Vehicle monitoring apparatus and vehicle monitoring method

• US 9,875,413 B2
• Filed: 01/20/2016
• Issued: 01/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Aoki, Yasuhiro, Sato, Toshio, Yokoi, Kentaro, Suzuki, Yoshihiko, Kimiyama, Kenji, Nakamura, Junichi, Yamamoto, Masahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsai, Tsung-Yin
• Application Number:
  US15/002,250
• Publication Number:
  US 20160171312A1
• Time in Patent Office: 734 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30236 Traffic on road, railway or crossing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30242 Counting objects in image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/54 of traffic, e.g. cars on the road, trains or boats
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/625 License plates
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/63 Scene text, e.g. street names
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/063 using wireless information transmission between the vehicle and a fixed station identification of vehicles G08G
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/015 with provision for distinguishing between two or more types of vehicles, e.g. between motor-cars and cycles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0175 by photographing vehicles, e.g. when violating traffic rules
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/04 using optical or ultrasonic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/052 with provision for determining speed or overspeed speed measuring in general G01P
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/056 with provision for distinguishing direction of travel
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/065 by counting the vehicles in a section of the road or in a parking area, i.e. comparing incoming count with outgoing count
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

An embodiment of a vehicle monitoring apparatus has a determiner and a reader. The determiner determines whether or not a specific site of a vehicle exists at least in an area of an image, the image imaged by an imager, the area being one of multiple areas into which the image is divided by dividing line that are substantially orthogonal to a direction of travel of the vehicle. The reader reads information on a license plate mounted to the vehicle from the area in case that the determiner determines the specific site of the vehicle is determined to exist in the area.

Claims

1. A vehicle monitoring apparatus comprising:

an imager that comprises a first imager that images an image of a front of a vehicle approaching a predefined location, a second imager that images an image of a top of a vehicle passing through the predefined location and a third imager that images an image of a rear of a vehicle moving away from the predefined location,

a determiner that determines whether or not a specific site of a vehicle exists at least in an area of the image imaged by the imager, the area being one of multiple areas into which the image is divided by one or more dividing lines that are substantially orthogonal to a direction of travel of the vehicle;

a reader that reads information on a license plate mounted to the vehicle from the area in case that the determiner determines the specific site of the vehicle exists in the area;

a vehicle location estimator that identifies a location of the vehicle in vicinity of the area at each time measurement based on the image imaged by the second imager, the vehicle being detected from the image imaged by the first imager; and

a vehicle type allocator that allocates information at the location of the vehicle, the information read from the image imaged by the first imager.

2. The vehicle monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the vehicle location estimator detects changing lanes or passing other vehicle of a vehicle in the vicinity of the area, based on the image imaged by the second imager.

3. The vehicle monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a speed measurer that measures a speed of the vehicle of which location was identified by the vehicle location estimator, based on a movement amount of location of the vehicle per unit time.

4. The vehicle monitoring apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

the speed measurer reports a warning device of a possibility that a vehicle may have stopped due to a malfunction or an accident for cases where the speed measured by the speed measurer is greatly skewed between vehicles.

5. The vehicle monitoring apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a camera controller that controls the imager, and

a vehicle information combiner that combines exit time information and a lane in which a vehicle is moving which information allocated by the vehicle type allocator for each vehicle that exists from an area beneath a gantry on which the first imager, the second imager and the third imager are mounted, wherein

the camera controller increases a shutter speed of the imager when the vehicle information combiner finds that there is a vehicle passing through at a conspicuously high speed.

6. The vehicle monitoring apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a camera controller that controls the imager, wherein

the camera controller estimates a timing at which a vehicle will enter the area and let a lighting apparatus light at the timing, the lighting apparatus is located in the vicinity of the area.

7. A method of monitoring a vehicle comprising:

imaging an image of a front of a vehicle approaching a predefined location, an image of a top of a vehicle passing through the predefined location and an image of a rear of a vehicle moving away from the predefined location;

determining whether or not a specific site of a vehicle exists at least in an area of the image, the area being one of multiple areas into which the image is divided by one or more dividing lines that are substantially orthogonal to a direction of travel of the vehicle;

reading information on a license plate mounted to the vehicle from the area in case it is determined that the specific site of the vehicle is exists in the area;

identifying a location of the vehicle in vicinity of the area at each time measurement based on the image of the top of the vehicle, the vehicle being detected from the image of the front of the vehicle; and

allocating information at the location of the vehicle, the information read from the front image of the vehicle.