EP-4742214-A1 - DRIVING ASSISTANCE DEVICE

EP4742214A1EP 4742214 A1EP4742214 A1EP 4742214A1EP-4742214-A1

Abstract

Provided is a driving assistance device (1) in which: an overhead image (62) in which surroundings of a vehicle (2) is viewed vertically downward from a virtual viewpoint set above the vehicle is displayed on a display device (4); when there is an object of attention (63), which is an object requiring attention for the vehicle, around the vehicle, a model image (65) indicating an appearance of the object of attention is disposed and displayed at a position of the object of attention in the overhead image; and in displaying the model image, the model image is inclined and displayed in a direction in which a display area of the model image in the overhead image increases according to a state of the object of attention.

Inventors

WATANABE, KAZUYA
YAMAMOTO, KINJI

Assignees

AISIN CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20251007

Claims (4)

A driving assistance device (1), wherein an overhead image (62) in which surroundings of a vehicle (2) is viewed vertically downward from a virtual viewpoint set above the vehicle is displayed on a display device (4), when there is an object of attention (63), which is an object requiring attention for the vehicle, around the vehicle, a model image (65) indicating an appearance of the object of attention is disposed and displayed at a position of the object of attention in the overhead image, and in displaying the model image, the model image is inclined and displayed in a direction in which a display area of the model image in the overhead image increases according to a state of the object of attention.
The driving assistance device according to claim 1, wherein in displaying the model image, when the object of attention is moving, the model image is inclined and displayed in a direction in which the object of attention moves from a reference state in which the model image stands upright in a vertical direction from a ground surface.
The driving assistance device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the model image is a model image for specifying an orientation of the object of attention, and in displaying the model image, the model image is displayed with the orientation of the object of attention and an orientation of the model image in association with each other.
The driving assistance device according to claim 1, wherein a shadow of the model image disposed in the overhead image is displayed in the overhead image, and in displaying the shadow of the model image, when the object of attention is moving, the shadow is displayed in a range extending from a position of the model image in a direction in which the object of attention moves.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD This disclosure relates to a driving assistance device that assists driving of a vehicle. BACKGROUND DISCUSSION In the related art, various methods are used as an information providing method for providing an occupant of a vehicle with various types of information for assisting the traveling of the vehicle, such as route guidance and warning of obstacles. Examples thereof include a display by a liquid crystal display provided in the vehicle and a sound output from a speaker. Here, there are areas that are blind spots around the vehicle, that are difficult to be seen from a position of a driver, and to allow the driver to understand a situation in such blind spots, especially when performing special operations such as a parking operation or a garage-leaving operation, vehicle surrounding images indicating the surroundings of the vehicle are displayed on the liquid crystal display in the related art. In Japanese Patent No. 5165631, in particular, when the vehicle surrounding image is displayed, when there is an object of attention that is an object requiring attention for the vehicle around the vehicle, an alternative image for calling attention to the object of attention is also displayed at a position of the object of attention. It is also disclosed that when an overhead image in which the surroundings of the vehicle is viewed vertically downward from a virtual viewpoint set above the vehicle is displayed as the vehicle surrounding image, the alternative image is inclined and displayed to improve the visibility of the alternative image. Japanese Patent No. 5165631 (paragraphs 0046 to 0050 and Fig. 10) (Reference 1) discloses that the visibility of the alternative image is improved even in the overhead image by displaying the alternative image in an inclined manner. How the alternative image is inclined is determined by a relative position of the alternative image with respect to the vehicle (corresponding to a relative position of the object of attention with respect to the vehicle). That is, when the relative position with respect to the vehicle is the same, the alternative image is similarly inclined regardless of a state of the object of attention. However, the purpose of displaying the alternative image is to call attention to the object of attention, and it is not sufficient to simply grasp the presence of the object of attention, and it is important to allow a user to recognize the state of the object of attention (for example, whether the object of attention is stopped, approaching a host vehicle side, or moving away). A need thus exists for a driving assistance device capable of improving visibility and prompting a user to alert according to a state of an object of attention by displaying a model image indicating the object of attention in an inclined manner in an overhead image according to the state of the object of attention. SUMMARY According to an aspect of this disclosure, there is provided a driving assistance device in which: an overhead image in which surroundings of a vehicle is viewed vertically downward from a virtual viewpoint set above the vehicle is displayed on a display device; when there is an object of attention, which is an object requiring attention for the vehicle, around the vehicle, a model image indicating an appearance of the object of attention is disposed and displayed at a position of the object of attention in the overhead image; and in displaying the model image, the model image is inclined and displayed in a direction in which a display area of the model image in the overhead image increases according to a state of the object of attention. The "overhead image" may be an image of an actual scene obtained by capturing images of the surroundings of the vehicle by an image-capturing device such as a camera, or may be a virtual image obtained by reproducing the surroundings of the vehicle by computer graphics (CG). In the case of an image of an actual scene, the captured image itself may be used, or an image obtained by processing the captured image may be used. For example, an image obtained by synthesizing images captured by a plurality of cameras or an image obtained by viewpoint conversion may be used. The "model image indicating an appearance of the object of attention" may be a model image having an appearance the same as or similar to the appearance of the object of attention, and the appearance of the object of attention and the appearance of the model image need not necessarily be the same or similar as long as the appearance of the object of attention can be grasped. According to the driving assistance device having the above configuration, when the object of attention is guided using the overhead image, the model image indicating the appearance of the object of attention is displayed according to the position of the object of attention. Particularly, by inclining and displaying the model image according to the state of the object of attention, th