JP2006084461A - Image acquisition system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image acquisition system for acquiring the situation of a desired position as an image taken on the spot at current time. <P>SOLUTION: The current position of a vehicle is transmitted from a mobile telephone 19 to an information center 21. An information center 22 accumulates the current position of each vehicle at a database 24 along with an IP address. When an image acquisition desire position is transmitted from the mobile telephone 19 of the vehicle to the information center 22, the information center 22 retrieves a vehicle near the image acquisition desire position from the database and transmits the IP address of the vehicle to the vehicle that desires to acquire the image. When the vehicle that desires to acquire the image transmits a request for transmitting an image to the IP address of the vehicle near the image acquisition desire position, an image photographed by a photographing camera 1 mounted to the vehicle is transmitted from the mobile telephone 19 to the vehicle at the request source. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image acquisition system in which a moving body, an information center, and a moving body perform information communication so that an image of a road situation at a position desired by a driver of the moving body can be acquired.

There is a moving body information system in which a live-action image of a road is displayed on a display device of a car navigation device, and an instruction of a traveling position and a guidance route of the own vehicle is performed on a realistic image (for example, see Patent Document 1). .) This is because a camera is mounted on the vehicle, and an image captured by the camera is transmitted to the information center together with the current position information of the vehicle. The information center stores the captured image in a database and a desired position from the vehicle side. Is designated, the image at the designated desired position is read out from the image information stored in the database and transmitted to the vehicle.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-160080

The system disclosed in Patent Document 1 is configured to store captured images in the information center database, so that the image acquired by the vehicle from the information center is not a current image, but a considerable past image. In addition, it is difficult to obtain as moving image data.
For this reason, even if you are involved in a traffic jam while driving the vehicle, even if you send the head position of the traffic jam to the information center to know the road condition at the head of the traffic jam, the information center will There is a problem that only the previous photographed image is sent.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to make the situation at a desired position as a real image at the current time point, or even a past image, not so much a past image, but close to the present time An object of the present invention is to provide an image acquisition system that can acquire an image at a point in time.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, the moving body includes a photographing camera capable of photographing the road on which the moving body is moving, a current position acquiring means for acquiring the current position of the moving body, a wireless communication means, and image information. The display means for displaying and the position information of the current position acquired by the current position acquisition means are transmitted from the wireless communication means together with its own identification information for communication, and the operation input of the position where it is desired to acquire the road image is received. And a control unit that transmits the position information of the desired image acquisition position from the wireless communication unit together with the identification information, and the information center identifies the current position information transmitted from the mobile body as the identification. When acquiring the database to be stored together with the information and the position information of the image acquisition desired position, the acquired image acquisition desired position or Selection means for selecting identification information of a mobile object existing in the vicinity thereof, and when the selection means selects identification information of a mobile object existing at or near an image acquisition desired position, the identification information is input to the image acquisition request Identification information transmitting means for transmitting the position information of the position to the moving body, and when the moving body control means acquires the identification information of the other moving body transmitted from the information center, When image transmission request information for requesting transmission of road image information to a moving body is transmitted together with its own identification information, and when the road shooting image information is transmitted from the other moving body, the road shooting image information is It displays on a display means.
According to this means, the situation of the desired position can be seen by the image taken by the photographing camera of another moving body at the present time, and can be seen as a moving image. Further, since the image information is directly transmitted from the moving body to the moving body, it is not necessary to store the image information in the information center database.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, when the moving body control unit transmits the current position information together with the identification information, the moving unit control unit transmits the traveling direction information indicating the traveling direction and the photographing direction information indicating the photographing direction of the photographing camera. The selection means of the information center selects the moving direction information and the shooting direction information when selecting the identification information of the moving object existing at or near the desired position of the image acquisition based on the current position information stored in the database. The identification information of the moving body capable of capturing the image at the desired position for image acquisition is selected from the above.
According to this means, for example, when the imaging camera captures the front of the moving object, if the moving object has passed the image acquisition desired position, the imaging camera can no longer capture the image acquisition desired position. When the photographing camera takes a picture of the rear of the moving body, the desired position for obtaining the image can be taken with the photographing camera when the moving body has passed the desired position for obtaining the image. For this reason, it becomes possible to more accurately select a moving body that can transmit an image at a desired image acquisition position.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when the moving body control device transmits road photographed image information of the photographing camera to another moving body, the current position information, the traveling direction information indicating the traveling direction, and the photographing of the photographing camera. Sending together the shooting direction information indicating the direction, and upon receiving road shot image information from another moving body, the other movement based on the current position information, traveling direction information, and shooting direction information of the other moving body When it is determined that it is no longer possible to capture the desired image acquisition position with a body imaging camera, the acquisition of road image information from the other moving object is stopped, and the position information of the desired image acquisition position is identified again. The information is transmitted from the transmitting means together with the information.
According to this means, when another moving body can no longer transmit the image at the desired position for image acquisition, the reception of the road photographed image from the moving body is stopped, and the image obtained by another moving body is acquired. An image at a desired position can be received.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the moving body includes a car navigation device, and the operation input of the desired image acquisition position is performed by touching a location indicated on a map displayed by the car navigation device. It is what.
According to this means, it is possible to easily input the desired image acquisition position.
The above-mentioned means of claims 1 to 4 are based on the premise that the image currently taken by the photographing camera of another vehicle is displayed on the display means of the own vehicle. The structure which displays the image image | photographed in the past with the imaging | photography camera of another vehicle on the display means of the own vehicle is employ | adopted.

That is, the means of claim 5 performs information communication between the mobile body and the information center and between the mobile bodies, and the mobile body is capable of photographing the road on which the mobile body is moving. Camera, current position acquisition means for acquiring the current position of the moving body, wireless communication means, memory for storing a photographed image for a predetermined time when the photographing camera is in operation, and display means for displaying image information And the shooting start position and start time acquired by the current position acquisition unit and the shooting end position and end time together with its own identification information for communication are transmitted from the wireless communication unit, and a road shot image is obtained. Control means for transmitting the position information of the image acquisition desired position together with the identification information from the wireless communication means when there is an operation input of the position where acquisition of the information is desired, When the acquisition start position and start time and the end position and end time of the image capturing transmitted from the mobile body are stored together with the identification information, and the position information of the desired image acquisition position are stored in the database. Selection means for selecting identification information of the mobile body having the acquired latest image, and identification information of the mobile body having the latest image acquired by the selection means, based on the acquired shooting start position and shooting end position And the identification information transmitting means for transmitting the identification information to the mobile body that has issued the position information of the desired image acquisition position, and the control means for the mobile body includes the other information transmitted from the information center. When the identification information of the mobile object is acquired, the image transmission request information indicating that the other mobile object wishes to transmit the road image information is transmitted together with its own identification information. And, when there is transmission of road shot image information from the other mobile body, it is characterized in that displaying the road shot image information on the display means.
According to this means, it is possible to display an image of a desired place taken by the photographing camera of the other vehicle on the display means of the own vehicle at a time slightly before the current time, although not now.

The means after claim 6 is based on the means of claim 5.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the information transmitted from the information center includes, in addition to the identification information of the moving object, a shooting start position and start time, and a shooting end position and end time of the shot image. It is a feature.
According to this means, it is possible to know in advance the shooting time of the image taken by the moving body.

When the image transmission request information is transmitted together with its own identification information, the means of claim 7 also transmits the specified time information specifying the start time and the end time when the photographed image is necessary, When the road photographed image information at the specified time is transmitted from the moving body, the road photographed image information is displayed on the display means.
According to this means, it is possible to request to transmit only an image taken at a desired time, and to display only an image taken at that time.

The means of claim 8 is that the shooting start position and start time acquired by the current position acquisition means, the shooting end position and end time, and the identification information for communication are taken images taken by the shooting camera. Is stored for a predetermined time and then sent out.
According to this means, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a problem that various types of information are sent to the information center even though they are not actually photographed.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the shooting start position and start time transmitted to the information center, the shooting end position and end time, and its own identification information for communication are obtained by taking a shot image taken by the shooting camera. When the stored memory information is erased, the information is transmitted to the information center so as to be invalidated.
According to this means, it is possible to solve the problem that the state where the captured image can still be acquired is maintained in the information center even though the memory information of the captured image is deleted.

The means of claim 10 is characterized in that the erasure of the memory information storing the photographed image is carried out when a predetermined time elapses.
According to this means, an old photographed image can be erased at a fixed timing.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, a first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a vehicle will be described with reference to FIGS.
In this embodiment, the camera (moving body) is provided with a photographing camera 1 as shown in FIG. Depending on the vehicle, the photographing camera 1 may be provided at the front of the vehicle so as to photograph the front, or may be provided at the rear of the vehicle so as to photograph the rear. The photographing cameras 1 may be provided on both the front and rear sides of the vehicle so as to photograph the front and rear. However, in order to facilitate understanding of the invention, only one photographing camera 1 is provided on the vehicle. It is assumed that the front or rear is photographed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the photographed image of the photographing camera 1 can be displayed on a display device (display means) 3 of a car navigation device 2 mounted on a vehicle. Displaying the captured image of the photographic camera 1 on the display device 3 is particularly difficult when the photographic camera 1 captures the rear of the vehicle by viewing the captured image displayed on the display device 3 when moving backward. Driving operation can be performed while confirming safety.

The car navigation device 2 has a control circuit 4 as a control means, the display device 3, a position detector 5 as a current position acquisition means, a map data input device 6 as a map data acquisition means, and an operation means. An operation switch group 7, a voice guidance / voice recognition device 8, a remote control sensor 10 for detecting a signal from a remote controller 9, an external memory 11 and the like are connected.
The control circuit 4 is configured as a microcomputer, and includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and an I / O interface (all not shown). Among these, the ROM stores a navigation program and the like, and the RAM temporarily stores processing data when the program is executed, map data acquired from the map data input device 6, and the like.

  The position detector 5 includes a geomagnetic sensor 12 for detecting an absolute azimuth, a gyroscope 13 for detecting a yaw angular velocity (yaw rate), a vehicle speed sensor 14 for detecting a travel distance of the vehicle, and an artificial satellite for GPS. The GPS receiver 15 is configured to receive a signal, and is a part for calculating current position information (longitude / latitude information) and a traveling direction of the vehicle. This position detector 5 has detection errors with different properties, so that the position detector 5 performs high-accuracy position detection while interpolating the detection errors with each other. However, the current position is detected with the required detection accuracy. It is not necessary to provide all the components as long as they can be calculated.

  The map data input device 6 is for reading map data from a large-capacity information recording medium such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM as storage means. As the information recording medium, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, a large-capacity memory card, or the like can be used. The map data stored in the information recording medium includes map information and facility information.

The display device 3 includes, for example, a color liquid crystal display (display screen) for displaying a map. The operation switch group 7 includes a mechanical switch 16 disposed around the display device 3, a touch panel 17 formed on the color liquid crystal display of the display device 3, and the like, and a control circuit that inputs various data and setting items. 4 is provided for feeding. The remote controller 9 is also provided as an operating means in the same way as the operation switch group 7, and the remote control sensor 10 receives an operation input from the remote controller 9 and gives it to the control circuit 4.
The voice guidance / voice recognition device 8 includes a voice synthesis circuit, an amplifier, a speaker, and the like, and can generate an arbitrary voice output according to voice information from the control circuit 2. In addition, the voice guidance / voice recognition device 8 recognizes human voice and inputs voice recognition information to the control circuit 4 so as to execute processing according to the content of the voice.

  In addition to the basic function of executing a map matching process for positioning the current position on the map, the control circuit 4 receives point data such as a destination or a waypoint from the operation switch group 7 or the remote controller 9. A route calculation function that performs a route search operation from the current position to the destination based on the point data using, for example, the Dijkstra method, and displays a guidance route on the map screen according to the route search result (so-called reroute search) Well-known support functions such as a route guidance function for performing various guides by voice from the voice guidance / voice recognition device 8 or display on the display device 3 based on the guidance route obtained by this function. It has.

  The above-described photographing camera 1 is connected to the control circuit 4 via the image processing device 18. The image signal photographed by the photographing camera 1 is processed by the image processing device 18 and sent to the control circuit 4, and the control circuit 4 shoots the display device 3 based on the image data given from the image processing device 18. An image taken by the camera 1 is displayed.

  The control circuit 4 is connected to a mobile telephone 19 as a wireless communication means. The mobile telephone 19 communicates directly with the base station 20 and can be connected to the information center 22 via a communication network 21 such as a mobile telephone network or the Internet. Can also be connected. The information center 22 includes a control device 23 composed of one or a plurality of computers and a database 24 for storing various information. Then, when the mobile phone 19 transmits to the information center 22 a position (hereinafter referred to as an image acquisition desired position) where the mobile phone 19 wants to see the road condition in real time as a captured image of the imaging camera, the image acquisition desired position from the information center 22. Alternatively, it is possible to receive image information taken by the camera 1 from a vehicle traveling nearby.

The operation of the mobile telephone 19 for receiving photographed image information from other vehicles is performed under the control of the control circuit 4, and the control program in this case is a nonvolatile memory such as a ROM included in the control circuit 4. Stored in memory. Hereinafter, the control operation of the control circuit 4 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.
The vehicle control circuit 4 repeatedly executes the current position transmission routine of FIG. 2A, the image acquisition routine of FIG. 3A, and the image transmission routine of FIG. 3C in order at predetermined time intervals. It is like that.

  First, when the current position transmission routine is entered, the control circuit 4 detects the current position and traveling direction of the host vehicle from the position detector 5 (step A1), and position information of the current position (hereinafter simply referred to as current position information). .) And the traveling direction information together with information on the photographing direction of the photographing camera 1 (in front of or behind the vehicle) and an IP address which is identification information for communication on the Internet from the mobile telephone 19 via the communication network 21. To the information center 22 (step A2).

  On the other hand, the control device 23 of the information center 22 is always in a state of monitoring whether the current position information has been transmitted to the information center 22 as shown in FIG. 2B (step B1). When the position information is transmitted, the current position information is acquired together with the traveling direction information, the shooting direction information, and the IP address (“YES” in step B1, step B2). Then, the control device 23 updates the information about the same IP address already stored in the database 24 to the latest information acquired this time (step B3), and returns to the first step B1.

  Now, for example, in FIG. 5, the host vehicle is V, the vehicle traveling on the road L on which the host vehicle V is traveling in the same direction as the host vehicle V is Va, Vb, Vc..., And the opposite lane is in the opposite direction. Let the traveling vehicle be Ma, Mb... On the screen of the display device 3 on which a road map around the host vehicle is displayed, a traffic jam occurs in the front direction of the host vehicle V, and the road condition at the head position of the host vehicle V is viewed as a captured image. Suppose that the part corresponding to the head position of the traffic jam is touched with the finger as the image acquisition desired position P.

  Then, in the image acquisition routine of FIG. 3A, the control circuit 4 detects the touch position on the screen of the display device 3 on which the road map is displayed from the detection signal of the touch panel 17 as the touch position detection means. Then, the desired image acquisition position P on the map is detected from the touch position, and the desired image acquisition position information is transmitted from the mobile phone 19 to the information center 22 together with the IP address (“YES” in step C1, step C2). ).

  When the control device 23 of the information center 22 receives the image acquisition desired position information (“YES” in step D1), the control device 23 searches the database 24 (step D2), and a range of a predetermined distance (Am) before and after the image acquisition desired position P. Is selected (step D3; selection means). If there is no vehicle within the range of Am (“NO” in step D4), the control device 23 displays “There is no corresponding vehicle that can transmit an image” in the IP address of the vehicle that transmitted the desired image acquisition position. Is transmitted (step D8), and the process returns to the original step D1. Note that Am is taken within a certain time (for example, about 3 minutes), taking into account the moving speed and traveling direction of the vehicle, to the longest distance that can be satisfactorily displayed when the image is taken by the photographing camera 1 and displayed on the display device 3. This is the distance that includes the distance that the vehicle is expected to reach at the desired image acquisition position.

  When the vehicle exists within the range Am before and after the desired image acquisition position (“YES” in step D4), the control device 23 next determines the traveling direction of the vehicle, and subsequently determines the shooting direction of the shooting camera 1. to decide. That is, if the traveling direction of the vehicle is a direction approaching the image acquisition desired position P as in the vehicles Va, Vb, Vc... Shown in FIG. The image acquisition desired position P can be photographed, but if the photographing direction is backward, the image acquisition base position P cannot be photographed. Conversely, when the traveling direction of the vehicle is a direction away from the image acquisition desired position P (a vehicle traveling on the opposite lane) as in the vehicles Ma, Mb... Shown in FIG. If it is forward, the desired image acquisition position P cannot be photographed, but if the photographing direction is backward, it is possible to photograph the desired image acquisition position.

  Therefore, there is a vehicle in which the traveling direction of the vehicle approaches the image acquisition desired position P and the photographing direction of the photographing camera 1 is forward (“YES” in step D5, “YES” in step D6), or When there is a vehicle in which the traveling direction of the vehicle is away from the image acquisition desired position P and the photographing direction of the photographing camera 1 is backward (“NO” in step D5, “YES” in step D7), the control device Next, 23 selects the vehicle closest to the desired image acquisition position P among the vehicles capable of photographing the desired image acquisition position P (step D9), and requests the IP address of the vehicle to acquire the image. The position is transmitted to the vehicle (here, the own vehicle V) that has transmitted the position (step D10; identification information transmitting means), and the process returns to step D1.

  When there is no vehicle that can photograph the desired image acquisition position P (“YES” in step D5, “NO” in step D6, “NO” in step D5, “NO” in step D7)) Then, the control device 23 transmits a message that “there is no corresponding vehicle that can transmit an image” to the IP address of the vehicle that has transmitted the image acquisition desired position (step D8), and returns to the original step D1.

  Note that steps D5 to D7 in FIG. 3B are described so as to be applicable when there is one vehicle within the range of Am before and after the desired image acquisition position. When there are a plurality of vehicles, steps D5 to D7 (photographable judgment means) in FIG. 3B are performed for each vehicle, and when there is no vehicle capable of photographing the desired image acquisition position, The process proceeds to D8.

  Here, if another vehicle capable of photographing the image acquisition desired position P, for example, the vehicle Va in FIG. 5 can be photographed, the control device 23 of the information center 22 transmits the IP address of the vehicle Va to the vehicle V. . When the mobile phone 19 of the vehicle V receives the IP address of the other vehicle Ma, the control circuit 4 acquires the IP address of the other vehicle Va (step C3), and then the photographing camera 1 with respect to the IP address. An image transmission request is sent to the effect that the image captured in step 1 is desired to be transmitted (step C4).

  Upon receiving the image transmission request, the control circuit 4 of the other vehicle Va makes “YES” in step E1 to determine whether or not there is an image transmission request in the image transmission routine of FIG. The fact that an image transmission request has been received is displayed by voice from the device 8 or on the display device 3 (step E2; reporting means). Then, when the driver performs an operation for permitting the image transmission request (“YES” in step E3), the control circuit 4 of the other vehicle Va causes the current position information, Along with the traveling direction information and the shooting direction information, the mobile telephone 19 transmits the image transmission request to the IP address of the vehicle V that has requested the transmission (step E4).

  The control circuit 4 of the vehicle V that has received the captured image displays the received image information on the display device 3 (“YES” in step C5, step C6). Thereafter, the control circuit 4 receives the captured image from the current position and the imaging direction of the other vehicle Va that transmits the image information until the imaging camera 1 of the other vehicle Va moves to a position where the desired image acquisition position P cannot be captured. (“YES” in step C7, “NO” in step C8, “NO” in step C7, “NO” in step C9)). Here, since the traveling direction of the other vehicle Va is a direction approaching the image acquisition desired position P, the captured image is transmitted from the other vehicle Va until the vehicle va passes the image acquisition desired position P.

  When the control circuit 4 of the host vehicle V determines that the desired image acquisition position P is out of the position where the image acquisition desired position P can be captured from the current position of the vehicle Va that transmits the image and the capturing direction (“YES” in step C8 or step C9). "YES"), the image reception from the vehicle Ma is stopped (step C10). Then, if there is an image reception stop operation (“YES” in step C10), the control circuit 4 of the host vehicle V ends the image acquisition routine. If there is no image reception stop operation (“NO” in step C11), the process returns to step C2 to transmit the image acquisition desired position P to the information center 22 again. Send images taken from other vehicles. Steps C7 to C9 function as a photographic range determination unit.

On the other hand, when the vehicle Va that wants to receive the image disconnects the image reception, the control circuit 4 of the vehicle Ma that has transmitted the captured image until that time stops transmitting the captured image by the capturing camera 1 ("YES" in step E5). "), The image transmission routine is terminated.
When the driver of the other vehicle Ma that has received the image transmission request rejects the image transmission, the control circuit 4 of the host vehicle V determines “NO” in step C5 because it does not receive the image information. Return to Step C2.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, a vehicle capable of capturing an image acquisition desired position is detected, and an image captured by the imaging camera 1 mounted on the vehicle is directly transmitted to a vehicle that desires image acquisition. The captured image at the desired position can be displayed on the display device 3 in real time. In addition, since the image information is directly transmitted and received between the vehicles without going through the information center 22, the information center 22 does not require a large facility for storing the image information.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. This embodiment differs from the first embodiment described above in that an image taken by the photographing camera 1 is stored and the stored image is transmitted to a vehicle that has requested transmission. In this embodiment, the image photographed by the photographing camera 1 is stored in the image memory 25 shown in FIG. Further, although not shown, the control circuit 4 has a clock circuit as time measuring means, and counts the current time (including date and time). In the following description, it is assumed that the photographing camera 1 photographs the front of the vehicle when photographing a road.

  Now, the vehicle control circuit 4 repeatedly executes the photographing routine shown in FIG. 7A, the image acquisition routine shown in FIG. 8, and the image transmission routine shown in FIG. 10 at predetermined time intervals. First, when the photographing routine of FIG. 7 is entered, the control circuit 4 determines whether or not a preset erasing set time has elapsed since the previous photographing (step F1), and that time has not elapsed. In case, it is a return.

  When the set time for erasing has elapsed, the control circuit 4 transmits a photographic image information erasing request signal together with the IP address to the information center 22 (step F2). When the control device 23 of the information center 22 receives the photographed image information erasure request signal (“YES” in step G1), it confirms from the database 24 that there is no other vehicle using the photographed image of the vehicle. Then, an erasure permission signal is transmitted to the vehicle (“YES” in step G2, step G3).

  Upon receiving the erasure permission signal (“YES” in step F3), the vehicle control circuit 4 confirms that no other vehicle is accessing (“NO” in step F4), and then obtains the previous captured image information. Erasing from the image memory 25 (step F5). Next, the control circuit 4 confirms that the photographing camera 1 is not used for another purpose other than road photographing (“YES” in step F6), and then performs a predetermined photographing time (for example, by the photographing camera 1). The road is photographed for 5 minutes and the photographed image is stored in the image memory 25 (step F7). At the same time, the shooting start time and the shooting end time, the shooting start position and the traveling direction, the shooting end position and the traveling direction, and the position and the traveling direction every predetermined interval time (for example, 2 seconds) from the shooting start are also used for the image. Store in the memory 25.

  When the shooting of the road map is finished, the control circuit 5 confirms that the shot image is normally stored in the image memory 25 (“YES” in step F8), and then relates to the shot image in the information center 22. The information to be transmitted, that is, the shooting start position and the shooting end position, the position at each predetermined time interval, the traveling direction of each position, the shooting start time and the shooting end time are transmitted together with the IP address (step F9), and the process returns. The control device 23 of the information center 22 that has received the information related to the captured image, when the image related information is transmitted (“YES” in step G4), acquires the image related information (step G5), and the database. 24 (step G6).

  Now, as in the first embodiment described above, a traffic jam occurs in the forward direction of the vehicle, and an operation for acquiring image information is performed in order to view the road situation at the head position of the traffic jam as an image. Suppose that Then, when the control circuit 4 enters the execution of the routine of FIG. 8, first, the control circuit 4 displays a menu screen on the display device 3 (step H1). Then, on this menu screen, the user inputs the position where the image is desired to be acquired, and inputs the time zone where the image is required (the start time and the end time of the image) as the specified time information (step) H2). Since the desired image acquisition position is a point, a radius centered on that position is input as an allowable acquisition range.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 11, the control circuit 4 displays a confirmation screen on which the desired image acquisition position, the allowable acquisition range, and the specified time information are posted on the display device 3 (step H3). Then, the user confirms the input contents on the confirmation screen of the display device 3, and then presses the “search request to center” button on the confirmation screen (step H4). Then, the control circuit 4 transmits information on the content shown on the confirmation screen to the information center 22 as a search request signal together with the IP address of the host vehicle (step H6).

  When the control device 23 of the information center 22 receives the search request signal (step J1 in FIG. 9), the desired image acquisition position indicated by the search request signal, the allowable acquisition range centered on the position, and the specified time information are displayed. Based on this, the database 24 is searched for whether or not there is a vehicle that has captured images satisfying them (step J2). And if the control apparatus 23 finds the vehicle which has the image image | photographed at the time shown by the designated time information as the image acquisition desired position and its allowable acquisition range as a result of the search, the location and time taken for each vehicle The list (candidate list) is generated and transmitted to the vehicle that has output the search request (“YES” in step J3, step J4).

  The vehicle control circuit 4 that has received the candidate list displays the candidate reat on the display device 3 as shown in FIG. 12 (“YES” in step H7, step H8). When the user selects a desired vehicle from the candidate list, the control circuit 4 transmits information specifying the selected vehicle to the information center 22 (step H9). The control device 23 of the information center 22 that has received the information for identifying the selected vehicle searches the database 24 and ends the shooting, the IP address of the selected vehicle, the position and time at which the vehicle started shooting, The position, the time, and the position information every two seconds during shooting are transmitted as image shooting history information to the vehicle that wishes to acquire an image ("YES" in step J5, step J6). At this time, the database 24 describes that the photographed image of the selected vehicle is in use.

  The control circuit 4 of the vehicle that has acquired the image shooting history information displays the contents of the history information on the display device 3 based on the history information as shown in FIG. 13 and also displays a route from the shooting start position to the shooting end position. A map is displayed on the display device 3 (“YES” in step H10, step H11). If the user wants to see the history of other vehicles and see the history of this history, the user presses the information change button on the history information screen. Then, the control circuit 4 determines “YES” in Step H12, returns to Step H8, and redisplays the candidate list of FIG. Then, the history information of the desired vehicle is acquired from the information center 22, and the history information is displayed on the display device 3.

  When the “playback of moving route of photographed vehicle” button is pressed on the history information display screen, the control circuit 4 displays the position of the vehicle that changes over time on the vehicle movement route of the history information screen. When the “time setting” button is pressed (“YES” in step H13), the control circuit 4 displays the time setting screen shown in FIG. 14 on the display device 3. On this time setting screen, the vehicle is photographed. A start time and an end time at which an actual image acquisition is desired are set between the start time and the end time (step H14). When the user returns to the history information display screen and presses the “image acquisition” button, the control circuit 4 transmits information specifying the vehicle to the information center 22 (“YES” in step H15, step H16).

  When the information specifying the selected vehicle is received, the control device 23 of the information center 22 returns the IP address of the vehicle (“YES” in step J7, step J8). The control circuit 4 of the vehicle that has received the IP address transmits an image transmission request to the acquired IP address together with the shooting time information and its own IP address ("YES" in step H17, step H18). Upon entering the routine of FIG. 10, the vehicle control circuit 4 that has received the image transmission request reports that it has received the image transmission request by voice or a screen (“YES” in step K1, step K2).

  When the user performs a permission operation in response to the transmission request (step K3), the control circuit 4 determines whether or not there is a designation for the image capturing time. If there is no designation, the control circuit 4 directly stores it in the image memory 25. The stored image information is transmitted to the vehicle that has requested image transmission ("NO" in step K4, step k6). When the image transmission time is designated, the control circuit 4 extracts and transmits only the portion photographed during the time indicated in the designated photographing time information (“YES” in step K4, Step K5, Step K6).

  The control circuit 4 of the vehicle that has received the transmission of the image information displays the received image on the display device 3 as shown in FIG. 15 (“YES” in step H19, step H20). In this case, the currently displayed location is displayed by a road map shown on the same screen. If it is desired to stop displaying the captured image halfway, a stop operation is performed. Then, the control circuit 5 transmits a stop signal to the vehicle that is transmitting the image information (step H23). Then, the vehicle control circuit 4 that has transmitted the image information has transmitted all the images stored in the image memory 25 (“YES” in step k7) or has received a reception stop signal from the partner vehicle. (“YES” in step k8), the image transmission is terminated (step K9).

  On the other hand, if the vehicle that has received the image information has stopped transmission of the image information from the partner vehicle (“YES” in step H21) or has performed a stop operation, the vehicle transmits an image transmission stop signal to the partner vehicle. Transmit (step H23). Similarly, the control circuit 4 transmits an image display stop signal to the information center 22 (step H24). Then, the control device 23 of the information center 22 records that the photographed image of the vehicle that transmitted the image to the database 24 is not used (Step J10).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, an image of a desired location captured by the imaging camera of another vehicle can be displayed on the display device 3 of the own vehicle at a time slightly earlier than the current time, although it is not present. it can. In this case, since the image displayed on the display device 3 can be selected from those photographed by a plurality of vehicles, it is possible to see an image that suits the individual user's wishes. Moreover, it is possible to designate the time of shooting and view only the image of the designated time zone, and no unnecessary image is displayed.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and can be expanded or changed as follows.
The current position information does not necessarily have to be transmitted every predetermined time, and when the traveling speed falls below a predetermined value, or when it comes near the accident frequent occurrence point registered in the map data of the car navigation device 2 For example, it may be transmitted when it comes close to a point expected to be often designated as a desired position for image acquisition.
Information communication between moving bodies may be between vehicles, between a vehicle and a person, or between people.

The block diagram of the electric constitution which shows the 1st real form of the present invention. Flow chart for acquiring current position Flowchart for captured image acquisition Vehicle side view Illustration showing vehicles on the road The block diagram of the electric constitution which shows the 2nd Embodiment of this invention Flow chart for road photography Flowchart for captured image acquisition Flow chart showing control contents on the information center side when taking a captured image Flowchart showing control contents of photographed image providing side vehicle at the time of photographing image acquisition Figure showing the image acquisition condition confirmation screen The figure which shows a road photography list display screen Figure showing the image shooting history display screen The figure which shows the display screen for photographing image acquisition time setting The figure which shows the display screen of the acquired photographed image

Explanation of symbols

  In the drawings, 1 is a photographing camera, 2 is a car navigation device, 3 is a display device (display means), 4 is a control circuit (control means), 5 is a position detector (current position acquisition means), 17 is a touch panel, and 19 is a touch panel. A mobile telephone (wireless communication means), 22 is an information center, 23 is a control device (selection means, identification information transmitting means), 24 is a database, and 25 is an image memory.

Claims (10)

Information communication between the mobile body and the information center and between mobile bodies,
The moving body is
A photographing camera capable of photographing the road on which the moving body is moving;
Current position acquisition means for acquiring the current position of the mobile body;
Wireless communication means;
Display means for displaying image information;
When the position information of the current position acquired by the current position acquisition unit is transmitted from the wireless communication unit together with its own identification information for communication, and there is an operation input of a position where it is desired to acquire a road image, Control means for transmitting the position information of the desired image acquisition position from the wireless communication means together with the identification information,
The information center
A database for storing current position information transmitted from the mobile body together with the identification information;
When acquiring the position information of the image acquisition desired position, selection means for selecting identification information of the mobile object existing at or near the acquired image acquisition desired position according to the current position information accumulated in the database;
An identification information transmitting means for transmitting the identification information to the mobile body that issued the position information of the desired image acquisition position when the selection means selects the identification information of the mobile object existing at or near the desired image acquisition position; With
When acquiring the identification information of the other mobile unit transmitted from the information center, the control unit of the mobile unit transmits the image transmission request information indicating that the other mobile unit wishes to transmit the road image information. An image acquisition system characterized in that when it is transmitted together with identification information and road photographed image information is transmitted from the other moving body, the road photographed image information is displayed on the display means. When transmitting the current position information together with the identification information, the moving body control means transmits the traveling direction information indicating the traveling direction and the photographing direction information indicating the photographing direction of the photographing camera,
The selection means of the information center selects the moving direction information, the shooting direction information, and the identification information of the moving body existing at or near the desired image acquisition position based on the current position information stored in the database. The image acquisition system according to claim 1, wherein identification information of a moving body capable of capturing an image at the desired position of image acquisition is selected from the image.   When the road camera image information of the shooting camera is transmitted to another moving body, the control device of the moving body includes current position information, traveling direction information indicating a traveling direction, and shooting direction information indicating a shooting direction of the shooting camera. In addition, when the road photographed image information is received from another moving body, the image is taken by the photographing camera of the other moving body based on the current position information, the traveling direction information, and the photographing direction information of the other moving body. When it is determined that it is no longer possible to capture the desired acquisition position, the acquisition of road image information from the other moving object is stopped, and the position information of the desired image acquisition position is transmitted from the transmission unit together with its own identification information. The image acquisition system according to claim 1, wherein: The mobile body includes a car navigation device,
The image acquisition system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the operation input of the desired image acquisition position is performed by touching a location indicated on a map displayed by the car navigation device. Information communication between the mobile body and the information center and between mobile bodies,
The moving body is
A photographing camera capable of photographing the road on which the moving body is moving;
Current position acquisition means for acquiring the current position of the mobile body;
Wireless communication means;
A memory for storing a photographed image for a predetermined time when the photographing camera is activated;
Display means for displaying image information;
The shooting start position and start time acquired by the current position acquisition unit and the shooting end position and end time are transmitted from the wireless communication unit together with identification information for communication from the wireless communication unit to acquire a road shooting image. Control means for transmitting the position information of the desired image acquisition position from the wireless communication means together with the identification information,
The information center
A database for storing the start position and start time of shooting transmitted from the mobile body, and the end position and end time of shooting together with the identification information;
When acquiring the position information of the desired image acquisition position, a selection unit that selects identification information of the moving body having the acquired latest image according to the shooting start position and the shooting end position stored in the database;
When the selection means selects the identification information of the mobile body having the acquired latest image, the identification means includes an identification information transmission means for transmitting the identification information to the mobile body that has issued the position information of the desired image acquisition position. ,
When acquiring the identification information of the other mobile unit transmitted from the information center, the control unit of the mobile unit transmits the image transmission request information indicating that the other mobile unit wishes to transmit the road image information. An image acquisition system characterized in that when it is transmitted together with identification information and road photographed image information is transmitted from the other moving body, the road photographed image information is displayed on the display means.   6. The image according to claim 5, wherein the information transmitted from the information center includes a shooting start position and start time, and a shooting end position and end time of the shot image, in addition to the identification information of the moving object. Acquisition system.   When transmitting the image transmission request information together with its own identification information, it also transmits the specified time information specifying the start time and the end time when the captured image is required, and transmits the specified time from the other mobile unit. The image acquisition system according to claim 5 or 6, wherein when the road photographed image information is transmitted, the road photographed image information is displayed on the display means. The shooting start position and start time acquired by the current position acquisition means, the shooting end position and end time, and the identification information for communication are stored after the shooting image shot by the shooting camera is stored for a predetermined time. The image acquisition system according to claim 5, wherein the image acquisition system transmits the image. The shooting start position and start time transmitted to the information center, the shooting end position and end time, and its own identification information for communication are erased from the memory information storing the shot image shot by the shooting camera. 9. The image acquisition system according to claim 5, wherein information is transmitted to the information center so as to be invalid. 10. The image acquisition system according to claim 5, wherein the deletion of the memory information storing the photographed image is performed when a predetermined time has elapsed.

Images