JP2001122163A - Drive recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a drive recorder capable of certainly photographing a scene inside and outside a vehicle without exerting a bad influence upon rear visibility by a room mirror. SOLUTION: In this drive recorder, by installing a fish-eye lens 12 to a lower end part of the room mirror 6 with the optical axis oriented nearly downward and photographing the scene inside and outside the vehicle through the fish-eye lens 12, interference of the room mirror 6 with a photographing area of the fish-eye lens 12 is prevented. The room mirror 6 is configured such that its attitude is adjustable, while adjusting work of the room mirror 6 for obtaining the proper rear visibility B1, B2, simultaneously adjusts an attitude of the fish- eye lens 12 such that a head of a driver 10 is always photographed at the limit position of a rear view angle of the lens 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a drive recorder having an ultra-wide-angle lens, and more particularly to an improvement in a drive recorder for photographing scenes inside and outside a vehicle without vignetting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A drive recorder used for verifying a change in conditions inside and outside a vehicle during a vehicle collision experiment and for verifying a collision accident occurring during driving on a public road is already known.

[0003] In this type of drive recorder, it is necessary to photograph the inside and outside of a vehicle over a wide area, so that a super wide angle lens such as a fisheye lens is generally used as a photographing lens. It is.

[0004] In addition, the position of the super wide angle lens is as follows.
Heretofore, there have been proposed a method of directly mounting on a dashboard and a method of directly mounting on a lower surface of a roof of a vehicle.

[0005]

However, if the super wide-angle lens is directly mounted on the dashboard, there is a disadvantage that the photographing area in front of the vehicle is easily vignetted at the leading end of the hood of the vehicle, and the driver, seat, etc. Is in the way,
There is a problem that the photographing of the rear area does not remain.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
In the case where the vehicle 100 is directly mounted, the mounting position is relatively higher than that in the case of the dashboard.
The photographing immediately before and behind can be performed relatively easily.

However, in practice, the rearview mirror 103 is mounted at a position near the windshield of the roof 101, so that the vignetting 10
As shown in FIG. 7B, for example, a problem occurs in which a considerable portion of the front photographing area is vignetted by 3 ′.

As described above, the vignetting of the front photographing area over a large area is because the distance between the super wide-angle lens 102 and the room mirror 103 is short and the angle of view of the super wide-angle lens 102 is very small. It is due to being wide. Therefore, as long as the rear-view mirror 103 is mounted on the lower surface of the roof 101, even if the mounting position of the super-wide-angle lens 102 or the rear-view mirror 103 is slightly changed, the vignetting 103 'only moves on the image. The vignetting 103 'itself cannot be eliminated.

Of course, if the area of the rear-view mirror 103 is reduced, the size of the vignetting 103 'is somewhat improved, but the downsizing of the rear-view mirror 103 causes an adverse effect such that the rear view during driving becomes insufficient.

It is conceivable to completely remove the rearview mirror 103 itself. However, such as in the case of a vehicle collision test, such a measure is not practical in the case of an automobile that actually runs on the road.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a drive recorder capable of solving the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art and reliably photographing the inside and outside of the vehicle without adversely affecting the rear view by the rearview mirror. Is to do.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an ultra wide angle lens for photographing scenes inside and outside a vehicle, and an image processing unit for converting an image photographed by the ultra wide angle lens into digital data and outputting the digital data. And a recorder body that stores a digital data image output from the image processing unit in a time-series manner, and a rearview rearview mirror is provided on the lower surface side of the vehicle roof, This room mirror is provided with the above-mentioned super-wide-angle lens integrally provided.

According to this configuration, since the super wide-angle lens of the drive recorder is integrally attached to the rearview mirror, the rearview mirror does not block the photographing area of the superwide-angle lens. Scenes can be photographed reliably.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a rearview mirror is provided so as to be adjustable in posture, and the optical axis of the ultra-wide-angle lens is directed substantially downward when the rearview mirror is in a neutral posture. And a structure in which the ultra-wide-angle lens is integrally provided at the lower end of the room mirror.

According to this configuration, for example, when a fish-eye lens having an angle of view of 180 ° is used as the super wide-angle lens,
In a state where the rearview mirror is held in the neutral position, a scene including a driver's expression positioned below the rearview mirror and equipment in the vehicle is generally 360 ° around the height of the mounting position of the super-wide-angle lens. Can be reliably photographed. At this time, since the ultra-wide-angle lens is mounted at the lower end of the room mirror with the optical axis directed substantially downward, the room mirror itself is located outside the shooting area of the ultra-wide-angle lens, No vignetting occurs. In addition, since the super-wide-angle lens is integrally attached to the rear-view mirror, when the posture of the rear-view mirror is adjusted, the posture of the super-wide-angle lens changes integrally with the rear-view mirror. For example, when a tall driver wants to obtain a reliable rear view, the posture of the rearview mirror is adjusted by pulling the lower end of the rearview mirror toward the front from the neutral posture described above. Then
The optical axis of the ultra-wide-angle lens is also tilted forward, and the photographing area in front of the ultra-wide-angle lens decreases downward, and the photographing area behind it increases upward. As a result, the height of the body located behind the rearview mirror increases. The high driver's head will be shot near the limit of the angle of view behind the ultra-wide-angle lens. Conversely, if a short driver wants to ensure a secure rear view, adjust the position of the rearview mirror by swinging the lower end of the rearview mirror forward from the neutral position described above. I do. Then, the optical axis of the super-wide-angle lens also tilts forward, and the photographing area in front of the super-wide-angle lens increases upward, and the photographing area behind it decreases downward. As a result,
The head of a short driver located behind the rearview mirror is photographed near the limit of the angle of view behind the ultra-wide-angle lens. This means that the driver's head is always photographed at a specific position on the image, that is, near the limit position of the rear angle of view, regardless of the height and posture of the driver at that time, It is very convenient when performing complicated image processing. For example, the present applicant has specially described an "image processing method and an image processing apparatus" that can set an image compression ratio by designating an area having an arbitrary shape and size with respect to an image constituted by digital data. As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 11-221176, in order to clearly record the driver's facial expression using such a method and apparatus, the driver's head must always be in a designated area on the image. To be taken,
It is necessary to set a lower data compression ratio for that portion to prevent image degradation. If the above-described configuration is applied, the head of the driver is always photographed in the specified area, so that the expression of the driver can be clearly recorded with high resolution.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the rearview mirror is constituted by a housing and a mirror body, and the housing is fixed to the roof so that the attitude thereof cannot be adjusted. Attached to the housing so as to be swingable, between the mirror body and the ultra-wide-angle lens, when swinging so as to pull the lower end of the mirror body toward the front, the ultra-wide-angle lens moves upward, In addition, a lens position adjusting means is provided in which the ultra-wide-angle lens is moved downward when the lower end portion of the mirror main body is swung so as to swing forward.

According to this structure, when the lower end of the mirror body is swung so as to be pulled toward the user, the ultra wide angle lens moves upward, and the lower end of the mirror body is swung forward. When moved, the ultra wide angle lens moves downward. As described above, a tall driver adjusts the attitude of the mirror body by pulling the lower end of the mirror body toward you, and a low height driver swings the lower end of the mirror body forward. As a result, the position of the ultra-wide-angle lens moves upward when a tall driver sits, and the ultra-wide-angle lens moves when a short height driver sits. The position will move downward. As a result, the relative positional relationship between the driver's head and the super-wide-angle lens is always substantially constant regardless of the driver's height or posture at that time, and the driver's head is always at a specific position on the image. Will be taken.

Further, an ultra-wide-angle lens is provided at substantially the center of the lower end of the rearview mirror when it is desired to photograph the inside and outside of the vehicle evenly in the left and right directions. It is assumed that the lens is provided at a position near the driver's seat at the lower end of the rearview mirror.

In cases where the driver's front view is significantly prioritized, it is desirable to dispose the ultra-wide-angle lens at the lower end of the rearview mirror near the navigator's seat.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Some embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram schematically showing the configuration of a drive recorder 2 according to an embodiment. FIG. 4A shows a state in which the drive recorder 2 according to the embodiment is mounted on a test vehicle 1 used in a vehicle collision experiment. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing only the outline of the roof 3, the windshield 4 and the hood 5 of the test vehicle 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, the drive recorder 2 includes a room mirror 6 having a fisheye lens 12 which is a kind of super wide-angle lens and an image processing section 11, and a CPU, ROM and RAM in an impact-resistant casing. And a recorder main body 7 including a large-capacity data storage medium and the like,
And a gyro / inertial sensor 8 and the like.

The recorder body 7 has a communication protocol CAN (Controller Area Network) for automobiles and industrial machines.
ork) is connected to the in-vehicle LAN system 9
Driver 10 and test vehicle 1 via AN system 9
The control center detects various information related to the vehicle, such as an impact value acting on the driver 10, a vehicle speed, an accelerator opening, a steering angle, a turn signal / light, and the like.

Image processing unit 1 housed in room mirror 6
1 has a function of converting an image photographed by the fisheye lens 12 provided at the lower end of the room mirror 6 into digital data and outputting the digital data, performing photographing by the fisheye lens 12 at predetermined intervals, and converting the image. Cable 13 for data transmission
And overwrites one after another in the RAM of the recorder main body 7, more specifically, the area allocated as the frame memory for image capture. Further, in synchronization with the writing process, the CPU provided in the recorder main body 7 sequentially takes in the image data written in the frame memory into the large-capacity primary buffer.

The primary buffer has a storage capacity for continuously storing images captured for at least 15 seconds, and when the storage capacity is full due to the captured images, the primary buffers are sequentially stored. By erasing the oldest image stored in the primary buffer in order and storing the new image, the image captured in the last 15 seconds is always stored.

Changes in driving conditions (collision, sudden braking, etc.) while the image capturing process is being performed in this way.
, A shock detection signal from the gyro / inertial sensor 8 or the like is input, the image processing unit 11 and the CPU fetch the image for a predetermined time, for example, 5 seconds, and perform the primary buffering. After the writing to the memory is continuously performed, these processes are stopped, and the data in the primary buffer is held as it is.

Therefore, the primary buffer has 10 seconds before detecting the trigger signal (10 seconds before the occurrence of an abnormality).
Thus, an image for 5 seconds after the detection of the trigger signal (5 seconds after the occurrence of the abnormality) is recorded.

Although the image stored in the primary buffer can be stored in the data storage medium as it is, storing a large number of images causes a problem that the data capacity is significantly increased. In particular, when many sets of images in the primary buffer are stored in the data storage medium by repeatedly performing vehicle collision experiments, the storage capacity becomes enormous. Many images obtained are compressed and then stored in a data storage medium.

Further, the recorder main body 7 has a function of setting several regions of an arbitrary shape and size with respect to a frame (image surface) and setting an arbitrary image compression ratio for each region. For shooting areas where resolution is required, low-rate compression giving priority to image quality, and for low-importance shooting areas, high-rate compression giving priority to reducing storage capacity, etc. Compression conditions can be properly used for each area.

Therefore, it is possible to maintain a high resolution only for important photographing areas while maintaining a high image compression ratio as a whole.

The interface 14 connected to the recorder main unit 7 is used to connect an external device for reading, decompressing and reproducing the compressed image stored in the data storage medium, for example, a notebook personal computer. Things.

FIG. 2A is a perspective view showing an example of the structure of the rearview mirror 6 constituting a part of the drive recorder 2, and FIG. 2B is a side sectional view showing the rearview mirror 6 divided at the center. It is.

The room mirror 6 includes a housing 15 for housing the image processing section 11 and a mirror body 16 fixed to the housing 15. A stay 17 having a universal joint or the like at the distal end is integrally fixed to the upper surface of the housing 15, and the rear-view mirror 6 is attached to the mounting member 18 on the roof 3 side via the stay 17 and the above-described universal joint and the like. It is mounted so that the posture can be adjusted. The structure of the universal joint and the like for adjusting the posture is already well known, and the description is omitted here.

Cable stays 19 and 20 are provided inside the stay 17 and the mounting member 18, and a cable 13 from the image processing unit 11 built in the housing 15 is provided.
Is guided to the outside via the stay 17 and the mounting member 18. The cable 13 is further routed along the roof 3 as shown in FIG. 4A, and is finally connected to the recorder body 7 in the test vehicle 1.

A fisheye lens 12 integrated with an image processing unit 11 is fixed to the lower end of the room mirror 6, that is, the bottom surface of the housing 15, so as to protrude downward. Is supported by an auxiliary stay 21 erected at the bottom.

The direction of the fisheye lens 12 is adjusted so that the rearview mirror 6 is in a neutral posture, that is, the angle of the rearview mirror 6 is convenient for the driver 10 having a general height to look backward. In this state, the adjustment is performed so that the optical axis is directed substantially downward, more strictly, such that the optical axis is slightly swung backward from below vertically. The tongue piece 22 provided on the front side of the lower surface of the housing 15 is a knob used as a clue when adjusting the posture of the room mirror 6.

2 (a) and 2 (b), the fisheye lens 12 is disposed at a substantially central portion of the lower end of the rearview mirror 6 on the assumption that the image inside and outside the vehicle is uniformly photographed and image processing is performed. However, when it is desired to photograph the periphery of the driver 10 in detail, it is desirable to dispose the fisheye lens 12 at a position near the driver's seat. As an example, FIG. 3B shows a structure in the case of photographing the vicinity of the driver 10 in detail with a left-hand drive vehicle, and FIG. 3 shows a structure in which the periphery of the driver 10 is photographed in detail with a right-hand drive vehicle. (A).

In the case where the top priority is to ensure the front view by the driver 10, the fisheye lens 12 should be arranged at the lower end of the rearview mirror 6 near the navigator's seat. It is. Therefore, when securing the front view is the highest priority, the mounting position of the fisheye lens 12 is determined by the left-hand drive vehicle as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
(B). In addition, since it is possible to adjust the attitude of the room mirror 6 by directly gripping the housing 15, when securing the front view is a top priority, the tongue piece 22 that obstructs the view is deleted. You may.

In a left-hand drive vehicle, the rearview mirror 6
FIG. 6A shows an example of an image photographed with the fisheye lens 12 attached to the right end of the vehicle, and FIG. 6A shows an example of an image photographed with the fisheye lens 12 attached to the left end of the rearview mirror 6 in a vehicle with a left-hand drive. This is shown in FIG.

In any case, the rear-view mirror 6 itself is mounted at the center of the roof 3 in the left-right direction.

Next, based on the basic structure of the rearview mirror 6 shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the relationship between the attitude of the rearview mirror 6 and the image photographed by the fisheye lens 12, and The relationship between the height of the driver 10 and the adjustment of the attitude of the rearview mirror 6 will be described in detail.

First, when the rear-view mirror 6 is in the neutral position, the fish-eye lens 12 having an angle of view of 180 ° is used, so that the interior of the vehicle, including the on-road equipment and the traffic lights on the road, is generally obtained.
It is possible to reliably capture a scene in a 360 ° surrounding area. Further, since the optical axis of the fisheye lens 12 substantially coincides with the normal direction of the bottom surface of the housing 15, vignetting does not occur in the photographing area of the fisheye lens 12 due to interference of the room mirror 6 itself in any case. .

However, if a tall driver 10 gets on the board with the rear-view mirror 6 adjusted to the neutral position, the viewpoint position of the driver 10 moves relatively upward with respect to the rear-view mirror 6. Specifically, the angle formed by the normal of the surface of the mirror body 16 and the line of sight of the driver 10 is an appropriate value, that is, smaller than the convenient angle when the driver 10 looks backward, and enters the field of view of the driver 10. It is not the rear road or vehicle that you actually want to see, but the tail of your vehicle or your own face.

In such a case, the driver 10 pulls the lower end of the room mirror 6 forward from the above neutral position, and the angle between the normal of the mirror body 16 and the line of sight of the driver 10 becomes an appropriate value. In this way, the attitude of the rearview mirror 6 is adjusted so that the rear road surface and the vehicle can be properly viewed.

Then, the optical axis of the fish-eye lens 12 is also tilted forward, and the photographing area in front of the fish-eye lens 12 decreases downward, and the photographing area behind the fish-eye lens 12 increases upward. 10 head fisheye lens 12
Is photographed near the limit position of the angle of view behind.

The mirror body 1 when the posture of the room mirror 6 is adjusted according to the tall driver 10
The relationship between the normal C1 of FIG. 6 and the rear view B1 of the driver 10 and the relationship of the angle of view A1 of the fisheye lens 12 corresponding to the attitude of the room mirror 6 at this time are shown in FIG.
FIG. 5A schematically illustrates an actual image captured by the fisheye lens 12 in the state of FIG.
(A).

On the other hand, the driver 1 with a short height while the rear-view mirror 6 is adjusted to the neutral position is reversed.
When 0 is boarded, the driver 1
Since the position of the viewpoint 0 moves relatively downward, the driver 10 looks up the rearview mirror 6 from below, and as a result, the angle formed by the normal of the surface of the mirror body 16 and the line of sight of the driver 10. Is an appropriate value, that is, driver 1
0 is larger than a convenient angle when looking backwards, and the driver's view is not the road surface or the vehicle that he actually wants to see, but the skyside scene or the ceiling of the vehicle. Will be visible.

In such a case, the driver 10 changes the position of the rearview mirror 6 by swinging the lower end of the rearview mirror 6 forward from the neutral position described above, and changes the normal of the surface of the mirror body 16 and the driver. By adjusting the angle between the line of sight 10 and the line of sight to an appropriate value, the posture of the rear-view mirror 6 is adjusted so that the rear road surface and the vehicle can properly enter the field of view.

Accordingly, the optical axis of the fisheye lens 12 is also tilted forward, and the photographing area in front of the fisheye lens 12 increases upward, and the photographing area behind the fisheye lens 12 decreases downward. 10 head fisheye lens 12
Is photographed near the limit position of the angle of view behind.

The mirror body 1 when the posture of the room mirror 6 is adjusted according to the driver 10 having a short height
4 shows, as an example, the relationship between the normal C2 of FIG. 6 and the rear view B2 of the driver 10, and the relationship between the angle of view A2 of the fisheye lens 12 corresponding to the attitude of the rear-view mirror 6 at this time.
4B, the actual image captured by the fisheye lens 12 in the state of FIG.
(B).

As is apparent from a comparison between FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, even when a tall driver 10 or a short tall driver 10 is on board. The position where the head of the driver 10 is actually photographed is near the limit position of the angle of view behind the fisheye lens 12, that is, the position D shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B. There is no significant change in position.

This is because the optical axis of the fisheye lens 12 is always substantially perpendicular to the normals C1 and C2 of the mirror body 16 due to the structure of the room mirror 6 itself as shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b). This is because the fisheye lens 12 having an angle of view of 180 ° is used at the same time.

That is, the normals C1 and C2 are always located at the center between the incident angles and the reflection angles of the rear views B1 and B2, and these normals C1 and C2 are almost the same as those shown in FIGS. As shown in FIG. 4 (b), it passes over the head of the driver 10. Since the optical axis of the fisheye lens 12 is held substantially orthogonal to the normals C1 and C2 of the mirror body 16, the straight line indicated by the normals C1 and C2 and the angle of 180 ° A1, A2 representing the angle of view of
Is substantially coincident with each other, and as a result, the head of the driver 10 is always photographed near the limit position of the angle of view behind the fisheye lens 12.

However, since the fish-eye lens 12 is mounted so as to be slightly receded from a state in which the optical axis of the fish-eye lens 12 is completely perpendicular to the normal of the mirror body 16, the normal C
1, C2 and the angles of view A1, A2 of the fisheye lens 12 are never completely parallel. This receding angle is indicated by a symbol α in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b).

In the example of the tall driver 10 shown in FIG. 4A, the normal C1 of the mirror body 16 is slightly below the tip of the head of the driver 10, but because of the receding angle α. As shown in FIG. 5A, the entire expression of the driver 10 can be included in the actual image captured by the fisheye lens 12.

In this way, the driver 10 itself adjusts the rearview mirror 6 to a state suitable for securing the rear view, including the height of the driver 10 and a change in the attitude of the driver 10 at that time. Since the posture is also automatically adjusted, the position on the image where the head of the driver 10 appears is always near the limit position of the angle of view behind the fisheye lens 12, that is, FIGS.
It will be automatically adjusted to the position of D in (b).

Therefore, even if it is desired to analyze in detail the change in the expression of the driver 10 before and after the occurrence of an abnormality such as a collision, the present embodiment simply provides a high-quality, low-compression The compression processing of the image data may be performed by setting the area of.

As shown in FIG. 7A, in the case of the conventional example in which the posture of the ultra wide-angle lens 102 is fixed at a specific position so that the posture cannot be changed, the height of the driver 10 and the difference in the posture at each time change the position on the image. It was not clear whether the position of the head of the driver 10 was photographed at the position. For this reason, individual differences such as differences in height and posture of the driver 10 are considered in advance,
It is necessary to set a large area for high image quality and low compression so that the head of the driver 10 may be photographed at any position, which hinders high compression of the entire image.
However, according to the drive recorder 2 of the present embodiment, a predetermined position, for example, as shown in FIG. 5 (a), is hardly influenced by factors such as individual differences such as height of the driver 10 and differences in posture at that time. 5) and the position of D in FIG. 5B, the head of the driver 10 can be reliably photographed, so that it is not necessary to set a high-quality area over a range more than necessary in consideration of a margin. The overall compression efficiency can be improved.

In this embodiment, the image processing section 11 is built in the housing 15 and the recorder main body 7 is arranged on the vehicle side. However, due to advances in various peripheral technologies, the recorder main body 7 will be sufficiently small in the future. In this case, the recorder main body 7 and the recorder main body 7 can be housed in the housing 15. Similarly, it may be possible in the future to accommodate a gyro / inertial sensor 8 for giving a signal for triggering the drive recorder 2 in the housing 15.

Next, the housing 15 is fixed to the roof 3 so that the attitude cannot be adjusted, and the mirror body 16 is attached to the housing 15 so as to be swingable.
A description will be given of an embodiment in which a lens position adjusting means is provided between the lens 6 and the fisheye lens 12 so that the attitude of the mirror body 16 and the position of the fisheye lens 12 are linked.

FIG. 2C is a perspective view showing an example of the structure of the room mirror 6 having the lens position adjusting means.
FIG. 2D is a side sectional view of the room mirror 6 shown in FIG.

The main part of the room mirror 6 includes a housing 15 for incorporating the image processing section 11, a mirror body 16 attached to the housing 15, and an image processing section 11 integrally provided with a fisheye lens 12. Body 1
6 and a lens position adjusting means 23 interposed between them.

The mirror body 16 is integrally fixed to the mirror mounting plate 24 so as to be embedded in a mirror mounting plate 24 made of a synthetic resin or the like, and protrudes from the center of the left and right ends of the mirror mounting plate 24. Dowel 25
Through the housing 15 as shown in FIG.
And is swingably mounted so as to be fitted in the opening of the first member. Although not shown in FIG. 2D, the mirror mounting plate 2 is provided on both left and right sides of the opening of the housing 15.
A blind hole for fitting the dowel 25 of No. 4 is formed.

The tongue piece 22 extends downward from the lower end of the mirror mounting plate 24 so that the mirror mounting plate 2
4, and protrudes toward the lower surface of the housing 15 through a notch 26 provided on the bottom surface of the housing 15.

Unlike the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, in this embodiment, it is difficult to adjust the posture by holding the mirror body 16 and the mirror mounting plate 24 directly in the hand. Therefore, when the posture of the mirror body 16 needs to be adjusted, the posture of the mirror body 16 is changed by operating the tongue piece 22 protruding from the housing 15.

A semi-circular spur gear 27 is integrally formed on the back surface of the mirror mounting plate 24 made of synthetic resin or the like, and a shaft 29 is attached to a flat support member 28 erected in the housing 15. And meshes with a spur gear 30 rotatably supported via the shaft.

The support member 28 is provided with an arc-shaped groove 31 slidably fitted with the columnar casing of the image processing section 11 so as to penetrate in the vertical direction, so as to sandwich the spur gear 30 and the columnar casing of the image processing section 11 from both sides. The image processing unit 11 covered with the columnar casing is slidably held in the vertical direction by the arc grooves 31 of the two support members 28 arranged opposite to each other.

Further, on one side of the column-shaped casing of the image processing section 11, a rack 32 having a module engraved with the spur gear 30 is integrally fixed. This rack 3
2 has substantially the same thickness as the spur gear 30 and is slidably sandwiched between the opposing surfaces of the two support members 28 described above, so that around the image processing unit 11 covered with the columnar casing. Also functions as stopping means.

In the above configuration, the lens position adjusting means 23 of the present embodiment is constituted by the aforementioned spur gear 27, spur gear 30, and rack 32.

As described above, the tall driver 10
In this case, the angle of the mirror body 16 is adjusted by pulling the lower end of the mirror mounting plate 24 toward the front, so that the mirror mounting plate 24 and the spur gear 27 are Rotate clockwise in 2 (d).

As a result, the spur gear 3 meshed with the spur gear 27
0 rotates counterclockwise to feed the rack 32 and the image processing unit 11 upward, and as a result, the fisheye lens 12 integrated with the image processing unit 11
You will move upwards to match your height.

On the contrary, when the driver 10 having a short height is boarded, the angle of the mirror body 16 is adjusted by swinging the lower end of the mirror mounting plate 24 forward. , Mirror mounting plate 24
And the spur gear 27 is shown in FIG.
Rotates counterclockwise at.

As a result, the spur gear 3 meshed with the spur gear 27
0 rotates clockwise to the rack 32 and the image processing unit 1.
1 is fed downward, and as a result, the image processing unit 1
The fisheye lens 12 integrated with 1 moves downward according to the short height of the driver 10.

In this way, the driver 10 adjusts the rearview mirror 6 to a state suitable for securing the rear view, including the height of the driver 10 and a change in the posture of the driver 10 at that time, whereby the fisheye lens 12 Since the vertical position is automatically adjusted, the driver 1
The relative positional relationship between the head of the driver 0 and the fisheye lens 12 is always kept substantially constant, and the position on the image where the head of the driver 10 appears is always a specific position,
For example, the position is automatically adjusted to the position D in FIGS. 5A and 5B.

The effect produced by this is the same as that of the embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b).

[0075]

According to the drive recorder of the present invention, the super wide-angle lens for use in photographing is integrally attached to the rearview mirror, so that the photographing area of the superwide-angle lens is not obstructed by the rearview mirror. With this super wide-angle lens, scenes inside and outside the vehicle can be reliably photographed.

In particular, the rearview mirror is provided so as to be adjustable in posture, and is mounted at the lower end of the rearview mirror such that the optical axis of the ultra-wide-angle lens faces substantially downward when the rearview mirror is in the neutral posture. In conjunction with the rearview mirror adjustment work performed by the driver himself to secure the rear view,
Regardless of the driver's height or posture at that time,
Since the photographing position of the driver's head on the image is automatically specified, the driver's expression can always be photographed at the same position on the image.

Further, a lens position adjusting means is provided between the mirror body and the super wide angle lens, and the super wide angle lens is moved up and down in conjunction with the adjustment operation of the room mirror for securing the rear view performed by the driver himself. , The relative positional relationship between the driver's head and the ultra-wide-angle lens is maintained in a substantially constant state. Can capture the driver's expression.

Therefore, when performing complicated image processing such as setting various regions on an image and storing image data at various compression ratios, for example, a high-resolution image corresponding to the range in which the driver's face is captured can be obtained. When setting an area, it is possible to clearly specify the shape and size of the area without setting an excessive merge, which is advantageous for improving the compression ratio of image data in the drive recorder.

Further, by selecting the position where the super-wide-angle lens is provided at the design stage, the mounting position of the super-wide-angle lens can be adjusted without affecting the structure of the vehicle.

For example, an ultra-wide-angle lens may be provided at approximately the center of the bottom surface of the rearview mirror to uniformly photograph the scene inside and outside the vehicle, and an ultra-wide-angle lens may be used to photograph the periphery of the driver in detail. Should be placed on the bottom of the rearview mirror near the driver's seat. In addition, by arranging an ultra-wide-angle lens near the navigator's seat on the bottom of the rearview mirror, it is possible to maximize the driver's front view.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram showing an overall configuration of a drive recorder.

FIG. 2A is a perspective view showing a rearview mirror according to an embodiment, FIG. 2B is a side sectional view showing the rearview mirror shown in FIG. 2A at a center, and FIG. FIG. 2C is a perspective view showing a rearview mirror according to another embodiment, and FIG.
FIG. 3C is a side sectional view showing the rearview mirror of FIG.

FIG. 3 (a) is an example of the structure of a rearview mirror in a case where a right-hand drive vehicle captures a detailed view of the driver's surroundings and in a case where a left-hand drive vehicle has a high priority on ensuring the driver's front view. FIG. 3B is a perspective view of the rearview mirror in the case where the left-hand drive vehicle is used to take a detailed view of the driver's surroundings and the case where the right-hand drive vehicle is used to ensure the driver's front view is a top priority. It is a perspective view which shows an example of a structure.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a state in which a drive recorder is mounted on a test vehicle used in a vehicle collision experiment;
FIG. 4 (a) shows a state where a tall driver rides, and FIG. 4 (b) shows a state where a short driver rides.

FIG. 5 is a simplified view of an image photographed by a fisheye lens when the driver appropriately adjusts the rearview mirror. FIG. 5A shows a photographing result when a tall driver is on board, and FIG. FIG. 5B shows a photographing result when a driver with a short height is boarded.

FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram showing an example of an image photographed by attaching a fisheye lens to a right end portion (a position close to a navigator's seat) of a rearview mirror in a vehicle with a left-hand drive, and FIG. () Is a schematic diagram showing an example of an image photographed by attaching a fisheye lens to a left end portion (position near a driver's seat) of a rearview mirror in a vehicle with a left-hand drive.

7A and 7B are explanatory diagrams showing a conventional example. FIG. 7A is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of a drive recorder in which an ultra-wide-angle lens is directly attached to a lower surface of a roof, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing a defect associated with the configuration of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Test vehicle 2 Drive recorder 3 Roof 4 Front glass 5 Bonnet 6 Room mirror 7 Recorder body 8 Gyro / inertial sensor 9 In-vehicle LAN system 10 Driver 11 Image processing unit 12 Fisheye lens (ultra-wide-angle lens) 13 Cable 14 Interface 15 Housing 16 Mirror body Reference Signs List 17 stay 18 mounting member 19, 20 cable through hole 21 auxiliary stay 22 tongue piece 23 lens position adjusting means 24 mirror mounting plate 25 dowel 26 notch 27 spur gear 28 support member 29 shaft 30 spur gear 31 arc groove 32 rack 100 vehicle 101 Roof 102 Super wide-angle lens 103 Room mirror 103 'Vignetting

Claims (6)

[Claims] An ultra-wide-angle lens for photographing scenes inside and outside a vehicle, an image processing unit for converting an image photographed by the ultra-wide-angle lens into digital data and outputting the digital data, and an output from the image processing unit And a recorder body for storing the digital data images in a time-series manner. A rearview mirror is provided on the lower surface side of the roof of the vehicle, and the ultra-wide-angle lens is integrated with the rearview mirror. A drive recorder characterized by a specially equipped. 2. The rearview mirror is disposed so as to be capable of adjusting its posture, and in a state where the rearview mirror is in a neutral posture, the optical axis of the ultra-wide-angle lens is directed substantially downward. 2. The drive recorder according to claim 1, wherein the super wide-angle lens is integrally provided. 3. The mirror according to claim 1, wherein the rearview mirror includes a housing and a mirror main body, the housing is fixed to the roof so that the posture of the rearview mirror cannot be adjusted, and the mirror main body is swingably mounted to the housing. When the lower end of the mirror main body is swung between the main body and the ultra-wide-angle lens so as to pull the mirror toward the front, the ultra-wide-angle lens moves upward and the lower end of the mirror main body is swung forward. 2. The drive recorder according to claim 1, further comprising a lens position adjusting unit configured to move the ultra-wide-angle lens downward when the lens is swung out. 4. The drive recorder according to claim 1, wherein the ultra-wide-angle lens is provided at a substantially central portion of a lower end portion of the room mirror. 5. The drive recorder according to claim 1, wherein the ultra-wide-angle lens is disposed at a position near a driver's seat at a lower end of the rearview mirror. . 6. The drive recorder according to claim 1, wherein the ultra-wide-angle lens is provided at a position near a navigator's seat at a lower end of the room mirror. .