JP4722760B2 - Vehicle tracking device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle tracking device that is mounted on a vehicle such as a police car or a white motorcycle and used for photographing a tracking target vehicle.

For example, when tracking a runaway vehicle or the like, a video camera is installed in a police car or a white bike, and the tracked vehicle is photographed, and this captured image is used as evidence of subsequent vehicle identification or violation.
To shoot a vehicle to be tracked, a conventional video camera has been installed in front of or behind a police car or white bike, or a passenger in a passenger seat such as a police car holds the video camera and operates it manually. Shooting.
There is also an apparatus in which a surveillance camera and an infrared camera are installed at the rear of the vehicle with the shooting direction facing the road surface at the lower rear. This device detects the position of a living organism or a moving object that generates heat using a position detection unit from a video image taken by an infrared camera, that is, a video signal output from the infrared camera, and The portion corresponding to the detected position is emphasized using the display control unit and displayed on the monitor so that obstacles existing in the traveling direction can be easily confirmed (for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-184523 (pages 5 and 6, FIGS. 1 and 2)

  Since the conventional device for capturing a tracked vehicle is configured as described above, the tracked vehicle snakes violently in order to escape, and the direction is constantly changed. It was difficult to clearly photograph the vehicle to be tracked with the attached video camera. Further, when a passenger holds a video camera in a passenger seat such as a patrol car and takes a picture, it is difficult to take a clear picture of the vehicle to be tracked because the inside of the vehicle shakes violently. In addition, a device with an imaging camera and an infrared camera attached to the vehicle emphasizes the part where living things are reflected when displaying images on a monitor, etc., and clearly captures the tracking target vehicle that moves violently. There was a problem that it was difficult to do.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to obtain a vehicle tracking device that clearly captures a tracked vehicle.

  The vehicle tracking device according to the present invention includes a visible light camera and an infrared camera arranged side by side, a rotating means for rotating the visible light camera and the infrared camera, and a lens for adjusting the zoom magnification of the lenses of the visible light camera and the infrared camera. A drive means, an image processing means for extracting data having a feature amount of the tracking target vehicle from the image data output from the infrared camera, and obtaining data for adjusting the angle of view of the captured image in accordance with the feature amount portion; And control means for controlling the rotation means and the lens drive means based on the data obtained by the image processing means to output data of an image photographed by the visible light camera.

  According to the present invention, the visible light camera and the infrared camera arranged side by side are rotated by the rotating means, and the zoom magnification of the lenses of the visible light camera and the infrared camera is adjusted by the zoom drive means. A portion having the feature amount of the tracking target vehicle in the image data from the image data is extracted, data for adjusting the angle of view of the captured image is obtained according to the portion having the feature amount, and the control means rotates based on the data In addition, since the lens drive means is controlled to output the data of the image captured by the visible light camera, there is an effect that the tracking target vehicle can be easily and clearly captured.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
Embodiment 1 FIG.
1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle tracking apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The illustrated vehicle tracking device includes an image processing unit 3 that processes signals output from the visible light camera 1 and the infrared camera 2, the visible light camera 1, and the infrared camera 2 that are mounted side by side on the front side or the rear side of the vehicle to be tracked. Controls the image memory 4 that stores data input from the image processing unit 3 and outputs the stored data to the image processing unit 3, the visible light camera 1, the infrared camera 2, and the image processing unit 3, as necessary. A CPU 5 such as a processor, a visible light camera 1, an infrared camera 2, an image processing unit 3, a timing generator 6 for generating a timing signal for synchronizing operations of the CPU 5, and a recording unit for recording data processed by the image processing unit 3 7 and a display unit 8 for displaying an image based on the data output from the image processing unit 3.

  The visible light camera 1 is mounted on a horizontal / vertical rotating base 10, and the infrared camera 2 is mounted on a horizontal / vertical rotating base 20, and these horizontal / vertical rotating bases 10, 20 are fixed / installed on the vehicle. The visible light camera 1 and the infrared camera 2 are mounted on the vehicle so as to rotate in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, respectively. The visible light camera 1 includes a lens driver 11 and a turntable driver 12. The lens driver 11 is connected / configured to perform zoom adjustment of the telephoto lens 13 attached to the visible light camera 1. The turntable driver 12 is connected / configured to perform drive control of the horizontal / vertical turntable 10. The infrared camera 2 includes a lens driver 21 and a turntable driver 22. The lens driver 21 is connected / configured to perform zoom adjustment of the telephoto lens 23 attached to the infrared camera 2. The turntable driver 22 is connected / configured to perform drive control of the horizontal / vertical turntable 20.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle tracking device according to the first embodiment. This figure shows an example of a mode when the visible light camera 1 and the infrared camera 2 shown in FIG. 1 are mounted on a vehicle 30 such as a police car, for example, and an overview when the vehicle 30 is viewed from the side. It is. The same parts as those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. The horizontal and vertical turntables 10 and 20 are mounted / fixed on the front end portion of the roof of the vehicle 30. As described above, the visible light camera 1 and the infrared camera 2 are mounted on the horizontal and vertical turntables 10 and 20, respectively. Further, the visible light camera 1 and the infrared camera 2 are placed so that the telephoto lenses 13 and 23 face the front of the vehicle 30.

The vehicle tracking device according to the present invention comprises a visible light camera and an infrared camera arranged side by side, a rotating means for individually rotating the visible light camera and the infrared camera, and a zoom magnification of the lenses of the visible light camera and the infrared camera. The lens drive means for individually adjusting the muffler portion of the vehicle to be tracked which is at a high temperature is extracted from the image data output from the infrared camera, and the monitoring frame is set in relation to the muffler portion and the monitoring is performed. An image processing unit that obtains data indicating a difference between a field angle of a frame and a field angle of the entire image; and a data that indicates a difference between the field angles obtained by the image processing unit and the angle of view of the monitoring frame and the entire image. with the, and control means for outputting the data of an image obtained by controlling the rotation means and the lens drive means by capturing the visible light camera so that the difference decreases between the angle It is intended.

According to this invention, the visible light camera and the infrared camera arranged side by side, the rotating means for individually rotating the visible light camera and the infrared camera, and the zoom magnification of the lenses of the visible light camera and the infrared camera are individually set. Extracting a portion of the muffler at a high temperature of the tracked vehicle from the image data output from the lens drive means to be adjusted and the infrared camera, setting a monitoring frame in relation to the muffler portion, and setting the image of the monitoring frame. An image processing means for obtaining data indicating a difference between the angle and the angle of view of the entire image, and an angle of view of the monitoring frame and an angle of view of the entire image based on data indicating the difference of the angle of view obtained by the image processing means. and control means for controlling said rotating means and lens drive means so that the difference becomes smaller to output the data of an image obtained by photographing the visible light camera, and in so that comprises a In, there is an effect that it is possible to easily clearly photographed views the tracked vehicle.

When the vehicle to be tracked is a subject, photographing is performed by the visible light camera 1 and the infrared camera 2 in which the telephoto lenses 13 and 23 are directed in the same direction as described above. The visible light camera 1 and the infrared camera 2 capture the vehicle to be tracked in synchronization with a plurality of timing signals input from the timing generator 6 and output the captured image to the image processing unit 3 as image data.
The image processing unit 3 stores the image data sequentially input from the visible light camera 1 and the infrared camera 2 in the image memory 4. With respect to the image data from the infrared camera 2 stored in the image memory 4, a region in an image in which the vehicle is captured is extracted using a feature amount that specifies the vehicle to be tracked. In addition, when an image is displayed, the difference between the angle of view at which this extraction area is displayed at a predetermined position on the screen and the angle of view of the image data currently being processed is obtained and the angle difference indicating the difference is displayed. Data is output to the CPU 5.

  The CPU 5 controls the lens driver 11 and the turntable driver 12, the lens driver 21 and the turntable driver 22 so that the value of the input angle-of-view difference data becomes small, and the visible light camera 1 and the infrared camera 2 are controlled. The direction and the zoom magnification of each of the telephoto lenses 13 and 23 are changed. When the value of the angle-of-view difference data input from the image processing unit 3 is sufficiently small and can be regarded as having almost no angle-of-view difference, preferably when the difference indicated by the data is completely absent The unit 3 is controlled to synchronize with the image data from the visible light camera 1 stored in the image memory 4 at this time, in other words, the image data of the infrared camera 2 for which the angle-of-view difference data having a small value is obtained. The image data captured by the visible light camera 1 is output from the image memory 4 and recorded in the recording unit 7, for example. Further, the image processing unit 3 is controlled according to the setting made to the CPU 5 from the outside, and the image data from the visible light camera 1 stored in the image memory 4 is output to the display unit 8, and based on the image data. Display an image.

Among the processing operations described above, the processing operation by the image processing unit 3 and the control of the lens driver 11, the turntable driver 12, the lens driver 21, and the turntable driver 22 by the CPU 5 will be described in detail.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing operation of the vehicle tracking device according to the first embodiment. This figure shows the processing of image data from the infrared camera 2 by the above-described image processing unit 3. The illustrated image 40 is obtained when the tracking target vehicle 50 is tracked from behind and photographed by the vehicle 30 shown in FIG. The tracking target vehicle 50 is provided with an exhaust pipe toward the rear, and a muffler 51 is attached to the exhaust pipe. In the vehicle tracking device described here, the presence of the muffler 51 that becomes high temperature during traveling is used as a feature amount that identifies the tracking target vehicle 50 in the captured image.

  When the vehicle tracking device is activated, the zoom magnification of the telephoto lenses 13 and 23 and the horizontal and vertical turntable 10 are set so that the photographing ranges of the visible light camera 1 and the infrared camera 2 become the same by the control of the CPU 5 as described above. 20 operations are controlled. When the rear view of the tracking target vehicle 50 traveling in front of the vehicle 30 is photographed, the photographing operations of the visible light camera 1 and the infrared camera 2 are synchronized. Specifically, the imaging device readout signal, the image horizontal synchronization signal, and the image vertical synchronization signal generated as timing signals by the timing generator 6 shown in FIG. 1 are input to the visible light camera 1 and the infrared camera 2 respectively, and these signals are input. The light receiving operation and the image data output operation of the image sensor constituting each camera are synchronized at the timing indicated by. As described above, under the control of the CPU 5, the visible light camera 1 and the infrared camera 2 photograph the tracking target vehicle 50 at the same angle of view, and the image processing unit 3 converts the image data output from these cameras into the image as described above. Store in memory 4.

The image processing unit 3 uses the image data of the infrared camera 2 stored in the image memory 4 as described above, for example, when the infrared image represented by the image data is the image 40 shown in FIG. Then, the position of the muffler 51 having the highest temperature in the rear portion of the tracking target vehicle 50 is extracted, and the feature frame in the image is so positioned that this portion enters the inside of the feature amount frame 41 indicated by the broken line in FIG. The position 41 and the size of the frame are calculated and set in the image.
A monitoring frame 42 indicated by a broken line in FIG. 4 includes a feature amount frame 41 on its lower side as shown in the figure, and a tracking target vehicle 50 that is tracked and photographed in a region inside the monitoring frame 42. Images are included.
The projected area ratio between the tracking target vehicle 50 and the muffler 51 and the position of the muffler 51 in the back view of the tracking target vehicle 50 are substantially the same in any vehicle. Therefore, the area ratio between the feature amount frame 41 and the monitoring frame 42 and the mutual positional relationship can be set in advance. Therefore, the feature amount frame 41 is set as an image as described above, and a monitoring frame 42 is set in the image in relation to the feature amount frame 41, and the tracking target vehicle 50 in the image is set as the monitoring frame 42. Enclose inside.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing operation of the vehicle tracking device according to the first embodiment. The same reference numerals are used for parts that are the same as or correspond to those shown in FIG. This figure shows the processing operation in which the image processing unit 3 obtains the above-mentioned angle-of-view difference data in the image 40 shown in FIG.
A deviation ΔL between the center point 43 of the image 40 shown in FIG. 5 and the center point 44 of the monitoring frame 42 is obtained. By obtaining the deviation ΔL, the horizontal deviation ΔT and the vertical deviation ΔP are obtained for the relationship between the image 40 and the monitoring frame 42.

For example, when the horizontal size of the image 40 is the side length Z1, and the horizontal size of the monitoring frame 42 is the side length Z2, the zoom of the image 40 and the monitoring frame 42 is obtained by obtaining the value of Z2 / Z1. A ratio is required. Here, the zoom ratio does not represent the ratio between the maximum focal length and the minimum focal length that is generally used, but is equal to the ratio between the overall size of the image 40 and the overall size of the monitoring frame 42. This is a value representing the correction amount of the zoom magnification. The processing such as feature amount extraction and frame setting by the image processing unit 3 is performed using image data output from the infrared camera 2.
The image processing unit 3 outputs the horizontal deviation ΔT, the vertical deviation ΔP, and the zoom ratio Z2 / Z1 obtained as described above to the CPU 5 as field angle difference data.

  The CPU 5 uses the values of the input angle-of-view difference data, that is, the horizontal deviation ΔT, the vertical deviation ΔP, and the zoom ratio Z2 / Z1 as parameters, and the lens driver 11 and the turntable driver 12, or The lens driver 21 and the turntable driver 22 are controlled. By this control, the orientation of the visible light camera 1 and the infrared camera 2 and the zoom magnification of each camera are similarly adjusted. The image of the tracking target vehicle 50 captured by the visible light camera 1 adjusted in this way is a large image in the image 40, in other words, can be displayed with an optimal angle of view. A clear captured image of the tracking target vehicle 50 is obtained. The image data of the tracking target vehicle 50 captured by the visible light camera 1 in this way is recorded in the recording unit 7 as described above, or the image is displayed on the display unit 8. At this time, the angle-of-view difference data obtained using the image data from the infrared camera 2 has a small value for each parameter, and the angle of view is adjusted with respect to the image currently captured by the visible light camera 1. The above-described processes are not performed. That is, when the value of the angle-of-view difference data obtained by the image processing unit 3 is sufficiently small, or when the difference is completely absent, the image data captured by the visible light camera 1 is recorded in the recording unit 7, or The image data is output to the display unit 8 to display the image.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the muffler 51 is extracted from the visible light camera 1, the infrared camera 2, and the image data output from the infrared camera 2 arranged so as to photograph the same tracking vehicle 50. Since the image processing unit 3 for obtaining parameters for changing the angle of view and the CPU 5 for controlling the orientation and zoom magnification of the visible light camera 1 and the infrared camera 2 using the parameters obtained by the image processing unit 3 are provided. The tracking target vehicle 50 can be photographed with a full angle of view, and it is possible to easily identify the vehicle and check the license plate.
Further, since control is performed so that the tracking target vehicle 50 is photographed at an optimal angle of view, the tracker can concentrate attention on the tracking action without being bothered by the operation of the camera or the like during tracking. There is an effect.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the vehicle tracking apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the vehicle tracking apparatus by Embodiment 1. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the vehicle tracking apparatus by Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a processing operation of the vehicle tracking device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a processing operation of the vehicle tracking device according to the first embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Visible light camera, 2 Infrared camera, 3 Image processing part, 4 Image memory, 5 CPU, 6 Timing generator, 7 Recording part, 8 Display part, 10,20 Horizontal / vertical turntable 11,21 Lens driver, 12 , 22 Turntable driver, 13, 23 Telephoto lens, 30 vehicles, 40 images, 41 feature frame, 42 monitoring frame, 50 tracking target vehicle, 51 muffler.

Claims (1)

A visible light camera and an infrared camera arranged side by side;
Rotating means for individually rotating the visible light camera and the infrared camera;
Lens drive means for individually adjusting the zoom magnification of the lenses of the visible light camera and the infrared camera;
A portion of the muffler at a high temperature of the tracking target vehicle is extracted from the image data output from the infrared camera, a monitoring frame is set in association with the muffler portion, and the angle of view of the monitoring frame and the angle of view of the entire image image processing means asking you to data indicating a difference between,
Based on the data indicating the difference in the angle of view obtained by the image processing means, the rotation means and the lens drive means are controlled so as to reduce the difference between the angle of view of the monitoring frame and the angle of view of the entire image. Control means for outputting data of an image photographed by a visible light camera;
A vehicle tracking device.

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