JP2015146076A - Navigation system, and processing method and program of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mechanism allowing the state of a traffic light to be appropriately recognized in accordance with a forward vehicle.SOLUTION: The navigation system acquires a photographic image from a camera. The navigation system includes: detecting means for detecting the number plate of a forward vehicle from a picked-up image; state determining means for determining whether a vehicle undergoing the execution of the navigation system is in a state of displaying signal information, on the basis of the value acquired from the detected number plate and the position of the vehicle undergoing the execution of the navigation system; and displaying means for displaying the signal information when it is determined that the vehicle is in the state of displaying the signal information.

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation system that displays traffic signal information using a license plate of a vehicle ahead.

  Recently, a car navigation system that guides a car to a destination based on the position information of the car has become widespread.

  In recent car navigation systems, various information is provided to passengers by the car navigation system, such as obtaining the state of a vehicle from a vehicle and providing various information.

  For example, as in Patent Document 1, it is determined whether there is a traffic signal within a predetermined range from the vehicle position, and when there is a traffic signal, the traffic light status is calculated from traffic jams and the traffic signal information is transmitted to the car navigation system. The mechanism is disclosed.

JP 2007-140740 A

However, in actual driving, depending on the height of the vehicle in front, the traffic signal may or may not be visible, and there is a problem that the information on the traffic signal is slow at normal display timing.
In addition, when the display timing is simply advanced, it is good for the driver to recognize that there is a traffic light, but there is a problem that the display timing is too early.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for appropriately recognizing the state of a traffic light according to a vehicle ahead.

  In order to achieve the object of the present invention, a navigation system for acquiring a photographed image from a camera, a detection means for detecting a license plate of a vehicle ahead from the captured image, and a value obtained from the detected license plate, State determining means for determining whether the vehicle in which the navigation system is being executed is in a state for displaying signal information according to the position of the vehicle in which the navigation system is being executed, and a state in which the signal information is being displayed. And display means for displaying signal information when it is determined.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately recognize the state of the traffic light according to the vehicle ahead.

1 is a system configuration diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an information processing system It is a block diagram which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of a navigation system It is a block diagram which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of a server apparatus. It is a figure which shows the functional block diagram of an information processing system 6 is a flowchart of signal information display processing of the information processing system. It is a figure which shows an example of the data of the traffic signal managed with a server apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the data regarding the vehicle managed by a server apparatus or a navigation system. It is an image figure which shows an example of the signal information displayed with a navigation system.

  Hereinafter, an example of an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  It is a figure which shows the structure about an example of the information processing system provided with the navigation system (vehicle-mounted / portable terminal) 100, the server apparatus 200, the signal state storage device 300, and the GPS satellite 500 by embodiment of this invention.

  In FIG. 1, a navigation system 100 is a device that can be provided or transported, and is a device that guides from a current position to a destination using map information. The navigation system 100 identifies position information based on communication with the GPS satellites 500 (plural) and identifies the current position.

Further, the navigation system 100 can capture an image obtained by photographing a vehicle ahead by using a camera provided outside (mounted on the vehicle) or inside (mounted on the navigation system), and can transmit the captured image to the server device 200.
The map information may be stored in the device, or may be configured to be included in the server device 200.
In recent years, the navigation system 100 is an information processing apparatus such as a computer, and is not limited to a navigation apparatus as an in-vehicle apparatus.

The server device 200 is a device that can communicate with the navigation system 100 via the network 400, and stores the data of FIGS. Further, the signal state storage device 300 is communicably connected. The signal state storage device 300 is assumed to cooperate with a service constructed by a company that manages roads and signals.
The signal state storage device 300 is a device that manages signal information (red, yellow, blue, etc.) displayed by each traffic light.
Next, a hardware configuration diagram of the navigation system 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 2, the navigation system 100 has a CPU 101, and the CPU 101 comprehensively controls devices and controllers connected to the system bus 104. The ROM 102 or the external memory 113 stores a basic input / output system (BIOS) that is a control program for the CPU 101 and an operating system (hereinafter referred to as an OS).

  In the case of the navigation system 100, various programs for realizing the functions executed by the navigation system 100 are further stored in the ROM 102 or the external memory 113.

  The RAM 103 is used as a main memory and work area for the CPU 101. When executing various processes, the CPU 101 loads a necessary program or the like from the ROM 102 or the external memory 113 to the RAM 103 and executes the loaded program to perform the various processes.

  The input controller 105 controls input from the touch sensor 111 or the like, for example. The video controller 106 controls display on a display unit such as the display 112. In the case of a touch display, the touch sensor 111 and the display 112 are in the same housing.

  The memory controller 107 is connected via an adapter to a hard disk (HD), flexible disk (FD), or PCMCIA card slot that stores a boot program, various applications, font data, user files, editing files, and various data. Controls access to an external memory 113 such as a compact flash (registered trademark) memory.

  The communication I / F controller 108 is an interface for communicating with an external device via a network (for example, wireless communication of the network 400 shown in FIG. 1), and controls communication with the network.

  Note that the CPU 101 performs display on the display 112 by, for example, performing outline font rasterization processing on the display information area of the RAM 103.

The receiver controller 109 controls the GPS receiver 115. The GPS receiver 115 receives information obtained by communication between the GPS satellite 500 and the GPS antenna 117. Based on this information, the current position of the vehicle is specified. Since the method for specifying the current position is realized using a known technique, the description thereof is omitted.
The voice input controller 110 controls the voice input unit 116, receives the sound input from the microphone 118 by the voice input unit 116, and converts it into voice data.
The camera controller 119 controls the camera and receives an image from the camera. Number information is acquired from this image and transmitted to the server device 200.

In this embodiment, the navigation system 100 performs image analysis. However, the server device 200 may perform image analysis to acquire number information and characteristics of the vehicle ahead (such as a high vehicle height).
Next, a hardware configuration diagram of the server device 200 will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, the server apparatus 200 has a CPU 201, and the CPU 201 comprehensively controls devices and controllers connected to the system bus 204. The ROM 202 or the external memory 211 stores a BIOS (Basic Input / Output System), which is a control program for the CPU 201, and an operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS).
In the case of the server apparatus 200, various programs for realizing the functions executed by the server are further stored in the ROM 202 or the external memory 211.

  A RAM 203 is used as a main memory and work area of the CPU 201. When executing various processes, the CPU 201 loads a necessary program or the like from the ROM 202 or the external memory 211 to the RAM 203 and executes the loaded program to perform the various processes.

The input controller 205 controls input from a pointing device such as a keyboard (KB) 209 and a mouse (not shown), for example. The video controller 206 controls display on a display unit such as a CRT display (CRT) 210.
In the example shown in FIG. 2, the CRT 210 is used as the display unit, but a liquid crystal display or the like may be used instead of the CRT.

  The memory controller 207 is connected via an adapter to a hard disk (HD), flexible disk (FD), or PCMCIA card slot that stores a boot program, various applications, font data, user files, editing files, and various data. Controls access to an external memory 211 such as a compact flash (registered trademark) memory.

  The communication I / F controller 208 is an interface for communicating with an external device via a network (for example, the network 400 shown in FIG. 1), and performs communication control with the network. For example, the communication I / F controller 208 performs communication control according to TCP / IP.

  Note that the CPU 201 performs display on the CRT 210 by, for example, performing outline font rasterization processing on the display information area of the RAM 203. In addition, the CPU 201 receives a user instruction by a mouse cursor (not shown) displayed on the CRT 210.

  Various programs for performing processing according to the embodiment of the present invention are recorded in the external memory 211, and are loaded into the RAM 203 as necessary and executed by the CPU 201 as described above. Furthermore, definition files and various information tables used when executing the above program are also stored in the external memory 211, which will be described later.

Next, a functional block diagram in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. For each function, the CPU executes processing. Detailed processing by each functional unit will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 5 described later.
Hereinafter, a functional unit of the present embodiment will be described as a navigation system that acquires a captured image from a camera.
The detection unit 401 is a functional unit that detects the number plate of the vehicle ahead from the captured image.

The state determination unit 402 determines whether the vehicle in which the navigation system is running is in a state of displaying signal information according to the value obtained from the detected license plate and the position of the vehicle in which the navigation system is running. It is a function part which determines.
The display control unit 403 is a functional unit that displays signal information when it is determined that the signal information is to be displayed.

  The storage control unit 404 is a functional unit that stores a first set value for determining the timing for displaying signal information and a second set value that is larger than the first set value.

The first display timing determination unit 405 is a functional unit that determines whether the distance between the vehicle and the traffic signal has reached the first set value according to the position of the vehicle and the traffic signal where the navigation system is executed. is there.
The second display timing determination unit 406 is a functional unit that determines whether or not the second set value is reached when the first set value is not reached.
The display control unit 403 is a functional unit that displays the signal information when the second set value is reached.
The distance acquisition unit 407 is a functional unit that acquires the distance between the vehicle ahead and the vehicle on which the navigation system is executed.
The display control unit 403 is a functional unit that displays the signal information when the second set value is reached and the distance acquired by the distance acquisition unit 407 is within a predetermined value.
The determination unit 408 is a functional unit that determines the height of the vehicle ahead according to the value obtained from the license plate.

The state determination unit 402 is a functional unit that determines whether to display signal information according to the height of the preceding vehicle determined by the determination unit 408 and the height of the vehicle on which the navigation system is being executed. .
The display control unit 403 is a functional unit that displays the signal information when the height of the vehicle ahead is higher than a predetermined value.
The state determination unit 402 is a functional unit that determines whether the number of passengers in a vehicle exceeds a predetermined value when the height of the vehicle ahead is lower than a predetermined value.
The display control unit 403 is a functional unit that displays the signal information when it is determined that the number of passengers exceeds a predetermined value.

  Next, detailed processing of this embodiment will be described using the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of signal information display processing. Note that each step is executed by the CPU of each device.

  In step S501, a signal information correction mode, which is a mode for correcting timing for displaying signal information, is executed in an application that activates the navigation system and executes route guidance and the like. This mode may be executed by user operation or automatically when the navigation system is activated.

In addition, before that, a starting point and a destination for route guidance are input and route information is displayed. By this route, a traffic signal through which the vehicle passes is determined in advance, and signal information can be acquired in a timely manner. The route search will be described as being performed by an application of the navigation system. The route is transmitted by the server device 200, and the route search signal 602 searched from the signal information 601 is managed by the server device 200 according to the route.
Note that the route search signal 602 is deleted from the route search signal 602 when the vehicle passes the signal.

  In step S502, the number of passengers in the vehicle is input. The number of people in the vehicle is entered by the user operating the navigation system. If the vehicle or the navigation system can detect the number of people in the vehicle, it is obtained by this detection. It is also possible to use the number of people as an input value. The detection mechanism includes the number of people using face recognition and voice recognition technology based on images and sounds obtained from cameras installed in the car (cameras as drive recorders, security cameras, etc.) and microphones. Detect.

In step S503, after inputting the number of passengers, camera shooting is performed, and forward shooting is started. It is also possible to start shooting at the timing when the vehicle starts running in synchronization with the vehicle. After the start of shooting, a shot image is acquired at any time and secured in the memory. If YES in step S508, the shot image is used.
In step S504, the current position of the vehicle and the traveling direction are specified by GPS. Since this is specified using a known technique, description thereof is omitted.

  In step S505, information on the traffic signal that the vehicle passes next is acquired from the server device 200 according to the current position of the vehicle specified in step S504. The traffic signal information acquired here is the traffic signal position information and the traffic signal ID. The signal information may be acquired collectively (all or a part) from the server device 200 or may be acquired every time it passes through the signal device.

  In step S506, it is determined whether or not the traffic signal scheduled to pass is passed from the traffic signal position information, the current position, and the traveling direction. If it has passed, the process returns to step S505 to acquire the signal information that passes next. If it has not passed, the process proceeds to step S507.

  In step S507, it is determined whether the position of the vehicle and the position of the traffic light are within 100 m. This is a default value provided in advance in the navigation system. If it is the default value (first set value), the process proceeds to step S512 in order to display the traffic signal information as usual. If it is not the default value, and if the traffic signal and the vehicle are separated by 100 m or more, the process proceeds to step S508.

  If it is within 100 m, the traffic signal ID is transmitted to the server apparatus 200 in step S512, the signal information (state) is acquired from the signal state 603 from the server apparatus 200, and the signal information is displayed on the display of the navigation system. For example, signal information and a message are displayed as 801 in FIG.

  In step S508, it is determined whether the position of the vehicle and the position of the traffic light are within 200 m. The value of 200 m is a second set value, and is a value that determines the timing at which signal information is displayed early.

  In step S509, a license plate region is detected from the captured image. If the license plate area is detected, the process proceeds to step S510. If the license plate is not detected, the process proceeds to step S504.

  In addition, the detection of the area of the license plate is realized by specifying the location of the license plate using a pattern matching technique. In addition, even if a license plate such as an oncoming vehicle (for example, a license plate detected at a position shifted to the left or right within a predetermined range from the center) is detected, it is excluded from the target.

  In step S510, numbers (numbers and characters) are acquired from the image of the detected license plate area using OCR (character recognition) technology. Further, the distance of the vehicle to the front is acquired using a sensor or the like provided in the vehicle or the navigation system. The distance can be calculated using “camera method”, “millimeter wave radar method”, and “infrared laser method”.

In step S511, it is determined whether the distance from the preceding vehicle is within 703 (predetermined distance) in FIG. If it is within the predetermined distance, the process proceeds to step S512. If it is not within the predetermined distance, the process returns to step S504.
In step S512, the traffic signal ID acquired in step S505 and the number acquired in step S510 are transmitted to the server apparatus 200.
In step S513, the traffic signal ID and number are received from the navigation system 100.
In step S514, the vehicle height of the forward vehicle corresponding to the received number is acquired with reference to the number information 701 in FIG.

  In step S515, it is determined whether the vehicle ahead is a special vehicle. If it is a special vehicle, the process proceeds to step S515, and if it is not a special vehicle, the process proceeds to step S516.

In step S516, whether the difference between the vehicle height registered in advance (704 in FIG. 7) and the reference vehicle height of the preceding vehicle specified from the number information 701 is greater than or equal to the set value (702 in FIG. 7). Determine. If it is greater than the set value, the process proceeds to step S517. If not, the process moves to step S518.
In step S517, signal information corresponding to the traffic signal ID is acquired from the signal state 603 of FIG.

  In step S518, based on the number of people input in step S502, it is determined whether or not the number is equal to or greater than a predetermined number. The predetermined number of people is stored in the same manner as the vehicle height of 704, which is a predetermined value such as 3 people. The predetermined number of people may be half the number of cars, or the number of people may be a predetermined number. If the number is greater than or equal to the predetermined number, the process proceeds to step S571. If the number is not greater than the predetermined number, the process is terminated without transmitting signal information.

  As a result, when there are a large number of people, the braking distance until the vehicle stops is long. Therefore, by notifying the driver at an early timing when signal information is sent depending on the number of people, it becomes easier to avoid danger and predict driving.

  In step S519, the signal information (state) acquired in step S517 is transmitted to the navigation system. At this time, in order to determine a message to be displayed on the navigation system 100, it is assumed that a flag including YES in step S515 and a flag in case YES in step S516 are transmitted.

  In step S520, signal information is received. In step S521, the flag included in the received signal information is viewed. For example, when the special vehicle is ahead, the message 803 in FIG. 8 and the signal information are displayed. Further, when the flag included in the signal information is a flag when the vehicle height difference is determined to be greater than or equal to the set value, the message 802 in FIG. 8 and the signal information are displayed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the state of the traffic light can be appropriately recognized according to the vehicle ahead. Therefore, it is possible to easily avoid danger and predict driving.
It should be noted that the configuration and contents of the various data described above are not limited to this, and it goes without saying that the various data and configurations are configured according to the application and purpose.

  Although the present embodiment has been described as a system in which a navigation system (device) and a server device are linked, even in a configuration in which the processing of the navigation system is performed on the server device side, the server device information is provided on the navigation system side, and the navigation system ( Device) may be in a stand-alone form (provided that the signal state of the signal state storage device 300 is received). Therefore, this embodiment can be regarded as a navigation system.

  In addition, the processing of step S511, step S515, step S516, and step S518 is executed in accordance with the value obtained from the detected license plate and the position of the vehicle on which the navigation system is executed. It shows an example of a state determination process for determining whether or not a vehicle is in a state of displaying signal information.

  Step S507 is a process showing an example of the first display timing determination process, and step S508 is a process showing an example of the second display timing determination process.

  Although one embodiment has been described above, the present invention can take an embodiment as, for example, a system, apparatus, method, program, or recording medium, and specifically includes a plurality of devices. The present invention may be applied to a system including a single device.

  The program in the present invention is a program that can be executed by a computer in the processing method of the flowchart shown in FIG. 5, and the storage medium of the present invention stores a program in which the computer can execute the processing method in FIG. The program in the present invention may be a program for each processing method of each apparatus in FIG.

  As described above, a recording medium that records a program that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the program stored in the recording medium. It goes without saying that the object of the present invention can also be achieved by executing the reading.

  In this case, the program itself read from the recording medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the recording medium storing the program constitutes the present invention.

  As a recording medium for supplying the program, for example, a flexible disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, EEPROM, silicon A disk, solid state drive, or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on an instruction of the program is actually It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the processing and the processing is included.

  Furthermore, after the program read from the recording medium is written to the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board is based on the instructions of the program code. It goes without saying that the case where the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  Further, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or apparatus. In this case, by reading a recording medium storing a program for achieving the present invention into the system or apparatus, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention.

Furthermore, by downloading and reading a program for achieving the present invention from a server, database, etc. on a network using a communication program, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention.
In addition, all the structures which combined each embodiment mentioned above and its modification are also included in this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Navigation system 200 Server apparatus 300 Signal state storage apparatus 400 Network 500 GPS satellite

Claims (7)

A navigation system for acquiring a photographed image from a camera,
Detection means for detecting the license plate of the vehicle ahead from the captured image;
State determination for determining whether the vehicle on which the navigation system is running is in a state for displaying signal information according to the value obtained from the detected license plate and the position of the vehicle on which the navigation system is running Means,
A navigation system comprising: display means for displaying signal information when it is determined that the signal information is to be displayed. Storage means for storing a first set value for determining the timing for displaying the signal information, and a second set value having a value larger than the first set value;
First display timing determination means for determining whether or not the distance between the vehicle and the traffic signal has reached the first set value according to the position of the vehicle and the traffic signal where the navigation system is executed;
A second display timing determination means for determining whether or not the second set value is reached when the first set value is not reached;
The navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the display means displays the signal information when the second set value is reached. A distance acquisition means for acquiring a distance between the vehicle ahead and the vehicle in which the navigation system is executed;
The navigation system according to claim 2, wherein the display unit displays the signal information when the second set value is set and the distance acquired by the distance acquisition unit is within a predetermined value. According to the value obtained from the license plate, comprising a determining means for determining the height of the vehicle ahead,
The state determination means determines whether to display signal information according to the height of the preceding vehicle determined by the determination means and the height of the vehicle on which the navigation system is executed,
The navigation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the display means displays the signal information when a height of the vehicle ahead is higher than a predetermined value. The state determination means determines whether the number of passengers in the vehicle exceeds a predetermined value when the height of the vehicle ahead is lower than a predetermined value,
The navigation system according to claim 4, wherein the display means displays the signal information when it is determined that the number of passengers exceeds a predetermined value. A navigation system processing method for acquiring a photographed image from a camera,
A detection step of detecting a license plate of the vehicle ahead from the captured image;
State determination for determining whether the vehicle on which the navigation system is running is in a state for displaying signal information according to the value obtained from the detected license plate and the position of the vehicle on which the navigation system is running Steps,
A display step of displaying signal information when it is determined that the signal information is to be displayed. A program of a navigation system that acquires a photographed image from a camera,
The navigation system,
Detection means for detecting the license plate of the vehicle ahead from the captured image;
State determination for determining whether the vehicle on which the navigation system is running is in a state for displaying signal information according to the value obtained from the detected license plate and the position of the vehicle on which the navigation system is running Means,
A program that functions as a display unit that displays signal information when it is determined that the signal information is to be displayed.

Images