Vehicle Periphery Image Display Control with Dynamic Obstacle Alerting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional devices for displaying periphery images around a vehicle tend to show unnecessary alert images for obstacles that the vehicle can easily traverse, leading to driver annoyance, as they are designed for golf carts with short ground clearance and are not adaptable to vehicles with different height profiles.
Innovation Solution
A periphery image display control device that predicts the vehicle's travel path and determines obstacle heights relative to the vehicle's ground clearance, using a ratio of obstacle height to distance along the path to differentiate between alert-worthy and non-alert-worthy obstacles, and displays alerts accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the conventional device determines obstacles based on fixed height thresholds suitable for golf carts, then obstacles are detected with high sensitivity, but unnecessary alert images are displayed for vehicles with different ground clearance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the detection parameters from fixed height thresholds to dynamic thresholds based on the ratio of obstacle height to distance from the vehicle. This allows the same detection algorithm to adapt to different vehicle types and ground clearances without requiring vehicle-specific calibration, resolving the contradiction between detection precision and vehicle type adaptability
2Reliability
If the conventional device displays alert images for all detected obstacles, then safety is improved by notifying drivers of potential hazards, but driver annoyance increases due to false alerts for traversable obstacles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the alert display condition specific to the obstacle's characteristics relative to the vehicle. Instead of uniformly alerting for all obstacles, the system selectively alerts only when the obstacle height-to-distance ratio exceeds the threshold, meaning the obstacle is truly hazardous for this specific vehicle configuration. This resolves the contradiction between safety reliability and driver annoyance
3Device complexity
If the conventional device uses simple height threshold comparison, then the detection process is simple and fast, but detection accuracy decreases for vehicles with varying ground clearance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the detection parameter from absolute height threshold to a relative ratio (obstacle height divided by distance from vehicle). This single parameter change maintains computational simplicity while dramatically improving measurement precision across different vehicle types, as the ratio naturally scales with vehicle ground clearance without requiring complex algorithms
Data Source
AI summary
A periphery image display control device displays an image of a periphery area photographed by a camera sensor 21, and predicts a travel path area which a vehicle-body of the own vehicle will pass through along a predicted travel path. The device detects locations of obstacle points and heights of the obstacle points. The heights of the obstacle points become higher as the obstacle points are farther from the own vehicle. When a gradient (GR=(YO−YB)/(XO−KB)) being a ratio of “a subtraction value obtained by subtracting a height of a first obstacle point which is nearer from the own vehicle from a height of a second obstacle point which is farther from the own vehicle” to “a distance between the two obstacle points along the predicted travel path” is greater than a threshold gradient GRth, the device displays an alert screen for the second obstacle point.