阅读说明：本技术 车辆安装的照相机装置和图像失真校正方法 (Camera device mounted on vehicle and image distortion correction method ) 是由 中山智词 大浪庆一 于 2020-03-11 设计创作，主要内容包括：该车辆安装的照相机装置能够对车辆的前方、后方和侧方中的至少一个拍摄图像,并被设置有：透镜；通过将由所述透镜成像的光转换为电信号来创建拍摄图像的图像拍摄器件部分；以及,在透镜的入射表面侧遮蔽对应于图像拍摄器件部分的图像拍摄区域的一部分的光束的遮光部分。(The vehicle-mounted camera device is capable of capturing an image of at least one of the front, rear, and side of a vehicle, and is provided with: a lens; an image pickup device section that creates a pickup image by converting light imaged by the lens into an electric signal; and a light shielding portion that shields a light flux corresponding to a part of an image pickup area of the image pickup device portion on an incident surface side of the lens.)

1. A vehicle-mounted camera apparatus comprising:

a lens;

an image pickup device unit that converts light imaged by the lens into an electric signal to generate a pickup image; and

a light shielding unit shielding a part of light corresponding to an image capturing area of the image capturing device unit at an incident surface side of the lens.

2. The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to claim 1,

the light shielding unit is disposed along a surface of the lens.

3. The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

an image processing unit that generates a first output image having a first resolution and a second output image having a second resolution smaller than the resolution of the first output image from the captured image generated by the image capturing device, wherein,

the area where the light is shielded by the light shielding unit is outside the area of the second output image.

4. The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to claim 3,

the lens is a wide angle lens.

5. The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to claim 4,

the wide-angle lens has an image height characteristic in which an image near the center of the optical axis is enlarged.

6. The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to claim 5,

the image processing unit calculates an image height characteristic of the wide-angle lens based on edge information included in an image of the light shielding unit.

7. The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to claim 6,

the image processing unit corrects distortion of the captured image based on the calculated image height characteristic of the wide-angle lens and the design value of the image height characteristic.

8. The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to claim 7,

the image processing unit acquires temperature data, calculates an image height characteristic of the wide-angle lens when a difference from a temperature at the time of previous distortion correction is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, and corrects distortion of a captured image based on the calculated image height characteristic of the wide-angle lens and a design value of the image height characteristic when the difference from the image height characteristic at the time of previous distortion correction is equal to or larger than a threshold value.

9. The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

an image output unit that outputs the first output image and the second output image generated by the image processing unit to one or more monitors.

10. The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to claim 1,

the shade unit has a water drop receiver.

11. The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a camera housing for mounting the lens and the image pickup device unit, wherein,

the light shielding unit is provided on the camera housing.

12. The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a camera housing for mounting the lens and the image pickup device unit; and

bracket for fixing camera housing to vehicle, wherein

The light shielding unit is disposed on the bracket.

13. The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to claim 12,

the camera housing is attached to the holder such that a depression angle of an optical axis of the lens is variable.

14. An image distortion correction method of a vehicle-mounted camera apparatus, comprising:

the image pickup device includes a light-shielding unit that shields light corresponding to a part of an image pickup area of an image pickup device unit on an incident surface side of a lens, calculates an image height characteristic of the lens from the picked-up image, and corrects distortion of the picked-up image based on the calculated image height characteristic of the lens and a design value of the image height characteristic.

Technical Field

The present technology relates to a vehicle-mounted camera apparatus that can be attached to a vehicle and an image distortion correction method thereof.

Background

In recent years, vehicle-mounted camera apparatuses are widely used in systems that take images by cameras using wide-angle lenses around the vehicle to display surrounding images on a monitor and notify of an approaching object, systems that display video of the rear of the vehicle in a room mirror monitor (smart room mirror), or the like.

Vehicle-mounted camera apparatuses generally have a problem that flare, ghost, and halo generated in an image by sunlight incident on a camera lens should be suppressed. Therefore, measures are taken to shield light such as sunlight by placing a light shielding unit (cover) on the input surface side of the lens. For example, patent documents 1 and 2 disclose a structure in which the incidence angle of light to the camera lens is limited by a cover.

CITATION LIST

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent application laid-open No.2013-

Patent document 2: japanese patent application laid-open No.2013-009211

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem

In general, a wide-angle lens is generally used to capture an image of the periphery of a vehicle, but has a wider viewing angle than that required to capture an image of the rear of the vehicle for a smart room mirror. Therefore, for example, in order to monitor the periphery of a vehicle, a single camera can be used for two applications, i.e., for monitoring the periphery of the vehicle and for a smart room mirror, by cutting out an image for the smart room mirror from a captured image while capturing the image by the camera using a wide-angle lens. In this case, since the image for the smart room mirror generally requires a high-resolution feeling, it is desirable to bring the optical axis of the camera lens closer to the position displayed for the smart room mirror in consideration of the influence of aberration or the like, and the depression angle of the camera must be small. On the other hand, if the depression angle of the camera is small, the upper side is photographed than the horizontal line width and the lights of the sun and the street lamp are easily incident on the camera lens, but it is originally not necessary to photograph the upper side above the angle of view for the smart room mirror.

In view of the above, an object of the present technology is to provide a vehicle-mounted camera apparatus and an image distortion correction method capable of generating a captured image with higher quality by limiting the incident angle of light to a camera lens with a cover.

Solution to the problem

In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to an embodiment of the present technology is a vehicle-mounted camera apparatus capable of imaging at least one of the front, rear, and side of a vehicle, and includes: a lens; an image pickup device unit that converts light captured by the lens into an electric signal to generate a pickup image; and a light shielding unit that shields a part of the light corresponding to the image capturing area of the image capturing device unit on an incident surface side of the lens.

In the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to the present technology, since the light shielding unit shields a part of the light corresponding to the image capturing area of the image capturing device unit on the incident surface side of the lens, it is possible to prevent light of a light source such as the sun or a street lamp from entering the lens and to prevent spots, ghosts, halos, and the like from being generated.

According to the present technology, by arranging the light shielding unit along the surface of the lens, the amount of external protrusion can be minimized.

According to the present technology, an image processing unit that generates a first output image having a first resolution and a second output image having a second resolution smaller than the resolution of the first output image from a captured image generated by an image capturing device is further included, and a region where light is shielded by a light shielding unit is outside a region of the second output image.

Therefore, the second output image is not hidden by the light shielding unit.

The lens may be a wide-angle lens, or a wide-angle lens having a heightened characteristic that an image near the center of the optical axis is enlarged.

The image processing unit may calculate an image height characteristic of the wide angle lens based on edge information included in the image of the light shielding unit.

The image processing unit may correct distortion of the captured image based on the calculated image height characteristic of the wide-angle lens and the design value of the image height characteristic.

Thus, a good captured image obtained by correcting distortion of the captured image accompanying a change in the image height characteristic is obtained.

The image processing unit may acquire temperature data, calculate an image height characteristic of the wide angle lens when a difference from a temperature at the time of previous distortion correction is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, and correct distortion of the captured image based on the calculated image height characteristic of the wide angle lens and a design value of the image height characteristic when the difference from the image height characteristic at the time of previous distortion correction is equal to or larger than a threshold value.

Therefore, by evaluating the image height characteristics of the wide-angle lens using the change in temperature as a trigger, distortion of the captured image can be corrected, if necessary.

The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to the present technology may further include an image output unit that outputs the first output image and the second output image generated by the image processing unit to one or more monitors.

The shade unit may have a water drop receiver. Therefore, in addition to being able to ensure the visibility of the image output to the room mirror monitor and maintain the calculation accuracy of the image height characteristic, water droplets hardly adhere to the incident surface of the lens when running on rainy days.

The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to the present technology may further include a camera housing for mounting the lens and the image pickup device unit, and the light shielding unit may be provided on the camera housing.

Alternatively, the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to the present technology may further include a camera housing for mounting the lens and the image pickup device unit and a bracket for fixing the camera housing to the vehicle, and the light shielding unit may be provided on the bracket.

Also, in order to achieve the above object, an image distortion correction method of a vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to another embodiment of the present technology includes:

the image pickup device includes a light-shielding unit that shields light corresponding to a part of an image pickup area of an image pickup device unit on an incident surface side of a lens, calculates an image height characteristic of the lens from the picked-up image, and corrects distortion of the picked-up image based on the calculated image height characteristic of the lens and a design value of the image height characteristic.

Advantageous effects of the invention

As described above, according to the present technology, a higher quality captured image can be produced.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 according to a first embodiment of the present technology.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 of fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the image height characteristic of the wide angle lens 2.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image captured by using the wide angle lens 2 of fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating a linear image height characteristic.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image captured by using a lens having a linear image height characteristic.

Fig. 7 is a diagram showing the angle at which the incident light on the lens 2 is shielded by the light shielding unit 6.

Fig. 8 is a diagram showing an example of an image captured as a result of shading as incident light by the shading unit 6.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing a specific example of the light shielding unit 6.

Fig. 10 is a side view of a specific example of the light shielding portion 6 of fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 having the light shielding unit 6 on the bracket 7.

Fig. 12 is a side view of the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 of fig. 11.

Fig. 13 is a perspective view showing the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 having the light shielding unit 6 provided along the incident surface of the lens 2.

Fig. 14 is a side view of the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 of fig. 13.

Fig. 15 is a perspective view of the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 in which the shade unit 6 is provided on the bracket 7.

Fig. 16 is a side view of the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 of fig. 15.

Fig. 17 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image processing system of the camera apparatus 1 mounted on the vehicle.

Fig. 18 is a diagram showing a captured image in the case of using the light shielding unit 6 having the edge portion of the zigzag slit.

Fig. 19 is a diagram illustrating image height characteristics calculated from the image of fig. 18.

Fig. 20 is a diagram showing by comparing the positions of the respective feature points before and after the change in the image height characteristic accompanying the temperature change.

Fig. 21 is a diagram showing image height characteristics before and after a change accompanying a temperature change.

Fig. 22 is a diagram illustrating a method of generating a smart room mirror image by considering a variation in image height characteristics of the lens 2 from a photographed image.

Fig. 23 is a diagram showing a correlation between a design value of the image height characteristic and the image height characteristic detected from the captured image.

Fig. 24 is a block diagram of a camera device 1a mounted on a vehicle of modification 1.

Fig. 25 is a flowchart related to control of evaluation of the image height characteristic by the above-described feature point position analysis when the measured temperature change is above a certain value in the camera device 1a mounted on the vehicle of modification 1.

Fig. 26 is a diagram showing a captured image when the light shielding unit 6 having an opening for causing a characteristic point to appear in the captured image is used.

Fig. 27 is a perspective view of the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 having the water droplet receiver 18 on the light shielding unit 6.

Fig. 28 is a diagram showing a correlation between the design value r of the image height characteristic and the image height r' obtained by the image height characteristic detected from the captured image.

Detailed Description

Embodiments according to the present technology will now be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

< first embodiment >

[ arrangement of Camera device mounted on vehicle ]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 according to a first embodiment of the present technology, and fig. 2 is a sectional view of the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 of fig. 1.

The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 includes a lens 2, an image pickup device 3, a substrate 4, a camera housing 5, a light shielding unit 6, and a bracket 7.

In the perspective view of fig. 1, the bracket 7 is not shown.

The lens 2 is an optical component or a lens group for imaging light on an imaging surface of the image pickup device 3.

The image pickup device 3 converts the light imaged by the lens 2 into an electric signal. The image pickup device 3 is configured by, for example, a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) sensor, a CCD image sensor, or the like.

The substrate 4 is a substrate 4 on one surface of which the image pickup device 3 is mounted. A video signal processing circuit for generating an image from an electric signal generated by the image pickup device 3 is mounted on the substrate 4 or another substrate (not shown).

The image pickup device 3 and the substrate 4 correspond to an "image pickup device unit" in the claims.

The camera housing 5 is a housing for accommodating the substrate 4 on which the lens 2 and the image pickup device 3 are mounted. The camera housing 5 is attached to a vehicle body (not shown) via a bracket 7 fixed to the vehicle body.

The light shielding unit 6 is for shielding light corresponding to a part of the image pickup area 3a of the image pickup device 3 on the incident surface side of the lens 2. The center of the image capturing area 3a of the image capturing device 3 may not necessarily coincide with the optical axis position of the lens 2.

[ characteristics of lens 2 ]

A wide-angle lens or the like may be used as the lens 2.

In order to improve the sense of resolution of the image cut out for the smart room mirror as much as possible, a lens having an image height characteristic in which the image near the center is enlarged may be employed for the wide-angle lens 2. Fig. 3 shows an example of the image height characteristic of the wide-angle lens 2. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an image captured by using the wide-angle lens 2 having the image height characteristic in which the image near the center is enlarged as described above.

For comparison, fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image captured by using a wide-angle lens having the linear image height characteristic illustrated in fig. 5. As can be seen by comparing the image of fig. 4 and the image of fig. 6, the image of the subject (such as a following vehicle) near the center of fig. 6 captured by using the wide-angle lens having the linear image height characteristic is smaller than the image of fig. 4 captured by using the wide-angle lens 2 having the image height characteristic of fig. 3. Therefore, when an image of the smart room mirror is cut out therefrom, the resolution feeling deteriorates.

[ Camera orientation ]

As shown in fig. 2, the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 is installed such that the optical axis S of the lens 2 is oriented horizontally (in the X-axis direction) or substantially horizontally.

For this reason, in a region above the middle of the captured image, since light of a light source such as the sun or a street lamp is incident on the lens 2, a flare, a ghost, a halo, and the like may be generated.

To solve such a problem, the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 according to the present technology is configured to minimize light of light sources such as the sun and the street lamp entering the lens 2 by providing the light shielding unit 6 for shielding a part of the light corresponding to the image capturing area 3a of the image capturing device 3 on the incident surface side of the lens 2.

Fig. 7 is a diagram showing an angle at which an incident light ray on the lens 2 is shielded by the light shielding unit 6, and fig. 8 is a diagram showing an example of an image captured as a result of the incident light ray being shielded by the light shielding unit 6.

Therefore, by shielding the incident light corresponding to the angular range of θ 1 to θ 2 from the oblique direction, which belongs to the partial area of the image capturing area 3a of the image capturing device 3, with the light shielding unit 6, when the optical axis S of the lens 2 is guided in the horizontal direction or substantially the horizontal direction, the low luminance portion 11 is generated in the bias area (bias region) above the captured image by the light shielding unit 6. That is, it is possible to prevent light of a light source such as the sun or a street lamp from entering the lens 2 and minimize generation of flare, ghost, halo, and the like.

Further, the light shielding unit 6 does not hide the road surface or the image of the object on the road surface under the condition that the optical axis S of the lens 2 is guided in the horizontal direction or substantially the horizontal direction. Therefore, it does not affect the quality of the intelligent room mirror image cut out mainly from the middle height area of the captured image, or it does not affect the image analysis for distance measurement with the adjacent vehicle or obstacle.

[ specific example of the light-shielding unit 6 ]

Next, a specific example of the light shielding unit 6 will be described.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing a specific example of the light shielding unit 6, and fig. 10 is a side view thereof.

Therefore, the light shielding unit 6 may be provided to protrude in the direction of the optical axis S of the lens 2.

In addition, the light shielding unit 6 may be provided on the support 7. Fig. 11 is a perspective view and fig. 12 is a side view of the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 in which the light shielding unit 6 is provided on the bracket 7.

However, when the light shielding unit 6 protrudes in the direction of the optical axis S of the lens 2 as described above, there is a possibility that the standard relating to the protrusion of the passenger car outside is not met.

In order to minimize the protruding amount of the light shielding unit 6, as shown in fig. 13 and 14, it is more desirable to provide the light shielding unit 6 along the incident surface of the lens 2. Therefore, the protruding amount of the shade unit 6 can be suppressed to about the thickness of the shade unit 6, and the standard relating to the external protrusion of the passenger car is easily met. In addition, as shown in fig. 15 and 16, even when the light shielding unit 6 is provided on the support 7, the light shielding unit 6 can be provided to cover the incident surface of the lens 2.

The attachment angle of the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 is not necessarily constant, and may vary depending on the type of vehicle, for example. When the attachment angle of the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 is changed, the angle range of the incident light shielded by the light shielding unit 6 is also changed, and in the worst case, a low-luminance portion caused by the light shielding unit 6 may occur in the smart room mirror image or a low-luminance portion may occur in an area affecting image analysis for distance measurement from an adjacent vehicle or obstacle. Therefore, the above-described problem can be dealt with by preparing a plurality of types of holders 7 having different shielding conditions (angle ranges of incident light rays shielded by the light shielding units) of the light shielding units 6.

Also, as shown in fig. 27, in order to hardly attach water droplets to the incident surface of the lens 2 when operating in a rainy weather, water droplet receivers 18 for receiving water droplets from above and allowing the water droplets to escape to both sides of the lens 2 may be provided at the lower end and both sides of the light shielding unit 6.

(processing Block of vehicle-mounted Camera apparatus 1)

The configuration of the image processing system of the camera apparatus 1 mounted on the vehicle will be described next.

Fig. 17 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image processing system of the camera apparatus 1 mounted on the vehicle.

As shown in fig. 17, the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 further includes an image processing unit 8, a memory unit 9, and an image output unit 10.

The electric signal converted from light by the image pickup device 3 is a frame-by-frame or field-by-field video signal by the pickup image signal processing unit 3A, and is supplied to the image processing unit 8.

The image processing unit 8 includes an image conversion unit 81 and a calculation unit 82.

The calculation unit 82 performs analysis of the captured image. The calculation unit 82 detects, for example, the positions of feature points appearing at or around a low-luminance video portion caused by the light shielding unit 6 in the captured image, and calculates the difference from the design position of each feature point stored in the memory unit 9 as the amount of change in the image height characteristic of the lens. The calculation unit 82 generates parameters and the like necessary to eliminate adverse effects due to variations in the image height characteristics of the lens, such as, for example, generation of parameters for correcting distortion of a captured image due to variations in the image height characteristics of the lens and correction of parameters for measuring a distance to an object on a road surface, based on the calculated amount of variation in the image height characteristics of the lens.

For example, the image conversion unit 81 performs correction of distortion of the captured image based on the parameter for correcting distortion obtained by the calculation unit 82, or generates a viewpoint conversion image such as a top-down view image from the distortion-corrected captured image, for example, generates a smart room mirror image.

The image output unit 10 outputs the top-down view image obtained by the image conversion unit 81 to a monitor for top-down view. Further, the image output unit 10 outputs the intelligent room mirror image obtained by the image conversion unit 81 to the monitor of the intelligent room mirror.

The memory section 9 stores the calculated image height characteristic data and the image height characteristic data on the setting, and the like.

(correction of image distortion accompanying variation in image height characteristic of lens)

In general, it is known that the image height characteristic of a lens changes due to the influence of temperature or the like. Therefore, the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is configured to detect the image height characteristic of the lens by calculating the image height of each feature point included in the captured image, generate parameters for correcting distortion of the image accompanying a change in the image height characteristic of the lens from the difference and the ratio from the design height of each feature point, and perform correction of distortion of the image accompanying a change in the image height characteristic of the lens.

In order to quantitatively detect a change in the image height characteristic of the lens 2, in the above-described light shielding unit 6, a slit or the like is formed so that a plurality of feature points, the positions of which move in the captured image space with a change in the image height characteristic of the lens 2, appear in the image due to the low-luminance portion 11 of the light shielding unit 6 or its surroundings.

Fig. 18 is a diagram showing a captured image when the light shield unit 6 having the edge portion of the zigzag slit is used. In this case, the image is taken so that the low-luminance portion 11 formed by the light-shielded by the light-shielding unit 6 and the video portion not shielded from light are seen by being separated in a zigzag shape. In this case, for example, the outer corner vertex and/or the inner corner vertex of each tooth may be set as a feature point (indicated by a circle), and the position of each feature point in the captured image may be detected by edge information detection or the like. Fig. 18 shows the result of detecting the outer corner vertex of each tooth as a feature point.

Fig. 19 is a diagram showing image height characteristics obtained from the image of fig. 18, that is, a relationship between the image height of each feature point (distance between the feature point and the optical axis center) and the incident angle. Since the respective feature points of the image of fig. 18 are symmetrically arranged, the points are closely distributed at two-by-two positions. Since they are not completely symmetrical in practice, the diagram assumes that the incident angle and the image height are slightly deviated at the left and right feature points.

Fig. 20 is a diagram showing by comparing the positions of the respective feature points before and after the change in the image height characteristic accompanying the temperature change, the white filled circle mark is the position of the respective feature points after the change in the image height characteristic, and the unfilled circle mark is the position of the respective feature points before the change in the image height characteristic.

Therefore, a change in the image height characteristic of the lens with a change in temperature appears as an overall change in the position of each feature point. Fig. 21 is a diagram showing a relationship between an image height (a distance between a feature point and an optical axis center) and an incident angle of each feature point before and after a change in image height characteristic, which is an image height characteristic before and after a change with a temperature change.

The description will be continued using the image height characteristic before the change as the image height characteristic in the design.

The calculation unit 82 of the image processing unit 8 calculates the difference between the image heights before and after the change of each feature point, and generates a parameter for correcting image distortion due to the change in the image height characteristic from the calculated difference.

Incidentally, in order to appear the characteristic point in the captured image, the above-described example employs the light shielding unit 6 having the edge portion of the zigzag slit, but, for example, as shown in fig. 26, by providing a rectangular opening in the light shielding unit 6, the characteristic point may be caused to appear in the captured image. In this case, one inner corner point (e.g., upper right corner) or the opening center among four inner corner points in the rectangular opening may be detected as the feature point.

Next, a method of generating a smart room mirror image from a captured image by considering a change in the image height characteristic of the lens 2 will be described with reference to fig. 22.

In fig. 22, the left image is a captured image (first output image with first resolution), and the right image is a smart room mirror image (second output image with second resolution) generated from the left captured image. Therefore, the smart room mirror image has an aspect ratio resolution corresponding to the shape of the monitoring screen of the smart room mirror, and when the optical axis of the lens 2 is oriented in a substantially horizontal direction, the smart room mirror image is generated from the captured image by using the image of the middle height region including the center of the optical axis to include the entire following vehicle. Incidentally, the height position of the lower end of the region where the smart room mirror image is taken from the captured image is a position inclined by 8 degrees from the optical axis of the lens 2, for example, when viewed from the image capturing device 3 of the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1.

In the intelligent room mirror image of fig. 22, if the image height characteristic of the lens 2 is not changed, point a (x) is at_A，y_A) The information displayed at (A) refers to a point a (x) in the captured image_A，y_A). Suppose that a point a (x) in the captured image_a，y_a) The distance (image height) to the center of the optical axis is r_aAnd is atBy the angular position ofThe position of point a is calculated. If the image height characteristic of the lens 2 changes, the calculation unit 82 generates a difference or a ratio of the image height characteristic detected from the captured image with respect to a design value of the image height characteristic for each feature point, for example, as shown in fig. 23. The arithmetic unit 82 calculates an appropriate distance ra ' for each point a of the captured image by using the above data, and calculates the distance ra ' and the angle from the distance ra ' and the angleThe position to be actually referred to is calculated. This results in a smart room mirror image with less distortion due to variations in the image height characteristics.

Also, instead of the correlation of the difference or ratio between the design value such as the image height characteristic of each feature point and the image height characteristic detected from the captured image, for example, as shown in fig. 28, the correlation between the design value r of the image height characteristic and the image height r' obtained by the image height characteristic detected from the captured image can also be used.

< modification example 1>

Next, modification 1 according to the present technology will be described.

Fig. 24 is a block diagram of a camera device 1a mounted on a vehicle of modification 1.

As shown in fig. 24, the camera device 1a mounted on the vehicle has a temperature measuring unit 21 for measuring temperature. The temperature measurement unit 21 may be, for example, a thermometer for actually measuring the outside ambient temperature of the vehicle and the temperature in the vicinity of the camera apparatus 1a mounted on the vehicle. The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1a of modification 1 is configured to evaluate the image height characteristics by the feature point position analysis as described above when the measured temperature changes by a certain value or more.

Fig. 25 is a flowchart related to control for evaluating the image height characteristics by the above-described feature point position analysis when the measured temperature changes by a constant value or more.

It is assumed that design image height data of each feature point, image height data of each feature point at the time of the previous image correction, and temperature data are stored in the memory unit 9.

When the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1a is activated, the calculation unit 82 reads the image height data of each feature point at the time of the previous measurement from the memory unit 9 (step S101). Subsequently, the calculation unit 82 acquires temperature data from the temperature measurement unit 21 (step S102). Then, the calculation unit 82 acquires the captured image, detects the position of each feature point in the captured image, and calculates image height data (step S103).

The calculation unit 82 compares the image height data of each feature point at the time of the previous measurement with the image height data of each feature point detected this time, calculates a difference between the image height data of the respective feature points, and determines whether there is a feature point whose difference is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (step S104). If there is no feature point whose difference is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, the calculation unit 82 repeats the processing of step S104 for the next captured image in the same manner. Here, the next captured image may be a video of the next frame or a video after a predetermined number of frames.

If the feature point whose difference value is equal to or larger than the predetermined value is determined, the calculation unit 82 reads the design value of the image height characteristic from the memory unit 9, generates correlation data such as the difference or ratio between the design value of the image height characteristic and the image height characteristic detected from the captured image, and corrects distortion due to a variation in the image height characteristic of the captured image based on the correlation data. Then, the calculation unit 82 stores the image height data and the temperature data measured this time in the memory unit 9 as "image height data and temperature data of each feature point at the time of the previous image correction" (step S105).

Even after that, the calculation unit 82 acquires the current temperature data from the temperature measurement unit 21 (step S106), compares the current temperature data with the temperature data at the time of the previous image correction stored in the memory unit 9, and determines whether the difference is a predetermined value or more (step S107). If the difference is not equal to or larger than the predetermined value, the temperature data is acquired again from the temperature measuring unit 21, and the comparison of the acquired temperature data with the temperature data at the time of the previous image correction is repeated.

Therefore, if the change in temperature is large, the change in the image height characteristic of the lens is evaluated, and if there is a significant change in the image height characteristic, distortion caused by the change in the image height characteristic of the captured image is corrected. In this way, the occurrence of correction omission of distortion with respect to a change in temperature can be suppressed as much as possible.

< modification example 2>

The camera housing 5 may be attached to a bracket 7 having a light shielding unit 6 so that the depression angle of the optical axis of the lens 2 can be changed by motor driving. For example, by setting the depression angle of the optical axis to an angle close to the horizontal, it is possible to capture an image at a distance, or by setting it as downward as possible, it is possible to capture an image near the vehicle or an image close to a top-down view image. Therefore, since the depression angle of the optical axis of the lens 2 is changed with respect to the holder 7 having the light shielding unit 6 and the light shielding area in the captured image by the light shielding unit 6 is also changed, the range of the changed light shielding area is detected, and the optimum illuminance for adjusting AE (automatic exposure compensation) and AWB (automatic white balance) may be automatically set or the optimum map for distortion correction of the image may be set based on the result.

< modification example 3>

Some or all of the image processing and calculation performed by the image processing unit 8 described above need not necessarily be performed in the camera device 1 mounted in the vehicle, and may be performed by, for example, a server connected via the internet or another information processing device in the vehicle. Therefore, the vehicle-mounted camera apparatus 1 can be miniaturized and the cost can be reduced.

[ supplementary items ]

Furthermore, the present technology is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications may of course be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present technology.

The present technology may also have the following structure.

(1) A vehicle-mounted camera apparatus comprising:

a lens;

an image pickup device unit that converts light imaged by the lens into an electric signal to generate a pickup image; and

a light shielding unit shielding a part of the light corresponding to the image capturing area of the image capturing device unit on an incident surface side of the lens.

(2) The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to (1), wherein,

the light shielding unit is disposed along a surface of the lens.

(3) The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to (1) or (2), further comprising:

an image processing unit that generates a first output image having a first resolution and a second output image having a second resolution smaller than the resolution of the first output image from the captured image generated by the image capturing device, wherein,

the area where the light is shielded by the light shielding unit is outside the area of the second output image.

(4) The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to claims (1) to (3),

wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the lens is a wide angle lens.

(5) The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to (4), wherein,

the wide-angle lens has an image height characteristic in which an image near the center of the optical axis is enlarged.

(6) The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to (5), wherein,

the image processing unit calculates an image height characteristic of the wide-angle lens based on edge information included in an image of the light shielding unit.

(7) The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to (6), wherein,

the image processing unit corrects distortion of the captured image based on the calculated image height characteristic of the wide-angle lens and the design value of the image height characteristic.

(8) The camera device mounted on a vehicle according to (7), wherein,

the image processing unit acquires temperature data, calculates an image height characteristic of the wide-angle lens when a difference from a temperature at the time of previous distortion correction is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, and corrects distortion of a captured image based on the calculated image height characteristic of the wide-angle lens and a design value of the image height characteristic when the difference from the image height characteristic at the time of previous distortion correction is equal to or larger than a threshold value.

(9) The camera device mounted on a vehicle according to any one of (1) to (8), further comprising:

an image output unit that outputs the first output image and the second output image generated by the image processing unit to one or more monitors.

(10) The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to any one of (1) to (9),

the shade unit has a water drop receiver.

(11) The camera device mounted on a vehicle according to any one of (1) to (10), further comprising:

a camera housing for mounting the lens and the image pickup device unit, wherein,

the light shielding unit is provided on the camera housing.

(12) The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to any one of (1) to (11), further comprising:

a camera housing for mounting the lens and the image pickup device unit; and

bracket for fixing camera housing to vehicle, wherein

The light shielding unit is disposed on the bracket.

(13) The vehicle-mounted camera apparatus according to (12), wherein,

the camera housing is attached to the holder such that a depression angle of an optical axis of the lens is variable.

List of reference numerals

1 vehicle-mounted camera device

2 lens

3 image pickup device

3a image capture area

4 base plate

5 Camera case

6 shading unit

7 support

8 image processing unit

9 memory cell

10 image output unit

11 low brightness part

21 temperature measuring unit

81 image conversion unit

82 calculating unit