JP3251074B2 - Parking facilities - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a parking facility capable of managing a parked vehicle without issuing a parking ticket or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, in an automatic parking lot,
In many cases, a parking ticket that records the time of entry into a parking lot is issued, and at the time of departure, the parking time is calculated from the entry time recorded in the parking ticket to calculate the parking fee. However, in such a method using a parking ticket, there are adverse effects such as loss of the parking ticket or unauthorized use of the parking ticket, and a situation in which the parked vehicle cannot be properly managed may occur. For example, in the case of a three-dimensional parking facility provided with pallets for the number of vehicles capable of three-dimensional accommodation, a pallet number corresponding to the pallet accommodating the parked vehicle is recorded in the parking ticket (recording medium) together with the date and time of entry into the parking ticket. Issued.
At the time of departure, the recorded contents are read, and the pallet corresponding to the pallet number is conveyed to the exit, and the parking fee is calculated based on the date and time of entry and exit, and a settlement such as issuing a receipt is performed. Processing is performed. By the way, in such a multi-story parking lot, if a parking ticket is lost, not only can the charge calculation / payment process be performed, but also the pallet containing the parked vehicle cannot be specified. In such a case, it is necessary to transport the pallets one by one to the exit and search for the corresponding vehicle. Since searching for such a "stray vehicle" requires a lot of time, the work efficiency of loading and unloading is reduced. Results.

[0003] In recent years, various systems for managing a parked vehicle without issuing a parking ticket have been developed to solve such adverse effects. Hereinafter, a specific example will be described. A system that images a vehicle and extracts the vehicle number on the license plate. In this system, when an arrival of a vehicle is detected by a sensor provided at a predetermined position, a video camera is operated to photograph the entire vehicle and generate image data. The image data is subjected to predetermined image processing, whereby the vehicle number on the vehicle license plate is extracted. That is, in the above-described image processing, first, a noise component is removed from the imaging data by the averaging process. Then, a binarization process is performed on the averaged imaging data. In this binarization processing, pixels of a portion of the license plate on which the vehicle number is written and pixels constituting the other portions are discriminated (binarization) according to shading, and as a result, the vehicle is determined from the imaging data. A pixel area corresponding to the number part is extracted, and the vehicle number is recognized.

[0004] When a vehicle is stored, storage data is generated based on the vehicle number extracted in this manner. The storage data is data formed from the vehicle number and the storage date and time when the vehicle number was read. On the other hand, when the vehicle is to be taken out, when the vehicle number of the vehicle to be taken out is read, the date and time at which the vehicle number was read is formed in the exit data together with the vehicle number as the leaving time. afterwards,
Using the vehicle number in the retrieval data as a retrieval key, the corresponding retrieval data is retrieved. As a result of this search, when the vehicle numbers of the entry data and the exit data match, a parking fee is calculated from the parking time according to the entry date and time and the exit date and time, and then a settlement process is performed.

A system for capturing an ignition key (key) of a vehicle and extracting a key shape. In this case, the vehicle number is extracted from the license plate of the vehicle described above, whereas the key shape of the vehicle is extracted and used as an identifier. That is, at the time of storage, as in the above-described example, the key is imaged by a video camera, and image data is generated. The key imaging data is converted into simplified key data in a predetermined data format so as to be used as a retrieval key for entry data and exit data in place of the vehicle number while retaining information indicating the shape of the key. Is converted. Therefore, at the time of warehousing, the above-described key data and warehousing date and time are generated,
At the time of leaving the vehicle, key data and a leaving date and time are generated, and the parked vehicle is managed based on these.

[0006]

In the above-mentioned conventional system, when the vehicle number is used as the identifier,
When the license plate is dirty, it may happen that the vehicle number cannot be reliably recognized. In addition, since the position of the license plate attached to the front of the vehicle is not clearly defined by law, some vehicles do not have this front plate, and such vehicles recognize the vehicle number. There is a drawback that you can not. On the other hand, when a key shape is used as an identifier, features are extracted from the outer shape (outline) of the key, and the shape is recognized. For this reason, if the shape of the key is an internal groove type, it becomes difficult to completely recognize the shape by the conventional shape recognition method. In addition, since there may be a plurality of keys having the same shape, the correspondence between the vehicle and the identifier of the key shape may not always be one-to-one.

In other words, in a conventional parking lot, an identifier for identifying a parked vehicle cannot be reliably determined,
There is a problem that identifiers are duplicated, and for this reason, a parking facility for reliably determining a vehicle and managing a parked vehicle smoothly is desired.

The present invention has been made under such a background, and an identifier corresponding to a vehicle does not overlap with an identifier corresponding to another vehicle, and the corresponding vehicle is surely identified by the identifier. It is an object of the present invention to provide a parking facility that can make a determination and can smoothly enter and leave a car.

[0009]

According to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, when a vehicle enters a parking lot or leaves the vehicle outside the parking lot, the driver of the vehicle drives the vehicle. Reading means a for reading the license, extracting the unique content of the license, and generating first identification data for identifying the entering vehicle or second identification data for identifying the leaving vehicle, respectively, Storage information generating means b for generating storage information by adding the storage date and time and the storage data indicating the storage destination of the stored vehicle to the identification data of
A delivery information generating means c for giving a delivery date and time to the second identification data to generate delivery information; registering the storage information and the delivery information in a storage means e; And an entry / exit management unit f that manages entry / exit of the vehicle in accordance with the information. The entry / exit management unit f generates the accommodation data at the time of entry, while the second identification data at the time of exit. It is characterized in that the matching first identification data is searched, and the accommodated vehicle is taken out according to the accommodation data included in the searched first identification data. According to the second aspect of the present invention, the reading means a extracts a license number as the content unique to the license.

[0010]

According to the above construction, when a vehicle enters a parking lot, the reading means a extracts the contents specific to the license of the driver of the vehicle and outputs this as the first identification data. The storage information generating means b generates storage information in which the first identification data is provided with a storage date and time and storage data indicating a storage destination of the stored vehicle. The accommodation data is generated by the entry / exit management unit f, and the administration unit f registers the entry information in the storage unit e to manage the entry vehicle. On the other hand, when the vehicle is taken out of the parking lot, the reading means a extracts the content specific to the license of the driver of the vehicle and outputs this as the second identification data. The leaving information generating means c generates leaving information in which a leaving date and time are added to the second identification data.
The entry / exit management means f includes a first identification data corresponding to the second identification data.
And retrieves the accommodated vehicle according to the accommodation data included in the retrieved first identification data. Therefore, since entry and exit are controlled by the unique contents of the license possessed by the driver of the vehicle, the identifiers corresponding to the parked vehicles can be determined with certainty, and the identifiers do not overlap, so that the identifiers do not overlap. It is possible to realize a simple entry and exit.

[0011]

【Example】

§1. Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. (1) Overall Configuration FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a parking facility according to one embodiment of the present invention. The difference between the parking facility shown in this figure and the conventional one is that the driver's license 3 is used as an identifier for identifying a parked vehicle. Hereinafter, the configuration of the parking facility 1 will be sequentially described. First, the image processing device 2
Is provided with a video camera (not shown) arranged so that the reading unit 4 captures an image of the entire surface of the license 3. The video signal output from the video camera is subjected to A / D conversion, becomes image data, and is subjected to image processing. In addition, about the content of this image processing,
Details will be described later. 5 is a connector, outputs the identification signals S ₁ generated by the image processing. The identification signal S _1, a signal corresponding to the license number read from license 3 by the image processing to be described later.

A control unit 10 controls the entire parking facility 1. The control unit 10, the sequencer 11 outputs a command signal S ₂ for instructing the controlling step sequentially is provided in accordance with a predetermined order. In addition, the control unit 10 stores parking and garage information of the parked vehicle, and displays the garage information on a display (CRT) by operating the operation panel 13 as needed, It is configured to output a form such as a parking status list. 20 is a parking control device receives the indication signal S _2, controls the driving of the parking corresponding to the instruction content. For example, in the case of a multi-story parking lot, drive control such as moving a pallet containing a parked vehicle to a predetermined position is performed.

Next, with reference to FIG. 3, each part constituting the parking facility 1 will be described. (2) Configuration of Image Processing Apparatus 2 Next, image processing will be described with reference to FIG. In this figure, reference numeral 31 denotes an image memory, which is a work storage area for temporarily storing image data subjected to A / D conversion processing. Note that the image memory 31 stores imaging data corresponding to one front surface of the license. The image processing apparatus 2 includes an image processor including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like (not shown).
The above-described license image data is sequentially read out and predetermined image processing is performed. Here, the “predetermined image processing” means, for example, analyzing image data obtained after performing averaging processing for averaging image data and removing noise components by using a well-known technique, based on pixel shading. This is a process of recognizing the license number LN written on the driver's license 3 by performing a value conversion process. This way, the license number LN is extracted, the identification signals S ₁ composed of numerical data corresponding to the number LN is output from the image processing apparatus 2. The operation panel 6 (see FIG. 2) is provided with various operation buttons, such as a passenger registration button operated when associating a plurality of licenses 3 with one vehicle. Have been. That is, this passenger registration button is operated when associating a plurality of license numbers LN with one parked vehicle, and is used, for example, when the driver is switched between entering and leaving the vehicle. Can be

(3) Configuration of the control unit 10 The control unit 10 includes a storage information creation device 14 for generating storage data from the license number LN read by the image processing device 2 when the vehicle is stored and retrieved, and a storage data Is provided. The control unit 10 includes a timekeeping device 17 that supplies the entry / exit date and time to the devices 14 and 15, respectively, and a storage device 16 that stores the entry / exit data described above.

The storage information creation device 14 has a function of selecting an optimum storage pallet (storage shelf) in cooperation with the above-described parking facility control device 20. Receipt data output from the device 14, the license number LN defined by the identification signals S ₁ described above, the warehousing date will be formed from the data representing the goods receipt pallet. On the other hand, the retrieval information creation device 15 generates retrieval data corresponding to the retrieval data. Therefore, the control unit 10 supplies an instruction signal S ₂ which is derived from the goods receipt data to the device 20,
An optimal storage operation is instructed to the device 20. On the other hand, at the time of retrieval, the instruction signal S ₂ derived from the retrieval data is transmitted to the device 20.
, And let it go out.

§2. Operation of Embodiment Hereinafter, an operation of the parking facility 1 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. A. When the user operates a process start button (not shown) and places the license 3 on the reading unit 4, the CPU of the image processing apparatus 2
Executes the storage routine shown in FIG. First, the process proceeds to step S301, and it is determined whether the license 3 is correctly placed at a predetermined position on the reading unit 4. Here, if the determination result is “Yes”, the next step S
Proceed to 302. On the other hand, when the license 3 is not placed correctly, for example, when the license 3 is set upside down, the determination result is “No”, the processing of the storage routine is terminated, and the apparatus 2 waits. State. Next, the process proceeds to step S302, and after the image processing of the license 3 by the image processing apparatus 2 is performed, it is determined whether or not the image processing is normally performed (step S303). This step S
In 303, if the imaging process is not performed normally and the result of this determination is “No”, the process returns to step S302
The reading of the license 3 is repeated. On the other hand, the imaging (reading) is normally performed, and step S30
If the result of the determination in Step 3 is “Yes”, the process proceeds to the next step S304, and it is determined whether or not it is necessary to additionally register the license 3 in a case where a plurality of licenses 3 correspond to one vehicle. Judge. Here, when the passenger registration button on the operation panel 6 is operated, the determination result in step S304 is “Yes”, and the next license 3 is placed on the reading unit 4 by the user. Is detected (step S
305), the process proceeds to step S302 again.

On the other hand, when the license 3 registration process including steps S302 and S303 is completed, the result of the determination in step S304 is "No". After the averaging process (step S307), the binarization process (step S308), and the like are performed on the imaging data stored in the image memory 31 of the image processing device 2, the next step S
Proceeding to 309, the license number LN is extracted from the image data. Then, the process proceeds to step S310, and the timekeeping device 1
The date and time obtained from step 7 is the storage date and time, and
Storage data is generated based on the license number LN detected in 309 and the serial number allocated to the pallet (storage rack) in which the vehicle is accommodated, and the storage device 16
Is registered in the file.

At this time, for example, for the allocation of the storage shelves where the vehicle is parked, of the currently empty storage shelves,
The optimal storage shelf to which the shelf closest to the entrance is allocated is selected. Thus, the serial number corresponding to the selected the goods receipt shelf becomes a command signal S _2, are outputted from the control unit 10. Then, the parking facility control device 20 outputs the instruction signal S
_{When 2} is received, control is performed to convey the storage shelf of the serial number corresponding to the instruction to the storage opening.

B. Next, when the license 3 is placed on the reading unit 4 and an instruction of the leaving process is given, the CPU executes a leaving routine shown in FIG. First, the process proceeds to step S401, where the license 3
It is determined whether or not reading (imaging) has been correctly performed. Here, if the license 3 is not placed at an appropriate position, the result of this determination is “No”, the processing of this exit routine ends, and the apparatus 2 enters a standby state. On the other hand, if the reading is performed correctly, the result of this determination is “Y
es ", and proceeds to the next step S402. And
Steps S307 to S3 in the above-described storage routine
As in 09, the image data is subjected to predetermined image processing to extract a license number LN.

Next, the process proceeds to step S403, in which the date and time obtained from the timer 17 is set as the leaving date and time, and the license number LN detected in step S402 and the pallet (entry shelf) in which the vehicle is stored are stored. Outgoing data is generated based on the assigned serial number. Then, using this license number LN as a search key, the storage device 1
6 to search for incoming data (step S
404). Next, proceeding to step S405, if the license number LN corresponding to the entry data exists, a parking fee is calculated by a predetermined fee calculation method based on the entry date and time and the exit date and time, and this is displayed on the display. It is displayed (step S406).

[0021] Next, the settlement processing such as issuing a change of refund and receipts Proceeding to step S407 is executed, parking control device serial number attached to the pallet (receipts shelf) as the instruction signal S ₂ 20. As a result, the parking facility control device 20 performs control of transporting the storage shelf with the serial number corresponding to the instruction to the exit. Then, the vehicle stored in the pallet is released. If the corresponding license number LN does not exist in step S405, it is determined that the vehicle corresponding to the license number LN is not parked in the parking lot, and the processing of the exit routine is terminated.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the license number LN is extracted from the image data obtained by imaging the driver's license 3, and the parked vehicle is managed using this as an identifier. In other words, the parking facilities can reliably identify the identifiers and do not overlap the identifiers. In other words, the parking facilities can realize extremely smooth entrance / exit. That is, the driver's license 3 is always carried by the user,
In addition, the license number LN described in the license 3 is assigned a unique number corresponding to an individual, and therefore does not overlap with other users, and is based on the relationship between the vehicle and the user. One-to-one correspondence is possible. in addition,
Usually, it is rare that a driver loses his / her license during parking compared to the number of lost parking tickets. Therefore, it does not occur as frequently as the number of cases where the conventional parking ticket is lost, and it is possible to prevent the adverse effects caused by the loss of the conventional parking ticket, which is very effective for smoothly performing the entrance and exit work. .

Further, the license number LN is a number individually given to the licensee, so that security effects such as unauthorized use of a parking lot and prevention of theft of a vehicle can be obtained. In addition, in order to confirm the driver's license 3 at the time of parking,
It can prevent parking of unlicensed drivers and unlicensed drivers. Further, in the above-described embodiment, for example, since a search key such as warehousing data is numerical information, it is possible to significantly shorten the search time as compared with the conventional processing time for searching for image data. Will be possible. Further, since the surface of the license is coated, the surface is hardly stained, and it is possible to prevent a failure in reading the license number LN due to the stain.

In the above embodiment, in order to protect the privacy of the user, the contents recorded on the license, such as the photograph, address, name, date of birth and permanent address, are not read, and are handled as warehousing data. The information can easily be limited to the license number LN. Also,
In the present embodiment, an example of use in a parking lot facility is shown. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, various information such as a parking situation and a license number LN is transmitted to a police or the like via a communication line. It is also possible to provide. Further, it is also possible to apply the license number LN and the date and time of entering the parking lot to the parking lot data in advance, for example, so that it can be applied to the parking lot reservation business.
In this case, for example, the entry data input as the reservation information may be rewritten to the correct entry date and time at the time of actual entry, thereby returning to the normal operation of the entry / exit management device described above.

§3. Correspondence between Claims and Embodiments Here, the correspondence between the above-described embodiment and each component of the claims of the present invention will be described below. That is, the image processing apparatus 2 that performs the operations described in steps S301 to S309 and steps S401 to S402 in the embodiment corresponds to the reading unit a in the claims. Also, as shown in step S310 of the embodiment,
The storage information generation device 14 that performs processing for generating storage work information in the storage unit e corresponding to the storage device 16 corresponds to the storage information generation unit b. Step S403 of the embodiment
As shown in (1), the retrieval information generation device 15 that performs the retrieval information generation process in the storage means e corresponds to the retrieval information generating means c. Further, Step S310 and Step S403
Controls the task of creating input / unloading information shown in ～S407, control unit 10 outputs an instruction signal S ₂ indicating the entry and leaving work, corresponds to the entry and leaving management means f.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a vehicle enters a parking lot, the reading means generates the first identification data, and the entering information generating means sets the first identification data.
The storage information is generated by adding the storage date and time and the storage data indicating the storage destination of the stored vehicle to the identification data of the storage. The accommodation data is generated by the entry / exit management unit, and the administration unit registers the entry information in the storage unit to manage the entry vehicle. On the other hand, when the vehicle leaves the parking lot, the reading means outputs the second identification data, and the retrieval information generating means outputs the second identification data.
Outgoing information in which the outgoing date and time are added to the identification data of the above. The entry / exit management means searches for the first identification data that matches the second identification data, and causes the accommodated vehicle to exit the accommodation according to the accommodation data included in the retrieved first identification data. Corresponding identifiers can be determined with certainty, and since these identifiers do not overlap with each other, smooth entry / exit can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram corresponding to claims of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a parking facility according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of each unit of the parking facility 1 according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of a storage routine in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of a retrieval routine in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Parking facilities, 2 ... Image processing apparatus (reading means), 10 ... Control part (entrance / exit management means), 14 ... Entry information creation apparatus (entry information generation means), 15 ... Exit information creation apparatus (Shipping information generating means), 16: storage device (storage means), 20: parking facility control device, 30: printer.

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Takeo Muramatsu 2-3-1-10 Kotobashi, Sumida-ku, Tokyo Kuramochi Building No. 1 Ishikawajima System Technology Co., Ltd. Koto Office (56) References JP-A Sho 57- 204986 (JP, A) JP-A-51-74699 (JP, A) JP-A-3-95700 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 17/60 G08G 1 / 14 E04H 6/00 G07B 15/00 G07C 9/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. When a vehicle enters a parking lot, a passenger
A passenger registration button for instructing the reading of the license, in the case of unloading the vehicle or when a parking curb for warehousing the vehicle, driver's license I respectively reading <br/> a driver's license of the vehicle Number and the passenger registration
If the record button is operated, the passenger's license at the time of entry
Also read to extract the license number, it is extracted at goods receipt
Based on the first identification data for identifying the entering vehicle based on the license number or the license number extracted at the time of leaving the vehicle.
Second reading means for each generating identification data of the goods receipt for generating the first granted to warehousing information and receiving data to the identification data representative of the accommodating of the receipts vehicle and receiving date and time identifying the issuing vehicle Te An information generating means, an outgoing information generating means for giving outgoing date and time to the second identification data to generate outgoing information, and registering the incoming information and outgoing information in a storage means; And an entry / exit management unit that manages entry / exit of the vehicle according to the above, wherein the entry / exit management unit generates the accommodation data at the time of entry, while matching the second identification data at the time of exit. A parking facility that searches for first identification data, and causes the accommodated vehicle to exit according to the accommodation data included in the searched first identification data.