JP2012128574A - Alarm system, alarm device, program and alarm method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a maintenance worker to protect himself from an accident during maintenance work performed after placing restriction members on a road by simple operation and at low cost.SOLUTION: An alarm system has: a camera 22 for photographing images of the upstream direction of a road at a predefined working space defined in the opposite side of the travel lane when the travel lane for vehicles is restricted by placing cones 1 on the road; an area defining part 32 which defines a safe area where no vehicles travel based on images of the road photographed in sequence by the camera 22; a monitoring part 33 which monitors the safe area in the images of the road; and an alarm issuing part 34 which issues an alarm when a change of image is detected in the safe area.

Description

  The present invention relates to an alarm system, an alarm device, a program, and an alarm method for performing work on a road.

  For example, on roads such as expressways, when maintenance work is performed in a part of the section, in order to prevent accidents, for example, road cones, fences, barricades, etc. This restricting member restricts the lane in which the vehicle travels.

  However, on highways, mistakes in steering wheel operations are directly linked to accidents. For example, there are always accidents (getting accidents) where the vehicle breaks through the regulation member and jumps into the maintenance work site, such as when driving aside or sleeping. Measures to protect workers are urgently needed.

  As road accident prevention technology, for example, a maintenance vehicle equipped with a radar device or a remote stereo camera is placed at the end of the work site, and the distance from the vehicle approaching from the upstream side of the vehicle flow is determined. There is a technology that measures and warns when a passing vehicle may approach the site.

JP 2009-251637 A

  However, in the case of the above technology, a device such as a radar device or a stereo camera must be placed at the head of the work site in order to capture a vehicle traveling at high speed. Becomes an obstacle, the distance to the traveling vehicle cannot be measured well, and there is a problem that it is not suitable for the site where the regulating member is installed.

In addition, devices such as radar devices or remote stereo cameras are special devices different from road maintenance devices and are expensive and expensive to introduce.
Furthermore, since the above equipment is a special equipment, a dedicated operator is required separately from the worker who performs maintenance work, and it is necessary to dispatch to the site each time, which is also a factor that hinders the introduction of equipment. Become.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and it is easy for the operator himself to protect the worker from an accident when the maintenance work is performed after arranging the regulating member on the road. It is another object of the present invention to provide an alarm system, an alarm device, a program, and an alarm method that can be realized at low cost.

  The alarm system of the present invention regulates the travel lane of the vehicle by interspersing regulating members on the road, and images toward the upstream direction of the road at a predetermined work place provided on the side opposite to the travel lane. An area definition that defines a safety area in which a vehicle does not travel based on a camera that captures a road, a storage that stores an image of a road that is captured by the camera, and one or more road images that are read from the storage And images of a plurality of roads photographed at predetermined intervals by the camera from the storage unit, and monitors the image of the safety area defined by the area definition unit to detect whether the image has changed And a warning generation unit that issues a warning when a change in an image in the safety area is detected by the monitoring unit.

  The alarm device according to the present invention restricts a traveling lane of a vehicle by interspersing a regulating member on a road, and images an upstream direction of the road at a predetermined work place provided on a side opposite to the traveling lane. A storage unit that stores an image of a road imaged by a camera that captures the image, an area definition unit that defines a safety area where the vehicle does not travel based on one or more road images read from the storage unit, and A monitoring unit that reads out images of a plurality of roads photographed at predetermined intervals by the camera from the storage unit, monitors images of a safety area defined by the area definition unit, and detects whether there is a change in the image; And an alarm generation unit that issues a warning when a change in the image in the safety area is detected by the monitoring unit.

  The program of the present invention regulates the traveling lane of the vehicle by interspersing regulating members on the road, and displays an image toward the upstream direction of the road at a predetermined work place provided on the side opposite to the traveling lane. In a program for causing an information processing apparatus connected to a camera to perform processing to execute processing, based on a storage unit that stores a road image captured by the camera and one or more road images read from the storage unit An area defining unit for defining a safety area where the vehicle does not travel, and a safety area defined by the area defining unit by reading out images of a plurality of roads taken at predetermined intervals by the camera from the storage unit A monitoring unit that monitors the image of the image and detects the presence or absence of the change of the image, and when the change of the image of the safety area is detected by the monitoring unit, the image is arranged at the work place. And wherein the to function the information processing apparatus as an alarm generating unit for sending an alarm signal to the alarm device.

According to the alarm method of the present invention, a regulating member is dotted on a road to regulate a traveling lane of the vehicle, and a camera is directed toward the upstream side of the road at a predetermined work place provided on the side opposite to the traveling lane. Photographing a road image, storing a road image captured by the camera in a storage unit, and a safety area in which the vehicle does not travel in one or more road images read from the storage unit. A step of defining, a step of reading out images of a plurality of roads photographed at predetermined intervals by the camera from the storage unit, monitoring an image of the defined safety area, and detecting the presence or absence of a change in the image; And, when a change in the image of the safety area is detected, a step of issuing a warning from an alarm device arranged at the work place.

  According to the present invention, when carrying out maintenance work after placing a regulating member on the road, it is low cost to protect the worker when a situation occurs in which the vehicle breaks through the regulating member and jumps into the work site. Can be realized.

It is an equipment layout diagram of an alarm system. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of PC. It is a figure which shows an example of the image imaged with the camera. It is a figure which shows the state which divided the image of FIG. 4 by cone detection. It is a flowchart which shows the structure of 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows a single pipe barricade. It is a figure which shows A type barricade. It is a figure which shows fences.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment according to an alarm system of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a device layout diagram of the alarm system, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, this alarm system includes a regulating member such as a road cone 1 (hereinafter referred to as “cone 1”), a sign wheel 2, a computer 3 (hereinafter referred to as “PC3”) as a monitoring device, An alarm device such as a transmitter 5, a receiver 6, such as a siren 41, a rotating lamp 42, an LED sign light 43, and a safety vest 44 with a vibration device is connected by a wired (communication cable) or a wireless network.

  In carrying out maintenance work on such an expressway, the driving lane on which the vehicle 7 travels is regulated by interspersing regulating members such as cones 1 on the road, and the work place is on the side opposite to the traveling lane. A work site is established. For example, a construction vehicle such as an excavator 40 is disposed at the work site.

  The cone 1 is a cone shape having a height of about 60 cm, for example, and is colored in a plurality of colors. As a road regulating member, for example, a red ground wound with a white reflective tape is generally used. That is, the cone 1 regulates a traveling lane in which the vehicle 7 travels in a scattered manner on a road when performing maintenance work on a road such as an expressway.

  The sign wheel 2 is provided with a PC 3 on the seat side of a truck, and an electronic bulletin board 21 (hereinafter referred to as “signboard 21”) and a camera 22 mounted on a high position of the vehicle in the loading platform.

  The signboard 21 is composed of a plurality of LED lamps. Each of the LED lamps is turned on to draw a character, and a vehicle (in the direction of the sign car 2 stopped at the position just before the work zone (several tens of meters)) This is to warn the driver) that construction is being carried out.

  The camera 22 is a CCD camera or the like, for example, and is installed at the top of the signboard 21 mounted on the vehicle. The camera 22 directs the signboard 21 in the direction of the roadway so that the angle (imaging range) is directed to the rear road, and the upstream side of the road (the direction in which the vehicle is headed) is continuously imaged. The camera 22 may be erected on the road surface using a support member such as a tripod.

  The imaging direction of the camera 22 is the direction in which the vehicle is headed, that is, upstream of the road, and the angle is adjusted by the operator. That is, the camera 22 sequentially captures images with the angle directed toward the road behind the construction site (the direction in which the vehicle is headed). The angle (imaging range) includes a road and cones 1 scattered there.

  The PC 3 is an information processing apparatus such as a general-purpose notebook computer or tablet PC provided with a CPU, a memory 31, and the like. The PC 3 captures continuous images (moving images) captured by the camera 22 into the memory 31 and converts them into the images. An area (safety area) where maintenance work is performed is defined, and when a change occurs in the image of the safe area, an alarm signal is transmitted to each alarm device.

  The PC 3 is installed with image processing and alarm software. The image processing and alarm software has functions such as an image acquisition unit 30, an area definition unit 32, a monitoring unit 33, and an alarm generation unit 34.

  The image acquisition unit 30 acquires images of a plurality of roads photographed at predetermined time intervals by the camera 22 and sequentially buffers (temporarily stores) them in the memory 31. The camera 22 captures, for example, several to several tens of images per second at a predetermined interval. In this case, the memory 31 holds an image for several seconds to several tens of seconds. The image acquisition unit 30 repeatedly overwrites the memory 31 with new images in order of oldness.

  The area definition unit 32 identifies only the cone 1 included in the image captured by the camera 22 or the cone 1 and the vehicles 7 and 7a. The area definition unit 32 generates a line segment connecting the identified cones 1 and divides the image into two areas with the line segment as a boundary. The area definition unit 32 divides (classifies) the area into the area on the side where the sign car 2 exists and the area on the opposite side of this area (the area on which the vehicle 7 passes) from the position of the segmented line segment (boundary). To do.

  Here, the area on the side of the sign car 2 from the boundary is defined as a safety area (safe area), and the area on the side where the vehicle 7 passes from the boundary is defined as a dangerous area (non-safe area), and the area definition information is stored in the memory 31. To remember.

  The area definition unit 32 functions as an identification unit that identifies the image of the cone 1 and the images of the vehicles 7 and 7a set in advance from the road image read from the memory 31. In addition, the area defining unit 32 generates a line segment that connects the identified images of the scattered cone 1, and the non-safe area where the vehicle travels on the side including the vehicle image with the line segment as a boundary, It functions as a partition section that partitions the image as a safety area where the vehicle does not travel on the opposite side. When only the image of the cone 1 is identified, the side where the sign wheel 2 is installed is defined as a safety area.

  That is, the area definition unit 32 defines, in the road image read from the memory 31, a non-safe area where the vehicle travels and a safe area where the vehicle does not travel.

  Based on the area definition information stored in the memory 31, the monitoring unit 33 compares the images before and after being sequentially captured from the camera 22 into the memory 31, and monitors the change in the image of the safety area portion to thereby detect the cone 1. Determine whether there is a vehicle that breaks through and enters the safety area.

  That is, the monitoring unit 33 reads out images of a plurality of roads taken at predetermined intervals by the camera 22 from the memory 31, monitors the image of the safety area defined by the area definition unit 32, and checks whether there is a change in the image. Is detected.

  It should be noted that, for example, images of vehicles and regulating members (cones, fences, barricades, etc.) are stored in advance in the memory 31 as templates, and contours and / or similar to the templates of vehicles and regulating members are not compared. It may be detected from the positional relationship between the dangerous vehicle 7a and the cone 1 that the dangerous vehicle 7a has broken through the cone by determining whether or not an image having a color scheme is included in the captured image.

  Then, when a change occurs in the images before and after the image captured in the memory 31 by the dangerous vehicle 7a entering the safety area, the monitoring unit 33 controls the alarm generation unit 34 to operate the alarm signal through the transmitter 5. Wirelessly transmit to each alarm device installed at the site, operate each alarm device to issue an alarm, inform the worker at the work site of the danger by voice, video, light, vibration, etc. Secure the time required for

  That is, the monitoring unit 33 functions as a difference detection unit that reads a plurality of road images continuously captured by the camera 22 from the memory 31 and detects a difference between images before and after the safety area.

  The alarm generator 34 sends an alarm signal to the transmitter 5. That is, the alarm generation unit 34 generates a notification signal for notifying the worker of the danger under the control of the monitoring unit 33 and outputs the signal to the transmitter 5.

  The transmitter 5 is, for example, a contact input extra-small radio transmitter, and wirelessly communicates the alarm signal input from the alarm generator 34. The receiver 6 is installed at the work site, receives the alarm signal transmitted from the transmitter 5, and operates each alarm device.

  That is, the alarm generation unit 34, the transmitter 5, the receiver 6, and each alarm device function as a notification unit that issues a notification when an image change in the safety area is detected by the monitoring unit 33.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 3 thru | or FIG. 5, the operation | work procedure in the case of road maintenance construction and operation | movement of each apparatus are demonstrated.

  First, as a preparatory work for carrying out road construction, a cone 1 is placed on the road at a predetermined interval, and a section for restricting a passage (travel lane) on which the vehicle 7 travels is provided. The opposite side is set as a work zone for maintenance work, and a work site is provided at the forefront of the vehicle traveling direction in this work zone.

  The worker uses the inside of the work zone as a safety area, and installs each alarm device at a work site provided in the safety area.

  In order to ensure safety, the worker installs the cone 1 at a distance of 10 to 20 m and a few km upstream of the work zone. Then, the sign wheel 2 is stopped with the angle of the camera 22 turned so that the safety area can be seen from the front of the work site toward the upstream of the road. Accordingly, the cone 1 is scattered in the road image captured by the camera 22.

Subsequently, the PC 3 is set before the maintenance work is started.
The operator activates the image processing and alarm software of the PC 3. Then, the image acquisition unit 30 causes the camera 22 to capture an image of the road (step S101 in FIG. 3), captures it on the PC 3 side, and stores it in the memory 31 (step S102).

An image of the road at this time is shown in FIG.
When the road image is stored in the memory 31, the area definition unit 32 identifies the cone 1 included in the image and specifies the position of the cone 1 on the image (step S103).

  Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the area definition unit 32 generates a line segment 51 connecting the edge portions (or center positions) of the plurality of cone 1 images scattered in the road image, and the line segment The road image is divided (classified) into two areas (areas) with 51 as a boundary (step S104).

  In other words, the area defining unit 32 divides the divided boundary into a section on the side of the sign car 2 and a section on the opposite side of the section.

  Here, with respect to the segment 51 that is a boundary, the area definition unit 32 defines a section on the side of the sign car 2 as a safety area (safety area 52), and a section on the side where the vehicle 7 passes from the boundary as a dangerous area ( It is defined as a non-safe area 51).

  Thereafter, in the PC 3, the monitoring unit 33 monitors the safety area 52 as a monitoring target and monitors whether or not the image of the area 52 has changed (step S105). If the safety area 52 has changed (Yes in step S106), the monitoring is performed. The unit 33 transmits an alarm signal from the transmitter 5 in order to issue an alarm to each alarm device at the work site (step S107).

  That is, the monitoring unit 33 monitors the presence or absence of a change in the image of the safety area 52 in the area definition information set in the memory 31, and is for the vehicle 7a that breaks through the cone 1 and enters the safety area 52 side. When the image of the safety area 52 changes, the alarm generator 34 is controlled to immediately transmit an alarm signal notifying the operator of the danger from the transmitter 5 to the receiver 6, and the receiver 6 receives the alarm signal. Thus, the alarm device such as the siren 41, the rotating lamp 42, the LED sign light 43, and the safety vest 44 with the vibration device is activated to issue a warning, the worker is notified of the danger, and the time required for the worker to evacuate. Secure.

  The time required for the worker to evacuate is defined as 5 seconds, although it depends on the shape of the road and the effective distance in the field of view. For example, if the vehicle is traveling at a speed of about 100 km / h on the expressway, it is necessary to detect it at 138 m, if it is about 50 km / h, 69 m before the work zone.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, when the maintenance work is performed after the regulating member such as the cone 1 is arranged on the road, in addition to the equipment used for the road maintenance work, the computer 3 and the camera 22 are connected. Only by introducing, it is possible to protect the worker from a so-called “getting accident” in which the dangerous vehicle 7a breaks through the cone 1 and jumps into the work site.
If the direction of the camera 22 is set, the software of the computer 3 is started, and the execution operation is performed, a series of operations from the boundary section starting from the cone 1 to the setting and monitoring of the safety area are automatically performed. Therefore, the maintenance worker himself / herself can perform all operations related to the alarm system.
In other words, it is possible for the operator himself to realize simple operation and low cost to protect the operator from a vehicle jumping accident during road maintenance work.

  Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the structure similar to the said 1st Embodiment, and the description is abbreviate | omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the second embodiment includes an input unit 35. The input unit 35 is standard equipment such as a keyboard and a mouse of the PC 3, for example. In addition, when the PC 3 is a tablet PC or the like, a handwriting pen input device or the like may be used. The input unit 35 draws a dividing line on the road image read from the memory 31 or designates several points on the image such as the position where the cone 1 of the image is arranged. The area definition unit 32 defines the safety area 52 from the drawn dividing lines or the positions of some designated points. As the handwriting pen input device, for example, a general-purpose pen tablet, digitizer, liquid crystal pen tablet, or the like is used.

  That is, when the lane marking is input by the input unit 35, the area definition section 32 divides (defines) the road image into a safety area where the vehicle does not travel and a non-safe area where the vehicle travels with the lane marking as a boundary. To do.

  In addition, when some points are designated on the image by the input unit 35, the area defining unit 32 defines a region (area) surrounded by connecting (connecting) the designated points as a safety area. Set (define).

  In the second embodiment, in the road image obtained from the camera 22, as shown in the first embodiment, when a line segment is generated by connecting the cone 1 and cannot be divided into two areas from the boundary, the operator of the PC 3 By specifying the safety area directly from the input unit 35 by the (worker), the area to be monitored can be reliably defined.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, when the area cannot be defined from the road image captured by the camera 22, the area to be monitored can be defined manually.

  The invention of the present application is not limited to the above-described embodiment. In the implementation stage, the constituent elements are modified without departing from the scope of the invention (partial deletion of elements, change of combination of elements between the embodiments, etc.). May be.

  In the above embodiment, the cone 1 is exemplified as the restricting member, but other than this, for example, a barricade such as a single-tube barricade 71 as shown in FIG. 7 and an A-type barricade 72 as shown in FIG. The fences 73 shown in FIG. 6 may be used as a material for generating a line segment from a road image. These regulating members may be used alone or in combination. That is, at least one of cones, barricades, and fences is used as the regulating member. Further, other than the exemplified members may be used as long as they are visible from the traveling vehicle.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the area defining unit 32 identifies the regulating member such as the cone 1 arranged on the road and partitions the image using it as an index. However, the area defining unit 32 uses one or more roads stored in the memory 31. A safety area where the vehicle does not travel may be defined based on the image.

  In this case, a difference in focus state (blurred or blurred image) in one image obtained by the camera 22, or a comparison between images of a plurality of roads or a portion in which the image is in a poor focus state or an image The part where the change has occurred is discriminated from the part where the change is not, and the part where the focus state of the image is bad or the part where the change has occurred is identified (defined) as the travel lane of the vehicle 7 that travels at high speed. An area having a margin of a predetermined distance is identified (defined) as a safety area and partitioned.

  Each component described in the above embodiment may be realized by a program installed in a storage such as a hard disk device of a computer, and the program is stored in a computer-readable electronic medium: program. The computer may realize the functions of the present invention by causing the computer to read from the electronic medium. Examples of the electronic medium include a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, a flash memory, and a removable media. Further, the configuration may be realized by distributing and storing components in different computers connected via a network, and communicating between computers in which the components are functioning.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Cone (road cone), 2 ... Sign wheel, 3 ... Computer (PC), 5 ... Transmitter, 6 ... Receiver, 7 ... Vehicle, 7a ... Dangerous vehicle, 21 ... Electric bulletin board (signboard), 22 ... Camera 30 ... Image acquisition unit, 31 ... Memory, 32 ... Area definition unit, 33 ... Monitoring unit, 34 ... Alarm generation unit, 35 ... Input unit, 40 ... Excavator, 41 ... Siren, 42 ... Rotating light, 43 ... LED Sign light, 44 ... safety vest with vibration device, 71 ... single tube barricade, 72 ... A-type barricade, 73 ... fences.

Claims (8)

A camera that regulates the traveling lane of the vehicle by interspersing regulating members on the road, and shoots an image in the upstream direction of the road at a predetermined work place provided on the side opposite to the traveling lane;
A storage unit for storing an image of a road photographed by the camera;
Based on one or more road images read from the storage unit, an area definition unit that defines a safety area where the vehicle does not travel,
A monitoring unit that reads out images of a plurality of roads photographed at predetermined intervals by the camera from the storage unit, monitors an image of a safety area defined by the area definition unit, and detects the presence or absence of the change in the image When,
An alarm system comprising: an alarm generation unit that issues an alarm when a change in an image in the safety area is detected by the monitoring unit. The area definition section
From the road image read from the storage unit, a preset identifying unit that identifies the image of the restriction member and the image of the vehicle,
A non-safe area where the vehicle travels on the side where the image of the vehicle is included with a line segment connecting the scattered image of the restricting members identified by the identifying unit as a boundary, and the vehicle does not travel on the opposite side The alarm system according to claim 1, further comprising a partition unit that partitions the image as a safety area. An input unit for drawing a boundary line for classifying the road image read from the storage unit into a non-safe area where the vehicle travels and a safe area where the vehicle does not travel, or designating a monitoring area With
The area definition section
The road image with the boundary line input by the input unit as a boundary is defined as a safety area where the vehicle does not travel and a non-safe area where the vehicle travels, or the area specified by the input unit is a vehicle The alarm system according to claim 1, wherein the alarm system is defined as a safety area that does not travel, and information of each defined area is set in the storage unit. The area definition section
A non-safety area where the vehicle travels in a region where a change has occurred by taking a difference by comparing differences in focus state between images of one road read from the storage unit, or by comparing images of a plurality of roads, An information processing apparatus characterized in that the opposite area is defined as a safety area.   5. The alarm system according to claim 1, wherein the regulating member is at least one of cones, barricades, and fences. The vehicle is photographed by a camera that regulates the traveling lane of the vehicle by interspersing regulating members on the road and photographs an image toward the upstream direction of the road at a predetermined work place provided on the opposite side of the traveling lane. A storage unit for storing road images,
Based on one or more road images read from the storage unit, an area definition unit that defines a safety area where the vehicle does not travel,
A monitoring unit that reads out images of a plurality of roads photographed at predetermined intervals by the camera from the storage unit, monitors an image of a safety area defined by the area definition unit, and detects the presence or absence of the change in the image When,
An alarm device comprising: an alarm generation unit that issues an alarm when a change in an image in the safety area is detected by the monitoring unit. A camera that shoots an image in the upstream direction of the road at a predetermined work place provided on a side opposite to the travel lane is connected by interposing a regulating member on the road to restrict the travel lane of the vehicle. In a program for causing an information processing apparatus to execute processing,
A storage unit for storing an image of a road photographed by the camera;
Based on one or more road images read from the storage unit, an area definition unit that defines a safety area where the vehicle does not travel;
A monitoring unit that reads out images of a plurality of roads photographed at predetermined intervals by the camera from the storage unit, monitors an image of a safety area defined by the area definition unit, and detects the presence or absence of the change in the image When,
When the change of the image of the safety area is detected by the monitoring unit, the information processing device is caused to function as an alarm generation unit that transmits an alarm signal to an alarm device arranged at the work place. program. A step of restricting a traveling lane of the vehicle by interspersing a regulating member on the road, and a camera taking an image toward an upstream direction of the road at a predetermined work place provided on a side opposite to the traveling lane; ,
Storing a road image captured by the camera in a storage unit;
Defining a safety area in which the vehicle does not travel in one or more road images read from the storage unit;
Reading out images of a plurality of roads photographed at a predetermined interval by the camera from the storage unit, monitoring images of defined safety areas, and detecting the presence or absence of changes in the images;
And a step of issuing a warning from an alarm device arranged at the work place when a change in the image of the safety area is detected.

Images