JP2014011476A - Image monitoring device, vehicle, program, and failure discrimination method - Google Patents

Abstract

An error in determining a failure is prevented.
An image monitoring apparatus includes an image processing unit, a position information acquisition unit, and a control unit. The image processing unit 18 continuously acquires surrounding images of the moving body. The image processing unit 18 compares neighboring images with different acquisition times. The position information acquisition unit 16 acquires the position information of the moving body according to the acquisition of the peripheral image. The control unit 20 determines that there is a failure when there is a change in position information with different acquisition times and the peripheral images with different acquisition times are the same.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an image monitoring apparatus, a vehicle, a program, and a failure determination method that are provided on a moving body and provide a driver with a peripheral image of the moving body.

  2. Description of the Related Art An image monitoring device provided on a moving body such as a vehicle is known. By installing the image monitoring device so that a surrounding image that is a blind spot of the driver's seat of the vehicle is displayed, the driver can drive the vehicle while confirming safety.

  If the image monitoring device breaks down, the driver should check the blind spot using an auxiliary device such as a rearview mirror. However, it may be difficult to detect a failure of the image monitoring apparatus. For example, when the image displayed on the display freezes, that is, when the image stops while the real-time moving image is displayed, the peripheral image itself is displayed on the display, so that it is detected that there is a failure. It ’s difficult.

  Therefore, based on the comparison of images acquired at different times when the vehicle is operating, it is detected whether the vehicle is operating based on the rotational speed of the tire and the speed of the speedometer. It has been proposed to determine whether or not there is a failure (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2011-188134 A

  However, the image monitoring device described in Patent Document 1 detects that the vehicle is operating even in a situation where the tire slips on a snowy road or the like, and it is a failure because there is no change in the image. It can be mistakenly determined.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention made in view of such circumstances is to provide an image monitoring apparatus, a vehicle, a program, and a failure determination method that prevent an error in determining a failure.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the image monitoring apparatus according to the first aspect is
An image processing unit that continuously acquires peripheral images of a moving object and compares peripheral images with different acquisition times;
A position information acquisition unit that acquires position information of the moving body according to the acquisition of the peripheral image;
And a control unit that determines that there is a failure when there is a change in position information with different acquisition times and the peripheral images with different acquisition times are the same.

In addition, the image monitoring device
The image processing unit preferably stops the comparison of the surrounding images when the pieces of position information having different acquisition times are the same.

In addition, the image monitoring device
It is preferable to further include an imaging unit that is provided on the moving body, captures a peripheral image, and outputs the captured peripheral image to the image processing unit.

In addition, the image monitoring device
When the control unit determines that the moving body is braking, it is preferable that the control unit stops imaging of the peripheral image by the imaging unit and comparison of the peripheral image by the image processing unit.

In addition, the image monitoring device
Preferably, the control unit detects braking of the moving body based on braking information acquired from the moving body.

In addition, the image monitoring device
The control unit preferably detects the braking of the moving body based on the analysis of the surrounding image by the image processing unit.

In addition, the image monitoring device
When the acquisition of the position information fails, the control unit detects the driving of the moving body based on the driving information acquired from the moving body, and determines that there is a failure when the peripheral images having different acquisition times are the same. It is preferable.

In addition, the image monitoring device
It is preferable that the control unit discriminates a change in the position information using the average of the position information acquired in the first period and the average of the position information acquired in the second period as position information having different acquisition times.

The vehicle according to the first aspect is
An image processing unit that continuously acquires peripheral images of a moving body and compares peripheral images with different acquisition times, a position information acquisition unit that acquires positional information of the moving body in accordance with acquisition of the peripheral images, and an acquisition time And an image monitoring device having a control unit that determines that a failure occurs when peripheral images having different position information and different acquisition times are the same.

  As described above, the solution of the present invention has been described as an apparatus. However, the present invention can be realized as a method, a program, and a storage medium storing the program, which are substantially equivalent thereto, and the scope of the present invention. It should be understood that these are also included.

For example, a program according to the first aspect of the present invention is:
The image monitoring device
An image processing unit that continuously acquires peripheral images of a moving object and compares peripheral images with different acquisition times;
A position information acquisition unit that acquires position information of the moving body according to the acquisition of the peripheral image;
It is characterized in that it functions as a control unit that determines that there is a failure when there is a change in position information with different acquisition times and the same peripheral images with different acquisition times.

A power generation control method that realizes the first aspect of the present invention as a method includes:
A first acquisition step of acquiring a peripheral image of the moving object at different acquisition times;
A second acquisition step of acquiring position information of the moving body in response to acquisition of the peripheral image;
A comparison step for performing comparison of position information with different acquisition times and comparison of the surrounding images with different acquisition times;
And a determination step of determining a failure when there is a change in position information with different acquisition times and the peripheral images with different acquisition times are the same.

  According to the image monitoring device, the vehicle, the program, and the failure determination method according to the present invention configured as described above, it is possible to prevent an error in determining the failure.

1 is a layout diagram of an image monitoring apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention in a vehicle. It is a functional block diagram which shows schematic structure of the image monitoring apparatus of 1st Embodiment. 5 is a flowchart for explaining failure determination processing executed by a control unit in the first embodiment. It is a functional block diagram which shows schematic structure of the image monitoring apparatus of 2nd Embodiment. In a 2nd embodiment, it is a flow chart explaining failure judging processing which a control part performs.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, the image monitoring apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a layout diagram of an image monitoring apparatus according to the first embodiment in a vehicle.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image monitoring device 10 is provided in the vehicle 14 together with the GPS receiver 11, the imaging unit 12, and the display unit 13. The image monitoring device 10 and the GPS receiver 11 may be provided anywhere in the vehicle, but in the present embodiment, are provided in the vicinity of the driver's seat. Although the imaging unit 12 may be provided anywhere on the vehicle 14, in the present embodiment, the imaging unit 12 is fixed to the rear part of the vehicle 14 in order to capture a peripheral image of a field of view described later. The display unit 13 is provided so as to be visible from the driver's seat.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the image monitoring apparatus 10 includes a bus 15, a position information acquisition unit 16, an image data acquisition unit 17, an image processing unit 18, an image data output unit 19, and a control unit 20.

  The bus 15 connects the position information acquisition unit 16, the image data acquisition unit 17, the image processing unit 18, the image data output unit 19, and the control unit 20, and transmits data and commands.

  The position information acquisition unit 16 acquires the current location of the vehicle 14 as a moving body from the GPS receiver 11 as position information. The GPS receiver 11 receives signals from three or more GPS satellites, and measures the distance between the vehicle 14 and the GPS satellites and the rate of change of the distance with respect to the satellites. And measure the heading.

  The image data acquisition unit 17 acquires image data corresponding to the peripheral image from the imaging unit 12. Further, the image data acquisition unit 17 transmits a command for driving the imaging unit 12 to the imaging unit 12. The imaging unit 12 includes a camera. The camera is fixed at the rear portion of the vehicle 14 so that a peripheral image in a specific visual field behind the vehicle 14 can be captured. The camera is an electronic camera having an image sensor, and continuously generates image data corresponding to a peripheral image by imaging at a predetermined frame rate, for example, 1/30 fps.

  The image processing unit 18 performs predetermined image processing on the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit 17. Further, the image processing unit 18 analyzes whether the specific position of the surrounding image is red, and determines whether or not the brake lamp of the vehicle 14 is lit, that is, whether or not the vehicle 14 is being braked. . Further, the image processing unit 18 determines whether or not there is a change in the surrounding images having different frames, that is, different acquisition times. The determination of the presence or absence of changes in the peripheral image is based on a conventionally known method such as pattern matching between two peripheral images and comparison of luminance histograms.

  The image data output unit 19 outputs the image data subjected to predetermined image processing in the image processing unit 18 to the display unit 13. Further, the image data output unit 19 outputs an image indicating a failure state to the display unit 13 when the control unit 20 determines that the image monitoring apparatus 10 is in failure. The display unit 13 is an LCD, for example, and displays an image corresponding to the acquired image data.

  The control unit 20 controls each part constituting the image monitoring apparatus 10. For example, when the input unit of the image monitoring apparatus 10 detects an operation for performing image observation by the user, the control unit 20 causes the imaging unit 12 to start capturing a peripheral image and causes the display unit 13 to display the image. Further, as will be described later, the control unit 20 controls each part for determining a failure of the image monitoring apparatus 10.

  Next, failure determination processing executed by the control unit 20 in the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The control unit 20 executes failure determination processing at a predetermined cycle.

  In step S <b> 100, the control unit 20 causes the imaging unit 12 to start capturing a peripheral image via the image data acquisition unit 17. When image data corresponding to the peripheral image captured by the imaging unit 12 is acquired via the image data acquisition unit 17, the process proceeds to step S101.

  In step S101, the control unit 20 causes the image processing unit 18 to analyze the peripheral image acquired in step S100 and determine whether or not the vehicle 14 is being braked. When the vehicle 14 is braking, the process skips steps S102 to S107 and proceeds to step S108. If the vehicle 14 is not braking, the process proceeds to step S102.

  In step S <b> 102, the control unit 20 causes the image data acquisition unit 17 to acquire image data from the imaging unit 12. In addition, the control unit 20 causes the position information acquisition unit 16 to acquire position information during the first period. When the image data and position information are acquired, the process proceeds to step S103.

  In step S103, the control unit 20 causes the image data acquisition unit 17 to acquire the image data from the imaging unit 12 again. In addition, the control unit 20 causes the position information acquisition unit 16 to acquire position information during the second period. The second period is a period after the first period, and the time interval between the first period and the second period is the same. Once the image data and position information are obtained, the process proceeds to step S104.

  In step S104, the control unit 20 averages the position information acquired during the first period. Further, the control unit 20 averages the position information acquired during the second period. Once the position information is averaged, the process proceeds to step S105.

  In step S105, the control unit 20 compares the position information of the first period and the position information of the second period averaged in step S104. When there is a substantial change between the position information of the first period and the position information of the second period, for example, when the absolute value of the difference between both exceeds the threshold, the process proceeds to step S106. If there is no substantial change and they are the same, the process skips steps S106 to S107 and proceeds to step S108.

  In step S106, the control unit 20 causes the image processing unit 18 to compare peripheral images having different acquisition times based on the image data acquired in steps S102 and S103, respectively. When the surrounding images having different acquisition times are not changed and are substantially the same, the process proceeds to step S107. If there is a change in the peripheral image, the process skips step S107 and proceeds to step S108.

  In step S107, the control unit 20 determines that the image monitoring apparatus 10 is out of order. Further, the control unit 20 informs the driver that the image monitoring apparatus 10 has failed by causing the display unit 13 to output an image indicating a failure state and causing the display unit 13 to display the image. When notifying that there is a failure, the process proceeds to step S108.

  In step S <b> 108, the control unit 20 stops the imaging of the peripheral image by the imaging unit 12 via the image data acquisition unit 17. When the peripheral image capturing is stopped, the failure determination process is terminated.

  According to the image monitoring apparatus of the first embodiment configured as described above, it is possible to determine the movement of the vehicle 14 based on the position information, and to combine the movement of the vehicle 14 with the presence or absence of fluctuations in the surrounding image. It can be determined whether or not. Since the presence / absence of a change in position information is used to determine whether or not there is a failure, it is possible to prevent an error in determining the failure even when the tire is slipping.

  In addition, according to the image monitoring apparatus of the first embodiment, the above-described function can be executed without acquiring various information for controlling the vehicle 14 from an ECU (Electronic Control Unit). Therefore, it is not necessary to connect the wiring inside the vehicle 14 and the image monitoring device 10, and it is easy for a general user to attach the image monitoring device 10 to the vehicle 14.

  Further, according to the image monitoring apparatus of the first embodiment, it is possible to stop the failure determination when the vehicle 14 is being braked. When the vehicle 14 is being braked, the current location of the vehicle 14 often does not fluctuate and is not suitable for failure determination. Therefore, when detecting braking of the vehicle 14, power consumption can be reduced by stopping imaging of the imaging unit 12 and subsequent failure determination.

  Further, according to the image monitoring apparatus of the first embodiment, when the position information in the first period and the position information in the second period, that is, position information having different acquisition times are substantially the same, the peripheral image The comparison can be stopped. If the position information is substantially the same, failure determination cannot be performed, so comparison of surrounding images is useless. Therefore, in such a case, the power consumption can be reduced by stopping the comparison of surrounding images that place a large load on the image processing unit 18.

  Further, according to the image monitoring apparatus of the first embodiment, it is possible to average and compare the position signals acquired in each of the first period and the second period. The position information received from the GPS receiver 11 may fluctuate slightly even at the same current location. Therefore, the influence of minute fluctuations can be reduced by averaging a plurality of pieces of position information.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that vehicle data is acquired from the ECU. The second embodiment will be described below with a focus on differences from the first embodiment. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the site | part which has the same function and structure as 1st Embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the image monitoring apparatus 100 includes a bus 15, a position information acquisition unit 16, an image data acquisition unit 17, an image processing unit 18, an image data output unit 19, and a control, as in the first embodiment. The unit 200 is configured to be included. The image monitoring apparatus 100 further includes a vehicle data acquisition unit 210. The image monitoring apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment is driven based on electric power supplied from the battery of the vehicle 14.

  The configurations and functions of the position information acquisition unit 16, the image data acquisition unit 17, the image processing unit 18, and the image data output unit 19 in the second embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  The control unit 200 controls each part constituting the image monitoring apparatus 100. For example, as in the first embodiment, the control unit 200 causes the imaging unit 12 to start capturing a peripheral image and causes the display unit 13 to display the image. However, unlike the first embodiment, the above-described control is executed when it is determined that the vehicle 14 moves backward based on the vehicle data acquired by the vehicle data acquisition unit 210. In addition, the control unit 200 controls each part for determining the failure of the image monitoring apparatus 100, as in the first embodiment. However, unlike the first embodiment, the control unit 200 also uses vehicle data in the control of failure determination.

  The vehicle data acquisition unit 210 acquires vehicle data from the ECU 220. The vehicle data includes battery remaining amount data, braking data indicating that the brake pedal is depressed, and drive information that is at least one of tire rotation data and speed data of the vehicle 14.

  Next, failure determination processing executed by the control unit 200 in the second embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The control unit 200 executes failure determination processing at a predetermined cycle.

  In step S <b> 200, the control unit 200 compares the battery remaining amount with a threshold value based on the battery remaining amount data acquired through the vehicle data acquiring unit 210. If the remaining battery level is equal to or greater than the threshold, the process proceeds to step S201. When the remaining battery level is less than the threshold, the process skips steps S201 to S210 and proceeds to step S211.

  In step S <b> 201, the control unit 200 determines whether or not the vehicle 14 is braking based on the braking data acquired via the vehicle data acquisition unit 210. When the vehicle 14 is braking, the process skips steps S202 to S210 and proceeds to step S211. If the vehicle 14 is not braking, the process proceeds to step S202.

  In step S202, the control unit 200 determines whether or not position information can be acquired. If the position information cannot be acquired, the process proceeds to step S203. If the position information can be acquired, the process proceeds to step S205.

  In step S <b> 203, the control unit 200 determines whether or not the vehicle 14 is moving based on the drive information via the vehicle data acquisition unit 210. When the vehicle 14 is moving, the process proceeds to step S204. When the vehicle 14 is not moving, the process proceeds to step S211.

  In step S204, the control unit 200 causes the image data acquisition unit 17 to acquire at least two frames of image data from the imaging unit 12 at different times. When the image data is acquired, the process proceeds to step S209.

  As described above, when the position information can be acquired in step S202, the process proceeds to step S205. In steps S205 to S211, the control unit 200 executes the same control as that in steps S102 to S108 in the failure determination process of the first embodiment.

  Similarly to the first embodiment, the image monitoring apparatus of the second embodiment configured as described above determines the movement of the vehicle 14 based on the position information, and the movement of the vehicle 14 and the fluctuation of the surrounding image are detected. By combining the presence and absence, it is possible to determine whether or not a failure has occurred.

  Also, the image monitoring apparatus according to the second embodiment can stop the failure determination and reduce the power consumption when the vehicle 14 is braking, as in the first embodiment. Also, according to the image monitoring apparatus of the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the comparison of the surrounding images can be stopped when the position information having different acquisition times is substantially the same. Can be reduced. Also, the image monitoring apparatus of the second embodiment averages and compares the position signals as in the first embodiment, so that the influence of minute fluctuations can be reduced.

  Furthermore, according to the image monitoring apparatus of the second embodiment, it is possible to perform failure determination based on vehicle data acquired from the ECU 220 when position information cannot be acquired. Since the position information is generated based on the signal received from the GPS satellite, the position information may not be acquired when the user is in an area where the signal cannot be received from the GPS satellite such as indoors. Even in such a case, it is possible to perform failure determination, and it is possible to expand an area where failure determination is possible.

  Further, according to the image monitoring apparatus of the second embodiment, it is possible to stop the failure determination when the remaining battery level is less than the threshold value. The failure determination of the image monitoring apparatus 100 is considered to have a lower priority than the traveling of the vehicle 14 or the like. Therefore, when the remaining amount of the battery is insufficient, the failure determination can be stopped and the vehicle 14 can be prioritized.

  Although the present invention has been described based on the drawings and embodiments, it should be noted that those skilled in the art can easily make various changes and modifications based on the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these variations and modifications are included in the scope of the present invention.

  For example, in the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the image monitoring devices 10 and 100 are configured to be connected to the GPS receiver 11, the imaging unit 12, and the display unit 13. The structure integrated with one may be sufficient.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10,100 Image monitoring apparatus 11 GPS receiver 12 Imaging part 13 Display part 14 Vehicle 15 Bus | bath 16 Position information acquisition part 17 Image data acquisition part 18 Image processing part 19 Image data output part 20,200 Control part 210 Vehicle data acquisition part 220 ECU (Electronic Control Unit)

Claims (11)

An image processing unit that continuously acquires peripheral images of a moving object and compares the peripheral images with different acquisition times;
In response to the acquisition of the peripheral image, a position information acquisition unit that acquires position information of the moving body;
An image monitoring apparatus comprising: a control unit that determines that there is a failure when there is a change in the position information with different acquisition times and the peripheral images with different acquisition times are the same.   The image monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing unit stops the comparison of the surrounding images when the pieces of positional information having different acquisition times are the same.   The image monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an imaging unit that is provided on the moving body, captures the peripheral image, and outputs the captured peripheral image to the image processing unit. An image monitoring apparatus characterized by the above. The image monitoring device according to claim 3,
The control unit stops imaging of the peripheral image by the imaging unit and comparison of the peripheral image by the image processing unit when determining that the moving body is braking. .   The image monitoring apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the control unit detects braking of the moving body based on braking information acquired from the moving body.   The image monitoring apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the control unit detects braking of the moving body based on an analysis of the peripheral image by an image processing unit.   7. The image monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the acquisition of the position information fails, the control unit is based on drive information acquired from the moving body. An image monitoring apparatus that detects a drive of a moving body and determines that a failure has occurred when peripheral images having different acquisition times are the same.   The image monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to obtain an average of position information acquired during the first period and an average of position information acquired during the second period. A change in the position information is determined as position information having a different acquisition time.   A vehicle comprising the image monitoring device according to any one of claims 1 to 8. The image monitoring device
An image processing unit that continuously acquires peripheral images of a moving object and compares the peripheral images with different acquisition times;
In response to the acquisition of the peripheral image, a position information acquisition unit that acquires position information of the moving body;
A program that functions as a control unit that determines that there is a failure when there is a change in the position information with different acquisition times and the peripheral images with different acquisition times are the same. A first acquisition step of acquiring a peripheral image of the moving object at different acquisition times;
A second acquisition step of acquiring position information of the moving body in response to acquisition of the peripheral image;
A comparison step for comparing the position information with different acquisition times and comparing the surrounding images with different acquisition times;
A failure determination method comprising: determining a failure when there is a change in position information at different acquisition times and the peripheral images with different acquisition times are the same.

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