JP2002190092A - Inter-vehicle communication system and its device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To previously transmit possibility of turning to the left/right to a peripheral vehicle without depending on winker operation at an intersection. SOLUTION: A frequency of turning to the left/right in the past at every intersection is stored as a travel history in a travel history accumulating part 12. When it is determined that the vehicle reaches the point within a predetermined distance to the intersection on the basis of the data from a navigation part 14, the control part 10 evaluates possibility of turning to the left/right at this intersection from the travel history accumulated in the travel history accumulating part 12. If the possibility is above a predetermined value, the possibility of turning to the left/right is transmitted to the peripheral vehicles through a transmitting/receiving part 16. The vehicle receiving the signal showing the possibility of turning to the left/right outputs voice from a speaker 20 for previously informing behavior of another vehicle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inter-vehicle communication system and apparatus, and more particularly to a technique for transmitting information about right and left turns to another vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, when a vehicle turns right or left at an intersection, it is necessary to notify a surrounding vehicle by operating a direction indicator (turn signal) at a predetermined distance before the intersection. However, in an actual traffic situation, the blinker is not always operated a predetermined distance before the intersection, and the blinker is operated immediately before the intersection, or in reality, the operation is not performed.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION For the following vehicle,
If it is known that the preceding vehicle turns right or left at the intersection, it is possible to change the lane to another lane in advance so that the vehicle can pass through the intersection smoothly. There was a problem that the driver could not pass the intersection smoothly, such as missing the timing of changing lanes and unnecessarily waiting behind the preceding vehicle trying to turn right.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to allow surrounding vehicles to turn right or left of their own vehicle even when the timing of turn signal operation by a vehicle driver is not appropriate. It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and an apparatus that notify in advance and thereby allow surrounding vehicles to pass through an intersection more smoothly.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a system for transmitting and receiving data between vehicles, wherein a transmitting vehicle evaluates the possibility of a right or left turn at the next intersection. Transmitting means for transmitting, and the receiving vehicle has means for receiving the possibility of the right / left turn transmitted from the transmitting vehicle, and means for outputting the possibility of the right / left turn. I do. By evaluating the possibility of turning right and left separately from the turn signal operation and transmitting it to the surrounding vehicles, the surrounding vehicles can know the possibility of turning right and left separately from the turn signal operation, Appropriate measures such as deceleration can be taken.

Here, it is preferable that the transmitting vehicle has means for storing a right / left turn history at an intersection, and evaluates the possibility of right / left turn at the next intersection based on the right / left turn history. is there. As a result, it is possible to improve the evaluation accuracy of the possibility of turning right and left and transmit the result to the surroundings.

In the present system, the transmitting vehicle includes:
It is preferable to transmit when the possibility of the right or left turn is equal to or more than a predetermined value. As a result, only necessary data can be reliably transmitted.

Further, in the present system, the transmitting vehicle can evaluate the possibility of the right / left turn when the distance to the next intersection becomes a predetermined distance. It is desirable that the predetermined distance be shorter than the distance at which the normal turn signal is operated.

[0009] Further, the storage means of the transmitting vehicle includes:
It is preferable to store the total number of passes, the number of right turns, and the number of left turns for each approach direction at the intersection as the right / left turn history. This makes it possible to easily evaluate the possibility of turning right or left based on the ratio of the number of times and the like.

[0010] The present invention also provides a communication device used for inter-vehicle communication. The present device is characterized by including a calculating means for evaluating the possibility of turning right or left at the next intersection, and a transmitting means for transmitting the possibility to another vehicle.

Here, the apparatus further includes a storage unit for storing a history of right / left turns at the intersection, wherein the calculating unit evaluates the possibility of a right / left turn at the next intersection based on the history of right / left turns. Is preferred.

[0012] It is preferable that the transmitting means transmits when the possibility of the right or left turn is equal to or more than a predetermined value. The predetermined value can be, for example, 50%.

Preferably, the transmission means evaluates the possibility of the right or left turn at a time when a distance to the next intersection becomes a predetermined distance. It is desirable that the predetermined distance be shorter than the distance at which the normal blinker is operated as described above. This allows the surrounding vehicles to know in advance the behavior of the vehicle regardless of the presence or absence of the turn signal operation or the operation timing.

In the apparatus, the storage means may include:
It is preferable to store the total number of passes, the number of right turns, and the number of left turns for each approach direction at the intersection as the right / left turn history.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a communication apparatus according to the present embodiment. It is assumed that the device shown in FIG. 1 is mounted on each vehicle.

The navigation section (navigation section) 14 executes a known navigation function.
A function to detect the current location of the vehicle by PS, DGPS, etc.
The present embodiment has a function of comparing map data stored on a CD-ROM or a DVD with a current position (map matching) or a function of searching for a route to a destination input by a vehicle driver. The positional relationship between the current position and the intersection and the locus of passage (straight ahead or right / left turn) when passing through the intersection are supplied to the control unit 10.

The running history storage unit 12 is constituted by a storage medium such as a semiconductor memory, a hard disk, and an optical disk.
The traveling history of the intersection detected by the navigation unit 14 is accumulated.
The travel history specifically records how many times the vehicle has passed through the intersection, how many times it has made a right turn, or how many times it has made a left turn.For each intersection where these times have passed, and the direction of approach to that intersection It is recorded every time. The travel history is supplied to the control unit 10 in response to an access request from the control unit 10.

The control unit 10 is constituted by a microcomputer, counts the traveling history of the vehicle at the intersection, that is, the number of times of passing and the number of right and left turns based on the data supplied from the navigation unit 14, and stores the counted number in the traveling history accumulating unit 12. I do.
Further, when it is determined based on the data from the navigation unit 14 that the vehicle has reached a predetermined distance before a certain intersection stored in the travel history, based on the travel history recorded in the travel history accumulation unit 12, It evaluates the possibility of the vehicle turning right or left at the intersection, outputs it to the transmitting / receiving unit 16, and transmits it to the surrounding vehicles. The transmission form is a specific frequency (for example, 400 MHz)
Radio wave or light.

The transmission / reception unit 16 transmits a signal indicating the possibility of turning right and left from the control unit 10 and, when receiving a signal from a surrounding vehicle, supplies a reception signal to the control unit 10.
When receiving a signal from another vehicle, the control unit 10 extracts right / left turn possibility data included in the received signal, and outputs the voice via the audio amplifier unit 18 and the speaker.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a travel history table stored in the travel history accumulation section 12. In the figure, (a) is a traveling history table at a certain intersection C1, and (b) shows the approach direction at the intersection C1. In the case of a crossroad like an intersection C1, there are four directions D1 to D4 as shown in the figure, and the number of passes, the number of right turns and the number of left turns are stored for each direction.
For example, the number of past passes when entering the intersection C1 from the direction D1 is 3, of which the number of right turns is 3 and the number of left turns is 0, and when entering the intersection C1 from the direction D2, the number of past passes is 3 , The number of right turns is 0, and the number of left turns is 3. The control unit 10 determines the approach direction to the intersection and the right / left turn based on the traveling locus supplied from the navigation unit 14, specifically, the time-series current position data and map data of the vehicle. Such a traveling history table is used for intersections C2, C3,.
It is created and stored every time.

FIG. 3 shows the running history storage section 12 described above.
2 shows a flowchart of a process of accumulating the traveling history. First, the control unit 10 determines whether or not the vehicle has passed the intersection based on the current position data and the map data from the navigation unit 14 (S101). Of course, as a result of the comparison between the current position data detected by the navigation unit 14 and the map data, it may be determined whether or not the vehicle has passed the intersection, and the determination signal may be supplied to the control unit 10. When you cross an intersection,
The control unit 10 sets the parameter of the number of passes at the intersection to 1
Is incremented and stored in the travel history storage unit 12 (S102). Next, the control unit 10 determines whether the vehicle has turned right or left at the intersection (S10).
3) When the vehicle turns right, the parameter of the number of right turns is incremented by 1 and stored in the travel history accumulation unit 12, and when the vehicle turns left, the parameter of the number of left turns is incremented by 1 (S104). It is needless to say that the number of straight turns, the number of right turns, and the number of left turns may be stored instead of the number of passes, the number of right turns, and the number of left turns. Naturally, the number of passes = the number of straight passes + the number of right turns + the number of left turns.
Through the above-described processing, the past traveling histories at the intersection are sequentially accumulated in the traveling history accumulation unit 12.

In this embodiment, in addition to storing the number of passes and the number of right and left turns at the intersection in the travel history storage section 12, the control section 10 also controls the vehicle driver at the intersection based on the turn signal. Is determined (S105), and when the turn signal is operated, the manner frequency parameter is incremented by 1 (S105).
106), when turning right or left without operating the turn signal, the manner frequency parameter is reduced by 10 (S107). These processes are for evaluating the manners of the vehicle driver when turning right and left, and when turning right and left frequently without operating the turn signal, the fact is transmitted to other vehicles by transmitting the fact to other vehicles. This is to call attention to the vehicle.

FIG. 4 shows a processing flowchart in the case where a vehicle approaches a certain intersection after the traveling history for each intersection and each approach direction is accumulated in the traveling history accumulation unit 12 as described above. . First, the navigation unit 14 compares the detected current position with the map data, and obtains the next intersection from the current position of the vehicle (S201). Then, the distance to the next intersection is calculated, and the distance is a predetermined distance, for example, 30.
It is determined whether the distance is within 0 m (S202). This determination may be performed by the navigation unit 14 or the control unit 1
0 may execute. Further, it is preferable that the predetermined distance is generally shorter than about 30 m before the intersection where the turn signal is operated. If the distance to the next intersection has not reached the predetermined distance, the processing is not performed (S203), and if it is determined that the distance has reached the predetermined distance, the control unit 10 sets the right in the number of passes at the next intersection. By determining the ratio of the number of left turns, the possibility of right / left turns is evaluated (S204). This rating is
This is performed in consideration of the direction of approaching the intersection, and when described with reference to FIG. 2, the possibility of a right turn when entering the intersection from the direction D1 is 3/3 = 100%, and the possibility of a left turn is 0. / 3 = 0% can be evaluated. Also, when entering from the D4 direction, the possibility of a right turn can be evaluated as 1/2 = 50%, and the possibility of a left turn can be evaluated as 0/2 = 0%. When the vehicle is approaching an intersection that passes for the first time, the number of times of passage = the number of times of right turn = the number of times of left turn = 0, so that the possibility of right / left turn is evaluated as zero.

After evaluating the possibility of turning right or left at the next intersection based on the traveling history, the control unit 10 determines whether the possibility of turning right or left is 50% or more (S205).
If the possibility is not 50% or more, it is determined that the vehicle is going straight ahead at the next intersection, and the process proceeds to the process of obtaining the next intersection without transmitting the possibility of turning right and left (S207). On the other hand, if the possibility of a right turn or the possibility of a left turn is 50% or more, the control unit 1
0 transmits that there is a possibility of turning right or left to the surroundings via the transmitting / receiving unit 16 and the antenna (S20).
6). For example, in the case of FIG.
When entering from the direction, the possibility of a right turn is 100%, so the control unit 10 transmits a message “the possibility of a right turn is high”. In the surrounding vehicles that have received this message, it is possible to know at 300 m before the intersection that the vehicle may turn right at the next intersection, thereby making it possible to take appropriate measures.

In FIG. 4, the possibility of turning right or left is transmitted when the possibility of turning right or left is 50% or more. However, without performing the determination processing in S205, the evaluated right / left turn is evaluated. The possibility can be transmitted to the surroundings as it is. For example, "the possibility of a right turn is 30%." In this case, the possibility of a right turn and the possibility of a left turn may be compared in magnitude, and only the one with the higher possibility may be transmitted. For example, when the possibility of a right turn is 20% and the possibility of a left turn is 40%, "the probability of a left turn is 40%" is displayed. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, when turning right or left at an intersection without showing a turn signal, the manner frequency parameter sequentially decreases, so that the control unit 10 has a possibility of turning 50 right or left. % Or more, and the manner frequency of the vehicle is compared with a predetermined value. When the manner frequency is less than the predetermined value, the possibility of turning right and left is transmitted and the manner degree is also transmitted to the surroundings. You may. For example, it is possible to transmit, for example, "Right turn is likely. Turn signal may not blink." In this case, the surrounding vehicles can know in advance that there is a possibility that the vehicle will make a right or left turn without exiting the turn signal, and can pass through the intersection without any confusion.

FIG. 5 schematically shows the state of processing in this embodiment. It is assumed that the vehicle 100 approaches the intersection C1 and the vehicle 200 exists behind the vehicle 100. When the vehicle 100 reaches 300 m to the intersection C1, the communication device mounted on the vehicle 100 performs the processing shown in FIG. 4 and evaluates the possibility of turning right or left at the intersection C1. If the possibility of a right turn is 50% or more, the communication device mounted on the vehicle 100 transmits the possibility of a right turn to the surroundings prior to the turn signal operation of the vehicle driver. Then, the communication device mounted on the vehicle 200 receives the signal from the vehicle 100 and outputs a sound to that effect from the loudspeaker.
300m before the vehicle, it is possible to know that there is a possibility that the vehicle 100 ahead may make a right turn, and the driver of the vehicle 200 checks the surrounding conditions in advance when going straight ahead at the intersection C1, and then checks the left lane. It is possible to smoothly pass through the intersection C1 by changing lanes, for example. Also, a vehicle (not shown) traveling in the oncoming lane can know in advance that there is a possibility that the vehicle 100 will make a right turn, so that appropriate measures can be taken.

In the present embodiment, the possibility of turning right and left is evaluated, and the timing of transmission to the surroundings is set to 3 before the intersection.
Although the threshold distance is set to 00 m, the threshold distance may be changed as appropriate. For example, it is possible to increase the threshold distance as the manner degree is lower, and it is also possible to detect the vehicle speed and increase the threshold distance as the vehicle speed increases. Also,
It is also possible to detect the type of road on which the vehicle is traveling and change the threshold distance according to the type of road. Further, the threshold distance may be changed based on information on the traffic volume provided from the infrastructure side. When the traffic volume is large, the threshold distance is increased.

In the present embodiment, the possibility of turning right or left at the next intersection is evaluated based on the travel history. However, the possibility of turning right or left may be evaluated by another method.
For example, when the vehicle is traveling along a guidance route to a destination obtained by searching in the navigation unit 14, it is determined from the guidance route whether to turn right or left at the next intersection. Since it is possible, the control unit 10 can evaluate based on this guidance route, and can also transmit “the possibility of a right turn is high” or the like.

In this embodiment, the transmission is performed when the possibility of turning right or left is 50% or more. However, the threshold value can be changed. For example, when the manner frequency is low, transmission is performed at 70% or more, or when traffic volume is high, transmission is performed at 80% or more.

Further, the communication device according to the present embodiment
The ability to send the possibility of turning as shown in FIG.
Although it has a function of receiving signals from other vehicles, it is also possible to mount a transmitter and a receiver on each vehicle.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, the possibility of a right or left turn at an intersection is notified in advance to surrounding vehicles regardless of the presence or absence of a turn signal operation by a vehicle driver. The vehicle can recognize the behavior of the vehicle in advance, and can smoothly pass through the intersection by taking appropriate measures. Thereby, the flow of traffic can be made smoother.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a traveling history stored in a traveling history accumulation unit and an approach direction at an intersection.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a driving history accumulation process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of evaluating the possibility of turning right or left according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of processing in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 control section, 12 running history accumulation section, 14 navigation section,
16 transmitting / receiving unit, 18 audio amplifier unit, 20 speakers.

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A system for transmitting and receiving data between vehicles, wherein the transmitting vehicle has transmission means for evaluating the possibility of a right or left turn at a next intersection and transmitting the data, and the receiving vehicle comprises: An inter-vehicle communication system comprising: means for receiving the possibility of a right / left turn transmitted from the transmitting vehicle; and means for outputting the possibility of a right / left turn. 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said transmitting vehicle has means for storing a history of right and left turns at an intersection, and is capable of making a right and left turn at said next intersection based on said right and left turn history. A vehicle-to-vehicle communication system characterized in that the performance is evaluated. 3. The vehicle-to-vehicle communication system according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting vehicle transmits when the possibility of the right or left turn is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. 4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting vehicle evaluates the possibility of the right / left turn when a distance to the next intersection becomes a predetermined distance. An inter-vehicle communication system characterized by the above-mentioned. 5. The system according to claim 2, wherein the storage means of the transmitting vehicle stores, as the right / left turn history, a total number of passes, a number of right turns, and a left turn for each approach direction at the intersection. An inter-vehicle communication system storing a number of times. 6. A communication device used for vehicle-to-vehicle communication, comprising: arithmetic means for evaluating a possibility of turning right or left at a next intersection; and transmitting means for transmitting the possibility to another vehicle. Characteristic communication device. 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising: storage means for storing a left / right turn history at an intersection, wherein said calculating means is capable of making a right / left turn at a next intersection based on said right / left turn history. A communication device characterized by evaluating the performance. 8. The communication device according to claim 6, wherein the transmission unit transmits when the possibility of the right or left turn is equal to or more than a predetermined value. 9. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the transmission unit evaluates the possibility of the right / left turn when a distance to the next intersection becomes a predetermined distance. Characteristic communication device. 10. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the storage unit stores, as the right / left turn history, a total number of passes, a number of right turns, and a number of left turns for each approach direction at the intersection. A communication device, characterized in that: