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US006515597B1
(12) United States Patent ao) Patent No.: us 6,515,597 Bi
Wada et al. (45) Date of Patent: Feb. 4,2003
(54) VICINITY DISPLAY FOR CAR
(75) Inventors: Jyqji Wada, Yokohama (JP); Masami Takahashi, Zushi (JP)
(73) Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., Osaka (JP)
( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term ol this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.
(21) Appl. No.: 09/937,515
(22) PCT Filed: Jan. 29, 2000
(86) PCT No.: PCT/JP01/00580
§ 371 (c)(1),
(2), (4) Date: Sep. 25, 2001
(87) PCT Pub. No.: WO01/58164 PCT Pub. Date: Aug. 9, 2001
(30) Foreign Application Priority Data
Jan. 31, 2000 (JP) 2000-022697
(51) Int. CI.7 G08G 1/123
(52) U.S. CI 340/988; 340/901; 340/903;
340/439; 340/995; 348/135; 348/143; 348/148;
348/149
(58) Field of Search 340/988, 901,
340/903, 435, 995; 348/135, 143, 148,
149
(56) References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
5,670,935 A * 9/1997 Schofield et al 340/461
5,798,575 A * 8/1998 O'Farrell et al 307/10.1
6,115,651 A * 9/2000 Cruz 701/1
6,122,597 A * 9/2000 Saneyyoshi et al 701/301
6,169,572 Bl * 1/2001 Sogawa 348/113
6,370,261 Bl * 4/2002 Hanawa 382/104
FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
JP 7-83693 3/1995
JP 7-329638 12/1995
JP 10-217852 8/1998
JP 11-44548 2/1999
JP 11-72342 3/1999
JP 11-160080 6/1999
* cited by examiner
Primary Examiner—Daniel J. Wu
Assistant Examiner—Tai T. Nguyen
(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Pearne & Gordon LLP
(57) ABSTRACT
A vehicle peripheral-area display apparatus comprising: a camera (11) for picking up images ol a peripheral area ol a vehicle (2); an integration processing unit (21) for detecting the vehicle's own position as positional information via a vehicle sensor (12); a memory (15) for storing present picture data as to the peripheral area ol the vehicle picked up by the camera (11), and also for storing positional information as to the picked up images ol peripheral area ol the vehicle; a picture composite unit (25) for reading past picture data corresponding to the positional information from the memory (15) by way ol a memory control unit (24), and for combining own vehicle shape data "x" with this past picture data; and a display control unit (26) for displaying the picture data combined by this picture composite process unit (25) on a monitor display unit (16). As a result, this vehicle peripheral-area display apparatus ol the present invention can display not only the road surface ol the lower portion ol the vehicle body ol this vehicle, but also the past peripheral-area.
7 Claims, 4 Drawing Sheets
