JP2010195235A - Vehicle-mounted camera system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain video of a specific portion clearly, and record video of other portions at the same time. <P>SOLUTION: This system includes a plurality of video cameras 21, 22, 23 with different view angles mounted to a vehicle 10 in the same direction, and a recording device 30 for simultaneously recording a plurality of videos taken by a plurality of the video cameras 21, 22, 23. A plurality of the video cameras are constituted into a single camera unit 20, and a part mounted to the vehicle 10 is provided to a frame or a case of the camera unit 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle camera system mounted on a vehicle (mainly an automobile). The present invention mainly relates to an in-vehicle camera system suitable for being mounted on a security vehicle such as a patrol car.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an in-vehicle camera system, an in-vehicle camera system that includes a video camera mounted on a vehicle and a recording device that records video captured by the video camera is known (for example, Patent Document 1).
Currently, a video camera system is usually mounted on a security vehicle such as a patrol car.
At present, the applicant of the present application also includes a plurality of video cameras having the same angle of view mounted in different directions on a vehicle, and a recording device for simultaneously recording a plurality of videos taken by the plurality of video cameras. Manufactures and sells in-vehicle camera systems equipped with

JP 2009-9329 A

In the conventional vehicle-mounted camera system described above, the angle of view of a video camera (hereinafter also simply referred to as a camera) has been a wide angle (usually about 120 degrees).
For this reason, a wide range of images could be obtained, and for example, the approximate situation when an incident or accident occurred could be recorded.
However, the conventional in-vehicle camera system has a problem that it is difficult to clearly obtain certain information in the obtained video. For example, it has been difficult to clearly obtain a license plate image of a vehicle from recorded images. This is because if a specific part of an image taken with a wide-angle camera is enlarged, the number of pixels decreases and the sharpness decreases. This problem is the same when a plurality of video cameras having the same angle of view are mounted in different directions in the vehicle.

In an in-vehicle camera system mounted on a security vehicle, for example, a patrol car, it is possible to obtain desired information by manually performing an optical zoom-in / zoom-out operation of the camera during shooting.
However, this system has a drawback that the video camera must be manually operated in an emergency. In addition, while recording a video by zooming in on a specific location, there is a problem that video at other locations cannot be recorded.
An object of the present invention is to provide an in-vehicle camera system that can solve the above-described problems and can clearly obtain an image at a specific location and simultaneously record an image at another location.

In order to achieve the above object, an in-vehicle camera system of the present invention is an in-vehicle camera system comprising a video camera mounted on a vehicle and a recording device for recording video taken by the video camera,
A plurality of video cameras having different angles of view mounted in the same direction in a vehicle, and a recording device that simultaneously records a plurality of videos shot by the plurality of video cameras are provided.
According to this in-vehicle camera system, a narrow angle camera uses a plurality of video cameras with different angles of view, for example, a camera with a narrow angle of view (narrow angle) and a camera with a wide angle of view (wide angle). At the same time, the wide-angle camera can shoot other parts. Images taken by these cameras are simultaneously recorded in a recording device.
Therefore, according to this in-vehicle camera system, it is possible to clearly obtain an image at a specific location and simultaneously record an image at another location.
In addition, if the specific location is appropriately set in advance, a conventional zoom-in operation or the like is not necessary.
Preferably, the plurality of video cameras are configured as a single camera unit, and a frame or case of the camera unit is provided with an attachment portion to the vehicle.
With this configuration, it is easy to install a plurality of cameras. In addition, connection between a plurality of cameras and a recording device is facilitated.

The top view which shows an example of the vehicle by which one Embodiment of the vehicle-mounted camera system which concerns on this invention was mounted. Similarly side view. The perspective view which shows an example of a camera unit. The figure which shows the example of attachment to the vehicle of a camera unit. Explanatory drawing of the image obtained. Explanatory drawing of the image obtained. Explanatory drawing of the image obtained.

Embodiments of an in-vehicle camera system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a vehicle equipped with an embodiment of an in-vehicle camera system according to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of the camera unit, and FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of attaching the camera unit to the vehicle.
As shown in these drawings, this in-vehicle camera system includes a plurality of video cameras 21, 22, 23 mounted in the vehicle 10 in the same direction and having different angles of view, and the plurality of video cameras 21, 22, 23. And a recording device 30 for simultaneously recording a plurality of videos taken in the above.

The illustrated vehicle 10 is a security vehicle or a patrol car. The plurality of video cameras 21, 22, and 23 are attached to the vehicle 10 toward the front at the front portion of the vehicle 10.
As shown in FIG. 3, the video cameras 21, 22, and 23 are configured as a single camera unit 20. An attachment portion 25 to the vehicle 10 is provided on the frame 24 of the camera unit 20. The illustrated frame 24 also serves as a case for the camera unit 20. The video cameras 21, 22, and 23 are fixed to the frame 24 in the camera unit 20.

  A video camera normally requires a total of four wires for video signal, ground, and power supply +-. In this embodiment, the ground wires of the video cameras 21, 22, and 23 are provided in the camera unit 20. In addition, the camera unit 20 leads the video signal lines (total 3 lines) of the video cameras 21, 22 and 23, a total of 6 wires for grounding and power supply +-to the harness 20h. It is. Among them, at least the video signal line is connected to the recording device 30, and the images taken by the video cameras 21, 22, and 23 are simultaneously recorded on the recording device 30. Recording to the recording device 30 is always performed while the vehicle 10 is running and when it is stopped while the power of the system is turned on.

  As the video cameras 21, 22, 23 themselves and the recording device 30 themselves, a known CCD camera and a known recorder can be used, respectively. As the video cameras 21, 22, and 23, fixed focus cameras can be used. The recording device 30 has a recording capacity capable of continuously recording video from each video camera for about 100 hours, and uses a configuration in which a new video is updated and recorded when the storage capacity becomes full. The video signal of each video camera can be transmitted to the recording device 30 wirelessly.

  The mounting portion 25 has a pair of arm portions 25a that are rotatably connected to the frame 24 of the camera unit 20, and a top plate portion 25b that connects these arm portions 25a. The attachment portion 25 is fixed to the frame 24 by screwing a bolt 25d inserted into a long hole 25c provided in the arm portion 25a to a female screw portion (not shown) provided in the frame 24.

The camera unit 20 can be attached to any location in the vehicle 10 using the attachment portion 25. In this embodiment, a double-sided tape 25t is provided on the top surface of the top plate portion 25b, and the camera unit 20 is adhered and attached to the windshield 11 of the vehicle 10 with the double-sided tape 25t as shown in FIG.
If the bolt 25d is slightly loosened in the attached state, the camera unit 20 can be rotated around the long hole 25c and adjusted in the vertical direction. Further, the camera unit 20 can be rotated in the left-right direction within a range in which the bolt 25d can slide in the elongated hole 25c. Accordingly, the area to be photographed by the video cameras 21, 22, and 23 can be adjusted by these rotation operations.

In this embodiment, cameras having the following angles of view are used as the video cameras 21, 22, and 23, for example.
Video camera 21: Horizontal field angle 15 degrees, Vertical field angle 10 degrees Video camera 22: Horizontal field angle 45 degrees, Vertical field angle 35 degrees Video camera 23: Horizontal field angle 120 degrees, Vertical field angle 90 Every time

The video camera 21 is a so-called telephoto camera, and the video camera 23 is a so-called wide-angle camera. The video camera 22 is a standard camera.

  In the case of the above example, the areas photographed by the video cameras 21, 22, and 23 mounted on the vehicle 10 as described above are, for example, the ranges indicated by A1, A2, and A3 in FIGS. It becomes. An area A1 is an area photographed by the video camera 21, an area A2 is an area photographed by the video camera 22, and an area A3 is an area photographed by the video camera 23.

According to the on-vehicle camera system as described above, the following effects can be obtained.
(A) A plurality of video cameras having different angles of view, for example, a narrow-angle (narrow angle) camera and a wide-angle (wide-angle) camera, a narrow-angle camera captures a specific portion, and a wide-angle camera captures other parts. Can be taken. Images taken by these cameras are simultaneously recorded in a recording device.
Therefore, according to this in-vehicle camera system, it is possible to clearly obtain an image at a specific location and simultaneously record an image at another location.

In this embodiment, since the three cameras 21, 22, and 23 as described above are used, the image of the area A1 shown in FIG. 5 captured by the video camera 21 is in an enlarged state as shown in FIG. Can be obtained clearly. The video obtained by the video camera 21 is not an enlarged view of the A1 area in the video shot of the A3 area, but is a video shot of only the A1 area from the beginning, so that the number of pixels does not decrease. Therefore, a clear image can be obtained.
Similarly, the image of the area A2 shown in FIG. 5 captured by the video camera 22 is clearly obtained in an enlarged state as shown in FIG.
The image of the area A3 shown in FIG. 5 captured by the video camera 23 is clearly obtained in the state as shown in FIG.

That is, the camera 21 or 22 with a narrow angle of view (the narrow and wide angle of view is relative, so the camera 22 can be said to be a camera with a narrow angle of view compared to the camera 23, and conversely, the image is smaller than the camera 21. The narrow-angle camera 21 or 22 captures a specific area A1 or A2 with the wide-angle camera 23, and the wide-angle camera 23 includes other areas A3. Can be taken. Images taken by these cameras are simultaneously recorded in the recording device 30.
Therefore, according to this in-vehicle camera system, it is possible to clearly obtain the images of the specific portions A1 and A2, and simultaneously record the images of the other portions A3.

Moreover, the specific location (for example, the area A1 in FIG. 5) can be appropriately set in advance when the video camera (for example, the video camera 21) is installed. Therefore, it is possible to easily obtain an image (see FIG. 6) that can easily determine the number of the license plate 10n, for example, without performing a conventional zoom-in operation or the like.
Therefore, the crew of the vehicle 10 can concentrate on driving and other duties without using nerves for video recording. For example, even during tracking of a suspicious vehicle, automatic recording is always available, so the driver can concentrate on driving and the passenger on the passenger seat can concentrate on understanding the situation.

(B) Since a plurality of video cameras are configured as a single camera unit 20 and the frame 24 (or case) of the camera unit 20 is provided with an attachment portion 25 to the vehicle 10, a plurality of cameras 21, 22, 23 is easy to install. In addition, since the number of wires drawn from the camera unit 20 can be reduced as described above, the connection between the plurality of cameras 21, 22, and 23 and the recording device 30 is facilitated.

<Modification>
The vehicle 10 is equipped with a GPS receiver 40 (FIGS. 1 and 2), and the speed of the vehicle 10 and the position (latitude of the vehicle 10) obtained when the above-mentioned image is obtained based on the received signal from the GPS receiver 40. Longitude) and time can be recorded in the recording device 30 together with the plurality of images. With this configuration, in the event of an accident, incident, etc., the speed, location (latitude / longitude), and accurate time of the vehicle 10 can be reliably stored along with the video at that time.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a camera unit 20 </ b> R similar to the camera unit 20 can be attached to the rear part of the vehicle 10 toward the rear of the vehicle 10. In this way, the rear three types of images can be recorded simultaneously.
The camera unit 20 can be disposed outside the vehicle, and the recording device 30 can be disposed in the cab.

While the embodiments and modifications of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and the like, and can be appropriately modified within the scope of the gist of the present invention.
For example, in this in-vehicle camera system, the number of video cameras can be any number as long as it is two or more according to the application, and the angle of view of each camera can be set appropriately according to the application. it can.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Vehicle 20 Camera unit 21, 22, 23 Video camera 25 Mounting part 30 Recording apparatus

Claims (2)

An in-vehicle camera system comprising a video camera mounted on a vehicle and a recording device for recording video shot by the video camera,
A vehicle equipped with a plurality of video cameras with different angles of view mounted in the same direction in a vehicle and a recording device for simultaneously recording a plurality of videos taken by the plurality of video cameras Camera system.   The in-vehicle camera system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of video cameras are configured as a single camera unit, and a frame or a case of the camera unit is provided with an attachment portion to the vehicle.

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