JP4419672B2 - Vehicle left behind prevention device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle forgotten object prevention apparatus for preventing an in-vehicle lost article.

  When the driver of the vehicle gets off the vehicle in a hurry, for example, if he / she forgets to put the necessary luggage on the seat in the rear seat, or the luggage placed on the seat falls under the seat while driving, The passenger may get off without noticing the luggage that has fallen down. In particular, if you forget valuables in the vehicle and get off the vehicle, there is a high possibility that it will become a target for roughing the vehicle, causing a disadvantage to the user.

However, conventionally, there has been no proposal for preventing the misplacement of luggage by photographing the situation inside the vehicle. As an invention for photographing and recognizing a situation in a vehicle, image data is acquired using a color image capturing unit, and a predetermined object is determined based on a difference in hue of each pixel in the image data. There is a vehicle situation recognition device that recognizes a situation inside and outside a vehicle even in a dim situation by extracting image data (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP-A-10-35320

  Since the invention described in Patent Document 1 does not recognize forgotten items in a vehicle, for example, even if an occupant has left a baggage in the vehicle, the forgotten item in the vehicle can be detected and notified. Can not.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an in-vehicle forgotten object prevention apparatus that prevents forgotten things in a vehicle.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the on-board photographing means for photographing and storing the state of the passenger compartment at the time of riding using the photographing means, and the state where the ignition key is not inserted into the key cylinder In addition, when the door is locked, when the vehicle is getting off, the vehicle interior condition when getting off is photographed and stored using the photographing means. The determination means for determining the presence or absence of a forgotten thing by comparing the situation in the passenger compartment at the time of getting off stored by the photographing means when getting off, and when the determination means determines that there is a forgotten thing, And a notification means for notifying.

  In this way, the determination means for determining the presence or absence of forgotten items by comparing the state of the passenger compartment when boarding stored by the photographing means when boarding and the situation of the passenger compartment when getting off stored by the photographing means when getting off, When it is determined by the means that there is something left behind, the information means for notifying the driver that there is something left behind is provided, so that it is possible to prevent items left behind in the vehicle.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the determination means includes a condition in the vehicle compartment when the passenger takes a picture taken by the photographing means at the time of boarding, and The location of the forgotten item can be determined based on the situation, and the notifying unit can also inform the driver of the location of the forgotten item determined by the determining unit .

In addition, as described in the third aspect of the present invention , the on-boarding photographing means can photograph the situation in the vehicle compartment at the time of boarding when the door is unlocked.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration of an in-vehicle lost article preventing apparatus according to the present invention, and a control circuit 18 of the navigation apparatus 1 is used as a main control unit of the in-vehicle lost article preventing apparatus. An image processing circuit 25 and a vehicle control device 26 are connected to the navigation device 1 via a cable, and a camera 24 that captures the interior of the vehicle and the outside of the vehicle is connected to the image processing circuit 25 via a cable. In addition, the control circuit 18 of the navigation device 1 transmits and receives various signals to and from the remote key 27, the light 28, and the horn 29 via the vehicle control device 26.

  The navigation device 1 includes a position detector 11, a map data input device 16, an operation switch group 17, an external memory 19, a display device 20, an external information input / output device 21, a remote control sensor 22, and a control circuit 18 connected thereto. ing.

  The position detector 11 includes a well-known geomagnetic sensor 12, a gyroscope 13, a distance sensor 14, and a GPS receiver 15 for GPS that detects the position of the vehicle based on radio waves from a satellite. Various signals detected by ˜15 are output to the control circuit 18. Since these sensors 12 to 15 have errors of different properties, a plurality of sensors are used in an auxiliary manner.

  The map data input device 16 is a device for inputting various data including so-called map matching data and map data for improving the position detection accuracy. As a storage medium for storing these various data, a CD-ROM, a DVD, a hard disk drive, or the like is generally used based on the data amount, but other media such as a memory card may be used.

  The external memory 19 is a storage unit provided separately from the inside of the control circuit 33, and is composed of a ROM, a RAM, or the like, and stores various data.

  The display device 20 includes a display screen such as a liquid crystal display and a speaker, displays the video on a display screen such as a liquid crystal display in accordance with a video signal from the control circuit 18, and displays an audio signal from the control circuit 18. In response, the speaker outputs the sound.

  The operation switch group 17 includes input devices such as a plurality of push button switches (mechanical switches) provided around the display screen of the display device 20 and a touch panel provided so as to overlap the display screen. A signal based on the depression of the touch panel and the touch on the touch panel is output to the control circuit 18.

  The external information input / output device 21 is a device that receives information provided from the outside and transmits information to the outside. Information received from the outside is processed by the control circuit 18, and the external information input / output device 21 transmits the information processed by the control circuit 18 to the outside if necessary.

  The remote control sensor 22 outputs to the control circuit 18 a signal received from the remote control 23 that transmits a radio signal using infrared rays or the like based on a user operation.

  The camera 24 is composed of a plurality of cameras installed in the passenger compartment, and in response to a signal from the control circuit 18, on the front passenger seat, on the front passenger seat, on the rear seat, on the rear seat, dashboard The situation inside the vehicle interior, such as above, is taken.

  The image processing circuit 25 has a memory (not shown) for storing an image of the interior of the vehicle taken by the camera 24. In this memory, a plurality of images obtained by photographing the interior of the vehicle by the camera 24 are stored. The image processing circuit 25 performs image recognition processing for recognizing shape data based on the brightness and coordinates of a plurality of images stored in the memory.

  The control circuit 18 is configured as a normal computer, and includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a flash memory, an I / O, and a bus line for connecting these configurations. The control circuit 18 includes a position detector 11, a map data input device 16, an operation switch group 17, an external memory 19, a display device 20, an external information input device 21, a remote control sensor 22, an image via an I / O as necessary. Signals are exchanged with the processing circuit 25 and the vehicle control device 26. In addition, the control circuit 18 matches a plurality of shape data obtained by the image recognition processing of the image processing circuit 25 and compares the images. As a shape data matching method, an existing image processing method may be used. In the present embodiment, images are compared by template matching.

  The vehicle control device 26 transmits and receives various signals to and from the remote key 27, the light 28, the horn 29, and the like.

  The remote key 27 has “LOCK” and “UNLOCK” operation switches (both not shown), and a signal for instructing locking (locking) of the door from the remote key 27 in response to depression of these operation switches. , A signal for instructing unlocking (unlocking) of the door is transmitted wirelessly.

  When the vehicle control device 26 receives a signal instructing to lock the door from the remote key 27, the vehicle control device 26 locks the door and outputs a signal indicating that the door is locked, and the remote key 27 unlocks the door. Is received, the door is unlocked and an unlock signal indicating that the door is unlocked is output. In addition to the signal from the remote key 27, the vehicle control device 26 locks and unlocks the door according to the operation of the door key or the door lock switch, and unlocks the signal indicating that the door is locked and the door. An unlock signal indicating that the lock has been obtained can be output.

  The remote key 27 has a vibration function that vibrates in response to a signal from the vehicle control device 26 and a speaker that emits a warning sound in response to a signal from the vehicle control device 26.

  The light 28 includes a front light, a rear light, a hazard lamp, and the like of the vehicle, and turns on, turns off, and blinks each light according to a signal from the vehicle control device 26.

  The horn 29 has a horn that sounds a warning sound, and sounds a warning sound in accordance with a signal from the vehicle control device 26.

  Further, the vehicle control device 26 receives a signal for detecting the insertion state of the ignition key into the key cylinder.

  In the above configuration, when the navigation device 1 is powered on, the control circuit 18 operates according to a program for the operation of the navigation device 1 and performs normal processing such as map display and route search. Further, the control circuit 18 performs the process shown in FIG. 2 in addition to the normal process described above, regardless of whether the navigation apparatus 1 is turned on or off.

  Next, the lost article notification process by the control circuit 18 will be described with reference to FIG. When the occupant presses the “UNLOCK” button of the remote key 27 before boarding, a signal instructing to unlock the door is transmitted from the remote key 27, and this signal is received by the vehicle control device 26. The vehicle control device 26 releases the door lock according to the signal for instructing the door unlocking, and outputs a release signal indicating that the door lock is released to the control circuit 18. The control circuit 18 starts the process shown in FIG. 2 in response to an input of a release signal indicating that the door is unlocked.

  First, when a release signal indicating that the door is unlocked is input from the vehicle control device 26, a signal for instructing photographing is transmitted to the camera 24 through the image processing circuit 25, and the camera 24 transmits the signal of the passenger seat. The vehicle interior is photographed on the seat, the feet of the passenger seat, the seats of the rear seat, the feet of the rear seat, the dashboard, etc. (step 100).

  The situation in the passenger compartment photographed by the camera 24 is stored in the memory of the image processing circuit 25 as an image at the time of boarding. At this time, since the occupant is in a state before getting into the vehicle, the occupant and the baggage brought in by the occupant are not photographed in the image when boarding.

  Thereafter, the occupant gets into the vehicle, inserts the ignition key into the key cylinder, starts the engine, and starts operation. When the operation is finished, the engine is stopped, the ignition key is removed from the key cylinder, and the “LOCK” button of the remote key 27 is pressed to lock the door. At this time, a signal indicating that the ignition key is not inserted into the key cylinder and a signal indicating that the door is locked are input to the control circuit 18 from the vehicle control device 26. That is, the control circuit 18 receives a locking signal when the door is locked in a state where the ignition key is not inserted into the key cylinder. The control circuit 18 determines whether or not the door is locked in a state where the ignition key is not inserted into the key cylinder based on whether or not the lock signal is input.

  Here, when it is determined that the lock signal is input when the door is locked without the ignition key being inserted into the key cylinder (YES in step 101), the camera 24 is caused to take a picture of the vehicle interior. (Step 102).

  The vehicle interior image taken by the camera 24 is stored in the memory of the image processing circuit 25 as an image when the user gets off the vehicle. At this time, the occupant is in a state after getting off the vehicle, and when the occupant has forgotten the baggage in the vehicle interior, the camera 24 takes a picture of the baggage that the occupant has forgotten in the vehicle interior.

  Then, by the image recognition processing of the image processing circuit 25, each image at the time of getting on and getting off stored in the memory of the image processing circuit 25 is recognized as shape data.

  Next, the control circuit 18 performs template matching using one of the shape data recognized from the image at the time of getting on and the shape data recognized from the image at the time of getting off as a template, and compares each image at the time of getting on and getting off. Perform (step 104).

  Then, it is determined whether or not there is a difference between the comparison results based on whether or not the matching rate satisfies a predetermined threshold (step 105).

  Here, when the matching rate satisfies a predetermined threshold value, it is determined that there is no difference in the comparison result between the image at the time of boarding and the image at the time of getting off (determined as NO in Step 105), that is, It is determined that there are no occupants left behind in the passenger compartment, and the process of FIG.

  In step 105, if the matching rate does not satisfy the defined threshold value, it is determined that there is a difference in the comparison result between each image when boarding and when getting off (determined as YES in step 105). That is, it is determined that there is something left behind for the passenger in the vehicle, and a warning operation is started. Specifically, warning operations such as vibrating the remote key 27, outputting a warning sound from the speaker of the remote key 27, blinking the light 28, and outputting a warning sound from the horn 29 are started as the warning operation. (Step 106).

  Then, after the start of the warning operation, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed, and the determination in step 107 is repeated until the predetermined time has elapsed (NO in step 107). Then, when a certain time has passed in step 107 (determined as YES in step 107), the warning operation is ended (step 108), and the processing in FIG. 2 is ended. In this embodiment, a warning operation is performed for 5 seconds as a fixed time.

  As described above, the in-vehicle left-behind prevention device captures the situation in the passenger compartment when the vehicle is boarded using the camera 24 and stores it in the memory of the image processing circuit 25 (100), and the situation in the passenger compartment when the passenger gets off the camera. 24 is taken and stored in the memory of the image processing circuit 25 (102), and the situation in the passenger compartment at the time of getting on is compared with the situation in the passenger compartment at the time of getting off to determine the presence or absence of forgotten items (105). When it is determined that there is something left behind, the notifying means (20, 27, 28, 29) informs the driver that there is something left behind, so that it is possible to prevent items left behind in the vehicle.

  Thus, for example, when the driver of the vehicle suddenly gets off the vehicle, for example, when the necessary luggage is left on the seat of the rear seat, or the luggage placed on the seat falls under the seat while driving If the passenger gets off without noticing the luggage that has fallen under the seat, the warning action described above will inform the driver that there is something left behind. Can do. In particular, misplaced valuables in a vehicle are more likely to become targets for roughing the vehicle, so it is beneficial to prevent misplacement of luggage.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 3 shows the overall configuration of the in-vehicle lost article preventing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in the first embodiment described above are denoted by the same reference numerals, description thereof is omitted, and only different parts will be described below. Compared with the configuration of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the configuration of the in-vehicle thing prevention device according to the present embodiment is provided with an RF tag reader 30 instead of the camera 24 and the image processing circuit 25. Different.

  The RF tag reader 30 is provided in the vehicle interior, and reads out data from RF tags (not shown) attached to personal belongings and products existing in the vehicle interior in a non-contact manner using radio waves or the like. Each RF tag stores RF tag information such as identification information (serial number) and product type (clothes, bags, etc.). When the RF tag reader 30 transmits a data transmission request signal to the RF tag according to the signal from the control circuit 18, the RF tag reader 30 receives the RF tag information transmitted from the RF tag and outputs it to the control circuit 18.

  Next, the lost article notification process by the control circuit 18 will be described with reference to FIG. When the occupant presses the “UNLOCK” button of the remote key 27 before boarding, a signal instructing to unlock the door is transmitted from the remote key 27, and this signal is received by the vehicle control device 26. The vehicle control device 26 releases the door lock according to the signal for instructing the door unlocking, and outputs a release signal indicating that the door lock is released to the control circuit 18. The control circuit 18 starts the process shown in FIG. 4 in response to an input of a release signal indicating that the door is unlocked.

  First, when a release signal indicating that the door is unlocked is input from the vehicle control device 26, an RF tag is added to the RF tag attached to a personal property or product existing in the passenger compartment via the RF tag reader 30. Read information. When there are a plurality of personal belongings and merchandise in the vehicle interior, the RF tag reader 30 reads RF tag information transmitted from a plurality of RF tags present in the vehicle interior. (200).

  Then, the RF tag information read from the RF tag through the RF tag reader 30 as described above is stored in a storage medium such as a RAM or a flash memory as RF tag information at the time of boarding.

  Thereafter, the occupant gets into the vehicle, inserts the ignition key into the key cylinder, starts the engine, and starts operation. When the operation is finished, the engine is stopped, the ignition key is removed from the key cylinder, and the “LOCK” button of the remote key 27 is pressed to lock the door. At this time, a signal indicating that the ignition key is not inserted into the key cylinder and a signal indicating that the door is locked are input to the control circuit 18 from the vehicle control device 26. That is, the control circuit 18 receives a locking signal when the door is locked in a state where the ignition key is not inserted into the key cylinder. The control circuit 18 determines whether or not the door is locked in a state where the ignition key is not inserted into the key cylinder based on whether or not the lock signal is input.

  Here, if it is determined that the lock signal when the door is locked without the ignition key being inserted into the key cylinder (YES in step 201), the vehicle is present in the vehicle compartment via the RF tag reader 30. The RF tag information is read out from the RF tag attached to the personal property or product to be sold (202).

  Then, the RF tag information read from the RF tag through the RF tag reader 30 in this manner is stored in a storage medium such as a RAM or a flash memory as RF tag information when the vehicle is alighted.

  Next, a comparison process is performed for comparing the RF tag information when getting on and the RF tag information when getting off (203).

  Then, it is determined whether there is a difference between the comparison results based on whether all the RF tag information at the time of boarding and the RF tag information at the time of getting off stored in the storage medium match (S204).

  Here, when all of the RF tag information at the time of boarding and the RF tag information at the time of getting off stored in the storage medium coincide with each other, it is determined that there is no difference between the comparison results (NO at step 204), that is, the vehicle It is determined that there are no occupants left behind in the room, and the process of FIG. 4 ends.

  Further, if the RF tag information at the time of boarding and the RF tag information at the time of getting off stored in the storage medium differ even partly, it is determined that there is a difference between the comparison results (YES in step 204), that is, in the vehicle It is determined that there is something left behind by the occupant, and a warning action is started. Specifically, warning operations such as vibrating the remote key 27, outputting a warning sound from the speaker of the remote key 27, blinking the light 28, and outputting a warning sound from the horn 29 are started as the warning operation. (Step 205).

  Then, after the start of the warning operation, it is determined whether or not a certain time has elapsed, and the determination in step 206 is repeated until the certain time has elapsed (NO in step 206). If a certain time has elapsed in step 206 (determined as YES in step 206), the warning operation is terminated (step 207), and the processing in FIG. 4 is terminated.

  Thereby, for example, when the driver of the vehicle suddenly gets off the vehicle, if the necessary luggage is left on the seat of the rear seat, or the luggage placed on the seat falls under the seat while driving, When the occupant gets off without noticing the luggage that has fallen under the seat, the warning operation described above notifies the driver that there is something left behind, so it is possible to prevent things left behind in the vehicle. .

  In addition, the in-vehicle left-behind prevention device according to the present embodiment does not require image processing that requires processing time, and therefore can perform high-speed processing.

  In the above-described embodiment, the on-board photographing means corresponds to the camera 24, the image processing device 25, and the control circuit 18 that instructs the camera 24 to photograph the state of the passenger compartment. 24, the image processing device 25 and the camera 24 correspond to the control circuit 18 instructing the photographing of the situation in the passenger compartment when getting off, the determination means and the comparison means correspond to the control circuit 18, and the notification means corresponds to the display device 20. Corresponds to the remote key 27, the light 28, and the horn 29. The means for photographing the vehicle interior condition is not limited to the camera 24, and other means may be used. The notification means is not limited to the display device 20, the remote key 27, the light 28, and the horn 29. Means may be used.

  The boarding RF tag information storage means corresponds to the RF tag reader 30 and the control circuit 18 that instructs the RF tag reader 30 to receive and store RF tag information transmitted from the RF tag in the passenger compartment when boarding. The RF tag information storage means corresponds to the RF tag reader 30 and the control circuit 18 that instructs the RF tag reader 30 to receive and store the RF tag information transmitted from the RF tag in the passenger compartment when getting off the vehicle.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented in various forms based on the gist of the present invention.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which an image captured by the camera 24 is subjected to image recognition processing by the image processing circuit 25 and shape data subjected to image recognition processing by the image processing circuit 25 is transmitted to the control circuit 18 has been described. Instead of providing the image processing circuit 25, the control circuit 18 may perform image recognition processing.

  In the above embodiment, an example is shown in which an image captured by the camera 24 is subjected to image recognition processing by the image processing circuit 25, and template matching is performed using shape data that has been subjected to image recognition processing by the image processing circuit 25. Images may be compared using image data before image recognition processing by the image processing circuit 25, that is, image data taken by the camera 24.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, the control circuit 18 recognizes that it is a boarding time by the cancellation | release signal which has shown that the lock | rock of the door input from the vehicle control apparatus 26 was cancelled | released, and the ignition key is not inserted in the key cylinder. Although an example of determining that the vehicle is getting off when a signal indicating that the door is locked and a signal indicating that the door is locked has been described, these conditions are merely examples and are limited to these conditions. For example, a load sensor for detecting that an occupant is seated on the seat is provided under each seat of the driver seat, the passenger seat, and the rear seat, and the signal from the load sensor and each vehicle door are provided. On the basis of a signal indicating the open / closed state of the door, it is possible to detect boarding or getting off of a passenger in the rear seat or the passenger seat.

  In this case, for example, when each door of the vehicle is opened and closed in a state where the seating of the occupant is not detected, the situation in the passenger compartment at the time of boarding is photographed by the camera 24, and the seating of the occupant is detected, and then the occupant again. When each door of the vehicle is opened and closed in a state where the seating of the vehicle is not detected, the situation in the passenger compartment at the time of getting off may be taken by the camera 24. In addition, for example, when the passenger 24 and passengers in the passenger seat or the rear seat take a picture of the interior of the passenger compartment and get off the vehicle 24 and the control circuit 18 determines that something is left behind, the display screen of the display device 20 blinks. It is also possible to notify the passengers in the driver's seat of forgotten items.

  Further, in the description of step 105 in FIG. 2 described above, when the matching rate does not satisfy the predetermined threshold value, the control circuit 18 extracts differences between the images at the time of getting on and getting off, and the difference. When the point is extracted, the position of the different part may be specified, and the display device 20 may notify information based on the specified position of the different part. For example, when a difference is extracted in each image taken on the seat of the rear seat when getting on and off, the control circuit 18 outputs a signal specifying that the position of the different portion is on the seat of the rear seat. Based on this signal, the display device 20 may perform a warning operation such as blinking display on the display screen that there is something left behind on the rear seat.

  In the above embodiment, the interior of the vehicle imaged by the camera 24 may be either a still image or a moving image. In addition, when photographing the situation in the vehicle interior with a moving image, at least one still image in the moving image at the time of getting on may be compared with at least one still image in the moving image at the time of getting off.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the interior of the vehicle is photographed by the camera 24 has been described. However, in addition to the interior of the vehicle, for example, luggage in a roof carrier, luggage in a trunk room, or the like may be photographed.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, before performing template matching using one of the images at the time of getting on and getting off stored in the memory of the image processing circuit 25 as a template, processing such as reducing shading is performed. Good.

  In addition, since there is a high possibility that the saturation, brightness, sun exposure, etc. of the images taken by the camera 24 are different when getting on and off the vehicle, a solar radiation sensor is provided, and the camera according to the signal from the solar radiation sensor By correcting the image captured by the image 24, the images can be compared more accurately.

1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an in-vehicle left-behind prevention device according to the present invention. 3 is a flowchart showing a left-behind item notification process by a control circuit 18; It is a figure which shows the whole structure of the in-vehicle thing prevention device which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the thing-notice thing notification process by the control circuit 18 in 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Navigation apparatus, 11 ... Position detector, 12 ... Geomagnetic sensor,
13 ... Gyroscope, 14 ... Distance sensor, 15 ... GPS receiver,
16 ... Map data input device, 17 ... Operation switch group, 18 ... Control circuit,
19 ... external memory, 20 ... display device, 21 ... external information input / output device,
22 ... Remote control sensor, 23 ... Remote control, 24 ... Camera, 25 ... Image processing device,
26 ... Vehicle control device, 27 ... Remote key, 28 ... Light, 29 ... Horn.

Claims (3)

A boarding photographing means for photographing and storing the situation in the passenger compartment during the boarding using the photographing means;
When the ignition key is not inserted into the key cylinder, and when the door is locked, when the vehicle is getting off, the vehicle interior state is captured and stored using the image capturing unit,
A determination means for determining the presence or absence of a forgotten thing by comparing the state of the passenger compartment at the time of boarding stored by the photographing means at the time of boarding and the state of the passenger compartment at the time of getting off stored by the photographing means at the time of getting off;
An in-vehicle forgotten object prevention device comprising: an informing means for informing the driver that there is a forgotten thing when the judging means determines that the forgotten thing is present.   The determination means determines the location of the forgotten item based on the situation in the vehicle compartment at the time of boarding taken by the photographing means at the time of boarding and the situation in the vehicle interior at the time of getting off photographed by the photographing means at the time of getting off. 2. The in-vehicle forgotten object prevention device according to claim 1, wherein the informing means informs the driver of the location of the forgotten thing determined by the determining means. The in-vehicle forgotten object prevention device according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the on-boarding photographing unit photographs a situation in the vehicle compartment at the time of boarding when the door is unlocked.

Images