JP2024052900A - Communication device and communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a communication device that allows a user to easily visually grasp from which vehicle around the vehicle communication information has been received. [Solution] A communication device 100 has a communication information receiving unit 110 that receives communication information including communication contents and position information or vehicle information from a communicating vehicle that is communicating, a communicating vehicle identification unit 120 that identifies the communicating vehicle using the communication information, a symbol acquisition unit 130 that acquires a symbol that is an image that resembles the identified communicating vehicle, and a display control unit 150 that displays the symbol and the communication contents on the screen of a display device, and when there are multiple communicating vehicles, the communication contents related to each of the multiple communicating vehicles are displayed in sequence in a predetermined order, and at least a part of the symbol corresponding to the displayed communication contents is displayed in a blinking manner, or the symbol that is an image that resembles a communicating vehicle other than the symbol corresponding to the displayed communication contents is displayed with reduced display brightness. [Selected Figure] Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to a communication device and a communication method, and in particular to a communication device and a communication method capable of performing inter-vehicle communication.

Patent Literature 1 discloses a wireless communication device that allows a user to easily specify a party to communicate with via short-range wireless communication between vehicles. In the wireless communication device according to Patent Literature 1, the user's own wireless communication unit communicates with another wireless communication unit to receive position information of the other wireless communication unit and predetermined information related to the other wireless communication unit. The image processing unit generates image information by imaging the predetermined information received by the user's own wireless communication unit. The image processing unit then determines a position at which to display the image information on the display unit based on the user's own position information and the position information of the other wireless communication unit received by the user's own wireless communication unit, and causes the image information to be displayed at the determined position on the display unit.

JP 2016-82409 A

In the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, the position at which an image of another vehicle is displayed on the display unit is determined based on the position information of another wireless communication unit, i.e., the other vehicle. On the other hand, in order to realize more appropriate inter-vehicle communication, it is required that a user, such as a driver, can more easily recognize from which vehicle communication information is received.

In view of the above problems, the present invention aims to provide a communication device and a communication method that enable a user to visually and easily grasp from which vehicle around the vehicle communication information is being received.

The communication device according to the present invention has a communication information receiving unit that receives communication information including communication contents and location information or vehicle information from a communication vehicle that is a vehicle that exists around the vehicle and is communicating, a communication vehicle identification unit that identifies the communication vehicle using the communication information, a symbol acquisition unit that acquires a symbol that is an image that resembles the identified communication vehicle, and a display control unit that displays the symbol and the communication contents on the screen of a display device, and when there are multiple communication vehicles, the display control unit sequentially displays the communication contents for each of the multiple communication vehicles in a predetermined order, and blinks at least a part of the symbol corresponding to the displayed communication contents, or displays the symbols that are images that resemble communication vehicles other than the symbol corresponding to the displayed communication contents with reduced display brightness.

The communication method according to the present invention includes a communication information receiving step of receiving communication information including communication contents and position information or vehicle information from a communication vehicle that is a vehicle that exists around the vehicle and is communicating; a communication vehicle identification step of identifying the communication vehicle using the communication information; a symbol acquisition step of acquiring a symbol that is an image that resembles the identified communication vehicle; and a display control step of displaying the symbol and the communication contents on the screen of a display device. When there are multiple communication vehicles, the communication contents for each of the multiple communication vehicles are displayed in a predetermined order, and at least a part of the symbol corresponding to the displayed communication contents is displayed in a blinking manner, or the symbol that is an image that resembles a communication vehicle other than the symbol corresponding to the displayed communication contents is displayed with reduced display brightness.

The present invention provides a communication device and a communication method that allow a user to easily visually understand from which vehicle around the vehicle communication information is being received.

1 is a diagram showing a vehicle according to a first embodiment; 1 is a diagram showing the inside of a vehicle according to a first embodiment; 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a communication device according to a first embodiment and a communication system having the communication device; FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating communication information according to the first embodiment; 3 is a flowchart showing a communication method according to the first embodiment; 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the communication device according to the first embodiment; FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the communication device according to the first embodiment; FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the communication device according to the first embodiment; FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the communication device according to the first embodiment; FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a communication method according to a second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the operation of a communication device according to a second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the operation of a communication device according to a second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a configuration of a communication device and a communication system having the communication device according to a third embodiment. 13 is a flowchart showing a communication method according to a third embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the operation of a communication device according to a third embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the operation of a communication device according to a third embodiment.

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that substantially the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a vehicle 1 according to a first embodiment.
An example having one or more cameras 2 and a communication device 100 is shown. Two or more cameras 2 may be provided. The multiple cameras 2 may capture the front, rear, left and right of the vehicle 1, respectively. The camera 2 is, for example, a visible light camera. The camera 2 may also be a camera used in a drive recorder. Note that the camera 2 is not necessarily required in the first embodiment. In the following description, an example is shown in which the communication device 100 is mounted on the vehicle 1, but the communication device 100 according to the present embodiment does not necessarily have to be mounted on the vehicle 1. For example, the communication device 100 may be mounted on an information terminal such as a smartphone owned by the driver.

The communication device 100 may be installed at any position of the vehicle 1. The communication device 100 may be connected to a position detection device such as a CAN (Control Area Network) and a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver provided in the vehicle 1. The communication device 100 uses communication information received from a communication vehicle that is a vehicle communicating around the vehicle 1 to display a communication vehicle symbol (first symbol), which is an image visually representing the characteristics of the communication vehicle, on the screen of a display device. This will be described in detail later. The communication vehicle symbol may be, for example, an icon formed in a shape corresponding to the model of the communication vehicle and colored in a color corresponding to the color of the communication vehicle. Alternatively, the communication vehicle symbol may be, for example, a thumbnail image of an image of the exterior of the communication vehicle. The thumbnail image may be, for example, a front image or an overhead image of the vehicle.

In the following description, the vehicle 1 may be referred to as the "own vehicle."
It also means "image data representing an image" as a processing target in information processing. The term "image" is not limited to a still image, but includes a moving image. The term "audio" also means "audio data representing audio" as a processing target in information processing.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the inside of the vehicle 1 according to the first embodiment. Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the driver's cab inside the vehicle 1 as viewed from the driver's seat toward the front of the vehicle 1. The vehicle 1 includes a steering wheel 1
The vehicle 1 has a dashboard 12, a windshield 14, a center console 16, a cluster panel 18 that displays the vehicle's traveling speed, engine RPM, and the like. The center console 16 may also be provided with a center display unit 20 that displays a navigation screen, and the like. The vehicle 1 may also be provided with a head-up display unit 22 on which an image is displayed by a head-up display, above the cluster panel 18. When the head-up display is of a combiner type, the head-up display unit 22 is the combiner. When the head-up display is of a combiner type, the head-up display unit 22 is provided with a ...
When displaying a virtual image on the windshield 14, the head-up display unit 22
The vehicle 1 may also have a rear view monitor 24. The rear view monitor 24 is disposed in a position similar to that of a rear view mirror for checking the rear of a typical vehicle, that is, near the upper center of the windshield 14.

3 is a diagram showing a configuration of the communication device 100 according to the first embodiment and a communication system 50 including the communication device 100. The communication system 50 according to the first embodiment includes a camera 2,
The communication device 100 includes a position detection device 4, a display device 6, a microphone 7, a speaker 8, and a communication device 100. The communication device 100 is communicably connected to the camera 2, the position detection device 4, the display device 6, the microphone 7, and the speaker 8.
, a display device 6, a microphone 7, and a speaker 8. At least one or all of the components of the communication system 50 may be incorporated in the vehicle 1, or may be removable from the vehicle 1 and portable. This also applies to other embodiments described later.

The position detection device 4 detects the position of the vehicle 1. The position of the vehicle 1 can be expressed by, for example, latitude and longitude. The position detection device 4 is, for example, a position detection device such as a GPS receiver. Note that the position detection device 4 may be any satellite positioning system other than a GPS receiver. The position detection device 4 may also include an acceleration sensor, a gyro, a sensor that detects the number of rotations of the tires of the vehicle 1, and a position detection auxiliary processing unit (not shown) that processes signals from these sensors to improve the detection accuracy of the position of the vehicle 1.

The display device 6 is, for example, a display. The display device 6 is preferably a touch panel. The display device 6 displays an image under the control of the communication device 100. In this embodiment, the display device 6 can be used for communication with a communication vehicle. The display device 6 can be realized by, for example, a rear view monitor 24, a cluster panel 18, a center display unit 20, or a head-up display unit 22. The display device 6 may also be realized by a display unit of a mobile terminal device, such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal, capable of communicating with the communication device 100. The communication device 100 may also be, for example, a computer device built into the center console 16 or the like, or may be the above-mentioned mobile terminal device. The communication device 100 may also be ... a mobile terminal device.
When the vehicle 1 is equipped with the display device 6, the display device 6 is provided inside the vehicle 1 at a position where the driver of the vehicle can see the display device 6 while driving. In this case, the display device 6 is provided in the interface unit 1 described later.
This may be achieved by 08.

The microphone 7 collects the voice of a user such as a driver under the control of the communication device 100. The speaker 8 outputs voice under the control of the communication device 100. The microphone 7 and the speaker 8 can be used for communication with a communication vehicle. The microphone 7 and the speaker 8 may be incorporated in the display device 6. Furthermore, when the microphone 7 and the speaker 8 are incorporated in the communication device 100, the microphone 7 and the speaker 8 may be realized by an interface unit 108 described later.

The communication device 100 has, as its main hardware components, a control unit 102, a storage unit 104, a communication unit 106, and an interface unit 108 (IF).
The CPU 102, the storage unit 104, the communication unit 106, and the interface unit 108 are connected to each other via a data bus, etc. In other words, the communication device 100 has the functions of a computer.

The control unit 102 is, for example, a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit).
The control unit 102 functions as a calculation device that performs control processing and calculation processing. The storage unit 104 is a storage device such as a memory or a hard disk.
For example, it is a ROM (Read Only Memory) or a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. The storage unit 104 has a function for storing a control program, an arithmetic program, etc., which are executed by the control unit 102 or as a function of the control unit 102. The storage unit 104 also has a function for temporarily storing processing data, etc.

The communication unit 106 performs processes necessary for communication. The communication unit 106 performs processes necessary for communication with devices other than the communication device 100 in the communication system 50.
In this embodiment, the communication unit 106 performs processing required for performing inter-vehicle communication with the communication vehicle. The communication unit 106 performs, for example, short-distance wireless communication with the communication vehicle. Note that the standard for inter-vehicle communication is arbitrary. For example, the standard for inter-vehicle communication may be DSRC (Dedicated Standard Radio Communication) adopted in Japan.
IEEE 802.
11p. The inter-vehicle communication may be any communication called P2P (peer-to-peer) communication. For example, it may be communication called Wi-Fi Direct, or it may be communication using Bluetooth (registered trademark). The communication unit 106 may perform one-to-one communication with one other vehicle around the vehicle. Alternatively, the communication unit 106 may perform communication with multiple other vehicles around the vehicle by broadcast communication or the like.

The interface unit 108 (IF; Interface) is, for example, a user interface (UI
The interface unit 108 has an input device such as a keyboard, a touch panel, or a mouse, and an output device such as a display or a speaker.

The communication device 100 also includes a communication information receiving unit 110, a vehicle position acquiring unit 112, a communicating vehicle identifying unit 120, an image acquiring unit 122, a symbol acquiring unit 130, a display size determining unit 140, a display control unit 150, and a communication processing unit 160. These components are, for example, a control unit 1
These components can be realized by having the control unit 102 execute a program under the control of the control unit 102. More specifically, these components can be realized by having the control unit 102 execute a program stored in the storage unit 104. Furthermore, these components may be realized by recording the necessary programs on an arbitrary non-volatile recording medium and installing them as required. The above also applies to the other embodiments described below.

These components may be realized not only by software programs but also by a combination of hardware, firmware, and software.
Alternatively, the present invention may be realized by using a user-programmable integrated circuit such as a microcomputer or a logic gate array. In this case, the integrated circuit may be used to realize a program that is configured from the above-mentioned components. The above also applies to the other embodiments described later.

The communication information receiving unit 110 receives communication information transmitted by communication vehicles around the vehicle via the communication unit 106. The communication information will be described later with reference to FIG. 4. The communication vehicles may transmit the communication information, for example, by broadband transmission. When the communication information receiving unit 110 receives the communication information, the communication device 100 may control the speaker 8 to generate a sound notifying that the communication information has been received.

4 is a diagram illustrating communication information according to the first embodiment. The communication information includes communication content information indicating the communication content and location information. The location information is information indicating the location, specifically, the latitude and longitude, of the communication vehicle that transmitted the communication information. The location information can be acquired by a GPS receiver or the like mounted on the communication vehicle. The location information may also include the traveling direction of the communication vehicle.

The communication content is content for the driver of the communication vehicle to communicate with surrounding vehicles. The communication content may be, for example, a text message input or selected by the driver of the communication vehicle. In this case, the driver of the communication vehicle may input text, which is the communication content, into a touch panel mounted on the communication vehicle, or may select an option displayed on the touch panel. The text message may be generated by voice recognition from the speech of the driver of the communication vehicle. Alternatively, the communication content may be voice data indicating the speech of the driver of the communication vehicle. In this case, the voice data may be collected and generated by a microphone mounted on the communication vehicle. Alternatively, the communication content may be a symbol image, such as an icon, pictogram, or photo image, input or selected by the driver of the communication vehicle.

The communication information may include vehicle information about the communication vehicle that transmitted the communication information. The vehicle information may include vehicle type information indicating the vehicle type of the communication vehicle, color information indicating the paint color of the communication vehicle, and vehicle I.
The vehicle type information may include a vehicle type (model) of the communication vehicle, or a model name of the communication vehicle (sedan, wagon, minivan, sports type, truck, etc.). The vehicle ID is identification information for identifying the vehicle, and may be, for example, a vehicle registration number or a vehicle number (so-called license plate number). The symbol information is information indicating a communication vehicle symbol. The communication vehicle symbol indicated by the symbol information may be, for example, an icon having a shape corresponding to the vehicle type of the communication vehicle and a color corresponding to the color of the communication vehicle. Alternatively, the communication vehicle symbol indicated by the symbol information may be a thumbnail image of an image of the exterior of the communication vehicle.

The vehicle position acquisition unit 112 (FIG. 3) acquires the position information of the vehicle from the position detection device 4. The communication vehicle identification unit 120 uses the communication information to identify the communication vehicle that transmitted the communication information. Specifically, the communication vehicle identification unit 120 may identify the position of the communication vehicle relative to the vehicle from the position information of the communication vehicle included in the communication information. The communication vehicle identification unit 120 may also use the position information of the vehicle and the position information of the communication vehicle to identify the inter-vehicle distance, which is the distance between the vehicle and the communication vehicle. The communication vehicle identification unit 120 may also use the traveling direction of the vehicle, the position information of the vehicle, and the position information of the communication vehicle to identify the direction of the communication vehicle relative to the vehicle. The inter-vehicle distance and the direction of the communication vehicle may be calculated by a geometric method using the position information of the vehicle and the position information of the communication vehicle.

The image acquisition unit 122 acquires an image of the surroundings of the vehicle from the camera 2. The image acquisition unit 122 can acquire at least an image in a direction capable of capturing an image of the position of the communicating vehicle identified by the communicating vehicle identification unit 120. In other words, when multiple cameras 2 are mounted on the vehicle 1, the image acquisition unit 122 acquires an image from the camera 2 capable of capturing an image of the identified communicating vehicle's position.

The symbol acquiring unit 130 acquires a communicating vehicle symbol. Specifically, when the communication information received from the communicating vehicle includes vehicle type information and color information, the symbol acquiring unit 130 acquires a communicating vehicle symbol.
Using the vehicle type information and color information, an icon may be generated that is formed in a shape corresponding to the vehicle type of the communicating vehicle and colored in a color corresponding to the color of the communicating vehicle. If the communication information received from the communicating vehicle includes symbol information, the symbol acquiring unit 130 may extract the symbol information from the communication information. The symbol acquiring unit 130 may acquire the symbol information indicating the symbol corresponding to the communication information received from the communicating vehicle from a database (not shown) or from a server via a network.

The symbol acquisition unit 130 may generate a thumbnail image, which is a communication vehicle symbol, from the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 122.
0 detects a communicating vehicle in an image from the position and direction of the communicating vehicle identified by the communicating vehicle identification unit 120. Then, an image of the communicating vehicle is extracted to generate a thumbnail image. Here, since the shooting direction, angle of view, magnification, etc. of the camera 2 are known, it is possible to detect a communicating vehicle in an image from the position and direction of the communicating vehicle by a geometric method. For example, it is possible to determine whether the direction of the communicating vehicle relative to the vehicle identified by the communicating vehicle identification unit 120 and the inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and the communicating vehicle match the position and direction of the communicating vehicle calculated from the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 122. Note that the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 122 is used by the symbol acquisition unit 130 to generate a thumbnail image, so if the symbol acquisition unit 130 does not generate a thumbnail image from the image, the image acquisition unit 122 is not an essential component.

The display size determination unit 140 determines the display size of the communicating vehicle symbol according to the inter-vehicle distance obtained by the communicating vehicle identification unit 120. Specifically, the display size determination unit 140 determines the display size so that the display size of the communicating vehicle symbol is small if the inter-vehicle distance is long. On the other hand, the display size determination unit 140 determines the display size so that the display size of the communicating vehicle symbol is large if the inter-vehicle distance is short.

The display size may be defined, for example, by the number of pixels in both the length and width of the image representing the communicating vehicle symbol, or by dimensions such as inches. The display size may also be determined as a size relative to the screen size of the display device 6. Therefore, even if the inter-vehicle distance is the same, the display size may be larger when the screen size is larger than when the screen size is smaller. For example, if the inter-vehicle distance is L and the screen size is D, then the display size S of the communicating vehicle symbol is:
S = a × D / L (1)
where a is a proportionality constant.

The size s of the communication vehicle symbol acquired by the symbol acquisition unit 130 may be determined in accordance with the body dimensions of the communication vehicle. In this case, the display size determination unit 140
The display size determination unit 140 may determine the display magnification b of the communication vehicle symbol that is actually displayed. That is, the display size determination unit 140 may determine the display magnification b when S in the above formula 1 is expressed as S=b×s.

The display control unit 150 displays the communicating vehicle symbol on the screen of the display device 6 at the display size determined by the display size determination unit 140. Specifically, the display control unit 150 generates a display image to be displayed on the screen of the display device 6. Here, the generated display image includes the communicating vehicle symbol. In the display image, the size of the communicating vehicle symbol is the determined display size.

Furthermore, the display control unit 150 may display a communication vehicle symbol so that the direction of the communication vehicle identified by the communication vehicle identification unit 120 can be visually perceived. Specifically, the display control unit 150 generates a display image in which the communication vehicle symbol is displayed at a position corresponding to the direction of the communication vehicle. As a result, the display control unit 150 displays the communication vehicle symbol on the screen of the display device 6 at a position corresponding to the direction of the communication vehicle.

Here, an upward position on the screen may be associated with the front of the vehicle, a downward position on the screen may be associated with the rear of the vehicle, a rightward position on the screen may be associated with the right side of the vehicle, and a leftward position on the screen may be associated with the left side of the vehicle.

For example, when the communicating vehicle is in front of the vehicle itself, that is, in the direction along the traveling direction, the display control unit 150 may display a communicating vehicle symbol in the upper center of the screen.
When the communicating vehicle is located to the right of the vehicle, i.e., to the right of the vehicle's traveling direction, the display control unit 150 may display a communicating vehicle symbol in the upper right corner of the screen. When the communicating vehicle is located to the rear of the vehicle, i.e., in the opposite direction to the vehicle's traveling direction, the display control unit 150 may display a communicating vehicle symbol in the lower center of the screen.

The method of displaying the communication vehicle symbol so that the direction of the communication vehicle can be visually perceived is not limited to the method of displaying the communication vehicle symbol at a position corresponding to the direction of the communication vehicle. For example, the display control unit 150 may display an arrow in a direction corresponding to the direction of the communication vehicle near the communication vehicle symbol. In other words, the display control unit 150 may generate a display image that indicates the direction of the communication vehicle using an arrow.

For example, when the direction in which the communication vehicle exists is the direction in front of the host vehicle, the display control unit 150
The communicating vehicle symbol may be displayed in the center of the screen, and an arrow pointing up may be displayed near (e.g., above) the communicating vehicle symbol. When the direction in which the communicating vehicle exists is to the right front of the vehicle, the display control unit 150 may display the communicating vehicle symbol in the center of the screen, and an arrow pointing up and to the right near (e.g., above) the communicating vehicle symbol. When the direction in which the communicating vehicle exists is to the rear of the vehicle, the display control unit 150 may display the communicating vehicle symbol in the center of the screen, and an arrow pointing down near (e.g., below) the communicating vehicle symbol. Even when the arrow is used to indicate the direction in which the communicating vehicle exists, the display position of the communicating vehicle symbol may be a position corresponding to the direction in which the communicating vehicle exists.

Furthermore, the display control unit 150 may display the communication contents near the communication vehicle symbol on the screen of the display device 6. In this case, the display control unit 150 may display a speech bubble near the communication vehicle symbol on the screen and display the communication contents in the speech bubble. That is, the display control unit 150 may generate a display image in which a speech bubble is displayed near the communication vehicle symbol and the communication contents are displayed in the speech bubble. For example, when the communication contents are "You go first," the display control unit 150 may display a speech bubble indicating "You go first" near the communication vehicle symbol. Note that, for example, when outputting the communication vehicle of the communication vehicle by voice, the display control unit 150 may output the communication contents of the communication vehicle corresponding to the touched communication vehicle symbol by voice when the communication vehicle symbol is touched. When the communication contents are symbol images, the display control unit 150 may display the received symbol image near the communication vehicle symbol.

The communication processing unit 160 performs a process to enable communication with a communication vehicle in a predetermined case. Specifically, when a communication vehicle symbol is touched on the screen of the display device 6, the communication processing unit 160 starts communication with the communication vehicle corresponding to the touched communication vehicle symbol. Then,
The communication processing unit 160 controls the communication unit 106 to establish a wireless communication path with the communication vehicle. The communication processing unit 160 transmits communication information of the vehicle to the communication vehicle via the communication unit 106 and the established wireless communication path. In this case, the communication processing unit 160 transmits the communication information exemplified in FIG. 4 as follows:
The communication processing unit 160 may transmit a host vehicle symbol, which is a symbol indicating the host vehicle, to the communication vehicle. For example, when only one communication vehicle symbol is displayed on the screen of the display device 6, the communication processing unit 160 may start communication with the communication vehicle corresponding to the communication vehicle symbol even if the communication vehicle symbol is not touched.

Then, the communication processing unit 160 receives the following from the communication vehicle via the wireless communication path and the communication unit 106:
The communication information transmitted and received after wireless communication is established may or may not include location information.

For example, the communication processing unit 160 may transmit, as the communication content, text data input by the driver or the like to the touch panel of the display device 6. Alternatively, the communication processing unit 160 may transmit, as the communication content, an option selected by the driver or the like from among options such as text data or symbol images displayed on the touch panel. In other words, the communication content may be input by operating the screen of the display device 6.

The communication processing unit 160 may also transmit information indicating a speech uttered by a driver or the like and collected by the microphone 7 as communication content to the communication vehicle. In this case, the communication processing unit 160 may convert the speech into text data by voice recognition and transmit the text data to the communication vehicle. The communication processing unit 160 may also output the communication content transmitted from the communication vehicle to the display device 6 or the speaker 8.

The communication with the communication vehicle may be performed without interfering with the driving operation of the vehicle. The method of outputting the communication contents of the communication vehicle and the method of inputting the communication contents of the vehicle may be switched depending on the driving conditions of the vehicle. For example, when the vehicle is traveling, the communication processing unit 160 may enable only voice input and voice output as a method of inputting and outputting the communication contents. On the other hand, when the vehicle is stopped, the touch panel of the display device 6 may be enabled as a method of inputting and outputting the communication contents in addition to voice input and voice output.

5 is a flowchart showing a communication method according to the first embodiment. The communication information receiving unit 110 receives communication information from a communicating vehicle that is present around the vehicle and is communicating with the vehicle (step S102). The communicating vehicle identifying unit 120 uses the communication information to identify the communicating vehicle that has transmitted the communication information (step S104). As described above, the communicating vehicle identifying unit 120
The communicating vehicle identifying unit 120 may identify the direction in which the communicating vehicle is located.

The symbol acquisition unit 130 acquires the communicating vehicle symbol by the above-mentioned method (step S106). The display size determination unit 140 determines the display size according to the inter-vehicle distance by the above-mentioned method.
The display size of the communication vehicle symbol acquired in the process of S106 is determined (step S10
8) The vehicle-to-vehicle distance may be calculated by the display size determination unit 140.

The display control unit 150 displays the communicating vehicle symbol on the screen of the display device 6 in the display size determined in the process of S108 (step S110). When there are multiple communicating vehicles communicating around the vehicle, the display control unit 150 displays the multiple communicating vehicle symbols in the following manner:
The communicating vehicle symbol may be displayed on the screen of the display device 6. When the communicating vehicle identification unit 120 identifies the direction in which the communicating vehicle is located, the display control unit 150 may display a communicating vehicle symbol so that the communicating vehicle direction can be visually perceived, as described above. For example, the display control unit 150 may display the following on the screen of the display device 6 at a position corresponding to the direction in which the communicating vehicle is located:
A communicating vehicle symbol may be displayed.

Furthermore, as described above, the display control unit 150 may display a speech bubble or symbol image showing the communication content of the communication vehicle corresponding to the communication vehicle symbol near the communication vehicle symbol. This allows the driver, etc. to visually recognize the communication content of the communication vehicle. In particular, when multiple communication vehicle symbols are displayed, the communication content for each communication vehicle can be easily recognized. In this case, multiple voices may overlap, making it impossible to understand the meaning of each voice. Furthermore, in this case, even if the meaning of each voice can be understood, it may not be easy to understand which voice corresponds to the communication content from which communication vehicle. On the other hand, as in this embodiment,
By displaying a speech bubble showing the communication contents of the communication vehicle corresponding to the communication vehicle symbol near the communication vehicle symbol, the problem of outputting the communication contents by voice can be solved. In addition, when a plurality of communication vehicle symbols are displayed, the display of the speech bubble showing the communication contents may overlap, making it difficult to see. In order to solve such a problem, the communication contents of the communication vehicles corresponding to the communication vehicle symbols may be displayed sequentially instead of simultaneously. In this case, the display order is preferably, for example, in order of the earliest reception timing, but various forms may be used, such as displaying the communication contents of the communication vehicles closer to the vehicle with priority. In addition, when the communication contents of the communication vehicles corresponding to the communication vehicle symbols are displayed, the communication vehicle symbols or symbol images may be displayed in a form that makes it easier to understand which vehicle the communication contents are displayed from. For example, the display control unit 150 may cause the entire communication vehicle symbol corresponding to the displayed communication contents, or a part of the edge, etc., to flash. Alternatively, the display control unit 150 may cause the entire symbol image, or a part of the edge, etc., to flash. Alternatively, the display control unit 150 may gray out the communicating vehicle symbols other than the communicating vehicle symbol corresponding to the displayed communication content by lowering the display brightness.

The display control unit 150 judges whether or not the communication vehicle symbol displayed on the screen of the display device 6 has been touched (step S112). If the communication vehicle symbol has been touched (S11
If the answer is YES in step S112, the communication processing unit 160 performs a process to enable communication with the communication vehicle corresponding to the touched communication vehicle symbol (step S114). In this way, by enabling communication with the communication vehicle when the communication vehicle symbol is touched, the driver or the like can specify the communication vehicle with which he or she wants to communicate. In other words, it is possible to prevent the driver or the like from communicating with a communication vehicle with which he or she does not want to communicate.

6 to 9 are diagrams for explaining the operation of the communication device 100 according to the first embodiment.
6 is a diagram showing a first example of a state in which communication information is received from a vehicle 90. The vehicle 90 corresponds to the vehicle 1 shown in FIG. 1. In the example of FIG. 6, the vehicle 90 is traveling in one lane of a two-lane road with left-hand traffic, and the communicating vehicle 92 is traveling in the oncoming lane. The vehicle 90 is about to make a right turn in front of the communicating vehicle 92.

In the example of Fig. 6, the communication vehicle 92 transmits communication information including the position information of the communication vehicle 92 and the communication content "please go ahead". The inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle 90 and the communication vehicle 92 is L1 (m). The communication vehicle 92 is located to the right front of the vehicle 90 in the traveling direction.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a display image displayed by the communication device 100 according to the first embodiment for the first example shown in FIG. 6. The communicating vehicle identification unit 120 identifies the position of the communicating vehicle 92 relative to the own vehicle 90 using the position information of the own vehicle 90 and the position information of the communicating vehicle 92. The symbol acquisition unit 130 acquires a communicating vehicle symbol 92Im that visually represents the characteristics of the communicating vehicle 92. The display size determination unit 140 determines a display size S1 of the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im according to the distance L1 between the own vehicle 90 and the communicating vehicle 92. The display size S1 of the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im can be determined according to the inter-vehicle distance L1 and the screen size D of the screen 6a. In the example of FIG. 7, the display size S is set to the size of the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im.
In the above embodiment, the display size S is defined by the horizontal size of the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im, and the screen size D is defined by the horizontal size of the screen 6a, but the present invention is not limited to this. The display size S may be defined by the vertical or diagonal size of the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im. Similarly, the screen size D may be defined by the vertical or diagonal size of the screen 6a. This is also true for the examples shown in the other figures.

The display control unit 150 performs the following at the display size S1 determined by the display size determination unit 140:
The display control unit 150 displays the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im on the screen 6a. Furthermore, the display control unit 150 displays the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im on the screen 6a at a position corresponding to the direction of the communicating vehicle 92 identified by the communicating vehicle identification unit 120. In the example of FIG. 6, the communicating vehicle 92 is located in the vicinity of the vehicle 92.
Since the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im is located to the right of and in front of the vehicle number 0, the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im is displayed in the upper right corner of the screen 6a. Furthermore, the display control unit 150 causes a speech bubble 72Im containing the communication content "Please go ahead" to be displayed near the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state where a vehicle 90 equipped with the communication device 100 according to the first embodiment is a communication vehicle 94.
8 is a diagram showing a second example of a state in which communication information is received from a vehicle 92. In FIG. 8, the vehicle 90 is traveling in one lane of a two-lane road with left-hand traffic, and the communicating vehicle 94 is traveling in the oncoming lane. The vehicle 90 is about to make a right turn in front of the communicating vehicle 92.

In the example of Fig. 8, the communication vehicle 94 transmits communication information including the position information of the communication vehicle 92 and the communication content "please go ahead". In addition, the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle 90 and the communication vehicle 94 is assumed to be L2 (m). Here, L2>L1. In other words, the distance between the host vehicle 90 and the communication vehicle 94 is assumed to be longer than the distance between the host vehicle 90 and the communication vehicle 92. In addition, the communication vehicle 92 is present to the right front of the host vehicle 90 in the traveling direction.

9 is a diagram illustrating a display image displayed by the communication device 100 according to the first embodiment for the second example shown in FIG. 8. The communication vehicle identification unit 120 identifies the position of the communication vehicle 94 relative to the host vehicle 90 using the position information of the host vehicle 90 and the position information of the communication vehicle 94. The symbol acquisition unit 130 acquires a communication vehicle symbol 94Im that visually represents the characteristics of the communication vehicle 94. The display size determination unit 140 determines a display size S2 of the communication vehicle symbol 94Im according to the distance L2 between the host vehicle 90 and the communication vehicle 94. The display size S2 of the communication vehicle symbol 94Im can be determined according to the inter-vehicle distance L2 and the screen size D of the screen 6a.

The display control unit 150 displays the communication vehicle symbol 94Im on the screen 6a in the display size determined by the display size determination unit 140. Further, the display control unit 150
8, the communication vehicle 94 is located to the right front of the vehicle 90, and therefore the communication vehicle symbol 94Im is displayed in the upper right corner of the screen 6a. Furthermore, the display control unit 150 displays a speech bubble 74Im containing the communication content "Please go ahead" in the vicinity of the communication vehicle symbol 94Im.

Here, as illustrated in Fig. 7 and Fig. 9, the display control unit 150 generates a display image such that the communication vehicle symbol 94Im corresponding to the communication vehicle 94 with a long inter-vehicle distance is displayed smaller than the communication vehicle symbol 92Im corresponding to the communication vehicle 94 with a short inter-vehicle distance. In other words, the display control unit 150 displays the communication vehicle symbol such that S1>S2 when L1<L2. In this way, the display size of the communication vehicle symbol is made smaller as the inter-vehicle distance increases and the display size of the communication vehicle symbol is made larger as the inter-vehicle distance decreases, so that the driver or the like can intuitively visually grasp the distance to the communication vehicle that has transmitted the communication information. This allows the driver or the like to intuitively grasp which vehicle around the vehicle 90 has transmitted the communication information.

Specifically, in the screen 6a illustrated in FIG. 7, the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im is displayed relatively large, so that the driver or the like can understand that the communication information has been transmitted from a relatively nearby vehicle, i.e., the communicating vehicle 92. On the other hand, in the screen 6a illustrated in FIG. 9, the communicating vehicle symbol 94Im is displayed relatively large.
Since the displayed area is relatively small, the driver or the like can understand that the communication information has been transmitted from a relatively distant vehicle, i.e., the communication vehicle 94. Therefore, the communication device 10 according to the first embodiment
0 allows the user to easily visually grasp from which vehicles around the vehicle communication information has been received.

The display control unit 150 also displays the communication vehicle symbols so that the direction in which the communication vehicles are present can be visually perceived. Specifically, as illustrated in Fig. 7 and Fig. 9, the display control unit 150 displays the communication vehicle symbol 92Im and the communication vehicle symbol 94Im in the upper right corner of the screen 6a. This allows the driver or the like to easily see that the communication vehicles 92 and 94 are approaching the vehicle 92.
It can be intuitively understood that the distance is in front of and to the right of 0.
The display control unit 150 may display an arrow indicating the direction of the communicating vehicle near the communicating vehicle symbol. In this manner, the driver or the like can intuitively grasp that the communicating vehicle 92 and the communicating vehicle 94 are present to the right front of the vehicle 90.
The vehicle navigation system 50 may change the display positions of the communication vehicle symbols 92Im and 94Im based on the difference between the inter-vehicle distance L1 between the vehicle 90 and the communication vehicle 92 and the inter-vehicle distance L2 between the vehicle 90 and the communication vehicle 94.
By displaying the display position of m further up compared to the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im, it is possible to easily visually grasp that the communicating vehicle 94 is located farther away than the communicating vehicle 92.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, a second embodiment will be described. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that not only the communication vehicle symbol but also a host vehicle symbol (second symbol) that is an image visually representing the characteristics of the host vehicle is displayed. Note that the hardware configuration of the vehicle 1 and the configuration of the communication device 100 according to the second embodiment are substantially similar to those according to the first embodiment, and therefore description thereof will be omitted.

The communication device 100 acquires the host vehicle symbol by the symbol acquisition unit 130 .
The symbol acquiring unit 130 may store the host vehicle symbol in the storage unit 104 in advance.
Furthermore, the communication device 100 may acquire the host vehicle symbol from a database (not shown) or from a server via a network. The host vehicle symbol may be, for example, an icon formed in a shape corresponding to the vehicle model and colored in a color corresponding to the color of the host vehicle. Alternatively, the host vehicle symbol may be, for example, a thumbnail image of an exterior image of the host vehicle. The thumbnail image may be a front image or an overhead image of the host vehicle.
When the communicating vehicle symbol is an overhead view image, it is preferable that the host vehicle symbol is also an overhead view image.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a communication method according to the second embodiment.
The processes of S202 to S208 are substantially similar to the processes of S102 to S108 shown in Fig. 5, respectively, and therefore their explanations will be omitted. Also, the processes of S212 to S214 are substantially similar to the processes of S112 to S114 shown in Fig. 5, respectively, and therefore their explanations will be omitted.

The display size determination unit 140 determines the display size S' of the host vehicle symbol in accordance with the vehicle-to-vehicle distance (step S209). Note that the method of determining the display size of the host vehicle symbol may be substantially the same as the method of determining the display size S of the communicating vehicle symbol described above. In other words, if the vehicle-to-vehicle distance L is long, the display size determination unit 140 determines the display size S' of the host vehicle symbol.
On the other hand, the display size determination unit 140 determines the display size S' so that
The display size S' of the host vehicle symbol is determined so that the display size S' is large if the inter-vehicle distance L is short. Also, the display size of the host vehicle symbol may be fixed.

The display control unit 150 displays the communicating vehicle symbol on the screen of the display device 6 in the display size determined in the process of S208, and displays the host vehicle symbol in the display size determined in the process of S209 (step S210).
When the inter-vehicle distance is short, the display control unit 150 displays the communicating vehicle symbol and the host vehicle symbol on the screen in a relatively small size. On the other hand, when the inter-vehicle distance is short, the display control unit 150 displays the communicating vehicle symbol and the host vehicle symbol on the screen in a relatively large size.

At this time, the display control unit 150 may display the communication vehicle symbol and the host vehicle symbol on the screen of the display device 6 so that the interval L' between the communication vehicle symbol and the host vehicle symbol on the screen corresponds to the inter-vehicle distance L. In other words, when the inter-vehicle distance is long, the display control unit 150 may display the communication vehicle symbol and the host vehicle symbol on the screen of the display device 6 so that the interval between the communication vehicle symbol and the host vehicle symbol becomes long. On the other hand, when the inter-vehicle distance is short, the display control unit 150 may display the communication vehicle symbol and the host vehicle symbol on the screen of the display device 6 so that the interval between the communication vehicle symbol and the host vehicle symbol becomes short.

Furthermore, the display control unit 150 may display a communicating vehicle symbol on the screen at a position corresponding to the direction in which the communicating vehicle is located relative to the host vehicle symbol. For example,
When a communication vehicle is present to the right of the vehicle, the display control unit 150 may display a communication vehicle symbol in the upper right corner of the vehicle symbol. When a communication vehicle is present in front of the vehicle, the display control unit 150 may display a communication vehicle symbol in the upper center of the vehicle symbol. When a communication vehicle is present behind the vehicle,
The display control unit 150 may display the communicating vehicle symbol centrally below the host vehicle symbol. In this case, the host vehicle symbol may be displayed at any position on the screen.

11 and 12 are diagrams for explaining the operation of the communication device 100 according to the second embodiment. FIG. 11 shows the operation of the communication device 100 according to the second embodiment for the first example shown in FIG.
1 is a diagram illustrating a display image displayed by the display control unit 150. As described above, the display control unit 150 displays the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im on the screen 6a in a display size S1 determined according to the inter-vehicle distance L1. Also, the display control unit 150 displays the host vehicle symbol 90Im on the screen 6a in a display size S1' determined according to the inter-vehicle distance L1.

Furthermore, the display control unit 150 displays the following on the screen 6a with respect to the host vehicle symbol 90Im:
A communication vehicle symbol 92I is displayed at a position corresponding to the direction in which the communication vehicle 92 is located relative to the vehicle 90.
In the example of FIG. 6, since the communicating vehicle 92 is located to the right front of the host vehicle 90, the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im is displayed to the upper right of the host vehicle symbol 90Im on the screen 6a. Furthermore, the display control unit 150 displays a speech bubble 72Im containing the communication content "Please go ahead" in the vicinity of the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im. Furthermore, the display control unit 150 determines whether the interval L1' between the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im and the host vehicle symbol 90Im is greater than the inter-vehicle distance L1
The communicating vehicle symbol 92Im and the host vehicle symbol 90Im are displayed on the screen 6a at an interval corresponding to the distance between the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im and the host vehicle symbol 90Im.

12 is a diagram illustrating a display image displayed by the communication device 100 according to the second embodiment for the second example shown in FIG. 8. As described above, the display control unit 150 displays the communication vehicle symbol 94Im on the screen 6 in the display size S2 determined according to the inter-vehicle distance L2.
In addition, the display control unit 150 causes the host vehicle symbol 90Im to be displayed on the screen 6a in a display size S2' determined according to the inter-vehicle distance L2.

Furthermore, the display control unit 150 displays the following on the screen 6a with respect to the host vehicle symbol 90Im:
A communication vehicle symbol 94I is displayed at a position corresponding to the direction in which the communication vehicle 94 is located relative to the vehicle 90.
In the example of FIG. 8, since the communicating vehicle 94 is located to the right front of the host vehicle 90, the communicating vehicle symbol 94Im is displayed to the upper right of the host vehicle symbol 90Im on the screen 6a. Furthermore, the display control unit 150 displays a speech bubble 74Im containing the communication content "Please go ahead" in the vicinity of the communicating vehicle symbol 94Im. Furthermore, the display control unit 150 determines whether the interval L2' between the communicating vehicle symbol 94Im and the host vehicle symbol 90Im is greater than the inter-vehicle distance L2
The communicating vehicle symbol 94Im and the host vehicle symbol 90Im are displayed on the screen 6a at an interval corresponding to the distance between the communicating vehicle symbol 94Im and the host vehicle symbol 90Im.

Here, as illustrated in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, the display control unit 150 according to the second embodiment
In this case, when the inter-vehicle distance is long, the display control unit 150 displays a smaller communicating vehicle symbol and the own vehicle symbol on the screen 6a compared to when the inter-vehicle distance is short.
In this way, the display size of the communicating vehicle symbol and the host vehicle symbol is made smaller as the inter-vehicle distance becomes longer, so that the driver, etc., can easily see the following:
Compared to the first embodiment, the distance to the communication vehicle that transmitted the communication information can be visually and intuitively grasped. This allows the driver, etc., to more intuitively grasp which vehicle around the vehicle 90 transmitted the communication information. In other words, the driver, etc., can more intuitively grasp where the communication vehicle that transmitted the communication information is located. Also, as described above, when the display size of the vehicle symbol is fixed,
The longer the inter-vehicle distance, the smaller the display size of the communicating vehicle symbol may be, and the farther the display position of the communicating vehicle symbol may be from the host vehicle symbol, allowing the driver or the like to more intuitively grasp where the communicating vehicle that transmitted the communication information is located.

Specifically, in the screen 6a illustrated in Fig. 11, the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im and the host vehicle symbol 90Im are displayed relatively large, so that the driver or the like can understand that the communication information has been transmitted from the communicating vehicle 92, which is relatively close to the host vehicle 90. On the other hand, in the screen 6a illustrated in Fig. 12, the communicating vehicle symbol 94Im and the host vehicle symbol 90Im are displayed relatively small, so that the driver or the like can understand that the communication information has been transmitted from the communicating vehicle 94, which is relatively far from the host vehicle 90. Therefore, compared to the first embodiment, the communication device 100 according to the second embodiment can allow the user to visually understand more easily from which vehicle around the host vehicle the communication information has been received.

11 and 12, the display control unit 150 according to the second embodiment generates a display image such that the interval L' between the communicating vehicle symbol and the host vehicle symbol on the screen 6a corresponds to the inter-vehicle distance L. In other words, the display control unit 150 displays the communicating vehicle symbol and the host vehicle symbol on the screen 6a such that the interval L' between the communicating vehicle symbol and the host vehicle symbol becomes longer as the inter-vehicle distance L becomes longer. This allows the driver or the like to more easily recognize the sense of distance between the communicating vehicle and the host vehicle. Therefore, the user can more easily visually grasp from which vehicle around the host vehicle the communication information has been received.

11 and 12, the display control unit 150 according to the second embodiment displays a communicating vehicle symbol on the screen 6a at a position corresponding to the direction in which the communicating vehicle is present with respect to the host vehicle 90, with respect to the host vehicle symbol 90Im.
It is possible for the user to more intuitively grasp the direction in which the communicating vehicle is located relative to the vehicle 90. Therefore, the user can more easily visually grasp from which vehicle around the vehicle the communication information has been received.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, a third embodiment will be described. The third embodiment differs from the other embodiments in that a communicating vehicle symbol is displayed superimposed on a map. Note that the hardware configuration of the vehicle 1 according to the third embodiment is substantially the same as that according to the first embodiment, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted.

13 is a diagram showing the configuration of a communication device 100 according to the third embodiment and a communication system 50 having the communication device 100. The communication system 50 according to the third embodiment includes a camera 2, a position detection device 4, a display device 6, a microphone 7, a speaker 8, a map storage unit 9, and the communication device 100. The communication device 100 is communicatively connected to the camera 2, the position detection device 4, the display device 6, the microphone 7, the speaker 8, and the map storage unit 9.
The vehicle navigation system 00 may have at least one of a camera 2 , a position detection device 4 , a display device 6 , a microphone 7 , a speaker 8 , and a map memory unit 9 .

The map storage unit 9 is a device that stores map information indicating a map. The map storage unit 9 may be realized, for example, by a car navigation system. The map indicated by the map information includes at least the current position of the vehicle 1 and surrounding information indicating the surroundings of the current position of the vehicle.

The communication device 100 has a communication information receiving unit 110, a vehicle position acquiring unit 112, a communicating vehicle identifying unit 120, an image acquiring unit 122, a symbol acquiring unit 130, a display size determining unit 140, a display control unit 350, and a communication processing unit 160. Note that the operations of the components other than the display control unit 350 are substantially similar to those in the above-described embodiment, and therefore will not be described.

The display control unit 350 displays a map corresponding to the current position of the vehicle 1 on the screen of the display device 6. Then, the display control unit 350 displays a communicating vehicle symbol at a position on the map corresponding to the location of the communicating vehicle. Furthermore, the display control unit 350 may display a host vehicle symbol at a position on the map corresponding to the current position of the vehicle 1. Other operations of the display control unit 350 are substantially similar to the operations of the display control unit 150 described above. Note that in the third embodiment, the display size may be determined according to the scale of the map.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a communication method according to the third embodiment.
The processes of S302 to S308 are substantially similar to the processes of S102 to S108 shown in Fig. 5, respectively, and therefore their explanations will be omitted. The process of S309 is substantially similar to the process of S209 shown in Fig. 10, respectively, and therefore its explanations will be omitted. The processes of S312 to S314 are substantially similar to the processes of S112 to S114 shown in Fig. 5, respectively, and therefore their explanations will be omitted.

The display control unit 350 displays the communicating vehicle symbol and the host vehicle symbol on the map (
Step S310. At this time, similarly to the above-described embodiment, the display control unit 350
The communicating vehicle symbol is displayed in the display size determined in the process of S308, and the host vehicle symbol is displayed in the display size determined in the process of S309.

15 and 16 are diagrams for explaining the operation of the communication device 100 according to the third embodiment. FIG. 15 shows the operation of the communication device 100 according to the third embodiment for the first example shown in FIG.
15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display image displayed by the screen 6a. FIG. 15 shows an example in which a map 80Im, which is an overhead map, that is, a three-dimensional map, is displayed on the screen 6a.

The display control unit 350 displays the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im on the map 80Im displayed on the screen 6a in a display size S1 determined in accordance with the inter-vehicle distance L1. The display control unit 350 also displays the host vehicle symbol 92Im on the map 80Im displayed on the screen 6a in a display size S1' determined in accordance with the inter-vehicle distance L1.
At this time, since the host vehicle 90 is located in front of the communicating vehicle 92, the display size S1' of the host vehicle symbol 90Im may be made larger than the display size S1 of the communicating vehicle symbol 92Im.

16 is a diagram illustrating a display image displayed by the communication device 100 according to the third embodiment for the second example shown in FIG. 8. The display control unit 350 displays the communication vehicle symbol 94Im on the map displayed on the screen 6a at a display size S2 determined according to the inter-vehicle distance L2. The display control unit 150 also displays the host vehicle symbol 90Im on the map 80Im displayed on the screen 6a at a display size S2' determined according to the inter-vehicle distance L2. At this time, since the host vehicle 90 is located in front of the communication vehicle 94, the display size S2' of the host vehicle symbol 90Im may be made larger than the display size S2 of the communication vehicle symbol 94Im.

Here, as illustrated in FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, similarly to the above-described embodiment, the display control unit 350 according to the third embodiment displays the host vehicle symbol together with the communication vehicle symbol on the screen 6.
At this time, when the inter-vehicle distance is long, the display control unit 150 displays on the screen 6a a communicating vehicle symbol and a host vehicle symbol that are smaller than when the inter-vehicle distance is short. In other words, when L1<L2, the display control unit 350 sets S1>S2 and S1'>S
2'. Furthermore, the display control unit 350 according to the third embodiment displays the communicating vehicle symbol and the host vehicle symbol on the map 80Im. This allows the driver, etc. to more intuitively grasp which vehicle around the host vehicle 90 has transmitted the communication information, as compared to the above-described embodiment. In other words, the driver, etc. can more intuitively grasp where the communicating vehicle that transmitted the communication information is located.

In addition, by displaying a communicating vehicle symbol on a map, the driver, etc. can also recognize a communicating vehicle that is difficult to see from the vehicle because it is located behind an obstacle such as a building. In other words, even if a location is difficult to see from the vehicle, the driver, etc. can recognize the location if it is on the map. Therefore, even if communication information is received from a communicating vehicle that is in a blind spot due to a building, etc., the driver, etc. can recognize the location of the transmitting communicating vehicle.

(Modification)
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be modified as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, the order of each process in the above-mentioned flowchart is as follows:
The above-described flowcharts may be modified as appropriate. One or more of the processes in the flowcharts may be omitted. For example, the processes in S112 and S114 in the flowchart of FIG. 5 may be omitted. The same applies to the flowcharts of FIG. 14 and FIG. 16.

In addition, the communication device 100 according to the above-described embodiment identifies a communicating vehicle using communication information including the position information of the communicating vehicle, but is not limited to such a configuration. It is not necessary to use position information to identify a communicating vehicle. In this case, the communication information transmitted from the communicating vehicle does not need to include the position information of the communicating vehicle.

For example, the communication information includes the vehicle ID of the communication vehicle. In this case, the communication vehicle identification unit 120 detects a license plate corresponding to the vehicle ID from an image captured by the camera 2, for example, using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology. This allows the communication vehicle identification unit 120 to detect the communication vehicle from the image. Therefore, the communication vehicle identification unit 120 can identify the direction in which the communication vehicle exists relative to the host vehicle. Furthermore, if the communication system 50 has a distance sensor such as LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), the communication vehicle identification unit 120 can use this distance sensor to identify the inter-vehicle distance. Therefore, even if the communication information transmitted from the communication vehicle does not include the position information of the communication vehicle, the display size of the communication vehicle symbol can be determined according to the inter-vehicle distance, and the communication vehicle symbol can be displayed at the determined display size.

Although the communication device 100 according to the embodiment described above is configured to directly communicate with the communication vehicle, the communication device 100 according to the embodiment is not limited to a configuration that performs such inter-vehicle communication. The communication device 100 may communicate with the communication vehicle via a roadside device (not shown) or may communicate with the communication vehicle via a server.

The above-mentioned program may be stored on various types of non-transitory computer-readable media.
A non-transitory computer readable medium can be used to store and provide information to a computer. Non-transitory computer readable media can include any type of tangible recording medium (e.g.,
Examples of non-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic recording media (e.g., flexible disks, magnetic tapes, hard disk drives), magneto-optical recording media (e.g., magneto-optical disks), CD-ROMs (Read Only Memory), CD-Rs, and CDs.
-R/W, semiconductor memory (e.g., mask ROM, PROM (Programmable ROM), EP
The program may be stored in any of various types of transitory computer readable media (transitory computer readable memory (ROM), flash ROM, random access memory (RAM)).
The program may be supplied to the computer via a temporary computer readable medium. Examples of the temporary computer readable medium include an electric signal, an optical signal, and an electromagnetic wave. The temporary computer readable medium can supply the program to the computer via a wired communication path such as an electric wire and an optical fiber, or a wireless communication path.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Vehicle 2 Camera 4 Position detection device 6 Display device 6a Screen 7 Microphone 8 Speaker 9 Map storage unit 50 Communication system 100 Communication device 110 Communication information receiving unit 112 Vehicle position acquisition unit 120 Communicating vehicle identification unit 122 Image acquisition unit 130 Symbol acquisition unit 140 Display size determination unit 150 Display control unit 160 Communication processing unit 350 Display control unit

Claims (2)

a communication information receiving unit that receives communication information including communication contents and position information or vehicle information from a communication vehicle that is a vehicle existing around the vehicle and communicating;
a communication vehicle identification unit that identifies the communication vehicle using the communication information;
a symbol acquisition unit that acquires a symbol that is an image that resembles the identified communication vehicle;
a display control unit that displays the symbol and the communication content on a screen of a display device;
having
The display control unit, when there are a plurality of communication vehicles, sequentially displays the communication contents related to each of the plurality of communication vehicles in a predetermined order, and blinks at least a part of the symbol corresponding to the displayed communication contents, or displays a symbol that is an image imitating the communication vehicle other than the symbol corresponding to the displayed communication contents with reduced display brightness.
Communication device. a communication information receiving step of receiving communication information including communication contents and position information or vehicle information from a communication vehicle that is a vehicle existing around the vehicle and communicating;
a communicating vehicle identification step of identifying the communicating vehicle using the communication information;
a symbol acquisition step of acquiring a symbol which is an image imitating the identified communication vehicle;
a display control step of displaying the symbol and the communication content on a screen of a display device;
having
When there are a plurality of communication vehicles, the communication contents relating to each of the plurality of communication vehicles are displayed in a predetermined order, and at least a part of the symbols corresponding to the displayed communication contents are displayed in a blinking manner, or a symbol which is an image imitating the communication vehicle other than the symbol corresponding to the displayed communication contents is displayed with a reduced display brightness.
Communication method.

Images