GB2250619A

GB2250619A - Traffic information inter-vehicle transference and a navigation system

Info

Publication number: GB2250619A
Application number: GB9026314A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jia-Ming Shyu
Original assignee: NORM PACIFIC AUTOMAT CORP; North Pacific Automation Corp
Current assignee: NORM PACIFIC AUTOMAT CORP; North Pacific Automation Corp
Priority date: 1990-10-31
Filing date: 1990-12-04
Publication date: 1992-06-10
Anticipated expiration: 2010-12-04
Also published as: DE4034681C2; DE4034681A1; GB2250619B; GB9026314D0

Abstract

In a system for transference of traffic information among vehicles and navigating the vehicles, traffic information of the vehicles, such as the speed and the path, is remotely transmitted to each other during passing by. The apparatus comprises sensors to detect the direction and the displacement of the vehicle; a microcomputer to recognize the position of the vehicle by referring the detected direction and displacement to a digitized map; a receiver to receive passing-by vehicles' traffic information to be processed by a microcomputer; a transmitter to transmit traffic information to passing-by vehicles; and a navigation unit in the microcomputer to generate navigation information which is displayed for the driver. <IMAGE>

Description

2250619 TRAFFIC INFORMATION INTER-VEHICLE TRANSFERENCE AND NAVIGATION

SYSTEM 1 0 This invention relates to a method and an apparatus for a vehicle to get traffic information and using the information to navigate. The characteristic of this invention is that a vehicle acquires the information of traffic status in front of it by means of information transference from the passing-by vehicles.

Some of the prior vehicle navigation systems, presently available or under development, use satellites which allow the vehicles to identify their present location, while they do not provide traffic information. other systems, using a central computer to provide traffic information for vehicles, communicates with the vehicles through signal posts allocated along the roads. Because these systems have to build transceiver posts at many adequate 'Locations (such as each intersections), the vehicles Lhat are not at the riclht location (such as while blocked between the intersections) can not receive the information, -7,nd only an urban area in a light traffic condition can use them and works well This invention, in order to solve mentioned above, provides a method and an Lransference of traffic information among navigation 1 the problems apparatus for vehicles and 1 5 navigating the vehicles, and does not need any central computer, satellites or roadside posts.

This invention equips a vehicle with an apparatus to record traffic information such as the driving speed and the path, to send the information to other. passing-by vehicles through a transceiver, and to receive the information from those passingby vehicles. It enables the vehicles equipped with this apparatus to collect and interchange traffic information during passing by, and to achieve navigation.

The composition and function of this invention will be expressed in company with the following figures.

A.n embodiment of this invention is described by way of example. With reference to the drawings in which:

Fi-which the transferred x,;hich the traffic 1 shows an example of the invented method traffic information of a first vehicle ia a second vehicle to a third vehicle. shows another example of the invented method information of one vehicle is transferred to another vehicle via two other vehicles.

Ficr.13 shows a block diagram of an embodiment n invented apparatus.

Fi..4 shows in is in of the the outward of an indicator microcomputer of an embodiment of this invention.

Fig. 5 shows a functional diagram of a navigation unit in an embodiment of this invention.

I and a 11 0 -o.

As Fig. 1 shows, three vehicles al,a,,and b equipped with the invented apparatus drive individually along two opposite paths X and Y in two adjacent roads A and B. The vehicle at in the front of road A sends its traffic information, such as the driving patl and speed, to the passingby vehicle b at a position P,. When the vehicle b passes by the vehicle a2 in the rear of the road A at a position P later, the traffic information of the vehicle a . J. will then be sent to the vehicle a by the vehicle b. As a result, the vehicle a., obtains the traffic status (e.g. the average driving speed of a certain path) in front according to the information it gets.

The procedure mentioned above shows how a vehicle to sent information to another following vehicle behind at a distance through the medium of a vehicle on the adjacent path. In the same way, the vehicle b sends its traffic information to any vehicle behind it (not shown in the figure) through the medium of the vehicles a(, a.,. on the adjacent road A. In other words, a vehicle with the 1Lnvented apparatus collects not only the traffic information of its own but also that of other vehicles.

1 In practice, the distance of information transference among the passin-by vehicles (usually the vehicles are in a ti,o-way road, cross roads, or forks of a road) is within a 1imited range, such as 9-00 meters, -,-hei-i the -,-ehicles are n 1) driving c-lose. And, a vehicle which is closely behind a front vehicle need not receive the information of the front vehicle because the traffic status is visible. -Therefore, a low power electromagnetic wave, infrared ray or laser transceiver that points to a certain direction (for thecommunication of two passing-by vehicles only) or functions in a specific range (such as only receives signals from other vehicles within the range of 135 degrees to the right and left sides of the driving direction) can be used.

Fig.2 shows an example of the vehicles transferring Lheir traffic information successively. A vehicle f acquires the traffic information of a vehicle c through the help of vehicles d and e. The vehicle c driving along a path cK sends its traffic information to the passing-by vehicle d in a position x 1 Later, the vehicle d driving along paths D,, D.2, and D3 sends its traffic information to a passing-by vehicle e driving along paths E& and E2. Then the traffic information of the vehicle c carried by the vehicle e will be sent to the passing=by vehicle f in a position x3. That is, the vehicle 1_ along a path F will acquire the traffic status information of the front path Cx.

The content and the process of transference of traffic information are described as follows.

The vehicle had better be equipped with an electronic map device which can display digitized road map 4 1.5 1: 10 and identifies the position of the vehicle on the map. (The vehicle may have a direction sensor and a displacement sensor to record the movement of the vehicle. The movement data combined with the starting position once set by the driver can be applied to map the locus of the vehicle to the map utilizing a prior technology.) Based on the technology, the roads on the map are constructed by straight or curved lines linking between points. (A two way or a one way. road can be represented by its center line. Taking Fig.2 as an example, the cross point N.2., 'the turning points NI and N.? of the --enter lines are representative points of the roads.) All tliese points can be identified through their absolute coordinates (geological coordinates). Thus, the vehicle can be matched to the map by comparing its movement to the coordinates. For example, when the vehicle d in the path D# turns into to the poin be revised path D;i of the vehicle tl can be identified by the the points NI and Na.. For example, a vehicle drives points N) NI and N3, its traffic information,:],escribed as follows:

< coordinates of NI, average driving speed, the loi-jgest halting time, coordinates of X.L average driving speed, the longest lialting time, coordinates of N?,...

the path D.,, the turning position will be mapped t Nt. (The sensed displacement of the if it differs from the map.) Also, the vehicle will driving link of through can be 2 5 Wherein, the average driving speed is the value of the mileage between two points divided by the driving time and it enables the apparatus to conjecture the traffic status whether in heavy traffic or not. The loingest halting time is the longest time for a vehicle in the path while staying in an idle speed because of some reasons (such as encountering the red lights) which enables the apparatus to estimate the changing cycle of the traffic lights in the city. The process and usage will be described later.

To receive and transmit the traffic information, the vehicle can be equipped with a siernal transceiver with prior technologies of infrared rays, laser or radio, or it can be adapted to a mobile phone for multiplexly executing the work. These are prior arts which need not to be described in detail.

The traffic information transferred among the vehicles includes the traffic information of the vehicle itself as well as of other vehicles. An example of the format of the transference is set as follows:

<starting code, code of the vehicle itself, traffic Jnformation of the vehicle - i Ltself; code of another vehicle 1, self-traffic information of the vehicle 1; code,'] the other vehicle 92, self-traffic information of the vehicle 2;...; code of another vehicle n, self-traffic information of the -,-ehicle n, ending code."

6 The starting code and the ending code are set Lor the vehicle that receives the information (which will be mentioned as "receiving vehicle" hereafter) to identify the i signal range. For the purpose of classifying and the information, the codes of the vehicles license numbers or other identification numbers.

"0 2 5 identifying can be the The vehicles 1 to n are those in front of the receiving, vehicle. The selftraffic information of the vehicles 1 to n is previously received from the adjacent passing-by vehicles, temporarily stored and later transferred to the receiving vehicle. Any outdated information, such as the paths that the receiving vehicle has already passed, will be removed.

Fig. 3 shows the composition of an embodiment of the present invention. The main part is a microcomputer 1, including a self-position identifier 1.1 which receives the detected value of the above mentioned displacement sensor direction sensor 3 and the map data 1-9 to identify 2, the position of the vehicle---Theposition of the vehicle itself can be estimated by comparing the detected value with the map data 192; The differential, if any, will be revised when the vehicle will be the changes its direction; The revision reference for the following comparison; If the differential is beyond a certain range, it means there is a pathnot provided by the map data 12, then it can be ascertained by the driver and stored into the map; The clri-.-er, the 1 vehicle in a straight road for over a certain mileage, will be reminded by the apparatus to ascertain the position of the car by punching a button to clear any differential when he arrives an evident position (such as, a cross road). The traffic information of the vehicle itself is stored in a self-information register 13. The information in the register 13 can be processed by an output-information encoder 17 and sent out by a transmitter 7 as the first information of each transference as mentioned above. On the other hand, the traffic information from other vehicles is received by a receiver 4 and decoded by a decoder 14. Each first traffic information (of the vehicle itself that sends it out) will be stored in a "passing-by-vehicle information register" 16 and is provided the encoder 17 and the transmitter 7 to send out. The storage in the register 16 is updated in a process of first-in & first-out and removing any information of the path already behind the receiving vehicle. The rest of the received traffic information (other than the sell information of the vehicle that sends it out),i.e., information of the -ehicles in front of the receiving vehicle, will be received and stored in a "front-vehicle information register" 15. To avoid accumulating repeated information, the information is stored based on the codes of the vehicles and is timely lipdated. A navigation unit 18 fetches the data from the selfposition identifier 11 and from the register 15, generates n = -1 j n 0 navigation information and sends it to an indicator 8. The composition and the operation of the navigation unit 18 and I the indicator 8 will be described below.

Fig.4 shows the outward of an indicator and a microcomputer in an embodiment of his invention. The indicator 8 includes a liquid crystal display or a screen 81 to indicate the map and other navigation information. It can also be equipped with pilot lights 82 and a beeper or speaker 83 to provide warnings. The map data 12 can be stored in a compact disc (CD) and retrieved by a player 120 as shown, or a memory device (such as DRAM or SRAM) accessed by the microcomputer 1; it includes not only the road position information, road width, shape of intersections, but also the region names, road names, starting and ending numbers of the residence, driving limits (one-way street, speed limitation, etc.), and locations (including addresses and telephone numbers) of g-as stations along the roadsides, restlUrants and hotels, service stations, rest stations, offices, stores, and so on. The microcomputer 1. provides suitable user interfaces, such as a 'Keyboard 10 as shown or screen-touch or verbal input units, to input commands or data--such as to contract or enlarge the map, to identif-y the position of tl-ie x-ehicle, to input the destination, etc. The composition of the nav'iggation unit 18 set in the microcomputer 1 will be;Iescribed by referring to Fi,-,. 5.

11 0 . k 9 n 0 2 11 Fig.5 shows the content and function of the navigation unit 18 which mainly comprises a map-drawing module 181 and a navigation module 182. The map-drawing module 181 generates the map and displays it with the indicator 8 (on the screen 81 shown in Fig.4) based on information 110 of the position and direction of the vehicle (identified by the selfposition identifier 11 shown in Fig.

3) and the related map data 12. The map is displayed in two modes---the -geological direction (north-up) and the vehicle direction (heading-up); For instance, when the position of the vehicle itself and the destination are not identified yet, the map is northup and controlled by the user through interfaces (such as the keyboard 10 in Fig.4) to move upward, downward, left and ri.-ht; When the vehicle is driiring, the map is heading-up, i.e. the vehicle itself is stationary in the middle but a little bit low position of the display, and size from by on the map the the map is moving and rotating accordingly. The (displayed area) of the map is adjustable, Lor example, 0.50.5 km, 33 km, 1515 km, 100100 km to 6MI:600 km, the user's command or automatically by the apparatus based the relationship between the position of the vehicle and destination--- when the destination is just identified, a in a suitable scale that covers the vehicle location and destination will be shown when the vehicle is driving, the size of the map can be contracted to a smaller area (such as 11 2 0 2 5 33km); and when closing to the destination, it can be contracted to the smallest area to reveal the detail. The scope for revealing the detail is related to the size and qontained only the needed information for guiding the vehicle to the destination, therefore, unnecessary details are omitted in a larger size of map.) The navigation module 182 provides functions of path indication, driving forecast and speed-control instruction. This module, after identifying the present position of the vehicle and its destination, searches lor all the available paths based on road information, 1221 (the speed limit, allowed directions, tetc., which are parts of the map data 12) 0 and Lroi-it-,,-el-iicle information 151 (such as the average driving speed stored in the "front-vehicle information register" 15 as shown in FIG.3); calculates the driving times for all the available paths respectively, and constructs several L)etter time-saving paths displayed on the map for the user's command, or simultaneously in bold-medium-thin line or real dotted 'line formats.) The module 182 also provides a gas efficient selection by calculating the respective gas consumption for each path by multiplying its distance into the vehicle's g-as consumption rate which is corresponding to the average driving speed. The above result, depending on the user5s selection through key punching, can be constructed eference. (the paths display either orderly by no 4 n 5 into several better-path displays based on gas consumption or time spent. The whole system, after turning on, will continuousLy receive traffic information sending by the passing-by vehicles and update the information 151; therefore, it may timely refresh aforesaid better-path displays at intervals, such as every 10 seconds. The already passed path can be indicated by a flashing line. Also, the name of the passing roads and the cross roads in front should be timely updated with clear indication on the map. At a suitable time margin (depending on the driving speed) before the vehicle should turn in another direction, the module 182 will function the indicator 8 (with sound or light signal warnings) to remind the driver to keep to the right or lane, and display the distance before making the indicator 8 can also display the mileage still estimated arriving-time, the still-needed amount etc. ' sufficient as lef t The the fuel, not and the turn. left, of fuel is remind the driver display the gas station near by and navigate. When destination is near (for example, within 5 km), the display will start counting down the left time and mileage. The n can also suggest the cruising speed based on condition and the sneed limit of each riath and depending on the driver's command. If the the indicator 8 will system the traffic the desired arriving time input by the driver, At the path that needs to stop frequently due to traffic lights, the module 12 n 0 'i n 5 182 will estimate the light changing cycle by checking the most frequent "longest halting time" among those of the front vehicles in the information 151, and further estimates the light changing time based on the positioln of the vehicle and its driving status, and then informs the driver to adjust the speed to prevent from stopping, and reminds (by displaying the left time) the driver to action in time upon the light changing.

A statistic module 183, according to the user,s command when he arrives in the destination, will compute and display, based on the self-vehicle information 131, the total driving time, mileage, average of driving speed, number of stops, time for stops, number of making turns, and number of passing-by vehicle that it has met.

The above embodiment explains the traffic information passing among the vehicles and the possible ways to use it.

In practice, the traffic information can also be received through a receiving station, similar to the central computer system and transceiver posts mentioned before, then it is processed to generate required information including the of every vehicles, about traffic 7 record of collecting tolls, query for those who need it, and so on. The traffic information can also offer driving navigation to those vehicles that only equip with receivers.

These applications are also includes in the extent of the r)os i tions regulations appended claims.

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Claims

1. A system for many a vehicle to obtain traffic information from each other and using. the information to self-navigate, wherein each -vehicle is equipped with an apparatus comprising at least:

recording means to record traffic information concerning at least driving speed and locus of the vehicle itself and those of other vehicles; a transmitter to send said information to other vehicles passing by; a receiver to receive information from said passingby vehicles; control means to process the information for said recording means, said transmitter and receiver, and to generate navigation information; and an indicator to show said navigation information.

information from self-navigate, wherein apparatus comprising A system for many a vehicle to obtain traffic each other and using the information to each vehicle is equipped with an a map device to provide digitized map data; a direction sensor and a displacement sensor monitor the movement of the vehicle itself; a transmitter and a receiver to transmit and

2 0 22 5 receive traffic information; amicrocomputer comprising; a user-interface to receive command and data input from the user; a self-position identifier to receive data from said map device; said direction sensor, displacement sensor and said user-interface to identify the position of the vehicle; self-information register to store traffic vehicle itself; a decoder to decode information received by into two parts as 11 passing-by-vehicle "front-vehicle information"; a I passing-by-vehicle information register" to store said passingby -vehicle information; a "front-vehicle information register" to store said front-vehicle information; a information of the said receiver information" and an information from passing-by-yehicle Lransmitter; and a navigation unit to fetch data from said map device, said selfposition identifier, said user-interface and said front-vehicle information register and to produce navigation information; and output-information encoder to process said selfinformation register and information register and to sent to the said said 16 an indicator to 3 1,5 show said navigation 4nformation.

3. A system of claim 2 wherein said navigation unit c omprising at least one of the following three modules:

a map-drawing module to generate dynamic maps, according to data of said map device, said user-interface and said self-position identifier, to display on said indicator in suitable scales; a navigation module to provide path-indication, driving-forecast and speed-control instruction, in which said path-indication provides displays several better paths for the vehicle to approach its destination based on gas consumption, and time spent predicted from received traffic information, locus of the vehicle, name of roads, and warnings before the vehicle should turn in another direction; said driving-forecast provides displays of mileage still left, estimated arriving-time, still-needed amoinit of fuel, warning and guiding to a suitable gas station when fuel is not sufficient, and counting-down left time and mileage when destination is near; said speed-control displays traffic lesired instruction of. suggested cruising speed based on information, data of said map device and arriving time; and suggestion of driving provides received user-input speed to prevent from stopping by traffic lights and reminding for traffic-light changing estimated by checking said frontvehicles information; a statistic module to!compute and provide displays of: total driving time, mileage, average of driving speed, number of stops, time for stops, number of making turns, and number of passing-by vehicles that the vehicle has met, according to user's command when arriving in the destination.

4. A system of claim 2 wherein said traffic information transferring among vehicles, including traffic information of the vehicle itself and that of other vehicles, is set in a format as:

<starting code, code of the vehicle itself, selftraffic information of the vehicle itself; code of another vehicle 1, self-traffic information of the vehicle 1; code of another vehicle 2, self-traffic information of the -vehicle 2;...; code of another vehicle n, self-traffic information of the vehicle n, ending code.> Wherein said starting code and said ending code are set for the vehicle that receives the information to identify the signal range, said codes of vehicles are their identification numbers, said self-traffic information of the vehicle itself and of the vehicles 1 to n are information fetched from said self-information register and said front- 1 122 5 18 vehicle information register respectively.

5. A system of claim 2 wherein said traffic information of each vehicle can be described as:

<... coordinates of NI, average driving speed, the longest halting time, coordinates of N2, average driving speed, the longest halting time, coordinates of N Wherein said N1,Nj_,N3.... are representative points of the locus; said average driving speed, which is the value of the mileage between two points divided by the driving time, enables the system to conjecture the traffic status whether in heavy traffic or not; said longest halting time, %7hicli is the longest time for the vehicle stopping in the path, enables the system to estimate the changing cycle of traffic lights in a city.

6. A system of claim 1 further comprises at least a transceiver station to receive and process the traffic information to generate required information about traffic regulations, record of collecting tolls, navigation to vehicles and query for those who need it.

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