JP7260149B2 - System and program etc. - Google Patents

Description

For example, it relates to a technology for specifying time.

For example, there is Patent Document 1. Patent Literature 1 describes a system that includes a drive recorder and a car navigation device (hereinafter referred to as "car navigation system") connected by a connection cable. The drive recorder acquires the reference date/time data from the car navigation system, and records the date/time data set based on the acquired reference date/time data in association with the photographed image data.

JP 2011-257849 A

Most systems that use time have an internal clock such as an RTC (Real Time Clock), and use the time measured by the internal clock. Most internal clocks keep time based on signals periodically emitted by relatively inexpensive crystal oscillators. There is a problem that the time measured by is deviated from the correct time.

In addition, if the battery that supplies power to the internal clock ran out of power during a period in which the system using time was not supplied with power from the outside, the operation of the internal clock would stop, and power supply from the outside to the system would be resumed. However, there is a problem that the internal clock cannot keep the correct time.

As a method for solving the above inconvenience, first, a user interface such as an operation button is provided in a system using the time, and the user manually inputs information indicating the time (hereinafter referred to as "time information") to the user interface. It is conceivable to perform an operation to In this case, the system that uses the time can use the time information manually entered by the user to identify and use the time. However, it is troublesome for the user to manually input the time information.

As a method that does not require manual input of information by the user, for example, a system that uses time may acquire time information directly from a time server that distributes time information. Examples of time servers include those that transmit time information in packets according to communication protocols such as NTP (Network Time Protocol) and PTP (Precision Time Protocol, IEEE 1588), and those that transmit time information by radio waves assuming reception by radio clocks. , which modulates and transmits. In this case, the system using time can identify and use the time using the time information acquired from the time server. In addition, it is conceivable that a system that uses time acquires time information directly from a receiver of a satellite positioning system (hereinafter referred to as a "GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) unit"). In this case, the system using the time can acquire from the GNSS unit the time information received by the GNSS unit from the artificial satellite, and use the acquired time information to specify and use the time.

However, a system that uses time may not be able to obtain time information directly from either the time server or the GNSS unit, for physical or financial reasons, for example. For example, if a system that uses time does not have a communication function, or if it has a communication function but cannot connect to a network belonging to a time server, the system that uses time cannot directly obtain time information from the time server. In addition, if a system that uses time does not have a GNSS unit, or if a system that uses a time cannot receive radio waves from satellites due to obstacles, etc. Unable to obtain information.

An object of the present invention is, for example, a system that uses time, in a situation where information cannot be obtained directly from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system, without requiring manual input of information by the user. To provide a system that is superior to conventional systems, such as a system that can specify the time.

The purpose of the invention of the present application is not limited to this, and we intend to acquire rights for the configuration aiming to obtain the effect produced by the configuration disclosed in the specification and drawings by divisional application, amendment, etc. . For example, the present specification discloses a problem in which the phrase "can be done" is read as "is the problem." The problems are described as independent ones, and we intend to acquire the rights for the structure for solving each problem independently by filing a divisional application, an amendment, etc. Even if the problem is implicitly grasped from the description of the specification, the applicant intends to claim part of the structure described in this specification in an amended or divisional application. It also discloses a configuration that solves a problem that combines these independent problems, and has the intention to acquire the right.

(1) A function of acquiring information for specifying the time without directly acquiring information from either the time server or the receiving unit of the satellite positioning system and without requiring manual input of information by the user; The system may include specifying means having a function of specifying the time using the information for specifying the time.

According to the above system, the time can be specified without manual input of information by the user, even under conditions in which information cannot be directly obtained from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system.

The time server may be, for example, a server on the Internet, particularly preferably an NTP (Network Time Protocol) server. The receiver of the satellite positioning system may be, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver module. The system obtains information directly from the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system, which means that the system receives information transmitted or output to the system by the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system. do it. For the manual input of information by the user, for example, the user may input information by operating a physical operator such as a button or a virtual operator such as an icon displayed on the display.

The information for specifying the time may be information indicating the time itself. However, it is particularly preferable that the information for specifying the time is information that does not indicate the time itself. The information that does not indicate the time itself may be, for example, information indicating an image of a landscape with a clock, or information indicating elapsed time such as a 1PPS (Pulse Per Second) signal output by a receiver of a satellite positioning system. Specifying the time may be, for example, specifying information such as the hour and minute.

(2) The function of acquiring information for specifying the time provided by the specifying means is a manual input by the user without directly acquiring information from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system. It is preferable that the system has a communication function for receiving the information for specifying the time from an external system without requiring

According to the above system, by using the communication function of the above system, even in situations where information cannot be obtained directly from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system, it is necessary for the user to manually input information. The time is specified without

The external system is, for example, a system that acquires information for specifying the time directly from the time server, and the above system acquires information for specifying the time indirectly from the time server via the external system. do it. Also, the external system is, for example, a system that includes a satellite positioning system receiver, and the system may obtain information for indirectly specifying the time from the satellite positioning system receiver via the external system. .

The above external system is particularly good if it has a function of recording the time. This time recording function may be, for example, a function of recording the time when a predetermined event occurs. The predetermined event may be, for example, the presence of a person at a specific place, and particularly the presence of a specific person at a specific place. The predetermined event may be, for example, the passage of a passerby through a ticket gate at a station. Also, the predetermined event may be, for example, the worker's arrival or departure from work. The external system may, for example, include a time recorder that records the worker's arrival and departure times. For example, the system may have a function of associating and storing information generated by the processing performed in the system and the worker's arrival and departure times recorded by the time recorder. The information generated by the processing performed by the system may be, for example, information representing a photographed image.

It is particularly preferable that the external system has an internal clock and a function of correcting the time kept by the internal clock. The function of correcting the time kept by the internal clock may be, for example, a function of correcting the time using information indicating the time directly obtained from the time server by the external system. In addition, the function of correcting the time measured by the internal clock is, for example, the function of correcting the time using the information for specifying the time directly obtained by the external system from the receiver of the satellite positioning system. should be Further, the function of correcting the time measured by the internal clock may be, for example, a function of correcting the time using information for specifying the time manually input by the user. For example, the above system may acquire information indicating the corrected time from an internal clock and an external system having a function of correcting the time kept by the internal clock.

It is particularly preferred that the external system is a mobile system. The external system may be, for example, the user's mobile terminal. Preferably, the system acquires information for identifying the time from the user's portable terminal when the user approaches the system within a distance where wireless communication is possible. For example, when the user approaches the system, the user's mobile terminal and the system establish a communication connection according to a wireless communication standard such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), and the system communicates with the user via the communication connection. It is preferable to receive information for specifying the time from the portable terminal of the user. For example, there may be a plurality of the above systems, and each of the plurality of the above systems may acquire information for specifying the time from the same mobile terminal of the approaching user. In this case, the times specified by the multiple systems are synchronized with each other.

Also, the external system may be, for example, an in-vehicle device. The system preferably acquires information for identifying the time from an in-vehicle device mounted on the vehicle when the vehicle approaches the system. For example, there may be a plurality of the above systems, and each of the plurality of the above systems may acquire information for specifying the time from the same in-vehicle device mounted on a nearby vehicle. In this case, the times specified by each of the plurality of systems are synchronized with each other.

(3) The function of acquiring information for specifying the time provided by the specifying means receives information not intended to notify the time transmitted from the external system on the network by the communication function, and The system may have a function of acquiring information for specifying the time from information attached to the received information.

According to the above system, by connecting to a network in which information not intended to notify the time is communicated using the communication function of the system, it is possible to directly receive information from both the time server and the receiver of the satellite positioning system. To specify time without requiring manual input of information by a user even in a situation where information cannot be acquired.

The information not intended to notify the time may be, for example, the body of a message transmitted from the Web server through HTTP communication. For example, the above system may receive a message body from a Web server through HTTP communication, and acquire information for specifying the time from the HTTP header attached to the message body. In this case, the system can specify the time by accessing the web server.

Also, the information for specifying the time acquired from the information attached to the information not intended to notify the time may be, for example, the transmission time of the data not intended to notify the time. For example, the above system may receive a message body from a Web server through HTTP communication, and acquire the transmission time of the message body as information for specifying the time from the HTTP header attached to the message body. Further, the above system may, for example, receive an email from a mail server through SMTP communication, and obtain the transmission time of the email from the received email as information for specifying the time. The above system may, for example, receive an email from a mail server via SMTP communication and acquire information for specifying the time from the message body included in the received email. It is particularly preferable to obtain, for example, the transmission time of the mail as information for specifying the time from the SMTP header, because it facilitates searching for the information for specifying the time.

However, the protocol is not limited to HTTP and SMTP, and various protocols may be used. In particular, it is preferable to acquire information for specifying the time from the header added to the message body in the application layer.

(4) The function of acquiring information for specifying the time included in the specifying means receives information communicated on the network by the communication function and whose destination is not the local system, and does not address the local system. The system may have a function of acquiring information for specifying the time from the information.

According to the above system, by connecting to a network in which information not destined for the system itself is communicated using the communication function of the system, information can be directly received from both the time server and the receiver of the satellite positioning system. The time can be specified without requiring manual input of information by the user even in a situation where the time cannot be obtained.

For example, the above system may receive information communicated between a plurality of external systems and acquire information for specifying time from the information. The above system may include, for example, a relay device that relays information communicated between a plurality of external systems, and may acquire information for specifying the time from the information received by the relay device.

The above system may receive information communicated over a network whose destination is not its own system, and obtain information for specifying the time from the message body of the information. Acquiring the information for specifying the time is particularly preferable because it facilitates searching for the information for specifying the time.

(5) The function of acquiring information for specifying the time included in the specifying means has a function of acquiring information representing a photographed image and acquiring information for specifying the time from the image. system.

According to the above system, even in a situation where information cannot be obtained directly from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system, the user's information can be The time is specified without requiring manual input of time.

The system may, for example, acquire information for recognizing the image and specifying the time. The system may, for example, recognize the clock from the image and recognize the time indicated by the recognized clock. In addition, for example, the system determines whether or not information for specifying the time is included in the image, and if it is determined that the information for specifying the time is included in the image, the time information to identify the In addition, the above system includes, for example, a utilization means for using the information representing the acquired image for a purpose other than specifying the time, and acquires information for specifying the time from the information representing the image used by the utilization means. do it. The utilization means that uses the information representing the acquired image for purposes other than specifying the time may be, for example, a recording device that records the information representing the acquired image, a video distribution device that delivers the information representing the acquired image, or the like. .

Also, the above system may include, for example, a photographing unit, and may acquire information representing an image photographed by the photographing unit as information for specifying time. In addition, the above system includes, for example, a drive recorder, which captures the surrounding scenery of the vehicle by means of a camera provided in the drive recorder, recognizes the captured image, and determines whether or not the clock is included in the image. , when it is determined that the image includes a clock, the time may be specified by recognizing the time indicated by the clock. The above system may, for example, specify the time from an image taken when a vehicle equipped with a drive recorder is traveling near the clock.

The above system may acquire information representing a single image, or may acquire information representing a plurality of images, as information for specifying the time. For example, the above system may specify the time from a single image showing a clock, or may specify the time from a plurality of images showing the same clock taken continuously in chronological order. good too.

In addition, for example, the above system acquires, as information for specifying time, information representing a plurality of images captured in time series of visible light that changes with the passage of time according to the visible light communication standard, and obtains the plurality of images. It is preferable to specify the time from the image of For example, when the user's mobile terminal emits visible light indicating the time according to the visible light communication standard, the above system acquires information representing a plurality of images captured in time series of the visible light emitted by the user's mobile terminal, The time can be specified. In addition, the above system may acquire information representing a plurality of images captured in time series of infrared rays that change with the passage of time according to the infrared communication standard, for example, and may specify the time from the plurality of images. In addition, the above system acquires information representing a plurality of images captured in time series by infrared rays emitted from an infrared remote controller in response to a user's input operation of a numerical value indicating time, and calculates the time from the plurality of images. should be specified. In addition, the above system, for example, does not have a dedicated light receiving means for visible light communication or infrared communication, but has a photographing means, and receives visible light or infrared light emitted from an external system according to the visible light communication or infrared communication standard. It is particularly preferable to take a picture with a picture taking means and specify the time based on the picture taken.

(6) The function of acquiring information for specifying the time included in the specifying means is a function of acquiring information representing a picked-up sound and acquiring information for specifying the time from the sound. The system should have

According to the above system, even in a situation where information cannot be obtained directly from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system, the user's information can be The time is specified without requiring manual input of time.

The above system may, for example, acquire information representing a voice uttered by a person, and recognize information for specifying time from the voice. In this case, for example, when the user vocalizes the time, the system identifies the time. Further, the system preferably includes, for example, sound pickup means, and acquires information for specifying the time from the sound picked up by the sound pickup means.

(7) The function of acquiring the information for specifying the time provided by the specifying means is a function of acquiring the information for specifying the time in a format that the device can recognize with higher accuracy than human recognition. The system should have

According to the above system, even in situations where information cannot be directly obtained from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system, there is no need for the user to manually input information. As compared with the case where the above system acquires information in a format that is easy for humans to recognize, such as an image of a clock, an image showing characters, or a voice uttering the time, the time can be specified with higher accuracy.

The above system may, for example, acquire information representing a barcode, decode the barcode, and acquire information for identifying the time. Also, the above system preferably acquires information representing a sound modulated according to the acoustic coupler standard, demodulates the sound, and acquires information for identifying the time.

(8) The function of acquiring the information for specifying the time included in the specifying means acquires the information for specifying the time accompanied by the information for error detection and correction, and the information for specifying the time for error detection and correction. It is preferable that the system has a function of correcting the error using the information for error detection and correction when an error in the information for specifying the time is detected using the information.

According to the above system, it is possible to obtain information for specifying the time that may contain an error under conditions where information cannot be obtained directly from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system. Even under certain circumstances, the time can be specified with high accuracy without requiring manual input of information by the user.

For example, the above system acquires an image representing a two-dimensional code accompanied by information for error detection and correction, such as a QR code (registered trademark), as information for specifying time, and decodes the two-dimensional code. It is preferable to specify the time using the obtained information.

(9) The function of acquiring information for specifying the time provided by the specifying means has a function of acquiring information for specifying a plurality of times with variations, and the time provided by the specifying means The function of specifying may be a system having a function of specifying the time using information for specifying a plurality of times with variations.

According to the above system, even if the information for specifying individual times acquired by the system varies, a probable time can be specified by using a plurality of pieces of information.

The above system may, for example, identify a statistical value of information for identifying a plurality of times with variations, and use the statistical value to identify the time. This statistic may be, for example, an average value. Also, this statistic value is preferably the mode value. In addition, the above system, for example, removes abnormal values from information for identifying multiple times with variations, and identifies statistical values of information for identifying multiple times with variations that do not include abnormal values. , it is particularly good to use the statistic to identify the time.

In addition, for example, the above system acquires information representing a plurality of images each showing a different clock as information for specifying the time, recognizes the time from each of the plurality of images, and recognizes the plurality of recognized clocks. The time statistic may be specified as time.

(10) The function of acquiring information for specifying the time, which has an oscillator that emits a signal at a predetermined cycle, has an internal clock that measures time based on the signal emitted by the oscillator, and that the specifying means has, It has a function of acquiring information indicating a difference between the predetermined period and a reference period as information for identifying the time, and the identifying means uses the information indicating the difference to identify the internal clock. It is preferable that the system has a function of correcting the time measured by the .

According to the above system, under conditions in which information cannot be obtained directly from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system, the interval between the period of the signal actually emitted by the oscillator provided in the internal clock and the reference period Even if there is a difference in time, the time can be specified with high accuracy based on the time kept by the internal clock without requiring manual input of information by the user.

The internal clock may be, for example, an RTC (Real-Time Clock). The information indicating the cycle may be, for example, information specified using a 1PPS signal emitted by the receiving unit of the satellite positioning system at a cycle of 1 second. The above-mentioned function of acquiring information for specifying the time is a function of acquiring information indicating the period stored in a storage means such as a memory by reading it from the storage means as information for specifying the time. Good to have.

For example, when the reference frequency of the signal emitted by the oscillator of the internal clock is X (kHz) and the frequency of the signal actually emitted by the oscillator specified using the 1PPS signal is Y (kHz), the above The function of acquiring information for specifying the time of the system acquires information indicating the value of X/Y as the information for specifying the time, and the system uses the value of X/Y to set the internal clock It is preferable to have a function of correcting the clocked time.

(11) The oscillator is provided with a measuring means for measuring a physical quantity that affects the period in which the signal is emitted. It is preferable that the system has a function of acquiring information indicating the cycle of the signal as the information for specifying the time.

According to the above system, under conditions in which information cannot be obtained directly from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system, the interval between the period of the signal actually emitted by the oscillator provided in the internal clock and the reference period high accuracy based on the time kept by the internal clock without requiring manual input of information by the user, even if there is a difference in the time and the difference is affected by changes in the physical quantities of the environment in which the oscillator is placed. to specify the time.

The physical quantity that affects the period of the signal emitted by the oscillator may be temperature, for example. The above system, for example, includes a thermometer, measures the current temperature with the thermometer, acquires information indicating the period at which the oscillator emits a signal according to the measured temperature, and uses the period to set the internal clock. It is preferable to correct the clocked time.

(12) The function of acquiring information for specifying the time is defined as a first acquiring function, and the specifying means is a function of acquiring information for specifying the time directly from a time server, satellite positioning system and a function of acquiring information for specifying the time manually input by the user. and the function of correcting the time measured by the internal clock may be a system having a function of correcting the time measured by the internal clock using the information obtained by the second function of obtaining.

According to the above system, the information for specifying the time directly acquired from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system, or the time manually input by the user is acquired by the second acquiring function. Based on the time measured by the internal clock that has been corrected using the identifying information, the time can be identified with high accuracy even under conditions where the second acquisition function cannot be used.

The second function to obtain is, for example, a function to obtain information indicating the current time manually input by the user, and the function to correct the time measured by the internal clock is to correct the current time. It is preferable to have a function of correcting the time kept by the internal clock using the indicated information. Further, the above-mentioned second acquiring function has, for example, a function of acquiring a 1PPS signal emitted by the receiving unit of the satellite positioning system, and the above-mentioned first acquiring function has, for example, the 1PPS signal The function of acquiring information indicating the period of the signal emitted by the oscillator by generating it as information for specifying the time and correcting the time measured by the internal clock is, for example, using the period when the internal clock It is preferable to have a function of correcting the clocked time.

(13) transmitting means for transmitting at least one of the information for specifying the time and the information indicating the time specified using the information for specifying the time to an external system as the information for specifying the time; A system with

According to the system, time synchronization is performed between the system and an external system.

For example, a system having the same configuration as the above system may be used as the above external system. Also, a plurality of systems having the same configuration as the above system may be used as the above external systems. In this case, time synchronization is performed between the above system and a plurality of systems having the same configuration as the above system.

For example, when the above system is used as an in-vehicle device and a plurality of vehicles equipped with the above system are parked in a parking lot or the like, the above system installed in the first vehicle specifies the time from an external system. acquire information for the second vehicle, identify the time using the information, and transmit information indicating the identified time to the system installed in the second vehicle as information for identifying the time; The system installed in the second vehicle specifies the time using the information for specifying the time received from the system installed in the first vehicle, and the information indicating the specified time is transferred to the system installed in the first vehicle. Information for specifying the time is transmitted to the system installed in the third vehicle, and the information for specifying the time is sequentially communicated between the plurality of systems, such that the information for specifying the time is transmitted to the above system. It would be good to identify the time when the system was synchronized.

(14) Assume that the above system is a first system, a plurality of first systems are provided, and each of the plurality of first systems obtains information for specifying time from the same information source as a second system. good.

According to the second system, time synchronization is performed among the plurality of first systems.

Preferably, each of the plurality of first systems provided in the second system acquires, for example, information for specifying the time issued from the same information source within a predetermined period. In addition, when the spatial reach of information emitted from an information source is limited, and a plurality of first systems existing within the reach obtains information for specifying time from the same information source. good. For example, the plurality of first systems are a plurality of in-vehicle devices (e.g., drive recorders) mounted in the same vehicle, and the information source is the passenger of the vehicle or the passenger's mobile terminal (e.g., smartphone). A plurality of first systems (e.g., drive recorders) pick up the voices uttered by the passengers in the vehicle indicating the time or the sounds uttered by the mobile terminals (e.g., smartphones) of the passengers in the vehicle indicating the time. The time may be identified from the sounds or sounds picked up by each of the plurality of first systems (for example, drive recorders). Alternatively, for example, the plurality of first systems may be a plurality of network cameras placed in the same room, the information source may be a clock (for example, the time display part of a time recorder) placed in the room, and the plurality of It is preferable that each of the first systems (network cameras) captures the time from an image of the same clock.

(15) The above system is a first system, and output means for outputting the information for specifying the time acquired by the first system in a format that can be recognized by the device with higher accuracy than human recognition. It is good to consider it as the 3rd system provided.

According to the third system, for example, as information for specifying the time, it is compared with the case of outputting information in a format that is easy for people to recognize, such as an image of a clock, an image showing characters, and a voice uttering the time. As a result, the time is specified with high accuracy in the first system.

For example, the first system may be a drive recorder, and the third system may be a user's portable terminal. For example, the user's mobile terminal, which is the third system, displays a QR code indicating the time, and the drive recorder, which is the first system, captures the QR code displayed on the user's mobile terminal, and the captured image is It is preferable to obtain the information as information for specifying the time and to specify the time by decoding the QR code. For example, the user's portable terminal, which is the third system, emits a sound indicating the time by pitch, and the drive recorder, which is the first system, picks up the sound produced by the user's portable terminal with a built-in microphone. , information representing the picked-up sound may be obtained as information for specifying the time, and the time may be specified from the pitch of the sound.

(16) A fourth system may include the first system and the third system.

According to the fourth system, in the first system, even in a situation where information cannot be directly obtained from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system, manual input of information by the user is required. For example, as information for specifying the time, it is possible to use information in a format that is easy for people to recognize, such as an image of a clock, an image showing characters, or a voice uttering the time. is identified.

(17) A third system having the above system as a first system and output means for outputting the information for specifying the time acquired by the first system as information accompanied by information for error detection and correction. system.

According to the third system, for example, even in a situation where there is a possibility that an information error occurs in the information transmission path from the third system to the first system, the first system has a high Time is specified with precision.

(18) A fourth system may include the first system and the third system.

According to the fourth system, in the first system, in a situation where information cannot be obtained directly from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system, the information transmission path for specifying the time The time can be specified with high accuracy without the need for manual input of information by the user even under a situation where there is a possibility that an error may occur in the information.

(19) It is preferable that the computer is a program for functioning as the specifying means provided in the above system.

According to the above program, using a computer, the time can be specified without the need for manual input of information by the user, even under conditions in which information cannot be directly obtained from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system. A system is realized.

(20) The program may be a program for causing a computer to function as output means provided in the third system.

According to the program, using a computer, the first system can manually input information by the user even in a situation where information cannot be directly obtained from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system. A third system is realized that enables the time to be determined with high accuracy without the need.

The inventions shown in (1) to (20) above can be combined arbitrarily. For example, a configuration may be adopted in which at least part of the configuration of at least one of the following inventions (2) is added to all or part of the configuration of the invention shown in (1). In particular, the invention shown in (1) may be added with at least a part of the configuration of at least one invention after (2). Also, arbitrary configurations may be extracted from the inventions shown in (1) to (20) and the extracted configurations may be combined. The applicant of this application intends to obtain rights to inventions including these configurations. In addition, even if there is a description of "in the case of" or "when", it is not described as a configuration limited to that case or that time. These are examples of better configurations, and we intend to acquire configurations that are not in these cases or occasions. Moreover, the parts described with order are not limited to this order. It also discloses a configuration in which some parts are deleted or the order is changed, and there is an intention to acquire the right.

The user does not have to manually input information to have the system specify the time under conditions where information cannot be obtained directly from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system.

The effect of the invention of the present application is not limited to this, and the effect produced by the parts of the configuration disclosed in the specification and drawings, etc. is also disclosed, and the configuration that produces the effect is also acquired by divisional application, amendment, etc. have the intention to For example, in this specification, the description of "can be done" is a description that clearly shows the effect, and there are parts showing the effect even if there is no description of "can be done". Moreover, even without such a description, there is an effect that can be grasped by the configuration.

The figure which showed the whole structure of the system which concerns on one Embodiment. 1 is a diagram showing the appearance of a drive recorder according to one embodiment; FIG. The figure which showed the internal structure of the drive recorder which concerns on one Embodiment. The figure which showed the internal structure of the time recorder which concerns on one Embodiment. 6 is an example of a video playback screen displayed on a display device connected to a terminal device according to an embodiment; An example of a playback screen in a system according to one modification of one embodiment. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment. The figure which showed the example of the sequence of the process which the drive recorder and tablet PC which concerns on the modified example of one embodiment perform. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system which concerns on one Embodiment. An example of response information received from an HTTP server by the drive recorder according to one embodiment. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment. An example of information received by a time recorder according to one modification of one embodiment. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system which concerns on one Embodiment. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining how a tablet PC transmits time information in a system according to a modified example of one embodiment; The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment. The figure which showed the state which the drive recorder based on the modified example of one Embodiment was mounted in the vehicle, and was used. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment. The figure which showed the state which the drive recorder based on the modified example of one Embodiment was mounted in the vehicle, and was used. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system which concerns on one Embodiment. The figure which showed the whole structure of the system based on the modified example of one Embodiment.

[First embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system 901 including a drive recorder 1, which is the system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. A system 901 includes a drive recorder 1 installed in each of a plurality of vehicles under the control of a vehicle operating company (for example, a taxi company, a bus company, etc.) and information for specifying the time for each of the drive recorders 1. A time recorder 2 (an example of the same information source) which is a device for transmitting time information (hereinafter referred to as "time information"), a time server 3 which is a device for transmitting time information to the time recorder 2, and attendance generated by the time recorder 2 A data server 4 for storing various information such as information is provided.

FIG. 1 shows, as an example, a total of two drive recorders 1 installed in a vehicle identified by a vehicle ID (Identifier) "0001" and a vehicle identified by a vehicle ID "0002". However, the number of drive recorders 1 constituting system 901 varies depending on the number of vehicles using system 901 .

The drive recorder 1 and the time recorder 2 communicate wirelessly according to a communication protocol such as WiFi (registered trademark) or Bluetooth (registered trademark). For example, when the power of the vehicle is turned on, the drive recorder 1 receives power supply from the battery of the vehicle and starts operating. The drive recorder 1 attempts to establish a communication connection with the time recorder 2 at the start of operation and each time a predetermined period of time (for example, 10 seconds) elapses during operation. receive time information indicating The drive recorder 1 has an internal clock, calibrates the time measured by the internal clock using the time information received from the time recorder 2, and specifies the calibrated time as the current time. Therefore, when the driver of the vehicle turns on the power of the vehicle parked in the office, or drives the vehicle into the office from outside the office, the drive recorder 1 Time information is received from the time recorder 2 and the time measured by the internal clock is calibrated without requiring the operation of .

The time recorder 2 and the time server 3 can communicate by wire (eg, Ethernet (registered trademark), etc.) or wirelessly (eg, WiFi, etc.). The time server 3 is arranged, for example, outside the office of the vehicle operating company, and communicates with the time recorder 2 via a WAN such as the Internet. The time server 3 includes, for example, a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System, satellite positioning system) receiving unit, and wirelessly receives time information indicating the current time measured by an atomic clock mounted on the artificial satellite from the artificial satellite. , and transmits the received time information to an external device. The time server 3 transmits time information to an external device using, for example, NTP (Network Time Protocol).

The time recorder 2 and data server 4 can communicate by wire or wirelessly. The data server 4 is installed, for example, in an office of a vehicle operating company, and communicates with the time recorder 2 via a LAN.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the appearance of the drive recorder 1. As shown in FIG. The drive recorder 1 has a cylindrical main body 11 and has a mounting bracket 12 attached to one axial end of the main body 11 . The main body 11 is configured by butting a first case 111 and a second case 112 which are divided into two (halved) front and rear. The one end 1111 of the first case 111 and the one end 1121 of the second case 112 are formed to be one size smaller in external dimensions, and a male threaded portion is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the distal end thereof. Further, between one end 1111 and one end 1121 and the central portion of main body 11 in the axial direction, a stepped surface is formed due to the difference in outer diameter.

The mounting bracket 12 includes a ring portion 121 having an inner diameter substantially matching (slightly larger) than the outer diameters of one end portion 1111 of the first case 111 and one end portion 1121 of the second case 112, and a mounting plate 122. and a connecting pillar that connects the The mounting plate 122 is inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the diameter direction of the ring portion 121 . An adhesive member such as a double-sided adhesive tape is attached to the mounting surface 1221 of the mounting plate 122, and the mounting plate 122 is fixed to the windshield of the vehicle via the adhesive member.

With ring portion 121 attached to one end portion 1111 and one end portion 1121 of main body 11 , nut member 13 is attached to a male screw portion formed on the outer peripheral surface of one end portion 1111 and one end portion 1121 . The nut member 13 is in the form of a flat disk-shaped cap, and has a female screw portion formed on its inner peripheral surface to match the male screw portion. By tightening the nut member 13 , both axial surfaces of the ring portion 121 are sandwiched and fixed between the nut member 13 and the step surface of the main body 11 . As a result, when the ring portion 121 is attached to the one end portion 1111 of the first case 111 and the one end portion 1121 of the second case 112, the ring portion 121 has its central axis before being firmly fastened with the nut member 13. As the center of rotation, one end 1111 of the first case 111 and one end 1121 of the second case 112 can be rotated in the normal and reverse directions. By tightening the nut member 13 in a desired relative angular position, the mounting bracket 12 can be fixed in an arbitrary relative angular position. If triangular wave-like (sawtooth-like) teeth are provided on the stepped surface of the main body 11 and the side surface of the ring portion 121 facing the stepped surface, the teeth can be engaged with each other and firmly fixed.

As described above, the drive recorder 1 is adhered and fixed to the windshield of the vehicle using a double-sided tape (not shown) attached to the upper surface of the mounting plate 122 or other adhesive members. Therefore, the drive recorder 1 of the present embodiment can be adjusted according to various windshield angles (25 to 75 degrees). That is, the mounting plate 122 is parallel to the angle of the windshield, but since the relative angle of the body 11 to the mounting plate 122 (mounting bracket 12) can be adjusted as described above, the angle of the mounting plate 122 (the windshield) Regardless, the body 11 can have its base vertical orientation parallel to, for example, a vertical plane (relative to the ground). Of course, the angle between the basic vertical direction of the main body 11 and the vertical plane with respect to the ground can be set to an appropriate angle. Therefore, one drive recorder 1 can be installed in different types of vehicles.

A circular through hole 131 is formed in the central portion of the nut member 13 . Through the through-hole 131, one end 1111 of the first case 111 and one end 1121 of the second case 112 are exposed to the outside. An object for user operation is provided. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to install the operation target in the limited space of the main body 11, and as a result of attracting the user's attention during operation, it is possible to easily check whether the nut member 13 is loose. .

By attaching a DC plug (not shown) attached to one end of a power cable connected to, for example, a cigar socket to the DC jack 15, the drive recorder 1 of the present embodiment can be supplied with power from a vehicle battery. and Since the power cable is pulled out from the side surface of the main body 11 in this manner, the power cable can be hidden in the rearview mirror by attaching the drive recorder to the side of or near the rearview mirror, and the appearance is improved. be able to. Furthermore, by receiving power supply from the vehicle via the DC jack 15, the drive recorder 1 can be used alone.

A CCD camera 16 is installed in the first case 111 in an exposed state. This CCD camera 16 photographs the front of the vehicle. Furthermore, although not shown, it is preferable to incorporate a microphone in the main body 11 . The microphone can pick up sounds around you.

Further, the other end of the main body 11 is provided with an interface for connecting a connection cable for exchanging information with an external device and a slot for an SD memory card.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the drive recorder 1. As shown in FIG. The drive recorder 1 further includes an accident detection sensor 101 , a temporary memory 102 , an internal clock 103 , a speaker 104 , a switch 105 , a microphone 106 , a control section 107 and an interface 108 inside the main body 11 . The accident detection sensor 101 is realized by an impact detection sensor such as an acceleration sensor. Assume that an accident (collision) has occurred when a constant impact (acceleration) is detected. Further, by appropriately setting a constant impact threshold value, it is possible to output a detection signal not only when an accident occurs but also when the vehicle brakes suddenly or steers sharply.

The temporary storage memory 102 is a RAM that temporarily stores image data captured by the CCD camera 16, for example, and always stores image data captured at least for a certain period of time from the present to the past. However, since the storage capacity is limited, old image data is deleted according to a certain standard. The certain criteria can be, for example, image data stored a certain time or more ago, or the case where the storage capacity of the memory reaches or exceeds a certain amount. In this embodiment, the temporary storage memory 102 is configured by a ring buffer.

The speaker 104 notifies, for example, the operation sound of the switch 105 and various messages (guide, warning, etc.). A volume dial 14 adjusts the output level of this speaker 104 .

The control unit 107 is a microcomputer having a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a nonvolatile memory, an I/O, and the like, and executes predetermined processing based on information input from the above various input devices, and controls output devices. It uses it to output predetermined information. The functions of the drive recorder 1 are stored in the EEPROM of the control unit 107 as a program to be executed by the computer of the control unit 107, and are realized by the computer of the control unit 107 executing the programs.

Functions realized by the computer by means of the program of the control unit 107 include an image recording function, an image output function, an internal clock calibration function, and the like.

The control unit 107 is a circuit for realizing the basic functions of the drive recorder. Based on the detection signal, the captured image data (video file) is stored in a non-volatile memory. In this embodiment, a memory card 17 (for example, an SD memory card) attached to a card slot 109 (for example, an SD memory card slot) is used as the non-volatile memory. By removing the memory card 17 and inserting it into a memory card reader or the like connected to a personal computer, data can be read into the personal computer. Also, the recorded video and the like can be carried out not only by removing the memory card 17 (recording medium) and taking it out as described above, but also by wired/wireless communication (data transmission). In addition, in order to perform wired communication, it is preferable that the main body is provided with a connector, a USB, or the like for connecting a communication cable.

To explain the image recording function for recording this image data in more detail, the CCD camera 16 constantly captures images of the vehicle and its surroundings from the driver's viewpoint (field of view), and the captured image data is stored in a ring buffer or the like. Stored in the temporary storage memory 102 . The video stored in this temporary storage memory 102 is successively updated to the latest one, and the past video data is held for the set time.

When the accident detection sensor 101 detects an impact that occurs during an accident, sudden braking, or sudden steering (the output value of the sensor exceeds a threshold), a certain period of time before the threshold is exceeded (impact detection). The image data (video) is read out from the temporary storage memory 102 and stored in the non-volatile memory (memory card 17), and after the threshold is exceeded, the video captured by the CCD camera 16 is directly or temporarily stored in the memory card 17. By recording via the storage memory 102, the images for a predetermined period of time before and after the impact are stored in the memory card 17, which is a non-volatile memory. At this time, if the microphone 106 is built in, the ambient sound picked up by the microphone 106 is also recorded in association with the image data. This sound recording is also temporarily stored in the temporary storage memory 102 , and when the image data is stored in the memory card 17 , the recorded voice data is also stored in the memory card 17 . It is preferable to add sound together with the video because it increases the sense of presence.

The internal clock 103 has an RTC, for example, and continuously keeps the current time. The interface 108 is an interface for communicating with an external device. In this embodiment, the drive recorder 1 communicates with the time recorder 2 via the interface 108 .

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the time recorder 2. As shown in FIG. The time recorder 2 includes a display section 21 , operation buttons 22 , a reading section 23 , a printing section 24 , an internal clock 25 , an interface 26 and a control section 27 . Further, the main body of the time recorder 2 is provided with a slit for inserting a time card into the time recorder 2 when the user stamps the time card.

The display unit 21 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, and displays information such as the current time. The operation button 22 is a button that receives a user's operation. The operation button 22 may be a physical button or a virtual button displayed on the touch screen. The user operates the operation button 22 when embossing on the time card, and inputs to the time recorder 2 whether the embossing corresponds to attendance, leaving work, or the like.

The reading unit 23 is, for example, an optical scanner, and reads a driver ID (e.g., employee number) for identifying the driver printed in advance on the time card. The driver ID printed on the time card may be characters that can be identified by humans, or may be an image such as a bar code that is easily read by the reading unit 23 .

The printing unit 24 is, for example, a thermal transfer printer, and prints (stamps) the current time measured by the internal clock 25 on the time card inserted in the time recorder 2 . The internal clock 25 has, for example, an RTC and continuously keeps the current time.

The interface 26 is an interface for communicating with an external device. In this embodiment, the time recorder 2 communicates with each of the drive recorders 1 , the time server 3 and the data server 4 via the interface 26 .

The control unit 27 is a computer including a processor and memory, and the processor performs data processing according to a program stored in the memory, thereby controlling the operation of each component of the time recorder 2 and realizing various functions of the time recorder 2. . Functions realized by the control unit 27 include a function of calibrating the current time kept by the internal clock 25 using the time information received from the time server 3, and a function of displaying the current time kept by the internal clock 103 on the display unit 21. , the current time measured by the internal clock 25 is printed at a predetermined position of the time card inserted in the time recorder 2 (the position determined according to the current date and whether the user operates the operation button 22 to enter or leave work). There is a function of printing by the unit 24, a function of transmitting to the data server 4 through the interface 26 the attendance information for each driver specified by stamping on the time card, and the like.

The data server 4 includes, for example, a vehicle/drive recorder correspondence table that stores information indicating the correspondence between the vehicle and the drive recorder 1, a vehicle allocation database that stores information indicating the allocation of the vehicle to the driver, and a driver's It contains an attendance database that stores attendance information.

The information stored in the vehicle/drive recorder correspondence table indicates which drive recorder 1 is installed in which vehicle. The vehicle/drive recorder correspondence table stores records for each vehicle. Each record includes, for example, a vehicle ID (such as a vehicle number) that identifies the vehicle, and a drive recorder 1 mounted on the vehicle. A drive recorder ID (for example, the serial number of the drive recorder 1, etc.) is stored. The information stored in the vehicle/drive recorder correspondence table is, for example, input to a terminal device by an administrator of a vehicle operating company and transmitted to the data server 4 from the terminal device.

Information stored in the vehicle allocation database indicates to which driver each vehicle is allocated at which time slot. The vehicle allocation database is, for example, a collection of allocation tables for each vehicle identified by a vehicle ID. A record for each time zone such as "Month XX Day XX Hour XX Minutes" is stored, and each record contains, for example, information indicating the time zone and a driving Stores a person ID (e.g., employee number). The information stored in the vehicle allocation database is, for example, input to a terminal device by an administrator of a vehicle operating company and transmitted to the data server 4 from the terminal device.

The information stored in the attendance database indicates what time period each driver worked. The attendance database is, for example, a collection of attendance tables for each driver identified by the driver ID. Records are stored, and each record stores, for example, information indicating time and information indicating to which state the driver's attendance status changed at that time (for example, starting work, leaving work, etc.). The information stored in the attendance database is accumulated information transmitted from the time recorder 2 to the data server 4 each time the driver inserts a time card into the time recorder 2 .

As described above, each drive recorder 1 stores information (hereinafter referred to as moving image information with sound) that associates video (moving image) captured by the device with the CCD camera 16 and sound picked up by the microphone 106. Store in card 17 . The moving image information with sound includes still image information representing still images shot at a predetermined cycle (for example, 1/30 second) as information representing a moving image. When storing the still image information, the drive recorder 1 receives time information indicating the current time measured by the internal clock 103 at the time the still image was captured by the CCD camera 16, and vehicle allocation at that time. Work status information indicating the work status of the driver (on duty, off duty, etc.) is stored in association with the still image information. Hereinafter, the drive recorder 1 stores the time information and the working condition information in the form of including the moving image information with sound. You can remember.

As mentioned above, for example, when the driver of a vehicle turns on the power of a vehicle parked in the office, or drives the vehicle from outside the office and moves into the office, the A drive recorder 1 and a time recorder 2 mounted on a vehicle establish a wireless communication connection.

When the communication connection is established with the time recorder 2, the drive recorder 1 transmits to the time recorder 2 a drive recorder ID for identifying itself.

When the time recorder 2 receives the drive recorder ID from the drive recorder 1, the time recorder 2 first refers to the vehicle/drive recorder correspondence table, and determines the vehicle ID that identifies the vehicle in which the drive recorder 1 identified by the received drive recorder ID is mounted. identify. Subsequently, the time recorder 2 refers to the vehicle allocation database, and identifies the driver ID that identifies the driver to whom the vehicle identified by the identified vehicle ID is assigned at that time. Subsequently, the time recorder 2 reads the latest attendance information of the driver identified by the identified driver ID from the attendance database. Subsequently, the time recorder 2 acquires the identified vehicle ID, the driver ID, and work status information indicating the current work status of the driver indicated by the attendance information read from the attendance database (for example, on duty, off duty, etc.). , the time information indicating the current time measured by the internal clock 25 at that time is transmitted to the drive recorder 1 .

The drive recorder 1 stores the vehicle ID, driver ID, and work status information received from the time recorder 2 in the memory of the control unit 107 . Further, the drive recorder 1 uses the time information received from the time recorder 2 to calibrate the time kept by the internal clock 103 of its own device. For example, the drive recorder 1 measures the current time indicated by the time information received from the time recorder 2, and the time the internal clock 103 measures at a time a predetermined time required for generating and transmitting/receiving the time information before the time the time information is received. Then, the time difference is added to the current time kept by the internal clock 103 (when the internal clock 103 is behind the internal clock 25) or subtracted (when the internal clock 103 is ahead of the internal clock 25). the current time after calibration. That is, the drive recorder 1 is provided with identifying means for identifying the current time using time information.

After that, the drive recorder 1 stores still image information representing a still image captured by the CCD camera 16, time information indicating the current time after calibration measured by the internal clock 103, and the memory of the control unit 107. By accumulating the latest vehicle ID, driver ID, and working condition information in association with each other, moving image information representing a moving image is generated. The drive recorder 1 generates moving image information with sound by synchronizing the sound information representing the sound picked up by the microphone 106 with the moving image information thus generated on the time axis. The time information indicating the current time after calibration may be stored, for example, in the memory card 17 as information separate from the moving image information with sound, or may be stored in the frame, header (or footer) of the moving image information with sound. ) or in a management area (for example, a setting file, a log file, etc.).

The manager of the vehicle operating company removes the memory card 17 of the drive recorder 1 installed in the vehicle parked in the company's parking lot from the card slot 109, and connects it to a terminal device such as a personal computer either internally or externally. Then, the memory card 17 is inserted into the card reader, and the motion picture information with sound stored in the memory card 17 is transferred to the memory of the terminal device. After that, the manager of the vehicle operating company returns the memory card 17 to the card slot 109 of the drive recorder 1 .

The terminal device has a function of displaying the moving image represented by the moving image information with sound moved to the memory of the terminal device, for example, on a display device (such as a liquid crystal display) built in or externally connected to the terminal device. FIG. 5 is an example of a video reproduction screen displayed on a display device connected to a terminal device used by an administrator of a vehicle operating company. As shown in FIG. 5, on the playback screen, a moving image captured by the CCD camera 16 is played back and displayed. In addition, on the playback screen, the vehicle ID of the vehicle in which the currently displayed image was captured, the time at which the image was captured (capturing time), and the driving information of the driver who was driving the vehicle at the capturing time. A driver ID (for example, an employee number) and the work status of the driver are displayed.

The shooting time displayed on the playback screen is the current time measured by the internal clock 103 of the drive recorder 1, and the current time measured by the internal clock 103 is the current time calibrated using the time information transmitted from the time recorder 2. Time. Therefore, the current time measured by the internal clock 103 of the drive recorder 1 and the current time measured by the internal clock 25 of the time recorder 2 are substantially synchronized. Therefore, according to the system 901, due to the discrepancy between the current times measured by the internal clocks of the drive recorder 1 and the time recorder 2, an incorrect photographed time, driver ID, or working status is displayed on the playback screen. does not occur.

(Modified example of the first embodiment)
(1-1)
In the system 901 described above, the time information stored by the drive recorder 1 in association with the still image information included in the moving image information with sound is the current time measured by the internal clock 103 using the time information received from the time recorder 2. Indicates the calibrated one. In addition to the current time measured and calibrated by the internal clock 103, the drive recorder 1 may store time information indicating the current time before calibration in association with the still image information included in the moving image information with sound. .

FIG. 6 is an example of a playback screen in system 901 according to this modification. In this modification, as shown in FIG. 6, two shooting times, "shooting time (standard)" and "shooting time (time recorder)", are displayed on the playback screen. The shooting time (standard) is the current time before calibration measured by the internal clock 103 at the time of shooting the still image, and the shooting time (time recorder) is the time measured by the internal clock 103 at the time of shooting the still image. This is the current time after correction by adding or subtracting the time difference between the time measured by the internal clock 103 and the internal clock 25 to the current time before calibration.

According to this modified example, for example, a manager of a vehicle operating company can easily confirm that the shooting time included in the moving image information with sound has not been arbitrarily changed.

(1-2)
In the system 901 described above, the drive recorder 1 receives the driver ID and work status information from the time recorder 2, and stores them in association with the still image information included in the moving image information with sound. The time recorder 2 does not transmit the driver ID and work status information to the drive recorder 1, and the drive recorder 1 does not store the driver ID and work status information in association with the still image information included in the moving image information with sound. may

In this modified example, the drive recorder 1 includes, for example, the drive recorder ID of its own device that captured the image in the header information of the moving image information with sound. For example, when displaying a playback screen, the terminal device used by the administrator of the vehicle operating company associates the drive recorder ID included in the header information of the video information with sound to be played back with the still image to be displayed. time information indicating the shooting time of the still image is transmitted to the data server 4, and in response, the data server 4 transmits the vehicle ID of the vehicle in which the still image was shot and the vehicle at the time of shooting. and information indicating the driver's work status. The terminal device used by the manager of the vehicle operating company displays the vehicle ID, the driver ID, and the work status indicated by the information received from the data server 4 on the playback screen (see FIG. 5).

According to this modification, the data format of the moving image information with sound generated and stored by the drive recorder 1 does not have to be a data format capable of storing the vehicle ID, the driver ID, and the work status information.

(1-3)
In the system 901 described above, time information indicating the current time is acquired from the time recorder 2 as information for specifying the time, and the acquired time information is used to calibrate the current time measured by the internal clock. is a recorder. The type of device that acquires time information from the time recorder 2 is not limited to the drive recorder.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system 902 according to one example of this modification. A system 902 includes a plurality of monitoring cameras 5 instead of the plurality of drive recorders 1 included in the system 901 . The time recorder 2, data server 4, and surveillance camera 5 of the system 902 are placed in the factory. The time recorder 2 is used for attendance management of employees working in the factory. A plurality of monitoring cameras 5 are installed at different positions in the factory, continuously photograph the interior of the factory at different angles of view, and store the photographed images as moving images. The monitoring camera 5 includes a camera such as a CCD camera, a microphone, a memory, an internal clock that continuously measures the current time, an interface that exchanges information with an external device, and each component of the monitoring camera 5. It has a controller, which is a computer for controlling.

The time recorder 2 wirelessly transmits time information indicating the current time measured by the internal clock 25 to the monitoring camera 5 every time a predetermined time period (for example, 30 minutes) elapses. The monitoring camera 5 uses the time information received from the time recorder 2 to calibrate the time continuously measured by the internal clock of its own device, and specifies the calibrated time as the current time. Therefore, the current time specified by each of the plurality of surveillance cameras 5 substantially matches the current time specified by the time recorder 2 .

The monitoring camera 5 generates moving image information including still image information representing a plurality of still images captured by the camera at predetermined intervals. The monitoring camera 5 associates each piece of still image information included in the moving image information with time information indicating the current time measured by the internal clock at the time when the piece of still image information was generated. Therefore, the moving image information includes time information indicating the shooting time of each still image represented by the still image information. The monitoring camera 5 associates the moving image information with the sound information representing the sound picked up by the microphone to generate moving image information with sound, and temporarily stores the generated moving image information with sound in the memory.

The monitoring camera 5 sequentially transmits the motion picture information with sound temporarily stored in the memory to the time recorder 2 . The monitoring camera 5 sequentially deletes the moving image information with sound transmitted to the time recorder 2 from the memory. The time recorder 2 temporarily stores the moving image information with sound received from the monitoring camera 5 in the memory of the control unit 27 and sequentially transmits the stored moving image information with sound to the data server 4 . The time recorder 2 sequentially deletes the moving image information with sound transmitted to the data server 4 from the memory.

A factory manager or the like uses a terminal device such as a personal computer to reproduce the moving image and sound represented by the moving image information with sound stored in the data server 4 . At that time, the still images forming the moving image and the shooting times of the still images are sequentially displayed on the display device connected to the terminal device. According to the system 902 , the shooting time displayed on the display device does not substantially deviate from the current time clocked by the internal clock 25 of the time recorder 2 . Therefore, the manager of the factory, for example, checks whether the on-duty staff indicated by the attendance information is working in the factory, or whether the off-duty staff indicated by the attendance information is working in the factory. can be checked correctly.

(1-4)
In the system 901 described above, the type of device that is the source of the time information used by the drive recorder 1 to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 103 is the time recorder. The type of device that is the source of the time information acquired by the drive recorder 1 is not limited to the time recorder.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system 903 according to one example of this modification. A system 903 includes a car navigation system 6 and a plurality of artificial satellites 7 instead of the time recorder 2, time server 3, and data server 4 included in the system 901. FIG.

The car navigation system 6 and the plurality of drive recorders 1 of the system 903 are mounted on the same vehicle. For example, one of the plurality of drive recorders 1 photographs the front from inside the windshield of the vehicle, and the other one photographs the rear from, for example, the rear glass of the vehicle. The recorders 1 are installed at different locations in the same vehicle and photograph different directions from inside the vehicle.

The car navigation system 6 includes a GNSS unit that is a receiver of a satellite positioning system, a memory, a touch screen, a speaker, an interface that wirelessly transmits and receives information to and from an external device, an internal clock, and each component of the car navigation system 6. and a control unit that is a computer that controls the The car navigation system 6 stores map information representing a map in its memory.

The GNSS unit provided in the car navigation system 6 receives information transmitted from each of the plurality of satellites 7, and uses the received information to specify the position (eg, latitude and longitude) of its own device on the earth. Information received by the GNSS unit from the satellite 7 includes time information indicating the current time kept by an atomic clock mounted on the satellite 7 . The car navigation system 6 calibrates the time measured by the internal clock of its own device using the time information acquired from the satellite 7 by the GNSS unit, and specifies the calibrated time as the current time.

While the vehicle is running, the car navigation system 6 continuously identifies the position of its own device using the GNSS unit, and displays on the touch screen a map centered approximately at the identified position. In addition, when the destination, which is the destination of the vehicle, is input by the user's touch operation on the touch screen, the car navigation system 6 identifies the movement route from the current position of the vehicle to the destination, which is identified by the GNSS unit. Then, the line indicating the specified movement route is superimposed on the map and displayed on the touch screen. The driver of the vehicle can easily reach the destination by driving the vehicle along the movement route indicated by the line displayed on the map by the car navigation system 6 .

The car navigation system 6 operates by receiving power supply from the battery of the vehicle. When the driver of the vehicle turns on the power of the vehicle and power supply from the battery to the car navigation system 6 is started, the car navigation system 6 is activated and attempts to acquire information from the satellites 7 using the GNSS unit. When the car navigation system 6 successfully acquires information from the satellite 7, it uses the time information included in the information acquired from the satellite 7 to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock of the car navigation system 6, and calculates the calibrated time. Identifies as the current time.

The car navigation system 6 first succeeds in acquiring information from the satellite 7 after being activated, and uses the time information included in the information acquired from the satellite 7 to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock of its own device. is specified as the current time, time information indicating the specified current time is wirelessly transmitted to each of the plurality of drive recorders 1 . After that, the car navigation system 6 wirelessly transmits time information indicating the current time measured by the internal clock 25 to each of the plurality of drive recorders 1 every time a predetermined period of time (for example, 30 minutes) elapses.

The drive recorder 1 uses the time information received from the car navigation system 6 to calibrate the time continuously measured by the internal clock 103, and specifies the calibrated time as the current time. Therefore, the current time specified by each of the plurality of drive recorders 1 substantially matches the current time specified by the car navigation system 6 . According to the system 903, there is no deviation between shooting times included in moving image information generated by a plurality of drive recorders 1 mounted on the same vehicle.

Note that the internal clock 103 may not be calibrated while the drive recorder 1 is capturing an image. In that case, the internal clock 103 should be calibrated while the drive recorder 1 is not capturing images.

(1-5)
In the system 903 described above, the type of device that transmits the time information used to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 103 of each of the plurality of drive recorders 1 mounted on the same vehicle is a car navigation system. The type of device that transmits the time information acquired by the plurality of drive recorders 1 mounted on the same vehicle is not limited to the car navigation system.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system 904 according to one example of this modification. A system 904 includes a tablet PC 8 and a time server 3 instead of the car navigation system 6 and satellite 7 included in the system 903 . The tablet PC 8 is a device carried by any of the passengers (including the driver) of the vehicle, and is a slate-type personal computer equipped with a processor, memory, internal clock, touch screen (an example of output means), and communication interface. be. The tablet PC 8 may be a smart phone having mobile phone functions. The time server 3 included in the system 904 has the same configuration as the time server 3 included in the system 901 .

The communication interface provided in the tablet PC 8 includes a communication unit that connects to a mobile communication network according to communication standards such as 3G, 4G, and LTE, and a communication unit that performs short-range wireless communication according to a communication protocol such as Bluetooth. The tablet PC 8 connects to the Internet via a mobile communication network and receives time information from the time server 3 via the Internet. The tablet PC 8 uses the time information received from the time server 3 to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock of its own device, and specifies the calibrated time as the current time.

When the tablet PC 8 establishes a short-range wireless communication connection with the drive recorder 1 while executing a program prepared for the system 904 (hereinafter referred to as "dedicated application") in the background, At this point, time information indicating the current time measured by the internal clock of its own device is transmitted to the drive recorder 1 . The drive recorder 1 uses the time information received from the tablet PC 8 to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 103, and specifies the calibrated time as the current time.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the sequence of processing performed by the drive recorder 1 and the tablet PC 8. As shown in FIG. The drive recorder 1 mounted on the vehicle creates a UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) dedicated to time adjustment for prompting clock adjustment, and transmits short-range wireless communication every time a predetermined time (for example, one minute) elapses. A beacon (eg, Bluetooth Beacon) is transmitted according to a communication protocol (eg, Bluetooth).

As a trigger for the drive recorder 1 to start and end periodic beacon transmission, for example, a configuration in which the transmission of the periodic beacon is started when the vehicle is turned off and terminated when the vehicle is turned to ACC is turned off. , the beacon transmission is started when the ACC is turned ON, and the beacon transmission is terminated if there is no connection from the tablet PC 8 within a predetermined time (for example, several seconds). , a configuration in which beacons are always transmitted at predetermined time intervals at long time intervals while the drive recorder 1 is in operation, and the like.

When a passenger carrying a tablet PC 8 with a dedicated application running in the background gets into the vehicle, the tablet PC 8 detects a beacon transmitted by the drive recorder 1. - 特許庁Upon detection of the beacon, the tablet PC 8 establishes a Bluetooth-compliant communication connection with the drive recorder 1 that transmitted the beacon.

After establishing a communication connection with the drive recorder 1 , the tablet PC 8 transmits a clock setting request to the drive recorder 1 . This clock setting request includes time information indicating the current time measured by the internal clock of the tablet PC 8 (the time calibrated using the time information obtained from the time server 3). The drive recorder 1 uses the time information included in the clock setting request received from the tablet PC 8 to update the clock data indicating the reference time used by the internal clock 103 for clocking. Thereby, the time kept by the internal clock 103 is calibrated. Subsequently, the drive recorder 1 transmits to the tablet PC 8 a clock installation response notifying that the updating of the clock data has been completed.

When the tablet PC 8 receives the clock setting response from the drive recorder 1, the tablet PC 8 disconnects the communication connection established with the drive recorder 1, for example. However, after receiving the clock setting response from the drive recorder 1, the tablet PC 8 maintains the communication connection established with the drive recorder 1. A clock setting request including time information indicating the current time specified at that time may be transmitted to the drive recorder 1 using the held communication connection. In this case, the drive recorder 1 uses the time information included in the clock setting request received from the tablet PC 8 every time a predetermined time period (for example, 30 minutes) elapses. Update data.

Processing following the sequence described above is performed between each of the plurality of drive recorders 1 mounted on the same vehicle and the tablet PC 8 .

According to the system 904 , when the passenger of the vehicle gets into the vehicle, the time of the internal clock 103 of the drive recorder 1 is adjusted without the passenger needing to operate the drive recorder 1 to adjust the time.

Further, the current time specified by each of the plurality of drive recorders 1 mounted on the same vehicle substantially matches the current time specified by the tablet PC 8 . Therefore, according to the system 904, there is no deviation between shooting times included in moving image information generated by a plurality of drive recorders 1 mounted on the same vehicle.

In the system 904 described above, the tablet PC 8 acquires time information from the time server 3, but instead of this, for example, the tablet PC 8 has a GNSS unit and uses time information indicated by radio waves received from artificial satellites. Alternatively, the time measured by the internal clock of the device may be calibrated, and the calibrated time may be specified as the current time.

(1-6)
In the system 903 described above, devices that calibrate the time kept by the internal clock using the time information acquired from the car navigation system 6 are a plurality of drive recorders mounted on the same vehicle as the car navigation system 6 . Alternatively, a device that calibrates the time measured by the internal clock using the time information acquired from the car navigation system 6 may be a device installed at each of a plurality of locations through which the vehicle passes.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system 905 according to one example of this modification. The system 905 includes a plurality of satellites 7, a car navigation system 6 mounted on a vehicle, and a time recorder 2A and a time recorder 2B installed in each of a plurality of facilities (facility A and facility B illustrated in FIG. 11).

While the vehicle is running outdoors, the car navigation system 6 receives information transmitted from the satellite 7 by the GNSS unit, uses the time information included in the received information to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock, and after calibration is specified as the current time.

After that, when the vehicle moves into the facility A, the car navigation system 6 establishes a communication connection with the time recorder 2A in the facility A according to a short-range wireless communication protocol such as Bluetooth, and counts the time with its internal clock. Time information indicating the current time is transmitted to the time recorder 2A. The time recorder 2A uses the time information received from the car navigation system 6 to calibrate the time kept by the internal clock 25, and specifies the calibrated time as the current time.

After that, when the vehicle moves into the facility B, the car navigation system 6 establishes a communication connection with the time recorder 2B in the facility B according to a short-range wireless communication protocol such as Bluetooth, and counts the time with the internal clock of its own device. Time information indicating the current time is transmitted to the time recorder 2B. The time recorder 2 uses the time information received from the car navigation system 6 to calibrate the time kept by the internal clock 25, and specifies the calibrated time as the current time.

When the vehicle passes through a plurality of facilities as described above, the current time specified by the time recorder 2 installed in each of these facilities substantially matches the current time specified by the car navigation system 6 . According to the system 905, each time the vehicle equipped with the car navigation system 6 passes through a plurality of facilities, the deviation between the current times specified by the time recorders 2 installed in each of the plurality of facilities is eliminated.

(1-7)
In the system 901 described above, the time recorder 2 receives time information from the time server 3 via the network. Alternatively, for example, the time recorder 2 may include a radio clock module, and the radio clock module may receive and use radio waves indicating time information transmitted from a transmitting station that measures time using an atomic clock.

[Second embodiment]
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of system 906 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The system 906 comprises an HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) server 9 located in the company's office and a drive recorder 1 mounted on the vehicle. The HTTP server 9 is a device that, in accordance with HTTP, transmits various types of information to a requesting device in response to a request from an external device. In this embodiment, the HTTP server 9 is connected to an intranet managed by the company. The HTTP server 9 is a computer having a processor, a memory, and a communication interface, and transmits/receives information to/from an external device by wire or wirelessly through the communication interface. The wireless communication performed by the HTTP server 9 through the communication interface is short-range wireless communication according to communication protocols such as WiFi and Bluetooth.

The drive recorder 1 included in the system 906 has the same configuration as the drive recorder 1 included in the system 901 . However, the drive recorder 1 included in the system 906 has a web browser function.

In the system 906 , the drive recorder 1 wirelessly communicates with the HTTP server 9 via the interface 108 . In FIG. 12, it is assumed that the drive recorder 1 and the HTTP server 9 perform one-to-one communication (for example, communication by WiFi Direct, etc.), but the HTTP server 9 is a relay device (for example, a wireless LAN bridge). etc.), communication may be performed with a plurality of devices including the drive recorder 1 . In that case, the drive recorder 1 communicates with the HTTP server 9 via the relay device.

For example, when a vehicle moves toward a parking lot near the office of a company, and the drive recorder 1 mounted on the vehicle and the HTTP server 9 installed in the office succeed in establishing a wireless communication connection, The drive recorder 1 uses the Web browser function to issue an access request to the HTTP server 9 using the URL or IP address of the HTTP server 9 registered in the drive recorder 1 in advance. In response to the access request, HTTP server 9 transmits response information to drive recorder 1 .

FIG. 13 is an example of response information received by the drive recorder 1 from the HTTP server 9. FIG. Of the response information shown in FIG. 13, the part after <HTML> is the message body, and the part before <HTML> is the HTTP header. The HTTP header included in the response information includes time information indicating the transmission time of the response information (for example, time information indicating GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)). In FIG. 13, the portion enclosed by the dashed line is the time information. The drive recorder 1 uses the time information included in the response information to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 103, and specifies the calibrated time as the current time.

According to the system 906, when the vehicle equipped with the drive recorder 1 moves to the vicinity of the office, the time measured by the internal clock 103 of the drive recorder 1 is calibrated without requiring the user to operate the drive recorder 1. .

In some cases, the drive recorder 1 connects to a network (intranet, etc.) via WiFi or the like in the vicinity of the office, and transmits moving image information with sound recorded in the memory card 17 or the like to the data server via the network. The drive recorder 1 may not be able to access the HTTP server 9 during transmission of moving image information with sound. In such a case, the drive recorder 1 may access the HTTP server 9 and calibrate the internal clock 103, for example, before or after the transmission of information to the data server. Further, the drive recorder 1 temporarily stops transmitting information to the data server, accesses the HTTP server 9 to complete the calibration of the internal clock 103, and then accesses the data server again to retrieve the untransmitted information. you can go

(Modification of Second Embodiment)
(2-1)
In the system 906 described above, the drive recorder 1, which is a system for receiving time information, receives information addressed to the drive recorder 1, which is its own system, from the HTTP server 9, which is a system for transmitting time information. Get the time information included in the information. The type of system that receives time information is not limited to a drive recorder, and the type of system that transmits time information is not limited to an HTTP server. Also, the system that receives the time information may receive information communicated over a network whose destination is not its own system, and acquire the time information from the received information.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system 907 according to one example of this modification. The system 907 includes a groupware server 71 as a system for transmitting information including time information, a time recorder 2 and a plurality of terminal devices 72 as a system for receiving information including time information, and a relay device 73 . The relay device 73 is wirelessly or wiredly connected to each of the groupware server 71, the time recorder 2, and the plurality of terminal devices 72, and relays communication between these systems. A groupware server 71, a time recorder 2, a plurality of terminal devices 72, and a relay device 73 provided in the system 907 are installed, for example, in an office of a company, and constitute an intranet.

For example, in response to a request from the terminal device 72, the groupware server 71 transmits information to the requesting terminal device 72 according to HTTP. Information sent by the groupware server 71 with the terminal device 72 as the destination is received by all systems on the intranet. Any information not destined for is discarded. In the system 907, the time recorder 2 monitors information transmitted from the groupware server 71 with the terminal device 72 as the destination, and if the information contains time information, it acquires and uses the time information.

Specifically, when the time recorder 2 receives information sent by the groupware server 71 with the terminal device 72 as the destination, before discarding the information that does not have its own system as the destination, the time recorder 2 reads the time included in the HTTP header of the information. Information is acquired, the time measured by the internal clock 25 is calibrated using the acquired time information, and the calibrated time is acquired as the current time.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of information received by the time recorder 2. As shown in FIG. In FIG. 15, the portion enclosed by the dashed line is the time information indicating the transmission time of this information. The information shown in FIG. 15 is information transmitted from the groupware server 71 to one of the terminal devices 72, and is information not addressed to the time recorder 2, but the time recorder 2 receives the time information contained in this information. , to calibrate the time kept by the internal clock 25 .

According to the system 907 , the time measured by the internal clock 25 of the time recorder 2 is calibrated without requiring the user to operate the time recorder 2 .

(2-2)
In the system 906 described above, communication between the HTTP server 9 and the drive recorder 1 is performed according to HTTP. In the system 907 described above, communication between the groupware server 71 and the terminal device 72 is performed according to HTTP. In the system according to the present invention, communication between these systems may be performed according to a communication protocol other than HTTP (for example, RTSP, etc.).

(2-3)
In the system 906 described above, the drive recorder 1 acquires time information included in the header of information received from the HTTP server 9 . Also, in the system 907 described above, the time recorder 2 acquires the time information contained in the header of the information received from the groupware server 71 . In the system according to the present invention, the system that obtains the time information may obtain the time information from the body of the message instead of from the header. For example, in the system 907, the groupware server 71 sends an e-mail addressed to the terminal device 72, and the time recorder 2 uses the internal clock 25 to measure the information indicating the transmission time included in the message body of the e-mail. may be obtained as time information for calibration.

(2-4)
In the system 907 described above, the information received by the time recorder 2 is information transmitted and received on the intranet, but the time recorder 2 may receive information transmitted and received via the Internet. For example, instead of the groupware server 71, the system 907 is equipped with a plurality of HTTP servers connected to the Internet, and each of the plurality of HTTP servers, for example, responds to a request from one of the terminal devices 72, The time recorder 2 may receive the information transmitted to the terminal device 72 of the request source, and the time information included in the received information may be used to calibrate the time kept by the internal clock 25 .

In this modification, the devices that transmit the information received by the time recorder 2 are an unspecified number of HTTP servers, so the current time kept by the internal clocks of these HTTP servers is not necessarily correct. Therefore, when the time recorder 2 receives information not addressed to its own system from the HTTP server, it determines whether or not the time information included in the information is an abnormal value, and does not use the time information determined to be an abnormal value. . For example, if the internal clock of the HTTP server that is the source of the information is broken, the HTTP server sets the information transmission time to a default value (for example, 1970 1970, which is the start time of UNIX (registered trademark) time). 00:00:00 on the first day of the month) may be used. When the time indicated by the time information included in the received information indicates a default value, the time recorder 2 determines that time as an abnormal value and does not use it.

Also, the time kept by the internal clock of the HTTP server may be greatly deviated from the correct time. In order to determine that the time indicated by the time information contained in the HTTP header of information transmitted from such an HTTP server is an abnormal value, the time recorder 2 compares the current time measured by the internal clock 25 with the information received from the HTTP server. The transmission time indicated by the included time information is compared with the transmission time, and if the time difference therebetween is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, the time indicated by the time information included in the information received from the HTTP server is determined as an abnormal value and is not used.

The method by which the time recorder 2 determines whether the time indicated by the time information included in the information received from the HTTP server is an abnormal value is not limited to the method described above. For example, when the time recorder 2 receives information from an HTTP server, the time difference indicates the time difference between the time indicated by the time information included in the received information plus a predetermined time and the time measured by the internal clock 25 at that time. Store information. This predetermined time is, for example, a time set in advance as an average time required for the time recorder 2 to receive the information transmitted from the HTTP server from the time when the HTTP server acquires the transmission time when transmitting the information. be. The time recorder 2 stores the time difference information for each of the information received from various HTTP servers. Among the time differences indicated by , for example, a time difference indicating a value outside a predetermined confidence interval is determined to be an abnormal value.

The time recorder 2 excludes the abnormal values determined as described above, and specifies a probable time difference from among the time differences determined not to be abnormal values. As a method of identifying probable time differences, for example, if there are two or more time differences with the same value, the time differences may be identified as probable time differences. Also, as a method of specifying a probable time difference, it is conceivable to calculate a statistic value of the time difference determined as not being an abnormal value. Examples of statistical values calculated by the time recorder 2 include average values, median values, and mode values. The time recorder 2 uses the identified probable time difference to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 25 .

According to this modification, the time recorder 2 can calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 25 even if the time indicated by the time information acquired by the time recorder 2 from each of the HTTP servers varies.

[Third embodiment]
FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of system 908 according to one embodiment of the present invention. A system 908 includes a drive recorder 1 mounted on a vehicle and a tablet PC 8 carried by a passenger (including a driver) of the vehicle.

The drive recorder 1 included in the system 908 has the same configuration as the drive recorder 1 included in the system 901 . However, the drive recorder 1 included in the system 908 has a function of decoding barcodes (for example, two-dimensional barcodes such as QR codes) included in images captured by the CCD camera 16 .

The tablet PC 8 provided in the system 908 has the same configuration as the tablet PC 8 provided in the system 904 . However, the tablet PC 8 provided in the system 908 executes a program prepared for the system 908 (hereinafter referred to as "time code display application") to display the current time measured by the internal clock of the device itself. Equipped with a function to display barcodes on the touch screen. The tablet PC 8 running the time code display application updates and displays a two-dimensional barcode indicating the current time in seconds on the touch screen, for example, every second.

When the power of the vehicle is turned on and the drive recorder 1 is operating with power supplied from the vehicle battery, the passenger of the vehicle can touch the touch screen of the tablet PC 8 running the time code display application to the drive recorder. 1 is held in the photographing direction of the CCD camera 16 . For example, the drive recorder 1 determines whether the still image captured by the CCD camera 16 contains a two-dimensional barcode every second, and if it determines that the two-dimensional barcode is contained, , decode the two-dimensional barcode and acquire the time information.

The drive recorder 1 uses the time information acquired as described above to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 103, and specifies the calibrated time as the current time. When the drive recorder 1 completes the process of calibrating the time measured by the internal clock 103 using the time information obtained from the two-dimensional barcode, the speaker 104 outputs a voice such as "Time adjustment is complete." pronounce the message. Upon hearing this voice message, the passenger of the vehicle stops holding the tablet PC 8 in the photographing direction of the CCD camera 16 .

While the tablet PC 8 is held over the CCD camera 16 in the photographing direction, the drive recorder 1 reads the time from the two-dimensional bar code so as not to wastefully repeat the process for calibrating the time kept by the internal clock 103 . When the information is acquired, it is not determined whether or not the still image captured by the CCD camera 16 contains a two-dimensional barcode for a predetermined period of time (for example, 5 minutes).

In the system 908, the still image used by the drive recorder 1 to acquire the time information is originally a still image taken to record the situation while the vehicle is running. Therefore, according to the system 908, the passenger of the vehicle does not need to perform an operation for switching from the normal mode to the time adjustment mode, for example, and simply points the tablet PC 8 running the time code display application to the CCD camera 16. The time of the internal clock 103 can be calibrated by the drive recorder 1 only by holding it over.

In the system 908, the tablet PC 8 displays time information using a two-dimensional bar code. A two-dimensional barcode is an example of a display format of information that can be recognized by a device with higher accuracy than human recognition. Therefore, the drive recorder 1 can recognize the time information with higher accuracy than when the tablet PC 8 displays the time information using numerical values.

Further, it is preferable that the tablet PC 8 displays a two-dimensional barcode indicating time information accompanied by information for error detection and correction. For example, the information indicated by the QR code includes information for error detection and correction. Therefore, the tablet PC 8 may display time information using a QR code. In this case, when the drive recorder 1 decodes the QR code included in the photographed still image, it uses the error detection and correction information included in the QR code to check whether there is an error such as loss in the time information indicated by the QR code. However, if there is an error such as loss, the error in the time information is corrected using the information for error detection and correction contained in the QR code, and the time indicated by the corrected time information is changed to the time measured by the internal clock 103. Used for calibration.

(Modified example of the third embodiment)
(3-1)
In the system 908 described above, the time indicated by the time information obtained by decoding the two-dimensional barcode by the drive recorder 1 is past the current time at the time of the acquisition. This is because the drive recorder 1 included in the above-described system 908 requires the time required for the tablet PC 8 to generate a two-dimensional barcode indicating the time after the internal clock measures the time and to start displaying the time on the touch screen. After the dimensional barcode is displayed on the touch screen of the tablet PC 8, the drive recorder 1 captures the 2D barcode with the CCD camera 16 and completes the decoding of the 2D barcode included in the captured image. This is because it does not consider In addition, the tablet PC 8 determines the timing at which the time in seconds measured by the internal clock changes, and the drive recorder 1 determines whether the still image captured by the CCD camera 16 includes a two-dimensional barcode. Timing doesn't always match. Therefore, there is a maximum deviation of 1 second between those timings. Therefore, if the time indicated by the time information obtained by decoding the two-dimensional barcode by the drive recorder 1 is regarded as the current time at that point in time and the time measured by the internal clock 103 is calibrated, the time after calibration is correct. The time is slightly off from the current time.

In order to alleviate the above inconvenience, the drive recorder 1 may perform the following processing. In the following description, as an example, the CCD camera 16 takes pictures every 1/30th of a second.

First, the drive recorder 1 determines whether or not a still image captured by the CCD camera 16 contains a two-dimensional barcode every 1/30 second. When the drive recorder 1 determines that the still image contains a two-dimensional barcode, the drive recorder 1 decodes the two-dimensional barcode, acquires time information, and temporarily stores the acquired time information. In this modification, the drive recorder 1 determines whether or not each subsequent still image includes a two-dimensional barcode, and determines whether or not each subsequent still image includes the two-dimensional barcode. The decoding of the two-dimensional barcode and the storage of the time information obtained by decoding are repeated.

When the drive recorder 1 acquires new time information, it compares the last acquired and stored time information with the newly acquired time information, and if they are different, the time indicated by the newly acquired time information is determined. plus a predetermined time is specified as the current time, and the specified current time is used to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 103 . Here, the predetermined time is the time required for the tablet PC 8 to generate a two-dimensional barcode indicating the time after measuring the time by the internal clock and to start displaying it on the touch screen (hereinafter referred to as "two-dimensional barcode After the two-dimensional barcode is displayed on the touch screen of the tablet PC 8, the drive recorder 1 captures the two-dimensional barcode with the CCD camera 16, and the two-dimensional barcode included in the captured image is captured. This is the total time required to complete the decoding of a barcode (hereinafter referred to as the "time required to read a two-dimensional barcode"), and is specified in advance by performing measurements, etc. using a tablet PC with a general processing speed. It's time.

In addition, when considering the different processing speed for each tablet PC, for example, the tablet PC 8 does not display a two-dimensional barcode indicating the time itself measured by the internal clock, but the time measured by the internal clock is displayed as described above. A two-dimensional bar code may be displayed which indicates the time obtained by adding the time required for displaying the two-dimensional bar code (the time in which the processing speed of the tablet PC 8 is reflected). In this case, at the timing when the time information acquired from the two-dimensional barcode changes, the drive recorder 1 adds the time required for reading the two-dimensional barcode to the time indicated by the changed time information. Identifies as the current time. The drive recorder 1 uses the specified current time to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 103 . In this case, the drive recorder 1 can calibrate the time kept by the internal clock 103 with an accuracy higher than 1 second.

(3-2)
In the system 908 described above, the drive recorder 1 recognizes a two-dimensional bar code from still images captured by the CCD camera 16 . Alternatively, the drive recorder 1 may recognize the clock from the still image captured by the CCD camera 16 and specify the time indicated by the recognized clock.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system 909 according to one example of this modification. A system 909 includes a drive recorder 1 mounted on a vehicle. The drive recorder 1 provided in the system 909 is compared with the drive recorder 1 provided in the system 908, and recognizes a clock (either an analog clock or a digital clock) instead of a two-dimensional barcode from the still image captured by the CCD camera 16. The difference is that

For example, when a passenger of a vehicle holds up a watch 74 worn on his/her arm in the photographing direction of the CCD camera 16 of the drive recorder 1 in operation, the drive recorder 1 detects the clock from the still image photographed by the CCD camera 16. 74 is recognized, and the time indicated by the clock 74 is based on the position of the hands in the clock 74 if the recognized clock 74 is an analog clock, or based on the numerical value in the clock 74 if the recognized clock 74 is a digital clock. identify. The drive recorder 1 calibrates the time measured by the internal clock 103 using the time information indicating the specified time.

When the drive recorder 1 recognizes an analog watch without a dial, for example, the arm on which the analog watch is worn and the hand connected to the arm are detected from a still image in order to identify the direction of the analog watch. You can recognize your thumb. In this case, the drive recorder 1 identifies the direction perpendicular to the direction in which the arm extends and the direction toward the little finger as the 12 o'clock direction of the analog clock. Alternatively, the drive recorder 1 may recognize the band of the analog watch instead of the arm, and identify the extending direction of the band, which is the direction toward the little finger, as the 12 o'clock direction of the analog watch.

According to the system 909 , the passenger of the vehicle can cause the drive recorder 1 to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 103 by holding the watch over the CCD camera 16 of the drive recorder 1 .

In the system 909, the drive recorder 1 may constantly monitor whether or not the clock is included in the image captured by the CCD camera 16 during operation. , after the user operates the drive recorder 1 to adjust the time, a notification such as "Please hold your wristwatch over it." may be monitored to see if it contains Further, it is also possible to monitor whether or not the clock is included in the image captured by the CCD camera 16 only during a predetermined period of time from the point in time when the predetermined time has elapsed since the previous time adjustment was performed.

Further, in the system 909, when the drive recorder 1 corrects the time kept by the internal clock 103, the user may be notified to confirm that the user has pressed a predetermined button or the like.

In the system 909 described above, the drive recorder 1 identifies the time from an image captured by the CCD camera 16 of the wristwatch of the passenger of the vehicle, but the clock captured by the CCD camera 16 is not limited to the wristwatch of the passenger. For example, if the imaging range of the CCD camera 16 includes the instrument panel of the vehicle, the drive recorder 1 may specify the time indicated by the clock included in the instrument panel from the image captured by the CCD camera 16 .

In addition, there are cases where the time accuracy of the clock 74 worn by the passenger of the vehicle is not high. Therefore, instead of the drive recorder 1 calibrating the time measured by the internal clock 103 based on the time indicated by the image of the clock 74 captured by the CCD camera 16, for example, the time measured by the internal clock 103 and the clock 74 If there is a deviation of more than a predetermined threshold from the time specified from the image, the drive recorder 1 will say, for example, "The time setting is significantly different. Please set the time." A notification may be made to make the user aware of the sexuality.

(3-3)
In the systems 908 and 909 described above, the type of device that acquires time information from a still image captured by a camera is a drive recorder, but the type of device is not limited to the drive recorder. FIG. 18 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system 910 according to one example of this modification. System 910 includes time recorder 2 and surveillance camera 75 . The time recorder 2 and surveillance camera 75 are placed indoors, for example, in a factory. The configuration of the time recorder 2 included in the system 910 is the same as the configuration of the time recorder 2 included in the system 901 . The surveillance camera 75 differs from the surveillance camera 5 provided in the system 902 in that it is provided with a semi-spherical camera, but has the same configuration as the surveillance camera 5 in other respects.

The monitoring camera 75 is installed, for example, on the ceiling of the factory, and simultaneously captures a range covering all directions of the space below the ceiling. The time recorder 2 is arranged so that the display section 21 can be seen from the position of the surveillance camera 75 . Therefore, the numerical value indicating the time displayed by the time recorder 2 is included in the still image captured by the surveillance camera 75 .

For example, the monitoring camera 75 recognizes the time displayed by the time recorder 2 from the captured still image every time a predetermined time period (eg, 30 minutes, etc.) elapses, and uses the recognized time to adjust the internal clock of its own device. Calibrate the clock time.

According to the system 910, the current time measured by the internal clock of the monitoring camera 75 and the current time measured by the internal clock 25 of the time recorder 2 substantially match. Therefore, there is a discrepancy between the shooting time indicated by the time information included in the video information generated and stored by the monitoring camera 75 and the time used by the time recorder 2 to generate the attendance information, measured by the internal clocks of these devices. No inconsistencies due to

Note that when the imaging range of the monitoring camera 75 and the position of the time recorder 2 do not change, the position of the area where the time recorder 2 displays the time in the image captured by the monitoring camera 75 does not change. Therefore, for example, the user may designate the area of the clock in the image captured by the monitoring camera 75 by enclosing it in a circle, etc., and the monitoring camera 75 may recognize the clock from the area designated by the user. In this case, for example, the user connects a terminal device such as a notebook computer to the monitoring camera 75, and performs an operation of specifying a clock area with a mouse or the like on the image captured by the monitoring camera 75 displayed on the terminal device. .

Further, when the time display of the time recorder 2 is analog clock display, the user may specify a reference direction such as the direction of 12 o'clock in the image displayed on the terminal device.

(3-4)
In the system 909 described above, the drive recorder 1 identifies the clock held up by the passenger of the vehicle from the still image captured by the CCD camera 16 . Alternatively, the drive recorder 1 identifies a clock arranged outside the vehicle from the still image captured by the CCD camera 16, and corrects the time indicated by the identified clock by the internal clock 103. may be used.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system 911 according to one example of this modification. A system 911 includes a drive recorder 1 and a car navigation system 6 mounted on a vehicle. The car navigation system 6 provided in the system 911 wirelessly follows a communication protocol such as Bluetooth, for example, based on vehicle position information indicating the position of the vehicle (for example, latitude and longitude) measured by its own device and time-dependent changes in the position indicated by the vehicle position information. Traveling direction information indicating the specified traveling direction of the vehicle is continuously transmitted to the drive recorder 1 .

The drive recorder 1 stores a clock position table that stores clock position information indicating the position (for example, latitude and longitude) of each of the various clocks placed at positions visible from the road outside. . Based on the vehicle position information and the traveling direction information continuously received from the car navigation system 6, for example, every predetermined time period (for example, 10 seconds), the drive recorder 1 selects one of the data stored in the clock position table. A position within the angle of view of the CCD camera 16 is extracted from the positions of the clock indicated by the clock position information. Hereinafter, a period in which one or more clock positions within the angle of view of the CCD camera 16 are extracted from the clock positions indicated by the clock position information stored in the clock position table is referred to as a "clock imaging period". The drive recorder 1 stores the start time and end time of the clock shooting period.

When the drive recorder 1 stores the end time of a clock shooting period, the drive recorder 1 attempts to recognize the clock from each of the still images captured by the CCD camera 16 during the clock shooting period, identifies the recognized clock, and identifies the same clock. The image with the clearest image is selected from among the images determined as , and the time indicated by the clock represented by the selected image is specified.

If the clock represented by the image is a digital clock, the drive recorder 1 identifies the time by OCR. If the clock represented by the image is an analog clock, the drive recorder 1 specifies, for example, the direction of the vertical line of the building represented by the image as the vertical direction, and the specified vertical direction as the direction of 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock, and the hour hand. Determine the time based on the position of the minute hand. The drive recorder 1 stores time difference information indicating the time difference between the specified time and the time when the image was captured (the time measured by the internal clock 103).

While the vehicle is running, the drive recorder 1 stores the above-described time difference information for each of a plurality of clocks arranged near the travel route of the vehicle. When the number of time difference information thus stored reaches, for example, a predetermined number, the drive recorder 1 selects and selects the time difference indicated by the stored time difference information, for example, within a 95% confidence interval. A statistical value (for example, an average value, etc.) of the time difference is calculated.

The drive recorder 1 calibrates the time measured by the internal clock 103 using the statistical value of the time difference calculated as described above.

According to the system 911 , the vehicle occupant can cause the drive recorder 1 to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 103 by driving the vehicle without operating the drive recorder 1 .

In the system 911 described above, the drive recorder 1 recognizes the clock from the image when approaching the position indicated by the clock position information, and identifies the time. Alternatively, the drive recorder 1 may always recognize the clock and identify the time from the image, for example, during a period in which the traveling speed of the vehicle is slower than a predetermined threshold value.

(3-5)
In the system 908 described above, the tablet PC 8 displays a two-dimensional barcode, and the drive recorder 1 reads and decodes the two-dimensional barcode displayed by the tablet PC 8 to obtain time information. Instead of this, the tablet PC 8 displays colors that change according to the visible light communication standard on the touch screen, the drive recorder 1 captures the touch screen of the tablet PC 8 with the CCD camera 16, and the captured image shows the color change. Time information may be acquired.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system 912 according to one example of this modification. A system 912 includes a drive recorder 1 mounted on a vehicle and a tablet PC 8 carried by a passenger (including a driver) of the vehicle. In the system 912, the tablet PC 8 executes a program prepared for the system 912 (hereinafter referred to as "time color display application") to display the current time measured by the internal clock of the device itself. It has a function to display light (color) on the touch screen. The tablet PC 8 running the time color display application displays on the touch screen, for example, a changing color indicating the current time in minutes according to the visible light communication standard as a background color.

FIG. 21 is a diagram for explaining a mechanism for transmitting time information by changing the color displayed as the background color on the touch screen by the tablet PC 8 in the system 912. As shown in FIG. For example, in the visible light communication standard used in system 912, violet (e.g., electromagnetic waves with a wavelength in the range of 380-450 nm) indicates a series of color breaks (stop bits) that indicate a piece of information, and red ( For example, electromagnetic waves with wavelengths in the range of 620-750 nm) indicate a binary "0", and green (eg, electromagnetic waves with wavelengths in the range of 495-570 nm) indicates a binary "1". The tablet PC 8 displays, on the touch screen, an image with a background color that changes in the order of purple->red->green->red->red->green-> .

The drive recorder 1 tries to recognize the image of the tablet PC 8 from the captured still image every time the CCD camera 16 takes an image. When the drive recorder 1 succeeds in recognizing the image of the tablet PC 8 from the still image captured by the CCD camera 16, the background color included in the recognized image of the tablet PC 8 is specified. For example, in the recognized image of the tablet PC 8, if the ratio of the area of the uniformly colored area to the entire area of the touch screen is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (eg, 70%), the drive recorder 1 displays that color as the background. Specify as a color.

The drive recorder 1 stores color information indicating the background color specified as described above. When the drive recorder 1 first recognizes purple as the background color and then recognizes purple again, it identifies the time information indicated by the bit string indicated by the color information stored during that time. The drive recorder 1 calibrates the time measured by the internal clock 103 using the time information specified in this way, and specifies the calibrated time as the current time. When the drive recorder 1 completes the process of calibrating the time kept by the internal clock 103, the speaker 104 produces a voice message such as "The time has been adjusted." Upon hearing this voice message, the passenger of the vehicle stops holding the tablet PC 8 in the photographing direction of the CCD camera 16 .

According to the system 912 , the passenger of the vehicle holds the tablet PC 8 running the time color display application over the CCD camera 16 of the drive recorder 1 without operating the drive recorder 1 . The time kept by the clock 103 can be calibrated.

(3-6)
In the system 912 described above, the drive recorder 1 captures visible light displayed on the touch screen of the tablet PC 8 and acquires time information indicated by the color of the captured visible light. Instead of the light displayed on the touch screen of the tablet PC 8, the drive recorder 1 may capture infrared light emitted from the infrared remote controller and acquire time information indicated by the captured infrared light.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system 913 according to one example of this modification. A system 913 includes a drive recorder 1 mounted on a vehicle and an infrared remote controller 76 operated by a passenger (including a driver) of the vehicle. The infrared remote controller 76 has a plurality of buttons for accepting user operations, and when the user presses one of these buttons, the light emitting unit emits an infrared signal indicating a numerical value or the like corresponding to the pressed button. As a method of indicating a numerical value by infrared rays, for example, there is a method of indicating a bit value by combining the transmission time and non-transmission time of infrared rays.

The drive recorder 1 determines whether or not infrared rays are captured in the captured still image each time the CCD camera 16 captures the image, and if the captured still image is captured, stores the shooting time of the still image. A passenger of the vehicle points the light-emitting part of the infrared remote controller 76 to the CCD camera 16 of the drive recorder 1 and displays a numerical value indicating the current time (for example, "131530" for "13:15:30"). When the "OK" button is pressed after pressing the corresponding buttons in sequence, the drive recorder 1 stores all the shooting times during the period during which the infrared remote controller 76 emits infrared rays (infrared transmission period). The drive recorder 1 converts the bit string indicated by the signal sent from the infrared remote controller 76 based on the length of the infrared transmission period indicated by the stored photographing time and the period between these transmission periods (infrared non-transmission period). and specify the time indicated by the specified bit string.

After identifying the time as described above, the drive recorder 1 calibrates the elapsed time with the internal clock 103 using the identified time. When the drive recorder 1 completes the process of calibrating the time kept by the internal clock 103, the speaker 104 produces a voice message such as "The time has been adjusted."

According to the system 913, the passenger of the vehicle directs the infrared remote controller 76 toward the drive recorder 1 and inputs the time to the infrared remote controller 76, so that the drive recorder 1 receives the time measured by the internal clock 103. can be calibrated.

(3-7)
In the system 908 described above, the tablet PC 8 displays an image showing the current time, the drive recorder 1 captures the image, and specifies the current time indicated by the captured image. Alternatively, the tablet PC 8 may emit a sound indicating the current time, the drive recorder 1 may pick up the sound, and specify the current time indicated by the picked up sound.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system 914 according to one example of this modification. A system 914 includes a drive recorder 1 mounted on a vehicle and a tablet PC 8 carried by a passenger (including a driver) of the vehicle. In the system 914, the tablet PC 8 has a speaker, and by executing a program prepared for the system 914 (hereinafter referred to as "time sound transmission application"), a sound indicating the current time measured by the internal clock of the own device has a function to pronounce from the speaker. Methods for indicating the current time by sound include, for example, DTMF (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency), amplitude modulation method, frequency modulation method, phase modulation method, and combinations thereof.

The drive recorder 1 continuously determines whether or not the sound picked up by the microphone 106 contains a sound indicating the current time (for example, a modulated sound). identifies the current time indicated by . When the passenger of the vehicle causes the tablet PC 8 to execute the time sound transmission application in the vehicle, the tablet PC 8 emits a sound indicating the current time, and the drive recorder 1 identifies the current time indicated by the sound.

After specifying the current time as described above, the drive recorder 1 calibrates the elapsed time with the internal clock 103 using the specified current time. When the drive recorder 1 completes the process of calibrating the time kept by the internal clock 103, the speaker 104 produces a voice message such as "The time has been adjusted."

According to the system 914, the passenger of the vehicle can cause the drive recorder 1 to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 103 by causing the tablet PC 8 to execute the time sound transmission application inside the vehicle.

(3-8)
In the system 914 described above, the drive recorder 1 acquires time information from the sound emitted by the tablet PC 8 . Alternatively, the drive recorder 1 may acquire time information from voices uttered by passengers (including the driver) of the vehicle.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system 915 according to one example of this modification. A system 915 includes a drive recorder 1 mounted on a vehicle.

The drive recorder 1 continuously performs processing for recognizing voice from sounds picked up by the microphone 106 . When the drive recorder 1 recognizes a predetermined word (for example, "What is the time?") from the sound picked up by the microphone 106, the drive recorder 1 notifies the current time measured by the internal clock 103 with a voice message (for example, "It's XX hours and XX minutes." The vehicle occupant compares the current time notified by this voice message with the current time indicated by the watch he/she carries, and if they do not substantially match, the current time indicated by the watch he/she carries is confirmed. A voice that notifies the time (for example, "The current time is XX:00:00") is uttered.

The drive recorder 1 recognizes a voice uttered by a vehicle passenger and acquires time information included in the recognized voice. The drive recorder 1 calibrates the elapsed time with the internal clock 103 using the time information acquired from the voice. When the drive recorder 1 completes the process of calibrating the time kept by the internal clock 103, the speaker 104 outputs a voice message such as "The time has been adjusted. The current time is XX hours XX minutes." emanates from The passenger of the vehicle confirms that the time measured by the drive recorder 1 is correctly calibrated by this voice message.

According to the system 915 , the vehicle occupant can cause the drive recorder 1 to calibrate the time kept by the internal clock 103 by interacting with the drive recorder 1 .

[Fourth embodiment]
FIG. 25 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of system 916 according to one embodiment of the invention. The internal clock 103 of the drive recorder 1 counts an oscillator 1031 (for example, a crystal oscillator such as a temperature compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO)) that periodically emits a signal and the number of signals that the oscillator 1031 has emitted after the reference time. A clock unit 1032 is provided for clocking the current time. The period at which the oscillator 1031 emits a signal is determined by the oscillation frequency of the vibrator of the oscillator 1031, but the oscillation frequency may deviate from the design value due to an error during processing of the vibrator. If the oscillation frequency of the vibrator deviates from the design value, the time measured by the internal clock 103 deviates from the correct time as time elapses. The system 916 uses a pulse signal called a 1PPS (Pulse Per Second) signal output by the GNSS unit to eliminate the above inconvenience.

System 916 includes GNSS unit 77 , correction multiplier calculator 78 , and drive recorder 1 . The GNSS unit 77, the correction multiplier calculator 78, and the drive recorder 1 shown in FIG. 25 are arranged in a factory where the drive recorder 1 is manufactured. The drive recorder 1 included in the system 916 includes a nonvolatile memory 110 in addition to the same configuration as the drive recorder 1 included in the system 901 .

The GNSS unit 77 is a device that receives information transmitted from the artificial satellite 7 and measures its own position (for example, latitude and longitude). Information received by the GNSS unit 77 from the satellites 7 includes time information used by the GNSS unit 77 to measure its own position. This time information is time information generated by an atomic clock mounted on the artificial satellite 7, and is more accurate than the time information indicating the time kept by the internal clock 103. FIG. The GNSS unit 77 has a 1PPS signal output section 771 that outputs a 1PPS signal every second based on the time information received from the artificial satellite 7 .

The correction multiplier calculation device 78 has an operator 781 , a correction multiplier calculation section 782 and a correction multiplier output section 783 . The operator 781 is an operation button or the like that receives an operator's operation of the correction multiplier calculation device 78 . The correction multiplier calculation unit 782 receives a 1PPS signal every second from the 1PPS signal output unit 771 of the GNSS unit 77, triggered by a predetermined operation performed on the operator 781, and adjusts the internal clock of the drive recorder 1. A signal is received from an oscillator 1031 of 103 at a constant cycle (an example of a predetermined cycle), and the number of signals received from the oscillator 1031 is counted in a predetermined time T (for example, one minute) specified by the reception timing of the 1PPS signal. do. Hereinafter, the number of signals counted by the correction multiplier calculator 78 will be referred to as the number of measured signals Cm.

The correction multiplier calculation unit 782 calculates the number of signals output in a predetermined time T (for example, one minute) when the oscillator 1031 outputs signals in the designed cycle (an example of a reference cycle) (hereinafter, this number is called the number of design signals Cd) by the number of measured signals Cm is calculated as a correction multiplier M (an example of information indicating the difference between a predetermined period and a reference period). That is, M=Cd/Cm.

Correction multiplier output section 783 outputs correction multiplier M calculated by correction multiplier calculation section 782 to drive recorder 1 . The drive recorder 1 stores the correction multiplier M received from the correction multiplier output unit 783 of the correction multiplier calculation device 78 in the nonvolatile memory 110 .

As described above, the correction multiplier M stored in the nonvolatile memory 110 is used to calculate the current time based on the signal received from the oscillator 1031 by the timer unit 1032 when the drive recorder 1 is shipped and mounted in a vehicle for use. Used for timing. FIG. 26 is a diagram showing a state in which the drive recorder 1 included in the system 916 is mounted on a vehicle and used.

The timer 1032 continuously counts the number of signals received from the oscillator 1031 after the reference time. The number of signals currently being counted by the timer 1032 is hereinafter referred to as the number of measured signals Dm. The timer 1032 calculates the elapsed time P (seconds) from the reference time to the current time according to the following formula. However, F is the design value of the oscillation frequency (Hz) of the oscillator of the oscillator 1031 .
P=(Dm×M)/F

For example, when the design value F of the oscillation frequency of the oscillator of the oscillator 1031 is 32.768 kHz, the design signal number Cd is 1,966,080 if the predetermined time T is 1 minute. For example, if the number of measured signals Cm is 1,966,078, the oscillation frequency of this vibrator is lower than the design value (the signal output period is long). In this case, the correction multiplier M=1,966,080/1,966,078.

If the actual oscillation frequency of the vibrator of the oscillator 1031 matches the design value F, the elapsed time P from the reference time is Dm/F. However, in the above example, the elapsed time calculated by Dm/F is shorter than the actual elapsed time P. Therefore, in this case, the current time kept by the internal clock 103 lags behind the actual current time as time elapses. When a value obtained by multiplying the number of measured signals Dm by a correction multiplier M (in this case, M>1) is used instead of the number of measured signals Dm, there is a gap between the current time measured by the internal clock 103 and the actual current time. No difference.

According to the system 916, even if the period at which the oscillator 1031 of the internal clock 103 outputs a signal does not match the designed value due to an error during oscillator processing, etc., The current time kept by the internal clock 103 does not deviate from the actual current time.

(Modified example of the fourth embodiment)
(4-1)
There are cases in which the period at which the oscillator provided in the internal clock emits a signal changes depending on the environmental parameter (physical quantity) of the external world. For example, if the oscillator provided in the internal clock is a crystal oscillator that uses a crystal as an oscillator, the period at which the oscillator emits a signal is affected by temperature. In the system 916 described above, the influence of these environmental parameters on the current time kept by the internal clock 103 is not taken into consideration, but the influence of these environmental parameters may be taken into consideration.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing the configuration of a system 917 according to one example of this modification. The drive recorder 1 included in the system 917 includes a thermometer 1000 (an example of measuring means) in addition to the configuration included in the drive recorder 1 included in the system 916 .

A correction multiplier calculation unit 782 of a correction multiplier calculation device 78 provided in the system 917 calculates a correction multiplier M triggered by a predetermined operation performed on the operator 781, and the thermometer 1000 is detected from the drive recorder 1. Temperature information indicating the measured temperature is received, and the received temperature information is delivered to the correction multiplier output unit 783 together with the correction multiplier M calculated. The correction multiplier output section 783 outputs the correction multiplier M and the temperature information received from the correction multiplier calculation section 782 to the drive recorder 1 . The drive recorder 1 associates the correction multiplier M received from the correction multiplier calculator 78 with the temperature information and stores them in the nonvolatile memory 110 .

For example, in a factory, a worker may place the drive recorder 1 in a container equipped with a heater and a cooler, and the temperature around the drive recorder 1 may vary depending on the environment in which the drive recorder 1 is used. Within, for example, by changing it by 1 degree, a predetermined operation is performed on the operator 781 to cause the correction multiplier calculator 78 to calculate the correction multiplier M at that temperature. The correction multiplier M calculated by the correction multiplier calculator 78 is stored in the nonvolatile memory 110 in association with temperature information indicating the temperature of the environment in which the drive recorder 1 was placed at the time of calculation.

When the drive recorder 1 is used, the timekeeping unit 1032 of the internal clock 103 receives, for example, temperature information indicating the temperature at that time from the thermometer 1000 every time a predetermined time (for example, 10 seconds) elapses. The correction multiplier M stored in association with the temperature information is read from the nonvolatile memory 110, and the read correction multiplier M is used to measure the current time. FIG. 28 shows how the timer 1032 receives temperature information from the thermometer 1000, reads out the correction multiplier M from the nonvolatile memory 110, and receives a signal from the oscillator 1031 when the drive recorder 1 included in the system 917 is used. It is a diagram.

In the above description, an example was described in which temperature is used as an environmental parameter (physical quantity) of the external environment that affects the period at which the oscillator 1031 emits a signal. Physical quantities may be used.

According to the system 917, even if the period in which the oscillator 1031 provided in the internal clock 103 emits a signal changes due to the environmental parameter (physical quantity) of the external world, the internal clock 103 keeps time due to the change in the environmental parameter. The deviation of the current time from the actual current time is reduced.

(4-2)
In the systems 916 and 917 described above, the correction multiplier M is calculated at the factory before the drive recorder 1 is shipped. Alternatively, the correction multiplier M may be calculated while the drive recorder 1 mounted on the vehicle is in use.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing the configuration of a system 918 according to one example of this modification. A system 918 includes a car navigation system 6 and a drive recorder 1 mounted on a vehicle. The car navigation system 6 included in the system 918 includes a GNSS unit 77 having a 1PPS signal output section 771 . Further, the drive recorder 1 included in the system 918 includes a correction multiplier calculation section 782 which is included in the correction multiplier calculation device 78 in the system 917 .

In the system 918 , the drive recorder 1 calculates the correction multiplier M by the correction multiplier calculator 782 immediately after starting the operation, and stores the calculated correction multiplier M in the nonvolatile memory 110 . After that, during operation, the drive recorder 1 newly calculates the correction multiplier M by the correction multiplier calculation unit 782 every time a predetermined time period (for example, 10 minutes) elapses, and the calculated new correction multiplier M is overwrites the correction multiplier M stored in . Every time the correction multiplier M stored in the nonvolatile memory 110 is updated, the internal clock 103 reads out the updated correction multiplier M from the nonvolatile memory 110 and uses it to measure the current time.

According to the system 918, even if the period at which the oscillator 1031 included in the internal clock 103 emits a signal deviates from the design value, the deviation of the current time measured by the internal clock 103 from the actual current time caused by the deviation is reduced. be done.

(4-3)
In systems 916 and 917 described above, the 1PPS signal is used to correct the internal clock 103 . Other types of signals output at predetermined time intervals may be used instead of the 1PPS signal. For example, when the car navigation system 6 and the drive recorder 1 are equipped with a module called USART (Enhanced Universal Synchronous Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) or UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) and send and receive data via wired connection, a signal called Start Bit is specified. are sent and received at intervals of The drive recorder 1 may calculate the correction multiplier M by counting Start Bits transmitted from the car navigation system 6 .

[Fifth embodiment]
FIG. 30 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of system 919 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The system 919 includes a car navigation system 6 mounted on a vehicle, one drive recorder 1A, and one or more drive recorders 1B. The car navigation system 6 has the same configuration as the car navigation system 6 that the system 903 has. The drive recorder 1A and drive recorder 1B have the same configuration as the drive recorder 1 included in the system 901 . The drive recorder 1A communicates with the car navigation system 6 according to a communication protocol such as Bluetooth, and the drive recorder 1B communicates with the drive recorder 1A according to a communication protocol such as Bluetooth.

Like the drive recorder 1 in the system 903, the drive recorder 1A receives time information from the car navigation system 6, and uses the received time information to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 103 of its own device. Further, the drive recorder 1A transmits to the drive recorder 1B time information indicating the time measured by the internal clock 103 of its own device (the time calibrated using the time information received from the car navigation system 6). The drive recorder 1B uses the time information received from the drive recorder 1A to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 103 of its own device.

According to the system 919, the drive recorder 1A and the drive recorder 1B keep the correct time without requiring an operation for adjusting the time by the passenger of the vehicle.

(Modified example of the fifth embodiment)
In the system 919 described above, time information is transmitted and received between a plurality of drive recorders mounted on the same vehicle. Alternatively, time information may be transmitted and received between a plurality of drive recorders mounted on different vehicles.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing the configuration of a system 900 according to one example of this modification. A system 900 includes, for example, a drive recorder 1 (not shown) mounted on each of a plurality of vehicles running on a road, and a tablet PC 8 carried by a passenger of any vehicle. The tablet PC 8 provided in the system 900 has the same configuration as the tablet PC 8 provided in the system 904 . Also, the drive recorder 1 provided in the system 900 has the same configuration as the drive recorder 1 provided in the system 901 . Hereinafter, the drive recorders 1 mounted on each of the vehicles a to n shown in FIG. 31 are referred to as drive recorders 1a to 1n. Each of the drive recorders 1a to 1n constructs a mesh network according to, for example, the Bluetooth Mesh standard, which is an extension of BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy).

For example, after the passenger of the vehicle i carries the tablet PC 8 and gets into the vehicle i, when the power of the vehicle i is turned on, the drive recorder 1 i receives the time information from the tablet PC 8 and uses the received time information. to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 103 of the device itself. After that, the drive recorder 1i establishes a communication connection with the drive recorder 1 installed in any vehicle traveling in the vicinity of the vehicle i until a predetermined time (for example, 10 minutes) elapses. try.

When the drive recorder 1i succeeds in establishing a communication connection with one of the drive recorders 1, the time information received from the tablet PC 8 (hereinafter referred to as time information X) and the current time measured by the internal clock 103 of its own device Time information indicating time (hereinafter referred to as time information Y) is transmitted to the drive recorder 1 of the communication connection partner. The arrows in FIG. 31 indicate that the drive recorder 1i has successfully established a communication connection with each of the drive recorders 1f and 1j, and has transmitted the time information X and the time information Y to those drive recorders 1. ing.

It should be noted that the drive recorder 1i does not need to simultaneously establish communication connections with each of the drive recorders 1f and 1j. The drive recorder 1i, for example, establishes a communication connection with the drive recorder 1f, and transmits time information X and time information Y indicating the current time measured by the internal clock 103 at that time to the drive recorder 1f. The communication connection with the recorder 1f is released, and then the communication connection is established with the drive recorder 1j, and the time information X and the time information Y indicating the current time measured by the internal clock 103 at that time are sent to the drive recorder. After transmitting to 1j, the communication connection with the drive recorder 1j is released.

Further, each of the drive recorders 1 establishes a communication connection once, and transmits and receives the time information X and the time information Y. The drive recorder ID that identifies the drive recorder 1 of the other party is set for a predetermined time (for example, 1 hour). may be stored until elapses, and communication connection may not be established with the drive recorder 1 identified by the stored drive recorder ID. This eliminates the need for the drive recorder 1 to repeatedly transmit and receive the time information X and the time information Y to and from the same partner.

As described above, the drive recorders 1f and 1j that have received the time information X and the time information Y from the drive recorder 13I use the received time information Y to calibrate the time measured by the internal clock 103 of their own devices. Subsequently, the drive recorder 1f is installed in any vehicle running in the vicinity of the vehicle f until a predetermined time (for example, 10 minutes) has passed since the time indicated by the time information X. When the communication connection is established successfully, the time information X received from the drive recorder 1i and the current time measured by the internal clock 103 of the own device are transmitted to the drive recorder 1 of the communication connection partner. Time information Y indicating time is transmitted. The arrows in FIG. 31 indicate that the drive recorder 1f has successfully established a communication connection with the drive recorder 1g and has transmitted the time information X and the time information Y to the drive recorder 1g.

As with the drive recorder 1f, the drive recorder 1j is also installed in any vehicle running in the vicinity of the vehicle j until a predetermined time (for example, 10 minutes) elapses from the time indicated by the time information X. An attempt is made to establish a communication connection with the drive recorder 1, and when the communication connection is successfully established, the time information X received from the drive recorder 1i and the internal clock 103 of the device are sent to the drive recorder 1 of the communication connection partner. Time information Y indicating the current time that has been measured is transmitted. The arrows in FIG. 31 indicate that the drive recorder 1j has successfully established a communication connection with the drive recorder 1k and has transmitted the time information X and the time information Y to the drive recorder 1k.

As described above, the drive recorder 1 that has received the time information from the neighboring drive recorder 1 transmits the time information to another neighboring drive recorder 1, so that the internal clocks 103 of the plurality of drive recorders 1 keep time. time is calibrated. At that time, the passengers of the vehicles in which the drive recorders 1 are mounted do not need to operate the drive recorders 1 to adjust the time.

In the example of FIG. 31, the drive recorder 1h receives the time information from both the drive recorder 1g and the drive recorder 1l. In this case, the drive recorder 1h receives the time information X is newer than the time indicated by the time information X associated with the earlier-arriving time information Y, select any of the time information Y according to a predetermined rule, such as using the later-arriving time information Y, and select the selected time The information Y is used to calibrate the time kept by the internal clock 103 .

[Modification]
In the above-described embodiment, the time information for calibrating the time kept by the internal clock 103 of the drive recorder 1 is generated by the GNSS unit, by the time server, by the tablet PC, There is one generated from an image of a clock. Two or more of these may be used. In this case, the type of time information used by the drive recorder 1 for calibrating the internal clock 103 is recorded. may be displayed, for example, by an icon or the like.

In addition, the drive recorder 1 records the position information indicating the position where the time information is calibrated, and for example, when reproducing the image, displays the time when the image was taken and the position where the time was calibrated. You may

In addition, the time information used by the drive recorder 1 to calibrate the internal clock 103, its type, the current time measured by the internal clock 103 (the current time before calibration and the current time after calibration), etc. are stored in the blockchain. should be written to In this case, the time information and the like may be written to the block chain in real time by, for example, LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) or the like, or may be written to the block chain when it is captured by a PC viewer, for example. . In this case, falsification of time information is prevented.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Drive recorder, 2... Time recorder, 3... Time server, 4... Data server, 5... Surveillance camera, 6... Car navigation system, 7... Artificial satellite, 8... Tablet PC, 9... HTTP server, 11... Main body, 12... Installation bracket 13 nut member 14 volume dial 15 DC jack 16 CCD camera 17 memory card 21 display unit 22 operation button 23 reading unit 24 printing unit 25 Internal clock 26 Interface 27 Control unit 71 Groupware server 72 Terminal device 73 Relay device 74 Clock 75 Surveillance camera 76 Infrared remote controller 77 GNSS unit 78 Correction Multiplier calculator 101 Accident detection sensor 102 Temporary memory 103 Internal clock 104 Speaker 105 Switch 106 Microphone 107 Control unit 108 Interface 109 Card slot 110 Non-volatile 111 first case 112 second case 121 ring portion 122 mounting plate 131 through hole 771 1PPS signal output portion 781 operator 782 correction multiplier calculation portion 783 Correction multiplier output section 900 to 919 System 1000 Thermometer 1031 Oscillator 1032 Clock section 1111 One end 1121 One end 1221 Mounting surface.

Claims (3)

A function of acquiring information for specifying the current time without directly acquiring information from either the time server or the receiving unit of the satellite positioning system and without requiring manual input of information by the user; A system comprising specifying means having a function of specifying the current time using information for specifying the time,
The function of acquiring information for specifying the current time provided by the specifying means requires manual input of information by the user without directly acquiring information from either the time server or the receiver of the satellite positioning system. having a communication function for receiving information for specifying the current time from an external system ,
The function of acquiring information for specifying the current time provided in the specifying means receives information not addressed to the own system and communicated over the network by the communication function, and receives information not addressed to the own system A system characterized by having a function of acquiring information for specifying the current time. Having a function to calibrate the time kept by the internal clock using the acquired information for specifying the current time
The system of claim 1, characterized by : the computer,
A program for functioning as specifying means provided in the system according to claim 1 or 2 .

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