JP2001102182A - Road lighting lighting control system and road lighting lighting control method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a system and method for road lighting capable of saving power at night. A camera (12) is arranged so that a road (RD) is included in a field of view and obtains an image in the field of view, and a vehicle (CA) traveling on a road from an image obtained by the camera (12).
, A plurality of illuminating lights 11,... According to the detection result by the vehicle detecting means 15.
And control means 15 for controlling turning on / off of the light source 11.
With this control, only the illuminating lamp 11 that is within the visual field in front of the vehicle is turned on.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lighting control system for road lighting and a lighting control method for road lighting, and more particularly, to a control system and a control method for controlling lighting and extinguishing of road lighting in conjunction with vehicle traffic. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art According to conventional road lighting, as seen on a highway or the like, illuminating lamps are arranged at regular intervals along a road, and are lit simultaneously at night.

[0003]

However, conventional road lighting is always set to be lit at night regardless of whether or not there is traffic. This lighting state did not change even when the vehicle did not pass for a long time. For this reason, the power consumption becomes enormous compared to the traffic volume, and measures from the viewpoint of energy saving have been required.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of such conventional road lighting conditions, and has as its object to provide a road lighting system and method capable of saving power at night.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for controlling lighting of a plurality of illuminating lamps disposed along a road, the system comprising: Imaging means arranged to fit within the vehicle and obtaining an image within the field of view, vehicle detection means for detecting the presence of a vehicle traveling on the road from the image obtained by the imaging means, and Control means for controlling turning on / off of the plurality of illumination lamps according to a detection result.

Preferably, when the detection means detects the presence of a running vehicle, the control means determines each of the plurality of lighting lamps based on the predicted arrival time of the vehicle at each of the lighting lights. Also, at least retroactively lighting the time taking into account the traveling state of the vehicle and a predetermined visibility distance, and,
This is a means for turning off the light when this time has elapsed. In this case, for example, when the detection unit detects the presence of the traveling vehicle, the control unit predicts a predetermined visibility distance and a prediction unit that predicts a time required for the vehicle to travel, The lighting time at which each of the lighting lamps is turned on at a time that is earlier than the predicted arrival time of the vehicle at each of the lighting lamps by the required time, and the predicted time elapses from the lighting of each of the plurality of lighting lamps. Lighting means for turning off the light at the set time. Further, when the presence of the traveling vehicle is detected by the detection unit, the control unit sets a predetermined visibility distance to a time required for the vehicle to travel and a time considering the lighting characteristics of each of the illumination lamps. Prediction means for predicting the total time of the plurality of lighting lamps, and a lighting time for lighting each of the plurality of lighting lamps at a time preceding the predicted arrival time of the vehicle to each of the lighting lamps by the total time, and Lighting means may be provided for turning off each of the illumination lights at the time when the total time has elapsed.

[0007] Preferably, the control means turns on one of the plurality of lighting lights which enters a predetermined field of view in front of the vehicle when the detection means detects the presence of a running vehicle. And turning on / off the lighting so as to turn off the illuminating lamp that is deviating backward from the field of view.

Further, the image pickup means may be means for obtaining an image in the field of view with time, and the vehicle detection means may be means for detecting the presence of a vehicle traveling on the road at regular intervals. . Further, a plurality of the image pickup means may be provided apart from each other, and the vehicle detection means and the control means may be separately provided for each of the plurality of image pickup means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in a road lighting control method for controlling lighting of a plurality of illuminating lamps arranged along a road, an image is obtained by putting the road in a field of view. The presence of a vehicle traveling on the road is detected from this image, and when the presence of a traveling vehicle is detected thereby, each of the plurality of lighting lamps is transmitted to each of the lighting lamps. It is characterized in that the light is turned on at least a time that takes into account the traveling state of the vehicle and a predetermined visibility distance from the predicted arrival time, and is turned off after this time has elapsed.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A road lighting system implementing a lighting control system for road lighting according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 1, a plurality of road lighting lamps 11,..., 11 are provided at predetermined intervals along a road RD. The interval between the illumination lamps may be equal or unequal.

Each of the illuminating lamps 11 includes a column 11A that stands upright from a road shoulder and extends in the middle in the middle of the column, and a lamp 11B that is hung at the tip of the column 11A. Lamp 1
Various lamps such as an incandescent lamp, a mercury lamp, a fluorescent lamp, a xenon lamp, and a halogen lamp are used for the lamp 1B, and power is supplied from a power line supplied through the support 11A.

Among the illuminating lamps 11,..., A predetermined number of illuminating lamps 11s include, for example, a CCD as an image pickup means.
A type camera 12 is attached. The camera 12 is installed, for example, in the vicinity of the lamp 11B at the tip of the illumination light 11s, and shoots an image in the field of view including the vehicle passing on the road surface from above by turning the field of view downward, for example, by using a digital amount. Image data can be output. As the camera, for example, a camera using an image pickup tube, a CMOS camera, an infrared camera, or the like may be used.

The image data output by the cameras 12,..., 12 is connected to a computer 15 of a control center 14 via transmission means 13 such as a digital line. The transmission means may be a transmission medium such as a radio wave. The computer 15 reads the image data sent from each camera 12 and detects a running vehicle based on the image data.
Calculation of vehicle speed, and lighting 12 linked to passing vehicles,
.., 12 are turned on and off for each camera and for each illumination lamp.

The lighting control signal for each lighting lamp generated by the computer 15 is sent to each lighting lamp 11 via a control line 16 to control the lighting and extinguishing of the lamp 11B.

Although FIG. 1 shows this road lighting system only on one of the up lane and the down lane, it is obvious that the system may be implemented on both the up lane and the down lane. In addition, each of the up lane and the down lane may be configured with two lanes or three lanes.

The processing by the computer 15 of the control center 14 will be described with reference to FIGS.

During execution of the main program, the computer 15 executes the processing routine shown in FIG. 2 for each camera 12 and at regular intervals (for example, every second) according to a preset algorithm. I do.

First, the camera 12 captures an image at that time, reads image data, applies a known image processing method such as a difference method to the image data, and detects a running (moving) vehicle (step S1). , S2). Here, only the running vehicle is detected, and the stopped vehicle is not detected.

Next, the computer 15 determines whether or not the above detection result indicates the presence of a traveling vehicle. When the determination is NO (there is no traveling vehicle), the computer 15 sets the flag F = O and returns to the main program. (Steps S3 and S4).

However, when the determination in step S3 is YES, that is, when the vehicle is present, the flag F is set to 1 (step S5), and the processes in and after step S6 are sequentially executed. First, the vehicle speed is detected from the frame difference of the image data or the like (step S6), and then the visibility distance is set (step S7). The visibility range is determined by this visibility distance. As shown in FIG. 4, the field of view extends forward from the current position of the vehicle, and is controlled so that the lamp 11B of the illuminating lamp 11 within the field of view is always turned on. The visibility distance may have in advance as a default value,
It may be a value manually set by the operator according to the weather or the like.

Next, an illuminating lamp which is located ahead of the above-mentioned field of view and falls within the range of the lighting control by the image data of the camera 12 is specified (step S8). In the present embodiment, the coverage range is a range from an illumination light that is going to enter the field of view to an illumination light in front of the currently used camera 12 and in front of an illumination light that can be controlled by another camera. To tell. FIG. 4 schematically shows this.

In FIG. 1, the illuminating lamps 11 will be described in order from the left side with convenient numbers “1, 2,...”. Now
It is assumed that the vehicle C is traveling directly below the first lighting lamp 11 toward the left, and the cameras 12 are installed on every fifth lighting lamp 11 such as the first, sixth, and eleventh lighting lamps. Also, it is assumed that the visibility distance is determined in advance (for example, 2 km), and the installation intervals and the number of each lighting lamp are known.

[0024] In this example, since the vehicle C is reflected to the camera 12 ₁ of the illuminative lamp No. 1, the lighting control based on the camera 12 ₁ is performed in conjunction with the travel of the vehicle C. Proceeding to the illumination lamp of the vehicle C, for example, No. 6, in turn, another camera 12 ₂
Is performed in conjunction with the traveling of the vehicle C.

When the vehicle C is at the position of the first lighting lamp, the first to third lighting lamps enter the field of view. For example, when the vehicle C is located at the position of the sixth illumination lamp, the sixth to eighth illuminations enter the field of view. The illuminating lamp that is within the range of the field of view has already been lit by the lighting control based on the image of the camera in front of the illuminating position, and is already lit. For this reason,
Charge range of lighting control based on the first of the installed camera 12 ₁ of the image in the illumination lamp is lighting up eighth from fourth. Similarly, the camera 12 ₂ installed on the sixth lighting lamp
The range of lighting control based on the image of No. 9 to 13
It is the lighting lamp to turn.

Returning to FIG. 2, next in step S9,
The required time Tnes required when the vehicle travels at the set visibility distance at the current vehicle speed is estimated. For example, assuming that the distance of the field of view is 2 km and the vehicle speed is 100 km, the required time Tnes = 1 minute 12 seconds. The required time Tnes is a time during which each of the illuminating lamps 11 within the visibility distance (corresponding to the visibility of the driver in front of the vehicle) must maintain lighting.

[0027] Then, the computer 15 in each lamp 11 (e.g., FIG. 4 of the charge range, the camera 12 ₁
In the case of lighting control by illuminating lights 1 to 4
1, ..., 11) will be estimated off time _{t off} its lighting time _{t on} (step S10). This is because the lighting range of each area is already specified, and its installation interval, vehicle speed, and required time Tnes are known. the time when the distance amount traveling before the lighting time t _on, estimates and calculates the time it passes through the illuminating lamp that the vehicle takes a turn off time t _off. In addition,
Since the vehicle speed may fluctuate on the way, it is desirable that these lighting times and turning-off times have a predetermined margin.

[0028] Then, the number (identification number) of the lamp identified as falling charge range, the content of the flag F indicating whether or not passing vehicles, as well as the lighting time of each lighting t _on and off time t _off Is stored as lighting control information (step S11).

On the other hand, the computer 15
The lighting processing routine shown in FIG. 3 is performed at regular intervals (for example, every second) for each of the illumination lamps 11,...

According to the processing shown in FIG.
Is the lighting control information (flag F, lighting time t _on
And the light-off time t _off ) are read first (step S
21). Next, with reference to the flag F, it is determined whether or not the illuminating lamp for which the lighting control is to be performed should be turned on (F = 1) (step S22).

When the determination is NO, that is, when the lighting does not need to be performed, the process returns to the main program. However, when the determination is YES (flag F = 1), the passage of the vehicle is detected, the vehicle is approaching, and the vehicle should be turned on. In this case, further, the lighting timing with respect to the illumination lamp 11 of the control object whether arrives, waits while determined with reference to the lighting time t _on. When this lighting time t _on, the computer 15 commands the lighting the illumination lamp 11 of the control object. This allows
The lamp 11B of the illuminating lamp 11 for which the lighting instruction has been made is turned on.

Thereafter, it waits while judging with reference to the turn-off time t _off whether or not the turn-off timing for the turned on control target illumination lamp 11 has come (step S25). When the light-off time t _off at which the estimated operation is performed is reached, the determination in step S25 is YES, and the light-off control process starts.

However, it is sometimes preferable from the viewpoint of energy efficiency that there is a following vehicle, although it is a little away, and it is preferable from the viewpoint of energy efficiency. It is read again, and it is determined whether or not the next traveling vehicle is captured by the same camera 12 (steps S26 and S27). If the result of this determination is YES, it means that there is a following vehicle that is slightly away, so the flow returns to step S25 and the above-described processing is repeated. On the other hand, when the answer is NO, it can be determined that the following vehicle does not continue.
The computer 15 turns off the lamp 11B of the illumination lamp 11 to be controlled (step S28).

On the other hand, if the turn-off timing has not yet arrived in step S25, the judgment is NO. In this state, the illuminating lamp to be controlled is turned on and is located within the field of view from the vehicle. In this case, the updated lighting control information is read again to determine whether or not there is an immediately following vehicle, and it is determined whether or not the immediately following vehicle has been detected (steps S29 and S3).
0).

If there is no immediately succeeding vehicle (step S30, NO), the process returns to step S25, and waits until it is time to turn off the currently controlled illumination lamp. On the other hand, if there is an immediately following vehicle (step S30, YES), the light-off time t _off is replaced by the light-off time t _off for the succeeding vehicle. Then, the process returns to step S25, and the process is repeated in the same manner as described above while determining whether or not the replaced light-off time t _off has come. During this repetition, the light-off time t
If there is no subsequent vehicle that has reached _off and there is no subsequent vehicle delayed by the viewing distance, the illuminating lamp 11 to be controlled is turned off (step S28).

Here, a specific example will be described using a part of the schematic diagram shown in FIG. Night visibility distance (Visibility V)
In 2km is setting status, the vehicle C is passed under the camera 12 ₁ at a speed 100km. This passage presence of traveling vehicles by the camera 12 ₁ is detected by the lighting control for the lighting lamp 11 from the fourth eighth its charge range is performed as follows.

In this example, the first to third illuminating lamps 11 are already turned on in accordance with the image captured by the camera located in front of them. For this reason, the driver uses the first to third lighting lamps 11 in the field of view V.
Are all lit, and can be driven without any inconvenience or incongruity, as in normal driving.

It is assumed that when the vehicle C has traveled to some extent and has advanced to the position C ', the vehicle has come closer to the fourth illumination lamp 11 by a predetermined visibility distance = 2 km. At this time, since the estimated calculated lighting time t _on has been set as the incoming, fourth lamp 11 is lighted. In other words, the farthest fourth illuminating light 11 newly entering the driver's field of view is turned on. Therefore, the vehicle can be operated without any trouble.

The fourth illuminating lamp continues to be turned on until the turn-off time t _off, which is estimated and calculated, comes on, and is turned off at that time. The lighting continuation period is the required time Tnes calculated in the process of FIG. When the lights are off, 4
Passing or has passed through the illuminating light 11. Actually, the vehicle is running, and the timing for turning off the light has a certain margin, so that the light is turned off when the driving is completed.

When the vehicle advances, and the fifth and sixth illuminating lights enter the field of view, the lighting is turned on in the same manner as described above. Therefore, the driver can continue to drive without any trouble because the driver can always see the front of the vehicle, as in the prior art. On the other hand, the illuminating lights that have passed have been turned off automatically, so that power for illumination is saved.

In this way, at night, when there is traffic in the vehicle, only the illuminating lights at the necessary places can be turned on, and the other illuminating lights can be turned off. Therefore, lighting power can be saved according to the traffic volume at night, and it is possible to meet the demand for energy saving.

In particular, general roads, highways, and the like where traffic is light at night or traffic is light at night.
When applied to a connecting road from an expressway to a general road, the effect of power saving is large. In addition, there is a tunnel as an environment similar to nighttime, and if the tunnel is long to some extent, the present invention can be applied regardless of day and night,
The same operation and effect can be obtained.

When the following vehicle with respect to a certain vehicle has a distance difference within the set visibility distance, that is, for example, several tens of meters immediately behind, or 2 km corresponding to the visibility distance, for example.
Is not turned off. This saves power by avoiding an increase in power consumption when the lamp is turned on, and also contributes to extending the life of the lamp.

Further, in this embodiment, a camera is installed at each predetermined position on the road, and a distributed lighting control is performed for each area covered by each of the plurality of cameras. For this reason, unlike centralized lighting control with one camera,
The lighting control can be performed in a shorter time according to the change in the speed of the vehicle. Therefore, the degree of power saving also increases. If the road is relatively short, a corresponding power saving effect can be obtained even with centralized lighting control by one camera.

When a halogen lamp or the like is used as a lamp, a certain time may be required until a predetermined illuminance is obtained. In this case, the above-mentioned required time Tnes
Control may be performed so that the lighting is started earlier by a certain time than that. For example, when the fixed time is 3 minutes, a vehicle traveling at 100 km / h travels 5 km. Therefore, each lighting lamp is turned on at a lighting time t corresponding to a state in which the vehicle is detected 7 km (: as an example, a visibility distance of 2 km + 5 km). _{The on} and the light-off time t _off are set. The reference for such a fixed time is “Tne” in step S9 of FIG.
s = Tnes + constant time ”. This fixed time is a known value. For this reason, each lighting lamp is, for example, 4 minutes and 12 seconds (= 1 minute 12 seconds + 3 minutes) rather than reaching the vehicle.
It is illuminated before, and a sufficient predetermined illuminance is secured when the vehicle arrives. For this reason, even when a halogen lamp or the like is used, it is possible to obtain the same driving environment and power saving effect regarding brightness as in the related art.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment, and various other forms are possible. For example, a simple radar can be used as the camera as the imaging means. Further, the number of illumination lamps that are turned on / off at one time may be plural. That is, two or more adjacent lighting lamps arranged along the road may be combined into a set, and the lighting control may be performed in units of the set. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be suitably implemented not only on general roads, but also on roads with low traffic volume at night, such as highways and roads descending from highways to general roads. Also, the present invention may be applied to only one of the up and down lanes.

Further, the algorithm of the processing shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is an example showing a technical idea in accordance with the gist of the present invention, and this algorithm can take various forms.

[0048]

As described above, according to the lighting control system for road lighting and the lighting control method for road lighting according to the present invention, the presence of a vehicle traveling on the road is detected from the image obtained by the imaging means. However, since the turning on / off of a plurality of lighting lamps is controlled in accordance with the detection result, only the necessary lighting lamps are turned on when the vehicle is passing at night, and the other lighting lamps are turned off. I can put it. Therefore, lighting power can be saved according to the traffic volume at night,
It can respond to the demand for energy saving.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual configuration diagram showing a lighting control system for road lighting according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an outline of a processing routine for each lighting control camera executed by a computer.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an outline of a processing routine for each lighting lamp for lighting control executed by a computer.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a field of view and a coverage area of each camera.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of lighting control.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Illumination light 11B lamp 12 Camera 13 Transmission means 14 Control center 15 Computer 16 Control line RD Road CA, C Vehicle

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Nobuyuki Takeda 8-6-26 Motoyama Minamicho, Higashinada-ku, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture Inside Toshiba Kansai Research Center Co., Ltd. 8-6-26 Inside Toshiba Kansai Research Center Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shinhisa Kishikawa 8-6-26 Motoyama Minami-cho, Higashinada-ku, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture Inside Toshiba Kansai Research Center Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masayuki Maruyama Hyogo 8-6-26 Motoyama-minami-cho, Higashinada-ku, Kobe-shi, Japan F-term in Toshiba Kansai Research Center Co., Ltd. (reference) 3K073 AA83 BA00 CE00 CG06 CG21 CJ00 CJ01 CJ11 CJ14 CJ15 CJ16

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A system for controlling the lighting of a plurality of illuminating lights arranged along a road, comprising: an imaging unit arranged to fit the road in a field of view and an image in the field of view; Vehicle detection means for detecting the presence of a vehicle traveling on the road from the image obtained by the control means, and control means for controlling the turning on and off of the plurality of illumination lamps according to the detection result by the vehicle detection means. A lighting control system for road lighting. 2. The lighting control system according to claim 1, wherein, when the detection unit detects the presence of the traveling vehicle, the control unit sends each of the plurality of illumination lamps to each of the illumination lamps. A lighting control system for turning on the light retroactively at least in consideration of a traveling state of the vehicle and a predetermined visibility distance from the predicted arrival time of the vehicle, and turning off the light when this time has elapsed. 3. The lighting control system according to claim 2, wherein, when the presence of the traveling vehicle is detected by the detection unit, the control unit is required for the vehicle to travel a predetermined visibility distance. Prediction means for predicting time, a lighting time for lighting each of the plurality of lighting lamps at a time preceding the predicted arrival time of the vehicle to each lighting lamp by the required time, and a lighting time of the plurality of lighting lamps. A lighting control system for road lighting, comprising: a light-off means for turning off each light at a time when the predicted time has elapsed from the lighting. 4. The lighting control system according to claim 2, wherein, when the detection means detects the presence of the traveling vehicle, the control means is required for the vehicle to travel a predetermined visibility distance. Prediction means for predicting the total time of the time and the time in consideration of the lighting characteristics of each of the lighting lamps; A lighting control system for road lighting, comprising: a lighting time for turning on the lamp at an earlier time; and a light-off means for turning off each of the plurality of lighting lamps at the time when the total time has elapsed. 5. The lighting control system according to claim 1, wherein, when the detection unit detects the presence of the traveling vehicle, the control unit determines a predetermined one of the plurality of illumination lamps in front of the vehicle. A lighting control system for road lighting, which is a means for controlling lighting and extinguishing so that a lighting lamp entering a field of view is turned on and a lighting lamp moving backward from the field of view is turned off. 6. The lighting control system according to claim 1, wherein the imaging unit is a unit that obtains an image in the field of view with time, and the vehicle detection unit is configured to generate the image at predetermined time intervals. A lighting control system for road lighting, which is means for detecting the presence of a vehicle traveling on a road. 7. The lighting control system according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of said image pickup means are provided apart from each other, and said vehicle detection means and said control means correspond to each of said plurality of image pickup means. Lighting control system for road lighting provided separately. 8. A road lighting control method for controlling lighting of a plurality of illuminating lamps arranged along a road, wherein an image is obtained by enclosing the road in a field of view, and traveling on the road from the image. When the presence of a running vehicle is detected, the presence of the traveling vehicle is detected, and each of the plurality of illuminating lights is at least compared to the predicted arrival time of the vehicle to each of the illuminating lights. A lighting control method for road lighting, characterized in that the lighting is turned on before a time that takes into account the running state and a predetermined visibility distance, and then turned off when this time has elapsed.