CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-004196 filed on Jan. 15, 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety including the specification, claims, drawings, and abstract.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a drone system composed of a vehicle and a drone that captures an image of the vehicle, and to a method of capturing a scene of the traveling vehicle with the drone.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, various services that utilize drones have been proposed. Meanwhile, self-driving technology is being improved. Based on such background, there is proposed a drone coordination device that obtains motion planning for a self-driving vehicle and causes a drone to fly according to the planning (for example, see WO 2018/230680).

SUMMARY

In recent years, it has been desired, for example, to capture scenes where a vehicle is being driven. To this end, images of the traveling vehicle need to be captured from various angles, including, for example, from the side and the front of the vehicle. However, for the device disclosed in WO 2018/230680, although it can track or follow the traveling vehicle and capture images of it from the rear side, it cannot move around to the side or the front of the traveling vehicle to capture images.

Accordingly, an object of the present disclosure is to capture images of a traveling vehicle from various angles.

A drone system according to the present disclosure is a drone system including a vehicle and a drone that captures an image of the vehicle, and in this system, the vehicle is connected to the drone via a communication line and sends vehicle information including traveling information of the vehicle and navigation information of the vehicle to the drone, the drone is capable of autonomous flight and includes a camera for capturing an image and a controller for controlling flight and controlling the camera, and the controller includes a storage unit that stores a scene information database containing a plurality of scene information sets arranged in time series of a video to be captured, and in each of the scene information sets, a relative position with respect to the vehicle in capturing a scene of the video and a duration of the scene are associated with each other, a vehicle information acquisition unit that receives the vehicle information from the vehicle, a traveling position estimation unit that estimates a future traveling position of the vehicle based on the received vehicle information, and a flight path calculation unit that, based on the future traveling position of the vehicle estimated by the traveling position estimation unit and the scene information database, calculates, for each of the scenes, a flight path that passes through the relative position with respect to the vehicle.

As such, the drone captures an image of the vehicle while flying to pass through the relative position with respect to the vehicle for each of the scenes of the video. The drone can therefore capture images of the traveling vehicle from various directions in accordance with the scenes of the video while flying, for example, beside or in front of the vehicle.

In the drone system according to the present disclosure, the controller may include a camera control unit that captures the video while adjusting the direction of the camera based on the relative positions with respect to the vehicle stored in the scene information database.

This enables capturing of images of the traveling vehicle from various directions in accordance with the scenes of the video in a more detailed manner.

In the drone system according to the present disclosure, the scene information database contains a plurality of scene information sets arranged in time series of the video to be captured, and in each of the scene information sets, a scene of the video to be captured, the relative position with respect to the vehicle in capturing the scene, and the duration of the scene are associated with one another. The camera control unit may capture the video while adjusting the direction and angle of view of the camera based on an image captured by the camera and the scene.

This enables capturing of the video such that the plurality of scenes contained in the scene information database are connected smoothly.

In the drone system according to the present disclosure, the flight path calculation unit of the controller may calculate, based on the future traveling positions of the vehicle estimated by the traveling position estimation unit and the relative positions with respect to the vehicle stored in the scene information database, absolute positions of the relative positions with respect to the ground surface for capturing images of the scenes stored in the scene information database, and calculate a flight path that passes through the absolute position for each of the scenes stored in the scene information database.

As such, the drone calculates the absolute positions with respect to the ground surface, calculates a flight path that passes through the absolute position for each of the scenes, and flies according to the flight path. The drone can thus capture images of the traveling vehicle from various angles in a more reliable manner.

In the drone system according to the present disclosure, the traveling information of the vehicle may include speed information, acceleration information, braking information, and steering information.

This enables quick calculation of the future traveling position of the vehicle, and even when the traveling speed of the vehicle is fast, it can be ensured that the drone will fly to pass through the relative positions or the absolute positions with respect to the vehicle while capturing images of the scenes of the video.

In the drone system according to the present disclosure, the drone system may send image data of the captured video in real time, and the vehicle may receive the image data and display the video on a display in the vehicle.

This enables passengers in the vehicle to feel as if they are looking at their traveling vehicle while flying like a bird.

A vehicle image capturing method according to the present disclosure is a method of capturing an image of a vehicle using a drone, and in this method, the vehicle is connected to the drone via a communication line and sends vehicle information including traveling information of the vehicle and navigation information of the vehicle to the drone, the drone is capable of autonomous flight and includes a camera for capturing an image and a controller for controlling flight and controlling the camera, the controller includes a processor that performs information processing, and a storage unit that stores a scene information database containing a plurality of scene information sets arranged in time series of a video to be captured, in each of the scene information sets, a relative position with respect to the vehicle in capturing a scene of the video and a duration of the scene are associated with each other, and the processor receives the vehicle information from the vehicle, estimates a future traveling position of the vehicle based on the received vehicle information, calculates, for each of the scenes, a flight path that passes through the relative position with respect to the vehicle based on the estimated future traveling position of the vehicle and the scene information database, and causes the drone to fly based on the calculated flight path and captures an image of the vehicle with the camera.

Thus, the drone is caused to capture an image of the vehicle while flying to pass through the relative position with respect to the vehicle for each of the scenes of the video. The drone can therefore capture images of the traveling vehicle from various directions in accordance with the scenes of the video while flying, for example, beside or in front of the vehicle.

A drone system according to the present disclosure is a drone system including a vehicle, a drone that captures an image of the vehicle, and a drone operation center that operates the drone, and in this system, the vehicle is connected to the drone operation center via a communication line and sends vehicle information including traveling information of the vehicle and navigation information of the vehicle to the drone operation center, the drone is capable of autonomous flight and includes a camera for capturing an image and a controller for controlling flight and controlling the camera, the drone is connected to the drone operation center via a communication line and sends a current flight position to the drone operation center, the drone operation center includes a server, the server includes a storage unit that stores a scene information database containing a plurality of scene information sets arranged in time series of a video to be captured, in each of the scene information sets, a relative position with respect to the vehicle in capturing a scene of the video and a duration of the scene are associated with each other, a vehicle information acquisition unit that receives the vehicle information from the vehicle, a traveling position estimation unit that estimates a future traveling position of the vehicle based on the received vehicle information, and a flight path calculation unit that, based on the current flight position of the drone received from the drone, the future traveling position of the vehicle estimated by the traveling position estimation unit, and the scene information database, calculates, for each of the scenes, a flight path that passes through the relative position with respect to the vehicle and sends the result to the drone, and the drone captures an image of the vehicle with the camera while flying autonomously according to the flight path received from the server.

As such, calculation of the flight path is carried out by the server of the drone operation center, and it is thus possible to calculate the flight path quickly and capture images of the traveling vehicle from various directions in accordance with the scenes of the video. The size of electronic devices mounted on the drone can also be reduced, and therefore, the weight of the drone can also be reduced, thereby achieving a compact system.

The present disclosure enables capturing images of a traveling vehicle from various angles.

