JP2002092789A - Vehicle monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely call attention to the production of noise to a specific vehicle. SOLUTION: When a traveling vehicle producing the noise of the sound volume more than a reference value exists among vehicles 11A-11C traveling on a road 1, the noise is detected by microphones 3A-3C. A photograph of the vehicle 11 is taken by vehicle photographing cameras 4A-4C, and a license plate of the vehicle 11 is recognized by license plate recognizing cameras 5A-5C. A control device 6 displays the warning information to the vehicle, on one of light bulletin boards 7A-7C installed on a corresponding lane. The warning information includes the appearance of the photographed vehicle, and the detected sound volume, besides a number of the license plate of the vehicle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle monitoring device, and more particularly, to a vehicle monitoring device that can more reliably warn a specific vehicle that noise is being generated.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, in the field of road traffic, a noise problem has been greatly highlighted in addition to a pollution environment problem. When a vehicle makes loud noises and drives on the road,
Not only does it cause great mental stress to neighbors, but it also contributes to disturbing sleep.

However, only a small number of vehicles constitute a large noise source, and sufficient measures have not been taken due to the fact that the damage caused is not physical but mental. is the current situation.

It is conceivable to change the road structure, for example, by making a noise prevention wall on the side of the road. However, when houses and buildings exist along the road, such a structure cannot be adopted. . Even if it can be done, the cost will be extremely high.

Therefore, as disclosed in, for example, JP-A-6-28596 and JP-A-6-68376, the traveling speed of a vehicle is detected, and when the traveling speed is higher than a reference, the vehicle travels upward. By the installed electric signboard,
It is considered to warn the driver that the speed has been exceeded.

[0006]

However, the traveling speed and the noise of the vehicle do not always correspond one-to-one, and there is a problem that the vehicle that is the source of the noise cannot be accurately detected. .

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and is intended to more surely alert a specific vehicle that noise is being generated.

[0008]

A first vehicle monitoring device according to the present invention comprises a sound detecting means for detecting a sound generated by a vehicle traveling on a road, and a vehicle detecting means for detecting a sound detected by the sound detecting means. Image acquisition means for acquiring an image, identification means for identifying a vehicle based on the image acquired by the image acquisition means, and display means for displaying warning information for the vehicle identified by the identification means. And

The sound detecting means is, for example, a sound source position calculating section 31 in FIG. 2, the image acquiring means is, for example, vehicle position calculating sections 32A, 32B, 32C in FIG. 2, and the identifying means is, for example, By the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 in FIG. 2, the display means is, for example, the output control unit 35 in FIG.
A, 35B and 35C respectively.

The sound detecting means further includes the microphones 3A, 3B and 3C of FIG.
Further, the vehicle photographing cameras 4A, 4B, and 4C of FIG. 2 are displayed on the display means, and the electronic bulletin boards 7A, 7B, and 7 of FIG.
C may be included.

[0011] The sound detecting means detects a sound generated by an automobile or a motorcycle traveling or stopping on a road.

The sound detecting means detects the position of the sound source based on the sound information. The sound information is the amplitude, frequency, phase, time, etc. of the sound received by the sound detection means. The sound source position can be calculated by using these pieces of sound information. Even when there are a plurality of sound sources, if the frequencies of the sound sources are different, the positions of the sound sources at the same time can be calculated.

Further, the identification means obtains information for identifying each vehicle. For example, the identification unit acquires license plate information of a vehicle existing at a position corresponding to the sound source position, based on image information of the imaged vehicle. Thereby, the vehicle can be specified by the license plate. As a method of acquiring license plate information, a method of acquiring license plate information by imaging a vehicle traveling near the sound source position with a camera and character-recognizing an image of a license plate portion obtained by imaging the vehicle. is there. Alternatively,
There is a method of acquiring license plate information by wirelessly receiving license plate information emitted by a vehicle wirelessly and position information of the transmitting vehicle.

Here, the license plate is used for identifying a vehicle. Therefore, the information is not limited to the license plate information, and may be any information that can identify the vehicle. For example, information for identifying a vehicle includes a driver's license number and a vehicle serial number of a driver who drives the vehicle.

The road may be a general road or a toll road. Further, the vehicle means a passenger car, a truck, a motorcycle, and the like. However, when the vehicle is a two-wheeled vehicle, the license plate is attached only to the rear of the vehicle body, and therefore, a license plate recognition camera for recognizing the license plate needs to image the vehicle body from behind.

In the first vehicle monitoring device of the present invention,
A sound generated by a vehicle traveling on a road is detected, an image of the vehicle generating the detected sound is acquired, the vehicle is identified from the acquired image, and warning information for the identified vehicle is displayed.

According to the first vehicle monitoring device of the present invention, a sound generated by a vehicle traveling on a road is detected, an image of the vehicle generating the detected sound is obtained, and the vehicle is identified from the obtained image. Then, the warning information for the identified vehicle is displayed, so that the driver of the traveling vehicle is notified for each vehicle.
It can inform the user of the occurrence of noise.

The sound detecting means may detect a sound whose volume is higher than a reference.

As a result, only the vehicle traveling while emitting a sound higher than the reference is detected, and the warning information can be displayed only for the vehicle traveling while emitting the noise.

The reference sound volume can be set to an arbitrary value. This value may be different for each vehicle type.

The display means includes, as warning information, at least a part of information on the license plate of the vehicle obtained by the identification means, an image of at least a part of the appearance of the vehicle, and information on the position of the vehicle; At least one of the volumes of the sounds detected by the sound detection means can be displayed.

The information of at least a part of the license plate may be a region name indicating a land transportation branch office or an automobile inspection registration office indicated on the license plate, or a designated number (four-digit number) of the vehicle. ). Further, the image of at least a part of the appearance of the vehicle is, for example, an image of the vehicle taken by the image acquisition unit or a part thereof. The information on the position of the vehicle is, for example, information indicating the lane in which the vehicle is traveling.

Thus, it is possible to more reliably warn a specific vehicle that noise is occurring.

[0024] The display means may display the volume of the sound detected by the sound detection means in combination with a predetermined unit of figure.

"Displaying the volume by combining figures of a predetermined unit" means, for example, generating a bar graph by stacking rectangles of a predetermined unit and displaying the volume.
This is to generate a pie chart by combining the sectors of a predetermined unit and display the volume.

In the bar graph and the pie graph, as the volume increases, for example, the display color approaches red,
It can be displayed with a gradation.

Thus, the driver can instantly recognize that the sound volume exceeds the reference value.

[0028] The display means may instruct to change lanes of a road as warning information.

By driving a vehicle that emits a sound exceeding the standard in a lane near the center of the road,
Noise to nearby residents on the road is reduced. Further, when a house around the road exists on only one side of the road, the noise to the house can be suppressed by running the lane far from the house side.

[0030] The display means may indicate a road on which the vehicle should travel as the warning information.

The road on which the vehicle should travel means a road on which the noise of the vehicle has little effect on the surroundings. For example, if there is a branch road in the traveling direction of a vehicle, one is a road that passes through a residential area, and the other is a road with soundproof walls, the road on which the vehicle should travel is a road that has little influence on the surrounding noise. The road is said to have a soundproof wall. Therefore, an instruction is given such that the noise vehicle largely detours according to the shape of the road and the location conditions around the road. In addition, when a vehicle traveling while emitting noise is traveling in a lane with little influence on the surroundings, instructions such as lane change prohibition, right turn prohibition, left turn prohibition or stop prohibition are issued. .

[0032] The vehicle may further include a confirmation unit for confirming whether the vehicle identified by the identification unit has traveled in response to the instruction, and a notification unit for performing a predetermined notification based on the result of the confirmation by the confirmation unit. Can be

The confirmation means is constituted by, for example, the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 of FIG. 2 for executing the processing of step S71 of FIG. 18, and the notification means is constituted by, for example, the communication unit 36 of FIG.

The instruction is an instruction to change lanes or an instruction to run around a road.

Whether or not the identified vehicle has traveled in response to the instruction is confirmed, and a notification is made based on the result of the confirmation.

It is confirmed whether or not the identified vehicle has traveled in response to the instruction, and a notification is made based on the result of the confirmation. Therefore, information on vehicles that do not respond to warning information for changing lanes, etc. Is notified to a monitoring center or the like.

A second vehicle monitoring apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a sound detecting means for detecting a sound generated by a vehicle traveling on a road; and an obtaining means for obtaining identification information of the vehicle generating the sound detected by the sound detecting means. Means, and display means for displaying warning information for a vehicle corresponding to the identification information obtained by the obtaining means.

The identification information of the vehicle includes, for example, license plate information of the vehicle, a driver's license number of the driver of the vehicle, a vehicle serial number, and the like. This vehicle identification information can be obtained from a wireless signal or the like.

That is, for example, when a processing device 81 as shown in FIG.
The vehicle monitoring device wirelessly requests the processing device 81 to transmit identification information such as a license plate number of the vehicle. Further, transmission of vehicle position information may be requested.

By transmitting the identification information of the vehicle wirelessly, for example, due to irregular weather, the vehicle photographing camera 4A
This is effective when license plate information cannot be identified from the image information captured by 4C to 4C.

[0041]

FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a vehicle monitoring system to which the present invention is applied. Road 1 is a lane
A, B, C. The white arrows indicate the traveling directions of the vehicles in each lane. On this road 1, a support bar 2-1 is installed so as to cross each lane. The support bar 2-1 has a microphone 3A, a vehicle photographing camera 4A, and a number corresponding to the lane A. A plate recognition camera 5A is provided. Similarly, corresponding to lane B,
A microphone 3B, a vehicle photographing camera 4B, and a license plate recognition camera 5B are arranged, and a microphone 3C, a vehicle photographing camera 4C, and a license plate recognition camera 5C are arranged corresponding to the lane C.

An electronic bulletin board 7A corresponding to the lane A is disposed on the support bar 2-2 provided at a predetermined distance from the support bar 2-1 in the traveling direction of the vehicle. , An electronic bulletin board 7B is arranged corresponding to the lane B, and an electronic bulletin board 7C is arranged corresponding to the lane C.

The microphones 3A to the electronic bulletin board 7C are connected to a control device 6 disposed outside the lane A of the road 1.

In this example, the lanes A to C are
Each of the vehicles 11A to 11C is in a running state. The microphones 3A to 3C are connected to the vehicles 11A to 1C.
1C is detected and a sound source position is calculated based on information such as the detected sound.
Are detected as sound sources 12A to 12C, respectively.

In this example, the vehicle photographing cameras 4A to 4C photograph the appearance of the vehicle passing through each lane. After the photographing, in order to prove that the vehicle has passed, it is preferable to photograph the appearance enough to determine the identity of the vehicle. It is preferable that the captured image is, for example, an image of the front of the vehicle, that is, an image of a license plate, a driver's face, and the front of the vehicle, which are features of the vehicle, which are suitable for determining identity.

Further, in this example, the license plate recognition cameras 5A to 5C photograph the license plate attached to the front of the vehicle passing through each lane (or photograph the license plate attached to the back). May be performed). In the license plate recognizing units 33A to 33C, which will be described later, image processing is performed on the photographed image to determine whether or not a license plate is present in the image data and recognize characters and symbols in the license plate.

The electronic bulletin boards 7A to 7C installed on the support bar 2-2 provide a warning to a vehicle determined to be running while generating a sound exceeding a predetermined reference based on an instruction from the control device 6. Is displayed. On the electronic bulletin boards 7A to 7C, the appearance of the vehicle photographed by the vehicle photographing cameras 4A to 4C and the license plate numbers recognized by the license plate recognition cameras 5A to 5C are displayed together with the warning message. The details will be described later.

The control device 6 is configured, for example, as shown in FIG. The sound source position calculation unit 31 takes in the outputs of the microphones 3A to 3C and detects the direction and the distance of the sound source. The principle will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, a point S indicates the position of the sound source (corresponding to the sound source 12A, 12B or 12C in FIG. 1). Points M ₀ , M ₁ , and M ₂ correspond to microphone 3B, microphone 3A, and microphone 3C, respectively. These points M ₀ , M ₁ , M ₂ (thus,
The microphones 3B, 3A, 3C) are arranged at equal intervals X, respectively.

In FIG. 3, the point M ₀ is the origin, the x coordinate axis is the direction perpendicular to the road 1 in FIG. 1, and the y coordinate axis is the direction parallel to the road 1.

The angle between the line segment M ₀ S (the line segment connecting the point M ₀ and the point S) and the y-coordinate axis is θ, and this angle θ is the angle of the sound source of the microphone group (microphones 3A, 3B, 3C). The direction is shown, and the length R of the line segment M ₀ S represents the distance of the sound source S to the microphone group.

The length L _{1 of the} line segment M ₁ S (the line segment connecting the point M ₁ and the point S)
The length ΔL _{1 obtained} by subtracting the length R of the line segment M ₀ S from the line segment M ₂ S (point M ₂
The relationship of the following formula is obtained between the length ΔL _{2 obtained} by subtracting the length R of the line segment M ₀ S from the length L ₂ of the line segment connecting the point S and the angle S, the angle θ, the length R, and the interval X. To establish.

[0053]

(Equation 1)

The above equations (1) and (2) are converted into the angle θ and the length.
Solving for R gives:

[0055]

(Equation 2)

In the above equations (3) and (4), the length Δ
The values of L ₁ and ΔL ₂ can be obtained based on the mutual time difference between the reception timings of the audio signal. Further, the value of the interval X is known. Therefore, from the above equations (3) and (4),
The direction and distance of the sound source can be calculated.

In this embodiment, three microphones are used to detect the direction and distance of a sound source on a plane using two time differences. However, four or more sound sensors and three or more sound sensors are used. Azimuth and distance of the sound source of the three-dimensional spatial information can be detected using the time difference of Alternatively, it has two sound sensors, and detects only the direction of the sound source on a plane using one time difference on the assumption that the sound source exists at an infinite or predetermined distance from the sound sensor group. Is also possible.

The details of the above detection principle are described in
No. 00-35474.

Further, any technique for calculating the sound source position based on the sound information detected by the microphone can be applied to the present invention.

For example, even when a plurality of different sound sources exist based on frequency information and phase information of a generated sound,
The position of each sound source can be calculated. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-84028, which shows an example of this calculation method, a sound emitted from one or a plurality of sound sources is received by two sensors, and a cross spectrum at each frequency of the received sound is determined by a predetermined value. It is disclosed that when a sound source is present at a virtual point, the phase is compensated so as to be a real number, and the position of the sound source is calculated based on the minimum value of the cross spectrum subjected to the phase compensation.

License plate recognition units 33A to 33C
Determines the presence or absence of a license plate in the image from the image data output by the license plate recognition cameras 5A to 5C.
Recognizes characters and symbols on license plates and outputs recognition results.

The vehicle position calculators 32A to 32C calculate the vehicle position (the lane in which the vehicle is traveling) from the image data output by the vehicle photographing cameras 4A to 4C.

The sound source vehicle deciding unit 34 includes the sound source position calculating unit 3
1 and the vehicle position calculating unit 32A
Based on the vehicle position supplied from any one of S. to S. 32C, a vehicle generating a sound level higher than a reference is determined. Then, the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 reads the license plate of the vehicle from the output from any of the license plate recognition units 33A to 33C, and stores it in an internal memory. The memory also stores the sound source position and the sound volume calculated by the sound source position calculation unit 31, and the vehicle positions calculated by the vehicle position calculation units 32A to 32C. further,
This memory also stores the date and time at which the volume above the reference was detected.

The output control units 35A to 35C select necessary information from the information stored in the sound source vehicle determining unit 34, generate warning information, and output the generated warning information to the electronic bulletin boards 7A to 7C. The output device for displaying the warning information is not limited to the electronic bulletin board, for example, a liquid crystal display device,
It may be constituted by a speaker for outputting audio information or a combination thereof.

The communication unit 36 performs communication processing with a center (not shown) by wire or wirelessly, and the sound source vehicle determination unit 34
Is transmitted to the center, and the information transmitted from the center is captured and supplied to the sound source vehicle determination unit 34. Based on the information from the center, for example, a reference value of the volume taken by the microphones 3A to 3C is set.

The communication unit 36 is a sound source vehicle determination unit 34
May be wirelessly transmitted to a vehicle that generates noise based on information such as the recognized license plate. Thereby, the vehicle provided with the receiver can acquire the warning information regarding the noise by the speaker or the information display device in the vehicle.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
The operation of this monitoring system will be described.

The microphones 3A to 3C take in audio signals and output them to the sound source position calculation unit 31. In step S1, the sound source position calculation unit 31 determines whether the microphone 3A
3C waits until the sound volume above the reference specified by the center via the communication unit 36 is detected, and when the sound volume above the reference is detected, in step S2, based on the principle described with reference to FIG. To calculate the sound source position. Thereby, for example, the sound source 12A of the vehicle 11A in FIG. 1 is detected by the sound source position calculation unit 31, and the sound source position and the sound volume are supplied to the sound source vehicle determination unit 34. When a plurality of sound sources that generate a sound volume higher than the reference are calculated, the sound source position calculation unit 31 supplies the plurality of sound source positions and the sound volumes to the sound source vehicle determination unit 34. The sound volume supplied to the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 is a maximum value of the sound volume of the sound source calculated by the sound source position calculation unit 31, an average value of the sound volume in a predetermined time, and the like. The sound source vehicle determination unit 34 also fetches the date and time when the sound source position was calculated by the sound source position calculation unit 31 from a built-in timer.

Next, in step S3, the sound source vehicle determining unit 34 causes the sound source position calculating unit 31 to execute step S2.
It is determined whether or not the sound source position calculated in corresponds to the lane A of the road 1. When the sound source position corresponds to the lane A, in step S4, the sound source vehicle determination unit 3
4 controls the vehicle photographing camera 4A corresponding to the lane A,
Let the vehicle shoot. The vehicle position calculation unit 32A calculates the lane A based on the image data captured and output by the vehicle imaging camera 4A.
The vehicle position of the vehicle traveling on is calculated. In this case, since the vehicle 11A corresponding to the sound source 12A calculated in the process of step S2 is traveling in the lane A, the vehicle position calculation unit 3
2A outputs at least the position of vehicle 11A on lane A to sound source vehicle determination unit 34. If another vehicle is also traveling on lane A, the position of that vehicle is also output.

In step S6, the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 determines the sound source position calculated in step S2 and
It is determined whether or not the vehicle position calculated in step 5 matches. More precisely, it is determined whether or not the presence of the vehicle is detected at the position corresponding to the sound source position calculated at step S2 by the processing at step S5. If the vehicle is detected at the two positions, in step S7, the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 determines whether the license plate recognition camera 5A
Is controlled, and the license plate of the vehicle 11A running in the lane A is photographed. License plate recognition unit 33A
Recognizes the license plate of the vehicle 11A from the image data output by the license plate recognition camera 5A,
The number obtained as a result of the recognition is output to the sound source vehicle determination unit 34.

Here, in step S6, instead of "determining whether or not the sound source position matches the vehicle position", it is determined whether or not the vehicle is detected at a position corresponding to the sound source position. The reason will be described.

When the vehicle travels, it generates sound due to the structure of the vehicle. The main places of sound generation include the contact points between the wheels and the ground, engines, and horns. These sound sources differ from vehicle to vehicle. This is because the position at which the wheels are provided differs depending on the type of vehicle, and the engine is installed at the front or at the rear. Therefore, when the position information of the vehicle is represented by the coordinate information of one point, it is preferable to have an allowable range for one vehicle in determining whether or not the position coincides with the sound source position.

In step S8, the sound source vehicle determining unit 34 stores information that proves that the vehicle 11A is running at a volume higher than the reference in a built-in memory. This information includes the sound source position calculated by the sound source position calculation unit 31 in the process of step S2, the sound volume detected when the sound source position is calculated, the vehicle position calculated by the vehicle position calculation unit 32A in step S5, The license plate number recognized by the license plate recognition unit 33A in S7, and the camera 4A for photographing the vehicle in the process of step S4.
And the date and time when the sound volume above the reference is detected. Furthermore, the position where the control device 6 is installed (if the position can be specified by the identification number assigned to the control device 6 may be the identification number), is included as necessary.

Then, of the information such as the license plate information and the sound volume recorded in step S8, predetermined information is supplied from the sound source vehicle determining unit 34 to the output control unit 35A as necessary, and in step S9, The sound is displayed on the electronic bulletin board 7A corresponding to the lane A in which the vehicle 11A that is generating the sound above the reference is traveling.

FIG. 5 shows an example of warning information displayed on the electronic bulletin board 7A. In the example of FIG. 5A, the four-line numbers (12-34) of the license plate number recognized by the license plate recognition unit 33A in the processing of step S7, and the sound source position calculation in the processing of step S2. Volume detected by the unit 31 (95 phones (dB))
Is displayed with a warning message of "Noise over." By displaying a part of the license plate number (in this case, a four-digit number), the vehicle 11
The driver of A can recognize that he has been warned. In this example, the volume is displayed as a number (95 phones) and a bar graph, and the driver of the vehicle 11A can instantly recognize that the volume is higher than the reference (for example, 90 phones).

For example, if the level of 60 phones or less is green, 90
If the level below the phone is displayed in orange, and the level exceeding 90 phones is displayed in red, it is possible to intuitively and quickly recognize that the volume is higher than the reference from the color (red).

Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, the sound volume can be displayed in a pie chart, and the same effect as in the case of displaying in a bar graph can be obtained.

In the examples of FIGS. 5A and 5B, rectangular (FIG. 5A) or fan-shaped (FIG. 5B) unit figures are combined in a number corresponding to the volume level. By that
The volume is displayed.

In the example shown in FIG. 5C, the vehicle 1 photographed from the front by the vehicle photographing camera 4A in the process of step S4 is displayed in the portion where the bar graph or the pie graph is displayed.
An image of the appearance of 1A is displayed. This allows the driver of the vehicle 11A to recognize that he / she has been warned to himself / herself even when the number of the license plate is not stored.

In addition, for example, in the electric bulletin boards 7A to 7C, the control device 6 compares the image of the vehicle photographed by the vehicle photographing cameras 4A to 4C with the image of the reference vehicle stored in advance. By doing so, the vehicle type names such as “crown” and “Cedric” (both trademarks) may be recognized and displayed, or the sound source vehicle determination unit 3
4 obtained by inquiring of the management center via the communication unit 36 using the number of the license plate,
The driver's name and the like may be displayed. When the control device 6 has a function of wirelessly communicating with the vehicle 11A (when the control device 6 has a processing device 81 shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 to be described later), the unique information of the vehicle acquired by the communication is provided. Information may be displayed to warn the driver.
In addition, the electronic bulletin boards 7A to 7C include “Number 12-
For example, a volume exceeding the reference may be displayed, such as "34 vehicles 10 dB over". Of course,
It is also possible to display only a warning message of "noise over" or to display only the warning message and the four-digit number of the license plate.

If it is determined in step S6 that the sound source position calculated in step S2 does not match the vehicle position calculated in step S5, the process proceeds to step S10, where the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 executes error processing. I do. That is, in this case, since the vehicle has not been running at the sound source position, for example, noise generated by accident in the neighborhood is taken in, and error processing is performed as a malfunction.

If it is determined in step S3 that the sound source position calculated in step S2 does not exist in lane A, it is determined in step S11 whether or not the sound source position exists in lane B. If it is determined that it exists in B, in steps S12 to S15, the same processing as in steps S4 to S7 described above is performed.

Thus, the vehicle position is calculated by the vehicle position calculating section 32B from the image data output by the vehicle photographing camera 4B, and the license plate recognizing section 5B is operated by the license plate recognizing camera 5B based on the photographed image data. The license plate is recognized by 33B.

If it is determined in step S11 that the sound source position does not exist in the lane B, the process proceeds to step S11.
Proceeding to 16, it is determined whether or not the sound source position exists in the lane C. When it is determined that the sound source position is present in the lane C, the same processing as in steps S4 to S7 is executed in steps S17 to S20.

As a result, the vehicle position is calculated by the vehicle position calculator 32C from the image data output by the vehicle photographing camera 4C, and the license plate recognition unit 33C is calculated from the image data captured by the license plate recognition camera 5C. Thus, the license plate is recognized.

As a result, even in lane B or lane C,
The same processing as in the case of lane A described above is performed, and necessary information among the information stored in step S8 is displayed as warning information as shown in FIG. 5 in step S9.

In step S16, the sound source position is set to lane C
If the sound source position does not exist in any of the lanes A to C, the microphones 3A to 3C eventually determine that the sound source position does not exist in any of the lanes A to C, even though the sound having a volume higher than the reference is detected by the microphones 3A to 3C. Therefore, step S10
And the error processing is executed.

After the processing in step S9 or S10, the process returns to step S1, and the subsequent processing is repeatedly executed.

In response to the detection of a sound source having a predetermined volume or higher, the vehicle photographing cameras 4A to 4C have started photographing. In order to use the vehicle photographing information together with the purpose of monitoring other traffic on the road, the vehicle photographing cameras 4A to 4C photograph road conditions at a predetermined cycle, and store the sequentially photographed image data together with time and the like in a memory. You can do it. In this case, the traffic monitoring device of the present invention reads the image data of the detection time stored from the memory when detecting the sound volume equal to or higher than the reference, and matches the sound source position with the vehicle position based on the information. What is necessary is just to determine whether to do.

Similarly, a license plate recognition camera 5A
The license plate recognition cameras 5A to 5C can also be used for traffic monitoring purposes such as detecting the license plate of a vehicle traveling at a predetermined speed.
However, the road condition may be photographed at a predetermined cycle, and the image data sequentially photographed may be stored in the memory together with the time and the like. Then, the traffic monitoring device of the present invention may read out the license plate information corresponding to the time when the sound source was detected from the memory, if necessary.

The reason why the sound source position calculated by the sound source position calculation unit 31 corresponds to which lane of the road 1 is determined is as follows. That is, in order to recognize a small object such as a license plate in relation to the field of view of the camera and the resolution, it is necessary to obtain image data at a high resolution with a small field of view. In the example of FIG. 1, since there are three lanes, it is not possible to obtain image data with such high resolution over a wide range. Therefore, a camera is installed for each lane to obtain high-resolution image data. . For this reason, in order to identify which vehicle the calculated sound source position is generated from, it is determined which lane of the road 1 corresponds to the sound source position.

If there is a camera capable of obtaining image data over a wide range with high resolution, an external appearance image of the vehicle existing in the image is obtained based on the image data obtained by one camera. In addition, the license plate can be recognized.

In the example shown in FIG.
A to 3C are arranged on the same support bar 2-1 together with vehicle photographing cameras 4A to 4C and license plate recognition cameras 5A to 5C. As a result, if it takes time to calculate the sound source position, the vehicle may change lanes before the vehicle position is calculated. In such a case, as described above, the sound source position does not correspond to the vehicle position, and error processing is performed in step S10.

In order to prevent this, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, the microphones 3A to 3C are connected to the support bar 2-.
1 and cameras 4A to 4C for photographing vehicles
And the license plate recognition cameras 5A to 5C are installed on another support bar 2-3.
Between the support bars 2-1 and 2-2,
-1 in the traveling direction of the vehicle 11 by a predetermined distance. And in the example of FIG.
Further, a camera 4 for detecting the vehicle locus is provided on the support bar 2-3.
1 is attached. This vehicle track detection camera 4
1 photographs the road 1 over a plurality of lanes.

In the case of the example shown in FIG. 6, the control device 6 is configured as shown in FIG. In this example, the vehicle trajectory detection unit 51 detects the trajectory of the vehicle by image processing from the sound source position supplied from the sound source position calculation unit 31 and the output of the vehicle trajectory detection camera 41, and outputs the detection result to the sound source vehicle. It is output to the decision unit 34. Other configurations are the same as those in FIG.

Further, one camera may be used as the vehicle trajectory detection camera 41 and the vehicle photographing cameras 4A to 4C. In this case, the vehicle trajectory detection unit 51 and the vehicle position calculation units 32A to 32C execute respective processes based on image information from one camera.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in step S31, the sound source position calculation unit 31 waits until the microphones 3A to 3C detect a sound having a volume equal to or higher than the reference level.
Proceeding to 32, the sound source position is calculated. When the sound source position calculated by the sound source position calculation unit 31 is supplied, in step S33, the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 controls the vehicle trajectory detection camera 41 to photograph the vehicle traveling on the road 1. . Thereby, the vehicle trajectory detection unit 51
For example, image data as shown in FIG. 9 is supplied from the vehicle trajectory detection camera 41.

In step S34, the vehicle trajectory detection section 51 specifies a vehicle on the image of the vehicle trajectory detection camera 41 at a position corresponding to the sound source position calculated in the processing in step S32.

As described with reference to FIG. 3, the sound source position is a point M in the angle θ direction from the y coordinate axis on the xy coordinate axis whose origin is the point M ₀ corresponding to the position of the microphone 3B.
_It is represented as a point at distance R from ₀ . Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, a distance R from a point M ₀ on a straight line that forms an angle θ with respect to the y axis on the image captured by the vehicle trajectory detection camera 41.
Is identified as the vehicle corresponding to the sound source.

Since the XY coordinates of the image are different from the xy coordinates of the sound source position, a coordinate conversion process is required to represent the position of the sound source 12A on the xy coordinates on the XY coordinates. That is, the angle θ represented by the xy coordinates as the sound source position
And the distance R are different from the angle θ and the distance R in the XY coordinates of the image, but the relationship between the two coordinates can be uniquely determined by calculation. However, in the display example of FIG. 9, the angle θ of the xy coordinate and the distance R are shown as the same value as the XY coordinate for convenience of explanation.

In step S35, the vehicle trajectory detecting section 51 determines whether or not the vehicle has been identified. If the vehicle cannot be identified, error processing is executed in step S36. Thereafter, the process returns to step 31.

If the vehicle is specified, the process proceeds to step S37, and the vehicle trajectory detecting section 51 executes a process of tracing the trajectory of the vehicle. Tracking a vehicle on an image can be easily performed based on the continuity between the previous frame and the next frame, if the image is captured at a sufficiently short frame interval.

Next, in step S38, the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 determines whether or not the tracked vehicle has reached a position where the license plate recognizing cameras 5A to 5C can capture images. If so, step S37
To cause the vehicle trajectory detection unit 51 to continuously execute the tracking process.

To determine whether or not the target vehicle has reached a position where images can be taken by the license plate recognition cameras 5A to 5C, the position (X, Y) of the target vehicle on the image is measured in advance by experiments or the like. This can be performed by comparing with a set reference position.

If it is determined in step S38 that the target vehicle has reached a position where the license plate recognizing cameras 5A to 5C can shoot, the flow advances to step S39.
At that time, the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 causes the license plate recognition camera 5 corresponding to the lane where the target vehicle is located to image the vehicle, and the license plate recognition unit 33
Execute license plate recognition processing. In the example of FIG. 9, the vehicle 11A in which the sound source 12A is detected in the lane A is
Since the vehicle is traveling with the lane changed to the lane C, the license plate recognition unit 33C executes the license plate recognition process based on the image captured by the license plate recognition camera 5C.

Then, in step S40, the vehicle is photographed by the vehicle photographing camera 4 in the corresponding lane. FIG.
In the example, the camera 4C for photographing the vehicle corresponding to the lane C
Captures an image of the vehicle 11A and outputs the image to the vehicle position calculation unit 32C. At this time, since the vehicle position calculating unit 32C does not need to calculate the vehicle position, the vehicle position calculating unit 32C outputs the image data of the vehicle 11A photographed by the vehicle photographing camera 4C to the sound source vehicle determining unit 34 as it is.

Next, in step S41, the sound source vehicle determining unit 34 stores the sound source position, the sound volume, the vehicle position, the license plate number, the image captured by the vehicle, and the date and time in the memory. In step S42, the output control units 35A to 35C display necessary information from the information stored in the processing in step S41 on the electronic bulletin boards 7A to 7C. In the example of FIG. 9, warning information as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the electronic bulletin board 7C.

Then, the process returns to step S31,
Subsequent processes are repeatedly executed.

In the above, three microphones 3A
Although the sound source position is calculated based on the difference between the reception times of the sounds from the sound sources 12 through 3C (the principle in FIG. 3), the sound source position can be obtained by using a highly directional microphone. FIG. 10 shows an example in this case.

That is, in the example of FIG. 10, the microphones 3A to 3C are the high directivity microphones 3AD to 3CD. And these microphones 3AD
As shown in FIG. 11 (A), the pointing direction is at an angle α with respect to the vertical direction and obliquely downward so that the 3CD can detect the sound generated by the vehicle traveling in the corresponding lane. It is arranged facing.

In the example of FIG. 10, the detectable range 71A of the directional microphone 3AD is set corresponding to the lane A, and the detectable range 71B of the highly directional microphone 3BD is set in the lane B. The detection range 71C of the microphone 3CD with high directivity is set corresponding to the lane C. Other configurations are shown in FIG.
Is the same as in the case of

FIG. 12 shows a configuration example of the control device 6 in this case. The configuration is the same as that shown in FIG. 7 except that the microphones 3A to 3C are changed to the microphones 3AD to 3CD with high directivity.

Next, the operation will be described. The operation in this case is basically the same as the case shown in the flowchart of FIG. However, in step S31, one of the high directivity microphones 3AD to 3CD
If it is determined that a sound volume equal to or higher than the reference value is detected, in step S32, a process of calculating the sound source position is executed by the sound source position calculating unit 31, and at this time, the sound source position calculating unit 31 The sound source position is not calculated based on the principle described with reference to FIG.

That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 11A, when the direction of the center of the directivity is set to the angle α with respect to the vertical direction, the microphone 3AD (support bar 2)
In the detectable range 71A centered on a position separated by a distance D from the position of -1), sound is detected. Also, as shown in FIG. 11B, when the angle α is 0, the microphone 3AD with high directivity (support bar 2-
Sound is detected in the detectable range 71A centered on 1). In this case, the value of the distance D is 0 (or a value close thereto).

The same applies to the microphones 3BD and 3CD.

When the microphone 3AD in the lane A detects a sound having a volume higher than the reference level, the sound source position calculator 31 sets the position of the lane A at a distance D from the support bar 2-1 as the sound source position,
When the microphone 3BD in the lane B detects a sound with a volume higher than the reference, the position of the distance D from the support bar 2-1 in the lane B is set as the sound source position, and the microphone 3CD in the lane C emits a sound with the volume higher than the reference. If detected, the support bar of lane C 2-
From 1, the position of the distance D is calculated as the sound source position.

Therefore, when the image is taken by the vehicle trajectory detecting camera 41 in step S33, the process proceeds to step S34.
In, the vehicle locus detection unit 51 specifies a vehicle located in the detectable range 71A to 71C of the corresponding lane as a vehicle at the sound source position at a timing when a sound volume equal to or higher than the reference is detected. Thereafter, the trajectory of the vehicle is tracked.

The other processes are the same as those described above, and the description thereof will be omitted.

When a vehicle has a function of detecting its own position, the information can be used to specify the vehicle. FIG. 13 shows an example of such a case.

In the example of FIG. 13, each vehicle 11A
Processing devices 81A to 81C each having a function of detecting its own position and a function of communicating with the control device 6.
have. Other configurations are the same as those in FIG.

FIG. 14 shows a processing apparatus 81 (processing apparatus 81).
A, 81B, 81C). The position detection unit 91 receives radio waves from a plurality of satellites (not shown) constituting a GPS (Global Positioning System) system, and calculates a current position based on the received data. Processing unit 9
2 receives an input of the current position detected by the position detection unit 91, supplies the current position to the storage unit 93, stores the current position data, and superimposes the current position data stored therein on the map data as necessary. Output to the input / display unit 94 for display. The processing unit 92 switches the scale of the map and executes various processes in response to various commands input by operating the input / display unit 94 including various switches and buttons. The communication unit 95 is controlled by the processing unit 92 and communicates with the control device 6 via the antenna 96.

FIG. 15 shows an example of the configuration of the control device 6 shown in FIG. In this example, the communication unit 101
Communicates with the processing devices 81A to 81C of the vehicles 11A to 11C via the antenna 102.
Other configurations are the same as those in FIG.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, step S5
1, the sound source position calculation unit 31
Wait until A, 3B, 3C detects the volume above the standard,
If a sound volume higher than the reference is detected, in step S52, the sound source position is calculated based on the principle described with reference to FIG. The calculated sound source position is calculated by the sound source position calculating unit 3.
1 to the sound source vehicle determination unit 34.

Next, in step S53, the sound source vehicle determining unit 34 controls the communication unit 101 to request each vehicle to output the data of the current position. This request is for antenna 1
02 is transmitted to each vehicle by radio waves.

The antenna 102 is relatively weak and can be received only by vehicles located upstream of the support bar 2-1 and in a predetermined area in the relatively close lanes A to C.
Outputs highly directional radio waves.

In the processing device 81 of each vehicle 11, when a request from the control device 6 is received by the communication unit 95 via the antenna 96, the processing unit 92 sets the position detection unit 91 at that time.
From the communication unit 95 to the antenna 9
6 to the control device 6.

In step S54, the control device 6
When the communication unit 101 receives the current position data from the processing device 81 via the antenna 102,
In S55, the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 searches the received current position for one corresponding to the sound source position calculated in step S52.

That is, for example, in the example shown in FIG. 13, vehicles 11A to 11A traveling in lanes A to C
The data of the current position is transmitted from each of 1C. Now, in the example of FIG. 13, the sound source 12A of the vehicle 11A
Is calculated as the sound source position in the process of step S52, the vehicle 1 is determined in the process of step S55.
The current position output by the 1A processing device 81A is searched for as corresponding to the sound source position.

Next, in step S56, the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 notifies the searched current position (sound source position) to the vehicle locus detection unit 51, and the vehicle on the image of the vehicle locus detection camera 41 at the corresponding position. Let me specify. The vehicle trajectory detection unit 51 converts the searched current position into position data in XY coordinates as shown in FIG. 9, and specifies a vehicle running at that position as a vehicle corresponding to the sound source position.

In step S57, the vehicle trajectory detecting section 51 determines whether or not the vehicle has been specified. If the vehicle cannot be specified, error processing is executed in step S58. Thereafter, the process returns to step S51.

If a vehicle has been specified, the process proceeds to step S59, and the vehicle trajectory detection unit 51 executes a process of tracking the trajectory of the vehicle.

Then, in step S60, the sound source vehicle determination section 34 determines whether or not the target vehicle has reached a position where the license plate recognizing cameras 5A to 5C can shoot, and if not, step S59. To make the vehicle trajectory detecting section 51 continuously execute the tracking process.

If it is determined in step S60 that the vehicle has reached a position where the license plate recognizing cameras 5A to 5C can shoot, the processes of steps S61 to S64 are executed. Steps S61 to S64
Is the same as the above-described processing of steps S39 to S42 in FIG. That is, one of the license plate recognition units 33A to 33C corresponding to the current position of the target vehicle executes the license plate recognition processing. Then, of the vehicle position calculation units 32A to 32C, the vehicle in the corresponding lane captures an image of the vehicle, and the information obtained corresponding to the vehicle is stored in the memory of the sound source vehicle determination unit 34. Electronic bulletin board 7A as warning information
7 to 7C are displayed on the corresponding lane.

Thereafter, the flow returns to step S51, and the subsequent processing is repeatedly executed.

In general, it has been empirically known that traveling on the lane on the median strip (lane C) can suppress noise to the neighborhood as compared with traveling on the lane on the roadside (lane A). ing. Therefore, electronic bulletin boards 7A to 7C
May display warning information for urging the driver to drive in the lane on the median strip side.

FIG. 17 shows an example of the configuration of a vehicle monitoring system that warns that the vehicle is traveling in the lane on the median strip side and recognizes vehicles that do not respond to the warning. In the example of FIG. 17, a road 1-1 whose traveling direction is the left direction of the figure is arranged below, and a road 1-2 whose traveling direction is the right direction of the figure is sandwiched by the median strip 1-3. Are located. The road 1-1 has lanes A1, B1, and C1. Similarly, road 1-2
Has lanes A2, B2, and C2.

On the road 1-1, cross each lane.
The support bars 2-2-1, 2--4- are separated by a predetermined distance.
6 are provided on the support bar 2-2-1 in the same manner as the support bar 2-2 shown in FIG.
The vehicle trajectory detection camera 101-1 connected to the control device 6 by wire or wirelessly is disposed on the support bar 2-4-1. The support bar 2-2
1, a support bar 2-1-1 and a support bar 2
-3-1 is installed, and the support bar 2-1-1 has
Microphones 3A1, 3B1, 3C1 as shown in FIG.
However, the support bar 2-3-1 has a camera 4 for detecting the vehicle locus.
1-1, Vehicle Cameras 4A1, 4B1, 4C1 and License Plate Recognition Cameras 5A1, 5B1, 5C1
, Respectively.

The road 1-2 has the same structure as that of the road 1-1, and is separated by a predetermined distance so as to cross each lane. Is installed on the support bar 2-2-2.
2, 7C2, and a vehicle trajectory detection camera 101-2 is disposed on the support bar 2-4-2. Note that a support bar 2-1-2 and a support bar 2-3-2 are installed upstream of the support bar 2-2-2.
2, a microphone 3A2, 3B2, 3C2, a support bar 2-3-2, a camera 41-2 for detecting a vehicle locus, a camera 4A2, 4B2, 4C2 for photographing a vehicle, and a camera 5A2, 5B2 for recognizing a license plate. , 5C2 are provided.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the control device 6 of FIG. The function of each processing unit of the control device 6 illustrated in FIG. 18 is basically the same as the function of the control device 6 illustrated in FIG. 7, and includes not only information from each device installed on the road 1-1. , And information from each device installed on the road 1-2. The image information captured by the vehicle trajectory detection camera 101-1 is:
The vehicle trajectory detection section 51-1 supplies image information captured by the vehicle trajectory detection camera 101-2 to the vehicle trajectory detection section 51-2, similarly to the vehicle trajectory detection camera 41-1. It is configured. Of course, road 1-1,1
-2, the control device 6 may be separately installed so as to individually control the devices installed in each of them.

Next, the operation of this monitoring system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This operation is started after the warning information shown in FIG. 19 is displayed on one of the electronic bulletin boards 7A1 and 7C2 in step S42 in FIG. In the flowchart of FIG. 20, only the monitoring process for the vehicle traveling on the road 1-1 is described. However, the monitoring process for the vehicle traveling on the road 1-2 is also executed in the same manner.

That is, in this example, when a vehicle traveling in the lanes A1 and B1 while generating sounds above the reference is detected in the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG.
At S42, warning information for urging the driver to travel in the lane C1 is displayed on each of the electronic bulletin boards 7A1 and 7B1, as shown in FIG. 19A, for example (note that FIG. 19A).
Represents a display example of the electronic bulletin board 7A1). FIG.
In the example of (A), the four-digit number of the license plate of the vehicle 11 recognized by the processing of step S39 in FIG. 8 and a warning message (“Noise over” and “Run on the lane near the median strip” ") And image information for inducing such traveling.

The lane C closest to the median strip 1-3
1 and C2, if the vehicle is running while emitting a sound higher than the reference, the electric bulletin board 7C1 has another lane (see FIG. 19B). Lane
Warning information for prohibiting the lane change to A1, B1) is displayed. In the example of FIG. 19B, step S39 of FIG.
, The four-digit number of the license plate of the vehicle 11 recognized by the above process, a warning message ("noise over" and "vehicle change prohibited"), and image information indicating such vehicle change prohibition are displayed. I have.

After the warning information shown in FIG. 19 is displayed, in step S71 in FIG.
Determines whether warning information is displayed on the electronic bulletin board 7A1 in step S42 in FIG. That is, in this example, it is determined whether or not the vehicle 11A1 is traveling in the lane A1 while generating a sound higher than the reference. Step S
If it is determined in step 71 that the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 has displayed the warning information on the electric bulletin board 7A1, the process proceeds to step S72.

In step S72, the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 determines that the vehicle tracked and photographed by the vehicle trajectory detection camera 41 in the process of step S37 in FIG. Whether or not the change has been made is determined based on the image captured by the vehicle trajectory detection camera 101-1. That is, the vehicle 11A1, which has been tracked and photographed by the vehicle trajectory detection camera 41-1, becomes a support bar 2-3-3-
1 (when passing through the photographable range of the vehicle trajectory detection camera 41-1), the vehicle is continuously tracked and photographed by the vehicle trajectory detection camera 101-1. Steps
In S72, according to the warning information, the vehicle 11A1
If it is determined that the lane has been changed to C1, the monitoring process ends.

In step S72, the sound source vehicle determining unit 34 determines that the vehicle 11A1 has not changed lanes to the lane C1 (continues to run in the lane A1 or changes to the lane B1 and runs). In this case, the process proceeds to step S73.

In step S73, the sound source vehicle determining unit 34 determines whether or not the vehicle 1 recorded in step S41 in FIG.
Information indicating that the warning has been violated is added to the vehicle information of 1A1. After that, the recorded information is
The notification is sent to the management center via the communication unit 36. The management center executes a procedure corresponding to the fact that the registered owner of the vehicle has been dismissed with the warning. Therefore,
The distance between the support bar 2-2-1 and the support bar 2-4-1 is
The distance is sufficient to allow the driver to change lanes after confirming the warning information. In addition, a support bar is further provided between the support bar 2-2-1 and the support bar 2-4-1, and the vehicle 1
The warning information for the 1A1 driver may be displayed multiple times.

On the other hand, in step S71, when the sound source vehicle determining unit 34 determines that the warning information is not displayed on the electric bulletin board 7A1, it is determined in step S74 whether the warning information is displayed on the electric bulletin board 7B1 (reference). (Whether or not the vehicle 11B1 is traveling in the lane B1 while emitting the above sound.)
Is determined.

If it is determined in step S74 that the warning sound information has been displayed on the electronic bulletin board 7B1, the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 proceeds to step S75, and thereafter proceeds to step S72.
And the same processing as S73 is performed. That is, in this example, the vehicle 11B1 changes the lane C1 according to the warning information.
It is determined whether or not the vehicle is traveling after changing lanes, and if it is determined that the vehicle is disobeying the warning, that fact is recorded.

In step S74, when the sound source vehicle determining unit 34 determines that the warning information is not displayed on the electronic bulletin board 7B1, it recognizes that the electronic bulletin board displaying the warning information is the electronic bulletin board 7C1, and proceeds to step S76. Proceed to processing.

In step S76, the sound source vehicle determining unit 34 determines whether or not the vehicle 11C1 continues to travel in the lane C1. That is, in this example, since the warning information shown in FIG. 19B is displayed in step S42 of FIG. 8, it is determined whether or not the warning is disobeyed.

The sound source vehicle determination unit 34 determines that the vehicle 11C1
If it is determined that the vehicle is traveling in the lane C1 in response to the warning, the process is terminated, but the lane A1 or B1 is moved between the support bar 2-2-1 and the support bar 2-4-1. If it is determined that the vehicle is traveling after being changed, the process proceeds to step S73, and the fact is recorded.

When the vehicle 11 has the processing device 81 described with reference to FIG. 13, it may be determined whether the lane has been changed from the position detected using the GPS system.

[0153] In addition to displaying the above-mentioned warning information for prompting the driver to change lanes, it is also possible to prompt a vehicle traveling while generating a sound having a volume higher than the reference level to detour the road. For example, on roads facing hospitals and schools, stricter restrictions may be imposed on noise. In this case, as a detour destination, there is an expressway or the like in which soundproofing measures such as soundproof walls are provided.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a monitoring system for urging a vehicle to make a detour. In this example, the hospital 111 is located facing the one-lane road 1A.
There is a road 1B that can bypass the hospital 111.

The road 1A is provided with support bars 2-1 and 2-3, and the support bars 2-1 and 2-3 shown in FIG.
Similarly, a microphone 3D having high directivity, a camera 4 for photographing a vehicle, and a camera 5 for recognizing a license plate are installed. An electric bulletin board 7 is attached to the support bar 2-2. Vehicle trajectory detection camera 101
Are installed between the intersection of the roads 1A and 1B and the hospital 111.
The function of each device is the same as that described above, and a description thereof will be omitted.

Next, the operation of this monitoring system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This operation detects that the vehicle 11 traveling on the road 1A is traveling while generating a sound higher than the reference, according to the flowchart of FIG.
The process is started after warning information as shown in FIG.

In the example of FIG. 22, step S in FIG.
The four-digit number of the license plate of the vehicle 11 recognized by the processing in step 39, a warning message ("noise over" and "turn right at the next intersection"), and image information for inducing such traveling are displayed. Have been.

In step S81, the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 of the control device 6 determines whether the vehicle 11 photographed by the vehicle photographing camera 4 turns right on the road 1A and enters the road 1B according to the warning information. The vehicle locus detection camera 10
1 determines based on the image information to be photographed. When determining that the vehicle 11 has made a right turn, the sound source vehicle determining unit 34 ends the process, and when determining that the vehicle 11 has gone straight on the road 1A in response to the warning, the process proceeds to step S82.

In step S82, the sound source vehicle determination unit 34 determines the information (vehicle 1) recorded in step S41 in FIG.
(1) information on the license plate, travel date and time, vehicle photographed image, etc.) and information indicating that the warning was disturbed. Thereafter, the recorded information is reported to a management center or the like via the communication unit 36. The management center executes a procedure corresponding to the violation of the warning.

In the above description, one electronic bulletin board is installed in one lane. A plurality of electronic bulletin boards are sequentially installed in the traveling direction of the vehicle, and the driver is warned by the first electronic bulletin board. Even if the information is overlooked, the information may be confirmed on the second electronic bulletin board. As a result, the driver of the traveling vehicle can be more reliably notified of the occurrence of noise. Also, by displaying different warning information on the first and second electronic bulletin boards, the warning information can be confirmed in various ways.

[0161]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to notify the driver of a traveling vehicle whether or not noise is generated for each vehicle.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a vehicle monitoring system to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a control device 6 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the principle of sound source position calculation in a sound source position calculation unit 31 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the vehicle monitoring system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of warning information.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of another vehicle monitoring system to which the present invention is applied.

7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a control device 6 in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the vehicle monitoring system of FIG. 6;

9 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image captured by the vehicle trajectory detection camera 41 in FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a configuration example of still another vehicle monitoring system to which the present invention is applied.

11 is a diagram illustrating the directivity of the microphone 3AD in FIG.

12 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a control device 6 in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the vehicle monitoring system to which the present invention is applied.

14 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a processing device 81 in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a control device 6 of the vehicle monitoring system of FIG.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the vehicle monitoring system of FIG. 13;

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing still another configuration example of the vehicle monitoring system to which the present invention is applied.

18 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a control device 6 of the vehicle monitoring system of FIG.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating another example of the warning information.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the vehicle monitoring system of FIG. 17;

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a vehicle monitoring system to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating still another example of the warning information.

23 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the vehicle monitoring system in FIG. 21.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Road 2 Support bar 3A, 3B, 3C Microphone 3AD, 3BD, 3CD Highly directional microphone 4A, 4B, 4C Vehicle photographing camera 5A, 5B, 5C License plate recognition camera 6 Control device 7A, 7B, 7C 8A, 8B, 8C Surveillance camera 11A, 11B, 11C Vehicle 12A, 12B, 12C Sound source 31 Sound source position calculation unit 32A, 32B, 32C Vehicle position calculation unit 33A, 32B, 33C License plate recognition unit 34 Sound source vehicle determination unit 35A, 35B , 35C Output control unit 36 Communication unit

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A sound detecting means for detecting a sound generated by a vehicle traveling on a road; an image obtaining means for obtaining an image of the vehicle generating the sound detected by the sound detecting means; A vehicle monitoring apparatus comprising: identification means for identifying the vehicle based on an image obtained by the means; and display means for displaying warning information for the vehicle identified by the identification means. 2. The vehicle monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein the sound detection unit detects the sound whose volume is equal to or higher than a reference. 3. The display means as the warning information,
At least a part of the information of the license plate of the vehicle acquired by the identification means, an image of at least a part of the appearance of the vehicle, information on the position of the vehicle, and the sound detection means have detected the information. The vehicle monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the sound volumes is displayed. 4. The vehicle monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the volume of the sound detected by the sound detection unit in combination with a predetermined unit of figure. apparatus. 5. The display means, as the warning information,
The vehicle monitoring device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a change of the lane of the road is instructed. 6. The display means, as the warning information,
The vehicle monitoring device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the device indicates the road on which the vehicle should travel. 7. A confirmation means for confirming whether or not the vehicle identified by the identification means has traveled in response to the instruction, and a message for issuing a predetermined message based on a result of the confirmation by the confirmation means. 6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:
Or the vehicle monitoring device according to 6. 8. A sound detecting means for detecting a sound generated by a vehicle traveling on a road; an obtaining means for obtaining identification information of the vehicle generating the sound detected by the sound detecting means; Display means for displaying warning information for the vehicle corresponding to the identification information acquired by the method.