Vehicle Camera Contamination Alert via Location Context
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle-mounted imaging devices often notify users of camera lens contamination unnecessarily, leading to user annoyance and increased system complexity and cost, especially when the user is not in a position to address the contamination.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle-mounted imaging device that notifies users of lens contamination only when they are near facilities equipped to handle the issue, using in-vehicle display and speaker devices and adjusting monitoring times based on contamination type, thereby reducing intrusiveness and system complexity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the imaging device notifies the user of contamination at all times, then the user is always informed of the contamination status, but the user becomes annoyed and may forget the notification
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary assessment by detecting contamination status and evaluating whether notification is appropriate before actually notifying the user. It checks if the vehicle is at a location where contamination can be eliminated, and only notifies when conditions are favorable, thus avoiding unnecessary notifications that would annoy the user while maintaining reliable notification when needed.
2Ease of operation
If the device uses portable devices and communication functions to notify users, then the user can be notified outside the vehicle, but the system becomes complicated and cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The notification system utilizes existing in-vehicle components (display device and speaker device) that are already part of the vehicle's standard equipment. The system serves itself by using the vehicle's own resources for notification rather than requiring external portable devices or additional communication modules, thereby reducing system complexity and cost while maintaining notification accessibility.
3Measurement precision
If the imaging device continuously monitors contamination, then the contamination status is always known, but the monitoring time and processing power are wasted when unnecessary
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of continuous monitoring, the system uses periodic action by checking contamination status at intervals and only performing detailed analysis when necessary. The accretion diagnosis unit determines contamination levels by analyzing image data, and the notification determination unit evaluates whether notification is appropriate based on current vehicle location and contamination status, thereby reducing unnecessary monitoring time and processing power while maintaining detection accuracy.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention provides a vehicle-mounted imaging device that can notify a user of contamination, at a facility, a home or the vicinity thereof in which the user tends to easily eliminate the contamination on a lens or a protective glass of the lens of a camera. The vehicle-mounted imaging device includes: an accretion diagnosis unit 22 that diagnoses a state of the contamination that has been accreted on a lens of camera sections 11A, 11B, 11C, and 11D or on a protective glass of the lens; and a contamination notification determination unit 23 that determines the presence or absence of a notification of the contamination, on the basis of positional information on a predetermined type of facility that is obtained from a navigation device 31 having a database 31b containing a GPS 31a, a map and peripheral facility information, and of a vehicle, wherein when it has been determined by the accretion diagnosis unit 22 that a contamination level is a threshold value or higher, a route to a destination has been set by the navigation device 31, and it has been determined by the contamination notification determination unit 23 that the facility exists in a predetermined distance range from the route, the vehicle-mounted imaging device notifies the user that there is the contamination, by the display device 32 and/or a speaker device 33 provided in the vehicle.