JP2003202227A - Photographing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a car navigation system allowing easy use for a user by automatically photographing and transmitting actually photographed image eliminating deviation of sense of distance and an angle at all intersections and accumulating images efficiently. <P>SOLUTION: Photographing means installed in the front and rear of a moving body are controlled by a control means. Actually photographed image at a specified position which is transmitted to information center is selected from among the actually photographed images at the intersections photographed by the photographing means by an image selection and transmission means using a direction conversion detection means for detecting the operation of a handle part and a travel distance measuring means. Moreover, the arrangement of the actually photographed images photographed by a photographing device in the rear of the moving body is changed into the reverse order by an image arrangement change means and are photographed when returning from destination. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mobile body information system for wirelessly communicating information between a mobile body and an information center, and in particular, it can be used in a car navigation system and can take an optimum photographed image at each intersection. It relates to a possible image capturing system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a car navigation device mounted on an automobile has been widely known in order to assist a moving body in reaching a destination. This car navigation device measures the position of a vehicle by autonomous navigation and displays the current position information and road information of this vehicle on a map on a display device (monitor).

Further, the car navigation system has a function of searching for and displaying a route to a destination and indicating a route by voice display or the like.

On the other hand, in order to intuitively grasp the instruction of the recommended route in the display image, in recent years, various kinds of information (own vehicle position pointer and arrow of recommended traveling direction) are displayed on a realistic enlarged image of an image at an intersection or the like. Etc.) is being performed.

Since a large-capacity storage device is required to store the intersection images, the latest information must be updated frequently, and it takes a lot of time to collect the information, the Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 33-154 discloses a mobile body information system which enables a service provider to build an image database without trouble by collecting information by utilizing users.

[0006]

However, the car navigation device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-330154, among the above-mentioned prior arts, requires an image capturing request given from the information center when capturing a real image at an intersection. Although it is possible to capture images based on the signal, an old intersection image may be sent at the same time as this image capture request signal. In that case, the timing of capturing the intersection differs depending on whether the image is displayed or not. There was a risk that images with different sense of distance would appear.

Further, since the image is picked up only by the CCD camera installed in front of the car, the image which can be used on the way back cannot be picked up, and the data accumulation rate is low as compared with the case where the camera is installed behind the car and used at the same time. Become.

The present invention uses the steering wheel operation of a car to automatically determine a real image of an intersection with a proper sense of distance and automatically transmit it to the server by operating the steering wheel C.
To eliminate the gap in the sense of distance in images taken with a CD camera, efficiently store images with cameras installed in both the front and rear, and provide a useful image shooting system for both service providers and users. Has an aim.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 is a mobile body having a communication means for exchanging data with the outside. A plurality of image pickup means for photographing, a display means for displaying information including the photographed image, a handle portion for operating the moving body in the moving body, and the moving according to the operation of the handle portion It is characterized by further comprising a direction change detecting means for detecting a direction change of the body, a moving distance measuring means for measuring a moving distance of the moving body, and a control means for controlling the image pickup means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the control means controls the image pickup means based on a rotation angle of the handle portion.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided image selection and transmission means for transmitting to the outside the photographed image at a predetermined position determined by the direction change information detected by the direction change detecting means and the moving distance measuring means. It is characterized by

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the movable body is
A storage unit for storing images captured by the image capturing unit installed behind the moving body from the destination input point to the destination, and an image rearranging unit for rearranging the sequentially captured images in reverse order. It is characterized by being provided.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the control means takes an image by using the image pickup means installed in front of the moving body before turning the intersection, and is installed behind the moving body after turning the intersection. It is characterized in that the image capturing is controlled using the image capturing means.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the image pickup means picks up a real image of an intersection at different angles for a left turn and a right turn.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, an embodiment of an image pickup system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

First, in step 1, the user sets a destination by the car navigation device and calculates a recommended route on the side of the moving body, and an intersection that requires guidance to the destination based on the map information of the route search unit. Is determined.

Then, when the mobile body 20 travels in step 2, the car navigation system determines the relationship between the current traveling position and the map information, and the car navigation system passes through the intersections reached by the mobile body 20 on the recommended route. Specify from.

At this time, the mobile unit 20 makes an inquiry to the information center side through the mobile phone and the communication line, and searches the image database for the presence or absence of the photographed image corresponding to the specified intersection.

At this time, when the photographed image of the specified intersection does not exist, an image pickup request signal is transmitted from the information center to the mobile unit 20 through the mobile phone and the communication line so as to photograph the photographed image of the intersection.

When the mobile unit 20 receives the image pickup request signal through the mobile phone and the communication line in Step 3, Step 4
Starts the operation of the image pickup means 34 installed in front of the moving body 20, picks up an image of an intersection in front of the moving body by the image pickup means 34 installed in front of the moving body 20, and stores the photographed image in the storage unit 33. To do.

On the other hand, if the image pickup request signal is not output from the information server in step 3, the process returns to step 2 and the next intersection is specified. In step 5, the direction change detection means 37
At, it is determined whether or not the driver has turned the handle portion 38 by a predetermined angle.

When the handle portion 38 is turned by the designated angle, the process proceeds to step 6 to finish the image pickup of the intersection in front of the moving body, and in step 7, the transmission image to the information server is determined. If the handle portion 38 cannot be turned by the designated angle in step 5, the image pickup is continued.

The transmitted image is determined from the distance measured by the moving distance measuring means 35 between the position imaged in step 4 and the position determined in step 5 that the handle portion 38 is cut, and a predetermined distance such as 10 m is specified. Only the image taken immediately before is selected by the image selecting and transmitting means 36.

Then, in step 8, the direction change detecting means 37 detects that the steering wheel has returned to the normal position when the moving body 20 turns through the intersection, and the controlling means detects the image pickup means installed in front of the moving body 20. Switching from 34 to the image pickup means 34 installed at the rear is started, and the distance is again measured by the movement distance measuring means 35 from the point where the image pickup means 34 is returned to the normal position.

Then, in step 9, it is judged whether or not the moving body 20 has moved by a predetermined distance such as 10 m, and if it has not moved by the specified distance, it waits until it moves by the specified distance.

After moving by the designated distance, the process proceeds to step 10 and the moving body 20 is moved by the image pickup means 34 installed in the rear.
An image of an intersection located behind is captured and the images are sequentially stored in the storage unit 33.

Then, in step 11, the image picked up before passing the intersection and the selected image and the photographed image taken after passing the intersection are taken together with the image pickup position information to an external terminal such as an information center described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-330154. The selected image is transmitted by the selective transmission unit 36, and the photographed image is stored in the database.

In step 12, it is judged whether or not the vehicle has arrived at the destination. If "NO", the process proceeds to step 2 and "Y
In the case of "ES", the operation of car navigation is terminated.

On the other hand, when the mobile unit 20 moves from the destination, if the user does not set a new destination in the car navigation system in step 1, it moves from the destination to the destination input point, that is, the destination. Considered as a return route from the ground.

Then, in step 21, the actual images taken by the image pickup means 34 installed behind the moving body 20 stored in the storage section 32 by the image pickup means 34 before the arrival of the destination are stored in the image rearranging means 30 in the order stored. Rearranges the image data in the storage unit in the reverse order.

At the same time that the intersection is approaching at step 22 and guidance is provided by car navigation, at the same time as step 2
In step 3, the actual image stored in the storage unit is displayed on the display device 30.

When the display of the photographed image is completed after passing through the intersection, the next image is displayed when the intersection is specified again. In step 24, it is judged whether or not the vehicle has arrived at the destination. If “NO”, the process proceeds to step 22 and “Y
In the case of "ES", the operation of car navigation is terminated.

Further, in the case where a real image is picked up by the image pickup means 34 in steps 4 and 10, 33 is the moving body 2.
The angle of the imaging device can be adjusted so that the entire intersection can be imaged regardless of which lane 0 is driving.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically capture and transmit a photographed image in which the sense of distance and the deviation of the angle are eliminated at all the intersections, and it is possible to immediately return from the destination. It is possible to provide a car navigation system that can be used for any user and is comfortable for the user.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an outline of an imaging system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing of the imaging system.

[Explanation of symbols]

20 moving bodies 31 Image sorting means 32 memory 33 Control unit 34 Imaging means 35 Moving distance measuring means 36 Image selection and transmission means 37 Direction Change Detection Means 38 Handle 39 display means

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F term (reference) 2F029 AA02 AB01 AB13 AC02 AC08                       AC09 AC18                 5C054 DA07 FF02 FF03 GB02 GD03                       GD09 HA30                 5H180 AA01 BB04 BB05 CC04 FF04                       FF15 FF22 FF32

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A mobile body having a communication means for exchanging data with the outside, for displaying a plurality of image pickup means for photographing a photographed image on a road and information including the photographed image. Display means, a handle portion for operating the moving body in the moving body, a direction change detecting means for detecting a direction change of the moving body according to an operation of the handle portion, and a moving distance of the moving body. An image pickup system comprising: a moving distance measuring unit; and a control unit for controlling the image pickup unit. 2. The image pickup system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the image pickup unit based on a rotation angle of the handle portion. 3. The image pickup system according to claim 1, wherein an image for transmitting the actual image at a predetermined position determined from the direction change information detected by the direction change detecting unit and the moving distance measuring unit to the outside. An imaging system comprising a selective transmission unit. 4. The image pickup system according to claim 1, wherein the moving body is imaged by the image pickup means installed behind the moving body from a destination input point to a destination. And an image rearranging unit for rearranging sequentially captured images in reverse order. 5. The image pickup system according to claim 1, wherein the control means takes an image using the image pickup means installed in front of the intersection before turning, and installs the rear two after turning the intersection. An image pickup system, characterized in that the image pickup is controlled by using the image pickup means. 6. The image pickup system according to claim 5, wherein the image pickup means picks up a real image of an intersection at different angles between a left turn and a right turn.