JP7835936B2 - Information processing device - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and an information processing program.

Technologies for projecting advertising images onto moving objects are known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology for projecting advertising videos and other content onto a moving object based on the object's attributes.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 2019-80163

When projecting advertising images onto a moving object, if the color of the object and the color scheme of the advertisement are incompatible, it may be difficult to see the content of the advertisement even if it is projected onto the vehicle. For example, if an advertisement with black text is projected onto a black vehicle, the text will be difficult to see.

Alternatively, when attempting to project an advertising image onto the entire side of a moving object, the shape of the object's side varies, and simply projecting a rectangular advertising image will result in projected light extending beyond the side of the object. This extended light may illuminate objects or people other than those on the side of the object. Therefore, when projecting an advertising image onto the entire side of a moving object, it is advisable to block the projected light extending beyond the side of the vehicle using a mask or similar method. However, blocking a portion of the projected light in this way may also block the projection of essential parts of the advertising image, potentially resulting in a partially incomplete image.

Alternatively, when projecting advertising images onto a moving object, the object's surface includes parts such as the body, door panels, door glass, bumpers, and tires. These parts differ in color, flatness, and reflectivity, resulting in varying suitability as a screen for advertising projection. For example, a white-painted door panel is a large, white area and therefore suitable as an advertising screen. On the other hand, the tire area is generally black and has uneven surfaces, making it unsuitable as an advertising screen. Important parts of the advertisement need to be projected clearly and visible, so it's best to project onto the most suitable area possible.

Alternatively, when projecting advertising images onto moving objects, some objects may have painted images or text on their surfaces. In such cases, projecting advertising images onto vehicles with painted images or text may result in the images or text overlapping with the vehicle's surface, making the advertising content difficult to recognize. Similarly, projecting advertisements onto dark-colored vehicles, such as black, may also make the content difficult to recognize. Therefore, to ensure that advertisements are clearly visible, it is necessary to carefully select the moving objects onto which they are projected.

Alternatively, when projecting advertising images onto mobile devices, incentives for users or owners of those devices should be based on advertising effectiveness. In other words, users or owners of mobile devices capable of high-effectiveness advertising projection should receive higher incentives. This approach incentivizes users or owners of such devices to allow advertising projection on their devices.

Alternatively, when projecting advertising images onto moving objects, if multiple objects are lined up in a row, it is possible to use multiple objects as screens, allowing for larger advertisements than those using a single object as a screen, thus creating a greater impact on viewers.

However, Patent Document 1 does not disclose any technology that addresses these problems or requirements.

One example of a problem that this invention aims to solve is projecting highly effective advertising images onto a moving object.

To solve the above problems, the invention described in claim 1 comprises: a projection area color acquisition unit that acquires color information relating to the color of a projection area onto which an advertising image is projected; a storage unit that stores a plurality of advertising images, each associated with at least one color; and a selection unit that selects an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among the plurality of advertising images based on the color information and the colors associated with the plurality of advertising images.

The invention described in claim 4 comprises: a projection area color acquisition unit that acquires color information relating to the color of a projection area onto which an advertising image is projected; a storage unit that stores a plurality of source images of advertising images, each associated with at least one color; and a selection unit that selects a source image of an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among the plurality of source images based on the color information and the colors associated with the plurality of source images.

The invention described in claim 5 is an information processing method performed by a computer, comprising: a projection area color acquisition step of acquiring color information relating to the color of a projection area on which an advertising image is projected; and a selection step of selecting an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among a plurality of advertising images, each associated with at least one color, based on the color information and the colors associated with the plurality of advertising images.

The invention described in claim 6 is characterized by having a computer execute the information processing method described in claim 5.

The invention described in claim 7 stores the information processing program described in claim 6.

This figure shows an advertising projection system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. This figure shows an example of advertising projection by the advertising projection system 100. This figure shows a control unit 310 according to one embodiment of the present invention. This figure shows an example of processing operations in the advertising projection system 100. This figure shows an example of processing operations in the advertising projection system 100. This figure shows a projection area setting unit 311 according to one embodiment of the present invention. This figure shows an example of the processing operation in the projection area setting unit 311. This figure shows an advertisement selection unit 312 according to one embodiment of the present invention. This figure shows an example of the processing operation in the advertisement selection unit 312. This figure shows an example of a serial advertisement. This figure shows an example of a serial advertisement. This figure shows an example of the processing operation in the advertisement selection unit 312. This diagram shows an example of how advertisements are switched. This figure shows an example of the processing operation in the advertising projection system 100 in the example shown in Figure 13. This figure shows an example of how to generate an advertising image. This figure shows an example of a source image stored in the memory unit 330. This figure shows an example of how to generate an advertising image. This figure shows an example of the processing operation in the advertising image generation unit 313. This figure shows an advertising image generation unit 313 according to one embodiment of the present invention. This figure shows an example of the processing operation in the advertising image generation unit 313. This figure shows an incentive setting unit 314 according to one embodiment of the present invention. This diagram shows the processing operation in the incentive setting unit 314.

An information processing device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes: a projection area color acquisition unit that acquires color information relating to the color of a projection area onto which an advertising image is projected; a storage unit that stores a plurality of advertising images, each associated with at least one color; and a selection unit that selects an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among the plurality of advertising images based on the color information and the colors associated with the plurality of advertising images. By doing so, if each advertising image is associated with a color that is compatible with the color scheme of that advertising image, only advertising images with color schemes compatible with the color of the projection area will be projected onto the projection area. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to improve the visibility of the advertisement projected onto the projection area.

Furthermore, the advertising targets of the multiple advertising images may be the same, and the color schemes of the multiple advertising images may differ from one another. In this way, regardless of the color of the projection area, it becomes possible to project the advertisement for that advertising target in a visible manner onto the projection area.

Furthermore, the projection area is set on the surface of the moving object. This improves the visibility of the advertisement projected onto the moving object.

Furthermore, an information processing device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes: a projection area color acquisition unit that acquires color information relating to the color of a projection area onto which an advertising image is projected; a storage unit that stores a plurality of source images of advertising images, each associated with at least one color; and a selection unit that selects a source image of an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among the plurality of source images based on the color information and the colors associated with the plurality of source images. By doing so, if each advertising image is associated with a color that is compatible with the color scheme of its source image, only advertising images with color schemes compatible with the color of the projection area will be projected onto the projection area. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to improve the visibility of the advertisement projected onto the projection area.

Furthermore, an information processing method according to one embodiment of the present invention is an information processing method performed by a computer, comprising: a projection area color acquisition step of acquiring color information relating to the color of a projection area onto which an advertising image is projected; and a selection step of selecting an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among a plurality of advertising images, each associated with at least one color, based on the color associated with the plurality of advertising images and the color information. By doing so, if each advertising image is associated with a color that is compatible with the color scheme of that advertising image, only advertising images with color schemes compatible with the color of the projection area will be projected onto the projection area. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to improve the visibility of the advertisement projected onto the projection area.

Furthermore, an information processing program according to one embodiment of the present invention causes a computer to execute the above-described information processing method. In this way, it becomes possible to improve the visibility of advertisements projected onto the projection area using a computer.

Furthermore, a computer-readable storage medium according to one embodiment of the present invention stores the above-mentioned information processing program. This allows the information processing program to be distributed independently, in addition to being incorporated into a device, and facilitates version upgrades and other modifications.

<Advertising Projection System 100>
Figure 1 shows an advertising projection system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The advertising projection system 100 includes an advertising projection device 200 and a server 300. The advertising projection device 200 and the server 300 are connected to each other wirelessly and/or by wire so that they can transmit and receive information. The advertising projection device 200 and the server 300 may be connected via a communication network, or they may be connected directly wirelessly or by wire. For example, as shown in Figure 2, the advertising projection system 100 projects an advertising image AD (in this application, the image also includes a video composed of multiple image frames) onto the side of a vehicle AM parked in a parking area PA corresponding to a parking meter PM using the advertising projection device 200.

The advertising projection device 200 comprises a control unit 210, a vehicle information acquisition unit 220 that acquires vehicle information (mobile object information) which is information about vehicles (mobile objects) parked in the parking area, a transmission/reception unit 230 that transmits and receives information with other devices such as a server 300, and a projection unit 240 that projects advertising images onto parked vehicles. The control unit 210 is configured by a computer, for example, having a CPU (Central Processing Unit).

The advertising projection device 200 is positioned near the parking area so that it can project advertising images onto the surface of parked vehicles. For example, the advertising projection device 200 is installed above the parking meter PM, as shown in Figure 2.

The control unit 210 acquires vehicle information, such as an image of the vehicle, from the vehicle information acquisition unit 220 when a vehicle is parked in a parking area corresponding to the parking meter. The determination of whether a vehicle has been parked in the parking area of the parking meter can be made by the vehicle information acquisition unit 220 detecting that a vehicle has been parked in the parking area, or by acquiring information from the parking meter indicating that a vehicle has been parked in the parking area. When acquiring information from the parking meter, it can be acquired directly from the parking meter, or it can be acquired via another device such as the server 300.

The vehicle information acquisition unit 220 includes, for example, a camera. In this case, the vehicle information includes an image (image data) of the vehicle captured by the camera. The vehicle information acquisition unit 220 may also include a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging), in which case the vehicle information includes data (3D data) acquired by the LiDAR.

The control unit 210 transmits vehicle information to the server 300 via the transmitting/receiving unit 230. The control unit 210 also receives advertising images transmitted from the server 300 via the transmitting/receiving unit 230.

The control unit 210 projects an advertising image onto the parked vehicle using the projection unit 240. The projection unit 240 is a projection device such as a projector. The control unit 210 stops projecting the advertising image using the projection unit 240 when the parked vehicle has finished parking. The determination of whether a vehicle has finished parking can be made by the advertising projection device 200 having an input means to receive input from the user, or by the vehicle information acquisition unit 220 detecting when the parked vehicle has left the parking area, or by acquiring information from the parking meter indicating that the parked vehicle has finished parking. When acquiring information from the parking meter, it can be acquired directly from the parking meter, or it can be acquired via another device such as a server 300.

The server 300 comprises a control unit 310, a transmitting/receiving unit 320 that transmits and receives information between the server and other devices such as the advertising projection device 200, and a storage unit 330 that stores advertising images. The control unit 310 is, for example, a computer with a CPU. The storage unit 330 is, for example, a storage device such as a hard disk or memory. The server 300 corresponds to the information processing apparatus of the above embodiment.

The control unit 310 receives vehicle information transmitted from the advertising projection device 200 via the transmitting/receiving unit 320. Based on this vehicle information, it selects an advertising image to be projected onto the vehicle from the advertising images stored in the storage unit 330, and transmits the selected advertising image to the advertising projection device 200 via the transmitting/receiving unit 320.

Figure 3 shows a control unit 310 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The control unit 310 includes a projection area setting unit 311 for setting a projection area on which advertisements are projected, an advertisement selection unit 312 for selecting advertisement images to be projected onto the vehicle, an advertisement image generation unit 313 for processing source images and generating advertisement images, and an incentive setting unit 314 for setting incentives for the user or owner of the vehicle on which the advertisement images are projected.

The projection area setting unit 311 sets a projection area on the vehicle's surface for projecting the advertising image, based on the vehicle information. For example, as shown in Figure 2, the projection area setting unit 311 may set the entire side of a parked vehicle as the projection area, or it may set only a portion of this side as the projection area.

The advertisement selection unit 312 selects an advertisement image to be projected onto the projection area based on the advertisement selection criteria. These criteria include conditions related to the color of the projection area, the time of day the advertisement is projected, the location of the parking area, the advertiser's intentions, and the intentions of the user or owner of the parked vehicle.

The memory unit 330 stores multiple advertising images to be projected onto the vehicle. The advertising image selected by the advertising selection unit 312 is sent to the advertising projection device 200 by the transmitting/receiving unit 320 and projected onto the vehicle by the projection unit 240.

The memory unit 330 may store not only the advertisement image itself, but also the source images for the advertisement image. In this case, the advertisement selection unit 312 selects the source image for the advertisement image to be projected from the source images stored in the memory unit 330, based on the advertisement selection conditions.

The advertising image generation unit 313 processes the material images selected by the advertising selection unit 312 to generate advertising images to be projected onto the vehicle. The advertising images generated by the advertising image generation unit 313 are sent to the advertising projection device 200 by the transmitting/receiving unit 320 and projected onto the vehicle by the projection unit 240.

The incentive setting unit 314 sets incentives for the user or owner of the vehicle on which the advertising image is projected. These incentives may include, for example, a discount on parking fees, a discount rate on parking fees, or discount coupons or usage coupons that can be used for future parking. The incentive setting unit 314 may set incentives before the projection of the advertising image begins or after the projection of the advertising image has finished.

In the above, the advertising projection system 100 is composed of an advertising projection device 200 and a server 300. However, the advertising projection device 200 may be configured to have all of the above-mentioned functions of the server 300, and the advertising projection system 100 may be composed solely of the advertising projection device 200. When the advertising projection system 100 is composed solely of the advertising projection device 200, the advertising projection device 200 corresponds to the information processing device of the above embodiment.

Furthermore, while the above describes the advertising projection system 100 projecting advertisements onto vehicles parked in the parking area of a parking meter, various types of vehicles can be considered as projection targets. For example, the advertising projection system 100 could project advertisements onto vehicles parked in the parking area of a parking lot, or it could project advertisements onto vehicles parked in a rotary in front of a train station. For example, when projecting advertisements onto vehicles parked in a rotary in front of a train station, it would be advisable to designate a portion of the rotary as the target parking area and install the advertising projection device 200 to acquire vehicle information of vehicles parked in this target parking area and to project advertisements onto the parked vehicles. In this case, the target parking area could be an area large enough to accommodate one vehicle, and the advertising projection device 200 could project an advertisement image using one vehicle as a screen, or the target parking area could be an area large enough to accommodate multiple vehicles, and the advertising projection device 200 could project an advertisement image using these multiple vehicles as screens.

Furthermore, the advertising projection system 100 is not limited to projecting advertising images onto vehicles. The advertising projection system 100 may also project advertisements onto other moving objects, such as trains or ships.

<Processing operations in the advertising projection system 100>
Figure 4 shows an example of the processing operation in the advertising projection system 100 when the image stored in the storage unit 330 is an advertising image. In the advertising projection device 200, when a vehicle is parked in the parking area, the control unit 210 acquires vehicle information of the parked vehicle using the vehicle information acquisition unit 220 (step S401). The transmitting and receiving unit 230 transmits this acquired vehicle information to the server 300 (step S402).

In the server 300, the control unit 310 receives vehicle information transmitted from the advertising projection device 200 via the transmitting/receiving unit 320 (step S403). The projection area setting unit 311 sets the projection area on the surface of the parked vehicle based on the received vehicle information (step S404). The advertising selection unit 312 selects an advertising image to be projected onto the set projection area from the advertising images stored in the storage unit 330 based on the advertising selection criteria (step S405). The control unit 310 transmits the selected advertising image to the advertising projection device 200 via the transmitting/receiving unit 320 (step S406).

In the advertising projection device 200, the control unit 210 receives the advertising image transmitted from the server 300 via the transmitting/receiving unit 230 (step S407). The control unit 210 then projects the received advertising image onto the parked vehicle using the projection unit 240 (step S408).

Figure 5 shows an example of the processing operation in the advertising projection system 100 when the image stored in the memory unit 330 is a source image for an advertisement. In the advertising projection device 200, when a vehicle is parked in the parking area, the control unit 210 acquires vehicle information of the parked vehicle using the vehicle information acquisition unit 220 (step S501). The control unit 210 then transmits this acquired vehicle information to the server 300 using the transmission/reception unit 230 (step S502).

In the server 300, the control unit 310 receives vehicle information transmitted from the advertising projection device 200 via the transmitting/receiving unit 320 (step S503). The projection area setting unit 311 sets the projection area on the surface of the parked vehicle based on the received vehicle information (step S504). The advertising selection unit 312 selects a source image for the advertising image to be projected onto the set projection area from the source images stored in the storage unit 330, based on the advertising selection criteria (step S305). The advertising image generation unit 313 processes the selected source image based on the set projection area to generate an advertising image (step S506). The control unit 310 transmits the generated advertising image to the advertising projection device 200 via the transmitting/receiving unit 320 (step S507).

In the advertising projection device 200, the control unit 210 receives the advertising image transmitted from the server 300 via the transmitting/receiving unit 230 (step S508). The control unit 210 then projects the received advertising image onto the parked vehicle using the projection unit 240 (step S509).

<Permission to project advertisements>
The advertising projection system 100 may project advertisements only onto vehicles that are authorized to project advertisements. To this end, for example, the control unit 310 of the server 300 may have a projection permission confirmation unit that checks whether or not a parked vehicle is a vehicle authorized to project advertisements.

The permission for projecting advertisements may be confirmed with the user or owner of the parked vehicle when it is parked. In this case, for example, the advertisement projection device 200 may have means (e.g., an input device such as a switch button or touch panel) to receive input regarding the permission for projecting advertisements from the user or owner of the parked vehicle, and this input information may be transmitted to the server 300. In this way, the projection permission confirmation unit can use this input information to confirm whether or not the parked vehicle is a vehicle permitted for advertisement projection.

Furthermore, the permission for projecting advertisements may be confirmed in advance with the user or owner of the parked vehicle. In this case, for example, a sticker or similar item with a code indicating permission for advertising projection could be distributed to the user or owner of the vehicle, and they could be asked to affix this sticker or item to the side or other surface of the vehicle. By doing so, the projection permission confirmation unit can use a well-known image analysis method to determine whether or not a parked vehicle is one that has been permitted to project advertisements, based on the image of the parked vehicle included in the vehicle information.

In the case of a rotary in front of a train station, it is advisable to clearly indicate that advertising images will be projected onto vehicles parked in the designated projection area, and to allow only vehicles that permit advertising images to be projected onto their vehicles to park in that area. For example, by designating an area close to the station as the projection area, vehicle users or owners can benefit from parking in an area close to the station by permitting advertising images to be projected onto their vehicles. Similarly, in the case of parking areas in service areas and parking areas, it is advisable to clearly indicate that advertising images will be projected onto vehicles parked in the designated advertising area, and to allow only vehicles that permit advertising images to be projected onto their vehicles to park in that area. For example, by designating a parking area close to the building of a service area or parking area as the advertising projection area, vehicle users or owners can benefit from parking in an area close to the station by permitting advertising images to be projected onto their vehicles to park in an area close to the station.

<Selection of vehicles to project advertisements>
Figure 6 shows a projection area setting unit 311 according to one embodiment of the present invention. Some vehicles have pictures or characters painted on their surface. In such cases, even if an advertising image is projected onto a vehicle with pictures or characters painted on it, the pictures or characters in the advertising image may overlap with the pictures or characters painted on the vehicle, making it difficult to recognize the content of the advertisement. Similarly, even if an advertisement is projected onto a vehicle with a dark color such as black, it may be difficult to recognize the content of the advertisement. In other words, vehicles with pictures or characters painted on them, or vehicles with a dark color such as black, are not suitable as screens for projecting advertising images. Even if an advertising image is projected onto such an unsuitable screen, the advertising effect will be small. Therefore, in order to exclude such unsuitable vehicles from being the target of advertising image projection, the projection area setting unit 311 according to this embodiment includes a condition determination unit 3111 and a projection determination unit 3112.

The projection area setting unit 311 includes a condition determination unit 3111 that determines whether a vehicle located in an area where an advertising image can be projected (advertising projection area) meets predetermined conditions, and a projection determination unit 3112 that decides to project an advertisement onto the vehicle if it meets the predetermined conditions, and decides not to project an advertisement onto the vehicle if it does not meet the predetermined conditions. The advertising projection area is, for example, the parking area when projecting an advertisement onto a vehicle parked in a parking area, or the target parking area within the rotary when projecting an advertisement onto a vehicle parked in a rotary. In other words, in this embodiment, before setting the projection area on the vehicle's surface, the projection area setting unit 311 checks whether the vehicle meets predetermined conditions, determines only vehicles that meet the predetermined conditions as targets for advertising projection, and sets the projection area for advertising projection only for these determined vehicles.

The specified conditions should include at least one of the following: a condition regarding the color of the surface on the vehicle where the advertising image can be projected (the projectable surface), and a condition regarding the text on the projectable surface. More specifically, the specified conditions should include at least one of the following: (Condition 1) The number of colors used in the painting of the projectable surface is less than or equal to a specified value; (Condition 2) The color of the projectable surface is not a specified color; (Condition 3) No text is painted on the projectable surface. Here, if the painting of the projectable surface includes multiple colors, the characteristic color of the projectable surface should be used as the color of the projectable surface in (Condition 2). The characteristic color of the projectable surface should, for example, be the color of the largest area among the areas when the projection area is divided into multiple areas for each color.

This method makes it possible to exclude vehicles unsuitable for screen projection from the advertising image projection target. For example, by including (Condition 1) in the specified conditions, it becomes possible to exclude vehicles with multiple colors on their surface—that is, vehicles with painted images on their surface, which would result in lower advertising effectiveness—from the advertising projection target. Furthermore, by including (Condition 2) in the specified conditions and setting the specified color to a dark color such as black, it becomes possible to exclude vehicles painted in dark colors such as black. Additionally, by including (Condition 3) in the specified conditions, it becomes possible to exclude vehicles with painted text on their surface from the advertising projection target.

On the other hand, vehicles with light colors such as white are suitable as screens for projecting advertisements. It is acceptable to select only vehicles suitable for such screens, i.e., vehicles with high advertising effectiveness, as targets for advertisement projection. Therefore, the predetermined conditions may include (condition 4) that the color of the projectable surface is a predetermined color. By including (condition 4) in the predetermined conditions and setting the predetermined color to a light color such as white, it becomes possible to project advertisements only onto vehicles with light colors such as white that are suitable as screens.

In this case, the condition determination unit 3111 may, for example, use a well-known image analysis method to acquire color information regarding the color of the projectable surface and determine whether or not text is painted on the projectable surface, based on the image of the vehicle included in the vehicle information.

Some advertisers may not want their advertisements projected onto specific vehicles. For example, Company A might not want its advertisements projected onto vehicles manufactured by an affiliate of its rival, Company B. Therefore, for example, the memory unit 330 should also store an exclusion list containing vehicle make and brand information that is not intended for advertising projection. The predetermined conditions should include (condition 5) that the vehicle make and brand are not included in the exclusion list. This allows advertisers to exclude vehicles of specific make and brand they do not wish to have their advertisements projected onto from the advertising projection target.

On the other hand, some advertisers may want to project their advertisements onto specific vehicles. For example, an advertiser might want to project their advertisements only onto luxury cars. Therefore, for example, the memory unit 330 should also store a list of target vehicles containing the vehicle make and brand to which the advertisements should be projected, and the predetermined conditions should include (condition 6) that the vehicle make and brand are included in the target vehicle list. This makes it possible to project advertisements only onto vehicles of the specific make and brand that the advertiser wishes to see.

In this case, the condition determination unit 3111 may, for example, use a well-known image analysis method to determine the vehicle type and brand based on the vehicle image included in the vehicle information.

Figure 7 shows an example of the processing operation in the projection area setting unit 311. The condition determination unit 3111 determines whether a vehicle in the advertising projection area meets predetermined conditions (step S701). The projection decision unit 3112 decides to project the advertisement onto the vehicle if the vehicle meets the predetermined conditions (step S701, YES) (step S702), and decides not to project the advertisement onto the vehicle if the vehicle does not meet the predetermined conditions (step S701, NO) (step S703).

<Ad Selection 1>
Figure 8 shows an advertisement selection unit 312 according to one embodiment of the present invention. If the vehicle's color and the advertisement's color scheme are incompatible, even if the advertisement is projected onto the vehicle, it may be difficult to see the content of the advertisement. For example, if an advertisement with black text is projected onto a black vehicle, the text portion will be difficult to see.

Therefore, each advertising image stored in the storage unit 330 according to this embodiment is associated with at least one color. The advertising selection unit 312 according to this embodiment includes a projection area color acquisition unit 3121 that acquires color information relating to the color of the projection area, and a selection unit 3122 that selects an image to be projected onto the projection area from among the advertising images stored in the storage unit 330, based on the acquired color information and the color associated with each advertising image.

This allows, for example, each advertising image stored in the memory unit 330 to be associated with a color that is compatible with the color scheme of that advertising image. The selection unit 3122 then selects the advertising image associated with the same color as the projection area, so that only advertising images with color schemes compatible with the projection area are projected onto the projection area.

When the projection area contains multiple colors, the projection area color acquisition unit 3121 should acquire a characteristic color of the projection area. For example, when the projection area is divided into multiple areas for each color, the color of the largest of these divided areas should be used as the characteristic color of the projection area.

Furthermore, it is advisable to prepare multiple color schemes of advertising images for each advertising target, such as products or services, and to store these advertising images in the storage unit 330. In other words, it is advisable to prepare multiple color schemes of advertising images for the same advertising target. By doing so, it becomes possible to project advertisements for that advertising target onto parked vehicles in a way that is visible to them, regardless of the color of the parked vehicle.

Furthermore, when the memory unit 330 stores source images for advertisements, it is preferable to associate each source image with at least one color. Then, the selection unit 3122 selects source images associated with the same color as the projection area, and the advertisement image generation unit 313 processes the selected source images without changing their color scheme to generate the advertisement image. This ensures that only advertisement images with color schemes compatible with the projection area are projected onto the projection area.

Figure 9 shows an example of the processing operation in the advertisement selection unit 312. The advertisement selection unit 312 acquires color information related to the color of the projection area (step S901). Based on the acquired color information and the colors associated with each advertisement image, it selects the advertisement image to be projected (step S902).

<Ad Selection 2>
As shown in Figure 10, there are cases where multiple parking areas PA1 to PA4 are lined up, and multiple vehicles AM1 to AM3 are parked consecutively in these multiple parking areas PA1 to PA4. In such cases, as shown in Figure 10, it is advisable to project a continuous advertisement AD1, which consists of multiple images AD1-1 to AD1-3, onto these multiple vehicles AM1 to AM3. Such a continuous advertisement can present a larger advertisement than a single advertisement projected onto one vehicle, and can have a greater impact on the viewer than a single advertisement. Furthermore, such a continuous advertisement can present a series advertisement consisting of multiple images.

Therefore, the advertisement selection unit 312 according to one embodiment of the present invention further includes a continuous parking detection unit 3123 that detects that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively in multiple projectable areas, a continuous parking count acquisition unit 3124 that acquires the number of consecutively parked vehicles, and a position acquisition unit 3125 that acquires the position of each vehicle among the consecutively parked vehicles. The storage unit 330 according to this embodiment stores not only images of single advertisements that form a single advertisement when projected onto one vehicle, but also images of continuous advertisements that form a single advertisement when projected onto multiple consecutively parked moving objects. The selection unit 3122 according to this embodiment selects a continuous advertisement as the advertisement to be projected onto these multiple vehicles when multiple vehicles are parked consecutively. The continuous advertisement may consist of multiple advertisement images or a single advertisement image.

For example, as shown in Figure 10, if an advertising projection device 200 is installed in each of the multiple adjacent parking areas PA1 to PA4, the continuous advertisement should be composed of multiple advertising images. Here, the multiple adjacent parking areas PA1 to PA4 correspond to multiple adjacent projectionable areas. In the example shown in Figure 10, the continuous parking detection unit 3123 detects that multiple vehicles AM1 to AM3 are parked consecutively in the multiple adjacent parking areas PA1 to PA4.

The selection unit 3122 then selects a continuous advertisement, composed of the same number of advertising images as the number of vehicles parked consecutively, as acquired by the continuous parking vehicle acquisition unit 3124, to be projected onto these consecutively parked vehicles. In the example shown in Figure 10, three vehicles AM1 to AM3 are parked consecutively, and the selection unit 3122 selects continuous advertisement AD1, composed of three advertising images AD1-1 to AD1-3, as the advertisement to be projected onto vehicles AM1 to AM3.

Furthermore, the selection unit 3122 selects the advertising images to be projected onto each vehicle from among the advertising images that make up the continuous advertisement, based on the position of each vehicle in the continuously parked vehicles acquired by the position acquisition unit 3125. In the example shown in Figure 10, the continuously parked vehicles AM1 to AM3 are arranged from left to right in the order of vehicle AM1, vehicle AM2, and vehicle AM3. The continuous advertisement AD1 is formed by arranging advertising images AD1-1, AD1-2, and AD1-3 from left to right. Therefore, the selection unit 3122 selects advertising image AD1-1 as the advertising image to be projected onto vehicle AM1, advertising image AD1-2 as the advertising image to be projected onto vehicle AM2, and advertising image AD1-3 as the advertising image to be projected onto vehicle AM3.

Furthermore, for example, as shown in Figure 11, when projecting continuous advertisements onto vehicles AM1 to AM3 parked consecutively in the target parking area OA of the rotary in front of the station, a single advertisement projection device 200 may be used to project a continuous advertisement AD2 consisting of a single advertisement image. In this case, the selection unit 3122 selects a continuous advertisement of a size corresponding to the number of consecutively parked vehicles acquired, for example, by the consecutive parking number acquisition unit 3124, as the advertisement to be projected onto these consecutively parked vehicles.

The continuous parking detection unit 3123 may detect that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively by sequentially checking whether a vehicle is parked in each of the multiple projectable areas arranged in a row at predetermined time intervals, or it may detect that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively when, for example, a vehicle is newly parked in one of the multiple projectable areas arranged in a row.

When detecting that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively at the moment a vehicle is newly parked in one of several adjacent projectionable areas, the consecutive parking detection unit 3123 sets the projectionable area where the new vehicle was parked as the focus projectionable area. It then checks whether vehicles are parked in either of the projectionable areas adjacent to this focus projectionable area to detect that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively. The selection unit 3122 then selects a continuous advertisement to project onto the vehicle parked in the focus projectionable area if vehicles are parked in either of the adjacent projectionable areas. If no vehicles are parked in either of the adjacent projectionable areas, it selects a single advertisement to project onto the vehicle parked in the focus projectionable area.

Figure 12 shows an example of the processing operation in the advertisement selection unit 312. The continuous parking detection unit 3123 checks whether a vehicle is parked in either of the projectionable areas adjacent to the area of interest (step S1201). If a vehicle is parked in either of the projectionable areas adjacent to the area of interest (step S1201, YES), the selection unit 3122 selects a continuous advertisement as the advertisement to be projected onto the vehicle parked in the area of interest (step S1202). If no vehicle is parked in either of the projectionable areas adjacent to the area of interest (step S1201, NO), the selection unit 3122 selects a single advertisement as the advertisement to be projected onto the vehicle parked in the area of interest (step S1203).

If advertisements are to be projected only onto vehicles that are permitted to receive them, the continuous parking detection unit 3123 should be configured to detect when multiple vehicles permitted to receive advertisements are parked consecutively in a series of adjacent projection-enabled areas. In this case, the storage unit 330 should store information regarding whether or not advertisement projection is permitted for each of the vehicles parked in the series of adjacent projection-enabled areas.

As shown in Figure 13(A), there are cases where vehicles are parked in parking areas PA1, PA3, and PA4, but parking area PA2 is empty. In such cases, for example, a single advertisement AD3 is projected onto vehicle AM1 parked in parking area PA1, and a continuous advertisement AD4, consisting of two advertisement images AD4-1 and AD4-2, is projected onto vehicles AM3 and AM4 parked consecutively in parking areas PA3 and PA4. In this state, as shown in Figure 13(B), when vehicle AM2 is parked in parking area PA2, the advertisement projection system 100 should stop projecting the single advertisement AD3 and the continuous advertisement AD4, and project the continuous AD5 onto vehicles AM1 to AM4.

In this case, for example, the continuous parking detection unit 3123 detects that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively by checking whether vehicles are parked in the projectable areas adjacent to the target projectable area, which is one of the multiple projectable areas. In the example shown in Figure 13, the parking area PA2 where a vehicle has just been parked is set as the target projectable area, and the continuous parking detection unit 3123 detects that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively by checking whether vehicles are parked in either of the parking areas PA1 or PA3 adjacent to parking area PA2.

The selection unit 3122 then selects a continuous advertisement, composed of the same number of advertising images as the number of vehicles parked consecutively, as acquired by the continuous parking vehicle acquisition unit 3124, to be projected onto these consecutively parked vehicles. In the example shown in Figure 13(B), four vehicles AM1 to AM4 are parked consecutively, and the selection unit 3122 selects the continuous advertisement AD5, composed of four advertising images AD5-1 to AD5-4.

Furthermore, the selection unit 3122 selects the advertising images to be projected onto each vehicle from among the advertising images that make up the continuous advertisement, based on the position of each vehicle acquired by the position acquisition unit 3125. In the example shown in Figure 13(B), the continuously parked vehicles AM1 to AM4 are arranged from left to right in the order of vehicle AM1, vehicle AM2, vehicle AM3, and vehicle AM4. The continuous advertisement AD5 is formed by arranging the advertising images AD5-1, AD5-2, AD5-3, and AD5-4 from left to right. Therefore, the selection unit 3122 selects advertising image AD5-1 as the advertising image to be projected onto vehicle AM1, advertising image AD5-2 as the advertising image to be projected onto vehicle AM2, advertising image AD5-3 as the advertising image to be projected onto vehicle AM3, and advertising image AD5-4 as the advertising image to be projected onto vehicle AM4.

The control unit 310 then transmits advertisement AD5-1 to the advertisement projection device 200 corresponding to vehicle PA1, advertisement AD5-2 to the advertisement projection device 200 corresponding to vehicle PA2, advertisement AD5-3 to the advertisement projection device 200 corresponding to vehicle PA3, and advertisement AD5-4 to the advertisement projection device 200 corresponding to vehicle PA4. Each of the advertisement projection devices 200 receives the transmitted advertisement image and projects the received advertisement image onto the vehicle.

Furthermore, the memory unit 330 may store multiple patterns of continuous advertisements corresponding to the number of consecutive parking spaces, such as a two-part advertisement consisting of two advertisement images, a three-part advertisement consisting of three advertisement images, or a four-part advertisement consisting of four advertisement images.

Furthermore, the storage unit 330 may store the advertising images themselves that constitute the continuous advertisement, or it may store the source images of the advertising images that constitute the continuous advertisement, and the control unit 310 may process these source images using the advertising image generation unit 350 to generate the advertising images, which are then transmitted to the advertising projection device 200.

Figure 14 shows an example of the processing operation in the advertising projection system 100 in the example shown in Figure 13. The advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA1 projects the advertising image AD3 of a single advertisement onto vehicle AM1; the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA3 projects the advertising image AD4-1 of a continuous advertisement AD4 onto vehicle AM3; and the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA4 projects the advertising image AD4-2 of a continuous advertisement AD4 onto vehicle AM4 (step S1401). When vehicle AM2 is parked in parking area PA2, the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA2 acquires vehicle information for vehicle AM2 and transmits this information to the server 300 (step S1402).

In the server 300, the control unit 310 receives vehicle information of the vehicle AM2 via the transmitting/receiving unit 320, and the projection area setting unit 311 sets a projection area on the surface of the vehicle AM2 (step S1403). In the server 300, the continuous vehicle detection unit 3123 of the advertisement selection unit 312 detects that multiple vehicles are parked consecutively by checking whether or not a vehicle is parked in either of the adjacent parking areas PA1 or PA3 to parking area PA2. The selection unit 3122 of the advertisement selection unit 312 selects a continuous advertisement AD5 consisting of four advertisement images AD5-1 to AD5-4, the same number of advertisement images as the number of consecutively parked vehicles acquired by the continuous parking count acquisition unit 3124, as advertisements to be projected onto vehicles AM1 to AM4. Based on the position of each vehicle acquired by the position acquisition unit 3125, it selects advertisement image AD5-1 as the advertisement image to be projected onto vehicle AM1, advertisement image AD5-2 as the advertisement image to be projected onto vehicle AM2, advertisement image AD5-3 as the advertisement image to be projected onto vehicle AM3, and advertisement image AD5-4 as the advertisement image to be projected onto vehicle AM4 (step S1404). In server 300, the control unit 310 transmits advertising image AD5-1 to the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA1, advertising image AD5-2 to the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA2, advertising image AD5-3 to the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA3, and advertising image AD5-4 to the advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA4 (step S1405).

The advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA1 receives advertising image AD5-1 and projects it onto vehicle AM1. The advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA2 receives advertising image AD5-2 and projects it onto vehicle AM2. The advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA3 receives advertising image AD5-3 and projects it onto vehicle AM3. The advertising projection device 200 corresponding to parking area PA4 receives advertising image AD5-4 and projects it onto vehicle AM4 (step S1406).

<Generating advertising images 1>
When attempting to project an advertising image onto the entire side of a vehicle, the shape of the vehicle's side varies, and simply projecting a rectangular advertising image will result in projected light extending beyond the vehicle's side. This extended light can illuminate objects or people other than those on the vehicle's side. Therefore, when projecting an advertising image onto the entire side of a vehicle, it is advisable to block the projected light that extends beyond the vehicle's side. However, blocking a portion of the projected light in this way can also block the projection of important parts of the advertising image, potentially resulting in parts of the image being projected incomplete. For this reason, the advertising image must be generated in a way that ensures no important parts are missing even when a portion of the projected light is blocked. Important parts could include text such as the brand name and message, or the QR code for coupon distribution.

Therefore, the source image of the advertisement stored in the storage unit 330 according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a background image and one or more parts to be displayed on this background. Figures 15(A) and 4-2 show examples of source images stored in the storage unit 330. In the example shown in Figure 15(A), the source image consists of a background B and one part P, and in the example shown in Figure 16, the source image consists of a background B and multiple parts P1 to P5. Note that in Figures 15 and 4-2, the shapes of the background and parts are rectangular, but the shapes of the background and parts are not limited to rectangles and can be any shape.

Furthermore, the advertising image generation unit 313 in this embodiment acquires the source image from the storage unit 330, shapes the background image according to the shape of the vehicle, processes the parts of the source image so that they fit within the shaped background, and generates the advertising image. The advertising image generation unit 313 corresponds to the advertising acquisition unit and advertising image generation unit in the above embodiment.

Part processing includes, for example, moving and resizing. For instance, in the example shown in Figure 15, background B is cropped according to the shape of the vehicle's side, as shown in Figure 15(B). Part P is then processed to fit within this cropped background B, generating the advertisement image. In the example shown in Figure 15, part P is moved and resized to fit within this cropped background B.

In this way, in this embodiment, it becomes possible to project the advertisement onto the vehicle without any parts being missing. Therefore, in this embodiment, by separating the important parts of the advertisement image from the background B and designating them as part P, the advertisement image can be projected onto the vehicle without any important parts being missing.

Furthermore, as shown in Figure 16, the source image may be composed of a background B and multiple parts P1 to P5. In this case, each of the multiple parts P1 to P5 should be associated with a standard position on background B. The standard position can be indicated, for example, by two-dimensional coordinates on background B.

Then, in the example shown in Figure 16, the source image is processed as shown in Figure 17. First, as shown in Figure 17(A), the advertising image generation unit 313, for example, crops the background B to match the shape of the vehicle.

Each of parts P1 to P4 is positioned in a standard location on background B, as shown in Figure 17(A). However, in Figure 17(A), parts P1, P3, and P4 do not fit within the cropped background B. Therefore, the advertising image generation unit 313 moves parts P1, P3, and P4 so that they fit within the cropped background B, as shown in Figure 17(B).

In the example shown in Figure 17, each part is moved vertically to fit within the cropped background B. However, there are various ways to move parts that do not fit within the cropped background to do so. For example, the parts could be moved horizontally. Alternatively, the parts could be moved in the direction that minimizes the movement distance. Furthermore, information on how to move parts that do not fit within the cropped background B could be attached to each part, and the parts could be moved based on this information.

In Figure 17(B), part P3 does not overlap with other parts, but part P1 overlaps with part P2, and part P4 overlaps with part P5. Therefore, it is desirable to assign a priority order to each of the multiple parts P1 through P5.

For example, in the example shown in Figure 17, part P1 has a higher priority than part P2.
Assume that part P5 has a higher priority than part P4. In this case, the advertising image generation unit 313 generates the advertising image shown in Figure 17(C) by, for example, reducing the size of part P2, which has a lower priority than part P1, so that it does not overlap with part P1, and reducing the size of part P4, which has a lower priority than part P5, so that it does not overlap with part P5. In this way, in this embodiment, by setting the priority so that parts of higher importance have a higher priority, it becomes possible to project the advertising image onto the vehicle without any parts being missing, and without changing the size of the parts of higher importance.

Some parts may be partially missing, but should not be reduced in size. For such parts, it is advisable to add information indicating that they can be overlaid with other parts. For example, in the example shown in Figure 17, part 4 is a part that can be overlaid with other parts. In this case, the advertising image generation unit 313 generates the advertising image shown in Figure 17(D) by, for example, reducing part P2, which has a lower priority than part P1, so that it no longer overlaps with part P1, and then overlaying part P5, which has a higher priority than part P4, on top of part P4.

As described above, in this embodiment, since each of the multiple parts is associated with a standard position on background B, it is possible to generate an advertising image without significantly altering the relative positional relationships of each part. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to project the advertisement onto the vehicle without significantly changing the impression of the advertisement.

Figure 18 shows an example of the processing operation in the advertising image generation unit 313. The background of the source image is trimmed (step S1801). It is checked whether all parts placed at the standard positions fit within the trimmed background (step S1802). If there are parts that do not fit within the trimmed background (step S1802, YES), those parts are moved into the trimmed background (step S1803). It is checked whether the moved parts overlap with other parts (step S1804). If the moved parts overlap with other parts (step S1804, YES), the part with the lower priority among the overlapping parts is reduced in size (step S1805).

<Generating advertising images 2>
Figure 19 shows an advertising image generation unit 313 according to one embodiment of the present invention. When attempting to project an advertisement onto the entire side of a vehicle, the side of the vehicle includes the body, door panel, door glass, bumper, and tire sections, and each section differs in color, flatness, transparency, etc., resulting in different suitability as a screen for projecting advertisements. For example, a door panel painted white is a large white area and is suitable as a screen for projecting advertisements. On the other hand, the tire section is generally black and has uneven surfaces, making it unsuitable as a screen for projecting advertisements. Important parts of the advertisement need to be projected so that they are visible, and it is best to project them onto an area that is as suitable as possible as a screen.

Therefore, the advertising material image stored in the storage unit 330 according to this embodiment includes pre-set important parts. The advertising image generation unit 313 according to this embodiment includes a region information acquisition unit 3131 that acquires region information for each of a plurality of regions on the surface of the vehicle, including at least one of the region's color, size, and flatness; and a projection region selection unit 3132 that selects a region from the plurality of regions to which the important parts will be projected based on this region information. As a result, the advertising image generation unit 313 according to this embodiment generates an advertising image such that the important parts are projected onto a region suitable as a screen.

Multiple regions on the surface of the vehicle may be defined, for example, by the projection region setting unit 311, which divides the surface of the vehicle based on the vehicle image or 3D data included in the vehicle information using a well-known image analysis method or 3D data analysis method. The region information acquisition unit 3131 may then acquire region information for each of these divided regions based on the vehicle image or 3D data included in the vehicle information using a well-known image analysis method or 3D data analysis method. In this case, the projection region setting unit 311 may acquire the color distribution of the vehicle surface based on the vehicle image using a well-known image analysis method, and divide the vehicle surface into multiple regions by color. Alternatively, for example, the storage unit 330 may store region information for each vehicle type, including multiple regions on the vehicle surface and at least one of the color, size, and flatness of each region. The region information acquisition unit 3131 may then determine the vehicle type based on the vehicle image included in the vehicle information using a well-known image analysis method, and acquire region information from the storage unit 330 for each of the multiple regions on the vehicle surface based on the determined vehicle type.

When the color of an area is a light color such as white, this area has high reflectivity and is suitable for use as a screen. On the other hand, when the color of an area is a dark color such as black, this area has low reflectivity and is not suitable for use as a screen. Therefore, the projection area selection unit 3132 should select the area on which to project important parts from among multiple areas based on the color of the area. In this way, it becomes possible to select the area on which to project important parts from among multiple areas based on the suitability of the vehicle as a screen. For example, the projection area selection unit 3132 should select a light-colored area such as white, rather than a dark-colored area such as black, as the area on which to project important parts. By doing so, it becomes possible to project important parts onto an area with high suitability as a screen for projecting advertisements, and to project important parts in a way that makes them visible.

Furthermore, the larger the area, the larger the image can be projected, thereby improving image visibility. Therefore, a larger area is more suitable as a screen for projecting advertisements. Accordingly, the projection area selection unit 3132 should select an area for projecting important parts from among multiple areas based on the size of the area. This allows for the selection of an area for projecting important parts from among multiple areas based on the vehicle's suitability as a screen. For example, the projection area selection unit 3132 should select the largest area among multiple areas, or an area with an area higher than a predetermined threshold, as the area for projecting important parts. This makes it possible to project important parts onto an area with high suitability as a screen for projecting advertisements, ensuring that the important parts are projected in a visible manner.

The flatter the area, the less distortion there is in the projected image, and the higher the visibility of the image. Therefore, the flatter the area, the more suitable it is for a screen to project advertisements. The projection area selection unit 3132 should select an area for projecting important parts from among multiple areas based on the flatness of the area. This makes it possible to select an area for projecting important parts from among multiple areas based on its suitability as a vehicle screen. For example, the projection area selection unit 3132 should select the area with the highest flatness among multiple areas, or an area with flatness higher than a predetermined threshold, as the area for projecting important parts. This makes it possible to project important parts onto an area with high suitability as a screen for projecting advertisements, and to project important parts in a visible manner.

Figure 20 shows an example of the processing operation in the advertising image generation unit 313. Area information is acquired for each of the multiple areas on the vehicle's surface (step S2001). Based on the area information, the area to which important parts will be projected is selected from the multiple areas (step S2002).

The advertising image generation unit 350 may calculate screen suitability for each region based on region information. The projection region selection unit 3132 may select the region on which important parts will be projected from among multiple regions based on the screen suitability. Here, screen suitability is a value indicating how suitable a region is as a screen for advertising.

For example, screen suitability should be calculated based on at least one of the area's color, size, or flatness. As mentioned above, light-colored areas, such as white, are more suitable for screens than dark-colored areas, such as black. Therefore, screen suitability should be defined such that the screen suitability for light-colored areas is greater than that for dark-colored areas. Furthermore, the larger the area, the more suitable it is for projecting advertisements onto a screen. Therefore, screen suitability should be defined such that the screen suitability increases with increasing area size. Also, the flatter the area, the more suitable it is for projecting advertisements onto a screen. Therefore, screen suitability should be defined such that the screen suitability increases with increasing area flatness. By doing this, it becomes possible to project important elements onto areas with high suitability as screens for advertisement projection, ensuring that these important elements are projected clearly and legibly.

Furthermore, the projection area selection unit 3132 may check whether there is an area among the multiple areas where the screen suitability is above a predetermined threshold. If such an area exists, it may select an area from among those areas where the screen suitability is above the predetermined threshold to project important parts. Alternatively, if no area among the multiple areas has a screen suitability above the predetermined threshold, the projection area selection unit 3132 may choose not to project advertisements onto that vehicle. This makes it possible to project advertisements only onto vehicles where there are areas with a sufficiently high screen suitability.

If an advertising image contains multiple important parts, it is preferable to assign a positional relationship between each important part to it. The projection area selection unit 3132 should then select the projection area for each of the multiple important parts based on the positional relationship between the important parts and the positional relationship between areas where the screen fit is above a predetermined threshold. For example, if there are two important parts and two or more areas where the screen fit is above a predetermined threshold, and the two important parts are positioned left-to-right, it is preferable to select the areas with a left-to-right positional relationship from the areas where the screen fit is above a predetermined threshold as the projection area for the two important parts. This makes it possible to project the important parts in a visible manner without disrupting their positional relationship.

Furthermore, for example, if a horizontally oriented important part is projected onto a vertically oriented area, the area of the area where the important part is not projected will be larger than the area where the important part is projected. As a result, when an important part is projected onto such an area, it cannot be projected sufficiently, and the visibility of the important part deteriorates. Therefore, the projection area selection unit 3132 may use a well-known image analysis method to determine whether the shape of each of the multiple areas is suitable for projecting the important part, and select the area on which to project the important part from among the areas with a shape suitable for projecting the important part. For example, the projection area selection unit 3132 may determine whether the shape of each of the multiple areas is suitable for projecting the important part based on the aspect ratio of the important part and the aspect ratio of the area. Alternatively, if there is no area among the multiple areas with a shape suitable for projecting the important part, the projection area selection unit 3132 may decide not to use that vehicle as a target for advertising projection.

Furthermore, if an advertising image contains multiple important parts, each important part may be assigned a priority level. The projection area selection unit 3132 may then select a projection area for each of the important parts from among several areas, based on the priority level of the important part and its screen suitability. By doing so, for example, by setting a priority level such that higher-priority parts have a higher priority, it becomes possible to project the most important parts into areas more suitable for the screen, thereby making them more visible.

<Setting up incentives>
Figure 21 shows an incentive setting unit 314 according to one embodiment of the present invention. Incentives for users or owners of vehicles on which advertisements are projected should be set based on the advertising effect. In other words, it is best to set higher incentives for users or owners of vehicles on which advertisements can be projected with high advertising effect. In this way, it becomes possible to motivate users or owners of vehicles on which advertisements can be projected with high advertising effect to park their vehicles in the projectionable area. Therefore, the incentive setting unit 314 according to this embodiment includes a projectable surface information acquisition unit 3141 that acquires information on the projectable surface of the vehicle (projectable surface information), and a setting unit 3142 that sets incentives for the vehicle user or owner based on the acquired projectable surface information.

The projectable surface information should preferably include at least one of the following: the color, size, and flatness of the projectable surface. The projectable surface information acquisition unit 3141 should, for example, acquire the projectable surface information based on images or 3D data of the vehicle included in the vehicle information, using a well-known image analysis method or 3D data analysis method.

When the projectable surface is a light color such as white, it has high reflectivity and is suitable as a screen. On the other hand, when the projectable surface is a dark color such as black, it has low reflectivity and is unsuitable as a screen. Therefore, the setting unit 3142 should set incentives for the vehicle user or owner based on the color of the projectable surface. This makes it possible to set incentives for the vehicle user or owner based on the vehicle's suitability as a screen. For example, the setting unit 3142 should set the incentive for the user or owner of a vehicle with a light-colored projectable surface (such as white) higher than the incentive for the user or owner of a vehicle with a dark-colored projectable surface (such as black). This makes it possible to set higher incentives for users or owners of vehicles with high suitability as screens for advertising, i.e., vehicles capable of high-impact advertising projection. As a result, it becomes possible to incentivize users or owners of vehicles capable of high-impact advertising projection to park their vehicles in the projection area.

Furthermore, the larger the projectable surface, the larger the advertising image that can be projected onto the vehicle, thereby increasing the visibility of the advertisement. Therefore, the larger the projectable surface, the more suitable it is as a screen for projecting advertisements. Accordingly, the setting unit 3142 should set incentives for the vehicle's user or owner based on the size of the projectable surface. This makes it possible to set incentives for the vehicle's user or owner based on its suitability as a screen. For example, the setting unit 3142 should set higher incentives for the user or owner of a vehicle with a larger projectable surface. This makes it possible to set higher incentives for users or owners of vehicles with high suitability as advertising screens, i.e., vehicles capable of projecting highly effective advertisements. As a result, it becomes possible to incentivize users or owners of vehicles capable of projecting highly effective advertisements to park their vehicles in the projectable area.

The flatter the projection surface, the less distortion there is in the projected advertising image, and the higher the visibility of the advertising image. Therefore, the setting unit 3142 should set incentives for the vehicle user or owner based on the flatness of the projection surface. This makes it possible to set incentives for the vehicle user or owner based on the vehicle's suitability as a screen. For example, the setting unit 3142 should set the incentive for the user or owner of a vehicle with a high degree of projection surface flatness higher than the incentive for the user or owner of a vehicle with a low degree of projection surface flatness. This makes it possible to set higher incentives for users or owners of vehicles with high suitability as screens for advertising, i.e., vehicles capable of high-impact advertising projection. As a result, it becomes possible to incentivize users or owners of vehicles capable of high-impact advertising projection to park their vehicles in the projection area.

The incentive should be related to parking fees. For example, the incentive could be a discount amount or percentage on parking fees. This would incentivize drivers to park in the advertising-projection area, as parking in that area would be cheaper than parking in other areas. Alternatively, the incentive could be a coupon usable for future parking.

The setting unit 3142 should ideally set incentives before the advertisement projection begins. This would, for example, in cases where the system confirms with the user or owner of a parked vehicle whether or not to allow the advertisement projection before it begins, motivate the user or owner to permit the advertisement projection on their vehicle.

Furthermore, the setting unit 3142 may set incentives after the advertisement projection has finished. In this case, the setting unit 3142 should obtain the duration of the advertisement projection and set incentives for the vehicle user or owner based on that duration. For example, the setting unit 3142 may increase the discount rate the longer the advertisement projection time. This makes it possible to mitigate the increase in parking fees due to long-term parking, thereby incentivizing vehicle users or owners to park for extended periods. As a result, longer-term advertisement projection becomes possible, leading to more effective advertising.

Figure 22 shows the processing operation in the incentive setting unit 314. Information on the projectable surface of the vehicle is acquired (step S2201). Based on the projectable surface information, an incentive is set for the vehicle user or owner (step S2202).

The present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments. While specific examples have been provided here, various modifications and changes can be made to these examples without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in the claims.

100 Advertising projection system 200 Advertising projection device 210 Control unit 220 Vehicle information acquisition unit 230 Transmit/receive unit 240 Projection unit 300 Server 310 Control unit 311 Projection area setting unit 3111 Condition determination unit 3112 Projection decision unit 312 Advertising selection unit 3121 Projection area color acquisition unit 3122 Selection unit 3123 Continuous parking detection unit 3124 Continuous parking number acquisition unit 3125 Position acquisition unit 313 Advertising image generation unit 3131 Area information acquisition unit 3132 Projection area selection unit 314 Incentive setting unit 3141 Projectionable surface information acquisition unit 3142 Setting unit 320 Transmit/receive unit 330 Storage unit

Claims (5)

A projection area color acquisition unit acquires color information related to the color of the projection area on which an advertising image is projected,
A memory unit that stores multiple advertising images, each associated with at least one color,
It includes a selection unit that selects an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among the multiple advertising images based on the aforementioned color information and the colors associated with the multiple advertising images,
The target audience for the aforementioned multiple advertising images is the same.
The color schemes of the aforementioned multiple advertising images are different from each other, according to the information processing device. The projection area is set on the surface of the moving object, as described in claim 1. A method of information processing performed by a computer,
A projection area color acquisition process that acquires color information related to the color of the projection area on which the advertising image is projected,
The system includes a selection step of selecting an advertising image to be projected onto the projection area from among a plurality of advertising images, each of which is associated with at least one color, based on the color information and the colors associated with the plurality of advertising images.
The target audience for the aforementioned multiple advertising images is the same.
The color schemes of the aforementioned multiple advertising images are determined by different information processing methods. An information processing program that causes a computer to execute the information processing method described in claim 3. A computer-readable storage medium storing the information processing program described in claim 4.