System for monitoring the front or rear parking space of a motor vehicle

A system for monitoring a space in front of or in a rear of a motor vehicle which is being parked, the system comprising:

• a video camera built into either the front or rear of the vehicle;
• a viewing and monitoring device, having a display screen, operatively coupled to said video camera, said viewing and monitoring device being located so as to be in a field of view of a driver of said vehicle;
• means for pivoting said video camera as a function of electric drive signals, said video camera having object-referenced image sharpness control of its optics, said sharpness control being effective over a whole image angle detected by said video camera such that a corresponding sharpness measuring field is able to follow an object over the entire display screen once it is detected;
• an image processing unit which subdivides an image picked up by said video camera into at least one of fields, quadrants, and an edge region arranged outside and a central region arranged inside an auxiliary frame as reference fields for discriminating the object subjected to said sharpness control across the display screen, said image processing unit discerning an instantaneous position of said sharpness measuring field with reference to said at least one of the fields, quadrants and edge and central regions of the auxiliary frame;
• said image processing unit generating said electric drive signals for said pivoting means to pivot the video camera such that the sharpness measuring field at least one of does not leave an original field or quadrant, reaches a predetermined field or predetermined quadrants, and does not cross from the central region over the auxiliary frame into the edge region of the image field, so as to one of counteract, neutralize and eliminate a sampling pivoting of the video camera from being triggered.