KR101611258B1 - Remote real-time parking information system using image matching technique - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a remote real-time parking information system using an image matching technique. The remote real-time parking information system using an image matching technique according to the present invention includes: an imaging camera (100) obtaining a parking lot image and including a monitoring camera (110) using a visible ray image or an infrared sensor-mounted infrared camera (120); an image auto-recognition device (200) analyzing a plurality of one-dimensional waveforms, characteristic points, and brightness distributions extracted from the image so as to check a parking lot state and available parking spaces in real time by using the image obtained by the imaging camera (100); and a common server (300) providing a user with information analyzed by the image auto-recognition device (200) in real time. According to the present invention, parking lot information is provided in real time, in a systematic manner, and remotely with respect to main downtown areas and vehicle-concentrated areas, and thus urban traffic congestion and gas costs can be reduced on a national level.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a remote real-

The present invention relates to a real-time parking information providing system using a video matching technique, and more particularly, to a real-time parking information providing system using a video matching technique, The present invention relates to a system for enabling a user to easily recognize a parking space available state in a desired area by using a personal computer or a smartphone application.

Generally, in urban areas, there is a lack of parking space, which makes it difficult to park and waste a lot of time to find an empty parking space. In particular, in the case of using a self-driving vehicle for transit such as a train or a subway, there is a case in which a driver can not find a parking space for parking his / her own vehicle in a timely manner and can not ride a train or a subway at a desired time.

In addition, since it is not possible to know in advance the information about the available parking space for the surrounding area where public facilities such as the main athletic field (soccer, baseball, etc.) are crowded, there is a lot of time There is a difficulty.

In order to solve such a problem, there is a case where a separate parking detection device is installed for each parking area in a case of a parking lot installed in some large buildings, and a system for notifying the availability of parking and a free parking space for a limited area is operated .

However, when parking information is provided using a parking sensing device, it is possible to provide parking space information for local and limited areas, and it is necessary to install a parking sensing device for each parking space in the parking lot. A problem arises.

In particular, in the case of an outdoor parking lot, not only the installation cost of the various facilities is much higher than the indoor parking, but also there are many restrictions and additional costs in the management after the installation.

In addition, in the case of existing facilities, parking information can not be remotely checked in advance, and it is inevitable to check whether the parking space is available by going to the site.

Published Japanese Patent Application No. 10-2001-0033290 (Aug. 22, 2001)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for remotely parking a parking space in an area of interest by real- And to provide a system for providing real time parking information at a more effective and low cost by utilizing the Internet.

A remote real-time parking information system using the image matching technique according to the present invention includes an image camera (100) for acquiring a parking lot image; An automatic image recognition device 200 capable of real-time checking of a parking lot condition and an available parking space using the image acquired by the image camera 100; And a public server 300 for providing information analyzed by the automatic image recognition apparatus 200 to a user in real time.

The image camera 100 may be a surveillance camera 110 using a visible light image or an infrared camera 120 having an infrared image sensor mounted thereon.

The automatic image recognition apparatus 200 includes an A / D converter 210 for converting an analog image signal obtained by the image camera 100 into a digital signal.

The automatic image recognition apparatus 200 includes an image preprocessor 220 for improving the image quality of an image received from the A / D converter 210 and performing a preprocessing operation.

The automatic image recognition apparatus 200 includes a reference image storage 230 for storing a reference image and a reference image storing unit 230 for storing a feature point and a brightness histogram of the image received from the reference image and the image preprocessor 220, And an image matching unit 240 for determining a similarity between the reference image and the transmitted image using the reference image.

The automatic image recognition apparatus 200 includes a reference waveform model storage 250 for storing a reference waveform model and a reference waveform model storage 250 for storing the reference waveform model stored in the reference waveform model storage 250, And a waveform analyzer 260 for analyzing a plurality of one-dimensional waveforms extracted from the received image.

The automatic image recognition apparatus 200 calculates a result of the determination of the degree of similarity of the image matching device 240 and the result of the waveform analyzed by the waveform analyzer 260 to obtain a parking space recognizer 270 for recognizing an empty parking space .

The automatic image recognition apparatus 200 includes a data converter 280 for calculating at least one of a position of a parking area, a size of a parking area, and a number of free parking spaces based on information received from the parking available space recognizer 270 ).

The data converter 280 transmits at least one of the calculated data or the real-time acquired image of the image camera 100 to the public server 300.

The public server 300 visually provides the position or usable state of the parking space using the information analyzed in the automatic image recognition apparatus 200 and the location-based map program.

As described above, according to the present invention, systematic real-time parking information is provided remotely to major urban areas and dense areas of a vehicle, thereby reducing national air traffic problems and reducing fuel costs.

The present invention also provides remote real-time parking information for major urban areas and densely populated areas at a minimum cost by maximizing the use of surveillance cameras (CCTV) widely installed in the urban areas, thereby providing users with convenience and convenience can do.

Further, since the present invention does not require much cost for system development, installation, and management, it can be effectively utilized for managing a private parking lot.

1 is a block diagram of a remote real-time parking information system using a video matching technique according to the present invention.
2 is a block diagram of a remote real-time parking information system using a video matching technique in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a virtual parking information image provided by a remote real-time parking information system using the image matching technique according to the present invention.

It is to be understood that the words or words used in the present specification and claims are not to be construed in a conventional or dictionary sense and that the inventor can properly define the concept of a term to describe its invention in the best way And should be construed in accordance with the meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments described in the present specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are merely the most preferred embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to represent all of the technical ideas of the present invention. Therefore, various equivalents It should be understood that water and variations may be present. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail. Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a remote real-time parking information system using a video matching technique according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a remote real-time parking information system using a video matching technique according to the present invention, This is a virtual parking information image provided by a remote real - time parking information system using the image matching technique. 1 to 3, a remote real-time parking information system using the image matching technique according to the present invention includes an image camera 100, an automatic image recognition apparatus 200, and a public server 300.

The image camera 100 acquires a parking lot image. The image camera 100 includes a surveillance camera 110 using a visible light image. That is, as a device for acquiring an image of a parking lot by being installed around a parking lot, a visible light image obtained from a general security camera (CCTV) can be used.

In addition, it may include an infrared camera 120 equipped with an infrared image sensor (IMAGING INFRARED SENSOR). If there is no illumination at night, meaningful visible light images may not be obtained, and even if there is illumination, it is difficult to automatically recognize the parking space if a part of the image is saturated. In this case, the problem can be largely solved by using an infrared image. Therefore, in the present invention, a technique of processing an infrared image together with a visible light image can be applied in consideration of the possibility of using a surveillance camera equipped with an infrared sensor.

The automatic image recognition apparatus 200 is a device that can check the parking status and the available parking space in real time using the image acquired by the image camera 100. [ That is, the automatic image recognition apparatus 200 can automatically recognize an empty parking space through image preprocessing and various image processing on the obtained visible light or infrared image. The automatic image recognition apparatus 200 includes an A / D converter 210, an image preprocessor 220, a reference image storage unit 230, an image matching unit 240, a reference waveform model storage unit 250, (260), a parking available space recognizer (270), and a data converter (280).

The A / D converter 210 converts an analog image signal obtained by the image camera 100 into a digital signal.

The image preprocessor 220 enhances the image quality of the image transmitted from the A / D converter 210 and performs preprocessing. That is, the image preprocessor 220 improves the image quality such as noise reduction and contrast ratio improvement for the image transmitted from the A / D converter 210 using the built-in image signal processing algorithm, Additional preprocessing operations can be performed to facilitate matching with < RTI ID = 0.0 > a < / RTI > At this time, a suitable image quality improvement method is applied according to the type of the acquired image (visible light image or infrared image).

The reference image storing unit 230 is a device for storing reference images and the image matching unit 240 compares the reference image stored in the reference image storing unit 230 and the feature points ex : It is a device that discriminates the similarity between the reference image and the transmitted image by using a histogram extracted from the image, an edge, a corner, and the like. That is, the image matching unit 240 uses the image received from the image preprocessing unit 220 to generate a reference image based on feature points (eg, edges, corner points, etc. extracted from the image) and a brightness histogram And searches for an empty parking space by determining the degree of similarity with the reference image registered in the storage unit 230. Here, the reference image includes an image for an empty parking space, and may be an image representing various types of parking states. In addition, the reference image may be one or more.

The reference waveform model storage 250 is a device for storing a reference waveform model. The waveform analyzer 260 analyzes the reference waveform model stored in the reference waveform model storage 250, Dimensional wave form extracted from the received image. That is, the waveform analyzer 260 extracts a plurality of one-dimensional waveforms extracted for the ROI on the basis of the reference waveform model registered in the reference waveform model storage 250 using the image transmitted from the image preprocessor 220, As shown in FIG. Here, the reference waveform model includes a waveform for an empty parking space, and may be a waveform representing various types of parking states.

The parking space recognizer 270 is a device for recognizing the vacant parking space by calculating the result of the determination of the degree of similarity of the image matching device 240 and the result of the waveform analyzed by the waveform analyzer 260. That is, the parking available space recognizer 270 performs a function of recognizing an empty parking space finally by merging the results recognized by the image matching device 240 and the waveform analyzer 260. That is, the remote real-time parking information system using the video matching technique according to the present invention applies two kinds of modules in order to increase the efficiency and reliability of the recognition process.

One is a waveform analyzer 260, which considers the brightness (or color) change of an image that changes along one line (or column) of the input image to be a one-dimensional waveform and analyzes the waveform based on the reference waveform model Determine the location of the empty parking space. The image matching device 240 determines the location of the free parking space by determining the difference between the reference image data and the input image. The waveform analyzer 260 determines the parking space by calculating the brightness change of the adjacent pixels in the input image. The image matcher 240 compares the feature points of the reference image and the input image (eg, edge extracted from the image) , Corner points, etc.) and the brightness histogram to determine the parking space. The present invention utilizes different approaches as described above.

The remote real-time parking information system using the image matching technique according to the present invention can improve the efficiency of the processing time by excluding the image area that the image matching device 240 does not need to process in advance based on the processing result of the waveform analyzer 260 . On the other hand, in the result of the waveform analyzer 260, reliability can be improved in determining an empty parking space by using the image matching device 240 for a low reliability result. Of course, the waveform analyzer 260 can also be applied based on the result of processing by the image matcher 240 by reversing this relationship.

The data converter 280 is a device for calculating data of at least one of the position of the parking area, the size of the parking area, or the number of free parking spaces based on the information received from the parking available space recognizer 270. The data converter 280 may transmit the calculated data or a real-time acquired image of the image camera 100 to the public server 300. That is, the data converter 280 generates text data such as the position and size of the parking area, the number of free parking spaces, and the like based on the image information received from the parking available space recognizer 270, (3). Also, the data converter 18 may selectively transmit a real-time acquired image of the image camera 100 together. When data is transmitted to the public server 300 using the data converter 280, the existing Internet or a separate transmission apparatus can be configured.

The public server 300 is a device that provides information analyzed by the automatic image recognition apparatus 200 to a user in real time. Also, the public server 300 can visually provide the position or available state of the parking space by using the information analyzed in the automatic image recognition apparatus 200 and the location-based map program. That is, the public server 300 performs a function of collecting the information sent from the automatic image recognition apparatus 200 installed for each parking lot and providing it to the Internet. In this case, the position and availability of the parking space can be visually provided in association with the location-based map program. The public server 300 may have a separate server for each region, or a single server that is integrated nationwide. At this time, a distributed computing environment can be constructed to reduce the server load caused by an increase in the number of users.

Referring to FIG. 1, the user 400 is not only a parking system administrator but also a general person who has been granted access to a public server. The user 400 can access the public server 300 using the Internet and can confirm the parking information using software installed in the terminal 400 of the user 400 (e.g., smart phone, PC, etc.).

The software installed in the terminal (ex: smart phone, PC, etc.) of the user 4 may share the functions performed by the common server to reduce the load on the common server 300.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed, and will be fully understood by those of ordinary skill in the art. The present invention is not limited thereto. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various substitutions, modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the present invention, and it is obvious that those parts easily changeable by those skilled in the art are included in the scope of the present invention .

100 video camera
110 Surveillance cameras
120 Infrared camera
200 automatic image recognition device
210 A / D converter
220 Image preprocessor
230 reference image storage
240 image matching machine
250 reference waveform model storage
260 Waveform Analyzer
270 Parking space recognizer
280 data converter
300 public servers
400 users

Claims (6)

A video camera 100 including a surveillance camera 110 that acquires a parking lot image and uses a visible light image or an infrared camera 120 that carries an infrared image sensor (IMAGING INFRARED SENSOR);
An automatic image recognition device 200 capable of real-time checking of a parking lot condition and an available parking space using the image acquired by the image camera 100; And
A public server 300 for providing information analyzed by the automatic image recognition apparatus 200 to a user in real time;
A remote real-time parking information system using a video matching method,
The automatic image recognition apparatus 200 includes:
An A / D converter 210 for converting an analog image signal obtained by the image camera 100 into a digital signal;
An image preprocessor 220 for improving the image quality of the image transmitted from the A / D converter 210 and performing preprocessing according to the type of the image camera;
A reference image storage 230 for storing reference images;
An image matching unit 240 for determining the similarity between the reference image and the transmitted image using the reference image stored in the reference image storage unit 230 and the feature point and brightness histogram of the image transmitted from the image preprocessor 220, );
A reference waveform model storage 250 for storing a reference waveform model;
A waveform analyzer 260 for analyzing a plurality of one-dimensional waveforms extracted from the image transmitted from the image preprocessor 220 based on the reference waveform model stored in the reference waveform model storage 250; And
A parking space recognizer 270 for recognizing an empty parking space by calculating the result of the determination of the similarity of the image matching unit 240 and the result of the waveform analyzed by the waveform analyzer 260;
/ RTI >
The waveform analyzer 260 regards the brightness change of the image that changes along one row of the image as a one-dimensional waveform, analyzes the one-dimensional waveform based on the reference waveform model,
The parking space recognizer (270)
The position of the free parking space is determined by calculating the brightness change of the adjacent pixels in the image from the plurality of one-dimensional waveforms analyzed by the waveform analyzer 260,
After excluding an image area determined not to be an empty parking space,
Wherein the position of the free parking space is determined based on the similarity of the reference image judged by the image matching unit (240) and the image of the transmitted image excluding the image area judged to be not an empty parking space, Remote real - time parking information system using. A video camera 100 including a surveillance camera 110 that acquires a parking lot image and uses a visible light image or an infrared camera 120 that carries an infrared image sensor (IMAGING INFRARED SENSOR);
An automatic image recognition device 200 capable of real-time checking of a parking lot condition and an available parking space using the image acquired by the image camera 100; And
A public server 300 for providing information analyzed by the automatic image recognition apparatus 200 to a user in real time;
A remote real-time parking information system using a video matching method,
The automatic image recognition apparatus 200 includes:
An A / D converter 210 for converting an analog image signal obtained by the image camera 100 into a digital signal;
An image preprocessor 220 for improving the image quality of the image transmitted from the A / D converter 210 and performing preprocessing according to the type of the image camera;
A reference image storage 230 for storing reference images;
An image matching unit 240 for determining the similarity between the reference image and the transmitted image using the reference image stored in the reference image storage unit 230 and the feature point and brightness histogram of the image transmitted from the image preprocessor 220, );
A reference waveform model storage 250 for storing a reference waveform model;
A waveform analyzer 260 for analyzing a plurality of one-dimensional waveforms extracted from the image transmitted from the image preprocessor 220 based on the reference waveform model stored in the reference waveform model storage 250; And
A parking space recognizer 270 for recognizing an empty parking space by calculating the result of the determination of the similarity of the image matching unit 240 and the result of the waveform analyzed by the waveform analyzer 260;
/ RTI >
The waveform analyzer 260 regards the brightness change of the image that changes along one row of the image as a one-dimensional waveform, analyzes the one-dimensional waveform based on the reference waveform model,
The parking space recognizer (270)
The position of the free parking space is determined from the similarity between the reference image and the transmitted image determined by the image matching unit 240,
After excluding an image area determined not to be an empty parking space,
A position of an empty parking space is determined by calculating a brightness change of an adjacent pixel in an image excluding an image area determined as a non-empty parking space from a plurality of one-dimensional waveforms analyzed by the waveform analyzer 260 A remote real - time parking information system using video matching technique. delete delete delete 3. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The automatic image recognition apparatus 200 is configured to display the position or available state of the parking space on the basis of the information received from the parking available space recognizer 270 using the location based map program, A remote real-time parking information system using a video matching technique.

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