VEHICLE MONITORING DEVICE AND METHOD OF MONITORING VEHICLE

• US 20140085477A1
• Filed: 04/17/2012
• Published: 03/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Takano, Teruhisa, Yasuhara, Shinji
• Granted Patent: US 9,842,261 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/305 using a camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

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.

Claims

1. A vehicle monitoring device comprising:

a monitoring level determining mechanism that determines a monitoring level of a vehicle based on a state of the vehicle and a periphery of the vehicle;

a monitoring image generating mechanism that acquires a display mode of one of a moving image, a streaming video, and a still image based on the monitoring level to generate a monitoring image in the display mode based on a captured image captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle; and

a transmission mechanism that transmits information containing the monitoring image to an external terminal device via a communication line, wherein

when receiving a request for the monitoring image from the external terminal device, the monitoring level determination mechanism 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 the display mode of the still image.

2. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the monitoring level determining mechanism determines the monitoring level to be an enhanced level when presence of a monitoring target object is detected from the captured image captured by the camera, and

the monitoring image generating mechanism generates, in accordance with the enhanced level, the monitoring image in the display mode of either the moving image or the streaming video with a number of frames per unit time at a predetermined value or more.

3. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the monitoring level determining mechanism determines the monitoring level to be an enhanced level when a monitoring target object approaching the vehicle is detected from the captured image captured by the camera, and

the monitoring image generating mechanism generates, in accordance with the enhanced level, the monitoring image in the display mode of either the moving image or the streaming video with a number of frames per unit time at a predetermined value or more.

4. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the monitoring level determining mechanism determines the monitoring level to be an enhanced level when a monitoring target object is detected that stays in a vicinity of the vehicle for a predetermined time or more;

and

the monitoring image generating mechanism generates, in accordance with the enhanced level, the monitoring image in the display mode of either the moving image or the streaming video with a number of frames per unit time at a predetermined value or more.

5. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 1, wherein

when receiving an abnormality occurrence signal from the vehicle, the monitoring level determination mechanism determines the monitoring level to be an enhanced level, and

the monitoring image generating mechanism generates, in accordance with the enhanced level, the monitoring image in the display mode of either the moving image or the streaming video with a number of frames per unit time at a predetermined value or more.

7. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the monitoring image generating mechanism generates the monitoring image at a corrected frame rate corrected to increase a number of frames per unit time in accordance with the monitoring level when the monitoring level is detected by the monitoring level determination mechanism after sunset.

8. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 1, wherein, based on a moving speed of a monitoring target object of the captured image captured by the camera, the monitoring image generating mechanism generates the monitoring image at a corrected frame rate correcting a number of frames per unit time in accordance with the monitoring level.

9. The vehicle monitoring device in claim 1, wherein

when the monitoring level is in an enhanced level, the monitoring image generating mechanism sets a frequency at which the monitoring image is generated high, and

the transmission mechanism transmits the monitoring image to the external terminal device in accordance with the frequency.

30. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 1, wherein, when a detected monitoring target object is separating from the vehicle or is a stationary object, the monitoring level determination mechanism determines the vehicle monitoring level to be the standard level and the monitoring image generating mechanism generates the monitoring image in the display mode of the still image.

6. (canceled)

10. A vehicle monitoring device comprising:

a means for determining a vehicle monitoring level based on a state of the vehicle or in a periphery of the vehicle;

a means for generating a monitoring image based on a captured image captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle at a frame rate in accordance with the monitoring level; and

a 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 mechanism 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 the display mode of the still image.

31. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the means for generating the monitoring image generates the monitoring image with the frame rate higher as the monitoring level is higher.

11. A vehicle monitoring method comprising:

determining a monitoring level of a vehicle based on a state of the vehicle and a periphery of the vehicle;

generating a monitoring image in a display mode of one of a moving image, a streaming video, and a still image based on a captured image captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle 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.

12. A vehicle monitoring device comprising:

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 or of a surroundings of the vehicle;

a monitoring image generating mechanism that calculates a compressibility in accordance with the monitoring level and generates a monitoring image compressing a captured image captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle at the compressibility calculated; 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 image captured by the camera at a compressibility higher than a previously set standard compressibility.

13. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 12, wherein the monitoring level determining mechanism calculates a lower compressibility as the monitoring level increases.

14. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 12, 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 image captured by the camera;

and

the monitoring image generating mechanism generates the monitoring image by compressing the captured image captured by the camera in accordance with the enhanced level by a compressibility lower than the previously set standard compressibility.

15. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 12, wherein

the monitoring level determination mechanism determines the monitoring level of the vehicle to be an enhanced level when a monitoring target object is detected that approaches the vehicle based on the captured image captured by the camera;

and

the monitoring image generating mechanism generates the monitoring image by compressing the captured image captured by the camera at a compressibility lower than the previously set standard compressibility.

16. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 12, wherein

when a monitoring target object that stays in a vicinity of the vehicle for a predetermined time or more is detected, the monitoring level determining mechanism determines the vehicle monitoring level to be an enhanced level;

and

the monitoring image generating mechanism generates the monitoring image by compressing the captured image captured by the camera in accordance with the enhanced level at a compressibility lower than the previously set standard compressibility.

17. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 12, wherein

if an abnormality signal from the vehicle is obtained, the monitoring level determining mechanism determines the vehicle monitoring level to be an enhanced level;

and

the monitoring image generating mechanism generates the monitoring image by compressing the captured image captured by the camera in accordance with the enhanced level at a compressibility lower than the previously set standard compressibility.

19. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 12, wherein the monitoring image generating mechanism generates the monitoring image at a corrected compressibility that is set low in accordance with the monitoring level when the monitoring level is detected by the monitoring level determining mechanism after sunset.

20. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 12, wherein, when a monitoring target object is included in the captured image captured by the camera, the monitoring image generating mechanism generates the monitoring image compressing the captured image containing the monitoring target object at a corrected compressibility that is set lower in accordance with the monitoring level.

21. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 12, wherein

the monitoring image generating mechanism increases a frequency of generating the monitoring image when the monitoring level is determined to be an enhanced level;

and

the transmission mechanism transmits the monitoring image to the external terminal device in accordance with the frequency.

32. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 12, wherein, when a detected monitoring target object is separating from the vehicle, the monitoring level determining mechanism determines the monitoring level to be a standard level, and

in accordance with the standard level, the monitoring image generating mechanism generates the monitoring image by compressing the captured image captured by the camera at the previously set standard compressibility or higher.

18. (canceled)

22. A vehicle monitoring method comprising:

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;

calculating a compressibility based on the monitoring level;

generating a monitoring image compressing a captured image captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle by the compressibility calculated;

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 image captured by the camera at a compressibility higher than a previously set standard compressibility.

23. A vehicle monitoring device comprising:

a camera mounted on a vehicle for capturing 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 image including the image corresponding to the monitoring target object; 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 image captured by the camera.

25. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 23, wherein

the monitoring image generating mechanism compares a reference monitoring image acquired at a reference monitor time representing a reference when monitoring the surroundings of the vehicle and a comparison image captured by the camera in a single or plurality of monitoring timings after the reference monitoring time to generate the monitoring image based on a difference image in response to a change in image data between the reference monitoring image and the comparison image;

and

the transmission mechanism transmits the monitoring image to the external device via the communication line after having sent the reference monitoring image to the external device via the communication line.

26. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 23, wherein the monitoring image generating mechanism:

compares a K-th comparison image (wherein K is a natural number) captured at a K-th monitoring timing after the reference monitoring timing and the reference monitoring image to extract a K-th difference image of a predetermined region containing the difference image of the two images;

compares the K-th comparison image captured at the K-th monitoring timing after the reference monitoring timing and a (K−

1)-th comparison image captured at a (K−

1)-th timing immediately before the K-th monitoring timing;

attaches to the image data of invariable region having no difference over the reference monitoring image of the K-th difference image a first identifier;

attaches to a duplicate change region included in the (K−

1) comparison image as well of the K-th difference image a second identifier;

attaches to a most receipt change region included only in the (K−

1)-th difference image of the K-th difference image a third identifier; and

replaces the image data of the image region of the K-th difference image to which the third identifier is attached with the image data of the K-th comparison image corresponding to the image region; and

generates the information including the image data of the K-th comparison image replaced, the first identifier and the second identifier as the monitoring image.

27. The vehicle monitoring device as claimed in claim 23, wherein, when a moving speed of the monitoring target object calculated based on the captured image is less than a predetermined value, the monitoring image is generated by decreasing a frame rate.

28. A vehicle monitoring system using the vehicle monitoring device as set forth in claim 23, further comprising:

a terminal device capable of information transfer to and from the vehicle monitoring device, wherein the terminal device comprises;

a communication mechanism to communicate with the vehicle monitoring device;

a display image generating mechanism to generate an image for display based on the monitored image acquired through the communication means; and

a display mechanism for displaying the image for display generated by the display image generating mechanism.

24. (canceled)

29. A vehicle monitoring method comprising:

acquiring a captured image of a surroundings of a vehicle;

when an image corresponding to a monitoring target object has been detected in the captured image, generating a moving image as a monitoring image that indicates a state of change in the surroundings of the vehicle based on the captured image including a monitoring target object; and

when the monitoring target object has not been detected in the captured image, generating a still image showing a temporary state of the surroundings of the vehicle based on the captured image; and

transmitting the monitoring image to an external terminal device.