Camera system mounted on a moving object, image processing device, and image processing method

Abstract

To provide a camera system in which a wide-angle lens camera having projection characteristics at which a peripheral angle of view is high in resolution is installed on an upper part of a movable body, and distortion of a lens peripheral part that is a monitoring area and a low-resolution image are improved.SOLUTION: A camera system has: image acquisition means that acquires an image created by imaging means that is installed to pick up an image of an upper area of a movable body, and picks up an optical image having a high-distortion first area corresponding to an angle of view less than a predetermined angle of view and a second area having lower distortion than the first area corresponding to an angle of view equal to or more than the predetermined angle of view; cut-out angle of view setting means that sets an angle of view to be displayed on a monitor in the image picked up by the imaging means; distortion correction processing means that performs distortion correction processing based on information on the angle of view set by the cut-out angle of view setting means, on a cut-out image obtained by cutting out the angle of view set by the cut-out angle of view setting means; and the monitor that displays the cut-out image on which the distortion correction processing is performed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a camera system mounted on a moving body, and more particularly to a camera system that cuts out an all-around image captured by a wide-angle lens camera and displays it on a monitor. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, systems that perform 360-degree all-around monitoring using a wide-angle lens camera installed on the top of a moving object have become popular. For example, there is a system in which a fisheye lens camera is installed on the top of a car or a small robot with the optical axis facing upward, and the captured image is cropped at an arbitrary angle of view and displayed on a monitor. Since one fisheye lens camera can capture an image with an elevation angle of approximately 90 degrees and an azimuth angle of approximately 360 degrees, users can monitor the entire surroundings without installing multiple cameras or requiring a pan-tilt drive unit. Patent Document 1 describes a method that takes advantage of the wide imaging range of a fisheye lens, crops out an angle of view of interest from an image captured by one fisheye lens camera, corrects image distortion, and displays it on a monitor. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication 2008-48443 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, the fisheye lens camera described in the technology of Patent Document 1 has a lower resolution because the imaging distortion in the peripheral part of the lens, which is the monitoring area, is larger than that in the center of the lens. One way to improve the distortion is to perform a distortion correction process on the captured image, but this process significantly stretches the low-resolution image, which reduces the visibility of the image. Another way to improve the low resolution is to perform super-resolution processing. However, super-resolution processing requires alignment and comparison of feature points at a high frame rate, and there are also cases where multiple angles of view are cut out and displayed on the monitor at once, so there are issues with increased processing time and computing resources.

[0005] The present invention has been devised in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and provides images with little distortion from images acquired from a wide-angle lens camera installed on the top of a moving body and having projection characteristics that result in high resolution at the peripheral angle of view. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The camera system according to the present invention has the following configuration: That is, the camera system has an image capturing means installed to capture an image of an upper area of ​​a moving object, the image capturing means capturing an optical image having a first area with high distortion corresponding to an angle of view less than a predetermined angle of view and a second area with less distortion than the first area corresponding to an angle of view equal to or greater than the predetermined angle of view, an image capturing means for capturing an image generated by the image capturing means, a cropping angle of view setting means for setting an angle of view to be displayed on a monitor from among the images captured by the image capturing means, a distortion correction processing means for performing distortion correction processing based on information about the angle of view set by the cropping angle of view setting means on a cropped image cropped from the angle of view set by the cropping angle of view setting means, and a monitor for displaying the distortion-corrected cropped image. The imaging means is installed so as to be able to image an upper area of ​​the moving object in the first area, and image front, rear, left and right areas of the moving object in the second area. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an image with little distortion captured around a moving object. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing an example of an installation mode of a moving body and a wide-angle camera and a display monitor arranged above the moving body according to the present embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a camera system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating an example of optical characteristics of an optical unit in the present embodiment. [Figure 4] 1 is a diagram showing an example of a projection characteristic with the half angle of view θ on the horizontal axis and the resolution dy(θ) / dθ on the vertical axis. [Diagram 5] 1 is a diagram showing a panoramic image captured by a wide-angle camera and an area cut out and displayed on a display monitor, indicated by dotted lines. [Figure 6] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a camera image display process executed by a CPU in the processing unit in the present embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the camera system of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, the same members or elements are given the same reference numbers, and their repeated explanations are omitted or simplified. In addition, the camera system of the present invention can be embodied in various forms, and is not limited to only the embodiments described in the specification.

[0010] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the installation of a moving body according to an embodiment, a wide-angle camera arranged on the moving body, and a display monitor. The moving body 10 may be, for example, a vehicle such as a commercial vehicle shown in FIG. 1, or a small mobility vehicle that performs autonomous driving. The wide-angle camera 110 is a camera that can capture a wide range of the upper area of ​​the moving body, for example, at an elevation angle of about 100 degrees and an azimuth angle of about 360 degrees, and is installed at a position where it can capture the entire surroundings, such as the upper part of the moving body 10. The imaging range of the wide-angle camera 110 is composed of a high-resolution area 501 that captures images at a resolution higher than the average resolution, and a low-resolution area 502 that captures images at a resolution lower than the average resolution. The wide-angle camera 110 has projection characteristics such that the higher the angle from the optical axis, the more the high-resolution area 501 occupies. The display monitor 120 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display, and is a device that cuts out a part of the entire surrounding image captured by the wide-angle camera 110 and presents it to the user 50 as video information.

[0011] 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a camera system in this embodiment. The camera system is made up of a wide-angle camera 110, a processing unit 200, and a display monitor 120. The function of the processing unit 200 can be executed by an image processing device.

[0012] The wide-angle camera 110 is composed of an optical unit 111 and an imaging unit 112. The optical unit 111 has at least one lens and serves to form an image of light incident from the outside on the light receiving surface of the imaging unit 112. It includes an imaging element that captures an optical image formed by an optical system. Details of the optical characteristics of the optical unit 111 will be described later with reference to FIG. 3. The imaging unit 112 is an image sensor having a two-dimensionally arranged pixel structure, and converts the optical subject image formed by the optical unit 111 into an electrical signal for each pixel and transmits it to the development / image processing unit 211. Examples of the image sensor include a CMOS image sensor and a CCD image sensor, and RGB color filters are arranged for each pixel on the light receiving surface according to a method such as a Bayer array. In addition, in order to capture an image of the entire circumference 360 ​​degrees with the wide-angle camera 110, it is desirable to match the center of the light receiving surface of the imaging unit 112 with the position where the optical axis intersects, but if the monitoring area is limited to 180 degrees forward, for example, a sensor shift may be performed.

[0013] The processing unit 200 is composed of an image processing unit 210 and a video control unit 220. The processing unit 200 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that performs calculations and control, and a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory) that are main storage devices (all not shown). The ROM stores basic setting data and a series of panoramic imaging display programs according to this embodiment, and the CPU calls up a program corresponding to the processing content from the ROM, loads it into the RAM, and executes the operation of each block.

[0014] The image processing unit 210 is composed of a development / image processing unit 211, a distortion correction processing unit 212, a rotation processing control unit 213, and an image cropping unit 214. The development / image processing unit 211 performs white balance adjustment and de-Bayer processing on the image data input from the wide-angle camera 110 according to the Bayer array, and converts it into image data in an RGB raster format. It also performs various image processing such as demosaic, WDR (Wide Dynamic Range) correction, gamma correction, and LUT (Look Up Table). The development / image processing unit 211 has a function as an image acquisition unit that acquires an image generated by an imaging unit that captures an optical image formed by an optical system. The distortion correction processing unit 212 performs coordinate conversion and pixel interpolation processing on the image data, and corrects imaging distortion in the peripheral area that is unique to wide-angle lenses. When the angle of view to be cropped and displayed is inclined with respect to the pixel arrangement, the rotation processing control unit 213 performs coordinate conversion and pixel interpolation processing on the image data, and performs rotation processing so that the displayed image is oriented horizontally and vertically with respect to the pixel arrangement. The above-mentioned development / image processing, distortion correction processing, and rotation processing can be processed by hardware using an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or by software using a CPU. When processing is performed by hardware, various processes can be performed at high speed, and images can be displayed with low delay. The image cropping unit 214 performs image cropping processing on the image data sent from the imaging unit 112 based on the field of view information set by a cropping field of view setting unit 221, which will be described later. At this time, if a cropping field of view determination unit 222, which will be described later, determines that distortion correction processing or rotation processing is necessary, the image cropping unit 214 performs various processes before performing image cropping processing.

[0015] The image control unit 220 is composed of a cropping angle of view setting unit 221, a cropping angle of view determination unit 222, and an image display unit 223. The cropping angle of view setting unit 221 sets the coordinates of the angle of view for cropping and displaying the panoramic image captured by the wide-angle camera 110. In this embodiment, the method of setting the angle of view information is a method in which the user 50 arbitrarily sets the coordinate information of the angle of view using the UI (User Interface) of the display monitor 120. Examples of UI operations include a method of acquiring the coordinate values ​​of the four corners of the angle of view in conjunction with a drag / wheel operation using a mouse, a touch operation such as a slide / pinch on a touch panel, or a mouse operation, or a direct input of each coordinate value. An instruction to enlarge or reduce the cropping angle of view is given by a pinch operation. An instruction to move the cropping angle of view in parallel is given by a slide operation, and the cropping angle of view is determined on the device side. In another embodiment, when the angle of view of the monitoring area is fixed, the coordinate information of the angle of view to be cropped is stored in advance in a ROM and is read out from the ROM and set. The cropping angle of view determination unit 222 refers to the coordinate value of the angle of view set by the cropping angle of view setting unit 221, and determines whether or not to perform distortion correction processing and rotation processing according to the display angle of view. The determination means for each type of processing will be described later with reference to Fig. 4. The video display unit 223 performs video display control processing on the display monitor 120 for the image data cropped and sent by the image cropping unit 214.

[0016] Next, the optical system of the optical unit 111 of the wide-angle camera 110 will be described in detail with reference to Figs. 3 and 4. Fig. 3(A) is a diagram showing the image height y at each half angle of view on the light receiving surface of the optical unit 111 in this embodiment in the form of contour lines. Fig. 3(B) shows the projection characteristic with the half angle of view (angle between the optical axis and the incident light) θ on the horizontal axis and the image height (image height) y on the light receiving surface (on the image surface) of the optical unit 111 on the vertical axis. As shown in the projection characteristic of Fig. 3(B), the optical system of the optical unit 111 in this embodiment is configured so that its projection characteristic y(θ) differs between a region (near the optical axis) where the half angle of view θ is small and a region (away from the optical axis) where the half angle of view θ is large. That is, when the increase in the image height y (the number of pixels per unit angle) per unit half angle of view θ is defined as the resolution, the resolution has a characteristic that differs depending on the angle of view. It can be said that the local resolution is higher as the interval between contour lines of the image height y at the half angle of view θ in Fig. 3(A) becomes wider and as the differential value dy(θ) / dθ (slope) of the projection characteristic y(θ) in Fig. 3(B) becomes larger. In this embodiment, a region where the resolution is higher than the average resolution is called a high-resolution region 501, and a region where the resolution is lower than the average resolution is called a low-resolution region 502.

[0017] The optical system of the optical unit 111 in this embodiment has a projection characteristic y(θ) that satisfies the condition of the following formula 1 or formula 2. That is, when the focal length of the optical system is f, the half angle of view is θ, the image height on the image plane is y, the projection characteristic expressing the relationship between the image height y and the half angle of view θ is y(θ), and θmax is the maximum half angle of view of the optical system, the following conditional formula 1 is satisfied. 0.1<2×f×tan(θmax / 2) / y(θmax)<1.2 (Formula 1)

[0018] It is more preferable that the following conditional expression 2 be satisfied. 0.2<2×f×tan(θmax / 2) / y(θmax)<0.92 (Formula 2)

[0019] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing projection characteristics with the half angle of view θ on the horizontal axis and the resolution dy(θ) / dθ on the vertical axis. In FIG. 4, the solid line is an example of the projection characteristics in this embodiment, and the dotted line is the projection characteristics of the equidistant projection characteristics used in conventional fisheye lenses and the like. As shown by the solid line in FIG. 4, the optical system of the optical unit 111 in this embodiment has a high resolution region 501 in which the resolution is higher than the average resolution when the half angle of view θ is equal to or greater than a predetermined half angle of view θa, and a low resolution region 502 in which the resolution is lower when the half angle of view θ is less than the predetermined half angle of view θa. The region corresponding to less than the predetermined angle of view is a high distortion region. In the high resolution region 501 in the lens periphery of such an optical system, the projection characteristics (aspect ratio) in the radial direction and the circumferential direction with respect to the optical axis can be controlled, and an image with less distortion can be obtained even in the peripheral region compared to a conventional fisheye lens. The region corresponding to a predetermined angle of view or more is a low distortion region. Therefore, according to the camera system of the present invention, it is possible to directly cut out the lens periphery, which is the monitoring region, according to the display angle of view, and the visibility of the image can be improved. In addition, by eliminating the need for distortion correction processing and rotation processing for improving visibility, it is possible to reduce processing time and calculation resources.

[0020] Next, a determination means for determining whether or not to perform distortion correction processing and rotation processing on a cut-out image when displaying an image on the display monitor 120 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a panoramic image captured by the wide-angle camera 110. The area cut out and displayed on the display monitor 120 is indicated by a dotted line. The wide-angle camera 110 in this embodiment has a projection characteristic in which a high-resolution area 501 is occupied in the lens periphery where the half angle of view θ is large as shown in FIG. 5, and is characterized in that an image cut out within the high-resolution area 501 has little distortion. For example, when cutting out an image in the cut-out area (a) 503a in FIG. 5, the cut-out area (a) 503a is contained within the high-resolution area 501 and is cut out in the horizontal and vertical directions with respect to the pixel arrangement of the image sensor. Therefore, the image can be cut out and displayed without performing distortion correction processing and rotation processing. On the other hand, when an image is cut out in the cut-out region (b) 503b, the cut-out region (b) 503b is within the high-resolution region 501, but is tilted with respect to the pixel arrangement of the image sensor, so a rotation process needs to be performed. As a means for determining whether or not the rotation process can be performed, a method is given in which the coordinate values ​​of the four corners of the field angle to be cut out are referenced and whether or not the coordinate values ​​of the radial direction or the circumferential direction with respect to the optical axis match with each other. Also, when an image is cut out in the cut-out region (c) 503c, the cut-out region (c) 503c protrudes from the high-resolution region 501. Therefore, if the image is displayed on the display monitor 120 as it is, the image may be significantly distorted and the visibility may be reduced, so a distortion correction process is required. As a means for determining whether or not the distortion correction process is performed, a method is given in which the coordinate values ​​of the four corners of the field angle to be cut out are referenced and whether or not the number of pixels in the radial direction and the circumferential direction with respect to the optical axis exceeds a predetermined value. These determination processes are executed on an interrupt basis each time the user 50 changes the view angle coordinate value through a UI operation or the like.

[0021] The CPU in the processing unit 200 executes a panoramic imaging display program stored in the ROM to perform processing of each block of the image processing unit 210 and the video control unit 220. A series of steps in the panoramic imaging display processing will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

[0022] 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the panoramic imaging display process executed by the CPU in the processing unit 200 in this embodiment. In step S601, when the power source (e.g., a battery) of the moving object 10 is started, the wide-angle camera 110 starts capturing panoramic images.

[0023] In step S 602 , the development / image processing unit 211 performs development processing and various image processing on the image captured by the wide-angle camera 110 .

[0024] In step S603, the cropping angle of view setting unit 221 sets the angle of view information to be cropped out of the captured image and displayed on the display monitor 120. The method for setting the angle of view information will be described as requesting the user 50 for coordinate information of the angle of view using a UI. Of course, the coordinate information of the angle of view to be cropped can also be stored in advance in a ROM.

[0025] In step S604, the cropping angle of view determination unit 222 refers to the coordinate values ​​of the four corners of the cropping angle of view, and determines whether or not the number of pixels in the radial and circumferential directions with respect to the optical axis exceeds a predetermined value, based on the coordinate information of the angle of view set by the cropping angle of view setting unit 221. If it is determined that the number of pixels in the radial and circumferential directions with respect to the optical axis exceeds the predetermined value (branching Yes in step S604), the process proceeds to step S607. On the other hand, if it is determined that the number of pixels in the radial and circumferential directions with respect to the optical axis of the cropping angle of view does not exceed the predetermined value (branching No in step S604), the process proceeds to step S605.

[0026] In step S605, the cropping angle of view determination unit 222 determines whether or not the cropping angle of view is inclined with respect to the pixel arrangement of the image sensor, based on the coordinate information of the angle of view set by the cropping angle of view setting unit 221. If it is determined that the cropping angle of view is inclined (branching to Yes in step S605), the process proceeds to step S608. On the other hand, if it is determined that the cropping angle of view is horizontal or vertical with respect to the pixel arrangement of the image sensor (branching to No in step S605), the process proceeds to step S606.

[0027] In step S606, the image cropping unit 214 crops the omnidirectional captured image to the angle of view set by the cropping angle of view setting unit 221, and controls the image display unit 223 to display the image on the display monitor 120. If the cropping angle of view determination unit 222 determines that distortion correction processing and rotation processing are unnecessary, the captured image is cropped and displayed as is.

[0028] In step S607, the distortion correction processing unit 212 performs distortion correction processing on the captured image at the angle of view set by the cropping angle of view setting unit 221. After that, the process proceeds to step S608.

[0029] In step S608, the rotation processing control unit 213 performs rotation processing at the angle of view set by the cropping angle of view setting unit 221. Thereafter, in step S606, the captured image that has been subjected to various processes is displayed.

[0030] In step S609, image processing unit 210 determines whether or not imaging by wide-angle camera 110 has ended. If it is determined that imaging has ended (branching to Yes in step S609), the process proceeds to step S610. On the other hand, if it is determined that imaging is continuing (branching to No in step S609), the process is executed again from step S603.

[0031] In step S610, image display unit 223 ends image display on display monitor 120. After step S610, execution of a series of omnidirectional imaging display processes ends, and when the next imaging operation of wide-angle camera 110 starts, processing is executed again from step S600.

[0032] By using the above-mentioned processing, the camera system can display the captured image of the lens periphery, which is the monitoring area, with low distortion and high resolution according to the display angle of view. This improves the visibility of the image and reduces the processing time and computing resources.

[0033] The present invention has been described above in detail based on its preferred embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to these specific embodiments and can be modified in various forms without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0034] In this embodiment, the projection characteristics of optical unit 111 in wide-angle camera 110 are exemplified by the characteristics shown in Equation 1, Equation 2, and Fig. 4, but the projection characteristics of optical unit 111 may be changed depending on the installation height of wide-angle camera 110 and the range to be monitored. For example, when wide-angle camera 110 is installed low, one method is to use optical unit 111 having projection characteristics with a small slope of the half angle of view θ-resolution curve so that high resolution region 501 becomes wider, that is, so that θa shown in Fig. 4 shifts toward a lower angle of view.

[0035] The present invention can also be realized by executing the following process. That is, software (programs) that realize the functions of the above-described embodiments are supplied to a system or device via a network or various storage media, and the computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or device reads and executes the programs. The programs may also be provided by recording them on a computer-readable recording medium. [Explanation of symbols]

[0036] 10 Mobile 50 users 110 Wide-angle camera 111 Optics Department 112 Imaging unit 120 Display Monitor 200 Processing section 210 Video Processing Unit 211 Development / Image Processing Section 212 Distortion correction processing unit 213 Rotation processing control unit 214 Video Extraction Section 220 Video control section 221 Cut-out angle setting section 222 Cut-out angle of view determination unit 223 Video display unit 501 high resolution area 502 Low resolution area 503a Cut-out area (a) 503b Cutout area (b) 503c Cutout area (c)

Claims

1. an image capture means for capturing an image of an upper region of a moving object, the image capture means capturing an optical image having a first region with high distortion corresponding to an angle of view less than a predetermined angle of view and a second region with lower distortion than the first region corresponding to an angle of view equal to or greater than the predetermined angle of view; a cropping angle setting means for setting an angle of view of an image captured by the imaging means to be displayed on a monitor; a distortion correction processing means for performing a distortion correction process based on information about the angle of view set by the cropping angle of view setting means on a cropped image cropped from the image having the angle of view set by the cropping angle of view setting means; a monitor for displaying the extracted image after the distortion correction; The imaging means is installed in the first area so as to be able to image an area above the moving object, and in the second area so as to be able to image the front, rear, left and right areas of the moving object.

2. 2. The camera system according to claim 1, wherein the distortion correction processing means performs distortion correction processing when the cut-out angle of view set by the cut-out angle of view setting means includes the first area, and does not perform distortion correction processing when at least one area of ​​the front, rear, left, or right of the moving object is cut out without including the first area.

3. 3. The camera system according to claim 1, further comprising a rotation processing control means for performing a rotation processing when the cut-out angle of view set by the cut-out angle of view setting means is inclined with respect to a pixel arrangement of the imaging means, and not performing the rotation processing when the cut-out angle of view is not inclined with respect to a pixel arrangement of the imaging means.

4. The imaging means includes an optical system for forming the optical image; 3. The camera system according to claim 1, further comprising: an image sensor configured to capture the optical image formed by the optical system.

5. 3. The camera system according to claim 1, wherein the low distortion area and the high distortion area correspond to a high resolution area and a low resolution area of ​​the optical image, respectively.

6. In the optical system, when a focal length is f, a half angle of view is θ, an image height on an image plane is y, a projection characteristic expressing the relationship between the image height y and the half angle of view θ is y(θ), and θmax is a maximum half angle of view of the optical system, 0.1<2×f×tan(θmax / 2) / y(θmax)<1.2 5. The camera system according to claim 4, which satisfies the following condition:

7. 3. The camera system according to claim 1, wherein the cutout angle of view setting unit determines coordinate information of the cutout angle of view by a UI operation such as a touch operation or a mouse operation.

8. an image acquiring step of acquiring an image generated by an imaging means installed to capture an image of an area above a moving object, the imaging means capturing an optical image having a first area with high distortion corresponding to an angle of view less than a predetermined angle of view and a second area with lower distortion than the first area corresponding to an angle of view equal to or greater than the predetermined angle of view; a cropping angle of view setting step of setting an angle of view of the image captured by the imaging means to be displayed on a monitor; a distortion correction process step of performing a distortion correction process based on information of the angle of view set in the cropping angle of view setting process on a cropped image cropped from the image having the angle of view set in the cropping angle of view setting process; a display control step of displaying the extracted image after the distortion correction on a monitor, A method for controlling a camera system, wherein the imaging means is installed so as to be able to image an area above the moving object in the first area, and an area in front, behind, left and right of the moving object in the second area.

9. A program for causing a computer to execute each step of the camera system control method according to claim 8.

10. an image capture means for capturing an image of an upper region of a moving object, the image capture means capturing an optical image having a first region with high distortion corresponding to an angle of view less than a predetermined angle of view and a second region with lower distortion than the first region corresponding to an angle of view equal to or greater than the predetermined angle of view; a cropping angle setting means for setting an angle of view of an image captured by the imaging means to be displayed on a monitor; a distortion correction processing means for performing a distortion correction process based on information about the angle of view set by the cropping angle of view setting means on a cropped image cropped from the image having the angle of view set by the cropping angle of view setting means; a display control means for displaying the extracted image after the distortion correction on a monitor; The image processing device according to claim 1, wherein the imaging means is installed so as to be able to image an upper area of ​​the moving object in the first area, and an upper area of ​​the moving object, and a left and right area of ​​the moving object in the second area.

11. an image acquiring step of acquiring an image generated by an imaging means installed to capture an image of an area above a moving object, the imaging means capturing an optical image having a first area with high distortion corresponding to an angle of view less than a predetermined angle of view and a second area with lower distortion than the first area corresponding to an angle of view equal to or greater than the predetermined angle of view; a cropping angle of view setting step of setting an angle of view of the image captured by the imaging means to be displayed on a monitor; a distortion correction process step of performing a distortion correction process based on information of the angle of view set in the cropping angle of view setting process on a cropped image cropped from the image having the angle of view set in the cropping angle of view setting process; a display control step of displaying the extracted image after the distortion correction on a monitor, The image processing method according to the present invention, characterized in that the imaging means is installed so as to be able to image an area above the moving object in the first area, and areas in front, behind, left and right of the moving object in the second area.

12. A program for causing a computer to execute each step of the image processing method according to claim 11.

Images