JP2001291194A - System for deciding parking lot congestion degree - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a parking lot congestion degree deciding system capable of correctly measuring the number of vehicles in a parking lot by a small number of cameras. SOLUTION: License plate reading devices 1 and 1a are arranged at the entering and exiting ports of the parking lot 10 to output license plate recognition results 4 and 4a. A congestion degree deciding device 3 inputs the license recognition results 4 and 4a, decides the number of the vehicles staying in the parking lot and the proportion of normal-sized vehicles to large vehicles from the recognition-processed results and outputs display signals 5 and 5a. Guide boards 2 and 2a display the display signals 5 and 5a and transmits the state of the parking lot (full/vacancy degree) to a succeeding vehicle. Camera parts 6 and 6a pick-up the image of the vehicle license plate to output video signals 9 and 9a. Image processing parts 7 and 7a process the video signals 9 and 9a, recognize the license plate and output the license plate recognition results 4 and 4a. Illumination parts 8 and 8a illuminate the parking lot.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a parking lot congestion degree determination system, and more particularly to a parking lot congestion degree determination system that determines the congestion degree of a parking lot by recognizing a number plate of an entering car.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A recent increase in the number of vehicles has made it difficult to find a parking lot, and it is effective for a driver to indicate whether a parking lot is full or empty, and also for a parking lot manager to manage vehicle entry and exit. Useful for labor saving.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a conventional parking lot congestion determination system.

A conventional parking lot congestion degree determination system uses a plurality of cameras 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 to specify specific areas 27 a, 27 b, 27 c, 27 d, of parking area 20.
27e, and the image processing device 26
Is processed by a technique such as background subtraction to measure the area where the parked vehicle exists, and outputs area value data 29. The congestion degree determination device 28 estimates the congestion degree of the entire parking area 20 from the area ratio of the following equation.

That is, congestion degree = (a + b + c + d +
e) Judged by / A.

Here, a, b, c, d, and e indicate the areas of the specific areas 27a, 27b, 27c, 27d, and 27e, and A indicates the area of the parking area 20.

The congestion degree judging device 28 judges the congestion degree of the vehicle based on the area ratio of the above equation.

[0008] As an example of such another technique,
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-160966 discloses a "parking lot management device".

This publication describes a technique of recognizing and registering the number of a car with cameras installed at entrances and exits, and displaying a parking time and a fee from a parking time and a current time.

[0010]

The above-mentioned conventional parking lot congestion degree determination system is capable of accurately processing the number of parked vehicles and the size of one vehicle due to weather change and vehicle overlap because of image processing by a plurality of cameras installed outdoors. It has the drawback that it is not possible to measure vehicles stopped for a long time.

In addition, since the number of cameras is large because the range of the photographing area is large, there is a disadvantage that the system cannot be configured with a small number of cameras.

An object of the present invention is to provide a parking lot congestion degree determination system which can accurately measure the number of vehicles in a parking lot with a small number of cameras.

[0013]

According to the present invention, there is provided a parking lot congestion degree judging system, wherein a normal car area and a large car area are provided in a parking lot, and first and second number plates are provided at an entrance and an exit of the parking lot. Each of the first and second number plate readers is installed, and the first and second camera units of each of the first and second number plate readers capture the characters and the size of the number plate of the automobile and process the first and second number plates. 2 is output to the congestion degree determination device as a number plate recognition result, and the congestion degree determination device compares the first number plate recognition result at the entrance with the second number plate recognition result at the exit to perform parking. The number of parked cars in the hall is determined, and the guide signs on the first and second guide boards are controlled to “full” or “empty”.
Is displayed to notify the following vehicle of the use state of the parking lot.

A first number plate reader installed at the entrance of the parking lot; a second number plate reader installed at the exit of the parking lot; and these number plate readers output correspondingly. The first number plate recognition result and the second number plate recognition result are input, and the number of stationary vehicles and the ratio of ordinary vehicles and large vehicles in the parking lot are determined from the recognition result, and the first display signal and the second display signal A congestion degree judging device that outputs a display signal of the first and second display signals; a first guide plate and a second guide plate that display the first and second display signals and notify a following vehicle of a full or empty state of the parking lot. And a guide plate.

Each of the first and second number plate readers captures an image of a vehicle number plate and outputs a first video signal and a second video signal, respectively. A camera unit; first and second image processing units for performing image processing on each of the first and second video signals, recognizing a number plate, and outputting the first and second number plate recognition results, respectively; A first lighting unit and a second lighting unit that illuminate the parking lot.

The congestion degree judging device counts the number of normal vehicles and large vehicles entering the parking lot from the first number plate recognition result of the first number plate reading device, and outputs the second number. The number of exits is counted from the second number plate recognition result of the plate reader, and the number of ordinary cars and large cars parked in the ordinary car area and large car area in the parking lot is measured to determine the degree of congestion. It is characterized by:

The congestion degree determination device includes a recognition vehicle registration unit that registers a recognized vehicle, a recognition result comparison unit that compares a registered vehicle with a vehicle that has entered and exited the vehicle, and determines whether the vehicle is full by measuring the number of vehicles. The system is characterized by including a number measurement full / empty determination unit, an abnormal stop detection unit that detects a vehicle that has been parked for a long time, and a guide plate control unit that controls display of a guide plate.

The guide signs on the first and second guide plates indicate congestion degrees indicating the ratio of full to empty, based on the first and second display signals indicating the judgment results of the congestion degree judgment device. It is characterized in that display is performed with "full" or "empty".

[0019]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a parking lot congestion degree judging system according to the present invention.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 has a number plate reader 1 installed at the entrance of a parking lot, a number plate reader 1a installed at the exit of the parking lot, and a number plate reader 1, 1a inputs the number plate recognition results 4 and 4a output corresponding to each, judges the number of parked vehicles in the parking lot and the ratio of ordinary vehicles and large vehicles from the recognition results, and outputs the display signals 5 and 5a. Judgment device 3
And guide plates 2 and 2a that display the display signals 5 and 5a and inform the following vehicle of the state of the parking lot (vacancy).

Each of the number plate readers 1 and 1a picks up an image of the number plate of the car and outputs a video signal 9, 9a, respectively.
Output from the camera units 6, 6a and the respective video signals 9, 9
image processing units 7 and 7a that perform image processing on a and recognize number plates and output number plate recognition results 4 and 4a, respectively.
And lighting units 8, 8a for illuminating the parking lot.

As described above, the number of parked vehicles in the parking lot is determined by the two number plate readers 1 and 1a at the entrance and exit, so that the congestion degree of the parking lot is accurately determined by a small number of system configurations.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the operation of the parking lot congestion degree determination system of FIG.

In FIG. 2, components corresponding to those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals or symbols, and description thereof is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 2, a normal car area 11 and a large car area 12 are provided in a parking lot 10. The number plate readers 1 and 1a are installed at the entrance and the exit of the parking lot 10, respectively.
The characters and the size of the number plate of the vehicle passing by the camera units 6 and 6a are output to the congestion degree determination device 3. The congestion degree determination device 3 determines the number of parked vehicles (congestion degree) in the parking lot 10 by comparing the number plate recognition result 4a at the exit with the number plate recognition result 4 at the entrance, and guides signs on the guide plates 2 and 2a. Control. By indicating "full" or "empty", the guide plates 2 and 2a provide the following vehicle with the use state of the parking lot.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the parking lot congestion degree determination system of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, components corresponding to those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals or symbols, and description thereof is omitted.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS.

The number plate reader 1 recognizes the character and size of the number plate 15 of the vehicle 14 entering the parking lot 10. The number plate reader 1a is a parking lot 10
From the number plate 15a of the vehicle 14a leaving the vehicle.

The congestion degree judging device 3 counts the number of normal vehicles and large vehicles entering the parking lot 10 from the number plate recognition result 4 of the number plate reading device 1 and obtains the number from the number plate recognition result 4a of the number plate reading device 1a. The number of exits is counted, and the number of ordinary cars and large cars parked in the ordinary car area 11 and the large car area 12 in the parking lot 10 is measured to determine the degree of congestion. The guide signs on the guide plates 2 and 2a indicate the congestion degree indicating the ratio between full and empty, with the display signals 5 and 5a indicating the judgment result of the congestion degree judging device 3 as "full" or "empty". When only the normal car area 11 is full and the large car area 12 has an empty space, the normal car is guided to the large car area 12. In this case, two ordinary vehicles are processed as one large vehicle, and the congestion degree is determined.

The congestion degree judging device 3 judges a full vacancy by measuring the number of vehicles and a recognition vehicle registering unit for registering the recognized vehicles, a recognition result comparing unit for comparing the registered vehicles with the vehicles entering and leaving the vehicle. It has a number measurement full / vacancy determination unit, an abnormal stop detection unit that detects a vehicle with a long parking time, and a guide plate control unit that controls display of a guide plate.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the parking lot congestion degree judging system of FIG.

FIG. 4A shows an operation flow of the number plate reading device, and FIG. 4B shows an operation flow of the congestion degree determination device.

The operation of the parking lot congestion degree judging system of FIG. 3 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In FIG. 4A, when the number plate reader 1 at the entrance recognizes the number plate 15 of the vehicle 14 (Step 1: S1), the number is registered in the vehicle and +1 is added as the total number of parked vehicles (Step 2: S2). ).

Next, the process proceeds to step 3 (S 3), where the number is counted as the number of ordinary vehicles and large vehicles according to the size of the number plate 15. That is, if the vehicle is a medium-sized ordinary vehicle, the number of parked ordinary vehicles X is counted as +1. If the vehicle is a large vehicle, the number of parked large vehicles Y is counted as +1.

On the exit side of the parking lot 10, when the number plate reader 1a recognizes the number plate 15a by passing the vehicle 14a (step 4: S4), step 5 is performed.
In step (S5), the registered vehicles are compared, and if the vehicles match by checking whether the vehicle is a registered vehicle, the parking lot 1 is determined.
The total number of parked vehicles within 0 is decremented by one. In this way, the number of vehicles in the parking lot is managed.

Next, the process proceeds to step 6 (S6), where the number is counted as the number of ordinary vehicles and large vehicles according to the size of the number plate 15a. That is, if the vehicle is a medium-sized ordinary vehicle, the parking number X of the ordinary vehicle is counted as −1, and if the vehicle is a large vehicle, the parking number Y of the large vehicle is counted as −1.

If the registered vehicle is not deleted for a long time as shown in step 7 (S7), it is determined that the vehicle is abnormally stopped (step 8: S8).

Next, referring to FIG.
The number of vehicles in the parking lot is compared with a preset allowable value of the number of vehicles, and the state in the parking lot 10 is determined to be two stages of “full” and “empty”, and is displayed on the guide plates 2 and 2a. In this case, even if the normal car area 11 of the normal car is “full”, if the large car area 12 of the large car is “empty”, it is displayed that the normal car can be parked in the large car area 12. At this time ordinary car 2
It is counted as one large car by one.

That is, the congestion degree determination device 3 first determines whether or not the number X of ordinary cars parked is larger than the allowable number of ordinary cars area 11 (step 1: T1). If the number is equal to or smaller than the allowable number, the process proceeds to step 2 (T2), and it is determined whether or not the large number of large vehicles parked Y is larger than the allowable number of large vehicles area 12 (step 2: T2). If less than the allowable number, step 3
Proceed to (T3), display the ordinary car "sky" and display the large car "sky"
Is displayed.

If it is determined in step 2 that the number of large vehicles parked Y is larger than the allowable number of large vehicles area 12, step 4 (T4)
To display a normal car "sky" and a large car "full".

When it is determined in step 1 that the number X of ordinary cars parked is larger than the allowable number of ordinary cars in the area 11, step 5 (T 5)
It is determined whether or not the number of large vehicles parked Y is larger than the allowable number of large vehicles area 12. If the number is equal to or smaller than the allowable number, the process proceeds to step 6 (T6), where "full" is displayed for a normal vehicle and "sky" is displayed for a large vehicle.

If it is determined in step 5 that the number Y of large vehicles parked is larger than the allowable number of large vehicle areas 12, step 7 (T7)
To display a full car "full" and a large car "full".

In the above-described flowchart, the allowable number is set by "full" and "empty" in the two-stage display, but the allowable number is displayed by "full", "mixed" and "empty" in the three-level display. Is also possible.

If the registered vehicle is not deleted for a long time, it is determined that the vehicle is abnormally stopped, as described above.

As described above, in the parking lot congestion degree judging system, the congestion degree of the parking lot can be judged by recognizing the number plate of the entering car.

[0049]

As described above, the parking lot congestion degree judging system of the present invention recognizes the number plate size by the number plate image recognition processing using a small number of cameras, so that the car in the parking lot can be specified. Since the measurement of the parking area of the large car and the ordinary car can be performed separately, there is an effect that the number of parked cars in the parking lot can be accurately measured.

Further, since the cars in the parking lot can be specified by the number plate recognition, the parking time of each car can be measured and an abnormal vehicle such as parking for a long time can be detected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a parking lot congestion degree determination system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an operation of the parking lot congestion degree determination system in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the embodiment of the parking lot congestion degree determination system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the parking lot congestion degree determination system of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a conventional parking lot congestion degree determination system.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 1a number plate reading device 2, 2a guide plate 3 congestion degree determination device 4, 4a number plate recognition result 5, 5a display signal 6, 6a camera unit 7, 7a image processing unit 8, 8a lighting unit 9, 9a video signal Reference Signs List 10 parking lot 11 normal car area 12 large car area 14, 14a vehicle 15, 15a number plate 20 parking area 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 camera 26 image processing device 27a, 27b, 27c, 27d, 27e specific area 28 congestion Degree judgment device 29 Area value data

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G08G 1/04 G08G 1/04 C

Claims (6)

[Claims] An ordinary car area and a large car area are provided in a parking lot, and first and second number plate readers are installed at entrances and exits of the parking lot, respectively. Image processing of the character and size of the number plate of the automobile passing by the first and second camera units of each of the plate reading devices, and outputting to the congestion degree determination device as the first and second number plate recognition results, The congestion degree determination device determines the number of parked vehicles in the parking lot by comparing the first number plate recognition result at the entrance with the second number plate recognition result at the exit, and provides first and second guidance. Control the sign on the board to fill or empty
Is displayed to notify the following vehicle of the use state of the parking lot. 2. A first number plate reader installed at an entrance of a parking lot; and a second number plate reader installed at an exit of the parking lot.
A first number plate recognition result and a second number plate recognition result which are respectively output by the number plate reading devices;
A congestion degree judging device for judging the number of cars parked in the parking lot and the ratio of ordinary cars and large cars from the result of the recognition processing, and outputting a first display signal and a second display signal;
A first guide plate and a second guide plate for displaying a full state and an empty state of the parking lot to a succeeding vehicle, and displaying a second display signal and a second guide signal. system. 3. The first and second number plate reading devices each capture an image of a car number plate and output a first video signal and a second video signal, respectively. Two camera units; first and second image processing for performing image processing on each of the first and second video signals, recognizing a license plate, and outputting the first and second license plate recognition results, respectively; A first illuminator and a second illuminator for illuminating the parking lot;
3. The parking lot congestion degree determination system according to claim 2, further comprising: 4. The congestion degree determination device counts the number of normal vehicles and large vehicles entering the parking lot from the first number plate recognition result of the first number plate reading device, and The number of exits is counted from the second number plate recognition result of the number plate reading device, and the number of ordinary cars and large cars parked in the ordinary car area and the large car area in the parking lot is measured to determine the congestion degree. The parking lot congestion degree determination system according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the determination is performed. 5. The congestion degree determination device includes: a recognition vehicle registration unit that registers a recognized vehicle; a recognition result comparison unit that compares a registered vehicle with a vehicle that has entered and exited; 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a determination unit for determining whether the vehicle is fully occupied, an abnormal stop detection unit that detects a vehicle having a long parking time, and a guide plate control unit that controls display of a guide plate. The parking lot congestion degree determination system according to claim 3. 6. A guide sign on the first and second guide plates indicates a congestion degree indicating a ratio between full and empty according to the first and second display signals indicating a judgment result of the congestion degree judgment device. 5. The parking lot congestion degree determination system according to claim 2, wherein the display is performed with "full" or "empty".