Vehicle monitoring device and method of monitoring vehicle
First Claim
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1. A vehicle monitoring device comprising:
- a monitoring level determining mechanism that determines a monitoring level of a vehicle,based in part on a state of the vehicle as determined from vehicle state detection sensors, on receipt of a request for a monitoring image, on a presence of a monitoring target object in a captured still image, and on a state of the monitoring target object in the captured still image as compared to a location, a movement, and an activity of the monitoring target object in previously captured still images, wherein the captured still image and the previously captured still images are received from a camera directed toward a periphery of the vehicle;
a monitoring image generating mechanism that determines a display mode based on the monitoring level to generate the monitoring image in the display mode using the captured still image and the previously captured still images,wherein the display mode is one of a moving image, a streaming image, and a still image, andwherein the monitoring image generating mechanism generates a monitoring image that is a moving image or a streaming image by successive sequencing of the captured still image and the previously captured still images; and
a transmission mechanism that transmits information containing the monitoring image to an external terminal device via a communication line, whereinwhen receiving the request for the monitoring image from the external terminal device, the monitoring level determining mechanism determines the monitoring level to be a standard level, andwhen the monitoring level is determined to be the standard level, the monitoring image generating mechanism generates the monitoring image in the display mode of the still image.
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Abstract
A vehicle monitoring system is provided which determines the mode of display and the compressibility of a moving image, a streaming video and a still image based on a monitoring level determined by vehicle conditions detected. The system generates a monitoring image using the determined display mode or compressed at the determined compressibility and transmits the monitoring image to an external terminal device.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A vehicle monitoring device comprising:
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a monitoring level determining mechanism that determines a monitoring level of a vehicle, based in part on a state of the vehicle as determined from vehicle state detection sensors, on receipt of a request for a monitoring image, on a presence of a monitoring target object in a captured still image, and on a state of the monitoring target object in the captured still image as compared to a location, a movement, and an activity of the monitoring target object in previously captured still images, wherein the captured still image and the previously captured still images are received from a camera directed toward a periphery of the vehicle; a monitoring image generating mechanism that determines a display mode based on the monitoring level to generate the monitoring image in the display mode using the captured still image and the previously captured still images, wherein the display mode is one of a moving image, a streaming image, and a still image, and wherein the monitoring image generating mechanism generates a monitoring image that is a moving image or a streaming image by successive sequencing of the captured still image and the previously captured still images; and a transmission mechanism that transmits information containing the monitoring image to an external terminal device via a communication line, wherein when receiving the request for the monitoring image from the external terminal device, the monitoring level determining mechanism determines the monitoring level to be a standard level, and when the monitoring level is determined to be the standard level, the monitoring image generating mechanism generates the monitoring image in the display mode of the still image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 23, 25, 26)
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7. A vehicle monitoring device comprising:
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means for determining a vehicle monitoring level based on a state of the vehicle or a periphery of the vehicle, wherein the monitoring level is determined from a plurality of monitoring levels; means for generating a monitoring image based on a captured still image captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle at a frame rate in accordance with the monitoring level, wherein the camera is oriented outward toward the periphery, wherein the means for generating a monitoring image generates the monitoring image by successive sequencing of one or more of captured still images; and means for transmitting information containing the monitoring image via a communication line to an external terminal device, wherein when receiving a request for the monitoring image from the external terminal device, the monitoring level determination means determines the vehicle monitoring level to be a standard level, and when the monitoring level is determined to be the standard level, the monitoring image generating mechanism generates the monitoring image in a display mode of a still image and wherein means for monitoring generating generates the monitoring image at a rate greater than a still image when a target object is identified in the still image.
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8. A vehicle monitoring method comprising:
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receiving a captured still image from a camera mounted on the vehicle and directed to a periphery of the vehicle; determining a monitoring level of the vehicle based in part on a state of the vehicle as determined based on vehicle state detection sensors, on presence of a monitoring target object in the captured still image, and on a state of the monitoring target object in the captured still image as compared to the state of the monitoring target object in previously captured still images received from the camera; generating a monitoring image in a display mode of one of a moving image, a streaming video, and a still image based on the captured still image in accordance with the monitoring level; transmitting generated information including the monitoring image to an external terminal device using a communication line; and when a request is received for the monitoring image from the external terminal device and the monitoring level is determined to be a standard level, generating the monitoring image in the display mode of the still image.
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9. A vehicle monitoring device comprising:
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a monitoring level determining mechanism that determines a monitoring level of a vehicle based on a detected vehicle condition by detecting a state of the vehicle and of a surroundings of the vehicle, wherein the monitoring level determining mechanism determines the monitoring level from a plurality of monitoring levels; a monitoring image generating mechanism that calculates a compressibility in accordance with the monitoring level and generates a monitoring image compressing a captured still image captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle and directed to the surroundings of the vehicle at the compressibility calculated, wherein the monitoring image generating mechanism generates a monitoring image by successive sequencing of the captured still image and previously captured still images; and a transmission mechanism that transmits information including generated monitoring image to an external terminal device, wherein when receiving a request for the monitoring image from the external terminal device, the monitoring level determining mechanism determines the monitoring level to be a standard level, and the monitoring image generating mechanism generates, in accordance with the standard level, the monitoring image by compressing the captured still image captured by the camera at a compressibility higher than a previously set standard compressibility; wherein the monitoring level determining mechanism calculates a lower compressibility as the monitoring level increases; and wherein the monitoring level determining mechanism determines the monitoring level of the vehicle as an enhanced level when a presence of a monitoring target object is detected from the captured still image captured by the camera; and the monitoring image generating mechanism generates the monitoring image by compressing the captured still image captured by the camera at a compressibility lower than the previously set standard compressibility. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 24)
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16. A vehicle monitoring method comprising:
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determining a monitoring level of a vehicle based on a vehicle condition by detecting a state of the vehicle or of a surroundings of the vehicle, wherein the state of the vehicle or of the surroundings of the vehicle is one of request for monitoring image, still object, monitoring object separating, monitoring object approaching without motion, monitoring object approaching with motion, monitoring object staying, and abnormality detected by vehicle state detection sensors; calculating a compressibility based on the monitoring level; generating a monitoring image compressing a captured still image captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle by the compressibility calculated, wherein the monitoring image is generated by successive sequencing of the captured still image and previously captured still images; transmitting information including the monitoring image generated to an external terminal device; and when the monitoring level is determined to be a standard level, generating the monitoring image by compressing the captured still image captured by the camera at a compressibility higher than a previously set standard compressibility.
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17. A vehicle monitoring device comprising:
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a plurality cameras mounted on a vehicle exterior for capturing still images of a periphery of the vehicle; a monitoring image generating mechanism that, when presence of a monitoring target object is detected in the periphery of the vehicle, generates a moving image indicating a state change in the periphery of the vehicle as a monitoring image based on a captured still image including the image corresponding to the monitoring target object, wherein the moving image is generated by successive sequencing of the captured still image and previously captured still images; and a transmission mechanism that transmits the monitoring image to an external terminal device using a communication line, wherein, when the monitoring target object is not detected in the periphery of the vehicle, monitoring image generating mechanism generates a still image showing a temporary state of a vicinity of the vehicle based on the captured still image captured by the camera. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A vehicle monitoring method comprising:
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acquiring a plurality of captured still images of a surroundings of a vehicle, the images each associated with a discrete region of the surroundings of the vehicle; when an image corresponding to a monitoring target object has been detected in one of the captured still images, generating a moving image as a monitoring image for the associated region that indicates a state of change in the surroundings of the vehicle based on the captured still image including a monitoring target object, while images associated with discrete regions of the surroundings lacking a monitoring target object are generated as still images, wherein the moving image is generated by successive sequencing of the captured still image and the plurality of captured still images; when the monitoring target object has not been detected in at least one of the captured still image, generating a still image showing a temporary state of the surroundings of the vehicle based on the captured still image; and transmitting the monitoring images to an external terminal device, such that the plurality of captured still images depicts the surroundings of the vehicle.
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Specification