JP2002150483A - Image-providing system for traffic conditions - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a traffic condition image providing system, which provides images via the Internet, to immediately determine traffic conditions, while protecting the privacy of those who are photographed. SOLUTION: Original image data, taken with a fixed-point camera, are subjected to image processing at an image providing station and then provided to terminals. The image-providing station transmits the center of gravity of an automobile extracted and information about a vector of the movement of the center of gravity. At the terminal, a pre-stored character is placed over the center of gravity and displayed, as it moves according to the vector of movement to provided a false image display, according to the original image data. Thus, the traffic condition image providing system can be provided which is capable of protecting the privacy of those photographed, even if the images of a public place are provided to third party via the Internet.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a traffic situation image providing system, and more particularly, to a technique for providing a terminal with congestion information at a specific place via the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as means for obtaining traffic jam information,
There is traffic information broadcasting by television broadcasting and radio broadcasting. However, the traffic information by such broadcasting is only information of a specific place such as a main traffic route in a broadcasting area, and the broadcast time is intermittent. It was difficult to get.
Also, in recent years, a traffic situation image providing system that judges a traffic situation by viewing a road image of a remote place through the Internet has appeared. In this case, when the user selects a desired one from the fixed-point cameras fixedly arranged at a plurality of points, an image captured by the selected fixed-point camera is displayed on the personal computer screen, and the user displays this screen. By looking at it, it is determined whether or not the road is congested. This allows
Compared to the case where congestion information is obtained from the above-mentioned broadcasting means, it is possible to continuously obtain information on finer places.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned conventional traffic condition image providing system has the following problems. That is, when an image of a public place such as a road taken by a fixed-point camera in various places is made public on the Internet, there is a problem that the privacy of a subject shown in the image is not protected.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a traffic situation image providing system capable of immediately judging a traffic situation while protecting privacy of a subject. Aim.

[0005]

To solve the above-mentioned problems, a traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention is provided.
In a traffic situation image providing system for arranging a camera for photographing a traffic route, processing image data from the camera, and providing an image to a terminal via the Internet, , Embossing, blurring, mosaicing, edge enhancement, etc., to protect the privacy of the subject.

According to a second aspect of the traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention, in the traffic situation image providing system according to the first aspect, the degree of congestion is determined based on image data from the camera. An image which has undergone color balance change processing according to the degree is provided.

According to a third aspect of the traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention, in the traffic situation image providing system according to the first or second aspect, the degree of congestion is determined from image data from the camera. An image to which a traffic light image whose lighting color is switched according to the degree of traffic congestion is provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention, in the traffic situation image providing system according to any one of the first to third aspects, an average moving speed of a traffic body is obtained from image data from the camera. And an image to which the speed display is added is provided.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a traffic situation image providing system according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein an acquisition time display of image data from the camera is added. Providing an image.

In the traffic condition image providing system according to the present invention, a camera for photographing a traffic route is arranged, image data from the camera is processed, and an image is sent to a terminal via the Internet. In the traffic situation image providing system, a moving body with motion is extracted from the image data from the camera, and the motion vector and the center of gravity information of the body are transmitted. The stored character image is placed, and the character image is moved and displayed according to the motion vector.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention.

In the traffic situation image providing system shown in this example, a plurality of fixed point cameras 1a to 1n are connected to an image providing station 3 via a public line network 2, and the image providing station 3 is connected to the Internet 5. ing. The Internet 5 has a user's personal computer (P
C) 6 is connected.

The plurality of fixed point cameras 1a to 1n are installed on a building facing a traffic route such as a road, and always photograph a road or the like at a fixed angle. The camera used here has a communication function, and transmits a captured video (original image data) to the image providing station 3 via the public network 2. The image providing station 3 includes an image processing device 4,
The video from each fixed-point camera is input to the image processing device 4.

The traffic situation image providing system shown in FIG. 1 functions as follows. That is, for example, it is assumed that the fixed point camera 1a is installed in a building beside the road in order to monitor the vehicle traffic on the road where the degree of congestion greatly changes according to the time zone. FIG. 2 shows an example of original image data captured by the fixed-point camera 1a at this time. FIG. 2 shows an example in which original image data captured by the fixed-point camera 1a is displayed on a display. The screen 7 shows a road extending from the lower left of the screen to the upper right of the screen. In the right lane 8a of the road on the screen 7, the cars 9a and 9b are running in a direction approaching, and in the left lane 8b of the road,
The car 9c is running away. Here, it is assumed that a plurality of temporally continuous still images (frames) are transmitted to the image providing station 3.

The image providing station 3 includes all fixed point cameras 1a to 1a.
The images are collected simultaneously or selectively from 1n, and the collected images are processed by the image processing device 4. That is, the image processing device 4 has built-in image processing software, and by using this image processing software,
The collected video is automatically subjected to a degraded image process for privacy protection, and then this information is transmitted on the Internet. In this way, what has been processed by the image processing device 4 is displayed on the PC 6 of the user. Here, the display screen of the PC 6 is referred to as a terminal display screen.

Hereinafter, an example of processing of a provided image according to the traffic situation image providing system of the present invention will be described. FIG.
(A) shows an example of a terminal display screen when embossing is performed, FIG. (B) shows an example of a terminal display screen when edge emphasis is performed, and (c) of FIG. 5 shows an example of a terminal display screen in the case of performing the application. Note that these examples
This is a case where the original image data shown in FIG. That is, the above-mentioned embossing is to superimpose an uneven image on the original image data and display the original image data with distortion. The edge emphasis is to analyze chromaticity information and luminance information of original image data, extract a contour of each subject, and highlight and display the contour. In the mosaic processing, the original image data is partitioned in predetermined pixel units, an average color in the partition is determined, and an average color is displayed for each partition. In the above example, the example in which the degraded image processing is performed by performing embossing, edge enhancement, and mosaic processing has been described. In addition, for example, the original image data is passed through an integration filter to be blurred. You may.

Prior to the above-described processing, reference image data at the photographing angles of the fixed-point cameras 1a to 1n is stored in the image processing device 4, and processing is performed with reference to the reference image data. There is also an application example. That is, the reference image corresponding to each fixed-point camera is
A display region is divided into a video region captured in advance, such as a road region, a background region, or a sidewalk region, and region information is added. Further, a white line or the like painted on the road or a traffic sign is added as marking information. Then, the image processing device 4 refers to the reference image at the time of processing, and for example, for the background area, synthesizes so as to use the one of the reference image, thereby strictly protecting the privacy of a house or the like in the background area. . In addition, the marking information can be used for correcting the deviation of the photographing angle, and when the photographing angle is misaligned, the image providing station 3 remotely operates the fixed-point camera based on the photographing angle. Can be maintained to return.

If the original image data is processed so as to degrade the image quality as in the above-described example and then provided to the user's terminal (PC 6) via the Internet 5, for example, the license plate of the automobile displayed on the video can be used. Number becomes unclear, and the privacy of the subject can be protected.

Next, another embodiment of the traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention will be described. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a terminal display screen in the traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention, and the original image data used in this example is as shown in FIG. The terminal display screen shown in this example has been subjected to, for example, the above-described blurring processing by the image processing apparatus 4, and further has a traffic light animation 10 added to the background area. The traffic light animation 10 is an image image similar to that of a normal car traffic light, and is an image in which blue, yellow, and red lamps are arranged from the left.

Then, the traffic light animation 10
Switches the lighting display of the lamp according to the traffic condition of the road on which the image was taken. That is, the image processing device 4
A traffic condition determination unit (not shown) is provided. The traffic condition determination unit determines the degree of congestion on the road from the captured original image data, and switches the display of the lamp of the traffic light animation 10 based on the determination result. At this time, the traffic condition determination unit first refers to the reference image data, for example, compares the road region when there is no car with the road region of the captured original image data, obtains difference information, From the difference information, an automobile on the road is extracted based on the contour and color. Then, a preliminary determination of the degree of traffic congestion (traffic situation) is made based on the number of cars and the length of the train. Here, for example, in the right lane 8a of the road on the screen, the car 9a and the car 9b
Are extracted. In this case, the number of vehicles is counted as two, and the degree of congestion is low and a preliminary judgment is made based on the length of the vehicle row from which the inter-vehicle distance has been subtracted. Further, features such as the extracted position on the screen of the vehicle and the color and shape of the vehicle are extracted, and stored together with the characteristic information in the screen frame memory of the traffic condition determination unit.

Then, the same processing as described above is performed on the original image data shot next after a predetermined time interval.
Compare with the image data stored in the screen frame memory,
Calculate the amount of movement of the car. For example, if the shooting time interval is 1
In seconds, the car 9b is about 12m in the previous image and the later image
If it has moved, it can be determined that the vehicle is traveling at a speed of about 43 k / m. In addition, the movement amount of the car may be given in advance to the center line of the reference image data or the like, with an approximate scale scale in consideration of the perspective. By calculating the moving amount per unit time in this way, the speed of the vehicle is predicted, the traffic condition is determined by adding the speed information to the preliminary determination result, and the traffic light animation 1
At 0, the lamp color to be lit is determined.

In the example shown in FIG. 4 described above, the traffic condition can be easily judged by the color-coded display of the traffic light animation 10, but the color balance of the entire screen can be determined without using the traffic light animation 10. May be switched according to the determination of the traffic situation.
For example, it is displayed as a monotone image of any one color of blue, yellow, and red. For example, when the degree of congestion is low, the monotone image is blue, and when the degree of congestion is high, the monotone is red.
In the middle of the traffic congestion degree, a monotone of yellow is used.
Further, such color balance switching and traffic light animation display may be combined.

Furthermore, the average speed of a vehicle on a road or the like may be measured, and the measured average speed may be added to the provided image as an average speed display using characters. In addition, the acquisition time of the original image data captured by the fixed-point camera may be added to the provided image as an acquisition time display in text.

As described above, by switching the display color according to the degree of traffic congestion, the user can immediately recognize the traffic situation. In particular, on a screen where the image quality is deteriorated for privacy protection, it tends to be difficult for the user to see.Therefore, the meaning of the degree of congestion by switching the display color is important for the user to recognize the traffic situation. Extremely effective.

Next, another embodiment of the traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a terminal display screen in the traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention. Note that the arrows in the figure do not indicate actual displays, but indicate images of motion vectors described later. The terminal display screen shown in this example is processed using the original image data shown in FIG. 2, and the cars 9a to 9c in FIG. 2 are replaced with characters 11a to 11c, respectively. Here, the character refers to an image that extracts a subject moving on a road, that is, a car in the original image data, and displays the car on the terminal display screen in place of the extracted car. In this example, an example in which a simple circle is used as a character has been described, but a plurality of character types may be prepared in advance, and the user may select the type according to his / her preference.

The feature of this example is that the amount of image data transmitted from the image providing station 3 to a terminal such as the PC 6 via the Internet can be reduced. That is, the character data described above is
In the PC 6, the information is previously stored in the terminal by downloading from the Internet or the like. Then, the image providing station 3 prepares a background area in which the image processing apparatus 4 has performed image degradation processing on the original image data, or a background area and road area data based on the reference image data. Next, the movement amount and the movement direction per unit time of each vehicle extracted by the traffic condition determination unit in FIG. 4 described above are obtained. This is called a motion vector.

That is, when the user operates the terminal (PC 6) to specify an arbitrary fixed-point camera, the image processing device 4
First, for example, the background area and the road area data based on the reference image data are transmitted to the terminal. On the terminal side, the background area and the road area are displayed as fixed display parts. next,
The image processing device 4 calculates the position of the extracted center of gravity of the vehicle,
Only the motion vector information at the position of the center of gravity is sequentially transmitted. Then, on the terminal side, the above-mentioned pre-stored character is placed so as to be superimposed on the center of gravity, and the character is displayed so as to move in accordance with the motion vector, thereby displaying a pseudo image corresponding to the original image data. Realize. This allows
Not only is the privacy of the subject sufficiently protected, but also the user can view the replaced vehicle instead of seeing the actual car with the image quality degraded. Can be recognized very easily.

By the way, in recent years, the devices that can be connected to the Internet are not limited to personal computers. For example, portable terminals having a mobile communication function such as mobile phones can be connected to the Internet. Has become. Then, the configuration of the traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention is shown in FIG. 6 when an example of using such a portable terminal is shown.

The traffic situation image providing system shown in FIG.
A fixed-point camera 12 having wireless communication means, a wireless base station 13 for transmitting and receiving wireless radio waves to and from the fixed-point camera 12, an image providing station (Web server) 3 connected to the wireless base station 13 via the Internet 5, , A wireless base station 16 connected to the image providing station 3 via the Internet 5 and a portable terminal 17 communicating with the wireless base station 16 by wireless radio waves. The image providing station 3 is configured as a Web server, and the server includes an image processing unit 14 and a database 15. The Web server has the same functions as the image processing device 4 described above. Although the basic functional block configuration is the same as that shown in FIG. 1, the transmission path of the original image data captured by the fixed point camera 12 is transmitted through the radio wave and the Internet 5 through the image providing station 3.
The transmission path from the image providing station 3 to the portable terminal is the same. In such a radio wave or the Internet 5, the data transmission speed often becomes a bottleneck, and particularly in image transmission and the like, it is necessary to reduce the amount of transmitted data. Therefore, in such a system configuration, using the terminal display screen shown in FIG. 5 described above is an extremely effective application scene.

The operation of the example shown in FIG. 6 will be described.
The fixed-point camera 12 is, for example, a digital color camera.
erts group 4) and the like, and is encoded using a wireless public line such as a PHS network, and connected to the Internet 5 from the wireless base station 13 of the wireless public line network. Then, the original image data is collected by the Web server. Then, the image processing unit 14 performs a processing process, and the Internet 5 and the wireless base station 16
The traffic condition image is provided to the user's mobile terminal 17 via the.

As described above, since the traffic situation image can be provided to the portable terminal 17, the user can know the traffic situation at a desired point anytime and from any place. In the mobile terminal 17, the display unit 18 is often small because it is designed with priority on portability. However, as in the present invention, it is easy to change the color balance according to the degree of traffic congestion, so that traffic conditions can be easily changed. Can be recognized. Also, by replacing the character with a character stored in the terminal in advance, the privacy of the subject can be protected while reducing the amount of transmission data required for image transmission.

[0032]

As described above, the traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention performs the image processing on the original image data taken by the fixed point camera at the image providing station.
Since the information is provided to the terminal, a traffic situation image providing system capable of protecting the privacy of the subject can be realized even if an image of a public place is provided to a third party via the Internet.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a screen display example showing an example of original image data captured by a fixed point camera.

FIG. 3 is a terminal display screen showing an example of image processing of the traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of (a) embossing, (b) an example of edge emphasis processing, and (c) an example of mosaic processing.

FIG. 4 is a terminal display screen showing another example of image processing of the traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a terminal display screen showing still another example of the image processing of the traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another configuration example of the traffic situation image providing system according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a to 1n: fixed point camera 2: public line network 3: image providing station 4: image processing device 5: Internet 6: personal computer PC (terminal) 7: screen 8a ··· Right side lane (road) 8b ··· Left side lane (road) 9a to 9c ··· Car 10 ··· Traffic light animation 11a to 11c ··· Character 12 ··· Fixed point camera 13 ··· Wireless base station 14 image processing unit 15 database 16 wireless base station 17 mobile terminal 18 display unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G08G 1/052 G08G 1/052 H04N 7/18 H04N 7/18 DF term (Reference) 5B057 AA16 BA11 BA24 BA26 CA19 CC01 CE04 CE08 CE16 DA16 DB06 DC16 5C054 CC03 CE12 CE15 CH08 DA09 EJ00 EJ04 FA00 FC08 FE14 FE24 HA30 5H180 AA01 BB04 BB05 BB15 CC04 CC24 DD03 DD04 EE01 EE02

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A traffic condition image providing system for arranging a camera for photographing a traffic route, processing image data from the camera, and providing an image to a terminal via the Internet. On the other hand, a traffic situation image providing system that performs image quality deterioration processing such as embossing, blurring, mosaicing, and edge enhancement to protect the privacy of subjects. 2. The traffic condition image providing system according to claim 1, wherein a degree of congestion is determined from image data from the camera, and an image subjected to a color balance change process is provided according to the degree of congestion. system. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a degree of congestion is determined from image data from the camera, and an image to which a traffic light image whose lighting color is switched according to the degree of congestion is added is provided. Traffic situation image providing system. 4. The traffic condition image providing system according to claim 1, wherein an average moving speed of a traffic body is determined from image data from the camera, and an image to which the speed display is added is provided. . 5. The traffic situation image providing system according to claim 1, wherein an image to which an acquisition time display of image data from the camera is added is provided. 6. A traffic condition image providing system for arranging a camera for photographing a traffic route, processing image data from the camera, and providing an image to a terminal via the Internet, comprising: A moving body with motion is extracted, a motion vector of the body and information on the center of gravity are transmitted, and a character image stored in advance at the center of gravity is placed on the terminal side, and the character is set in accordance with the motion vector. A traffic condition image providing system characterized by moving and displaying an image.