JP2020123075A - Delivery system and delivery method - Google Patents

Abstract

To rapidly receive a camera image.SOLUTION: A delivery system includes a selection section and a reception section. The selection section selects candidate vehicles to be delivery candidates of a camera image captured in a vehicle based on a predetermined condition. The reception section starts communication connection with the candidate vehicles selected by the selection section, and then receives a camera image from a delivery vehicle determined as a delivery source among the candidate vehicles.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a distribution system and a distribution method.

Conventionally, for example, there is an on-vehicle system that delivers a camera image captured by an on-vehicle device such as a drive recorder mounted on a vehicle to another on-vehicle device. In such an in-vehicle system, a camera image at a position desired by a user can be confirmed in real time (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP, 2010-238209, A

However, in the related art, there is room for improvement in promptly delivering camera images. Specifically, in the related art, for example, based on a user operation, an in-vehicle device that is a transmission source of a camera image and an in-vehicle device on the receiving side are selected, and then communication connection between both in-vehicle devices is started. Therefore, it takes time until the vehicle-mounted device on the receiving side actually receives the camera image.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a distribution system and a distribution method that can quickly receive a camera image.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, the distribution system according to the present invention includes a selection unit and a reception unit. The selection unit selects a candidate vehicle that is a distribution candidate of a camera image captured by the vehicle based on a predetermined condition. The receiving unit starts communication connection with the candidate vehicle selected by the selecting unit, and receives the camera image from the delivery vehicle determined as the delivery source among the candidate vehicles.

According to the present invention, a camera image can be received quickly.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a distribution system. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the vehicle-mounted device. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific example of the transmission list information. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the processing content of the receiving unit. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a specific example of processing by the determination unit. FIG. 6A is a diagram (part 1) showing a specific example of the watermark image. FIG. 6B is a diagram (part 2) showing a specific example of the watermark image. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a specific example of the display hierarchy. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a camera image. FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the management server. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a specific example of the user information DB. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the detection condition DB. FIG. 12A is a diagram (part 1) illustrating a specific example of the processing performed by the selection unit. FIG. 12B is a diagram (part 2) illustrating a specific example of the processing performed by the selection unit. FIG. 12C is a diagram (part 3) illustrating a specific example of the processing performed by the selection unit. FIG. 13 is a flowchart (part 1) showing the processing procedure executed by the vehicle-mounted device. FIG. 14 is a flowchart (part 2) showing the processing procedure executed by the in-vehicle device. FIG. 15 is a flowchart (part 3) showing the processing procedure executed by the in-vehicle device. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure executed by the management server.

Hereinafter, embodiments of a distribution system and a distribution method 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 distribution system and the distribution method according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a distribution system.

As shown in FIG. 1, the distribution system S according to the embodiment includes an in-vehicle device 1 mounted on each vehicle and a management server 100. The vehicle-mounted device 1 is, for example, a drive recorder having a communication function. The in-vehicle device 1 transmits the captured camera image, the position information of the vehicle, the information regarding the traveling state, and the like to the management server 100 at a predetermined cycle.

The management server 100 is a server device that manages the information transmitted from each in-vehicle device 1 in a database, for example. Further, the in-vehicle device 1 can also receive a camera image captured by another in-vehicle device 1 in real time without going through the management server 100.

It should be noted that the real-time here means that the camera image transmitted between the delivery vehicle and the reception vehicle is the same as the time when the delivery vehicle acquires the camera image, or at least at a level where there is no reception delay. The state of sending and receiving is defined as real time.

By the way, in recent years, with the spread of networks, an in-vehicle system in which an in-vehicle device acquires a camera image captured by another in-vehicle device and displays it on a display in the vehicle is becoming widespread. However, in the related art, there is room for improvement in that each in-vehicle device quickly acquires a camera image.

Specifically, in the related art, the user operation on the vehicle-mounted device 1 of the vehicle that receives the camera image triggers the selection of the vehicle-mounted device 1 that delivers the camera image and the communication connection between the vehicle-mounted devices 1. Therefore, time loss occurs until the user confirms the delivered camera image.

Therefore, in the delivery system S according to the embodiment, a candidate vehicle that is a delivery candidate of the camera image is selected, and communication connection between the receiving vehicle that receives the camera image and the candidate vehicle is started in advance. ..

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, it is assumed that when the vehicle C2 encounters a traffic jam, the occupant of the vehicle C3 thinks "what is the cause of the traffic jam?". In this case, for example, the management server 100 can predict in advance that the vehicle C3 will encounter a traffic jam based on the position information of the vehicle C3, the traveling route, and the traffic jam information of each road.

Although the above is an example of the traffic jam, it is assumed that the user wants the information such as traffic jam around the environment (the management server 100 holds the assumed information), the information from the camera and various sensors, the Internet, etc. When the occurrence of a situation assumed from the vehicle surroundings such as the information acquired from the external network is detected/predicted, the information expected from the user is estimated (the management server 100 responds to each assumed information. It is possible to predict the information (thinking) desired by the user corresponding to various events by the processing such as holding the estimated request information and information about conditions for obtaining the information).

When the management server 100 estimates that the vehicle C3 encounters a traffic jam, for example, the vehicle C1 or the vehicle C2 near the beginning of the traffic jam is selected as a candidate vehicle (step S1). The candidate vehicles do not have to be plural, and one vehicle can be selected as the candidate vehicle. A specific example of selection conditions for selecting a candidate vehicle will be described later with reference to FIG.

Then, the management server 100 notifies the vehicle-mounted device 1 mounted on the vehicle C3, which is a receiving vehicle that receives the camera image, of the network address of the vehicle-mounted device 1 of the vehicle C1 or the vehicle C2. As a result, the vehicle-mounted device 1 of the receiving vehicle and the vehicle-mounted devices 1 of the vehicle C1 and the vehicle C2 of the candidate vehicle start communication connection (step S2).

After that, in the distribution system S according to the embodiment, for example, the receiving vehicle determines the vehicle C1 located at the beginning of the traffic jam, that is, the vehicle capable of capturing the factor of the traffic jam as the distribution vehicle as the distribution source, and The camera image is received (step S3). Thereby, the provision of the camera image can be started at the timing when the passenger of the vehicle C3 wants to know the cause of the traffic jam.

As described above, in the distribution system S according to the embodiment, the communication connection between the candidate vehicle that is a candidate for the distribution source and the receiving vehicle is started in advance, so that the occupant of the receiving vehicle can quickly perform the communication. It is possible to receive a camera image.

In addition, in the distribution system S according to the embodiment, by performing real-time distribution of the camera image from the distribution vehicle to the reception vehicle, it becomes possible to easily grasp the current state of the point where the occupant of the reception vehicle is concerned. ..

Next, a configuration example of the vehicle-mounted device 1 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the vehicle-mounted device 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle-mounted device 1 according to the embodiment is connected to a camera 31, a vehicle-mounted sensor 32, a GPS (Global Positioning System) device 33, a navigation device 34, and a terminal device 35.

The camera 31 is a camera that captures an image around the vehicle C and generates a camera image at a predetermined frame rate. The vehicle-mounted sensor 32 is various sensors that detect the traveling state of the vehicle C, the state of various vehicle-mounted devices such as an engine, and the like.

Specifically, it includes, for example, vehicle speed, brakes, steering angle, yaw rate, etc. flowing on CAN-BUS (in-vehicle LAN), and includes not only information on the running state of the vehicle but also information for identifying the vehicle. Be done.

The GPS device 33 is a device that measures the current position of the vehicle. The navigation device 34 is a device that sets a travel route to a destination of the vehicle C set by an occupant. The terminal device 35 is, for example, a communication module having a communication function for transmitting and receiving information between the vehicle-mounted device 1 and the management server 100 via a mobile communication network in order to realize a so-called telematics service. For the sake of convenience, the vehicle-mounted device 1 is shown as a separate body, but it may be included in the vehicle-mounted device 1. Also, a portable communication device such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal owned by an occupant of the vehicle C may be used. Further, the terminal device 35 and the GPS device 33 may be integrated.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle-mounted device 1 is connected to a display device 50 that displays a video or an image such as a camera image output by the vehicle-mounted device 1. The display device 50 includes a display unit 51 and an operation unit 52.

The display unit 51 is, for example, an organic EL or a touch panel display including a liquid crystal display, and displays a video signal output from the vehicle-mounted apparatus 1. The operation unit 52 receives a predetermined operation from an occupant based on the video or image displayed on the display unit 51.

For example, the operation unit 52 can accept a delivery vehicle selection operation and the like. The operation unit 52 can also receive various operations such as reproduction, stop, and rewind of camera images. In addition, the user can also request distribution of camera images captured in the past via the operation unit 52.

That is, in the delivery system S according to the embodiment, in addition to real-time delivery of camera images, it is possible to deliver camera images captured in the past later. The operation unit 52 may be provided separately from the display device 50, for example.

As shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle-mounted device 1 includes a control unit 10 and a storage unit 20. The control unit 10 includes a transmission unit 11, a reception unit 12, a determination unit 13, a generation unit 14, and a reproduction unit 15.

The control unit 10 includes, for example, a computer having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), an input/output port, and various circuits.

The CPU of the computer functions as the transmission unit 11, the reception unit 12, the determination unit 13, the generation unit 14, and the reproduction unit 15 of the control unit 10 by reading and executing the program stored in the ROM, for example.

Further, at least a part or all of the transmission unit 11, the reception unit 12, the determination unit 13, the generation unit 14, and the reproduction unit 15 of the control unit 10 are ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or the like. It can also be configured with hardware.

The storage unit 20 corresponds to, for example, a RAM or an HDD. The RAM and the HDD store the transmission list information 21, the captured image information 22, the received image information 23, and the map information 24. The in-vehicle device 1 may acquire the above-mentioned program and various kinds of information via another computer or a portable recording medium connected by a wired or wireless network.

The transmission list information 21 is information regarding a list of data transmitted by each in-vehicle device 1 to the management server 100. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific example of the transmission list information 21. As shown in FIG. 3, the transmission list information 21 includes position information, vehicle information, video information, area information, route information, search history information, and the like.

The position information is information about the current location of the vehicle, and is information that the vehicle-mounted device 1 notifies from the GPS device 33. The sensor information is information regarding the values of various vehicle information detected by the vehicle-mounted sensor 32.

The image information is information about the camera image captured by the camera 31. The area information is information about the area displayed in the navigation image of the navigation device 34. For example, the area information is notified to the management server 100 every time the navigation image is updated.

The route information is information about a destination set in the navigation device 34 and a planned travel route to the destination. The search history information is, for example, information on the Web search history searched by the terminal device 35. For example, the vehicle-mounted device 1 can acquire the search history information from the terminal device 35. Note that the transmission list information 21 shown in FIG. 3 is an example, and may be arbitrarily changed.

Returning to the description of FIG. 2, the captured image information 22 will be described. The captured image information 22 is information about the camera image captured by the camera 31, and is called so-called EXIF (Exchangeable image file format), which is image capturing date/time information and image capturing position information (longitude/latitude) associated with the camera image. ), and shooting mode (ISO sensitivity, resolution, etc.) are associated with each other.

The map information 24 is, for example, information about a map image used by the navigation device 34 for route guidance.

The control unit 10 transmits and receives a camera image based on a predetermined condition, processes the received camera image, and outputs the processed camera image to the display device 50.

The transmission unit 11 transmits the captured camera image, the position information of the vehicle C, the information regarding the traveling state, and the like to the management server 100 in a predetermined cycle. Specifically, the transmission unit 11 generates transmission data based on the transmission list information 21 stored in the storage unit 20 and transmits it to the management server 100.

At this time, the transmission unit 11 does not need to generate the transmission data including the information described in the transmission list information 21, but may select the data and generate the transmission data. Specifically, for example, the transmission unit 11 may include, in the vehicle information, brake information detected, for example, when a sudden brake is stepped on, information on steering steering detected during a steered angle operation, and video information. You may decide to transmit.

Further, here, for convenience, it is described that each scene such as when a sudden brake is depressed or when a sudden steering operation is performed, and information and image information in which single vehicle information for each scene is combined are transmitted. In order to determine each scene finely, at least two or more pieces of vehicle information associated with each scene may be used for determination, or at least two or more change rates may be used as a determination criterion.

The receiving unit 12 starts communication connection with a candidate vehicle selected by the management server 100, and acquires a camera image from among the candidate vehicles, which are determined as the source of the camera image distribution.

Specifically, the receiver 12 receives the IP address of the vehicle-mounted device 1 mounted on the candidate vehicle from the management server 100, as described later. Then, the reception unit 12 instructs the transmission unit 11 to make a communication connection request to the vehicle-mounted device 1 of the candidate vehicle to which the IP address is assigned.

In addition, although detailed description is omitted, in distributing information related to an individual, that is, a camera image, unique ID information (for example, VinNo of the vehicle that identifies a vehicle or an individual associated with the camera image from the viewpoint of confidentiality of personal information). Etc.) is managed by the management server 100, authentication is performed to prove that the sender or receiver is not malicious, and a communication connection request is issued to the transmitter 11. It may be configured.

As a result, communication connection between the vehicle-mounted device 1 of the receiving vehicle and the vehicle-mounted device 1 of the candidate vehicle is started. After that, the receiving unit 12 receives the camera image from the delivery vehicle determined as the delivery source.

By the way, when the viewer application (corresponding to the reproducing unit 15 described later) that reproduces the camera image is started after the camera image is received from the delivery vehicle, the camera image is displayed depending on the time taken to start the viewer application. Delay occurs and the real-time property is impaired.

The cause of the delay is communication establishment processing, large data transmission capacity, viewer application startup/setting (analysis of image data format and viewer operation setting according to analysis result), each of which is "pre-completion and maintenance of communication establishment". Measures such as "Processing to the required capacity and transmitting (high capacity for detailed confirmation of low capacity video for image selection)" and "Pre-start of viewer and pre-analysis of playback image format" are possible. ..

Therefore, when starting communication connection with the candidate vehicle, the receiving unit 12 receives a low-capacity image in which the data capacity of the camera image is reduced from the candidate vehicle, and activates the reproducing unit 15 to display the low-capacity image. Start playback.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the processing content of the receiving unit 12. Note that FIG. 4 illustrates a case where the reception unit 12 starts communication connection with the vehicles A to C that are candidate vehicles at time t1, and the delivery vehicle is determined as the vehicle C at time t2.

As shown in FIG. 4, the receiving unit 12 receives the low-capacity video from each candidate vehicle during the period from time t1 to t2. Here, the low-capacity video is a camera video having a smaller data capacity than the high-capacity video received after time t2. Note that, here, for comparison with the low-capacity video, the camera image received after time t2 is the high-capacity video, but the high-capacity video is a concept indicating a camera video having a larger data capacity than the low-capacity video. is there.

In the present embodiment, a low-capacity video is generated by adjusting the frame rate, resolution, and video bit rate for the high-capacity video. That is, the low-capacity video is a camera image including one of a camera image having a lower frame rate, a camera image having a lower resolution, and a camera image having a lower bit rate than the high-capacity video.

Then, the reception unit 12 receives the high-capacity video from the vehicle C that is the distribution vehicle after the time t2. As described above, the low-capacity video is received from the candidate vehicle, and the high-capacity video is received from the delivery vehicle selected by the operation unit 52 of the display device 50 of the vehicle.

This makes it possible to receive the camera image while suppressing the communication load. It should be noted that the receiving unit 12 does not necessarily have to receive the low-capacity video from the candidate vehicle before the time t2, and remains in a state in which the video is not displayed on the display unit of the display device 50 with the communication connection established. You may decide to wait.

Further, as shown in the figure, for example, the receiving unit 12 stops reception from other candidate vehicles (vehicle A, vehicle B) other than the delivery vehicle. Note that the receiving unit 12 may continue to receive the low-capacity video from vehicles other than the delivery vehicle (vehicle A and vehicle B) after time t2. Further, the receiving unit 12 may receive high-capacity video from a plurality of distribution vehicles.

Returning to the description of FIG. 2, the determination unit 13 will be described. The determination unit 13 determines a delivery vehicle among the candidate vehicles. Specifically, for example, the determination unit 13 can determine the delivery vehicle based on the user operation on the map image displayed on the display device 50.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a specific example of the processing by the determination unit 13. In addition, in FIG. 5, a case where the delivery vehicle is determined from the candidate vehicles Cv1 to Cv3 displayed in the navigation image Ni will be described.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the distribution system S according to the embodiment, a vehicle located within the display area displayed in the navigation image Ni can be selected as a candidate vehicle. The navigation image Ni is an example of a map image.

That is, an image displaying a map/candidate vehicle according to the occurrence event, for example, in the case of traffic jam, the traffic jam section + the map before and after the traffic jam, the head of the traffic jam, slightly ahead of the head (state immediately after the traffic jam is cleared), the middle traffic jam The situation of (predetermined intervals, singular points such as curves, bridges, tunnels, etc.) and candidate vehicles around them can be visually confirmed, so that you can select the delivery candidate vehicle for detailed information collection while checking the outline of the event occurrence situation. Images are displayed.

For example, in the navigation image Ni, the current positions of the candidate vehicles Cv1 to Cv3 and the orientation of the camera (the traveling direction of the candidate vehicle) are displayed. Then, the occupant can select a delivery vehicle desired to deliver the camera image from the candidate vehicles Cv1 to Cv3 displayed in the navigation image Ni by a predetermined operation (touch panel operation).

The determination unit 13 determines the delivery vehicle based on a predetermined operation of selecting the delivery vehicle. When determining the delivery vehicle, the determining unit 13 releases the communication connection with the candidate vehicles other than the delivery vehicle and requests the vehicle-mounted device 1 of the delivery vehicle to deliver the high-capacity video. In addition, although the case where the determination unit 13 determines the candidate vehicle has been described here, it is also possible to determine the candidate vehicle on the management server 100 side, which will be described later.

Returning to the description of FIG. 2, the generation unit 14 will be described. When the receiving unit 12 acquires a camera image from a front vehicle located in front of the host vehicle, the generating unit 14 generates a watermark image of the target object captured in the angle of view of the camera image viewed from the host vehicle.

6A and 6B are diagrams showing specific examples of watermark images. Note that, in FIG. 6, A illustrates a case where the vehicle C1 receives a camera image from the vehicle C2 located in front of the vehicle C1.

As shown in FIG. 6A, when the camera image L2 captured by the vehicle C2 is displayed on the vehicle C1, the vehicle image C2 does not show the vehicle C2. Therefore, for example, when the driver of the vehicle C1 visually recognizes the camera image L2 displayed on the vehicle C1, the driver may not notice the presence of the vehicle C2.

On the other hand, in the captured image L1 captured by the vehicle C1, the vehicle C2 exists. Therefore, the generation unit 14 performs predetermined image processing on the vehicle C2 from the captured image L1 (for example, image edge processing, detected edge filtering processing/coupling processing, and image recognition processing using a vehicle model). A watermark image LW of C2 is generated.

Here, the watermark image LW includes a frame image showing the skeleton of the vehicle C2, a semi-transparent image (for example, a polygon image) in which the vehicle C2 is transparent, and the like.

Then, in the distribution system S according to the embodiment, by displaying the watermark image LW by superimposing it on the camera image L2, the occupant of the vehicle C1 is notified of the presence of the vehicle C2 and the state in front of the vehicle C2. Can be notified.

In addition, when a plurality of vehicles are connected in front, the watermark image of the immediately preceding vehicle is displayed on the camera image of the leading vehicle. That is, as shown in FIG. 6B, when there is a vehicle C3 in front of the vehicle C2 in a jammed state (in FIG. 6B, there are two vehicles in front of the vehicle C1. Shows the watermark image LW generated based on the captured image L1 of the camera 31 of the vehicle C1 on the captured image L3 of the camera 31 of the vehicle C3 (displayed on the display device of the vehicle C1).

As a result, the driver of the vehicle C1 can accurately grasp the road condition in front (the image captured by the camera 31 of the vehicle C2 makes it difficult to visually recognize the road condition in front of the vehicle C3), and at the same time, the condition of the immediately preceding vehicle It becomes possible to grasp easily.

It is preferable to register a scene that needs this display, such as when the vehicle stops before an intersection, and to display this scene when the scene occurs. Further, the situation of the connected vehicles can be grasped from the surrounding vehicle information from the management server 100, the own vehicle surroundings information from the surrounding vehicles, and the like.

Returning to the description of FIG. 2, the reproducing unit 15 will be described. The reproducing unit 15 reproduces the camera image received by the receiving unit 12. As described above, the receiving unit 12 receives the low-capacity video from the candidate vehicle and then receives the high-capacity video from the delivery vehicle.

The display image Ld is a normal image (for example, a navigation map image), which is normally displayed. The low-capacity image Ll is a preparation for information display in the case where a user's information request is expected to occur, and the traffic jam summary information (image for image selection) is prepared before the traffic jam and the traffic jam is involved. It is an operation of preparing so that the user can immediately provide the congestion summary information when a request for detailed information is generated.

Since it takes time to establish communication and data communication when collecting necessary information, establish communication in advance here and maintain a state where information can be collected immediately when there is a request for detailed information. There is. Although it takes time to establish communication and data communication for the high-capacity video Lh, the video information to be displayed next is obtained from only one place. Communication is established with the image capturing device (communication device), and data is immediately collected to prepare for displaying a detailed image. By such an operation, it becomes possible to display the video requested to be displayed at high speed.

Thereby, the reproduction unit 15 can start the reproduction of the low-capacity video before the reception of the high-capacity video. Then, the reproducing unit 15 reproduces the low-capacity image on the back side of the display image being displayed on the display device 50, and when the reproduction of the high-capacity image is started, reproduces the high-capacity image as the display image.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a specific example of the display hierarchy. As shown in FIG. 7, before the delivery vehicle is determined, the display image Ld becomes the highest display layer and is displayed on the display device 50. At this time, the low-capacity image Ll becomes a lower display layer than the display image Ld and is not displayed on the display device 50. In this example, the display device 50 is composed of a meter panel display provided on the meter panel of the vehicle (which displays speed and the like).

On the other hand, after the delivery vehicle is determined, the reproducing unit 15 replaces the above display layers and sets the high-capacity video Lh as the highest display layer. As a result, the high-capacity image Lh is displayed on the display device 50 in preference to the display image Ld.

As described above, the reproducing unit 15 reproduces the low-capacity image Ll on the back side of the display image Ld, and when the high-capacity image Lh is reproduced, the display layers are switched to provide the high-capacity image Lh quickly. can do.

In reproducing the high-capacity image Lh, the reproducing unit 15 also outputs the imaging position of the high-capacity image Lh and causes the display device 50 to display it. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a camera image.

First, the overall image of this display operation will be described by taking the case of FIG. 8 as an example. Each vehicle uses the abnormal operation/operation of the vehicle (sudden braking/sudden steering, abnormal vibration, etc.) as a trigger to transmit position data/occurrence date/time data of the specific point to the management server 100. The management server 100 transmits an image capturing command of the peculiar point to the vehicles A1, A2, A3 located at the peculiar point or approaching from the peculiar point information, the traveling direction data, and the like of the vehicles that are collected and grasped in advance. , Also collect video shooting data.

Then, the collected image capturing data of the peculiar point is appropriately used as a vehicle for which an image is requested or a vehicle having a predetermined condition (vehicles A1 and A3 approaching the peculiar point from now on: each vehicle that the management server 100 has collected and grasped in advance. Judgment based on the position, traveling direction data, etc.).

In this example, the latest singular point image (a video image of a vehicle in a state where it is possible to take the image closest to the singular point) is usually targeted to a vehicle that is about to pass the singular point (a predetermined distance before). Although it will be delivered to the vehicles, the images of the conditions requested by each vehicle, for example, the images called singular point images before and after the time when the abnormal operation/motion (such as sudden braking/steering, abnormal vibration) is first performed Distributing is also a useful method.

As shown in FIG. 8, on the display screen of the camera image, the high-capacity image Lh and the map image Lm indicating the imaging position of the high-capacity image Lh are displayed. In the map image Lm, a vehicle icon A1 indicating the position of the host vehicle and a vehicle icon A2 indicating the imaging position of the camera image of the delivery vehicle are superimposed. Further, a vehicle icon A3 indicating another peripheral vehicle is also displayed at the corresponding position.

In addition, the vehicle icon A2 displays a balloon of "Live" indicating that the delivery is in real time. Further, when the vehicle A3 becomes a delivery vehicle (becomes the closest vehicle to the peculiar point) next time, a balloon of "Live" is displayed on the vehicle icon A3. In this way, by displaying the vehicle icon A2 together with the map image Lm, the occupant can easily recognize the imaging position of the high-capacity image Lh (camera image).

Note that the own vehicle may not be displayed on the map image Lm depending on the scale of the map image Lm. In addition, the display size of the balloon of “Live” indicating that the delivery is in real time may be resized and displayed according to the scale of the map image Lm. In the present embodiment, an example in which the map image Lm is displayed as a bird's-eye view image of the map is described. However, the map image Lm is a simple image diagram such that a bird's-eye view image, a satellite image, and a positional relationship can be roughly grasped. Good.

Next, a configuration example of the management server 100 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the management server 100. As shown in FIG. 9, the management server 100 is connected to a traffic information server 201, a weather information server 202, and an SNS (Social Networking Service) server 203. The traffic information server 201, the weather information server 202, and the SNS server 203 are examples of external devices.

The traffic information server 201 is a server that manages information about traffic jams, information about traffic regulations, information about traffic accidents, and the like. The weather information server 202 is a server that manages information about weather, and notifies the management server 100 of information about guerrilla heavy rainfall. The SNS server 203 is a server that manages SNS.

The management server 100 is a server device that manages information about the current location of each in-vehicle device 1, camera images captured by each in-vehicle device 1, and the like. As shown in FIG. 9, the management server 100 includes a control unit 110 and a storage unit 120.

The control unit 110 includes an acquisition unit 111, a detection unit 112, and a selection unit 113. The control unit 110 includes, for example, a computer having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), an input/output port, and various circuits.

The CPU of the computer functions as the acquisition unit 111, the detection unit 112, and the selection unit 113 of the control unit 110 by reading and executing the program stored in the ROM, for example.

In addition, at least some or all of the acquisition unit 111, the detection unit 112, and the selection unit 113 of the control unit 110 may be configured by hardware such as ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) and FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). it can.

The storage unit 120 corresponds to, for example, a RAM or HDD. The RAM and the HDD store a user information DB 121, a position information DB 122, a vehicle information DB 123, an image information DB 124, and a detection condition DB 125. It should be noted that the management server 100 may acquire the above-mentioned program and various types of information via another computer or a portable recording medium connected by a wired or wireless network.

The user information DB 121 is, for example, a database regarding an occupant (for example, an owner) of a vehicle in which each in-vehicle device 1 is mounted. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a specific example of the user information DB 121.

As shown in FIG. 10, the user information DB 121 includes a table in which an on-vehicle device ID, an IP address, a current location, a destination, a travel route, a favorite point, a belonging group, a demographic attribute, a psychographic attribute, and the like are associated with each other. Remember.

The vehicle-mounted device ID is an identifier that identifies each vehicle-mounted device 1. The IP address is the network address of each vehicle-mounted device 1. The current location indicates the current location of each vehicle-mounted device 1 (vehicle). The destination indicates the current destination of each vehicle, and the travel route indicates the travel route scheduled to travel from the current location to the destination.

The favorite point indicates the favorite point registered in the navigation device 34 of each vehicle C. The belonging group indicates a group to which each occupant belongs in the distribution system S.

The affiliation group may be, for example, a group unit such as a company to which the occupants belong, or a group including friends of the occupants. Further, the belonging group may be determined on the distribution system S side according to the user attribute of each occupant.

Demographic attributes are demographic information about an occupant. The demographic attribute includes information such as "sex" and "age", for example. The psychographic attribute is information on the psychological attribute of the occupant, and is, for example, information about the occupant's sense of values, lifestyle, personality, taste, and the like.

In the present embodiment, the psychographic attribute of each occupant can be determined based on the history of the destination of each vehicle-mounted device 1 and the posting history of the occupant notified from the SNS server 203.

The management server 100 can determine the above-mentioned psychographic attribute from the purpose of use of the destination estimated from the destination based on the history of the destination. Further, the management server 100 determines the psychographic attribute of each occupant based on the hash tag included in the posting history of the occupant on the SNS or the result of the hash tag analysis. The demographic attribute and the psychographic attribute are examples of user attributes.

Returning to the description of FIG. 9, the position information DB 122 will be described. The position information DB 122 is a database that manages the position information of each vehicle C. For example, the position information DB 122 stores the history of the position information of each vehicle C for each in-vehicle device 1.

The vehicle information DB 123 is a database that manages vehicle status information such as sensor values detected by the in-vehicle sensor 32 of each vehicle C transmitted from each in-vehicle device 1. For example, the vehicle information DB 123 stores time-series sensor values for each in-vehicle device 1.

The image information DB 124 is a database that manages camera images transmitted from each vehicle-mounted device 1. For example, in the image information DB 124, information regarding the vehicle-mounted device ID, the image capturing time, and the image capturing position is stored in association with the camera image.

The detection condition DB 125 is a database that manages information regarding connection start conditions for starting communication connection between a candidate vehicle and a receiving vehicle. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the detection condition DB 125.

As shown in FIG. 11, in the detection condition DB 125, for example, a condition ID, a situation, a candidate vehicle, a receiving vehicle, advance notice, etc. are stored in association with each other. The condition ID is an identifier that identifies each connection start condition.

The situation indicates a situation that satisfies the connection start condition. Further, the candidate vehicle indicates the selection condition of the candidate vehicle according to the situation, and the reception vehicle indicates the selection condition of the reception vehicle according to the situation. In addition, the prior notification indicates whether or not the event of the situation is notified to the receiving vehicle prior to the delivery of the camera image.

In the condition ID “0001”, the situation is sudden braking, the candidate vehicle is a passing vehicle, and the receiving vehicle is a following vehicle. In this case, a passing vehicle that passes through the sudden braking point and can image the sudden braking point is selected as a candidate vehicle.

As a result, a camera image that captures the cause of sudden braking (for example, a falling object or an accident) can be notified to the following vehicle that passes through the sudden braking point.

Also, in condition ID "0001", there is prior notice, and for example, a message such as "a sudden braking of a vehicle ahead has been detected. Be careful of sudden stops" is notified to the receiving vehicle, The passenger is notified via the vehicle-mounted device 1. The advance notice may be given by voice or may be displayed as an image.

Further, in the condition ID “0002”, the situation is guerrilla heavy rain, the candidate vehicle is the vehicle C located in the heavy rain zone, and the receiving vehicle is the passing vehicle scheduled to pass the heavy rain point.

In this case, a camera image of the guerrilla heavy rain from the candidate vehicle is delivered to the receiving vehicle. That is, in this case, the receiving vehicle can confirm the actual state of the guerrilla heavy rain in advance, so that it is possible to take an advance action such as changing the schedule.

Further, in the condition ID “0002”, there is prior notice, and for example, a message such as “A heavy rain has occurred in the planned travel route” is notified to the receiving vehicle.

Further, in the condition ID “0003”, the situation is that congestion has occurred, the candidate vehicle is a passing vehicle that passes through the congestion point, and the receiving vehicle is a scheduled passage vehicle. For example, the occurrence of traffic congestion may be acquired from the traffic information server 201, or the traffic congestion may be estimated in advance based on event information or tourist spot information.

Specifically, the management server 100 obtains traffic jam information that is currently occurring from the traffic information server 201, events such as concerts, the size of tourist attractions, event holding/end, opening/closing time of facilities, etc./current The occurrence of traffic congestion can be predicted from the estimated number of visitors based on (passing vehicle) time and the like.

Further, in the condition ID “0004”, it is a topic area, the candidate vehicle is an area vehicle located in the topic area, and the receiving vehicle is a suburban vehicle traveling in the suburbs of the area vehicle. For example, in the distribution system S, the topic area can be estimated based on the hash tag of the SNS.

In addition, by setting the receiving vehicle to be a vehicle in the suburbs under the condition ID “0004”, it becomes possible for an occupant to easily stop by in the topic area. The receiving vehicle may be limited to the occupant's vehicle C estimated to be interested in the topic area.

In the condition ID “0005”, the situation is that the front vehicle is scheduled to stop, and the candidate vehicle is the stopped vehicle that is stopped. Further, in this case, the receiving vehicle is a vehicle following the stopped vehicle. In this case, the following vehicle can receive the camera image captured by the stopped stopped vehicle. A specific example of the condition ID “0005” will be described later with reference to FIG. 12B.

Returning to the description of FIG. 9, the control unit 110 will be described. Control unit 110 selects a candidate vehicle and a receiving vehicle based on the above-mentioned connection start condition.

The acquisition unit 111 acquires various kinds of information transmitted from each in-vehicle device 1 in a predetermined cycle. Specifically, the acquisition unit 111 acquires the position information from each vehicle-mounted device 1 and stores it in the position information DB 122.

Further, the acquisition unit 111 acquires vehicle information such as a sensor value of an in-vehicle sensor from each in-vehicle device 1 and stores it in the vehicle information DB 123. The acquisition unit 111 also acquires a camera image from each vehicle-mounted apparatus 1 and stores it in the image information DB 124.

In addition, the acquisition unit 111 acquires external information from external devices such as the traffic information server 201, the weather information server 202, and the SNS server 203, and notifies the detection unit 112 of the external information.

The detection unit 112 detects the above situation stored in the detection condition DB 125. As shown in the condition ID “0001” in FIG. 11, the detection unit 112 detects the sudden braking as the situation based on the sensor information stored in the vehicle information DB 123.

Note that the detection unit 112 may detect the situation with the condition ID “0001”, for example, when sudden braking is detected from a plurality of vehicles in the same section (approximately the same point). In other words, if a sudden braking (within a predetermined period of time or more than a predetermined frequency of occurrence) occurs, that is, if a plurality of unique events occur, a noise-like event such as when an event happens to be meaningless It is also possible to prevent useless information distribution due to occurrence.

Further, the detection unit 112 may detect the situation of the condition ID “0001” when the following vehicle detects the avoidance driving to avoid the sudden braking point after the sudden braking of the preceding vehicle. In other words, by imposing a plurality of conditions, it is possible to more strictly determine the implementation and content of information distribution.

Further, here, for convenience, it is described that each scene such as when a sudden brake is depressed or when a sudden steering operation is performed, and information and image information in which single vehicle information for each scene is combined are transmitted. In order to determine each scene finely, at least two or more pieces of vehicle information associated with each scene may be used for determination, or at least two or more change rates may be used as a determination criterion.

In addition, the detecting unit 112, as shown in condition IDs “0002” to “0004” in FIG. 11, based on information notified from external devices such as the traffic information server 201, the weather information server 202, and the SNS server 203, the situation. Can also be detected.

When the detection unit 112 detects the above situation, the detection unit 112 notifies the selection unit 113 of the condition ID of the detected situation.

The selection unit 113 selects a candidate vehicle as a distribution candidate of the camera image captured by the vehicle C based on a predetermined condition. Specifically, the selection unit 113 can also select a candidate vehicle according to the situation detected by the detection unit 112 or select a reception vehicle depending on the situation.

12A to 12C are diagrams showing specific examples of the processing by the selection unit 113. In FIG. 12A, the processing of the selection unit 113 for the condition IDs “0001” and “0003” in FIG. 11 will be described. 12A and 12C, the case where the receiving vehicle is vehicle C1 will be described.

The destination point Pt shown in FIG. 12A is, for example, a sudden braking point or a point at which the occupant of the vehicle C1 desires to capture a camera image, such as the beginning of a traffic jam. For example, the selection unit 113 can set the destination point Pt based on the traveling status of each vehicle, traffic jam information, and the like.

Based on the position information of each vehicle C, the selection unit 113 selects a vehicle that is traveling at a position closer to the destination point Pt than the vehicle C1, that is, a vehicle in front of the vehicle C1, as a candidate vehicle. Then, the selection unit 113 transmits the IP address of each candidate vehicle to the receiving vehicle, so that the communication connection between the receiving vehicle and the candidate vehicle is started.

In addition, although detailed description is omitted, in distributing information related to an individual, that is, a camera image, unique ID information (for example, VinNo of the vehicle that identifies a vehicle or an individual associated with the camera image from the viewpoint of confidentiality of personal information). Etc.) is managed by the management server 100, authentication is performed to prove that the sender or receiver is not malicious, and a communication connection request is issued to the transmitter 11. It may be configured.

That is, the selection unit 113 selects a passing vehicle that will pass through the destination point Pt as a candidate vehicle, thereby establishing a communication connection between the receiving vehicle and the candidate vehicle before each candidate vehicle passes the destination point Pt. It is possible to start. Alternatively, when the management server 100 is used, the communication connection between the management server 100 and the candidate vehicle can be started. Note that the selection unit 113 is not limited to the vehicle ahead of the vehicle C1 and can also select an oncoming vehicle of the vehicle C1 as a candidate vehicle.

In this case, the distribution system S can sequentially determine the distribution vehicles based on the position information of each candidate vehicle during the period in which each candidate vehicle can image the destination point Pt. In this case, the delivery vehicle may be determined on the management server 100 side based on the current position of each candidate vehicle, or the location information of the destination point Pt is notified to each candidate vehicle. However, it may be performed by the in-vehicle device 1 of each candidate vehicle.

Next, with reference to FIG. 12B, the processing of the selection unit 113 for the condition ID “0005” in FIG. 11 will be described. In the example shown in FIG. 12B, there is a forward vehicle and a “pause” sign M in the traveling direction of the vehicle C1.

Further, here, a case will be described in which a camera image obtained by capturing an image of the front of the front vehicle (for example, the appearance of an intersection), which is a blind spot in the front vehicle, is delivered from the front vehicle to the vehicle C1.

In this case, the detection unit 112 can predict in advance that the vehicle C1 and the vehicle in front of the vehicle C1 will stop at the position of the sign M based on the traveling position and traveling direction of each vehicle. Then, the selection unit 113 selects the vehicle C1 as the receiving vehicle and the vehicle in front of the vehicle C1 as the candidate vehicle.

This allows the camera image to be immediately delivered from the front vehicle to the vehicle C1 when the front vehicle stops. In particular, when the front vehicle is a large vehicle such as a bus or a truck, many blind spots occur in the vehicle C1 due to the front vehicle. Therefore, the condition ID “0005” is particularly effective when the preceding vehicle is a large vehicle.

It should be noted that whether or not the preceding vehicle is a large vehicle can be determined, for example, by storing vehicle type information of each vehicle in the storage unit and based on the vehicle type information.

Further, in the vehicle-mounted device 1 of the vehicle C1, as shown in FIG. 6, a watermark image is generated for the received camera image, and the watermark image is displayed by being superimposed on the received camera image.

Note that, here, the case where the selection unit 113 selects the receiving vehicle and the candidate vehicle based on the sign M has been described, but in addition to the sign M, the receiving vehicle and the candidate vehicle are selected based on the position information of the intersection. You may decide.

This is because there is a high possibility that the preceding vehicle will stop at the intersection. In this case, the selection unit 113 selects the front vehicle as a candidate vehicle when it can predict that the front vehicle will enter the intersection. Then, when the preceding vehicle actually stops, the receiving vehicle receives the camera image from the stopped vehicle, and when the preceding vehicle does not stop, the communication connection may be released.

The selecting unit 113 can also select the front vehicle as a candidate vehicle when a predetermined condition is satisfied, regardless of whether or not the front vehicle is stopped. Specifically, it is assumed that the vehicle C1 intends to overtake a vehicle ahead, for example. In this case, for example, the selection unit 113 can estimate that the vehicle C1 intends to overtake, based on the relative speed between the vehicle C1 and the preceding vehicle, the inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle C1 and the preceding vehicle, and the like. ..

The sign M and the intersection are examples of road information. The road information is stored in advance in the storage unit 120 of the management server 100, and the selection unit 113 can read it from the storage unit 120 to make the above determination.

Further, in the present embodiment, the selection unit 113 can also select a candidate vehicle based on the map image displayed on the display device 50 of each vehicle. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 12C, the selection unit 113 acquires information regarding the display range of the navigation image Ni from each vehicle-mounted device 1 and selects a vehicle located within the acquired display range as a candidate vehicle.

Specifically, the selection unit 113 acquires the coordinate information of the four corners (x1 to x4) of each display range as information about the display range, and identifies the display range displayed in the navigation image Ni. Then, the selection unit 113 refers to the current position of each vehicle in the user information DB 121 and selects a vehicle located within the display range as a candidate vehicle.

The information regarding the candidate vehicle selected by the selection unit 113 is transmitted to each vehicle-mounted device 1 that is a receiving vehicle. Thereby, the position information of the candidate vehicle is displayed on the display device 50 of the vehicle as shown in FIG. 5, and the occupant can determine the delivery vehicle from the displayed candidate vehicles.

In this way, the selection unit 113 selects a vehicle located within the display range of the navigation image Ni displayed on the receiving vehicle as a candidate vehicle. Further, the candidate image is displayed on the navigation image Ni. This allows the occupant to easily grasp the delivery vehicle.

Further, when selecting a candidate vehicle in the condition IDs “0002” and “0003” shown in FIG. 11, the selection unit 113 stores the vehicle running in the heavy rain area or the hot topic area in the user information DB 121. Select based on the current location of each vehicle.

That is, the selection unit 113 selects an area to be a candidate vehicle selection target based on external information acquired from an external device such as the traffic information server 201, the weather information server 202, and the SNS server 203, and selects the candidate vehicle from the selected area. Select.

With this, it is possible to appropriately narrow down the candidate vehicles according to various needs of the user, and thus it is possible to improve the selection accuracy of the candidate vehicles. Further, in this case, the selection unit 113 sets the current location, the destination, the traveling route, and the detour (in the case of guerrilla heavy rain) stored in the user information DB 121 as the candidates for the vehicles existing on the route when bypassing the guerrilla heavy rain area. It is also possible to select the receiving vehicle based on the above).

Here, for example, the selection unit 113 uses the planned traveling route of the receiving vehicle, the favorite point, the belonging group, the user attribute (the demographic attribute, the psychographic attribute) shown in FIG. 10, the past distribution history of each vehicle, and the like. It is also possible to select a candidate vehicle based on this.

For example, the selection unit 113 selects a vehicle that is traveling on the planned traveling route as a candidate vehicle, so that when the occupant of the receiving vehicle wants to grasp the current state of the planned traveling route, the camera image can be quickly displayed. Can be obtained.

Further, it is assumed that the receiving vehicle will frequently go to the favorite point. Therefore, the selecting unit 113 selects the vehicle at the favorite point as a candidate vehicle so that the occupant of the receiving vehicle can quickly obtain the camera image when he/she wants to know the current state of the favorite point. Obtainable.

In addition, the selection unit 113 selects a candidate vehicle based on the group to which the occupant of the receiving vehicle can easily understand the current location and current state of another vehicle belonging to the group. ..

In addition, the selection unit 113 can start communication connection between vehicles owned by occupants having similar hobbies and tastes or vehicles having occupants having similar destination tendencies by selecting candidate vehicles based on user attributes. Thereby, the convenience of the distribution system S can be improved.

Further, the selection unit 113 stores the past distribution history of each vehicle-mounted device 1 mounted on each vehicle, and selects, for example, a vehicle for which camera images have been transmitted and received a predetermined number of times or more as a candidate vehicle. Can also

That is, the selection unit 113 selects a vehicle that is expected to be a delivery vehicle in advance as a candidate vehicle. Accordingly, when the receiving vehicle requests a camera image captured by another vehicle, the camera image can be promptly provided.

Note that the selection unit 113 may select candidate vehicles by limiting to vehicles within a predetermined range from the position of the receiving vehicle, for example. This is because if it is too far from the receiving vehicle, it will be difficult to be selected as the delivery vehicle.

That is, the selection unit 113 can exclude a vehicle in an area where the receiving vehicle does not plan to travel at all, from candidates for selecting a delivery vehicle. In other words, unnecessary communication connection can be avoided in advance by selecting the candidate vehicle within the predetermined range from the position of the receiving vehicle.

The selection unit 113 can also select a candidate vehicle by appropriately combining the above selection conditions. In this case, for example, the selection unit 113 can weight each selection condition and select a candidate vehicle based on the weighting result.

That is, the selection unit 113 can select a candidate vehicle that is highly likely to be selected as a delivery vehicle by using a plurality of selection conditions in combination.

Next, a processing procedure executed by the distribution system S according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 to 16. 13 to 15 are flowcharts showing a processing procedure executed by the vehicle-mounted apparatus 1. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure executed by the management server 100.

First, a general processing flow executed by the vehicle-mounted apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 13, the vehicle-mounted apparatus 1 first generates transmission data (steady transmission data such as own vehicle position and vehicle information) and transmits the transmission data (step S101). Note that the process of step S101 is repeated at a predetermined cycle regardless of the process of step S102 and subsequent steps.

Then, the vehicle-mounted apparatus 1 determines whether it was selected as a receiving vehicle (step S102). Here, when the vehicle-mounted apparatus 1 determines that the vehicle has not been selected as the receiving vehicle (step S102, No), it determines whether the vehicle has been selected as the candidate vehicle (step S103).

When the vehicle-mounted apparatus 1 determines that the vehicle is not selected as a candidate vehicle (step S103, No), the processing ends. When the vehicle-mounted apparatus 1 determines in the determination process of step S103 that the vehicle has been selected as a candidate vehicle (step S103, Yes), it performs the camera image distribution process (step S104) and ends the process.

The processing procedure of the distribution processing in step S104 will be described later with reference to FIG. When the vehicle-mounted apparatus 1 determines in the determination process of step S102 that the vehicle has been selected as the receiving vehicle (step S102, Yes), the vehicle-mounted device 1 performs the camera image reception process (step S105) and ends the process.

Next, the processing procedure of the reception processing in step S105 shown in FIG. 13 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 14, first, the vehicle-mounted apparatus 1 requests the candidate vehicles to deliver low-capacity video (step S111).

Then, the vehicle-mounted device 1 receives the low-capacity video and starts reproduction (step S112). Then, the vehicle-mounted apparatus 1 determines whether the delivery vehicle has been determined (step S113).

When the delivery vehicle is determined (step S113, Yes), the vehicle-mounted device 1 receives the high-capacity video from the delivery vehicle (step S114), displays the high-capacity video (step S115), and ends the process.

Further, when the delivery vehicle is not determined (step S113, No), the vehicle-mounted device 1 continues to perform the process of step S113.

The transmission of the low-capacity video, the high-capacity video, and the request thereof can be performed by communication between the vehicle-mounted devices 1 or by communication via the management server 100, depending on the situation (whether communication is possible or not). It is also possible to switch according to the judgment).

Next, the processing procedure of the delivery processing of step S103 shown in FIG. 13 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 15, the vehicle-mounted apparatus 1 first starts the delivery of the low-capacity video to the receiving vehicle (step S121), and then determines whether or not the delivery vehicle is determined (step S122). ..

When the delivery vehicle is determined (Yes in step S122), the vehicle-mounted device 1 determines whether the delivery vehicle is the host vehicle (step S123). When the delivery vehicle is the own vehicle (Yes in step S123), the vehicle-mounted device 1 delivers the high-capacity video to the receiving vehicle (step S124), and ends the process.

In addition, when the delivery vehicle is not determined in the determination process of step S122 (step S122, No), the vehicle-mounted device 1 continues the process of step S122.

In addition, when the delivery vehicle is not the own vehicle in the determination processing of step S123 (step S123, No), the vehicle-mounted device 1 stops delivery of the low-capacity video (step S125) and ends the processing.

Next, a processing procedure by the management server 100 will be described with reference to FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 16, when the management server 100 acquires the transmission data and the external information from each on-vehicle device 1 and the external device (step S201), the management server 100 determines whether or not a situation matching the detection condition is detected (step S201). S202).

When the above situation is detected in the determination process of step S202 (step S202, Yes), the management server 100 selects a receiving vehicle and a candidate vehicle (step S203).

Then, the management server 100 requests the receiving vehicle to start connection (step S204), and ends the process. Further, when the management server 100 does not detect the above situation in the determination process of step S202 (step S202, No), the process ends.

As described above, the distribution system S according to the embodiment includes the selection unit 113 and the reception unit 12. The selection unit 113 selects a candidate vehicle that is a distribution candidate for a camera image captured by the vehicle based on a predetermined condition. The receiving unit 12 starts communication connection with the candidate vehicle selected by the selecting unit 113, and receives the camera image from the distribution vehicle selected as the distribution source among the candidate vehicles. Therefore, according to the distribution system S according to the embodiment, the camera image can be quickly received.

By the way, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the camera image is transmitted and received between the vehicle-mounted devices 1 mounted on the respective vehicles has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, each in-vehicle device 1 may transmit/receive a camera image via the management server 100.

Further, the communication between the vehicle-mounted devices 1 may be appropriately changed according to the distance between the vehicles, for example, using short-range wireless communication such as Wi-Fi (registered trademark). Furthermore, in order to reduce the delay time required for the transmission of the camera image, communication of both Wi-Fi and the mobile phone network is used, and so-called link aggregation is used to obtain the camera image and vehicle information and position information associated with the camera image. It may be configured to transmit to the delivery destination vehicle or the management server 100.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, communication is established by receiving and distributing low-capacity video to achieve high-speed reception of high-capacity video. However, when there is no low-capacity video or other information to be received, dummy data is transmitted and received. The communication may be established or the communication state may be maintained.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the receiving vehicle receives the camera image captured by the vehicle has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the receiving vehicle may receive a camera image captured by a fixed camera installed in an infrastructure facility such as a street light or a traffic signal.

Further, in the distribution system S according to the embodiment, some or all of the functions of the management server 100 may be carried by each in-vehicle device 1, or some of the functions of each in-vehicle device 1 may be performed. Alternatively, the management server 100 may be responsible for all of the above.

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 changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 In-vehicle apparatus 11 Transmitting section 12 Receiving section 13 Determining section 14 Generating section 15 Reproducing section 50 Display apparatus 51 Display section 52 Operation section 100 Management server 111 Acquisition section 112 Detection section 113 Selection section 201 Traffic information server (an example of external device)
202 Weather information server (an example of an external device)
203 SNS server (an example of an external device)
S distribution system

Claims (10)

A selection unit that selects a candidate vehicle that is a distribution candidate of a camera image captured by the vehicle based on a predetermined condition;
A distribution system comprising: a communication unit that starts communication connection with a candidate vehicle selected by the selection unit, and that receives a camera image from a distribution vehicle determined as a distribution source among the candidate vehicles. .. The receiving unit is
The delivery system according to claim 1, wherein communication is established with the candidate vehicle, and when a delivery vehicle is determined, a camera image is received from the delivery vehicle. When the operator selects and operates the candidate vehicle displayed in the display range of the map image displayed on the receiving vehicle, the determining unit determines the candidate vehicle that has been selected and operated as a delivery vehicle. The distribution system according to claim 1. The selection unit,
The distribution system according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein a vehicle located within a predetermined range from a receiving vehicle is selected as the candidate vehicle. The selection unit,
The distribution system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the candidate vehicle is selected based on a planned traveling route of the receiving vehicle. The selection unit,
The distribution system according to claim 1, wherein an area to be selected as a candidate for the candidate vehicle is selected based on external information acquired from an external device. The selection unit,
The distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the candidate vehicle is selected based on a user attribute of a receiving vehicle. The selection unit,
The distribution system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the candidate vehicle is selected based on road information regarding at least one of an intersection and a road sign. 9. A generation unit that generates a display image in which the watermark image of the front vehicle in the camera image of the reception vehicle is superimposed on the camera image of the reception vehicle in front of the reception vehicle. Delivery system described in. A selection step of selecting a candidate vehicle as a distribution candidate of a camera image captured by the vehicle based on a predetermined condition;
A communication step of starting communication connection with the candidate vehicle selected in the selection step, and receiving a camera image from a distribution vehicle determined as a distribution source among the candidate vehicles. ..

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