JP2023057595A - Mechanical parking facility - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a mechanical parking facility allowing a vehicle to enter by appropriately indicating intention of entry of the vehicle from the inside of the vehicle without carrying equipment such as a remote controller.SOLUTION: A mechanical parking facility is equipped with a photographing device for photographing a vehicle, an image recognition device for recognizing the license plate of the vehicle from image data photographed by the photographing device, a collation device for collating information of the license plate recognized by the image recognition device with information of the registered license plate registered in advance, a behavior recognition device that recognizes the behavior of a vehicle registered in advance as an indication of an intention to entry of the vehicle, and a control device for starting the entering operation when the collation device authenticates the vehicle as the registered vehicle from the information of the license plate and the behavior recognition device recognizes the behavior of the registered vehicle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present application relates to a mechanical parking facility that can appropriately manage warehousing.

Conventionally, mechanical parking facilities for parking a plurality of vehicles are installed in condominiums, business districts, and the like. Various types of mechanical parking equipment such as a box type circulation type, a horizontal circulation type, a plane reciprocating type, a vertical/horizontal movement puzzle type, and an elevator type are adopted according to installation conditions. For example, in an elevator-type parking facility, a plurality of pallets on which vehicles are placed are provided.

On the other hand, in recent years, image processing technology has developed, and there is a technology in which the license plate of a vehicle is photographed when it is parked in a mechanical parking facility, and whether or not the parked vehicle is a registered vehicle is determined from the photographed image.

As a prior art of this kind, for example, there is a mechanical parking device that extracts a license plate from an image taken by an imaging camera with an image recognition device and outputs a parking command when the license plate matches registered data ( For example, see Patent Document 1).

As another prior art, there is a mechanical multilevel parking system in which an image recognition device recognizes a vehicle number from an image captured by a television camera (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

JP 2015-168985 A JP-A-63-151767

However, as in the above-mentioned prior art, if the parking operation is executed by recognizing the license plate with the camera, even if the vehicle does not intend to enter the parking lot, the mechanical parking equipment will stop in front of the parking equipment. The warehousing operation will be executed. In this case, useless call operations are performed in the mechanical parking equipment, and the user who wishes to make the next call operation has an unnecessary waiting time.

Remote controllers and the like are also known as devices for indicating the user's intention to enter the warehouse. However, each user must carry the remote control, and if the remote control cannot be used because it is forgotten or lost, it is not possible to quickly enter the warehouse. Moreover, since the user's intention to enter the warehouse cannot be communicated without operating the remote control, it may be difficult to enter the warehouse quickly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present application to provide a mechanical parking facility that allows a vehicle to properly indicate its intention to enter the vehicle without carrying a device such as a remote controller.

In order to achieve the above object, the mechanical parking equipment according to the present application includes a photographing device for photographing a vehicle, an image recognition device for recognizing the license plate of the vehicle from image data photographed by the photographing device, the image A matching device that compares the information of the license plate recognized by the recognition device with the information of the registered license plate that is registered in advance, and behavior recognition that recognizes the behavior of the vehicle that is registered in advance as a manifestation of intention to park the vehicle. and a control for starting a parking operation when the verification device authenticates that the vehicle is registered based on the license plate information, and the behavior recognition device recognizes the behavior of the registered vehicle. and a device. The "pre-registered behavior" in the specification and claims is the behavior of each part of the vehicle that is pre-registered as a manifestation of intent to enter the vehicle.

With this configuration, the image recognition device can recognize the information of the license plate of the vehicle from the image data photographed by the photographing device for photographing the vehicle. Then, the information of the license plate can be compared with the information of the registered license plate registered in advance by the collation device. In addition, the behavior recognition device can recognize the behavior of the vehicle that is registered in advance as an indication of intention to park the vehicle. As a result, it is possible to start the warehousing operation when the vehicle is authenticated as being registered in advance and when the behavior of warehousing the vehicle is recognized. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate "wasteful calling operations" and "need to carry and operate devices that are not used while driving a car".

Further, the pre-registered behavior includes any of a predetermined number of flashing headlights, a predetermined number of blinker lamp lighting in a predetermined direction, a predetermined number of hazard lamp lighting, a predetermined steering wheel operation, and a predetermined number of honking. It may be With this configuration, it is possible to indicate the intention to enter the warehousing using the functions provided in the vehicle, and it is possible to appropriately enter the warehousing without the need for other equipment.

Further, the control device may be configured to recognize the behavior of the declaration of intent to park the vehicle after authenticating the registered vehicle with the verification device. According to this configuration, the behavior of only the registered vehicle as a manifestation of intention to park the vehicle is recognized, so the behavior for parking can be efficiently recognized.

A vehicle detection device for detecting that the vehicle has entered a predetermined area to be photographed by the photographing device is further provided, and when the vehicle detection device detects that the vehicle has entered the predetermined area, the An image recognition device may be configured to recognize the license plate of the vehicle. With this configuration, license plate recognition is started after it is detected that a vehicle has entered the predetermined area, so the vehicle entering the parking area can be recognized efficiently.

Further, a display is provided, and the display is configured to display at least one of a recognition result of the license plate, a verification result of the license plate, and a message prompting behavior of manifesting intention to park the vehicle. may have been According to this configuration, the driver of the vehicle entering the parking lot can check the display on the display and appropriately perform the operation for entering the parking space.

According to the present application, it is possible to enter the mechanical parking facility by appropriately indicating the intention to enter from inside the vehicle without carrying a device such as a remote controller.

1 is a perspective view of an elevator parking facility and a vehicle according to one embodiment of the present application; FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main configuration for warehousing management in the elevator type parking facility shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of warehousing management in the elevator parking facility shown in FIG.

An embodiment of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiments, an elevator parking system 1 will be described as an example of the mechanical parking system. In addition, the mechanical parking equipment may be of a box type circulation type, a horizontal circulation type, a plane reciprocating type, a vertical/horizontal moving puzzle type, or other types, and is not limited to the elevator type parking facility 1.

(Configuration of elevator parking facility)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an elevator parking facility 1 and a vehicle V according to one embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the main configuration for warehousing management in the elevator type parking facility 1 shown in FIG. The internal configuration of the elevator-type parking facility 1 is not limited, and is the configuration of a known elevator-type parking facility 1, so a description of the inside is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 1, the elevator parking facility 1 of this embodiment is provided with an entrance door 11 on the ground floor of a parking tower 10 . The entrance/exit door 11 is of an opening/closing type, and the parked vehicle V enters or leaves the parking tower 10 through the entrance/exit door 11 . A camera 12 as a photographing device for photographing the vehicle V is provided obliquely above the entrance door 11 . The camera 12 has a resolution capable of recognizing license plate information from captured image data. The camera 12 is provided under the canopy 13 to prevent direct exposure to rain and sunlight.

In addition, the elevator parking facility 1 of this embodiment is equipped with a microphone 14 and a display 15 on the right side of the entrance door 11 . The microphone 14 can collect the horn of the vehicle V. The display 15 conveys messages to the driver of the vehicle V. FIG. The display 15 is provided at a position where the driver (user) can easily see it. The display 15 can include a speaker that emits sound. Note that the illustrated example is an example.

Further, inside the parking tower 10, a control device 20 is provided for controlling photographing by the camera 12, sound collection by the microphone 14, display of messages by the display 15, and the like. The control device 20 has a processor, a volatile memory, a nonvolatile memory, an I/O interface, and the like.

Further, in this embodiment, a predetermined area 30 for stopping the vehicle V is set in front of the entrance door 11 . The predetermined area 30 is set at a position where the vehicle V can be easily recognized by the camera 12 .

As shown in FIG. 2 , the camera 12 (photographing device), microphone 14 and display 15 are connected to the control device 20 . The control device 20 has an image recognition device 21 for recognizing the license plate from image data of the vehicle V photographed, and a collation device 22 for collating the information of the license plate with the registered information of the vehicle V. there is In this embodiment, the image recognition device 21 also serves as a vehicle detection device that detects that the vehicle V has stopped in the predetermined area 30 . Note that the camera 12, the image recognition device 21, the matching device 22, and the behavior recognition device 23 are configured separately, and a plurality of devices may be integrated into one. For example, the image recognition device 21 may be included in the control device 20 . The behavior recognition device 23 may be included in the image recognition device 21 . Also, the vehicle detection device may be provided separately from the image recognition device 21 . The configurations of these devices are not limited to this embodiment.

In addition, the control device 20 determines whether or not the behavior of the parking signal obtained from the camera 12, the microphone 14, etc. matches the behavior of the parking signal registered in advance by the behavior of the parking signal of the vehicle V. It has a behavior recognition device 23 that recognizes. Pre-registered behaviors for warehousing signals recognized by the behavior recognition device 23 include flashing of the headlights a predetermined number of times, lighting of the turn signal lamps a predetermined number of times in a predetermined direction (including left and right alternating), and hazard lamps a predetermined number of times. lighting, a predetermined steering wheel operation, a predetermined number of horns, and the like. The behavior of the warehousing signal may be a single behavior or a behavior combining a plurality of behaviors. The display 15 is also connected to the control device 20 and displays messages to the driver.

In this embodiment, the image recognition device 21 , the matching device 22 and the behavior recognition device 23 are included in the control device 20 . The image recognition device 21, the matching device 22, and the behavior recognition device 23 are implemented by a processor performing arithmetic processing using a volatile memory based on a program stored in a nonvolatile memory provided in the control device 20.

In this embodiment, controller 20 includes a parking device control system 40 . Then, the information of the license plate recognized by the image recognition device 21 is collated by the collation device 22, the collation result matches the information of the registered license plate, and when the behavior recognition device 23 recognizes the parking signal, the parking device control system 40 The warehousing operation is started.

In this embodiment, the elevator parking facility 1 is provided with the control device 20, but the functions of the control device 20 may be provided on the cloud. When the control device 20 is provided on the cloud, the elevator parking facility 1 is provided with only the parking device control system 40, and the elevator parking facility 1 is connected with the control device 20 through a network.

(Storage management of elevator parking facilities)
FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing an example of warehousing management in the elevator parking facility 1 shown in FIG. In this example, a predetermined area 30 is provided in front of the entrance/exit door 11, and after the controller 20 recognizes that the vehicle V has stopped in the predetermined area 30, entry management is performed. Also, an example in which the warehousing signal is "passing" and a message is displayed on the display 15 will be described.

First, it is determined whether or not the vehicle V is stopped in the predetermined area 30 (S1). When the vehicle V stops at the predetermined area 30, the camera 12 takes an image of the vehicle V (S2). The control device 20 uses the image recognition device 21 to extract license plate information from the image data captured by the camera 12 (S3). If the image recognition device 21 fails to recognize the information on the license plate, the display 15 or the like notifies the driver to correct the position of the vehicle V (further forward, further to the right or left, etc.), and the image is reproduced again. The recognition device 21 may recognize information on the license plate. The control device 20 checks the extracted license plate information with the pre-registered registered license plate information by the checking device 22 (S4). In this embodiment, first, information on the license plate is recognized to verify whether or not the vehicle V is registered. If the license plate information is not registered, the control device 20 terminates.

If the information on the license plate can be compared with the information on the registered license plate, the control device 20 displays a message on the display device 15 to make a warehousing signal (S5). For example, the display unit 15 displays a message "If you want to perform a call operation, pass twice." After that, the vehicle V is photographed by the camera 12 (or the microphone 14 if the signal to enter is a horn) (S6), and the behavior recognition device 23 confirms whether the signal to enter is given (S7). In this example, confirmation of the warehousing signal is repeated until the flashing of the headlights is performed a predetermined number of times, but if the warehousing signal cannot be confirmed, a message may be issued to issue another warehousing signal.

When the behavior recognition device 23 confirms the entry signal, the control device 20 causes the parking device control system 40 to start the entry operation of the elevator parking facility 1 (S8). In the warehousing operation, for example, a pallet calling operation for warehousing the vehicle V is performed, and control is performed such that the entrance/exit door 11 is opened when the pallet is placed in the warehousing/dispatching section.

As described above, according to the elevator parking system 1, when the driver stops the vehicle V in the predetermined area 30, the image recognition device 21 recognizes the information of the license plate, and the verification device 22 recognizes the information of the license plate. It is collated whether it is the vehicle V registered from. When the verification device 22 verifies that the vehicle is the registered vehicle V, the display device 15 prompts a signal to enter the vehicle, and the behavior recognition device 23 recognizes the behavior of the vehicle V as the driver's intention to enter the vehicle. 2, the entering operation of the elevator type parking facility 1 (calling operation of the pallet corresponding to the vehicle V) can be automatically started.

Therefore, the driver can enter the elevator-type parking facility 1 (mechanical parking facility) by appropriately indicating the intention to enter from inside the vehicle V without carrying a device such as a remote control.

In the above-described embodiment, after the vehicle V photographed by the camera 12 is identified as a registered vehicle, a predetermined operation is requested by the display 15 or by voice, and the driver responds to the request by giving a "parking signal". Although an example of doing this has been described, after recognizing the warehousing signal (behavior) of the vehicle V, it may be collated whether or not the vehicle V is a "registered vehicle".

As described above, according to the above-described elevator parking system 1, the camera 12 is used to indicate the intention of parking by using the behaviors such as the passing of the headlights, the lighting of the turn signal lamps, the horn, etc., which are the functions originally possessed by the vehicle V. is confirmed, and the call operation (entering operation) of the elevator type parking facility 1 can be automatically performed. If a pre-registered entry signal is not recognized due to a malfunction of the vehicle V or the behavior recognition device 23, etc., the intention of entry may be indicated by operating a separately provided operation panel or the like.

(Other modifications)
In the above-described embodiment, normal warehousing management of the vehicle V entering the warehousing has been described. The image recognition device 21 may continue to confirm the existence of the vehicle V even after starting the operation. Then, if the existence of the vehicle V cannot be recognized before the entrance door 11 is opened (for example, if the vehicle V leaves), the entering operation may be canceled. The presence of the vehicle V may be confirmed by detection means such as a loop coil, for example.

In addition, after starting the entering operation, the image recognition device 21 does not continue to confirm that the vehicle V exists, but before the entrance door 11 is opened, the image recognition device 21 is used again to confirm the license plate information. Recognition may be performed, and if recognition is not possible, the entering operation may be canceled.

As another modified example, after the entrance door 11 is opened, a predetermined time passes without detecting the entry of the vehicle V or a person, and the vehicle V recognized by the image recognition device 21 is absent in the predetermined area 30. If so, it may be determined that the entry is canceled, and the entrance/exit door 11 may be closed so that the next entry/exit process can be performed.

In addition, a camera 12 for photographing the license plate of the vehicle V entering from the entrance door 11 may be further provided inside the parking tower 10 . Then, the image recognition device 21 recognizes the information of the license plate of the vehicle V that has entered the parking tower 10 and the information of the license plate of the vehicle V before entering the parking tower 10, and the collation device 22 collates the information to obtain the information. The warehousing operation may be continued only when the .

Further, unlike the above-described embodiment, the license plate information of the vehicle V stopped in the predetermined area 30 is not recognized by the image recognition device 21, but the vehicle V approaching the parking tower 10 is continuously detected. You may make it read the information of a license plate. In this case, the information on the license plate is read, and if the collation by the collating device 22 is successful, a message can be displayed on the display 15 so as to act as a warehousing signal.

As another modification, instead of photographing the vehicle V with the camera 12 in front of the parking tower 10, the vehicle V is photographed with the camera 12 when entering the site where the elevator type parking facility 1 is installed. can be In this case, at the stage of entering the premises, the image recognition device 21 recognizes the license plate information, the verification device 22 verifies whether the vehicle V is registered or not, starts the warehousing operation, and retrieves the pallet corresponding to the vehicle V. It can be kept in a waiting state for boarding. In this case, the vehicle V is photographed again by the camera 12 in front of the entrance door 11, the license plate information is recognized by the image recognition device 21, and the entrance signal is recognized by the behavior recognition device 23, thereby opening the entrance door 11. You can get it in stock faster. In this way, until the vehicle V stops in front of the entrance/exit door 11, it is possible to verify whether or not the vehicle V is registered, thereby shortening the waiting time for warehousing.

Even after the behavior of the vehicle V is recognized by the behavior recognition device 23, the behavior of the vehicle V is continuously monitored by the behavior recognition device 23, and a predetermined number of passings as a predetermined cancellation signal or a predetermined number of hazards are detected. Cancellation of warehousing may be accepted by blinking of a lamp or the like. In this way, the user can appropriately indicate his/her intention to enter and also cancel from within the vehicle V by utilizing the functions of the vehicle V without carrying a device such as a remote controller. , convenience can be greatly improved.

In addition, if the number cannot be recognized (for example, an error due to backlighting of the sun, dirt on the license plate, decorative number frame, etc.), this is notified by the display 15 or the like, and known authentication means (remote control, personal identification number, IC card, biometrics) may be used for authentication.

In addition, when registering the license plate information of the vehicle V in advance, parking fee payment information (for example, credit card information) is registered in association with the license plate information, and the parking fee is automatically paid. You may do so.

(Summary)
As described above, according to the above-described elevator parking facility 1 (mechanical parking facility), the vehicle V can be recognized from the license plate of the vehicle V, and the intention to enter the vehicle can be confirmed from the behavior of the vehicle V. The entering operation can be started only when the vehicle V is recognized. Therefore, it is possible to enter the elevator parking facility 1 (mechanical parking facility) by appropriately indicating the intention to enter from inside the vehicle V without carrying a device such as a remote controller. Therefore, the user (driver) does not need to carry a device such as a remote controller or get off the vehicle V to operate the operation panel, thereby improving convenience for the user.

The elevator parking facility 1 (mechanical parking facility) is not limited to the configuration in the above-described embodiment. For example, if a parking facility has a bar gate at the entrance of a parking lot, a camera 12 is provided at the position of the bar gate, and the bar gate is detected by photographing the vehicle V, verifying the license plate, and recognizing the behavior of the parking signal. can be made to open. In this case, the opening operation of the bar gate is the start of the warehousing operation. In addition, other forms such as a box type circulation type, a horizontal circulation type, and a plane reciprocating type can also be used, and are not limited to the above-described embodiments.

Furthermore, the above-described embodiment shows an example, various modifications are possible within the scope of the present application, and the present application is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

1 Elevator type parking facility 10 Parking tower 11 Entrance door 12 Camera (photographing device)
13 Eaves 14 Microphone 15 Display 20 Control Device 21 Image Recognition Device 22 Verification Device 23 Behavior Recognition Device 30 Predetermined Area 40 Parking Device Control System
V vehicle

Claims (5)

a photographing device for photographing a vehicle;
an image recognition device that recognizes the license plate of the vehicle from image data captured by the imaging device;
a collation device for collating the information of the license plate recognized by the image recognition device with the information of the registered license plate registered in advance;
a behavior recognition device that recognizes a behavior of the vehicle registered in advance as a manifestation of intention to park the vehicle;
a control device for starting a parking operation when the verification device authenticates that the vehicle is registered based on the license plate information, and the behavior recognition device recognizes the behavior of the registered vehicle; Mechanical parking equipment with. The pre-registered behavior is any of a predetermined number of times of flashing of the headlights, a predetermined number of times of lighting of the blinker lamps in a predetermined direction, a predetermined number of times of lighting of the hazard lamps, a predetermined number of steering wheel operations, and a predetermined number of times of honking. be,
A mechanical parking facility according to claim 1. The control device is configured to recognize the behavior of the declaration of intention to park the vehicle after authenticating that the vehicle is registered with the verification device.
3. Mechanical parking equipment according to claim 1 or 2. further comprising a vehicle detection device for detecting that the vehicle has entered a predetermined area to be photographed by the photographing device;
When the vehicle detection device detects that the vehicle has entered the predetermined area, the image recognition device recognizes the license plate of the vehicle.
The mechanical parking equipment according to any one of claims 1-3. further equipped with an indicator,
The display is configured to display at least one of the recognition result of the license plate, the verification result of the license plate, and a message prompting the behavior of the intention to park the vehicle.
Mechanical parking equipment according to any one of claims 1-4.

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