JP2005231532A - Police vehicle provided with image recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a police vehicle provided with an image recording device with excellent operability for easily operating various kinds of instruments required for police business from a driver's seat or a front passenger seat of the police vehicle, for example, easily touching an input part of a system without forwardly moving the body. <P>SOLUTION: The police vehicle provided with the image recording device is provided with photographing means 11a, 11b, 11c; a recording means 14g; and a controller 14 of various kinds of instruments used for executing the police business. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

    The present invention relates to a vehicle used by a police, that is, a police vehicle including an image recording device.

Unlike ordinary vehicles, police patrol cars, so-called police cars, have lights that illuminate the desired direction (held by hand), microphones, speakers for loudening outside the vehicle, radar devices for speed control, police radios, A lot of various equipment necessary for police operations such as emergency lights are installed. Furthermore, in recent years, some cameras have been equipped with a camera and a hard disk drive (HDD) for recording image information. It is convenient to provide a controller having an input button for operating each device at a position where the hand can be easily reached from the driver's seat or the passenger seat. However, the controller box for each device required for these police operations is becoming large and troublesome for storage.
In addition, the technique which provides an imaging means in emergency vehicles, such as a police car, is disclosed by Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2002-357557 (patent document 1). This prior art also has a problem that the apparatus or system becomes large for the following reasons, and the introduction is expensive.
In the configuration according to Patent Document 1, the emergency vehicle is equipped with a camera, a data recording unit, and a GPS device, and a moving image obtained by traveling around is recorded together with position information at the time of shooting, for example, a recording medium (for example, video) of the data recording unit. (Tape, HDD). The vehicle-mounted device and the management center 43 can communicate with each other via the communication network 42. Therefore, the communication unit 40 and 41 are provided in the patrol car 1 and the management center 43. The management center 43 is also provided with a data recording unit 6 ′. According to this configuration, the video data acquired by the photographing camera 2 is recorded in the data recording unit 6. The video data is also transmitted to the management center 43 via the communication network 42 and recorded in the data recording unit 6 ′.
JP 2002-357557 A

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is an operation in which various devices necessary for police operations can be easily reached from the driver's seat or passenger seat of a police car, for example, without reaching out to the input section of the system. It is to provide a police vehicle having an image recording device that is excellent in performance.

In addition, this configuration according to Patent Document 1 describes that this video data acquired by the photographing camera 2 is recorded in the data recording unit 6 on the vehicle side, and this video data is also transmitted to the management center 43. Therefore, the vehicle-mounted device must continue to read out this video data from the data recording unit 6 and continue to transmit this video data to the center 43 through the communication network 42 almost always. That is, the configuration is unrealistic in view of the actual communication capability of the vehicle-mounted device and the actual transmission capability of the communication network 42. If this was to be done, a large amount of cost and the cost of developing a communications infrastructure were required to introduce the vehicle-mounted device.
Therefore, the present invention also aims to provide a vehicle-mounted imaging device that is low in cost and excellent in responsiveness, that is, capable of quickly transmitting information as close as necessary when necessary. It is a problem.

The present invention is for achieving the above object, and is configured as follows.
The invention described in claim 1 includes an imaging means, a storage device, and controllers for various devices used for the execution of police operations.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an imaging unit, a storage device, a positional information acquisition unit, a transmission unit, an image information transmission command input unit, image information captured by the imaging unit, and the positional information acquisition device. And a controller that transmits the position information via the transmission means when a signal output from the input means is detected.

  A third aspect of the present invention is a police vehicle including the image recording device according to the second aspect, wherein the image information and the position information are transmitted in the same file or different files.

  Invention of Claim 4 is a police vehicle provided with the image recording device described in any one of Claims 2-3, Comprising: The display apparatus which displays the image information which the imaging means image | photographed, and the said imaging A buffer memory for temporarily storing image information taken by the means or image information read from the storage device, and the controller stores the image information stored in the buffer memory when an input is made to the input means. It is the structure which performs the control made to transmit via the said transmission means.

  A fifth aspect of the present invention is a police vehicle including the image recording apparatus according to any one of the second to fourth aspects, wherein the police vehicle includes a receiving unit that receives the file.

  A sixth aspect of the present invention is a police vehicle comprising the image recording device according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the controller is housed in an audio equipment main body housing section provided in the vehicle. It is a configuration.

  The invention according to claim 7 is a police vehicle comprising the image recording device according to claim 6, wherein a relay device connected to the imaging means is provided outside the audio device main body storage unit, and the relay device The controller is connected to the controller.

  The invention described in claim 8 is a police vehicle including the image recording device described in claim 7, and is configured to connect each terminal device to the relay device.

  A ninth aspect of the present invention is a police vehicle including the image recording apparatus according to the eighth aspect, wherein the transmission means is a police radio.

  According to the present invention, various devices necessary for police operations can be easily reached from the driver's seat or passenger seat of a police car, for example, without getting out of the body, and excellent in operability. A police vehicle equipped with an image recording device can be provided.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
The embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment applied to a police vehicle (for example, a police car or the like, hereinafter referred to as “vehicle”) 10 provided with an image recording apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle 10 includes, for example, three imaging units (for example, cameras) 11a, 11b, and 11c, a switching unit 12, a position information acquisition unit (for example, GPS) 13, a controller 14, A transmission means (for example, a wireless device) 15 is mounted on the vehicle.

[First embodiment]
In the first embodiment, image information captured by the cameras 11a, 11b, and 11c and position information from the position information acquisition unit 13 are combined and transmitted, for example, in the same file.
The camera 11a is installed in the vehicle 10 so that the front can be photographed through a windshield (not shown), and the photographed video is taken as continuous frame-unit still image data captured every predetermined time, or The moving image data is transmitted to the compression unit 14a of the controller 14. Similarly, the camera 11b is installed in the vehicle 10 so that the rear can be photographed through the rear glass (not shown). Similarly, the camera 11c is installed in the vehicle 10 so that the rear seat in the vehicle 10 can be photographed. In the video signal captured by the camera 11b or the camera 11c, only one of the image information (image data) that is enabled by switching by the switching unit 12 is transmitted to the compression unit 14b of the controller 14. The compression unit 14b compresses the input image information as a moving image (for example, MPEG) if it is a moving image compression unit, and compresses the input image information if it is a still image compression unit. (For example, JPEG).

  Next, the GPS device 13 will be described as an example of the position information acquisition unit 13. The GPS device 13 is a device that receives information from an artificial satellite (not shown in the figure) and can identify the current position of the device itself by a position signal (for example, latitude, longitude, etc.). Further, if the GPS device 13 is configured to store the address in association with the position signal, the current position of the vehicle 10 can be recognized by the address, and the address information is transmitted to the CPU 14 c of the controller 14. Yes.

  Next, the controller 14 that controls and controls each part of the vehicle-mounted device will be described. The controller 14 includes, for example, compression means 14a and 14b, a CPU 14c, an input means 14d, a display device 14e, a buffer memory 14f, and a storage device 14g. Each time the compression unit 14a receives a continuous still image from the camera 11a, for example, a frame-by-frame video signal output every 1/60 seconds, the compression unit 14a compresses the video signal (still image) and temporarily stores it in itself. When the stored still image reaches a predetermined number of frames (for example, 5 frames), it is transmitted to the CPU 14c all at once. Further, the compression unit 14b receives the video signal from the camera 11b as in the case of the camera 11a described above, for example, if the switching unit 12 switches the still image from the camera 11b side to be effective. In addition, the video signal is compressed and temporarily stored in itself, and when the stored video signal reaches a predetermined number of frames (for example, 5 frames), it is transmitted to the CPU 14c at once.

  When the CPU 14c receives video signals having a predetermined number of frames from the compression units 14a and 14b, the camera 14c can identify which camera 11a, 11b and 11c is the video signal captured by each video signal. A number and a shooting time that makes it possible to identify when each of these video signals is taken are included in a so-called header that is added to each video signal body. Then, the CPU 14c stores image information including a video signal (still image) and a header including attribute information such as a camera number and a shooting time in the buffer memory 14f. Note that the CPU 14c can recognize the current date and time by a timing unit (not shown). Further, when storing the above-described image information in the buffer memory 14f, the CPU 14c also stores the position information from the GPS device 13 in the buffer memory 14f in a file format.

  The image information and position information stored in the buffer memory 14f in this way are stored in a configuration as shown in FIG. 2, for example. As shown in FIG. 2, each video signal has a header storing position information, camera number, and shooting time. Therefore, by referring to the header of the video signal, it is possible to immediately know where, which camera, and when this image was taken.

  Further, since the storage method to the buffer memory 14f is overwrite (when new data comes, the previous data is erased and overwritten), the CPU 14c stores the image information and the position temporarily stored in the buffer memory 14f. Information is recorded in a storage device (for example, a hard disk drive (HDD)) 14g. The display device 14e can also display the moving images taken by the cameras 11a, 11b, and 11c as they are, and read and display each piece of image information stored in the storage device 14g using the camera number or shooting time as a search condition. You can also.

  In addition, when the buffer memory 14f is provided in this way, the storage device 14g can store data in the buffer memory 14f until the data can be written even if the data cannot be written due to, for example, vibration of the vehicle. Therefore, there is no omission of storage of image information and position information even if vibration is generated by traveling. It is convenient to design the capacity of the buffer memory 14f on the assumption that the vibration generated when the vehicle gets over a level difference is expected to continue.

When the CPU 14c receives an input operation from the input means (for example, a push button) 14d, the image information and position information stored in the buffer memory 14f (the position information is stored in the buffer memory 14f or another memory). ) And the same file can be transmitted to the receiving means (for example, radio unit) 31 of the fixed station (for example, the police station as the headquarters) 30 via the transmission unit (for example, the radio unit) 15. . Therefore, the headquarters 30 can appropriately receive emergency image information taken by the vehicle 10 under management and its position information.
Therefore, when an emergency situation occurs while the vehicle 10 is shooting the situation at the site during the patrol, the vehicle side can immediately capture the current shooting information and latest shooting by a simple operation by simply pressing the push button. Images can be sent to the headquarters. The headquarters 30 can instantly confirm the situation on the site by video, so that an appropriate instruction can be given to the site, and the support vehicle can be turned immediately to know the shooting position of the video. If the image information includes the position information and is transmitted in the same file as described above, the image management and the position information can be managed by one file, so that the file management becomes easy.

In addition, the controller 14 can be attached to an audio equipment main body storage section (not shown in the figure, which is normally provided) of the vehicle 10. Therefore, if the audio is already attached to the audio device housing (for example, the radio device body housing), the audio may be removed and the controller 14 may be attached, or the audio device body may be incorporated in the controller 14 and You may attach to the said audio equipment main body accommodating part in the state.
If the controller 14 cannot be attached to the audio device main body storage portion as in the conventional case, for example, the controller 14 is attached on the dashboard, which deteriorates visibility and hinders driving and is difficult for the driver to reach. The operability is also deteriorated. On the other hand, if the controller 14 can be attached to the audio device main body storage as in the present invention, it is very effective in improving and improving the operability of the in-vehicle device necessary for police operations.

[Second embodiment]
In the second embodiment, image information captured by the cameras 11a, 11b, and 11c and position information from the GPS device 13 are transmitted in separate files. The second embodiment is a first embodiment. The form and the equipment configuration are the same. Only the differences regarding file transmission will be described below.

Similar to the first embodiment, the CPU 14c stores image information and preferably position information in the buffer memory 14f. The position information may be stored in the buffer memory 14b or stored in another memory (not shown).
At that time, as shown in FIG. 3, the image information and the position information are stored separately, that is, stored in separate files. As shown in FIG. 3, the image information includes a camera number and a photographing time as a header for each video signal. The position information includes a camera number and a photographing time for each position signal.

  These image information and position information are also stored in the storage device 14 as separate files, and are also transmitted to the receiving means 31 as separate files. Therefore, the image information and the position information are managed in separate files, but the video signal and the position signal can be associated with each other by the camera number and the shooting time. Therefore, if you want to know the position signal from the video signal (still image), you can search for the same camera number and the same shooting time in the position information from the camera number and shooting time of the video signal, so you can specify the position signal. If you look at it, you can know the shooting position of the image. The reverse is also true, and the image can be viewed from the image shooting position. Further, if the image information and the position information are stored in separate files as described above, the header of each video signal only needs to include the camera number and the shooting time, so the amount of header information can be reduced.

● [Third embodiment]
In the third embodiment, image information captured by the cameras 11a, 11b, and 11c and position information from the GPS device 13 are transmitted sequentially (continuous state). The third embodiment is a first embodiment. The device configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment and the second embodiment. Below, only the difference regarding transmission of each information is demonstrated.

  As in the first and second embodiments, the CPU 14c stores the image information and preferably the position information in the buffer memory 14f. At this time, the image information and the position information are stored in a sequential state. ing. That is, when the CPU 14c receives a video signal having a predetermined number of frames from the compression unit 14a, the CPU 14c stores the video signal in the buffer memory 14f, and subsequently stores the position information and shooting time at that time in the buffer memory 14f. When the video signal of the number of frames is received, it is stored in the buffer memory 14f, and then the position information and shooting time at that time are stored in the buffer memory 14f.

  Then, the video signal from the compression means 14a, the current position information, the current shooting time, the video signal from the compression means 14b, the current position information, the current shooting time, each of these six signals and information as one block To memorize continuously. Thereafter, the storage in this block is repeated. Therefore, the CPU 14c stores and transmits this block unit to the storage device 14g and the head office 30.

[Fourth embodiment]
In the fourth embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the controller 14 connects each terminal device (for example, the cameras 11 a, 11 b, 11 c, the switching unit 12, the position information acquisition unit 13, the transmission unit 15) and the relay device 16. It is the structure which connects via. Therefore, the relay device 16 interfaces the controller 14 and each terminal device. The other device configurations are the same as those in the first to third embodiments. The control panel part of the on-vehicle equipment of this system controller and preferably the display means part are installed in the audio equipment main body storage part, and the other controller parts that cannot fit into it are placed under the floor or placed on the trunk. Can be put in a good place. That is, according to this configuration, the operation of the equipment necessary for performing police duties can be easily performed from the driver's seat or the passenger seat. In addition, since the degree of freedom of the placement location of the controller (other parts thereof) is increased, it is practically convenient as a police car.

  In the fourth embodiment, the same file or image information in which position information is included in the image information and the position information are transmitted to another file or sequentially as in the first to third embodiments. However, it is only via the relay device 16, and details are omitted. Further, when the relay device 16 is provided on, for example, a dashboard in the vehicle 10, it is possible to easily connect and disconnect cables connected to each terminal device. Since the main part of the controller is housed in a so-called instrument panel, the size of the relay device 16 (other part of the controller) placed on the dashboard can be small. Furthermore, the relay device 16 may be connected to a sound collecting means, an indoor speaker, an emergency light, a forward vehicle speed detection device, etc. (not shown).

In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment, The following forms may be sufficient.
That is, in the embodiment, an example in which there are three cameras in the police car has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, one, two, four, or more cameras may be used. Further, the position information acquisition means mounted on the police car may be an in-vehicle navigation device.

In the embodiment, the sound collection at the time of shooting with the camera has not been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the sound may be recorded by sound collection means and stored in the same manner as the video. . In that case, a sound collecting means connected to the CPU 14c of the controller 14 is required.
Furthermore, it is optional to have a configuration in which the traveling speed of the police car can be recorded and transmitted together with the image information.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment applied to a police vehicle (for example, a police car) 10 including an image recording apparatus according to the present invention. (First embodiment, second embodiment) It is a figure explaining the structure which transmits the image information and position information which concern on this invention by the same file. It is a figure explaining the structure which transmits the image information and position information which concern on this invention by another file. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment applied to a police vehicle (for example, a police car) 10 including an image recording apparatus according to the present invention. (Fourth embodiment)

Explanation of symbols

10 Vehicle (Police vehicle)
11a, 11b, 11c Imaging means (camera)
13 Location information acquisition means (GPS device)
14 controller 14 g storage device 15 transmission means 16 relay device 30 headquarters 31 reception means

Claims (9)

  A police vehicle provided with an image recording device, comprising an imaging means, a storage device, and controllers for various devices used for police business execution.   The image input means, the storage device, the position information acquisition means, the transmission means, the image information transmission command input means, the image information captured by the image pickup means, and the position information from the position information acquisition device are input by the input means. A police vehicle comprising an image recording device, comprising: a controller that transmits a signal to be transmitted via the transmission means when an output signal is detected.   A police vehicle comprising the image recording device according to claim 2, wherein the image information and the position information are transmitted in the same file or different files.   A display device that displays image information captured by the imaging unit; and a buffer memory that temporarily stores image information captured by the imaging unit or image information read from the storage device. The police vehicle provided with the image recording device according to any one of claims 2 to 3, wherein when input is performed, control is performed to transmit image information stored in the buffer memory via the transmission unit.   The police vehicle provided with the image recording device of any one of Claims 2-4 provided with the receiving means which receives the said file.   A police vehicle comprising the image recording device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is housed in an audio device main body housing section included in the vehicle.   The police vehicle comprising the image recording device according to claim 6, wherein a relay device connected to the imaging unit is provided outside the audio device main body storage unit, and the relay device and the controller are connected.   A police vehicle comprising the image recording device according to claim 7, wherein each terminal device is connected to the relay device. The police vehicle provided with the image recording device according to claim 8, wherein the transmission means is a police radio.

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