JP7353037B2 - In-vehicle device, data collection system, and control method for in-vehicle device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted device, a data collection system, and a method of controlling the vehicle-mounted device.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, data collection devices are known that collect road information from an on-vehicle device installed in each vehicle. Such a data collection device collects road information at a desired location by selecting vehicles for which road information is to be collected based on the location information of each vehicle (for example, see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-055581

However, conventionally, since the data collection device serving as the center analyzes the video data collected from the in-vehicle device, there is a risk that the processing load on the center will increase due to the analysis process.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide an in-vehicle device, a data collection system, and a control method for the in-vehicle device that can reduce the processing load on a center.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the objects, an in-vehicle device according to the present invention includes a collection section, a generation section, and a transmission section. The collection unit collects video data captured by a vehicle. The generation section generates processed data by performing predetermined processing on the video data collected by the collection section based on processing conditions specified by the data collection device. The transmitter transmits the processed data generated by the generator to the outside.

According to the present invention, the processing load on the center can be reduced.

FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an overview of a data collection system according to an embodiment. FIG. 1B is a diagram showing an overview of the data collection system according to the embodiment. FIG. 1C is a diagram showing an overview of the data collection system according to the embodiment. FIG. 1D is a diagram illustrating an overview of a method for controlling an in-vehicle device according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a data collection system according to an embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of collection conditions. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of processing executed by the in-vehicle device according to the embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of an in-vehicle device, a data collection system, and a control method for an in-vehicle device disclosed in the present application will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below.

First, an overview of the data collection system according to the embodiment will be explained using FIGS. 1A to 1D. 1A to 1C are diagrams showing an overview of a data collection system according to an embodiment. FIG. 1D is a diagram illustrating an overview of a method for controlling an in-vehicle device according to an embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the data collection system 1 according to the embodiment includes a data collection device 10 and vehicle-mounted devices 100-1, 100-2 mounted on vehicles V-1, V-2, V-3, respectively. , 100-3... and a user terminal 200. In addition, below, when referring to a vehicle in general, it is written as "vehicle V", and when referring to a vehicle-mounted device in general, it is described as "vehicle-mounted device 100", respectively.

The data collection device 10 is configured as a cloud server that provides cloud services via a network such as the Internet or a mobile phone network, and receives a request from a data user to collect data regarding the vehicle V (hereinafter referred to as vehicle data). Based on the received collection request, vehicle data is collected from each in-vehicle device 100 and provided to the data user.

The in-vehicle device 100 is, for example, a drive recorder having various sensors such as a camera, an acceleration sensor, and a GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor, a storage device, a microcomputer, etc., and acquires a collection request received by the data collection device 10. Vehicle data corresponding to the collection request is acquired from the vehicle V.

Additionally, the in-vehicle device 100 uploads the acquired vehicle data to the data collection device 10 as appropriate. By using the drive recorder as the in-vehicle device 100 in this way, the in-vehicle components mounted on the vehicle V can be made more efficient. Note that the in-vehicle device 100 and the drive recorder may be configured as separate bodies without being used together.

The user terminal 200 is a terminal used by a data user, and is, for example, a notebook PC (Personal Computer), a desktop PC, a tablet terminal, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a smartphone, a glasses-shaped information processing device, or a watch-shaped information processing device. These include wearable devices that are terminals.

In the data collection system 1 according to the embodiment, the data collection device 10 collects vehicle data from the in-vehicle device 100 based on collection conditions specified via the user terminal 200, and provides it to the user terminal 200. Hereinafter, a series of steps until vehicle data is provided to a data user in the data collection system 1 will be described using FIGS. 1A to 1C.

As shown in FIG. 1A, first, a data user specifies collection conditions using a user terminal 200 connected to the data collection device 10.

In addition, at this time, the data collection device 10 adds a tag to the actual data R (an example of vehicle data) to be collected, and has the characteristics of index data used for searching and grasping the overview of the actual data R. Generate data for generating data T. That is, the tag data T is metadata obtained by converting the actual data R into meta information. Note that the data for generating the tag data T is generated based on the operations of the data user using a program and generation data stored in the user terminal 200 or the data collection device 10.

Then, the specified collection conditions and the data for generating the generated tag data T are stored in the data collection device 10, and are also distributed to the vehicle V that is the object of data collection and stored in the in-vehicle device 100. be done.

Next, each in-vehicle device 100 monitors output data from various sensors, and stores actual data R such as output data and video data in a storage device when an event that satisfies the stored collection conditions occurs. Note that the video data is, for example, a moving image, but may also be a still image. Further, each in-vehicle device 100 generates and stores tag data T corresponding to the actual data R based on the stored generation data of the tag data T and the actual data R. Then, each in-vehicle device 100 uploads the tag data T to the data collection device 10, and the data collection device 10 stores the tag data T. Note that at this time, the actual data R is not uploaded to the data collection device 10. In other words, as shown in FIG. 1A, the data collection device 10 is in a state where only the tag data T is held.

Furthermore, the in-vehicle device 100 generates processed data by performing predetermined processing on the collected video data based on the processing conditions specified by the data collection device 10, and uploads the processed data. This will be described later in FIG. 1D.

When the data user connects to the data collection device 10 using the user terminal 200 to check the data collection status and collect actual data R, meta information based on the tag data T collected by the data collection device 10 is generated. is displayed on the user terminal 200.

Then, as shown in FIG. 1B, when the data user specifies tag data T corresponding to the actual data R to be collected using the user terminal 200, the actual data is sent to the corresponding in-vehicle device 100 via the data collection device 10. Instruction data specifying R is transmitted.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 1C, the specified actual data R is uploaded from each in-vehicle device 100 to the data collection device 10 and stored in the data collection device 10. Then, the data user accesses the real data R stored in the data collection device 10 using the user terminal 200, and views or downloads the real data R.

Note that from the viewpoint of the data capacity of the in-vehicle device 100, the actual data R uploaded to the data collection device 10 and the corresponding tag data T are deleted from the in-vehicle device 100 after being uploaded to the data collection device 10. is preferred.

In addition, the tag data T is not data that is simply an excerpt of a part of the actual data R, but when the data user refers to it, he or she can grasp the outline of the actual data R and determine whether or not the actual data R is necessary. It is preferable that the information be converted into meta-information to a certain extent.

Here, conventionally, since the data collection device serving as the center analyzes the video data collected from the in-vehicle device, there is a risk that the processing load on the center will increase due to the analysis process.

Therefore, in the control method for the in-vehicle device 100 according to the embodiment, video data is subjected to processing specified by the data collection device 10 and then uploaded. Hereinafter, a method for controlling the in-vehicle device according to the embodiment will be specifically described using FIG. 1D.

In FIG. 1D, an example will be described in which processing is performed on video data captured by a camera with a fisheye lens. Video data captured by a camera with a fisheye lens is an image in which the object is curved due to the characteristics of the lens. For this reason, the image data may be provided to the data user after being processed to be easier to view by correcting distortions based on lens characteristics.

Therefore, the in-vehicle device 100 according to the embodiment generates processed data by performing distortion correction on the collected video data, and then uploads the data to an external device such as the data collection device 10, for example. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1D, the in-vehicle device 100 receives processing conditions instructing to perform distortion correction from the data collection device 10.

Then, the in-vehicle device 100 performs predetermined processing (distortion correction) on the collected video data based on the processing conditions specified by the data collection device 10 to generate processed data, and uploads the processed data to the data collection device 10. The data collection device 10 then performs data analysis using the processed data uploaded from the in-vehicle device 100, and provides the analysis results to the data user.

That is, in the method for controlling the in-vehicle device 100 according to the embodiment, the in-vehicle device 100 is responsible for distortion correction that is part of data processing performed by the data collection device 10. This eliminates the need for the data collection device 10 to perform distortion correction, so that the processing load on the data collection device 10 can be reduced.

Note that the processing that the in-vehicle device 100 is responsible for is not limited to distortion correction, and may be any part (or all) of the processing performed by the data collection device 10, such as image quality correction and cutting out an image area.

Further, the processing performed by the in-vehicle device 100 may be, for example, changing the frame rate of a moving image (reducing the number of frames) or changing the image resolution (reducing the resolution) of a moving image or a still image.

Hereinafter, a configuration example of the data collection system 1 according to the embodiment will be described in more detail.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the data collection system 1 according to the embodiment. Note that FIG. 2 shows only the constituent elements necessary for explaining the features of the embodiment, and the description of general constituent elements is omitted.

In other words, each component illustrated in FIG. 2 is functionally conceptual, and does not necessarily need to be physically configured as illustrated. For example, the specific form of distributing/integrating each block is not limited to what is shown in the diagram, and all or part of the blocks can be functionally or physically distributed/integrated in arbitrary units depending on various loads and usage conditions. It is possible to configure them in an integrated manner.

Furthermore, in the explanation using FIG. 2, the explanation of components that have already been explained may be simplified or omitted.

As shown in FIG. 2, the data collection system 1 according to the embodiment includes a data collection device 10, an in-vehicle device 100, and a user terminal 200.

First, the data collection device 10 will be explained. The data collection device 10 includes a communication section 11, a storage section 12, and a control section 13.

The communication unit 11 is realized by, for example, a NIC (Network Interface Card). The communication unit 11 is connected to the network N by wire or wirelessly, and transmits and receives information to and from the in-vehicle device 100 and the user terminal 200 via the network N.

The storage unit 12 is realized by, for example, a semiconductor memory element such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a flash memory, or a storage device such as a hard disk or an optical disk. , and the collected data DB 12b.

The collection condition information DB 12a stores collection conditions specified by the user terminal 200 and accepted by the reception unit 13a, which will be described later. That is, the collection condition information DB 12a includes past results regarding collection conditions.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of collection conditions. As shown in FIG. 3, the collection conditions include various parameters related to collection of vehicle data. As shown in the figure, the various parameters include, for example, "target vehicle", "data type", "collection trigger condition", "collection period", and "processing condition".

Note that the "target vehicle" is an identifier of the vehicle V to be collected. Furthermore, the "data type" is the type of data to be collected, such as the accelerator opening rate, for example. The "collection trigger condition" is a condition that triggers collection, such as when the vehicle speed exceeds a predetermined speed. The "collection period" is the period during which data is collected. “Processing conditions” are details of processing to be performed on the actual data R such as video data.

Further, the processing content referred to here includes, for example, compression of video data, image quality correction, cropping of an image area, distortion correction, etc., and is processing content necessary for the data collection device 10 to perform analysis.

The collected data DB 12b stores collected data collected from each vehicle-mounted device 100 by a collection unit 13c, which will be described later. That is, the collected data DB 12b includes past results of collected data. Note that the collected data includes the above-mentioned tag data T and real data R (compressed data).

The control unit 13 is a controller, and various programs stored in a storage device inside the data collection device 10 use the RAM as a work area by, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an MPU (Micro Processing Unit). This is achieved by executing as . Further, the control unit 13 can be realized by, for example, an integrated circuit such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

The control unit 13 includes a reception unit 13a, a distribution unit 13b, a collection unit 13c, and an analysis unit 13d, and realizes or executes information processing functions and operations described below.

The reception unit 13a receives the collection conditions specified by the data user from the user terminal 200 via the communication unit 11, and notifies the distribution unit 13b. Further, the reception unit 13a stores the collection conditions specified by the data user into the collection condition information DB 12a.

The distribution unit 13b distributes the collection conditions stored in the collection condition information DB 12a and specified by the data user to the vehicle V serving as the target vehicle, for example, in a file format via the communication unit 11.

The collection unit 13c transmits the tag data T and actual data R (processed data), which are vehicle data acquired based on the collection conditions distributed by the distribution unit 13b and is uploaded from the in-vehicle device 100, to the communication unit 11. The information is collected via the DB 12b and stored as collected data in the collected data DB 12b.

The analysis unit 13d performs analysis processing by processing the processed data based on an analysis instruction from the data user via the user terminal 200, for example, and provides the analysis result to the data user.

Furthermore, when the analysis unit 13d receives a notification from the on-vehicle device 100 that the machining program of the on-vehicle device 100 does not correspond to the specified machining conditions, the analysis unit 13d distributes an update program to the on-vehicle device 100.

Next, the in-vehicle device 100 will be explained. The in-vehicle device 100 includes a communication section 101, a storage section 102, and a control section 103. Further, as described above, various sensors 150 such as a camera, an acceleration sensor, and a GPS sensor are connected to the in-vehicle device 100.

Similarly to the communication unit 11, the communication unit 101 is realized by, for example, a NIC or the like. The communication unit 101 is wirelessly connected to the network N, and transmits and receives information to and from the data collection device 10 via the network N. The communication unit 101 also receives output data from various sensors 150.

Like the storage unit 12, the storage unit 102 is realized by, for example, a semiconductor memory element such as a RAM or a flash memory, or a storage device such as a hard disk or an optical disk. In the example of FIG. 2, the collection condition information 102a and the vehicle The data information 102b is stored.

The collection condition information 102a is information including collection conditions distributed from the data collection device 10. The vehicle data information 102b is information including vehicle data collected by a collection unit 103c, which will be described later. The vehicle data includes the above-mentioned tag data T and actual data R (processed data).

The control unit 103 is a controller like the control unit 13, and is realized by, for example, executing various programs stored in a storage device inside the in-vehicle device 100 by a CPU, an MPU, etc. using the RAM as a work area. be done. Further, the control unit 103 can be realized by, for example, an integrated circuit such as an ASIC or an FPGA.

The control unit 103 includes an acquisition unit 103a, a detection unit 103b, a collection unit 103c, a generation unit 103d, and an upload unit 103e, and realizes or executes information processing functions and operations described below.

The acquisition unit 103a acquires the collection conditions distributed from the data collection device 10, and stores them in the collection condition information 102a. The detection unit 103b monitors the output data from the various sensors 150 and detects the occurrence of an event that becomes a trigger under the collection conditions.

For example, when the detection unit 103b detects the occurrence of an event that is a trigger for collecting vehicle data under the collection conditions, it causes the collecting unit 103c to collect vehicle data. For example, when the detection unit 103b detects the occurrence of an event that is a trigger for uploading vehicle data to the data collection device 10 under the collection conditions, the detection unit 103b causes the upload unit 103e to upload the vehicle data.

The collection unit 103c collects vehicle data based on the output data of the various sensors 150 when the detection unit 103b detects the occurrence of a trigger for collecting vehicle data. Further, the collection unit 103c stops collecting vehicle data when the detection unit 103b detects the occurrence of a trigger for stopping the collection of vehicle data.

The generation unit 103d performs predetermined processing on the video data collected by the collection unit 103c based on the processing conditions specified by the data collection device 10 to generate processed data. Specifically, the generation unit 103d generates processed data by subjecting the video data to predetermined processing according to the processing conditions of the collection conditions stored in the collection condition information 102a, and stores the processed data in the vehicle data information 102b.

Furthermore, the generation unit 103d generates tag data T that is meta information of the processed data, and stores it in the vehicle data information 102b in association with the processed data. Note that when generating the tag data T, the generation unit 103d causes the tag data T to include processing information regarding the content of processing performed on the processed data.

Note that the timing of processing by the generation unit 103d may be arbitrary. For example, the generation unit 103d may generate processed data immediately after the collection unit 103c collects the video data, or the generation unit 103d may process the video data at a specific timing after the video data is once stored in the vehicle data information 102b by the collection unit 103c. You may do so.

Note that the specific timing is, for example, the timing at which the data collection device 10 makes a request to collect the actual data R, that is, the timing at which the actual data R is uploaded to the data collection device 10. Alternatively, the specific timing may be a timing when the processing load on the in-vehicle device 100 is relatively light.

Specifically, the generation unit 103d generates processed data when the processing load of the in-vehicle device 100 is less than a predetermined threshold. Thereby, processing can be performed without putting pressure on other processes of the in-vehicle device 100. Note that the case where the processing load of the in-vehicle device 100 is less than a predetermined threshold value includes, for example, a case where the collecting unit 103c is not collecting video data, a case where the vehicle V is stopped, etc.

Further, when the processing based on the processing conditions in the collection conditions cannot be performed, the generation unit 103d notifies the data collection device 10 of impossibility information indicating that the processing cannot be performed. As a result, the data collection device 10 can confirm in advance that the video data to be uploaded has not been processed, so it can smoothly perform analysis processing, etc. by performing processing that could not be handled by the in-vehicle device 100. be able to.

Further, the generation unit 103d may obtain an update program related to processing from the data collection device 10 when processing cannot be performed based on the processing conditions in the collection conditions. Thereby, even if the machining program of the in-vehicle device 100 does not correspond to the predetermined machining content, the machining can be performed by acquiring the updated program.

The upload unit 103e (an example of a transmitting unit) uploads the vehicle data stored in the vehicle data information 102b to the data collection device 10 when the detection unit 103b detects the occurrence of a trigger for uploading vehicle data.

The upload unit 103e also transmits the tag data T generated by the generation unit 103d, that is, the tag data T that includes processing information regarding the processing content of the processed data. Thereby, the data collection device 10 can check the processing contents of the processed data in advance, so that the process of checking the processing contents can be omitted in the analysis process, and as a result, the processing load can be reduced.

Next, the processing procedure of the process executed by the in-vehicle device 100 according to the embodiment will be described using FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of processing executed by the in-vehicle device 100 according to the embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 4, first, the acquisition unit 103a acquires collection conditions distributed from the data collection device 10 (step S101). Subsequently, the collection unit 103c collects video data based on the collection conditions (step S102).

Next, the generation unit 103d performs predetermined processing on the video data collected by the collection unit 103c based on the processing conditions in the collection conditions to generate processed data (step S103).

Subsequently, the detection unit 103b determines whether there is a collection request instruction from the data collection device 10 (step S104), and if there is no instruction (step S104: No), it repeatedly executes step S104.

Moreover, when there is an instruction (step S104: Yes), the upload unit 103e uploads the processed data to the data collection device 10 (step S105), and ends the process.

As described above, the in-vehicle device 100 according to the embodiment includes the collection section 103c, the generation section 103d, and the upload section 103e (transmission section). The collection unit 103c collects video data captured by the vehicle V. The generation unit 103d performs predetermined processing on the video data collected by the collection unit 103c based on the processing conditions specified by the data collection device 10 to generate processed data. The upload unit 103e transmits the processed data generated by the generation unit 103d to the data collection device 10 (an example of an external device). Thereby, the processing load on the data collection device 10 can be reduced.

Further advantages and modifications can be easily deduced by those skilled in the art. Therefore, the broader aspects of the invention are not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described above. Accordingly, various changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

1 Data collection system 10 Data collection device 11, 101 Communication unit 12, 102 Storage unit 13, 103 Control unit 13a Reception unit 13b Distribution unit 13c Collection unit 13d Analysis unit 100 Vehicle-mounted device 103a Acquisition unit 103b Detection unit 103c Collection unit 103d Generation unit 103e Upload section 200 User terminal

Claims (6)

A control unit that collects video data captured by the vehicle, processes the collected video data, and transmits the generated processed data to the outside,
The control unit includes:
When the processing load of the in-vehicle device is less than a predetermined threshold, at least a part of the processing performed by the data collection device is performed on the video data based on the processing conditions specified by the data collection device, and the processing is performed on the video data. An in-vehicle device characterized by generating data. The control unit includes:
The in-vehicle device according to claim 1, wherein the processed data is metadata converted into meta information, and the metadata including processing information regarding processing contents of the processed data is transmitted to the outside. The control unit includes:
In-vehicle installation according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that when processing cannot be performed based on processing conditions specified by the data collection device, disapproval information indicating that the processing cannot be performed is notified to the data collection device. Device. The control unit includes:
The in-vehicle device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein when processing cannot be performed based on processing conditions specified by the data collection device, an update program related to processing is obtained from the data collection device. The in-vehicle device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
a data collection device that collects data regarding the vehicle from the in-vehicle device;
A data collection system comprising: a terminal device that acquires data collected by the data collection device. A control method executed by an on-vehicle device, the method comprising:
A control step of collecting video data captured by the vehicle, processing the collected video data, and transmitting the generated processed data to the outside,
The control step includes:
When the processing load of the in-vehicle device is less than a predetermined threshold, at least a part of the processing performed by the data collection device is performed on the video data based on the processing conditions specified by the data collection device, and the processing is performed on the video data. A method for controlling an in-vehicle device, the method comprising: generating data.

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