Information processing device

Abstract

To improve visibility of an advertisement projected on a mobile vehicle.SOLUTION: An information processing device disclosed herein is configured to acquire color information on color of a projection area for projecting an advertisement image, and select an advertisement image to be projected onto the projection area from among multiple advertisement images, each being associated with at least one color, on the basis of colors associated with multiple advertisement images and the color information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and an information processing program.

Background Art

[0002] A technique for projecting an advertisement image onto a moving body is known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for projecting an advertisement video or the like onto a moving body based on the attributes of the moving body.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] When projecting an advertisement image onto a moving body, if the compatibility between the color of the moving body and the color scheme of the advertisement is poor, it may be difficult to visually recognize the content of the advertisement even if the advertisement is projected onto the vehicle. For example, for an advertisement with black-colored text, when projected onto a black vehicle, it becomes difficult to visually recognize this text portion.

[0005] Or, when trying to project an advertisement image onto the entire side surface of a moving body, there are various shapes of the side surface of the moving body. If a simple rectangular advertisement image is projected, projection light that protrudes from the side surface of the moving body may occur. This protruding projection light may illuminate objects or people other than the side surface of the moving body. Therefore, when projecting an advertisement image onto the entire side surface of a moving body, it is advisable to block the projection light that protrudes from the side surface of the vehicle with a mask or the like. However, when a part of the projection light is blocked in this way, the projection light of an essential part of the advertisement image may also be blocked, and there is a possibility that a part of this essential part will be projected in a missing state.

[0006] Alternatively, when projecting advertising images onto a moving object, the object's surface includes parts such as the body, door panels, door glass, bumpers, and tires. Each part differs in color, flatness, reflectivity, and other properties, resulting in varying degrees of suitability as a screen for advertising projection. For example, a white-painted door panel is a large, white area and is suitable as a screen for advertising projection. On the other hand, the tire area is generally black and has an uneven surface, making it unsuitable as a screen for advertising projection. The important parts of the advertisement need to be projected in a visible manner, and it is best to project them onto the area that is as suitable as possible as a screen.

[0007] Alternatively, when projecting advertising images onto moving objects, some objects may have pictures or text painted on their surfaces. In such cases, projecting advertising images onto vehicles with painted pictures or text may cause the images or text in the advertising image to overlap with the painted images or text on the vehicle, making it difficult to recognize the content of the advertisement. Similarly, projecting advertisements onto dark-colored vehicles, such as black, may also make it difficult to recognize the content of the advertisement. Therefore, in order to project advertisements in a way that makes them clearly visible, it is necessary to select the moving objects onto which the advertisements are projected.

[0008] Alternatively, when projecting advertising images onto mobile devices, incentives for users or owners of those devices should be based on advertising effectiveness. In other words, users or owners of mobile devices capable of high-effectiveness advertising projection should receive higher incentives. This approach motivates users or owners of mobile devices capable of high-effectiveness advertising projection to allow advertising to be projected onto those devices.

[0009] Alternatively, when projecting advertising images onto moving objects, if multiple moving objects are lined up in a row, it is possible to use multiple moving objects as screens, allowing for the presentation of larger advertisements than those using a single moving object as a screen, thereby creating a greater impact on viewers.

[0010] However, Patent Document 1 does not disclose any technology that addresses these issues or requirements.

[0011] One example of a problem that this invention aims to solve is projecting highly effective advertising images onto a moving object. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] To solve the above problems, the invention described in claim 1 includes: a projection area color acquisition unit that acquires color information relating to the color of a projection area onto which an advertising image is projected; a storage unit that stores a plurality of advertising images, each associated with at least one color; and a selection unit that selects an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among the plurality of advertising images based on the color information and the colors associated with the plurality of advertising images.

[0013] The invention described in claim 4 includes: a projection area color acquisition unit that acquires color information relating to the color of a projection area onto which an advertising image is projected; a storage unit that stores a plurality of source images of advertising images, each associated with at least one color; and a selection unit that selects a source image of an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among the plurality of source images based on the color information and the colors associated with the plurality of source images.

[0014] The invention described in claim 5 is an information processing method performed by a computer, comprising: a projection area color acquisition step of acquiring color information relating to the color of a projection area on which an advertising image is projected; and a selection step of selecting an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among a plurality of advertising images, each associated with at least one color, based on the color information and the colors associated with the plurality of advertising images.

[0015] The invention described in claim 6 is characterized in that the information processing method described in claim 5 is executed by a computer.

[0016] The invention described in claim 7 stores the information processing program described in claim 6.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0017] [Figure 1] It is a diagram showing an advertising projection system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] It is a diagram showing an example of advertising projection by the advertising projection system 100. [Figure 3] It is a diagram showing a control unit 310 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] It is a diagram showing an example of a processing operation in the advertising projection system 100. [Figure 5] It is a diagram showing an example of a processing operation in the advertising projection system 100. [Figure 6] It is a diagram showing a projection area setting unit 311 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] It is a diagram showing an example of a processing operation in the projection area setting unit 311. [Figure 8] It is a diagram showing an advertising selection unit 312 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] It is a diagram showing an example of a processing operation in the advertising selection unit 312. [Figure 10] It is a diagram showing an example of continuous advertisements. [Figure 11] It is a diagram showing an example of continuous advertisements. [Figure 12] It is a diagram showing an example of a processing operation in the advertising selection unit 312. [Figure 13] It is a diagram showing an example of advertisement switching. [Figure 14] It is a diagram showing an example of a processing operation in the advertising projection system 100 in the example shown in FIG. 13. [Figure 15] It is a diagram showing an example of the generation of an advertising image. [Figure 16] It is a diagram showing an example of a material image stored in the storage unit 330. [[ID=​​​​ [Figure 19] This figure shows an advertising image generation unit 313 according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 20] This figure shows an example of the processing operation in the advertising image generation unit 313. [Figure 21] This figure shows an incentive setting unit 314 according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 22] This diagram shows the processing operation in the incentive setting unit 314. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0018] An information processing device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes: a projection area color acquisition unit that acquires color information relating to the color of a projection area onto which an advertising image is projected; a storage unit that stores a plurality of advertising images, each associated with at least one color; and a selection unit that selects an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among the plurality of advertising images based on the color information and the colors associated with the plurality of advertising images. By doing so, if each advertising image is associated with a color that is compatible with the color scheme of that advertising image, only advertising images with color schemes compatible with the color of the projection area will be projected onto the projection area. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to improve the visibility of the advertisement projected onto the projection area.

[0019] Furthermore, the advertised subjects of the multiple advertising images may be the same, and the color schemes of the multiple advertising images may be different from each other. In this way, regardless of the color of the projection area, it becomes possible to project an advertisement for that advertised subject onto the projection area in a visible manner.

[0020] Furthermore, the projection area is set on the surface of the moving object. This makes it possible to improve the visibility of the advertisement projected onto the moving object.

[0021] Furthermore, an information processing device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes: a projection area color acquisition unit that acquires color information relating to the color of a projection area on which an advertising image is projected; a storage unit that stores a plurality of source images of advertising images, each associated with at least one color; and a selection unit that selects a source image of an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among the plurality of source images based on the color information and the colors associated with the plurality of source images. By doing so, if each advertising image is associated with a color that is compatible with the color scheme of the source image of that advertising image, then only advertising images with color schemes compatible with the color of the projection area will be projected onto the projection area. For this reason, in this embodiment, it is possible to improve the visibility of the advertisement projected onto the projection area.

[0022] Furthermore, an information processing method according to one embodiment of the present invention is an information processing method performed by a computer, comprising: a projection area color acquisition step of acquiring color information relating to the color of a projection area on which an advertising image is projected; and a selection step of selecting an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among a plurality of advertising images, each associated with at least one color, based on the color associated with the plurality of advertising images and the color information. By doing so, if each advertising image is associated with a color that is compatible with the color scheme of that advertising image, then only advertising images with color schemes compatible with the color of the projection area will be projected onto the projection area. For this reason, in this embodiment, it is possible to improve the visibility of the advertisement projected onto the projection area.

[0023] Furthermore, an information processing program according to one embodiment of the present invention causes a computer to execute the above-described information processing method. In this way, it becomes possible to improve the visibility of advertisements projected onto the projection area using a computer.

[0024] Furthermore, a computer-readable storage medium according to one embodiment of the present invention stores the above-mentioned information processing program. In this way, the above-mentioned information processing program can be distributed independently, in addition to being incorporated into a device, and version upgrades and the like can be easily performed. [Examples]

[0025] <Advertising Projection System 100> Figure 1 shows an advertising projection system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The advertising projection system 100 includes an advertising projection device 200 and a server 300. The advertising projection device 200 and the server 300 are connected to each other wirelessly and / or by wire so that they can send and receive information. The advertising projection device 200 and the server 300 may be connected via a communication network, or they may be connected directly wirelessly or by wire. The advertising projection system 100 projects an advertising image AD (in this application, the image also includes a video composed of multiple image frames) onto the side of a vehicle AM ​​parked in a parking area PA corresponding to a parking meter PM using the advertising projection device 200, as shown in Figure 2.

[0026] The advertising projection device 200 includes a control unit 210, a vehicle information acquisition unit 220 that acquires vehicle information (mobile body information) which is information about vehicles (mobile bodies) parked in the parking area, a transmitting and receiving unit 230 that transmits and receives information with other devices such as a server 300, and a projection unit 240 that projects advertising images onto parked vehicles. The control unit 210 is composed of a computer having, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit).

[0027] The advertising projection device 200 is positioned near the parking area so that it can project advertising images onto the surface of parked vehicles. The advertising projection device 200 is installed on top of the parking meter PM, for example, as shown in Figure 2.

[0028] When a vehicle is parked in a parking area corresponding to the parking meter, the control unit 210 acquires vehicle information, such as an image of the vehicle, using the vehicle information acquisition unit 220. The determination that a vehicle has been parked in the parking area of ​​the parking meter can be made by the vehicle information acquisition unit 220 detecting that a vehicle has been parked in the parking area, or by acquiring information from the parking meter indicating that a vehicle has been parked in the parking area. When acquiring information from the parking meter, it can be acquired directly from the parking meter, or it can be acquired from the parking meter via another device such as the server 300.

[0029] The vehicle information acquisition unit 220 includes, for example, a camera. In this case, the vehicle information includes an image (image data) of the vehicle taken by the camera. The vehicle information acquisition unit 220 may also include a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging), in which case the vehicle information includes data (3D data) acquired by the LiDAR.

[0030] The control unit 210 transmits vehicle information to the server 300 via the transmitting / receiving unit 230. The control unit 210 also receives advertising images transmitted from the server 300 via the transmitting / receiving unit 230.

[0031] The control unit 210 projects an advertising image onto the parked vehicle using the projection unit 240. The projection unit 240 is a projection device such as a projector. The control unit 210 stops projecting the advertising image using the projection unit 240 when the parked vehicle has finished parking. The determination that a vehicle parked in the parking area of ​​the parking meter has finished parking can be made by the advertising projection device 200 having an input means to receive input from the user and making the determination based on the input from this input means, or by the vehicle information acquisition unit 220 detecting when the parked vehicle has left the parking area, or by acquiring information from the parking meter indicating that the parked vehicle has finished parking. When acquiring information from the parking meter, it can be acquired directly from the parking meter, or it can be acquired from the parking meter via another device such as a server 300.

[0032] The server 300 includes a control unit 310, a transmitting / receiving unit 320 that transmits and receives information between the server and other devices such as the advertising projection device 200, and a storage unit 330 that stores advertising images. The control unit 310 is configured by a computer, for example, having a CPU. The storage unit 330 is a storage device, for example, a hard disk or memory. The server 300 corresponds to the information processing apparatus of the above embodiment.

[0033] The control unit 310 receives vehicle information transmitted from the advertising projection device 200 by the transmitting / receiving unit 320, and based on this vehicle information, selects an image of the advertisement to be projected onto the vehicle from among the advertising images stored in the storage unit 330, and transmits the selected advertising image to the advertising projection device 200 by the transmitting / receiving unit 320.

[0034] Figure 3 shows a control unit 310 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The control unit 310 includes a projection area setting unit 311 for setting a projection area on which to project an advertisement, an advertisement selection unit 312 for selecting an advertisement image to be projected onto the vehicle, an advertisement image generation unit 313 for processing a source image to generate an advertisement image, and an incentive setting unit 314 for setting an incentive for the user or owner of the vehicle on which the advertisement image is projected.

[0035] The projection area setting unit 311 sets a projection area on the surface of the vehicle to which the advertising image will be projected, based on the vehicle information. For example, as shown in Figure 2, the projection area setting unit 311 may set the entire side of the vehicle parked in the parking area as the projection area, or it may set a part of this side as the projection area.

[0036] The advertisement selection unit 312 selects an advertisement image to be projected onto the projection area based on the advertisement selection conditions. The advertisement selection conditions include conditions related to the color of the projection area, conditions related to the time of day when the advertisement is projected, conditions related to the location of the parking area, conditions related to the advertiser's intentions, and conditions related to the intentions of the user or owner of the parked vehicle.

[0037] The memory unit 330 stores multiple advertising images to be projected onto the vehicle. The advertising image selected by the advertising selection unit 312 is sent to the advertising projection device 200 by the transmitting / receiving unit 320 and projected onto the vehicle by the projection unit 240.

[0038] The storage unit 330 may store not only the advertisement image itself, but also the source images of the advertisement. In this case, the advertisement selection unit 312 selects the source image of the advertisement to be projected from the source images stored in the storage unit 330, based on the advertisement selection conditions.

[0039] The advertising image generation unit 313 processes the source images selected by the advertising selection unit 312 to generate advertising images to be projected onto the vehicle. The advertising images generated by the advertising image generation unit 313 are sent to the advertising projection device 200 by the transmitting / receiving unit 320 and projected onto the vehicle by the projection unit 240.

[0040] The incentive setting unit 314 sets incentives for the user or owner of the vehicle on which the advertising image is projected. Examples of incentives for the user or owner of the vehicle include a discount on parking fees, a discount rate on parking fees, or discount coupons or usage coupons that can be used for future parking. The incentive setting unit 314 may set incentives before the projection of the advertising image begins or after the projection of the advertising image has finished.

[0041] In the above, the advertising projection system 100 is composed of an advertising projection device 200 and a server 300. However, the advertising projection device 200 may be configured to have all of the above functions of the server 300, and the advertising projection system 100 may be composed of the advertising projection device 200 alone. When the advertising projection system 100 is composed of the advertising projection device 200 alone, the advertising projection device 200 corresponds to the information processing device of the above embodiment.

[0042] Furthermore, as described above, the advertising projection system 100 projects advertisements onto vehicles parked in the parking area of ​​a parking meter, but various types of vehicles can be considered as the target of the projection. For example, the advertising projection system 100 may project advertisements onto vehicles parked in the parking area of ​​a parking lot, or it may project advertisements onto vehicles parked in a rotary in front of a station. For example, when projecting advertisements onto vehicles parked in a rotary in front of a station, it is advisable to designate a portion of the rotary as the target parking area for projection, and to install the advertising projection device 200 so that it can acquire vehicle information of vehicles parked in this target parking area and project advertisements onto the parked vehicles. In this case, the target parking area may be an area large enough for one vehicle to park, and the advertising projection device 200 may project an advertisement image using one vehicle as a screen, or the target parking area may be an area large enough for multiple vehicles to park, and the advertising projection device 200 may project an advertisement image using these multiple vehicles as screens.

[0043] Furthermore, the advertising projection system 100 is not limited to projecting advertising images onto vehicles. The advertising projection system 100 may also project advertisements onto other moving objects such as trains or ships.

[0044] <Processing operation in the advertising projection system 100> Figure 4 shows an example of the processing operation in the advertising projection system 100 when the image stored in the memory unit 330 is an advertising image. In the advertising projection device 200, when a vehicle is parked in the parking area, the control unit 210 acquires vehicle information of the parked vehicle using the vehicle information acquisition unit 220 (step S401). The transmitting and receiving unit 230 transmits this acquired vehicle information to the server 300 (step S402).

[0045] In the server 300, the control unit 310 receives vehicle information transmitted from the advertising projection device 200 via the transmitting / receiving unit 320 (step S403). The projection area setting unit 311 sets a projection area on the surface of the parked vehicle to project the advertising image based on the received vehicle information (step S404). The advertising selection unit 312 selects an advertising image to be projected onto the set projection area from among the advertising images stored in the storage unit 330 based on the advertising selection conditions (step S405). The control unit 310 transmits the selected advertising image to the advertising projection device 200 via the transmitting / receiving unit 320 (step S406).

[0046] In the advertising projection device 200, the control unit 210 receives the advertising image transmitted from the server 300 via the transmitting / receiving unit 230 (step S407). The control unit 210 then projects the received advertising image onto the parked vehicle via the projection unit 240 (step S408).

[0047] Figure 5 shows an example of the processing operation in the advertising projection system 100 when the image stored in the memory unit 330 is a source image for an advertisement. In the advertising projection device 200, when a vehicle is parked in the parking area, the control unit 210 acquires vehicle information of the parked vehicle using the vehicle information acquisition unit 220 (step S501). The control unit 210 transmits this acquired vehicle information to the server 300 using the transmission / reception unit 230 (step S502).

[0048] In the server 300, the control unit 310 receives vehicle information transmitted from the advertising projection device 200 via the transmitting / receiving unit 320 (step S503). The projection area setting unit 311 sets a projection area on the surface of the parked vehicle to project the advertising image based on the received vehicle information (step S504). The advertising selection unit 312 selects a source image for the advertising image to be projected onto the set projection area from the source images stored in the storage unit 330 based on the advertising selection conditions (step S305). The advertising image generation unit 313 processes the selected source image based on the set projection area to generate an advertising image (step S506). The control unit 310 transmits the generated advertising image to the advertising projection device 200 via the transmitting / receiving unit 320 (step S507).

[0049] In the advertising projection device 200, the control unit 210 receives the advertising image transmitted from the server 300 via the transmitting / receiving unit 230 (step S508). The control unit 210 then projects the received advertising image onto the parked vehicle via the projection unit 240 (step S509).

[0050] <Permission to project advertisements> The advertising projection system 100 may project advertisements only onto vehicles that are authorized to have advertisements projected onto them. To this end, for example, the control unit 310 of the server 300 may have a projection permission confirmation unit that checks whether or not a parked vehicle is a vehicle authorized to have advertisements projected onto it.

[0051] Whether or not an advertisement can be projected may be confirmed with the user or owner of the parked vehicle when it is parked. In this case, for example, the advertisement projection device 200 may have means (for example, an input device such as a switch button or a touch panel) to receive input from the user or owner of the parked vehicle regarding whether or not an advertisement can be projected, and this input information may be transmitted to the server 300. In this way, the projection permission confirmation unit can use this input information to confirm whether or not the parked vehicle is a vehicle that is permitted to project advertisements.

[0052] Furthermore, the permission for projecting advertisements may be confirmed in advance with the user or owner of the parked vehicle. In this case, for example, stickers or similar items printed with a code indicating permission for advertising projection could be distributed to the user or owner of the vehicle for which advertising projection is permitted, and they could be asked to affix these stickers or similar items to the side or other surface of the vehicle. By doing so, the projection permission confirmation unit can use a well-known image analysis method or similar to confirm whether or not a parked vehicle is one for which advertising projection is permitted, based on the image of the parked vehicle included in the vehicle information.

[0053] In the case of a rotary in front of a train station, it would be good to clearly indicate that advertising images will be projected onto vehicles parked in the designated projection area, and to allow only vehicles that permit advertising images to be projected onto them to park in that area. For example, by designating an area close to the station as the projection area, vehicle users or owners can benefit from parking in an area close to the station by permitting advertising images to be projected onto their vehicles. Similarly, in the case of parking areas in service areas and parking areas, it would be good to clearly indicate that advertising images will be projected onto vehicles parked in the designated advertising area, and to allow only vehicles that permit advertising images to be projected onto them to park in that area. For example, by designating a parking area close to the building of a service area or parking area as the advertising projection area, vehicle users or owners can benefit from parking in an area close to the station by permitting advertising images to be projected onto their vehicles to park in an area close to the station.

[0054] <Selecting a vehicle to project advertisements onto> Figure 6 shows a projection area setting unit 311 according to one embodiment of the present invention. Some vehicles have pictures or characters painted on their surface. In such cases, even if an advertising image is projected onto a vehicle with pictures or characters painted on it, the pictures or characters in the advertising image may overlap with the pictures or characters painted on the vehicle, making it difficult to recognize the content of the advertisement. Similarly, even if an advertisement is projected onto a vehicle with a dark color such as black, it may be difficult to recognize the content of the advertisement. In other words, vehicles with pictures or characters painted on them, or vehicles with a dark color such as black, are not suitable as screens for projecting advertising images. Even if an advertising image is projected onto such an unsuitable screen, the advertising effect will be small. Therefore, for example, in order to exclude such unsuitable vehicles from being the target of advertising image projection, the projection area setting unit 311 according to this embodiment includes a condition determination unit 3111 and a projection determination unit 3112.

[0055] The projection area setting unit 311 includes a condition determination unit 3111 that determines whether a vehicle in an area where an advertising image can be projected (advertising projection area) satisfies predetermined conditions, and a projection determination unit 3112 that decides to project an advertisement onto the vehicle if the vehicle satisfies the predetermined conditions, and decides not to project an advertisement onto the vehicle if the vehicle does not satisfy the predetermined conditions. The advertising projection area is, for example, the parking area when projecting an advertisement onto a vehicle parked in a parking area, or the target parking area within the rotary when projecting an advertisement onto a vehicle parked in a rotary. In other words, in this embodiment, before setting a projection area on the surface of a vehicle, the projection area setting unit 311 checks whether the vehicle satisfies predetermined conditions, determines only vehicles that satisfy the predetermined conditions to be targets for advertising projection, and sets a projection area for advertising projection only for these determined vehicles.

[0056] The specified conditions should include at least one of the following: a condition relating to the color of the surface on the vehicle where the advertising image can be projected (projectible surface), and a condition relating to the text on the projectible surface. More specifically, the specified conditions should include at least one of the following: (Condition 1) The number of colors used in the painting of the projectible surface is less than or equal to a specified value; (Condition 2) The color of the projectible surface is not a specified color; (Condition 3) No text is painted on the projectible surface. Here, if the painting of the projectible surface includes multiple colors, it is good practice to use a characteristic color of the projectible surface as the color of the projectible surface in (Condition 2). The characteristic color of the projectible surface may be, for example, the color of the largest area among the areas when the projection area is divided into multiple areas for each color.

[0057] In this way, vehicles unsuitable for the screen can be excluded from the projection of advertising images. For example, by including (Condition 1) in the specified conditions, vehicles with many colors on their surface, that is, vehicles with pictures painted on their surface that have low advertising effectiveness, can be excluded from the projection of advertisements. Also, by including (Condition 2) in the specified conditions and changing the specified color to a dark color such as black, vehicles painted in dark colors such as black can be excluded. Furthermore, by including (Condition 3) in the specified conditions, vehicles with text painted on their surface can be excluded from the projection of advertisements.

[0058] On the other hand, vehicles with light colors such as white are suitable as screens for projecting advertisements. It is also acceptable to only target vehicles that are suitable as such screens, that is, vehicles with high advertising effectiveness, for advertising projection. Therefore, the predetermined conditions may include (condition 4) that the color of the projectable surface is a predetermined color. By including (condition 4) in the predetermined conditions and setting the predetermined color to a light color such as white, it becomes possible to project advertisements only onto vehicles with light colors such as white that are suitable as screens.

[0059] In this case, the condition determination unit 3111 may, for example, use a well-known image analysis method to obtain color information regarding the color of the projectable surface and to determine whether or not characters are painted on the projectable surface, based on the image of the vehicle included in the vehicle information.

[0060] Some advertisers may not want their advertisements projected onto specific vehicles. For example, Company A might not want its advertisements projected onto vehicles manufactured by an affiliate of Company B, a rival of Company A. Therefore, for example, the memory unit 330 should also store an exclusion list of vehicle types and brands that are not subject to advertising projection, and the predetermined conditions should include (condition 5) that the vehicle type or brand is not included in the exclusion list. In this way, it becomes possible to exclude vehicles of vehicle types or brands that advertisers do not want their advertisements to be projected onto from the advertising projection targets.

[0061] On the other hand, some advertisers may want to project their advertisements onto specific vehicles. For example, an advertiser might want to project their advertisements only onto luxury cars. Therefore, for example, the memory unit 330 should also store a list of target vehicles that contain the vehicle types and brands to which the advertisements should be projected, and the predetermined conditions should include (condition 6) that the vehicle type and brand are included in the list of target vehicles. In this way, it becomes possible to project advertisements only onto vehicles of the vehicle types and brands that the advertiser wishes to project their advertisements onto.

[0062] In this case, the condition determination unit 3111 may, for example, use a well-known image analysis method to determine the vehicle type and brand based on the image of the vehicle included in the vehicle information.

[0063] Figure 7 shows an example of the processing operation in the projection area setting unit 311. The condition determination unit 3111 determines whether a vehicle in the advertising projection area meets predetermined conditions (step S701). The projection decision unit 3112 decides to project an advertisement onto the vehicle if the vehicle meets the predetermined conditions (step S701, YES) (step S702), and decides not to project an advertisement onto the vehicle if the vehicle does not meet the predetermined conditions (step S701, NO) (step S703).

[0064] <Ad Selection 1> Figure 8 shows an advertisement selection unit 312 according to one embodiment of the present invention. If the vehicle's color and the advertisement's color scheme are incompatible, even if the advertisement is projected onto the vehicle, it may be difficult to see the content of the advertisement. For example, if an advertisement with black text is projected onto a black vehicle, the text portion will be difficult to see.

[0065] Therefore, each of the advertising images stored in the storage unit 330 according to this embodiment is associated with at least one color, and the advertising selection unit 312 according to this embodiment includes a projection area color acquisition unit 3121 that acquires color information relating to the color of the projection area, and a selection unit 3122 that selects an image to be projected onto the projection area from among the advertising images stored in the storage unit 330 based on the acquired color information and the color associated with each of the advertising images.

[0066] As a result, for example, each advertising image stored in the memory unit 330 is associated with a color that is compatible with the color scheme of that advertising image, and the selection unit 3122 selects an advertising image that is associated with the same color as the color of the projection area. In this way, only advertising images with color schemes that are compatible with the color of the projection area are projected onto the projection area.

[0067] When the projection area contains multiple colors, the projection area color acquisition unit 3121 should acquire a characteristic color of the projection area. For example, when the projection area is divided into multiple areas for each color, the color of the largest of the divided areas should be used as the characteristic color of the projection area.

[0068] Furthermore, it is advisable to prepare multiple color schemes of advertising images for each advertising target, such as products or services, and to store these advertising images in the storage unit 330. In other words, it is advisable to prepare multiple color schemes of advertising images for the same advertising target. By doing so, it becomes possible to project advertisements for that advertising target onto parked vehicles in a way that makes them visible, regardless of the color of the parked vehicle.

[0069] Furthermore, when the memory unit 330 stores source images for advertisements, it is preferable to associate each source image with at least one color. The selection unit 3122 then selects a source image that is associated with the same color as the projection area, and the advertisement image generation unit 313 processes the selected source image without changing its color scheme to generate an advertisement image. As a result, only advertisement images with color schemes that are compatible with the color of the projection area are projected onto the projection area.

[0070] Figure 9 shows an example of the processing operation in the advertisement selection unit 312. The advertisement selection unit 312 acquires color information related to the color of the projection area (step S901). Based on the acquired color information and the colors associated with each advertisement image, it selects the advertisement image to be projected (step S902).

[0071] <Ad Selection 2> As shown in Figure 10, there are cases where multiple parking areas PA1 to PA4 are lined up, and multiple vehicles AM1 to AM3 are parked consecutively in these multiple parking areas PA1 to PA4. In such cases, as shown in Figure 10, it is advisable to project a continuous advertisement AD1, which consists of multiple images AD1-1 to AD1-3, onto these multiple vehicles AM1 to AM3. Such a continuous advertisement can present a larger advertisement than a single advertisement projected onto a single vehicle, and can have a greater impact on the viewer than a single advertisement. Furthermore, such a continuous advertisement can present a series advertisement consisting of multiple images.

[0072] Therefore, the advertisement selection unit 312 according to one embodiment of the present invention further includes a continuous parking detection unit 3123 that detects that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively in multiple projectable areas, a continuous parking count acquisition unit 3124 that acquires the number of vehicles parked consecutively, and a position acquisition unit 3125 that acquires the position of each vehicle among the consecutively parked vehicles. The storage unit 330 according to this embodiment stores not only images of single advertisements that form one advertisement when projected onto one vehicle, but also images of continuous advertisements that form one advertisement when projected onto multiple moving objects parked consecutively. The selection unit 3122 according to this embodiment selects a continuous advertisement as the advertisement to be projected onto these multiple vehicles when multiple vehicles are parked consecutively. The continuous advertisement may consist of multiple advertisement images or a single advertisement image.

[0073] For example, as shown in Figure 10, if an advertising projection device 200 is installed in each of the multiple adjacent parking areas PA1 to PA4, the continuous advertisement should be composed of multiple advertising images. Here, the multiple adjacent parking areas PA1 to PA4 correspond to multiple adjacent projectable areas. In the example shown in Figure 10, the continuous parking detection unit 3123 detects that multiple vehicles AM1 to AM3 are parked consecutively in the multiple adjacent parking areas PA1 to PA4.

[0074] The selection unit 3122 then selects a continuous advertisement consisting of the same number of advertising images as the number of vehicles parked consecutively, as acquired by the continuous parking number acquisition unit 3124, as the advertisement to be projected onto these consecutively parked vehicles. In the example shown in Figure 10, three vehicles AM1 to AM3 are parked consecutively, and the selection unit 3122 selects a continuous advertisement AD1 consisting of three advertising images AD1-1 to AD1-3 as the advertisement to be projected onto vehicles AM1 to AM3.

[0075] Furthermore, the selection unit 3122 selects the advertising images that make up the continuous advertisement to be projected onto each vehicle, based on the position of each vehicle in the continuously parked vehicles acquired by the position acquisition unit 3125. In the example shown in Figure 10, the continuously parked vehicles AM1 to AM3 are arranged from left to right in the order of vehicle AM1, vehicle AM2, and vehicle AM3, and the continuous advertisement AD1 is formed by arranging advertising images AD1-1, AD1-2, and AD1-3 from left to right. Therefore, the selection unit 3122 selects advertising image AD1-1 as the advertising image to be projected onto vehicle AM1, advertising image AD1-2 as the advertising image to be projected onto vehicle AM2, and advertising image AD1-3 as the advertising image to be projected onto vehicle AM3.

[0076] Furthermore, for example, as shown in Figure 11, when projecting continuous advertisements onto vehicles AM1 to AM3 parked consecutively in the target parking area OA of the rotary in front of the station, a single advertisement projection device 200 may be used to project a continuous advertisement AD2 consisting of a single advertisement image. In this case, the selection unit 3122 selects a continuous advertisement of a size corresponding to the number of consecutively parked vehicles acquired, for example, by the consecutive parking number acquisition unit 3124, as the advertisement to be projected onto these consecutively parked vehicles.

[0077] The continuous parking detection unit 3123 may detect that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively by sequentially checking whether a vehicle is parked in each of the multiple projectable areas arranged in a row at predetermined time intervals, or it may detect that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively at the moment a new vehicle is parked in one of the multiple projectable areas arranged in a row.

[0078] When detecting that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively at the moment a vehicle is newly parked in one of several adjacent projectable areas, the consecutive parking detection unit 3123 sets the projectable area where the new vehicle was parked as the projectable area of ​​interest, and checks whether or not a vehicle is parked in either of the projectable areas on either side of this projectable area of ​​interest to detect that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively. The selection unit 3122 then selects a continuous advertisement as the advertisement to project onto the vehicle parked in the projectable area of ​​interest if a vehicle is parked in either of the projectable areas on either side of the projectable area of ​​interest, and selects a single advertisement as the advertisement to project onto the vehicle parked in the projectable area of ​​interest if no vehicle is parked in either of the projectable areas on either side of the projectable area of ​​interest.

[0079] Figure 12 shows an example of the processing operation in the advertisement selection unit 312. The continuous parking detection unit 3123 checks whether a vehicle is parked in either of the projectable areas adjacent to the area of ​​interest (step S1201). If a vehicle is parked in either of the projectable areas adjacent to the area of ​​interest (step S1201, YES), the selection unit 3122 selects a continuous advertisement as the advertisement to be projected onto the vehicle parked in the area of ​​interest (step S1202). If no vehicle is parked in either of the projectable areas adjacent to the area of ​​interest (step S1201, NO), the selection unit 3122 selects a single advertisement as the advertisement to be projected onto the vehicle parked in the area of ​​interest (step S1203).

[0080] If advertisements are to be projected only onto vehicles that are permitted to have advertisements projected onto them, the continuous parking detection unit 3123 should be configured to detect when multiple vehicles that are permitted to have advertisements projected onto them are parked consecutively in multiple adjacent projection-enabled areas. In this case, the storage unit 330 should store information on whether or not advertisements are permitted to be projected onto each of the vehicles parked in the multiple adjacent projection-enabled areas.

[0081] As shown in Figure 13(A), there are cases where vehicles are parked in parking areas PA1, PA3, and PA4, but parking area PA2 is empty. In such cases, for example, a single advertisement AD3 is projected onto vehicle AM1 parked in parking area PA1, and a continuous advertisement AD4, consisting of two advertisement images AD4-1 and AD4-2, is projected onto vehicles AM3 and AM4 parked consecutively in parking areas PA3 and PA4. In this state, as shown in Figure 13(B), when vehicle AM2 is parked in parking area PA2, the advertisement projection system 100 should stop projecting the single advertisement AD3 and the continuous advertisement AD4, and project the continuous AD5 onto vehicles AM1 to AM4.

[0082] In this case, for example, the continuous parking detection unit 3123 detects that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively by checking whether or not vehicles are parked in the projectable areas adjacent to the projectable area of ​​interest, which is one of the multiple projectable areas. In the example shown in Figure 13, the parking area PA2 in which a vehicle has just been parked is set as the projectable area of ​​interest, and the continuous parking detection unit 3123 detects that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively by checking whether or not vehicles are parked in either of the parking areas PA1 or PA3 adjacent to parking area PA2.

[0083] The selection unit 3122 then selects a continuous advertisement consisting of the same number of advertising images as the number of vehicles parked consecutively, as acquired by the continuous parking number acquisition unit 3124, to be projected onto these consecutively parked vehicles. In the example shown in Figure 13(B), four vehicles AM1 to AM4 are parked consecutively, and the selection unit 3122 selects a continuous advertisement AD5 consisting of four advertising images AD5-1 to AD5-4.

[0084] Furthermore, the selection unit 3122 selects the advertising images that make up the continuous advertisement to be projected onto each vehicle, based on the position of each vehicle acquired by the position acquisition unit 3125. In the example shown in Figure 13(B), the continuously parked vehicles AM1 to AM4 are arranged from left to right in the order of vehicle AM1, vehicle AM2, vehicle AM3, and vehicle AM4, and the continuous advertisement AD5 is formed by arranging the advertising images AD5-1, AD5-2, AD5-3, and AD5-4 from left to right. Therefore, the selection unit 3122 selects advertising image AD5-1 as the advertising image to be projected onto vehicle AM1, advertising image AD5-2 as the advertising image to be projected onto vehicle AM2, advertising image AD5-3 as the advertising image to be projected onto vehicle AM3, and advertising image AD5-4 as the advertising image to be projected onto vehicle AM4.

[0085] The control unit 310 then transmits advertisement AD5-1 to the advertisement projection device 200 corresponding to vehicle PA1 via the transmission unit 320, advertisement AD5-2 to the advertisement projection device 200 corresponding to vehicle PA2, advertisement AD5-3 to the advertisement projection device 200 corresponding to vehicle PA3, and advertisement AD5-4 to the advertisement projection device 200 corresponding to vehicle PA4. Each of the advertisement projection devices 200 receives the transmitted advertisement image and projects the received advertisement image onto the vehicle.

[0086] The memory unit 330 may also store multiple patterns of continuous advertisements corresponding to the number of consecutive parking spaces, such as a two-part advertisement consisting of two advertisement images, a three-part advertisement consisting of three advertisement images, or a four-part advertisement consisting of four advertisement images.

[0087] Furthermore, the storage unit 330 may store the advertising images themselves that constitute the continuous advertisement, or it may store the source images of the advertising images that constitute the continuous advertisement, and the control unit 310 may transmit the advertising images generated by processing these source images by the advertising image generation unit 350 to the advertising projection device 200.

[0088] Figure 14 shows an example of the processing operation in the advertising projection system 100 in the example shown in Figure 13. The advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA1 projects the advertising image AD3 of a single advertisement onto vehicle AM1, the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA3 projects the advertising image AD4-1 of a continuous advertisement AD4 onto vehicle AM3, and the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA4 projects the advertising image AD4-2 of a continuous advertisement AD4 onto vehicle AM4 (step S1401). When vehicle AM2 is parked in parking area PA2, the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA2 acquires vehicle information of vehicle AM2 and transmits the vehicle information of vehicle AM2 to the server 300 (step S1402).

[0089] In the server 300, the control unit 310 receives vehicle information of vehicle AM2 via the transmitting / receiving unit 320, and the projection area setting unit 311 sets a projection area on the surface of vehicle AM2 (step S1403). In the server 300, the continuous vehicle detection unit 3123 of the advertisement selection unit 312 detects that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively by checking whether or not a vehicle is parked in either of the adjacent parking areas PA1 or PA3 to parking area PA2. The selection unit 3122 of the advertisement selection unit 312 selects a continuous advertisement AD5 consisting of four advertisement images AD5-1 to AD5-4, the same number of advertisement images as the number of consecutively parked vehicles acquired by the continuous parking count acquisition unit 3124, as advertisements to be projected onto vehicles AM1 to AM4. Based on the position of each vehicle acquired by the position acquisition unit 3125, it selects advertisement image AD5-1 as the advertisement image to be projected onto vehicle AM1, advertisement image AD5-2 as the advertisement image to be projected onto vehicle AM2, advertisement image AD5-3 as the advertisement image to be projected onto vehicle AM3, and advertisement image AD5-4 as the advertisement image to be projected onto vehicle AM4 (step S1404). In the server 300, the control unit 310 transmits advertising image AD5-1 to the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA1, advertising image AD5-2 to the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA2, advertising image AD5-3 to the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA3, and advertising image AD5-4 to the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA4 (step S1405).

[0090] The advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA1 receives advertising image AD5-1 and projects advertising image AD5-1 onto vehicle AM1; the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA2 receives advertising image AD5-2 and projects advertising image AD5-2 onto vehicle AM2; the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA3 receives advertising image AD5-3 and projects advertising image AD5-3 onto vehicle AM3; and the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA4 receives advertising image AD5-4 and projects advertising image AD5-4 onto vehicle AM4 (step S1406).

[0091] <Generating advertising images 1> When attempting to project an advertising image onto the entire side of a vehicle, the shape of the vehicle's side varies, and simply projecting a rectangular advertising image will result in projected light extending beyond the vehicle's side. This extended light can illuminate objects or people other than those on the vehicle's side. Therefore, when projecting an advertising image onto the entire side of a vehicle, it is advisable to block the projected light that extends beyond the vehicle's side. However, blocking a portion of the projected light in this way can also block the projection of important parts of the advertising image, potentially resulting in parts of the image being projected incomplete. For this reason, the advertising image must be generated in a way that ensures no important parts are missing even when a portion of the projected light is blocked. Important parts could include text such as the brand name and message, or the QR code for coupon distribution.

[0092] Therefore, the source image of the advertisement stored in the storage unit 330 according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a background image and one or more parts to be displayed on this background. Figure 15(A), 4-2 shows an example of a source image stored in the storage unit 330. In the example shown in Figure 15(A), the source image consists of a background B and one part P, and in the example shown in Figure 16, the source image consists of a background B and multiple parts P1 to P5. In Figure 15, 4-2, the shapes of the background and parts are rectangular, but the shapes of the background and parts are not limited to rectangles and can be any shape.

[0093] The advertising image generation unit 313 in this embodiment acquires source images from the storage unit 330, shapes the background image according to the shape of the vehicle, processes the parts so that they fit within the shaped background, and generates an advertising image. The advertising image generation unit 313 corresponds to the advertising acquisition unit and advertising image generation unit in the above embodiment.

[0094] Part processing can include, for example, moving or resizing. For example, in the example shown in Figure 15, background B is cropped according to the shape of the side of the vehicle, as shown in Figure 15(B), and part P is processed so that it fits within this cropped background B, thereby generating the advertisement image. In the example shown in Figure 15, part P is moved and resized so that it fits within this cropped background B.

[0095] In this way, in this embodiment, it becomes possible to project the advertisement onto the vehicle without any parts being missing. Therefore, in this embodiment, by separating the important parts of the advertisement image from the background B and making them part P, the advertisement image can be projected onto the vehicle without any important parts being missing.

[0096] Alternatively, as shown in Figure 16, the source image may be composed of a background B and multiple parts P1 to P5. In this case, each of the multiple parts P1 to P5 should be associated with a standard position on background B. The standard position can be represented, for example, by two-dimensional coordinates on background B.

[0097] Then, in the example shown in Figure 16, the source image is processed as shown in Figure 17. First, as shown in Figure 17(A), the advertising image generation unit 313, for example, crops the background B to match the shape of the vehicle.

[0098] Each of the parts P1 to P4 is positioned in a standard location on background B as shown in Figure 17(A), but in Figure 17(A), parts P1, P3, and P4 do not fit within the cropped background B. Therefore, the advertising image generation unit 313 moves parts P1, P3, and P4 so that they fit within the cropped background B, as shown in Figure 17(B).

[0099] In the example shown in Figure 17, each part is moved vertically to fit within the cropped background B. However, there are various ways to move parts that do not fit within the cropped background to fit within it. For example, the parts could be moved horizontally. Alternatively, the parts could be moved in the direction that minimizes the distance they travel. Furthermore, information on how to move parts that do not fit within the cropped background B could be attached to each part, and the parts could be moved based on this information.

[0100] In Figure 17(B), part P3 does not overlap with other parts, but part P1 overlaps with part P2, and part P4 overlaps with part P5. Therefore, it would be good to assign a priority order to each of the multiple parts P1 to P5.

[0101] For example, in the example shown in Figure 17, part P1 has a higher priority than part P2. Assume that part P5 has a higher priority than part P4. In this case, the advertising image generation unit 313 generates the advertising image shown in Figure 17(C) by, for example, shrinking part P2, which has a lower priority than part P1, so that it does not overlap with part P1, and shrinking part P4, which has a lower priority than part P5, so that it does not overlap with part P5. In this way, in this embodiment, by setting the priority so that parts of higher importance have a higher priority, it becomes possible to project the advertising image onto the vehicle without any parts being missing, and without changing the size of the parts of higher importance.

[0102] Some parts may be partially missing, but should not be reduced in size. For such parts, it is advisable to add information indicating that they can be overlaid with other parts. For example, in the example shown in Figure 17, part 4 is a part that can be overlaid with other parts. In this case, the advertising image generation unit 313 generates the advertising image shown in Figure 17(D) by, for example, reducing part P2, which has a lower priority than part P1, so that it does not overlap with part P1, and overlaying part P5, which has a higher priority than part P4, on top of part P4.

[0103] As described above, in this embodiment, since each of the multiple parts is associated with a standard position on background B, it is possible to generate an advertising image without significantly altering the relative positional relationship of each part. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to project the advertisement onto the vehicle without significantly changing the impression of the advertisement.

[0104] Figure 18 shows an example of the processing operation in the advertising image generation unit 313. The background of the source image is trimmed (step S1801). It is checked whether all parts placed in the standard position are contained within the trimmed background (step S1802). If there are parts that are not contained within the trimmed background (step S1802, YES), the parts that are not contained within the trimmed background are moved into the trimmed background (step S1803). It is checked whether the moved parts overlap with other parts (step S1804). If the moved parts overlap with other parts (step S1804, YES), the part with the lower priority among the overlapping parts is reduced in size (step S1805).

[0105] <Generating advertising images 2> Figure 19 shows an advertising image generation unit 313 according to one embodiment of the present invention. When attempting to project an advertisement onto the entire side of a vehicle, the side of the vehicle includes parts such as the body, door panels, door glass, bumper, and tires. Each part differs in color, flatness, transparency, etc., resulting in different suitability as a screen for projecting advertisements. For example, a door panel painted white is a large white area and is suitable as a screen for projecting advertisements. On the other hand, the tire area is generally black and has uneven surfaces, making it unsuitable as a screen for projecting advertisements. Important parts of the advertisement need to be projected so that they are visible, and it is best to project them onto an area that is as suitable as possible as a screen.

[0106] Therefore, the advertising material image stored in the storage unit 330 according to this embodiment includes pre-set important parts, and the advertising image generation unit 313 according to this embodiment includes an area information acquisition unit 3131 that acquires area information for each of a plurality of areas on the surface of the vehicle, including at least one of the area's color, size, and flatness, and a projection area selection unit 3132 that selects an area from a plurality of areas to which the important parts will be projected based on this area information. As a result, the advertising image generation unit 313 according to this embodiment generates an advertising image so that the important parts are projected onto an area suitable as a screen.

[0107] Multiple regions on the surface of the vehicle may be defined, for example, by the projection region setting unit 311, which divides the surface of the vehicle based on the image or 3D data of the vehicle included in the vehicle information using a well-known image analysis method or 3D data analysis method, and the region information acquisition unit 3131 may acquire region information for each of these divided regions based on the image or 3D data of the vehicle included in the vehicle information using a well-known image analysis method or the like. In this case, the projection region setting unit 311 may acquire the color distribution of the surface of the vehicle based on the image of the vehicle using a well-known image analysis method or the like, and divide the surface of the vehicle into multiple regions by color. Alternatively, for example, the storage unit 330 may store region information for each vehicle type, which includes multiple regions on the surface of the vehicle and at least one of the color, size, and flatness of each region. The region information acquisition unit 3131 may determine the vehicle type based on the image of the vehicle included in the vehicle information using a well-known image analysis method or the like, and acquire region information from the storage unit 330 for each of the multiple regions on the surface of the vehicle based on the determined vehicle type.

[0108] When the color of an area is a light color such as white, this area has high reflectivity and is suitable for use as a screen. On the other hand, when the color of an area is a dark color such as black, this area has low reflectivity and is not suitable for use as a screen. Therefore, the projection area selection unit 3132 should select an area from among several areas to project important parts onto, based on the color of the area. In this way, it becomes possible to select an area from among several areas to project important parts onto, based on the suitability of the vehicle as a screen. For example, the projection area selection unit 3132 should select a light-colored area such as white, rather than a dark-colored area such as black, as the area to project important parts onto. In this way, it becomes possible to project important parts onto an area that is highly suitable as a screen for projecting advertisements, and it becomes possible to project important parts in a way that makes them visible.

[0109] Furthermore, the larger the area, the larger the image can be projected, thereby improving the visibility of the image. Therefore, the larger the area, the more suitable it is for a screen on which advertisements are projected. Accordingly, the projection area selection unit 3132 should select an area from among multiple areas to project important parts based on the size of the area. In this way, it becomes possible to select an area from among multiple areas to project important parts based on the suitability of the vehicle as a screen. For example, the projection area selection unit 3132 should select the largest area among multiple areas, or an area whose area is higher than a predetermined threshold, as the area to project important parts. In this way, it becomes possible to project important parts onto an area that is highly suitable as a screen on which advertisements are projected, and to project important parts in a way that makes them visible.

[0110] The flatter the area, the less distortion there is in the projected image, and the higher the visibility of the image. Therefore, the flatter the area, the more suitable it is for a screen to project advertisements. Accordingly, the projection area selection unit 3132 should select an area from among several areas to project important parts based on the flatness of the area. In this way, it becomes possible to select an area to project important parts from among several areas based on its suitability as a screen for the vehicle. For example, the projection area selection unit 3132 should select the area with the highest flatness among several areas, or an area with a flatness higher than a predetermined threshold, as the area to project important parts. In this way, it becomes possible to project important parts onto an area that is highly suitable as a screen to project advertisements, and to project important parts in a visible manner.

[0111] Figure 20 shows an example of the processing operation in the advertising image generation unit 313. For each of the multiple regions on the surface of the vehicle, region information is acquired (step S2001). Based on the region information, a region to project important parts is selected from the multiple regions (step S2002).

[0112] The advertising image generation unit 350 may calculate screen suitability for each region based on region information. The projection region selection unit 3132 may select a region from among multiple regions to project important parts based on the screen suitability. Here, screen suitability is a value that indicates how suitable a region is as a screen for advertising.

[0113] For example, screen suitability should be calculated based on at least one of the area's color, size, or flatness. As mentioned above, light-colored areas such as white are more suitable for screens than dark-colored areas such as black. Therefore, screen suitability should be defined such that the screen suitability for light-colored areas is greater than that for dark-colored areas such as black. Also, the larger the area, the more suitable it is for projecting advertisements onto a screen. Therefore, screen suitability should be defined such that the screen suitability increases with increasing area size. Furthermore, the flatter the area, the more suitable it is for projecting advertisements onto a screen. Therefore, screen suitability should be defined such that the screen suitability increases with increasing flatness of the area. By doing this, it becomes possible to project important elements onto areas that are highly suitable as screens for projecting advertisements, and to project these important elements in a way that makes them easily visible.

[0114] Furthermore, the projection area selection unit 3132 may check whether there is an area among the multiple areas where the screen suitability is above a predetermined threshold, and if there is an area among the multiple areas where the screen suitability is above a predetermined threshold, it may select an area from among the areas where the screen suitability is above a predetermined threshold to project important parts. Alternatively, if there is no area among the multiple areas where the screen suitability is above a predetermined threshold, the projection area selection unit 3132 may choose not to project advertisements onto that vehicle. In this way, it becomes possible to project advertisements only onto vehicles where there is an area with a sufficiently high screen suitability.

[0115] If an advertising image contains multiple important parts, it is preferable to assign a positional relationship between each important part to it, and for the projection area selection unit 3132 to select an area to project each of the multiple important parts from among areas where the screen fit is above a predetermined threshold, based on the positional relationship between the important parts and the positional relationship between areas where the screen fit is above a predetermined threshold. For example, if there are two important parts and there are two or more areas where the screen fit is above a predetermined threshold, and the two important parts are in a left-right positional relationship, it is preferable to select the areas in that left-right positional relationship from among the areas where the screen fit is above a predetermined threshold as the area to project the two important parts. In this way, it becomes possible to project the important parts in a visible manner without disrupting their positional relationship.

[0116] Furthermore, for example, if a horizontally oriented important part is projected onto a vertically oriented area, the area of ​​the part where the important part is not projected will be larger than the area of ​​the part where the important part is projected. As a result, when an important part is projected onto such an area, it cannot be projected to a large size, and the visibility of the important part will be poor. Therefore, the projection area selection unit 3132 may use a well-known image analysis method to determine whether the shape of each of the multiple areas is suitable for projecting the important part, and select the area on which to project the important part from among the areas that have a shape suitable for projecting the important part. For example, the projection area selection unit 3132 may determine whether the shape of each of the multiple areas is suitable for projecting the important part based on the aspect ratio of the important part and the aspect ratio of the area. Alternatively, if there is no area among the multiple areas that has a shape suitable for projecting the important part, the projection area selection unit 3132 may decide not to use that vehicle as a target for advertising projection.

[0117] Furthermore, if the source image of the advertisement contains multiple important parts, each of the important parts may be assigned a priority, and the projection area selection unit 3132 may select an area from among multiple areas to project each of the multiple important parts, based on the priority of the important part and its screen suitability. By doing so, for example, by setting a priority so that the more important the important part, the higher the priority, it becomes possible to project the important part that is most important into an area that is more suitable for the screen, and to project the important part that is most important into a more visible area.

[0118] <Setting Incentives> Figure 21 shows an incentive setting unit 314 according to one embodiment of the present invention. Incentives for users or owners of vehicles on which advertisements are projected should be set based on the advertising effect. In other words, it is best to set higher incentives for users or owners of vehicles on which advertisements can be projected with high advertising effect. In this way, it becomes possible to motivate users or owners of vehicles on which advertisements can be projected with high advertising effect to park their vehicles in the projectionable area. Therefore, the incentive setting unit 314 according to this embodiment includes a projectable surface information acquisition unit 3141 that acquires information on the projectable surface of the vehicle (projectable surface information), and a setting unit 3142 that sets incentives for the vehicle user or owner based on the acquired projectable surface information.

[0119] The projectable surface information should preferably include at least one of the color, size, and flatness of the projectable surface. The projectable surface information acquisition unit 3141 should preferably acquire the projectable surface information based on images or 3D data of the vehicle included in the vehicle information, for example, by using a well-known image analysis method or 3D data analysis method.

[0120] When the projectable surface is a light color such as white, it has high reflectivity and is suitable as a screen. On the other hand, when the projectable surface is a dark color such as black, it has low reflectivity and is not suitable as a screen. Therefore, the setting unit 3142 should set incentives for the vehicle user or owner based on the color of the projectable surface. In this way, it becomes possible to set incentives for the vehicle user or owner based on the vehicle's suitability as a screen. For example, the setting unit 3142 should set the incentive for the user or owner of a vehicle with a light color such as white to be higher than the incentive for the user or owner of a vehicle with a dark color such as black. In this way, it becomes possible to set higher incentives for the users or owners of vehicles that are highly suitable as screens for projecting advertisements, that is, vehicles capable of projecting advertisements with high advertising effectiveness, and as a result, it becomes possible to motivate users or owners of vehicles capable of projecting advertisements with high advertising effectiveness to park their vehicles in the projectable area.

[0121] Furthermore, the larger the projectable surface, the larger the advertising image that can be projected onto the vehicle, thereby increasing the visibility of the advertisement. Therefore, the larger the projectable surface, the more suitable it is as a screen for projecting advertisements. Accordingly, the setting unit 3142 should set incentives for the vehicle's user or owner based on the size of the projectable surface. In this way, it becomes possible to set incentives for the vehicle's user or owner based on the vehicle's suitability as a screen. For example, the setting unit 3142 should set the incentive for the vehicle's user or owner higher the larger the projectable surface of the vehicle. In this way, it becomes possible to set higher incentives for users or owners of vehicles that are highly suitable as screens for projecting advertisements, that is, vehicles capable of projecting advertisements with high advertising effectiveness, and as a result, it becomes possible to motivate users or owners of vehicles capable of projecting advertisements with high advertising effectiveness to park their vehicles in the projectable area.

[0122] The flatter the projectable surface, the less distortion there is in the projected advertising image, and the higher the visibility of the advertising image. Therefore, the setting unit 3142 should set incentives for the vehicle user or owner based on the flatness of the projectable surface. In this way, it becomes possible to set incentives for the vehicle user or owner based on the vehicle's suitability as a screen. For example, the setting unit 3142 should set the incentives for users or owners of vehicles with a high degree of projectable surface flatness higher than those for users or owners of vehicles with a low degree of projectable surface flatness. In this way, it becomes possible to set higher incentives for users or owners of vehicles that are highly suitable as screens for projecting advertisements, that is, vehicles capable of projecting advertisements with high advertising effectiveness. As a result, it becomes possible to motivate users or owners of vehicles capable of projecting advertisements with high advertising effectiveness to park their vehicles in the projectable area.

[0123] The incentive should be related to parking fees. For example, the incentive could be a discount amount or percentage on parking fees. This would incentivize drivers to park in the advertising projection area, as parking in that area would be cheaper than parking in other areas. Alternatively, the incentive could be a coupon that can be used for future parking.

[0124] The settings unit 3142 should ideally set incentives before the projection of advertisements begins. This would allow, for example, if the system needs to confirm with the user or owner of a parked vehicle whether or not to allow the advertisement to be projected before the advertisement is started, the user or owner of the vehicle would be incentivized to permit the advertisement to be projected onto that vehicle.

[0125] Furthermore, the setting unit 3142 may set incentives after the advertisement projection has finished. In this case, the setting unit 3142 may obtain the duration for which the advertisement was projected and set incentives for the vehicle user or owner based on that duration. For example, the setting unit 3142 may set a higher discount rate for longer advertising projection times. This makes it possible to mitigate the increase in parking fees due to long-term parking and motivates vehicle users or owners to park for extended periods. As a result, longer advertising projections become possible, leading to more effective advertising.

[0126] Figure 22 shows the processing operation in the incentive setting unit 314. Information on the projectable surface of the vehicle is acquired (step S2201). Based on the projectable surface information, an incentive is set for the vehicle user or owner (step S2202).

[0127] The present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments. Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific examples, various modifications and changes can be made to these examples without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0128] 100 advertising projection systems 200 advertising projection devices 210 Control Unit 220 Vehicle Information Acquisition Unit 230 Transmitter / Receiver 240 Projection section 300 servers 310 Control Unit 311 Projection area setting section 3111 Condition judgment section 3112 Projection determining unit 312 Advertising Selection Department 3121 Projection area color acquisition unit 3122 Selection Section 3123 Continuous Parking Detection Unit 3124 Continuous Parking Count Acquisition Unit 3125 Position acquisition part 313 Advertising Image Generation Department 3131 Area information acquisition unit 3132 Projection area selection section 314 Incentive Setting Department 3141 Projectable surface information acquisition unit 3142 Setting section 320 Transceiver Unit 330 Storage section

Claims

1. A projection area color acquisition unit acquires color information related to the color of the projection area on which an advertising image is projected, A memory unit that stores multiple advertising images, each associated with at least one color, It includes a selection unit that selects an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among the multiple advertising images based on the aforementioned color information and the colors associated with the multiple advertising images, The target audience for the aforementioned multiple advertising images is the same. The color schemes of the aforementioned multiple advertising images are different from each other, according to the information processing device.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the projection area is set on the surface of the moving body.

3. A method of information processing performed by a computer, A projection area color acquisition process that acquires color information related to the color of the projection area on which the advertising image is projected, The system includes a selection step of selecting an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among a plurality of advertising images, each of which is associated with at least one color, based on the color information and the colors associated with the plurality of advertising images. The target audience for the aforementioned multiple advertising images is the same. The color schemes of the aforementioned multiple advertising images are determined by different information processing methods.

4. An information processing program that causes a computer to execute the information processing method described in claim 3.

5. A computer-readable storage medium storing the information processing program described in claim 4.

Images