vehicle
The vehicle uses a rear wiper-mounted light-emitting components and image processing to facilitate vehicle-to-vehicle communication, addressing the disturbance and noise issues of high-speed wiper operation, enabling efficient information transfer.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- JP · JP
- Patent Type
- Patents
- Current Assignee / Owner
- TOYOTA JIDOSHA KK
- Filing Date
- 2023-06-20
- Publication Date
- 2026-05-26
AI Technical Summary
The operation of wipers at high speeds to utilize the afterimage effect for displaying patterns is bothersome and noisy, disrupting vehicle occupants.
A vehicle equipped with a rear wiper-mounted light-emitting components, a front camera, and a control unit that processes images to identify patterns displayed by the light-emitting components of other vehicles, allowing vehicle-to-vehicle communication without high-speed wiper operation.
Enables effective vehicle-to-vehicle communication through light-emitting components on the wiper without the need for high-speed wiper operation, reducing occupant disturbance and minimizing glare.
Smart Images
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Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle.
Background Art
[0002] The vehicle described in Patent Document 1 includes light-emitting elements arranged in a row on a wiper. In this vehicle, by blinking the light-emitting elements in conjunction with the movement of the wiper, characters, figures, etc. are displayed using the afterimage effect of the human eye.
Prior Art Documents
Patent Documents
[0003]
Patent Document 1
Summary of the Invention
Problems to be Solved by the Invention
[0004] In order to utilize the afterimage effect, it is necessary to operate the wiper at a speed significantly higher than the speed required to wipe off water droplets or the like. Therefore, the movement and operation sound of the wiper when displaying are bothersome to the vehicle occupants.
Means for Solving the Problems
[0005] The vehicle that solves the above problems includes a light-emitting component installed on the wiper, a camera that captures the surroundings of the host vehicle, a control unit that displays a pattern by blinking the light-emitting component in conjunction with the operation of the wiper, and a processing unit that acquires a pattern displayed by the blinking of the light-emitting component of another vehicle from an image captured by the camera.
Effects of the Invention
[0006] The above vehicle has the effect of enabling vehicle-to-vehicle communication using the light-emitting components on the wiper without operating the wiper at a high speed.
Brief Description of the Drawings
[0007] [Figure 1] This diagram schematically shows the configuration of one embodiment of a vehicle. [Figure 2] This figure shows an example of a pattern display on the vehicle. [Figure 3] This flowchart shows the processing flow performed by the processing unit in a modified vehicle. [Modes for carrying out the invention]
[0008] Below, one embodiment of the vehicle will be described in detail with reference to Figures 1 to 3. <Regarding the vehicle configuration> First, the configuration of the vehicle 10 in this embodiment will be described with reference to Figure 1. The vehicle 10 is equipped with a rear wiper 12 for wiping away raindrops and dirt adhering to the rear window 11. The vehicle 10 is also equipped with a front camera 13 and an HMI (Human-Machine Interface) 14. The front camera 13 is a camera that captures images of the area in front of the vehicle. The HMI 14 is a device for exchanging information between the vehicle 10's system and the occupant. An example of the HMI 14 is a touch panel.
[0009] The vehicle 10 is equipped with a drive unit 15 that drives the rear wiper 12. The drive unit 15 comprises a motor and a link mechanism that converts the rotation of the motor into a reciprocating motion of the rear wiper 12. The rear wiper 12 is driven by the drive unit 15 to reciprocate between a stop position and a return position. In Figure 1, the state of the rear wiper 12 when it is in the stop position is shown by a solid line. Also in Figure 1, the state of the rear wiper 12 when it is in the return position is shown by a dashed line.
[0010] Multiple light-emitting components 16 are installed on the rear wiper 12. The multiple light-emitting components 16 are arranged in a single row on the rear wiper 12. An example of a light-emitting component 16 is a light-emitting diode.
[0011] Furthermore, the vehicle 10 is equipped with a control unit 17 and a processing unit 18. The control unit 17 is an electronic circuit that controls the driving of the rear wiper 12 by the drive unit 15 and controls the flashing of the light-emitting component 16. The processing unit 18 is an electronic circuit that processes the images captured by the front camera 13.
[0012] <About vehicle-to-vehicle communication> Vehicle 10 is configured to communicate with other vehicles 10 using a light-emitting component 16 provided on the rear wiper 12 and a front camera 13. This vehicle-to-vehicle communication is performed through the control unit 17 controlling the blinking of the light-emitting component 16 and the processing unit 18 processing the image of the front camera 13. In the following description, the vehicle 10 itself will be referred to as "the vehicle," a vehicle 10 traveling in front of the vehicle will be referred to as "the preceding vehicle," and a vehicle 10 traveling behind the vehicle will be referred to as "the following vehicle."
[0013] First, the control unit 17's control of the flashing of the light-emitting components 16 will be explained with reference to Figure 2. Figure 2 shows the flashing patterns of each light-emitting component 16 when displaying the four characters "STOP" as a pattern. In Figure 2, a light-emitting component 16 that is lit is represented by a black circle, and a light-emitting component 16 that is off is represented by a white circle. The control unit 17 displays the pattern shown in Figure 2 by switching the flashing of each light-emitting component 16 in conjunction with the operation of the rear wiper 12. Specifically, the control unit 17 switches the flashing of each light-emitting component 16 depending on the operating position of the rear wiper 12. At each operating position, the combination of light-emitting components 16 that are lit and light-emitting components 16 that are off is predetermined by the pattern to be displayed.
[0014] Next, the image processing performed by the processing unit 18 will be described. Based on the video captured by the front camera 13, the processing unit 18 acquires the pattern displayed by the flashing of the light-emitting component 16 of the rear wiper 12 of the preceding vehicle. Specifically, the processing unit 18 periodically acquires images from the front camera 13 that capture the rear window 11 of the preceding vehicle, and generates a composite image by combining the acquired series of images. The acquisition period and acquisition period of the images from the front camera 13 at this time are set to be appropriate so that an image showing the pattern displayed by the flashing of the light-emitting component 16 of the preceding vehicle can be generated as a composite image. Then, the processing unit 18 displays the generated composite image on the HMI 14.
[0015] <Effects and Effects of the Embodiment> The operation and effects of this embodiment will now be explained. In this embodiment, the vehicle 10 displays a pattern by flashing multiple light-emitting components 16 installed on the rear wiper 12 in conjunction with the operation of the rear wiper 12. At this time, if the rear wiper 12 is operated at high speed, the occupants of the following vehicle can directly recognize the displayed pattern due to the afterimage effect. However, if the operation is high enough to produce an afterimage effect, the occupants may find the movement and sound of the rear wiper 12 bothersome. In contrast, in this embodiment, the vehicle 10 has a processing unit 18 that processes images captured by the front camera 13 to identify the pattern displayed by the flashing of the light-emitting components 16 of the rear wiper 12 of the preceding vehicle. Therefore, it is not necessary to operate the rear wiper 12 at a speed high enough to produce an afterimage effect in order to display the pattern.
[0016] The vehicle 10 of this embodiment provides the following effects. (1) The vehicle 10 includes a control unit 17 that causes a plurality of light-emitting components 16 installed in the rear wiper 12 to blink in conjunction with the operation of the rear wiper 12. The vehicle 10 also includes a processing unit 18 that acquires a pattern displayed by the blinking of the light-emitting components 16 of the preceding vehicle based on the image captured by the front camera 13. Therefore, even if the rear wiper 12 does not operate at high speed, it is possible to transmit information to the following vehicle through the pattern display by the blinking of the light-emitting components 16. As a result, it becomes difficult for the passengers to feel bothered by the operating sound and movement of the rear wiper 12 for pattern display.
[0017] (2) The processing unit 18 notifies the passengers of the information indicated by the pattern acquired based on the image of the front camera 13. Therefore, it is possible to transmit information to the passengers of the following vehicle. (3) When visually confirming the blinking of the light-emitting component 16, it is necessary to increase the luminous intensity of the light-emitting component 16 in a bright environment such as daytime. However, if the luminous intensity of the light-emitting component 16 is increased, there is a risk that the passengers of other vehicles who see it will feel dazzled. In the vehicle 10 of the present embodiment, the blinking of the light-emitting component 16 is confirmed by the front camera 13. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the luminous intensity of the light-emitting component 16 to such an extent that people do not feel dazzled when looking at it.
[0018] (Other embodiments) This embodiment can be implemented with the following modifications. This embodiment and the following modification examples can be implemented in combination with each other within a technically non-conflicting range.
[0019] <Information transmission to multiple vehicles> The vehicle 10 of the above embodiment was configured to transmit information to the following vehicle by the blinking of the light-emitting component 16. The above vehicle 10 can be configured as follows to implement information transmission among three or more vehicles.
[0020] FIG. 3 shows the flow of the process executed by the processing unit 18 in the vehicle 10 in such a case. The processing unit 18 repeatedly executes the process of FIG. 3 at every predetermined control cycle while the vehicle 10 is running. When starting the process of FIG. 3, the processing unit 18 first captures, in step S100, the image captured by the front camera 13. In the next step S110, the processing unit 18 checks, based on the acquired image, whether or not the blinking of the light-emitting component 16 of the rear wiper 12 of the preceding vehicle is reflected. Then, when the blinking of the light-emitting component 16 is confirmed (S100: YES), the processing unit 18 proceeds to step S120. Also, when the blinking of the light-emitting component 16 is not confirmed (S110: NO), the processing unit 18 ends the processing in this control cycle.
[0021] When proceeding to step S120, in step S120, the processing unit 18 identifies, based on a series of images captured by the front camera 13, the pattern displayed by the blinking of the light-emitting component 16 of the preceding vehicle. Then, in the next step S130, the processing unit 18 notifies the occupant of the information indicated by the identified pattern. Further, in the subsequent step S140, the processing unit 18 instructs the control unit 17 to display the same pattern as the identified pattern.
[0022] In such a case, the vehicle 10 displays the same pattern as the pattern displayed by the preceding vehicle by blinking the light-emitting component 16 of its own rear wiper 12. Thereby, the information transmitted from the preceding vehicle to the host vehicle is further transmitted to the subsequent vehicles. If the processing unit 18 of the subsequent vehicle also performs the same processing, the same information is transmitted to the vehicle 10 traveling behind the subsequent vehicle. As a result, since the information is sequentially transmitted to the subsequent vehicles, it is possible to transmit the information to a large number of vehicles 10.
[0023] <Regarding notification to the occupant> · The processing unit 18 may present the pattern displayed by the blinking of the light-emitting component 16 of the preceding vehicle to the occupant by causing the HMI 14 to play back the series of images captured by the front camera 13 at high speed. In the image displayed on the HMI 14 in this case, the rear wiper 12 operates at a higher speed than in reality. Therefore, even if the rear wiper 12 is not actually operated at high speed, it is possible to make the occupant recognize the pattern displayed by the blinking of the light-emitting component 16 by means of an afterimage effect.
[0024] The processing unit 18 may read the information indicated by the pattern acquired based on the image from the front camera 13, and convert the read information into text, audio, etc., and notify the occupant.
[0025] • A pattern indicating information used for controlling the vehicle 10, such as automatic driving, may be displayed by the flashing of the light-emitting component 16. In this case, if it is not necessary to notify the occupants of the information indicated by the displayed pattern, notification to the occupants may be omitted.
[0026] <About the display patterns> The flashing pattern of the light-emitting component 16, which is linked to the operation of the rear wiper 12, may be switched sequentially, and multiple patterns may be combined to transmit information. For example, the characters displayed as a pattern may be switched with each back-and-forth movement of the rear wiper 12, and these characters may be combined to transmit a message to the following vehicle.
[0027] The control unit 17 may also configure the flashing of the light-emitting component 16 in conjunction with the operation of the rear wiper 12 to display patterns other than characters or images. For example, the control unit 17 may configure the flashing of the light-emitting component 16 to display a two-dimensional code indicating information to be notified to a following vehicle as the pattern. In this case, the processing unit 18 acquires the two-dimensional code displayed by the flashing of the light-emitting component 16 of the preceding vehicle based on the image from the front camera 13. Then, the processing unit 18 decodes the acquired two-dimensional code, enabling information transmission between vehicles.
[0028] <About the light-emitting components> The number and arrangement of the light-emitting components 16 installed on the rear wiper 12 may differ from those shown in Figure 1.
[0029] In the above vehicle 10, the flashing of the light-emitting component 16 is confirmed by the front camera 13. Therefore, it is possible to use components that emit light of wavelengths outside the visible light spectrum, such as infrared or ultraviolet light-emitting components, as the light-emitting component 16. In such cases, it is possible to avoid the occupants of following vehicles finding the flashing of the light-emitting component 16 bothersome.
[0030] <Other> The light-emitting component 16 may be installed on the front wiper of the vehicle 10. In this case, the processing unit 18 uses a rear camera that photographs the area behind the vehicle to capture the flashing of the light-emitting component 16 installed on the front wiper of a following vehicle, and acquires the pattern displayed by that flashing.
[0031] If the camera is one that photographs the area around the vehicle, for example, a camera that photographs the entire circumference of vehicle 10 may be used to photograph the flashing of the light-emitting components 16 of the surrounding vehicles 10. The control unit 17 and the processing unit 18 may each be configured as a circuit including one or more dedicated hardware circuits, such as one or more processors that operate according to a computer program, or dedicated hardware that performs at least some of the various processes, or a combination thereof. Examples of dedicated hardware include application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The processor includes a CPU and memory such as RAM and ROM, and the memory stores program code or instructions configured to cause the CPU to execute processes. The memory, i.e., storage medium, includes any available medium that can be accessed by a general-purpose or dedicated computer. The vehicle 10 may also be configured so that the processing of both the control unit 17 and the processing unit 18 is performed by a single circuit. [Explanation of symbols]
[0032] 10 vehicles 11 Rear window 12 Rear wiper 13 Front Camera 14 HMI 15 Drive unit 16 Light-emitting components 17 Control Unit 18 Processing Unit
Claims
1. The light-emitting component installed on the wiper, A camera that takes pictures of the area around the vehicle, A control unit that displays a pattern by flashing the light-emitting component in conjunction with the operation of the wiper, A processing unit that acquires a pattern displayed by the flashing of the light-emitting component of another vehicle based on the image captured by the aforementioned camera, Equipped with, The control unit is a vehicle that displays a two-dimensional code as the pattern.
2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the light-emitting component is installed on the rear wiper, and the camera is a front camera that photographs the area in front of the vehicle.
3. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the light-emitting component is an infrared light-emitting component or an ultraviolet light-emitting component.
4. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the control unit displays the same pattern as the pattern acquired by the processing unit using the light-emitting component of the vehicle.