JP7247268B2 - Traveling direction determination device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a travel direction determination device that determines the travel direction of a vehicle detected using an image from an imaging unit.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-100000, it is determined whether the direction in which the vehicle is traveling straight is upward, downward, rightward, or leftward, by comparing the coordinate values at the previous time and the current time. A change in the traveling direction of the vehicle is either going straight, turning right, or turning left on the screen, based on the means, comparison of coordinate values at the previous time and current time, and the direction of going straight. A traffic flow comprehension device is disclosed that includes determination means for determining

JP 2015-60443 A

However, in the determination method of Patent Document 1 for determining whether the vehicle is going straight, turning right, or turning left based on the comparison of coordinate values and the direction in which the vehicle is going straight, for example, a large vehicle entering an intersection once goes straight and then swells greatly. When a left turn and a right turn are made at , this large vehicle may be determined to have gone straight.

In addition, when a large number of vehicles are detected in the captured image, it is necessary to determine the orientation and change in the direction of travel for each vehicle based on comparison of coordinate values over time. There is also the problem that a large amount of load is generated in the computation of the processing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems, simplify the process of determining the direction of travel of a vehicle, and provide an apparatus for determining the direction of travel that does not erroneously determine the direction of travel.

A traveling direction determination device according to the present invention for achieving the above object detects a vehicle based on the bird's-eye view image input from an imaging unit that captures the bird's-eye view image of an intersection, and determines the traveling direction of the vehicle. In a traveling direction determination device provided with an arithmetic processing unit for determining, the arithmetic processing unit has a vehicle tracking function that tracks the vehicle moving in the bird's-eye view image as a frame part, and the intersection of the vehicle in the bird's-eye view image. An inflow line is set on the upstream side of the inflow into the intersection, and an outflow line is set on the downstream side of the traveling direction of the vehicle flowing out of the intersection in the direction of straight, right turn, and left turn, and a predetermined point on the frame is used as a judgment point. and a judgment function for judging the traveling direction of the vehicle by detecting the outflow line that the judging point passes through the inflow line first, and the frame portion includes upper, lower, left side , or a rectangular frame that includes the entire outline of the vehicle entering the intersection from the right side , and the determination point is the point where the vehicle enters the intersection in each side of the rectangular frame when the frame portion is detected. The center point of the first side existing in the entering direction is changed to the center point of the second side of the frame facing the first side after passing the inflow line, or the frame is changed to the center point of
Further, a traveling direction determination device according to the present invention for achieving the above objects detects a vehicle based on the bird's-eye view image input from an imaging unit that captures the bird's-eye view image of an intersection, and detects the progress of the vehicle. In a traveling direction determination device including an arithmetic processing unit that determines a direction, the arithmetic processing unit has a vehicle tracking function that tracks the moving vehicle in the bird's-eye view image as a frame part, and a vehicle tracking function that tracks the vehicle in the bird's-eye view image. An inflow line is set on the upstream side where the vehicle flows into the intersection, and an outflow line is set on the downstream side of each of the straight, right-turn, and left-turn directions in which the vehicle exits the intersection, and a predetermined portion of the frame portion is determined. and a determination function of determining the traveling direction of the vehicle by detecting the first outflow line that the determination point passes through the inflow line after the determination point passes through the inflow line. a rectangular frame including the entire outer shape of the vehicle entering the intersection from the left or right side, and the determination point is the center point of the rectangular frame when the frame portion is detected, or Among the sides, the center point of the first side existing in the direction in which the vehicle enters the intersection, and after passing the inflow line, the second side of the frame portion opposite to the first side is changed to the center point of

According to the traveling direction determination device according to the present invention, erroneous determination of the traveling direction of the vehicle is eliminated, and the tracking processing of the vehicle is simplified, thereby reducing the computational load of the image processing in the arithmetic processing unit. It is possible.

There is a block diagram of a traffic control system. It is an image diagram of a bird's-eye view image. It is a flowchart figure which determines the advancing direction of a vehicle. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing image processing of a bird's-eye view image; FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing image processing of a bird's-eye view image when a plurality of vehicles are detected;

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a traffic control system. A central management device S installed in a traffic control center C is connected to a traffic volume measuring device 1 installed at each intersection K. As shown in FIG.

A signal control device (not shown) installed at each intersection K is connected to the central management device S, and based on the traffic volume collected from the traffic volume measuring device 1 and a branch ratio, which will be described later, is connected to the signal control device. Optimize the cycle of the red and green signal lighting times, the ratio of the red and green signal lighting times, etc.

A traffic flow measuring device 1 is composed of an imaging unit 2 mounted above a post P near an intersection K and a traveling direction determining device 3 connected to the imaging unit 2 . FIG. 2 is an image diagram of a bird's-eye view image F photographed centering on the intersection K by the installed imaging unit 2. As shown in FIG.

The traveling direction determination device 3 has an arithmetic processing unit 4 that performs image processing on the bird's-eye view image F that is the video input from the imaging unit 2 . The arithmetic processing unit 4 may be provided in a dedicated waterproof housing installed nearby, or may be provided in a signal control device for controlling the lighting of the signal lamp installed at the intersection K without any problem. Alternatively, the arithmetic processing unit 4 may be installed in the traffic control center C.

The central management device S is connected to the traffic flow measuring devices 1 installed at a plurality of intersections K as shown in the figure, and based on the branch ratio etc., which will be described later, transmitted from each traffic flow measuring device 1, the traffic light device Various setting values such as the lighting time are calculated. Further, when the traveling direction determination device 3 is not connected to the central control device S but is directly connected to the aforementioned signal control device installed near the intersection K, various settings can be made by the arithmetic processing unit of this signal control device. It is possible to calculate the value.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for determining the traveling direction of the vehicle V by performing image processing on the bird's-eye view image F before image processing shown in FIG. The arithmetic processing unit 4 detects the vehicle V entering the intersection K based on the bird's-eye view image F input from the imaging unit 2, and can determine the traveling direction of the vehicle V after passing through the intersection K. be.

First, in step ST1, the arithmetic processing unit 4 detects a vehicle V, which is an image different from the background image, in the bird's-eye view image F, and tracks the detected vehicle V as a frame portion W within the image. As shown in FIG. 4, the frame portion W is displayed, for example, as a rectangular frame surrounding the vehicle V as a whole. It is displayed as a rectangular frame consisting of Wa and a horizontal side Wb along the X-axis connecting the left and right ends.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of image processing of a bird's-eye view image F in a state in which images of vehicles V are omitted and only frame portions W are displayed when a plurality of vehicles V are detected. As shown in FIG. 5, when a plurality of vehicles V are detected, the frame portion W1 of the vehicle V1 in front overlaps the frame portion W2 in the rear, so that part of the vehicle V2 in the rear may not be photographed. do. In such a case, the vertical side Wa and the horizontal side Wb of the rectangle are interpolated from the vertical side Wa connecting the upper and lower ends and the horizontal side Wb connecting the left and right ends of the image of the detected frame portion W2, and the rectangular frame is obtained. A process for detecting the portion W2 is performed.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, a predetermined image area within the frame is set as a determination point H in a frame portion W extracted by a rectangular body surrounding the vehicle V. As shown in FIG. This determination point H may be a point of one pixel or an image area consisting of several pixels. For this determination point H, for example, the center of the frame W, that is, the central point that is the intersection of the diagonal lines of the frame W is set.

As shown in FIG. 4, linear judgment lines L1 to L4 are set in advance in the bird's-eye view image F so as to cross the traveling road leading to the intersection K. As shown in FIG. When the judgment lines L1 to L4 are set counterclockwise around the intersection K from the upper side of the bird's-eye view image F, the judgment line L1 becomes an inflow line Li1, and determination lines L2 to L4 are set as outflow lines Lo2 to Lo4, respectively. These outflow lines Lo2 to Lo4 are set so as to correspond to the directions of right turn, straight forward, and left turn of the vehicle V entering the intersection K after passing through the inflow line Li1 from above.

In addition, for the vehicle V in the frame portion W3 entering the intersection K from the left side in FIG. be done. These outflow lines Lo1, Lo3, and Lo4 are set so as to correspond to the traveling directions of left turn, right turn, and straight ahead for the vehicle V entering the intersection K after passing the inflow line Li2 from the left side.

In this manner, the inflow line Li is set on the upstream side of the intersection K for the vehicle V entering the intersection K from the right side and for the vehicle V entering the intersection K from the lower side. Outflow lines Lo are set on the downstream side of the traveling direction of the vehicle V flowing out from the intersection K in the straight, right-turn, and left-turn directions.

In step ST2, it is determined whether or not the determination point H of the frame W to be tracked has passed through the inflow line Li, which is the determination line L through which it passes first. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, for the frame portion W of the vehicle V appearing from the upper side, it is determined whether or not the determination point H has passed the upper inflow line Li1, and as shown in FIG. For the vehicle V that has appeared, it is determined whether or not the determination point H has passed through the left inflow line Li2. In step ST2, this determination process is repeated until it is determined that the detected determination point H of the frame W has passed through the inflow line Li.

In step ST2, when the determination point H of the frame W has passed through the inflow line Li, the process proceeds to step ST3. In step ST3, out of the three outflow lines Lo corresponding to the traveling directions of right turn, straight ahead, and left turn, the outflow line Lo through which the determination point H first passed is determined. In step ST3, this determination process is repeated until it is determined that the determination point H of the frame W that has passed through the inflow line Li has first passed through any of the outflow lines Lo.

By setting the determination point H as the center point of the frame W, even when the vehicle V makes a large turn and turns right, the determination point H does not pass through the outflow line Lo in the straight-ahead direction and passes the outflow line Lo in the right-turn direction. will pass first.

Further, although the determination point H is assumed to be the center point with respect to the frame W, the determination point H is changed with respect to the frame W according to the direction in which the frame W appearing in the bird's-eye view image F enters the intersection K. You can let it run. For example, when the frame portion W entering the intersection K from above is detected, the center point of the lower side of the frame portion W is set as the determination point H. After the determination point H passes the inflow line Li1, the center point of the upper side of the frame W is changed to the determination point H in order to prevent the above-described erroneous determination of the traveling direction.

That is, when the frame portion W, which is the vehicle V, is detected, the center point of the first side closest to the intersection K among the sides of the rectangular frame portion W is set as the determination point H, After passing through the inflow line Li, a process of changing the center point of the second side of the frame W facing the first side to the determination point H is performed.

Further, after passing through the inflow line Li, the center point of the frame W may be changed, and when the frame W is detected, the center point of the frame W is set as the determination point H, After passing through the inflow line Li, processing for changing the center point of the second side to the determination point H may be performed.

In step ST3, when the determination point H of the frame portion W passes through any outflow line Lo, the process proceeds to step ST4. Then, in step ST4, the traveling direction of the vehicle V is determined by detecting the outflow line Lo corresponding to the traveling direction of the right turn, straight movement, and left turn that the vehicle passes through first.

After the determination, the process returns to step ST1, and the detection of the frame portion W appearing in the bird's-eye view image F is repeated. Note that when a plurality of vehicles V appear in the bird's-eye view image F, the processing of the flowchart shown in FIG. 3 is executed for each vehicle V in parallel.

The arithmetic processing unit 4 stores the determined direction of travel by the processing of the flowchart shown in FIG. It is possible to calculate the traffic volume per road and the branch ratio that indicates the ratio of the traffic volume in each direction.

Furthermore, for the vehicle V traveling straight, the difference between the time it took to pass the inflow line Li in step ST2 and the time it took to pass the straight outflow line Lo in step ST3, the inflow line Li, and the It is also possible to measure the travel speed of the vehicle V based on the distance from the outflow line Lo. As shown in the background art, it is possible to measure the traveling speed by tracking the coordinates, but when many vehicles V appear in the bird's-eye view image F, the arithmetic processing shown in the background art becomes complicated. On the other hand, the load on the arithmetic processing unit 4 is significantly reduced by measuring the travel speed by passing the above-described inflow line Li and outflow line Lo.

The traffic volume, branching ratio, and running speed for each traffic road calculated in this way are used for the signal lamps controlled by the signal controller connected directly to the traffic volume measuring device 1 or via the central management device S. It is reflected in the set values such as the number of seconds of lighting.

In addition, according to the stored current table, the signal control device controls the lighting of the signal lamps installed on the main road and secondary roads of the intersection K so that the red signal and the green signal are alternately turned on. It is possible to optimize the set value for relieving congestion by changing the set value for the lighting time of the right-turn arrow light unit based on the branch rate input from the quantity measuring device 1 where the traveling direction is a right turn. Similarly, the set value of the lighting time of the left-turn arrow light device may be changed based on the branch rate at which the traveling direction is left-turn.

As described above, according to the traveling direction determination device 3 according to the present invention, the arithmetic processing unit 4 determines whether the vehicle V moving in the bird's-eye view image F is detected with respect to the traffic road of the intersection K in the bird's-eye view image F input from the imaging unit 2 . is set as a frame W, and an inflow line Li is set on the upstream side where the vehicle V in the overhead image F flows into the intersection K, and the vehicle V flows out from the intersection K. By setting an outflow line Lo on the downstream side of the direction, and detecting the first outflow line Lo after the determination point H of the frame W of the vehicle V passes through the inflow line Li, the traveling direction of the vehicle V can be determined. , the erroneous determination of the traveling direction of the vehicle V is eliminated.

In addition, by simplifying the process of determining the direction of travel of the vehicle V to determine whether or not the inflow line Li and the outflow line Lo of the set determination point H have passed, the image processing of a large number of vehicles V can be performed at the same time. It is possible to reduce the computational load of image processing on the processing unit 4 .

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 traffic flow measuring device 2 imaging unit 3 traveling direction determination device 4 arithmetic processing unit F overhead image H determination point K intersection Li inflow line Lo outflow line V vehicle W frame portion

Claims (6)

A traveling direction determination device comprising an arithmetic processing unit that detects a vehicle based on the bird's-eye image input from an imaging unit that captures a bird's-eye image of an intersection and determines the traveling direction of the vehicle,
The arithmetic processing unit has a vehicle tracking function that tracks the vehicle moving in the bird's-eye view image as a frame,
An inflow line is set on the upstream side of the vehicle flowing into the intersection in the bird's-eye view image, and an outflow line is set on the downstream side of each of the straight, right-turn, and left-turn directions in which the vehicle flows out of the intersection, and a determination function for determining the traveling direction of the vehicle by using a predetermined portion of the frame as a determination point and detecting the first outflow line that the determination point passes through the inflow line after the determination point passes through the inflow line;
The frame portion is a rectangular frame that includes the entire outline of the vehicle that enters the intersection from above, below, left or right, and the determination points are each side of the rectangular frame when the frame portion is detected. , the central point of the first side existing in the direction in which the vehicle enters the intersection, and after passing the inflow line, the second side of the frame facing the first side. A traveling direction determining device characterized by changing to a center point or changing to a center point of the frame . A traveling direction determination device comprising an arithmetic processing unit that detects a vehicle based on the bird's-eye image input from an imaging unit that captures a bird's-eye image of an intersection and determines the traveling direction of the vehicle,
The arithmetic processing unit has a vehicle tracking function that tracks the vehicle moving in the bird's-eye view image as a frame,
An inflow line is set on the upstream side of the vehicle flowing into the intersection in the bird's-eye view image, and an outflow line is set on the downstream side of each of the straight, right-turn, and left-turn directions in which the vehicle flows out of the intersection, and a determination function for determining the traveling direction of the vehicle by using a predetermined portion of the frame as a determination point and detecting the first outflow line that the determination point passes through the inflow line after the determination point passes through the inflow line;
The frame portion is a rectangular frame that includes the entire outline of the vehicle entering the intersection from above, below, left or right, and the determination point is the center point of the rectangular frame when the frame portion is detected. or, among the sides of the rectangular frame, the center point of the first side that exists in the direction in which the vehicle enters the intersection, and faces the first side after passing the inflow line A traveling direction determination device, wherein the center point of the second side of the frame is changed. 3. The advancing direction determining apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the arithmetic processing unit measures the number of passing vehicles passing through the outflow line in advancing directions such as going straight, turning right, and turning left. 4. The traveling direction determination device according to claim 3 , wherein the arithmetic processing unit calculates a branching ratio in each traveling direction based on the measured number of passing vehicles. 5. The traveling direction determination device according to claim 4 , wherein the setting value of the lighting time of the right turn arrow lamp device or the left turn arrow lamp device is changed based on the branch rate at which the traveling direction is a right turn or left turn. 6. The traveling direction determination device according to claim 1 , wherein the inflow line and the outflow line are set so as to cross the road leading to the intersection.

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