JP3841644B2 - Vehicle shooting device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for photographing a vehicle passing on a predetermined passage such as a road, and more particularly to an apparatus for obtaining a still image of a passing vehicle.
[0002]
[Prior art]
An apparatus is known that is installed almost above the road and photographs the front of the vehicle so as to look down from here. For example, in combination with a speed measuring device, when the speed of a passing vehicle is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the front part of the vehicle is photographed and used as a device for identifying the vehicle and the driver from its license plate, driver, etc. ing.
[0003]
FIG. 10 shows a schematic configuration of the vehicle photographing apparatus as described above. A camera 112 is installed above the road 110. The camera 112 takes a picture of a vehicle traveling on the road with a predetermined depression angle. The shutter of the camera 112 is released when the license plate at the front of the vehicle comes to the approximate center of the shooting range R, that is, when the vehicle reaches the shooting position A in the drawing. In the vertical direction, the obtained image has a license plate in the approximate center, and the driver's face is also photographed, so that the vehicle and the person driving at that time can be identified.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the above-described vehicle photographing device, for example, the photographing range R is set on the assumption that the vehicle height is not so high, such as the passenger car 114. However, in a vehicle 116 having a high vehicle height and a high driver's seat, such as a large vehicle, there is a problem that the driver cannot be specified without entering the shooting range R.
[0005]
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and is capable of photographing both a license plate and a driver even for a vehicle having a high tolerance with respect to the vehicle height, that is, a vehicle having a different vehicle height. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle photographing device.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems, a vehicle photographing apparatus according to the present invention has photographing position switching means for switching a photographing position when a photographing object is a large vehicle and a photographing position when a small vehicle is a photographing object. is doing. Accordingly, the license plate and the driver can be accommodated within the photographing range regardless of the vehicle type such as large and small.
[0007]
Further, it is possible to provide vehicle type discrimination means for discriminating the vehicle type, such as whether the passing vehicle is a large vehicle or a small vehicle, and to switch the photographing range based on the discrimination result.
[0008]
Furthermore, information regarding the captured image can be stored in the storage means.
[0009]
Further, when the speed measuring means is provided, the speed measurement by this can be performed after the vehicle type is determined. According to this, the beam used for speed measurement is not detected in advance.
[0010]
The vehicle measurement device described above can be configured in combination with a terminal device and a central device installed away from the terminal device. Information relating to the image taken by the vehicle photographing device is transmitted to the central device by the transmission means provided in the device. The central device has receiving means for receiving information about the transmitted image and central storage means for storing this information.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle photographing apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. A terminal device 18 is provided on a gate-shaped support 16 that straddles (or crosses) a road 14 that is a passage through which the vehicle 12 passes. A speed measurement unit 20 that measures the speed of a passing vehicle, a camera 22 that captures a predetermined passing vehicle, and an illumination unit 24 that illuminates the passing vehicle at the time of shooting are provided on a portion of the portal column 16 on the road 14. A control unit 26 that controls the operation of each unit is provided in the vertical portion of the support column 16 or in the vicinity thereof.
[0012]
The control unit 26 of the terminal device 18 includes a transmission / reception unit 28 and is connected to the central device 32 via the communication line 30. The central device 32 includes a transmission / reception unit 34 connected to the communication line 30, a display unit 36 for displaying necessary information, an operation unit 38 for inputting the operation of the device from the outside, a printer 40 as an information output device, and as required. Storage unit 42 for storing information and a central control unit 44 for controlling these peripheral devices and the like. Further, the central device 32 has a photographing position changing unit 46 that issues a photographing position change command according to the vehicle type, and the function thereof will be described in detail.
[0013]
2 and 3 are diagrams for explaining the operation of this embodiment. The velocity measuring unit 20 emits a velocity measuring beam 48. When this beam irradiation target position B is reached, the reflected wave from the vehicle undergoes a Doppler frequency shift. The speed measurement unit 20 receives the reflected wave subjected to this frequency shift, and the control unit 26 calculates the vehicle speed based on the frequency shift amount. Further, the control unit 26 estimates the time when the vehicle 12 reaches an appropriate photographing position from this speed, and sends a command to release the shutter to the camera 22 at this time.
[0014]
The shooting position can be selected from several shooting positions stored in the shooting position changing unit 46 by an input from the operation unit 38 of the central device 32. In this embodiment, it is possible to set two shooting positions, a shooting position A0 for the small vehicle 12a and a shooting position A1 for the large vehicle 12b. The small vehicle photographing position A0 is the same position as the above-described conventional photographing position A, and is a position that is approximately the center of the top and bottom of the photographed image of the license plate at the front of the vehicle. In the case of a small vehicle, the driver can be within the shooting range R by shooting at this position A0. The shooting position A1 for the large vehicle 12b is a shooting position where both the license plate and the driver are within the shooting range R corresponding to a large vehicle having a high vehicle height. As a result, the license plate is located below the approximate vertical center of the captured image.
[0015]
Specifically, the photographing positions A1 and A0 are changed by changing the estimated time when the vehicle reaches the photographing position based on the time when the speed of the vehicle 12 starts to be detected and the speed of the vehicle. . The position where the speed of the vehicle starts to be detected is a position B where the speed measurement beam 48 reaches the road surface of the road 14. Since the reflected wave from the road surface is not subjected to Doppler shift, the time when the Doppler shift is detected is the time when the vehicle 12 reaches position B. Based on the measured speed v, the time required to reach the shooting position A0 or A1 is calculated. For example, when the photographing object is selected to be the small vehicle 12a, the time t0 required to travel the distance a0 from the position B to the position A0 is obtained from t0 = a0 / v. After the time t0 has elapsed from the time when the vehicle has passed the position B, the shutter of the camera 22 is released together with the illumination by the illumination unit 24, and photographing is performed. Further, when the photographing object is selected to be the large vehicle 12b, the time t1 required to travel the distance a1 from the position B to the position A1 is obtained from t1 = a1 / v. After the time t1 has elapsed from the time when the vehicle has passed the position B, the shutter of the camera 22 is released together with the illumination by the illumination unit 24, and photographing is performed.
[0016]
Information relating to the image including the captured image information is transmitted to the central device 32. In the central device 32, the received information is stored in the storage unit 42 via the transmission / reception unit 34 and the central control unit 44. In addition, the display unit 36 sequentially displays the currently received captured images in the order of the received data. A photographed image can be displayed on the display unit 36 by an instruction to select a designated photographed image from the storage unit 42 via the operation unit 38 via the central control unit 44. In addition, predetermined image information can be printed out to the printer 40 by a print instruction from the operation unit 38.
[0017]
FIGS. 4 and 5 show examples of output of images taken by the vehicle photographing apparatus 10. FIG. 4 is an example of a small vehicle 12a, and a license plate 50 is shown in the approximate center above and below the image. The driver 52 is also shown. In addition to the image itself, the information related to the output image includes the date and time when the image was taken, the measured speed, and the like. FIG. 5 is an example of a large vehicle 12b, and a license plate 50 is shown in a portion below the approximate center above and below the image. Accordingly, the driver 52 is photographed without protruding from the photographing range. Further, the date and time when the image was taken, the measured speed, and the like are also output as in FIG.
[0018]
In the vehicle photographing device 10, photographing can be performed when the measured speed is a predetermined value or more.
[0019]
Embodiment 2. FIG.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the vehicle photographing device 60 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. About the same structure as the above-mentioned vehicle imaging device 10, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and the description is abbreviate | omitted. The configuration installed on the portal column 16 of the terminal device 62 is such that a vehicle type detection unit 64 is added to the configuration of the terminal device 18 described above. The vehicle type detector 64 irradiates the vehicle 12 passing the road 14 with a distance measuring beam 66 (see FIG. 7), which is a pulsed laser, and receives a reflected wave from the vehicle. In addition, the control unit 68 includes a shooting position switching unit 70 that controls switching of the shooting position based on the result of vehicle type discrimination described later. The central device 72 has a vehicle type discriminating unit 74 added to the central device 32 described above. The vehicle type determination unit 74 determines whether the vehicle 12 is a large vehicle or a small vehicle based on the distance to the vehicle 12 detected by the vehicle type detection unit 64. Therefore, the vehicle type detection unit 64 and the vehicle type determination unit 74 function as a vehicle type determination unit.
[0020]
7 and 8 are explanatory diagrams relating to the vehicle type discrimination of this embodiment. The pulse-shaped distance measuring beam 66 from the vehicle type detection unit 64 is emitted toward a position C farther from the position B where the velocity measuring beam 48 reaches. Then, the reflected wave reflected from the object is received, and the distance to the reflected object is detected from the time required for the beam to reciprocate. When the distance measuring beam 66 reaches the road 14, there is no change in the measured distance. When the vehicle 12 reaches the position C, the distance measuring beam 66 is reflected by the vehicle body, thereby shortening the beam reciprocation path. This distance is shortest when the highest point of the vehicle is reached. A small vehicle having a different vehicle height and a large vehicle have different distances at that time. As shown in FIG. 8, in the small vehicle 12a, the shortest distance is measured when the vehicle 12a reaches the position of the distance s0 from the installation position of the vehicle type detector 64. On the other hand, in the case of the large vehicle 12b, the shortest distance is measured when the vehicle 12b reaches the position of the distance s1. As is apparent from the figure, it can be seen that the reciprocating distance of the beam 66 is shorter in a vehicle having a higher vehicle height. The vehicle type discriminating unit 74 discriminates the vehicle type based on this difference, and the discrimination result is sent to the photographing position switching unit 70. The photographing position switching unit 70 switches the shutter timing of the camera 22 corresponding to the vehicle type. The switching of the shutter timing is the same as that of the vehicle photographing apparatus 10 described above. That is, if the vehicle is a small vehicle, a command to release the shutter is issued at the time when the vehicle is estimated to have reached the position A0 in FIG. 3, and if the vehicle is a large vehicle, a command to release the shutter is issued at the position A1.
[0021]
Embodiment 3 FIG.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle photographing apparatus 80 according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. The same components as those in the vehicle photographing devices 10 and 60 described above are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. The control unit 84 of the terminal device 82 includes a speed measurement command unit 86 that sends a speed measurement command to the speed measurement unit 20 when the vehicle type detection unit 64 detects the vehicle 12 traveling on the road 14. The speed measurement unit 20 does not fire the speed measurement beam 48 until receiving the speed measurement command, but fires the beam when the command is received. Therefore, since the velocity measuring beam 48 is launched only when necessary, it can be prevented from being received in advance on the vehicle side.
[0022]
【The invention's effect】
Since the present invention is configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained.
[0023]
Since the photographing target can be switched between a large vehicle and a small vehicle, it is possible to perform photographing at a photographing position corresponding to the vehicle type. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the driver from being out of the shooting range and not shooting when shooting a large vehicle.
[0024]
In addition, the vehicle type discriminating means discriminates whether the passing vehicle is a large vehicle or a small vehicle, and switches to a shooting position according to this to automatically change the shooting position according to the vehicle type of the passing vehicle and perform shooting. be able to. In addition, by storing the captured image, processing can be performed later.
[0025]
Furthermore, when the vehicle type is determined, the speed measurement is performed so that the speed measurement can be prevented from being known in advance.
[0026]
In addition, by configuring a system comprising a terminal device installed in the vicinity of the road and a central device that is provided at a distance from the terminal device and connected by a communication line, it is possible to monitor a passing vehicle with the central device. .
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of the embodiment of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram of the embodiment of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of photographing a small vehicle.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of photographing a large vehicle.
FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory diagram of the embodiment of FIG. 6;
FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory diagram of the embodiment of FIG. 6;
FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of still another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional apparatus.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Vehicle imaging device, 12 Vehicle, 12a Small vehicle, 12b Large vehicle, 14 Road, 18 Terminal device, 20 Speed measurement part, 22 Camera, 24 Illumination part, 26 Control part, 30 Communication line, 32 Central apparatus, 42 Storage part 46, shooting position changing unit, 48 speed measurement beam, 60 vehicle shooting device, 64 vehicle type detection unit, 66 distance measurement beam, 70 shooting position switching unit, 74 vehicle type discrimination unit, 80 vehicle shooting device, 86 speed measurement command unit .

Claims (6)

A vehicle photographing device for photographing a vehicle passing through the passage by photographing means installed above the passage of the vehicle,
Vehicle type discriminating means for discriminating that the vehicle is a small vehicle or a large vehicle having a vehicle height higher than that of the small vehicle;
The photographing position of the photographing means is located on the photographing means side from the photographing position for the small vehicle where the license plate and the driver of the small vehicle are accommodated in the photographed image by the photographing means, or the photographing position for the small vehicle, A large vehicle number plate and a driver, and a shooting position switching unit that controls switching to one of the shooting positions for the large vehicle that are stored in a captured image by the shooting unit;
If the result of determination by the vehicle type determination means is a small vehicle, the shooting position switching means instructs the shooting means when the vehicle reaches the shooting position for the small vehicle. A vehicle photographing apparatus that issues a photographing instruction to the photographing means when a vehicle reaches the large vehicle photographing position . The vehicle type determination means measures a distance to the vehicle while the vehicle passes through the passage, and the vehicle is a small vehicle or a large vehicle based on the length of the distance when the distance is the shortest. The vehicle photographing device according to claim 1, wherein: The said vehicle type discrimination | determination means irradiates a laser beam toward the said vehicle, receives the reflected wave from the said vehicle, and measures the distance to the said vehicle based on the round trip time of the said laser beam. Vehicle photography device. The vehicle imaging device according to claim 1, further comprising an image storage unit that stores information related to an image captured by the imaging unit. Speed measuring means for measuring the speed of the vehicle, comprising speed measuring means for measuring the speed when the vehicle type is discriminated by the vehicle type discriminating means, and the photographing position switching means is the speed measuring means 5. The vehicle photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the time when the vehicle reaches the small vehicle photographing position or the large vehicle photographing position is calculated based on a result of the means. A terminal device provided in the vicinity of the passage;
  A central device connected to the terminal device via a communication line and installed away from the terminal device;
  The vehicle imaging device according to claim 4, wherein the image storage unit is provided in the central device, and information relating to the captured image is transmitted to the central device via a communication line.

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