On-vehicle image recording apparatus, on-vehicle image recording method, and on-vehicle image recording program

1. An on-vehicle image recording apparatus comprising:

a system memory configured to store one or more programs; and

at least one hardware processor coupled to the memory and configured execute the one or more programs to:

sequentially acquire a plurality of pieces of image data obtained by capturing images of surroundings of an own vehicle;

extract an image area of another vehicle from an image of the image data;

determine whether a change in the other vehicle in the extracted image area from each of the sequentially acquired plurality of pieces of image data coincides with a reference change; and

write, when the change does not coincide with the reference change, the image data into a memory by a ring buffer form, and write, when the change coincides with the reference change, the image data for a period of time including the plurality of pieces of image data regarding which the determination has been made in such a way that the image data is not overwritten by other data,

wherein the reference change is a change in which the other vehicle moves without changing its orientation so as to have a component oriented in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which the other vehicle was traveling before the change, or

wherein the reference change is a change in which the other vehicle is rotated around a rotation axis parallel to a direction in which the other vehicle was traveling before the change.

2. The on-vehicle image recording apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

acquire an impact sound signal that detects an impact sound that occurs in the vicinity of the own vehicle, and

when the impact sound signal is not acquired, write the image data into the memory by the ring buffer form even if the change in the other vehicle coincides with the reference change.

3. The on-vehicle image recording apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

acquire an event signal that detects occurrence of a predetermined event in the own vehicle, and

when the event signal is acquired, write the acquired image data in a memory area that is the same as the memory area in which the image data is written when the change coincides with the reference change in such a way that the image data will not be overwritten by other data.

4. The on-vehicle image recording apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to add tag information to the image data written when the event signal is acquired the and tag information to the image data written when the change coincides with the reference change, the two pieces of tag information being different from each other.

5. An on-vehicle image recording method comprising:

an image data acquisition step for sequentially acquiring a plurality of pieces of image data obtained by capturing images of surroundings of an own vehicle;

an extraction step for extracting an image area of another vehicle from an image of the image data;

a determination step for determining whether a change in the other vehicle in the image area extracted in the extraction step from each of the plurality of pieces of image data successively acquired in the image data acquisition step coincides with a reference change; and

a writing control step for writing, when it is determined in the determination step that the change does not coincide with the reference change, the image data into a memory by a ring buffer form, and write, when it is determined in the determination step that the change coincides with the reference change, the image data for a period of time including the plurality of pieces of image data regarding which the determination has been made in such a way that the image data is not overwritten by other data,

wherein the reference change is a change in which the other vehicle moves without changing its orientation so as to have a component oriented in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which the other vehicle was traveling before the change, or

wherein the reference change is a change in which the other vehicle is rotated around a rotation axis parallel to a direction in which the other vehicle was traveling before the change.

6. A non-volatile storage medium storing an on-vehicle image recording program causing a computer to execute the following steps of:

an image data acquisition step for sequentially acquiring a plurality of pieces of image data obtained by capturing images of surroundings of an own vehicle;

an extraction step for extracting an image area of another vehicle from an image of the image data;

a determination step for determining whether a change in the other vehicle in the image area extracted in the extraction step from each of the plurality of pieces of image data successively acquired in the image data acquisition step coincides with a reference change; and

a writing control step for writing, when it is determined in the determination step that the change does not coincide with the reference change, the image data into a memory by a ring buffer form, and write, when it is determined in the determination step that the change coincides with the reference change, the image data for a period of time including the plurality of pieces of image data regarding which the determination has been made in such a way that the image data is not overwritten by other data,

wherein the reference change is a change in which the other vehicle moves without changing its orientation so as to have a component oriented in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which the other vehicle was traveling before the change, or

wherein the reference change is a change in which the other vehicle is rotated around a rotation axis parallel to a direction in which the other vehicle was traveling before the change.