Method and device for collecting video of accident vehicle

Abstract

The invention discloses a method and a device for collecting videos of an accident vehicle. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring position information of the accident vehicle when an accident occurs; identifying surrounding vehicles located within a predetermined distance from the accident vehicle based on the location information; obtaining, from the surrounding vehicles, a video in which the data size of the captured video of the accident vehicle is reduced; and outputting the video with the reduced data size.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for collecting video of accident vehicles. Background Technology

[0002] The statements in this section are provided only as background information in connection with this disclosure and do not necessarily constitute prior art.

[0003] When a vehicle accident occurs, collecting video recordings of the accident scene is crucial for accurately identifying and analyzing the accident situation. However, previous methods and devices for collecting accident video footage suffer from slow data transmission speeds when sending video recordings of the accident to other vehicles or servers due to a lack of separate processing.

[0004] Similarly, the problem of slow data transmission has always existed in methods and devices that provide vehicles with traffic information, including road conditions, due to the lack of separate data processing when sending event information to other vehicles or servers.

[0005] Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus for collecting accident videos that can improve data transmission speed. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The purpose of this disclosure is to provide a method and apparatus for collecting video of an accident vehicle. More specifically, the purpose of this disclosure is to provide a method and apparatus for identifying surrounding vehicles and obtaining video of the accident vehicle from the surrounding vehicles based on the location information of the accident vehicle, while reducing the data size of the video before the surrounding vehicles send the video to the video collection device, thereby improving the data transmission speed.

[0007] The technical objectives of this disclosure are not limited to those described above, and other technical objectives not mentioned above can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

[0008] One embodiment of this disclosure provides a method for collecting captured video of an accident vehicle. The method includes: obtaining location information of the accident vehicle at the time of the accident; identifying surrounding vehicles located within a predetermined distance from the accident vehicle based on the location information; obtaining a video from the surrounding vehicles with a reduced data size of the captured video of the accident vehicle; and outputting the video with the reduced data size.

[0009] Another embodiment of this disclosure provides an apparatus for collecting captured video of an accident vehicle, comprising: at least one memory configured to store instructions; and at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor executes instructions to cause the processor to perform the following steps: obtaining location information of the accident vehicle at the time of the accident; identifying surrounding vehicles located within a predetermined distance from the accident vehicle based on the location information; obtaining a video from the surrounding vehicles with a reduced data size of the captured video of the accident vehicle; and outputting the video with the reduced data size.

[0010] According to one embodiment of this disclosure, by reducing the size of video data before sending video data of accident vehicles to a video collection device, network bandwidth can be saved while providing sufficient information for analyzing the accident situation.

[0011] According to one embodiment of this disclosure, data transmission speed can be improved by reducing the data size of video sent from surrounding vehicles to the video collection device.

[0012] The technical effects of this disclosure are not limited to those described above. Those skilled in the art to which this disclosure pertains may understand other technical effects not mentioned herein from the following description. Attached Figure Description

[0013] Figure 1 This is a diagram illustrating an accident vehicle, surrounding vehicles, and a video collection device according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0014] Figure 2 This is a diagram illustrating road conditions during an accident according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0015] Figure 3 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating a method for collecting captured video of an accident vehicle according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0016] Figure 4 This is a diagram illustrating a method for calculating the minimum angle according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 5 This is a diagram illustrating a method for selecting a portion of a region from the entire region based on a minimum angle, according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of a computing device that can be used to implement the apparatus and methods described herein. Detailed Implementation

[0019] Some exemplary embodiments of this disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, although elements are shown in different figures, the same reference numerals preferably denote the same elements. Furthermore, in the following description of some embodiments, for clarity and brevity, detailed descriptions of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted.

[0020] Furthermore, various terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), (b), etc., are used only to distinguish one component from other components and do not imply or indicate the composition, order, or sequence of components. Throughout the specification, when a component "comprises" or "includes" a component, unless otherwise expressly stated, that component means that other components are also included, not excluded. Terms such as "unit," "module," etc., refer to one or more units for performing at least one function or operation, which may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination thereof.

[0021] The following detailed description and accompanying drawings are intended to illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and are not intended to represent the only embodiments that may be practiced with respect to the present disclosure.

[0022] In this disclosure, shrinking and reducing are used interchangeably. For example, the process of shrinking the size of specific data and the process of reducing the size of specific data can be the same.

[0023] Figure 1 This is a diagram illustrating an accident vehicle, surrounding vehicles, and a video collection device according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 2 This is a diagram illustrating road conditions during an accident according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0024] Reference Figure 1 The image shows the vehicle involved in the accident (the vehicle involved in the accident) 10, surrounding vehicles (vehicles near the accident) 11, and a video collection device 12. The surrounding vehicles 11 can be one or more vehicles located within a certain distance of the accident vehicle 10. This distance can be preset. The surrounding vehicles 11 may include a first surrounding vehicle 110, a second surrounding vehicle 112, a third surrounding vehicle 114, a fourth surrounding vehicle 116, and a fifth surrounding vehicle 118. The first, second, third, fourth, and fifth are random and do not necessarily imply a sequential increase in distance from the accident vehicle. Figure 2 The vehicle shown is the accident vehicle 10, the other vehicle involved in the collision or the collision vehicle 20, the first surrounding vehicle 110, the second surrounding vehicle 112, the third surrounding vehicle 114, the fourth surrounding vehicle 116, and the fifth surrounding vehicle 118.

[0025] The accident vehicle 10 and the surrounding vehicles 11 can be connected vehicles. Connected vehicles can be connected cars. The accident vehicle 10 and the surrounding vehicles 11 can communicate with each other via the internet. The process of exchanging information between the accident vehicle 10 and the surrounding vehicles 11 can be vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication.

[0026] The accident vehicle 10 and surrounding vehicles 11 may have video capture devices or cameras (not shown) attached to them. The camera may be a device that records the interior of the vehicle, a device that records the exterior of the vehicle, or a device that records both the interior and exterior of the vehicle. The camera may be a dashcam. A dashcam may be an external dashcam or an internal dashcam. An internal dashcam may be referred to as a built-in camera.

[0027] The accident vehicle 10 and surrounding vehicles 11 may have displays (not shown) attached to them. The video collection device 12 may use the attached displays to output video with reduced data size. The displays may be installed in various locations within the vehicle. The displays may include one or more of an instrument panel display, a central display, a head-up display, a passenger display, or a rear-seat entertainment display. The displays may be implemented using panel technologies such as high-resolution thin-film transistors (TFTs) or organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and may include touch input or gesture recognition functionality.

[0028] The video collection device 12 can be implemented using a server. The server can be one of the following: a cloud server, a web server, a database server, and an application server, or a combination thereof.

[0029] exist Figure 1 In the diagram, the accident vehicle 10, surrounding vehicles 11, and video collection device 12 are arranged in a row. However, this configuration is for illustrative purposes only. In actual application, the accident vehicle 10 and surrounding vehicles 11 can be arranged as follows: Figure 2 The arrangement is shown.

[0030] Figure 3 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating a method for collecting captured video of an accident vehicle according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0031] Reference Figure 3 The video collection device 12 can obtain the location information of the accident vehicle 10 when the accident occurs (S310). This location information can be based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) information. For example, when the video collection device 12 is notified that an accident has occurred between the accident vehicle 10 and the colliding vehicle 20, the video collection device 12 can obtain the location information of the accident vehicle 10 at the time of the accident based on the location information of the accident vehicle 10 recorded over time.

[0032] Based on the location information of the accident vehicle 10, the video collection device 12 can identify vehicles located within a certain distance of the accident vehicle 10, namely, surrounding vehicles 11 (S320). For example, based on the obtained location information of the accident vehicle 10, the video collection device 12 can identify vehicles located within a certain radius of the accident vehicle 10 and the colliding vehicle 20 among the vehicles that can communicate with the video collection device 12 via the Internet, such as the first surrounding vehicle 110, the second surrounding vehicle 112, the third surrounding vehicle 114, the fourth surrounding vehicle 116, and the fifth surrounding vehicle 118.

[0033] The video collection device 12 can obtain a video (S330) from the surrounding vehicles 11 with a reduced data size of the captured video of the accident vehicle 10. For example, the video collection device 12 can obtain a video generated based on the captured video of the accident vehicle 10 from the first surrounding vehicle 110. Similarly, the video collection device 12 can obtain a video generated based on the captured video of the accident vehicle 10 from each of the second surrounding vehicle 112, the third surrounding vehicle 114, the fourth surrounding vehicle 116, and the fifth surrounding vehicle 118. The captured video of the accident vehicle 10 can be video captured using a camera (not shown) attached to the surrounding vehicles 11. The videos captured by the various surrounding vehicles can be videos of the same scene taken from different positions and angles. The video with a reduced data size of the captured video of the accident vehicle 10 can be a processed video whose frame data size is reduced by cropping a portion of the entire area from one or more of the multiple frames included in the original video. The process of cropping a portion of the entire area can also be represented as selecting a portion of the entire area.

[0034] In one example, the process of selecting a portion of the entire area may include selecting the portion based on a value calculated using at least one of the distance between the accident vehicle 10 and the surrounding vehicles 11 and the overall width of the accident vehicle 10. The value calculated using at least one of the distance between the accident vehicle 10 and the surrounding vehicles 11 and the overall width of the accident vehicle 10 may be a minimum angle. The method for calculating the minimum angle based on the distance between the accident vehicle 10 and the surrounding vehicles 11 and the overall width of the accident vehicle 10 will be described in more detail below.

[0035] The video collection device 12 can output video with a reduced data size (S340). For example, the video collection device 12 can use displays installed in one or more of the accident vehicle 10 and surrounding vehicles 11 to output video with a reduced data size. The displays can be installed in various locations within the vehicle. The displays may include one or more of an instrument panel display, a central display, a head-up display, a passenger display, or a rear-seat entertainment display. The displays can be implemented using panel technologies such as high-resolution thin-film transistors (TFTs) or organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and may include touch input or gesture recognition functionality.

[0036] Figure 4 This is a diagram illustrating a method for calculating the minimum angle according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0037] Reference Figure 4 The image shows the accident vehicle 10 and the fourth surrounding vehicle 116. (See reference...) Figure 2 The fourth surrounding vehicle 116 uses a front-facing video capture device or a forward-facing camera to film the accident vehicle 10, obtaining video of the accident vehicle 10. Assume the center of the accident vehicle 10 is P. TV The center of the fourth surrounding vehicle 116 is P. SV Then P TV To P SV The distance is D1; ​​the unit of D1 can be meters. An arbitrary value set based on the overall width of the accident vehicle 10 is D2; D2 can be equal to or greater than the overall width of the accident vehicle 10; the unit of D2 can be meters. Based on D1 and D2, the minimum angle can be calculated. The expression for calculating the minimum angle is shown in Formula 1. The minimum angle can be represented by θ.

[0038] Formula 1:

[0039] The minimum angle can be the smallest angle at which the entire accident vehicle 10 is visible within the field of view of the surrounding vehicles 11. For example, when selecting a portion of the entire area, the minimum angle can be calculated to set a limit value, thereby preventing parts of the captured video of the accident vehicle 10 from being cropped. For example, the fourth surrounding vehicle 116 can crop the captured frames of the accident vehicle 10 only within the angle range greater than or equal to the minimum angle.

[0040] Figure 5 This is a diagram illustrating a method for selecting a portion of a region from the entire region based on a minimum angle, according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0041] Reference Figure 5The diagram shows a frame included in the captured video of the accident vehicle 10. This frame could be a frame included in the video of the accident vehicle 10 captured by a surrounding vehicle (e.g., a fourth surrounding vehicle 116) located behind the accident vehicle 10. The surrounding vehicle 11 can calculate the minimum angle at which the entire accident vehicle 10 is visible based on Formula 1, and can select a partial region 510 based on the minimum angle. For example, cropping from the entire region 500 can be performed based on the minimum angle. The partial region 510 is shown as a dashed line in the diagram to distinguish it from the entire region 500. The surrounding vehicle 11 can select a partial region from the entire region to reduce the data size of the video to be transmitted to the video collection device 12, thereby improving the data transmission speed between the vehicle and the server.

[0042] As another example, the process of selecting a portion of the entire region may include: selecting a portion of the region based on the license plate size of the accident vehicle 10. After initially reducing the data size based on the distance between the accident vehicle 10 and surrounding vehicles 11 and the overall width of the accident vehicle 10, the surrounding vehicles 11 can further reduce the frame data size by cropping the frame based on the license plate size of the accident vehicle 10. This process can be called a further optimization process because it is performed based on selecting a portion of the region at a time according to the minimum angle, rather than the entire frame region.

[0043] According to at least one embodiment of this disclosure, the video collection device 12 can obtain video from surrounding vehicles 11 containing a portion of the entire area, i.e., a video with a reduced data size compared to the original video. The process of selecting a portion of the entire area can be performed by the surrounding vehicles 11. In summary, to reduce the data size of the original video of the accident vehicle 10, the first surrounding vehicles 110 to the fifth surrounding vehicles 118 can select a portion of the entire area from one or more frames included in the original video, based on one or more of the minimum angle and license plate size of the accident vehicle 10, or a combination thereof. The video with the reduced data size can then be transmitted from the first surrounding vehicles 110 to the fifth surrounding vehicles 118 to the video collection device 12.

[0044] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of a computing device that can be used to implement the apparatus and methods described herein.

[0045] Computing device 60 may include some or all of the following: memory 600, processor 620, storage 640, input / output interface 660, and communication interface 680. Computing device 60 may be a fixed computing device, such as a desktop computer or server, or a mobile computing device, such as a laptop or smartphone. Computing device 60 may include any dedicated hardware accelerator capable of efficiently processing computations on AI models. For example, computing device 60 may include a graphics processing unit (GPU), a tensor processing unit (TPU), or a neural processing unit (NPU).

[0046] Memory 600 may store programs that cause processor 620 to perform methods or operations according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the program may include a plurality of instructions executable by processor 620, and these instructions may be executed by processor 620 to perform the methods or operations described above. Memory 600 may be a single memory or multiple memories. In this case, information required to perform the methods or operations according to various embodiments of the present disclosure may be stored in a single memory or distributed across multiple memories. When memory 600 comprises multiple memories, they may be physically separate. Memory 600 may include at least one of volatile memory and non-volatile memory. Volatile memory may include, for example, static random access memory (SRAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and non-volatile memory may include, for example, flash memory.

[0047] Processor 620 may include at least one core capable of executing at least one set of instructions. Processor 620 may execute instructions stored in memory 600. Processor 620 may be a single processor or multiple processors.

[0048] Storage 640 retains stored data even during a power outage of computing device 60. For example, storage 640 may include non-volatile memory or storage media such as magnetic tape, optical disc, or magnetic disk. Programs stored in storage 640 can be loaded into storage 600 before execution by processor 620. Storage 640 may store files written in a programming language, and programs generated by compilers or the like can be loaded into storage 600 from files. Storage 640 may store data to be processed by processor 620 and / or data already processed by processor 620.

[0049] The input / output interface 660 provides an interface with input devices (e.g., keyboard, mouse, etc.) and / or output devices (e.g., display device, printer, etc.). Users can trigger the processor 620 to execute programs via the input devices and / or view the results processed by the processor 620 via the output devices.

[0050] The communication interface 680 can provide access to external networks. The computing device 60 can communicate with other devices via the communication interface 680.

[0051] The various elements of the apparatus or method according to this disclosure can be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. The function of each element can be implemented in software, and a microprocessor can be implemented to execute the software function corresponding to each element.

[0052] Various embodiments of the systems and techniques described herein can be implemented using digital electronic circuits, integrated circuits, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), computer hardware, firmware, software, and / or combinations thereof. Various embodiments may include implementation using one or more computer programs executable on a programmable system. The programmable system includes at least one programmable processor, which may be a dedicated or general-purpose processor, coupled to receive and send data and instructions from a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device. The computer program (also referred to as a program, software, software application, or code) includes the instructions of the programmable processor and is stored in a computer-readable recording medium.

[0053] Computer-readable recording media can include all types of storage devices capable of storing computer-readable data thereon. Computer-readable recording media can be non-volatile or non-transitory media, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), optical disc ROM (CD-ROM), magnetic tape, floppy disk, or optical data storage devices. Furthermore, computer-readable recording media can also include transient media, such as data transmission media. Moreover, computer-readable recording media can be distributed across computer systems connected via a network and can store and execute computer-readable program code in a distributed manner.

[0054] Although the operations are shown to be performed sequentially in the flowcharts / timing diagrams of this specification, this is merely an exemplary description of the technical concept of one embodiment of this disclosure. In other words, those skilled in the art to which one embodiment of this disclosure pertains will understand that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the essential characteristics of the embodiments of this disclosure; that is, the order shown in the flowcharts / timing diagrams can be changed, and one or more operations can be performed in parallel. Therefore, the flowcharts / timing diagrams are not limited to a chronological order.

[0055] Although exemplary embodiments of this disclosure have been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications, additions, and substitutions are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed disclosure. Therefore, exemplary embodiments of this disclosure have been described for the purpose of brevity and clarity. The scope of the technical concept of these embodiments is not limited to the illustrations. Therefore, those skilled in the art will understand that the scope of the claimed disclosure is not limited to the embodiments explicitly described above, but is limited by the claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method for collecting captured video of an accident vehicle, the method comprising the following steps: Obtain the location information of the vehicle involved in the accident at the time of the accident; Based on the location information, identify surrounding vehicles located within a predetermined distance from the accident vehicle; Obtain video data with reduced file size from the surrounding vehicles; and The output video has a reduced data size.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The video is generated based on a selected portion of the entire area within each frame included in the captured video of the accident vehicle.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The process of selecting a portion of a region within the entire area of ​​each frame includes: The selected area is determined based on at least one of the values ​​calculated from the distance between the accident vehicle and the surrounding vehicles and the overall width of the accident vehicle.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein, The process of selecting the partial area based on at least one of the distance between the accident vehicle and the surrounding vehicles and the overall width of the accident vehicle includes: Based on the distance and the overall width, calculate the minimum angle at which the accident vehicle, as a whole, is visible within the field of vision of the surrounding vehicles; and Based on the minimum angle, the selected region is chosen.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The process of selecting a portion of a region within the entire area of ​​each frame includes: The selected area is based on the size of the license plate of the vehicle involved in the accident.

6. An apparatus for collecting captured video of an accident vehicle, comprising: Memory stores executable instructions for a computer; and At least one processor is configured to access the memory and execute the instructions, wherein the instructions include: Obtain the location information of the vehicle involved in the accident at the time of the accident; Based on the location information, identify surrounding vehicles located within a predetermined distance from the accident vehicle; Obtain video data with reduced file size from the surrounding vehicles; and The output video has a reduced data size.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein, The video is generated based on a selected portion of the entire area within each frame contained in the captured video of the accident vehicle.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein, The process of selecting a portion of a region within the entire area of ​​each frame includes: The selected area is determined based on at least one of the values ​​calculated from the distance between the accident vehicle and the surrounding vehicles and the overall width of the accident vehicle.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein, The process of selecting the partial area based on at least one of the distance between the accident vehicle and the surrounding vehicles and the overall width of the accident vehicle includes: Based on the distance and the overall width, calculate the minimum angle at which the accident vehicle, as a whole, is visible within the field of vision of the surrounding vehicles; and Based on the minimum angle, the selected region is chosen.

10. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein, The process of selecting a portion of a region within the entire area of ​​each frame includes: The selected area is based on the size of the license plate of the vehicle involved in the accident.

Images