Information processing device, rear-view-image display device, and information processing method

Abstract

To enable an occupant of a vehicle to confirm the rear of the vehicle without receiving stress.SOLUTION: It is detected whether a following vehicle detected in an image behind a vehicle is performing tailgating, and if the following vehicle is performing tailgating, the image behind the vehicle is processed, and the processed image is displayed on a display device 130.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing device, a rear image display device, and an information processing method. [Background technology]

[0002] When a driver is subjected to aggressive driving, the driver may become stressed and make driving mistakes. Therefore, technologies have been developed to reduce driving mistakes caused by aggressive driving. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that, when aggressive driving is detected, changes the rear view of the rearview mirror 2 so that the aggressive following vehicle is not reflected in the rearview mirror 2. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-271906 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, the rear view through the rearview mirror 2 is changed so that the tailgating following vehicle is not reflected in the rearview mirror 2, and the driver of the vehicle is unable to check the situation around the following vehicle through the rearview mirror 2.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to enable a vehicle occupant to check behind the vehicle without being subjected to stress. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above problem, an information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention has a tailgating detection unit that detects whether a following vehicle detected in an image behind the vehicle is engaging in tailgating, an image processing unit that processes the image behind the vehicle if the following vehicle is engaging in tailgating, and a display processing unit that displays the image processed by the image processing unit on a display device.

[0007] A rear image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the information processing device and the display device.

[0008] An information processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention is an information processing method executed by a computer, and includes a tailgating detection process for detecting whether a following vehicle detected in an image behind the vehicle is engaging in tailgating, an image processing process for processing the image behind the vehicle if the following vehicle is engaging in tailgating, and a display processing process for displaying the image processed by the image processing process on a display device. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the present invention, it is possible for a vehicle occupant to check behind the vehicle without being subjected to stress. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing a rear image display device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a control unit 110. [Figure 3] 10 is a diagram showing an example of a processing operation in a control unit 110. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] <Rear image display device 100> Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a rear image display device 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The rear display device 100 is a device for presenting an image of the area behind a vehicle to a vehicle occupant (e.g., the driver of the vehicle). As shown in Fig. 1, the rear display device 100 has a control unit 110, an image capturing unit 120, and a display unit 130.

[0012] The control unit 110 is an information processing device for processing information such as a computer. The photographing unit 120 is a photographing device such as a camera for photographing an image behind the vehicle. The display unit 130 is a display device for displaying an image such as a display, and is, for example, a display (for example, a rearview mirror monitor or a side mirror monitor) that allows a vehicle occupant (for example, the driver of the vehicle) to check the rear of the vehicle.

[0013] 2 is a diagram showing the control unit 110. The control unit 110 has a display processing unit 111. The display processing unit 111 displays the image captured by the image capturing unit 120 on the display unit .

[0014] Therefore, in this embodiment, the vehicle occupants can check the rear of the vehicle using the image displayed on the display unit 130. As a result, in this embodiment, in particular, the driver of the vehicle can drive the vehicle while checking the rear of the vehicle.

[0015] The control unit 110 according to this embodiment further includes a road rage detection unit 112 and an image processing unit 113.

[0016] The tailgating detection unit 112 detects a vehicle (following vehicle) traveling behind the vehicle toward the vehicle in an image (i.e., an image of the rear of the vehicle) captured by the image capturing unit 120. The tailgating detection unit 112 detects the following vehicle in the image captured by the image capturing unit 120, for example, using image processing technology (for example, existing image recognition processing technology).

[0017] The rear image display device 100 may further include a measurement unit 140. The measurement unit 140 is a measurement device for detecting an object present behind the vehicle using electromagnetic waves such as millimeter waves or infrared rays, or sound waves such as ultrasonic waves. The road rage detection unit 112 may use the measurement unit 140 to detect a following vehicle.

[0018] If a following vehicle is detected in an image (i.e., an image behind the vehicle) captured by the image capturing unit 120, the tailgating detection unit 112 detects whether the following vehicle is tailgating. For example, the tailgating detection unit 112 calculates the distance between the following vehicle and the following vehicle and / or the relative speed between the following vehicle, and detects whether the following vehicle is tailgating based on the calculated distance between the vehicles and / or the calculated relative speed.

[0019] At this time, the road rage detection unit 112 may use image processing technology (e.g., existing image recognition processing technology) to detect whether the following vehicle is engaging in road rage based on the image captured by the image capture unit 120, or may detect whether the following vehicle is engaging in road rage based on measurements by the measurement unit 140. That is, the road rage detection unit 112 may calculate the inter-vehicle distance from the following vehicle based on the image captured by the image capture unit 120 and / or measurements by the measurement unit 140, or may calculate the relative speed between the following vehicle and the following vehicle based on the image captured by the image capture unit 120, measurements by the measurement unit 140, and / or the vehicle speed. At this time, the road rage detection unit 112 may calculate the vehicle speed based on the image captured by the image capture unit 120 and / or measurements by the measurement unit 140, or may acquire information regarding the vehicle speed from the vehicle.

[0020] If the following vehicle is tailgating, the image processing unit 113 processes the image captured by the photographing unit 120. At this time, as will be described in detail below, the image processing unit 113 processes the image captured by the photographing unit 120 so as to alleviate the stress experienced by the following vehicle due to tailgating.

[0021] If the image captured by the image capturing unit 120 is processed by the image processing unit 113, that is, if the following vehicle is tailgating, the display processing unit 111 displays the image processed by the image processing unit 113 on the display unit 130.

[0022] Therefore, in this embodiment, when a vehicle is being tailgated by a following vehicle, an image that has been processed to alleviate the stress experienced by the vehicle occupants due to the tailgating of the following vehicle is displayed on the display unit 130. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to alleviate the stress experienced by the vehicle occupants due to the tailgating of the following vehicle, and the vehicle occupants can check behind the vehicle without feeling stressed.

[0023] <Image processing by image processing unit 113> When processing the image captured by the image capture unit 120, the image processing unit 113 may, for example, overwrite an area related to an area in the image captured by the image capture unit 120 in which a following vehicle appears (following vehicle-related area) with another image. The image to be overwritten may, for example, be an image of a character. In this way, it is possible to soften the impression that the following vehicle-related area gives to the vehicle occupants, and it is possible to alleviate the stress that the vehicle occupants experience due to aggressive driving by the following vehicle.

[0024] When processing the image captured by the image capturing unit 120, the image processing unit 113 may, for example, make the following vehicle-related area semi-transparent to make it difficult to see the following vehicle. This makes it difficult for the vehicle occupants to see the following vehicle, and it is possible to alleviate the stress that the vehicle occupants experience due to aggressive driving by the following vehicle.

[0025] The following vehicle-related area may be, for example, the entire area in which the following vehicle is captured, or a portion of the area in which the following vehicle is captured. When the following vehicle-related area is a portion of the area in which the following vehicle is captured, that portion of the area in which the following vehicle is captured may be an area in which the occupants of the following vehicle (e.g., the driver of the following vehicle) are captured, or an area in which the front window of the following vehicle is captured. This makes it difficult for the occupants of the vehicle to see the expressions and movements of the occupants of the following vehicle, thereby reducing the stress that the occupants of the vehicle experience due to aggressive driving by the following vehicle. In this case, the image processing unit 113 may use, for example, image processing technology (e.g., existing image recognition processing technology) to detect the area in which the following vehicle is captured, the area in which the occupants of the following vehicle are captured, and the area in which the front window of the following vehicle is captured in the image captured by the image capturing unit 120 (i.e., the image behind the vehicle).

[0026] If the following vehicle is engaging in aggressive driving, the aggressive driving detection unit 112 may calculate the degree of aggressive driving of the following vehicle based on the inter-vehicle distance and / or relative speed between the following vehicle and the following vehicle. Then, the image processing unit 113 may change the manner of image processing according to the calculated degree of aggressive driving of the following vehicle.

[0027] For example, when overwriting the following vehicle-related area with another image (e.g., a character image), the image processing unit 113 may change the type of other image to be overwritten depending on the degree of aggressive driving of the following vehicle. For example, the higher the degree of aggressive driving, the better it is to use a character image with a gentler impression for the overwritten character image. For example, if the degree of aggressive driving is medium, the overwritten character image may be a tiger character image, and if the degree of aggressive driving is high, the overwritten character image may be a cat character image.

[0028] For example, when making the following vehicle-related area semi-transparent, the image processing unit 113 may change the transparency of the following vehicle-related area depending on the degree of aggressive driving by the following vehicle. For example, the image processing unit 113 may increase the transparency of the following vehicle-related area as the degree of aggressive driving increases. In other words, the image processing unit 113 may make the following vehicle-related area more transparent as the degree of aggressive driving increases, making the following vehicle-related area more difficult to see.

[0029] <User settings> The rear image display device 100 may further include an input unit 150 and a storage unit 160. The input unit 150 is an input device for receiving information input such as a touch panel, keyboard, button, or microphone. The storage unit 160 is a storage device for storing information such as a hard disk drive, solid state drive, or memory. The control unit 110 may also include a setting processing unit 114.

[0030] The setting processing unit 114 acquires setting information input by a user (for example, a vehicle occupant) using the input unit 150, and stores the input setting information in the storage unit 160.

[0031] The setting information may include, for example, a setting regarding whether or not to perform image processing when tailgating is performed by a following vehicle. If the setting information stored in the storage unit 160 is set to perform image processing when tailgating is performed by a following vehicle, the tailgating detection unit 112 may detect tailgating (detect a following vehicle), and if the setting information stored in the storage unit 160 is set to not perform image processing when tailgating is performed by a following vehicle, the tailgating detection unit 112 may not detect tailgating.

[0032] The setting information may also include settings regarding the type of image processing to be performed (for example, the type of image processing (overwriting the following vehicle-related area with another image, making the following vehicle-related area semi-transparent), the type of other image to be overwritten, and the transparency when making the following vehicle-related area semi-transparent). The image processing unit 113 may then perform image processing based on the setting information. For example, if the setting information stored in the storage unit 160 specifies that the following vehicle-related area is to be overwritten with another image, the image processing unit 113 may overwrite the following vehicle-related area with the other image, and if the setting information stored in the storage unit 160 specifies that the following vehicle-related area is to be semi-transparent, the image processing unit 113 may make the following vehicle-related area semi-transparent. In this way, it is possible to perform image processing according to the user's preferences.

[0033] <Processing Operation in Control Unit 110> Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the processing operation in the control unit 110. The processing operation shown in Fig. 3 is executed, for example, every time the imaging unit 120 captures an image.

[0034] The following vehicle detection processing unit 112 detects a following vehicle in an image captured by the image capturing unit 120 (step S301).

[0035] If a following vehicle is not detected (step S301, NO), the display processing unit 111 displays the image captured by the image capturing unit 120 on the display unit 130 (step S302). If a following vehicle is detected (step S301, YES), the aggressive driving detection unit 112 detects whether the following vehicle is aggressively driving (step S303).

[0036] If the following vehicle is not tailgating (step S303, NO), the display processing unit 111 displays the image captured by the image capturing unit 120 on the display unit 130 (step S302). If the following vehicle is tailgating (step S303, YES), the image processing unit 113 processes the image captured by the image capturing unit 120 (step S304), and the display processing unit 111 displays the processed image on the display unit 130 (step S305).

[0037] The present invention has been described above in terms of preferred embodiments thereof. While the present invention has been described herein with reference to specific examples, various modifications and variations can be made to these examples without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0038] 100 Rear image display device 110 control section 111 Display processing unit 112 Tailgating detection unit 113 Image processing unit 114 Setting processing section 120 Photography Department 130 Display section 140 Measuring section 150 Input section 160 Storage section

Claims

1. a tailgating detection unit that detects whether a following vehicle detected in an image behind the vehicle is tailgating; an image processing unit that processes an image behind the vehicle if the following vehicle is tailgating; a display processing unit that displays the image processed by the image processing unit on a display device.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the image processing unit overwrites a following vehicle-related area, which is an area related to an area in the image behind the vehicle where the following vehicle is shown, with another image.

3. The tailgating detection unit calculates the degree of tailgating by the following vehicle, The information processing device according to claim 2 , wherein the image processing unit changes the type of the other image to be overwritten depending on the degree of the aggressive driving.

4. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the image processing unit makes a following vehicle-related area, which is an area related to an area in the image behind the vehicle where the following vehicle is shown, semi-transparent.

5. The information processing device according to claim 2 , wherein the following vehicle-related area is an entire area in which the following vehicle is captured.

6. The information processing device according to claim 2 , wherein the following vehicle-related area is a part of an area in which the following vehicle is captured.

7. The information processing device according to claim 6 , wherein a part of the area in which the following vehicle is shown is an area in which an occupant of the following vehicle is shown or an area in which a front window of the following vehicle is shown.

8. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the display device is a display for an occupant of the vehicle to check behind the vehicle.

9. An information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4; A rear image display device comprising the display device.

10. 1. A computer-implemented information processing method, comprising: a tailgating detection step of detecting whether a following vehicle detected in an image behind the vehicle is tailgating; an image processing step of processing an image behind the vehicle if the following vehicle is tailgating; a display processing step of displaying the image processed by the image processing step on a display device.

Images