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`July 8, 2014
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`Certification
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`This is to certify that the attached translation is, to the best of my knowledge and
`belief, a true and accurate translation from Japanese into English of: Japanese
`Unexamined Patent Application Publication Number, H2-36417.
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`_______________________________________
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`Hanna Kang
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`Project Manager
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`Project Number: OSLI_1406_017
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`15 W. 37th Street 8th Floor
`New York, NY 10018
`212.581.8870
`ParkIP.com
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`VALEO EX. 1012_001
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`(19) Japan Patent Office (JP)
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`(11) Japanese Patent Number
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`(12) Japanese Patent Publication (B2)
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`H2-36417
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`Identification codes
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`JPO file numbers
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`(24) (44) Publication date August 17, 1990
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`Number of inventions: 1 (Total of 4 pages)
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`7812-3D
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`(51) Int. Cl.5
`B 60 R
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`1/00
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`(54) Title of the invention
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`VEHICLE REARVIEW MONITORING DEVICE
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`(21) Japanese Patent Application
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`S57-220222
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`(65) Examined Publication yes
`S59-114139
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`(22) Date of Application
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`December 17, 1982
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`(43) July 2, 1984
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`(72) Inventor
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`SUZUKI, Kenji
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`℅ NILES PARTS CO LTD
`5-28-6 Omori Nishi, Ota-ku, Tokyo
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`(71) Applicant
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`NILES PARTS CO LTD
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`5-28-6 Omori Nishi, Ota-ku, Tokyo
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`(74) Agent
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`Examiner:
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`Patent attorney MATSUDA, Katsuji
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`FUKAZAWA Michitaru
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`The applicant has a license of right.
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`(56) Reference Document:
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`Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Registration Application Publication S49-96819 (JP, U)
`Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Registration Application Publication S57-188544 (JP, U)
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`(57) SCOPE OF PATENT CLAIMS
`1. A vehicle
`rearview monitoring device
`comprising:
`a television camera 1 for monitoring to the rear of
`the vehicle;
`a monitor television 2, provided at the driver's seat,
`for displaying video captured by the television
`camera 1;
`a sensor 6 for outputting an information signal
`regarding the travel of the vehicle, including distance
`between the vehicle and an obstacle to the rear, the
`tire steering angle, and the speed of travel; and
`a marker signal generating circuit 7 for inputting
`the information signal from the sensor 6 to generate a
`marker signal in response to the information signal,
`to output, to the monitor television 2, to electrically
`superimpose a marker on the television screen.
`[DETAILED EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION]
`The present invention relates to a vehicle rearview
`monitoring device.
`In fastback-style sports cars, large buses, trailers,
`and the like, it is difficult to secure an adequate
`rearward field of view through the rearview mirrors,
`back mirrors, and the like, and so to compensate for
`this shortcoming, conventionally there has been a
`proposal for a rearview system that combines a CTV
`camera 1 and a monitor television 2, as illustrated in
`FIG. 1. However, in this type of conventional system,
`that which is to the rear of the vehicle is simply
`displayed on the monitor television 2 at the driver's
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`seat, so it has been difficult for the driver to get a
`sense of distance, and visually gauging the distance
`has led to errors, leading to numerous accidents such
`as collisions with obstacles or striking pedestrians
`while backing.
`Given this, there has also been a proposal for
`several distance markers 4 corresponding to the width
`of the vehicle, on the screen 3 of the monitor
`television 2 at the driver's seat, as illustrated in FIG. 2
`a and b, but these distance markers 4 were no more
`than printed dots on a transparent panel 5, and
`attaching this panel to the screen 3 of the monitor
`television 2, where the markers 4 had no relationship
`whatsoever with the displayed content, where even in
`cases wherein obstacles are displayed large on the
`screen, or when backing when cutting a curve, the
`markers 4 were merely displayed statically at specific
`positions on the screen, making it impossible to
`evaluate the distance, or the rearward direction,
`accurately through the markers 4, and while they led
`to awareness, the function as indicators has not been
`adequate.
`in
`proposed
`invention was
`The
`present
`contemplation of the shortcomings described above,
`and the object thereof is to provide a vehicle rearview
`monitoring device that electrically superimposes a
`number of markers on a television monitor screen to
`enable the display locations thereof, thus enabling the
`display
`locations
`to be changed arbitrarily as
`necessary, and enabling the markers 4 to be changed
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`VALEO EX. 1012_002
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`(2)
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`Japanese Patent Publication H2-36417
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`as appropriate depending on whether or not there is
`an obstacle or pedestrian, the position thereof and the
`direction of travel of the vehicle, the vehicle speed,
`and the like, to enable the driver to gain a proper
`sense of distance, and to know accurately the state to
`the rear of the vehicle.
`Based on an embodiment according to the present
`invention, illustrated in the figures, the structure of
`the present invention will be described below.
`FIG. 3 is a block diagram of one embodiment
`according to the present invention, where, as can be
`appreciated from the block diagram, this embodiment
`is structured from a CTV camera 1 for monitoring to
`the rear of the vehicle, a monitor television 2 that is
`disposed at the driver's seat, a sensor 6 for sensing the
`distance to a rearward obstacle, the vehicle speed, the
`rearward direction, and the like, and a marker signal
`generating circuit 7 for inputting a signal from the
`sensor 6 and for generating the required marker
`signal, where this marker signal generating circuit 7
`is structured from a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 8,
`a ROM (Read Only Memory) 9, and an interface 10.
`Note that the sensors may be selected from a
`variety of types depending on the state of display of
`the markers, but one may consider, for example, a
`distance sensor for measuring the distance between
`the vehicle and a rearward obstacle, a tire direction
`sensor for discerning the rearward travel direction, a
`velocity sensor for measuring the vehicle speed, and
`the like. These may be selected arbitrarily as
`necessary. However, in this case data must be stored,
`of course, in the ROM 9 depending on the various
`functions of the sensors.
`The structure of the present invention is as
`described above, and when explaining the operation
`when a distance sensor is used as the sensor 6, then,
`as illustrated in FIG. 4, if there is an obstacle 11 to
`the rear of the vehicle, the distance sensor measures
`the distance from the vehicle to the rearward
`obstacle, and that distance data is inputted into the
`CPU 8 of the marker signal generating circuit 7,
`where display data that is stored in the ROM 9 is
`referenced, and display data retrieved from the ROM
`9 is outputted to the monitoring device 2 through an
`interface 10, to display, on the screen of the monitor
`television 3, the rearward obstacle 11, as illustrated in
`FIG. 5, with the markers 4 displayed superimposed
`thereon. That is, if, for example, display data for
`displaying one marker for each 1 meter were stored
`in the ROM 9, then when the distance sensor 6
`measures the distance to the rearward obstacle 11 as
`2 m, then display data so as to display to markers, at
`1 m each, is retrieved from the ROM 9 and two of
`these markers are displayed on the screen of the
`monitor television 2.
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`Note that the superimposed display of the markers
`on the screen of the monitor television 2 may (1)
`erase markers that are further away when an obstacle
`is near; (2) reduce the spacing between markers
`between the vehicle and the obstacle when the
`obstacle is nearer than a predetermined distance; and
`(3) change the color of the display of the markers
`when the obstacle is nearer than a distance that has
`been set
`in advance. Obviously
`these can be
`performed freely through storing display data in the
`ROM 9. Note that the example illustrated in FIG. 5 is
`for the state of the display in (1), above.
`When a distance sensor is used as the sensor 6,
`there is the effect of being able to change the marker
`as appropriate depending on the distance to the
`obstacle, to provide the driver with an accurate sense
`of the rearward distance, to warn of an unusually
`close proximity to an obstacle, to display accurately
`the distance to an obstacle, to avoid collisions with
`obstacles due to an incorrect sense of distance, such
`as has occurred in the past, and to avoid the risk of
`striking a child who is playing behind the vehicle,
`enabling the vehicle to be backed up safely.
`Moreover, when a tire direction sensor, which
`detects the steering angle, is used as the sensor, then
`if markers are used to display the forecasted path of
`the vehicle when backing up, marker position data
`following the rearward direction of the vehicle
`corresponding to the steering angle data for the tires
`in regards to the rearward direction of the vehicle
`may be stored in advance in the ROM 9, and when
`steering angle data is inputted from the tire direction
`sensor, marker position data may be retrieved from
`the ROM 9 in accordance therewith. Moreover, the
`marker position data that has been retrieved may be
`sent to the monitor television 2 through the interface
`10, to be displayed superimposed on the screen as a
`line of markers 3. That is, in this case the markers are
`displayed biased by
`the anticipated
`rearward
`direction path of the vehicle, as illustrated in FIG. 6
`a, b, and c, to display clearly the rearward direction
`of the vehicle. Furthermore, if a speed sensor for
`measuring the speed of the vehicle is used in parallel
`as this sensor, then the markers can be changed not
`only depending on the backing time, but also
`depending on the speed of rearward travel, where, for
`example, the spacing of the markers may be at 2
`meter intervals when traveling with a vehicle speed
`of 10 km/h, or 50 meter intervals when traveling with
`a vehicle speed of 100 km/h. Furthermore, as with the
`embodiments described above, rather than just a
`single sensor, a plurality of sensors may be used in
`parallel, such as a distance sensor and a tire direction
`sensor, where, depending on the capacity of the ROM
`and the CPU, various types of sensors may be used,
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`VALEO EX. 1012_003
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`(3)
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`Japanese Patent Publication H2-36417
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`and the markers on the monitor television screen may
`be varied in a variety of ways.
`The vehicle rearview monitoring device according
`to the present invention is provided with a marker
`signal generating circuit for displaying the masses on
`markers superimposed electrically on the television
`screen depending on information signals pertaining to
`the travel of the vehicle, outputted by the sensors as
`described above, thus enabling the display locations
`and display directions of the markers on the screen of
`the television to be changed freely depending on the
`information obtained from the sensors.
`For example, when a distance sensor is used as the
`sensor, the state of display of the markers can be
`changed depending on the distance to the rearward
`obstacle, detected by the distance sensor, where the
`markers may be removed if the distance to the
`obstacle is far, or the markers may be indicated as
`appropriate depending on the situation, such as
`changing the colors of the markers or the spacing
`between the markers depending on the distance to an
`obstacle.
`Moreover, when the tire direction sensor is used as
`the sensor, then the predicted path of the vehicle,
`corresponding to the width of the vehicle, when
`backing, indicated by the markers, may be changed in
`response to the tire steering angle data, to thereby
`enable the rearward direction of the vehicle to be
`checked, or enabling easy checking as to whether or
`not a vehicle can, for example, fit into a parking
`space that is to the rear.
`Furthermore, when a speed sensor is used as the
`sensor, the spacing between the markers can be
`changed depending on the speed of travel detected by
`the speed sensor, thereby enabling the distance
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`between vehicles that is required for safe travel to be
`checked by the spacing of the markers.
`In this way, the vehicle rearview monitoring device
`according to the present invention has the superior
`effects of not only enabling the driver to check the
`rearward field of view, but also to appropriately
`understand the distance to a rearward obstacle, the
`rearward travel direction, and the like through
`appropriate marker
`indicators, enabling backing
`operations to be performed safely and confidently.
`BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS
`FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a vehicle
`rearview monitor using a conventional television
`camera and monitor television. FIG. 2 a is a
`perspective diagram of a monitor television that uses
`conventional markers. FIG. 2 b is a plan view
`diagram thereof. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of one
`embodiment according to the present invention. FIG.
`4 is a perspective diagram of the rearward situation
`for a vehicle. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for
`video of a monitor television when backing a vehicle.
`FIG. 6 a, b, and c are explanatory diagrams of video
`for the monitor television when using a tire direction
`sensor as the sensor.
`1: CTV Camera
`2: Monitor Television
`3: Screen
`4: Distance Marker
`5: Panel
`6: Sensor
`7: Marker Signal Generating Circuit
`8: CPU
`9: ROM
`10: Interface
`11: Obstacle
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`Monitor
`Television
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`Output
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`Synchronization
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`Signal
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`Interface
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`Display
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`Data
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`Distance
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`Data
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`Sensor
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`FIG. 3
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`CTV Camera
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`FIG. 1
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`FIG. 2
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`VALEO EX. 1012_004
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`(4)
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`Japanese Patent Publication H2-36417
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`FIG. 5
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`FIG. 6
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`FIG. 4
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`VALEO EX. 1012_005