JP2008102762A - Image collection system and recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image collection system collecting images of before and after an accident by a photographing device loaded on a vehicle other than an accident vehicle. <P>SOLUTION: When an accident occurs, on-vehicle equipment loaded on an accident vehicle transmits emergency information to a management apparatus, holds circumstance images photographed within a prescribed period before and after an accident, and then transmits video holding information to the management apparatus. When on-vehicle equipment loaded on a target vehicle other than the accident vehicle receives an emergency recording signal from the management apparatus, and when the vehicle satisfies an execution condition, it holds circumstance images photographed within the prescribed period before and after the accident, and then transmits the video holding information to the management apparatus. Further, the on-vehicle equipment loaded on the target vehicle satisfying the transmitting condition and the on-vehicle equipment loaded on the accident vehicle transmit emergency recording videos so as to respond to an emergency recording reply signal from the management apparatus. Then the management apparatus stores the received emergency recording videos in a database for each accident. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image collection system that collects a situation image obtained by photographing a driving situation of a vehicle, and a recording apparatus for configuring the image collection system.

  Conventionally, an imaging device that is mounted on a vehicle and captures an image by an external input, an image captured by the imaging device, an audio signal, and an abnormality notification that indicates that an abnormality (that is, a traffic accident, etc.) has occurred in the vehicle. An abnormality grasping system comprising an in-vehicle device composed of a transmission / reception device that transmits and receives data and the like, and a traffic monitoring center having a storage device that stores information including images captured by the imaging device and received via the transmission / reception device is known. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

In the abnormality grasping system described in Patent Document 1, the traffic monitoring center that has received the abnormality notification is an occupant of a vehicle (hereinafter referred to as a passing vehicle) that passes a vehicle (hereinafter referred to as an accident vehicle) in which an abnormality has occurred. In response to this, a photographing request is transmitted so that an image of the accident vehicle is photographed. Furthermore, in the passing vehicle that has received the shooting request, when the passing vehicle passes the accident vehicle, the passenger of the passing vehicle operates the shooting device to take a picture of the situation of the accident vehicle and send the shot image to the traffic monitoring center. is doing.
JP 2000-285374 A

  However, in the abnormality grasping system described in Patent Document 1, since an image is taken only after the passing vehicle receives a photographing request (that is, after the occurrence of an accident), the passing vehicle other than the accident vehicle causes an accident. It was impossible for the traffic monitoring center to collect images taken around the accident vehicle before the accident occurred.

  In other words, in the conventional abnormality grasping system, it is not possible to collect images obtained by photographing the periphery of the accident vehicle with the photographing device mounted on the passing vehicle along the time axis from before the accident occurrence to after the accident occurrence. There was a problem, and it was likely that it would be difficult to accurately analyze the cause of the accident.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an image collection system capable of collecting images taken from before an accident to after an accident with an imaging device mounted other than the accident vehicle.

  The image collection system according to claim 1, which has been made to achieve the above object, takes a situation image representing a situation on the road, stores a situation image for a predetermined time, and newly takes a picture. And at least one recording device that stores the situation images while sequentially updating them, and a management device that collects the situation images. When the recording device receives an accident notification from the outside that notifies that an accident has occurred on the road, among the situation images stored in the recording device, the recording device displays a situation image for a preset time. The held image, which is a situation image held in the recording apparatus, is transmitted to the management apparatus.

  Therefore, according to the image collection system of the first aspect, by holding the situation image for the set time, the situation image obtained by photographing the periphery of the position where the accident has occurred is received until the accident notification is received. It can be an image, and the holding image can be collected by the management apparatus. In other words, according to the image collection system of claim 1, the management device collects the situation images taken around the position where the accident occurred along the time axis from the occurrence of the accident to after the occurrence of the accident. be able to.

  As a result, according to the image collection system of the present invention, it is possible to analyze a retained image in which the situation of the accident from before the accident to the post-accident is photographed after the accident, and to determine the cause of the accident etc. Can be grasped.

  In the image collection system of the present invention, as described in claim 2, the recording apparatus transmits an information retention notification for notifying that the situation image is retained to the management apparatus, and issues a retained image acquisition request. When received from the management device, the management device is configured to transmit the retained image to the management device, and when the management device receives the information retention notification, the preset transmission is selected from the recording devices that have transmitted the information retention notification. It is desirable that the acquisition request be transmitted to a recording apparatus that satisfies the conditions.

  That is, in the image collecting system according to claim 2, among the recording apparatuses that retain the retained image and transmit the information retaining signal to the management apparatus, the recording apparatus that satisfies the transmission condition, that is, the recording apparatus that has received the acquisition request Only transmit the retained image to the management device.

  Therefore, according to the image collection system of the second aspect, it is possible to cause the management device to collect only arbitrary retained images necessary for accident analysis, and to reduce the retained images necessary for accident analysis. . As a result, according to the image collection system of the present invention, the storage area for storing the held image of the management apparatus can be made small.

  Furthermore, in the image collection system of the present invention, as described in claim 3, the information holding notification transmitted from the recording apparatus includes at least the current position of the recording apparatus and has position information regarding the position where the accident occurred. It is preferable that the transmission condition is that the management device that has been present is located at a position closest to the generation position within a predetermined area that is defined in advance with the generation position as a center.

  In the image acquisition system according to claim 3, management is performed from a recording device that is present at a position closest to the accident occurrence position in the specified region, that is, a recording device that is most likely to photograph the situation of the accident in the specified region. A holding image (that is, an image taken at the closest position within the specified area) is transmitted to the apparatus.

  For this reason, according to the image collection system of the third aspect, it is possible to cause the management device to collect a retained image that has a high possibility of photographing the accident situation, and to analyze the accident situation more accurately. It becomes.

The recording device in the image collection system of the present invention may be configured by an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle or a monitoring device installed on a road as described in claim 4.
According to such an image collection system, since the in-vehicle device mounted on the vehicle or the monitoring device is a recording device, it is possible to cause the management device to collect holding images taken from various directions. The cause of the accident can be analyzed more accurately.

  Further, as described in claim 5, the recording device captures a situation image representing a situation on the road by the photographing unit, stores the situation image for a predetermined time in the storage unit, and the updating unit includes: The situation images stored in the storage means are sequentially updated to new situation images photographed by the photographing means. Then, when the accident notification receiving means receives an accident notification for notifying that an accident has occurred on the road from the outside, the holding means corresponds to a preset set time among the situation images stored in the storage means. The status image is held, and the hold image transmission means transmits the hold image, which is the status image held in the storage means, to an external storage device that collects the hold images.

  In other words, the recording apparatus according to claim 5 is for realizing the image acquisition system according to claim 1, and the image acquisition system is configured by using the recording apparatus of the present invention. It is possible to obtain the same effect as that of the image acquisition system described in (1).

  Further, the setting time of the situation image held by the holding unit may be a predetermined time before and after the occurrence time, as described in claim 6, or as described in claim 7. Alternatively, it may be all the time stored in the storage means. However, in the former case, at least the accident occurrence time needs to be included in the accident notification received by the accident notification receiving means.

  In the former case, according to the recording apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to analyze a situation image photographed at a prescribed time from the occurrence of the accident to the occurrence of the accident after the accident. Also in the latter case, it is possible to analyze a situation image taken after the accident before the accident until the accident notification is received. For this reason, if an image collection system is formed using such a storage device, it is possible to make the parties concerned such as the police more accurately grasp the cause of the accident.

  In addition, in the storage device that receives the accident notification including at least the accident information indicating the accident occurrence position by the accident notification receiving unit, the positional information for acquiring the positional information indicating the current position of the photographing unit as described in claim 8 If the position information acquired by the position information acquisition means and the accident information in the accident notification satisfy the predetermined execution conditions, the holding means holds the situation image for the set time. It is desirable.

  In other words, in the recording device according to claim 8, the situation image stored in the storage means is retained whether or not the position information and the accident information satisfy the execution condition, that is, on the road related to the accident. Is determined based on the possibility that the situation is captured as a situation image (hereinafter, this possibility is referred to as the possibility of photographing).

  Therefore, according to the recording apparatus of claim 8, if the possibility of photographing is high, only the situation image necessary for the analysis of the accident can be held, and if the possibility of photographing is low, the newly photographed situation By storing the image in the storage means while updating the image, it is possible to prepare for an accident that may newly occur.

  And as an execution condition for the holding means to hold the status image for the set time, the distance from the generation position to the current position is within a specified distance as defined in claim 9. Alternatively, as described in claim 10, the traveling direction of the vehicle specified from the history of position information may be a direction toward the generation position. However, in the latter case, the photographing means needs to be arranged so as to photograph the front of the vehicle.

  In other words, according to the former execution condition, only a situation image in which the vicinity of the accident occurrence position (that is, the distance from the occurrence position is within a specified distance) is taken as a retained image, and a retained image having a high possibility of photographing is selected. It can be collected by an external storage device. Further, even in the latter execution condition, only the situation image obtained by photographing the direction of the occurrence position is set as the retained image, and the retained image in which the accident situation is photographed (that is, the possibility of photographing is higher than the former execution condition) is externally provided. It can be collected in a storage device.

  Therefore, if an image collecting system is formed using such a recording device, it is possible to suppress the situation image having a low possibility of photographing to be transmitted to the external storage device, and even with a small number of images, the accident situation can be accurately identified by the police, etc. Can be analyzed by the accident personnel.

  In the recording apparatus of the present invention, as described in claim 11, the information holding notification transmitting unit provided in the holding image transmitting unit holds the information holding notification for notifying that the holding image is held. When an image is transmitted to an external storage device and a retention image acquisition request is received from the external storage device, it is desirable to transmit the retention image to the external storage device.

  That is, in the recording apparatus according to the eleventh aspect, even if the information holding notification is transmitted, the holding image is not transmitted to the external storage device unless an acquisition request is received from the external storage device.

  Therefore, according to such a recording apparatus, the amount of retained images collected in the external storage device can be reduced, and the storage area of the external storage device can be reduced.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image collection system to which the present invention is applied, and is an explanatory diagram for explaining an outline of the image collection system.

  The image collection system 1 includes a vehicle-mounted device 10 mounted on a vehicle, a large number of wireless communication stations 60 in which antennas are installed in the vicinity of a travel route or a parking place of the vehicle, and wireless or wired communication with the wireless communication station 60. The management apparatus 50 is connected via a network.

Hereinafter, a vehicle on which the vehicle-mounted device 10 is mounted is referred to as a mounted vehicle.
<Onboard equipment>
The vehicle-mounted device 10 performs information communication between the drive recorder 15 that captures a situation image showing the situation around the mounted vehicle, the navigation device 25 for acquiring the current position of the mounted vehicle, and the wireless communication station 60. A communication unit 45 for driving, a drive recorder 15, a navigation device 25, and an accident information communication ECU 40 for controlling the communication unit 45.

  The drive recorder 15 has a camera 16 arranged so as to photograph the front of the mounted vehicle, a collision sensor 17 for detecting the occurrence of an accident in the mounted vehicle, and a camera for a predetermined time defined by the camera 16. The image recording unit 18 capable of storing the situation image, the camera 16, the collision sensor 17, and the image recording unit 18 are controlled to transmit the situation image stored in the image recording unit 18 to the accident information communication ECU 40. And a control unit 19.

  The collision sensor 17 is an acceleration sensor that detects acceleration applied in the full length direction of the vehicle, and takes positive acceleration applied in the vehicle acceleration direction and negative acceleration applied in the vehicle deceleration direction. To detect.

  Further, the image recording unit 18 associates the situation image with the photographing time with the image memory 18a for storing data such as the situation image photographed by the camera 16, and takes a picture when the storage area of the image memory 18a becomes maximum. And a memory control unit 18b for controlling the image memory 18a to store the images while updating them sequentially from the oldest time.

  Further, the navigation device 25 includes a position detection unit 26 that detects the current position of the mounted vehicle, a map data storage unit 27 that stores map data, and a position detection unit for the map data stored in the map data storage unit 27. 26 includes a main body unit 28 that executes various processes such as superimposing the current position acquired in 26, and a display unit 29 that displays a map in a state where the process is executed by the main body unit 28. The main body unit 28 includes a map data acquisition unit 28a, a map matching unit 28b, a route calculation unit 28c, a route guide unit 28d, a drawing unit 28e, a drawing control management unit 28f, a communication control unit 28g, and the like. Each part (route guide part 28d, drawing part 28e, etc.) executes various processes in order to make the navigation device 25 function as a well-known one.

  The position detection unit 26 is configured around a known GPS receiver, and is mounted by tracking the current position of the mounted vehicle and the locus of the current position (that is, recognizing the history of the current position). Detect the traveling direction of the vehicle. Furthermore, the navigation device 25 is configured to send position information regarding the current position and the traveling direction detected by the position detection unit 26 to the accident information communication ECU 40.

  The communication unit 45 transmits various information output from the accident information communication ECU 40 to the wireless communication station 60, and receives various information transmitted from the wireless communication station 60 and outputs the information to the accident information communication ECU 40. It is configured.

The accident information communication ECU 40 includes a memory 41 that stores various programs and data, and a CPU 42 that executes processing according to the program stored in the memory 41. From the drive recorder 15, the navigation device 25, and the wireless communication station 60, According to the received various information, it is configured to control the recording of the situation image photographed by the drive recorder 15 and to execute the in-vehicle communication control process for transmitting the situation image recorded in the drive recorder 15 to the management device 50. ing.
<Wireless communication station, management device>
The wireless communication station 60 is configured as a so-called roadside communication device that wirelessly communicates with the vehicle-mounted device 10 via a large number of antennas installed in the vicinity of a vehicle travel route, a parking place, or the like. The radio communication station 60 has a communication area with a radius of several meters to several tens of meters, and is arranged at an interval shorter than the diameter of the communication area. That is, the plurality of wireless communication stations 60 arranged at intervals shorter than the diameter of the communication area are always in a state where they can communicate with the vehicle-mounted device 10 mounted on the traveling vehicle.

  In addition, the management device 50 includes a line terminal device 51 that communicates with the wireless communication station 60 via a communication network, a database 52 that stores various information acquired via the line terminal device 51 and the like, and a line terminal device And an information processing device 53 that processes information transmitted / received via 51 or the like.

  The information processing apparatus 53 includes at least a ROM that stores a program, a RAM that temporarily stores data, and a CPU that executes processing according to the program, and is configured as a so-called computer. And the information processing apparatus 53 determines the onboard equipment 10 which is a transmission destination of the acquisition request of a situation image according to various information acquired from the onboard equipment 10, and transmits the acquisition request to the determined onboard equipment 10 Device communication control processing is executed.

  That is, in the image collection system 1, as shown in FIG. 2, each of the vehicle-mounted devices 10 mounted on the vehicles 71, 72, and 73 executes the vehicle-mounted device communication control processing, and the management device 50 performs the management device communication control processing. Execute. As a result, the vehicle-mounted device 10 transmits / receives a situation image captured by the drive recorder 15 and various types of information related to the occurrence of an accident to / from the management device 50 via the wireless communication station 60.

In the image collection system 1, the situation image and various information transmitted from the vehicle-mounted device 10 are processed by the information processing device 53 of the management device 50 and stored in the database 52.
<Onboard unit communication control processing>
Next, onboard equipment communication control processing will be described.

Here, FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the onboard equipment communication control process executed by the accident information communication ECU 40 of the onboard equipment 10.
This onboard equipment communication control process is started when the onboard equipment 10 is started, here, when the engine of the vehicle on which the onboard equipment 10 is mounted is started.

  When the vehicle-mounted device communication control process is started, first, in S110, a shooting command is sent to the drive recorder 15. In the drive recorder 15 that has received the shooting command, the forward direction of the vehicle on which the vehicle-mounted device 10 is mounted is continuously shot by the camera 16, and the memory control unit 18b stores the shot situation image in the image memory 18a. To do.

Subsequently, in S120, the position information of the mounted vehicle is acquired from the navigation device 25.
In S130, it is determined whether or not the collision signal acquired from the collision sensor 17 of the drive recorder 15 indicates the occurrence of an accident.

  Specifically, in the present embodiment, when the acceleration (that is, negative acceleration) that is detected by the collision sensor (that is, the acceleration sensor) 17 and is applied in the direction of decelerating the vehicle is greater than a predefined threshold value. (In other words, when an acceleration greater than a prescribed threshold is applied in the direction of decelerating the vehicle), it is determined that an accident has occurred in the mounted vehicle.

If it is determined as a result of the determination in S130 that the collision signal represents the occurrence of an accident, that is, if the mounted vehicle that is executing this process is an accident vehicle, the process proceeds to S140.
In S140, emergency information indicating that an accident has occurred in the mounted vehicle is transmitted to the management device 50. The emergency information includes the current location acquired in S120 (that is, the location where the accident occurred, hereinafter referred to as the accident location), the time when the accident occurred (hereinafter referred to as the accident time), and the accident. And identification information for identification. However, the identification information is set so that the vehicle that caused the accident is not specified. For example, by combining the accident position and the accident time, an accident (for example, at which position and when it occurred) It is set to identify the accident).

  If it is determined as a result of the determination in S130 that the collision signal does not represent the occurrence of an accident, that is, if the mounted vehicle that is executing this process is other than the accident vehicle, the process proceeds to S150.

In S150, it is detected whether or not the emergency recording signal transmitted from the management device 50 is received by the communication unit 45. When the emergency recording signal is received, the process proceeds to S160.
On the other hand, if the emergency recording signal has not been received, that is, if no accident has occurred, the process returns to S110, and a shooting command is sent to the drive recorder 15. That is, in a normal state where no accident has occurred, the drive recorder 15 always takes a situation image with the camera 16 and stores the situation image in the image memory 18a while being sequentially updated.

Note that the emergency recording signal includes an accident position, an accident time, and identification information.
In S160, based on the relative position between the current position in the position information acquired in S120 and the accident position included in the emergency recording signal received in S150, within a specified distance (this In the embodiment, it is determined whether or not the own vehicle (that is, the vehicle executing this processing) exists in 100 m). As a result of the determination, if it is determined that the host vehicle exists within a specified distance from the accident position, that is, if there is a mounted vehicle around the accident position, the process proceeds to S170.
In S170, whether or not the host vehicle is traveling toward the accident position based on the current position and the traveling direction in the position information acquired in S120 and the accident position included in the emergency recording signal received in S150. Determine whether. And as a result of determination, when it is determined that the vehicle is traveling toward the accident position, the process proceeds to S180.

  That is, when the host vehicle is located around the accident position and is traveling toward the accident position, there is a possibility that a situation image in which a situation related to the accident is captured is stored in the drive recorder 15. Is high, the process proceeds to S180.

  On the other hand, as a result of the determination in S160, when it is determined that the host vehicle does not exist within the specified distance from the accident position, or as a result of the determination in S170, the vehicle is not traveling in the direction of the accident position. If it is determined that it is, the process returns to S110.

  In addition, an accident vehicle (however, only when the vehicle-mounted device 10 is not damaged) or a vehicle that satisfies a preset execution condition (S160, 170 in the present embodiment) (hereinafter, this vehicle is a target vehicle). In the accident information communication ECU 40 of the vehicle-mounted device 10 mounted on the vehicle, the process proceeds to S180.

  In S180, a holding command is sent to the drive recorder 15. In the drive recorder 15 that has received the holding instruction, the memory control unit 18b holds some of the situation images stored in the image memory 18a (that is, prohibits updating of the situation image).

  Specifically, in the present embodiment, images are taken by the camera 16 at a predetermined time (in this embodiment, every 30 seconds before and after the occurrence time) before and after the occurrence time of the accident, and stored in the image memory 18a. Holds the stored situation image. Hereinafter, the situation image stored in the image memory 18a is referred to as an emergency recording video.

  Further, in S190, video holding information indicating that the emergency recording video is held is transmitted to the management apparatus 50, and the process proceeds to S200. The video holding information includes position information of the host vehicle and video identification information indicating which accident record video is held for which accident. However, the video identification information includes identification information for identifying the accident and image identification information indicating the position and direction where the situation image was captured, and the image identification information identifies the vehicle that captured the situation image. (For example, information indicating only the relative position between the accident vehicle and the target vehicle is set).

  In S200, whether or not an emergency recording reply signal, which is a signal from the management apparatus 50, has been received during a preset time after transmission of the video holding information, is a request for acquiring an emergency recording video. If it is determined that an emergency record reply signal has been received, the process proceeds to S210.

  In S210, the emergency recording video is obtained from the image memory 18a of the drive recorder 15, and the emergency recording video is transmitted to the management device 50. Thereafter, the holding of the situation image is canceled (that is, the situation image can be updated), and the process returns to S110.

On the other hand, as a result of the determination in S200, even when the emergency recording reply signal is not received during the set time, the holding of the situation image is canceled and the process returns to S110.
<Management device communication control processing>
Next, the management device communication control process will be described.

Here, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of management device communication control processing executed by the CPU of the information processing device 53.
When this management device communication control process is activated, first, in S210, it is determined whether or not the emergency information transmitted from the vehicle-mounted device 10 is received via the wireless communication station 60. As a result of the determination, the emergency information If is not received, it waits until emergency information is received. And if emergency information is received, it will progress to S220.

  In S220, the contents of the emergency information are recorded in the database 52. That is, in S220, the storage location of the emergency recording video identified based on the accident location and the accident time included in the emergency information is created on the database 52.

  In subsequent S230, an emergency recording signal is transmitted to a mounted vehicle traveling in a preset setting area (for example, a circular area having a radius of 100 m) centered on the accident position, and the process proceeds to S240.

  In S240, it is determined whether or not the video holding information transmitted from the mounted vehicle is received. If the video holding information is not received as a result of the determination, the process waits until the video holding information is received. When the video holding information is received, the process proceeds to S250.

  In S250, the mounted vehicle that transmits the emergency recording video among the mounted vehicles that transmitted the video holding information, that is, the mounted vehicle that is the transmission destination of the emergency recording video acquisition request (that is, the emergency recording reply signal) This mounted vehicle is set as a destination vehicle).

  In the present embodiment, the onboard vehicle that satisfies the transmission information in which the position information included in the video holding information satisfies a preset transmission condition is determined as the transmission destination vehicle. Specifically, in the present embodiment, the transmission condition is that it is closest to the accident position within a preset divided area centered on the accident position (for example, a fan-shaped area obtained by dividing a circle centered on the accident position into eight equal parts). And

  For example, as shown in FIG. 5, when an accident occurs in a crossroad in which a fan-shaped divided area in which a circle with a radius of 100 m centering on the accident position is equally divided is set, Only the first vehicle close to is determined as the transmission destination vehicle, and the second vehicle existing at a position farther from the accident position than the first vehicle is excluded from the transmission destination vehicle. In the present embodiment (more precisely, FIG. 5), the third vehicle exists at a position farther from the accident position than the second vehicle, but the divided areas are different, and within the divided areas. Since it exists in the position nearest to the accident position, it is determined as the transmission destination vehicle.

In S260, an emergency record reply signal is transmitted to all the transmission destination vehicles determined in S250.
In S270, the emergency recording video transmitted from the vehicle-mounted device 10 of the mounted vehicle that has received the emergency recording reply signal is received, and the emergency recording video is stored in the storage location of the database 52 created in S220. The emergency recording video is stored in the storage location of the database 52 after the video identification information included in the video holding information received earlier is added.

  In S280, it is determined whether or not an emergency recording video has been received for all the emergency recording reply signals transmitted in S260. If all the emergency recording videos have not been received as a result of the determination, the process returns to S270. Receive emergency recording video.

If all the emergency recording videos have been received as a result of the determination, the process returns to S110 in preparation for an accident that may occur next.
Here, FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an operation state of the image collection system.

That is, in the image collection system 1, communication of various types of information is executed according to the procedure shown in FIG.
That is, the vehicle-mounted device 10 mounted on the accident vehicle transmits emergency information to the management device 50 when an accident occurs, and maintains a situation image taken at a specified time before and after the accident time (that is, prohibits updating). Thereafter, the video holding information is transmitted to the management device 50. And an emergency recording image | video is transmitted so that it may respond to the emergency recording reply signal from the management apparatus 50. FIG.

  In addition, when the vehicle-mounted device 10 mounted on the target vehicle other than the accident vehicle receives an emergency recording signal from the management device 50, when the host vehicle satisfies the execution condition, the situation image is taken at a specified time before and after the accident time. Then, the video holding information is transmitted to the management device 50. Furthermore, the vehicle-mounted device 10 mounted on the target vehicle that satisfies the transmission condition transmits the emergency recording video so as to respond to the emergency recording reply signal from the management device 50.

The management device 50 stores the received emergency recording video in the database 52 for each accident position and accident time (that is, the accident that has occurred).
<Effect of the embodiment>
As described above, according to the image collection system 1 of the above-described embodiment, the vehicle-mounted device 10 that has received the emergency recording signal captures the situation image that was captured at the specified time before and after the occurrence time and stored in the image memory 18a. Since it is stored as an emergency recording video, it is possible to cause the management device 50 to collect situation images from before the accident to after the accident.

  Furthermore, according to the image collection system 1, when the vehicle-mounted device 10 of the mounted vehicle that has received the emergency recording signal is traveling within a specified distance from the accident position and toward the accident position (that is, the execution condition is satisfied). In this case, it is possible to cause the management apparatus to collect only situation images that have a high possibility of photographing the accident situation as emergency recording images.

  In addition, according to the image collection system 1, the management device 50 transmits an emergency record reply signal to the mounted vehicle that is located closest to the accident position in the divided area among the mounted vehicles that transmitted the video holding information. The emergency recording video can be collected from the vehicle-mounted device 10 having the highest possibility of photographing the accident situation in the divided area.

  As a result, according to the image collection system 1, it becomes possible to analyze the situation on the road around the accident location in the period from before the accident to after the accident after the accident. Can be grasped. Furthermore, according to the image collection system 1, it is possible to cause the management device 50 to collect only the emergency recording video having a high possibility of photographing, and to accurately analyze the accident situation even with a small number of images.

  Further, according to the image collection system 1, for example, when an accident occurs on an intersection such as a crossroad with a lot of traffic, the management device can collect emergency recording images obtained by photographing the accident from a plurality of directions. Multi-faceted accident analysis can be performed.

  Moreover, according to the image acquisition system 1, when the onboard equipment 10 of the mounted vehicle which received the emergency recording signal does not correspond to the execution condition (when the vehicle is not traveling toward the accident position or outside the specified distance). In addition, since the situation image is continuously updated to the newly taken situation image without holding the situation image, it is possible to prepare for an accident that may newly occur.

  In the image collection system 1, even if the vehicle-mounted device 10 transmits the video holding information to the management device 50, the emergency recording video is not transmitted unless the emergency recording reply signal is received from the management device 50. Therefore, according to the image collection system 1, the management device 50 can collect only the emergency recording video necessary for the analysis of the accident, and the storage area can be made small.

Furthermore, according to the image collection system 1, since the emergency recording video stored in the database 52 is classified based on the occurrence position and the occurrence time of the accident, it is possible to easily analyze the accident. According to the image collection system 1, since the information necessary for storing the emergency recording video in the database 52 is only the accident position, the occurrence time, and the video identification information, the occupant of the mounted vehicle that has transmitted the emergency recording video. Can protect the privacy.
[Other Embodiments]
As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention, it is possible to implement in various aspects.

  In the image collection system 1 of the above-described embodiment, the host vehicle is located within a specified distance from the accident position and the direction of the accident position is taken as an execution condition for holding the situation image. The execution condition is not limited to this. For example, the host vehicle may only be positioned within a specified distance from the accident position, or only the direction of the accident position may be captured. That is, only one of S160 and S170 in the vehicle-mounted device communication control process may be used.

  Moreover, in the image collection system 1 of the said embodiment, it was determined whether the onboard equipment 10 hold | maintains a situation image, For example, the management apparatus 50 which acquired the positional information from each onboard equipment 10 is those. An execution command for holding a situation image may be transmitted only to the vehicle-mounted device 10 that satisfies the execution condition among the vehicle-mounted devices 10 (more precisely, the vehicle on which the vehicle-mounted device is mounted).

  Further, in the management device 50 of the above embodiment, the transmission condition for transmitting the emergency record reply signal is that the closest to the accident location in the divided area is the transmission condition, but the transmission condition is not limited to this. For example, the emergency record reply signal may be transmitted to all the vehicles that have transmitted the video holding information (more precisely, the vehicle-mounted device 10). In this case, the emergency recording video may be transmitted simultaneously with the video holding information.

  In the vehicle-mounted device 10 of the above embodiment, the accident information communication ECU 40 executes the vehicle-mounted device communication control processing. For example, the vehicle-mounted communication is performed in the control unit 19 of the drive recorder 15 or the main body unit 28 of the navigation device 25. Control processing may be executed. That is, the accident information communication ECU 40 may be omitted.

  In the above embodiment, accident information is transmitted from the accident vehicle to the management device 50, and an emergency recording signal (that is, a signal indicating that an accident has occurred) is transmitted from the management device 50 to a target vehicle other than the accident vehicle. However, a signal indicating that an accident has occurred may be directly communicated between the accident vehicle and the target vehicle by inter-vehicle communication or the like.

  Furthermore, in the image collection system 1 of the above-described embodiment, the emergency recording video and various types of information are transmitted and received between the vehicle-mounted device 10 and the management device 50 via the wireless communication station 60 configured as a roadside communication device. However, direct communication may be performed between the vehicle-mounted device 10 and the management device 50 by so-called wide area communication (for example, a car phone or the like). In this case, for example, information on accidents occurring in various places in Japan can be collected by one management device 50.

  In addition, in the said embodiment, although it was set as the image collection system 1 of the onboard equipment 10 mounted in the vehicle, and the management apparatus 50, the image collection system may be comprised by the other apparatus. For example, it may be configured by a monitoring camera installed on a road and having the same configuration as the vehicle-mounted device 10 and the management device 50, or from the previous monitoring camera, the vehicle-mounted device 10, and the management device 50. It may be configured.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of an image acquisition system. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the outline | summary of an image collection system. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the image collection process performed with the drive recorder which comprises an image collection system. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the image collection process performed with the image management apparatus which comprises an image collection system. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the handling of the image in each vehicle in management apparatus communication control processing. It is the sequence diagram which showed transmission / reception of the signal in an image acquisition system.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image collection system 10 ... Onboard equipment 15 ... Drive recorder 16 ... Camera 17 ... Collision sensor 18 ... Image recording part 19 ... Control part 25 ... Navigation apparatus 26 ... Position detection part 27 ... Map data storage part 28 ... Main-body part 29 ... Display unit 40 ... Accident information communication ECU 41 ... Memory 45 ... Communication unit 50 ... Management device 51 ... Line terminal device 52 ... Database 53 ... Information processing device 60 ... Wireless communication station

Claims (11)

At least one recording device that captures a situation image representing a situation on a road, stores a situation image for a predetermined time, and stores the situation image while sequentially updating to a newly photographed situation image, and the situation An image collection system comprising a management device for collecting images,
The recording device comprises:
When an accident notification for notifying that an accident has occurred on the road is received from the outside, out of the situation images stored in the recording device, a situation image for a preset time is held,
An image collection system for transmitting a retained image, which is a situation image retained in the recording device, to the management device. The recording device comprises:
An information holding notification for notifying that the situation image is held is transmitted to the management device, and when the acquisition request for the holding image is received from the management device, the holding image is transmitted to the management device,
The management device
The said acquisition request is transmitted to the recording device which satisfy | fills the preset transmission conditions from the recording devices which transmitted the said information retention notification, when the said information retention notification is received. Image acquisition system. The information holding notification transmitted from the recording device includes at least the current position of the recording device,
The management device
Having location information regarding the location of the accident,
The image collection system according to claim 2, wherein the transmission condition is to be present at a position closest to the generation position within a predetermined area defined in advance with the generation position as a center.   The image collecting system according to claim 1, wherein the recording device is an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle or a monitoring device installed on a road. Photographing means for photographing a situation image representing a situation on the road;
Storage means for storing a situation image for a predetermined time taken by the photographing means;
Updating means for sequentially updating the situation image stored in the storage means to a new situation image photographed by the photographing means;
Accident notification receiving means for receiving an accident notification from outside to notify that an accident has occurred on the road,
When the accident notification receiving unit receives the accident notification, a holding unit that holds a situation image for a preset time among the situation images stored in the storage unit;
A recording apparatus comprising: a retained image transmission unit configured to transmit a retained image, which is a situation image retained in the storage unit, to an external storage device that collects the retained image. The accident notification received by the accident notification receiving means includes at least the occurrence time of the accident,
6. The recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the situation image for the set time held by the holding unit is a situation image taken at a predetermined time before and after the occurrence time.   6. The storage device according to claim 5, wherein the status images for the set time held by the holding means are status images for all the times stored in the storage means. The accident notification received by the accident notification receiving means includes at least accident information indicating the occurrence location of the accident,
Position information acquisition means for acquiring position information representing the current position of the photographing means,
The holding means holds the status image for the set time when the position information acquired by the position information acquiring means and the accident information in the accident notification satisfy a predetermined execution condition. A recording apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 7.   The recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the execution condition for the holding unit to hold the situation image is that a distance from the generation position to the current position is within a predetermined distance. The photographing means is arranged to photograph the front of the vehicle,
9. The execution condition for the holding means to hold the situation image is that the traveling direction of the vehicle specified from the history of the position information is a direction toward the generation position. 9. The recording apparatus according to 9. The retained image transmission means includes
An information holding notification transmitting means for transmitting an information holding notification for notifying that the holding image is held to the external storage device;
11. The recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein when the acquisition request for the retained image is received from the external storage device, the retained image is transmitted to the external storage device.

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