JP3019901B2 - Vehicle specification automatic measurement device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic measuring device for vehicle specifications,
In particular, the present invention relates to a vehicle specification automatic measurement device capable of measuring the specifications of a vehicle while minimizing manual operations.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Tolls are imposed on vehicles running on a road at a fixed rate according to the size of the vehicles.
Especially for large vehicles, etc., the height, width and length of each vehicle are measured and output under the direction of the competent authority,
The fact that the vehicle is a large vehicle and the measurement has been completed is displayed by a sticker or the like. Conventionally, when measuring the specifications of such a vehicle, the vehicle to be measured is pulled into a field for inspection, and a clerk uses a tape measure, a scaled rod, or the like to determine a vehicle height, a vehicle width, and a vehicle length. Was being measured. On the other hand, regarding the vehicle height, for example, a measuring instrument configured by arranging a plurality of light emitters in a vertical direction is prepared, the vehicle is stopped before that, and observed from the opposite side,
The measurement was performed by checking how many luminous bodies were blocked by the vehicle and partially automated.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional method for automatically measuring vehicle specifications, since the vehicle height, vehicle width, and vehicle length are measured by hand, the work is complicated. In addition, there is a problem that costs such as labor costs are required.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a quick and economical apparatus for automating the measurement of vehicle specifications.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a plurality of cameras, a measurement controller, a projector, a light receiver, a signal processor, and a data processor. Perform edge detection processing on stereo image data obtained by a plurality of cameras, calculate vehicle height and vehicle length data from feature points in the corresponding vehicle rear edge of the plurality of cameras, and The vehicle width is obtained from each feature point of the corresponding left and right edges, and the obtained vehicle height, vehicle width, and vehicle length data are output to a data processing device. The gist is a vehicle specification automatic measurement device that determines the specifications of vehicle width and length.

[0006]

According to the above construction, the vehicle specification measurement according to the present invention is performed.
Apparatus, the signal processing of the image data by a plurality of cameras
The vehicle height and width are measured , and the signal and image from the vehicle position detector
The vehicle length is measured based on the signal obtained by processing the data .

[0007]

1 to 7 are views for explaining an embodiment of an automatic vehicle specification measuring apparatus according to the present invention. Of these figures, FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the vehicle specification automatic measurement device according to this embodiment. In FIG.
a is a light transmitter, 1b is a light receiver for detecting the front end of the vehicle that has entered the vehicle measurement field together with the light projector 1a, and the light detector 1a and the light receiver 1b constitute a vehicle detection unit 2. Reference numeral 3 denotes a signal processing unit that processes signals from the light projector 1a and the light receiver 1b, and 4 denotes an imaging unit that captures images of vehicles entering the vehicle measurement field, and includes CCD cameras 4a, 4b,.
……. 5 is an axle load / weight meter installed on the road surface of the vehicle measurement field to measure the weight of the vehicle, 6 is detection of vehicle entry into the vehicle measurement field and CC.
A measurement control unit that controls the operation of the D camera 4, and a data processing device that obtains a measurement result by calculation based on data from the measurement control unit 6.

The light projector 1a and the light receiver 1b are composed of a pair of LEDs and a light receiving element. CCD camera 4
Two or more vehicles are installed so that the vehicle can be imaged obliquely from behind. As shown in FIG. 2, the measurement controller 6 converts an analog signal sent from the CCD cameras 4a, 4b,... Into a digital signal.
A frame memory 9 for storing image data digitized by the A / D converter 8;
An edge detection circuit 10 for detecting an edge of an image based on image data from the image processing apparatus, and a control / arithmetic unit 11 for controlling an imaging operation and an image data processing operation.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an installation state of the automatic vehicle specification measuring apparatus according to this embodiment on a main line. In this figure, reference numeral 12 indicates a main line, and the vehicle enters the main line 12 from the near side toward the back in the direction indicated by the arrow S.
An axle weight / weight scale 5 is installed on the ground at the entrance of the main line 12, and a first gate frame 13 for supporting each device is provided at this location. CCD cameras 4a and 4b are provided at the beam portions of the gate frame 13 in pairs on both sides in the width direction of the main line 12, while an ultrasonic vehicle height measuring unit 14 is provided at the same beam portion. I have. In the following description, for easy understanding, the CCD camera 4a
To the first CCD camera and the CCD camera 4b to the second CC camera.
D camera. The two CCD cameras 4a and 4b are arranged so that characteristic points of the vehicle can be photographed. Further, since the imaging range in the traveling direction of the vehicle is several meters, the number of CCD cameras arranged in the front-rear direction is determined according to the range of the vehicle length to be measured.

A second gate frame 15 is provided at a position a predetermined distance (for example, about 12 meters) behind the first gate frame 13, and a beam portion of the second gate frame 15 Is provided with a vehicle detector 2 composed of a light emitter 1a and a light receiver 1b. A vehicle measurement field is formed on the main line between the first and second gate frames 13 and 15.

A third gate frame 16 is provided at a position further away from the second gate frame 15 by a predetermined distance (for example, about 20 meters), and this third gate frame 16 is provided. A vehicle detecting section 17 different from the preceding vehicle detecting section 2 is provided at the beam portion. Further, a fourth gate frame 18 is provided in front of the third gate frame 16, and a beam portion of the fourth gate frame 18 is used to photograph a vehicle number separately from the imaging section 4. An imaging section 19 is mounted, and a measurement control section 6 is provided on a support portion of the fourth gate frame 18. The vehicle detection unit 17 and the imaging unit 19 installed on the third and fourth gate frames 16 and 18 constitute an automatic vehicle number recognition device.

Further, a fifth gate frame 20 is provided at a location ahead of the fourth gate frame 18, and a measured vehicle is defined on a beam portion of the fifth gate frame 20. When the vehicle violates the dimensions, a warning plate 21 for displaying the fact of the violation is provided.

The operation of the vehicle specification automatic measuring device having such a configuration will be described below. In FIG. 3, when the vehicle enters the vehicle measurement field, the infrared light emitted from the light emitter 1a of the vehicle detector 2 attached to the second gate frame 15 is received by the light receiver 1b, and the reflected light is The vehicle tip is detected by the change and a vehicle tip detection signal is output. This detection signal is processed in the signal processing unit 3 and sent to the measurement control unit 6.

When the measurement control unit 6 inputs the vehicle tip detection signal, as shown in FIG. 4, the first and second CCD cameras 4a, 4a and 4a attached to the first gate frame 13 are used.
b to image the rear end and side surface of the vehicle 22 to obtain stereo image data. The image data input from the first and second CCD cameras 4a and 4b are A / D-converted by an A / D converter 8, and then the frame memory 9
Is stored in The image data stored in the frame memory 9 is sent to the edge detection circuit 10 one by one. The edge detection circuit 10 detects an edge at the rear end of the vehicle and edges at both left and right ends of the vehicle, and a result of the edge detection is sent to the control / calculation unit 11.

The control / arithmetic unit 11 determines the corresponding vehicle rear edge of the two CCD cameras from the correlation between the edges based on the edge detection results sent by the first and second CCD cameras 4a and 4b. The same point in, that is, a feature point is obtained. Then, the vehicle height, vehicle width, and vehicle height are determined from the corresponding feature points of the edges of the first and second CCD cameras 4a and 4b.
The vehicle length is obtained by calculation, and the measured vehicle height, vehicle width, and vehicle length data are output to the data processing device 7. Further, the control / calculation unit 11 receives the measurement result of the axle load from the axle load / weight scale 5 installed on the road surface, and outputs the data to the data processing device 7. The data processing device 7 collects data and inputs and outputs data to and from an external device.

Here, the first and second CCD cameras 4
The individual operations such as imaging and edge detection when obtaining the vehicle height, vehicle width, and vehicle length using a and 4b will be described in more detail. In this embodiment, the first and second
As shown in FIG. 4, two CCD cameras 4a and 4b are mounted in parallel with the traveling direction of the vehicle. The imaging areas of the first and second CCD cameras 4a and 4b extend over the ranges indicated by A1 and A2 in FIG. 5, respectively. When the front end of the vehicle 22 blocks the light projector 1a and the light receiver 1b that detect the front end of the vehicle 22,
The image of the vehicle 22 at the moment when the light between the projector 1a and the light receiver 1b is blocked by the CCD cameras 4a and 4b is captured from behind, and the captured image is A / D in the measurement control unit 6.
The data is A / D-converted by the conversion device 8 and taken into the frame memory 9 as still image data. The still image data fetched into the frame memory 9 is sent to the edge detection circuit 10 where an edge is obtained.

In edge detection, vertical and horizontal edges are separately detected as shown in FIG. The edges obtained by the first and second CCD cameras 4a and 4b are correlated to each other by the two CCD cameras 4a and 4b.
Correspondence of each edge between b is taken. The same point in the real space where the first CCD camera 4a and the second CCD camera 4b correspond on the obtained edge is called a feature point. Since the image data obtained by the first and second CCD cameras 4a and 4b is obtained through a lens system as shown in FIG. 7, the edge in the real space is different if the distance from the lens to the vehicle 22 is different. However, if the same point in the real space can be corresponded by the CCD cameras installed at two different points, the point can be specified as a unique point in the real space.

Here, in order to facilitate the calculation, 2
The two CCD cameras 4a and 4b are connected to the vehicle 2 as shown in FIG.
2, the mounting height from the ground surface and the horizontal direction of the imaging screen are the same between the CCD camera 4a and the CCD camera 4b.

In FIGS. 4 and 7, reference symbol f denotes the focal length of the first and second CCD cameras 4a and 4b, d denotes the distance from the lens center to the characteristic point of the vehicle in real space, and r denotes the first. The horizontal distance from the lens center of the CCD camera 4a to the feature point, v is the horizontal distance from the lens center of the second CCD camera 4b to the feature point, and s is the pixel of the feature point of the first CCD camera 4a from the CCD center. The number, u is the second
Of the characteristic point of the CCD camera 4b from the center of the CCD.

From FIGS. 6 and 7, the feature point in the real space and the corresponding pixel on the CCD are obtained as f / s = d / rf / u = d / vr + v = Xcc. Here, Xcc is the center-to-center distance at the time of installation between the first CCD camera 4a and the second CCD camera 4b.

The focal length f of the lens, the first and second C
Since the number of pixels s and u from the center of the CCD in the CD cameras 4a and 4b to the feature point to be obtained and the installation distance Xcc between the first and second CCD cameras 4a and 4b are known, the unknowns are r and v, d, whereas there are three equations as shown above, so r,
v and d are uniquely determined.

Here, if the vertical magnification of the CCD camera is Mv, the horizontal magnification is Mh, the number of pixels of the rear edge of the vehicle from the center of the CCD is w, and the distance of the rear edge in the real space is Y, d = Xcc · Mh / (S + u) r = Xcc · s / (s + u) v = Xcc · u / (s + u) Y = Xcc · w · Mh / (s + u) · Mv

That is, desired vehicle height H, vehicle length L, vehicle width D
H = (installation height of the CCD camera from the ground surface) −d L = (distance from the light emitter / receiver to the center of the CCD camera) + Y D = (r of the right edge of the vehicle) − (r of the left edge of the vehicle) r).

In this measuring operation, even if the vehicle specification automatic measuring device erroneously detects the shadow of the vehicle as a characteristic point on the rear portion or the side surface of the vehicle, the height of the resulting vehicle from the ground surface (that is, Vehicle height) becomes zero. Since there is no vehicle with a vehicle height of zero, the measured value is omitted, the result is not adopted, and a correct feature point is obtained again, so that no inconvenience occurs.

As described above, the coordinates in the three-dimensional space can be easily obtained by adjusting the installation height of the two CCD cameras and the horizontal direction of the imaging screen.

As described above, when the measured vehicle height, vehicle width, and vehicle length are larger than the rule values, the vehicle number automatic installed in the traveling direction of the vehicle specification automatic measuring device according to this embodiment is automatically set. A command is sent to the recognition device to take an image of the license plate on the front of the vehicle, the vehicle detecting section 17 detects the front end of the vehicle, and the imaging section 19 takes an image of the number plate on the front of the vehicle. The automatic car number recognition device automatically recognizes all characters in the imaged license plate by the recognition processing unit. Recognized characters of the license plate, violation details of vehicle height, vehicle width, vehicle length, and guidance for guidance to the enforcement base are displayed on the warning plate 21, and the offending vehicle is guided to the enforcement base.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By implementing a vehicle specification automatic measurement device, vehicle specifications such as vehicle height, vehicle width and vehicle length can be measured automatically, reducing the number of personnel required for vehicle specification measurement and data collection, and controlling The time required per vehicle can be reduced. In addition, various effects can be obtained such that the reliability of the measurement data can be improved by not intervening humans in the collection of vehicle data, and the control of special vehicles can be efficiently performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a vehicle specification automatic measurement device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a measurement control unit used in the vehicle specification automatic measurement device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example in which the vehicle specification automatic measurement device according to the embodiment is installed on a main line.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a positional relationship between a vehicle and first and second CCD cameras measured in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows the first and second CCDs in the embodiment.
Diagram showing imaging range and installation position of camera

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing edges detected in the vertical and horizontal directions on an image captured by a CCD camera in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a camera imaging surface in a lens system and an edge position in a real space in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a Projector 1b Light Receiver 2,17 Vehicle Detector 3 Signal Processor 4,19 Imager (CCD Camera) 5 Axle Weight / Weight Scale 6 Measurement Controller 7 Data Processor 8 A / D Converter 9 Frame Memory 10 Edge Detection Unit 11 Control / calculation unit 12 Main line yoke 13, 15, 16, 18, 20 Gate frame 14 Vehicle height detection unit 21 Warning plate

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-270497 (JP, A) JP-A-4-238212 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G08G 1/00-1/16

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vehicle detecting section for detecting a position of a vehicle, and a detection result of the vehicle detecting section is provided in a vehicle width direction above the vehicle.
An image capturing unit that captures an image of a vehicle with a plurality of cameras installed at regular intervals in the vehicle, a measurement control unit that determines the height, width, and length of the vehicle from image data obtained by the image capturing unit; and a data processing device. The measurement control unit includes an edge detection unit that detects an edge of the image data obtained by the imaging unit, and vehicle height and vehicle length data from the same point in the corresponding vehicle rear edge of the plurality of cameras. And a control / arithmetic unit for calculating the vehicle width from each of the characteristic points of the left and right edges corresponding to the vehicle width, and the data processing device summarizes the vehicle specification data and data with the external device. A vehicle specification automatic measurement device for performing input / output of a vehicle. 2. An image pickup section includes first and second CCDs installed at a predetermined interval in a vehicle width direction above a vehicle.
2. A vehicle specification automatic measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a camera is installed, and stereo image data of the rear end and side surfaces of the vehicle are obtained by both CCD cameras.