JP6600791B2 - In-vehicle electronic device and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle electronic device that recognizes a road sign and performs notification based on the road sign.

  There are various road signs on the road, but the driver may accidentally miss the road sign.

  Therefore, an alarm device that identifies a road sign based on an image photographed by a camera and outputs information on the identified sign is known (Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-185703

  However, simply recognizing and identifying a road sign, and outputting the information of the identified road sign, there are a large number of road signs, so the notification is made frequently and feels annoying or used to frequent notifications. As a result, there was a problem that proper alerts could not be made.

  In particular, overlooking road signs such as temporary suspension, entry prohibition, prohibition of traffic outside designated directions, and level crossings are problematic.

  Moreover, in the aging society in the future, it is necessary to appropriately alert the elderly.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an in-vehicle electronic device that can give a more appropriate attention than ever before.

  (1) In order to achieve the above-described object, an in-vehicle electronic device according to the present invention includes an in-vehicle camera capable of capturing a road sign installed on a road while the vehicle is traveling, and a road imaged by the in-vehicle camera. A vehicle-mounted electronic device that includes a control unit that determines a type of a sign and performs notification control on the notification unit based on the determined type of the road sign, and the control unit determines the importance based on the type of the road sign To determine whether to suppress notification based on the type of road sign.

  Therefore, it is possible to solve the problem that proper alerts cannot be made after the notifications are frequently made and feel uncomfortable, or the user is accustomed to the frequent notifications and spends notifications of important signs. Can be alerted.

  For example, notification based on the type of road sign with high importance may be performed without being suppressed, and information other than notification based on the type of road sign with high importance may be suppressed.

  For example, the notification may be performed by sound or light. For example, a warning sound provided for each type of road sign is output, a warning text including the type of road sign is output by voice, or a road sign is displayed. It may be performed by turning on an LED or the like with a lighting pattern provided for each type, or displaying a road sign mark or an explanation thereof on a liquid crystal display or the like.

  Suppressing the notification may be, for example, not performing the notification, or may be a mode in which the notification mode is more difficult to recognize than when the notification is not suppressed. For example, the volume may be reduced when the notification is performed with sound, or the light amount may be decreased when the notification is performed with light. When the notification is performed on the display, it is preferable to make the display mode inconspicuous, for example, by reducing the display area or making the display color inconspicuous.

  (2) As a road sign having a relatively high importance based on the type of the road sign, if the road sign is not followed, the vehicle may collide with another object. Other than the road sign The notification by the road sign may be the target of the suppression.

  In this way, the danger of collisions can be avoided in advance, the notification is frequently made and it feels unpleasant, or the user gets used to the frequent notifications and spends important signs. , Can solve the problem of not being able to alert properly.

  If the road sign is not followed, the road sign that the vehicle may collide with other objects is, for example, stop, slowing down, entry prohibition, level crossing, one-way, prohibition of traveling outside specified direction, traffic lights It may be at least one of them.

  (3) The information acquisition means which acquires the information regarding the said vehicle is provided, The said control means is good to suppress the alerting | reporting based on the kind of said road sign in consideration of the information regarding the vehicle acquired by the said information acquisition means.

  In this way, since the notification from the notification means is suppressed in consideration of the information on the acquired vehicle, there is a problem that appropriate notification cannot be made by always performing notification based on the determined type of road sign. Can be solved.

  (4) The information acquisition means acquires the presence / absence of a signal in front of the vehicle as information relating to the vehicle, and the control means is a road sign indicating that the type of the determined road sign indicates a vehicle stop obligation and the information It is good to set it as the structure which does not suppress the said alerting | reporting, when there is no signal ahead of the said vehicle as information acquired from the acquisition means.

  In this way, a notification regarding a road sign (for example, a “stop” sign) indicating a duty to stop at an intersection without a particularly dangerous signal is performed without being suppressed. Therefore, it is possible to call attention before an intersection where there is no signal that could cause a serious accident but there is a duty to stop.

  In this case, for example, the information acquisition unit determines whether or not there is a signal in the video captured by the in-vehicle camera or the in-vehicle camera different from the in-vehicle camera, and acquires the presence / absence of the signal in front of the vehicle Alternatively, the position where the signal is stored in advance is stored in the storage means, the current position of the vehicle is acquired, and the position where the signal stored in the storage means exists in the position corresponding to the front of the current position. It is good also as a structure which acquires the presence or absence of the signal ahead of the vehicle based on whether or not the presence or absence of the signal ahead of the vehicle based on whether or not the signal from the beacon for vehicle detection in front of the signal is received. It is good also as a structure to acquire.

(5) As a suppression of the notification, there may be provided a configuration that does not perform notification, and the control means does not perform the type determination processing of the road sign for a type of road sign that does not perform the notification.
In this way, the determination process is limited to those related to the type of road sign for which the notification is made, so the determination time can be shortened.

  (6) Current position acquisition means for acquiring the current position of the vehicle is provided, and the control means specifies the position where the notification is made based on the current position acquired by the current position acquisition means, When the current position acquired by the current position acquisition means approaches the stored position, the type of the road sign photographed by the in-vehicle camera is not determined. Even if it exists, it is good to make it alert | report based on the kind of road sign memorize | stored linked | related with the said position.

  In this way, when passing next time, it is possible to notify at night or under conditions where it is difficult to distinguish road signs such as fog.

  (7) On the premise of the configuration of (6), information related to the traveling direction of the vehicle at the position where the notification is made is stored in association with the type of the notified road sign, and is acquired by the current position acquisition means. Only when the current position approaches the stored position, and when the stored information on the traveling direction of the vehicle and the information on the traveling direction of the current vehicle coincide with each other. Even when the type of road sign photographed by the in-vehicle camera is not determined, it is preferable to perform notification based on the type of road sign stored in association with the position.

  In this way, a road sign installed toward a vehicle in a direction opposite to the direction currently in progress is not erroneously notified. This is particularly effective when traveling on a road with a small number of lanes, or when the current position of the current position acquisition means is low in accuracy and the position of the traveling lane and the opposite lane cannot be distinguished.

  Note that the information related to the traveling direction of the vehicle may be provided with direction acquisition means for obtaining from the history of the current position obtained by the current position obtaining means or obtaining from the value of the geomagnetic sensor, for example. The information related to the traveling direction of the vehicle may be, for example, information on the traveling direction itself, or information on the direction in which the sign is facing.

  (8) The information acquisition unit acquires a vehicle state as information on the vehicle, and whether the control unit observes the state indicated by the notified road sign after the notification based on the type of the road sign. May be determined based on the vehicle state, and notification based on the determination result may be performed.

  In this way, since the notification based on the determination result is performed, for example, even when the driver overlooks the road sign and does not notice the notification based on the type of the road sign, there is a possibility that the notification will be noticed. . Therefore, appropriate alerting can be performed.

  Whether or not the state indicated by the notified road sign is observed is determined based on the vehicle state, and as the notification based on the determination result, for example, the state indicated by the notified road sign is observed based on the vehicle state. In this case, notification based on the determination result is suppressed, and when the state indicated by the notified road sign is not observed based on the vehicle state, notification based on the determination result may not be suppressed. The vehicle state includes, for example, the traveling speed of the vehicle, presence / absence of acceleration / deceleration / stop, position information (movement locus), and the like. When the road sign is “pause”, the stop time when the speed is 0 km / h is obtained from the travel speed history information (the time during which the vehicle stays at the same position may be obtained from the position information history), and constant It is determined whether or not the vehicle has been stopped for a period of time, and notification is not suppressed when the stop time is short or has not stopped. Further, when the road sign is “slow down”, it is possible to determine whether or not the traveling speed is equal to or less than a certain speed, and to control notification based on the determination result. Furthermore, if the road sign restricts the direction of travel (route), such as right / left turn prohibition, one-way traffic, entry prohibition, etc., it is determined whether or not the vehicle has traveled according to the road sign from the movement trajectory. Notification control can also be performed. Furthermore, in the case of a temporary stop, it is necessary to stop so that the front end of the vehicle is positioned in front of the temporary stop line. Therefore, whether the front end of the vehicle is stopped in front of the temporary stop line (not protruding forward) by using the in-vehicle camera or another camera mounted in each of the above inventions, It is good to determine that the state indicated by the road sign of “pause” is observed when the vehicle stops in front and stops for a certain period of time. The determination of whether or not the state indicated by these road signs has been observed is the same in the inventions such as the following (8).

  (9) The information acquisition unit acquires a vehicle state as information on the vehicle, and whether the control unit observes the state indicated by the notified road sign after the notification based on the type of the road sign. May be determined based on the vehicle state, and at least one of the vehicle state or the video of the in-vehicle camera may be recorded based on the determination result.

  This makes it easy to prove whether or not the sign has been observed. For example, a driver or an administrator of a driver can check whether a sign has been overlooked by playing back the vehicle state or video using an information processing device that plays back at least one of the recorded vehicle state or video. .

  In this way, the insurance company can also determine whether or not the driver is eligible for a discount for the optional insurance based on this record. (9) The same effect can be obtained even if (10) is used.

  (10) The information acquisition unit may acquire a vehicle state as information relating to the vehicle, and the control unit may record the vehicle state before and after notification based on a type of the road sign.

  (11) The control means may record the video of the in-vehicle camera before and after the notification based on the type of the road sign.

  (12) On the premise of the configuration of any one of (9) to (11), the information acquisition unit acquires a vehicle state as information on the vehicle, and the control unit acquires the information acquisition unit during the recording. When a predetermined vehicle state is acquired from the above, the recording may be extended.

  In this way, when a predetermined vehicle state is acquired, the record is extended, so it is easy to prove whether or not the sign has been observed. For example, 10 seconds before and after the recognition and notification of the sign may be recorded, and if an impact or sudden braking is detected as a predetermined vehicle state during that time, 10 seconds may be further recorded thereafter. In this way, for example, it can be proved that the sign is recognized and sudden braking is applied.

  Thus, it is good to acquire the vehicle state which shows the change from the state which does not observe a sign to the state which followed the sign as a predetermined vehicle state.

  Conversely, after the notification based on the type of road sign, the control means determines whether or not the state indicated by the notified road sign is observed based on the vehicle state. The recording may be extended.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the vehicle-mounted electronic device etc. which can call attention more appropriate than before can be provided.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the radar detector which is preferable one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of a radar detector. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of a standby screen, a radar scope, and a GPS alarm. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the alarm screen in a radar wave alarm function. It is a figure which shows the example of the image data of a road sign. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process for implement | achieving a road sign warning function. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the warning screen in a road sign warning process. It is a figure which shows another example of a display of the warning screen in a road sign warning process.

  1 and 2 show a configuration of a radar detector which is a preferred embodiment as an in-vehicle electronic device of the present invention. The radar detector is usually mounted on the dashboard. As shown in FIG. 1, this radar detector has a solar panel 2 and a switch unit 3 arranged on the upper surface of the case body 1, and the front side of the case body 1 (the side arranged on the front side of the vehicle (the windshield side)). Are equipped with an infrared projector 21 for irradiating the front of the vehicle with infrared rays and an outside-vehicle camera 23 for shooting the front of the vehicle, and a microwave for detecting microwaves in a frequency band emitted by the speed measuring device inside the front side. A wave receiver 4 is arranged. On the other hand, a display unit 5, an alarm lamp 6, an infrared communication device 7, and a remote control receiver 16 are arranged on the rear side of the case body 1 (the side arranged on the rear side of the vehicle (user side (driver side)). Further, a GPS receiver 8 is disposed on the upper surface side inside the case body 1. Further, an adapter jack 9 is disposed on one side surface of the case body 1, and a power switch 10 and the illustrated figure are disposed on the other side surface. An omitted DC jack is disposed, and a speaker 20 and an acceleration sensor 25 are also built in the case body 1. The acceleration sensor 25 is installed so as to detect acceleration in the front-rear direction.

  In the present embodiment, the display unit 5 is a 2.4-inch small liquid crystal display, and the rear surface side of the case body 1 (side disposed on the vehicle rear side (user side (driver side)) is used as the display surface. The height H on the rear side of the case body 1 for mounting 5 is larger than the height H0 of other parts.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the infrared communication device 7 transmits and receives data to and from a communication device incorporating an infrared communication device such as a mobile phone 12. The adapter jack 9 is a terminal for connecting the memory card reader 13. By connecting the memory card reader 13 to the adapter jack 9, the data stored in the memory card 14 attached to the memory card reader 13 can be taken in, or the contents of the memory of the database 19 and the control unit 18 can be transferred to the memory card. 14 can be written. More specifically, the data stored in the memory card 14 includes update information such as information on a new target (position information including longitude / latitude, type information, etc.) and information on a road sign of a vehicle requiring attention. If there is, the control unit 18 stores (downloads) the update information in the database 19 built in the apparatus, and updates the data in the database 19. The function of the memory card reader 13 may be configured to be built in the main body case 1.

  The database 19 is a nonvolatile memory (for example, EEPROM) in the microcomputer of the control unit 18 or externally attached to the microcomputer. In the database 19, information on a certain target at the time of shipment and information on a road sign of a vehicle requiring attention are registered, and data on the target added after that is updated as described above. Can do. Data update can also be performed via the infrared communication device 7.

  The DC jack is for connecting a cigar plug cord (not shown), and is connected to a cigar socket of the vehicle via the cigar plug cord so that power can be supplied. The wireless receiver 15 receives incoming radio waves having a predetermined frequency. The remote control receiver 16 performs data communication with a remote control (portable device: handset) 17 by infrared rays and performs various settings for the device. The switch unit 3 is also connected to the control unit 18 (not shown) so that the same setting as the remote controller 17 can be performed. The remote controller 17 includes a play button, a standby switch button, a setting button, a selection button, a cancel button, a determination button, and up / down / left / right cross buttons.

  The control unit 18 is a microcomputer including a main CPU, a sub CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a nonvolatile memory, an I / O, and the like, and is connected to the above-described units as shown in FIG. 2 and is input from the above-described units. A predetermined process is executed based on the information, and the above-described units are controlled to output a predetermined alarm / message and information. Note that these basic configurations can be basically the same as the conventional ones. In the present embodiment, processing that is not particularly described is performed by the main CPU.

  The functions of the radar detector of the present embodiment are realized by being stored on the EEPROM of the control unit 18 as a program executed by the computer included in the control unit 18 and executed by the computer included in the control unit 18.

  Functions realized by the computer by the program of the control unit 18 include a GPS log function, a video display function, a recording function, a video playback function, a standby screen display function, a radar scope display function, a GPS alarm function, a radar wave alarm function, and wireless There are warning functions and road sign warning functions.

  The GPS log function is a function in which the control unit 18 stores the current position detected by the GPS receiver 8 every second in association with the detected time and speed (vehicle speed) in the memory card 14 as a position history. This position history is a function of recording in the NMEA format, for example.

  The video display function is a function for causing the display unit 5 to display video data received from the outside-camera camera 23 by the control unit 18. The recording function includes video data received by the control unit 18 from the outside camera 23, vehicle state data including acceleration obtained from the acceleration sensor 25, current position obtained from the GPS receiver 8, current time, and speed (vehicle speed). Is recorded in an “always-recording folder” provided in the memory card 14 in association with each other at any time. The recording function is always executed while power is supplied by the sub CPU included in the control unit 18. The video playback function is a function in which the control unit 18 expands and displays the video data recorded on the memory card 14 on the display unit 5.

The outside-camera shooting camera 23 is a CCD camera capable of shooting in the visible and infrared bands, and is internally connected to a USB port provided in the microcomputer of the control unit 18. The outside camera 23 has a function of A / D converting an image captured by the CCD camera and sending it to the control unit 18 as image data. This function has the same configuration as a so-called USB camera. The control unit 18 determines whether or not the illuminance necessary for reading on the road sign is insufficient from the brightness of the video data of the video captured by the CCD camera. If the illuminance is insufficient, the infrared projector 21 is turned on. And irradiate infrared rays in front of the vehicle.
The standby screen display function is a function for displaying the speed, latitude, longitude, and altitude of the host vehicle detected by the GPS receiver 8 on the display unit 5 as shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 3 (b), the radar scope display function is a position where a target within a predetermined range (for example, within a range of about 1 km) from the current position detected by the GPS receiver 8 is stored in the database 19. This is a function for retrieving from the information and displaying the relative positional relationship between the vehicle position and the target position on the display unit 5. In FIG. 3B, “W” on the left side indicates the west, “E” on the right side indicates the east, and “N” on the upper side indicates the north direction, and the horizontal line connecting “W” and “E” and “N” The icon at the intersection of the vertical line extending downward from "" indicates the vehicle position. Icons having characters such as “L”, “RD”, “P”, and “N” indicate the type and position of the target.

  When pressing of a standby switching button provided on the remote controller 17 is detected during execution of the standby screen display function as shown in FIG. 3A, the radar scope display function is switched to as shown in FIG. Further, when pressing of a standby switching button provided on the remote controller 17 is detected during execution of the radar scope display function, the display is switched to the video display function. Further, when pressing of a standby switch button provided on the remote controller 17 is detected during execution of the video display function, processing for switching to the standby screen display function is performed.

  The control unit 18 performs a GPS alarm function, a radar according to an event that occurs during execution of a video display function, a standby screen display function, or a radar scope display function (hereinafter, these functions are collectively referred to as a standby function). The processing for realizing each function such as a wave alarm function and a radio alarm function is executed. A program for realizing the road sign warning function is executed once every 0.2 seconds by timer interruption. The priority of each function is set in the order of radar wave warning function, radio warning function, GPS warning function, and road sign warning function from the highest.

  The GPS alarm function is a process executed at a predetermined time interval (1 second interval) by an event from a timer included in the control unit 18 and detected by the latitude and longitude of the target stored in the database 19 and the GPS receiver 8. The distance between the current position is obtained from the latitude and longitude of the current position, and when the obtained distance reaches a predetermined approach distance (for example, within 500 m), that fact is displayed on the display unit 5 and an approach warning indicating that fact from the speaker 20. This is a process for outputting the voice.

  Such targets include snoozing driving accident points, radar, speed limit switching points, control areas, inspection areas, parking monitoring areas, N systems, traffic monitoring systems, intersection monitoring points, signal ignorance suppression systems, police stations, frequent accidents Area, frequent on-board areas, sudden / continuous curve (highway), branch / merge point (highway), ETC lane advance guidance (highway), service area (highway), parking area (highway), highway Oasis (highway), smart interchange (highway), PA / SA petrol station (highway), tunnel (highway), highway radio reception area (highway), prefectural border notice, roadside station, viewpoint parking, etc. The type information of these targets, the latitude / longitude information indicating the position thereof, and the display on the display unit 5 The formula diagram or photo data and audio data are stored in the database 19 in association with each other.

  The radar wave warning function is used when the microwave receiver 4 detects a signal corresponding to a microwave in a frequency band emitted from a velocity measuring device (mobile radar or the like (hereinafter simply referred to as “radar”)). This is an alarm function for displaying an alarm screen on the display unit 5 and outputting an alarm sound from the speaker 20. For example, when a microwave in a microwave frequency band emitted by a radar is detected by the microwave receiver 4, as shown in FIG. 4, a schematic diagram or a photograph of the radar stored in the database 19 is displayed on the display unit 5. While being displayed as an alarm screen, the voice data stored in the database 19 is read out and a voice “Radar. Speed attention” is output from the speaker 20. During sound output, the alarm lamp 6 is turned on.

  The wireless alarm function is a function for issuing an alarm so that the wireless receiver 15 does not interfere with traveling or the like when a radio wave emitted by an emergency vehicle or the like is received. In the radio alarm function, the control radio, car radio, digital radio, special radio, police radio, police phone, police activity radio, wrecker radio, heli tele radio, fire helicopter radio, fire fight radio, emergency radio, expressway radio , Scan the frequency of the security radio, etc., and when the radio is received at the scanned frequency, a schematic diagram showing that the radio corresponding to the frequency stored in the database 19 for each radio type is received as an alarm screen While displaying on the display part 5, the audio | voice data memorize | stored for every radio | wireless classification in the database 19 are read, and the alarm sound which shows the radio | wireless classification from the speaker 20 is output. For example, when a control radio is received, a voice is output like “control radio. Speed attention”. During sound output, the alarm lamp 6 is turned on.

  In addition to these functions, the radar detector of the present embodiment has a road sign warning function. The road sign warning function stores information on the road sign to be compared in the database 19, extracts the road sign from the video data photographed by the outside camera 23, and extracts the road sign and the database 19. Is compared with the information on the road sign of the comparison target stored in the table, and it is determined whether or not to issue an alarm based on the comparison result, and if an alarm is issued, the alarm method is determined and the determined alarm method is determined. This is realized by performing notification control according to. This warning is controlled so as to alert the driver. In the alarm notification control, the control unit 18 reads the image data together with the display alarm character string stored in the database 19 to display the alarm screen on the display unit 5, or reads the alarm sound data stored in the database 19. The alarm sound is output from the speaker 20 or the alarm lamp 6 is turned on.

  The database 19 shows road sign information such as (a) temporary stop, (b) vehicle entry prohibition, (c) railroad crossing, (d) vehicle closure, (e) road closure, and (f) slow travel. Type, the pattern of the sign, the information of the alarm content corresponding to the sign, and the importance of the sign are stored in association with each other. The sign pattern is stored as the image data shown in FIG. 5, and the alarm data corresponding to the sign is stored in association with the image data, display alarm character string data, and alarm sound data shown in FIG. ing. Further, the importance of the sign is data indicating one of two types of “low” and “high”. For example, for the pause in FIG. 5 (a), the sign type is “pause”, the image data in FIG. 5 (a), the alarm string data for display is “Stop!” The warning voice data “There is a sign of“ Peep, Pause ”” and “High” are stored in association with the importance of the sign. As for the vehicle entry prohibition in FIG. 5B, “Vehicle entry prohibition” as the type of sign, image data in FIG. 5B, character string “No entry!” As alarm character string data for display, alarm sound data Are stored in association with warning voice data “Peep, there is a sign prohibiting entry” and “high” as the importance of the sign. With regard to the level crossing in FIG. 5C, the type of sign is “with level crossing”, the image data in FIG. 5C, the character string “with level crossing!” As the display warning character string data, and the alarm voice data “ “Peep, there is a sign with a railroad crossing”, “high” is stored in association with the warning voice data and the importance of the sign. As for the vehicle closure shown in FIG. 5 (d), the type of sign is “vehicle closure”, the image data shown in FIG. 5 (d), the display warning character string data is “Vehicle closed!” The warning voice data “There is a sign of“ Peep, vehicle closure ”” and “High” are stored in association with the importance of the sign. For the closure shown in FIG. 5 (e), the type of sign is “Closed”, the image data shown in FIG. 5 (e), the character string “I am closed” as the display warning character string data, and the warning voice data is “Closed sign” Is stored in association with the alarm voice data and “low” as the importance of the sign. 5 (f), the type of sign is “slow speed”, the image data of FIG. 5 (f), the character string of “slow speed” as the alarm character string data for display, and the “slow speed sign” The warning voice data “There is” and “Low” are stored in association with the importance of the sign. In this embodiment, (a) a temporary stop as a road sign that may cause a vehicle to collide with another object when the road sign is not followed as a road sign having a relatively high importance based on the type of road sign. b) Vehicle entry prohibition, (c) Railroad crossing, and (d) Vehicle traffic stop are set to “high” importance. In this embodiment, (e) traffic stop and (f) slow travel are important as road signs other than these road signs. The degree is “low”.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing by a program executed by the control unit 18 in order to realize the road sign warning function. This processing is executed once every 0.2 seconds by timer interruption as described above (multiple execution is not performed).

  First, in step (hereinafter abbreviated as S) S110, whether or not there is a sign corresponding to the image data of any sign in FIG. 5 stored in the database 19 in the video data currently taken by the outside camera 23. Determination is made by pattern matching in the order of 5 (a) to (f). If there is a sign corresponding to the image data of the sign stored in the database 19 in the current video data, the sign is stored in the RAM as a recognized sign and the process proceeds to S120. If there is no corresponding sign, the process proceeds to S210. Transition.

  In S120, recording of the video data photographed by the outside camera 23 and the vehicle state data into the “notification folder” provided in the memory card 14 is started. This recording process is performed by the sub CPU (in multitasking) in parallel with the recording in the “always recording folder”.

  In subsequent S130, it is determined from the importance level of the sign stored in the database 19 whether or not the importance level of the sign recognized in S110 stored in the RAM is “high”. When the importance is “high” (S130: Y), the process proceeds to S140, and when this importance is “low” (S130: N), the process proceeds to S190.

  In S140, it is determined by pattern matching whether or not there is a pattern corresponding to a traffic light in the video data currently captured by the outside camera 23. If there is no pattern corresponding to a traffic light in the video data (S140: N), the process proceeds to S150. On the other hand, if there is a pattern corresponding to a traffic light in the video data (S140: Y), the process proceeds to S170.

  In S150, the current position is set as the alarm start position, and the alarm start position is associated with the type of sign recognized in S110 stored in the RAM and stored in the nonvolatile memory of the control unit 18. In continuing S160, a big alarm is performed and it transfers to S240. As shown in FIG. 7 (a), the large alarm is obtained by displaying the image data of the type of the sign recognized in S110 stored in the RAM from the database 19 and displaying it on the display unit 5 and the type of the sign on it. A display state in which the character string of the alarm character string data for display corresponding to is displayed, and a non-display state in which the image data and the character string are not displayed on the display unit 5 as shown in FIG. The flashing display is alternately repeated, the alarm sound data corresponding to the type of the sign is read from the speaker 20, the sound is output, and the alarm lamp 6 is flashed.

  On the other hand, in S170, the current position is set as the alarm start position, and the alarm start position is associated with the type of the sign recognized in S110 stored in the RAM and stored in the nonvolatile memory of the control unit 18. In continuing S180, a middle alarm is performed and it transfers to S240. In the middle alarm, as shown in FIG. 7A, the display unit 5 obtains and displays the image data of the type of sign recognized in S110 stored in the RAM from the database 19, and displays the sign on the sign. The display is performed by displaying the character string of the alarm character string data for display corresponding to the type, reading the alarm voice data corresponding to the type of the sign from the speaker 20, outputting the sound, and turning on the alarm lamp 6. In this way, the middle alarm does not perform the blinking performed in the case of the large alarm, and the notification is suppressed as compared with the large alarm.

  On the other hand, in S190, the current position is set as the alarm start position, and the alarm start position is associated with the type of sign recognized in S110 stored in the RAM, and stored in the nonvolatile memory of the control unit 18. In subsequent S200, a small alarm is given and the process proceeds to S240. As shown in FIG. 8, the small alarm is obtained by displaying from the database 19 the image data of the type of sign recognized in S110 stored in the RAM and displaying it on the display unit 5 and corresponding to the type of sign on it. The character string of the alarm character string data for display to be displayed is displayed. No sound is output from the speaker 20, and the alarm lamp 6 is not turned on. In this way, the small alarm is performed while the notification is suppressed compared to the middle alarm and the large alarm.

  In S210, it is determined whether or not the current position corresponds to the alarm start position stored in the nonvolatile memory of the control unit 18. If the alarm start position is reached (S210: Y), the process proceeds to S220. If the alarm start position is not reached (S210; N), the processing of the road sign alarm function is terminated.

  In S220, recording of the video data photographed by the outside-camera camera 23 and the vehicle state data into the “notification folder” provided in the memory card 14 is started. This recording process is performed by the sub CPU (in multitasking) in parallel with the recording in the “always recording folder”.

  In subsequent S230, the type of sign stored in the non-volatile memory in association with the alarm start position corresponding to the current position is read out, an alarm of the type of sign is notified, and the type of the notified sign is stored in the RAM. , The process proceeds to S240. This notification is performed in the middle alarm mode. Because it is a sign that is easy to overlook in the current situation that it was recognized before but could not be recognized this time, attention should be given to the warning that was alarmed as a small alarm when it was able to be recognized in the middle alarm mode This is to encourage.

  In S240, the history of the speed recorded in the “notification folder” provided in the memory card 14 is acquired as vehicle information.

  In S250, it is determined from the history of acceleration and speed acquired in S240 whether or not the state indicated by the type of the sign stored in the RAM is maintained. When it is protected (S250: Y), the process proceeds to S260, and when it is not protected (S250: N), the process proceeds to S280. In this embodiment, when the type of sign is (a) temporary stop, (b) vehicle entry prohibition, (c) railroad crossing, (d) vehicle closure, (e) closure, the speed is 5 km / If there is a part where the speed is equal to or less than h, it is determined that the area is protected. If the type of the sign is (f) slow speed, it is determined that the area where the speed is 20 km / h or less is protected.

  In S260, the vehicle state data and video data from the start of recording in S120 recorded in the “notification folder” of the memory card to the present are copied into the “compliance folder” of the memory card.

  In S270, it is determined whether or not the current value of the acceleration acquired from the acceleration sensor 25 is a value indicating an acceleration corresponding to the occurrence of an impact. If the value represents an acceleration corresponding to the occurrence of an impact (S270: Y), the process proceeds to S260 and the vehicle state data and video data up to the present are copied again into the “compliance folder” of the memory card. On the other hand, when the value does not indicate the acceleration corresponding to the occurrence of the impact, the process proceeds to S290.

  In S280, a sign non-compliance warning is given. In the present embodiment, the sign non-compliance alarm provides a warning of the type of the sign in the alarm form of a large alarm.

  In S290, the recording of the video data and vehicle state data started in S120 in the “notification folder” provided in the memory card 14 is terminated, and the processing of the road sign warning function is terminated.

  Thus, in the present embodiment, in S130, it is determined whether or not notification based on the type of road sign is suppressed (S200) in consideration of the importance based on the type of road sign (S180, S190). Therefore, notifications about signs of low importance are frequently made and it feels annoying, or people get used to frequent notifications and spend important information notifications. It can solve the problem and can call out more appropriate than before.

  In the present embodiment, as suppression of notification, the flashing of the alarm lamp 6 is suppressed to be on or off, or the display mode of the image on the display unit 5 is compared with the flashing display of the large alarm, and the medium alarm / small alarm. Then, it is suppressed and is simply displayed, or the sound output from the speaker 20 is performed for the large alarm / medium alarm and not performed for the small alarm. However, other modes of suppression may of course be used. For example, the output volume of the sound from the speaker 20 may be maximized for the large alarm, smaller than the large alarm for the middle alarm, and smaller than the middle alarm for the small alarm. Similarly, the light intensity of the alarm lamp 6 and the brightness of the display 5 may be maximized for the large alarm, smaller than the large alarm for the middle alarm, and smaller than the middle alarm for the small alarm. In addition, the display area of the image data of the sign on the display unit 5 may be maximized for the large alarm, may be smaller than the large alarm for the middle alarm, and smaller than the middle alarm for the small alarm.

  In the present embodiment, if the road sign is not followed, the road sign that may cause the vehicle to collide with another object is (a) temporary stop, (b) vehicle entry prohibition, (c) railroad crossing, (d) Although the vehicle is closed, (e) closed road and (f) slow drive may be included. Then, after another target sign (mainly a blue sign) or a warning sign other than a railroad crossing (mainly a yellow sign) is set as a recognition target, the importance of the other signs may be low. In particular, the signs that should have a high importance level are “stop”, “slowing”, “entry prohibited”, “crossing”, “one-way traffic”, “prohibition of traveling in the specified direction”, “traffic light” and the like.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the presence / absence of a signal ahead of the vehicle is acquired as information related to the vehicle (S140), and the control unit 18 is a road sign indicating that the determined type of road sign indicates the obligation to stop the vehicle (S130: Y) When there is no signal ahead of the vehicle as the acquired information (S140: N), the notification is not suppressed (S160). As a result, a notification regarding a road sign (for example, a “stop” sign) indicating a stop duty at an intersection where there is no particularly dangerous signal is performed without being suppressed. Therefore, it is possible to call attention before an intersection where there is no signal that could cause a serious accident but there is a duty to stop.

  In the present embodiment, it is determined whether or not there is a traffic light in the video imaged by the outside camera 23, and the presence or absence of a signal ahead of the vehicle is acquired. For example, the database 19 has a traffic light in advance. As a configuration for storing the position, acquiring the current position of the vehicle, and acquiring the presence or absence of a traffic signal ahead of the vehicle based on whether or not there is a position of the traffic signal stored at a position corresponding to the front of the current position Also good. Moreover, it is good also as a structure which acquires the presence or absence of the traffic signal ahead of a vehicle based on whether the signal from the beacon for vehicle detection in front of a traffic signal was received.

  In the present embodiment, as a suppression of notification, a sign other than the sign shown in FIG. 5 is a sign that does not notify, and a road sign type that is not notified is not subjected to a process of discriminating the type of road sign. (S110). For this reason, the determination process is limited to those relating to road signs of the type for which notification is performed, so that the determination time can be shortened.

  In the present embodiment, a GPS receiver 8 for acquiring the current position of the vehicle is provided, and the control unit 18 specifies the position where the alarm is notified based on the current position acquired by the GPS receiver 8 and notifies the road sign. If it is stored in association with the type (S150, S170, S190), and the current position acquired by the GPS receiver 8 approaches this stored position (S210: Y), the image is taken by the outside camera 23. Even when the type of the road sign is not determined (S110: N), notification is performed based on the type of road sign stored in association with the position (S230). Therefore, when the sign is recognized once and the place where the alarm is given next is passed, the alarm can be notified at night or under conditions where it is difficult to distinguish the road sign such as fog.

  For example, when driving on a road with a small number of lanes such as a one-way alternating road, the GPS receiver 8 has a low accuracy in acquiring the current position, and the current lane and the opposite lane cannot be distinguished from each other. There is a possibility that a traffic sign in the opposite lane will be notified. Therefore, when the current position is stored as the alarm start position in S150, S170, and S190, the current traveling direction is specified based on the position history acquired from the latest GPS log and stored as the alarm time direction. In S210, the process proceeds to S220 only when the current position acquired by the GPS receiver 8 approaches the stored position and the current traveling direction matches the stored warning direction, In this case, the processing of this road sign warning function may be terminated. In this way, a road sign installed toward a vehicle in a direction opposite to the direction currently in progress is not erroneously notified. The alarm direction may be obtained from the value of the geomagnetic sensor by connecting the geomagnetic sensor to the control unit 18. Further, the alarm direction may be, for example, the direction in which the sign is facing, not the traveling direction.

  In the present embodiment, vehicle state data is acquired as information related to the vehicle, and the control unit 18 indicates the state indicated by the notified road sign after the notification (S160, S180, S200, S230) based on the type of the road sign. Is determined based on the vehicle state (S250), and notification based on the determination result is performed (S280). That is, when the state indicated by the notified road sign is observed (S250: Y), the notification based on the determination result is not performed (due to non-execution of S280), and the state indicated by the notified road sign is observed. If not (S250: N), notification based on the determination result is not suppressed (label non-compliance alarm in S280). Thus, even if the driver overlooks the road sign and does not notice the notification based on the type of the road sign, there is a possibility that the driver will notice it. Therefore, appropriate alerting can be performed.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, after the notification based on the type of road sign (S160, S180, S200, S230), the control unit 18 determines whether or not the state indicated by the notified road sign is observed based on the vehicle state. The vehicle state data and the video data are recorded in the “compliance folder” based on the determination result (S260). This makes it easy to prove whether or not the sign has been observed. For example, a driver or an administrator of a driver can check whether a sign has been overlooked by playing back the vehicle state or video using an information processing device that plays back at least one of the recorded vehicle state or video. . This also allows the insurance company to determine whether or not the driver is eligible for any insurance discount based on this record. In addition to this, vehicle state data and video data are recorded in the “notification folder” before and after the notification based on the type of road sign.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, when the impact is detected as a predetermined vehicle state during recording (S270: Y), the control unit 18 extends the recording (S270: recopying in S260 by Y). I have to. In this way, if an impact is detected, the record is extended, so it is easy to prove whether or not the sign has been observed. That is, in the case of the present embodiment, since the record is made when an impact occurs even though the state indicated by the sign is observed, the vehicle state in the compliance folder is proved that the driver has no failure. Data and video data can be used. Contrary to this embodiment, the control unit 18 determines whether or not the state indicated by the notified road sign is observed based on the vehicle state after the notification based on the type of the road sign, and observes it. If not, the recording may be extended.

  In the present embodiment, the outside camera 23 is built in, but for example, a video signal or video data may be acquired from a peripheral camera such as a front monitor camera provided in advance in the vehicle. For example, it may be connected to a wired or wireless in-vehicle network, and the video of the peripheral photographing camera may be acquired through the in-vehicle network. In this way, it is not necessary to install a camera or the like in a retrofitted device like a radar detector, and an approach alarm can be realized at a low cost. It can also be used for other purposes.

  In this embodiment, the example of the radar detector has been described. However, the present invention can be implemented as a function of various in-vehicle electronic devices. For example, you may incorporate as a function of a navigation apparatus, a drive recorder, and a car audio. In addition, the numerical values described in the present embodiment may be appropriately changed to values that exhibit an effect through experiments and the like. Further, the control unit 18 is provided with a function of setting the priority order of each function and alarm based on an instruction from the user from the remote controller 17 or the like, and the control unit 18 performs processing in this set priority order. It may be configured.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Case main body 2 Solar panel 4 Microwave receiver 5 Display part 6 Lamp 7 Infrared communication device 8 GPS receiver 9 Adapter jack 10 Power switch 11 Mobile phone 12 Memory card reader 14 Memory card 15 Wireless receiver 16 Remote control receiver 17 Remote control 18 Control Unit 19 Database 20 Speaker 21 Infrared Projector 23 Outside Camera 25 Acceleration Sensor

Claims (3)

An electronic device having a function of constantly recording video of a vehicle-mounted camera so that the video can be played back by an information processing device different from the electronic device that plays back the video of the vehicle-mounted camera,
The video when the type of road sign taken by a camera that can take a road sign installed on the road while the vehicle is traveling is discriminated from the electronic device, and the recorded video is reproduced. by the processing unit, so as to be reproducing video type to when it is determined road sign, said the place to record continuously the images of the in-vehicle camera comprising: a function of recording in parallel to another location Electronics. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the different location is another folder .   The program for making a computer implement | achieve the function of the electronic device of Claim 1 or 2.