JP2023060081A - Processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve an efficiency of a work of collecting map data as one object.

SOLUTION: The present invention provides a processing device 10 comprising: a specification unit 11 that specifies a re-acquisition position where a cause of a re-acquisition has been eliminated based on re-acquisition position information for indicating a re-acquisition position requiring re-acquisition and a cause of re-acquisition of first peripheral information for indicating an object around a first moving object acquired by a sensor disposed on the first moving object, and second peripheral information for indicating an object around a second moving object acquired by a sensor disposed on the second moving object; and a transmission unit 12 that transmits information for indicating a re-acquisition position whose cause of re-acquisition has been resolved to the first moving object.

SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

COPYRIGHT: (C)2023,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a processing device, processing method and program.

In Patent Document 1, an image acquisition unit that acquires images captured by a plurality of imaging units arranged at different positions, a parallax information generation unit that generates parallax information about a part that is common among the plurality of images, and a plurality of and an occlusion area detection unit for detecting a background occlusion area that is captured by some of the image sensors and that cannot be captured by other image sensors because it is hidden by an object.

JP 2017-175483 A

For the purpose of generating map data, etc., the work of placing a sensor (e.g. camera, LIDAR, radar, etc.) on a moving object (e.g. automobile) and acquiring surrounding information with the sensor while moving (work of collecting map data). is done. In this work, data must be reacquired due to the occurrence of an occlusion area or the like, which causes a problem of poor work efficiency. One object of the present invention is to improve the efficiency of work for collecting map data.

A first invention according to the present disclosure is
Re-acquisition position information indicating a re-acquisition position requiring re-acquisition and a cause of re-acquisition of first peripheral information indicating objects around the first moving body acquired by a sensor arranged on the first moving body; A specifying unit that specifies the reacquisition position where the cause of the reacquisition has been eliminated, based on second peripheral information indicating objects in the vicinity of the second moving body acquired by a sensor arranged on the second moving body. and,
a transmitting unit configured to transmit information indicating the reacquisition position at which the cause of the reacquisition has been resolved to the first moving body;
It is a processing apparatus having

This disclosure includes:
the computer
Re-acquisition position information indicating a re-acquisition position requiring re-acquisition and a cause of re-acquisition of first peripheral information indicating objects around the first moving body acquired by a sensor arranged on the first moving body; identifying the reacquisition position where the cause of the reacquisition has been eliminated, based on second peripheral information indicating objects in the vicinity of the second moving body acquired by a sensor arranged on the second moving body; and,
a transmission step of transmitting information indicating the reacquisition position where the cause of the reacquisition has been resolved to the first mobile body;
includes a processing method for performing

This disclosure includes:
the computer,
Re-acquisition position information indicating a re-acquisition position requiring re-acquisition and a cause of re-acquisition of first peripheral information indicating objects around the first moving body acquired by a sensor arranged on the first moving body; Identifying means for identifying the reacquisition position where the cause of the reacquisition has been eliminated, based on second peripheral information indicating objects in the vicinity of the second moving body acquired by a sensor arranged on the second moving body. ,
transmitting means for transmitting information indicating the re-acquisition position where the cause of the re-acquisition has been resolved to the first moving object;
It contains programs that act as

1 is a functional block diagram for explaining an overview of a system including a processing device; FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the hardware constitutions of a processing apparatus. It is an example of a functional block diagram of a processing device. It is a figure which shows typically an example of the information produced|generated by a processing apparatus. It is a figure which shows typically an example of the information output by a processing apparatus. It is a figure which shows typically an example of the information output by a processing apparatus. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of a processing flow of a processing device; 4 is a flow chart showing an example of a processing flow of a processing device; It is an example of a functional block diagram of a processing device.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, in all the drawings, the same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

First, the outline of the processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described. The processing device of the present embodiment performs the work of collecting map data, more specifically, a sensor (eg, camera, LIDAR, radar, etc.) is placed on a moving object (eg, automobile), and the sensor detects the surrounding area while moving. It is used for work to acquire information.

As shown in FIG. 1, the processing device 10 cooperates with a first moving body 20 and a second moving body 30 to execute predetermined processing. The processing device 10 is, for example, a server, and is configured to be able to communicate with systems provided in each of the first mobile body 20 and the second mobile body 30 . The numbers of the first moving bodies 20 and the second moving bodies 30 are not limited to those illustrated.

The first moving body 20 is a dedicated moving body prepared for the work of collecting map data. The first moving body 20 is equipped with a high-performance sensor for collecting map data, dedicated equipment, and the like. The first moving body 20 collects surrounding information with a sensor while moving. The peripheral information collected by the first moving body 20 is utilized as map data.

The second moving body 30 is a moving body different from the dedicated moving body (the first moving body 20) prepared for the work of collecting map data. For example, the second mobile body 30 may be a mobile body that ordinary people ride in their daily lives. Similarly, the second moving body 30 also collects surrounding information with a sensor while moving. The peripheral information collected by the second moving body 30 is mainly used for controlling the own moving body.

The processing device 10 communicates with each of the first mobile body 20 and the second mobile body 30 and acquires the peripheral information collected by each of the first mobile body 20 and the second mobile body 30 .

The processing device 10 analyzes the first surrounding information indicating the objects around the first moving body 20 acquired by the sensors arranged on the first moving body 20, and determines whether re-acquisition of the first surrounding information is necessary. to decide. Then, the processing device 10 generates re-acquisition position information indicating the re-acquisition position where re-acquisition of the first peripheral information is necessary and the cause of the re-acquisition.

In addition, the processing device 10 identifies a reacquisition position where the cause of the reacquisition has been eliminated, based on the reacquisition position information and the second peripheral information collected by the second moving body 30 . Then, the processing device 10 transmits to the first moving body 20 information indicating the reacquisition position at which the cause of the reacquisition has been eliminated.

According to the processing device 10 of the present embodiment as described above, the crew of the first moving body 20 (the worker who collects the map data) can eliminate the cause of the reacquisition based on the information transmitted from the processing device 10. It is possible to grasp the reacquisition position. Then, after eliminating the cause, it is possible to go to the reacquisition position and reacquire the first peripheral information. According to the processing device 10 of the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce the inconvenience that the cause of the reacquisition still remains even though the user went to the reacquisition position to reacquire the first peripheral information. As a result, the efficiency of work for collecting map data is improved.

Next, the configuration of the processing apparatus 10 of this embodiment will be described in detail. First, an example of the hardware configuration of the processing device 10 will be described. The functions provided by the processing device 10 include a CPU (Central Processing Unit) of any computer, a memory, a program loaded into the memory, a storage unit such as a hard disk that stores the program (stored in advance from the stage of shipping the device). In addition to programs, it can also store programs downloaded from storage media such as CDs (Compact Discs) and servers on the Internet), and can be realized by any combination of hardware and software centered on the interface for network connection. . It should be understood by those skilled in the art that there are various modifications to the implementation method and apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the hardware configuration of the processing device 10. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the processing device 10 has a processor 1A, a memory 2A, an input/output interface 3A, a peripheral circuit 4A and a bus 5A. The peripheral circuit 4A includes various modules. Note that the peripheral circuit 4A may not be provided.

The bus 5A is a data transmission path for mutually transmitting and receiving data between the processor 1A, memory 2A, peripheral circuit 4A and input/output interface 3A. The processor 1A is an arithmetic processing device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The memory 2A is, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a ROM (Read Only Memory). The input/output interface 3A is an interface for acquiring information from an input device (eg, keyboard, mouse, microphone, etc.), an external device, an external server, an external sensor, etc., an information output device (eg, display, speaker, printer, mailer, etc.), an interface for outputting information to an external device, an external server, and the like. The processor 1A can issue commands to each module and perform calculations based on the calculation results thereof.

Next, the functional configuration of the processing device 10 will be described. FIG. 3 shows an example of a functional block diagram of the processing device 10 of this embodiment. As illustrated, the processing device 10 has an identifying unit 11 , a transmitting unit 12 , a receiving unit 13 and an updating unit 14 .

The receiving unit 13 receives the first surrounding information from the first moving body 20 . Also, the receiving unit 13 receives the second peripheral information from the second moving body 30 .

During movement, the first mobile body 20 collects first peripheral information indicating objects around the first mobile body 20 with sensors arranged on the first mobile body 20 . In addition, the second mobile body 30 collects second peripheral information indicating objects around the second mobile body 30 with sensors arranged on the second mobile body 30 during movement.

Examples of sensors include, but are not limited to, cameras, LIDAR, radar, and the like. A plurality of sensors may be arranged on each of the first moving body 20 and the second moving body 30, or one sensor may be arranged. When multiple sensors are arranged, the multiple sensors may be of the same type or may be of different types.

The first peripheral information and the second peripheral information are images (including range images) generated by sensors, for example. The first peripheral information and the second peripheral information are associated with measurement date and time, measurement position (eg, latitude, longitude, etc.) and the like.

Based on the first peripheral information, the updating unit 14 determines whether or not the first peripheral information needs to be reacquired. Then, the update unit 14 updates the reacquisition position information based on the determination result. The re-acquisition position information indicates the re-acquisition position at which re-acquisition of the first peripheral information is necessary and the cause of the re-acquisition.

First, the process of determining whether or not it is necessary to reacquire the first peripheral information will be described. When the first surrounding information indicates a predetermined obstacle, the updating unit 14 can determine that it is necessary to re-acquire the first surrounding information at the position where the first surrounding information was acquired. Obstacles are objects that are unnecessary for map data, more specifically, objects that are likely to move from their positions, and examples include, but are not limited to, people, cars, bicycles, buses, and the like.

The update unit 14 may hold in advance a feature amount indicating features of the appearance of the obstacle. Then, it may be determined whether or not the first peripheral information indicates an obstacle by searching whether or not there is a portion indicating the feature amount in the image generated by the sensor.

The updating unit 14 may also extract features of the appearance of obstacles indicated by the first peripheral information determined to require reacquisition. For example, if the obstacle is a person, gender, age group, physique, color of clothes, etc. may be extracted. If the obstacle is a car, information such as color, vehicle type, and license plate information may be extracted.

Further, the updating unit 14 analyzes the first peripheral information, and uses one or more marks (other objects appearing in the image) included in the first peripheral information as a reference to determine the position of the obstacle (the distance from the mark). relative position) may be calculated.

Next, reacquisition position information will be described. FIG. 4 schematically shows an example of reacquisition position information. The reacquisition location information shown in the figure includes a serial number, the location (eg, latitude, longitude, etc.) at which the first peripheral information determined to require reacquisition was acquired, and the first peripheral information determined to require reacquisition. is associated with the time at which the first peripheral information was acquired and the reason why it was determined that the first peripheral information needs to be acquired again. The cause may be the type of obstacle indicated by the first peripheral information.

Although not shown, the update unit 14 may include information indicating the appearance characteristics of each obstacle and the position of each obstacle (eg, relative position from the above-described mark) in the reacquisition position information. good.

Returning to FIG. 3, the identifying unit 11 identifies the reacquisition position where the cause of the reacquisition has been resolved based on the reacquisition position information (see FIG. 4) and the second peripheral information.

The specifying unit 11 analyzes the second peripheral information acquired at the re-acquisition position, and determines whether or not the obstacle that caused the re-acquisition is indicated by the second peripheral information (whether it appears in the image). to judge. Then, when the obstacle that caused the reacquisition is indicated by the second peripheral information, the specifying unit 11 determines that the cause of the reacquisition has not been eliminated. On the other hand, if the obstacle that caused the reacquisition is not indicated in the second peripheral information, the specifying unit 11 determines that the cause of the reacquisition has been resolved.

Although the method of determining whether or not the obstacle that caused the reacquisition is indicated by the second peripheral information is not particularly limited, an example will be described. For example, based on the information indicating the position of the obstacle generated by the updating unit 14 (eg, the position relative to the above-mentioned mark), the identifying unit 11 identifies the location where the obstacle is located in the second peripheral information. determines whether it contains If it is included, based on the appearance features of the obstacle generated by the updating unit 14, the specifying unit 11 adds the same appearance features as the obstacle to the location where the obstacle is located in the second peripheral information. Determine whether an object exists.

Note that the identifying unit 11 obtains second peripheral information indicating that the cause of reacquisition has been resolved from the plurality of second moving bodies 30 (second peripheral information that does not indicate the obstacle that caused the reacquisition). may be identified as a reacquisition position where the cause of the reacquisition has been eliminated. In this case, the accuracy of identifying that the cause of reacquisition has been resolved is increased.

Further, the identifying unit 11 generates second peripheral information indicating that the cause of reacquisition at a certain reacquisition position (first reacquisition position) has been resolved (the obstacle that caused the reacquisition is not indicated). When the second peripheral information) is acquired from a plurality of second moving bodies within a predetermined time, the reacquisition position (first reacquisition position) is specified as a reacquisition position where the cause of the reacquisition has been resolved. good too. In this case, the accuracy of identifying that the cause of reacquisition has been resolved is increased.

The transmitting unit 12 transmits to the first moving body 20 information indicating the reacquisition position where the cause of the reacquisition has been eliminated. The transmitting unit 12 transmits to the first mobile unit 20 information indicating the time at which the second peripheral information indicating that the cause of the re-acquisition has been resolved (the time at which the second mobile unit 30 acquired the information). good too.

Note that "send to the first mobile unit 20" means "send to a system mounted on the first mobile unit 20 (e.g., ECU (electronic control unit), dedicated equipment for collecting map data, etc.)". Alternatively, it may be "transmission to a portable device such as a smartphone, tablet terminal, mobile phone, or notebook PC (personal computer) brought by the passenger into the first mobile body 20".

The information transmitted to the first mobile body 20 is presented to the passenger of the first mobile body 20 . Specifically, it is output via an output device such as a display or projection device mounted on or brought into the first moving body 20 . This enables the passenger of the first mobile body 20 to check the information.

FIG. 5 shows an example of information transmitted from the processing device 10 and presented to the passenger of the first moving body 20. As shown in FIG. The information shown maps the reacquisition locations onto a map. The positions marked "re" are the reacquisition positions. The illustrated information indicates information indicating that the cause of reacquisition has been eliminated in association with the reacquisition position where the cause of reacquisition has been eliminated. A reacquisition position marked with a "cause eliminated" mark is a reacquisition position where the cause of the reacquisition has been eliminated. According to this information, it is possible to intuitively grasp the reacquisition position and the reacquisition position where the cause of the reacquisition has been eliminated.

FIG. 6 shows another example of information transmitted from the processing device 10 and presented to the passenger of the first moving body 20. In FIG. The illustrated information differs from the information illustrated in FIG. 5 in that it indicates the time when the cause of reacquisition was resolved. According to this information, it is possible to intuitively grasp the reacquisition position and the reacquisition position where the cause of the reacquisition has been eliminated. In addition, since the time when the cause of the reacquisition has been resolved can be grasped, it is possible to grasp the approximate timing of reacquisition of the first peripheral information at the reacquisition position where the cause of the reacquisition has been removed, based on the time. . For example, if it is recommended to go to the reacquisition position within 10 minutes from the cancellation time, if the cancellation time is 9:15, set a guideline that the reacquisition position should be reached by 9:25. can be done.

Next, an example of the flow of processing performed by the processing device 10 to update the reacquisition position information will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 7 .

In S<b>10 , the receiving unit 13 receives the first surrounding information from the first moving body 20 .

In S11, the update unit 14 analyzes the first peripheral information and determines whether or not it is necessary to reacquire the first peripheral information. Note that, when determining that the first peripheral information needs to be reacquired, the updating unit 14 may extract features of the appearance of the obstacle indicated by the first peripheral information. Also, the updating unit 14 may calculate the position of the obstacle. For example, the updating unit 14 calculates the position of the obstacle (relative position from the mark) based on one or more marks (other objects in the image) included in the first peripheral information. You may

In S12, the update unit 14 updates the reacquisition position information based on the determination result of S11. Specifically, the updating unit 14 newly registers the location (reacquisition location) where the first peripheral information determined to require reacquisition and the cause of the reacquisition are newly registered in the reacquisition location information.

In addition, it is preferable that the receiving unit 13 receives the first peripheral information acquired by the sensor arranged on the first moving body 20 by real-time processing. Note that the receiving unit 13 may receive the first peripheral information collectively at fixed time intervals (batch processing), but by setting the fixed time to a relatively small value, the processing conforms to real-time processing. is preferred.

Then, the updating unit 14 analyzes the first peripheral information received by the receiving unit 13 and updates the reacquisition position information by real-time processing. Note that the update unit 14 may analyze the first peripheral information collectively at fixed time intervals and update the reacquisition position information (batch processing). It is preferable to apply a treatment according to the treatment.

Next, an example of the flow of processing in which the processing device 10 determines whether the cause of reacquisition has been resolved will be described using the flowchart of FIG. 8 .

In S<b>20 , the receiving unit 13 receives the second surrounding information from the second moving body 30 .

In S21, the specifying unit 11 specifies a reacquisition position where the cause of the reacquisition has been resolved based on the reacquisition position information and the second peripheral information.

In S<b>22 , the transmission unit 12 notifies the passenger of the first mobile body 20 of the information indicating the reacquisition position whose cause of reacquisition has been resolved to the first mobile body 20 .

In addition, it is preferable that the receiving unit 13 receives the second peripheral information acquired by the sensor arranged on the second moving body 30 by real-time processing. Note that the receiving unit 13 may receive the second peripheral information collectively at fixed time intervals (batch processing), but by setting the fixed time to a relatively small value, the processing conforms to real-time processing. is preferred.

Then, the specifying unit 11 analyzes the second peripheral information received by the receiving unit 13 in real time processing, and specifies the reacquisition position where the cause of reacquisition has been eliminated. Note that the identification unit 11 may analyze the second peripheral information collectively at fixed time intervals and identify reacquisition positions where the cause of reacquisition has been eliminated (batch processing), but the fixed time period is relatively short. It is preferable that the processing conforms to the real-time processing by using the value.

Then, the transmission unit 12 transmits information indicating the re-acquisition position where the cause of the re-acquisition has been resolved to the first moving body 20 by real-time processing. The transmitting unit 12 may collectively transmit information indicating the reacquisition positions whose cause of reacquisition has been eliminated to the first moving body 20 at regular intervals (batch processing). By setting the value to a small value, it is preferable to perform processing according to real-time processing.

According to the processing device 10 of the present embodiment described above, the crew of the first moving body 20 (the worker who collects the map data) can eliminate the cause of the reacquisition based on the information transmitted from the processing device 10. It is possible to grasp the reacquisition position. Then, after eliminating the cause, it is possible to go to the reacquisition position and reacquire the first peripheral information. According to the processing device 10 of the present embodiment as described above, it is possible to reduce the inconvenience that the cause of the reacquisition still remains after going to the reacquisition position in order to reacquire the first peripheral information. As a result, the efficiency of work for collecting map data is improved.

Here, a modified example of this embodiment will be described. In the above example, the receiving unit 13 receives the first surrounding information from the first mobile unit 20, the updating unit 14 determines whether reacquisition of the first surrounding information is necessary based on the first surrounding information, and the updating unit 14 updated the reacquisition location information based on the judgment result.

As a modification, the first moving body 20 may determine whether or not it is necessary to reacquire the first surrounding information based on the first surrounding information. Then, the receiving unit 13 may receive the result of the determination by the first moving body 20 instead of or in addition to the first peripheral information. Specifically, the receiving unit 13 receives the position (eg, latitude, longitude, etc.) at which the first surrounding information determined to require reacquisition is acquired from the first moving body 20, The time when the first peripheral information was acquired, the reason why it was determined that re-acquisition of the first peripheral information was necessary, the appearance characteristics of the obstacle, the position of the obstacle (e.g., relative position from the above-mentioned mark) and the like may be received. Then, the updating unit 14 may update the reacquisition location information based on the information received by the receiving unit 13 . The method of determination by the first moving body 20 may be the same as the method of determination by the updating unit 14 described above.

During movement, the first mobile body 20 collects first peripheral information indicating objects around the first mobile body 20 with sensors arranged on the first mobile body 20 . In addition, the second mobile body 30 collects second peripheral information indicating objects around the second mobile body 30 with sensors arranged on the second mobile body 30 during movement.

Another modification of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 9 shows an example of a functional block diagram of the processing device 10 of the modification. As illustrated, the processing device 10 has an identification unit 11 and a transmission unit 12 . The processing device 10 of the modified example does not have the receiving unit 13 and the updating unit 14 . In the case of the modification, another device physically and/or logically separated from the processing device 10 may include the receiving unit 13 and the updating unit 14 . Then, the processing device 10 may be configured to be communicable with the other device. In the case of the modification, the functions of the processing device 10 described above are realized by cooperative work between the processing device 10 and the other device.

Another modification of this embodiment will be described. The first moving body 20 may have an automatic driving function. Then, the transmitting unit 12 transmits information for controlling the movement of the first moving body 20 to the first moving body 20 in addition to or instead of the "information presented to the passenger" described above. good too. Information for controlling the movement of the first moving body 20 is information for setting a reacquisition position where the cause of reacquisition has been resolved as a destination or a transit point. The information is input to the ECU, for example. The ECU searches for a travel route based on the set destination, passing points, and current position. Then, the first moving body 20 is moved along the searched moving route.

In these modifications as well, the efficiency of work for collecting map data is improved.

Although the embodiments and examples have been described above with reference to the drawings, these are examples of the present invention, and various configurations other than those described above can be adopted.

1A processor 2A memory 3A input/output I/F
4A Peripheral Circuit 5A Bus 10 Processing Device 11 Identifying Unit 12 Transmitting Unit 13 Receiving Unit 14 Updating Unit 20 First Mobile 30 Second Mobile

Claims (1)

Re-acquisition position information indicating a re-acquisition position requiring re-acquisition and a cause of re-acquisition of first peripheral information indicating objects around the first moving body acquired by a sensor arranged on the first moving body; A specifying unit that specifies the reacquisition position where the cause of the reacquisition has been eliminated, based on second peripheral information indicating objects in the vicinity of the second moving body acquired by a sensor arranged on the second moving body. and,
a transmitting unit configured to transmit information indicating the reacquisition position at which the cause of the reacquisition has been resolved to the first moving body;
A processing device having

Images