JP2002117493A - Parking facility management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a parking facility management system capable of informing drivers where the empty lots are by inexpensively and stably determining empty lots day and night regardless of intensity of sunlight, lighting environment or the like. SOLUTION: This parking facility management system managing the parking situation of a parking facility is characterized in that it is provided with a wide dynamic range camera having logarithmic input output characteristics and outputting image data by picking up an image of an area including a plurality of parking lots of the parking facility, and an empty lot discriminating means discriminating an existence of a vehicle per parking lot on the basis of the image data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a parking lot management system that manages a parking lot by obtaining information on parking and vacant parking in a parking lot having a plurality of parking sections.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional parking lot management system, for example, the following various systems have been put to practical use.

[0003] An individual decentralized system in which a camera and a billing system for detecting vehicles are installed in each parking lot.
In this case, a camera using, for example, a CCD or CMOS image sensor is used as the camera. One camera captures an image of one parking section to obtain image data, and the parking section is parked based on this image data. It is determined whether the vehicle is in a state or an empty state.

(2) For example, in a supermarket or the like, a system in which a guide member looks for a vacant space by looking at a parking lot and guides an automobile to the vacant space.

(3) For example, in a large private parking lot, a system in which a large bulletin board is installed near the entrance of the parking lot or on each floor of the parking lot and simple information such as full or empty is posted on the large bulletin board.

[0006]

However, such a conventional parking lot management system has the following problems.

In the above-mentioned individual distributed system, a large parking lot having many parking lots requires a large number of cameras or sensors for detecting vehicles, and the cost of the cameras or sensors and the installation of cameras or sensors are required. Costs are high.

[0008] In an individual distributed system, CC
The input / output characteristics of a D or CMOS image sensor are linear, and the sensor output increases in proportion to the light intensity.
Therefore, for example, when the input to the sensor exceeds the level corresponding to the recognizable luminance of the actual screen display, such as when the weather is fine outdoors, the displayed image is in a state of a saturated white spot, The probability of making an erroneous determination increases. Also, when the input / output characteristics of the CCD or CMOS image sensor are adjusted so that the output does not exceed a certain level even with a large input (when the input / output gradient is reduced), the characteristics are linear. When the input to the sensor is lower than the level corresponding to the recognizable luminance of the actual screen display as in the case of rainy weather, the obtained image is unclear and the probability of making an erroneous determination increases.

In a system in which a guide man guides a car to an empty space, the labor cost is increased due to the large number of manpower, and the exhaust gas due to long working hours adversely affects the human body.

[0010] (4) In a system for displaying simple information such as full or empty, even if there are empty sections, it is not possible to grasp the number of empty sections, and if the number is small, the driver will find where empty sections are located. You have to look around for it.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an image of a parking lot is taken by using a reflector having a wide viewing angle or a wide-angle lens and a camera having a wide allowable input dynamic range. An object of the present invention is to provide a parking lot management system that can perform stable empty section determination at a low cost regardless of day and night, the intensity of sunlight, lighting environment, etc., and can inform the driver of where the empty section is. .

[0012]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a parking lot management system for managing a parking situation of a parking lot, the input / output characteristic having a logarithmic function, and a plurality of parking lots in the parking lot. A wide dynamic range camera that captures an image of an area including a section and outputs image data, and an empty section determination unit that determines the presence or absence of a vehicle for each parking section based on the image data. It is a parking lot management system.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the parking lot management system according to the first aspect, a display means for displaying parking status information generated based on a determination result by the empty section determination means is provided. It is a featured parking lot management system.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the parking lot management system according to the first aspect, parking status information generated based on a determination result by the vacant zone determination means is transmitted to an external device connected to a communication network. This is a parking lot management system provided with a transmission means for performing the above.

[0015] In a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the parking lot management system according to the second or third aspect, the parking status information includes the empty section, the presence or absence of the empty section, and the number of the empty section. A parking lot management system including at least one.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the parking lot management system according to the first aspect, the wide dynamic range camera is constituted by a semiconductor image sensor.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the parking lot management system according to the fifth aspect, the semiconductor image sensor and the vacant section determination means are formed on the same semiconductor chip. It is a management system.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the parking lot management system according to the first aspect, a receiving means for receiving maintenance data from a remote maintenance means connected to a communication network is provided, and said empty section determining means is provided. And a parking lot management system, wherein maintenance is performed based on the maintenance data.

[0019]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a wide dynamic range camera, which images a region including a plurality of parking sections of a parking lot and outputs image data. When the parking lot is large, a plurality of wide dynamic range cameras 1 are installed in the parking lot.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a host computer for centrally managing the parking lot, and a plurality of wide dynamic range cameras 1 by a transmission line such as Ethernet (registered trademark) or wirelessly.
Is connected. Inside the host computer 2, there are provided an empty section discriminating means 2a, an information generating means 2b, a transmitting means 2c, and a receiving means 2d.

Reference numeral 3 denotes display means for displaying information relating to the parking status of the parking lot. The display means 3 is installed at the entrance of the parking lot, for example, and is connected to the host computer 2 by a transmission line such as Ethernet or wirelessly.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a communication network such as the Internet. Reference numerals 5a and 5b denote information useful for driving, such as road traffic information, news, and weather forecasts, and e-mails in response to requests, using mobile telephone lines. This is a membership-based information providing system that transmits and displays the information on a car navigation device mounted on a car.

Numeral 6 denotes remote maintenance means for remotely maintaining the empty section discriminating means 2a provided in the host computer 2.
The host computer 2, the display means 3, the information providing systems 5a and 5b, and the remote maintenance means 6 are connected to a communication network 4.

Next, the operation of the parking lot management system shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The empty section discriminating means 2a receives image data output periodically or upon request from a plurality of wide dynamic range cameras 1 and processes color information and luminance information of the image data using a predetermined image recognition algorithm. , Feature extraction, pattern recognition, and the like, and the presence or absence of a vehicle is determined for each parking section, for example, by comparing with image data when all the parking sections are empty.

The information generating means 2b determines, for example, whether there is an empty section or not, based on the discrimination result of the empty section discriminating means 2a, for example, by displaying screen information for pattern-displaying the parking lot separately into parking and empty sections. The parking status information such as the simple information to be displayed and the simple information for displaying the numerical value when there is an empty section is generated.

The transmitting means 2c transmits the parking status information generated by the information generating means 2b to the display means 3 at a constant period or in response to a request from the outside, and transmits the parking condition information via the communication network 4 at a constant period or from the outside. The information is transmitted to the information providing systems 5a and 5b in response to the request.

As shown in FIG. 2, for example, the display means 3 distinguishes the parking lot in a parking lot from a black spot and an empty spot in white, and the number of empty spots, empty spots, empty spots, etc. Is displayed in real time, and the information providing systems 5a and 5b transmit parking status information to the member's car in response to the request.

Therefore, a driver who wants to use the parking lot can confirm the location of the empty space in advance at the entrance of the parking space or the like in real time, and can safely and easily park without having to search for the empty space. be able to.

Also, a driver who is away from the parking lot can obtain the parking situation information from the information providing systems 5a and 5b in real time, so that the driver can grasp the situation from a distance before going to the target parking lot.

The remote maintenance means 6 transmits, via the communication network 4, maintenance data for tuning or upgrading the image recognition algorithm such as the pattern recognition method of the vacant zone determination means 2a to the host computer 2, and receives the data. The means 2d receives this maintenance data, and the empty section determination means 2a updates the image recognition algorithm based on the received maintenance data.

Next, the details of the wide dynamic range camera will be described. Wide dynamic range camera 1
For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a parking lot is fixed to a pillar 7 installed in a parking lot, and a parking lot reflected by a wide-viewing angle reflecting mirror 8 or a wide-angle lens also fixed to the pillar 7 is imaged to output image data. I do.

In this case, since the reflecting mirror 8 has a wide viewing angle, the wide dynamic range camera 1 can capture an image of an area including a plurality of parking sections of the parking lot. One set of a wide dynamic range camera 1 and a plurality of sets of a wide viewing angle reflecting mirror or a wide angle lens may be provided for each predetermined parking section.

In this case, the empty section determining means 2a of the host computer 2 determines the empty section of the parking lot based on the image data transmitted from the plurality of wide dynamic range cameras 1.

When the reflecting mirror 8 is installed at the center of the parking lot as a hyperbolic conical omnidirectional mirror 9 for projecting the omnidirectional direction as shown in FIG. 4, for example, it is possible to capture an omnidirectional image of the parking lot. Since it is possible, one wide dynamic range camera 1 can image an area including more parking sections.

When a reflecting mirror having a wide viewing angle such as a hyperbolic conical omnidirectional mirror is used, there is distortion in the obtained image data. By performing the processing, the empty section is determined.

As described above, when the reflector or the wide-angle lens having a wide viewing angle is used, the number of cameras required is greatly reduced as compared with the case where one camera captures an image of one parking section. The cost of the camera and its installation cost can be greatly reduced.

The wide dynamic range camera 1 is constituted by a semiconductor image sensor such as a CMOS image sensor formed on a semiconductor chip.
The MOS image sensor has a logarithmic function characteristic as shown in FIG. 5A or a polygonal input / output characteristic close to a logarithmic function characteristic as shown in FIG. 5B.

Accordingly, the wide dynamic range camera 1
For a large input, the output is suppressed to be below a certain level, and for a small input, the output is kept above a certain level. In this case, it is possible to output image data that enables stable and accurate discrimination of empty sections without outputting an unclear image such as white spots.

In this case, the CMOS image sensor controls, for example, the gate voltage of a CMOS transistor,
By utilizing the fact that the input / output characteristics below the threshold voltage of the CMOS transistor have exponential function characteristics, the above-described logarithmic function-like input / output characteristics are obtained.

Normally, the empty section determining means 2a and the CM
Although the OS image sensor is provided separately, for example, the empty section determining means 2a is formed of a semiconductor circuit, and the semiconductor circuit and the CMOS image sensor are formed on the same semiconductor chip, and the empty section determining means 2a has a wide dynamic range. It may be configured to be built in the camera 1. In this case, only the determination result is transmitted to the host computer 2, so that the transmission load can be reduced and the real-time property of information provision is further improved. be able to.

As described above, according to the present invention, a wide dynamic range camera for imaging an area including a plurality of parking sections of a parking lot and outputting image data is used, so that the cost is reduced. It is possible to perform a stable determination of an empty section regardless of day, night, intensity of sunlight, lighting environment and the like.

Further, according to the present invention, a screen for displaying a pattern by distinguishing a parking lot into a parking lot and an empty zone based on the determination result of an empty zone, simple information for displaying whether or not there is an empty zone, If there is a section, parking status information including simple information indicating the numerical value is generated and displayed on the display means, so that a driver who wants to use the parking lot can use the parking lot at the entrance of the parking lot in advance. The presence or absence of a section and its location can be confirmed in real time, and there is no need to search for an empty section, and parking can be performed safely and easily.

Further, according to the present invention, the transmission means for transmitting the parking status information to the outside connected to the communication network is provided, so that the driver who is away from the parking lot can transmit the parking status information in real time via the communication network. You can get the information from a distance before going to the target parking lot.

According to the present invention, a wide dynamic range camera is constituted by a semiconductor image sensor, and the semiconductor image sensor and a circuit constituting an empty section determining means are formed on the same semiconductor chip.
The data to be transmitted to the host computer can be only the determination result, the transmission load can be reduced, and the real-time property of information provision can be further improved.

Further, according to the present invention, the receiving means for receiving the maintenance data from the remote maintenance means connected to the communication network is provided. Remote maintenance based on the

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a case where a pattern is displayed on a display unit in which a parking lot is classified into a parking area and an empty area.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific example when a wide dynamic range camera is installed in a parking lot.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a hyperbolic conical omnidirectional mirror.

FIG. 5 is an input / output characteristic diagram of a CMOS image sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wide dynamic camera 2 Host computer 2a Empty section discriminating means 2b Information generating means 2c Transmitting means 2d Receiving means 3 Display means 4 Communication network 5a, 5b Information providing system 6 Remote maintenance means

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Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A parking lot management system for managing a parking situation in a parking lot, which has an input / output characteristic of a logarithmic function and outputs an image data by imaging an area including a plurality of parking sections of the parking lot. A parking lot management system, comprising: a wide dynamic range camera; and a vacant compartment determining unit that determines presence or absence of a vehicle for each parking compartment based on the image data. 2. The parking lot management system according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit for displaying parking status information generated based on a result of the determination by said vacant zone determination unit. . 3. The parking lot management system according to claim 1, further comprising a transmission unit that transmits parking status information generated based on a result of the determination by the vacant zone determination unit to an outside connected to a communication network. Parking management system. 4. The parking lot management system according to claim 2, wherein the parking status information includes at least one of the empty section, the presence or absence of the empty section, and the number of the empty sections. Features a parking management system. 5. The parking lot management system according to claim 1, wherein said wide dynamic range camera comprises a semiconductor image sensor. 6. The parking lot management system according to claim 5, wherein said semiconductor image sensor and said vacant zone determination means are formed on the same semiconductor chip. 7. The parking lot management system according to claim 1, further comprising receiving means for receiving maintenance data from a remote maintenance means connected to a communication network, wherein said empty section determination means is provided based on said maintenance data. A parking lot management system characterized by being maintained.