Management device

Abstract

To improve convenience.SOLUTION: A management device 3 comprises: a positional information acquisition unit 3322 for acquiring positional information indicating a position of a moving object; a region information acquisition unit 3323 for acquiring region information showing a region set to virtually on a map; and a photographic image acquisition unit 3325 for acquiring a photographic image of a surrounding of the moving object. The photographic image includes an image taken when a position of the moving object based on the positional information is located within a region based on the region information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a management device. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, a drive recorder is known that is mounted on a vehicle and sequentially stores images captured in the direction of travel of the vehicle while the vehicle is traveling in a storage medium such as an SD (Secure Digital) card (see, for example, Patent Document 1). By checking the captured images stored in the storage medium, it is possible to infer, for example, the cause of the accident. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6647650 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, the technology described in Patent Document 1 has a problem in that it is unable to improve convenience for managers of insurance companies and the like who wish to check the images captured by the drive recorder, as will be described below. In order to check the images captured by the drive recorder, the administrator must go to the parking area of ​​the vehicle equipped with the drive recorder, or drive the vehicle to a specific location. The administrator must then check the images from the data stored in the storage medium attached to the drive recorder. In other words, this forces the administrator to perform cumbersome tasks, and does not improve convenience.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above, and has an object to provide a management device that can improve convenience, for example. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The management device described in claim 1 comprises a location information acquisition unit that acquires location information indicating the location of a moving body, an area information acquisition unit that acquires area information indicating an area virtually set on a map, and a captured image acquisition unit that acquires captured images of the surroundings of the moving body, and is characterized in that the captured images include images captured when the position of the moving body based on the location information is located within the area based on the area information. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a management system according to the first embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle-mounted terminal. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the management device. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a method for setting region information by the region setting unit. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the management method. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the management method. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a management method according to the second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] Hereinafter, a mode for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter, referred to as an embodiment) will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described below. Furthermore, in the description of the drawings, the same parts are given the same reference numerals.

[0009] (Embodiment 1) [Overview of management system] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a management system 1 according to the first embodiment. The management system 1 is a system that photographs the surroundings of a vehicle VE (FIG. 1) and manages the photographed images obtained by the photographing in order to estimate the cause of an accident, for example. As shown in FIG. 1, the management system 1 includes an in-vehicle terminal 2 and a management device 3. The in-vehicle terminal 2 and the management device 3 communicate with each other via a network NE (FIG. 1), which is a wireless communication network. The number of in-vehicle terminals 2 that communicate with the management device 3 is not limited to one as shown in Fig. 1, but may be multiple terminals mounted on multiple vehicles. For convenience of explanation, the following description will be given assuming that the number of in-vehicle terminals 2 that communicate with the management device 3 is one.

[0010] [Configuration of in-vehicle terminal] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle-mounted terminal 2. As shown in FIG. The in-vehicle terminal 2 corresponds to the terminal device according to the present embodiment. The in-vehicle terminal 2 is, for example, a stationary navigation device or a drive recorder installed in the vehicle VE. The in-vehicle terminal 2 is not limited to a navigation device or a drive recorder, and may be a portable terminal such as a smartphone used by a passenger of the vehicle VE. As shown in FIG. 2, the in-vehicle terminal 2 includes an operation input unit 21, a display unit 22, an audio output unit 23, a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) sensor 24, an imaging unit 25, and a terminal body 26.

[0011] The operation input unit 21 is composed of buttons, switches, a touch panel, etc. that accept user operations, and outputs an operation signal to the terminal body 26 in response to the user operations. The display unit 22 is configured with a display using liquid crystal or organic EL (Electro Luminescence) or the like, and displays various images under the control of the terminal body 26. The audio output unit 23 outputs various sounds under the control of the terminal main body 26 .

[0012] The GNSS sensor 24 receives radio waves including positioning data transmitted from navigation satellites using the GNSS. The positioning data is used to detect the absolute position of the vehicle VE from latitude and longitude information and the like. The positioning data corresponds to the position information according to this embodiment. The GNSS used may be, for example, a Global Positioning System (GPS) or another system. Then, the GNSS sensor 24 outputs the positioning data to the terminal body 26.

[0013] The imaging unit 25, under the control of the terminal body 26, captures images of the surroundings of the vehicle VE (for example, the area ahead in the traveling direction of the vehicle VE) and generates imaging data in sequence by associating the captured images obtained by the imaging with the imaging times at which the images were captured. Then, the imaging unit 25 outputs the generated imaging data to the terminal body 26 in sequence.

[0014] As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal main body 26 includes a communication unit 261, a control unit 262, and a storage unit 263. The communication unit 261, under the control of the control unit 262, transmits and receives information to and from the management device 3 via the network NE. The control unit 262 is realized by executing various programs stored in the storage unit 263 by a controller such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), and controls the operation of the entire in-vehicle terminal 2. Note that the control unit 262 is not limited to a CPU or an MPU, and may be configured by an integrated circuit such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

[0015] The storage unit 263 stores various programs executed by the control unit 262, data necessary for the control unit 262 to perform processing, data processed by the control unit 262, and the like. Here, examples of the data processed by the control unit 262 include the following data. That is, the control unit 262 stores each piece of photographic data that is continuously generated in time series by the imaging unit 25 in the storage unit 263 in a predetermined moving image file format such as the AVI format.

[0016] [Configuration of management device] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the management device 3. As shown in FIG. The management device 3 is, for example, a server device. The management device 3 includes an operation input unit 31, a display unit 32, and a management device main body 33, as shown in FIG. The operation input unit 31 is composed of buttons, switches, a touch panel, etc. that accept user operations, and outputs an operation signal corresponding to the user operation to the management device main body 33. The display unit 32 is configured with a display using a liquid crystal or an organic electroluminescence (EL) display, and displays various images under the control of the management device main body 33 .

[0017] As shown in FIG. 3, the management device main body 33 includes a communication unit 331, a control unit 332, and a storage unit 333. The communication unit 331, under the control of the control unit 332, transmits and receives information to and from the on-board terminal 2 (communication unit 261) via the network NE. The control unit 332 is realized by a controller such as a CPU or an MPU executing various programs (including the management program according to this embodiment) stored in the storage unit 333, and controls the operation of the entire management device 3. The control unit 332 is not limited to a CPU or an MPU, and may be configured by an integrated circuit such as an ASIC or an FPGA. As shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 332 includes an area setting unit 3321, a position information acquisition unit 3322, an area information acquisition unit 3323, a determination unit 3324, and a captured image acquisition unit 3325.

[0018] Fig. 4 is a diagram for explaining a method for setting area information by the area setting unit 3321. Specifically, Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an area including an intersection CR where roads R1 and R2 intersect. In Fig. 4, the intersection CR (area where roads R1 and R2 intersect) is indicated by a dashed line. The area setting unit 3321 displays on the display unit 32 a map based on map data stored in the storage unit 333 (map DB (database) 3331) in response to a user operation on the operation input unit 31 by the administrator of the management device 3. The area setting unit 3321 also recognizes an area AR (FIG. 4) that is virtually set in response to a user operation on the operation input unit 31 by the administrator on the map displayed on the display unit 32. Then, the area setting unit 3321 stores latitude and longitude information indicating the boundary between the area AR and other areas (boundary indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 4) as area information in the storage unit 333 (area DB 3332). In this embodiment, the area AR is an area that includes an intersection CR, which is a location where accidents are likely to occur.

[0019] The location information acquisition unit 3322 sequentially acquires positioning data from the in-vehicle terminal 2 via the communication unit 331 at a predetermined cycle (for example, every 12 seconds). The region information acquisition unit 3323 acquires region information from the region DB 3332 . The determination unit 3324 determines whether or not the vehicle VE has entered the area AR, based on the latest positioning data acquired by the position information acquisition unit 3322 and the area information acquired by the area information acquisition unit 3323. When the judgment unit 3324 judges that the vehicle VE has entered the area AR, the captured image acquisition unit 3325 acquires each piece of captured data (hereinafter referred to as a video file) including each captured image taken during a specified time period from the in-vehicle terminal 2 via the communication unit 331.

[0020] The storage unit 333 stores various programs (including the management program according to this embodiment) executed by the control unit 332, as well as data necessary for the control unit 332 to perform processing, and video files acquired by the captured image acquisition unit 3325. As shown in FIG. 3, the storage unit 333 includes a map DB 3331, an area DB 3332, and an image DB 3333. The map DB 3331 stores map data including road data represented by links corresponding to roads and nodes corresponding to connection portions (intersections) of the roads. The area DB 3332 stores the above-mentioned area information. The image DB 3333 stores the moving image files acquired by the captured image acquisition unit 3325.

[0021] [Management method] Next, the operation (management method) of the management device 3 (control unit 332) will be described. It is assumed that, before the management method is executed, area information indicating the area AR shown in Fig. 4 is stored in the area DB 3332. In addition, when the management method is executed, shooting data is sequentially generated by the imaging unit 25 and stored in the storage unit 263 in a predetermined video file format. Fig. 5 is a flow chart showing the management method. Fig. 6 is a diagram explaining the management method. In Fig. 6, the arrow indicates a route in which the vehicle VE travels on a road R1 to enter an area AR, and then travels on a road R2 to exit the area AR.

[0022] First, the location information acquisition unit 3322 starts acquiring positioning data from the in-vehicle terminal 2 via the communication unit 331 (step S1: location information acquisition step). After that, the location information acquisition unit 3322 repeatedly acquires the positioning data from the in-vehicle terminal 2 at a predetermined cycle (for example, 12 seconds). After step S1, the region information acquisition unit 3323 acquires region information from the region DB 3332 (step S2: region information acquisition step).

[0023] After step S2, the judgment unit 3324 judges whether the vehicle VE has entered the area AR based on the latest positioning data acquired by the position information acquisition unit 3322 and the area information acquired by the area information acquisition unit 3323 (step S3). Specifically, the determination unit 3324 estimates the current position of the on-board terminal 2, i.e., the current position of the vehicle VE in which the on-board terminal 2 is mounted, based on the latest positioning data acquired by the position information acquisition unit 3322. Then, the determination unit 3324 determines whether or not the vehicle VE has entered the area AR based on the area information acquired by the area information acquisition unit 3323 (latitude and longitude information indicating the boundary between the area AR and other areas (boundary indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 6)).

[0024] If it is determined that the vehicle VE has not entered the area AR (step S3: No), the control unit 332 repeats step S3.

[0025] On the other hand, if it is determined that the vehicle VE has entered the area AR (step S3: Yes), the captured image acquisition unit 3325 requests the in-vehicle terminal 2 via the communication unit 331 to send a video file captured during a specified time period (step S4). Specifically, the captured image acquisition unit 3325 recognizes the time when the determination unit 3324 determines that the vehicle VE has entered the area AR (hereinafter, referred to as the reference time). In addition, the captured image acquisition unit 3325 sets, as the above-mentioned predetermined time period, a time period (e.g., a 20-second time period) from a time (hereinafter, referred to as the start time) that is a predetermined time (e.g., 12 seconds) before the reference time to a time (hereinafter, referred to as the end time) that is a predetermined time (e.g., 8 seconds) after the reference time. Then, the captured image acquisition unit 3325 requests the in-vehicle terminal 2 via the communication unit 331 to transmit each piece of captured data (video file) including each captured image captured during the time period from the start time to the end time. The video file includes images captured when the vehicle VE is located within the area AR.

[0026] The in-vehicle terminal 2 (control unit 262) that has received the transmission request refers to the shooting time included in each piece of shooting data stored in the memory unit 263, and extracts each piece of shooting data (moving image file) shot during the time period from the start time to the end time from each piece of shooting data stored in the memory unit 263. Then, the in-vehicle terminal 2 transmits the extracted moving image file to the management device 3 via the communication unit 261. As a result, the captured image acquisition unit 3325 acquires the moving image file from the in-vehicle terminal 2 via the communication unit 331 (step S5: captured image acquisition step). Then, the captured image acquisition unit 3325 stores the moving image file in the image DB 3333.

[0027] According to the above-described first embodiment, the following effects are achieved. The management device 3 of this embodiment 1 acquires a video file including captured images (images captured of the surroundings of the vehicle VE) taken when the position of the vehicle VE based on the positioning data is located within the area AR based on the area information. Therefore, the administrator can check the captured image from the video file stored in the image DB 3333 of the management device 3. Therefore, the administrator does not need to go to the parking location of the vehicle VE in which the in-vehicle terminal 2 is mounted or to transport the vehicle VE to a specific location in order to check the captured image. That is, the management device 3 according to the first embodiment can improve convenience.

[0028] Incidentally, the acquisition period of the positioning data is, for example, 12 seconds, which is relatively long. Therefore, when the management device 3 determines that the vehicle VE has entered the area AR, the vehicle VE may have actually left the area AR. That is, even if each piece of photographic data including each photographed image taken from the relevant time until a predetermined time is acquired from the in-vehicle terminal 2, each piece of photographic data may not include the photographed image taken when the vehicle VE was located within the area AR. In response to this, the management device 3 according to the first embodiment requests the in-vehicle terminal 2 to transmit a video file captured during a time period from a start time that is a predetermined time before a reference time at which it is determined that the vehicle VE has entered the area AR to an end time that is a predetermined time after the reference time. Then, the management device 3 acquires the video file from the in-vehicle terminal 2. Therefore, the video file reliably includes images captured when the vehicle VE was located within the area AR.

[0029] In the first embodiment, the area AR is an area that includes an intersection CR, which is a location where accidents are likely to occur. This allows the administrator to obtain a video file that contains only the minimum number of captured images that are necessary for the administrator to check, and therefore allows the administrator to quickly deduce, for example, the cause of an accident from the video file, thereby improving convenience.

[0030] (Embodiment 2) Next, the second embodiment will be described. In the following description, the same components as those in the above-described first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted or simplified. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a management method according to the second embodiment. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that a function for executing step S6 (FIG. 7) is added to the determination unit 3324.

[0031] Step S6 will now be described. In the area AR in the second embodiment, it is assumed that the accident occurrence rate is significantly high at a predetermined time (for example, 16:00 to 19:00 in the evening). Step S6 is executed after step S2. Specifically, in step S6, the determination unit 3324 determines whether the current time is a predetermined time (for example, between 16:00 and 19:00 in the evening). If it is determined that the current time is not the predetermined time (step S6: No), the determining unit 3324 repeats step S6. On the other hand, if it is determined that the current time is the predetermined time (step S6: Yes), the determining unit 3324 proceeds to step S3.

[0032] According to the above-described second embodiment, in addition to the same effects as those of the first embodiment, the following effects are achieved. The management device according to the second embodiment acquires from the in-vehicle terminal 2 moving image files including images captured when the vehicle VE is located in the area AR at a specific time when the accident occurrence rate in the area AR is significantly high. In other words, since moving image files including images captured when the vehicle VE is located in the area AR at other times when the accident occurrence rate is low are not acquired from the in-vehicle terminal 2, it is possible to acquire only the necessary moving image files from the in-vehicle terminal 2. This reduces the amount of data of the acquired moving image files, making it easy to manage the moving image files.

[0033] In the above-described second embodiment, step S6 is executed before step S3, but this is not limiting, and step S3 may be executed before step S6. For convenience of explanation, the area information stored in the area DB 3332 is described as being only one piece of area information indicating the area AR shown in Fig. 4, but if there are two or more pieces of area information, step S6 may be executed only when the vehicle VE enters a specific area.

[0034] (Other embodiments) Although the embodiments for carrying out the present invention have been described above, the present invention should not be limited to only the above-mentioned first and second embodiments. In the above-mentioned first and second embodiments, all of the configuration of the management device 3 may be provided in the vehicle-mounted terminal 2. In this case, the vehicle-mounted terminal 2 corresponds to the management device according to the present embodiment. Also, a part of the functions of the control unit 332 in the management device 3 may be provided in the vehicle-mounted terminal 2. In this case, the entire management system 1 corresponds to the management device according to the present embodiment.

[0035] In the above-mentioned first and second embodiments, the management device 3 acquires from the in-vehicle terminal 2 video files that are shot during a time period from a start time that is a predetermined time before a reference time at which it is determined that the vehicle VE has entered the area AR to an end time that is a predetermined time after the reference time, but this is not limited to the above. For example, the management device 3 may acquire from the in-vehicle terminal 2 video files that are shot during a time period from the reference time to an end time. Also, for example, the management device 3 may acquire from the in-vehicle terminal 2 video files that are shot from a time point at which the vehicle VE is located a predetermined distance in front of the area AR to a time that is a predetermined time after the time point. [Explanation of symbols]

[0036] 2. Vehicle-mounted terminal (terminal device) 3 Management device 25 Imaging unit 261 Communications Department 263 Storage section 3322 Location information acquisition unit 3323 Area information acquisition unit 3324 Judgment section 3325 Image Acquisition Unit

Claims

[Claim 1] a location information acquisition unit that acquires location information indicating a location of a moving object; an area information acquiring unit that acquires area information indicating an area virtually set on a map; a captured image acquisition unit that acquires a captured image of the surroundings of the moving object, The captured image is The image includes an image captured when the position of the moving object based on the position information is within the area based on the area information. A management device comprising:

Images