KR101909553B1 - Black Box for Cars Capable of Automatically Switching between Day-Time Mode and Night-Time Mode and Switching Method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a black box for a vehicle capable of automatically switching a day-time mode and a night-time mode and an automatically switching method thereof. According to the present invention, the black box has a standard photographing mode appropriate for an environment with sufficient illumination after sunrise and a night vision photographing mode appropriate for an environment with low illumination after sunset to obtain an image that can identify a subject enough even though the image is photographed at any time. Moreover, at the time of sunrise or sunset, image recording is not stopped, and a photographing mode can be changed in real time.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a black box having an automatic day-to-day and night-time mode shooting function,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a black box installed in a vehicle, and more particularly, to a black box capable of automatically switching between a standard mode and a night mode shooting at a predetermined time, and an automatic switching method thereof.

The black box installed in the vehicle not only records the forward state of the vehicle as a moving picture by using a camera but also stores a still image or the like when an event occurs using various sensors installed in the vehicle. On the other hand, the black box includes a user interface such as a display or an input unit, and receives various control commands from a user.

Fig. 1 shows a black box 100 installed in a vehicle 10. Fig. Usually, the black box 100 is installed in the front window of the vehicle 10 to photograph and record the situation ahead of the window.

The conventional black box 100 includes a camera section 101, a memory 103, an SD card 105 and a control section 110 functionally. The camera unit 101 includes an optical lens and an image sensor, and a module in which an image sensor and an optical lens are integrated is generally applied. The memory 103 is a volatile memory, typically a DDR (Double Data Rate) RAM. A non-volatile flash memory is used as the SD card 105, which is a storage unit that is easy to attach and detach to and from a card slot provided in the black box 100. Under the control of the control unit 110, the camera unit 101 generates an image at a predetermined frame rate (for example, 16 frames per second). The image photographed by the camera unit 101 is first temporarily stored in the memory 103 and then transferred to the SD card 105. [ The plurality of image files stored in the SD card 105 are managed as one moving image file by a predetermined time (e.g., one minute).

Conventionally, a black box uses a battery of a vehicle as an operating power source. When the vehicle is not operated daily, the battery is operated only by supplying power during vehicle operation in consideration of battery discharge of the vehicle.

When power is supplied, the black box 100 performs a booting or initialization process while newly starting an operation. Among them, the camera unit 101 is initialized by receiving or reading a plurality of preset default setting values from the control unit 110. [ Here, the set values include various parameter setting values including an IQ parameter for a color signal, correction values for gamma correction, and the like. As described above, since the initial setting value is stored in the register of the module type camera unit 101, the initial setting value is initialized when power is supplied. The default setting is based on daylight shooting.

If the day is dark when you are driving at night or driving, it is difficult to get enough illumination with the vehicle lighting alone, so it is in a low light environment. In order to shoot an image in a low light condition, a normal camera must be photographed with an infrared light using an additional illumination means or an infrared lamp. The camera section 101 of the black box becomes dark enough that the image photographed by the camera section 101 set for the daytime photographing can not distinguish the subject correctly.

The black box needs to be set as a new parameter that meets low light conditions in order to generate an image capable of recognizing an object with light incident in a nighttime low illumination environment.

[Related Prior Art]

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2011-0107084 (Black Box System for Vehicle)

An object of the present invention is to provide a black box and an automatic switching method thereof which can automatically switch between standard mode and night vision mode shooting at a predetermined time as a black box installed in a vehicle.

In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle black box according to the present invention is installed in a vehicle and can generate a moving image file photographed forward. The black box for a vehicle according to the present invention includes a camera unit for photographing a forward direction according to a standard mode or a night vision mode to generate a digital image, and a control unit for managing the camera unit.

The control unit includes a file management unit, an event processing unit, and a camera adjustment unit. The file management unit stores and manages the image generated by the camera unit in the storage medium as the moving image file.

Wherein the event processing unit generates an event for switching the mode between the standard mode and the nightvision mode at a predetermined mode switching time, and the camera control unit includes a parameter value for the standard mode and a parameter value for the nightvision mode, According to the event generated by the event processing unit, one of the parameter value for the standard mode and the parameter value for the night vision mode is provided to the camera unit, thereby changing the luminance of the image generated by the camera unit according to the mode.

According to the embodiment, an event for switching from the standard mode to the night vision mode occurs at a predetermined sunset time, and an event for switching from the night vision mode to the standard mode occurs at a predetermined sunrise time. In this case, the parameter value for the night vision mode includes the IQ parameter value and the gamma value set so as to identify and recognize the subject in the photographed image even at low illumination after the sunset so that the illumination of the moving image generated during the night vision mode Mode image to be higher than that of the standard-mode image.

According to another embodiment, the black box of the present invention may further include a position information generator for generating a position information of a current position by having a GPS receiver, and a network interface capable of connecting to an external server. In this case, the event processing unit may receive the sunrise time and the sunset time by providing the location information to the external server.

Preferably, the network interface is a wireless interface device capable of connecting to a low-power broadband network, or a wired interface device that can be connected to a network device that can be connected to the low-power broadband network as a device installed separately in the vehicle.

The present invention also relates to a mode switching method of the black box. The method of the present invention includes the steps of repeating the process of photographing the front side in accordance with the camera unit standard mode or the night vision mode to generate a digital image and storing and managing the image generated by the camera unit in the moving image file, ; Generating an event for switching the mode between the standard mode and the night vision mode by confirming that the event processing unit is the preset mode switching time; Wherein the camera control unit includes a parameter value for the standard mode and a parameter value for the night vision mode and transmits one of the standard mode parameter value and the night vision mode parameter value to the camera unit in accordance with the event generated by the event processing unit .

The black box of the present invention can immediately switch to the night vision shooting mode for night shooting without stopping the image recording even when the illuminance of the vehicle driving area is lowered due to the sunset of the sun. Likewise, according to the sunrise, the setting of the camera adapted to the night shot is automatically adjusted to the daylight time so that the setting is changed to the daylight shooting.

Therefore, whether the image is taken at nighttime or at night with sufficient illuminance, an image is generated that can sufficiently identify the subject in the image to meet the purpose of the black box.

Since the conversion is performed immediately in accordance with the sunrise time and the sunset time, there is no problem that the shooting is interrupted or the image is omitted in the conversion process. In addition, the black box of the present invention can change the setting for the daytime shooting or the nighttime shooting appropriately even if the area is shifted by changing the sunrise time and the sunset time depending on the area.

1 is a conceptual diagram showing a vehicle in which a conventional black box is installed,
2 is a block diagram of a black box according to an embodiment of the present invention;
3 is a flowchart provided in a description of a method of automatically switching a photographing mode of a black box of the present invention, and
4 is a block diagram of a black box according to another embodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

2, a black box 200 according to the present invention includes a camera unit 210, a memory 230, a storage medium 250, and a control unit 270, It records the front and records it.

The camera unit 210 includes an optical lens 211 and an image sensor 213, and generates and stores a digital image in the memory 230. The optical lens 211 and the image sensor 213 may be separately assembled into the black box 200. The optical lens 211 and the image sensor 213 may be integrated into the black box 200 by using an integrated module having an internal register . When power is supplied, an initialization process for setting various parameters is performed in the case of the camera unit 210. The camera unit 210 in a module form has a built-in default value in an internal register, Progress is completed. The control unit 270 can control the operation mode and the like of the camera unit 210 by a method of changing various parameters as necessary after the initialization.

Here, the parameters determine both the digital image signal generation process of the image sensor 213 and the process of outputting the generated image signal to the memory as image data of a specific image format. For example, according to the parameter setting, the image generation speed of the camera unit 210, that is, the frame rate (e.g., 16 frames per second = 16 fps) is determined, and the format of the image data (or image) is also changed. For example, the color information applied to the image data is set using the IQ parameter, and the brightness or the like is adjusted through gamma correction.

Here, the gamma correction refers to nonlinear distortion of the intensity signal of an image. The IQ parameter is a parameter for setting a color signal according to the YIQ color space, which is one of the methods of storing color information of an image. In YIQ, Y is Luma (Luma) information, and I and Q are chrominance information which is color information. The present invention is not limited to the YIQ format, and therefore, for example, YUV format and YCbCr can be used in place of YIQ. If you are using the YUV format, you must set the UV parameter instead of the IQ parameter.

The camera unit 210 converts the digital image signal generated by the image sensor 213 into image data according to the parameter set in the internal register, and stores the converted image data in the memory 230.

The memory 230 is a RAM, which is a volatile memory required for the operation of the black box 200, and uses a DDR (Double Data Rate) SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic RAM). In the memory 230, an image photographed by the camera unit 210 is temporarily stored. When the image photographed by the camera unit 210 is temporarily stored in the memory 230, the control unit 270 transfers the image to the storage medium 250 and stores the image.

The storage medium 250 stores a video file that the black box 200 finally generates. The storage medium 250 may be of any form, but is preferably an external memory, such as an SD (Secure Digital) card, inserted into the card slot 251.

The controller 270 can be interpreted as a configuration specially provided for the present invention, but generally includes a processor chip (hardware) and a configuration implemented by an operating system (OS) operating on the chip It may be functionally dictated.

The control unit 270 includes a file management unit 271, an event processing unit 273, and a camera control unit 275 for controlling the overall function of the black box 200 and the characteristic rapid shooting of the present invention.

The file management unit 271 transfers the image data generated by the camera unit 210 to the storage medium 250 generated by the camera unit 210 at a preset frame rate and stores and manages the image data as a moving image file according to a predetermined condition, A motion picture file photographed forward is generated while the mobile terminal 200 operates.

The event processing unit 273 generates an automatic switching event between the standard shooting mode and the night vision shooting mode at a predetermined time based on a real time clock (RTC) to automatically switch the camera shooting mode. Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, the switching from (standard shooting mode) to (night vision shooting mode) is referred to as a " night mode event ", and switching from (night vision shooting mode) .

The standard photographing mode is a mode for generating an image corresponding to the outdoor illuminance of the weekly time zone operated by the vehicle 10, and the default setting of the normal camera unit 210 may be sufficient.

The night vision mode is a mode for generating an image capable of identifying the subject even at a low illuminance at which the degree of headlight of the vehicle 10 and the streetlight are maintained after the sun disappears. The image signal generated by the image sensor 213 after the dark sunset generally has a low illuminance and becomes a dark image in which the subject can not be identified when the image signal is stored in the standard mode. However, even if the image signal generated by the image sensor 213 at such a low illuminance is properly adjusted by gamma correction and other parameters, the image can be identified and recognized.

 According to the embodiment, the event processing unit 273 can receive the sunrise and sunset time information of the area from an external server (not shown) and set the event time. Therefore, even if the sunrise or sunset time is changed as the area is shifted, a night mode event can be generated at the sunset time of the area, and a standard mode event can be generated at the sunrise time.

The camera adjusting unit 275 changes the setting by providing the camera unit 210 with the parameter setting values necessary for the operation of the camera unit 210 in each mode according to the mode switching of the event processing unit 273. [ The parameter changed in accordance with the mode conversion of the present invention is the IQ parameter and the gamma value. Therefore, the camera adjusting unit 275 holds the IQ parameter setting value and the gamma value for the standard mode, the parameter setting value for the night mode, and the gamma value.

The black box 200 of the present invention is automatically switched to the standard mode or the night vision mode at a predetermined time so that a situation in which the illuminance of the photographed image is insufficient due to insufficient illumination at night does not occur, So that the image is not missed during the manual mode switching process.

Shooting and Temporary Storage of Digital Images (FIG. 3)

Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 3, a description will be given of a method of automatic switching between the standard mode and the night mode photographing of the black box 200 according to the present invention, focusing on the operations of the event processing unit 273 and the camera adjusting unit 275.

The process of generating a moving image file photographed forward as an operation of the basic black box 200 is controlled by the file management unit 271. [ When the camera unit 210 generates image data of a forward object and stores the image data in the memory 230, the file management unit 271 transfers the image data stored in the memory 230 to the storage medium 250, Repeat the process of saving as a video file.

<Confirmation of preset event time: S301>

The event processing unit 273 confirms the current time and confirms whether it is the predetermined event time. At this time, for example, the preset event time may be set to the sunset time of the corresponding area, and the standard mode event may be set to the sunrise time.

&Lt; Change of set value in accordance with the event time: S303, S305 >

The event processing unit 273 generates a night mode event when the predetermined sunset time arrives, and generates a standard mode event when the sunrise time comes, and provides the standard mode event to the camera adjusting unit 275 (S303).

Upon receiving the night mode event, the camera adjustment unit 275 records the parameter value set for the night vision mode in the internal register of the camera unit 210. Conversely, if the standard mode event is received, the camera adjustment unit 275 records the parameter value set for the standard mode in the internal register of the camera unit 210. [ At this time, the parameter includes the IQ parameter value and the gamma value (S305).

&Lt; Image generation according to the changed mode: S307 >

The camera unit 210 generates an image according to the changed parameters. At this time, since the parameter change of the camera unit 210 proceeds more quickly than the image generation speed of the camera unit 210, the camera unit 210 can generate an image according to a new parameter immediately after an event occurs. Especially, at the sunset time, the image generated according to the standard mode is immediately generated according to the night vision mode, so that it is possible to generate an image that can confirm the subject even though it is in a dark condition with low illumination depending on the sunset. On the contrary, at the sunrise time, the night vision mode which generated the image according to the low illumination is immediately switched to the standard mode, and the image is also generated in accordance with the sufficient illumination of the daytime.

Since the mode change in steps S303 and S305 is performed immediately, the problem that the image is omitted during the time required for changing the mode by the user manually changing the mode is fundamentally eliminated.

In this way, the standard mode and night vision mode shooting automatic switching function of the black box 200 of the present invention is performed.

<Examples>

Furthermore, since the sunrise time and the sunset time vary depending on the area, the black box can set the sunrise time and the sunset time based on their location.

4, the black box 400 according to another embodiment of the present invention may further include a location information generating unit 401 and a network interface 403 in addition to the black box 200 of FIG.

The position information generating unit 401 includes a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver (not shown) to generate the current position of the black box 400, that is, the current position information of the vehicle 10.

The network interface 403 is a wireless network means that can connect to an external server. However, the network interface 403 only needs to start operation and connect to an external server only when a region over a certain range is changed based on the location provided by the location information generation unit 401, and does not need to be always connected.

Alternatively, the network interface 403 may be a means capable of connecting to a gateway of a low power wide area network (LPWAN) such as LORA, SigFox. Such a low-power broadband network is advantageous in that it uses a limited power such as a black box because it has an advantage that it can operate at a low power although the speed is relatively low.

On the other hand, when a separate wireless network device capable of connecting to the gateway of the low-power broadband network is installed in the vehicle 10, the network interface 403 is connected to a universal asynchronous transceiver (UART) receiver / transmitter), or the like.

The event processing unit 273 may provide an external server or the like with the current position of the black box 200 generated by the position information generating unit 401 and may receive and manage the sunrise time and the sunset time of the current position.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims (7)

1. A black box installed in a vehicle and generating a moving picture file photographed forward,
A camera unit for photographing the front side in accordance with the standard mode or the night vision mode to generate a digital image;
A file management unit for storing and managing the image generated by the camera unit in the storage medium as the moving image file;
An event processor for generating an event for switching a mode between the standard mode and the night vision mode when the preset mode switching time is reached;
A parameter value for the standard mode and a parameter value for the night vision mode and provides the camera unit with one of the parameter value for the standard mode and the parameter for the night vision mode in accordance with the event generated by the event processing unit A camera adjusting unit;
A position information generator for generating position information of a current position by providing a GPS receiver; And
And a network interface capable of connecting to an external server to change a luminance of an image generated by the camera according to the mode,
Wherein the event for switching from the standard mode to the night vision mode occurs at a preset sunset time and the event for switching from the night vision mode to the standard mode occurs at a predetermined sunrise time, Providing the generated location information to the external server and receiving the sunrise time and sunset time,
Wherein the night vision mode parameter value includes an IQ parameter value and a gamma value set so as to identify and recognize a subject in a photographed image even after a sunset, Mode image is higher than the illuminance of the mode image.
delete delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the network interface comprises:
A wireless interface device capable of connecting to a low-power broadband network, or a wired interface device capable of connecting to a network device that can be connected to the low-power broadband network, the device being separately installed in the vehicle.
A shooting method of a black box, which is installed in a vehicle and generates a movie file photographed forward,
Repeating the process of generating a digital image by photographing the front side in accordance with the camera unit standard mode or the night vision mode and storing and managing the image generated by the camera unit in the moving image file by the file management unit;
Generating an event for switching a mode between the standard mode and the night vision mode by confirming that the event processing unit is the preset mode switching time;
Generating location information of the current location using the GPS receiver;
Providing the location information generated by the location information generator to the external server to receive the sunrise time and the sunset time; And
Wherein the camera control unit includes a parameter value for the standard mode and a parameter value for the night vision mode and outputs one of the standard mode parameter value and the night vision mode parameter value to the camera unit according to an event generated by the event processing unit, To &lt; / RTI &gt;
An event for switching from the standard mode to the night vision mode occurs at a predetermined sunset time, and an event for switching from the night vision mode to the standard mode occurs at a predetermined sunrise time,
The parameter values for the night vision mode include a luminance value of a moving image generated during the night vision mode including an IQ parameter value and a gamma value set so as to identify and recognize a subject in a photographed image, Wherein the black box has a plurality of photographing modes. delete delete

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