Information providing system and information providing method

• US 9,631,941 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2012
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Sugimoto, Hironobu, Hayasida, Teruhide, Nakao, Koichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Do, Truc M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Whittington, Jess
• Application Number:
  US14/364,583
• Publication Number:
  US 20140350854A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,595 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3602 Input other than that of destination using image analysis, e.g. detection of road signs, lanes, buildings, real preceding vehicles using a camera
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3605 Destination input or retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/54 of traffic, e.g. cars on the road, trains or boats
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/58 Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/586 of parking space
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096861 where the immediate route instructions are output to the driver, e.g. arrow signs for next turn
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0969 having a display in the form of a map
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

An information providing system includes an obtaining portion that obtains image information captured by a moving object traveling on a road, and an information providing portion that provides the obtained image information, and additional information related to the image information.

Claims

1. An information providing system comprising:

a route calculating portion that calculates a route to a destination set by a user of a first moving object;

an imaging control portion that determines whether or not a second moving object is traveling on a road on the route to the destination and controls the second moving object to capture image information of the road on the route to the destination when it is determined that the second moving object is traveling on the road on the route to the destination;

an obtaining portion that obtains the image information captured by the second moving object traveling on a the road on the route to the destination;

an information generating portion that generates additional information related to the image information based on at least a pedestrian within the obtained image information; and

an information providing portion that provides the obtained image information and the additional information related to the image information, wherein

the additional information is information related to availability of parking for the first moving object at an imaging location of the image information and is indicated by a level of drivability chosen from a plurality of levels of drivability; and

when the route calculating portion calculates a plurality of routes to the destination, the information providing portion provides the image information of the road on the route and the additional information, for each of the plurality of routes to the destination.

2. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein

the obtaining portion obtains image information captured by a roadside camera;

and

the information generating portion determines the availability of parking for the first moving object based on the image information obtained from the roadside camera and the image information obtained from the second moving object.

3. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the information generating portion further determines drivability of the road based on at least one of a number of pedestrians, a number of bicycles, an on-road parking situation, and a presence or absence of an object in the road, at the imaging location.

4. The information providing system according to claim 1, further comprising a display portion that includes a screen that displays the obtained image information and the additional information.

5. The information providing system according to claim 4, wherein when the display portion displays a plurality of pieces of image information, the display portion repeatedly displays the plurality of the pieces of images, sequentially switching the plurality of the pieces of images at regular intervals of time.

6. The information providing system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a moving object communication portion that performs communication between moving objects;

a server communication portion that performs communication between the first moving object and a server; and

a switching portion that selects at least one of the moving object communication portion and the server communication portion.

7. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to determine the availability of parking for the first moving object based upon a number of pedestrians getting into objects in a parking area.

8. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the information generating portion further determines drivability of the road based on a position of a pedestrian with respect to a guardrail at the imaging location as the additional information.

9. An information providing method comprising:

calculating a route to a destination set by a user of a first moving object;

determining whether or not a second moving object is traveling on a road on the route to the destination;

controlling the second moving object to capture image information of the road on the route to the destination when it is determined that the second moving object is traveling on the road on the route to the destination;

obtaining the image information captured by the second moving object traveling on the road on the route to the destination;

generating additional information related to the image information based on the obtained image information; and

providing the obtained image information and the additional information related to the image information, wherein;

the additional information is information related to availability of parking for the first moving object at an imaging location of the image information and is indicated by a level of drivability chosen from a plurality of levels of drivability; and

when a plurality of routes to the destination are calculated, the image information of the road on the route and the additional information are provided for each of the plurality of routes to the destination.

10. An information providing system comprising:

circuitry configured to;

calculate a route to a destination set by a user of a first moving object;

determine whether or not a second moving object is traveling on a road on the route to the destination;

control the second moving object to capture image information of the road on the route to the destination when it is determined that the second moving object is traveling on the road on the route to the destination;

obtain the image information captured by the second moving object traveling on the road on the route to the destination;

generate additional information related to the image information based on at least a pedestrian within the obtained image information; and

provide the obtained image information and the additional information related to the image information, wherein

the additional information is information related to availability of parking for the first moving object at an imaging location of the image information and is indicated by a level of drivability chosen from a plurality of levels of drivability, and

the circuitry is further configured to;

when calculating a plurality of routes to the destination, provide the image information of the road on the route and the additional information, for each of the plurality of routes to the destination.

11. The information providing system according to claim 10, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

obtain image information captured by a roadside camera; and

determine the availability of parking for the first moving object based on the image information obtained from the roadside camera and the image information obtained from the second moving object.

12. The information providing system according to claim 10, wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine drivability of the road based on at least one of a number of pedestrians, a number of bicycles, an on-road parking situation, and a presence or absence of an object in the road, at the imaging location as the additional information.

13. The information providing system according to claim 10, wherein the circuitry is configured to display the obtained image information and the additional information.

14. The information providing system according to claim 13, wherein when the circuitry is to display a plurality of pieces of image information, the circuitry is configured to repeatedly display the plurality of the pieces of images, sequentially switching the plurality of the pieces of images at regular intervals of time.

15. The information providing system according to claim 10, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

perform communication between moving objects;

perform communication between the first moving object and a server; and

select at least one of the communication between moving objects and the communication between the first moving object and the server.

16. The information providing system according to claim 10, wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine the drivability of the road based on a position of a pedestrian with respect to a guardrail at the imaging location.

17. The information providing system according to claim 12, wherein the circuitry is configured to determine the drivability as difficult in a case where a construction site or a street vendor is on the road.

18. The information providing system according to claim 12, wherein the circuitry is configured to determine the drivability of the road as easy in a case where there is a guardrail on a side of the road and pedestrians are walking on an outside of the guardrail.

19. The information providing system according to claim 12, wherein if an object is sticking out into the road, the circuitry is configured to determine the drivability of the road based upon how much the object is sticking out into the road.

20. The information providing system according to claim 10, wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine the availability of parking for the first moving object based upon a number of objects lined up outside a parking area.

21. The information providing system according to claim 10, wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine the availability of parking for the first moving object based upon a decrease in a number of objects in the obtained image information per unit time.

22. The information providing system according to claim 10, wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine the availability of parking for the first moving object based upon a relationship between a number of mobile objects that are moving and a number of objects that are parked.

23. The information providing system according to claim 10, wherein the circuitry is configured to determine the availability of parking for the first moving object based upon movement of pedestrians and movement of moving objects in a parking area.

24. The information providing system according to claim 10, wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine the availability of parking for the first moving object based upon a number of objects in the obtained image information.