JP2001147278A - Raindrop detecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a raindrop detecting device capable of actually detecting raindrops adhering to a windshield and appropriately detecting the amount of rainfall. SOLUTION: A forward area of a motor vehicle 5 through the windshield 6 of the motor vehicle 5 is imaged by a CCD camera (image pickup means) 2 in such a way as to include the wiping area of a wiper 8 to wipe the windshield 6. Past image data picked up by the CCD camera 2 is compared with image data picked up by the CCD camera 2 this time by a raindrop determining means 3 to obtain the moving direction of the image data of this time with respect to the past image data, and raindrops 9 adhering to the windshield 6 are detected on the basis of the moving direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a raindrop detecting device, and more particularly to a raindrop detecting device capable of detecting a raindrop adhering to a windshield of a vehicle and automatically driving a wiper provided in the vehicle. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A vehicle, for example, an automobile is provided with a wiper for wiping raindrops adhered to a windshield and restoring visibility of the windshield. At present, a vehicle driver manually operates the wiper by operating a wiper switch provided on the vehicle. However, recently, a raindrop detecting device has been developed which wipes raindrops attached to the windshield without operating the wiper switch.

[0003] Such raindrop detecting devices include those using an optical raindrop sensor and those equipped with a vibration detecting raindrop sensor. The raindrop detecting device using the optical raindrop sensor includes an optical sensor having a light receiving element and a light emitting element at a predetermined position (for example, a bonnet) of a vehicle, and the raindrop blocking an optical path between the light receiving element and the light emitting element. And the rainfall is estimated based on the light receiving state. The raindrop detecting device using the vibration detection type raindrop sensor includes a pressure-sensitive sensor at a predetermined position (for example, a bonnet) of a vehicle, and detects a raindrop colliding with the pressure-sensitive sensor by a voltage output of the pressure-sensitive sensor. It estimates rainfall.

[0004]

The raindrop detecting device provided with the optical sensor and the vibration sensor described above does not detect raindrops directly attached to the windshield in any case. There is a problem that a difference occurs between the output state and the actual amount of rain adhering to the windshield, so that proper wiper control cannot be obtained.

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a raindrop detecting device which pays attention to the above-mentioned problem and which can actually detect raindrops attached to a windshield and detect an appropriate amount of rainfall.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a photographing means for photographing the front of the vehicle through the windshield so as to include a wiping area of a wiper for wiping the windshield of the vehicle. Comparing the past image data photographed by the photographing means with the current image data photographed by the photographing means to determine a moving direction of the current image data with respect to the past image data; And a raindrop judging means for detecting raindrops attached to the windshield based on the above.

A photographing means for photographing the front of the vehicle through the windshield so as to include a wiping area of a wiper for wiping the windshield of the vehicle; and an edge of an image including raindrops photographed by the photographing means. Extraction is performed, binarization processing is performed on the edge-extracted area, and the binarized area is grouped.
A first raindrop determination is performed to obtain a plurality of shape feature amounts based on the grouped regions, and to obtain image data to be the raindrops attached to the windshield based on a comparison result of the shape feature amounts, The past image data associated with the first raindrop determination is compared with the current image data associated with the first raindrop determination to determine a moving direction of the current image data with respect to the past image data. Raindrop determining means for performing a second raindrop determination for detecting the raindrop attached to the windshield based on the raindrop.

Further, the raindrop determining means detects the raindrop as the raindrop adhering to the windshield when determining at least the upward direction in the determination of the moving direction.

[0009] Further, the range of the image captured by the photographing means is set on a road surface on which the vehicle travels.

The raindrop determining means detects the amount of the raindrop adhering to the windshield from the number of the raindrops or the total area of the area determined to be the raindrop within the cutout range. Things.

In the first raindrop determination by the raindrop determination means, a surrounding area in contact with a contour of the grouped area is obtained, and a reference area is obtained based on a longitudinal length of the surrounding area. The area of the reference area is compared with the area of the grouped area, and the raindrop adhering to the windshield is detected based on the comparison result.

[0012] In the first raindrop determination by the raindrop determination means, a reference area is obtained based on a longitudinal length of the grouped areas, and an area of the reference area is determined.
The area of the grouped regions is compared with each other, and the raindrops attached to the windshield are detected based on the comparison result.

[0013] The apparatus may further include wiper control means for controlling the operation of the wiper in accordance with the amount of the raindrop determined by the raindrop determination means.

Further, the wiper control means includes an on / off operation of the wiper, a switching between an intermittent operation and a continuous operation of the wiper, and a control of the intermittent operation in accordance with the amount of the raindrop obtained by the raindrop determination means. At least one of time adjustment and operation speed adjustment in the continuous operation is controlled.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1, a raindrop detecting device 1 includes a CCD.
It comprises a camera (photographing means) 2, a raindrop determining means 3, and a wiper control means 4.

The CCD camera 2 is disposed near a room mirror (not shown) disposed in a vehicle (for example, an automobile) 5, and captures an image in front of the vehicle 5 through a windshield 6. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the CCD camera 2 has a detection area composed of, for example, 640 × 480 pixels, and captures image data of only the road surface R portion of the front image. Imaging area 7. Note that the cut-out range of the imaging area 7 is set by the raindrop judging means 4, and
Is set in the area where the windshield 6 is wiped by the wiper 8 provided on the road surface R. FIG. 3 shows raindrops 9 attached to the windshield 6.

The raindrop determining means 3 includes an image processing means 3a,
A CPU 3b which is a control unit in the raindrop detecting device 1,
It is composed of a ROM 3c and a RAM 3d.

The image processing means 3a filters the front image taken through the windshield 6 by the image pickup area 7, that is, the image including the raindrops 9 (average value filter), removes noise, and takes in the captured image. Of the strong edge region in step (a), and performs a binarization process on the region from which the edge is extracted.

The CPU 3b uses the image processing means 3a to
The valued areas are grouped in predetermined pixel units (to be described in detail later), a plurality of shape features are obtained based on the grouped areas, and a comparison process of these shape features is performed. A first raindrop determination for obtaining image data as raindrops 9 attached to the windshield 6 is performed, and past image data associated with the first raindrop determination is compared with current image data associated with the first raindrop determination, A direction of movement of the current image data with respect to the past image data is determined, and a second raindrop determination (described later in detail) for detecting a raindrop 9 attached to the windshield 6 based on the direction of movement is performed. The raindrops 9 attached to the windshield 6 are detected, the amount of rainfall attached to the windshield 6 is determined, and the wiper 8 for wiping the windshield 6 is controlled based on the amount of rainfall.
Is controlled via the.

The ROM 3c stores a program for executing the above-described first and second raindrop determination and rainfall determination by the CPU 3b.
Read by U3b.

The RAM (storage means) 3d temporarily stores the calculation result of the CPU 3b, the determination result of the first raindrop determination, and the like.

The wiper control means 4 controls a drive motor for operating the wiper 8 based on a control signal output from the raindrop judging means 3, and controls the on / off operation of the wiper 8 and the intermittent drive of the wiper 8. Switching with driving, time interval variable control in the intermittent driving or driving speed variable control (adjustment of operation speed) in the continuous driving, and the like are controlled based on the rainfall determination result of the raindrop determination means 3.

Next, the processing procedure of raindrop detection and rainfall determination by the raindrop determination means 3 in the raindrop detection device 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.

The raindrop judging means 3 checks the presence or absence of an input from the automatic changeover switch 10 mounted on the vehicle 5, and judges whether or not the mode is the automatic rainfall detection mode (step S).
1) If it is determined that the mode is the automatic rainfall detection mode, the scene including the raindrops 9 in the image pickup area 7 shown in FIG. 3 is captured as image data, and the average processing (average value filter processing) of the image data is performed. A removal process is performed (step S2).

After performing the noise removal processing, the raindrop determination means 3 calculates the edge strength (differential processing) and extracts the strong edge area in the image including the raindrops 9 in the imaging area 7. (Step S
3).

The raindrop judging means 3 sets a pixel whose edge strength obtained by the edge extraction processing is equal to or more than a predetermined value as a black pixel,
A binarization process for setting other pixels as white pixels is performed (step S4). FIG. 5 shows an example in which an image including the raindrops 9 in the imaging area 7 is binarized.

The raindrop judging means 3 performs a labeling process for grouping all the black pixels existing in the vertical, horizontal and oblique directions within the binarized imaging area 7 as shown in FIG. Is executed (step S5). In the labeling process, the raindrop determining unit 4 groups the blocks into one group when the black pixels are continuous. When the black pixels are continuous with the white pixels separated from each other, the block determines each block. Is divided into groups.

After executing the labeling process, the raindrop judging means 3 obtains a shape feature amount for each group in a binarized group (hereinafter, referred to as a binarized area) in the imaging area 7 (step S6). ). The calculation method of the shape feature value in the embodiment of the present invention is as follows.

The raindrop judging means 3 obtains a square or rectangular surrounding area 12 which is in contact with the contour for each group in the binarized binarized areas 11 as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. The area s1 of the square of the length of the long side a which is the longitudinal direction in each side of the surrounding area 12
(= A × a) is obtained, and the area (shape feature amount) s1 of the reference region 13 and the area (shape feature amount) s2 of the binarized region 11 are calculated by the following equation. The degree of line segment L is calculated (step S7).

Nonlinearity L = Area of grouped binarized area (number of black pixels) / Area of reference area

In the present invention, the calculation of the degree of non-linearity L is based on the fact that the shape of the raindrop attached to the windshield 6 is a circle or an ellipse, and the raindrop with respect to the square area (the area of the reference area 12) is calculated. Area (grouped 2
By calculating the ratio of the area of the binarized region 11 (the degree of non-linearity L), that is, the ratio of the area s2 of the binarized region 11 to the area s1 of the reference region 13, a circular or elliptical raindrop in the imaging area 7 is obtained. The purpose is to detect only 9.

Next, the raindrop determining means 3 makes a first raindrop determination as to whether or not it is a raindrop 9 based on the degree of non-linearity L obtained in step S7 (step S8). When the degree of non-linearity is 0.5 or more (L ≧ 0.5), the raindrop determining unit 3 determines that the raindrop 9 is attached to the windshield 6 in the imaging area 7 (in the case of a circular or elliptical shape). Is the degree of non-linearity L becomes 0.5 or more), and when the degree of non-linearity is less than 0.5 (L <
0.5), it is determined that the imaging in the imaging area 7 is noise due to a linear object such as a white line on the road surface or another object.

The raindrop judging means 3 binarizes the binarized area (image data) 11 for which the non-linearity L is determined to be 0.5 or more in step S8 so as to execute the second raindrop judgment. The moving direction of the area 11 is calculated (step S
9).

If it is determined in step S8 that the binarized area 11 is not a raindrop (L <0.5) in step S8, the binarized area 11 Is determined as a non-raindrop region and ignored (step S1).
0).

The second raindrop determination in step S11 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 shows that the raindrop determining means 3 has determined that the raindrop 9 is the raindrop 9 in step S8.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a case where the binarized area 11 is noise due to characters or white lines drawn on the road surface R, and FIG. 8 illustrates a binary image determined by the raindrop determining unit 3 to be the raindrop 9 in step S8. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a case where a simulated area 11 is an actual raindrop.

The raindrop judging means 3 outputs a binarized area (past image data) 11a (previously referred to as a previous binarized area) determined to be a raindrop 9 in the first (previous) first raindrop judgment in step S8. ) Is compared with a binarized area (current image data) 11b (hereinafter, referred to as a current binarized area) determined to be a raindrop 9 in the current raindrop determination in step S8. This area 2 from area 11a
For example, when the binarized area 11b is moving in the downward direction (see FIGS. 7A and 7B), it is determined that the binarized area 11b is a non-raindrop area which is noise caused by characters or white lines drawn on the road surface R. Then, the process proceeds to step S10 (step S11).

Further, the raindrop judging means 3 compares the previous binarized area 11a with the current binarized area 11b, and finds that the current binarized area 11b is smaller than the previous binarized area 11a, for example. When moving upward (FIGS. 8A and 8B)
), It is determined that the raindrop 9 is attached to the windshield 6.

In the above-described second raindrop determination in step S11, since the image data input from the image pickup area 7 is data including the road surface R, the image of the road surface R is taken when the vehicle 5 is running. The binarized area 11) moves downward in the imaging area 7, whereas the raindrop (binarized area 11) 9 adheres to the windshield 6 when the vehicle 5 is running. The determination is based on the fact that the vehicle is stationary, moves upward, or moves in the horizontal direction. Therefore, in the second raindrop determination in step S8, it is determined that the upward direction is the raindrop, but the binarized area stopped at that position or the binarized area moved in the horizontal direction is also the raindrop 9. Is determined.

In the determination of the moving direction of the raindrop determining means 3 in step S11, it is determined whether or not the raindrop 9 is obtained by estimating a moving vector by, for example, shape matching. For example, in the imaging area 7,
The previous binarized area 11 obtained by the first raindrop determination
By searching a predetermined area for a binarized area having a distance closest to the detection position a and having substantially the same total area as the previous binarized area 11a, the current binarized area 11a is searched.
Which direction b has moved can be determined.

The binarized area 11 determined to be the raindrop 9 by the above-described second raindrop determination is subjected to the following processing by the raindrop determination means 3. The raindrop determining means 3 obtains the area s2 of the binarized area 11 determined as the raindrop 9 or the number of pixels in the binarized area 11, and calculates the R of the raindrop determining means 3.
The image data is temporarily stored in the AM 3d, and the total area or the total number of pixels (） S) in the binarized region 11 determined to be the raindrop 9 in the imaging area 7 is obtained (step S12).

The calculation of the total area or the total number of pixels in the raindrop determining means 3 is repeated until the determination (the first raindrop determination and the second raindrop determination) in all the binarized areas 11 in the imaging area 7 is completed ( Step S6 to step S1
2) It is executed (step S13).

When the determination of all binarized areas 11 in the image pickup area 7 is completed and the calculation of the total area or the total number of pixels in the image pickup area 7 is completed, the raindrop determining means 3 The amount of rainfall adhering to is determined (step S14). The purpose of the rainfall determination is to perform switching control of the intermittent operation and the continuous operation of the wiper 8.

The raindrop determining means 3 determines the total area or the total number of pixels calculated in step S12 and the ROM of the raindrop determining means 3 in the rainfall determination in step S14.
When the total area or the total number of pixels is determined to be equal to or greater than the set value A (ΣS ≧ A), the control signal for continuously driving the wiper 8 is transmitted to the wiper control means 4c. (Step S15), and compares the total area or the total number of pixels with the set value A. If it is determined that the total area or the total number of pixels is smaller than the set value A (ΣS <A), the wiper 8 By outputting a control signal for intermittent driving to the wiper control means 4 (step S16), the wiper 9 is switched between continuous driving and intermittent driving.

By repeatedly executing the above-described processing at a predetermined cycle, it is possible to automatically control the wiper 8 in accordance with the detection of the raindrops 9 and the determination of the amount of rainfall.

In steps S14 to S16, the raindrop judging means 3 simply switches the continuous operation and the intermittent operation of the wiper 8.
In step S14, after determining that the drive system of the wiper 8 is any one of the intermittent operation and the continuous operation, a plurality of set values subdivided in each drive system are provided, and these set values are grouped with the set values. By comparing the total area or the total number of pixels of the binarized region 11, the time interval variable control of the intermittent drive of the wiper 8 and the drive speed variable control of the continuous drive can be performed. Further, after the rainfall determination in step S14, it is also possible to perform simple on / off (operation / stop) control of the wiper 8.

The raindrop detecting device 1 includes a CCD camera 2
Captures a scene in front of the vehicle through the windshield 6 of the vehicle, extracts an edge in an image captured by the CCD camera 2, performs a binarization process on the edge-extracted region, and performs the binarization. The regions are grouped, a plurality of shape features are obtained based on the grouped binarized regions 11, and raindrops 9 attached to the windshield 6 are determined based on the comparison result of the shape features.
The first image data associated with the first raindrop determination is compared with the current image data associated with the first raindrop determination, and the current image data for the previous image data is compared. Is determined, and the actual raindrop 9 attached to the windshield 6 is appropriately detected because the second raindrop determination for detecting the raindrop 9 attached to the windshield 6 is performed based on the moving direction. Since it is possible to easily determine the amount of rainfall, the automatic drive control of the wiper 8 can be favorably performed.

The raindrop detector 1 focuses on the fact that the raindrops attached to the windshield 6 are circular or elliptical,
The enclosing area 12 which is in contact with the outline of the binarized binarized area 11 is determined, and the length of the enclosing area 12 in the longitudinal direction, that is, the length of the long side a which is the longitudinal direction of each side of the enclosing area 12 is calculated. A reference area 13 having a squared area s1 is obtained, and the area s1 of the reference area 13 and the area s2 of the binarized area 11 are compared.
By calculating the ratio of the area s2 of the binarized region 11 to the above, it is possible to detect only the circular or elliptical raindrops 9 in the imaging area 7.

Further, the raindrop detecting device 1 is provided with the number of pixels (the number of raindrops) of the binarized binarized area 11 or two pixels.
The raindrops 9 attached to the windshield 6 are determined by the sum of the areas of the binarized areas 11 (total area of the areas determined as raindrops).
By detecting the amount of rain (rainfall), the wiper 8 controls the on / off operation, the switching between the intermittent operation and the continuous operation of the wiper 8, the variable time interval control of the intermittent drive, the variable drive speed control of the continuous drive, and the like. It can be controlled via means 4.

The raindrop detecting device 1 includes a CCD camera 2
By setting the cut-out range of the image captured by the above to the wiping area of the wiper 8 for wiping the windshield 6 and the road surface R on which the vehicle 5 runs, the noise object other than the raindrop 9 such as a sign or a signboard is photographed. Since it does not need to be performed, it is possible to prevent erroneous determination in raindrop determination by the raindrop determination unit 3.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the surrounding area 12 which is in contact with the outline of the binarized area 11 grouped by the raindrop determining means 3 is obtained, and the length of each side of the surrounding area 12 in the longitudinal direction is determined. Although the reference region 13 having the area s1 obtained from the square of the length of the side a is obtained, the present invention provides the length of the grouped binarized regions 11 in the longitudinal direction, for example, the binarized region 11 The reference region is obtained from the area obtained from the square of the length of the diagonal line that is the longest direction, and the area of this reference region is compared with the area of the binarized region 11 that is grouped. The raindrops 9 attached to the windshield 6 may be detected based on the detection.

Although the raindrop determining means 3 in the embodiment of the present invention uses the area as the shape characteristic amount, for example, the vertical length and the horizontal length of the ellipse are used as the shape characteristic amount, and the aspect ratio is calculated. The raindrop 9 may also be detected based on the flatness of the ellipse based on the raindrop 9. Also, as other shape features,
The diagonal length of the surrounding area 12 and the circumferential length of the binarized area 11 are exemplified.

Further, in the first raindrop determination by the raindrop determination means 3 in the embodiment of the present invention, the shape characteristic amount is calculated in step S6. During this processing, the shape characteristic amount is calculated in the longitudinal direction of the surrounding area 12. An allowable range (for example, 4 pixels ≦ long side a ≦ 32 pixels) is provided for the length of the long side a,
By adding a determination as to whether or not the long side a is included in the allowable range, imaging other than the raindrop 9 can be removed, and more appropriate raindrop detection can be performed.

In the raindrop determining means 3 according to the embodiment of the present invention, in the second raindrop determination, the moving direction of the binarized area is obtained by estimating the moving vector by shape matching. The moving direction of the binarized area can be obtained by an optical flow based on the luminance data that is the image data.

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the raindrop detecting device 1 detects the raindrop 9 attached to the windshield 6 by the first and second raindrop determination by the raindrop determining means 3. Depending on the usage environment of the raindrop detector,
A comparison is made between past image data photographed by photographing means such as a CCD camera and current image data photographed by the photographing means, and a moving direction of the current image data with respect to the past image data is determined. It may be one that only detects raindrops attached to the windshield based on the moving direction.

[0056]

The present invention provides a photographing means for photographing the front of the vehicle through the windshield so as to include a wiping area of a wiper for wiping the windshield of the vehicle, and a past image photographed by the photographing means. Comparing the data with the current image data photographed by the photographing means,
A raindrop determining means for determining a moving direction of the current image data with respect to the past image data, and detecting a raindrop attached to the windshield based on the moving direction. Since it is possible to appropriately detect the actual raindrops that have been made and to easily determine the amount of rainfall, the automatic drive control of the wiper can be favorably performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a raindrop detecting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an image photographed by the imaging means of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a cut-out range in the image according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a processing method by a raindrop determining unit of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a first raindrop determination of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view showing a first raindrop determination in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a second raindrop determination in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a second raindrop determination in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 raindrop detecting device 2 CCD camera (photographing means) 3 raindrop determining means 3a image processing means 3b CPU 3c ROM 3d RAM 4 wiper control means 5 vehicle 6 windshield 7 image pickup area 8 wiper 9 raindrop 11 11a Past binarized region (past image data) 11b Current binarized region (current image data) 12 Surrounding region 13 Reference region s1 Area of reference region s2 Area of binarized region L Nonlinearity R Road surface

Claims (9)

[Claims] A photographing means for photographing the front of the vehicle through the windshield so as to include a wiping area of a wiper for wiping a windshield of the vehicle; past image data photographed by the photographing means;
Raindrop determination for comparing the current image data captured by the capturing means with the current image data to determine the moving direction of the current image data with respect to the past image data, and detecting raindrops attached to the windshield based on the moving direction. Means, comprising: a raindrop detecting device. 2. A photographing means for photographing the front of the vehicle through the windshield so as to include a wiping area of a wiper for wiping the windshield of the vehicle; and an edge of an image including raindrops photographed by the photographing means. Extraction is performed, binarization processing is performed on the edge-extracted areas, binarized areas are grouped, and a plurality of shape feature values are obtained based on the grouped areas. Performing a first raindrop determination for obtaining image data to be the raindrops attached to the windshield based on a comparison result of the feature amounts;
The past image data associated with the raindrop determination is compared with the current image data associated with the first raindrop determination to determine a moving direction of the current image data with respect to the past image data, and the moving direction is determined based on the moving direction. A raindrop determining device for performing a second raindrop determination for detecting the raindrop attached to the windshield, and a raindrop detecting device. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the raindrop determining means detects the raindrop as the raindrop adhering to the windshield when determining at least the upward direction in the determination of the moving direction. The raindrop detecting device according to claim 2. 4. The raindrop detecting device according to claim 1, wherein a cut-out range of an image captured by the photographing means is set on a road surface on which the vehicle travels. 5. The raindrop judging means detects the amount of the raindrop adhering to the windshield according to the number of the raindrops or the sum of the areas of the areas judged as the raindrops within the cutout range. The raindrop detecting device according to claim 4, wherein: 6. In the first raindrop determination by the raindrop determination means, an enclosing area that is in contact with an outline of the grouped area is obtained, and a reference area is obtained based on a length of the enclosing area in a longitudinal direction, The raindrop according to claim 2, wherein an area of the reference area is compared with an area of the grouped area, and the raindrop attached to the windshield is detected based on a result of the comparison. Detection device. 7. In the first raindrop determination by the raindrop determination unit, a reference region is obtained based on a length of the grouped region in a longitudinal direction, and an area of the reference region and the grouped region are determined. The raindrop detecting device according to claim 2, wherein the raindrop attached to the windshield is detected based on the comparison result. 8. The raindrop detecting device according to claim 5, further comprising: wiper control means for controlling an operation of the wiper in accordance with the amount of the raindrop determined by the raindrop determining means. 9. The wiper control means includes: an on / off operation of the wiper; a switching operation between an intermittent operation and a continuous operation of the wiper; The raindrop detecting device according to claim 8, wherein at least one of time adjustment and operation speed adjustment in the continuous operation is controlled.