JP2009237928A - Parking monitoring method, parking monitoring program, and parking monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To construct a parking monitoring system utilizing a GPS sensor, as a complex information processing system taking into account the determination of a plurality of detectors without making a determination by a single detector. <P>SOLUTION: A parking monitoring device for monitoring parked vehicles by receiving GPS radio waves by antennas embedded in respective parking areas, compares the altitude of a satellite computed from the spacing of antennas and the received elevation angle of the GPS satellite, with a preset threshold of the height of the parked vehicle, determines the presence of the parked vehicle only by the own antenna when the altitude of the satellite is larger than the threshold of vehicle height, while taking in account the presence result of the parked vehicle by the adjacent antennas to make a determination when the altitude of the satellite is smaller than the threshold of the vehicle height. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a parking monitoring system that detects the presence or absence of a vehicle in a parking space using a GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor.

  Conventionally, in order to monitor a parked vehicle, equipment that detects the presence or absence of a parked vehicle using an image processing sensor using a camera or a projection / reflection type detection sensor using ultrasonic waves or infrared rays has been operated. (See FIGS. 10 and 11).

  FIG. 10 shows a configuration example of parking monitoring by a camera. The server 100 acquires the image data of the parking area imaged by the camera 300, and displays the result of the image processing on the terminal device 200 used by the administrator. In FIG. 11, a parked vehicle is detected by a detection sensor 301 such as an optical sensor instead of a camera. However, if there is an obstacle at the detection location, it will be mistakenly recognized as a vehicle (for example, section A in FIG. 10), and particularly when used outdoors, maintenance work (cleaning or branching) is required to maintain detection accuracy. Logging).

  In addition, a method of embedding sensors in parking lot posts and vehicle wheel stops has also been proposed (see FIG. 12). However, when parking monitoring is desired in a flat state (for example, a multipurpose space such as a road is used as a parking lot) If this is the case, the installation of the sensor involves a large-scale construction.

In response to the above-described problem, a detector using a radio wave transmitted from a GPS satellite has been proposed as a vehicle detection means (see, for example, Patent Document 1). This measures the presence or absence of parking for each parking space based on the strength of radio waves transmitted from a GPS satellite with a high elevation angle. That is, it is determined that “no parked vehicle” when radio wave reception is strong, and “parked vehicle exists” when radio wave reception is weak.
JP 2001-188990 A

However, in the parking monitoring method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-188990, only the strength of the radio wave from the GPS satellite is used. Therefore, the following problem arises in determining the presence or absence of a parked vehicle (see FIG. 13). .
(1) It is necessary to collect the strength of radio waves with and without obstacles. Therefore, in order to improve detection accuracy, it is necessary to perform radio wave measurement from GPS satellites in each case of the presence or absence of a vehicle for each parking space.
(2) Since the criterion is strong and weak, it is easily influenced by the environment, and it is necessary to set a threshold value for determining the presence or absence of the vehicle for each parking space.
(3) Since there is only a condition that the altitude of the GPS satellite is high, there are cases where radio waves are blocked from the relationship between the altitude of the GPS satellite and the vehicle height of an adjacent parked vehicle. For this reason, it is impossible to determine whether radio waves cannot be received (weak) due to a parked vehicle on its own sensor or whether it is affected by an adjacent parked vehicle.

  Therefore, in order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention provides a complex information processing system that considers the determination of a plurality of detectors, instead of making a determination using a single detector using GPS.

  A first invention is a parking monitoring method for monitoring a parked vehicle by receiving GPS radio waves by an antenna embedded in each parking area, wherein the satellite is calculated from an interval between the antennas and an elevation angle of the received GPS satellite. Comparing the altitude with a preset vehicle height threshold of the parked vehicle; if the altitude of the satellite is greater than the vehicle height threshold; determining whether there is a parked vehicle using only its own antenna; and And a step of determining in consideration of the result of the presence / absence of a parked vehicle by an adjacent antenna when the altitude is lower than the vehicle height threshold.

  That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a parking monitoring method for monitoring a parked vehicle by receiving GPS radio waves by an antenna embedded in each parking area, wherein the comparing means determines the interval between the antennas and the received GPS satellites. The altitude of the satellite calculated from the elevation angle is compared with a preset threshold value of the vehicle height of the parked vehicle, and when the altitude of the satellite is larger than the threshold value of the vehicle height, the judging means An antenna (also referred to as a GPS sensor) is configured by determining the presence / absence, and in the case where the altitude of the satellite is smaller than the vehicle height threshold, the determination is made by taking into account the result of the presence / absence of a parked vehicle by the adjacent antenna Since the position can be detected by itself, even if the GPS sensor is moved, the setting becomes easy, and a setting error can be prevented. Moreover, since it can be installed in a flat state, it can be applied not only to a parking lot but also to a road parking area.

  When the reception of GPS radio waves by the antenna becomes unstable, the second invention sets a determination holding time for determining the presence or absence of the parked vehicle, and the reception unstable time is within the determination holding time Further, the present invention relates to the parking monitoring method according to the first invention, characterized in that the determination is made based on the immediately preceding reception.

  That is, according to the second invention, there is a communication failure by setting a determination holding time for determining the presence or absence of a parked vehicle, for example, by setting a sampling time according to a management unit of a parking fee meter. However, when the communication instability time is within the determination holding time, the determination result received immediately before is reflected.

  The third invention is based on the weighting table of the adjacent antenna in which the weights of the other antennas adjacent to the own antenna are registered, and is determined by taking into account the result of the presence or absence of a parked vehicle in the adjacent parking area. The present invention relates to a parking monitoring method described in the first invention.

  That is, according to the third invention, for example, even in a parked vehicle on an antenna adjacent to its own antenna, the degree of influence varies depending on whether it is adjacent vertically or horizontally, obliquely, opening, or in contact with a passage. Therefore, by setting weights for other antennas adjacent to the own antenna, it is possible to reduce the number of samples to be processed and shorten the determination processing time.

As described above, the present invention produces the following effects.
(1) Since the position can be detected by the antenna (GPS sensor) itself, setting is facilitated even if the GPS sensor is moved, and setting errors can be prevented.
(2) Since it can be installed in a flat state, it can be applied not only to a parking lot but also to a road parking area.
(3) Since it can be installed on the road, the position is detected by a GPS sensor, and the information can be collectively monitored by an information processing system, it can also be used to control parked vehicles.
(4) The application location and monitoring target of the present invention can be replaced with materials and garbage instead of “parking lot” and materials and garbage instead of “parking vehicle”.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a basic configuration of a parking monitoring system using a GPS sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The parking monitoring system receives the radio wave from the GPS satellite 4 and uses GPS information (ID, position) acquired by an antenna (hereinafter referred to as a GPS sensor 3) embedded immediately below the parked vehicle in each parking area. Based on a parking monitoring device 1 that determines the presence or absence of a parked vehicle in each parking area, and a manager terminal device 2 that receives data from the parking monitoring device 1 by connecting to a LAN (Local Area Network). .

  Furthermore, the parking monitoring device 1 registers the received GPS information in the basic database 100 as a GPS basic information table in the data receiving unit 11 that receives GPS information from the satellite via the GPS sensor 3, and whether there is parking at a certain time It is comprised from the processing part 12 which determines this with reference to the said GPS basic information table, and the data transmission part 13 which transmits the data regarding a parking condition to the terminal device 2 of an administrator.

  Here, the GPS reception basic table is created for each GPS sensor 3, stored in the basic database 100, and referred to for each parking presence / absence determination process. Further, the history table stored in the history database 200 is created and stored every day, and is referred to every complement determination process described later.

  In addition, the terminal device 2 includes a data receiving unit 21 that receives parking status data transmitted from the parking monitoring device 1, a processing unit 22 that performs processing for display on a display, and a display unit 23 that displays parking status data. And an operation unit 24 for performing an input operation.

  And in the terminal device 2, (1) the presence or absence of parking based on the parking state determination result, (2) the situation of the GPS sensor 3 determined as “unknown” due to the influence of the adjacent vehicle, (3) the result of the complementary determination, The status of the GPS sensor 3 determined as “abnormal” is displayed, and information is provided to the administrator.

  The parking monitoring device 1 and the terminal device 2 are computers each having a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory (not shown).

  FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of satellite radio wave reception by the GPS sensor in the parking monitoring system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  An antenna for receiving GPS information (ID, position) from a satellite is embedded in an outdoor parking space, and the presence or absence of an obstacle is detected based on the reception state by this antenna (hereinafter referred to as GPS sensor 3). .

  One or more GPS sensors 3 are installed for each parking space. At that time, the GPS sensor 3 receives GPS information as “points”, but since the object to be determined is “surface”, a virtual power range (described later in FIG. 3) is set, and GPS The determination result of the sensor 3 is treated as a uniform result for this power range.

  A plurality of GPS satellites 4 exist, and at locations where there are no obstacles, the position on the earth can be detected by receiving radio waves from three or more GPS satellites 4. Since the GPS information of the same satellite is always output through the same orbit, the satellite to be received and the position of the satellite are the same at the same time. By utilizing this, the present invention enables digital determination based on whether or not GPS information can be received, rather than the conventional analog determination method of radio wave strength.

  When there is no obstacle, the same information can be received from the GPS satellite at the same time. Therefore, the state of the GPS satellite 4 of the day is received and stored in a table without any obstacle (= parked vehicle) (GPS reception basic table shown in FIG. 4).

  Then, referring to the GPS reception basic table at the same time and comparing with the reception status of the GPS sensor 3, the determination of the presence or absence of an obstacle is performed by a. If it is the same as the GPS reception basic table, it is determined that there is no parked vehicle; b. If the number of GPS satellites that can be received from the GPS reception basic table has decreased, it is determined that “there is a parked vehicle”. By performing the determination as described above, it is not necessary to measure radio waves and set a threshold value for each parking space and for each parked vehicle.

  In addition, by acquiring the GPS information, the original position detection of the GPS sensor 3 can be performed. For example, when the layout of the parking lot is changed, it is necessary to artificially associate the data of “actual parking space force range—position of GPS sensor 3—GPS sensor 3 ID” for each GPS sensor 3 However, since the position of the GPS sensor 3 is automatically detected, no registration work is required, and work can be reduced and setting errors can be avoided.

  FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the height of the adjacent parked vehicle and the altitude of the GPS satellite. Since the positional relationship between the GPS satellite 4 and the GPS sensor 3 is information automatically obtained as described above, the following relationship viewed from the own GPS sensor can be calculated by using these.

  In the GPS reception basic table, satellites that can be received regardless of the altitude of the GPS satellite 4 viewed from the GPS sensor 3 are registered. For this reason, when the altitude of the GPS satellite 4 is low, it becomes a shadow of the adjacent parked vehicle, and although the parked vehicle 5 does not exist on the own GPS sensor, the information of the GPS satellite 4 cannot be received, It will be judged.

  Therefore, in order to avoid such a situation, the following definition and determination are performed in the present invention.

  In order to determine the altitude of the GPS satellite 4, a reference H (threshold value) is provided for the height of the parked vehicle 5. Since the object to be detected is a vehicle, the vehicle height is normally set to legal height. This standard may be set independently.

Assuming that the elevation angle of the GPS satellite is θ and the distance to the boundary of the power range of the GPS sensor 3 is I, the GPS satellite altitude Hθ at the power range (L = IX2) boundary can be divided into the following cases.
a. When Hθ ≧ h: When the GPS satellite is in the area (1) in the figure and is not affected by the adjacent vehicle, the determination result of the own GPS sensor is adopted regardless of the result of the adjacent GPS sensor 3. To do.
b. When H ≧ Hθ ≧ h: When the GPS satellite is in the area (2) in the figure and the adjacent GPS sensor 3 determines “no parking vehicle”, the determination result of the own GPS sensor 3 is adopted. To do.
c. When h ≧ Hθ: The GPS satellite is in the area (3) in the figure, the adjacent GPS sensor 3 determines that “there is a parked vehicle”, and determination by the GPS sensor 3 alone is impossible. Notify the administrator of the situation as “Unknown”.

  As described above, a. b. The presence or absence of a parked vehicle can be monitored as a normal process. However, since it is based on information from the satellite, it is expected that the determination becomes unstable.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a reception state of GPS information according to the embodiment of the present invention. The GPS information reception state with respect to the passage of time is schematically shown. (A) shows a case where the presence or absence of a parked vehicle can be clearly monitored as a normal process. It shows a case where the vehicle is stable and the presence or absence of a parked vehicle cannot be determined.

In the case of (b), an unstable state time t is measured, a determination holding time T (arbitrary) is provided, and the following complementing process is performed from the relationship between t and T.
When t ≦ T: Since the determination result is stable within the determination holding time, the immediately preceding determination result is adopted.
When t> T: Since an unstable state has passed for the determination holding time or longer, it is not appropriate to employ the immediately preceding determination result. For such a situation, a determination is made in comparison with the history collected every day.

However, in the case of simple comparison, as described above, since the GPS satellites take the same activation every day, all the parking patterns are sampled in a sampling unit and matched therewith. In this case, it is difficult to collect all the history data to be compared, and the number of matching targets is enormous. In order to avoid this, the following method is used.
(1) The parking state by each GPS sensor 3 is sampled on a daily basis at regular intervals.
(2) Other parking areas (GPS sensors) that affect judgment are expected. This is realized by registering the GPS sensor 3 that affects each GPS sensor 3 in the weighting table. The weighting table is created from the following viewpoints.

  The range in which the determination is expected to be affected is for a parked vehicle on the GPS sensor 3 adjacent to the own GPS sensor 3. The degree of influence is different.

Therefore, the orbit of the GPS satellite 4 that can be received for each GPS sensor 3 specifies a GPS satellite to be used for determination based on a GPS reception basic table in FIG.
(3) When the reception unstable state has exceeded the determination holding time, the parking state at the same time in (1) is checked based on (2), and the same determination is made except for the own GPS sensor (unstable state) The determination result when matching the result is adopted.

When matching is performed, as described in (2), since the GPS information used for the determination can be specified, it is only necessary to perform matching with the corresponding part.
(4) If the situation does not correspond to (3), the status is notified to the administrator as “abnormal”.

  FIG. 5 shows the data structure of the GPS reception basic table according to the embodiment of the present invention. The GPS reception basic table includes a plurality of records including items of “acquisition time”, “position measurement”, “reception state”, and “reception satellites 1 to N (ID, position)”. For example, in the first record, the GPS sensor 3 for position measurement (a, b, c) is receivable at the time of 00:00:00, and N receiving satellites having respective IDs and positions. Is registered.

  The GPS information (ID, position information) from the GPS satellite 4 can be received as the same information at the same time when there is no obstacle, and the state of the GPS satellite for one day without a parked vehicle. Receive the GPS reception basic table. Then, at the same time, the reception status of the GPS reception basic table and the GPS sensor 3 is compared to determine whether there is a parked vehicle.

  That is, if it is the same as the GPS reception basic table, “no parking vehicle” is determined, and if there are fewer GPS satellites that can be received from the GPS reception basic table, it is determined that “parking vehicle is present”.

  FIG. 6 shows the data structure of a history table relating to the determination of the presence or absence of parking by the GPS sensor according to the embodiment of the present invention. The history table is obtained by collecting the parking state of each GPS sensor 3 at regular time intervals on a daily basis, and is a plurality of records including items of “acquisition time” and “the presence or absence of parked vehicles” of “sensors 1 to N”. It is configured. In FIG. 6, the GPS sensor is simply expressed as a sensor.

  FIG. 7 shows the data structure of the weighting table of the GPS sensor according to the embodiment of the present invention. The range that is expected to be affected by the determination of the presence or absence of parking by the GPS sensor 3 is a parked vehicle on the GPS sensor 3 adjacent to the GPS sensor 3. Also, in the adjacent parked vehicles, the degree of influence differs between the case where they are adjacent vertically and horizontally and the case where they are in contact with the diagonal, the opening, or the passage. Therefore, in the embodiment, the GPS sensor 3 that affects each GPS sensor 3 is registered in a table that can be weighted. The weighting table ranks “sensor names” of other sensors that affect each GPS sensor 3. In FIG. 7 as well, the GPS sensor is simply expressed as a sensor.

  FIG. 8 shows a determination flow of the presence or absence of a vehicle in the parking monitoring system using the GPS sensor according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  First, in step S11, GPS information (ID, position information) transmitted from the GPS satellite 4 is acquired. In step S12, it is determined whether the reception state from the satellite is stable. If it is in the stable state, in step S13, it is determined whether the number of receivable satellites is decreasing by referring to the GPS reception basic table and collating it.

  If there is no decrease in the number of received satellites as a result of the collation, it is determined in step S14 that there are no parked vehicles in the parking area. If the number of received satellites has decreased, the condition of Hθ ≧ H is determined in step S15. That is, if the satellite altitude Hθ is equal to or higher than the vehicle height threshold H, it is determined in step S17 that there is a parked vehicle. If the satellite altitude Hθ is less than the vehicle height threshold H, it is determined in step S16 whether there is a parked vehicle in the adjacent parking area. If there is no parked vehicle in the adjacent parking area, it is determined in step S17 that there is a parked vehicle.

  When there is a parked vehicle in the adjacent parking area, it is processed as “unknown” in step S18, and the administrator is notified in step S19.

  On the other hand, in step S12, if the satellite radio wave reception state of the GPS sensor 3 is unstable, the determination interpolation process of FIG. 9 is performed.

  FIG. 9 shows a vehicle presence / absence determination flow (continued) in the parking monitoring system using the GPS sensor according to the embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, determination interpolation processing is performed as a continuation of the determination flow of FIG.

  In step S21, the state holding time T set in advance is compared with the time t when communication is unstable. If t> T, the history table is referred to in step S22 to determine matching with the history at the same time. To do. The parking state of the adjacent parking area at the same time is checked, and the determination result when the same GPS sensor (unstable state) matches the same determination result is adopted. Note that when matching is performed, the GPS information used for the determination has been specified, and therefore it is only necessary to perform matching with the corresponding part.

  On the other hand, if not matched, it is determined as “abnormal” in step S23, and the state is notified to the administrator in step S24. If matching is found, in step S25, interpolation determination of the parked vehicle is performed.

  In the interpolation determination, if there is a parked vehicle in the adjacent parking area, it is determined in step S26 that there is a parked vehicle. If there is no parked vehicle in the adjacent parking area, it is determined in step S28 that there is no parking.

  On the other hand, if t ≦ T in step S21, the state immediately before parking is determined in step S27. If the state immediately before parking corresponds, it is determined in step S26 that there is a parked vehicle, and if it does not correspond to the state immediately before parking, it is determined in step S28 that there is no parked vehicle.

It is a figure which shows the basic composition of the parking monitoring system using the GPS sensor which becomes embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the satellite electromagnetic wave reception by the GPS sensor in the parking monitoring system which becomes embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the vehicle height of an adjacent parked vehicle, and the altitude of a GPS satellite. It is a figure showing the reception state of the GPS information which becomes embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the GPS reception basic table which becomes embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the log | history table regarding the determination of the parking presence or absence by the GPS sensor which becomes embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the weighting table of the GPS sensor which becomes embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the determination flow of the presence or absence of a vehicle in the parking monitoring system using the GPS sensor which becomes embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the determination flow (continuation) of the vehicle presence or absence in the parking monitoring system using the GPS sensor which becomes embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the prior art example-the 1 (parking monitoring by a camera). It is a figure which shows the prior art example-the 2 (parking monitoring by a detection sensor). It is a figure which shows a prior art example-the 3 (parking monitoring by a ring stop embedded sensor). It is a figure which shows the problem (influence by an adjacent vehicle) of the parking monitoring using a GPS sensor.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Parking monitoring apparatus 2 Terminal device 3 GPS sensor 4 GPS satellite 5 Vehicle 11 Data receiving part 12 Processing part 13 Data transmission part 21 Data receiving part 22 Processing part 23 Display part 24 Operation part

Claims (5)

A parking monitoring method for monitoring a parked vehicle by receiving GPS radio waves with an antenna embedded in each parking area,
Comparing the altitude of the satellite calculated from the antenna interval and the elevation angle of the received GPS satellite with a preset threshold of the vehicle height of the parked vehicle;
When the altitude of the satellite is larger than the threshold of the vehicle height, the presence / absence of a parked vehicle is determined only by its own antenna, and when the altitude of the satellite is smaller than the threshold of the vehicle height, A step of determining the presence or absence of the result,
A parking monitoring method characterized by comprising:   When reception of GPS radio waves by the antenna becomes unstable, a determination holding time for determining the presence or absence of the parked vehicle is set, and when reception unstable time is within the determination holding time, determination is made based on the previous reception The parking monitoring method according to claim 1, wherein:   The parking according to claim 1, wherein the determination is made by taking into account a result of presence or absence of a parked vehicle in an adjacent parking area based on a weighting table of adjacent antennas in which weights of other antennas adjacent to the own antenna are registered. Monitoring method. A program in a parking monitoring device for monitoring a parked vehicle by receiving GPS radio waves by an antenna embedded in each parking area,
On the computer,
Comparing the altitude of the satellite calculated from the antenna interval and the elevation angle of the received GPS satellite with a preset threshold of the vehicle height of the parked vehicle;
When the altitude of the satellite is larger than the threshold of the vehicle height, the presence / absence of a parked vehicle is determined only by its own antenna, and when the altitude of the satellite is smaller than the threshold of the vehicle height, A step of determining the presence or absence of the result,
A parking monitoring program that runs. A parking monitoring device for monitoring a parked vehicle by receiving GPS radio waves with an antenna embedded in each parking area,
Means for comparing the distance between the antennas and the altitude of the satellite calculated from the elevation angle of the received GPS satellite with a preset vehicle height threshold of the parked vehicle;
When the altitude of the satellite is larger than the threshold of the vehicle height, the presence / absence of a parked vehicle is determined only by its own antenna, and when the altitude of the satellite is smaller than the threshold of the vehicle height, Means for determining presence / absence results,
A parking monitoring device comprising:

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