparatus
1
has a light shielding case
11
provided with a pair of transmission windows
11
L and
11
R on both the respective sides thereof. In this case
11
exists an isosceles triangular prism (a reflective unit)
13
in cross section which is housed and placed in such a posture that its vertical angle side faces the front part of the case
11
(upper portion of the case
11
in
FIG. 15
) and that the lateral sides (first reflective surfaces)
13
L and
13
R of the prism corresponding to the isosceles of the isosceles triangle faces the respective transmission windows
11
L and
11
R. An image pick-up unit (an image pick-up unit)
15
is also housed so that it is positioned on the back side of the prism
13
. The image pick-up unit
15
is equipped with an image pick-up element
15
a
and an image forming lens
15
b
disposed in the optical paths of rays of light
17
L and
17
R between the image pick-up element
15
a
and the prism
13
.
Rays of light
17
L and
17
R incident from the image pick-up directions
3
L and
3
R on the lateral sides of the vehicle are incident onto the prism
13
via the both sides
13
L and
13
R of the prism, respectively. Then the rays of light
17
L and
17
R are wholly reflected from the respective sides
13
L and
13
R of the prism, and the optical paths are changed to directions substantially opposite to the direction of travel of the vehicle before being emitted from the prism
13
and incident on the image pick-up element
15
a
. Thus, images in the respective image pick-up directions
3
L and
3
R on both left and right sides are picked up by the single image pick-up element
15
a.
An image signal that is output from the image pick-up element
15
a
is input to the predetermined processing portion
5
and subjected to a predetermined process such as an inversion process. The processed image signal is supplied to the display unit
7
, whereby the images in the image pick-up directions
3
L and
3
R are displayed by the image pick-up element
15
a
on the respective display areas
7
L and
7
R of the display unit
7
.
The prism
13
in the conventional apparatus for watching around a vehicle is disposed in the case
11
so that both sides
13
L and
13
R of the prism may be laterally symmetrical with respect to the direction of travel A and in parallel to the vertical direction of the vehicle. Moreover, the image pick-up optical axis B of the image pick-up unit
15
is set parallel to the direction of travel A so that it may not lean to a horizontal plane C (see FIG.
17
).
Accordingly, rays of light
17
L′ and
17
R′ on the incident optical axes out of the rays of light
17
L and
17
R that are reflected from the respective sides
13
L and
13
R of the prism
13
and incident from the image pick-up directions
3
L and
3
R are reflected at the reflective position P of the sides
13
L and
13
R of the prism and incident on the image pick-up unit
15
while the rays of light
17
L′ and
17
R′ are kept parallel to the horizontal plane C.
In the conventional apparatus for watching around a vehicle, images in the lateral image pick-up directions
3
L and
3
R are consequently picked up in such a state that the image pick-up optical axes defining the image pick-up directions
3
L and
3
R have been set parallel to the horizontal plane C.
FIG. 18
illustrates the state in which the picked up images are being displayed on the display unit
7
in the conventional apparatus for watching around a vehicle. In
FIG. 18
, reference numerals
21
and
23
refer to the bumper
9
of the vehicle; and
25
and
27
refer to images of the obstacles positioned on both left and right sides of the vehicle.
In the apparatus for watching around a vehicle like this, there is a case where the adjustment of the image pick-up directions
3
L and
3
R may be necessary by tilting them vertically with respect to the horizontal plane so as to obtain more useful peripheral images depending on the condition of installation of the image pick-up apparatus
1
including the position of installation of the image pick-up apparatus
1
on the vehicle, the configuration of the vehicle (configuration of the grille or the bumper
9
in particular) around the position of installation of the image pick-up apparatus and its periphery and so forth.
In the conventional apparatus for watching around a vehicle, however, the images
21
and
23
of the bumper
9
on the picked up image plane are too large in percentage and wasteful as shown in
FIG. 18
under the influence of the conditions of installation of the image pick-up apparatus
1
. Therefore, it is necessary to restrain the bumper
9
from being taken too much by correcting the image pick-up directions
3
L and
3
R upward.
As a method of changing the image pick-up directions
3
L and
3
R upward or downward in the conventional apparatus for watching around a vehicle, what is considered effective is to install the whole image pick-up apparatus
1
tilting in the vertical direction of the vehicle and to change the image pick-up directions
3
L and
3
R upward or downward by adjusting the angle of inclination.
However, there arises an inconvenience under the method stated above in that under an image of any pick-up object (e.g., building or telegraph pole) that actually upri
Imoto Masayoshi
Mishima Tomoyuki
Tomida Takayuki
Autonetworks Technologies Ltd.
Epps Georgia
Harrington Alicia M
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
LandOfFree
On-vehicle image pick-up apparatus and method of setting... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with On-vehicle image pick-up apparatus and method of setting..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and On-vehicle image pick-up apparatus and method of setting... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3104430