DETECTION APPARATUS AND DETECTION METHOD

Abstract

To provide a technology that can determine whether a crew member gets on or off a vehicle with a simple configuration.SOLUTION: In a detection device (boarding / alighting detection device 10), an acquisition unit (second acquisition unit 14) acquires an acceleration of a vehicle for a period which is determined based on a first time when a door of the vehicle opens and a second time when the door closes after the first time. A determining unit 18 determines whether a crew member gets on or off the vehicle based on the temporal change in the acquired acceleration.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a detection device and a detection method. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent document 1 discloses an occupant detection device that includes an acceleration sensor that detects the acceleration of a vehicle, a light detection unit that shines light inside the vehicle and detects a detection target based on the reflected light, and a determination unit that determines whether the detection target is an occupant based on the acceleration detection results and the light detection results. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2018-179640 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The technology of Patent Document 1 requires a light detection unit to be installed in the vehicle, which increases the number of parts and may increase costs.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a technology capable of determining whether a vehicle occupant is getting on or off using a simple configuration. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above problems, a detection device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes an acquisition unit that acquires an acceleration of a vehicle during a period determined based on a first time when a door of the vehicle is opened and a second time when the door is closed after the first time; a derivation unit that derives an index indicating a trend of change in the acquired acceleration; and and a determination unit that determines whether a passenger of the vehicle has boarded or disembarked based on the information.

[0007] Another aspect of the present invention is a detection method, comprising the steps of acquiring an acceleration of a vehicle during a period determined based on a first time when a door of the vehicle is opened and a second time when the door is closed after the first time; A step of deriving an index indicating a trend of change in the acquired acceleration; and and determining whether an occupant of the vehicle has boarded or disembarked based on the information. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to determine whether a vehicle occupant has got on or off using a simple configuration. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration of a detection system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] 2 is a side view showing a state before a passenger gets into a vehicle equipped with the detection system of FIG. 1. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state in which a passenger is seated in the vehicle of FIG. 2. [Figure 4] 4 is a diagram showing an example of time-series data of acceleration in the forward / rearward direction acquired by the second acquisition unit in FIG. 1 before and after a passenger gets in the vehicle. FIG. [Diagram 5] 5 is a diagram showing an example of a moving average and a regression line of the acceleration time series data of FIG. 4. [Figure 6] 1. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of time-series data of acceleration in the forward / rearward direction acquired by the second acquisition unit in FIG. 1 before and after an occupant gets off the vehicle. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a moving average of the time-series data of acceleration in FIG. 6. [Figure 8] 2 is a flowchart showing the process of the boarding / alighting detection device of FIG. 1. [Figure 9] FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an acquisition period of time-series data of acceleration according to the second embodiment. [Figure 10] 10 is a flowchart showing a process of the boarding / off detection device according to the second embodiment. [Figure 11] 13 is a flowchart showing a process of the boarding / disembarking detection device according to the third embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] (First embodiment) 1 shows a configuration of a detection system 1 according to a first embodiment. The detection system 1 is mounted on a vehicle and detects that an occupant has entered or exited the vehicle. The vehicle is not particularly limited and may be a commercial vehicle or a private vehicle, but an example in which the vehicle is a taxi will be described here.

[0011] The detection system 1 stores time series data on the opening and closing times of the taxi doors and the acceleration of the taxi, and detects after the fact when a passenger gets on or off the taxi based on the stored information at any timing, such as when the taxi returns to a waiting place of the taxi company, etc. The taxi company server collects the detection results of getting on and off the taxis from the detection systems 1 of multiple taxis and analyzes the collected data.

[0012] The detection system 1 includes a door sensor 2, a first holding unit 4, an acceleration sensor 6, a second holding unit 8, and a passenger entry / exit detection device 10.

[0013] The door sensor 2 is provided on each of a plurality of doors of the vehicle, detects whether each door is in an open or closed state, and supplies the detection result to the first holding unit 4. The door sensor 2 is, for example, a courtesy switch for indicating a door ajar warning light, and is an existing part of the vehicle.

[0014] The first holding unit 4 holds the time when the door changes from a closed state to an open state and the time when the door changes from an open state to a closed state based on the detection result by the door sensor 2. The time information held in the first holding unit 4 can be provided to the entry / exit detection device 10. The first holding unit 4 is provided in, for example, a control device for controlling the display of a door ajar warning light, and is an existing part of the vehicle.

[0015] The acceleration sensor 6 is installed in the vehicle, detects the acceleration of the vehicle, and supplies the detection result to the second holding unit 8. The acceleration sensor 6 can detect three-axis acceleration including the acceleration in the forward and backward directions of the vehicle. The acceleration sensor 6 may also detect two-axis acceleration. The acceleration sensor 6 is used, for example, for vehicle control, and is an existing part of the vehicle.

[0016] The second storage unit 8 stores time-series data of the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 6. Information on the time of detection is attached to the acceleration data. The information stored in the second storage unit 8 can be provided to the boarding / disembarking detection device 10. The second storage unit 8 is provided in, for example, a control device for controlling the vehicle, and is an existing part of the vehicle.

[0017] The boarding / alighting detection device 10 detects whether a passenger has boarded or alighted from the vehicle based on the detection results from the door sensor 2 and the acceleration sensor 6. The boarding / alighting detection device 10 identifies a time period during which boarding or alighting may have occurred from the door opening and closing times, and determines whether the passenger has boarded or alighted based on a temporal change in acceleration caused by a change in the inclination of the vehicle during that time period. The boarding / alighting detection device 10 includes a first acquisition unit 12, a second acquisition unit 14, a derivation unit 16, a determination unit 18, and an output unit 20.

[0018] The configuration of the boarding / disembarking detection device 10 can be realized in hardware by the CPU, memory, and other LSI of any computer, and in software by programs loaded into memory, but here the functional blocks realized by the cooperation of these are depicted. Therefore, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by hardware alone, software alone, or a combination of both.

[0019] The first acquisition unit 12 acquires from the first storage unit 4 a first time when the vehicle door is opened and a second time when the door is closed for the first time after the first time, and supplies the acquired time information to the second acquisition unit 14. When multiple pairs of the first time and the second time are acquired, the following process is executed for each pair of the first time and the second time.

[0020] The second acquisition unit 14 acquires time series data of the acceleration in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle for the period from the first time to the second time from the second storage unit 8, and supplies the acquired data to the derivation unit 16. The period from the first time to the second time is a period during which the door is open, and corresponds to a period determined based on the first time and the second time.

[0021] 2 is a side view showing a state before a passenger P1 gets into a vehicle 50 equipped with the detection system 1 of FIG. 1. The vehicle 50, which is a taxi, is stopped to allow a passenger P1 to get on. Here, it is assumed that a ground surface 52 below the vehicle 50 is a plane perpendicular to the vertical direction, and the front-rear direction of the vehicle 50 is in a plane perpendicular to the vertical direction, and therefore the acceleration in the front-rear direction of the vehicle 50 is zero. The front-rear direction of the vehicle 50 represents the front-rear direction in a coordinate system fixed to the vehicle 50.

[0022] Fig. 3 is a side view showing a state in which an occupant P1 is riding in the vehicle 50 of Fig. 2. Assume that the vehicle 50 is stopped. As a result of the occupant P1 riding in the rear seat of the vehicle 50, the vehicle 50 is tilted with respect to the ground 52 due to the weight of the occupant P1, and the rear side of the vehicle 50 is lower than the front side. The inclination angle in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle 50 with respect to a plane perpendicular to the vertical direction, that is, the pitching angle, is defined as θ. Note that the magnitude of θ is exaggerated in Fig. 3.

[0023] As a result of the vehicle 50 tilting with respect to the ground 52, the acceleration in the forward / rearward direction of the vehicle 50 increases from zero to g×sinθ, where g is the acceleration of gravity. Here, the acceleration in the rearward direction is positive, and the acceleration in the forward direction is negative. By detecting this change in the acceleration in the forward / rearward direction, it is determined whether the occupant P1 has got on or off the vehicle.

[0024] FIG. 4 shows an example of time series data of the acceleration in the forward / rearward direction acquired by the second acquisition unit 14 in FIG. 1 before and after the passenger boards the vehicle. The vertical axis of FIG. 4 represents the acceleration in the forward / rearward direction in units of G, and the horizontal axis represents the elapsed time from the first time t0. The second time tc is set to 8 seconds. FIG. 4 shows an example in which the passenger boards the vehicle between approximately 3 and 5 seconds. Unlike the state in FIGS. 2 and 3, FIG. 4 shows an example in which the acceleration in the forward / rearward direction is negative in the state before the passenger boards the vehicle.

[0025] Fig. 5 shows an example of the moving average and regression line L1 of the time series data of acceleration in Fig. 4. Fig. 5 shows an example of a moving average for one second.

[0026] The derivation unit 16 derives an index X indicating the tendency of change in the acceleration in the forward / rearward direction during the period from the first time t0 to the second time tc, and supplies the derived index X to the determination unit 18. This index X indicates whether the acceleration during this period is tending to increase or decrease. It can also be said that this index X indicates the tendency of change in the pitching angle θ of the vehicle during this period.

[0027] The derivation unit 16 derives a moving average in a predetermined section of the time series data of the acceleration from the first time to to the second time tc, and performs regression analysis on the derived time series data of the moving average to derive a regression line L1 expressed as y = ax + b. The derivation unit 16 sets the slope a of the regression line L1 as an index X.

[0028] The determination unit 18 determines whether the occupant has boarded or dismounted the vehicle based on the derived index X. The threshold is set to zero, and the determination unit 18 determines that the occupant has boarded the vehicle if the index X is greater than the threshold, and determines that the occupant has dismounted if the index X is smaller than the threshold. That is, the determination unit 18 determines whether the occupant has boarded or dismounted depending on whether the acceleration is increasing or decreasing in the period from the first time t0 to the second time tc. This process corresponds to the determination unit 18 determining whether the occupant has boarded or dismounted based on the temporal change in the acceleration acquired by the second acquisition unit 14. In the example of FIG. 5, the index X is positive, so the determination unit 18 determines that the occupant has boarded the vehicle.

[0029] Fig. 6 shows an example of time series data of acceleration in the forward / rearward direction acquired by the second acquisition unit 14 in Fig. 1 before and after the occupant gets off the vehicle. The vertical and horizontal axes are the same as those in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 shows an example in which the occupant gets off the vehicle between approximately 4 and 5 seconds.

[0030] Fig. 7 shows an example of the moving average of the time series data of the acceleration in Fig. 6. Although the regression line is not shown, the acceleration is on a decreasing trend and the index X is negative, so the determination unit 18 determines that the occupant has disembarked.

[0031] When the determination unit 18 detects boarding or disembarking, it supplies the detection result to the output unit 20. The detection result is accompanied by the time when the boarding or disembarking occurred.

[0032] The output unit 20 outputs the detection result to a predetermined server device by wireless communication via a network such as the Internet. The detection result may be retrieved using a storage medium such as a flash memory.

[0033] The index X may be the amount of change in acceleration in the forward / rearward direction during the period from the first time to to the second time tc.

[0034] Furthermore, the form of the regression equation for the regression analysis may be any form as long as it can express the increasing and decreasing trends of acceleration. The regression equation may be capable of expressing the amount of change in acceleration. A nonlinear regression equation may be used, and the number of indexes X may be multiple. The derivation unit 16 may perform regression analysis on the time series data of acceleration without deriving a moving average.

[0035] Depending on the direction in which the acceleration sensor 6 is attached to the vehicle, the sign of the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 6 may be opposite to that described above, and the acceleration in the backward direction may be negative. In this case, if the index X is smaller than the threshold value, the determination unit 18 determines that a passenger has boarded the vehicle, and if the index X is larger than the threshold value, the determination unit 18 determines that the passenger has disembarked.

[0036] The threshold may include a positive threshold and a negative threshold. In this case, the determination unit 18 determines that a passenger has boarded the vehicle if the index X is greater than the positive threshold, determines that a passenger has disembarked if the index X is less than the negative threshold, and determines that neither boarding nor disembarking has occurred if the index X is greater than or equal to the negative threshold and less than or equal to the positive threshold. The positive threshold and the negative threshold can be appropriately determined by experiments or simulations. This can reduce the possibility of erroneously determining that a passenger has boarded or disembarked due to an acceleration detection error or the influence of noise when neither boarding nor disembarking has occurred.

[0037] Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing the process of the boarding / alighting detection device 10 of Fig. 1. This process is started when the boarding / alighting detection device 10 receives an instruction to start the process, and is performed for each pair of the first time and the second time.

[0038] The first acquisition unit 12 acquires a first time t0 when the door is opened (S10), and acquires a second time t0 when the door is closed for the first time after the first time t0 (S12). The second acquisition unit 14 acquires time series data of acceleration in the forward / rearward direction from the first time t0 to the second time t0 (S14), and the derivation unit 16 derives an index X that indicates a tendency of change in acceleration from the first time t0 to the second time t0 (S16).

[0039] The determination unit 18 compares the index X with a threshold value (S18), and if the index X is greater than the threshold value, detects boarding (S20) and ends the process. If the index X is less than the threshold value, the determination unit 18 detects disembarking (S22) and ends the process. If the index X is equal to the threshold value, the determination unit 18 ends the process.

[0040] According to the embodiment, whether a passenger has got on or off is determined based on the change in acceleration of the vehicle over time between the first time the door is opened and the second time the door is closed, so that getting on or off can be detected with high accuracy.

[0041] Since the door sensor 2 and the acceleration sensor 6 are existing parts of the vehicle, the detection system 1 can be configured by attaching the boarding / exiting detection device 10 to the vehicle, and there is no need to add a new sensor to the vehicle. Therefore, the detection system 1 can be configured at low cost with a relatively small number of parts. Therefore, it is possible to detect whether a passenger has boarded or exited the vehicle with a simple configuration. In addition, since it does not use information inside the vehicle cabin, such as the movement of the passengers inside the vehicle cabin, it is possible to make an accurate determination regardless of the situation inside the vehicle cabin.

[0042] (Second embodiment) The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that boarding or disembarking is determined based on the acceleration for a few seconds before and after a first time and a few seconds before and after a second time. The following mainly describes the differences from the first embodiment.

[0043] 9 is a diagram for explaining the acquisition period of the acceleration time series data in the second embodiment. The second acquisition unit 14 acquires the acceleration time series data in the forward / backward direction in a first period from to-ε1 to to+ε2 determined based on a first time to, and in a second period from tc-ε3 to tc+ε4 determined based on a second time tc. The first period and the second period do not overlap.

[0044] Each of ε1, ε2, ε3, and ε4 is a predetermined real value in the range of zero seconds or more and several seconds or less, and can be appropriately determined by experiments and simulations. ε2 and ε3 are preferably set so as to exclude a period in which acceleration varies due to passengers getting on and off the vehicle. ε2 and ε3 may be set to zero, the first period may be the period immediately before the first time to, and the second period may be the period immediately after the second time tc. ε1 and ε4 are preferably set so as to exclude a period in which acceleration occurs due to braking or driving of the vehicle. ε1 and ε4 may be set to zero, the first period may be the period immediately after the first time to, and the second period may be the period immediately before the second time tc.

[0045] The derivation unit 16 derives the difference between the statistical value of the time series data of acceleration in the first period and the statistical value of the time series data of acceleration in the second period as an index X. The statistical value is an average value or a median value, etc. A moving average does not need to be derived. The index X corresponds to the amount of change in the acceleration in the forward / backward direction in the period from the first time to to the second time tc.

[0046] Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing the processing of the boarding / disembarking detection device 10 of the second embodiment. The processing of S10 and S12 is the same as that of Fig. 8. After S12, the second acquisition unit 14 acquires time series data of acceleration in the forward / rearward direction in a first period from to-ε1 to to+ε2 and in a second period from tc-ε3 to tc+ε4 (S30). The derivation unit 16 derives an average value Ato of acceleration in the first period and an average value Atc of acceleration in the second period (S32), derives an index X=Atc-Ato (S34), and proceeds to the processing of S18. The processing from S18 onwards is the same as that of Fig. 8.

[0047] According to this embodiment, even if a passenger gets on, gets off, and gets back on during the period from when the door is opened to when it is closed, getting on is easily detected with high accuracy because the determination is made without using the acceleration that increases or decreases significantly due to getting on or off. Also, even if a passenger gets off the vehicle, gets back on because he or she left something behind, and gets off again during the period from when the door is opened to when it is closed, getting off is easily detected with high accuracy.

[0048] (Third embodiment) The third embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the acquisition of acceleration starts when the door is opened and ends when the door is closed. The following mainly describes the differences from the first embodiment.

[0049] The first acquisition unit 12 acquires information indicating whether the door is open or closed from the door sensor 2, and supplies the acquired information to the second acquisition unit .

[0050] Based on the information supplied from the first acquisition unit 12, the second acquisition unit 14 starts acquiring acceleration data from the acceleration sensor 6 when a closed door is opened, and stops acquiring acceleration data when an open door is closed. The acceleration data to be acquired is the latest data at the time of acquisition. In other words, the second acquisition unit 14 acquires time series data of acceleration from a first time when the door is opened to a second time when the door is closed. The second acquisition unit 14 supplies the acquired time series data of acceleration to the derivation unit 16.

[0051] The derivation unit 16 and the determination unit 18 execute the process of the first embodiment. The derivation unit 16 may execute the process of the second embodiment by setting ε1=ε4=0.

[0052] FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the process of the getting-in / out detection device 10 of the third embodiment. This process is repeatedly executed. If the door is not open (N in S40), the process returns to S40. If the door is open (Y in S40), the second acquisition unit 14 sets i=1 (S42) and acquires the acceleration Ai in the forward / rearward direction (S44). If the door is not closed (N in S46), the second acquisition unit 14 adds 1 to the current i (S48) and returns to S44. If the door is closed (Y in S46), the derivation unit 16 derives an index X indicating the tendency of the change in the acceleration Ai from i=1 to i=N (S50) and proceeds to the process of S18. The value of i at the timing when the door is closed is set to N. The process from S18 onwards is the same as that in FIG. 8.

[0053] According to this embodiment, when a passenger gets on or off the train, it can be detected immediately.

[0054] The present invention has been described above based on the embodiments. The embodiments are merely examples, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications are possible in the combination of each component and each processing step, and that such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention.

[0055] For example, in the embodiment, an example of determining whether a person gets in or out of a vehicle at a rear seat has been described, but the determination unit 18 may determine whether a person gets in or out of a vehicle at a driver's seat or passenger seat in addition to or instead of a rear seat. If getting into the driver's seat or passenger seat changes the acceleration in the left-right direction of the vehicle, the determination unit 18 may determine whether a person gets in or out of a vehicle based on the change in the acceleration in the left-right direction.

[0056] In the first and second embodiments, the first holding portion 4 and the second holding portion 8 may be provided in the boarding / disembarking detection device 10.

[0057] In the embodiment, an example has been described in which the boarding / alighting detection device 10 is mounted on a vehicle, but the boarding / alighting detection device 10 may be included in a server on a cloud. In this case, a wireless communication device (not shown) mounted on the vehicle transmits information regarding door opening / closing and time-series data of acceleration to the boarding / alighting detection device 10 on the server, and the boarding / alighting detection device 10 transmits the boarding / alighting detection results to a terminal device of a taxi company, an on-board device of the vehicle, or the like.

[0058] In the embodiment, an example has been described in which the vehicle is a taxi, but the vehicle may also be a bus for a kindergarten or the like. The vehicle may be a truck or the like that has a door on the loading platform and can carry luggage. In this case, the determination unit 18 determines whether luggage is being loaded or unloaded from the vehicle, instead of determining whether the passengers are getting on or off the vehicle. That is, the determination unit 18 detects whether luggage is being loaded or unloaded depending on whether the acceleration is increasing or decreasing during the period when the door is open. [Explanation of symbols]

[0059] 1...detection system, 2...door sensor, 4...first holding section, 6...acceleration sensor, 8...second holding section, 10...boarding / exiting detection device, 12...first acquisition section, 14...second acquisition section, 16...derivation section, 18...judgment section, 20...output section, 50...vehicle.

Claims

1. an acquisition unit that acquires an acceleration of the vehicle during a period determined based on a first time when a door of the vehicle is opened and a second time when the door is closed after the first time; A derivation unit that derives an index indicating a trend of change in the acquired acceleration; A determination unit that determines whether a passenger of the vehicle gets on or off based on the derived index; A detection device comprising:

2. The acquisition unit acquires an acceleration during a period from the first time to the second time, The derivation unit derives the index indicating whether the acceleration is tending to increase or decrease during a period from the first time point to the second time point.

2. The detection device according to claim 1 .

3. the acquisition unit acquires acceleration during a first period determined based on the first time and a second period determined based on the second time and not overlapping with the first period; The derivation unit derives, as the index, a difference between a statistical value of the acceleration in the first time period and a statistical value of the acceleration in the second time period.

2. The detection device according to claim 1 .

4. The determination unit determines loading or unloading of the vehicle instead of determining whether an occupant gets on or off the vehicle.

4. A detection device according to claim 1, wherein the detection device is a semiconductor laser.

5. acquiring an acceleration of the vehicle for a period determined based on a first time when a door of the vehicle is opened and a second time when the door is closed after the first time; deriving an index indicating a trend of change in the acquired acceleration; determining whether a passenger of the vehicle has boarded or disembarked based on the derived indicator; A detection method comprising:

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