Information processing apparatus, rear image display apparatus, and information processing method

Abstract

[Problem to be solved] The purpose of the present invention is to enable an occupant of a vehicle to confirm the rear of the vehicle without feeling any pressure. [Solution] A solution: detects whether a following vehicle detected in a rear image of a vehicle exhibits a road rage behavior; under the condition that the following vehicle shows the road rage behavior, performing image processing on the rear image of the vehicle; and displaying the processed image on a display device (130).

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to an information processing apparatus, a rear image display apparatus, and an information processing method. BACKGROUND

[0002] In a case where road rage behavior is encountered, a driver can feel stress and make some driving errors. Therefore, a technology for reducing driving errors caused by road rage behavior is being developed. For example, in Patent Literature 1, a technology for changing a rearward field of view through a rearview mirror 2 so that a following vehicle exhibiting road rage behavior is not reflected in the rearview mirror 2 is proposed.

[0003] [LIST OF CITATIONS]

[0004] [PATENT LITERATURE]

[0005] [Patent Literature 1] JP 2010-271906 A SUMMARY

[0006] [TECHNICAL PROBLEM]

[0007] According to the technology disclosed in Patent Literature 1, since the rearward field of view obtained through the rearview mirror 2 has been changed so that the following vehicle exhibiting road rage behavior is not reflected in the rearview mirror 2, the driver of the vehicle cannot confirm the situation in the vicinity of the following vehicle in the rearview mirror 2.

[0008] An object of the present application is to enable a passenger of a vehicle to confirm the rear of the vehicle without feeling any stress.

[0009] [MEANS FOR SOLVING PROBLEM]

[0010] In order to solve the above-described technical problem, an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application includes a road rage detection section configured to detect whether a following vehicle detected in a rear image of a vehicle exhibits road rage behavior, an image processing section configured to perform image processing on the rear image of the vehicle in a case where the following vehicle exhibits the road rage behavior, and a display processing section configured to display an image processed by the image processing section on a display apparatus.

[0011] A rear image display apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application includes an information processing apparatus and a display apparatus.

[0012] The information processing method according to an embodiment of the present application is an information processing method executed by a computer, including: a road rage behavior detection step of detecting whether or not a following vehicle detected in a rear image of a vehicle exhibits a road rage behavior; an image processing step of performing image processing on the rear image of the vehicle in a case where the following vehicle exhibits the road rage behavior; and a display processing step of displaying, on a display device, an image processed by the image processing step.

[0013] [Effects of Invention]

[0014] According to the present application, a passenger of a vehicle can confirm the rear of the vehicle without feeling any stress. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0015] Figure 1 is a view showing a rear image display device 100 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0016] Figure 2 is a view showing a control section 110.

[0017] Figure 3 is a view showing an example of processing operation in the control section 110.

[0018] REFERENCE NUMERALS LIST

[0019] 100 rear image display device

[0020] 110 control section

[0021] 111 display processing section

[0022] 112 road rage detection section

[0023] 113 image processing section

[0024] 114 setting processing section

[0025] 120 imaging section

[0026] 130 display section

[0027] 140 measurement section

[0028] 150 input section

[0029] 160 storage section DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] <rear image display device 100>

[0031] Figure 1is a view showing a rear image display device 100 according to an embodiment of the present application. The rear image display device 100 is a device for prompting a passenger of a vehicle (for example, a driver of the vehicle) with a rear image of the vehicle. As shown in Figure 1 the rear image display device 100 includes a control section 110, an imaging section 120, and a display section 130.

[0032] The control section 110 is an information processing device for processing information of a computer or the like. The imaging section 120 is an imaging device for imaging a rear image of a vehicle, such as a camera or the like. The display section 130 is a display device for displaying an image, such as a display or the like, which is, for example, a display (for example, a rear mirror monitor and a side mirror monitor) for a passenger of a vehicle (for example, a driver of the vehicle) to confirm a rear side of the vehicle.

[0033] Figure 2 is a view showing the control section 110. The control section 110 includes a display processing section 111. The display processing section 111 displays an image captured by the imaging section 120 on the display section 130.

[0034] According to the present embodiment, therefore, a passenger of a vehicle is able to confirm a rear of the vehicle through an image displayed in the display section 130. As a result, according to the present embodiment, in particular, a driver of the vehicle is able to confirm the rear of the vehicle while driving the vehicle.

[0035] The control section 110 according to the present embodiment further includes a road rage detection section 112 and an image processing section 113.

[0036] The road rage detection section 112 detects a vehicle (a following vehicle) traveling toward a current vehicle from a rear of the current vehicle in an image (that is, a rear image of the vehicle) captured by the imaging section 120. The road rage detection section 112 detects the following vehicle in the image captured by the imaging section 120 using, for example, an image processing technique (for example, an existing image recognition processing technique).

[0037] Preferably, the rear image display device 100 further includes a measurement section 140. The measurement section 140 is a measurement device for detecting an object existing in a rear of a vehicle using electromagnetic waves such as millimeter waves and infrared rays, and acoustic waves such as ultrasonic waves. Then, preferably, the road rage detection section 112 is configured to detect the following vehicle by using the measurement section 140.

[0038] If the following vehicle is detected in the image captured by the imaging section 120 (i.e., the image of the rear of the vehicle), the road rage detection section 112 then detects whether the following vehicle exhibits a road rage behavior. For example, the road rage detection section 112 calculates the inter-vehicle distance with the following vehicle and / or the relative speed with respect to the following vehicle, and then detects whether the following vehicle exhibits a road rage behavior based on the calculated inter-vehicle distance or the calculated relative speed.

[0039] At this time, it is also preferable that the road rage detection section 112 be configured to detect whether the following vehicle exhibits a road rage behavior based on the image captured by the imaging section 120 by using an image processing technique (e.g., an existing image recognition technique), or it is also preferable that the road rage detection section 112 be configured to detect whether the following vehicle exhibits a road rage behavior based on the measurement of the measurement section 140. That is, for the road rage detection section 112, it is preferable that the inter-vehicle distance with the following vehicle be calculated based on the image captured by the imaging section 120 and / or the measurement of the measurement section 140, or it is preferable that the relative speed with respect to the following vehicle be calculated based on the image captured by the imaging section 120, the measurement of the measurement section 140, and / or the speed of the vehicle. Furthermore, at this time, it is preferable that the speed of the vehicle be calculated based on the image captured by the imaging section 120 and / or the measurement of the measurement section 140, or it is preferable that information on the speed of the vehicle be obtained from the vehicle itself.

[0040] If the following vehicle exhibits a road rage behavior, the image processing section 113 performs image processing on the image captured by the imaging section 120. At this time, as described below, the image processing section 113 processes the image captured by the imaging section 120 so as to reduce the stress that the passenger of the vehicle endures due to the following vehicle exhibiting a road rage behavior.

[0041] If the image captured by the imaging section 120 is processed by the image processing section 113, i.e., if the following vehicle exhibits a road rage behavior, the display processing section 111 displays the image processed by the image processing section 113 on the display section 130.

[0042] Thus, according to the present embodiment, when the vehicle is subjected to a road rage behavior exhibited by the following vehicle, the processed image is displayed on the display section 130 so as to reduce the stress that the passenger of the vehicle endures due to the road rage phenomenon exhibited by the following vehicle. Thus, in the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce the stress that the passenger of the vehicle endures due to the following vehicle exhibiting a road rage behavior, and therefore the passenger of the vehicle can confirm the rear of the vehicle without enduring any stress.

[0043] <IMAGE PROCESSING BY IMAGE PROCESSING SECTION 113>

[0044] It is preferable that the image processing section 113 be configured to, when processing the image captured by the imaging section 120, overwrite, with another image, a region (following vehicle-related region) related to a region in which the following vehicle is captured in the image captured by the imaging section 120, for example. It is preferable that the image to be overwritten be an avatar image, for example. In this way, the impression experienced by the passenger of the vehicle from the following vehicle-related region can be mitigated, and thus the stress borne by the passenger of the vehicle due to the road rage exhibited by the following vehicle can be reduced.

[0045] It is preferable that, for the image processing section 113, when processing the image captured by the imaging section 120, the following vehicle-related region be made semi-transparent, for example, so that it is difficult to confirm the following vehicle. In this way, it is difficult for the passenger of the vehicle to visually confirm the following vehicle, and thus the stress borne by the passenger of the vehicle due to the road rage exhibited by the following vehicle can be reduced.

[0046] The following vehicle-related region can be the entire region in which the following vehicle is captured, or can be a portion of the region in which the following vehicle is captured, for example. In the case where the following vehicle-related region is a portion of the region in which the following vehicle is captured, the portion of the region in which the following vehicle is captured can be a region in which a passenger of the following vehicle (e.g., the driver of the following vehicle) is captured or a region in which a front window of the following vehicle is captured. In this way, it is difficult for the passenger of the vehicle to visually confirm the facial expression and behavior of the passenger of the following vehicle, to reduce the stress borne by the passenger of the vehicle due to the road rage exhibited by the following vehicle. At this time, it is preferable that the image processing section 113 detect the region in which the following vehicle is captured, the region in which the passenger of the following vehicle is captured, and the region in which the front window of the following vehicle is captured in the image captured by the imaging section 120 (i.e., the rearward image of the vehicle) using an image processing technique (e.g., an existing image recognition technique), for example.

[0047] It is preferable that, if the following vehicle exhibits road rage, the road rage detection section 112 calculate the degree of the road rage of the following vehicle based on the inter-vehicle distance and / or the relative speed between the vehicle and the following vehicle. Then, it is preferable that the image processing section 113 change the manner of image processing in response to the calculated degree of such road rage of the following vehicle.

[0048] In the case where the following vehicle-related region is overwritten with another image (e.g., an avatar image), for example, it is preferable that the image processing section 113 change the kind of the other image used for the overwriting in response to the degree of the road rage exhibited by the following vehicle. The higher the degree of road rage, the more preferable it is to use an avatar image that is more gentle in impression, for example. If the degree of road rage is moderate, for example, it is preferable to use a tiger avatar image as the avatar image used for the overwriting, and if the degree of road rage is higher, it is preferable to use a cat avatar image as the avatar image used for the overwriting, for example.

[0049] For example, in the case of making the following vehicle related region semi-transparent, it is preferable that the image processing section 113 is configured to change the transmittance of the following vehicle related region in response to the degree of road rage of the following vehicle. For example, it is preferable that the image processing section 113 makes the transmittance of the following vehicle related region higher once the degree of road rage behavior is higher. That is, it is preferable that the image processing section 113 makes the following vehicle related region more transparent so that it is difficult to visually confirm the following vehicle related region once the degree of road rage behavior is higher.

[0050] <user setting>

[0051] It is preferable that the rear image display device 100 further includes an input section 150 and a storage section 160. The input section 150 is an input device for receiving input of information, such as a touch panel, a keyboard, a button, a microphone, and the like. The storage section 160 is a storage device for storing information, such as a hard disk drive, a solid state drive, a memory, and the like. Then, it is preferable that the control section 110 further includes a setting processing section 114.

[0052] The setting processing section 114 acquires setting information input by a user (for example, a passenger of the vehicle) via the input section 150, and stores the input setting information in the storage section 160.

[0053] It is preferable that the setting information includes, for example, a setting related to whether or not to perform image processing when the following vehicle exhibits road rage behavior. Then, if the setting is set to perform image processing when the following vehicle exhibits road rage behavior in the setting information stored in the storage section 160, it is preferable that the road rage detection section 112 detects road rage behavior (detection of the following vehicle), and if the setting is set not to perform image processing when the following vehicle exhibits road rage behavior in the setting information stored in the storage section 160, the road rage detection section 112 can not detect road rage behavior.

[0054] Further, it is preferable that the setting information includes settings related to image processing to be performed (for example, the type of image processing (rewriting the following vehicle related region with other images, or making the following vehicle related region semi-transparent), the type of other images used for rewriting, and the transmittance in the case of implementing a semi-transparent region). Then, it is preferable that the image processing section 113 performs image processing based on the setting information. For example, if it is set to rewrite the following vehicle related region with other images in the setting information stored in the storage section 160, it is preferable that the image processing section 113 rewrites the following vehicle related region with other images, and if it is set to make the following vehicle related region semi-transparent in the setting information stored in the storage section 160, it is preferable that the image processor 113 makes the following vehicle related region semi-transparent. In this way, it is possible to perform image processing according to the user's preference.

[0055] <Processing operation in the control section 110>

[0056] Figure 3 is a view showing an example of the processing operation in the control section 110. For example, each time the imaging section 120 captures an image, the processing operation shown in Figure 3 is performed.

[0057] The following vehicle detection processing section 112 detects a following vehicle in the image captured by the imaging section 120 (step S301).

[0058] If a following vehicle is not detected (step S301, No), the display processing section 111 displays the image captured by the imaging section 120 on the display section 130 (step S302). If a following vehicle is detected (step S301, Yes), the road rage detection section 112 detects whether the following vehicle exhibits a road rage behavior (step S303).

[0059] If the following vehicle does not exhibit a road rage behavior (step S303, No), the display processing section 111 displays the image captured by the imaging section 120 on the display section 130 (step S302). If the following vehicle exhibits a road rage behavior (step S303, Yes), the image processing section 113 performs image processing on the image captured by the imaging section 120 (step S304), and the display processing section 111 displays the processed image on the display section 130 (step S305).

[0060] Note that the above-described embodiment merely illustrates typical aspects of the present application, and the present application is not limited to this embodiment. That is, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the application. Of course, as long as these modifications still have a configuration according to the present application, they will fall within the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus comprising: a road rage detection section (112) configured to detect whether a following vehicle detected in a rear image of a vehicle exhibits a road rage behavior; an image processing section (113) configured to perform image processing on the rear image of the vehicle in a case where the following vehicle exhibits the road rage behavior; and a display processing section (111) configured to display, on a display apparatus (130), an image processed by the image processing section. The image processing section (113) is configured to overwrite a following vehicle related region with other images, the following vehicle related region being a region related to a region in which the following vehicle is displayed in the rear image of the vehicle.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein 3.The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, The road rage detection section (112) is configured to calculate a degree of the road rage behavior of the following vehicle, and wherein The image processing section (113) is configured to change a type of the other images used for overwriting in response to the degree of the road rage behavior. The image processing section (113) is configured to make a following vehicle related region semi-transparent, the following vehicle related region being a region related to a region in which the following vehicle is displayed in the rear image of the vehicle.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein The following vehicle related region is an entirety of the region in which the following vehicle is displayed.

5. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein The following vehicle related region is a part of the region in which the following vehicle is displayed.

6. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein The part of the region in which the following vehicle is displayed is a region in which an arbitrary passenger of the following vehicle is displayed or a region in which a front window of the following vehicle is displayed.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein The display apparatus (130) is an apparatus for a passenger of the vehicle to confirm a rear of the vehicle.

8. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein 9.A rear image display apparatus comprising: the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4; and the display apparatus (130). 10.An information processing method executed by a computer, comprising: a road rage behavior detection step of detecting whether a following vehicle detected in a rear image of a vehicle exhibits a road rage behavior; an image processing step of performing image processing on the rear image of the vehicle in a case where the following vehicle exhibits the road rage behavior; and a display processing step of displaying, on a display apparatus, an image processed by the image processing step. ​ ​ ​

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