JP7373690B2 - Train monitoring system and train monitoring method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a train monitoring system that monitors passengers getting on and off a train using camera images.

Ensuring the safety of passengers getting on and off trains at station platforms is an important issue for train operations. As part of such safety measures, a train monitoring system has been developed that uses a camera attached to the side of a vehicle to take pictures of the area around the door and displays the camera image on a monitor in the driver's cab.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an invention in which an image cut out from a predetermined area from a camera image of each vehicle is displayed on a monitor. Patent Document 2 discloses an invention in which a region to be cut out from a camera image of each vehicle is changed depending on whether a door is opened or closed. Patent Document 3 discloses an invention in which when video output cannot be obtained from some cameras, an alternative camera is selected and the video is output.

International Publication No. 2015/135736 International Publication No. 2019/026157 International Publication No. 2020/137113

In some cases, a single camera is used to monitor passengers in several vehicles. At this time, it suffices if the station platform has a straight shape, but if the platform has a convex curved shape (for example, see Figure 3A), it is necessary to properly photograph the passenger's appearance in relation to the vehicle that is far from the camera. There are things I can't do.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and even when the platform has a convexly curved shape, it is possible to appropriately photograph the state of passengers in a vehicle that is far from the camera. The purpose of this system is to provide a train monitoring system.

In the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a train monitoring system is configured as follows.
That is, the train monitoring system according to the present invention includes a camera attached to the outside of a train vehicle facing the train's traveling direction or the opposite direction, a monitor that displays images taken by the camera, and a predetermined station. The present invention is characterized by comprising a control device that controls the shooting range in the direction away from the side of the train in the image displayed on the monitor to be larger than the standard shooting range.

Here, the control device controls the angle of view of the camera to be larger than the standard angle of view at a predetermined station, thereby increasing the shooting range in the direction away from the side of the train in the image displayed on the monitor. You can do it like this.

In addition, the control device controls the shooting direction of the camera to be directed further away from the side of the train than the standard shooting direction at a predetermined station, so that the direction away from the side of the train in the image displayed on the monitor is controlled. The photographing range may be increased.

In addition, the control device controls the image displayed on the monitor at a predetermined station by controlling the cropping frame from the image taken by the camera to be shifted in a direction farther from the side of the train than the standard cropping frame. The photographing range in the direction away from the side of the train may be increased.

In addition, the control device stores photographing control information in advance in association with a predetermined station, and based on the photographing control information associated with the station where the train is located, the side view of the train in the image displayed on the monitor. Control may be performed so that the photographing range in the direction away from the object increases.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a train monitoring system that can appropriately photograph passengers in a vehicle that is far away from the camera even when the platform has a convexly curved shape.

1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration example of a train monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of photography at a general station. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an overview of a first photographing method at a predetermined station. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of a second photographing method at a predetermined station. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an outline of a third photographing method at a predetermined station. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing flow of photographing control at a predetermined station. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a shooting control setting table.

A train monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration example of a train monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a four-car train in which four cars are connected: No. 1 car 10-1, No. 2 car 10-2, No. 3 car 10-3, and No. 4 car 10-4.

One switching hub 11 is arranged in each vehicle 10-1 to 10-4, and an IP network is constructed by connecting these in cascade. A camera 13 is installed on the outside side of each of the train cars 10-1 to 10-4 to take images of passengers getting on and off the train. The cameras 13 of car No. 1 10-1 and car No. 2 10-2, which are located on the front side with respect to the train's traveling direction, are installed facing the rear side of the train (that is, the opposite side of the train's traveling direction). Furthermore, the cameras 13 of the No. 3 car 10-1 and the No. 4 car 10-4, which are on the rear side with respect to the train's traveling direction, are installed facing the front side of the train (ie, the train's traveling direction side).

These cameras 13 are set so that they can photograph not only the area around the door 12 of the own vehicle, but also the area around the doors 12 of several vehicles behind it. For example, the camera 13 of car No. 1 10-1 is set so that it can photograph not only the area around the door 12 of the own car, but also the area around the door 12 of the following car No. 2 10-2 and car No. 3 10-3. .

A monitor 14 is installed in the first car 10-1 and the fourth car 10-4 to display camera images taken by the camera 13 of each car. Furthermore, the first car 10-1 is also equipped with a control device 16 that controls this system and a recording device 15 that records camera images.

The control device 16 is equipped with hardware resources such as a memory and a processor, and reads a program stored in a data storage device such as a hard disk or flash memory onto the main memory and executes it by the processor, thereby executing each of the programs described below. The computer is configured to perform processing. Note that the functions of the control device 16 are not limited to the configuration realized by such software, but may be realized by dedicated hardware.

FIG. 2 shows an example of photographing at a general station. A typical station is a station where a preset standard angle of view, shooting direction, and cropping frame are applied, such as a station with a linear platform. FIG. 2A shows an example in which the camera 13 of the first car 10-1 photographs passengers getting on and off the train at a general station, and FIG. 2B shows the video taken at that time. At a typical station, everyone from the person 21 near the camera 13 to the person 23 far away from the camera 13 is within the standard angle of view 31 of the camera 13 of the No. 1 car 10-1. There are no particular problems.

However, appropriate photography may not be possible at stations with curved platforms. Therefore, in the train monitoring system of this example, the above problem is solved by introducing a mechanism in which the control device 16 controls photographing at a predetermined station.

(1st shooting method)
FIG. 3 shows an outline of the first photographing method at a predetermined station. FIG. 3A shows an example in which the camera 13 of the first car 10-1 photographs passengers getting on and off the train at a predetermined station, and FIG. 3B shows the video taken at that time. When the platform has a convexly curved shape as shown in FIG. 3A, only the person 31 closest to the camera 13 is within the standard angle of view 31 of the camera 13 of the first car 10-1. On the other hand, a person 32 far from the camera 13 is partially out of the range of the angle of view 31, and a person 33 further away is not within the angle of view 31 at all. This is because, on a convexly curved platform, the people 32 and 33 who are far away from the camera 31 will be located away from the center of photography in the side direction of the train.

Therefore, in the first photographing method, the control device 16 performs control to make the angle of view 32 of the camera 13 of the first car 10-1 larger than the standard angle of view 31 at a predetermined station. As a result, the photographing range of the image displayed on the monitor 14 in the direction away from the side of the train increases. Therefore, everyone from the person 21 near the camera 13 to the person 23 far away from the camera 13 can be captured within the viewing angle 32 of the camera 13. As a result, all of the persons 21 to 23 will appear in the image displayed on the monitor 14.

(Second shooting method)
FIG. 4 shows an outline of the second photographing method at a predetermined station. FIG. 4A shows an example in which the camera 13 of the first car 10-1 photographs passengers getting on and off the train at a predetermined station, and FIG. 4B shows the video taken at that time. The camera 13 attached to the vehicle is equipped with a drive device that controls panning and tilting (rotation and oscillation), and performs panning and tilting operations according to instructions from the control device 16.

In the second photographing method, the control device 16 controls the angle of view 33 of the camera 13 of the first car 10-1 to be directed farther from the side of the train than the standard angle of view 31 at a predetermined station. As a result, the photographing range of the image displayed on the monitor 14 in the direction away from the side of the train increases. As a result, all of the persons 21 to 23 will appear in the image displayed on the monitor 14.

(Third shooting method)
FIG. 5 shows an outline of the third photographing method at a predetermined station. FIG. 5A shows an example in which the camera 13 of the first car 10-1 photographs passengers getting on and off the train at a predetermined station, and FIG. 5B shows the video taken at that time. It is assumed that the angle of view of the camera 13 of car No. 1 10-1 is set wide as an initial setting, and a portion of the photographed video is cut out and displayed on the monitor 14. In the case where the platform has a convexly curved shape as shown in FIG. A video in which a part or the entire person 33 is missing is cut out and displayed on the monitor 14.

Therefore, in the third shooting method, the control device 16 sets the cutout frame 41 from the video shot by the camera 13 of the No. 1 car 10-1 at a predetermined station to be farther away from the side of the train than the standard cutout frame 40. Performs control to shift in the direction. As a result, the photographing range of the image displayed on the monitor 14 in the direction away from the side of the train increases. As a result, all of the persons 21 to 23 will appear in the image displayed on the monitor 14.

In addition, although the first imaging method, the second imaging method, and the third imaging method were individually explained above, they may be combined. This allows the control device 16 to more flexibly control photographing at a predetermined station.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a processing flow for photographing control at a predetermined station. Note that it is assumed that a photographing control setting table as shown in FIG. 7 is prepared in advance. In this example, the control device 16 has the photographing control setting table, but another device with which the control device 16 can communicate may have the photographing control setting table. The photographing control setting table shown in FIG. 7 stores vehicle information and photographing control information in association with stations subject to photographing control. Information such as the angle of view, shooting direction, and cropping frame is set in the shooting control information.

When a train enters a station platform, the control device 16 first identifies the current station (step S11). The current station can be specified, for example, by position information (latitude/longitude information) acquired by GPS (Global Positioning System) or operation information acquired from a host system. Next, the control device 16 acquires vehicle information and photographing control information corresponding to the specified station from the photographing control setting table (step S12). Next, the control device 16 controls photographing by the camera 13 of the vehicle corresponding to the acquired vehicle information according to the acquired photographing control information (step S13).

As described above, the train monitoring system of this example has a camera 13 attached to the outside of each car 10 of the train facing the train's traveling direction or the opposite direction, and displays images taken by the camera 13. It is equipped with a monitor 14 and a control device 16 that controls so that at a predetermined station, the photographing range in the direction away from the side of the train in the image displayed on the monitor 14 is increased from the standard photographing range. By performing such photographing control, it is possible to appropriately photograph passengers getting on and off vehicles that are far away from the camera, even at stations where the platform has a curved shape.

In addition, in the above explanation, the shooting control information is set only for the stations that are subject to shooting control, but the shooting control information can be set individually for all stations, and the shooting control information can be set according to the shooting control information of each station. Alternatively, shooting control may be performed. In this case, it is sufficient to set photographing control information including standard angle of view, photographing direction, cropping frame, etc. for general stations.

Further, in the above explanation, one control device 16 controls all the cameras 13 of each vehicle 10-1 to 10-4, but it is possible to provide a plurality of control devices 16 to share camera control. You can. Furthermore, for example, each of the cameras 13 may have a built-in control device 16. Further, in the above description, one camera 13 is installed for each vehicle 10, but a large number of cameras 13 may be installed for one vehicle 10. Further, in the above description, a four-car train was used as an example, but the number of vehicles may be arbitrary.

Although the present invention has been described above based on one embodiment, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the configuration described herein and can be widely applied to systems with other configurations. For example, the present invention can be applied not only to trains running on railways but also to other types of trains such as monorails and streetcars.
Further, the present invention can be provided, for example, as a method including technical procedures related to the above processing, a program for causing a processor to execute the above processing, and a storage medium that stores such a program in a computer-readable manner. is also possible.

It should be noted that the scope of the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments shown and described, but also includes all embodiments that provide equivalent effects to the object of the present invention. Moreover, the scope of the invention may be defined by any desired combinations of specific features of each and every disclosed feature.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used in a train monitoring system that monitors passengers getting on and off trains using camera images.

10-1, 10-2, 10-3, 10-4: Vehicle, 11: Switching hub, 12: Door, 13: Camera, 14: Monitor, 15: Recording device, 16: Control device

Claims (5)

a camera mounted on the outside of a train vehicle facing in the traveling direction of the train or the opposite direction;
a monitor that displays images taken by the camera;
and a control device that controls a photographing operation by the camera ,
The camera is set to photograph the area around the doors of a plurality of vehicles including the vehicle to which the camera is attached and a vehicle further back from the vehicle,
The control device controls the angle of view of the camera to be larger than the standard angle of view at a predetermined station where the vicinity of the door of the vehicle on the rear side is out of the standard photographing range of the camera, and A train monitoring system that is characterized by being able to photograph the area around the doors of cars on the back side . The train monitoring system according to claim 1,
The train monitoring system is characterized in that the control device further controls, at the predetermined station, to direct the photographing direction of the camera in a direction farther from the side of the train than the standard photographing direction. The train monitoring system according to claim 1,
The control device further controls, at the predetermined station, to shift a frame from an image taken by the camera in a direction farther from a side of the train than a standard frame. Monitoring system. The train monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 ,
The control device stores photographing control information in advance in association with the predetermined station, and controls photographing operations by the camera based on the photographing control information associated with the station where the train is located. A train monitoring system characterized by: A train monitoring method using a camera attached to the outside of a train vehicle facing in the traveling direction of the train or the opposite direction, and a monitor that displays images taken by the camera,
The camera is set to photograph the area around the doors of a plurality of vehicles including the vehicle to which the camera is attached and a vehicle further back from the vehicle,
A control device that controls a photographing operation by the camera increases the angle of view of the camera to be larger than the standard angle of view at a predetermined station where the area around the door of the rear vehicle is outside the standard photographing range of the camera. A train monitoring method characterized in that the area around the door of the vehicle on the far side can be photographed by performing control to perform such control .

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