Patent Application
20120050534
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-186890, filed on Aug. 24, 2010, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a vehicle video system including a video camera which is installed on an exterior surface of vehicle body to image a front view field in front of a vehicle and a rear view field behind the vehicle and which delivers an obtained image to a monitor display installed near a driver's seat in a passenger compartment so that the image is displayed on the monitor display, and a video camera for use in the vehicle video system.
2. Related Art
A video camera is installed on a front end of the vehicle body or a front bumper to image a front view field in front of the vehicle in the above-described vehicle video system. Furthermore, a video camera is also installed on a rear end of the vehicle or a rear bumper to image a rear view field behind the vehicle. Japanese Patent Application Publication JP-A-2010-166196 discloses one of the aforementioned vehicle video systems.
No image of the vehicle body is displayed or a mere slight part of the bumper is displayed in the above-described video camera system provided with the video camera installed on the front or rear end or the front or rear bumper. More specifically, when a vehicle is parked in a predetermined space such as a garage, almost no part of the vehicle body is displayed on a monitor display although an obstacle such as a wall located in front of or behind the vehicle or a white line defining a parking space is displayed on the monitor display. Accordingly, the driver cannot sensuously get a distance between the vehicle body and the obstacle or the white line and the size of the vehicle body even when viewing the image on the monitor display. For this reason, the driver needs to visually look before and after the vehicle carefully.
Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a vehicle video system which can give the driver sensuous obtainment of a distance between the vehicle body and an obstacle or a white line defining a parking space and the size of the vehicle body even when the driver views the image on the monitor display, and a video camera therefor.
The present disclosure provides a vehicle video system including a video camera which is installed on an exterior surface of a vehicle body to image a front view field in front of the vehicle and a monitor display which is provided near a driver's seat in a passenger compartment to display an image of the front view field obtained by the video camera. The video camera is disposed on an upper end middle of a front window glass or on a part of a roof panel located near the upper end middle of the front window glass. The video camera images an upper surface of the vehicle body inclusive of right and left corners of a front of the vehicle body together with the front view field so that the monitor display displays an image of the front view field together with an image of the upper surface of the vehicle body inclusive of the right and left corners of the front of the vehicle body.
In the accompanying drawings:
A first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. Referring to
The video camera 20 includes a base 21 which is substantially rectangular in a planar shape and a tapered support pillar 22 standing on the base 21, as shown in
The base 21 and the support pillar 22 are formed integrally with each other from a nonrigid plastic such as gum resin. A bendable metal mandrel 26 is buried in the support pillar 22 to connect the camera head 24 and the base 21. The base 21 has an underside 21a which is formed so as to be flat. A double-faced tape 27 is stuck to the underside 21a.
The double-faced tape 27 is then stuck onto a rear window glass 12 so that the video camera 20 is fixed to the rear window glass 12, as shown in
The support pillar 22 of the video camera 20 is made of the nonrigid plastic, and the mandrel 26 is made of a bendable material. Accordingly, after the video camera 20 has been bonded and fixed to the rear window glass 12, the support pillar 22 is bent in the front-rear direction or in the right-left direction so that an imaging field angle A of the video camera 20 is adjusted.
The imaging field angle A of the video camera 20 is adjusted so that a rear view field C of the vehicle 10 is displayed on the monitor display 13 and so that an upper surface of a trunk 15 which is a rear part of the vehicle 10 is displayed together with right and left corners 15a of the trunk 15, as shown in
Another video camera 20 is also bonded and fixed to a front window glass 11 in the same manner as the rear window glass 12. An imaging field angle B of the video camera 20 is adjusted so that a front view field D of the vehicle 10 is displayed on the monitor display 13 and so that an upper surface of a hood or bonnet 16 which is a front part of the vehicle 10 is displayed together with right and left corners 16a of the hood 16. In the embodiment, the field angle B is adjusted so that an image scope of the hood 16 occupies substantially one third of the screen of the monitor display 13.
According to the above-described vehicle video system, the image of the upper surface of the hood 16 inclusive of the right and left corners is displayed on the monitor display 13 together with the image of the front view field D, or the image of the upper surface of the trunk 15 inclusive of the right and left corners is displayed on the monitor display 14 together with the image of the rear view field C. Accordingly, the driver can sensuously get a distance between the vehicle body and an obstacle or a white line defining a parking space and the size of the vehicle body while viewing the image on the monitor display. Consequently, the driver can put his/her vehicle into the garage or turn into a parking space more easily. Additionally, a selector switch (not shown) is provided for selecting the front or rear view field to be displayed on the monitor display 13.
The video camera 20 can be installed on existing vehicles since the video camera 20 is bonded onto the window glass 11 or 12 to be fixed in position. In particular, the underside 21a of the video camera 20 is made of the nonrigid plastic. As a result, the video camera 20 can be bonded closely to the window glass 11 or 12 more easily.
Furthermore, the direction of the camera head 24 can be adjusted in the up-down direction and in the right-left direction so that the image of the upper surface of the hood 16 inclusive of the right and left corners is displayed on the monitor display 13 together with the image of the front view field D, or so that the image of the upper surface of the trunk 15 inclusive of the right and left corners is displayed on the monitor display 14 together with the image of the rear view field C.
The differences of the video camera 30 from the video camera 20 in the first embodiment have now been described above. The video cameras 30 can be bonded and fixed to the window glasses 11 and 12 of the vehicle by the double-faced tape 36 in the same manner as in the first embodiment respectively.
After the video camera 30 has been fixed to the window glass 11 or 12, the second cylindrical shaft 33 is telescopically moved so that the level of the camera head 34 relative to the base 31 is adjusted. Accordingly, the imaging field angle A of the video camera 30 can more easily be adjusted so that the image of the upper surface of the hood 16 inclusive of the right and left corners is displayed on the monitor display 13 together with the image of the front view field D, or the image of the upper surface of the trunk 15 inclusive of the right and left corners is displayed on the monitor display 14 together with the image of the rear view field C, in the same manner as shown in
The video cameras 20 and 30 are bonded and fixed to the upper end middles of the front or rear window glasses 11 and 12 in the foregoing first and second embodiments respectively. However, each of the video cameras 20 and 30 may be installed on a part of a roof panel 17 located near the upper end middle of the front or rear view window glass 11 or 12. In this case, the video camera 20 or 30 may be bonded to or fixed to the roof panel 17 by small screws or the like.
The foregoing description and drawings are merely illustrative and are not to be construed in a limiting sense. Various changes and modifications will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. All such changes and modifications are seen to fall within the scope as defined by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-186890 | Aug 2010 | JP | national |
