Image display device and method

An image display device for a vehicle, comprising:

• means for capturing vehicle surroundings from a plurality of directions;
• means for composing a bird's-eye view image from multiple images of the vehicle surroundings so captured;
• means for detecting a presence of any obstacles in the vicinity of the vehicle;
• means for simultaneously displaying at least two discrete images to the driver, a first of the at least two discrete images including the bird's-eye view image and a second of the at least two discrete images including a single direct image picked up in a direction of an obstacle in response to detection of the obstacle;
• and
• means for sizing the second of the at least two discrete images to have a larger display size than a display size of the first of the at least two discrete images.

An image display method for a vehicle, comprising:

• capturing vehicle surroundings from a plurality of directions;
• composing a bird's-eye view image from multiple images of the vehicle surroundings so captured;
• detecting a presence of any obstacles in the vicinity of the vehicle;
• simultaneously displaying at least two discrete images to the driver, a first of the at least two discrete images including the bird's-eye view image and a second of the at least two discrete images including a single direct image picked up in a direction of an obstacle in response to detection of the obstacle;
• and
• sizing the second of the at least two discrete images to have a larger display size than a display size of the first of the at least two discrete images.

An image display device for a vehicle, comprising:

• multiple image pickup devices that capture multiple direct images of the vehicle surroundings in different directions;
• an image-processing device that composes a bird's-eye view image using the multiple direct images;
• and
• a display device that provides the bird's-eye view image to the driver;
• wherein the image-processing device displays simultaneously on the display device at least two discrete images, a first of the at least two discrete images including the bird's-eye view image and a second of the at least two discrete images including a direct image picked up by only one of the multiple direct image pickup devices;
• and
• wherein the display size of the second of the at least two discrete images is larger than the display size of the first of the at least two discrete images.