Management device, vehicle management system, and notification method

Abstract

Protecting essential footage. [Solution] The management device according to the embodiment has a controller that requests the upload of video related to an event detected by the in-vehicle device. The controller receives event-related data that does not include video related to the event detected by the in-vehicle device, determines from the received event-related data whether the deletion time for erasing the video related to the event from the storage unit of the in-vehicle device is approaching, and notifies the administrator if the erasure time is approaching.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a management device, a vehicle management system, and a notification method.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, there is an information management device that manages data uploaded from in-vehicle devices. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for requesting the in-vehicle device to upload detailed data of an event selected by an administrator based on simple information regarding an event transmitted from the in-vehicle device.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, in the prior art, there is a risk that detailed data of an event may be overwritten on the in-vehicle device side before the administrator requests the upload of the event. Therefore, in the prior art, there was a risk that necessary video images were not protected.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide a management device, a vehicle management system, and a notification method capable of protecting necessary video images.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] To solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the objective, the management device according to the present invention has a controller that requests the upload of video related to an event detected by the in-vehicle device, the controller receives event-related data that does not include video related to the event detected by the in-vehicle device, determines from the received event-related data whether the deletion time for erasing the video related to the event from the storage unit of the in-vehicle device is approaching, and notifies the administrator if the deletion time is approaching. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to the present invention, the administrator is notified before the event video is deleted, so necessary video footage can be protected. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] Figure 1 is an overview diagram of the vehicle management system. [Figure 2] Figure 2 is an overview diagram illustrating the information processing according to the embodiment. [Figure 3] Figure 3 shows an example of a notification screen. [Figure 4] Figure 4 is a block diagram of the server device. [Figure 5] Figure 5 shows an example of memory information stored in the memory unit. [Figure 6] Figure 6 shows an example of setting information stored in the memory unit. [Figure 7] Figure 7 is a flowchart showing the processing steps performed by the server device. [Figure 8] Figure 8 is a flowchart showing the processing steps performed by the server device. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] The management device, vehicle management system, and notification method disclosed herein will be described below with reference to the attached drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown below. In this disclosure, the management device according to the embodiment will be described as a server device 1.

[0010] First, an overview of the vehicle management system according to this embodiment will be described using Figure 1. Figure 1 is an schematic diagram illustrating the vehicle management system. As shown in Figure 1, the vehicle management system S according to this embodiment includes a server device 1, an in-vehicle device 50, and an administrator terminal 100.

[0011] The vehicle management system S is a system that is installed in companies, for example, to manage the vehicles used by each company. More specifically, the vehicle management system S is a system that manages various commercial vehicles, including trucks and taxis.

[0012] As shown in Figure 1, the vehicle management system S comprises a server device 1, an in-vehicle device 50, and an administrator terminal 100. Although Figure 1 shows only one in-vehicle device 50 and one administrator terminal 100 for illustrative purposes, in reality, the vehicle management system S includes multiple in-vehicle devices 50 and multiple administrator terminals 100. Furthermore, this disclosure describes the case in the in-vehicle device 50 where the event video is deleted due to overwriting of the event video.

[0013] Server device 1 manages various data transmitted from on-board devices 50 installed in each vehicle C. On-board devices 50 are installed in vehicle C and upload various data to server device 1 and administrator terminal 100.

[0014] In the example shown in Figure 1, the in-vehicle device 50 is a drive recorder equipped with communication functions. However, the in-vehicle device 50 is not limited to a drive recorder; it may be any other device, such as the driver's smartphone, that can send and receive various data from the vehicle C.

[0015] The administrator terminal 100 corresponds to an example of the terminal device according to the embodiment and is a terminal device owned by the administrator. The administrator is a person in charge of managing each vehicle C to be managed in each company or each department. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the case where the administrator terminal 100 is a PC (Personal Computer) is illustrated, but the administrator terminal 100 may be a tablet terminal or the like.

[0016] Next, an overview of a series of processes of the vehicle management system S will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the in-vehicle device 50 detects an event based on various driving data of the vehicle C (step S1).

[0017] The events are, for example, sudden acceleration, lane departure, drowsiness, smartphone operation, etc. The in-vehicle device 50 detects sudden acceleration as an event based on information regarding the traveling speed of the vehicle C, and detects lane departure as an event based on the front image obtained by shooting the front of the vehicle C by the drive recorder.

[0018] In addition, the in-vehicle device 50 detects drowsiness and smartphone operation as events based on the in-vehicle image obtained by shooting the inside of the vehicle by the drive recorder. When the in-vehicle device 50 detects an event, it records the image at the time of the event occurrence in an internal storage device and notifies the server device ① of the event data (step S2).

[0019] ]>Note that the in-vehicle device 50 may target all events for detection, or may target only some events specified by the administrator for detection. That is, the events that require an upload request according to the embodiment may be all events, or may be some events specified by the administrator.

[0020] For example, the event data is data including the type of the event, the occurrence time (detection time) of the event, the occurrence location of the event, the still image of the event, the in-vehicle device ID, etc. The server device 1 notifies the administrator terminal 100 of the administrator who manages the corresponding vehicle C of the event data received from the in-vehicle device 50 (step S3). It should be noted that in the original text, "サーバ装置1" is translated as "server device ①" here. It is recommended to double-check if there is a correct name for this device in the context to ensure more accurate translation. If it is a specific named device, it should be translated with its correct name.

[0021] For example, the administrator terminal 100 notifies the administrator of event data via push notifications. The administrator can check the event data and, if they wish to view the video of the corresponding event, can request the video from the server device 1 (step S4).

[0022] Next, the server device 1 requests the event video of the relevant event from the in-vehicle device 50 (step S5). As a result, the server device 1 receives the event video from the in-vehicle device 50 and provides it to the administrator terminal 100. At this time, the in-vehicle device 50 either deletes the uploaded event video from memory or allows it to be overwritten. This allows the in-vehicle device 50 to store new event video in memory.

[0023] Thus, in the vehicle management system S according to this embodiment, the in-vehicle device 50 transmits event-related data related to an event to the server device 1, and transmits the corresponding event video when a video request is made from the server device 1.

[0024] As a result, the vehicle management system S according to this embodiment will only send and receive event video that the administrator needs, thus reducing the amount of data transmitted.

[0025] However, in such a system, there is a risk that event video footage uploaded by the in-vehicle device 50 may be deleted before a video request is made. Therefore, the vehicle management system S according to this embodiment performs an overwrite detection process for event video footage.

[0026] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the information processing according to the embodiment. As shown in Figure 2, the server device 1 performs an overwrite determination (step S11). The overwrite determination is a process in which the in-vehicle device 50 determines whether or not the event video uploaded before the period will be overwritten.

[0027] For example, server device 1 has pre-stored information regarding the memory capacity of each in-vehicle device 50, and performs an overwrite determination based on the number of times event data has been received and the number of times video requests have been made.

[0028] More specifically, let "X" be the memory capacity of the in-vehicle device 50, "Y" be the data capacity of the video per event, and "Z" be the number of requests made for video. In this case, the data capacity of event videos that have not been uploaded by the in-vehicle device 50 can be represented as "YZ".

[0029] In other words, the in-vehicle device 50 can store new event videos up to the capacity of "X-YZ" without overwriting them. Therefore, the server device 1 determines that unuploaded event videos will be overwritten within the period if the memory capacity (hereinafter also referred to as free capacity) available for new event videos in the in-vehicle device 50 falls below a threshold.

[0030] Then, in the overwrite determination process, if the server device 1 determines that an overwrite will occur, it notifies the administrator terminal 100 before the unuploaded event video is overwritten (step S12). The server device 1 may also receive information about available storage space along with the event data from the in-vehicle device 50 and perform the overwrite determination based on that.

[0031] In other words, the server device 1 determines whether the deletion time for the event video in the in-vehicle device 50 is approaching, and if it determines that the deletion time is approaching, it notifies the administrator.

[0032] Therefore, according to the information processing of this embodiment, the administrator is notified before the event video is deleted, so necessary video can be protected. Note that the deletion of event video is not limited to overwriting. For example, the event video may be set to be automatically deleted by the in-vehicle device 50 after a predetermined period has elapsed since it was filmed. For example, in such a case, the server device 1 can check the filming time of the event video based on the event-related data received from the in-vehicle device 50 and determine when the event video will be deleted. Then, when the server device 1 determines that the deletion time is approaching, it notifies the administrator.

[0033] Next, an example of a notification screen displayed on the administrator terminal 100 will be explained using Figure 3. Figure 3 is a diagram showing an example of a notification screen. For example, the administrator terminal 100 will display the notification screen shown in Figure 3. Specifically, as shown in Figure 3, the notification screen displays text indicating that video acquisition will no longer be possible, the time and type of the event in question, a thumbnail image, a map, the driver's name, etc.

[0034] This allows the administrator terminal 100 to understand the outline of the event video that is being overwritten. Also, as shown in Figure 3, a video request button is displayed on the notification screen.

[0035] When an administrator wishes to acquire the video footage of a target event, they can select the video request button, which will allow them to acquire the corresponding event video from the in-vehicle device 50 via the server device 1.

[0036] As described above, the vehicle management system S according to this embodiment performs an overwrite determination process, and if it is determined as a result of the overwrite determination process that the event video will be overwritten, it notifies the administrator before the event video is overwritten.

[0037] Therefore, the vehicle management system S according to this embodiment notifies the administrator before the event video is overwritten, thus protecting the necessary video.

[0038] Next, an example of the configuration of the server device 1 according to the embodiment will be described using Figure 4. Figure 4 is a block diagram of the server device 1. As shown in Figure 4, the server device 1 comprises a communication unit 2, a controller 3, and a storage unit 4.

[0039] The communication unit 2 is implemented, for example, by a NIC (Network Interface Card). The communication unit 2 is connected to the communication network by wire or wireless connection.

[0040] Controller 3 includes a microcomputer with a CPU (Central Processing Unit), ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM, and various circuits. Controller 3 executes the entire operation of server device 1 by having the CPU execute programs stored in ROM, using RAM as a workspace. Controller 3 may be composed of hardware such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), either partially or entirely.

[0041] The storage unit 4 is, for example, RAM (Random Access Memory) or data flash. The storage unit 4 can store information about various programs, etc. The server device 1 may also acquire the above-mentioned programs and various information via other computers connected by a wired or wireless network or via a portable recording medium.

[0042] In this disclosure, the storage unit 4 stores various information related to the overwrite determination process. This information includes memory information relating to the memory capacity of the memory of each in-vehicle device 50, setting information for each in-vehicle device 50, and so on.

[0043] The following sections will explain specific examples of memory information and configuration information using Figures 5 and 6. Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example of memory information stored in the storage unit 4. Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of configuration information stored in the storage unit 4.

[0044] As shown in Figure 5, the memory information is information that associates items such as "vehicle device ID," "upper limit," "usage amount," and "setting information" with each other. The "vehicle device ID" is an identifier used to identify each vehicle device 50.

[0045] "Upper limit" is the upper limit of the memory capacity of the in-vehicle device 50, identified by the corresponding in-vehicle device ID. "Usage" is the amount of memory used by the in-vehicle device 50, identified by the corresponding in-vehicle device ID.

[0046] "Configuration information" refers to the configuration information of the in-vehicle device 50, which is identified by the corresponding in-vehicle device ID. In this disclosure, configuration information is information that defines the processing to be performed on event video which is determined to be overwritten, and is information that has been set in advance by the administrator. The administrator can set any of the following (1) to (3) as configuration information.

[0047] (1) The in-vehicle device 50 is requested to upload the event video, and the event video is deleted after it has been uploaded. (2) Allow the in-vehicle device 50 to overwrite the event video. (3) The in-vehicle device 50 is prohibited from overwriting the event video.

[0048] In case (1) above, the in-vehicle device 50 will forcibly upload the event video before it is overwritten, so the administrator can reliably acquire each event video. In case (2) above, the in-vehicle device 50 can sequentially overwrite the event video and sequentially store new event videos. Also, in case (3) above, although the in-vehicle device 50 cannot store new event videos, it can reliably retain past event videos.

[0049] Thus, in this disclosure, by pre-setting configuration information for each in-vehicle device 50, it becomes possible to perform appropriate processing on event video before it is overwritten.

[0050] Next, the setting information stored in the memory unit 4 will be explained using Figure 6. As shown in Figure 6, the setting information is information that associates items such as "in-vehicle device ID," "driver ID," "driving characteristics," and "event priority" with each other. The "in-vehicle device ID" is an identifier used to identify each in-vehicle device 50.

[0051] The "Driver ID" is an identifier used to identify the driver of vehicle C, which is equipped with an in-vehicle device 50 identified by the corresponding in-vehicle device ID. The "Driving Characteristics" are the driving characteristics of the driver identified by the corresponding Driver ID. For example, driving characteristics can be calculated from the number of occurrences of each event. For instance, the driving characteristics of a driver who frequently experiences sudden braking can be calculated as a tendency to frequently experience sudden braking, and the driving characteristics of a driver who frequently experiences sudden acceleration can be calculated as a tendency to frequently experience sudden acceleration.

[0052] "Event priority" refers to the priority of an event. More specifically, event priority is the priority given to notifying administrators when it is determined that an event video will be overwritten.

[0053] For example, in this disclosure, if it is determined that the event video of a high-priority event will be overwritten, a notification will be sent to the administrator, but if it is determined that the event video of a low-priority event will be overwritten, the notification to the administrator will be omitted.

[0054] This means that administrators will only receive notifications about high-priority events, thus reducing the administrative workload for administrators. The event priority mentioned above may also define the order of overwriting. For example, in this case, the in-vehicle device 50 will overwrite the video of lower-priority events sequentially based on the event priority. In this case, the in-vehicle device 50 can ensure sufficient time before higher-priority events are overwritten.

[0055] The event priority may be automatically set by the server device 1 based on its operating characteristics, or it may be set by the administrator. For example, if the operating characteristics are automatically set by the server device 1, the controller 3 will set events that occur more frequently to have a higher priority. The controller 3 may also use any method for setting event priorities, such as setting events that occur less frequently to have a lower priority.

[0056] Returning to the explanation of Figure 4, let's describe the controller 3. The controller 3 receives event-related data associated with the event detected by the in-vehicle device 50. The event-related data is metadata that does not include event video and describes the content of the event. The metadata includes the event type, time of occurrence, thumbnail image, etc.

[0057] Furthermore, the controller 3 determines from the received event-related data whether the time is approaching for the event video to be erased from the storage unit of the in-vehicle device 50. In other words, the controller 3 determines whether or not the event video will be overwritten in each in-vehicle device 50.

[0058] Furthermore, if controller 3 determines that the event video will be overwritten, that is, if it determines that the event video is about to be deleted, it will notify the administrator before the event video is overwritten (deleted).

[0059] Controller 3 determines whether the event video will be overwritten each time it receives event-related data transmitted from the in-vehicle device 50. For example, as described above, Controller 3 calculates the available capacity of the in-vehicle device 50 from the event data, and determines that the event video will be overwritten within the specified period if the calculated available capacity falls below a threshold.

[0060] If controller 3 determines that the event video will be overwritten, it will notify the administrator before the event video is overwritten. For example, controller 3 will notify the administrator using the notification screen shown in Figure 3.

[0061] Furthermore, the controller 3 may determine whether notification is necessary based on the event priority of the event to be overwritten. Specifically, the controller 3 sets event priorities based on the event detection record of each in-vehicle device 50, and if it determines that the event video of a high-priority event will be overwritten, it notifies the administrator.

[0062] In other words, if controller 3 determines that the event video of a lower-priority event will be overwritten, it may choose not to notify the administrator.

[0063] Furthermore, after notifying the administrator, if no video request is received from the administrator within a certain period, the controller 3 requests the in-vehicle device 50 to process the event video according to the settings configured by the administrator.

[0064] Specifically, the controller 3 requests the in-vehicle device 50 to perform one of the above processes (1) to (3) as processing for the event video. This ensures that even if the administrator forgets to request the video, the event video can be processed appropriately.

[0065] Furthermore, when the administrator requests event video, the controller 3 requests the target in-vehicle device 50 to upload the event video. In this case, it is possible that the power to the in-vehicle device 50, which is the upload destination, may be turned off.

[0066] In this case, the controller 3 requests the upload of the event video when the in-vehicle device 50, which is the destination of the upload request, is started up. That is, in this case, when the in-vehicle device 50 starts up and the in-vehicle device 50 performs a communication check with the server device 1, the controller 3 requests the upload of the event video along with the communication check.

[0067] For example, in such a case, the controller 3 may recommend the use of the relevant vehicle C to the administrator via the administrator terminal 100. This allows the controller 3 to acquire the desired event video as early as possible.

[0068] Furthermore, Controller 3 can automate video requests from administrators. In this case, Controller 3 determines the importance of event videos from still images of the event videos and requests uploads for event videos whose importance exceeds a threshold.

[0069] The importance of event footage can be determined using a machine learning model (AI). This model uses still images from event footage and the actual importance ratings of the event footage as training data, and is trained to estimate importance from still images. Here, importance represents, for example, the level of risk at the time of the event. Specifically, the more likely an event video is to lead to an accident, the higher the risk rating and the higher the importance rating. Note that importance can also be a parameter defined individually by the administrator.

[0070] Controller 3 takes still images acquired as event data as input to such a model and determines the importance of the event video. Then, Controller 3 automatically requests the upload of event video whose importance exceeds a threshold.

[0071] In this way, Controller 3 can acquire necessary event video without the administrator having to request an upload, by automating the decision of whether or not to upload using AI. The still images used to determine importance may be one or multiple images. Multiple still images may be images taken using time lapse photography.

[0072] Next, the processing procedure performed by the server device 1 according to the embodiment will be described using Figures 7 and 8. Figures 7 and 8 are flowcharts showing the processing procedure performed by the server device 1.

[0073] First, the basic processing procedure performed by the server device 1 will be explained using Figure 7. As shown in Figure 7, the controller 3 of the server device 1 first receives event data from the in-vehicle device 50 (step S101).

[0074] Next, controller 3 notifies administrator terminal 100 of the occurrence of an event based on the received event data (step S102). Note that controller 3 does not need to notify each event individually; it may consolidate notifications for multiple events.

[0075] Next, the controller 3 determines whether or not it has received an upload request for event video from the administrator via the administrator terminal 100 (step S103). If the controller 3 has received the upload request (step S103; Yes), it requests the in-vehicle device 50 to upload the corresponding event video (step S104).

[0076] The controller 3 then receives the event video uploaded from the in-vehicle device 50 and provides the received video to the administrator terminal 100 (step S105), and terminates the process. If, in the determination in step S103, no upload request is made (step S103; No), the controller 3 omits the processing from step S104 onwards and terminates the process.

[0077] Next, a series of processing steps related to overwrite determination will be explained using Figure 8. As shown in Figure 8, the controller 3 first receives event data from the in-vehicle device 50 (step S201) and performs an overwrite determination (step S202).

[0078] In the overwrite determination, the controller 3 calculates the amount of event video data that has not been uploaded from the in-vehicle device 50, based on the number of times event data has been received and the number of times event video has been uploaded. The controller 3 then performs the overwrite determination by comparing the memory capacity of the in-vehicle device 50's memory with the calculated amount of event video data.

[0079] Controller 3 determines, based on the overwrite check, whether or not there is an event that will overwrite the event video (step S203). If Controller 3 determines that there is an event that will overwrite the event video (step S203; Yes), it notifies the administrator terminal 100 before overwriting the event video (step S204).

[0080] Next, the controller 3 determines whether or not the administrator has requested the upload of the target event video (step S205). If the controller 3 determines that an upload request has been made (step S205; Yes), it requests the target in-vehicle device 50 to upload the event video. Then, the controller 3 provides the event video received from the in-vehicle device 50 to the administrator terminal 100 (step S206) and terminates the process.

[0081] Furthermore, if the controller 3 determines in step S203 that there are no events that will overwrite the event video (step S203; No), it will skip the processing from step S204 onwards and terminate the process.

[0082] Furthermore, if the controller 3 determines in step S205 that there is no upload request from the administrator (step S205; No), it proceeds to step S207. The controller 3 then instructs the in-vehicle device 50 to process the target event video in a manner predetermined by the administrator (step S207), and terminates the process. Specifically, the controller 3 instructs the in-vehicle device 50 to use one of the settings (1) to (3) above that have been set by the administrator.

[0083] As described above, the server device 1 according to the embodiment has a controller 3 that requests the upload of video related to an event detected by the in-vehicle device 50. The controller 3 receives event-related data that does not include video related to the event detected by the in-vehicle device 50, determines from the received event-related data whether the deletion time is approaching when the video related to the event will be deleted from the storage unit of the in-vehicle device 50, and notifies the administrator if the deletion time is approaching.

[0084] Thus, the server device 1 according to this embodiment notifies the administrator before deleting event video, thereby protecting necessary video.

[0085] By the way, the above-described embodiment explains the case where the server device 1 performs the overwrite determination, but it is not limited to this. That is, the in-vehicle device 50 may perform the overwrite determination. In that case, the in-vehicle device 50 can notify the administrator before the overwrite occurs.

[0086] Further effects and modifications can be readily derived by those skilled in the art. Therefore, broader aspects of the present invention are not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments expressed and described above. Accordingly, various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit or scope of the overall concept of the invention as defined by the appended claims and equivalents. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0087] 1 Server device 2 Communications Department 3 Controllers 4 Storage section 50 Onboard equipment 100 Administrator terminals C Vehicle S Vehicle Management System

Claims

1. It has a controller that requests the upload of video related to an event detected by an in-vehicle device, The aforementioned controller, The in-vehicle device receives event-related data, which does not include video, relating to the event detected by the in-vehicle device. From the received event-related data, determine whether the erasure time is approaching for the video related to the event to be erased from the storage unit of the in-vehicle device. If the aforementioned deletion period is approaching, the administrator will be notified. Management device.

2. The aforementioned controller, After notifying the administrator, the in-vehicle device is requested to perform processing on the video to be erased from the storage unit, according to the settings configured by the administrator. The control device according to claim 1.

3. The aforementioned controller, Based on the above settings, the system requests the upload of the video to be deleted from the storage unit, and then deletes the video after it has been uploaded. The control device according to claim 2.

4. The aforementioned controller, If the power to the in-vehicle device to which the upload request is made is turned off, the upload of the video that will be erased from the storage unit when the in-vehicle device is started will be requested. The control device according to claim 3.

5. The aforementioned controller, Depending on the above settings, the in-vehicle device is permitted to overwrite the video that is being erased from the storage unit. The control device according to claim 2.

6. The aforementioned controller, Depending on the above settings, the in-vehicle device is prohibited from overwriting the video that is being erased from the storage unit. The control device according to claim 2.

7. The aforementioned controller, Based on the event detection history, a priority is set for the events, and if it is determined that the video of a high-priority event should be deleted, the administrator is notified. The control device according to claim 1.

8. The aforementioned controller, As event-related data, still images of the event are obtained, the importance of the event-related video is determined based on the still images, and if it is determined that the event-related video with high importance should be deleted, the administrator is notified. The control device according to claim 1.

9. A control device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, The above-mentioned in-vehicle device and A vehicle management system equipped with the following features.

10. A notification method performed by a controller that requests the upload of video footage related to an event detected by an in-vehicle device, It has a controller that requests the upload of video related to an event detected by an in-vehicle device, The aforementioned controller, The in-vehicle device receives event-related data, which does not include video, relating to the event detected by the in-vehicle device. From the received event-related data, determine whether the erasure time is approaching for the video related to the event to be erased from the storage unit of the in-vehicle device. If the aforementioned deletion period is approaching, the administrator will be notified. Notification method.

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