Vehicle periphery visual confirmation apparatus

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention aims at eliminating the above drawbacks found in the conventional vehicle periphery visual confirmation apparatus.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a vehicle periphery visual confirmation apparatus capable of preventing occurrence of a vision image which is caused when light entering from the outside through one of right and left penetration window portions passes through the adjacent area of the vertical angle portion of the right and left prism side surfaces of a prism and is then reflected by the opposite-side penetration window portion.
In attaining the above object, according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a vehicle periphery visual confirmation apparatus comprising a picture camera apparatus disposed on the outside of a vehicle, the picture camera apparatus comprising: a case including a pair of right and left penetration window portions respectively formed on the two sides thereof; a prism having an isosceles-triangular-shaped section and disposed within the case in such an attitude that its vertical angle portion faces the front portion of the case and its right and left prism side surfaces corresponding to the two equal sides of its isosceles triangle shape respectively face the right and right penetration window portions; and, an imaging device which is disposed in the rear of the prism and also which, when light rays entering from one of the right and left prism side surfaces are reflected by the other of the right and left prism side surfaces and are radiated from the prism rear surface of the prism, focuses the light rays onto an imaging surface of the imaging device through a given imaging lens to thereby convert the light rays into image signals, wherein, between the vertical angle portion of the prism and the front end wall of the case, there is interposed light shielding means for shielding light rays crossing substantially in the right and left direction in front of the prism.
According to a second aspect of the invention, in a vehicle periphery visual confirmation apparatus as set forth in the first aspect of the invention, the light shielding means is formed integral with the front end wall of the case