JP2003139556A - Traffic information receiving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the load of a communication system while improving the precision of traffic flow measurement by using a conventional traffic information correcting and supplying system together with broad band communication systems such as cellular phones. SOLUTION: A vehicle 9 which receives traffic information from a VICS center 15 and displays the information is provided with a broad band communication function using a cellular phone or the like. When the vehicle 9 is in a covering area by the traffic information, and when the vehicle is in a normal driving condition, the traffic information is sent. When it is judged that the vehicle is not in a normal driving condition, the broad band communication function becomes active to receive traffic information of other areas produced by a road traffic information center 18 through a wireless network 10 and then displays the information in the vehicle 9. Therefore, a possibility to avoid a traffic jam increases.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a traffic information receiver, and more particularly to a traffic information receiver having a wide area communication function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In Japan, a conventional traffic information providing system is VICS (Vehicle Information).
& Communication System) has been established, and more than 3.2 million in-vehicle receivers have been in widespread use.

However, beacons on general roads as a means for collecting traffic information do not cover all roads in the area where the traffic control system is introduced, and therefore, to collect and provide more dense traffic information on the roads. Efforts to further install beacons and improve coverage are continuing nationwide.

On the other hand, in order to make up for the insufficient coverage of beacon installation, other vehicles such as mobile phones are used to increase the location of the vehicle in the traffic information collection center to improve the coverage of the collection area. A method (floating car data) for similarly downloading traffic information data processed by the mobile phone is being studied mainly in Europe.

[0005]

For floating car data that uses wide area communication such as a mobile phone, a method of updating vehicle position data and the like from a vehicle-mounted terminal at regular time intervals is generally used. In that case, cost reduction for communication or There has been a problem that the communication load and the improvement of traffic flow measurement accuracy have a trade-off relationship.

An object of the present invention is to improve the accuracy of traffic flow measurement by using an existing traffic information collection / providing system, which has been spread to some extent and does not require communication costs, and a wide area communication system such as a mobile phone. The point is to reduce the load on the wide area communication system and reduce the communication cost.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the traffic information receiving apparatus according to claim 1 detects an abnormal traveling state and, in response to the detection, other wide area communication means such as a mobile phone. The point is to obtain and display the latest related traffic information from the center via.

In the traffic information receiving apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the gist is that the means for determining the abnormal traveling state is information indicating that there is congestion on the route which is being guided.

In a traffic information receiving apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention, it is a summary that the means for determining the abnormal traveling state is information indicating that there is congestion within a certain distance or a certain time range in the traveling direction of the vehicle.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a vehicle-mounted device which receives traffic information from a broadcast or a beacon on the road and notifies the driver by voice or display is provided with a wide area communication function such as a mobile phone, and the coverage area of the traffic information. When there is a vehicle equipped with an in-vehicle device above, only the above traffic information is reported in the normal driving state, and when it is determined that the vehicle is in the non-normal driving, the wide area communication function is activated and the information distribution center collects information outside the above area. This is to increase the possibility that drivers can avoid traffic jams by obtaining traffic information.

Further, since the wide area communication is used only during the non-normal driving, the driver can obtain the supplementary traffic information outside the effective traffic information area while saving the communication charge.

An embodiment of the traffic information receiving apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 is an on-vehicle information terminal for navigation or the like, reference numeral 2 is a position information evaluating means such as a GPS antenna, reference numeral A is a communication means with an existing traffic information infrastructure such as VICS, and reference numeral 3 is a bidirectional such as a beacon. A transmitting / receiving means of the communication means, reference numeral 4 represents a wide area broadcast receiving means such as FM multiplexing. Reference numerals 5 and 6 are a beacon antenna and an FM multiplex reception antenna, respectively.

On the other hand, reference numeral 7 is a mobile communication means such as a mobile phone carried by a person in the vehicle, for exchanging information and traffic information from the vehicle with a center side (not shown) regardless of location. You can Reference numeral 8 is a mobile communication antenna such as a mobile phone.

In the figure, the in-vehicle terminal 1 and the communication means A
Alternatively, although shown separately from the mobile communication means 7, the case where the mobile communication means 7 is built in the in-vehicle terminal 1 is also included.

Next, FIG. 2 shows a system diagram for explaining an embodiment of the entire system including the infrastructure side of the present invention.

First, reference numeral 9 is a vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle terminal 1. As shown in the figure, various types of vehicles such as passenger cars and commercial vehicles can be considered.

Reference numeral 10 is a wireless network, which plays a role of connecting the application provider (ASP) 11 and the in-vehicle terminal 1. The ASP concentrates the vehicle information collected from the vehicle 9 on the central service provider (CSP) 12 via the Internet 13. In the CSP, the collected data is transferred to the road traffic information center 18 by converting the data into a format that easily merges with the traffic information collected via the conventional infrastructure.

On the other hand, the conventional mechanism for collecting traffic information is VIC
In the example of S, the collected data from the vehicle is temporarily collected in the traffic control system 17 via the traffic information collection infrastructure 16 in the figure, and is generated as traffic information such as traffic congestion information at the road traffic information center 18. At this time, the advanced traffic information is generated by adding the supplemental traffic information from the vehicle information collected from the vehicle through the mobile communication network.

That is, in the road traffic information center 18,
The traffic information and the like are generated using the position data and / or the speed data and the like obtained from the vehicle-mounted terminal 1, and the traffic information such as the traffic congestion information is generated using the information obtained through the traffic information collecting infrastructure 16. The traffic information obtained from the vehicle-mounted terminal 1 is transmitted to the vehicle 9 via the CSP 12 and the wireless network 10. Further, the traffic information obtained from the vehicle-mounted terminal 1 is added to the traffic information obtained through the traffic information collecting infrastructure 16, and this is transmitted from the VICS center 15 to three media: an optical beacon, a radio wave beacon, and an FM multiplex signal. It is transmitted to the vehicle 9 via 14.

It is also possible to generate this advanced information by the CSP 12. Further, in the figure, the CSP 12 can also serve as an information provider (ISP), and in the figure, CSP → ASP → vehicle and CSP (= I).
SP) → Vehicles are used in consideration of the two paths.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the vehicle-mounted device of the present invention.

After the start, in step S19, the ignition or accessory ON is detected to determine whether or not the vehicle is on a trip. In step S20, it is checked whether or not the on-vehicle information terminal such as the navigation is ON. In step S21, it is checked whether or not it is within the VICS information area. Therefore, in the present invention, the operation within the VICS reception area is specified.

If it is confirmed that VICS is being received, step S2
Proceed to step 2 to check whether the vehicle-mounted device is performing route guidance. Two types of actions are prepared, one for route guidance and the other for not.

First, when route guidance is in progress, the operation is changed depending on whether or not there is an instruction to display a traffic jam on the route in orange or red from the VICS center side.

If there is a traffic jam on the route (step S
(Yes in 23), it is better to judge that the vehicle is in an abnormal driving state in step S24, and it is better to collect more traffic information. Go to and upload the probe data (floating car data; position and vehicle speed data) from your vehicle.

It is not always necessary to update the probe data. There are various types of in-vehicle devices, and there is no problem even if there is a specialized in-vehicle device that does not upload data.

Next, in step S26, the latest traffic information collected and processed from the center is sent via wide area communication (CSP12,
Received (via the wireless network 10) and displayed on the in-vehicle display device.

With this display, the driver of the vehicle
It is possible to recognize a road with no traffic jam outside the S reception area, and to bypass the traffic jam.

On the other hand, if route guidance is not in progress, step S2
At 1km in the direction of travel of the vehicle at 7 (this distance can be set arbitrarily. It can also be converted to time based on the past average speed)
Check if there is any congestion area within. If there is a traffic jam, the operation proceeds to step S24 and the same operation is performed thereafter.

If it is determined in both cases that there is no congestion area, it is determined in step S28 that the vehicle is in the normal traveling state, and the normal VICS information display mode is set.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described based on an on-vehicle information terminal such as a navigation having a wide area communication means, this portion is a navigation system of a type in which map data is also transmitted from the center side to the on-vehicle terminal as needed ( It goes without saying that it can be established even with the so-called off-board navigation.

[0034]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention judges that the VICS vehicle-mounted device is in an abnormal traveling state when there is traffic congestion on the route or within a certain distance in the traveling direction during reception traveling. V using other wide area mobile communication means such as mobile phones
Since the latest traffic information is collected and displayed by floating car data that is collected separately from the ICS, the communication can be used as needed to reduce the load on the communication system, reduce communication costs, and add positive alpha traffic information. can get.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a system diagram showing an example of the entire system including the infrastructure side of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... In-vehicle information terminal 2 ... Position information rating means 3 ... Transmitting / receiving means of bidirectional communication means 4 ... Wide area broadcast receiving means 5 ... Beacon antenna 6 ... FM multiplex reception antenna 7 ... Mobile communication means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A traffic information receiving device having means for receiving traffic information via an infrastructure, detects an abnormal driving state, obtains the latest related traffic information from a center through another wide area communication means such as a mobile phone, and displays it. A traffic information receiving device characterized by: 2. The traffic information receiving device according to claim 1, wherein the means for determining the abnormal traveling state is information indicating that there is congestion on the route which is being guided. 3. The traffic information according to claim 1, wherein the means for determining the abnormal driving state is information indicating that there is congestion within a certain distance or a certain time range in the traveling direction of the vehicle. Receiver.