Dashboard camera device, video recording method, and program

Abstract

To set an acceleration threshold used for determining whether or not to start video recording when a vehicle ignition power is turned off to an appropriate value.SOLUTION: A dashboard camera device 16 includes: a control unit 163C that starts video recording when an impact equal to or exceeding a predetermined acceleration threshold is detected by an acceleration sensor 13 when an ignition power 14 of a vehicle 1 is turned off; a determination unit 163B that determines whether a door of the vehicle 1 has changed from an open state to a closed state; and a learning unit 163D that, when the door changes from the open state to the closed state, learns an acceleration threshold using the impact detected by the acceleration sensor 13 during a learning period between a first time point when the door changes from the open state to the closed state and a second time point that is a predetermined time back from the first time point.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a drive recorder device, a video recording method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 describes a technology in which, when vibration is detected by an acceleration sensor, capturing video with a camera and recording the captured video are started, and when a vehicle door opening / closing signal is detected within a predetermined time after the vibration is detected by the acceleration sensor, recording of the video is stopped. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2023-75765 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] If one tries to determine whether a vehicle door has changed from an open to a closed state or whether an accident has occurred based solely on the timing of an impact detected by an acceleration sensor, as in the technology described in Patent Document 1, there is a risk that video footage will not be recorded if the timing at which the vehicle door changed from an open to a closed state coincides with the timing at which an accident occurred. Even if one attempts to determine whether a vehicle door has changed from an open state to a closed state or whether an accident has occurred by setting an acceleration threshold, it is not easy to set the acceleration threshold to an appropriate value because the appropriate acceleration threshold differs depending on the vehicle and also on the mounting position of the acceleration sensor.

[0005] In view of the above, the present disclosure aims to provide a drive recorder device, a video recording method, and a program that can set an appropriate acceleration threshold value used to determine whether or not to start video recording when the vehicle ignition power is turned off. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] One aspect of the present disclosure is a drive recorder device that includes a control unit that starts video recording when an acceleration sensor detects an impact equal to or greater than a predetermined acceleration threshold when the vehicle ignition power is turned off, a determination unit that determines whether a door of the vehicle has changed from an open state to a closed state, and a learning unit that, when the door has changed from an open state to a closed state, learns the acceleration threshold using the impact detected by the acceleration sensor during a learning period between a first point in time when the door changed from the open state to the closed state and a second point in time that is a predetermined time before the first point in time. One aspect of the present disclosure is a video recording method including a control step in which a drive recorder device starts video recording when an acceleration sensor detects an impact equal to or greater than a predetermined acceleration threshold when the vehicle ignition power is turned off; a determination step in which the drive recorder device determines whether a door of the vehicle has changed from an open state to a closed state; and a learning step in which, when the door has changed from an open state to a closed state, the drive recorder device learns the acceleration threshold using the impact detected by the acceleration sensor during a learning period between a first point in time at which the door changed from the open state to the closed state and a second point in time that is a predetermined time before the first point in time. One aspect of the present disclosure is a program for causing a processor to execute a control step of starting video recording when an acceleration sensor detects an impact equal to or greater than a predetermined acceleration threshold when the vehicle ignition power is turned off, a determination step of determining whether a door of the vehicle has changed from an open state to a closed state, and a learning step of, if the door has changed from an open state to a closed state, learning the acceleration threshold using the impact detected by the acceleration sensor during a learning period between a first point in time at which the door changed from the open state to the closed state and a second point in time that is a predetermined time before the first point in time. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present disclosure, the acceleration threshold used to determine whether or not to start video recording when the vehicle ignition power is turned off can be set to an appropriate value. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing an example of a vehicle 1 to which a drive recorder device 16 of a first embodiment is applied. [Diagram 2] 5 is a flowchart for explaining an example of processing executed by a processor 163 of the drive recorder device 16 of the first embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, embodiments of a drive recorder device, a video recording method, and a program according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0010] First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a vehicle 1 to which a drive recorder device 16 according to the first embodiment is applied. In the example shown in FIG. 1, a vehicle 1 includes a camera 11, a door opening / closing sensor 12, an acceleration sensor 13, an ignition power supply 14, a continuous power supply 15, and a drive recorder device 16. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle 1 is equipped with a camera 11 as a surrounding condition sensor, and a door opening / closing sensor 12 and an acceleration sensor 13 as vehicle state sensors, but in other examples, the vehicle 1 may be equipped with surrounding condition sensors other than the camera 11 (e.g., LiDAR (Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging), radar, sonar, etc.), or may be equipped with vehicle state sensors other than the door opening / closing sensor 12 and the acceleration sensor 13 (e.g., a yaw rate sensor, etc.).

[0011] 1, camera 11 is arranged on, for example, the windshield, rear windshield, etc. of vehicle 1, captures images of the front, rear, sides, interior, etc. of vehicle 1, and transmits the images of the front, rear, sides, interior, etc. of vehicle 1 to drive recorder device 16. In detail, camera 11 has a function of not only capturing images and transmitting the images to drive recorder device 16 when ignition power supply 14 is turned on, but also capturing images and transmitting the images to drive recorder device 16 when ignition power supply 14 is turned off (when vehicle 1 is parked). In other examples, the position (location) of camera 11 may be different from that shown in FIG. 1, and the subject photographed by camera 11 may be different from that shown in FIG.

[0012] 1, the door opening / closing sensor 12 detects the opening / closing state of a door (not shown) of the vehicle 1, and transmits a signal (door opening / closing signal) indicating the opening / closing state of the door to the drive recorder device 16. In detail, the door opening / closing sensor 12 has a function of not only detecting the opening / closing state of the door and transmitting the door opening / closing signal to the drive recorder device 16 when the ignition power supply 14 is turned on, but also detecting the opening / closing state of the door and transmitting the door opening / closing signal to the drive recorder device 16 when the ignition power supply 14 is turned off (when the vehicle 1 is parked). The acceleration sensor 13 detects acceleration indicating an impact or the like applied to the vehicle 1, and transmits the detection result (acceleration signal) to the drive recorder device 16. In detail, the acceleration sensor 13 has a function of not only detecting acceleration and transmitting the acceleration signal to the drive recorder device 16 when the ignition power supply 14 is turned on, but also detecting acceleration and transmitting the acceleration signal to the drive recorder device 16 when the ignition power supply 14 is turned off (when the vehicle 1 is parked). When the ignition power supply 14 is turned on, the ignition power supply 14 supplies power to a device (not shown) connected to the ignition power supply 14. When the ignition power supply 14 is turned off, the ignition power supply 14 transmits a signal to the drive recorder device 16 indicating that the ignition power supply 14 is turned off. The continuous power supply 15 supplies power to the drive recorder device 16 and the like.

[0013] In the example shown in FIG. 1, the drive recorder device 16 is configured by a computer having a communication interface (I / F) 161, a memory 162, and a processor 163 (for example, a drive recorder ECU (Electronic Control Unit) or the like). The communication interface 161 is connected to, for example, the camera 11, the door opening / closing sensor 12, the acceleration sensor 13, the ignition power supply 14, etc. The memory 162 stores (records) a predetermined acceleration threshold, a predetermined time threshold, images and signals acquired by an acquisition unit 163A described later, and a program for realizing the functions of the processor 163. The processor 163 has a function as the acquisition unit 163A, a function as the determination unit 163B, a function as the control unit 163C, and a function as the learning unit 163D. The acquisition unit 163A acquires the video transmitted from the camera 11. The acquisition unit 163A also acquires the door opening / closing signal transmitted from the door opening / closing sensor 12. Furthermore, the acquisition unit 163A acquires the acceleration signal transmitted from the acceleration sensor 13. The acquisition unit 163A also acquires a signal transmitted from the ignition power supply 14 indicating that the ignition power supply 14 is turned off.

[0014] The determination unit 163B determines whether or not an impact equal to or greater than the acceleration threshold stored in the memory 162 has been detected by the acceleration sensor 13. The determination unit 163B also determines whether or not the door of the vehicle 1 has changed from an open state to a closed state based on the door opening / closing signal acquired by the acquisition unit 163A. The determination unit 163B also determines whether or not the video transmitted from the camera 11 is being recorded in the memory 162. The determination unit 163B also determines whether or not the elapsed time after the start of recording of the video in the memory 162 is equal to or greater than the time threshold (e.g., 60 seconds) stored in the memory 162. The determination unit 163B also determines whether or not the ignition power supply 14 is turned off based on a signal transmitted from the ignition power supply 14.

[0015] The control unit 163C executes a process of starting recording of video to the memory 162. In detail, the control unit 163C starts recording of video to the memory 162 when the acceleration sensor 13 detects an impact equal to or greater than the acceleration threshold value stored in the memory 162 while the ignition power supply 14 of the vehicle 1 is turned off. Furthermore, control unit 163C executes a process of terminating the recording of video to memory 162. In detail, control unit 163C terminates the recording of video to memory 162 when the elapsed time after the start of recording of video to memory 162 becomes equal to or greater than a time threshold value stored in memory 162.

[0016] The learning unit 163D learns the acceleration threshold value stored in the memory 162 by using the impact (acceleration) detected by the acceleration sensor 13. In detail, when the door of the vehicle 1 changes from an open state to a closed state, the learning unit 163D learns the acceleration threshold value stored in the memory 162 by using the impact detected by the acceleration sensor 13 during a learning period between a first time point at which the door of the vehicle 1 changes from an open state to a closed state and a second time point that is a predetermined time (e.g., 900 ms) before the first time point (i.e., the learning period from the second time point to the first time point). Specifically, the learning unit 163D learns the acceleration threshold stored in the memory 162 by using the maximum acceleration (impact) among the accelerations (impacts) detected multiple times by the acceleration sensor 13 during the learning period from the second time point to the first time point. That is, the learning unit 163D stores in the memory 162 the maximum acceleration (impact) among the accelerations (impacts) detected multiple times by the acceleration sensor 13 during the learning period from the second time point to the first time point as the acceleration threshold after learning. 1, every time the ignition power supply 14 of the vehicle 1 is turned off, the acceleration sensor 13 detects acceleration (impact) N times (N is an integer equal to or greater than 2) during the above-mentioned learning period. Furthermore, every time the ignition power supply 14 of the vehicle 1 is turned off M times (M is an integer equal to or greater than 2), the maximum acceleration (impact) among the (N×M) accelerations (impacts) detected by the acceleration sensor 13 is used to learn the acceleration threshold value. In another example, each time the ignition power supply 14 of the vehicle 1 is turned off, the maximum acceleration (impact) among N accelerations (impacts) detected by the acceleration sensor 13 may be used to learn the acceleration threshold value.

[0017] 2 is a flowchart for explaining an example of processing executed by the processor 163 of the drive recorder device 16 of the first embodiment. The processing shown in FIG. 2 is started when the acquisition unit 163A acquires a signal transmitted from the ignition power supply 14 indicating that the ignition power supply 14 is turned off. 2, in step S10, acquisition unit 163A acquires an acceleration signal transmitted from acceleration sensor 13. Furthermore, determination unit 163B determines, based on the acceleration signal acquired by acquisition unit 163A, whether or not an impact equal to or greater than a predetermined acceleration threshold value stored in memory 162 in a step not shown in the figure has been detected by acceleration sensor 13. If YES, the process proceeds to step S11, and if NO, the process proceeds to step S12.

[0018] In step S11, the acquisition unit 163A acquires the video transmitted from the camera 11. Furthermore, the control unit 163C starts a process of recording in the memory 162 the video acquired by the acquisition unit 163A. In step S12, the acquisition unit 163A acquires a door opening / closing signal transmitted from the door opening / closing sensor 12. Furthermore, the determination unit 163B determines whether or not the door of the vehicle 1 has changed from an open state to a closed state based on the door opening / closing signal acquired by the acquisition unit 163A. If YES, the process proceeds to step S13, and if NO, the process proceeds to step S14.

[0019] In step S13, the learning unit 163D uses the acceleration signal acquired by the acquisition unit 163A to learn the acceleration threshold stored in the memory 162. In detail, the learning unit 163D learns the acceleration threshold stored in the memory 162 using the impact detected by the acceleration sensor 13 (in detail, the acceleration signal acquired by the acquisition unit 163A) during a learning period between a first time point at which it is determined that the door of the vehicle 1 has changed from an open state to a closed state and a second time point that is a predetermined time (e.g., 900 ms, etc.) before the first time point.

[0020] In step S14, the determination unit 163B determines whether or not the video transmitted from the camera 11 (more specifically, the video acquired by the acquisition unit 163A) is being recorded in the memory 162. If YES, the process proceeds to step S15. On the other hand, if NO, the process returns to step S10. If step S10 is executed after step S13, the acceleration threshold value obtained by executing step S13 (the acceleration threshold value after learning) is used in step S10.

[0021] In step S15, the determination unit 163B determines whether or not the time elapsed since the start of recording of the video in the memory 162 has become equal to or greater than a predetermined time threshold (e.g., 60 seconds) stored in the memory 162 in a step not shown in the figure. If YES, the process proceeds to step S16, and if NO, the process returns to step S12.

[0022] In step S16, control unit 163C ends the process of recording in memory 162 the video acquired by acquisition unit 163A (the video transmitted from camera 11).

[0023] As described above, in the example shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, the learning unit 163D learns the acceleration threshold. Therefore, even if the predetermined acceleration threshold is not suitable for the vehicle 1, the acceleration threshold is changed to an appropriate value through learning by the learning unit 163D. As a result, in the example shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, even if the predetermined acceleration threshold is not suitable for the vehicle 1, the learned acceleration threshold can be used to appropriately start video recording. In other words, it is possible to suppress the risk of video recording being unnecessarily started when the door of the vehicle 1 changes from an open state to a closed state.

[0024] In the example shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, if an accident occurs during the above-mentioned learning period, for example, a warning is output to prompt the user of the vehicle 1 to repair the vehicle 1, and the process shown in FIG. 2 is stopped. As a result, the detection result of the impact caused by the occurrence of the accident is not used for learning the acceleration threshold, and it is possible to prevent the acceleration threshold after learning from being an excessively large value. Therefore, in the example shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, if an accident occurs when the ignition power supply 14 is turned off after the acceleration threshold is learned, video recording can be appropriately started. In detail, even if an accident occurs simultaneously with the change of the door of the vehicle 1 from an open state to a closed state when the ignition power supply 14 is turned off after the acceleration threshold is learned, video recording can be appropriately started.

[0025] 1 and 2, when the vehicle 1 is used by a user who detects a large impact by the acceleration sensor 13 when the door of the vehicle 1 changes from an open state to a closed state (i.e., a user who closes the door with a large force), the acceleration threshold value after learning by the learning unit 163D becomes a larger value than when the vehicle 1 is used by a user who detects a small impact by the acceleration sensor 13 when the door of the vehicle 1 changes from an open state to a closed state (i.e., a user who closes the door quietly). Therefore, even when the vehicle 1 is used by a user who detects a large impact by the acceleration sensor 13 when the door of the vehicle 1 changes from an open state to a closed state, it is possible to suppress the risk of unnecessary start of video recording when the door of the vehicle 1 changes from an open state to a closed state (the risk of erroneously determining that an accident has occurred).

[0026] As described above, in the example shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, the learning period is set between a first time point when the door of the vehicle 1 changes from an open state to a closed state and a second time point that is a predetermined time (e.g., 900 ms) before the first time point. In other words, the control is designed with the delay of the acceleration signal taken into consideration. Therefore, it is not necessary to place the drive recorder device 16 and the acceleration sensor 13 in close proximity. In other words, the acceleration sensor 13 can be shared between the drive recorder device 16 and another system (not shown), and the overall cost of the vehicle 1 can be reduced.

[0027] <Second embodiment> The vehicle 1 to which the drive recorder device 16 of the second embodiment is applied is configured similarly to the vehicle 1 to which the drive recorder device 16 of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is applied, except for the points described below.

[0028] As described above, in the example shown in FIG. 1, the learning unit 163D learns the acceleration threshold value stored in the memory 162 by using the maximum acceleration (impact) among the accelerations (impacts) detected multiple times by the acceleration sensor 13 during the learning period from the second time point to the first time point. Meanwhile, in one example of the drive recorder device 16 of the second embodiment, the learning unit 163D learns the acceleration threshold stored in the memory 162 by using the standard deviation of the acceleration (impact) detected multiple times by the acceleration sensor 13 during the learning period from the second time point to the first time point. That is, the learning unit 163D stores the standard deviation of the acceleration (impact) detected multiple times by the acceleration sensor 13 during the learning period from the second time point to the first time point in the memory 162 as the learned acceleration threshold.

[0029] In other words, in one example of the drive recorder device 16 of the second embodiment, even if an accident occurs during the learning period from the second time point to the first time point, the standard deviation of the acceleration (impact) detected multiple times by the acceleration sensor 13 during the learning period from the second time point to the first time point is used to learn the acceleration threshold, and the impact (>standard deviation) associated with the occurrence of the accident detected by the acceleration sensor 13 during the learning period from the second time point to the first time point is not used. As a result, in one example of the drive recorder device 16 of the second embodiment, the learning unit 163D learns the acceleration threshold so that the acceleration threshold is greater than the impact detected by the acceleration sensor 13 when the door changes from an open state to a closed state, and is less than the impact detected by the acceleration sensor 13 when an accident occurs. That is, in one example of the drive recorder device 16 of the second embodiment, the acceleration threshold value after learning becomes greater than the impact detected by the acceleration sensor 13 when the door changes from an open state to a closed state, and becomes less than the impact detected by the acceleration sensor 13 when an accident occurs.

[0030] <Third embodiment> The vehicle 1 to which the drive recorder device 16 of the third embodiment is applied is configured similarly to the vehicle 1 to which the drive recorder device 16 of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is applied, except for the points described below.

[0031] In one example of the drive recorder device 16 of the third embodiment, the learning unit 163D learns the acceleration threshold stored in the memory 162 by applying machine learning (e.g., clustering such as DBSCAN (Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise)) to the acceleration (impact) detected multiple times by the acceleration sensor 13 during the learning period from the second time point to the first time point. That is, the learning unit 163D stores in the memory 162 as the learned acceleration threshold the acceleration (impact) detected multiple times by the acceleration sensor 13 during the learning period from the second time point to the first time point, from which impacts and the like associated with the occurrence of an accident have been removed as noise.

[0032] In other words, in one example of the drive recorder device 16 of the third embodiment, even if an accident occurs during the learning period from the second point in time to the first point in time, the impact accompanying the accident is removed as noise and is not used in learning the acceleration threshold value. As a result, in one example of the drive recorder device 16 of the third embodiment, the learning unit 163D learns the acceleration threshold so that the acceleration threshold is greater than the impact detected by the acceleration sensor 13 when the door changes from an open state to a closed state, and is less than the impact detected by the acceleration sensor 13 when an accident occurs. That is, in one example of the drive recorder device 16 of the third embodiment, the acceleration threshold value after learning becomes greater than the impact detected by the acceleration sensor 13 when the door changes from an open state to a closed state, and becomes less than the impact detected by the acceleration sensor 13 when an accident occurs.

[0033] As described above, the embodiments of the drive recorder device, the video recording method, and the program of the present disclosure have been described with reference to the drawings. However, the drive recorder device, the video recording method, and the program of the present disclosure are not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and can be modified as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. The configurations of the examples of the above-mentioned embodiments may be combined as appropriate. In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the processing performed in the drive recorder device 16 has been described as software processing performed by executing a program, but the processing performed in the drive recorder device 16 may be processing performed by hardware. Alternatively, the processing performed in the drive recorder device 16 may be processing that combines both software and hardware. In addition, the program stored in the memory 162 of the drive recorder device 16 (the program that realizes the function of the processor 163 of the drive recorder device 16) may be recorded in a computer-readable storage medium such as a semiconductor memory, a magnetic recording medium, an optical recording medium, etc., and provided, distributed, etc. [Explanation of symbols]

[0034] 1...vehicle, 11...camera, 12...door opening / closing sensor, 13...acceleration sensor, 14...ignition power supply, 15...constant power supply, 16...drive recorder device, 161...communication interface, 162...memory, 163...processor, 163A...acquisition unit, 163B...determination unit, 163C...control unit, 163D...learning unit

Claims

1. a control unit that starts recording video when an impact equal to or greater than a predetermined acceleration threshold is detected by an acceleration sensor while an ignition power source of the vehicle is turned off; a determination unit that determines whether a door of the vehicle has changed from an open state to a closed state; a learning unit that, when the door changes from an open state to a closed state, learns the acceleration threshold value using an impact detected by the acceleration sensor during a learning period between a first point in time at which the door changes from an open state to a closed state and a second point in time that is a predetermined time before the first point in time.

2. The learning unit is 2. The drive recorder device according to claim 1, wherein the acceleration threshold is learned so that the acceleration threshold is greater than the impact detected by the acceleration sensor when the door changes from an open state to a closed state, and is less than the impact detected by the acceleration sensor when an accident occurs.

3. The learning unit is The drive recorder device according to claim 1 , wherein an impact accompanying an accident among the impacts detected by the acceleration sensor during the learning period is not used for learning the acceleration threshold value.

4. a control step of starting video recording by the drive recorder device when an impact equal to or greater than a predetermined acceleration threshold is detected by an acceleration sensor while an ignition power supply of the vehicle is turned off; a determination step in which the drive recorder device determines whether or not a door of the vehicle has changed from an open state to a closed state; and a learning step in which, when the door changes from an open state to a closed state, the drive recorder device learns the acceleration threshold value using an impact detected by the acceleration sensor during a learning period between a first point in time when the door changes from an open state to a closed state and a second point in time that is a predetermined time before the first point in time.

5. The processor: a control step of starting video recording when an impact equal to or greater than a predetermined acceleration threshold is detected by an acceleration sensor while an ignition power supply of the vehicle is turned off; a determination step of determining whether a door of the vehicle has changed from an open state to a closed state; and a learning step of learning the acceleration threshold value using an impact detected by the acceleration sensor during a learning period between a first point in time when the door changes from an open state to a closed state and a second point in time that is a predetermined time before the first point in time, when the door changes from an open state to a closed state.

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