JP2010074291A - Driving information recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a driving information recorder continues always-on recording regardless of a trigger. <P>SOLUTION: In the drive information recorder 30 provided with an imaging means 32 and a storage means 38 for storing image data captured by the imaging means 32, the storage means 38 has at least two ring buffers, an always-on ring buffer 46 to store the captured image data at all times, and a trigger ring buffer 44 to store the image data before and after a trigger occurs. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving information recording apparatus that is installed in a vehicle such as a vehicle, a heavy machine, or a ship and that captures the outside of the vehicle and stores the captured image data for use in situation determination when the vehicle has an accident. .

In order to determine the accident situation of a vehicle as an example of a vehicle, a driving information recording device has been developed and installed in various vehicles.
A general driving information recording device includes a camera as an imaging unit, a vehicle sensor that detects vehicle speed, acceleration, brake pressure, and the like of the vehicle, an impact detection sensor, and a storage device that stores image data captured by the camera. It has. When the impact detection sensor detects an impact, image data captured at a predetermined time before the impact detection and a predetermined time after the impact detection is stored in the storage device.

  The storage device mounted on the driving information recording device uses a ring buffer configured to sequentially overwrite and store the oldest image data when new image data is input (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2000-6854 A

  In the conventional driving information recording device, a ring buffer is generally used as a storage device as described above. In such a driving information recording device, captured image data is always stored in a ring buffer, and when a trigger such as an impact is applied, image data is stored in the ring buffer for several tens of seconds before and after the trigger is applied. After memorizing, the memory was always stopped.

  However, since no image is stored in the storage device after a predetermined time has elapsed from the occurrence of the trigger after the trigger is applied, the necessary information may not be stored. For example, if a large-scale accident is a trigger, there is no need to memorize an image after the accident, but if it is just a slight touch, operation continues normally even after the trigger has occurred. Therefore, there is a problem that it is preferable that the storage is always continued even after a predetermined time elapses after the trigger is generated.

  In addition, it is desirable that the image data is not missing because the image data is handled as evidence of the incident by capturing not only the accident of itself but also the accidents and actions of others.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an operation information recording apparatus that can always store data regardless of a trigger.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises the following arrangement.
That is, the driving information recording apparatus according to the present invention includes an imaging unit and a storage unit that stores image data captured by the imaging unit. The storage unit stores the captured image data. It is characterized by having at least two ring buffers, a regular ring buffer for always storing, and a trigger ring buffer for storing image data before and after the trigger is generated when a predetermined trigger is generated.
By adopting this configuration, the image data at the time of the trigger occurrence and the data to be always stored are stored in different ring buffers, so that the image data is always stored regardless of the occurrence of the trigger. I can leave. For this reason, it is possible to prevent image data from being lost, and to reliably preserve evidence such as accidents and violations of laws and regulations.

In addition, when the amount of change for each predetermined frame of the image data picked up by the image pickup means is smaller than a preset amount of change, a frame rate for lowering the frame rate of the image data to be stored in the regular ring buffer A change means may be provided.
According to this configuration, even when there is not much change in the image, such as when the vehicle is stopped by a signal, if all the captured image data is stored, the memory capacity is wasted, and thus the image with little change. In this case, the memory capacity of the ring buffer can be effectively utilized by reducing the number of frames for storage.

In addition, a trigger switch that can be operated by the driver, and when the trigger switch is turned on, manual trigger control that stores the image data before and after the trigger switch is turned on in the trigger ring buffer Means.
According to this configuration, it is possible to leave image data when a driver has noticed not only an impact caused by his / her accident as a trigger. For example, image data can be stored manually even when there is an accident ahead or even in such a case.

A plurality of trigger switches may be provided, and the manual trigger control means may store image data in the trigger ring buffer by changing a frame rate for each of the plurality of trigger switches.
According to this configuration, for example, a switch with a high frame rate can be used as an emergency switch, and a switch with a low frame rate can be used as a snapshot. That is, if the contents are serious or urgent, such as an accidental sighting, a large amount of information is stored as a high frame rate. Also, when witnessing suspicious vehicles, suspicious persons, animals on the road, fallen objects on the road, road conditions, etc. that are not serious and not particularly urgent, memorize some information at a low frame rate. Thus, the memory capacity can be used effectively.

The voice input means for inputting the voice and the threshold value storage means for storing the threshold value of the volume of the voice input by the voice input means in advance, the manual trigger control means is configured to turn on the trigger switch. If it is determined whether or not the voice is input to the voice input means, and if it is determined that the voice is input, it is compared with the threshold value stored in the threshold value storage means and the voice is not input or If the volume of the input audio is less than the threshold, the image data before and after the trigger switch is turned on at a low frame rate is stored in the trigger ring buffer, and the volume of the input audio is greater than or equal to the threshold In this case, the image data before and after the trigger switch is turned on at a high frame rate is stored in the trigger ring buffer. It may be characterized.
According to this configuration, even if a plurality of trigger switches are not provided, that is, when the contents are serious or urgent, such as an accidental sighting, a large amount of information is stored by reducing the frame rate. Also, when witnessing suspicious vehicles, suspicious persons, animals on the road, fallen objects on the road, road conditions, etc. that are not serious and not particularly urgent, memorize some information at a low frame rate. Thus, the memory capacity can be used effectively.

  According to the driving information recording apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to prevent image data from being lost and to ensure image data maintenance.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
(First embodiment)
First, a schematic external configuration of the driving information recording apparatus in the present embodiment will be described based on FIG.
The driving information recording device 30 according to the present embodiment is attached to a vehicle such as an automobile, and records a surrounding situation before and after the accident as image data when a vehicle accident occurs.

  The driving information recording device 30 of the present embodiment is provided with a camera 32 as an imaging means that is movable so as to face the front of the vehicle, on a device main body 31 that can be mounted on the back side of the rearview mirror on the inner upper portion of the windshield of the vehicle. Yes. The camera 32 includes an optical lens 40 and an image sensor 42 (see FIG. 2). As the image sensor 42, a CCD, a CMOS, or the like can be employed.

  The apparatus body 31 also includes a trigger switch 48 that is manually operated by a driver or the like. The trigger switch 48 of the present embodiment is set on the entire surface of the apparatus main body 31, and is provided so that a driver or the like can easily operate without hesitation about the location of the switch.

Next, the internal configuration of the driving information recording apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
The driving information recording device 30 includes a camera 32, an image processing unit 33 that digitizes image data captured by the camera 32 and converts the image data into digital data that can be stored in a ring buffer, and an impact detection unit that includes an acceleration sensor and the like. 34 and a storage device 38 for storing image data picked up by the camera 32.
The image processing unit 33 corresponds to an image processing engine having an image processing function.

A trigger switch 48 that can be manually operated by a driver or the like is connected to the image processing unit 33. When the trigger switch 48 is turned on, an on signal is input to the image processing unit 33 as a so-called trigger signal. The
In addition, a trigger signal is input from the impact detection unit 34 to the image processing unit 33 when an impact of a predetermined value or more is detected by the impact detection unit 34.

  The storage device 38 of the operation information recording device 30 employs a ring buffer. In the ring buffer, when data is stored up to the full memory capacity, the latest data is overwritten on the oldest data, whereby the data is sequentially stored.

Note that a plurality of ring buffers are provided in the driving information recording apparatus 30 of the present embodiment.
Specifically, the driving information recording device 30 includes two ring buffers 44 and 46, and when a trigger is applied, a trigger ring buffer that stores image data for a predetermined time before and after the trigger is applied. 44 is a constant ring buffer 46 for always storing image data.

The frame rate at the time of storing image data in the regular ring buffer 46 is set lower than the frame rate at the time of storing image data in the trigger ring buffer 44.
For example, the frame rate in the case of constant storage is 1-2 fps, and the frame rate in the case of trigger storage is about 30 fps. The frame rate of 30 fps is about the same as the frame rate of normal TV broadcasting.

As trigger generation factors of the driving information recording device 30 of the present embodiment, there are two cases where an impact is detected due to a collision of a vehicle or the like and when a driver or the like operates the trigger switch 48.
In these cases, control is performed so that the image data input from the camera 32 is stored in the trigger ring buffer 44 at a predetermined frame rate based on the trigger signal from the impact detection means 34 or the trigger switch 48. A trigger control unit 39 is provided in the image processing unit 33.

The vehicle status detected by the impact detection means 34 includes sudden acceleration, sudden deceleration, sudden steering, impact, and the like.
When the impact detection means 34 makes such an impact (the acceleration sensor detects an acceleration greater than or equal to a predetermined value), the impact detection means 34 outputs a trigger signal to the trigger control means 39.
Upon receiving the trigger signal, the trigger control means 39 stops storing the image data output from the camera 32 in the trigger ring buffer 44 after a predetermined time has elapsed since the trigger signal was received. The impact detection means 34 is not limited to an acceleration sensor, and other sensors such as a temperature sensor may be used in combination.

  When the trigger switch 48 is turned on, the trigger switch 48 outputs a trigger signal to the trigger control means 39. Upon receiving the trigger signal, the trigger control means 39 stops storing the image data output from the camera 32 in the trigger ring buffer 44 after a predetermined time has elapsed since the trigger signal was received.

The trigger operation is the same after the trigger is applied to the trigger by the impact detection by the sensor and the manual trigger by the driver except for the trigger generation conditions.
The storage time of the image data in the trigger ring buffer is stored for a predetermined time before and after the trigger is generated, such as 20 seconds before the trigger is generated and 10 seconds after the trigger is generated. This time may be settable on the user side.

  Regardless of whether or not a trigger is generated, image data is always stored in the constant ring buffer 46. That is, the image data output from the camera 32 is always stored in the ring buffer 46 for a predetermined frame rate.

The image processing unit 33 is provided with frame rate changing means 49 for changing the frame rate of the image data stored in the regular ring buffer 46.
The frame rate changing means 49 corresponds to an image processing engine or the like. The frame rate changing unit 49 compares the input image data between different frames, and changes the frame rate to be lower when the change is small. The frames to be compared should be compared every several frames, not consecutive frames.

  The frame rate changing means 49 compares the brightness and brightness of each comparison target frame in each pixel of the entire screen, and if the number of pixels that have changed in the entire frame is equal to or greater than a preset threshold value, If the number of pixels that have changed in the entire frame is less than the threshold without changing the frame rate, control is performed so that the frame rate is lowered and stored in the constant ring buffer 46.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the driving information recording apparatus will be described based on FIG. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected about the component same as embodiment mentioned above, and description may be abbreviate | omitted.
In the present embodiment, a plurality of trigger switches for applying a manual trigger are provided.
Specifically, in the present embodiment, two emergency trigger switches 50 and a non-emergency snapshot trigger switch 51 are provided. When a trigger is applied by these two trigger switches 50 and 51, image data is stored in the trigger ring buffer 44 at different frame rates.

  When the emergency trigger switch 50 is turned on, a trigger signal is output to the trigger control means 39. When a trigger signal is input from the emergency trigger switch 50, the trigger control means 39 stores image data for a predetermined time before and after the occurrence of the trigger at a predetermined frame rate set in advance. The frame rate at this time is set to a higher frame rate than that for non-urgent snapshots.

  On the other hand, when the non-emergency snapshot trigger switch 51 is turned on, a trigger signal is output to the trigger control means 39. When the trigger signal is input from the trigger switch 51 for non-emergency snapshot, the trigger control means 39 stores image data for a predetermined time before and after the trigger is generated at a predetermined frame rate set in advance. The frame rate at this time is set to a lower frame rate than in the case of emergency. However, the frame rate is higher than the image data to be stored in the regular ring buffer 46 even if it is low. Therefore, it may be referred to as a medium frame rate in the drawings and the following description.

Non-emergency snapshot image data storage includes suspicious vehicles, mysterious person behavior, suspicious persons, weekday daytime elementary and junior high school students, midnight pedestrians, and animals in the mountains (bears, wild boars, monkeys, deers, etc.) There may be mentioned things that are not serious and not particularly urgent, such as falling objects on the road, falling rocks, cracks, paving pains, etc.
Such information often has no problem in particular, but it is useful to store it later because it is very useful as evidence for some incidents. Therefore, for such information, image data is stored at a medium frame rate.

  In this way, as a manual trigger switch, an emergency trigger switch and a non-emergency trigger switch are separately provided, and the frame rates are different from each other, so that the limited ring buffer memory capacity can be effectively used.

  As an example of the frame rate of this embodiment, the frame rate in the case of constant storage is 1 to 2 fps, the frame rate of trigger storage in the case of emergency is 30 fps, and the medium frame rate of trigger storage for non-emergency snapshots is It should be about 10 fps.

(Third embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment of the driving information recording device will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected about the component same as the component of embodiment mentioned above, and description may be abbreviate | omitted.
In the present embodiment, when a manual trigger is applied, not only manual operation of the trigger switch but also sound is a requirement for generation of the trigger. In the case of such an embodiment, a voice microphone 52 (voice input means) is connected to the trigger control means 39. Further, the threshold value of the volume of the voice input from the voice microphone 52 is stored in the threshold value storage means 54 in advance. This threshold value may be provided so as to be changeable by an operator. The threshold storage means 54 corresponds to a ROM or the like.

First, when the trigger signal from the trigger switch 48 is input (step S100), the trigger control means 39 determines whether or not there is an audio input from the audio microphone 52 (step S102).
When the trigger signal is input from the trigger switch 48 and there is an audio input from the audio microphone 52, the trigger control means 39 compares the volume of the input audio with a preset threshold value (step S104).
When the trigger control means 39 determines that the volume of the input voice is equal to or higher than the threshold value as a result of the comparison, the trigger control means 39 recognizes that it is urgent and triggers the image data at a preset high frame rate before and after the trigger is generated. The data is stored in the ring buffer 44 for a predetermined time (step S106).
That is, in the case of an emergency such as a major accident, a situation where the driver shouts loudly can be considered. In such a case, the image data is stored at the emergency frame rate.

On the other hand, when the trigger signal from the trigger switch 48 is inputted and there is no voice input from the voice microphone 52, the trigger control means 39 recognizes that it is not urgent and exceeds the preset emergency frame rate. Image data is stored in the trigger ring buffer 44 at a low frame rate before and after the occurrence of the trigger for a predetermined time (step S105).
That is, when there is no voice input and only the trigger signal from the trigger switch 48 is input, the image data is stored in a snapshot rather than urgently.
Even if the frame rate is low, the frame rate is higher than that of the image data stored in the regular ring buffer 46. Therefore, it may be referred to as a medium frame rate in the drawings and the following description.

In addition, when the trigger signal from the trigger switch 48 is input and there is a voice input from the voice microphone 52, the trigger control unit 39 compares the volume of the input voice with a preset threshold value, When it is determined that the volume of the input sound is less than the threshold, it is recognized that the sound is not urgent, and the image data is stored in the trigger ring buffer 44 for a predetermined time before and after the trigger is generated at a preset medium frame rate ( Step S105).
That is, if there is a voice input and the volume is low, image data is stored in a snapshot rather than a serious accident.

Similar to the above-described embodiment, storage of non-emergency snapshot image data includes suspicious vehicles, mysterious person actions, suspicious people, weekday daytime elementary and junior high school students, midnight pedestrians, animals in the mountains (bears, Boars, monkeys, deer, etc.), fallen objects on the road, falling rocks, cracks, pains in pavement, etc. are not serious and not particularly urgent.
Such information often has no problem in particular, but it is useful to store it later because it is very useful as evidence for some incidents. Therefore, for such information, image data is stored at a medium frame rate.

Industrial technology field

As the driving information recording apparatus of each embodiment described above, the case mounted on the vehicle has been described.
However, the driving information recording device is not limited to a vehicle, and can be used for heavy equipment for construction, ships, and the like.

The operation information recording apparatus of the present invention can be attached with a removable storage medium such as CF (Compact Flash). This storage medium is provided so as to appropriately store the image data stored in the trigger ring buffer 44 and the constant ring buffer 46.
Specifically, with respect to the image data stored in the trigger ring buffer 44, image data for a predetermined time, for example, 5 seconds before and after the trigger is applied to the storage medium every time the trigger is applied. I remember it. The image data recorded in the regular ring buffer 46 is stored in the previous storage medium in the regular ring buffer 46 when the process of recording the image data in the trigger ring buffer 44 in the storage medium is not performed. Every time image data of a predetermined amount or more is stored, it is stored in a storage medium.

  While the present invention has been described in detail with reference to a preferred embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and it goes without saying that many modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. .

It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance structure of the driving | operation information recording device of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the internal structure of 1st Embodiment of a driving | operation information recording device. It is explanatory drawing which shows the internal structure of 2nd Embodiment of an operation information recording device. It is explanatory drawing which shows the internal structure of 3rd Embodiment of an operation information recording device. It is a flowchart explaining the operation | movement content in 3rd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

30 operation information recording device 31 device main body 32 camera 33 image processing unit 34 impact detection means 38 storage device 39 trigger control means 40 optical lens 42 image sensor 44 trigger ring buffer 46 constant ring buffer 48 trigger switch 49 frame rate changing means 50 Trigger switch for emergency 51 Trigger switch for non-emergency 52 Voice microphone 54 Threshold storage means

Claims (5)

In an operation information recording apparatus comprising an imaging means and a storage means for storing image data taken by the imaging means,
The storage means includes at least two ring buffers, a constant ring buffer for always storing captured image data, and a trigger ring buffer for storing image data before and after the trigger is generated when a predetermined trigger is generated. An operation information recording apparatus comprising:   Frame rate changing means for lowering the frame rate of the image data to be stored in the regular ring buffer when the change amount for each predetermined frame of the image data picked up by the image pickup means is smaller than a preset change amount The driving information recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: A trigger switch that can be operated manually,
The manual trigger control means for storing image data before and after the trigger switch is turned on in the trigger ring buffer when the trigger switch is turned on. Item 3. The driving information recording device according to Item 2. A plurality of the trigger switches are provided,
4. The driving information recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the manual trigger control means stores image data in the trigger ring buffer by changing a frame rate for each of a plurality of trigger switches. Voice input means for inputting voice;
Threshold value storage means in which the threshold value of the volume of the voice input by the voice input means is stored in advance,
The manual trigger control means includes
When the trigger switch is turned on, it is determined whether or not sound is input to the sound input means. When it is determined that sound is input, the sound is compared with the threshold value stored in the threshold storage means. If the input volume is lower than the threshold value, the image data before and after the trigger switch is turned on at a low frame rate is stored in the trigger ring buffer and input. The image data before and after the trigger switch is turned on at a high frame rate is stored in the trigger ring buffer when the sound volume is equal to or higher than a threshold value. The driving | operation information recording device of any one of them.

Images