JP2000137897A - Parking vehicle detection device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a parking vehicle detection device which can prevent erroneous detection and which can easily be installed. SOLUTION: Mobile object detection devices 103 and 104 whose monitoring range are set to be parking positions respectively are installed at the upper end of a pole 10 erected between the two parking positions 11 and 12. The mobile object detection devices judge whether the vehicles are parked in the parking positions by comparing two picture processing results when only a road is photographed and a case when the road and the vehicle are photographed. The output of the mobile object detection device is transmitted to a control box 105, is encoded and is sent to a management center through LAN 106.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a parked vehicle detection device, and more particularly to a parked vehicle detection device capable of detecting whether a vehicle is parked at a parking position in a parking lot.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Some devices for detecting whether or not a vehicle is parked at a parking position in a parking lot have been proposed. For example, there is a parked vehicle detection device that is provided with an ultrasonic sensor above a parking position and detects whether or not the vehicle is parked at the parking position based on a change in a distance measured when the vehicle is empty and when the vehicle is parked.

Further, there has been proposed a parked vehicle detection device in which a magnetic sensor or a loop coil is embedded in a parking position to detect whether or not a vehicle is parked in the parking position by detecting the presence or absence of metal.

[0004]

However, in a parked vehicle detection device using an ultrasonic sensor, a person or a juice can cannot be clearly distinguished from a vehicle. Further, in a parked vehicle detection device using a magnetic sensor or a loop coil, construction work for burying the magnetic sensor or the loop coil in the ground is required, which is economically disadvantageous.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a parked vehicle detection device which can prevent erroneous detection and can be easily installed.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a parked vehicle detection device which is installed above a parking position and has a monitoring range of the parking position. And parking detecting means for determining that the vehicle is parked at the parking position when detecting that the vehicle is present at the parking position which is the monitoring range of the vehicle.

In the present invention, when the moving object detecting means installed above the parking position detects a moving object within the monitoring range, it is determined that the vehicle is parked at the parking position. In the parked vehicle detection device according to a second aspect, the moving object detection means includes a camera, and an image processing unit that processes an image signal output from the camera.

In the present invention, a moving object is detected by processing an image taken by a camera. In the parked vehicle detection device according to a third aspect, the image processing unit may control the vehicle based on a comparison between a processing result when the camera captures only the background and a processing result when the camera also captures the vehicle. Is output.

In the present invention, the presence or absence of a vehicle is output by comparing the processing result of the image of the background only with the camera and the processing result of the image of the vehicle and the background. In the parked vehicle detection device according to a fourth aspect, the moving body detection unit sets the one parking position as a monitoring range. According to the present invention, only the parking position of the moving object detecting means is set as the monitoring range.

[0010] In the parked vehicle detection device according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the moving object detection means sets a plurality of parking positions as a monitoring range. According to the present invention, the moving body detecting means sets a plurality of parking positions as the monitoring range. A parked vehicle detection device according to a sixth invention is
The parking detecting means further includes an encoding means for encoding parking detection results of the plurality of moving object detecting means.

In the present invention, the encoding means encodes the parking detection results of the plurality of moving object detecting means.

[0012]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a parked vehicle detection device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a top view of the parked vehicle detection device according to the present invention, showing a state between two parking positions 11 and 12. There is a pole 10 in the back. Two arms 101 and 102 extending from the upper end of the pole 10 toward the center of the parking positions 11 and 12 are provided.

A moving object detecting apparatus 1 to which the image processing method is applied is provided at the distal ends of the two arms 101 and 102, respectively.
03 and 104 are attached. A control box 105 is attached to the pole 10, and a cable (not shown) penetrating the two arms 101 and 102 and the pole 10 is provided between the mobile object detection devices 103 and 104 and the control box 105. Connected by

Further, the control box 105 is connected to a LAN in the parking lot.
(Local Area Network) 106. FIG. 3 is a functional diagram of the moving object detection devices 103 and 104, and includes a camera a and an image processing unit b.
The image processing unit b processes the image signal output from the camera a using, for example, MPEG2. The processing result in the case where the vehicle is present at the parking position and the camera is photographing only the road surface, and the processing result in the case where the vehicle is present at the parking position and the camera is photographing the upper surface of the vehicle and the surrounding road surface When the result is compared with the result, when there is no vehicle in the field of view of camera a, “L”
A level signal is output when the vehicle is present, and an "H" level signal is output.

In the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the field of view of the moving object detecting device 103 is limited to the parking position 11 only.
04 is set only at the parking position 12, and when a vehicle exists at the parking position 11, the moving object detection device 103 is set.
Outputs an "H" level signal. In addition, parking position 12
When a vehicle is present in the vehicle, the mobile unit detection device 104 is set to “H”.
Output level signal.

Outputs of the mobile object detection devices 103 and 104 are transmitted to a control box 105 via a cable. FIG. 4 is an example of a configuration diagram of the control box 105, which is one type of microprocessor system. That is, an input interface d, a communication terminal e, a microprocessor f, and a memory g are provided around the bus c.

The input interface d is connected to the output cables of the two moving object detecting devices 103 and 104,
The communication terminal e is connected to a LAN 106 for transmitting information to a management center (not shown) of a parking lot. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an encoding routine executed by the microprocessor f, which is executed, for example, as an interrupt process every one second.

That is, in step 51, the input interface is accessed to read whether or not the vehicle is parked at the parking positions 11 and 12. In step 52, the parking situation is encoded, and in step 53, the parking situation encoded is output to the communication terminal e, and this routine ends. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the encoding, and the parking situation is represented as 2-bit data. The upper bit indicates the parking status of the parking position 11, and the lower bit indicates the parking status of the parking position 12.

Therefore, when there is no vehicle at both the parking positions 11 and 12, the data is "0,0". When a vehicle is present at the parking position 11 and no vehicle is present at the parking position 12, the data is "1, 0".
When the vehicle does not exist at the parking position 12 and the vehicle exists at the parking position 12, the data becomes "0, 1". When vehicles are present at both parking positions 11 and 12, the data is "1,
1 ".

The management center can grasp the parking situation by accessing the communication terminal e of the control box via the LAN 106. In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which a moving object detection device that sets only the parking position as a monitoring range is installed for each parking position. However, a single moving object detection device monitors a plurality of parking positions. Obviously, such cases are also included in the scope of the present invention.

Further, in the above embodiment, the moving object detecting device is supported by the pole and the arm. However, the moving object detecting device may be mounted on the ceiling in the indoor.

[0022]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reliably detect that the vehicle is parked at the parking position by the moving object detecting means installed above the parking position. According to the second aspect, a moving object can be detected by processing an image captured by a camera.

According to the third invention, it is possible for the camera to compare the processing result of the image of the background only with the processing result of the image of the vehicle and the background and output the presence or absence of the vehicle. According to the fourth aspect, the moving body detecting means can monitor only one parking position. According to the fifth aspect, the moving body detecting means can monitor a plurality of parking positions.

According to the sixth aspect, it is possible to encode and output the parking detection results of the plurality of moving object detecting means by the encoding means.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a parked vehicle detection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the parked vehicle detection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a functional diagram of the moving object detection device.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a control box.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an encoding routine.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of encoding.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Paul 11, 12 ... Parking position 103, 104 ... Moving body detection apparatus 105 ... Control box 106 ... LAN

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A moving body detecting means which is installed above a parking position and has a monitoring range based on the parking position; and a vehicle exists at a parking position where the moving body detecting means is a monitoring range of the moving body detecting means. And a parking detection unit that determines that the vehicle is parked at the parking position when the parking vehicle is detected. 2. The parked vehicle detection device according to claim 1, wherein the moving object detection unit includes a camera, and an image processing unit that processes an image signal output from the camera. 3. The image processing unit determines whether a vehicle is present based on a comparison between a processing result when the camera is capturing only a background and a processing result when the camera is capturing a vehicle. The parked vehicle detection device according to claim 2, which outputs the information. 4. The parked vehicle detection device according to claim 1, wherein the moving body detection means sets one parking position as a monitoring range. 5. The parked vehicle detection device according to claim 1, wherein the moving body detection means sets a plurality of parking positions as a monitoring range. 6. The parked vehicle detection device according to claim 4, wherein the parking detection unit further includes an encoding unit that encodes a parking detection result of the plurality of moving body detection units.