JP2020107181A - In-vehicle apparatus, data collection system, and control method of in-vehicle apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an in-vehicle apparatus configured to reduce processing load of a center, a data collection system, and a control method of the in-vehicle apparatus.SOLUTION: An in-vehicle apparatus includes a sampling section, a generation section, and a transmission section. The sampling section samples video data captured on a vehicle. The generation section generates processed data by applying predetermined processing on the video data sampled by the sampling section, on the basis of a processing condition designated by a data collection apparatus. The transmission section transmits the processed data generated by the generation section to the outside.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted device, a data collection system, and a method of controlling the vehicle-mounted device.

Conventionally, a data collection device that collects road information from a vehicle-mounted device mounted on each vehicle is known. Such a data collection device collects road information at a desired position by selecting a vehicle for which road information is to be collected based on the position information of each vehicle (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2018-055581

However, conventionally, since the data collection device as the center analyzes the video data collected from the vehicle-mounted device, there is a possibility that the processing load of the center may increase due to the analysis process.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide an on-vehicle device, a data collection system, and a method for controlling the on-vehicle device that can reduce the processing load of the center.

In order to solve the above-mentioned subject and to achieve an object, an in-vehicle device according to the present invention includes a sampling unit, a generation unit, and a transmission unit. The collection unit collects image data captured by the vehicle. The generation unit performs predetermined processing on the video data collected by the collection unit to generate processed data based on the processing condition specified by the data collection device. The transmission unit transmits the processed data generated by the generation unit to the outside.

According to the present invention, the processing load on the center can be reduced.

FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an outline of a data collection system according to an embodiment. FIG. 1B is a diagram showing an outline of the data collection system according to the embodiment. FIG. 1C is a diagram showing an outline of the data collection system according to the embodiment. FIG. 1D is a diagram showing an outline of a method of controlling the vehicle-mounted device according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the data collection system according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of collection conditions. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of processing executed by the in-vehicle apparatus according to the embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of an in-vehicle device, a data collection system, and a method for controlling an in-vehicle device disclosed in the present application will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below.

First, the outline of the data collection system according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1A to 1D. 1A to 1C are diagrams showing an outline of a data collection system according to an embodiment. FIG. 1D is a diagram showing an outline of a method of controlling the vehicle-mounted device according to the embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1A, a data collection system 1 according to the embodiment includes a data collection device 10 and vehicle-mounted devices 100-1, 100-2 mounted on vehicles V-1, V-2, V-3,... , 100-3... And the user terminal 200. In the following, the term "vehicle V" is used to refer to the whole vehicle, and the term "vehicle apparatus 100" is used to refer to the in-vehicle device in general.

The data collection device 10 is configured as a cloud server that provides a cloud service via a network such as the Internet or a mobile phone network, and requests the data user to collect data about the vehicle V (hereinafter, referred to as vehicle data). And collects vehicle data from each in-vehicle device 100 based on the received collection request and provides it to the data user.

The in-vehicle apparatus 100 is a drive recorder having various sensors such as a camera, an acceleration sensor, a GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor, a storage device, a microcomputer, and the like, and acquires a collection request accepted by the data collecting apparatus 10, The vehicle data corresponding to the collection request is acquired from the vehicle V.

Further, the vehicle-mounted device 100 appropriately uploads the acquired vehicle data to the data collection device 10. By using the drive recorder also as the in-vehicle apparatus 100 in this way, the in-vehicle components mounted on the vehicle V can be made efficient. Note that the in-vehicle device 100 and the drive recorder may be separately configured without being shared.

The user terminal 200 is a terminal used by a data user, and is, for example, a notebook PC (Personal Computer), a desktop PC, a tablet terminal, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a smartphone, eyeglass-type or clock-type information processing. For example, a wearable device that is a terminal.

In the data collection system 1 according to the embodiment, the data collection device 10 collects vehicle data from the vehicle-mounted device 100 based on the collection condition specified via the user terminal 200, and provides the vehicle data to the user terminal 200. Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 1A to 1C, a series of flow until the vehicle data is provided to the data user in the data collection system 1 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1A, first, the data user specifies the collection condition by the user terminal 200 connected to the data collection device 10.

In addition, at this time, the data collection device 10 is a tag that is added to the actual data R (an example of vehicle data) to be collected, and has a characteristic as index data used for searching and grasping the actual data R. Data for generating the data T is generated. That is, the tag data T is metadata obtained by converting the actual data R into meta information. The generation data of the tag data T is generated based on the operation of the data user while using the program and the generation data stored in the user terminal 200 or the data collection device 10.

Then, the specified collection conditions and the generated data for the generated tag data T are stored in the data collection device 10 and also distributed to the vehicle V that is the target of data collection, and are also stored in the vehicle-mounted device 100. To be done.

Next, each in-vehicle apparatus 100 monitors the output data of various sensors and stores the actual data R such as output data and video data in the storage device when an event that satisfies the stored collection conditions occurs. The video data is, for example, a moving image, but may be a still image. Further, each in-vehicle device 100 generates and stores the tag data T corresponding to the actual data R based on the stored generation data of the tag data T and the actual data R. Then, each in-vehicle device 100 uploads the tag data T to the data collection device 10, and the data collection device 10 stores the tag data T. At this time, the actual data R is not uploaded to the data collection device 10. That is, as shown in FIG. 1A, the data collection device 10 is in a state of holding only the tag data T.

Further, the in-vehicle device 100 performs predetermined processing on the collected video data to generate the processed data based on the processing condition specified by the data collection device 10, and uploads the processed data. It will be described later with reference to FIG. 1D.

Then, when the data user connects to the data collection device 10 to confirm the data collection status or collect the actual data R by the user terminal 200, the meta information based on the tag data T collected by the data collection device 10. Is displayed on the user terminal 200.

Then, as shown in FIG. 1B, when the data user designates the tag data T corresponding to the actual data R to be collected by the user terminal 200, the actual data is sent to the in-vehicle device 100 via the data collecting device 10. Instruction data designating R is transmitted.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 1C, the designated actual data R is uploaded from each in-vehicle device 100 to the data collecting device 10 and stored in the data collecting device 10. Then, the data user uses the user terminal 200 to access the actual data R stored in the data collection device 10 to browse or download the actual data R.

From the viewpoint of the data capacity of the vehicle-mounted device 100, the actual data R uploaded to the data collection device 10 and the corresponding tag data T should be deleted from the vehicle-mounted device 100 after being uploaded to the data collection device 10. Is preferred.

Further, the tag data T is not data obtained by simply extracting a part of the actual data R, but can grasp the outline of the actual data R when the data user refers to it and judge the necessity of the actual data R. It is preferably meta-informationized to some extent.

Here, conventionally, since the data collection device as the center analyzes the video data collected from the vehicle-mounted device, the processing load of the center may be increased due to the analysis process.

Therefore, in the control method of the in-vehicle device 100 according to the embodiment, the image data is processed and designated by the data collection device 10 and uploaded. Hereinafter, the method for controlling the vehicle-mounted device according to the embodiment will be specifically described with reference to FIG. 1D.

In FIG. 1D, a case where image data captured by a fish-eye lens camera is processed will be described as an example. The image data captured by the fisheye lens camera is an image in which the object is curved due to the lens characteristics. For this reason, there are cases where the distortion of the video data based on the lens characteristics is corrected and processed into an easily viewable state before being provided to the data user.

Therefore, the in-vehicle apparatus 100 according to the embodiment generates the processed data in which the distortion correction of the collected video data is generated, and then uploads the processed data to the outside of the data collection apparatus 10 or the like, for example. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1D, the in-vehicle device 100 receives, from the data collection device 10, processing conditions instructing to perform distortion correction.

Then, the in-vehicle device 100 performs predetermined processing (distortion correction) on the collected video data based on the processing condition designated by the data collection device 10 to generate processed data, and uploads the processed data to the data collection device 10. Then, the data collection device 10 uses the processed data uploaded from the in-vehicle device 100 to perform data analysis and provide the analysis result to the data user.

That is, in the control method of the in-vehicle device 100 according to the embodiment, the in-vehicle device 100 takes charge of distortion correction which is a part of the data processing performed by the data collection device 10. As a result, the data collection device 10 does not need to perform distortion correction, and thus the processing load on the data collection device 10 can be reduced.

The processing performed by the in-vehicle apparatus 100 is not limited to the distortion correction, and may be a part (or all) of the processing performed by the data collection apparatus 10 such as image quality correction and cutout of an image area.

Further, the processing performed by the vehicle-mounted device 100 may be, for example, changing the frame rate of the moving image (reducing the number of frames) or changing the resolution of the image of the moving image or the still image (reducing the resolution).

Hereinafter, a configuration example of the data collection system 1 according to the embodiment will be described more specifically.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the data collection system 1 according to the embodiment. It should be noted that FIG. 2 shows only the components necessary for explaining the features of the embodiment, and omits the description of general components.

In other words, each component shown in FIG. 2 is functionally conceptual, and does not necessarily have to be physically configured as shown. For example, the specific form of distribution/integration of each block is not limited to that shown in the figure, and all or part of the blocks may be functionally or physically distributed/arranged in arbitrary units according to various loads and usage conditions. It can be integrated and configured.

In addition, in the description using FIG. 2, the description of the already described constituent elements may be simplified or omitted.

As shown in FIG. 2, the data collection system 1 according to the embodiment includes a data collection device 10, an in-vehicle device 100, and a user terminal 200.

First, the data collection device 10 will be described. The data collection device 10 includes a communication unit 11, a storage unit 12, and a control unit 13.

The communication unit 11 is realized by, for example, a NIC (Network Interface Card) or the like. The communication unit 11 is connected to the network N by wire or wirelessly, and transmits and receives information to and from the vehicle-mounted device 100 and the user terminal 200 via the network N.

The storage unit 12 is realized by, for example, a semiconductor memory device such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a flash memory (Flash Memory), or a storage device such as a hard disk or an optical disc. In the example of FIG. , And the collection data DB 12b.

The collection condition information DB 12a stores the collection conditions specified by the user terminal 200 and accepted by the accepting unit 13a described later. That is, the collection condition information DB 12a includes past results regarding collection conditions.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of collection conditions. As shown in FIG. 3, the collection condition includes various parameters regarding collection of vehicle data. The various parameters are, for example, “target vehicle”, “data type”, “collection trigger condition”, “collection period”, “processing condition”, etc., as shown in FIG.

The “target vehicle” is an identifier of the vehicle V to be collected. Further, the “data type” is the type of data to be collected, for example, the accelerator opening rate. The “collection trigger condition” is a condition that triggers collection, and is, for example, a case where the vehicle speed exceeds a predetermined speed. The “collection period” is a period for collecting data. The “processing condition” is the processing content to be applied to the actual data R such as video data.

Further, the processing content here is, for example, video data compression, image quality correction, image region cutout, distortion correction, and the like, and is the processing content necessary for the data collection device 10 to perform analysis.

The collected data DB 12b stores collected data collected from each in-vehicle device 100 by the collecting unit 13c described later. That is, the collected data DB 12b includes past records of collected data. The collected data includes the tag data T and the actual data R (compressed data) described above.

The control unit 13 is a controller, and various programs stored in a storage device inside the data collection device 10 use a RAM as a work area by, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an MPU (Micro Processing Unit). It is realized by being executed as. The control unit 13 can be realized by an integrated circuit such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

The control unit 13 includes a reception unit 13a, a distribution unit 13b, a collection unit 13c, and an analysis unit 13d, and realizes or executes the information processing functions and actions described below.

The reception unit 13a receives the collection condition designated by the data user from the user terminal 200 via the communication unit 11 and notifies the distribution unit 13b. Further, the reception unit 13a stores the collection condition designated by the data user in the collection condition information DB 12a.

The delivery unit 13b delivers the collection condition stored in the collection condition information DB 12a and designated by the data user to the vehicle V that is the target vehicle, for example, in a file format via the communication unit 11.

The collection unit 13c stores the vehicle data acquired based on the collection conditions distributed by the distribution unit 13b, such as the tag data T and the actual data R (processed data) uploaded from the vehicle-mounted apparatus 100, in the communication unit 11. It collects via the and collects as collection data in collection data DB12b.

The analysis unit 13d performs analysis processing by processing the processed data based on the analysis instruction of the data user via the user terminal 200, and provides the analysis result to the data user.

In addition, when the in-vehicle device 100 notifies that the machining program of the in-vehicle device 100 does not correspond to the specified machining condition, the analysis unit 13d delivers the update program to the in-vehicle device 100.

Next, the vehicle-mounted device 100 will be described. The in-vehicle device 100 includes a communication unit 101, a storage unit 102, and a control unit 103. Further, as described above, the vehicle-mounted device 100 is connected to the various sensors 150 such as a camera, an acceleration sensor, and a GPS sensor.

Like the communication unit 11, the communication unit 101 is realized by, for example, a NIC or the like. The communication unit 101 is wirelessly connected to the network N and transmits/receives information to/from the data collection device 10 via the network N. The communication unit 101 also receives output data from the various sensors 150.

Like the storage unit 12, the storage unit 102 is realized by, for example, a semiconductor memory device such as a RAM or a flash memory, or a storage device such as a hard disk or an optical disk. In the example of FIG. 2, the collection condition information 102a and the vehicle are stored. The data information 102b is stored.

The collection condition information 102a is information including the collection conditions distributed from the data collection device 10. The vehicle data information 102b is information including vehicle data collected by the collecting unit 103c described later. The vehicle data includes the tag data T and the actual data R (processed data) described above.

The control unit 103 is a controller similar to the control unit 13, and is realized by executing various programs stored in a storage device inside the vehicle-mounted apparatus 100 by using a RAM as a work area by a CPU, an MPU, or the like. To be done. Further, the control unit 103 can be realized by, for example, an integrated circuit such as an ASIC or FPGA.

The control unit 103 includes an acquisition unit 103a, a detection unit 103b, a collection unit 103c, a generation unit 103d, and an upload unit 103e, and implements or executes the functions and actions of information processing described below.

The acquisition unit 103a acquires the collection condition distributed from the data collection device 10 and stores it in the collection condition information 102a. The detection unit 103b monitors the output data from the various sensors 150 and detects the occurrence of an event that triggers in the collection condition.

For example, the detection unit 103b causes the collection unit 103c to collect the vehicle data when detecting the occurrence of an event that triggers collection of the vehicle data under the collection condition. Further, for example, the detection unit 103b causes the upload unit 103e to upload the vehicle data when detecting the occurrence of an event that triggers uploading of the vehicle data to the data collection device 10 under the collection condition.

The collection unit 103c collects vehicle data based on the output data of the various sensors 150 when the detection unit 103b detects the occurrence of a trigger for collecting vehicle data. Further, the collection unit 103c stops collection of vehicle data when the detection unit 103b detects the occurrence of a trigger that stops collection of vehicle data.

The generation unit 103d performs predetermined processing on the video data collected by the collection unit 103c based on the processing condition designated by the data collection device 10 to generate processed data. Specifically, the generation unit 103d performs predetermined processing on the video data to generate processed data according to the processing condition of the collection condition stored in the collection condition information 102a, and stores the processed data in the vehicle data information 102b.

Further, the generation unit 103d generates tag data T in which the processed data is meta-informationized, and stores the tag data T in the vehicle data information 102b in association with the processed data. When generating the tag data T, the generation unit 103d includes the processing information regarding the processing content applied to the processing data in the tag data T.

The processing timing by the generation unit 103d may be arbitrary. For example, the generation unit 103d may generate the processed data immediately after the collection unit 103c collects the video data, and the processing unit 103c processes the video data at a specific timing after the video data is once stored in the vehicle data information 102b. You may go.

Note that the specific timing is, for example, the timing at which the data collection device 10 requests collection of the actual data R, that is, the timing of uploading to the data collection device 10. Alternatively, the specific timing may be a timing when the processing load of the in-vehicle apparatus 100 is relatively light.

Specifically, the generation unit 103d generates the processed data when the processing load of the in-vehicle apparatus 100 is less than the predetermined threshold value. As a result, the processing can be performed without pressing other processes of the vehicle-mounted device 100. The case where the processing load of the in-vehicle apparatus 100 is less than the predetermined threshold value is, for example, the case where the collection unit 103c is not collecting video data, the case where the vehicle V is stopped, or the like.

In addition, when the processing based on the processing condition in the collection condition cannot be performed, the generation unit 103d notifies the data collection device 10 of impossibility information indicating that the processing cannot be performed. As a result, the data collection device 10 can confirm in advance that the uploaded video data has not been processed. Therefore, by performing a process that the in-vehicle device 100 could not handle, the analysis process and the like can be performed smoothly. be able to.

Further, the generation unit 103d may acquire the update program regarding the processing from the data collection device 10 when the processing based on the processing condition in the collection condition cannot be performed. Thereby, even if the machining program of the in-vehicle apparatus 100 does not correspond to the predetermined machining content, the machining can be performed by acquiring the update program.

The upload unit 103e (an example of a transmission unit) uploads the vehicle data stored in the vehicle data information 102b to the data collection device 10 when the detection unit 103b detects the occurrence of a trigger for uploading vehicle data.

In addition, the upload unit 103e transmits the tag data T generated by the generation unit 103d, that is, the tag data T including the processing information regarding the processing content of the processing data. As a result, the data collection device 10 can confirm the processing content of the processing data in advance, so that the process of confirming the processing content in the analysis processing can be omitted, and as a result, the processing load can be reduced.

Next, a processing procedure of processing executed by the vehicle-mounted apparatus 100 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of processing executed by the in-vehicle apparatus 100 according to the embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 4, first, the acquisition unit 103a acquires the collection condition distributed from the data collection device 10 (step S101). Subsequently, the sampling unit 103c samples video data based on the collection conditions (step S102).

Subsequently, the generation unit 103d performs predetermined processing on the video data collected by the collection unit 103c based on the processing condition in the collection condition to generate processed data (step S103).

Subsequently, the detection unit 103b determines whether or not there is a collection request instruction from the data collection device 10 (step S104), and if there is no instruction (step S104: No), repeats step S104.

In addition, when there is an instruction (step S104: Yes), the upload unit 103e uploads the processed data to the data collection device 10 (step S105), and ends the process.

As described above, the in-vehicle device 100 according to the embodiment includes the collection unit 103c, the generation unit 103d, and the upload unit 103e (transmission unit). The collection unit 103c collects video data captured by the vehicle V. The generation unit 103d performs predetermined processing on the video data collected by the collection unit 103c based on the processing condition designated by the data collection device 10 to generate processed data. The upload unit 103e transmits the processed data generated by the generation unit 103d to the data collection device 10 (an external example). As a result, the processing load on the data collection device 10 can be reduced.

Further effects and modifications can be easily derived by those skilled in the art. Therefore, the broader aspects of the present invention are not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described above. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

1 data collection system 10 data collection device 11, 101 communication unit 12, 102 storage unit 13, 103 control unit 13a reception unit 13b distribution unit 13c collection unit 13d analysis unit 100 vehicle-mounted device 103a acquisition unit 103b detection unit 103c collection unit 103d generation unit 103e upload unit 200 user terminal

Claims (7)

A sampling unit that collects video data captured by the vehicle,
A generation unit that performs a predetermined process on the video data collected by the collection unit to generate the processed data based on the processing condition specified by the data collection device, and transmits the processed data generated by the generation unit to the outside. An in-vehicle device, comprising: The transmitter is
The in-vehicle device according to claim 1, wherein the processed data is metadata converted into meta information, and the metadata including the processing information regarding the processing content of the processed data is transmitted to the outside. The generator is
The in-vehicle device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the processed data is generated when a processing load of the in-vehicle device is less than a predetermined threshold value. The generator is
4. When the processing based on the processing condition designated by the data collection device cannot be performed, the data collection device is notified of the impossibility information indicating that the processing cannot be performed. In-vehicle device described in. The generator is
The in-vehicle device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein when the processing based on the processing condition designated by the data collection device cannot be performed, the update program regarding the processing is acquired from the data collection device. An in-vehicle device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A data collection device that collects data about the vehicle from the on-vehicle device,
And a terminal device for acquiring the data collected by the data collecting device. A sampling step of collecting video data captured by the vehicle,
A generation step of performing predetermined processing on the video data collected by the collection step to generate processed data based on the processing condition specified by the data collection device, and transmitting the processed data generated by the generation step to the outside. And a transmitting step for controlling the in-vehicle device.

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