JP2010146443A - On-vehicle camera control system - Google Patents

Abstract

A vehicle-mounted camera control system capable of optimizing the number of recorded images while effectively using a vehicle-mounted camera as a security camera.
A vehicle-mounted device having an in-vehicle camera that captures an image around the vehicle based on a trigger signal received from the outside of the vehicle and a trigger signal transmitted to the vehicle based on trigger information from a base station. On the other hand, the communication station 3 that transmits the image received from the vehicle 2 to the base station 4 and the trigger interval for transmitting the trigger signal are calculated and the trigger information is transmitted to the communication station 3, while the image is received from the communication station 3. The base station 4 is provided with an image recording device 31 for recording the image, and a trigger interval for transmitting a trigger signal is calculated according to the traffic volume on the road where the communication station 3 is installed.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle camera control system.

Conventionally, a vehicle equipped with a so-called drive recorder that captures an image at the time of an accident with an in-vehicle camera is known. Furthermore, in recent years, a system that collects accident images from multiple directions by automatically receiving image data from a plurality of automobiles equipped with a drive recorder via radio is known (for example, Patent Documents 1 to 3). reference).
On the other hand, in recent years, security cameras may be installed along roads for the purpose of acquiring images of suspicious persons or the like. In such a security camera system, it is desired to reduce the blind spot in order to surely shoot a suspicious person, but in order to reduce the blind spot, an additional camera is required and the cost increases. Therefore, it is desired to effectively use the above-described on-vehicle camera.
JP 2006-350520 A JP 2006-293558 A JP 2008-217218 A

  By the way, when trying to divert the vehicle-mounted camera described above as a security camera, it may be possible to request the vehicle to transmit captured images at a predetermined interval. However, if there are a large number of vehicles that pass, there are many similar images. It will be sent and recorded. In addition, if the interval between image transmission requests is increased based on the case where the number of vehicles is large, the vehicle between the transmission of the previous transmission request and the transmission of the next transmission request when the number of vehicles passing through is small. There is a problem that the image acquisition timing may be lost.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an in-vehicle camera control system capable of optimizing the number of images recorded while effectively using an in-vehicle camera as a security camera.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the invention described in claim 1 is a vehicle-mounted camera (for example, an implementation) that captures an image of the periphery of the vehicle based on a trigger signal received from the outside of the vehicle (for example, the vehicle 2 in the embodiment). In-vehicle camera 10), in-vehicle image processing means (for example, in-vehicle ECU 12 in the embodiment) for performing processing for transmitting the image to the outside of the vehicle, and receiving the trigger signal from the outside of the vehicle, Vehicle-mounted devices (for example, vehicle-mounted device 14 in the embodiment) each mounted with a vehicle-mounted communication device (for example, communication device 13 in the embodiment) that transmits the image processed by the vehicle-mounted image processing device to the outside of the vehicle. And a first roadside machine communication means (e.g., receiving an image from the vehicle-mounted communication means while transmitting the trigger signal to the vehicle-mounted communication means) , Vehicle-to-vehicle communication means 20) in the embodiment, and interval information (for example, trigger information in the embodiment) for transmitting the trigger signal from the first roadside machine communication means to the vehicle-mounted communication means is set to a base station (for example, Second roadside machine communication means (for example, communication means 22 in the embodiment) for receiving the image received by the first roadside machine communication means while transmitting from the base station 4) in the embodiment to the base station. Roadside devices installed on the road (for example, the communication station 3 in the embodiment), trigger interval calculation means for calculating the interval for transmitting the trigger signal (for example, the trigger interval calculation unit 33 in the embodiment), Base station communication means (for example, receiving the image from the roadside machine while transmitting the calculation result by the trigger interval calculation means to the roadside machine as interval information) The base station provided with the communication means 30 in the embodiment and the image recording means for recording the image received by the base station communication means (for example, the image recording device 31 in the embodiment), The trigger interval calculating means calculates an interval for transmitting the trigger signal according to a traffic volume on a road where the roadside device is installed.

  The invention described in claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention described in claim 1, the trigger interval calculation means lengthens the trigger interval as the traffic volume increases.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the in-vehicle device includes positioning means for measuring the current position of the vehicle (for example, the own vehicle position measuring unit 11 in the embodiment). The vehicle image processing means transmits the image and the current position in association with each other.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, the in-vehicle communication unit and the first roadside unit communication unit include a narrow area wireless communication unit (for example, implementation) DSRC) in the form of

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the roadside device is installed at an intersection.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the interval for transmitting the trigger signal calculated according to the traffic volume by the trigger interval calculation means of the base station is the interval information as the second roadside device of the roadside machine via the base station communication means. When transmitted to the communication means, a trigger signal is transmitted to the first roadside machine communication means of the roadside machine according to the interval information received by the second roadside machine communication means, and this trigger signal is received by the in-vehicle communication means. Then, an image around the vehicle is taken by the in-vehicle camera in accordance with the reception timing of the trigger signal. And, for example, when the vehicle image processing means performs a process for associating the imaged vehicle position information, the imaged time information, and the like as a process for transmitting the imaged image to the outside of the vehicle, The image after this processing is transmitted to the first roadside machine communication means of the roadside machine via the in-vehicle communication means, and when the image is received by the first roadside machine communication means, the image is received by the second roadside machine communication means. To the base station communication means of the station. When the image is received by the base station communication means, this image is recorded in the image recording means.
Therefore, images are taken at intervals according to the traffic volume on the road where the roadside machine is installed, that is, at a frequency corresponding to the number of vehicles traveling on the road where the roadside machine is installed, thereby recording useless images. Therefore, it is possible to prevent an image recording omission due to a small number of vehicles passing therethrough, and there is an effect that the number of images recorded in the image recording means can be optimized.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, as the traffic volume increases, the trigger interval calculated by the trigger interval calculation means becomes longer. For example, the vehicle frequently passes on the road where the roadside machine is installed due to traffic congestion or the like. Even in this case, since it is possible to prevent the images from being frequently transmitted to the roadside machine, it is possible to prevent unnecessary images from being recorded in the image recording unit. is there.

  According to the invention described in claim 3, since the current position measured by the positioning means of the in-vehicle device can be transmitted as imaged position information in association with the image by the image processing means, the image recording means of the base station There is an effect that it is possible to easily identify the position where the image recorded in the image is taken, that is, which roadside machine is the image of the road.

  According to the invention described in claim 4, by using the narrow-area wireless communication means, it is possible to identify the counterpart vehicle-mounted communication means with which the first roadside machine communication means is communicating. There is an effect that the influence of transmission and reception performed by the in-vehicle communication means can be eliminated.

  According to the invention described in claim 5, at the intersection, since images taken from different angles can be obtained from the vehicle-mounted camera according to the number of intersecting roads, a conventional security camera is used. As compared with the case of imaging, there is an effect that a useful image can be easily acquired while suppressing an increase in cost due to an increase in the number of cameras.

Next, an in-vehicle camera control system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the in-vehicle camera control system 1 includes a vehicle 2, a communication station 3, and a base station 4.
The vehicle 2 is an unspecified number of vehicles equipped with a so-called drive recorder that records images outside the vehicle during driving. The vehicle-mounted camera 10, the vehicle position measuring unit (GPS) 11, the vehicle-mounted ECU 12, and the communication means 13 The vehicle equipment 14 which consists of is provided.

  The in-vehicle camera 10 is a camera that captures a predetermined range in front of the vehicle. For example, the in-vehicle camera 10 is attached in the vicinity of a room mirror in the vehicle interior and captures an image at a timing when an imaging command signal is input from the in-vehicle ECU 12. The in-vehicle camera 10 performs predetermined image processing such as filtering, brightness adjustment, and hue adjustment on the captured image, and generates image data including pixels in a two-dimensional array. Then, the in-vehicle camera 10 outputs the generated image data to the in-vehicle ECU 12.

  The own vehicle position measuring unit 11 corrects an error of a GPS (Global Positioning System) signal for measuring the position of the vehicle using an artificial satellite or a GPS signal using an appropriate base station, for example, to determine the positioning accuracy. A GPS receiver (not shown) that receives a positioning signal such as a D (Differential) GPS signal, a vehicle speed sensor (not shown) that detects a vehicle speed (vehicle speed), and the vehicle in a horizontal plane And the inclination angle with respect to the vertical direction (for example, the inclination angle of the vehicle longitudinal axis with respect to the vertical direction and the yaw angle that is the rotation angle around the vertical axis of the center of gravity of the vehicle) and the amount of change in the inclination angle (for example, the yaw rate) ) And a gyro sensor (not shown) for detecting the current vehicle position by a received positioning signal or by an autonomous navigation calculation process based on a detection signal such as a vehicle speed or a yaw rate. Calculate the position. Then, the own vehicle position measuring unit 11 outputs the calculated current position of the vehicle to the in-vehicle ECU 12 or a car navigation device (not shown) as vehicle position data.

  The in-vehicle ECU 12 is an arithmetic unit that executes a program stored in advance in a storage unit (not shown), and outputs a photographing command signal to the in-vehicle camera 10 when a trigger signal is input from the communication unit 13. Further, when the captured image data is input from the in-vehicle camera 10, the in-vehicle ECU 12 associates the input image data with the vehicle position data and the imaging time data input from the own vehicle position measuring unit 11. Output to the communication means 13.

The communication means 13 is a wireless transmission / reception device provided in the in-vehicle device 14 for performing bidirectional communication with the vehicle communication means 20 (described later) of the communication station 3, mainly by ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) or the like. DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications) used is used. The transceiver using the DSRC has a modulation / demodulation circuit such as ASK or QPSK.
When the image data in which the vehicle position data and the imaging time data are associated is input from the in-vehicle ECU 12, the communication unit 13 performs predetermined modulation according to the data and wirelessly outputs the data to the communication station 3, while the communication station When the data is received from the vehicle-to-vehicle communication means 20, the demodulated trigger signal is output to the in-vehicle ECU 12. Here, since the DSRC communication distance is set to be relatively short, the communication station 3 can reliably communicate with each vehicle.

  The communication station 3 is a roadside device that collects images taken by the in-vehicle camera 10 in the vicinity of the installation location, and is installed, for example, along a road, particularly near an intersection such as a crossroad or a T-junction. The communication station 3 includes an in-vehicle communication unit 20, an image file creation device 21, and a communication unit 22.

  The vehicle-to-vehicle communication unit 20 performs two-way communication by DSRC with respect to the communication unit 13 of the in-vehicle device 14 described above. In FIG. 1, only one vehicle-to-vehicle communication unit 20 is shown for convenience of illustration, but this vehicle-to-vehicle communication unit 20 joins at least an intersection when the communication station 3 is installed near a crossroad, for example. Four vehicle-to-vehicle communication means 20 having directivity with respect to each four-way road are provided so as to perform two-way communication with the vehicle-mounted device 14 of the vehicle 2 existing on each of the four-way roads. The communication distance of these four vehicle-to-vehicle communication means 20 is set to a predetermined distance so as to be able to communicate with the vehicle 2 existing at a predetermined position on each of the four roads joining the intersection. Similarly, when the communication station 3 is installed in the vicinity of the T-junction, at least three vehicle-to-vehicle communication means 20 are provided, and in the case of a single road, at least one vehicle-to-vehicle communication means 20 is provided.

  When the trigger information is input from the communication unit 22 of the communication station 3, the vehicle-to-vehicle communication unit 20 generates a trigger signal based on the trigger information and transmits the trigger signal to a predetermined in-vehicle device 14. Further, when the vehicle-to-vehicle communication unit 20 receives and demodulates the image data associated with the vehicle position data and the imaging time data from the in-vehicle device 14, the image data associated with the vehicle position data and the imaging time data is obtained. Output to the image file creation device 21. Here, the trigger information is calculated based on traffic jam information (traffic volume), and information on the time interval at which imaging is performed by the in-vehicle camera 10, that is, the time interval at which the trigger signal is transmitted to the in-vehicle device 14. Information.

  The image file creation device 21 uses the image time data associated with the image data input to the plurality of vehicle-to-vehicle communication means 20 to convert the images imaged at the same time into a single image file. After performing the conversion processing, file compression processing is performed to reduce the capacity of the image file after the processing. Then, the image file creation device 21 outputs the compressed image file to the communication unit 22. Note that the image file includes, for example, the imaging time and the acquired ID information of the communication station in a header, for example.

  The communication means 22 performs two-way communication with the communication means 30 of the base station 4 in a wired or wireless manner. When a compressed image file is input from the image file creation device 21, the compressed image file Data is modulated and sequentially output to the base station 4. Further, when the data of the trigger information modulated from the base station 4 is input, the communication unit 22 demodulates the data and outputs the demodulated trigger information data to the vehicle-to-vehicle communication unit 20.

The base station 4 performs control processing of image acquisition in each communication station 3 by transmitting trigger information to each communication station 3, and includes a communication means 30, an image recording device 31, a traffic jam information acquisition device 32, The trigger interval calculation unit 33 is provided.
The communication unit 30 performs two-way communication with the communication unit 22 of the communication station 3 by wire or wireless. The communication unit 30 demodulates the modulated image file data input from the communication station 3 and converts the image file into an image. Output to the recording device 31.

  The image recording apparatus 31 includes a large-capacity storage device such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) or an HDD (Hard Disk Drive). When an image file is input from the communication unit 30, the image file is converted into an image file. Is sequentially recorded for each communication station 3 that has transmitted. These image files recorded in the image recording device 31 can be searched by designating various conditions such as an imaging time and an imaging position (acquired communication station) included in the image file by an information terminal (not shown). It has become.

  The traffic jam information obtaining device 32 is a device that obtains road traffic information such as traffic jams and traffic accidents from the outside. and Communication System) and update road traffic information in near real time (for example, every 5 minutes). Then, the traffic jam information obtaining device 32 outputs the traffic jam information based on the obtained road traffic information to the trigger interval calculation unit 33. Note that road traffic information of roads may be acquired via other communication lines such as the Internet line, not limited to VICS. For example, a traffic jam map based on past traffic jam information may be created and stored. Alternatively, this traffic jam map may be output as traffic jam information.

The trigger interval calculation unit 33 calculates a trigger interval for each communication station 3 based on the traffic jam information input from the traffic jam information acquisition device 32. The trigger interval calculated by the trigger interval calculation unit 33 is a time interval for capturing an image with the in-vehicle camera 10, and the more the traffic volume on the road near the communication station 3 is increased due to traffic congestion or the like. become longer. This is because the probability that the vehicle 2 is present at a communicable position is very high on a road where traffic congestion has occurred, and the more the same imaging interval and the larger the traffic volume, the more similar images are recorded. Because.
Then, the calculation result of the trigger interval for each communication station 3 by the trigger interval calculation unit 33 is output to the communication means 30 as trigger information and transmitted to the corresponding communication station 3.

The in-vehicle camera control system 1 of this embodiment has the above-described configuration. Next, the operation of the in-vehicle camera control system 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
In step S01, the traffic information is acquired by the traffic jam information obtaining device 32.
Next, in step S02, the trigger interval calculation unit 33 calculates the trigger interval.
Further, in step S03, trigger information is transmitted from the base station 4 to the communication station 3 via the communication means 30.

In step S04, it is determined whether or not the trigger information is received by the communication means 22 of the communication station 3. If the determination result in step S04 is “No” (no reception), the determination process in step S04 is repeated again to wait for reception.
On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S04 is “Yes” (reception occurs), the process proceeds to step S05, and the trigger signal is generated by the vehicle communication means 20 based on the trigger information received by the communication means 22 of the communication station 3. To the vehicle-mounted device 14 of the vehicle 2.

In step S06, it is determined whether the trigger signal is received by the communication means 13 of the in-vehicle device 14 or not. If the determination result in step S06 is “No” (no reception), the determination process in step S06 is repeated again to wait for reception.
On the other hand, if the determination result in step S06 is “Yes” (reception is present), the process proceeds to step S07, where a shooting command is output from the in-vehicle ECU 12 to the in-vehicle camera 10, and an external image of the vehicle 2 is captured.

In step S08, as processing of an image captured by the in-vehicle ECU 12, position data and imaging time data are associated with the image as image data based on the vehicle position data input from the vehicle position measuring unit 11.
In step S <b> 09, the image data is transmitted from the in-vehicle device 14 of the vehicle 2 to the communication station 3 via the communication unit 13.
In step S10, it is determined whether or not image data is received by the communication station 3.
If the determination result in step S10 is “No” (no reception), the determination process in step S10 is repeated again to wait for reception.
On the other hand, if the determination result in step S10 is “Yes” (reception occurs), the process proceeds to step S11, where the received image data is filed by the image file creation device 21, and the filed image file is compressed in step S12. Then, the data is transmitted to the base station 4 via the communication means 22.

In step S13, it is determined whether the base station 4 has received an image file. If the determination result in step S13 is “No” (no reception), the determination process in step S13 is repeated again to wait for reception.
On the other hand, if the determination result in step S13 is “Yes” (reception is present), the process proceeds to step S14, the image file is recorded in the image recording device 31, this series of processes is once terminated, and the process returns.

  In other words, when the interval for transmitting the trigger signal calculated according to the traffic volume by the trigger interval calculation unit 33 of the base station 4 is transmitted to the communication station 3 as the trigger information, the vehicle-to-vehicle communication means 20 of the communication station 3 that has received the trigger information. In the vehicle-mounted device 14 that has transmitted the trigger signal toward the vehicle 2 and received the trigger signal, the vehicle-mounted camera 10 captures an image around the vehicle according to the trigger signal reception timing, and the vehicle 2 position information and the image are captured. After performing the process of associating the time information, the image data is transmitted to the communication station 3. Further, in the communication station 3 that has received the image data, the image data captured at the same time is converted into a file, the image file that has been filed is transmitted to the base station 4, and the base station 4 that has received the image file The received image file is recorded in the image recording device 31.

  Here, FIG. 3 shows an example of image acquisition at the communication station 3 installed at the T-shaped intersection. At this T-shaped intersection, the A vehicle, the B vehicle, and the vehicles existing on the intersecting roads, respectively, , A trigger signal is transmitted from the communication station 3 toward the C vehicle, and in the A vehicle, the B vehicle, and the C vehicle, imaging by the in-vehicle camera 10 is performed at the timing when the trigger signal is input. FIGS. 4A to 4C show examples of images taken by the A vehicle, the B vehicle, and the C vehicle, and are images taken from different angles. 3 and 4, when a suspicious person is present at the T-shaped intersection, since a plurality of images are taken from different angles, the images taken with the A vehicle and the C vehicle are suspicious. Although the person's face is not captured, the suspicious person's face is captured by an image captured by the B vehicle at a different angle.

  Therefore, according to the vehicle-mounted camera control system 1 in the above-described embodiment, the trigger interval according to the traffic volume of the nearby road where the communication station 3 is installed, i.e., the vehicle passes through the nearby road where the communication station 3 is installed. Since images are taken at a timing according to the quantity of the vehicles 2, the number of image files recorded in the image recording device 31 is optimized by preventing the images from being recorded excessively or causing imaging omissions. be able to.

  Further, the trigger interval calculated by the trigger interval calculation unit 33 becomes longer as the traffic volume increases, so that the transmission interval of the trigger signal is increased when the vehicle 2 frequently passes through the road where the communication station 3 is installed due to traffic congestion. Since the image becomes longer and images can be prevented from being frequently transmitted to the communication station 3, it is possible to prevent unnecessary images from being recorded in the image recording means.

  Furthermore, since the current position measured by the vehicle position measuring unit 11 of the in-vehicle device 14 can be transmitted as imaged position information in association with the image by the in-vehicle ECU 12, it is recorded in the image recording device 31 of the base station 4. Therefore, it is possible to easily identify the position where the current image is captured, that is, which communication station 3 is the road image.

  Then, by using DSRC (narrow band radio), the communication means 13 of the other party with which the vehicle-to-vehicle communication means 20 is communicating can be specified, and therefore the influence of transmission / reception performed by the communication means 13 of the other vehicle 2 Can be eliminated.

  In addition, at the intersection, images taken from different angles depending on the number of road intersections can be obtained from the in-vehicle camera 10 of the vehicle 2, so that it is compared with the case where the image is captured using a conventional security camera. Thus, useful images can be easily acquired while suppressing an increase in cost due to an increase in the number of cameras.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the vehicle 2 includes only the in-vehicle camera 10 that captures the front is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, in addition to the front of the vehicle 2, the rear or side You may make it provide the vehicle-mounted camera 10 which images.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the process of associating the imaging time data with the image data is performed in the vehicle 2 is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the communication station 3 associates the imaging time data. May be.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the vehicle-mounted camera control system in embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the vehicle-mounted camera control system in embodiment of this invention. It is an acquisition image figure of the image data in a T-junction intersection. It is a figure which shows the image imaged with each vehicle shown in FIG. 3 at the same time, (a) is the image imaged with A vehicle, (b) is the image imaged with B vehicle, (c) is C vehicle The image imaged by is shown.

Explanation of symbols

2 Vehicle 3 Communication station (roadside machine)
4 base station 10 vehicle-mounted camera 12 vehicle-mounted ECU (vehicle-mounted image processing means)
13 Communication means (vehicle communication means)
14 vehicle-mounted device 20 vehicle-to-vehicle communication means (first roadside device communication means)
22 Communication means (second roadside machine communication means)
30 communication means (base station communication means)
31 Image recording device (image recording means)
33 Trigger interval calculation unit (trigger interval calculation means)

Claims (5)

An in-vehicle camera that captures an image around the vehicle based on a trigger signal received from outside the vehicle;
Vehicle-mounted image processing means for performing processing for transmitting the image to the outside of the vehicle;
An in-vehicle device mounted on the vehicle, each of which includes an in-vehicle communication unit that receives the trigger signal from the outside of the vehicle and transmits an image processed by the in-vehicle image processing unit to the outside of the vehicle;
A first roadside machine communication means for transmitting the trigger signal to the in-vehicle communication means, and receiving an image from the in-vehicle communication means;
A second roadside for receiving interval information for transmitting the trigger signal from the first roadside machine communication means to the in-vehicle communication means from the base station, while transmitting the image received by the first roadside machine communication means to the base station. A roadside machine installed on the road, each having a machine communication means,
Trigger interval calculation means for calculating an interval for transmitting the trigger signal;
Base station communication means for transmitting the calculation result by the trigger interval calculation means to the roadside machine as interval information, and receiving the image from the roadside machine;
Each comprising a base station comprising image recording means for recording the image received by the base station communication means,
The in-vehicle camera control system, wherein the trigger interval calculation means calculates an interval for transmitting the trigger signal in accordance with a traffic volume on a road where the roadside unit is installed.   The in-vehicle camera control system according to claim 1, wherein the trigger interval calculation means lengthens the trigger interval as the traffic volume increases. The in-vehicle device includes positioning means for measuring the current position of the vehicle,
The in-vehicle camera control system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle image processing unit transmits the image in association with the current position.   The in-vehicle camera control system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the in-vehicle communication unit and the first roadside unit communication unit are narrow area radio communication units.   The in-vehicle camera control system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the roadside unit is installed at an intersection.

Images