JPH11144196A - Management system for parking lot - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain the economical management system for a parking lot which can obtain the acurate parking state by deciding whether or not a vehicle enters or exits from the parking lot from changes of a picked-up image of the vehicle. SOLUTION: It is decided whether or not the vehicle enters or exits from the parking lot from changes of the picked-up image of the vehicle. Namely, entry/exiting decision means 61c decides whether or not the vehicle passing through the entry/exiting path enters or exits from the parking lot. This entry/ exiting decision means 61c reads images out of 2nd and 3rd frame memories 62d and 62e, compares the images with a reference image, and calculates the number of pixels of the vehicle part in the images from the difference to decide whether the vehicle enters or exit from the parking lot. Namely, when the number of pixels of the vehicle part which is a specific time later is larger than that at the time of body detection, it is decided that the vehicle is approaching a CCD camera 3, namely, entering the parking lot and when not, on the other hand, it is decided that the vehicle is exiting.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a parking lot management system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a parking lot management system in which a sensor such as an ultrasonic wave or an infrared ray is provided on each of an entrance route and an exit route of a parking lot or the like, and the number of entering vehicles is grasped based on a signal from the sensor. Have been.

[0003]

However, such a sensor is effective in a parking lot where the entrance route and the exit route are independent from each other, but may count incorrectly in a parking lot having both an entrance and an exit. For example, some free parking lots such as large supermarkets have a single entrance / exit to the parking lot and an entrance / exit route that integrates an entry route and an exit route into one in order to reduce costs. In such an entry / exit route, a vehicle (automobile) may travel on a center line between the entry route and the exit route, and in this case, the entry vehicle and the exit vehicle may be mistaken. Further, the sensor may react to a person passing through the entry route or the exit route. Therefore, even if the number of incoming and outgoing goods is calculated based on the output of such a sensor, an accurate number cannot be obtained. On the other hand, in free parking lots such as large supermarkets,
I want to manage entry and exit at the lowest possible cost. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an accurate parking lot management system that can obtain an accurate parking situation.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, a parking lot management system according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises:
An imaging device that captures an image of a vehicle passing through the exit route or the entrance / exit route is provided.From a change in an image captured by the imaging device,
It is determined whether a vehicle passing on the route enters or leaves the vehicle, and the display means displays the parking status of the parking lot based on the result of the determination.

According to the first aspect, for example, when the number of pixels obtained by imaging the vehicle increases or decreases with time, it is determined whether the vehicle enters or leaves the vehicle. As described above, if it is determined whether the vehicle is to be entered or left, it is possible to calculate the number of parked vehicles and the number of empty vehicles by multiplying them. Therefore, the parking status such as the number of parked vehicles and the number of empty vehicles can be displayed on the display means.

On the other hand, the parking lot management system according to the second invention is provided with a number recognition means for recognizing a number displayed on a license plate of a vehicle passing through an entry route, an exit route or an entry / exit route. Depending on whether the same number as the number is stored in the storage means, it is determined whether the vehicle enters or leaves the vehicle,
The parking status of the parking lot is displayed on the display means based on the determination result.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, if the vehicle has the same number as the stored number, it can be determined that the vehicle with the number has been taken out. On the other hand, it is possible to determine that a vehicle with a number that is not stored is a parking lot. Therefore, since it is possible to determine whether the vehicle is in or out of the parking lot, it is possible to display the parking status on the display unit as in the first invention.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 show a first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, an unmanned parking lot 1 is provided on the second floor of the store. The parking lot 1 is provided with an entry / exit route 2 in which an entry route and an exit route are combined into one.

A CCD camera (imaging device) 3 is provided near the entrance to the parking lot 1 on the entrance / exit route 2. CC
The D camera 3 captures an image of a vehicle, a person, or the like passing through the entry / exit route 2, and continuously outputs the captured image to a time-series column.
An object detector 4 composed of, for example, an optical sensor is provided in the entry / exit route 2, and the object detector 4 outputs an object detection signal when an object such as a vehicle or a person passes through the entry / exit route 2. I do. Near the entrance of the entry / exit route 2, display means 5
The display means 5 displays whether or not the vehicle is full and the number of empty vehicles.

In FIG. 1, a microcomputer 6, a CCD camera 3, an object detector 4, and a display means 5 are connected via an interface (not shown). The microcomputer 6 is C
A PU 61 and a memory 62 are provided. The memory 62 includes a parkable number storage unit 62a, a reference value storage unit 62b, and first to third frame memories 62c, 62d, and 62e. The number-of-parkable-number storage unit 62a stores the number of parkable numbers. The reference value storage unit 62b stores a reference value (a reference value for determining whether or not the vehicle is a vehicle) having a predetermined aspect ratio and size set in advance.
The first frame memory 62c stores an image (reference image) of the entry / exit route 2 through which an object such as a vehicle or a person does not pass. Second and third frame memories 62d, 6
Reference numeral 2e stores an image output from the CCD camera 3 at a predetermined timing described later.

The CPU 61 has an object detecting means 61a, an object discriminating means 61b, an incoming / outgoing discriminating means 61c, and a number calculating means 61d. Upon receiving the object detection signal from the object detector 4, the object detection means 61a determines that the object has passed through the entry / exit route 2, and outputs the image immediately after the object detection output from the CCD camera 3 (FIG. 2A). ) Is stored in the second frame memory 62d, and further, an image (FIG. 2B) after one second elapses after the object is detected is stored in the third frame memory 62e.

The object discriminating means 61b is provided in the entry / exit route 2
It is determined whether the object passing through is a vehicle. The object discriminating means 61b firstly receives the second frame memory 62
The image of FIG. 2A stored in d is read out. Next,
The reference image (background) is read from the first frame memory 62c, the two images are compared, an image of the object is extracted from the difference, and the aspect ratio of the image of the object is calculated. The object determining means 61b compares the obtained aspect ratio with the reference value (reference aspect ratio) to determine whether the object is a vehicle. Since a human is vertically long and a vehicle is also long horizontally, it can be determined whether or not the vehicle is a vehicle.

The entry / exit discrimination means 61c discriminates whether a vehicle passing through the entry / exit route 2 is an entry or exit. The entry / exit discrimination means 61c includes the second and third
The images of FIGS. 2A and 2B are read from the frame memories 62d and 62e, each image is compared with a reference image, and the number of pixels of the vehicle portions 7a and 7a in each image is determined from the difference. By performing the calculation, the discrimination between entry and exit is performed. In other words, the number of pixels of the vehicle portion 7a after a predetermined time (hereinafter, referred to as “next”) in FIG. 2B is greater than the number of pixels in the vehicle portion 7a when the object is detected in FIG. If so, the vehicle is approaching the CCD camera 3, that is, it is determined that the vehicle has entered, and conversely, if the number of pixels of the vehicle portion 7a decreases, it is determined that the vehicle has left.

The number-of-vehicles calculating means 61d in FIG. 1 calculates the number of vacant spaces in the parking lot, and increments (adds) 1 to the number of parked vehicles every time a vehicle enters, and adds 1 to the number of parked vehicles each time a vehicle exits. Decrement (subtract). After this addition and subtraction,
The number-of-cars calculating means 61d is configured to store the number
Is calculated by subtracting the number of parked vehicles from the number of parkable vehicles stored in the storage device.

Next, a method of managing a parking lot according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the management system starts, the counter is cleared to 0 in step S1. In step S2, the object detection means 61a checks whether or not the object has passed through the entry / exit route 2. When the object detection means 61a receives the object detection signal from the object detector 4, the image from the CCD camera 3 is stored in the second and third frame memories 62d and 62e.
Are stored in time series (at one second pitch) in step S3.
Proceed to.

In step S3, the object discriminating means 61b compares the aspect ratio of the object with the reference value. If it is determined that the vehicle is a vehicle, the process proceeds to step S4. If it is determined that the vehicle is not a vehicle, the process proceeds to step S2. Return. In step S4,
The entry / exit discriminating means 61c performs entry / exit discrimination, and proceeds to step S5 when it is judged to be entry, and proceeds to step S6 when it is judged to be exit.

In step S5, the number of parked vehicles is incremented, and the number of empty vehicles is calculated from the number of parked vehicles.
Proceed to the next step S7. On the other hand, in step S6, the number of parked vehicles is decremented, and the number of empty vehicles is calculated from the number of parked vehicles. In step S7, the display means 5 is used to display whether or not the parking lot is full, as well as the number of empty parking lots, as the parking status of the parking lot.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, it is possible to determine whether or not the object is a vehicle by calculating the aspect ratio of the imaged object. Therefore, even if a person or the like passes through the entry / exit route 2 in FIG.
In addition, by determining whether the number of pixels of the vehicle portion 7a in FIG. 2 has increased or decreased with time, it is determined whether the vehicle enters or leaves the vehicle. There is no risk of erroneous counting when entering from the exit route or traveling on the center line. As described above, since there is no risk of counting errors, the integrated value of the number of empty vehicles becomes accurate, so that an accurate parking situation can be displayed. For this reason, there is no need to assign a manager for entry and exit, so that only the guard can manage the parking lot, which is economical.

In the first embodiment, the direction of the vehicle is determined based on the still image from the CCD camera 3, but the image from the CCD camera 3 may be captured as a moving image to specify the direction of the vehicle. . For example, the pixel of the portion where the image has changed between the image at the time of object detection (FIG. 2A) and the subsequent image (FIG. 2B), that is, the pixels constituting the vehicle, are compared. By determining the vector of each pixel, it is possible to determine whether the vehicle is approaching or away from the CCD camera 3 by determining whether the plurality of vectors are in the enlargement direction or the reduction direction. Alternatively, the entry / exit of the vehicle may be determined.

In the first embodiment, the vehicle is imaged from obliquely forward, but the vehicle may be imaged from above.
For example, an image of a vehicle is taken from almost right above, and FIG.
An image as shown in (d) may be obtained to determine an object or to determine whether to enter or leave a warehouse. In this case, it is preferable to determine the entry / exit of the vehicle by judging the moving direction of the vehicle (incoming or outgoing) from the change in the vector of the pixel that images the vehicle.

FIGS. 5 to 7 show a second embodiment. First, a license plate of a vehicle will be described prior to the description of the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6, the ratio of the vertical length Y to the horizontal length X of the license plate 9 is regulated by law, and the typeface and character size of the number 9n are also regulated by law. ing. Further, positions Y1, Y2, X1 to X4 for displaying the number 9n with respect to the license plate 9 are also prescribed by law.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the second embodiment,
The memory 62 includes a parking number storage unit 62a, a plate information storage unit 62g, a number list (storage unit) 62h, and a frame memory 62i.

The plate information storage unit 62g stores the plate information of the license plate 9, such as the aspect ratio of the license plate 9, the position and the shape of the character 9n, and the like. The number list 62h is the number 9 of the stored vehicle.
n, and the frame memory 62i stores a still image captured by the CCD camera 3.

In the second embodiment, the CPU 61
Object detecting means 61a, number recognizing means 61e, entry / exit discriminating means 61c, rewriting means 61f, and number calculating means 6
1d. Upon receiving the object detection signal from the object detector 4, the object detection unit 61 a determines that an object such as a vehicle or a person has passed through the entry / exit route 2 and outputs a still image of the object output from the CCD camera 3. It is stored in the frame memory 62i.

The number recognition means 61e recognizes the number 9n displayed on the license plate 9 (FIG. 6) of the vehicle from the image. That is, the number recognition means 61
“e” reads out the plate information from the plate information storage unit 62g, and has a substantially rectangular shape (reference image) having a predetermined aspect ratio.
From the image stored in the frame memory 62i to find the license plate 9. When the license plate is found from the image, as described above, the number 9n is drawn at a specific position of the license plate 9 in a specific character size and typeface, and the license plate 9 is used. , The number 9n is read, and the number 9n is recognized.

The entry / exit discriminating means 61c searches the number read by the number recognizing means 61e from the number list 62h. If the number is not stored, the entry / exit discriminating means 61c determines that the vehicle is a entering vehicle. In this case, the rewriting means 61f stores the number in the number list 62h. On the other hand, when the number is stored in the number list 62h,
It is determined that the vehicle is a leaving vehicle. In this case, the rewriting means 61f
Causes the number to be deleted from the number list 62h.

The number calculating means 61d calculates the number of empty parking lots. The number-of-cars calculating means 61d calculates the number of parked vehicles from the number of numbers stored in the number list 62h, and then subtracts the number of parked vehicles from the predetermined number of parkable vehicles that can park in the parking lot.
Calculate the number of empty units. The other configuration of the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the same or corresponding portions as those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Next, a method of managing a parking lot according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the management system starts, the storage contents of the number list 62h are initialized in step S11. In step S12, it is checked whether or not the object has passed through the entry / exit route 2, and if it is determined that the object has passed, the CCD
Images from the camera 3 are stored in the frame memory 62 of the microcomputer 6.
i, and the process proceeds to step S13. Step S13
Then, the number recognition means 61e reads out the image stored in the frame memory 62i, and if the number can be recognized, it is determined that the object is a vehicle, and step S
Proceed to 14. On the other hand, if the number cannot be recognized, it is determined that the object is not a vehicle, and the process returns to step S12.

In step S14, the entry / exit discrimination means 61
c searches for the number from the number list 62h,
If the number is not stored, it is determined that the vehicle is a stored vehicle, and the process proceeds to step S15. On the other hand, if the number is stored in the number list 62h, it is determined that the vehicle is a leaving vehicle, and the process proceeds to step S16.

In step S15, the rewriting means 61f stores the number in the number list 62h, and proceeds to step S17. On the other hand, in step S16, the rewriting means 61f deletes the storage of the number from the number list 62h, and proceeds to step S17.

In step S17, the number of empty vehicles is calculated from the number of parkable vehicles and the number of numbers stored in the number list 62h. In the next step S18, the number of empty vehicles is displayed as the parking status of the parking lot by using the display means 5.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, it is possible to determine whether the object is a vehicle by determining whether the imaged object has a license plate. In addition, since it is determined whether it is a warehouse or a warehouse based on the value of the number, it is possible to leave from the warehouse route,
There is no risk of erroneous counting when the vehicle enters from the exit route or when the vehicle runs on the center line. As described above, since there is no possibility of erroneous counting, an accurate parking situation can be displayed. In addition, the parking lot can be managed only by the observer, which is economical.

Incidentally, there is known a toll parking lot management system in which imaging devices are provided at the entrance and exit of the parking lot, and the parking fee is collected by associating the license plate of the vehicle with the parking time (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho. No. 60-167083). However, this technique cannot calculate the number of parked vehicles or the number of empty vehicles, and therefore cannot display the parking status.

The microcomputer 6 is provided with the object discriminating means 6 shown in FIG.
1b and the reference value storage unit 62b may be provided to determine the vehicle in advance and then perform the number recognition. In each of the above embodiments, the object detector 4 such as a photoelectric switch is provided. However, an object may be detected based on a change in an image input from the CCD camera 3. Further, as the display of the parking status, it may be simply determined whether or not there is an empty space, and the display of “full” may be performed only when the vehicle is full.

In the first and second embodiments, the entry and exit route 2 in which the entry and exit routes are combined into one.
(FIG. 3) has been described. However, even in a parking lot in which the entrance route and the exit route are provided at different locations, it is possible to cope by providing the CCD camera 3, the object detector 4, and the like in each route. .

[0036]

As described above, claims 1 to 3 are described.
According to the invention (first invention), it is determined whether the vehicle enters or leaves the vehicle based on a change in the image of the imaged vehicle. Therefore, an accurate parking situation can be displayed by integrating the determination results. In addition, since a manager who manages entry and exit is not required, the parking lot can be managed only by the guard, which is economical.

According to the inventions of claims 4 to 6 (second invention), the judgment of the entry and exit is made by comparing the stored number with the recognized number, so that the judgment result is the same as in the first invention. In addition, it is possible to display an accurate parking situation based on the information, and it is economical.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, it is possible to determine whether or not the vehicle is a vehicle based on the captured image, and therefore, even if a person passes through the entrance / exit route, there is no possibility of counting by mistake. Therefore, the parking situation can be displayed more accurately.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an image stored in a frame memory.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a parking lot.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a management method.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a management system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a license plate.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a management method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Parking lot 2: Entry / exit route 3: CCD camera (imaging device) 5: Display means 61a: Object detection means 61c: Entry / exit discrimination means 61d: Number calculation means 61e: Number recognition means 61f: Rewriting means

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup device for picking up an image of a vehicle passing through an entry route, an exit route, or an entry / exit route, and from a change in an image taken by the image pickup device, whether a vehicle passing through the route enters or leaves the vehicle. A parking lot management system that determines whether or not a parking lot is present and displays the parking status of the parking lot on the display means based on the determination result. 2. An imaging device for imaging a vehicle passing through an entry route, an exit route, or an entry / exit route, and whether a vehicle passing on the route enters or leaves the vehicle based on a change in an image captured by the imaging device. A parking lot management system comprising: an entrance / exit discriminating means for discriminating a parking lot; 3. An imaging device for imaging a vehicle passing through an entry route, an exit route, or an entry / exit route, and whether a vehicle passing on the route enters or leaves the vehicle based on a change in an image captured by the imaging device. Entering / exiting determining means for determining the number of parked or empty vehicles based on the determination result of the entering / exiting determining means; and parking status of the parking lot based on the calculation result of the number of calculating means. And a display means for displaying a parking lot. 4. A number recognizing means for recognizing a number displayed on a license plate of a vehicle passing through an entry route, an exit route or an entry / exit route, wherein the same number as the recognized number is stored in a storage device. A parking lot management system that determines whether the vehicle enters or leaves the vehicle depending on whether the vehicle is parked or not and displays the parking status of the parking lot on the display means based on the determination result. 5. A number recognizing means for recognizing a number displayed on a license plate of a vehicle passing through an entry route, an exit route or an entry / exit route, and whether the same number as the recognized number is stored in a storage device. A parking lot comprising: a parking lot having parking / unloading determining means for determining whether the vehicle enters or leaves the vehicle, and a display means for displaying the parking status of the parking lot based on the determination result of the entering / leaving determining means. Management system. 6. An imaging device for imaging a part or all of a vehicle passing through an entrance route, an exit route, or an entrance / exit route, and recognizing a number displayed on a license plate of the vehicle from an image captured by the imaging device. Number recognition means, when the storage means does not store the same number as the recognized number, the storage means stores the number of the vehicle in the storage means, while the storage means stores the same number as the recognized number. If the vehicle has entered or exited, the rewriting means for erasing the storage of the number and whether or not the storage means has stored the same number as the recognized number. Entry / exit discriminating means, number-of-vehicles calculating means for calculating the number of parked or empty vehicles based on the result of the discrimination by the Entry / exit discriminating means, Parking management system that includes a display means for displaying a parking status of the parking lot based on the calculation result of the means. 7. The vehicle according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 6, wherein it is determined whether or not the object passing through the route is a vehicle based on the image captured by the imaging device and a predetermined reference value or a reference image. A parking lot management system including an object discriminating unit.