JP4969167B2 - Tollgate monitoring system with necessary video extraction function - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to data processing at a toll gate on a toll road.

  The toll gate on the toll road is equipped with a camera for photographing the driving lane. The video shot by the camera is recorded and stored on a video tape. When the toll gate manager needs to know the past toll gate situation, such as when responding to an inquiry from a user, he / she plays a videotape and checks the video.

Patent Document 1 describes a vehicle monitoring apparatus that greatly reduces the amount of images and data to be recorded, for example, by limiting them when a failure occurs.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-85091

  An object of the present invention is to provide a toll gate monitoring system that makes it easy to check the state of a toll gate retrospectively.

  In the following, means for solving the problem will be described using the numbers used in [Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention] in parentheses. These numbers are added to clarify the correspondence between the description of [Claims] and [Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention]. However, these numbers should not be used to interpret the technical scope of the invention described in [Claims].

  The toll gate monitoring system according to the present invention includes a video storage unit (42) that stores video information of a traveling lane (2) of a toll gate in association with time, and a fee installed on the road side of the traveling lane (2). Operation information indicating that a predetermined operation has been executed in the receiving device (8) is collected, and the operation information (66) corresponds to an operation time (64) indicating the time when the predetermined operation is executed. A processing transaction storage unit (44) for storing a processing transaction list (40) including entries to be added, and an entry specifying unit (46) for specifying a specified entry that is one of the entries from the processing transaction list And a video display unit (48) for extracting and displaying video information corresponding to the operation time (64) recorded in the designated entry in the video storage unit (42).

  In the toll gate monitoring system according to the present invention, the operation information includes identification information (60) for individually identifying a device for toll collection.

  The toll gate monitoring system according to the present invention includes an exit time collection unit (52) that collects an exit time (72) indicating a time when the vehicle has left the travel lane (2) during a time following a predetermined operation. The video display unit (48) stops displaying the moving image based on the exit time (72) when displaying the moving image based on the video information.

  The toll gate monitoring system according to the present invention shows a difference between an entry time (70) indicating the time when the target vehicle has entered the travel lane (2) and a start time (72) indicating the time when the target vehicle has left the travel lane. A service time information collecting unit (54) for collecting service time information and a service time totaling unit (56) for totaling and displaying service time information in a predetermined period are included.

  The toll gate monitoring system according to the present invention includes a video erasure unit (58) for erasing video information in a time zone during which a predetermined operation is not executed when a predetermined time elapses from the shooting date and time.

  According to the present invention, a toll gate monitoring system that facilitates checking the state of a toll gate retrospectively is provided.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a top view showing a toll gate on a toll road to which the toll gate monitoring system according to the present embodiment is applied. In FIG. 1, the vehicle travels from right to left as indicated by the arrows. That is, the right side is the upstream side (or the entry side), and the left side is the downstream side (or the start side).

  The toll booth includes a travel lane 2 on which the vehicle travels. An approach detector 4 is installed on the road side upstream of the travel lane 2. The entry detector 4 detects a vehicle in the entry detection area 3 and generates an entry signal. A start detector 6 is installed on the road side downstream of the travel lane 2. The start detector 6 detects that the vehicle has left the start detection area 5 and generates a start signal.

  An automatic toll collector 8 is installed on the road side of the traveling lane 2 between the approach detector 4 and the start detector 6. The automatic toll collector 8 receives the approach signal generated by the approach detector 4 and the start signal generated by the start detector 6. The automatic toll collector 8 automatically settles the toll road usage fee in response to an operation from a vehicle occupant in the lane 2.

  An ITV (Industrial Television) camera 11 is installed at the toll gate. The ITV camera 11 captures an area including the automatic toll collector 8 and the traveling lane 2 in the vicinity thereof.

  An office 10 is set up at the toll gate. A video extraction device 12 is installed in the office 10. The video extraction device 12 is communicably connected to the automatic charge receiver 8 and the ITV camera 11.

  FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the automatic charge receiver 8. The automatic toll collector 8 includes a pass ticket input unit 14, a charge calculation unit 16, a charge input unit 18, a payment processing unit 20, an operation history recording unit 22, and a communication unit 24. The automatic toll collector 8 includes a computer, and implements the functions of these units by reading and executing the program recorded in the storage device with the arithmetic and control unit.

  FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the video extraction device 12. The video extraction device 12 is a computer that includes an arithmetic control device 26, an input device 28, an output device 30, a communication device 32, and a storage device 34. The storage device 34 is a large-capacity storage device capable of random access. A hard disk is preferably used as such a storage device. The storage device 34 stores a video extraction program 36, a video library 38 and a processing transaction list 40.

  FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the video extraction program 36. The video extraction program 36 includes a video storage unit 42, a processing transaction storage unit 44, an entry designation unit 46, a video display unit 48, an entrance time collection unit 50, an exit time collection unit 52, a service time information collection unit 54, and a service time count. Part 56 and a video erasing part 58.

  FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the processing transaction list 40. In the processing transaction list 40, traveling lane numbers 60 for individually specifying automatic toll collectors 8 respectively installed in a plurality of traveling lanes at the toll booth are registered. Corresponding to each traveling lane number 60, a table including a large number of entries is prepared. Each entry includes a processing transaction 62, a vehicle ID 68, an entrance time 70, and an exit time 72 in association with each other. The processing transaction 62 includes operation time 64 and operation information 66 in association with each other.

  The operation of the toll gate monitoring system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the following description, an operation performed by the arithmetic control device 26 reading a program stored in the storage device 34 and performing according to a procedure described in the program is described as an operation performed by the program itself for convenience of description.

  Step S2: The ITV camera 11 continuously shoots the traveling lane 2 at all times. The captured video is transmitted to the video extraction device 12.

  Step S4: The video storage unit 42 generates video information with shooting time, which is information obtained by associating the received video with time information indicating the time when the video was shot in real time.

  Step S <b> 6: When the vehicle enters the travel lane 2, the entry detector 4 detects the vehicle, generates a vehicle entry detection signal, and transmits it to the toll collector 8. The automatic toll collector 8 stores the time when the vehicle entry detection signal is received as the entrance time. The entrance time includes date information.

  The vehicle enters the travel lane 2 and stops in front of the automatic toll collector 8. A vehicle occupant performs operations such as insertion of a pass ticket and input of a fee to the automatic toll collector 8. The operation history recording unit 22 records a process transaction (transaction) that is history information in which an executed operation is associated with a time. The processing transaction includes information indicating that the operation performed by the occupant or the fee settlement processing has not been performed normally. The settlement processing unit 20 settles the fee in response to the operation performed by the passenger. When the processing for payment is completed, the starting side barrier of the traveling lane 2 is opened. The vehicle travels downstream of the travel lane 2 and leaves the toll gate.

  When the start detector 6 detects that the vehicle has left, the start detector 6 generates a vehicle start detection signal and transmits the signal to the automatic toll collector 8. The automatic toll collector 8 stores the time when the vehicle start detection signal is received as the exit time. The exit time includes date information.

  The automatic toll collector 8 issues a vehicle ID that is identification information for specifying a vehicle that travels in the travel lane 2. The automatic toll collector 8 stores the entrance time and exit time of the vehicle specified by the vehicle ID in association with the vehicle ID.

  The video extraction device 12 acquires information from the automatic fee collector 8 via the communication device 32. The process transaction storage unit 44 acquires a process transaction. The entrance time collecting unit 50 acquires the entrance time. The exit time collection unit 52 acquires the exit time. The process transaction, the entrance time, and the exit time are acquired in association with the vehicle ID.

  Step S7: The video storage unit 42 stores the video information with the shooting time in the video library 38. In the video library 38, a traveling lane number for identifying the traveling lane 2 in which the ITV camera 11 is installed is recorded together with video information with photographing time taken by the ITV camera 11.

  The processing transaction storage unit 44 registers the vehicle ID, the entrance time, and the exit time received from the automatic toll receiver 8 in the processing transaction list 40 as the vehicle ID 68, the entrance time 70, and the exit time 72, respectively. Further, the processing transaction storage unit 44 registers the operation time 64 and the operation information 66 included in the processing transaction received from the automatic charge receiver 8 in the processing transaction list 40 as the operation time 64 and the operation information 66, respectively.

  Through the above processing, the video of the vehicle traveling through the toll gate is accumulated in the video library 38, and the processing transaction indicating the operation history of the automatic toll collector 8 is accumulated in the processing transaction list 40.

  Step S8: A toll road administrator will input an input to examine past toll gate images when an irregular situation has occurred in the past at the toll gate, or to check the toll gate operation status. A predetermined input operation is performed on the device 28. The entry designating unit 46 sets the video extracting device 12 to a prompt mode that accepts input. The clerk inputs the travel lane number for designating the travel lane and the designated period designated by the start date and time and the end date and time. The entry designating unit 46 extracts a table in which the traveling lane number 60 matches the designated number from the processing transaction list 40, and from the table, an entry including the operation time 64 in the specified period (the operation time 64 and the operation information). 66) and a list thereof is output by the output device 30.

  Step S10: The clerk refers to the list of entries displayed on the display screen, and performs an operation on the input device 28 for designating an entry from which to view the video. The entry specifying unit 46 stores the specified entry.

  Step S12: The video display unit 48 extracts the exit time 72 included in the designated entry from the processing transaction list 40. The video display unit 48 searches the video library 38 for a video corresponding to the extracted exit time 72 and corresponding to the travel lane number designated in step S8.

  Step S14: The video display unit 48 proceeds to step S16 when there is no video satisfying the condition of step S12, and proceeds to step S18 when there is no video.

  Step S16: If no video satisfying the condition is found as a result of the search, the video display unit 48 outputs error information indicating that fact.

  Step S18: The video display unit 48 extracts video from the video library 38 with the exit time 72 included in the designated entry as the end time, and with a predetermined time (for example, 20 seconds before) the start time as the start time, Display on the display screen. The video starts from the start time and stops automatically at the end time. The attendant can confirm the state of the toll gate at the time corresponding to the designated entry by viewing the video.

  The video erasure unit 58 erases the old unnecessary video in the video library 38. For example, an image of a time zone in which it is determined that the vehicle has not traveled based on a predetermined standard with reference to the processing transaction list 40 after one month or more has been deleted. This prevents the storage capacity of the storage device 34 from becoming insufficient.

  FIG. 7 shows the operation of the video extraction device 12 when the clerk checks the service time of the toll gate (the time required for the service such as the time from when the vehicle enters the vehicle to start).

  Step S20: The clerk inputs from the input device 28 a command indicating that the service time is to be evaluated and a target period for which the service time is to be evaluated.

  Step S22: The service time information collection unit 54 searches the processing transaction list 40 and extracts an entry whose operation time 64 is included in the target period. The service time information collection unit 54 calculates, as the service time, the difference between the exit time 72 and the entrance time 70 included in the extracted entry for each vehicle.

The service time collection unit 54 can further calculate various service times as follows.
The time from when the vehicle enters the driving lane 2 until the pass is inserted. It is obtained from the difference between the entrance time 72 and the operation time 64 corresponding to the operation information 66 indicating that the pass ticket has been inserted.
The time from when the pass is inserted until the fee is paid. It is obtained from the difference between the operation time 64 corresponding to the operation information 66 indicating that the pass ticket has been inserted and the operation time 64 corresponding to the operation information 66 indicating that payment of the fee has been completed.
The time from when the fare is paid until the vehicle leaves the driving lane 2. It is obtained from the difference between the operation time 64 corresponding to the operation information 66 indicating that the payment of the fee has ended and the exit time 72.

  The service time totaling unit 56 totalizes the various service times in the target period for each traveling lane 2 by a method such as calculating an average value or creating a histogram. When calculating the average value, the service time counting unit 56 excludes data in which the time from entry to departure exceeds a predetermined time (for example, 30 seconds). As a result, the average service time when normal processing is performed is calculated except when it is considered that some trouble has occurred.

  The service time totaling unit 56 displays the result of the totaling process on the display. By referring to the result of the aggregation process, the clerk can know the tendency of which process takes how much time, and can use it for the subsequent operation of the toll gate.

FIG. 1 shows a toll gate. FIG. 2 shows a toll collector. FIG. 3 shows a video extraction device. FIG. 4 shows a video extraction program. FIG. 5 shows a processing transaction list. FIG. 6 shows the operation of the toll gate monitoring system. FIG. 7 shows the operation when checking the service time.

Explanation of symbols

2 ... Travel lane 3 ... Entry detection area 4 ... Entry detector 5 ... Start detection area 6 ... Start detector 8 ... Automatic toll collector 10 ... Office 11 ... ITV camera 12 ... Video extraction device

Claims (5)

A video storage unit that stores video information of the toll collection device in each of a plurality of driving lanes of a toll gate in association with a time and a driving lane identifier that identifies each of the plurality of driving lanes;
In the toll collection device installed on the roadside of the travel lane, operation information indicating an operation performed by the vehicle occupant of each of the plurality of travel lanes with respect to the toll collection device is collected, and the travel lane identifier and the A process transaction storage unit that stores a process transaction list including entries that associate operation information with an operation time indicating a time when the operation is executed;
An entry designating unit for designating a designated entry that is one of the entries from the processing transaction list;
A toll gate monitoring system comprising: a video display unit that extracts and displays the video information corresponding to the operation time recorded in the designated entry in the video storage unit. A toll gate monitoring system according to claim 1,
The toll gate monitoring system, wherein the operation information includes identification information for individually identifying the toll collection device . A toll gate monitoring system according to claim 1 or 2,
And an exit time collection unit for collecting an exit time indicating a time when the vehicle has left the lane in a time following the predetermined operation.
The toll gate monitoring system, wherein the video display unit stops displaying the video based on the exit time when displaying a video based on the video information. A toll gate monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A service time information collecting unit for collecting service time information indicating a difference between an entry time indicating a time when the target vehicle enters the travel lane and an exit time indicating a time when the target vehicle leaves the travel lane;
A toll gate monitoring system comprising: a service time totaling unit that totalizes and displays the service time information for a predetermined period. A toll gate monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
Furthermore, a toll gate monitoring system comprising a video erasure unit that erases the video information in a time period when the predetermined operation is not executed when a predetermined time has elapsed from the date and time when the video was taken.

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