JP2020160891A - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a drive recorder that can suppress an image to be preferentially protected from being deleted.SOLUTION: In a drive recorder 20, an abetting determination unit 22 determines whether or not a vehicle receives abetting driving on the basis of a vehicle peripheral image 10A generated by a camera 10, and when the vehicle is determined to receive the abetting driving, a recording control unit 23 allows a recording unit 29 to record a recording target image 51 generated in a protection period including a time determined to receive the abetting driving, and to protect the recording target image 51, and a priority determination unit 24 determines a protection priority 33 of the recording target image 51 on the basis of an inter-vehicle distance, and when the recording control unit 23 determines protection release for at least one of the recording target images 51, a selection unit selects the recording target image 51 to be released for protection on the basis of the protection priority 33 corresponding to the recording target image 51.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a recording device that records an image generated by a camera mounted on a moving body.

A running vehicle may be extremely close to another vehicle or may be honked relentlessly. These actions by other vehicles are called road rage.

Patent Document 1 discloses a drive recorder that records an image of a vehicle that is driving in a fan. When a vehicle causes a traffic accident caused by driving by driving from another vehicle, the image recorded on the recording device mounted on the vehicle can be submitted as evidence of driving by driving.

If the recording device records an image generated by the camera each time the vehicle determines that the vehicle is driving, the recording capacity of the recording device is compressed. In order to relieve the pressure on the recording capacity, it is conceivable that the recording device preferentially erases the image having the old recording time among the recorded images. However, when the image to be erased is selected based on the recording time, there is a risk that the image to be protected among the images recording the driving operation may be erased.

JP-A-2018-112892

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a recording device capable of suppressing erasure of an image to be protected preferentially.

In order to solve the above problems, the first invention is a recording device, which includes a fanning determination unit, a recording control unit, a priority determination unit, and a selection unit. The fanning determination unit determines whether or not the first vehicle is receiving the fanning driving received from the second vehicle based on the vehicle peripheral image generated by the camera mounted on the first vehicle. When it is determined by the driving judgment unit that the first vehicle is being driven, the recording control unit is in the protection period including the time when it is determined that the first vehicle is being driven. The generated recording target image is recorded in the recording unit, and the recording target image recorded in the recording unit is protected. The priority determination unit determines the protection priority of the image to be recorded based on the distance from the first vehicle to the second vehicle during the period determined to be under the driving. When the recording control unit determines that the protection of at least one of the plurality of recording target images recorded in the recording unit is released, the selection unit may perform a plurality of protection priorities based on the plurality of protection priorities corresponding to the plurality of recording target images. The recording target image whose protection is to be released is selected from the recording target images, and the selected recording target image is notified to the recording control unit.

According to the first invention, the priority of the image to be recorded in which the driving is recorded is determined based on the inter-vehicle distance during the period during which the driving is being performed. The selection unit determines the recording target image to be released from protection based on the priority of the recording target image. As a result, it is possible to prevent the recorded image to be protected from being deleted with priority.

The second invention is the first invention, in which the priority determination unit specifies the distance based on the vehicle peripheral image used when the driving determination unit determines that the driving is being driven.

According to the second invention, the inter-vehicle distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle is specified based on the vehicle peripheral image at the time when the driving is detected. As a result, the recording device does not have to be provided with another device for measuring the inter-vehicle distance.

The third invention is the first or second invention, and further includes a correction unit. When the driving judgment unit determines that the first vehicle is being driven, the correction unit acquires the duration of the driving from the driving judgment unit and gives priority based on the acquired duration. Correct the protection priority determined by the determination unit. The selection unit selects the image to be recorded to be released from protection by using the protection priority corrected by the correction unit.

According to the third invention, the correction unit corrects the protection priority based on the duration of the driving operation. The duration of the road rage indicates whether or not the first vehicle has undergone relentless road rage. By using the duration to correct the protection priority, it is possible to appropriately determine the recording target image to be protected with priority.

The fourth invention is the third invention, in which the amendment unit amends the determined protection priority based on the change in distance over the duration.

According to the fourth invention, the inter-vehicle distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle indicates the degree of danger of driving in a hurry. By using the inter-vehicle distance to correct the protection priority, it is possible to more appropriately determine the image to be recorded to be protected with priority.

The fifth invention is any one of the first to fourth inventions, and further includes a vehicle identification unit and a correction unit. When the fanning determination unit determines that the first vehicle is being driven by the second vehicle, the vehicle identification unit determines whether or not the second vehicle can be identified from the generated vehicle peripheral image. The correction unit corrects the protection priority determined by the priority determination unit based on the determination result of the vehicle identification unit. The selection unit selects the image to be recorded to be released from protection by using the protection priority corrected by the correction unit.

According to the fifth invention, when the vehicle identification information that identifies the vehicle that has been driven by the fan is acquired, the vehicle target image that records the vehicle is preferentially protected. The vehicle identification information is, for example, a license plate of the vehicle or an image of the driver of the vehicle. As a result, it is possible to preferentially protect the image around the vehicle that can identify the vehicle that has been driven by driving.

The sixth invention is any one of the first to fifth inventions, and further includes a correction unit. The correction unit corrects the protection priority determined by the priority determination unit based on the state of the first vehicle. The selection unit selects the image to be recorded to be released from protection by using the protection priority corrected by the correction unit.

According to the sixth invention, the risk level of the driving is also changed depending on the state of the first vehicle. By using the state of the first vehicle for the correction of the protection priority, the correction unit can appropriately determine the image to be recorded to be protected preferentially.

A seventh invention is a recording method for recording a vehicle peripheral image generated by a camera mounted on a first vehicle, which comprises a) step, b) step, c) step, and d) step. Be prepared. a) The step determines whether or not the first vehicle is undergoing the driving driven by the second vehicle based on the vehicle peripheral image generated by the camera. b) The step is a record generated in the protection period including the time when it is determined that the first vehicle is being driven by the driving, among the generated vehicle peripheral images when it is determined that the first vehicle is being driven by the driving. The target image is recorded in the recording unit, and the recording target image recorded in the recording unit is protected. c) The step determines the protection priority of the image to be recorded based on the distance from the first vehicle to the second vehicle during the period determined to be under the driving. d) In the step, when at least one protection of the plurality of recording target images recorded in the recording unit is released, the plurality of recording target images are based on the plurality of protection priorities corresponding to the plurality of recording target images. Select the image to be recorded whose protection is to be released.

The seventh invention is used in the first invention.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a recording device capable of suppressing the erasure of an image to be protected.

It is the schematic of the vehicle which carries the recording apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the recording apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the storage area in the flash memory shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the operation of the recording apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the positional relationship between the vehicle shown in FIG. 1 and the vehicle which performs a fanning operation. It is a figure which shows an example of the frame generated by the camera shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows another example of the frame generated by the camera shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the priority table shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the correction table referred by the correction part shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the priority recording data shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the CPU bus configuration.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The same or corresponding parts in the drawings are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will not be repeated.

[1. Constitution]
[1.1. Arrangement of recording device 20]
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a vehicle 1 equipped with a recording device according to an embodiment of the present invention. With reference to FIG. 1, the vehicle 1 is equipped with a camera 10 and a recording device 20. In FIG. 1, the camera 10 and the recording device 20 are clearly shown by solid lines. The camera 10 and the recording device 20 are actually arranged inside the vehicle 1.

In the following description, the front of the vehicle 1 is a straight direction of the vehicle 1 and is a direction from the driver's seat to the steering wheel. The rear of the vehicle 1 is in the opposite direction to the front of the vehicle 1.

The camera 10 is a rear camera installed at the rear of the vehicle 1. The camera 10 captures the scenery behind the vehicle 1 to generate a vehicle peripheral image 10A. The vehicle peripheral image 10A is a moving image including a plurality of frames. The camera 10 transmits the generated vehicle peripheral image 10A to the recording device 20.

The recording device 20 is installed near the dashboard of the vehicle 1. The recording device 20 receives the vehicle peripheral image 10A from the camera 10 and stores the received vehicle peripheral image 10A. The recording device 20 is connected to the camera 10 by wire. The recording device 20 may wirelessly communicate with the camera 10.

[1.2. Configuration of recording device 20]
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the recording device 20 shown in FIG. With reference to FIG. 2, the recording device 20 includes an image acquisition unit 21, a fanning determination unit 22, a recording control unit 23, a priority determination unit 24, a vehicle identification unit 25, a vehicle state acquisition unit 26, and the like. A correction unit 27, a selection unit 28, and a recording unit 29 are provided.

The image acquisition unit 21 acquires the vehicle peripheral image 10A from the camera 10, and outputs the acquired vehicle peripheral image 10A to the fanning determination unit 22, the recording control unit 23, and the vehicle identification unit 25. Specifically, each time the image acquisition unit 21 acquires the frame 10F included in the vehicle peripheral image 10A, the image acquisition unit 21 outputs the acquired frame 10F to the fanning determination unit 22, the recording control unit 23, and the vehicle identification unit 25. ..

The fanning determination unit 22 receives the vehicle peripheral image 10A from the image acquisition unit 21, and determines whether or not the vehicle 1 is being driven by another vehicle based on the received vehicle peripheral image 10A. Although the details will be described later, the fanning determination unit 22 determines whether or not the vehicle is being driven by fanning based on the distance between the vehicle 1 and another vehicle included in the frame 10F.

When it is determined that the vehicle is being driven, the driving determination unit 22 records the driving detection information 31 including the determination time of determining that the vehicle is being driven and the distance between the vehicle 1 and another vehicle. Output to the control unit 23 and the priority determination unit 24. When it is determined that the vehicle is being driven, the vehicle identification unit 22 outputs the detection area information 32 indicating the region of another vehicle on the frame 10F to the vehicle identification unit 25.

In the following description, determining that the fanning determination unit 22 is undergoing the fanning operation may be described as "the fanning determination unit 22 detects the fanning operation".

The recording control unit 23 receives the fanning detection information 31 from the fanning determination unit 22, and acquires the fanning determination time from the received fanning detection information 31. The recording control unit 23 sets a protection period including the acquired fanning determination time. The recording control unit 23 records the recording target image 51 generated during the protection period in the recording unit 29 among the vehicle peripheral images 10A generated by the camera 10. The recording control unit 23 protects the recording target image 51 recorded in the recording unit 29 from being overwritten.

The priority determination unit 24 receives the fanning detection information 31 from the fanning determination unit 22, and determines the protection priority 33 of the recording target image 51 based on the distance included in the fanning detection information 31. The protection priority 33 is used to release the protection of the recording target image 51 among the recording target images 51 recorded in the recording unit 29. The priority determination unit 24 outputs the determined protection priority 33 to the correction unit 27.

The vehicle identification unit 25 receives the frame 10F from the image acquisition unit 21 and the detection area information 32 from the fanning determination unit 22. The vehicle identification unit 52 uses the detection area information 32 to determine whether or not the vehicle to be driven can be identified from the frame 10F. If the vehicle identification unit 25 can identify the driver or license plate of the vehicle to be driven, it determines that the vehicle can be identified. The vehicle identification unit 25 outputs the specific result information 34 indicating whether or not the vehicle can be specified to the correction unit 27.

The vehicle state acquisition unit 26 acquires vehicle state information 35 indicating the running state of the vehicle 1. The vehicle state information 35 includes the speed of the vehicle 1 and the wiper drive signal. The wiper drive signal indicates whether or not the wiper is driven. The vehicle state acquisition unit 26 outputs the acquired vehicle state information 35 to the correction unit 27.

The correction unit 27 receives the protection priority 33 from the priority determination unit 24, and corrects the received protection priority 33. Specifically, when the correction unit 27 receives the specific result information 34 indicating that the vehicle to be driven can be specified from the vehicle identification unit 25, the correction unit 27 raises the protection priority 33. The correction unit 27 corrects the protection priority 33 based on each of the wiper drive signal and the speed of the vehicle 1 included in the vehicle state information 35. The correction unit 27 corrects the protection priority 33 based on the length of the period during which the vehicle is being driven and the number of times the vehicle is approaching during the period during which the vehicle is being driven. Details of the correction of the protection priority 33 will be described later.

The correction unit 27 outputs the corrected protection priority 33 to the recording control unit 23. The recording control unit 23 records the corrected protection priority 33 in the recording unit 29.

When the recording control unit 23 determines that the protection of at least one of the recording target images 51 recorded in the recording unit 29 is released, the selection unit 28 records a plurality of protection priorities 33 corresponding to the plurality of recording target images 51. Obtained from part 29. The selection unit 28 selects the recording target image 51 to be released from protection based on the acquired plurality of protection priority 33. The selection unit 28 notifies the recording control unit 23 of the selected recording target image 51. The recording control unit 23 releases the protection of the recording target image 51 notified from the selection unit 28. The recorded target image 51 whose protection has been released is overwritten by the newly generated vehicle peripheral image 10A.

The recording unit 29 is a non-volatile storage device, and includes a memory controller 291 and a flash memory 292. The memory controller 291 controls access to the flash memory 292. The flash memory 292 is a storage medium for storing the image to be recorded 51 and the protection priority 33.

[2. Operation of recording device 20]
[2.1. Operation outline]
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a storage area in the flash memory 292 shown in FIG. With reference to FIG. 3, the flash memory 292 includes an image area 41 and a management area 42.

The image area 41 stores the vehicle peripheral image 10A generated by the camera 10. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the image area 41 stores the recording target images 51A to 51E and the temporarily stored images 52A to 52F. The temporarily stored images 52A to 52F are unprotected images of the vehicle peripheral image 10A stored in the image area 41. The temporarily stored images 52A to 52F are overwritten by the vehicle peripheral image 10A newly generated by the camera 10.

The image area 41 is a ring buffer. The recording control unit 23 stores the vehicle peripheral image 10A received from the image acquisition unit 21 in the image area 41 as a temporarily stored image. Although the details will be described later, the image corresponding to the protection period among the temporarily stored images is protected as the recording target image 51. When the entire area of the image area 41 is used, the temporarily stored images 52A to 52F are overwritten by the new vehicle peripheral image 10A.

The management area 42 stores data for managing the recording target image 51 recorded in the image area 41. Specifically, the management area 42 stores the priority table 61, the correction table 62, and the priority recording data 63. The priority table 61 is used to determine the protection priority 33 of the recording target image 51. The correction table 62 is used for correcting the protection priority 33 of the image to be recorded 51. The priority recording data 63 is used to protect the image to be recorded 51.

When the recording control unit 23 sets the protection period according to the detection of the fanning operation by the fanning determination unit 22, among the temporarily stored images stored in the image area 41, the image corresponding to the protection period is set as the recording target image 51. Protect. Specifically, the recording control unit 23 records the address for specifying the storage area of the recording target image 51 and the protection priority of the recording target image 51 in the priority recording data 63. That is, the recording control unit 23 records the address space for storing the vehicle peripheral image 10A corresponding to the protection period in the priority recording data 63. The recording control unit 23 protects the recording target image 51 by excluding the data in the address space recorded in the priority recording data 63 from the overwrite target.

In the image area 41, an upper limit value of a size that can record the image to be recorded 51 is set in advance. The upper limit is, for example, 50% of the storage area of the image area 41. When the recording control unit 23 newly sets the protection period in association with the detection of the fanning operation by the fanning determination unit 22, the selection unit 28 calculates the total value of the data sizes of the recording target images 51 in the image area 41. It is determined whether or not the calculated total value exceeds the upper limit value.

When the calculated total value exceeds the upper limit value, the selection unit 28 refers to the priority recording data 63, and among the recording target images 51 recorded in the image area 41, the recording having the lowest protection priority. The target image 51 is selected. The selection unit 28 notifies the recording control unit 23 of the release of protection of the selected recording target image 51. The recording control unit 23 deletes the data related to the recording target image 51 notified from the selection unit 28 from the priority recording data 63. Since the notified recording target image 51 is managed as a temporarily stored image, it is overwritten by the vehicle peripheral image 10A newly generated by the camera 10.

In this way, when the data size of the recording target image 51 exceeds the upper limit value, the recording device 20 releases the protection of the recording target image having the lowest priority. Since the recording of the recording target image 51 having a high priority is continued, it is possible to suppress the deletion of the image to be protected with priority.

[2.2. Operation details]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the recording device 20 shown in FIG. The operation of the recording device 20 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The recording device 20 starts the process shown in FIG. 4 when the ignition switch of the vehicle 1 is turned on.

The recording device 20 executes a process of storing the vehicle peripheral image 10A acquired by the image acquisition unit 21 as a temporarily stored image in the image area 41 in parallel with the process shown in FIG.

(Detection of road rage)
Each time the fanning determination unit 22 receives the frame 10F from the image acquisition unit 21, the fanning determination unit 22 determines whether or not the vehicle 1 is undergoing fanning operation by using the received frame 10F (step S101). When the fanning determination unit 22 determines that the vehicle 1 is undergoing fanning operation (Yes in step S101), the fanning determination unit 22 uses the frame 10F used for determining that the vehicle 1 is undergoing fanning operation. Acquire the inter-vehicle distance (step S103).

The fanning determination unit 22 outputs the fanning detection information 31 including the determination time when it is determined that the driver is in the fanning operation and the inter-vehicle distance acquired in step S103 to the recording control unit 23 and the priority determination unit 24. The recording control unit 23 specifies the determination time included in the fanning detection information 31 as the fanning start time (step S102).

Hereinafter, the operation of the fanning determination unit 22 for detecting the fanning operation will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the positional relationship between the vehicle 1 and the vehicle 2 that performs the road rage. FIG. 5 shows a change in the relative position of the vehicle 2 with respect to the vehicle 1. Therefore, in FIG. 5, the vehicle 1 is apparently stopped. Vehicles 1 and 2 are traveling straight in the direction of arrow A. In the following description, the inter-vehicle distance from vehicle 1 to vehicle 2 is simply referred to as "inter-vehicle distance".

With reference to FIG. 5, the distance D1 is the inter-vehicle distance at time T1. The reference distance Dth is a threshold value for determining whether or not the vehicle 1 is being driven by driving. When the inter-vehicle distance is less than the reference distance Dth, the fanning determination unit 22 determines that the vehicle 1 is being driven. Since the distance D1 is longer than the reference distance Dth, the fanning determination unit 22 determines that the vehicle 1 has not been fanned at time T1.

The distance D2 is the inter-vehicle distance at time T2. Time T2 is a time after time T1. Since the distance D2 is equal to or less than the reference distance Dth, the fanning determination unit 22 determines that the vehicle 1 is being driven by the fanning at time T2.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the frame 10F generated at the time T1. The origin of the frame 10F is the upper left vertex. The X-axis indicates the lateral direction of the frame 10F. The positive direction of the X-axis is to the right from the origin in FIG. The Y-axis indicates the vertical direction of the frame 10F. The positive direction of the Y-axis is downward from the origin in FIG. The reference line Lth corresponds to the reference distance Dth shown in FIG. The reference line Lth shown in FIG. 6 may be curved depending on the aberration of the lens mounted on the camera 10.

The fanning determination unit 22 generates an edge image by extracting the edge from the frame 10F. The horizontal and vertical sizes of the edge image are the same as the horizontal and vertical sizes of the frame 10F. The fanning determination unit 22 detects a rectangular object located in the direction of the left-right central axis in the edge image as the vehicle 2, and identifies the region R21 in which the vehicle 2 is drawn.

In FIG. 6, the region R21 is located above the reference line Lth indicating the reference distance Dth. That is, the Y coordinate value of the lower side of the region R21 is smaller than the Y coordinate value of the reference line Lth. In this case, the fanning determination unit 22 does not determine that the vehicle 2 is driving the fanning because the inter-vehicle distance is longer than the reference distance Dth.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of the frame generated at time T2. The fanning determination unit 22 detects the vehicle 2 from the edge image generated from the vehicle peripheral image 10A shown in FIG. 7, and identifies the region R22 in which the vehicle 2 is drawn. In FIG. 7, the reference line Lth indicating the reference distance Dth passes through the region R22. That is, the Y coordinate value of the lower side of the region R22 is larger than the Y coordinate value of the reference line Lth. Since the inter-vehicle distance is shorter than the reference distance Dth, the fanning determination unit 22 determines that the vehicle 2 is driving the vehicle.

The fanning determination unit 22 specifies a period in which the Y coordinate value of the lower side of the area where the vehicle 2 is drawn continues to be larger than the Y coordinate value of the reference line Lth as the fanning operation detection period.

The identification of the inter-vehicle distance (step S103) will be described. The camera 10 is fixed to the rear part of the vehicle 1. Therefore, the Y coordinate value of the frame 10F indicates the distance from the rear end surface of the vehicle 1. The fanning determination unit 22 acquires the Y coordinate value of the lower side of the area where the vehicle 2 is drawn from the frame 10F where the fanning driving is detected, and acquires the inter-vehicle distance based on the acquired Y coordinate value. Since the inter-vehicle distance is specified by using the frame 41F at the detection time of the driving, the recording device 20 does not have to be separately provided with a device for acquiring the inter-vehicle distance.

Again, with reference to FIG. 4, the description of the operation of the recording device 20 is returned. The fanning determination unit 22 uses the frame 10F to determine whether or not the detection of the fanning operation by the vehicle 2 has been completed (step S104).

When the lower side of the region where the vehicle 2 is drawn moves from the lower region to the upper region of the reference line Lth, the fanning determination unit 22 determines that the detection of the fanning operation has been completed (Yes in step S104). The recording control unit 23 specifies the fanning end time based on the fanning detection information 31 last received from the fanning determination unit 22 (step S105).

When the lower side of the area where the vehicle 2 is drawn is below the reference line Lth, the fanning determination unit 22 determines that the fanning operation is continuing (No in step S104). In this case, the fanning determination unit 22 returns to step S103. That is, the fanning determination unit 22 continuously acquires the inter-vehicle distance when the fanning driving is detected. As a result, the recording device 20 can acquire the time change of the inter-vehicle distance during the detection period of the driving.

(Determination of protection priority 33)
When the supply of the fan detection information 31 from the fan determination unit 22 is stopped, the priority determination unit 24 determines the protection priority 33 of the recording target image 51 that records the fan operation received from the vehicle 2 (step S106). ..

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the priority table 61 used by the priority determination unit 24. With reference to FIG. 8, the protection priority 33 is associated with the inter-vehicle distance. The protection priority 33 is a numerical value from 0 to 10. When the recording target image 51 has the highest importance, the protection priority 33 is 10. When the recording target image 51 has the lowest importance, the protection priority 33 is 0. The upper limit value and the lower limit value of the protection priority 33 set based on the priority table 61 are 6 and 4. This is because it is taken into consideration that the protection priority 33 is corrected in step S107 shown in FIG.

When the inter-vehicle distance is 5 m or more, the protection priority 33 is 6. When the inter-vehicle distance is 3 m or more and less than 5 m, the protection priority 33 is 5. If the inter-vehicle distance is less than 3 m, the protection priority 33 is 4. As the inter-vehicle distance decreases, the protection priority 33 increases. This is because as the distance between vehicles becomes shorter, the risk of driving in a hurry increases and the possibility of causing a traffic accident increases. Therefore, the priority determination unit 24 determines the protection priority 33 so as to preferentially protect the recording target image in which the high-risk driving operation is recorded.

The priority determination unit 24 specifies the minimum inter-vehicle distance among the inter-vehicle distances included in the fan-driving detection information 31 received during the fan-driving detection period. The priority determination unit 24 determines the protection priority 33 corresponding to the specified inter-vehicle distance by referring to the priority table 61.

(Correction of protection priority 33)
With reference to FIG. 4, the correction unit 27 corrects the protection priority 33 determined in step S106 (step S107). The correction unit 27 outputs the protection priority 33 corrected in step S107 to the recording control unit 23.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the correction table 62 referred to by the correction unit 27. With reference to FIG. 8, the correction unit 27 corrects the protection priority 33 based on the fanning duration, the number of approaches, the speed, the weather, and the vehicle information.

The correction unit 27 determines the correction value based on the fanning duration. Specifically, the correction unit 27 calculates the time from the fanning start time specified in step S102 to the fanning end time specified in step S105 as the fanning duration. The correction unit 27 refers to the correction table 62 and specifies a correction value corresponding to the calculated fanning duration. For example, when the fanning duration is less than 1 minute, the correction unit 27 determines the correction value "-1". It is considered that the relentless driving is performed as the duration of the driving becomes longer. Therefore, the correction value is set in the correction table 62 so that the protection priority 33 becomes higher as the fanning duration becomes longer. By using the duration for the correction of the protection priority 33, the recording target image 51 to be protected with priority can be appropriately determined.

The correction unit 27 determines the correction value based on the number of approaches of the vehicle 2 during the detection period of the driving. Specifically, the correction unit 27 acquires the fanning detection information 31 from the fanning determination unit 22 via the priority determination unit 24. The correction unit 27 acquires the time change of the inter-vehicle distance by using the inter-vehicle distance included in the acquired fanning detection information 31, and counts the number of appearances in the period during which the inter-vehicle distance decreases as the number of approaches. The correction unit 27 refers to the correction table 62 and specifies a correction value corresponding to the number of approaches. For example, when the number of approaches is 7 or more, the correction unit 27 determines the correction value "+2".

The number of approaches is the number of times that the vehicle 2 closes the inter-vehicle distance. It is considered that the more the number of approaches, the more malicious the driving is. Therefore, the correction value is set in the correction table 62 so that the protection priority 33 increases as the number of approaches increases. The recording device 20 can appropriately determine the recording target image 51 to be protected preferentially by correcting the protection priority 33 using the inter-vehicle distance.

The correction unit 27 determines the correction value based on the speed of the vehicle 2 during the detection period of the driving. Specifically, the correction unit 27 continuously acquires the vehicle state information 35 including the speed of the vehicle 1 from the vehicle state acquisition unit 26. The correction unit 27 specifies the maximum speed of the vehicle 1 during the detection period of the driving. The correction unit 27 refers to the correction table 62 and specifies the correction value corresponding to the specified maximum speed. For example, when the maximum speed is 60 km / h, the correction unit 27 determines the correction value “0”.

The degree of danger of road rage changes according to the speed of the vehicle 1 during the detection period of road rage. For example, if the vehicle 1 is driven while driving on a highway, there is a high possibility that a serious accident will occur. Therefore, the correction value is set in the correction table 62 so that the protection priority 33 increases as the speed increases. The recording device 20 can appropriately determine the recording exercise image 51 to be protected preferentially by correcting the protection priority 33 based on the traveling state of the vehicle 1.

The correction unit 27 determines the correction value based on the weather during the detection period of the driving. Specifically, the correction unit 27 determines whether or not the wiper drive signal included in the vehicle state information 35 is on during the detection period of the driving. When the wiper drive signal is turned on during the detection period of the driving operation, the correction unit 27 specifies the correction value "+1". When the wiper of the vehicle 1 is driven, the weather during the detection period of the driving is considered to be rain.

If the vehicle 1 is driven while it is raining, it is considered that there is a high possibility that a traffic accident will occur due to slipping or the like. The correction value is set in the correction table 62 so that the protection priority of the recording target image 51 recording the fanning operation in rainy weather is high. The recording device 20 can appropriately determine the recording exercise image 51 to be protected preferentially by correcting the protection priority 33 based on the state of the vehicle 1.

The correction unit 27 determines the correction value based on the vehicle information of the vehicle to be driven. Specifically, the correction unit 27 determines the correction value based on the specific result information 34 received from the vehicle identification unit 25.

The generation of the specific result information 34 will be described. The vehicle identification unit 22 receives the detection area information 32 from the road rage determination unit 22 during the detection period of the road rage. For example, the detection area information 32 at time T2 includes coordinate values that specify the area R22 on which the vehicle 2 shown in FIG. 7 is drawn. The vehicle identification unit 25 extracts an image of the region R22 from the frame 10F at the time T2 based on the detection region information 32 at the time T2. The vehicle identification unit 25 determines whether or not the driver and license plate of the vehicle 2 can be identified from the extracted image of the region R22 by using the image recognition process. The vehicle identification unit 25 generates specific result information 34 indicating whether or not each of the driver and the license plate of the vehicle 2 can be specified, and outputs the specific result information 34 to the correction unit 27.

If the vehicle identification unit 22 can detect the face of a person from the image of the area R22, it may determine that the driver of the vehicle 2 has been identified.

When the specific result information 34 indicates that the driver of the vehicle 2 can be identified, the correction unit 27 determines the correction value "+1". When the specific result information 34 indicates that the license plate of the vehicle 2 can be specified, the correction unit 27 determines the correction value "+1". When both the license plate of the vehicle 2 and the driver are specified, the correction unit 27 determines the correction value "+2". If the driver or license plate of the vehicle 2 can be identified, it is considered that the evidence ability of the image to be recorded 51 is high. The correction value is set so that the protection priority 33 becomes higher when the driver or license plate of the vehicle 2 can be identified. As a result, the recording device 22 can preferentially protect the vehicle peripheral image 51 that can identify the vehicle that has been driven by the fan.

The correction unit 27 calculates the total of the correction values corresponding to each of the fanning duration, the number of approaches, the speed, the weather, and the vehicle information. The correction unit 27 corrects the protection priority 33 by adding the total of the calculated correction values to the protection priority 33 determined in step S106.

(Release of protection of recorded image)
With reference to FIG. 4, the recording control unit 23 determines whether or not the data size of the recording target image 51 recorded in the image area 41 is larger than the upper limit value (step S108). In the example shown in FIG. 3, the recording control unit 23 calculates the total data size of the images 51A to 51E to be recorded, and compares the total calculated data size with the upper limit value.

When the total of the calculated sizes is not more than the upper limit value (No in step S108), the recording control unit 23 protects the vehicle peripheral image 10A generated during the detection period of the road rage as the recording target image 51 in the step. Proceed to S111. Step S111 will be described later.

When the total of the calculated sizes is larger than the upper limit value (No in step S108), the recording control unit 23 determines that it is necessary to release the protection of at least one of the recording target images 51 stored in the image area 41. To do. This is because if the size of the recording target image 51 is larger than the upper limit value, a new recording target image 51 may not be recorded in the recording unit 29. In this case, the selection unit 28 selects a recording target image to be released from protection based on the priority recording data 63 recorded in the management area 42 (step S109).

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of priority recording data 63 recorded in the management area 42 shown in FIG. The priority recording data 63 shown in FIG. 10 is used to protect the recording exercise images 51A to 51E shown in FIG. The priority recording data 63 records an ID, a start address, an end address, a recording time, and a file name. The ID is an identification number that uniquely identifies each of the recording target images 51. The start address and the end address indicate the storage area of the recording target image 51 in the flash memory 292. The priority indicates the protection priority 33 corrected in step S107. The recording time indicates the time when the road rage was first detected.

The selection unit 28 selects the recording target image 51 having the lowest priority among the recording target images 51 recorded in the priority recording data 63. In the example shown in FIG. 10, since the protection priority 33 of the recording target image 51D is the lowest, the selection unit 28 selects the recording target image 51D as the protection release target, and records the selected recording target image 51D in the recording control unit 23. Notify to.

With reference to FIG. 4 again, the recording control unit 23 releases the protection of the recording target image 51 selected in step S109 (step S110). In the example shown in FIG. 10, since the recording target image 51D is selected as the protection release target, the recording control unit 23 deletes the record recording the recording target image 51D from the priority recording data 63. The record is a horizontal line of data corresponding to each ID in the priority recording data 63. As a result of the protection being released, the recording target image 51D is stored in the storage area as temporary storage data. The image to be recorded 51D is not always overwritten immediately after the protection is released. This is because the image area 41 is a ring buffer.

In step S109, a plurality of recording target images 51 may be selected as protection release targets. In this case, the selection unit 28 may reselect the recording target image 51 having the oldest recording time among the selected plurality of recording target images 51 as the protection release target.

(Protection of image 51 to be recorded)
As described above, the recording device 20 executes a process of storing the vehicle peripheral image 10A in the image area 41 in parallel with the process shown in FIG. The recording control unit 23 executes steps S111 to S112 to protect the vehicle peripheral image 10A in which the driving driving detected by the driving determination unit 22 is captured as a new recording target image 51.

The recording control unit 23 adds a new storage area of the recording target image 51 in the image area 41 to the priority recording data 63 (step S111). Specifically, the recording control unit 23 adds a new record to the priority recording data 63, and sets an ID for the newly added record. The recording control unit 23 writes the fanning start time in the recording time column of the newly added record. The recording control unit 23 writes the address in which the frame 10F corresponding to the fanning start time is stored in the field of the start address of the newly added record. The recording control unit 23 writes the address in which the frame 10F corresponding to the fanning end time is stored in the column of the ending address of the newly added record. The recording control unit 23 determines the file name of the new recording target image 51, and sets the determined file name in the newly added record.

That is, the recording control unit 23 sets the fanning duration from the fanning start time to the fanning end time as the protection period, and protects the vehicle peripheral image 10A generated by the camera 10 as the recording target image 51 during the protection period.

The recording control unit 23 records the protection priority 33 corrected in step S107 in the newly added record (step S112). As a result, the protection of the recording target image 51 corresponding to the newly detected fanning operation is completed.

After step S112, the recording device 20 determines whether or not the ignition signal is off (step S113). When the ignition signal is off (Yes in step S113), the recording device 20 ends the process shown in FIG.
When the ignition signal is on (No in step S113), the recording device 20 returns to step S101 and starts detecting a new driving operation.

As described above, when the recording device 20 detects the driving, the recording device 20 protects the vehicle peripheral image 10A generated during the detection period of the driving as the recording target image 51. Further, the recording device 20 determines the protection priority 33 of the image to be recorded 51 based on the inter-vehicle distance. When the data size of the recording target image 51 exceeds the upper limit value, the recording device 20 releases the protection of the recording target image 51 having the lowest priority. It is possible to prevent the recording target image 51 having a high protection priority 33 from being erased.

[3. Modification example]
In the above embodiment, in step S109, the selection unit 28 may exclude the recording target image 51 for which the preset elapsed time has not elapsed from the recording time from the protection release target. As a result, it is possible to prevent the newest recording target image 51 from being deleted.

In the above embodiment, an example in which the protection period is a period from the fanning start time to the fanning end time has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. The recording control unit 23 may set a time retroactively from the fanning start time by a predetermined time as the start time of the protection period. Alternatively, the recording control unit 23 may set a time when a predetermined time has elapsed from the fanning end time as the end time of the protection period.

In the above embodiment, an example in which the priority determination unit 24 determines the protection priority 33 based on the Y coordinate value of the lower side of the area where the vehicle 2 is drawn has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. The fanning determination unit 22 may determine the protection priority 33 based on the ratio of the area where the vehicle 2 is drawn in the frame 10F. In this case, the priority determination unit 24 may increase the protection priority 33 as the proportion of the area in which the vehicle 2 is drawn increases.

In the above embodiment, the camera 10 has described an example of capturing the scenery behind the vehicle 1, but the present invention is not limited to this. The camera 10 may capture the front, left and right sides of the vehicle 1. Further, the camera 10 may be a mobile communication terminal such as a smartphone or a mobile phone.

In the above embodiment, the recording device 20 may record a plurality of vehicle peripheral images 10A generated by the plurality of cameras 10 mounted on the vehicle 1. When one of the plurality of cameras detects the driving, the recording device 20 may protect the vehicle peripheral image 10A generated by the one camera, or the plurality of cameras 10 generated by the plurality of cameras 10. The vehicle peripheral image 10A may be protected.

In the above embodiment, an example in which the correction unit 27 corrects the protection priority 33 determined in step S106 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. The recording device 20 does not have to include the correction unit 27. In this case, the recording device 20 does not have to include the vehicle identification unit 25 and the vehicle state acquisition unit 26.

In the above embodiment, the camera 10 has been described as an example of being arranged inside the vehicle 1, but the present invention is not limited to this. The camera 10 may be arranged outside the vehicle 1. The camera 10 arranged outside the vehicle 1 can generate a vehicle peripheral image 10A excluding the influence of the glass of the vehicle 1 as compared with the camera 10 arranged inside the vehicle 1.

Further, each functional block of the recording device 20 described in the above embodiment may be individually integrated into one chip by a semiconductor device such as an LSI, or may be integrated into one chip so as to include a part or all of them. .. Although it is referred to as LSI here, it may be referred to as IC, system LSI, super LSI, or ultra LSI depending on the degree of integration.

Further, the method of making an integrated circuit is not limited to the LSI, and may be realized by a dedicated circuit or a general-purpose processor. An FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) that can be programmed after the LSI is manufactured, or a reconfigurable processor that can reconfigure the connection and settings of the circuit cells inside the LSI may be used.

In addition, a part or all of the processing of each functional block of each of the above embodiments may be realized by a program. Then, a part or all of the processing of each functional block of each of the above embodiments is performed by the central processing unit (CPU) in the computer. Further, the program for performing each process is stored in a storage device such as a hard disk or a ROM, and is read and executed in the ROM or the RAM.

Further, each process of the above embodiment may be realized by hardware, or may be realized by software (including a case where it is realized together with an OS (operating system), middleware, or a predetermined library). .. Further, it may be realized by mixed processing of software and hardware.

For example, in the above embodiment (including a modification), when each functional block of the recording device 20 is realized by software, the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 11 (for example, CPU, ROM, RAM, input unit, output unit) Etc. may be realized by software processing by using a hardware configuration in which etc. are connected by a bus Bus).

Further, the execution order of the processing methods in the above-described embodiment is not necessarily limited to the description of the above-described embodiment, and the execution order can be changed without departing from the gist of the invention.

A computer program that causes a computer to perform the above-mentioned method and a computer-readable recording medium that records the program are included in the scope of the present invention. Here, examples of computer-readable recording media include flexible disks, hard disks, CD-ROMs, MOs, DVDs, DVD-ROMs, DVD-RAMs, large-capacity DVDs, next-generation DVDs, and semiconductor memories. ..

The computer program is not limited to the one recorded on the recording medium, and may be transmitted via a telecommunication line, a wireless or wired communication line, a network typified by the Internet, or the like.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the above-described embodiment is merely an example for carrying out the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the above-described embodiment can be appropriately modified and implemented within a range that does not deviate from the gist thereof.

10 Camera 20 Recording device 21 Image acquisition unit 22 Fanning judgment unit 23 Recording control unit 24 Priority determination unit 25 Vehicle identification unit 26 Vehicle condition acquisition unit 27 Correction unit 28 Selection unit 29 Recording unit

Claims (7)

It is a drive recorder installed in the first vehicle,
Based on the vehicle peripheral image generated by the camera mounted on the first vehicle, the fanning determination unit for determining whether or not the first vehicle is receiving the fanning driving received from the second vehicle,
When it is determined by the fanning determination unit that the first vehicle is being driven, it is generated in the protection period including the time when it is determined that the first vehicle is being driven. A recording control unit that records the recorded image to be recorded in the recording unit and protects the image to be recorded recorded in the recording unit.
A priority determination unit that determines the protection priority of the image to be recorded based on the distance from the first vehicle to the second vehicle during the period in which it is determined that the vehicle is being driven.
When the recording control unit determines that the protection of at least one of the plurality of recording target images recorded in the recording unit is released, the plurality of recording target images are based on the plurality of protection priorities corresponding to the plurality of recording target images. A drive recorder including a selection unit that selects a recording target image whose protection is to be released from among the recording target images and notifies the recording control unit of the selected recording target image. The drive recorder according to claim 1.
The priority determination unit is a drive recorder that specifies the distance based on a vehicle peripheral image used when the fanning determination unit determines that the fanning driving is being performed. The drive recorder according to claim 1 or 2, further
When the fanning determination unit determines that the first vehicle is undergoing the fanning operation, the duration of the continuation of the fanning operation is acquired from the fanning determination unit, and the priority is given based on the acquired continuation period. A correction unit, which corrects the protection priority determined by the degree determination unit, is provided.
The selection unit is a drive recorder that selects a recording target image to be released from the protection by using the protection priority corrected by the correction unit. The drive recorder according to claim 3.
The correction unit is a drive recorder that corrects the determined protection priority based on the change in the distance during the duration. The drive recorder according to any one of claims 1 to 4, and further
When the fanning determination unit determines that the first vehicle is being driven by the second vehicle, the vehicle identification for determining whether or not the second vehicle can be identified from the generated vehicle peripheral image. Department and
A correction unit for correcting the protection priority determined by the priority determination unit based on the determination result of the vehicle identification unit is provided.
The selection unit is a drive recorder that selects a recording target image to be released from the protection by using the protection priority corrected by the correction unit. The drive recorder according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further
A correction unit for correcting the protection priority determined by the priority determination unit based on the state of the first vehicle is provided.
The selection unit is a drive recorder that selects a recording target image to be released from the protection by using the protection priority corrected by the correction unit. It is an image recording method that records a vehicle peripheral image generated by a camera mounted on the first vehicle.
Based on the vehicle peripheral image generated by the camera, a step of determining whether or not the first vehicle is undergoing the driving driven by the second vehicle, and
When it is determined that the first vehicle is undergoing road rage, among the generated vehicle peripheral images, the recording target image generated during the protection period including the time when it is determined to be road rage is recorded. A step of recording on a recording unit and protecting the image to be recorded recorded on the recording unit, and
A step of determining the protection priority of the image to be recorded based on the distance from the first vehicle to the second vehicle during the period when it is determined that the vehicle is being driven.
When at least one protection of the plurality of recording target images recorded in the recording unit is released, the protection of the plurality of recording target images is performed based on the plurality of protection priorities corresponding to the plurality of recording target images. An image recording method comprising a step of selecting an image to be recorded.

Images