video recording device

Abstract

To prevent data unnecessary for a customer, such as a manufacturing site, video during conveyance, and information on a customer having rented before, from being left in a construction machine on which a video recording device is mounted.SOLUTION: A video recording device that records video data captured by a camera attached to a vehicle body of a construction machine has a recording unit 29 that records video data captured by the camera, a password management unit 27 that updates a password set for browsing the video data recorded in the recording unit 29; and a video data management unit 26 that when the password is updated by the password management unit 27, deletes the video data recorded in the recording unit 29.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a video recording device mounted on a construction machine. [Background technology]

[0002] It is common for construction machinery to be equipped with multiple cameras, with the surrounding images displayed on a monitor located in the driver's seat for the operator to monitor. The camera images are for the operator to check in real time, but like a car's dashcam, they can also be used to save images and operating information, and review the saved data later to review accidents and near misses.

[0003] However, with construction machinery equipped with video recording devices, there is a concern that unnecessary data may be recorded, such as data from the manufacturing site, during transportation, or, if the construction machinery is used for rental purposes, information from previous rental sites. This causes unnecessary trouble for customers and also poses the risk of information related to previous customers being leaked.

[0004] In Patent Document 1, in response to the problem of not wanting to record unnecessary video, a method is adopted in which the current location is acquired and the image quality of the recorded video is reduced to a value acceptable in that region or country. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6635075 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] In Patent Document 1, image quality is modified to comply with regulations regarding privacy of images. However, the degree of modification must be adjusted based on the regulations of each country, which makes management of the modification cumbersome and leaves room for improvement. Furthermore, if modifications are not made appropriately, there remains a risk of image information being leaked. Therefore, the video recording device of the present invention aims to reliably prevent unnecessary data from remaining on construction machinery equipped with this device before delivery to the customer. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to solve this problem, the video recording device of the present invention, which records video data captured by a camera attached to the body of a construction machine, has a recording unit that records the video data captured by the camera, a password management unit that updates the password set for viewing the video data recorded in the recording unit, and a video data management unit that deletes the video data recorded in the recording unit when the password is updated by the password management unit. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] By adopting the above configuration, data that is unnecessary for new customers can be reliably deleted, the data volume can be reduced, and the reliability of the drive recorder can be improved. Further features related to the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings. In addition, problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the structure of a construction machine having a video recording device. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a video recording system including a video recording device. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a video recording device. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart showing a process executed by the video recording device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0011] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the structure of a construction machine 100 having a video recording device according to this embodiment.

[0012] The construction machine 100 is equipped with an engine 1 as a prime mover and a main pump 2 driven by the engine 1, and the lower traveling body 3, upper rotating body 4, and front device 5 each operate independently using the hydraulic oil sent by the main pump 2.

[0013] The lower traveling body 3 controls the driving of a pair of crawler tracks 6 (only one side is shown in FIG. 1) by a traveling hydraulic motor 7.

[0014] The upper rotating body 4 is connected to the lower traveling body 3 so as to be able to rotate, and the upper rotating body 4 is driven and controlled by a rotation hydraulic motor 8 .

[0015] The front device 5 is mounted on the upper rotating body 4, and is composed of a boom 9, a boom cylinder 10 for driving the boom 9, an arm 11, an arm cylinder 12 for driving the arm 11, a bucket 13, and a bucket cylinder 14 for driving the bucket 13. Each cylinder expands and contracts using hydraulic oil sent from the main pump 2, and drives the upper rotating body 4, a rotation shaft 15 of the boom 9, a rotation shaft 16 of the boom 9 and arm 11, and a rotation shaft 17 of the arm 11 and bucket 13, respectively, to perform work such as excavation and ground leveling.

[0016] FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of a video recording system including a video recording device according to this embodiment.

[0017] The construction machine 100 is equipped with multiple cameras 18 for monitoring the surroundings outside the driver's seat, and the captured images are input into a video recording device 19. The video recording device is an ECU (Electric Control Unit) mounted inside the construction machine 100, and includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), memory HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Disk), input / output units, etc. In addition to recording the images from the cameras 18, the video recording device 19 also acquires and records vehicle operation information synchronized with the camera images from various on-board devices via an on-board network 20 such as a CAN. In addition, a communication terminal 21 is connected to the video recording device 19, and the communication terminal 21 uploads the recorded images and operation information to a server 22 via the Internet.

[0018] The recorded video and operation information uploaded to the server 22 can be viewed by accessing them from a viewing PC 23 owned by the customer who uses the construction machine 100, which is defined as an external device in this embodiment. Furthermore, the recording function of a video recording device 19 that has been stopped can be started from the viewing PC 23 via the server 22. The initial setting tool 24 is a device that performs initial settings for the video recording device 19 and is operated by the owner of the construction machine 100. The initial setting tool 24 performs initial setting operations by accessing the video recording device 19 via wireless LAN or the like. The initial setting is performed at the manufacturing site or rental base before delivery to a new customer, and involves setting a password to view the data stored in the video recording device 19 and erasing data stored in the video recording device 19 that is unnecessary for the new customer.

[0019] 3 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the video recording device 19 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the video recording device 19 includes an external communication unit 25, a video data management unit 26, a password management unit 27, a recording function control unit 28, and a recording unit 29.

[0020] External communication unit 25 transmits and receives data to and from server 22 via communication terminal 21 connected via Internet 30. When initial setting tool 24 is connected, external communication unit 25 also transmits and receives data to and from that tool. Video data management unit 26 receives data captured by camera 18 and records it in recording unit 29. When a command to delete recorded data is received, video data management unit 26 deletes the recorded data in recording unit 29.

[0021] The password management unit 27 verifies whether the entered password is correct, for example, using an encryption key. If the password is correct, the recorded video data becomes viewable; if it is incorrect, it becomes inaccessible. In addition, when a password update command and a new password are received from the initial setting tool 24, the password is updated. Note that in this embodiment, "updating the password" means changing or resetting the password. The recording function control unit 28 switches between enabling and disabling the recording function of the video recording device 19. The recording unit 29 records the video data received by the video recording device 19 and the operation information of the construction machine 100.

[0022] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the process executed by the video recording device 19.

[0023] At the start of the process, the construction machine 100 is either newly manufactured at a factory, or is already in operation and being used for rental purposes. The rental customer has finished using the construction machine, or the specified rental period has expired, and the construction machine has returned to the management site to be handed over to the next customer. First, in step S1, the recording function control unit 28 determines whether the recording function of the video recording device 19 is enabled. If the recording function is enabled, the process proceeds to step S4. In this embodiment, a "recording function enabled state (enabled)" refers to a state in which recording is actually taking place, or a state in which the video recording device 19 can start recording by accepting an input when the switch is turned on. A "recording function disabled state (disabled)" refers to a state in which no recording is taking place, or a state in which the video recording device 19 does not accept an input even when the switch is turned on and does not start recording. In step S1, recording may or may not actually be taking place. Recording is preferably taking place from the perspective of theft prevention, etc., but is preferably not taking place from the perspective of preventing an increase in data volume.

[0024] If the recording function of the video recording device 19 is not enabled, the process proceeds to step S2, where it is determined whether the external communication unit 25 has received an instruction from the server 22 to enable the recording function.

[0025] If a recording function enable instruction has been received from the server 22, the recording function control unit 28 enables (activates) the recording function of the video recorder 19 in step S3, and the process proceeds to step S4. If a recording function enable instruction has not been received, the recording function is not enabled and the process proceeds directly to step S4. The reason the recording function is enabled in step S3 is that, for example, when construction machinery is used for rental, it needs to be handed over to the next customer with the recording function enabled.

[0026] In step S4, it is determined whether or not the initial setting tool 24 is connected to the video recording device 19. If not, the process returns to step S1.

[0027] If the initial setting tool 24 is connected to the video recording device 19, in step S5 an ID and password for viewing the video data stored in the video recording device 19 is received from the initial setting tool 24. This is done to check whether the initially set password has been tampered with, and does not have to be performed.

[0028] In step S6, the password management unit 27 determines whether the entered ID and password are correct. If the password is incorrect, the process returns to step S4 and waits until the initial setting tool 24 is connected again and a new ID / password is entered.

[0029] If the entered ID and password are correct, the process proceeds to step S7, where a new ID and password to be used at the delivery destination are requested to be entered from the initial setting tool 24, and the entry is accepted. This ID / password may be set randomly by the initial setting tool 24, for example.

[0030] In step S8, the password management unit 27 updates the ID and password for accessing the video recording device 19 to those entered in step S7.

[0031] In step S9, the recording function control unit 28 disables the recording function of the video recording device 19. This is done by stopping the function of the camera 18 and by blocking the input unit of the recording unit 29. Note that the recording function can only be disabled when the ID / password match in step S6 and the ID / password are updated in step S8. This prevents the recording function from being disabled by mistake.

[0032] In step S10, the video data management unit 26 deletes all recorded video stored in the recording unit 29 of the video recording device 19. At this time, it is preferable to delete the recorded operation information along with the recorded video.

[0033] In step S11, the initial setting tool 24 is disconnected from the video recording device 19, and the initial setting of the video recording device 19 is completed.

[0034] According to this embodiment, in construction machinery equipped with a video recording device, the recording function is disabled and the data in the video recording device is deleted during the initial setup stage. This ensures that no unnecessary data remains when the construction machinery is handed over to a new customer. Furthermore, by installing a system that can remotely enable the recording function of the video recording device, it is possible to ensure that no necessary data is missed.

[0035] According to the embodiment of the present invention described above, the following advantageous effects are achieved. (1) The video recording device of the present invention, which records video data captured by a camera attached to the body of a construction machine, has a recording unit that records the video data captured by the camera, a password management unit that updates a password set for viewing the video data recorded in the recording unit, and a video data management unit that deletes the video data recorded in the recording unit when the password is updated by the password management unit.

[0036] With the above configuration, when a construction machine is handed over to a new customer, data that is no longer needed by that customer can be securely deleted, reducing the amount of data and improving the reliability of the drive recorder. It also prevents the risk of information about previous customers being leaked.

[0037] (2) The device further includes a recording function control unit, which disables the recording function when the password set for viewing the video data is updated by the password management unit. This prevents new recordings from being made after the video data is deleted, and prevents unnecessary data from being recorded before delivery to the customer.

[0038] (3) The video data management unit deletes video data on the condition that the password before updating is entered into the password management unit, thereby preventing video data from being accidentally deleted.

[0039] (4) The recording function control unit switches between enabling and disabling the recording function based on input from an external device connected to the video recording device via a network. This makes it possible to easily and reliably enable and disable the recording function remotely after delivery of the construction machine to a new customer without having to directly operate the construction machine, thereby starting the acquisition of video data at the appropriate time and preventing the acquisition of unnecessary video data.

[0040] (5) The camera's recording function cannot be disabled except when updating the password. This prevents the recording function from being disabled due to operational errors, etc.

[0041] (6) The password is updated by connecting an initial setting tool that performs the initial setting of the video recording device. This occurs, for example, when a new user starts using the construction machine or when the specified rental period for a rented construction machine expires. The present invention is suitable for use in situations such as this, where customers switch construction machines.

[0042] It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and various modifications are possible. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to an embodiment including all of the described configurations. Furthermore, it is possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment. It is also possible to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. It is also possible to delete part of the configuration of each embodiment, or to add or replace other configurations. [Industrial Applicability]

[0043] The present invention is used in industries or work sites that manufacture construction machines equipped with video recording devices. [Explanation of symbols]

[0044] 18 Camera, 19 Video recording device, 21 Communication terminal, 22 Server, 26 Video data management unit, 27 Password management unit, 28 Recording function control unit, 29 Recording unit

Claims

1. A video recording device that records video data captured by a camera attached to the body of a construction machine, a recording unit that records the video data captured by the camera; a password management unit that updates a password set for viewing the video data recorded in the recording unit; a video data management unit that deletes the video data recorded in the recording unit when the password is updated by the password management unit; A video recording device characterized by:

2. 2. The video recording device according to claim 1, A recording function control unit is further provided, the recording function control unit disables the recording function when the password set for viewing the video data is updated by the password management unit. A video recording device characterized by:

3. 2. The video recording device according to claim 1, the video data management unit executes deletion of the video data on condition that the password before being updated is input to the password management unit; A video recording device characterized by:

4. 3. The video recording device according to claim 2, the recording function control unit switches between enabling and disabling the recording function in accordance with an input from an external device connected to the video recording device via a network; A video recording device characterized by:

5. 2. The video recording device according to claim 1, The recording function of the camera cannot be disabled except when updating the password. A video recording device characterized by:

6. 2. The video recording device according to claim 1, The password is updated by connecting an initial setting tool that performs initial settings for the video recording device. A video recording device characterized by:

Images