Display control system, display control method and program

Abstract

To provide a display control system that controls display of thumbnail images related to an event-based video recorded by a dash cam mounted on a vehicle.SOLUTION: Providing display control means for displaying a plurality of thumbnail images corresponding to different time points in a range of an event-based video, allows contents of the event-based video to be confirmed according to a plurality of thumbnail images corresponding to different time points in the range of the event-based video. As a result, a desired event-based video can be easily found according to the plurality of thumbnail images as compared with the case where the contents of the event-based video is confirmed according to one thumbnail image.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a display control system, a display control method, and a program for performing control to display thumbnail images related to event unit videos recorded by a drive recorder mounted on a vehicle.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, a vehicle-mounted video recording device, so-called a drive recorder, which captures images around the vehicle by a camera installed in the vehicle and records peripheral images, vehicle speed, etc. when an impact is applied to the vehicle due to an event (incident) such as sudden braking, sudden steering, or collision, has become generally widespread. By providing such a drive recorder in a vehicle, it is possible to verify the cause of an accident by analyzing the recorded information when an accident occurs. In addition, it is possible to improve the safe driving awareness of the driver, and the video recording the daily driving situation can be used for safe driving guidance and the like.

[0003] Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose a driving support device that collects driving information such as camera images, vehicle speed, and GPS (Global Positioning System) position information recorded by a drive recorder mounted on a business vehicle such as a truck or a taxi, and an operation manager or the like checks the content of the driving information to analyze the driving style of each crew member and utilizes it for the driving education of the crew members.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] In the above-described driving support device, when an operation administrator or the like narrows down and selects event unit videos of a specific event such as sudden braking from among a large number of driving information (hereinafter referred to as event unit videos) recorded for each event such as sudden braking, sudden steering, or collision, for example, it is performed by using related data such as the magnitude and waveform of acceleration recorded in each event unit video. That is, this related data is recognized as a tag for narrowing down event unit videos of a specific event, and the event unit videos are classified and narrowed down. However, in order to specify the event unit video of the finally required event, the operation administrator or the like has to view and check the content of the camera images included in each event unit video one by one in order, and specify the event unit video.

[0006] Further, in the driving support devices disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 above, among the plurality of camera images included in one event unit video, a thumbnail image obtained by reducing the camera image recorded at the time when a trigger (for example, a timing signal indicating that the recording condition by a drive recorder is satisfied) is detected is displayed. However, since this thumbnail image is a camera image recorded at the trigger detection time after the occurrence of an event such as sudden braking or sudden steering, it is difficult to find the event unit video of the required event from this thumbnail image.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above-exemplified circumstances and the like, and an object thereof is to provide a display control system, a display control method, and a program capable of easily finding a required event unit video from a thumbnail image.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0008] In a first aspect, the present invention provides a display control system that performs control to display a thumbnail image related to an event unit video recorded by a drive recorder mounted on a vehicle, the display control system being characterized by including display control means for displaying a plurality of thumbnail images corresponding to different time points within the range of the event unit video.

[0009] In the display control system according to the first aspect, the content of the video for each event unit can be confirmed from a plurality of thumbnail images corresponding to different time points within the range of the video for each event unit. As a result, compared with the case of confirming the content of the video for each event unit from a single thumbnail image, the video for each event unit required can be easily found from the thumbnail images.

[0010] An event may be, for example, an event specified by a predetermined rule. The event unit may be, for example, a time range of a unit that can distinguish and manage one event from another event. For example, it may be a predetermined period before and after the occurrence time of an event as in the configuration of the second aspect. For example, the time ranges of one event unit and another event unit may be set so as not to overlap, or may be set so as to partially overlap. The video for each event unit may be, for example, a video of a time range of a unit that can distinguish and manage one event from another event. The video for each event unit may be recorded as separate videos for each event unit, or for example, a certain range within one video may be used as the video for each event unit. That is, the "video for each event unit recorded by a drive recorder mounted on a vehicle" does not necessarily require recording videos for each event unit.

[0011] When a certain range within one video is used as the video for each event unit, for example, the ranges of a plurality of videos for each event unit may be set to allow overlap of the ranges, or the ranges of the videos for each event unit may be set to non-overlapping ranges. The video for each event unit may be, for example, a range within the video that may be related to the event. In addition, the "plural thumbnail images corresponding to different time points within the range of the event-unit video" may be, for example, "plural thumbnail images corresponding to videos other than the event-unit video at different time points within the range of the event-unit video", but it is preferable to use "plural thumbnail images corresponding to the event-unit video at different time points within the range of the event-unit video". As a specific example of "corresponding to" in the "plural thumbnail images corresponding to the event-unit video", it is preferable to use "representing". In addition, it is preferable to use expressions such as "created from", "image-processed", "created by image-processing", and "created by performing predetermined image processing".

[0012] In a second aspect, the present invention provides a display control system according to the first aspect, wherein the event-unit video is a video over a predetermined period before and after the occurrence time of an event, and the thumbnail image includes an image recorded at a time either before or after, or both before and after, the occurrence time of the event.

[0013] In the display control system according to the second aspect, the content of the event-unit video can be confirmed from the thumbnail images corresponding to the images recorded at a time either before or after, or both before and after, the occurrence time of the event. Thereby, it becomes possible to more easily find the event-unit videos related to the events at the time points before and after the occurrence time of the event.

[0014] The occurrence time of the event may be, for example, a time point when a predetermined condition is satisfied. The occurrence time of the event may be, for example, a time point when a predetermined condition representing the event is satisfied. For example, the range of the event-unit video may be determined according to the type of the event with the time point when the predetermined condition is satisfied being set as the occurrence time of the event. As the event, for example, it is preferable to use a time point when an event corresponding to the occurrence of an accident has occurred. For example, it is preferable to use the location where a sudden deceleration corresponding to a collision occurs as the occurrence time of the event.

[0015] Drive recorders include, for example, types that record images before and after a "trigger indicating that recording conditions have been met," and types that record images constantly (for example, constantly from engine start to engine off) and store information for identifying the position of the image when the trigger is applied. This "information for identification" is, for example, the time information when the trigger is applied. For example, based on the image recording start time information and the time information when this trigger is applied, the position of which image is the position where the trigger is applied is identified.

[0016] In the case of the former type of drive recorder described above, the "event-based video" may be, for example, the video recorded over a predetermined period before and after the occurrence of a trigger indicating that the recording conditions by the drive recorder are met. Also, in the case of the latter type of drive recorder described above, the "event-based video" may be, for example, the video of the part recorded over a predetermined period before and after the occurrence of the trigger among the videos that are in a recording unit (in the above example, from engine start to engine off is one unit).

[0017] The predetermined period may be, for example, the entire range of the recorded video (for example, the whole from engine start to engine off), but it is particularly good to be a limited time range within the video. As the limited time range within the video, particularly, it is good to be a time range including the occurrence time of the event. Note that as the limited time range within the video, it may be, for example, a fixed time range or a variable time range. Also, the period before the occurrence time of the event constituting the predetermined period and the period after the occurrence time of the event may be the same time period, but it is good to be different time periods. In particular, the predetermined period should be a period sufficient to identify the cause of the event. In particular, the predetermined period should be different ranges according to the type of event.

[0018] In a third aspect, the present invention is characterized in that, in the display control system according to the second aspect, as the thumbnail image, an image recorded at a time point within the predetermined period that is not the occurrence time point of the event and is determined by a predetermined rule using information used to determine that the event has occurred is provided.

[0019] In the display control system according to the third aspect, from a thumbnail image corresponding to an image recorded at a time point (for example, the time point when the acceleration exceeds a predetermined value) determined by a predetermined rule using information (for example, the acceleration applied to the vehicle) used to determine that the event has occurred, which is not the occurrence time point of the event within the predetermined period, the content of the video in units of events can be confirmed. Thereby, it is possible to easily find a video in units of events related to the event at the time point determined by the above-described predetermined rule.

[0020] In a fourth aspect, the present invention is characterized in that, in the display control system according to the second or third aspect, as the thumbnail image, an image recorded at a time point determined by a predetermined rule using information different from the information used to determine that the event has occurred within the predetermined period is provided.

[0021] In the display control system according to the fourth aspect, from a thumbnail image corresponding to an image recorded at a time point (for example, the time point of the maximum value within a predetermined period of the acceleration in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle) determined by a predetermined rule using information (for example, the acceleration in the lateral direction of the vehicle due to a sharp steering wheel) different from the information (for example, the acceleration in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle due to sudden braking) used to determine that the event has occurred within the predetermined period, the content of the video in units of events can be confirmed. Thereby, it is possible to easily find a video in units of events related to the event at the time point determined by the above-described predetermined rule.

[0022] In a fifth aspect, the present invention is characterized in that, in the display control system according to the third or fourth aspect, the predetermined rule is a rule for estimating the occurrence time of a sub-event that caused the occurrence of the event.

[0023] In the display control system according to the fifth aspect, it is possible to easily find an event unit video related to an event at a time determined by a rule for estimating the occurrence time of a sub-event that caused the occurrence of the event. The predetermined rule is a rule for estimating a feature point related to the occurrence of the event by tracing back from the time when the event is determined to have occurred. For example, it may be a maximum point or an inflection point within a predetermined period of the vehicle's acceleration, or other acceleration feature points. Also, different rules may be set according to the type of event. The predetermined period may be set to have sufficient time such that the possibility of the occurrence of a sub-event that causes the event is considered to be low.

[0024] In a sixth aspect, the present invention is characterized in that, in the display control system according to any one of the second to fifth aspects, either or both of the times before or after the occurrence time of the event are different times depending on the type of the event.

[0025] In the display control system according to the sixth aspect, the content of the event unit video can be confirmed from thumbnail images corresponding to images recorded at different times depending on the type of event, either or both of the times before or after the occurrence time of the event. Thereby, it is possible to easily find an event unit video related to an event at a time different depending on the type of event.

[0026] In a seventh aspect, the present invention is characterized in that, in the display control system according to any one of the second to sixth aspects, the thumbnail image includes an image recorded at either or both of the times immediately before or after the occurrence time of the event.

[0027] In the display control system according to the seventh aspect, the content of the video in units of events can be confirmed from the thumbnail images corresponding to the images recorded either immediately before or immediately after the occurrence of the event, or both. As a result, the event unit videos related to the events at the time points immediately before and immediately after the occurrence of the event can be found more easily and accurately.

[0028] In the eighth aspect, the present invention is characterized in that, in the display control system according to any one of the second to seventh aspects, as the thumbnail image, it includes images recorded at both the time points immediately before and immediately after the occurrence of the event, the acquisition interval of the information used to determine that the event has occurred is set to be shorter than the recording interval of the frames of the video, the image recorded at the time point immediately before the occurrence of the event is the image of the frame immediately before the time point when it is determined that the event has occurred, and the image recorded at the time point immediately after the occurrence of the event is the image of the frame immediately after the time point when it is determined that the event has occurred.

[0029] In the display control system according to the eighth aspect, the content of the video in units of events can be confirmed from the thumbnail images corresponding to the images recorded at both the time points immediately before and immediately after the occurrence of the event. As a result, the event unit videos related to the events at both the time points immediately before and immediately after the occurrence of the event can be found more easily and accurately.

[0030] In the ninth aspect, the present invention is characterized in that, in the display control system according to any one of the first to eighth aspects, as the thumbnail image, it includes images recorded at either the first or the last, or both time points in the video in units of events.

[0031] In the display control system according to the ninth aspect described above, it becomes possible to check the content of the video in units of events from the thumbnail image corresponding to the image recorded at either the first or the last, or both points in time within the video in units of events. As a result, it is possible to more easily and accurately find the videos in units of events related to the events at the first and last points in time of the videos in units of events.

[0032] In a tenth aspect, the present invention is characterized in that, in the display control system according to any one of the second to ninth aspects described above, the thumbnail image includes an image recorded at the time when the event occurred.

[0033] In the display control system according to the tenth aspect described above, it becomes possible to check the content of the video in units of events from the thumbnail image corresponding to the image recorded at the time when the event occurred. As a result, it is possible to more easily and accurately find the videos in units of events related to the events at the time when the event occurred.

[0034] In an eleventh aspect, the present invention is characterized in that, in the display control system according to any one of the first to tenth aspects described above, the thumbnail image includes an image of a specific period within the range of the video in units of events according to the state of the vehicle when the video in units of events was recorded.

[0035] In the display control system according to the eleventh aspect described above, it becomes possible to check the content of the video in units of events from the thumbnail image corresponding to the image of the specific period according to the state of the vehicle when the video in units of events was recorded. As a result, it is possible to more easily find the videos in units of events related to the state of the vehicle when the video in units of events was recorded.

[0036] The "state of the vehicle when the video in units of events was recorded" is, for example, the state of the vehicle such as (1) when suddenly braking, (2) when suddenly turning the steering wheel, (3) when the vehicle collides with something, etc. The "image within a specific period selected from event-based videos" refers to, for example, (1) in the case of sudden braking, an image recorded from the time when the brake is depressed until it is released, or an image recorded from the time when an acceleration event acting on the vehicle appears until it ends. Also, (2) in the case of sudden steering, an image recorded from the time when the steering wheel starts to be turned until it is finished being turned. Further, (3) when the vehicle collides with something, an image recorded from the time when the acceleration behavior of the vehicle due to the reaction of the bumper, guardrail, etc. occurs until the vehicle stops and the acceleration behavior converges.

[0037] In a twelfth aspect, the present invention is characterized in that, in the display control system according to any one of the first to eleventh aspects, as the thumbnail image, an image recorded at the time when the acceleration applied to the vehicle exceeds a predetermined value is provided.

[0038] In the display control system according to the twelfth aspect above, the content of the event-based video can be confirmed from the thumbnail image corresponding to the image recorded at the time when the acceleration applied to the vehicle exceeds a predetermined value. Thereby, the event-based video related to the time when the acceleration applied to the vehicle exceeds a predetermined value can be found more easily.

[0039] In a thirteenth aspect, the present invention is characterized in that, in the display control system according to any one of the second to twelfth aspects, the occurrence of the event is specific behavior information based on information detecting the behavior of the vehicle.

[0040] In the display control system according to the thirteenth aspect above, the content of the event-based video can be confirmed from the thumbnail image corresponding to the image in which specific behavior information based on information detecting the behavior of the vehicle is recorded as an event. Thereby, the event-based video in which specific behavior information is recorded as an event can be found more easily.

[0041] The "information detecting the behavior of the vehicle" is, for example, information obtained from any of the detection results of an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, a barometric pressure sensor (or an altitude sensor) mounted on the vehicle, the analysis result of the recorded video, or the like.

[0042] In the 14th aspect, the present invention is characterized in that, in the display control system according to any of the 2nd to 13th aspects, the occurrence of the event is specific vehicle information based on information regarding the functional state of the vehicle.

[0043] In the display control system according to the 14th aspect, the content of the video in event units can be confirmed from the thumbnail image corresponding to the image in which specific vehicle information based on information regarding the functional state of the vehicle is recorded as an event. As a result, the video in event units in which specific vehicle information is recorded as an event can be found more easily.

[0044] The "information regarding the functional state of the vehicle" is, for example, any operation of a brake, a turn signal, an accelerator, a steering wheel rotation, a shift lever position, a side brake during vehicle driving, information obtained from an OBD (On Board Diagnosis) which is a vehicle failure diagnosis system, a CAN (Controller Area Network) which is an in-vehicle LAN, or the like.

[0045] In the 15th aspect, the present invention is characterized in that, in the display control system according to any of the 1st to 14th aspects, the plurality of thumbnail images are displayed in a list on the same screen in a matrix structure in which the thumbnail images of different event unit videos form different rows and the thumbnail images at the same time point form different columns.

[0046] In the display control system according to the 15th aspect, the plurality of thumbnail images are visually and easily displayed in a list in a state where they are organized as thumbnail images for each different event unit video and thumbnail images at the same time point. As a result, it is possible to easily determine the content of the thumbnail image.

[0047] In the 16th aspect, the present invention provides a display control system according to any one of the 1st to 15th aspects, wherein the plurality of thumbnail images are arranged in a matrix structure such that the thumbnail images for each video of the same event unit are arranged in chronological order from left to right or from right to left within the same row, and are displayed in a list on the same screen.

[0048] In the display control system according to the 16th aspect, a plurality of thumbnail images are visually and easily displayed in a list as thumbnail images arranged in chronological order within the same row for each video of the same event unit. This makes it easier to distinguish the content of the thumbnail images.

[0049] The invention can be regarded as a method having steps corresponding to the components of the display control means according to any one of the 1st to 16th aspects. For example, as an invention of a method corresponding to the 1st aspect, in the 17th aspect, the present invention provides a display control method for controlling the display of thumbnail images related to event unit videos recorded by a drive recorder mounted on a vehicle, the display control method being characterized by having a step of displaying a plurality of thumbnail images corresponding to different time points within the range of the event unit video.

[0050] In the display control method according to the 17th aspect, since the content of the event unit video can be confirmed from a plurality of thumbnail images corresponding to different time points within the range of the event unit video, the required event unit video can be easily found from the thumbnail images.

[0051] In the 18th aspect, the present invention can provide a program for causing a computer to realize the function of the display control system according to any one of the 1st to 16th aspects.

Advantages of the Invention

[0052] According to the display control system of the present invention, it becomes possible to easily find a video of a required event unit from a thumbnail image.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0053]

Figure 1

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Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0054] Hereinafter, a display control system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the present invention is not construed as being limited thereto, and various changes, modifications, and improvements can be made based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Example

[0055] [Example 1] <Configuration of Driving Support System> FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a driving support system according to Example 1 of the display control system of the present invention.

[0056] As shown in FIG. 1, the driving support system is composed of a drive recorder 10 mounted on a vehicle, a memory card 25 that stores an image when an event occurs in the drive recorder 10, and a driving support device 30 for reproducing the image stored in this memory card 25.

[0057] The drive recorder 10 includes a first control unit 11, an acceleration sensor (G sensor) 12, a gyro sensor 13, an air pressure sensor 14, a GPS antenna 15, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver 16 that measures the GPS position information of the vehicle from the GPS signal received by this GPS antenna 15, a first operation unit 17 including switches, buttons, etc., a first memory 18 for temporarily storing an image, a slot for inserting the memory card 25 and a first IF (interface) 19 for writing an image to the memory card 25, etc., a CCD camera 20 installed on the vehicle so as to continuously image the front of the vehicle at a predetermined rate, a vehicle signal acquisition unit 21, and a power supply unit 22 for supplying power to each element of the drive recorder 10, etc.

[0058] Further, the drive recorder 10 may be configured to be able to play back an image on the display of a navigation device (not shown) in cooperation with the navigation device. Further, the GPS receiver 16 is not necessarily an essential component, but may be an external device, for example, an AVM (Automatic Vehicle Monitoring) system, or may be configured to acquire the position information received by the navigation device.

[0059] The first control unit 11 is composed of a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, etc., and controls the overall operation of the drive recorder 10.

[0060] The G-sensor 12 detects the gravitational acceleration (hereinafter simply referred to as acceleration) in two orthogonal axial directions (X-axis and Y-axis), and transmits the detected acceleration (also referred to as G-data) to the first control unit 11 together with the time data. The first control unit 11 can acquire the G-data (Gx, Gy) output from the G-sensor 12 at intervals of, for example, 10 milliseconds, and determine the value (magnitude) of the acceleration from the G-data.

[0061] Note that Gx represents the acceleration in the X-axis direction (the longitudinal direction of the vehicle), and Gy represents the acceleration in the Y-axis direction (the lateral direction of the vehicle). Further, the G-sensor 12 may use a three-axis one that also includes the Z-axis direction (the vertical direction of the vehicle), or in the case of a three-axis one, the data of the acceleration Gz in the Z-axis direction may not be used.

[0062] The gyro sensor 13 detects the angular acceleration (rotation) of the vehicle, mainly detects the change in the traveling direction of the vehicle (that is, the rotation of the yaw (Z-axis) which is the vertical axis), and transmits the detected angular acceleration data to the first control unit 11 together with the time data. The first control unit 11 can acquire the angular acceleration data output from the gyro sensor 13 at intervals of, for example, 10 milliseconds, and determine the value (magnitude) of the angular acceleration from the angular acceleration data.

[0063] The atmospheric pressure sensor 14 detects the pressure of the atmosphere outside the vehicle, calculates the altitude based on the detected atmospheric pressure value, and transmits the atmospheric pressure value and altitude value (atmospheric pressure - altitude data) together with the time data to the first control unit 11. The first control unit 11 can acquire the atmospheric pressure - altitude data output from the atmospheric pressure sensor 14 at intervals of, for example, 10 milliseconds, and determine the values (magnitudes) of the atmospheric pressure and altitude from the atmospheric pressure - altitude data.

[0064] The first control unit 11 controls the CCD camera 20 to capture one image every 100 milliseconds, and sequentially and circularly store the captured images together with the time data in the first memory 18 (primary storage for storage to the memory card 25 described later). For example, it is configured such that the image data of 24 seconds (240 images) of the images always captured by the CCD camera 20 is stored in the first memory 18. Note that the images captured by the CCD camera 20 do not have to be one image every 100 milliseconds, and may be, for example, one image every 50 milliseconds. Also, it may be configured to store the moving images captured by the CCD camera 20.

[0065] The vehicle signal acquisition unit 21 is connected to the vehicle's fault diagnosis connector, acquires various signals and information (vehicle data) of the vehicle at intervals of, for example, 100 milliseconds, and transmits the acquired vehicle data together with the time data to the first control unit 11. Examples of the vehicle data include: [1] a signal detecting a brake operation during vehicle driving; [2] a signal detecting a turn signal operation; [3] a signal detecting an accelerator operation; [4] a signal detecting a steering wheel rotation; [5] a signal detecting a shift lever position; [6] a signal detecting a side brake operation; [7] vehicle fault diagnosis information (vehicle speed, engine speed, coolant temperature, etc.) obtained from the vehicle's on - board diagnostic system (OBD) inside the vehicle; [8] various vehicle information obtained via the in - vehicle LAN (CAN) (function control data from the ECU (Electronic Control Unit) of the host vehicle, communication data from an external network or other vehicles, etc.).

[0066] As an example, when the vehicle signal acquisition unit 21 acquires a signal detecting a brake operation, it transmits brake operation data indicating whether the brake of the vehicle has been operated, brake operation start time data indicating the time when the brake operation started, and brake operation end time data indicating the time when the brake operation ended to the first control unit 11. That is, based on the brake operation data, brake operation start time data, and brake operation end time data from the vehicle signal acquisition unit 21, the first control unit 11 can determine whether a brake operation has been performed, the time when the brake operation started, and the time when the brake operation ended.

[0067] As another example, when the vehicle signal acquisition unit 21 acquires a signal detecting a steering wheel rotation, it transmits steering wheel rotation data indicating whether the steering wheel of the vehicle has been rotated, steering wheel rotation start time data indicating the time when the steering wheel rotation started, and steering wheel rotation end time data indicating the time when the steering wheel rotation ended to the first control unit 11. That is, based on the steering wheel rotation data, steering wheel rotation start time data, and steering wheel rotation end time data from the vehicle signal acquisition unit 21, the first control unit 11 can determine whether a steering wheel rotation has been performed, the time when the steering wheel rotation started, and the time when the steering wheel rotation ended.

[0068] Note that a part or all of the GPS antenna 15, GPS receiver 16, first IF 19, CCD camera 20, vehicle signal acquisition unit 21, etc. may be configured separately from the drive recorder 10. For example, when cooperating with an existing navigation device having a GPS function, since functions such as the GPS receiver 16 are not required for the drive recorder 10, the cost of the drive recorder 10 can be reduced accordingly.

[0069] The driving support device 30 includes a second control unit 31, a display unit 32 composed of a display or the like, an output unit 33 composed of a printer or the like that prints the display screen on paper, a second operation unit 34 including input devices such as a keyboard and a mouse, a second memory 35 for temporarily storing images, a slot for inserting the memory card 25, and a second IF (interface) 36 for reading images from the memory card 25 and the like, and an image processing unit 37 for performing predetermined image processing on the input image and the like.

[0070] The second control unit 31 is composed of a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, etc., and is a personal computer (PC) installed with driving support software. It interprets and executes the programs included in the driving support software to operate each component of the driving support device 30 and realizes various functions related to the characteristic parts of the present invention.

[0071] Note that the driving support device 30 is an aspect of a display control system that controls the display of thumbnail images related to event-based videos recorded by the drive recorder 10. Also, in this embodiment, the event-based video is an image recorded in a predetermined period before and after the occurrence time of the event. The occurrence time of the event is, for example, the time when an event corresponding to the occurrence of an accident occurs, and for example, the time when an impact is applied to the vehicle due to the occurrence of a sudden deceleration such as a hard brake.

[0072] The memory card 25 is a rewritable non-volatile semiconductor memory card having a storage capacity of 2 gigabytes. This memory card 25 is inserted into the slot constituting the first IF 19, and predetermined images (for example, images for 12 seconds before and 12 seconds after the occurrence time of the event) that are constantly and cyclically stored in the first memory 18 in a predetermined period before and after the occurrence time of the event are stored. Thereafter, the memory card 25 is ejected from the slot constituting the first IF 19 and reinserted into the slot constituting the second IF 36, and the stored images are output to the driving support device 30.

[0073] Although a semiconductor memory card is used as the memory card 25, it is not limited thereto, and semiconductor memories other than the card type, portable hard disks (HDs), and other storage media can be used. Also, the storage capacity of the memory card or the like is arbitrary and can be freely determined according to the application.

[0074] When a predetermined condition is satisfied (that is, when an event for which recording by the drive recorder 10 should be performed occurs), specifically, when an impact is applied to the vehicle due to the occurrence of an event (event) such as (a) sudden braking, sudden steering, collision, or the like, or other accidents, and the value (magnitude) of the G data output from the G sensor 12 provided inside exceeds a predetermined threshold, or when (b) the emergency switch of the first operation unit 17 is pressed, etc., the drive recorder 10 acquires various data for several seconds to a dozen or so seconds before and after (for example, 12 seconds before and 12 seconds after) together with the event occurrence time data, and records it on the memory card 25 as one piece of driving information.

[0075] The driving information recorded on the memory card 25 includes G data output from the G sensor 12, angular acceleration data output from the gyro sensor 13, atmospheric pressure / altitude data output from the atmospheric pressure sensor 14, GPS position information measured by the GPS receiver 16, camera image data photographed by the CCD camera 20, and various signals and information of the vehicle (detection data such as brake operation and steering wheel rotation, vehicle speed data, etc.) acquired by the vehicle signal acquisition unit 21.

[0076] The drive recorder 10 records various data of the driving information on the memory card 25 in association with each of a plurality of camera images for several seconds to a dozen or so seconds before and after (for example, 12 seconds before and 12 seconds after) from the time when an event for which recording should be performed occurs and the trigger is detected.

[0077] <Data Structure of Memory Card> Next, with reference to FIG. 2, the data structure of the content recorded on the memory card 25 will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram conceptually showing the data structure of the content recorded on the memory card 25.

[0078] As shown in FIG. 2, for each occurrence of an event on the memory card 25, the corresponding driving information is recorded separately as driving information 1, driving information 2, driving information 3, etc. Driving information 1 is composed of 240 camera images 1 to 240 corresponding to 24 seconds (12 seconds before and 12 seconds after) around the event occurrence, and image-related information including other driving information other than the camera images. The image-related information includes main item data including G data and its time data at the time of the event occurrence, and related data 1 to 240 corresponding to each of the 240 camera images 1 to 240. The same applies to driving information 2 and 3.

[0079] The main item data includes G data, angular acceleration data, barometric pressure / altitude data, and their respective time data, and the image-related data includes the shooting date and time of the camera image, various signals and information of the vehicle at the time of shooting the camera image (detection data such as brake operation and steering wheel rotation, vehicle speed data, etc.), and the GPS position information of the vehicle.

[0080] <Method of storing acceleration change and images at the time of event occurrence> Next, with reference to FIG. 3, at the time of occurrence of an event such as an impact being applied to the vehicle, the state of change of the acceleration (G data) detected by the G sensor 12 (see FIG. 1) of the drive recorder 10 and the method of storing images and the like in the drive recorder 10 will be described.

[0081] FIG. 3(a) shows the time-series change of the G data (synthetic value of Gx and Gy) output from the G sensor 12, FIG. 3(b) shows an example of the image period stored in the memory card 25, and FIG. 3(c) shows an example of the selection timing of the image that is the source of the thumbnail image to be created. Note that the creation and display of the thumbnail image will be described later.

[0082] From the time when an impact is applied to the vehicle, the value (magnitude) of the G data output from the G sensor 12 rapidly increases from almost zero. Then, as shown in FIG. 3(a), when the value (magnitude) of the G data of the G sensor 12 reaches the threshold acceleration Gs (for example, 0.3G) at time tp, the first control unit 101 recognizes this as a trigger, determines (judges) that an event has occurred, causes the CCD camera 20 to capture an image, and stores the image that is constantly circularly stored in the first memory 18 in the memory card 25, and also operates to store the time tp in the memory card 25 as event occurrence determination time data.

[0083] Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3(b), it controls to store the image PA for TA seconds before time tp and the image PB for TB seconds after time tp in the memory card 25. For example, TA can be 12 seconds and TB can be 12 seconds. Note that the periods of TA and TB can be freely set. For example, while displaying the set time (seconds) on the setting screen (not shown) of the drive recorder 10, the time can be set by operating the time setting button of the first operation unit 17 of the drive recorder 10, and the set information can be saved to enable setting at an arbitrary time.

[0084] When an event such as an impact being applied to the vehicle occurs as described above and the value (magnitude) of the detected G data of the G sensor 12 exceeds a predetermined threshold, for each event, the first control unit 11 stores the event occurrence time data (tp), the detected G data (Gx, Gy) of the G sensor 12 and its time data, the detected angular acceleration data of the gyro sensor 13 and its time data, the air pressure / altitude data of the air pressure sensor 14 and its time data, and the vehicle data and its time data for TA seconds before time tp and TB seconds after time tp acquired by the vehicle signal acquisition unit 21 (for example, brake operation data and its time data, steering wheel rotation data and its time data, vehicle speed data and its time data, etc.) in the memory card 25 together with the image data. Note that only a part of the above-described data may be configured to be stored in the memory card 25.

[0085] The number of events stored in the memory card 25 can be variable according to the storage capacity of the memory card 25. For example, it is preferable to enable storage of data for 500 or more events. Further, the first control unit 11 preferably creates a folder in the memory card 25 for each event and stores the image data, event occurrence time data (tp), G data (Gx, Gy) of the G sensor 12 and its time data, angular acceleration data and its time data, atmospheric pressure / altitude data and its time data, and vehicle data and its time data.

[0086] In addition, at the time of occurrence of the event described above, although the event occurrence trigger is set to exceed the threshold acceleration Gs, for example, an event may be determined to have occurred when the amount of change in acceleration per unit time exceeds a certain value (when the value (magnitude) of the G data changes by 0.1 G or more in 0.1 seconds).

[0087] <Creation and Display of Thumbnail Images (Example 1)> Next, the creation and display process of the thumbnail image in the driving support device 30 will be described with reference to FIG. 4. In this example, the creation and display operation of the thumbnail image related to one event will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the creation and display process of the thumbnail image according to the first embodiment. The creation and display process of this thumbnail image is realized by the CPU executing according to a control program loaded from an HDD or the like into the RAM of the second control unit 31 of the driving support device 30, and is started based on the operation of starting the driving support software of the second operation unit 34. Further, it is assumed that the memory card 25 in which the image is stored in the drive recorder 10 is inserted into the second IF 36 constituting the slot when the process of the flowchart shown in FIG. 4 is started.

[0088] In step S11, the second control unit 31 acquires the event occurrence determination time data (tp) from the data stored in the memory card 25.

[0089] Next, in step S12, the second control unit 31 selects a plurality of images taken at a plurality of different timings from the image PA for TA seconds before the time tp shown in FIG. 3(b) and the image PB for TB seconds after the time tp.

[0090] Specifically, in this control program, from the image PA for TA seconds before the time tp shown in FIG. 3(b) and the image PB for TB seconds after the time tp, the image P1 taken at the time ts, which is TA seconds (for example, 12 seconds) before the time tp shown in FIG. 3(c), is selected as the "first image", and the image P2 taken at the time tp1 immediately before the time tp (TC seconds before the predetermined time, for example, 0.2 seconds before) is selected as the "second image", and the image P3 taken at the time tp2 immediately after the time tp (after the predetermined time TC, for example, 0.2 seconds after) is selected as the "third image", and the image P4 taken at the time te, which is TB seconds (for example, 12 seconds) after the time tp, is selected as the "fourth image". Such control processing is programmed. The second control unit 31 performs selection control of the first to fourth images from the image PA and the image PB according to such a control program.

[0091] Note that the time ts, which is TA seconds before the time tp, is the point in time when image storage starts in one event, and the "first image" is also the image taken at the time of event occurrence. Also, the time te, which is TB seconds after the time tp, is the point in time when image storage ends in one event, and the "fourth image" is the image taken at the end of event detection. Also, the predetermined time TC can be set to, for example, 0.2 seconds, but an optimal value including 0 seconds can be selected according to the application. For example, while displaying the set time (seconds) on the setting screen (not shown) of the driving support device 30, the time can be set by operating the time setting button of the second operation unit 34 of the driving support device 30, and the set information can be saved, so that it can be set to an arbitrary time.

[0092] Next, in step S13, the second control unit 201 causes the image processing unit 37 to perform image processing for creating first to fourth thumbnail images from the "first to fourth images" (P1 to P4) selected in step S12 according to the control program stored in the ROM in the second control unit 201.

[0093] Note that in order to create thumbnail images from the selected first to fourth images, for example, the original first to fourth images are each subjected to image processing for reduction to create thumbnail images. In addition to the image processing for reduction, other thumbnail images may be created by performing other predetermined image processing such as image processing for enlargement of the selected first to fourth images or image processing for cutting out a part of the image. Further, the selected first to fourth images may be used as thumbnail images without any image processing.

[0094] In the subsequent step S14, the second control unit 31 causes the display processing unit 38 to perform display processing for displaying the first to fourth thumbnail images created in step S13 on the display unit 32 according to the control program stored in the ROM in the second control unit 31. Specifically, as will be described later, the thumbnail images are arranged in a matrix structure and displayed in a list on the same screen. Thus, the creation and display processing of thumbnail images for one event are completed.

[0095] <Example of display of thumbnail images> Next, one aspect of the display image to be displayed on the display unit 32 of the driving support device 30 will be described with reference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a screen display diagram showing an example of the display mode of the thumbnail images according to the first embodiment. The display mode of the thumbnail images illustrated in FIG. 5 shows a state in which thumbnail images related to a plurality of events are displayed on the display unit 32 of the driving support device 30.

[0096] In FIG. 5, the 16 thumbnail images A1 to D4 arranged in a 4-row by 4-column matrix structure and listed on the same screen each constitute event unit images 51, 52, 53, 54 for one event per row. That is, the event images 51, 52, 53, 54 are each composed of four thumbnail images for one event arranged and displayed within one row, and four thumbnail images for different events are arranged and displayed in different rows, namely, four sets of thumbnail images A1 to A4, B1 to B4, C1 to C4, D1 to D4.

[0097] Note that the shooting times of the images from which each of the thumbnail images A1 to D4 is derived are displayed below the thumbnail images. The illustrated example shows the shooting times of the images from which each thumbnail image is derived when the event occurrence time tp in the event unit image 51 is "11:46:14.60".

[0098] Also, the 16 thumbnail images shown in FIG. 5 each constitute time-point unit images 61, 62, 63, 64 created from images taken at the same time point (precisely, at time points that are the same time before and after the event occurrence time tp for each event) per column. That is, the time-point unit images 61, 62, 63, 64 are each composed of four thumbnail images for the same time point arranged and displayed within one column, and four thumbnail images for different time points are arranged and displayed in different columns, namely, four sets of thumbnail images A1 to D1, A2 to D2, A3 to D3, A4 to D4.

[0099] Also, in the 16 thumbnail images shown in FIG. 5, the first column from the left is a thumbnail image created from the image P1 (the first image) taken at the event occurrence time (time ts), the second column is a thumbnail image created from the image P2 (the second image) taken immediately before the event occurrence determination time (time tp1), the third column is a thumbnail image created from the image P3 (the third image) taken immediately after the event occurrence determination time (time tp2), and the fourth column is a thumbnail image created from the image P4 (the fourth image) taken at the event detection end time (time te).

[0100] Furthermore, in FIG. 5, the four thumbnail images arranged in one row are arranged and displayed in the order of X1→X2→X3→X4 (X is any one of A, B, C, D) so that the thumbnail images for the same event image are arranged in chronological order from left to right within the same row. Note that the display order may be arranged in chronological order from right to left instead of from left to right within the same row.

[0101] Note that in FIG. 5, four events are displayed, but the number of events displayed is not limited to this, and it is also possible to select other numbers of displays, display them in combination with other elements (such as G data and vehicle data), etc.

[0102] As described above, the driving support device 30 of the first embodiment has the following advantages. That is, (1) When an event such as an impact is applied to the vehicle, the first image P1 taken TA seconds before the event occurrence time (time tp), the second image P2 taken immediately before the time tp, the third image P3 taken immediately after the time tp, and the fourth image P4 taken TB seconds after the time tp are selected, and the first to fourth thumbnail images are created from the selected first to fourth images P1 to P4, and control is performed to display them on the display unit 32. Thereby, at the time of the occurrence of an event, by checking the first to fourth thumbnail images corresponding to the first to fourth images P1 to P4 taken at different time points among the event unit images taken in a predetermined period before and after that, the content of the event unit images stored for each event occurrence can be easily checked, and the cause and situation of the event occurrence can be easily grasped.

[0103] For example, when finding an event unit image related to a specific event from among a large number of event unit images stored for each event occurrence, compared with the case of checking the content of the event unit image from one thumbnail image related to that event unit image to find a specific event unit image, the specific event unit image to be obtained can be easily found from the thumbnail images.

[0104] (2) As in the display mode of the thumbnail images illustrated in FIG. 5, for the thumbnail images, four thumbnail images related to one event are arranged and displayed in one row, and four thumbnail images related to different events are arranged and displayed in different rows. Therefore, it is possible to clearly distinguish the four thumbnail images related to one event at a glance. In addition, the four thumbnail images arranged in one row are arranged and displayed so as to be arranged in chronological order from left to right within the same row for each event. Therefore, it is possible to clearly distinguish the chronological order of the four thumbnail images related to one event at a glance.

[0105] Furthermore, by looking at the thumbnail images in the first column, the state in front of the vehicle at the time of event occurrence can be understood. By looking at the thumbnail images in the second column, the state in front of the vehicle immediately before the event occurrence determination time can be understood. By looking at the thumbnail images in the third column, the state in front of the vehicle immediately after the event occurrence determination time can be understood. By looking at the thumbnail images in the fourth column, the state in front of the vehicle at the end of event detection can be understood. Therefore, for example, by comparing and looking at the thumbnail images in the same column, it is possible to compare and verify the state in front of the vehicle at each same time point when the event occurs.

[0106] [Example 2] In this Example 2, it is the case of sudden braking as an event case such as an impact being applied to the vehicle. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the acceleration change in the case of sudden braking, and shows the time-series change of the G data (synthetic value of Gx and Gy) output from the G sensor 12.

[0107] As shown in FIG. 6, when a sudden brake is applied (turned on) at time t1, the G sensor 12 mainly detects the acceleration (Gx) in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and the acceleration changes. The acceleration (G data) of the G sensor 12 gradually increases from time t1 (i.e., the acceleration in the direction opposite to the direction in which the vehicle is moving increases), and when it reaches the threshold acceleration Gs (for example, 0.3G) at time tp, the first control unit 11 recognizes this as a trigger and determines (judges) that an event has occurred. The CCD camera 20 captures an image and stores the image that is constantly cyclically stored in the first memory 108 in the memory card 150, and also operates to store the time tp in the memory card 150 as event occurrence determination time data.

[0108] Specifically, also in the second embodiment, similar to the first embodiment, control is performed to store the image PA for TA seconds before time tp and the image PB for TB seconds after time tp in the memory card 25.

[0109] After time tp, the acceleration continues to increase, reaches a maximum value, then changes to a decrease and gradually decreases (i.e., the acceleration in the direction opposite to the direction in which the vehicle is moving decreases), and then rapidly decreases, passes through the zero point, and further decreases (i.e., the acceleration in the direction in which the vehicle is moving increases), reaches a minimum value, changes to an increase and rapidly increases (i.e., the acceleration in the direction in which the vehicle is moving decreases), the vehicle stops, and when the brake is released (turned off) at time t2, it becomes zero.

[0110] In FIG. 6, the period Td from time t1 to time tp is the "period from the start of dangerous driving to just before the trigger occurs", and the period Te from time tp to time t2 is the "behavior of dangerous driving" period.

[0111] <Creation and Display of Thumbnail Images (Second Embodiment)> FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the creation and display processing of thumbnail images according to the second embodiment. Similar to the first embodiment, it is realized by the CPU executing according to a control program loaded from an HDD or the like into the RAM of the second control unit 31 of the driving support device 30, and is started based on an operation for starting the driving support software of the second operation unit 34. Also, it is assumed that a memory card 25 in which an image is stored in the drive recorder 10 is inserted into the second IF 36 constituting the slot at the time when the processing of the flowchart shown in FIG. 7 is started.

[0112] In step S21, the second control unit 31 acquires event occurrence determination time data (tp) from the data stored in the memory card 25. Subsequently, in step S22, a brake operation detection signal (brake operation data) output from the vehicle signal acquisition unit 21 is acquired from the data stored in the memory card 25.

[0113] Next, in step S23, the second control unit 31 selects a plurality of images taken at a plurality of different timings related to the brake operation from among the image PA for TA seconds before the time tp shown in FIG. 3(b) and the image PB for TB seconds after the time tp.

[0114] Specifically, in this control program, based on the brake operation start time data included in the acquired brake operation data, from among the image PA for TA seconds before the time tp shown in FIG. 3(b) and the image PB for TB seconds after the time tp, the image captured at the time t1 (i.e., the start point of the appearance of the acceleration event) when the brake operation was started is selected as the "first image", the image captured immediately before the time tp (before a predetermined time TC, for example, 0.2 seconds before) is selected as the "second image", the image captured immediately after the time tp (after a predetermined time TC, for example, 0.2 seconds after) is selected as the "third image", and the image captured at the time t2 (i.e., the end point of the appearance of the acceleration event) when the brake operation was ended based on the brake operation end time data included in the acquired brake operation data is selected as the "fourth image". Control processing such as this is programmed. The second control unit 31 performs selection control of the first to fourth images from among the images PA and PB in accordance with such a control program.

[0115] Note that the predetermined time TC can be set to, for example, 0.2 seconds, but an optimal value including 0 seconds can be selected according to the application. In addition to the above-described time t1, immediately before and after the time tp, and the time t2, images captured at the point in time when the acceleration reaches the maximum value (peak value), immediately before and after that, and at the point in time when the acceleration reaches the minimum value (valley value), immediately before and after that may also be selected.

[0116] Next, in step S24, the second control unit 31 causes the image processing unit 37 to perform image processing for creating the first to fourth thumbnail images from the "first to fourth images" selected in step S23 in accordance with the control program stored in the ROM in the second control unit 31.

[0117] In the subsequent step S25, the second control unit 31 causes the display processing unit 38 to perform display processing for displaying the first to fourth thumbnail images created in step S24 on the display unit 32 in accordance with the control program stored in the ROM within the second control unit 31. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the thumbnail images are arranged in a matrix structure and displayed in a list on the same screen. This concludes the creation and display processing of the thumbnail images for one event.

[0118] As described above, the driving support device 30 of the second embodiment has the following advantages. That is, In the case of an event such as a vehicle being impacted, specifically when it is due to sudden braking, the first image captured at the time t1 when the braking operation is started, the second image captured immediately before the time tp, the third image captured immediately after the time tp, and the fourth image captured at the time t2 when the braking operation is ended are selected, the first to fourth thumbnail images are created from the selected first to fourth images, and control is performed to display them on the display unit 32. Thereby, in the case of sudden braking, at different time points among the event unit images captured during a predetermined period before and after the event occurrence time (time tp), particularly at the time points including the time t1 when the braking operation is started and the time t2 when the braking operation is ended, by checking the first to fourth thumbnail images corresponding to the first to fourth images captured at these time points, the content of the event unit images stored as an event case due to sudden braking can be easily confirmed, and it is easy to grasp the cause and situation of the sudden braking.

[0119] For example, when searching for an event unit image related to sudden braking among a large number of event unit images stored for each event occurrence, compared with the case of checking the content of the event unit image from a thumbnail image of one time point related to the event unit image and searching for the event unit image related to sudden braking, the event unit image related to the required sudden braking can be easily found from the thumbnail images.

[0120] Also, if you look vertically at the thumbnail images in the first column from the left among the 16 thumbnail images shown in FIG. 5, you can compare the images at the time when the emergency brake was applied (the time when the brake operation was started). Also, if you look vertically at the thumbnail images in the second column, you can compare the images immediately before the time when an event was determined to have occurred due to applying the emergency brake, and if you look vertically at the thumbnail images in the third column, you can compare the images immediately after that. Furthermore, if you look vertically at the thumbnail images in the fourth column, you can compare the images at the time when the brake is released (the time when the brake operation is ended).

[0121] [Example 3] In this Example 3, as an event case where an impact is applied to the vehicle, it is the case of a sharp turn of the steering wheel. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the acceleration change in the case of a sharp turn of the steering wheel, and shows the time-series change of the G data (the combined value of Gx and Gy) output from the G sensor 12.

[0122] As shown in FIG. 8, when the sharp turn of the steering wheel starts at time t3, in the G sensor 12, mainly the acceleration (Gy) in the left-right direction of the vehicle is detected, and the acceleration changes. The acceleration (G data) from the G sensor 12 gradually increases from time t3 (that is, the acceleration in the direction opposite to the turning direction of the vehicle becomes larger), and when it reaches the threshold acceleration Gs (for example, 0.3G) at time tp, the first control unit 11 recognizes this as a trigger and determines (judges) that an event has occurred. The CCD camera 20 captures an image and stores the image that is constantly and circularly stored in the first memory 108 in the memory card 25, and also operates to store the time tp in the memory card 25 as event occurrence determination time data.

[0123] Specifically, also in this Example 3, similar to Examples 1 and 2, control is performed to store the image PA for TA seconds before the time tp and the image PB for TB seconds after the time tp in the memory card 25.

[0124] Even after time tp, the acceleration continues to increase, reaches a maximum value (peak value), then changes to a decrease and gradually decreases (i.e., the acceleration in the direction opposite to the direction in which the vehicle is turning becomes smaller), and then rapidly decreases, passes through the zero point, and further decreases (i.e., the acceleration in the direction in which the vehicle is turning becomes larger), reaches a minimum value (valley value), changes to an increase and rapidly increases (i.e., the acceleration in the direction in which the vehicle is turning becomes smaller), until the vehicle finishes turning and the steering wheel has been turned back (i.e., the steering wheel has been returned to its original position) at time t4, at which point it becomes zero.

[0125] In FIG. 8, the period Tf from time t3 to time tp is the "period from the start of dangerous driving until just before the trigger occurs", and the period Tg from time tp to time t4 is the period of the "behavior of dangerous driving".

[0126] <Creation and Display of Thumbnail Images (Example 3)> FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the creation and display process of the thumbnail image according to Example 3. Similar to Examples 1 and 2, it is realized by the CPU executing according to the control program loaded from an HDD or the like into the RAM of the second control unit 31 of the driving support device 30, and is started based on the operation of starting the driving support software of the second operation unit 34. Also, it is assumed that a memory card 25 in which an image is stored in the drive recorder 10 is inserted into the second IF 36 constituting the slot when the processing of the flowchart shown in FIG. 9 is started.

[0127] In step S31, the second control unit 31 acquires the event occurrence determination time data (tp) from the data stored in the memory card 25. Subsequently, in step S32, the second control unit 31 acquires the steering wheel rotation detection signal (steering wheel rotation data) output from the vehicle signal acquisition unit 21 from among the data stored in the memory card 25.

[0128] Next, in step S33, the second control unit 31 selects a plurality of images taken at a plurality of different timings related to the steering wheel rotation from among the image PA for TA seconds before time tp and the image PB for TB seconds after time tp shown in FIG. 3(b).

[0129] Specifically, in this control program, from among the image PA for TA seconds before the time tp shown in FIG. 3(b) and the image PB for TB seconds after the time tp, an image captured at the time t3 when the steering wheel rotation is started based on the steering wheel rotation start time data included in the acquired steering wheel rotation data is selected as the "first image", an image captured immediately before the time tp (before a predetermined time TC, for example, 0.2 seconds before) is selected as the "second image", an image captured immediately after the time tp (after a predetermined time TC, for example, 0.2 seconds after) is selected as the "third image", and an image captured at the time t4 when the steering wheel rotation is ended based on the steering wheel rotation end time data included in the acquired steering wheel rotation data is selected as the "fourth image", and control processing such as this is programmed. The second control unit 31 performs selection control of the first to fourth images from among the images PA and PB in accordance with such a control program.

[0130] Note that the predetermined time TC can be set to, for example, 0.2 seconds, but an optimal value including 0 seconds can be selected according to the application. In addition to the above-described times t3, immediately before and after the time tp, and time t4, images captured at the point in time when the acceleration reaches the maximum value (peak value), immediately before and after that, and at the point in time when the acceleration reaches the minimum value (valley value), immediately before and after that may be selected.

[0131] Next, in step S34, the second control unit 31 causes the image processing unit 37 to perform image processing for creating first to fourth thumbnail images from the "first to fourth images" selected in step S33 in accordance with the control program stored in the ROM within the second control unit 31.

[0132] In the subsequent step S35, the second control unit 31 causes the display processing unit 38 to perform display processing for displaying the first to fourth thumbnail images created in step S34 on the display unit 32 in accordance with the control program stored in the ROM within the second control unit 31. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the thumbnail images are arranged in a matrix structure and displayed in a list on the same screen. This concludes the thumbnail image creation and display process for one event.

[0133] As described above, the driving support device 30 of the third embodiment has the following advantages. That is, In the case of a sharp turn as an event example such as when an impact is applied to the vehicle, the first image captured at the time t3 when the steering wheel rotation starts, the second image captured immediately before the time tp, the third image captured immediately after the time tp, and the fourth image captured at the time t4 when the steering wheel rotation ends are selected, and the first to fourth thumbnail images are created from the selected first to fourth images, and control is performed to display them on the display unit 32. As a result, in the case of a sharp turn, at different points in the event unit images captured during a predetermined period before and after the event occurrence time (time tp), particularly at points including the time t3 when the steering wheel rotation starts and the time t4 when the steering wheel rotation ends, by checking the first to fourth thumbnail images corresponding to the first to fourth images captured at those times, the content of the event unit images stored in the case of a sharp turn as an event example can be easily checked, and it is easy to grasp the cause and situation of the sharp turn.

[0134] For example, when looking for an event unit image related to a sharp turn among a large number of event unit images stored for each event occurrence, compared with the case of checking the content of the event unit image from a thumbnail image of one point related to the event unit image and searching for the event unit image related to the sharp turn, the event unit image related to the sharp turn to be obtained can be easily found from the thumbnail images.

[0135] Also, if you look vertically at the thumbnail images in the first column from the left among the 16 thumbnail images shown in FIG. 5, you can compare the images at the time when the steering operation started (the time when the steering wheel rotation started). Also, if you look vertically at the thumbnail images in the second column, you can compare the images immediately before the time when an event was determined to have occurred due to the steering operation. If you look vertically at the thumbnail images in the third column, you can compare the images immediately after that. Furthermore, if you look vertically at the thumbnail images in the fourth column, you can compare the images at the time when the steering operation ended (the time when the steering wheel rotation ended).

[0136] Furthermore, as in the third embodiment, creating a thumbnail image at the time when the steering wheel rotation starts has advantages when the steering operation and the acceleration event are not linked as follows. For example, there are cases where acceleration occurs regardless of the steering operation, such as when the vehicle collides or when driving on a slope, and cases where acceleration occurs due to a steering operation such as a sharp turn of the steering wheel. The first thumbnail image (the first column from the left in FIG. 5 above) of the third embodiment is the one at the time when the steering wheel rotation starts, but there may be cases where the steering operation and the acceleration event are not linked. According to the third embodiment, since it is possible to display a thumbnail image that is a thumbnail image at the time when the steering wheel rotation starts and has a predetermined relationship with the occurrence of an event, particularly when the time when the steering wheel rotation starts does not coincide with the start time of the appearance of the acceleration event, instead of the thumbnail image at the start time of the appearance of the acceleration event, from the thumbnail image at the time when the steering wheel rotation starts, it is possible to confirm the relationship between the time when the steering wheel rotation was started and the occurrence of the event, which can be useful for determining the cause of the event and understanding the situation.

[0137] [Embodiment 4] In this Embodiment 4, as an example of an event such as an impact being applied to the vehicle, it is a case of a vehicle collision. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the acceleration change in the case of a vehicle collision, and shows the time-series change of the G data (the combined value of Gx and Gy) output from the G sensor 12.

[0138] As shown in FIG. 10, when the vehicle collides with something at time t5, the G-sensor 12 detects and changes the acceleration (Gx) in the longitudinal direction and the acceleration (Gy) in the lateral direction of the vehicle, respectively. The acceleration (G data) from the G-sensor 12 rapidly increases immediately after time t5, repeatedly undergoes rapid increases and decreases, then rapidly increases again, and when it reaches the threshold acceleration Gs (for example, 0.3G) at time tp, the first control unit 11 recognizes this as a trigger, determines (judges) that an event has occurred, causes the CCD camera 20 to capture an image, stores the image that is constantly and circularly stored in the first memory 108 in the memory card 25, and also operates to store the time tp in the memory card 25 as event occurrence determination time data.

[0139] Specifically, also in the present Example 4, similar to Examples 1, 2, and 3, control is performed to store the image PA for TA seconds before time tp and the image PB for TB seconds after time tp in the memory card 25.

[0140] After time tp, the acceleration also increases, reaches a maximum value and then rapidly decreases, passes through the zero point, reaches a minimum value and then rapidly increases, passes through the zero point again, reaches a maximum value again and then rapidly decreases, passes through the zero point again, repeatedly undergoes rapid increases and decreases, and when the vehicle stops and the acceleration converges at time t6, it becomes zero.

[0141] In FIG. 10, the period Th from time t5 to time tp is the "period of impact before the large impact", and during this period Th, an impact waveform due to impact reduction by effects such as the vehicle's bumper or guardrail appears. Also, the period Ti from time tp to time t6 is the "behavior of the impact" period.

[0142] <Creation and Display of Thumbnail Images (Example 4)> FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the creation and display processing of the thumbnail image according to the fourth embodiment. Similar to the first, second, and third embodiments, it is realized by the CPU executing according to a control program loaded from an HDD or the like into the RAM of the second control unit 31 of the driving support device 30, and is started based on the operation of starting the driving support software of the second operation unit 34. Further, it is assumed that when the processing of the flowchart shown in FIG. 11 is started, the memory card 25 in which the image is stored in the drive recorder 10 is inserted into the second IF 36 constituting the slot.

[0143] In step S41, the second control unit 31 acquires event occurrence determination time data (tp) from the data stored in the memory card 25. Subsequently, in step S42, the vehicle speed (vehicle speed data) output from the vehicle signal acquisition unit 21 is acquired from the data stored in the memory card 25. Further, in step S43, the detected G data (Gx, Gy) of the G sensor 12 is acquired from the data stored in the memory card 25.

[0144] Next, in step S44, the second control unit 31 selects a plurality of images taken at a plurality of different timings related to vehicle collision from the image PA for TA seconds before the time tp and the image PB for TB seconds after the time tp shown in FIG. 3(b). Specifically, in this control program, from among the image PA for TA seconds before the time tp shown in FIG. 3(b) and the image PB for TB seconds after the time tp, the size (value) of the G data immediately after the time t5 when the vehicle collided repeats a sharp increase and decrease and reaches the second maximum value at the time point tp3 (i.e., the time point when the acceleration behavior of the vehicle due to the reaction of the bumper, guardrail, etc. occurs). The image captured at this time point is selected as the "first image", the image captured immediately before the time tp (before a predetermined time TC, for example, 0.2 seconds before) is selected as the "second image", the image captured immediately after the time tp (after a predetermined time TC, for example, 0.2 seconds after) is selected as the "third image", and the image captured at the time t6 when the vehicle speed becomes zero (i.e., the time point when the acceleration behavior converges) is selected as the "fourth image". Such control processing is programmed. The second control unit 31 performs selection control of the first to fourth images from among the images PA and PB according to such a control program.

[0145] Note that the predetermined time TC can be set to, for example, 0.2 seconds, but an optimal value including 0 seconds can be selected according to the application. In addition to immediately after the above-mentioned time t5, immediately before and after the time tp, and the time t6, images captured at the time point when the acceleration reaches the maximum value (peak value), immediately before and after that, and the time point when the acceleration reaches the minimum value (valley value), immediately before and after that may also be selected.

[0146] Next, in step S45, the second control unit 31 causes the image processing unit 37 to perform image processing for creating the first to fourth thumbnail images from the "first to fourth images" selected in step S44 according to the control program stored in the ROM in the second control unit 31.

[0147] In the subsequent step S46, the second control unit 31 causes the display processing unit 38 to perform display processing for displaying the first to fourth thumbnail images created in step S45 on the display unit 32 according to the control program stored in the ROM in the second control unit 31. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the thumbnail images are arranged in a matrix structure and displayed in a list on the same screen. This concludes the creation and display process of the thumbnail image for one event.

[0148] As described above, the driving support device 30 of the fourth embodiment has the following advantages. That is, In the case of a vehicle collision as an event example such as when an impact is applied to the vehicle, the first image captured at the time when the G data immediately after the time t5 of the vehicle collision repeatedly increased and decreased (the time of the reaction acceleration behavior), the second image captured immediately before the time tp, the third image captured immediately after the time tp, and the fourth image captured at the time t6 when the vehicle speed became zero (the time when the acceleration converged) are selected, and the first to fourth thumbnail images are created from the selected first to fourth images, and control is performed to display them on the display unit 32. As a result, in the case of a vehicle collision, at different times in the event unit images captured during a predetermined period before and after the event occurrence time (time tp), particularly, at the time when the G data immediately after the time t5 of the vehicle collision repeatedly increased and decreased (the time of the reaction acceleration behavior) or at the time t6 when the vehicle speed became zero (the time when the acceleration converged), by checking the first to fourth thumbnail images corresponding to the first to fourth images captured at these times, the content of the event unit images stored as an event example in the case of a vehicle collision can be easily checked, and it is easy to grasp the cause and situation of the vehicle collision.

[0149] For example, when searching for an event unit image related to a vehicle collision among a large number of event unit images stored for each event occurrence, compared with the case of checking the content of the event unit image from a thumbnail image of one time point related to the event unit image and searching for the event unit image related to the vehicle collision, the event unit image related to the vehicle collision to be obtained can be easily found from the thumbnail images.

[0150] Also, if you look vertically at the thumbnail images in the first column from the left among the 16 thumbnail images shown in FIG. 5, you can compare the images at the time of vehicle collision. Further, if you look vertically at the thumbnail images in the second column, you can compare the images immediately before the time when an event is determined to have occurred due to the vehicle collision. If you look vertically at the thumbnail images in the third column, you can compare the images immediately after that. Furthermore, if you look vertically at the thumbnail images in the fourth column, you can compare the images at the time when the vehicle speed becomes zero.

[0151] <Experimental case> FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an experimental case of the acceleration change in the case of a vehicle-to-vehicle collision in relation to the acceleration change in the case of the vehicle collision according to the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 10, and shows the values of the detected acceleration Gx in the X-axis direction (the longitudinal direction of the vehicle), the detected acceleration Gy in the Y-axis direction (the lateral direction of the vehicle), and the detected acceleration Gz in the Z-axis direction (the vertical direction of the vehicle) output from the G sensor 12 as their respective time-series changes.

[0152] In this experimental case, as shown in FIG. 12, when the vehicle collided at time t7, immediately after time t7, the values of Gx, Gy, and Gz repeated rapid increases and decreases in a relatively short cycle, and when the value of Gx reached the threshold acceleration Gs (for example, 1.0) at time tp, it was recognized as a trigger and an event was determined to have occurred. After time tp, the value of Gx may increase slightly, but eventually converges to near zero (time t8). Also, after time tp, the values of Gy and Gz are relatively small and eventually converge.

[0153] In FIG. 12, the period Tj from time t7 to time tp is the same as the period Th in FIG. 10 and is the "period of impact before a large impact". In this period Tj, an impact waveform appears due to the reduction of the impact by the effects of the vehicle bumper or guardrail. Also, the period Ti from time tp to time t8 is the same as the period Ti in FIG. 10 and is the "period of the behavior of the impact". In this period Tk, the vehicle moves due to the reaction after the impact.

[0154] <Display case> FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a display example of a thumbnail screen according to the experimental case shown in FIG. 12. In this display example, a memory card 25 that is mounted in the drive recorder 10 and stores driving information including camera images and image-related information is taken out and displayed on the display unit 32 of the driving support device 30. In FIG. 13, the 16 thumbnail images arranged in a 4-row × 4-column matrix structure and displayed in a list on the same screen display, for each row, event unit images 71, 72, 73, 74 related to one event, and for each column, time unit images 71, 72, 73, 74 created from images taken at the same time (exactly, at a time that is the same relative to the event occurrence time tp for each event).

[0155] Next, a method for displaying a list of thumbnail images arranged in the matrix structure as described above will be described below. The user first selects files 91, 92, 93, 94 of a plurality of events (here, four) to be displayed by the second operation unit 204 from the playlist 90 in the upper right of the display image shown in FIG. 13. Next, the event unit images corresponding to the selected event files 91, 92, 93, 94 are read, and based on the read files, thumbnail image creation and display processing are performed according to the processing procedure of the flowchart in FIG. 4, and the thumbnail images are arranged in a matrix structure and displayed in a list on the same screen.

[0156] In the display example of FIG. 13, the event unit image 71 displayed for each row shows thumbnail images created from images taken at four time points (i.e., [1] the event occurrence time which is TA seconds before the event occurrence time tp, [2] immediately before the time tp (immediately before the event occurrence), [3] immediately after the time tp (immediately after the event occurrence), [4] the event detection end time which is TB seconds after the time tp) for the event of file 91. Similarly, the event unit image 72 displays the thumbnail images at the above four time points for the event of file 92, the event unit image 73 displays the thumbnail images at the above four time points for the event of file 93, and the event unit image 74 displays the thumbnail images at the above four time points for the event of file 94.

[0157] In the display example of FIG. 13, the time-point unit image 81 displayed for each column is a thumbnail image created from the image taken at the event occurrence time point, which is TA seconds before the event occurrence time tp, among the four thumbnail images of each of the event unit images 71, 72, 73, and 74. Similarly, the time-point unit image 82 displays a thumbnail image created from the image taken immediately before the event occurrence time tp (immediately before the event occurrence) among the four thumbnail images of each of the event unit images 71, 72, 73, and 74, the time-point unit image 83 displays a thumbnail image created from the image taken immediately after the event occurrence time tp (immediately after the event occurrence) among the four thumbnail images of each of the event unit images 71, 72, 73, and 74, and the time-point unit image 84 displays a thumbnail image created from the image taken at the event detection end time point, which is TB seconds after the event occurrence time tp, among the four thumbnail images of each of the event unit images 71, 72, 73, and 74.

[0158] <Modification Example> The present invention is not limited to the description of the above-described embodiments of the present invention, and various modifications are possible. As a modification example, for example, the following implementation may be adopted.

[0159] (1) In the above-described embodiment, when the value (magnitude) of the G data output from the G sensor 12 reaches the threshold acceleration Gs (time tp), it is recognized as a trigger and it is determined that an event has occurred. However, it is not limited to this. For example, when the value (magnitude) of the angular acceleration data output from the gyro sensor 13 or the air pressure / altitude data output from the air pressure sensor 14 reaches a predetermined value, it may be recognized as a trigger and it may be determined that an event has occurred. Also, it may be determined that an event has occurred based on the result of analyzing the recorded video. In addition, when the emergency switch of the first operation unit 17 is pressed, when there is a signal input from an external port, and when a command is received by communication (for example, RS-232C) from an external device such as an AVM-ECU (Automatic Vehicle Monitoring - Engine Control Unit), etc., it may be regarded as the occurrence of an event.

[0160] (2) In the above-described embodiment, from the images stored for each period of time for each single event, for each event such as hard braking, sharp steering, and vehicle collision, the first to fourth images taken at four time points are selected to create the first to fourth thumbnail images. However, it is not limited to this. A plurality of images taken at a plurality of different time points other than the four time points may be selected, and thumbnail images corresponding to the selected images may be created. Also, for the plurality of different time points, various combinations may be made depending on the type of event, but it is preferable to use a combination of time points (a specific period within a predetermined period) at which the characteristics of the event appear. The combination of time points at which the characteristics of the event appear uses various data such as "data detecting the behavior of the vehicle" and "data regarding the functional state of the vehicle" stored in the memory card 25 together with the image data, either alone or in combination, and based on these data, a plurality of images taken at appropriate timings are selected, and thumbnail images corresponding to the selected images are created.

[0161] Examples of the "data detecting vehicle behavior" may include acceleration data, angular acceleration data, barometric pressure / altitude data, video analysis data, etc. Examples of the "data related to the functional state of the vehicle" may include data related to any operation of brakes, turn signals, accelerators, steering wheel rotation, shift lever position, side brakes during vehicle operation, and data obtained from OBD (On Board Diagnosis), which is a vehicle fault diagnosis system, and CAN (Controller Area Network), which is an in-vehicle LAN.

[0162] (3) In the above-described embodiment, as G data, the composite value of the component acceleration (G data) Gx in the X-axis direction (front-rear direction of the vehicle) and the component acceleration (G data) Gy in the Y-axis direction (left-right direction of the vehicle) is used to determine the occurrence of an event. However, it is not limited to this, and each component acceleration (Gx, Gy) may be individually used to determine the occurrence of an event. For example, after Gx exceeds a predetermined threshold, if Gy exceeds the predetermined threshold within a predetermined time, etc., when the change pattern of the value (magnitude) of each component takes a predetermined pattern, it may be recognized as a trigger and it may be determined that an event has occurred. Also, in addition to Gx and Gy, the component acceleration Gz in the Z-axis direction (up-down direction of the vehicle) etc. may also be considered to determine the occurrence of an event.

[0163] (4) Not limited to the above-described embodiment, an image captured at the time when information different from the information used to determine that an event has occurred (for example, the G data (Gy) in the left-right direction of the vehicle due to a sharp turn) (for example, the G data (Gx) in the front-rear direction of the vehicle due to a sudden brake) reaches a predetermined value (for example, a maximum value, etc.) may be selected and a thumbnail image may be created. Thereby, it is possible to easily find an event unit video related to the event at the time when information different from the information used to determine that an event has occurred (for example, the G data (Gy) due to a sharp turn) (for example, the G data (Gx) due to a sudden brake) reaches a predetermined value.

[0164] (5) Not limited to the above-described embodiments, when it is determined that an event has occurred with the value (magnitude) of the G data becoming the threshold acceleration Gs (time tp), tracing back from this time, for example, when the G data reaches its maximum or minimum value, when the G data reaches an inflection point in its time-series change, or when the G data undergoes characteristic changes such as rapid increases and decreases in a short period of time, select the image captured at the time of occurrence of the sub-event that caused the event, which is the time point for estimating the occurrence time of the sub-event, and create a thumbnail image. Thereby, for example, it is possible to easily find the event unit video related to the event at the time point for estimating the occurrence time of the sub-event that caused the event, such as the time point when the G data undergoes characteristic changes such as rapid increases and decreases.

[0165] (6) In the above-described embodiments, the drive recorder 10 is of the trigger recording type that records the video before and after the "trigger indicating that the recording condition is satisfied", but not limited to this. For example, it may be of the always recording type that always records from engine start to engine off and stores information for identifying the position of the video when the trigger is applied. In this always recording type of drive recorder, for example, it is advisable to identify which position of which video is the position where the trigger is applied based on the video recording start time information and the time information when the trigger is applied. For the drive recorder of the above trigger recording type, for example, the video recorded over a predetermined period before and after the occurrence time of the trigger indicating that the recording condition is satisfied by the drive recorder may be defined as the "event unit video". Also, for the drive recorder of the above always recording type, for example, the portion of the video where the engine is on to off is one recording unit, and the part recorded over a predetermined period before and after the occurrence time of the trigger may be defined as the "event unit video".

[0166] (7) In the above-described embodiment, the images PA for TA seconds and the images PB for TB seconds before and after the time tp determined as the event occurrence are stored in the memory card 25. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the images for the entire time from engine start to engine off, or the images for a limited time within the entire time may be stored in the memory card 25. The limited time within the entire time is preferably a time including the time tp determined as the event occurrence. Also, the total time of TA seconds and TB seconds before and after the time tp described above may be a fixed time or a variable time for each event occurrence. The total time of TA seconds and TB seconds is preferably a period sufficient to identify the cause of the event occurrence. In particular, the total time of TA seconds and TB seconds may be different times depending on the type of event.

[0167] (8) In the above-described embodiment, the time of TA seconds and the time of TB seconds before and after the time tp determined as the event occurrence are the same time (in the example, 12 seconds before and 12 seconds after). However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, they may be different times. In particular, the time of TA seconds before the time tp may be made longer and the time of TB seconds after may be made shorter (for example, 15 seconds before and 5 seconds after).

[0168] (9) In the above-described embodiment, the first to fourth images taken TA seconds before, immediately before (TC seconds before), immediately after (TC seconds after), and TB seconds after are selected from the images PA for TA seconds and the images PB for TB seconds before and after the time tp determined as the event occurrence, and the first to fourth thumbnail images are created from the selected first to fourth images. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, two or three images among the first to fourth images may be selected in combination, or one or more images among the first to fourth images may be combined with one or more images at other time points and selected, and thumbnail images may be created from the selected images.

[0169] (10) In the above-described embodiment, the images taken at the time points before and after the time tp determined as the event occurrence are selected. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. The image taken at the time tp may be selected and combined with the images at the time points before and after the time tp.

[0170] (11) In the above-described embodiment, as in an example of the display mode of the thumbnail images shown in FIG. 5, 16 thumbnail images constitute an event unit image related to one event for each row, and constitute a time point unit image at the same time point for each column. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the rows and columns may be interchanged so that event unit images are constituted for each column and time point unit images are constituted for each row. Further, when constituting an event unit image related to one event for each row (or column), it is only necessary to arrange the event unit images within one row (or column) in chronological order, and it may be an image at a time point according to the type of event without making each column at the same time point. Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to a matrix structure of 4 rows in the vertical direction × 4 columns in the horizontal direction, and may be arranged in a matrix structure of other combinations of the number of rows and columns, such as 5 rows × 5 columns or 3 rows × 3 columns, and displayed in a list on the same screen. Furthermore, when it cannot be completely displayed on the screen, it is preferably configured to scroll-display the matrix as a whole instead of scrolling left and right for each event.

[0171] (12) In the above-described embodiment, the display control system of the present invention has been described by taking an example of a driving support system (driving support device 30), but it can be implemented as a function of various electronic devices. For example, it may be incorporated as functions of a navigation device, a drive recorder, a radar detector, and a car audio.

[0172] (13) Not limited to the above-described embodiment, the control program stored in advance in the ROM of the second control unit 31 of the driving support device 30 may be downloaded to a portable terminal such as a general-purpose personal computer, a mobile phone, a smartphone, or a portable game machine, and the computer mounted on the portable terminal may execute the control process of the second control unit 31, read the images and various data stored in the memory card 25, and display the thumbnail images created from the read images and various data.

[0173] (14) Each function of the above embodiments is realized by describing the function in a computer-readable programming language and causing the computer of the second control unit 31 to execute the program. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the program may be distributed and arranged among a plurality of computers for distributed processing.

Explanation of Signs

[0174] 10 Drive recorder 11 First control unit 12 Acceleration sensor (G sensor) 13 Gyro sensor 14 Barometric pressure sensor 15 GPS antenna 16 GPS receiver 17 First operation unit 18 First memory 19 First IF (interface) 20 CCD camera 21 Vehicle signal acquisition unit 22 Power supply unit 25 Memory card 30 Driving support device 31 Second control unit 32 Display unit 33 Output unit 34 Second operation unit 35 Second memory 36 Second IF (interface) 37 Image processing unit 38 Display processing unit 51~54,71~74 Event unit images 61~64,81~84 Time point unit images 90 Playlist 91~94 Files

Claims

1. A display control system that performs control to display thumbnail images related to video recorded by an electronic device mounted on a vehicle, a function of arranging a plurality of thumbnail images in a matrix structure of a predetermined number of rows and a predetermined number of columns based on the recorded video and displaying them in a list on the same screen, a function of displaying thumbnail images created based on the video related to different events for each of a plurality of rows, and displaying thumbnail images created based on the video taken in relation to the same event in each row, a function of scrolling and displaying the matrix as a whole instead of scrolling for each event when there are thumbnail images that cannot be fully displayed within the screen A display control system comprising the above.

2. A display control system that performs control to display thumbnail images related to video recorded by an electronic device mounted on a vehicle, a function of arranging a plurality of thumbnail images in a matrix structure of a predetermined number of rows and a predetermined number of columns based on the recorded video and displaying them in a list on the same screen, a function of displaying thumbnail images created based on the video related to different events for each of a plurality of rows, and displaying thumbnail images created based on the video taken in relation to the same event in each column, a function of scrolling and displaying the matrix as a whole instead of scrolling for each event when there are thumbnail images that cannot be fully displayed within the screen A display control system comprising the above.

3. The plurality of thumbnail images include an image showing the state in front of the vehicle at the time of event occurrence, an image showing the state in front of the vehicle immediately before the event occurrence determination time, an image showing the state in front of the vehicle immediately after the event occurrence determination time, and an image showing the state in front of the vehicle at the end of event detection The display control system according to Claim 1 or 2.

4. The function of displaying creates and displays the thumbnail images based on the video analysis data of the recorded video The display control system according to any one of Claims 1 to 3.

5. A program for causing a computer to realize the functions of the display control system according to any one of Claims 1 to 4.

Images