JP2003207836A - Camera device and vehicle periphery monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a camera device which can simultaneously image a side field of view and a front field of view with a simple configuration by using a single image pickup device in a reversed inversion direction. SOLUTION: A camera device 3 includes an image pickup device 1 including an image pickup device 11b and an image pickup lens 11c arranged in front of the image pickup device 11b.
1 and the prism rear faces 15B and 16B are respectively directed to the imaging lens 11c, and the prism side faces 15L and 16R are respectively directed to different lateral fields of view.
The light 13L, 13R incident on the L, 16R is separated from the prism side surfaces 15R, 16L on the anti-view side and the prism side surface 15 on the view side.
L, 16R, the inner surface of the prism is reflected twice, and the prism rear surface 1
5B, 16B, and prisms 15L, 16R, which exit from the side view.
The light 13L, 13R incident through 6 and the light 13F incident from the front field of view without passing through the prisms 15, 16 are simultaneously imaged on the image sensor 11b via the image pickup lens 11c.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera device for simultaneously capturing a plurality of fields of view and a vehicle periphery monitoring device using this camera device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-2000 is known as a vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus for simultaneously imaging three fields of view with a single image sensor.
The one described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 89301 is known.

In the camera device of the conventional vehicle periphery monitoring device, incident light from the left and right visual fields is internally reflected once by a prism to change the optical path, and thereafter, an image is formed on an image pickup element through an image pickup lens to make a front view field. The incident light from is directly imaged on the image pickup element via the image pickup lens without passing through the prism, so that the single image pickup element simultaneously picks up the visual fields in the left, right, and front directions.

[0004]

However, in the above camera device, the incident light from the left and right visual fields forms an image on the image pickup element under the influence of the mirror image inversion due to the single reflection of the prism, whereas the incident light is forward. The incident light from the visual field forms an image on the image pickup element without being affected by the mirror image inversion because it does not pass through the prism. Therefore, the left and right visual fields and the front visual field are reversed in directions different from each other and are imaged by the image sensor.

Therefore, in the conventional vehicle surroundings monitoring device, a processing means for partially inverting the image picked up by the image pickup device is provided, and an image of the left and right visual fields with respect to the image picked up by the image pickup device is provided. Part of the image or the image in the front field of view is partially inverted, and the orientation of each image is aligned to form a normal image,
It is necessary to eliminate the mixture of mirror images for display, and the circuit configuration of the signal processing becomes complicated accordingly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a camera device which has a simple structure and is capable of simultaneously capturing the side view and the front view in the same direction by using a single image pickup device, and by using this camera device. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle periphery monitoring device that monitors the blind spots on the side and the front with a simple configuration.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 is an image pickup means comprising a single image pickup element and an image pickup lens arranged in front of the image pickup element. The prism rear surface is arranged on the front side of the image pickup means, each prism rear surface is directed to the image pickup lens, and one prism side surface is directed to a different side visual field, and the light incident on the visual field side prism side surface is directed to the opposite visual field side. One or more substantially triangular prism-shaped prisms that internally reflect twice between the prism side surface and the field-side prism side surface and emit from the prism rear surface; The light that is reflected twice and is incident on the inner surface and the light that is incident from the front field of view without passing through the prism are simultaneously formed on the image pickup element through the image pickup lens.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a pair of the prisms are symmetrically arranged in front of the image pickup means,
The left prism side surface of the left prism is directed to the left visual field, and the right prism side surface of the right prism is directed to the right visual field.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, metal is vapor-deposited on the side surface of the prism on the side opposite to the visual field of the prism.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the image pickup lens is a wide-angle lens.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the image pickup means is arranged such that its image pickup direction is directed forward and is inclined downward, and the light is incident from the front view from the lower half region of the vertical angle of view. Light is taken in, and the light incident from the side field of view through the prism is taken in from the upper half region of the vertical angle of view.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the prism is arranged in a vertical posture in front of the image pickup means, and a portion protruding to a lower half area of the vertical angle of view of the image pickup means is cut off. It is a thing.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the cut surface of the prism is light-shielded.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, when there are two or more prisms, each of the prisms is integrally formed.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, a prism holder is integrally formed with the prism.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the prism, at least one of a prism side surface on the visual field side, a prism side surface on the opposite visual field side and a rear surface of the prism is formed into a curved surface. is there.

The invention described in claim 11 is installed in a vehicle, and simultaneously captures a plurality of visual fields around the vehicle, and the camera device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, and the image captured by the camera device. The image processing apparatus includes a processing unit that processes an image and a display device that is installed in the vehicle compartment and that displays the image processed by the processing unit.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, the camera device is installed at a front portion or a rear portion of the vehicle, and simultaneously provides three visual fields, each of which is a horizontal visual field and a forward or backward visual field. The image is taken.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, the processing section superimposes a mask image on an unnecessary portion in an image picked up by the camera device and displays the mask image on the display device. According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, the processing section enlarges a necessary part in an image captured by the camera device and displays the enlarged part on the display device.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a vehicle periphery monitoring device according to this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a plan view of a camera device portion thereof, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the camera device portion. FIG. 4 is an enlarged plan view of the right prism of the camera device, FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a captured image of the camera device, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are pre-masking process and masking process, respectively. It is a figure of an example of a display image after.

Vehicle periphery monitoring device 1 according to this embodiment
As shown in FIG. 1, the camera device 3 and the camera device 3 are installed at a front end portion of the vehicle such as a lower part of an emblem on the front surface of the vehicle and simultaneously image the visual fields (blind spot regions) in the three directions near the front and left and right of the vehicle. It is configured to include a processing unit 5 that processes the image captured in 1. and a display device 7 that is installed in the vehicle compartment and that displays the image processed by the processing unit 5.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the camera device 3 is arranged in front of the camera device body (imaging means) 11 and the camera device body 11, and lights 13L, 1 from the left and right visual fields.
It is configured to include a pair of prisms 15 and 16 that internally reflect the 3R twice inside the prism to change the optical path to the camera device body 11 side.

The camera device main body 11 is arranged in a case 11a with a single image pickup element 11b and in front of the image pickup element 11b, and an image pickup lens 11c whose lens optical axis P1 is aligned with the image pickup direction of the image pickup element 11b. And are accommodated and arranged. A wide-angle lens is used as the imaging lens 11c. For example, a wide-angle lens having a horizontal field angle H of 70 ° or more (for example, 120 ° here) and a vertical field angle V of 90 ° is used.

In this camera device body 11, the upper half area Vu of the vertical angle of view V is used for taking in the lights 13L and 13R from the left and right visual fields whose optical paths are changed by the prisms 15 and 16, and the vertical angle of view thereof is used. The lower half region Vd of V is used for capturing the light 13F from the front visual field that is directly incident without going through the prisms 15 and 16. The camera device body 11 is arranged such that its imaging direction (that is, the lens optical axis P1) is directed toward the front of the vehicle and is inclined downward. As a result, light 1 from the front field of view sufficiently in front (dead area)
3F can be captured in the lower half region Vd, and the front view of the blind spot region can be captured. Here, for example, the imaging direction P1 has a depression angle δ.
= Tilted downward at about 25 ° and the upper half area V of the vertical angle of view V
u is set to about 40 °, and the lower half region Vd of the vertical angle of view V is set to about 50 °.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the pair of prisms 15 and 16 are formed of a glass material or the like into a substantially triangular prism shape having a mirror image relationship with each other. This pair of prisms 15 and 1
6 are arranged in front of the image pickup lens 11c in plane symmetry (that is, in left-right symmetry) with respect to the vertical bisector P2 of the image pickup lens 11c. And each prism 15 (16)
Maintained in a vertical position, its apex angle α and its prism rear surface 1
5B (16B) is the front side and the imaging lens 11c, respectively.
It is placed toward the side. Here, the light 13L incident on the left (right) side prism 15 (16) from the left (right) field of view.
Optical path conversion of (13R) is performed. That is, the left (right) side prism 15 (16) has the left (right) prism side surface 15
L (16R) serves as a light incident surface, the right (left) prism side surface 15R (16L) serves as a reflecting surface, and the prism rear surface 15B (16B) serves as a light emitting surface.

The reflecting surface 15 of each prism 15, 16
On the R and 16L, a metal 17 such as aluminum is vapor-deposited so that the inner surface becomes a mirror surface, and a protective film (not shown) made of black paint is further formed so as to cover the vapor-deposited surface.

Further, the pair of prisms 15 and 16 respectively have diagonal portions 15 facing the light incident surfaces 15L and 16R.
a and 16a are chamfered, and the chamfered surfaces are connected to each other with an adhesive or the like to be integrally formed. As a result, the angle adjustment between the prisms 15 and 16 at the time of assembly can be omitted and the efficiency of assembly can be improved. At this time, as shown in FIG. 8, a spacer 19 is sandwiched between the reflecting surfaces 15R and 16L of the prisms 15 and 16 and bonded to each other, thereby forming the prism 1.
The connection between 5, 16 may be reinforced.

Here, for example, each prism 15, 16
4, as shown in FIG. 4, the apex angle α = 28 °, the reflecting surface 15R,
16L, diagonal β = 60 °, light incident surface 15L, 1
It is formed in a substantially triangular prism shape with a diagonal γ = 92 ° facing 6R, and is formed in such a size that it fits within the usage area of the prism (the distance between the front end of the prism and the front surface of the imaging lens 11c) h = 13.6 mm.

As shown in FIG. 3, the respective prisms 15 and 16 have an upper half area Vu of the vertical angle of view V of the imaging lens 11c.
The portions 15b and 16b protruding in the lower half region Vd of the vertical angle of view V are cut off so as to fit in the area. This prevents the incident optical path of the light 13F from the front view from being blocked.

The cut surface 15 of each prism 15, 16
A light-shielding process 21 is applied to c and 16c. In particular,
The cut surfaces 15c and 16c are roughened by blasting or the like, and a black paint having a high refractive index is applied to the cut surfaces 15c and 16c. As a result, the internal reflection and the external reflection on the ablation surfaces (that is, the prism bottom surfaces) 15c and 16c are prevented, and the light 13L and 13R (1) from the left and right (front) outside the visual field is prevented.
3F) is internally reflected (externally reflected) on the prism bottom surfaces 15c and 16c, and is incident on the imaging lens 11c.
It is possible to prevent a ghost image generated by forming an image on 1b.

That is, in this configuration, the light 13L (13R) from the left (right) visual field is, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the prism 15 (16) on the visual field side, the prism side surface 15L on the visual field side. It is incident on (16R) and internally reflected by the prism side surface 15R (16L) on the side opposite to the visual field in the prism, and then totally reflected by the inner surface of the prism side surface 15L (16R) on the side of the visual field, resulting in a total of two lateral inversions. After that, the light is emitted from the rear surface 15B (16B) of the prism, passes through the image pickup lens 11c, and is vertically and horizontally inverted, and then as an inverted mirror image on the right (left) half area 11R (11L) of the lower half area 11d of the image pickup surface of the image pickup element 11b. Form an image. On the other hand, light from the front view 13F
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the image is directly transmitted through the imaging lens 11c without passing through the prisms 15 and 16 and is vertically and horizontally inverted to form an inverted mirror image on the upper half region 11u of the imaging surface of the image sensor 11b. To do. That is, in this camera device, the visual fields in the three directions of the left and right and the front are reversed in the same direction, and at the same time, images are formed and imaged on the image pickup device 11b. Here, FIG.
It is the figure which looked at the image pick-up side of image pick-up element 11b from the image pick-up lens 11c side.

Note that, in the above-described numerical value setting, the imaging range of the left and right visual fields is, with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the first half horizontal field angle Sh1 = 28 ° and the second half horizontal field angle Sh2 = 7.
5 °, vertical view angle Sv (= upper half area V of vertical view angle V
u) = 40 °, and the imaging range of the front field of view is shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 with its horizontal field angle Fh (= horizontal field angle H) = 120 ° and its vertical field angle Fv (= vertical). The upper half area Vd) of the angle of view V becomes 50 °, which covers a practically sufficient range.

The processing section 5 subjects the image picked up by the image pickup device 11b to inversion processing for the entire area at once to convert it into an erect normal image and outputs it to the display device 7. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, the left half region 7L of the upper half region 7u of the display screen of the display device 7, the right half region 7R of the upper half region 7u, and the lower half region 7u.
In d, the left visual field, the right visual field, and the front visual field are respectively displayed as an erect normal image.

At that time, as shown in FIG. 7, the processing section 5 superimposes the mask image 7a on an unnecessary portion of the image picked up by the image pickup element 11b and outputs it to the display device 7 for display. In FIG. 7, for example, for each image portion in the left and right visual fields, the peripheral portion of each image portion (the prism side surfaces 15L and 16R on the visual field side) is used.
The mask image 7a is superimposed on a portion where the image is distorted by being imaged on the image pickup surface without being totally reflected at the upper right and left upper corners so that the perspective can be easily grasped. The mask image 7a is superimposed on the corner portion in a chamfered shape. This improves the appearance of the displayed image and improves the visibility.

If necessary, an image memory and an image processing function are added to the processing unit 5 to enlarge a necessary portion (a normal portion without disturbance) in the image picked up by the image pickup device 11b. The processes may be combined and displayed. As a result, the appearance of the display image is further improved and the visibility is further improved.

According to the vehicle periphery monitoring device 1 configured as described above, the optical path is changed by reflecting the inner surface twice between the prism side surfaces 15R and 16L on the side opposite to the visual field and the prism side surfaces 15L and 16R on the side toward the visual field. By using the prisms 15 and 16 that perform the light 13L from the lateral visual field (here, the left and right visual fields),
Since the optical path of 13R is changed to the image pickup lens 11c side, the optical path of 13L and 13R from the side visual field can be changed without mirror image inversion. Therefore, the side visual field captured through the prisms 15 and 16 and the front visual field captured not through the prisms 15 and 16 can be simultaneously imaged by the single image sensor 11b with the directions of reversal aligned. Therefore, as in the conventional case, the image sensor 1
It is not necessary to partially reverse the image picked up by 1b to align the reverse directions of the image parts of the front field of view and the side field of view, and the circuit configuration of the signal processing can be simplified.

Further, the prisms 15 and 16 are used as the image pickup lens 1.
A pair of left and right symmetrically arranged on the front side of 1c, the left prism side surface 15L of the left prism 15 is directed to the left visual field,
Since the right prism side surface 16R of the right prism 16 is directed to the right visual field, the lateral visual fields can be imaged at the same time with the left and right visual fields aligned at the same time.

Furthermore, since metal is vapor-deposited on the prism side surfaces 15R and 16L on the opposite field side of the prisms 15 and 16, the prism side surfaces 15R and 16L on the opposite field side can be made to be mirror surfaces and ensure total reflection. You can

Further, since a wide-angle lens is used as the image pickup lens 11c, even if a plurality of side visual fields are picked up at the same time, they can be picked up in a practically sufficient range.

In this embodiment, the case where the left and right lateral visual fields are imaged by using the two prisms 15 and 16 has been described, but one lateral visual field may be imaged by using one prism. Of course, three or more prisms may be used to image three or more lateral fields of view.

In this embodiment, the left and right prisms 15 and 16 are separately formed of glass, and the prisms 15 and 16 are integrally formed by connecting them to each other with an adhesive or the like. The left and right prisms 15 and 16 may be integrally formed from the beginning with resin such as resin PMMA.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, the prisms 15 and 16 are made of a resin such as PMMA, and the prism holder 23 (fixed portion) is made of an opaque resin such as PC (polycarbonate) containing glass filler. By forming the prisms 15 and 16 and the prism holder 23
And may be integrally formed by, for example, two-color formation. This makes it possible to omit the work of attaching the prism holder 23 and reduce the number of parts. 9 to 11, the prism holder 23 includes the prisms 15 and 16
Of the prism side surfaces 15L and 16R on the side of each field of view, for example, are formed so as to extend rearward from the rear end portions, and are fixed to the case 11b of the camera device body 11 by means of screws 25, for example.
Further, the case where the spacer 19 is also integrally formed with the prisms 15 and 16 by an opaque resin such as PC containing glass filler or PMMA is shown.

Further, in this embodiment, each prism 1
5 and 16 were used in which all the prism surfaces (rear surfaces 15B, 16B and side surfaces 15L, 15R, 16L, 16R) were formed flat, but at least one of the prism surfaces was used. A prism having a curved surface and a combination of curved surfaces may be used. As a result, the prisms 15 and 16 can be further downsized while maintaining the same imaging range in the left and right visual fields. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, a concave curved surface having a radius of curvature R1 = 16.6 mm is partially formed on the prism side surfaces 15R and 16L on the side opposite to the visual field, and the radius of curvature R2 = 4.0 mm is formed on the prism rear surfaces 15B and 16B.
When a convex curved surface of is formed, the usage area h of the prism
Can be reduced to h = 11.8 mm.

Also, in this embodiment, the camera device 3
It has been explained that the vehicle is installed in the front part of the vehicle and the visual field in three directions of the vehicle's left-right direction and the traveling direction is imaged. The visual field in three directions including the directional visual field may be captured, or naturally, the vehicle may be installed in a vehicle part other than those and the desired visual field may be captured.

[0045]

According to the camera device of the first aspect,
The light from the side field of view is converted to the image pickup lens side by using a prism that changes the optical path by internally reflecting twice between the side surfaces of the prism on the opposite side and the side of the field of view. The optical path can be changed without inverting the mirror image. Therefore, the side field of view incident through the prism and the front field of view incident not through the prism can be simultaneously imaged by a single image sensor with the reversed directions aligned.

According to the camera device of the second aspect, a pair of prisms are symmetrically arranged in front of the imaging lens, the left prism side surface of the left prism is directed to the left visual field, and the right prism side is right. Since the side surface of the prism is directed to the right visual field, the lateral visual fields can be imaged at the same time with the reversed visual fields of the left and right visual fields aligned.

According to the camera device of the third aspect, since the metal is vapor-deposited on the side surface of the prism on the side opposite to the visual field, the side surface of the prism on the side opposite to the visual field can be made a mirror surface for sure total reflection. be able to.

According to the camera device of the fourth aspect, since the wide-angle lens is used as the image pickup lens, even if a plurality of side visual fields are picked up at the same time, they can be picked up in a practically sufficient range. .

According to the camera device of the fifth aspect, the image pickup direction of the image pickup means is directed forward and inclined downward, and the light incident from the front field of view is incident from the lower half region of the vertical angle of view of the image pickup means. Since it is captured, the light from the front field of view in the front is captured in the lower half region, and the front view in the front is captured.

According to the camera device of the sixth aspect, the prism is arranged in a vertical posture in front of the image pickup means, and a portion protruding to a lower half area of the vertical angle of view of the image pickup means is cut off. For this reason, the light from the left and right visual fields can be converted into the optical path without blocking the incident optical path of the light from the front visual field.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, since the cut surface of the prism is light-shielded, the cut surface (that is, the bottom surface of the prism) is prevented from internal reflection and external reflection, and left and right ( It is possible to prevent a ghost image that is generated when light from the front field of view is internally reflected (externally reflected) on the bottom surface of the prism, enters the imaging lens, and forms an image on the imaging element.

According to the camera device of the eighth aspect, when there are two or more prisms, the prisms are integrally formed, and therefore the angle adjustment between the prisms at the time of assembly can be omitted. Efficiency can be improved.

According to the camera device of the ninth aspect, since the prism holder is integrally formed with the prism, the work of attaching the prism holder can be omitted and the number of parts can be reduced.

According to the camera device of the tenth aspect,
Since at least one of the prism side surface on the visual field side, the prism side surface on the opposite visual field side, and the rear surface of the prism is formed into a curved surface, the prism can contribute to miniaturization of the prism.

According to the vehicle periphery monitoring device of the eleventh aspect, since the camera device according to any one of the first to tenth aspects is used as the camera device, the side view and the front view are provided. Images can be picked up by a single image sensor at the same time by aligning the directions of inversion. As in the conventional method, the image captured by the image sensor is partially inverted and the front view and side view images It is not necessary to align the inversion directions with each other, and the circuit configuration of the signal processing of the processing unit can be simplified.

According to the vehicle periphery monitoring device of the twelfth aspect, the camera device is installed in the front part or the rear part of the vehicle and has three directions, that is, the left and right visual fields and the forward or backward visual field. Since the fields of view of the vehicle are simultaneously imaged, the fields of view of the vehicle in the left and right directions and the fields of view in the advancing direction and the backward direction can be simultaneously imaged with a simple circuit configuration.

According to the vehicle periphery monitoring device of the thirteenth aspect, since the mask image is superimposed on the unnecessary portion in the image captured by the camera device and displayed on the display device by the processing unit, the display image of the display image is displayed. The appearance is improved and the visibility can be improved.

According to the vehicle periphery monitoring device of the fourteenth aspect, since the necessary portion in the image captured by the camera device is enlarged and displayed on the display device by the processing unit, the appearance of the display image is improved. Improves visibility and improves visibility.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle periphery monitoring device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a camera device in the vehicle periphery monitoring device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view configuration diagram of a camera device in the vehicle periphery monitoring device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

4 is an enlarged view of a right prism of the camera device of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the direction of inversion of each image portion of the image captured by the camera device of the vehicle periphery monitoring device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a display image before mask processing of the vehicle periphery monitoring device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a display image after mask processing of the vehicle periphery monitoring device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a modified example of the prism connection state in the camera device of the vehicle periphery monitoring device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a modified example in which the prism holder is integrally formed with the prism in the camera device of the vehicle periphery monitoring device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a view as seen from the direction of the arrow X in FIG.

11 is a diagram showing a state in which the prism shown in FIG. 9 is fixed to a camera device main body.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a modified example relating to the shape of the prism surface of the prism in the camera device of the vehicle periphery monitoring device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Vehicle Surrounding Monitoring Device 3 Camera Device 5 Processing Unit 7 Display Device 11 Camera Device Main Body 11b Imaging Device 11c Imaging Lens 13L, 13R Light 15, 16 Prism 15B, 16B Prism Rear Surface 15L, 16L Left Prism Side Surface 15R, 16R Right Prism Sides 15b, 16b Part 15c, 16c protruding to the lower half region Vd of the vertical angle of view V Prism cutting surface 17 Metal 21 Light-shielding treatment 23 Prism holder P1 Lens optical axis V Vertical angle of view Vu Upper half region Vd of the vertical angle of view Vd Lower half area of vertical angle of view V

Front page continuation (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 5/225 H04N 5/225 CD 7/18 7/18 J (72) Inventor Masayoshi Imoto Minami-ku, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture Kikusumi 1-7-10 F-term in Auto Network Technology Laboratory Co., Ltd. (reference) 2H087 KA03 LA01 LA07 PA03 PA18 PB04 QA02 QA07 QA12 QA22 QA25 QA37 QA41 QA46 RA41 2H101 FF08 5C022 AA04 AC51 AC74 5C054 FE12 HA30

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup means comprising a single image pickup element and an image pickup lens arranged in front of the image pickup element, and arranged in front of the image pickup means, each rear surface of a prism being directed toward the image pickup lens and one of the two. Prism side surfaces are respectively directed to different lateral visual fields, and light incident on the visual field side prism side surfaces is internally reflected twice between the anti-visual field side prism side surface and the visual field side prism side surface, and the prism rear surface is formed. And one or more prisms having a substantially triangular prism shape, the image pickup means from the side view through the prism.
A camera device characterized in that the light incident on the pronation surface and the light incident from the front field of view without passing through the prism are simultaneously formed on the image pickup element via the image pickup lens. 2. The pair of prisms are symmetrically arranged in front of the image pickup means, the left prism side surface of the left prism is directed to the left visual field, and the right prism side surface of the right prism is to the right visual field. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein the camera device is directed. 3. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein a metal is vapor-deposited on a side surface of the prism on the side opposite to the visual field of the prism. 4. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein the imaging lens is a wide-angle lens. 5. The image pickup means is arranged such that its image pickup direction is directed forward and is inclined downward, and takes in the light incident from the front field of view from the lower half region of the vertical field angle thereof, and obtains the vertical image thereof. The camera device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the light incident through the prism from a lateral visual field is taken in from an upper half region of a corner. 6. The prism is arranged in a vertical posture in front of the image pickup means, and a portion protruding to a lower half region of the vertical angle of view of the image pickup means is cut off. 5. The camera device according to item 5. 7. The camera device according to claim 6, wherein a cut surface of the prism is light-shielded. 8. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein when there are two or more prisms, each prism is integrally formed. 9. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein a prism holder is integrally formed with the prism. 10. The prism according to claim 1, wherein at least one of a prism side surface on the visual field side, a prism side surface on the opposite visual field side, and a rear surface of the prism is formed into a curved surface. The camera device according to claim 9. 11. The camera device according to claim 1, which is installed in a vehicle and simultaneously captures a plurality of fields of view around the vehicle, and a processing unit which processes an image captured by the camera device. And a display device that is installed in a vehicle interior and displays an image processed by the processing unit. 12. The camera device is installed in a front portion or a rear portion of a vehicle, and simultaneously picks up a visual field in three directions, that is, each visual field in a left-right direction of the vehicle and a visual field in a traveling direction or a backward direction. The vehicle periphery monitoring device according to claim 11. 13. The processing unit according to claim 11, wherein the processing unit superimposes a mask image on an unnecessary portion in an image captured by the camera device and displays the mask image on the display device. Vehicle surroundings monitoring device. 14. The display unit according to claim 11, wherein the processing unit enlarges a necessary portion in an image captured by the camera device and displays the enlarged portion on the display device. Vehicle surroundings monitoring device.