KR20080024610A - System of parking control and computation method - Google Patents

Abstract

A system for controlling parking and a counting method thereof are provided to process a flow of vehicles smoothly by permitting the vehicle to enter or go out from a parking lot quickly based on automatic vehicle recognition using a high speed image recognition technique, and manage the parking efficiently by checking the total number and a location of parked vehicles, and the number of vehicle to be parked correctly and quickly. An entering vehicle imaging part(100) captures an image of an entering vehicle at an entrance. An exiting vehicle imaging part(200) captures the image of the exiting vehicle at an exit. An inner side imaging camera(300) includes a plurality of inner cameras for capturing a current parking state of each parking section and ID information of the parked vehicle. A server(500) includes a database storing whole layout of the parking lot and a parking management program, stores the images received from each imaging part, calculates a parking charge, stores a vehicle number and a parking time/location extracted from the stored images, and calculates information for an available parking section and the total number of parked vehicles.

Description

Parking control system and counting method {SYSTEM OF PARKING CONTROL AND COMPUTATION METHOD}

1 is a view schematically showing a service provided by the parking control system of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram of a parking control system of a preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

3 is a view illustrating a counting method employed in the parking control system of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart schematically showing the counting method employed in the parking control system of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a parking control system and a counting method, and more particularly, to a parking control system and a counting method that can calculate the exact number of parking and parking position in the automatic parking control system.

As the number of vehicles is exploding, there has been a need for efficient parking management. However, current parking systems are lacking in terms of efficiency and convenience. For example, in a large parking lot of a department store or a mart, it is not easy to find an empty space for parking and a parking position of a parked vehicle. Thus, roaming more than necessary for parking can occur, and it is often necessary to waste time searching for parked vehicles. In order to solve these problems, a large parking lot is equipped with a number of parking management personnel to maintain efficient management and smooth vehicle flow. This is causing the cost increase because the labor costs must be paid as much. However, it does not completely solve the above problems such as finding an empty space for parking or finding a parked vehicle. Moreover, the conventional parking control and management system is difficult to accurately grasp the total number of vehicles that are currently parked, the empty space, the parking position of individual vehicles and the like.

Therefore, there is a need for a parking control system with more precise and accurate counting configuration.

The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the conventional parking system described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a parking control system that can accurately determine the parking position and count the number of parking.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a parking counting method using the improved parking control system of the present invention.

Parking control system according to the object of the present invention comprises: an entrance photographing unit for photographing to identify the vehicle installed in the entrance; A departure taking unit configured to photograph the vehicle installed at the exit to identify the exiting vehicle; An internal photographing unit in which a plurality of internal cameras are allocated to capture at least a current parking state and identification information of a parked vehicle at least in each unit section of the parking lot; A server unit having at least a database including the overall layout of the parking lot and a parking management program, which receives and stores the shooting information from the entry and exit shooting unit, receives and stores the shooting information of the internal shooting unit, and charges the parking fee. A server unit configured to settle, store at least a vehicle number, a parking time, and a parking position of the incoming and outgoing vehicles through the received photographing information, and calculates information on individual unit compartments that can be parked and information on the current total number of parking reserves; A management terminal connected to the server unit; And a passage monitoring photographing unit in which the entire area in the parking lot is divided into a plurality of sectors composed of a plurality of unit sections, and a plurality of surveillance cameras are allocated to monitor the passage for each sector. If the surveillance camera assigned to the (N + 1) th sector does not recognize the entry of the vehicle after recognizing that the vehicle has entered the passage of the corresponding sector through the surveillance camera assigned to the (N) th sector, The parking position is determined by determining that the vehicle is parked.

The incoming, outgoing, internal photographing unit and the passage monitoring photographing unit include: a camera photographing the incoming, outgoing and parking vehicle; And a vehicle number recognition module.

Preferably, when it is determined that the vehicle is parked in a particular sector (C), the vehicle of the vehicle parked in each unit compartment is photographed by an internal camera assigned to each unit compartment of the internal imaging unit corresponding to the sector (C). Recognize the number and update the information to the server's database.

A parking counting method using the improved parking control system, comprising: a photographing step of photographing at least a vehicle number of a vehicle to be entered; A first data updating step of updating the total number of parking spaces and the number of available parking spaces in the database with data including the vehicle number of the occupied vehicle; A parking sector determination step of determining a parking sector of the vehicle through a path monitoring photographing unit; A parking vehicle photographing step of photographing the parked vehicle so that the vehicle number can be identified through the internal photographing unit; A second data updating step of updating the parking available position data of the database with data including the parking position of the parking vehicle; A leaving-out photographing step of photographing at least a vehicle number of the outgoing vehicle; And a third data updating step of updating the total number of parking spaces and the number of available parking spaces in the database with data including the vehicle number of the vehicle being discharged, wherein the parking sector determination step is allocated to the (N) th sector (C). If the surveillance camera assigned to the (N + 1) th sector does not recognize the entry of the vehicle after recognizing that the vehicle has entered the passage of the corresponding sector through the surveillance camera that has been installed, the (N) th sector (C) It determines that the vehicle is parked and recognizes the parking position.

Preferably, when it is determined that the vehicle is parked in a specific sector (C), the parking vehicle photographing step and the second data updating step are photographed by an internal camera assigned to each unit section of the internal photographing unit corresponding to the sector (C). Then, the vehicle number of the vehicle parked in each unit compartment is recognized, and the information is updated in the database of the server.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a view schematically showing a total parking control system to which the parking control system of the present invention is applied.

The parking control system and the parking counting method of the present invention are applied to a total parking control system which is managed and controlled from entry to departure automatically using a server equipped with a high speed image recognition technology and a parking management program.

For reference, the parking control system to which the present invention is applied is a total parking control system having the following characteristics as a whole. The parking control system to which the parking counting method of the present invention can be applied, for example, manages a parking position of an individual vehicle by recognizing a vehicle number by photographing a vehicle that is parked as well as an incoming / outgoing vehicle. The information can be provided upon user search. Such a parking control system can guide a driver of a vehicle to be parked into an empty space that can be parked, and in addition to recognizing a vehicle number of entry / exit, photographing and storing an exterior to facilitate an accident confirmation during parking. The parking control system of the present invention can facilitate long-term parking vehicle management. It also adopts a vehicle protection configuration for taking and storing photographs of parking vehicles. In addition, it is possible to adopt a departure guide configuration for informing the driver of the vehicle leaving the parking situation and the external road situation. In addition, it is possible to monitor a parked vehicle through an internet connection and adopt a configuration that can be remotely operated to repair driving and self-failure.

Hereinafter, the parking control system and the parking counting method of the present invention in which the automatic and accurate parking counting method is performed will be described in detail.

2 is a block diagram of a parking control system of a preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

3 is a view illustrating a parking counting method using the parking control system of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart schematically showing the counting method employed in the parking control system of the present invention.

2 to 4, the parking control system and the counting method of the present invention will be described.

Parking control system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, with reference to Figures 2 and 3, basically the incoming and outgoing photographing unit 100, the parking lot photographing unit 200, the parking guide screen 610, the internal photographing unit ( 300, the passage monitoring photographing unit, the server unit 500.

Here, the path monitoring photographing unit, with reference to Fig. 3, a plurality of sectors composed of a plurality of unit divisions (da-1, da-2, da-3, da-4 ...) And a plurality of surveillance cameras 311, 312, 313, and 314, each of which is allocated to monitor the passage for each sector. The path monitoring photographing unit is illustrated as sharing the control box 301 of the internal photographing unit 300 which will be described later. However, as an example, it may be provided with a separate control box.

Also, with reference to FIG. 2, the entrance and exit imaging unit 100 and the exit imaging unit 200 are preferably sensors 104 and 204 for detecting vehicles A and C, for example, infrared sensors, and the like. It includes the same sensor, the entrance / exit cameras 102, 202, the vehicle number recognition module for photographing vehicles entering and leaving according to the signals of the detection sensors (104,204). In addition, each incoming and outgoing photographing unit 100 and the outgoing photographing unit 200 constituting the entrance / exit photographing unit 100 and 200 may be photographed before and after being photographed without using a separate sensor 104 or 204. The image is compared and recognized as a movement of the vehicle when there is a change, and thus the vehicle number may be recognized. The vehicle number recognition module is a technology for recognizing an image at a very high speed, and captures an image, scans the image, and recognizes a character there. It also includes a technique for selecting areas of recognition in the entire captured image. Preferably, the vehicle number recognition module may be included in the control box (101, 201, 301) including an image capture board, image control board and recognition software. Components of the control box (101, 201, 301) may be included in a separate PC, or may be included in the server unit 500 to be described later. In addition, these control boxes 101 and 201 may be integrally formed with the control box 301 of the internal photographing unit 300 to be described later.

Referring to FIG. 2, the parking control system of the present invention is sequentially described. First, when the vehicle A enters the entrance for entering the vehicle, the sensor 104 first detects the signal and sends a signal to the control box 101. . The control box 101 performs shooting by operating the incoming photographing camera 102, and the control box 101 recognizes the vehicle number. The recognized vehicle number is transmitted to the server 500 and stored in the database. At this time, the data on the total number of parking and the number of available parking of the parking lot is updated (first data updating step).

3, in order to park into the desired unit compartment or guided unit compartment, the vehicle passes a passage in front of a sector (a, b, or d). For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when parking in the (C-3) unit compartment of the (C) sector, the surveillance cameras 311 (N-2), 312 (N-1) and 313 (N) Until then, images of the vehicle passing through are sequentially recognized and recognized, but images of the vehicle are not captured by the camera immediately after the surveillance camera 313 (N), that is, the surveillance camera 314 (N + 1). In this case, therefore, the vehicle can be determined to have parked in the (C) sector (parking sector determination step).

If the parking sector is determined, referring to FIG. 3, the vehicle is parked through each of the internal photographing cameras 302A to 302D of the internal photographing unit 300 of the corresponding sector (C) to recognize the vehicle number. (Parking vehicle shooting step). In this case, for example, the vehicle number of all the vehicles parked in the sector (C) can be recognized and compared with the previous data, the position of the corresponding unit section (C-3) which is changed can be accurately found. The internal photographing unit 300 includes an internal photographing camera 302A to 302D so as to photograph the current parking state and identification information of the parked vehicle at least in each of the unit compartments (d-1, multi-2, multi-3 and multi-4) in the parking lot. ) Is placed. Therefore, the internal photographing unit 300 includes a plurality of internal photographing cameras 302A to 302D and a vehicle number recognition module included in the control box 301 as described above.

Then, when the parking position of the vehicle is recognized, the data including the parking position is updated to the database (second data update step).

Subsequently, referring to FIG. 2, a departure / exit shooting step of photographing the vehicle to be at least recognized to recognize the vehicle number is performed as in the case of entering the vehicle.

Finally, the total number of parking spaces and the number of available parking spaces of the database are updated with data including the vehicle number of the vehicle being discharged (third data update step).

For reference, the characteristics that the parking control system of the present invention may further include will be described. Parking control system of the present invention, as shown in Figure 2, preferably at the entrance / exit includes a plurality of exterior photographing cameras 203 for photographing the appearance of the vehicle (A, C) entering / leaving. Therefore, by comparing the appearance image or the image of the incoming and outgoing vehicle, it is possible to confirm the appearance change of the vehicle during parking. Preferably, the appearance photographing camera 203 includes at least four cameras to photograph at four corners of the vehicle. The image photographed by the exterior photographing camera 203 is stored in the server unit 500 as an image or captured and stored as an image. By storing the image of the appearance at the time of parking and the appearance at the time of leaving the parking lot, it is helpful in solving problems such as an accident that may occur during parking. For example, when a scratch or the like occurs in a vehicle, it may be used as a judgment / evidence data to determine whether such a scratch occurs in the parking lot or outside the parking lot. In addition, when the results of the internal photographing unit 300 to be described later, and the combined comparison of the recording of the direction of the scratch, the parking time, and the like, the causal relationship will be found more easily.

In addition, referring to Figure 2, after the vehicle enters through the entrance, the parking management program of the server unit 500, through the parking guide screen 610, to display the parking available unit block. The display preferably displays, in addition to the layout, the parkable unit compartment by, for example, flashing red. With this arrangement, the driver will be able to immediately find an empty space without having to roam the parking lot to find a parking space. This is automatically achieved even in the case of large parking lots, to smooth the flow.

When parking is made in the parking unit section (C-3), the above-described internal photographing unit 300 photographs and recognizes the vehicle number of the parked vehicle and updates the information of the database of the server unit 500.

The server unit 500 includes a database including at least a parking lot layout and a server in which a parking management program is embedded. Therefore, the server 500 receives and stores the photographing information from the incoming and outgoing photographing unit 200, and receives and stores the photographing information of the internal photographing unit 300. At least the vehicle number, the parking time and the parking position of the entering and leaving vehicles are stored in the database through the received photographing information. The parking management program extracts the individual unit compartments that can be parked and calculates information on the current total number of parking lots. The information stored in this database is preferably updated in real time. In addition, since the image information may have a very large data capacity, the image information may be stored in the control boxes 101, 201 and 301, and only the remaining photographing information may be extracted and stored in the server 500.

Subsequently, referring to FIG. 2, the parking control system of the present invention includes a plurality of search terminals 900 connected to the server unit 500. The search terminal 900 provides search information including at least parking position information of the search target vehicle at the time of input for the search. The search terminal 900 displays a display screen including a route to search for a vehicle to be searched and may be a kiosk, a PC, a wireless terminal, a home gate, or a home server. Also preferably the parking information provided may be provided as voice information. Specifically, when the searcher inputs the number, symbol or character of the license plate through the input unit of the kiosk, the display screen of the kiosk displays the parking lot layout displaying the parking position of the search target vehicle and the searcher's current position. More preferably, the shortest path line connecting the two positions can be displayed together.

Referring to FIG. 2, the parking control system of the present invention includes a plurality of management terminals 800. The parking management program of the server unit 500 includes a program code for a multi-window function. Accordingly, at least the management terminal 800 may be implemented as a multi-display screen using a GUI map, and multi-display and / or multitasking may be performed for a plurality of parking areas. Through the monitor of one management terminal 800, the manager can display and monitor the screens of various parking areas.

Referring back to Figures 1 and 2, the parking control system of the present invention provides a monitoring service over the Internet. To this end, the server unit 500, the management terminal 800 and the search terminal 900 of the present invention is connected to a network, the network is connected to the Internet.

Therefore, the parking including the parking position of the individual vehicle through the fixed 910 and / or mobile terminal 920 to access the network by wire / wireless from another location in the building belonging to the network, or to the network via the Internet. Enables searching of information and / or monitoring of parking conditions. For example, the mobile communication terminal 920 accesses the server 500 through an internet connection, and monitors a video of a parked vehicle. For monitoring, as described above

Like a search through a search terminal 900 such as a kiosk, a PC, a wireless terminal, a home gate or a home server, a vehicle number is input. Then, the management program of the server unit 500 extracts the parking information of the vehicle from the database. Subsequently, the vehicle is photographed through the internal photographing cameras 302A to 302D closest to the parking position of the vehicle, and the image is transmitted. The parking information about the parking time and the parking position of the vehicle may be provided along with the image. If necessary, the parking information can be clicked to display a detailed information, for example, a layout showing a path to a parked vehicle. By this configuration, the parking lot user can monitor the parked vehicle at any time, and can grasp information on the parking time and location of the currently parked vehicle.

In addition, the parking control system of the present invention may include a configuration for informing the driver of the vehicle (C) to be discharged to inform the fare settlement of the parking lot and the road conditions outside. Basically, at least one external photographing unit 400 photographing the road situation outside the parking lot may be achieved, and a road condition guide screen 620 displaying the external road condition photographed by the external photographing unit to the driver. Similarly, the external photographing unit 400 may include an external photographing camera 402 and a control box 402.

Preferably, the contents captured by the internal photographing unit 300 are stored so that the corresponding part can be reproduced when necessary. The content photographed by the internal photographing unit 300 records the occurrence of contact accidents or theft accidents that may occur during parking. Not only does this configuration lead to quick and accurate problem solving, but also psychological prevention.

The parking control system and the parking counting method of the present invention adopt a high-speed image recognition method to automatically identify and recognize a vehicle, thereby making it possible to smoothly flow the vehicle. In addition, it is possible to accurately and quickly determine the total number of parking, the number of available parking and the parking position of the individual vehicles to achieve efficient management. This parking counting method enables the addition of various additional services.

Claims (5)

In the parking control system: An entrance photographing unit photographed to identify a vehicle that is installed at an entrance; A departure taking unit configured to photograph the vehicle installed at the exit to identify the exiting vehicle; An internal photographing unit in which a plurality of internal cameras are allocated to capture at least a current parking state and identification information of a parked vehicle at least in each unit section of the parking lot; A server unit having at least a database including the overall layout of the parking lot and a parking management program, which receives and stores the shooting information from the entry and exit shooting unit, receives and stores the shooting information of the internal shooting unit, and charges the parking fee. The server unit stores at least the vehicle number, the parking time and the parking position of the incoming and outgoing vehicles through the received photographing information, and calculates information on the individual unit compartments that can be parked and information on the current total number of parking reserves. ; A management terminal connected to the server unit; A passage monitoring photographing unit which divides the entire area of the parking lot into a plurality of sectors composed of a plurality of unit compartments and allocates a plurality of surveillance cameras to monitor a passage for each sector; If the surveillance camera assigned to the (N) sector (C) recognizes that the vehicle has entered the passage of the sector, and the surveillance camera assigned to the (N + 1) sector does not recognize the entry of the vehicle. And a parking control system for recognizing a parking position by determining that the vehicle is parked in the (N) th sector (c). The method of claim 1, wherein the entrance, exit, internal photographing unit and passage monitoring photographing unit: A camera for photographing incoming, outgoing and parked vehicles; And Parking control system including a vehicle number recognition module. The method of claim 2, If it is determined that the vehicle is parked in a specific sector (C), the vehicle is photographed with an internal camera assigned to each unit section of the internal photographing unit corresponding to the sector (C), and the vehicle number of the vehicle parked in each unit compartment is recognized. Parking control system for updating the information to the server's database. A parking counting method using the parking control system of any one of the preceding claims: A photographing step of photographing at least a vehicle number of a vehicle in which the vehicle is received; A first data updating step of updating the total number of parking and the number of parking available in the database with data including the vehicle number of the occupied vehicle; A parking sector determination step of determining a sector to park the vehicle through the path monitoring photographing unit; A parking vehicle photographing step of photographing the parked vehicle so that the vehicle number can be identified through the internal photographing unit; A second data updating step of updating parking available position data of the database with data including a parking position of the parking vehicle; A leaving-out photographing step of photographing at least a vehicle number of the outgoing vehicle; And And a third data updating step of updating the total number of parking spaces and the number of available parking spaces of the database with data including the vehicle number of the outgoing vehicle, In the parking sector determination step, after recognizing that the vehicle enters the passage of the sector through the surveillance camera assigned to the (N) sector (c), the surveillance camera assigned to the (N + 1) sector The parking counting method of recognizing a parking position by determining that the vehicle is parked in the (N) th sector (C) when the entry of the vehicle is not recognized. The method of claim 4, wherein In the parking vehicle photographing step and the second data updating step, when it is determined that the vehicle is parked in a specific sector (C), the vehicle is photographed by an internal camera assigned to each unit section of the internal photographing unit corresponding to the sector (C). A parking number method of recognizing the vehicle number of the vehicle parked in each unit block and updating the information in the database of the server.

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