Road condition management system and road condition management method

• US 9,092,981 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2010
• Issued: 07/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Akihiro, Morioka, Mikio
• Primary Examiner(s): Perungavoor, Sath V
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lima, Fabio
• Application Number:
  US13/577,146
• Publication Number:
  US 20130033603A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,681 Days
• Field of Search: 348/148
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/04 using optical or ultrasonic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station

Abstract

The present invention provides a road condition management system that can grasp an accurate state of a road condition and reduce a burden on a checker. A road facility management system for managing road facilities includes an on-board device and an information server. The on-board device includes a camera attached to a vehicle to photograph the outside of the vehicle, an image recognition unit that applies image recognition for detecting road facilities to a photographed image, a transmission image information generation unit that generates transmission image information including the photographed image, a road facility information database having stored therein road facility information, and a transmission unit that outputs the transmission image information if a recognition result by the image recognition unit is different from the road facility information stored in the road facility information database.

Claims

1. A road condition management system for managing a road condition, the road condition management system comprising:

an on-board device; and

an information server, wherein

the on-board device includes;

a camera configured to be attached to a vehicle to photograph an outside of the vehicle;

an image recognition unit that applies image recognition for detecting a road condition to a photographed image obtained by photographing by the camera;

a transmission image information generation unit that generates transmission image information including the photographed image;

a road condition information database having stored therein road condition information; and

a transmission image information output unit that outputs the transmission image information when a recognition result by the image recognition unit is different from the road condition information stored in the road condition information database, and

the information server includes;

a reception unit that receives the transmission image information;

a photographed image output unit that outputs the photographed image included in the transmission image information to enable a checker to visually recognize the photographed image;

an input unit for the checker to input a check result of the photographed image output from the photographed image output unit;

a road condition management information database having stored therein reference images as road condition management information for managing a road condition; and

a reference selection unit that selects a reference image corresponding to a photographed image from the road condition management information database, wherein

the photographed image output unit outputs, together with the photographed image, the reference image selected by the reference selection unit.

2. The road condition management system according to claim 1,

wherein the information server updates the road condition management information database according to the check result.

3. The road condition management system according to claim 1, wherein the on-board device updates the road condition information database according to the check result.

4. The road condition management system according to claim 1, wherein the on-board device outputs the transmission image information in the transmission image information output unit when a road condition corresponding to the road condition information stored in the road condition information database is not detected in the image recognition unit.

5. The road condition management system according to claim 1, wherein the on-board device generates transmission image information in the transmission image information generation unit when a road condition not stored in the road condition information database is detected in the image recognition unit.

6. The road condition management system according to claim 1, wherein

the road condition management information includes plural reference images concerning one road condition, and

the reference selection unit selects a reference image having photographing conditions closest to photographing conditions for the photographed image output by the photographed image output unit.

7. The road condition management system according to claim 1, wherein

even when a detection result by the image recognition unit coincides with the road condition information stored in the road condition information database, the transmission image information output unit outputs, when reliability of the image recognition by the image recognition unit is high, transmission image information in which a photographed image is designated as a reference image candidate, and

the information server stores the reference image candidate in the road condition management information database as a reference image of the road condition management information, and

the reliability of the image recognition is a degree of coincidence of a pattern of a road condition stored in advance and a pattern included in a photographed image.

8. The road condition management system according to claim 1, wherein

the information server includes a necessary image request unit that requests, when a reference image corresponding to a photographed image included in transmission image information is not stored in the road condition management information server, the on-board device to send a reference image candidate corresponding to the photographed image, and

the transmission image information output unit outputs, in response to the request, transmission image information including a photographed image corresponding to the photographed image.

9. The road condition management system according to claim 1, wherein, when the reception unit receives plural pieces of transmission image information concerning one road condition, the photographed image output unit preferentially outputs a photographed image included in transmission image information having a high check priority degree among the plural pieces of transmission image information.

10. The road condition management system according to claim 9, wherein the check priority degree is calculated on the basis of at least one of a photographing period of time of a photographed image included in transmission image information, a vehicle type, and vehicle speed during photographing.

11. The road condition management system according to claim 9, wherein

the information server includes a check list storage unit for storing transmission image information received by the reception unit, and

the photographed image output unit outputs the transmission image information stored in the check list storage unit.

12. The road condition management system according to claim 1, wherein

the transmission image information output unit of the on-board device transmits transmission image information to the information server by radio communication, and

the reception unit of the information server receives the transmission image information from the on-board device by radio communication.

13. The road condition management system according to claim 1, wherein

the transmission image information output unit of the on-board device records transmission image information in a recording medium, and

the reception unit of the information server reads out the transmission image information from the recording medium.

14. An on-board device belonging to a road condition management system for managing a road condition with an information server, the information server outputting, together with a reference image as road condition management information for managing a road condition, a photographed image included in transmission image information outputted from the on-board device to enable a checker to visually recognize the photographed image, the on-board device comprising:

a camera configured to be attached to a vehicle to photograph an outside of the vehicle;

an image recognition unit that applies image recognition for detecting a road condition to a photographed image obtained by photographing by the camera;

a transmission image information generation unit that generates transmission image information including the photographed image;

a road condition information database having stored therein road condition information; and

a transmission image information output unit that outputs the transmission image information when a recognition result by the image recognition unit is different from the road condition information stored in the road condition information database.

15. An information server for managing a road condition, the information server comprising:

a reception unit that receives transmission image information including a photographed image obtained by photographing by a camera configured to be attached to a vehicle to photograph an outside of a vehicle;

a photographed image output unit that outputs the photographed image included in the transmission image information to enable a checker to visually recognize the photographed image;

an input unit for the checker to input a check result of the photographed image output from the output unit;

a road condition management information database having stored therein reference images as road condition management information for managing a road condition; and

a reference selection unit that selects a reference image corresponding to a photographed image from the road condition management information database, wherein

the photographed image output unit outputs, together with the photographed image, the reference image selected by the reference selection unit.

16. A road condition management method executed using a road condition management system including an on-board device and an information server, the road condition management method comprising:

in the on-board device,

photographing an outside of a vehicle with a camera;

applying image recognition for detecting a road condition to a photographed image obtained by photographing by the camera; and

outputting transmission image information including the photographed image when a result of the image recognition is different from road condition information stored in a database of the on-board device, and

in the information server,

receiving the transmission image information;

outputting the photographed image included in the transmission image information to enable a checker to visually recognize the photographed image;

selecting a reference image corresponding to the photographed image from a road condition management information database having stored therein reference images as road condition management information for managing a road condition;

outputting the selected reference image together with the photographed image; and

the checker checking the output photographed image and inputting a check result.