JP2002230679A - Road monitoring system and road monitoring method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently monitor a road so that all pieces of information can be acquired and analyzed, and provide them to various users such as a vehicle, driver, walker in a unified form. SOLUTION: This road monitoring system has an image pickup camera 30 set in the concentrated monitoring section of the road so as to be capable of imaging an event on the road, an image processing part 33 for image- processing the image taken by the camera 30 to judge a prescribed even occurred on the road, an event judgment part 34 for judging whether the prescribed event occurred or not on the road from the information of the section in which he camera 30 is set and the image processing result by the image processing part 33, and a roadside information providing system 60 for delivering the information on an event judged by the event judgment part 34 to users of the road.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a road monitoring system and a road monitoring method used for constructing a so-called smart way.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the arrival of a new century, there is a need to promote the development and utilization of advanced technologies in the field of advanced information and communication and to lead a new economic society.

[0003] Intelligent transportation systems (ITS: Intelligent Tras) utilizing advanced technologies of information and communication are also used in road traffic.
nsport Systems) is being researched, developed, and put into practical use.
To fundamentally solve social problems such as traffic accidents, traffic congestion, and increased environmental impact, and to enhance social and economic activities through road traffic to enrich people's lives. Is expected. For this reason, there is a demand for the realization of "intelligent roads (smart ways)" as 21st century roads, which will be integrated with advanced ITS technologies and will be the destination of advanced road traffic.

[0004]

Here, a smartway is a road on which various kinds of information can be exchanged with various users such as a car, a driver, and a pedestrian. It will be the foundation for the development of various ITS services, such as improved ICT services, improved convenience, and the preservation of the environment by ensuring smooth traffic, as well as the foundation that will lead to the creation of a comfortable and affluent life and society. Specifically, smartways are roads that incorporate necessary facilities such as road-to-vehicle communication systems, sensors, and fiber optic networks, and enable these facilities to be used for providing a variety of ITS services. It is an integrated road with a mechanism (open platform) that supports common use of information and free exchange. Smart Way ITS
It is equipped with optical fibers, etc., which is also the backbone of ITS, and provides a field for the realization of ITS. It is literally the fundamental infrastructure and is considered to be the key to promoting ITS.

[0005] The present invention has been made as a part of realizing such a smartway, and its object is to efficiently monitor roads, acquire and analyze all kinds of information, and unify them. Cars and drivers in the form of
An object of the present invention is to provide a road monitoring system and a road monitoring method that can be provided to various users such as pedestrians.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems. According to a first main aspect, an event on a road can be imaged in a predetermined section of the road. A set imaging unit; an image processing unit that performs image processing on an image captured by the imaging unit to determine a predetermined event occurring on a road; and information on the predetermined section in which the imaging unit is installed. An event determination unit that determines whether the predetermined event has occurred on the road based on the image processing result obtained by the image processing unit, and information of the event determined by the event determination unit is distributed to a user of the road. And an event information distribution means for providing a road monitoring system.

[0007] With such a configuration, a system capable of efficiently monitoring the road, acquiring and analyzing all kinds of information, and providing them in a unified form to various users such as cars, drivers, and pedestrians is obtained. be able to.

According to a second main aspect of the present invention, an image pickup step of picking up an event on the road in a predetermined section of the road, and an image picked up by the image pickup step is generated on the road. An image processing step of performing image processing to determine a predetermined event; and an event determining step of determining whether the predetermined event has occurred on the road based on the information of the predetermined section and an image processing result of the image processing step. And an event information distribution step for distributing information of the event determined in the event determination step to a user of the road.

According to such a method, a method of efficiently monitoring a road, acquiring and analyzing all kinds of information, and providing the information to various users such as cars, drivers, and pedestrians in a unified form is obtained. be able to.

[0010] According to a third main aspect of the present invention, a detecting means set to be able to detect an event on the road in a predetermined section of the road, and a signal detected by the detecting means is transmitted to a road. Signal processing means for processing to determine a predetermined event occurring on the road; and information on the predetermined section in which the detection means is installed, and a signal processing result by the signal processing means, the predetermined event on the road. A road monitoring system, comprising: an event determination unit that determines whether the event has occurred; and an event information distribution unit that distributes information of the event determined by the event determination unit to a user of the road. Is done.

[0011] According to such a configuration, similarly to the first main aspect, it is possible to efficiently monitor the road, acquire and analyze all kinds of information, and unify them in the form of cars, drivers, and pedestrians. It is possible to obtain a system that can be provided to various users.

Further features and remarkable effects of the present invention will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art by considering the following embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0013]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an image diagram showing an installation example of the present system 1. The road monitoring system 1 according to the present invention is installed in an important monitoring section IE extracted in advance, and includes a plurality of imaging cameras 3 installed at predetermined intervals on the road side.
The event on the road is determined based on the images captured in 0a to 30c, and the determination result is provided to the passing vehicle C. In this example, a plurality of falling objects D 1 km ahead of the vehicle C
Is displayed on the information display panel 61.

Next, a schematic configuration of the present system 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The system 1 includes the imaging camera 3
An image processing device 31 that digitally processes an image signal from 0, calculates and outputs vehicle information such as the position and speed of the vehicle, and collects and processes the output vehicle information in real time, and converts the result into predetermined information. An integrated processing device 50 for integration and a roadside information providing system 60 for providing information on the road surface environment determined in the image processing device 31 to an information display panel 61 installed on the roadside. The image processing device 31
The integrated processing device 50 and the roadside information providing system 60 are connected through the public line 40.

First, the image processing device 31 includes a time synchronization signal receiving unit 32, an image processing unit 33, and an event determining unit 34.
, A camera control unit 35 and a communication interface 36
And a connection unit and a power supply unit (not shown).

The time synchronization signal receiving section 32 receives the signal generated by the time synchronization signal generation section 52 of the integrated processing device 50.

Although not shown, the image processing unit 33 digitally processes the image captured by the image capturing camera 30 to create information on the position and speed of the passing vehicle C and detects the vehicle. And a communication unit for transmitting the vehicle information to the event determination unit 34. In the following description, vehicle detection means that the number of vehicles can be counted immediately near the imaging camera 30 and does not mean that vehicles can be detected in the entire processing area where the tracking process is performed.

The event judging section 34 judges events such as measurement of traffic flow, detection of traffic congestion, and detection of traffic obstacles. For example, the traffic flow is determined by accumulating the traffic volume per unit time for each lane based on the speed and vehicle type of each vehicle obtained from the image processing unit 33, or calculating the average speed per unit time. Similarly, regarding the congestion, the end position of the congestion is measured from the speed of the vehicle and the occupancy of the road. Further, with respect to a traffic obstacle, a vehicle stopped due to an accident or a breakdown, a falling object D shown in FIG. 1 and the like are detected, and a behavior such as a lane change of a following vehicle that avoids this is also detected and detected.

As will be described later, the camera control unit 35 automatically captures an image according to the determination result of the event determination unit 34 so that the traveling vehicle C can be reliably separated and detected without being concealed by other vehicles. It controls the imaging direction (angle) of the camera 30 and zoom imaging. Also, when the observer who monitors the road condition on the screen wants to zoom in on the monitored object by manual operation, the imaging camera 30 is controlled according to the instruction.

The communication interface 36 transmits the result determined by the event determination unit 34 to the integrated processing device 50, and also transmits the image captured by the imaging camera 30 to the road manager (construction office or the like). It is distributed and used for road maintenance. Further, the determination result can be distributed to road users via the Internet.

Next, the configuration of the integrated processing device 50 will be described. The integrated processing device 50 collects and processes the position and speed information of the vehicle output from the image processing device 31 in real time, and converts the result into predetermined information. Integrated processing unit 53
, A road monitoring information output unit 54, and an information storage unit 55. The integrated processing device 50 is necessary when collecting and managing the detection results of the plurality of imaging cameras 30.

The time synchronizing signal generating section 52 generates a synchronizing signal of a reference time of the plurality of imaging cameras 30. The generated synchronization signal is transmitted to the communication interface 5
7 and is distributed to each imaging camera 30 and the time synchronization signal receiving unit 32 of the image processing device 31.

The integration processing section 53 receives and integrates the image information processed by the image processing device 31 to calculate vehicle information of the whole area within the detection range. Specifically, video information captured by each imaging camera 30 is collected in real time, and the reception time is associated therewith to extract detection information necessary for the integration processing.

The road monitoring information output unit 54 distributes the road monitoring information calculated by the integration processing unit 53 to the roadside information providing system 60 through the communication interface 57 and the public line 40. Here, each imaging camera 30 and the host device are connected to a local area network (LAN).
work), and has a transmission line that can transfer measurement data online. Thus, it is possible to confirm the operation status of each camera 30, control the operation of the system, and control data communication.

The information storage unit 55 stores the monitoring information output by the road monitoring information output unit 54. The information collected and accumulated in this way can be effectively used by road administrations in future road administration.

The roadside information providing system 60 displays road monitoring information received from the road monitoring information output unit 54 on an information display panel 61 installed on the road. As a result, it is possible to provide road surface condition information to various users such as the vehicle C, the driver, and the pedestrian who pass in a unified form.

Next, a specific function and a processing flow of each device configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
Note that S1 to S7 in the figure mean processing steps, and correspond to steps S1 to S7 in the following description.

First, when image information picked up by the image pickup camera 30 is input to the image processing device 31 (step S1), each of image processing, event determination, and communication is mainly performed by the image processing section 33 sequentially. The processing is executed. Specifically, detection of a vehicle, detection of a failure of the imaging camera 30,
The determination of the degree of certainty of the image data and the like are executed according to a predetermined program.

Here, the detection of the vehicle is a function of detecting the position and speed of the passing vehicle, and specifically, is detected as follows. First, by processing a video signal captured by the imaging camera 30, vehicles present in the monitoring area are individually detected from the captured image. Next, a tracking process is performed by associating the vehicle with the previously detected vehicle, and the position and speed of the vehicle in the monitoring area are calculated. Such processing is performed in all time periods during the day and night. During the daytime, the body is detected, but at night, the body or the taillight is detected.

The failure of the imaging camera 30 is detected by monitoring the video signal of the imaging camera 30 and detecting the interruption of the video signal. When a failure of the imaging camera 30 is detected, a warning message is displayed on a terminal screen of a system administrator or a monitor.

The determination of the image data certainty factor is performed by processing the video signal and calculating an index indicating the degree to which the output result of the vehicle detection function is affected by weather conditions.

Specifically, in weather conditions such as rain, fog, and snowfall, where visibility and contrast are reduced, the contrast of an image is reduced due to attenuation of visible light, so that the vehicle detection performance is significantly reduced or the vehicle cannot be detected. May be. Therefore, the data reliability determination is performed on the video captured by the imaging camera 30, and the determination result of the inappropriate road surface condition based on the low-precision information is prevented from being provided to the road user.

Next, the event judging section 34 judges an event on the road based on the information of the image processed by the image processing section 33 (step S2). Specifically, the measurement of the traffic flow, the detection of traffic congestion, the detection of a traffic obstacle, and the like are sequentially performed at this stage.

Of the results determined by the event determination unit 34, image information is transmitted to the roadside information providing system 60 (such as a monitor of the information display panel 61), and is used by users (vehicles, drivers, etc.) of the road. , Pedestrians, etc.) (steps S3, S4).

On the other hand, data other than the image is output to the integrated processing device 50 by the data output function (steps S5 and S6). In the integrated processing device 50, a reference time is generated, a time signal is distributed to each unit, and then necessary data is collected via a network. By transmitting the collected and integrated data to the information processing device on the existing road (step S7), it is possible to provide useful information in a unified format.

Next, based on the system block diagram of FIG.
The process transmitted to 1 will be described.

The image processing apparatus 31 according to this embodiment is a so-called centralized processing for consolidating image information captured by a plurality of imaging cameras 30a to 30c into one image processing apparatus 31 via a plurality of signal relay devices 37a to 37c. It consists of a type. Such a centralized processing type image processing apparatus 31 includes a plurality of imaging cameras 30a to 30 provided at separate locations.
Since it is possible to centrally process the image captured by c and operate efficiently, it is suitable for monitoring a relatively long section continuously.

The imaging cameras 30a to 30c, signal relay devices 37a to 37c installed outdoors and indoors, respectively, and these signal relay devices 37a to 37c and image processing device 3
1 are connected to each other by a transmission cable Tr.

When an optical cable is used as the transmission cable, the transmission distance is as long as several km to several tens of km, so that it is effective when the important monitoring section IE is set wide. On the other hand, when a coaxial cable is employed, the transmission distance is as short as several tens of meters to several hundreds of meters, but is economical due to its low price.

The signal relay device 37 is a device for transmitting a video signal. The signal relay device 37 is a relay connector in the case of transmission by the same cable, and 0/0 in the case of transmission by an optical cable.
An E converter is built in.

As described above, the plurality of imaging cameras 30a to 30a
The image information captured at 30c is processed by the image processing device 31, the processing result and the video signal are distributed to the integrated processing device 50, and, if necessary, to a construction office or the like responsible for the road. Will also be delivered.

(General arrangement method of imaging camera)
A general arrangement method of the imaging camera 30 will be described in the order of the imaging direction, the installation interval, and the installation height of the imaging camera 30 with reference to FIGS.

(1) Imaging Direction The direction in which the monitoring target (especially the vehicle) is imaged greatly affects the accuracy of event determination. For example, the function of separating and detecting a plurality of vehicles traveling in the same direction (hereinafter, referred to as “vehicle separation performance”) increases as the depression angle from the camera to the target vehicle increases, and therefore, as the vehicle approaches the camera, Get higher. That is, in the vehicle rearward imaging, the vehicle separation performance decreases as the vehicle advances (see FIG. 6). Here, the “depression angle” refers to an angle between the horizontal plane and the optical axis, as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, in the image pickup in front of the vehicle, the vehicle separation performance increases as the vehicle travels. Therefore, when the vehicle position is calculated by predicting the movement of the vehicle, the probability of being able to track the rear image of the vehicle is higher even under the same camera installation condition.

Also, in the initial vehicle detection, the vehicle needs to have a certain size or more on the image, and it is better to take a picture of the rear of the vehicle where the vehicle is imaged larger than to take a picture of the vehicle which is initially smaller. This is also advantageous in vehicle detection processing.

At night, the headlights and tail lights of the vehicle are reflected on the road surface, but the headlights are larger than the tail lights. In particular, since the degree increases in rainy weather, it greatly affects the vehicle detection performance.

In consideration of the above, it is desirable to install a camera so as to capture an image behind the vehicle.

(2) Installation intervals of imaging cameras Regarding the installation intervals of a plurality of cameras, the priority monitoring section IE
It is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the terrain and traffic volume, etc., and make settings so that blind spots do not occur in all sections as much as possible. Specifically, it is necessary to make the installation intervals different depending on whether the detection target area is a straight section or a curve section, and when detecting a curve section, the imaging camera 30 is installed inside or outside the curve. The optimum installation interval also differs depending on the situation.

For example, in a straight section, the imaging camera 30 is generally installed so that the depression angle of the imaging camera 30 is shallow and the distance performance can be extended. Conversely, in a curved section, it is necessary to increase the depression angle of the camera 30 to enhance the detection performance of an area near the camera 30. Generally, in a curved section, a blind spot is reduced when a camera is installed on a road side outside a curve.

(3) Camera Installation Height As shown in FIG. 5, the imaging camera 30 is installed at a predetermined height H from the traveling road surface on a support standing upright on the road side of the traveling road surface.

The installation height H of the imaging camera 30 is basically defined by the vehicle position detection accuracy and the vehicle separation performance. In the case of an image sensor using the imaging camera 30, the accuracy in the horizontal direction of the screen is defined by the horizontal resolution and the number of horizontal quantization pixels. On the other hand, the accuracy in the vertical direction of the screen is defined by the number of vertical scanning lines. Therefore, the scanning line resolution (distance of one scanning line on the road) in the camera optimum section is calculated, and the camera installation conditions can be determined from the result.

Conditions such as a vehicle detection error by image processing and a large vehicle mixing ratio (vehicle height of an adjacent vehicle) also relate to the installation height H of the imaging camera 30. Further, on a curved road, it is necessary to take into account that the vertical and horizontal errors of the image are different from the vertical and horizontal errors of the vehicle.

(Hiding of Vehicle) Next, the hiding of the vehicle in the vertical and horizontal directions, that is, the vehicle separating function will be described in detail.

Basically, during heavy traffic, the frequency of vehicle concealment increases due to a large decrease in the vehicle interval, making it difficult to ensure sufficient vehicle detection performance. Therefore, in order to ensure the accuracy of vehicle detection, it is necessary that the vehicle is in a traffic flow state in which the average speed per minute is about 20 km / h or more.

(1) Hiding Vehicles in the Vertical Direction FIG. 6 shows that a plurality of vehicles traveling in the same lane
This shows a state where one vehicle is concealed by the other vehicle when moving away from the vehicle (vertical concealment). FIG. 6A shows an image captured at a position close to the camera.
It can be seen that two vehicles can be easily separated and detected. On the other hand, in FIG. 6B, the passenger car traveling ahead is concealed by the truck traveling behind it.

As described above, since the vehicle separation performance increases as the depression angle from the camera increases, the vehicle separation performance increases as the vehicle approaches the camera. The average speed of the vehicle per minute is 20km / h
In the above case, the vehicle concealment hardly occurs in the vertical direction in the most recent portion of the camera, but the vehicle separation performance decreases as the vehicle moves farther, so that the vehicle concealment probability increases. In addition, on an expressway, the inter-vehicle distance is wider than that of a general road, so that it is unlikely that the target vehicle is hidden by other vehicles and cannot be detected.

(2) Concealment of Vehicles in Lateral Direction FIG. 7 shows that one vehicle is concealed by the other vehicle when a plurality of vehicles traveling on a lane adjacent to a road having a plurality of lanes move away from the imaging camera 30. Indicates the state (horizontal hiding). FIG. 8 shows the vehicle separation performance of the imaging camera 30 on a three-lane road.

Concealment in the lateral direction (vehicle separation function)
Is basically the same as in the vertical direction. In the lateral direction, when the target vehicle is concealed by a vehicle in the adjacent lane, the vehicle cannot be detected, and the degree depends on the height of the adjacent vehicle.

Then, the rear end points T1 and T2 of the target vehicles 1 and 2 shown in the plan view of FIG. 8A are set to the heights of the adjacent vehicles 1 and 2 when they are hidden by the adjacent vehicles 1 and 2 ( FIG.
The relationship between (P1 and P2 in (b)) and the height of the point P3 will be discussed below.

When the adjacent vehicle 2 exists irrespective of the type of the target vehicle and the adjacent vehicle (large vehicle or ordinary vehicle), the tail end point T2 of the target vehicle 2 depends on the vehicle height P2 of the adjacent vehicle 2.
Is more likely to occur.

When the roadside belt width L is narrow, if the target vehicle and the adjacent vehicle are ordinary vehicles, there is a high possibility that concealment of the tail end point T1 of the target vehicle 1 will occur depending on the vehicle height P1 of the adjacent vehicle 1. .

Similarly, when the roadside belt width L is narrow, there is a high possibility that the point P3 will obscure the rear left end point T2 of the target vehicle 2 regardless of the type of the target vehicle and the adjacent vehicle.

The concealment of the target vehicles 1 and 2 is more likely to occur as the installation height H of the imaging camera 30 is lower. Thus, the height and depression angle of the imaging camera 30 are
It is necessary to set a value at which images of vehicles running next to each other can be separated so that image processing is possible.

FIG. 9 shows an example in which a plurality of imaging cameras 30 are installed in the important monitoring section IE and the most important monitoring section MIE in consideration of the above conditions. In this example, an important monitoring section IE covers an area having a total length of 3 km of the road near the S-shaped curve.
Further, the center 500m of the S-shaped curve therein is set as the most important monitoring section MIE, and two types of imaging cameras are installed in consideration of characteristics, applications, and the like.

In the important monitoring section IE, a total of three rotary zoom CCTV cameras 30 that turn laterally every 1.5 km and capture an image of a road surface in a wide range are installed. The installation interval was set to 1.5 km for the following reason.

That is, it is necessary to secure a monitoring range (several hundred meters) of the plurality of cameras 30 and a monitoring margin between the cameras, and a subject (mainly, a subject displayed on the monitor when an image is captured using a zoom lens). Monitoring limit when visually monitoring the size of a vehicle) (Rotating zoom CCT
In general, a V-camera has the following features:
Visual confirmation of about 5 km is possible).

In the important monitoring section IE, it is desirable to install a fixed CCTV camera in consideration of expandability to event detection by image processing in the future. Also,
In the most important monitoring section MIE, when performing event detection by image processing continuously in a section, it is necessary to install at least a fixed CCTV camera at 100 m intervals in consideration of current CCTV cameras and image processing techniques. .

FIGS. 10 to 13 show examples in which the present system 1 is installed on roads under various conditions.

FIG. 10 shows an example of installation on a mountain road. In mountainous areas, visibility is often poor and the road width is narrow. Therefore, providing information on accidents ahead, traffic congestion, collapse, and information on the presence of pedestrians and oncoming vehicles is particularly important.

FIG. 11 shows an example of installation in an urban area. Urban areas are characterized by many buildings and narrow visibility, a large amount of traffic other than vehicles, and many traffic restrictions such as prohibition of parking and stopping, suspension, and lane change. Therefore, information on vehicles traveling ahead (traveling lane, speed, etc.)
Also, importance is placed on providing information such as traffic congestion conditions (accidents, falling objects, road construction, etc.) and the presence or absence of pedestrians and motorcycles.

FIG. 12 shows an example of installation on a motorway. Although there are relatively few traffic restrictions on motorways, they often run at high speeds and the driver's concentration tends to decrease. Therefore, there is a high possibility that the presence of a falling object or a malfunctioning vehicle will lead to a major accident. Therefore, it is important to accurately detect such information as soon as possible and provide it to road users (drivers).

FIG. 13 shows an example of installation in a tunnel.
Accidents in tunnels, the presence of broken cars, and the like can also pose a serious danger to subsequent vehicles, so it is important to detect and provide such information as quickly and accurately as possible.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified without changing the gist of the invention.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the information on the road surface condition is collected by using the imaging camera 30. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an infrared sensor or a laser may be used. These are the important monitoring sections I
It is preferable to select an optimal information collecting means in consideration of characteristics such as road conditions, climatic conditions, and terrain of E and the most important monitoring section MIE.

Further, in the above example, the plurality of imaging cameras 30 are connected to the image processing apparatus 31 provided in the management office or the like.
The centralized processing type of connecting and integrating with the transmission cable Tr is shown in FIG.
Can be adopted. This type is efficient when used in a stand-alone manner or when a certain section is monitored in a point manner, since it is not necessary to transmit and aggregate information to a remote place.
It is also preferable to select this type when the terrain / road structure is special and intensive processing is difficult.

The roadside processing type image processing apparatus 3
Even when adopting 1, the same as in the centralized processing type,
It is preferable that the information storage unit 55 is provided at a location remote from the image processing apparatus 31 to centrally manage information on image processing results and event determination results. The information collected and accumulated in this way can be effectively used by government agencies for future road administration, and is useful for construction of roads where traffic jams and accidents are unlikely to occur.

[0077]

According to the configuration described above, it is possible to efficiently monitor the road, acquire and analyze all information, and provide the information to various users such as cars, drivers, and pedestrians in a unified form. A possible road monitoring system and method can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an image of a road monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the same.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a functional configuration and processing steps of the same.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the system.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a depression angle of the surveillance camera.

FIG. 6 is a view showing concealment of a longitudinal vehicle.

FIG. 7 is a view showing concealment of a vehicle in a lateral direction.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a lateral vehicle separation performance of the surveillance camera.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of introducing monitoring cameras in an important monitoring section.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which the present system is installed in a mountain area.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example in which the present system is installed in an urban area.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example in which the present system is installed on a motorway.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example in which the present system is installed in a tunnel.

[Explanation of symbols]

 IE: Priority monitoring section MIE: Most important monitoring section C: Passing vehicle D: Falling object Tr: Transmission cable 1: Road monitoring system 30: Imaging camera 31: Image processing device 32: Time synchronization signal receiving unit 33: Image processing unit 34 ... Event determination unit 35 ... Camera control unit 36 ... Communication interface 37 ... Signal relay device 50 ... Integrated processing device 52 ... Time synchronization signal generation unit 53 ... Integrated processing unit 54 ... Road monitoring information output unit 55 ... Information storage unit 57 ... Communication Interface 60: Roadside information providing system 61: Information display board

Claims (35)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup means set to be able to image an event on the road in a predetermined section of the road, and an image picked up by the image pickup means is used as an image for determining a predetermined event occurring on the road. Image processing means for processing; event determination means for determining whether the predetermined event has occurred on the road from information on the predetermined section in which the imaging means has been installed and an image processing result by the image processing means; A road monitoring system comprising: event information distribution means for distributing information of an event determined by the event determination means to a user of the road. 2. The road surveillance system according to claim 1, wherein said image pickup means has a plurality of image pickup means provided at predetermined intervals so as to continuously image said predetermined section. And road monitoring system. 3. The road monitoring system according to claim 2, wherein said image processing means and event determination means perform image processing and event determination based on images received from said plurality of imaging means. And road monitoring system. 4. The road monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined section of the road is an important monitoring section extracted in advance. 5. The road monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein said imaging means includes an imaging means capable of changing an imaging direction and / or zooming. 6. The road monitoring system according to claim 5, wherein the imaging unit changes an imaging direction and / or zooms imaging in accordance with a result of the determination by the event determination unit. system. 7. The road monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the image processing unit and the event determination unit are provided at a location separated from the imaging unit, and perform image processing on an image captured by a plurality of imaging units. And a road monitoring system for intensively determining events. 8. The road monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the image processing unit, the event determination unit, and the event information distribution unit are provided on a road side close to the imaging unit. . 9. The road monitoring system according to claim 8, further comprising an information storage unit that receives and stores information of an image processing result by the image processing unit and / or an event determined by the event determination unit. The road monitoring system is characterized in that the information storage means is provided at a location distant from the imaging means and collectively stores image processing results and / or event information for a plurality of sections. 10. The road monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein said image processing means detects a vehicle based on an image taken by said imaging means. 11. The system according to claim 10, wherein said imaging means monitors a road from a predetermined height with a predetermined depression angle, and detects a vehicle based on an image of a vehicle moving away. A road monitoring system characterized by being installed. 12. The system according to claim 10, wherein the imaging means monitors a road from a predetermined height at a predetermined depression angle, and the height and the depression angle are images of vehicles running adjacent to each other. The road monitoring system is set to a value that can be separated so as to enable image processing. 13. The road monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein said image processing means detects a predetermined pattern for determining an event from an image taken by said imaging means. system. 14. The system according to claim 1, wherein the image processing means detects whether or not the image signal picked up by the image pickup means is disturbed by the influence of weather in a section on the road. A road monitoring system, characterized in that: 15. The system according to claim 1, wherein the image processing unit detects whether an image signal captured by the imaging unit is disturbed by a failure of the imaging unit and / or the image processing unit. A road monitoring system characterized by the following. 16. The road monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein said event determination means determines a traffic flow based on an image processing result of said image processing means. 17. The road monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein said event determining means determines the occurrence of a traffic obstacle based on an image processing result of said image processing means. 18. An image capturing step of capturing an event on the road in a predetermined section of the road, and image processing of performing image processing on the image captured in the image capturing step to determine a predetermined event occurring on the road. An event determining step of determining whether the predetermined event has occurred on the road based on the information of the predetermined section and the image processing result of the image processing step; and information of the event determined in the event determining step. And a step of distributing event information for distributing to a user of the road. 19. The road monitoring method according to claim 18, wherein the imaging step includes a plurality of imaging units installed at predetermined intervals so that the predetermined section can be continuously imaged. And road monitoring system. 20. The road monitoring method according to claim 19, wherein the image processing step and the event determination step perform image processing and event determination based on images received from the plurality of imaging units. Road monitoring method. 21. The road monitoring method according to claim 18, wherein the predetermined section of the road is an important monitoring section extracted in advance. 22. The road monitoring method according to claim 18, wherein the imaging step is performed using imaging means capable of changing an imaging direction and / or zooming. 23. The road monitoring method according to claim 20, wherein said image pickup means changes an image pickup direction and / or zooms image pickup according to a result of the event judgment step. Method. 24. The road monitoring method according to claim 18, wherein the image processing step and the event determination step are performed at a place separated from the imaging step, and the image processing of an image captured in a plurality of imaging steps is performed. And a method for monitoring events intensively. 25. The road monitoring method according to claim 18, wherein the image processing step, the event determination step, and the event information distribution step are performed on a road side close to the imaging step. . 26. The road monitoring method according to claim 25, further comprising an information storage step of receiving and storing information of an image processing result in the image processing step and / or information of an event determined in the event determination step. The information monitoring step is performed at a location separated from the imaging step, and collectively stores image processing results and / or event information for a plurality of sections. 27. The road monitoring method according to claim 18, wherein the image processing step detects a vehicle based on an image captured by an imaging unit. 28. The road monitoring method according to claim 27, wherein the imaging means monitors the road from a predetermined height with a predetermined depression angle, and can detect the vehicle based on an image of the vehicle moving away. A road monitoring method characterized by being installed as follows. 29. The road monitoring method according to claim 27, wherein the imaging means monitors the road from a predetermined height at a predetermined depression angle, and the height and the depression angle of the vehicle traveling adjacent to each other are determined. A road surveillance method characterized in that images are set to a value that can be separated so that images can be processed. 30. The road monitoring method according to claim 18, wherein the image processing step detects a predetermined pattern for determining an event from an image captured in the imaging step. Road monitoring method. 31. The road monitoring method according to claim 18, wherein the image processing step detects whether an image signal captured in the image capturing step is disturbed by a weather in a section on the road. A road monitoring method, characterized in that: 32. The road monitoring method according to claim 18, wherein the image processing step detects whether an image signal captured in the image capturing step is disturbed by a failure of the image capturing unit and / or the image processing unit. Road monitoring method characterized by the following: 33. The road monitoring method according to claim 18, wherein the event determining step determines a traffic flow based on an image processing result of the image processing step. . 34. The road monitoring method according to claim 18, wherein the event determining step determines occurrence of a traffic obstacle based on an image processing result of the image processing step. Method. 35. A detecting means set to detect an event on the road in a predetermined section of the road, and processing a signal detected by the detecting means to determine a predetermined event occurring on the road. An event determination unit that determines whether the predetermined event has occurred on the road from information on the predetermined section in which the detection unit is installed and a signal processing result by the signal processing unit. A road monitoring system comprising: event information distribution means for distributing information on an event determined by the event determination means to a user of the road.