Image projection device, infrastructure facility and display system for vehicle

Abstract

To provide an image projection device, an infrastructure facility and a display system for a vehicle that facilitate guiding a vehicle to an available space in a parking lot.SOLUTION: A head-up display (HUD) 12 acquires information about a position of an available space in a parking lot P and projects a display guiding a vehicle 10 to the available space, superimposed on scenery ahead of the vehicle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an image projection device, an infrastructure facility, and a display system for a vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses an infrastructure system including a plurality of street light facilities. Each street light facility includes a light source, a first imaging unit that captures an image of a vehicle present in a first area, a second imaging unit that captures an image of a vehicle present in a second area, and a notification unit that issues a warning to a vehicle traveling in the second area. The infrastructure system includes a control unit that controls the notification unit based on images output from the first imaging unit and the second imaging unit of each street light facility. When the control unit determines that a traffic jam occurs in the first area and that there is a first vehicle attempting to move from the first area to the second area, the control unit issues a warning to a second vehicle traveling within a predetermined distance behind the first vehicle in the second area by the notification unit. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2021-168076 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] By the way, when a vehicle enters a parking lot, it usually searches for an empty space and parks in the empty space it finds. However, it can take time to search for an empty space without knowing where it is. Also, a vehicle that enters a parking lot may miss an empty space that is located in a blind spot.

[0005] The present disclosure provides an image projection device, infrastructure equipment, and a display system for a vehicle that facilitates guiding a vehicle to an available parking space. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] An image projection device according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes: Get information about the location of available parking spaces, A display guiding the vehicle to the vacant space is projected and superimposed on the scenery ahead of the vehicle.

[0007] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an infrastructure facility comprising: Transmitting information regarding available parking spaces to an image projection device; The image projection device projects a display guiding the vehicle in which the image projection device is mounted to the vacant space, superimposed on the scenery in front of the vehicle.

[0008] A vehicle display system according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes: An infrastructure facility that transmits information about available parking spaces; and and an image projection device that acquires the transmitted information and projects a display guiding the vehicle to the vacant space by superimposing it on the scenery in front of the vehicle. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present disclosure, an image projection device, infrastructure equipment, and a display system for a vehicle are provided that prompt a vehicle to guide to an available parking space. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a vehicle display system according to the present embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a parking lot in which the vehicular display system is implemented, and a vehicle about to enter the parking lot. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is an example of a database of infrastructure facilities for a vehicle display system. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the process of updating information about vacant parking spaces. [Diagram 5]FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the infrastructure facility guidance process. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a vehicle guidance process. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is an example of a HUD projection of a vehicle display system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. For convenience of explanation, the description of the members having the same reference numbers as those already described in the description of the embodiment will be omitted. In addition, for convenience of explanation, the dimensions of each member shown in the drawings may differ from the actual dimensions of each member.

[0012] A vehicular display system 1 according to this embodiment will be described below with reference to Figures 1 and 2. The vehicular display system 1 of this embodiment can be installed in a parking lot P in which a plurality of parking spaces are provided. Figure 1 is a block diagram of the vehicular display system 1.

[0013] As shown in Fig. 1, the vehicular display system 1 includes a vehicle 10 equipped with a head-up display (HUD) 12, and infrastructure equipment 20. The vehicle 10 includes a vehicle control unit 11, the HUD 12, a camera 13, and a vehicle communication unit 14. The infrastructure equipment 20 includes an infrastructure control unit 21, a vacant space detection unit 22, a vehicle detection unit 23 provided near an entrance gate G1, a database 24, and an infrastructure communication unit 25. First, the configuration of the vehicle 10 will be described with reference to Fig. 1.

[0014] The vehicle control unit 11 is configured to control the traveling of the vehicle 10. The vehicle control unit 11 is communicatively connected to the HUD 12, the camera 13, and the vehicle communication unit 14. The "communicative connection" may include both wired and wireless connections. The vehicle control unit 11 is configured, for example, by at least one electronic control unit (ECU). The electronic control unit includes a computer system (for example, a SoC (System on a Chip)) including one or more processors and one or more memories, and an electronic circuit including active elements such as transistors and passive elements.

[0015] The processor includes, for example, at least one of a central processing unit (CPU), a micro processing unit (MPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), and a tensor processing unit (TPU). The CPU may be configured with multiple CPU cores. The GPU may be configured with multiple GPU cores.

[0016] The memory includes a read only memory (ROM) and a random access memory (RAM). A vehicle control program may be stored in the ROM. For example, the vehicle control program may include an artificial intelligence (AI) program for autonomous driving. The AI ​​program is a program (trained model) constructed by supervised or unsupervised machine learning (particularly, deep learning) using a multi-layer neural network. The RAM may temporarily store the vehicle control program, vehicle control data, and / or surrounding environment information indicating the surrounding environment of the vehicle.

[0017] The HUD 12 is configured to project a display guiding the vehicle 10 to an empty space by superimposing it on the scenery in front of the vehicle. At least a portion of the HUD 12 is located inside the vehicle 10. For example, the HUD 12 may be disposed in the dashboard of the vehicle 10. The HUD 12 is a visual interface between the vehicle 10 and the occupant. The HUD 12 is configured to display predetermined information (hereinafter, referred to as HUD information) toward the occupant so that the HUD information is superimposed on the real space outside the vehicle 10 (particularly, the scenery in front of the vehicle). In this way, the HUD 12, which is an AR (Augmented Reality) display, is an example of an image projection device.

[0018] The camera 13 is a camera including an imaging element such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS). The camera 13 is configured to obtain image data showing the surrounding environment of the vehicle 10 and output the image data to the vehicle control unit 11. The vehicle control unit 11 obtains surrounding environment information based on the transmitted image data. Here, the surrounding environment information may include external image information in front of the vehicle (hereinafter, the external image information will be referred to as an external image). For example, the camera 13 outputs external image data showing the front of the vehicle to the vehicle control unit 11. The camera 13 may be configured as a monocular camera or a stereo camera.

[0019] The vehicle communication unit 14 is configured to communicate with the infrastructure 20. Specifically, the vehicle communication unit 14 is configured to acquire guidance information transmitted from an infrastructure communication unit 25 of the infrastructure 20, which will be described later, and output the guidance information to the vehicle control unit 11. Based on the transmitted guidance information, the vehicle control unit 11 causes the HUD 12 to project a predetermined display so as to be superimposed on the scenery in front of the vehicle. Details of the communication between the vehicle 10 and the infrastructure 20 will be described later.

[0020] Next, the infrastructure equipment 20 will be described in detail below with reference to Figures 1 and 2. Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing a parking lot P in which the vehicular display system of this embodiment is implemented, and a vehicle 10 about to enter the parking lot P. As shown in Figure 2, the parking lot P of this embodiment is provided with an entrance gate G1, a plurality of parking spaces, and a plurality of intersections. At each intersection in the parking lot P, a marker is provided to identify each intersection. The configuration of the infrastructure equipment 20 provided in such a parking lot P will be described below.

[0021] The infrastructure control unit 21 is configured to control each component of the infrastructure facility 20 (FIG. 1). The infrastructure control unit 21 is communicatively connected to each of the vacancy detection unit 22, the vehicle detection unit 23, the database 24, and the infrastructure communication unit 25. The infrastructure control unit 21 further includes a guidance information generation unit 211 configured to generate guidance information.

[0022] The vacancy detection unit 22 is configured to acquire information regarding vacant spaces in the parking lot P (hereinafter, referred to as vacancy information). The vacancy detection unit 22 is, for example, a camera installed in the parking lot P (FIG. 2). The vacancy detection unit 22 may be a LiDAR. A plurality of vacancy detection units 22 may be installed in the parking lot P. A vacancy detection unit 22 may be provided for each parking space, or one vacancy detection unit 22 may be provided for a plurality of parking spaces. The vacancy detection unit 22 is configured to acquire image data showing the interior of the parking lot P and output it to the infrastructure control unit 21. The vacancy information indicates whether the parking space is in use or vacant. In other words, a parking space that is in an vacant state is a vacant space, and the vacancy information indicates information regarding the vacant space.

[0023] The database 24 is configured to store identification information of each parking space and location information of the corresponding parking space. FIG. 3 is an example of the database 24 of the infrastructure facility 20. As shown in FIG. 3, the database 24 stores parking space IDs that identify each of a plurality of parking spaces provided in the parking lot P. Furthermore, the database 24 is configured to store location information indicating the location of each parking space in the parking lot P in association with the parking space ID. With this configuration, the infrastructure control unit 21 can obtain the location information of each parking space in the parking lot P by referring to the database 24.

[0024] The database 24 is further configured to store vacancy information of each parking space together with the identification information of the parking space. Specifically, the database 24 is configured to store the vacancy information of each parking space in association with the parking space ID. With this configuration, the infrastructure control unit 21 can obtain the vacancy information of each parking space in the parking lot P by referring to the database 24.

[0025] The database 24 also stores map information. The map information includes gate location information indicating the location of the entrance gate G1, and intersection identification information identifying each of a plurality of intersections in the parking lot P. With this configuration, the infrastructure facility 20 can identify a route from the entrance gate G1 to a specific parking space. The details of route identification will be described later.

[0026] In the database 24, image data showing the interior of the parking lot P, acquired by the vacancy detection unit 22, is also stored.

[0027] Returning to Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, the description of each component of the infrastructure facility 20 will be continued. The vehicle detection unit 23 is provided near the entrance gate G1 of the parking lot P and is configured to detect the entrance of the vehicle 10 into the parking lot P. The vehicle detection unit 23 may be, for example, a sensor installed at the entrance gate G1 of the parking lot P and configured to detect the opening and closing of the entrance gate G1. The vehicle detection unit 23 may be a camera configured to capture an image of a predetermined range including the entrance gate G1. The vehicle detection unit 23 is configured to generate entrance information indicating that the vehicle 10 has entered the parking lot P and output the entrance information to the infrastructure control unit 21.

[0028] The guidance information generation unit 211 is configured to generate guidance information for guiding the vehicle 10 that has entered the parking lot P to a vacant space. The guidance information includes map information of the parking lot P, information about vacant spaces in the parking lot P (vacancy information), and route information for guiding the vehicle to the parking space. The guidance information generation unit 211 is configured to output the generated guidance information to the infrastructure control unit 21.

[0029] The infrastructure communication unit 25 is configured to communicate with the vehicle communication unit 14 of the vehicle 10 that has entered the parking lot P. Specifically, the infrastructure communication unit 25 is configured to transmit the guidance information generated by the guidance information generation unit 211 to the vehicle communication unit 14 of the vehicle 10. The infrastructure communication unit 25 is a wireless LAN provided in the parking lot P. The infrastructure communication unit 25 is, for example, Wi-Fi (registered trademark).

[0030] Next, the vehicle display system 1 of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to Fig. 4 to Fig. 7. First, with reference to Fig. 4, the updating process of parking space vacancy information performed by the infrastructure facility 20 will be described.

[0031] 4 is a flowchart showing the process of updating parking space vacancy information. First, the vacancy detection unit 22 installed in the parking lot P acquires image data showing the interior of the parking lot P (STEP 01). The vacancy detection unit 22 outputs the acquired image data to the infrastructure control unit 21. The infrastructure control unit 21 stores the image data currently transmitted from the vacancy detection unit 22 (current image data) in the database 24, and reads the image data previously transmitted from the vacancy detection unit 22 (previous image data) from the database 24 (STEP 02). Then, it is determined whether or not there is a change in the current image data with respect to the previous image data (STEP 03). If there is no change in the two image data (NO in STEP 03), the infrastructure control unit 21 returns the process to before STEP 01.

[0032] If there is a change in the two image data (YES in STEP 03), the infrastructure control unit 21 determines whether or not a vehicle is present within a predetermined range of the changed parking space based on the current image data (STEP 04).

[0033] For example, if a parking space contains a vehicle (YES in STEP 04), the infrastructure control unit 21 determines that the parking space is in use (STEP 05). If a parking space does not contain a vehicle (NO in STEP 04), the infrastructure control unit 21 determines that the parking space is vacant (STEP 06). The infrastructure control unit 21 outputs such a determination result to the database 24 and updates the vacant parking space information (STEP 07).

[0034] After updating the vacancy information, the infrastructure control unit 21 determines whether or not the vacancy information of all parking spaces changed in the current image data has been updated (STEP 08). If the vacancy information of all parking spaces has not been updated (NO in STEP 08), the infrastructure control unit 21 returns the process to before STEP 04. If the vacancy information of all parking spaces has been updated (YES in STEP 08), the infrastructure control unit 21 ends the process. The infrastructure equipment 20 updates the vacancy information by repeating such updates at a predetermined cycle.

[0035] Next, a process of guiding the vehicle 10 that has entered the parking lot P, performed by the infrastructure equipment 20, will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the guiding process of the infrastructure equipment 20. First, the vehicle detection unit 23 of the infrastructure equipment 20 detects the entry of the vehicle 10 into the parking lot P (STEP 11). Specifically, when the vehicle 10 enters the entrance gate G1 of the parking lot P, the vehicle detection unit 23 generates entry information indicating that the vehicle 10 has entered the parking lot P, and outputs the entry information to the infrastructure control unit 21.

[0036] The infrastructure control unit 21, triggered by the entry information transmitted from the vehicle detection unit 23, refers to the database 24 to acquire vacant information and location information of the parking space corresponding to the vacant information (STEP 12). In FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, as an example, when the vehicle passes through the entrance gate G1, among the multiple parking spaces, the parking spaces indicated by the parking space IDs 0202 and 0203 are vacant spaces. These vacant spaces are located at B-112 and B-113, respectively. In this way, the infrastructure control unit 21 acquires that the parking spaces in the vacant state are the parking space IDs 0202 and 0203, and that the parking spaces are located at B-112 and B-113. Here, a case will be described in which the infrastructure control unit 21 designates the vacant space with the parking space ID 0202 and located at B-112 as the vacant space to be guided, and guides the vehicle 10 to the designated vacant space.

[0037] Furthermore, the infrastructure control unit 21 acquires map information of the parking lot P and gate location information indicating the installation location of the entrance gate G1 from the database 24 (STEP 13).

[0038] The guidance information generating unit 211 of the infrastructure control unit 21 generates guidance information for guiding the vehicle 10 to the vacant space based on various information acquired from the database 24. Specifically, the guidance information generating unit 211 identifies that there are intersections AB1 and BC1 in the parking lot P between the entrance gate G1 and the vacant space (B-112) indicated by the location information (FIG. 2). Then, route information is generated that indicates that the route from the entrance gate G1 to the vacant space is to go straight at the intersection AB1 and turn right at the intersection BC1 (STEP 14). The infrastructure control unit 21 includes the generated route information in the guidance information together with the map information of the parking lot P, the vacant space information, and its location information. The infrastructure control unit 21 transmits the guidance information to the vehicle communication unit 14 of the vehicle 10 via the infrastructure communication unit 25 (STEP 15). After that, the infrastructure control unit 21 ends the process.

[0039] Next, the guidance process performed by the vehicle 10 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the guidance process of the vehicle 10. The vehicle communication unit 14 receives guidance information from the infrastructure communication unit 25 of the infrastructure facility 20 (STEP 21). Furthermore, the vehicle communication unit 14 outputs the received guidance information to the vehicle control unit 11. Based on the transmitted guidance information, the vehicle control unit 11 causes the HUD 12 to project a display guiding the vehicle 10 to a vacant space, superimposed on the scenery in front of the vehicle (STEP 22). FIG. 7 is an example of the projection of the HUD 12. As shown in FIG. 7, the HUD 12 may, for example, refer to the vacant information and its location information included in the guidance information, and display location information B-112 of a vacant parking space as information I1 about the vacant space.

[0040] Furthermore, the HUD 12 may display route information I2 and / or route information I3 to the vacant space. For example, the vehicle control unit 11 determines whether or not the camera 13 of the vehicle 10 has detected a marker attached to each intersection in the parking lot P (STEP 23). If the camera 13 does not detect the marker (NO in STEP 23), such as when the vehicle 10 has not arrived at the intersection, the vehicle control unit 11 repeats STEP 23.

[0041] When the vehicle 10 arrives at each intersection and the camera 13 of the vehicle 10 detects a marker (YES in STEP 23), the camera 13 outputs that information to the vehicle control unit 11. The vehicle control unit 11 identifies intersection identification information corresponding to the detected marker by referring to the map information of the parking lot P among the guidance information transmitted from the infrastructure facility 20 (STEP 24). Furthermore, the vehicle control unit 11 projects on the HUD 12 route information indicating how the vehicle 10 should proceed at the intersection based on the identified intersection identification information (STEP 25).

[0042] For example, when the vehicle 10 arrives at an intersection AB1, the camera 13 of the vehicle 10 detects a marker MAB1 that identifies the intersection AB1 and outputs it to the vehicle control unit 11. The vehicle control unit 11 refers to the map information of the parking lot P among the guidance information transmitted from the infrastructure communication unit 25, and identifies the intersection identification information that corresponds to the marker MAB1 detected by the camera 13. Furthermore, the vehicle control unit 11 controls the HUD 12 to display that the vehicle should proceed straight at the intersection AB1, based on the identified intersection identification information and the route information included in the guidance information.

[0043] Next, when the vehicle 10 arrives at the intersection BC1, the camera 13 of the vehicle 10 detects a marker MBC1 that identifies the intersection BC1 and outputs it to the vehicle control unit 11. The vehicle control unit 11 refers to map information of the parking lot P and identifies the intersection identification information that corresponds to the marker MBC1 detected by the camera 13. Furthermore, the vehicle control unit 11 controls the HUD 12 to display that a right turn will be made at the intersection BC1, based on the identified intersection identification information and the route information included in the guidance information (FIG. 7).

[0044] In this manner, the vehicle control unit 11 determines whether or not there is an intersection at which guidance should be displayed next (STEP 26). If there is an intersection at which guidance should be displayed next (YES in STEP 26), the vehicle control unit 11 returns the process to before STEP 23. If there is no intersection at which guidance should be displayed next (NO in STEP 26), the vehicle control unit 11 ends the process. In this manner, the vehicle 10 is guided to an empty space.

[0045] Unlike the present embodiment, if the HUD 12 does not have such a configuration, the vehicle occupant must search for an empty space without any destination. In such a case, the occupant may have anxiety that he / she may not be able to find an empty space or may have doubts such as not knowing where to go. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the HUD 12 projects a display that guides the vehicle 10 to an empty space in the parking lot P, so that the travel time can be shortened and the stress of the occupant can be reduced compared to a case where the HUD 12 does not have the configuration of the present embodiment. Furthermore, the utilization efficiency of the parking space in the parking lot P can be improved.

[0046] Furthermore, the HUD 12 projects the display superimposed on the scenery in front of the vehicle. Therefore, compared to when a separate display unit is used, the driver's line of sight movement is reduced and more information can be provided. Parking lots are particularly crowded with pedestrians, and drivers should always be aware of their surroundings. For this reason, this embodiment, which requires less line of sight movement, is ideal.

[0047] In the above embodiment, the parking lot P has one entrance gate G1, but multiple entrance gates may be provided within the parking lot P. Vehicles entering through any of the entrance gates may be guided to an available space by the above-mentioned vehicle display system 1. The parking lot P may also be provided with an exit gate that leads from the inside of the parking lot P to the outside. Multiple exit gates may be provided within the parking lot P. A vehicle parked in a parking space in the parking lot P may be guided from the parking space it was using to the exit gate by the above-mentioned vehicle display system 1.

[0048] In the above-described embodiment, the vacant space to be guided to is the infrastructure-specified space specified by the infrastructure facility 20. However, the vacant space to be guided to may be a user-specified space specified by a passenger of the vehicle 10. For example, the HUD 12 further includes an input unit 15 that accepts input from the passenger (FIG. 1). When there are a plurality of vacant spaces according to the vacant information transmitted from the infrastructure facility 20 to the vehicle 10, the passenger of the vehicle 10 may specify one of the plurality of vacant spaces via the input unit 15. The input unit 15 outputs the specified user-specified space to the vehicle control unit 11. The vehicle control unit 11 transmits the user-specified space to the infrastructure communication unit 25 of the infrastructure facility 20 via the vehicle communication unit 14. The guidance information generation unit 211 of the infrastructure control unit 21 refers to the database 24, generates guidance information including route information from the entrance gate G1 to the user-specified space, and transmits the guidance information to the vehicle 10 via the infrastructure communication unit 25. Thereafter, the vehicle 10 is guided to the user-specified space by the guidance process shown in FIG. 6.

[0049] In the above embodiment, a marker for identifying the intersection is provided at each intersection, but the marker is not limited to a graphic. The marker may be a character. Instead of the marker, a beacon for transmitting intersection identification information may be provided at each intersection, and the vehicle communication unit 14 may receive the intersection identification information from the beacon.

[0050] The marker may be used not only to identify an intersection but also as a starting point for the display position of route information to be projected onto the intersection. For example, when an arrow pointing to the right is displayed as route information, the center of the arrow may be positioned 0.01° above the top end of the marker.

[0051] Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, it goes without saying that the technical scope of the present invention should not be interpreted as being limited by the description of the present embodiment. The present embodiment is merely an example, and it is understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications of the embodiment are possible within the scope of the invention described in the claims. The technical scope of the present invention should be determined based on the scope of the invention described in the claims and its equivalents. [Explanation of symbols]

[0052] 1 Vehicle display system 10 Vehicles 11 Vehicle control unit 12 Head-up Display (HUD) 13. Camera 14 Vehicle Communication Unit 15 Input section 20 Infrastructure 21 Infrastructure Control Section 211 Guidance information generation section 22 Vacancy detection section 23 Vehicle detection unit 24 Database 25 Infrastructure and Communications Department P Parking lot G1 Entry Gate AB1, BC1 intersection MAB1, MBC1 markers

Claims

1. Get information about the location of available parking spaces, The image projection device projects a display guiding the vehicle to the vacant space so as to be superimposed on the scenery ahead of the vehicle.

2. The image projection device according to claim 1 , wherein the vacant space to be guided to is a user-specified space specified by an occupant of the vehicle.

3. The image projection device according to claim 1 , wherein the vacant space to be introduced is an infrastructure designated space designated by an infrastructure facility.

4. Transmitting information regarding available parking spaces to an image projection device; An infrastructure facility that causes the image projection device to project a display guiding the vehicle in which the image projection device is mounted to the vacant space, superimposed on the scenery in front of the vehicle.

5. The infrastructure facility according to claim 4 , wherein the vacant space to which the vehicle is guided is a user-specified space specified by an occupant of the vehicle.

6. The infrastructure facility according to claim 4 , wherein the vacant space to be guided to is an infrastructure designated space designated by the infrastructure facility.

7. An infrastructure facility that transmits information about available parking spaces; and and an image projection device that acquires the transmitted information and projects a display guiding the vehicle to the vacant space by superimposing it on the scenery in front of the vehicle.

Images