JP4259430B2 - Vehicle information transmitting apparatus and vehicle - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle information transmission device.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a vehicle information transmission device that acquires information on a host vehicle such as a current position, traveling speed, and surrounding captured images and transmits the acquired vehicle information to a center. Information transmission by such a vehicle information transmission apparatus generally uses a wide-area communication system such as mobile packet communication.

In addition, when the acquired information is temporarily stored in an HDD (hard disk drive; the same applies hereinafter) and enters the communicable area of the communication system being used, or when there is an inquiry from the center, Some data is transmitted to the center (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2001357490 A

  However, in the conventional vehicle information transmission apparatus as described above, when there is a large amount of information accumulated at the time of transmission, transmission of data that is desirably transmitted in real time consumes a communication band for transmission of other data. May cause delays.

  An object of this invention is to enable the vehicle information transmission apparatus which transmits vehicle information to transmit the information which wants to transmit in real time more promptly in view of the said point.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition means for acquiring vehicle information is real-time transmission information, and the determination means. based on the determination of the real-time information for transmission, preferentially than non-real-time information for transmission, and a control means for transmitting the information to the transmission means for wirelessly transmitting to the vehicle outside, the said control means, real time feed Among the credit information, the transmission means stores untransmitted information in a storage medium, and when the real-time transmission information stored in the storage medium exceeds a reference amount, the real-time stored in the storage medium from the transmission information, vehicle information, characterized in that for transmitting real-time transmission information obtained by the newly the acquisition unit preferentially, to the transmitting means It is a transmitting device.

  Thus, the vehicle information transmitting apparatus can transmit information to be transmitted in real time more quickly by transmitting information for real time transmission preferentially over information for non-real time transmission. it can. Here, real-time transmission information refers to information that is transmitted with priority over other information.

  As described above, the vehicle information transmission device transmits the newly acquired real-time transmission information with priority over the real-time transmission information accumulated exceeding the reference amount, so that the information desired to be transmitted in real time can be transmitted more quickly. Can be sent to.

Further, the invention according to claim 2 is the vehicle information transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting means includes first transmitting means for wirelessly transmitting in the first communication system, and the first transmitting means. Second transmission means for wirelessly transmitting in a second communication system having a communication area smaller than that of the communication system, wherein the control means is capable of transmitting by the first transmission means and the second transmission. When the means is unable to transmit, based on the determination by the determination means, the real-time transmission information is transmitted to the first transmission means, and the non-real-time transmission information is transmitted to the second transmission means later. It is stored in a storage medium.

  As described above, when the vehicle information transmitting apparatus can use the first communication system having a wider communication area and the second communication system having a smaller communication area, the first communication system can transmit the second communication system. When transmission is impossible in the communication system, real-time transmission information is transmitted in the first communication system, and non-real-time transmission information is stored in a storage medium for transmission in the second communication system. Can be preferentially transmitted in a communication system capable of more continuous transmission. Then, the non-real time transmission information is transmitted when it can be transmitted later in the second communication system.

The invention according to claim 3 is the vehicle information transmitting apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the transmitting means is a first transmitting means for wirelessly transmitting in a first communication system; Second transmission means for wireless transmission in a second communication system having a smaller communication area and a higher communication speed than the first communication system, wherein the transmission control means is based on the determination of the determination means When the real-time transmission information newly acquired by the acquisition unit is transmitted to the first transmission unit and the real-time transmission information stored in the storage medium exceeds a reference amount, The stored real-time transmission information is transmitted to the second transmission unit instead of the first transmission unit.

  As described above, when the vehicle information transmitting apparatus can use the first communication system having a wider communication area and a lower communication speed and the second communication system having a smaller communication area and a higher communication speed, the communication system is newly acquired. Real-time transmission information is transmitted by the first communication system, and the real-time transmission information accumulated exceeding the reference amount is transmitted by the second communication system instead of the first communication system. The possibility that transmission of real-time transmission information is delayed by old real-time transmission information is reduced.

The invention according to claim 4, in the vehicle information transmission device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the control section, based on the engine of the vehicle is stopped, the storage medium The stored real-time transmission information or non-real-time transmission information is transmitted to the second transmission means.

  Because of this, it is possible to transmit real-time transmission information or non-real-time transmission information that remains untransmitted when the vehicle stops.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is a vehicle including the vehicle information transmitting device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 conceptually shows the overall configuration of a system in which the vehicle information transmitting apparatus according to this embodiment is used. In FIG. 1, the vehicles 1 to 3 can transmit probe information to the information collection center 7 via the wide area communication network by connecting to the base station 4 of the wide area communication system such as mobile packet communication. Further, the vehicles 1 to 3 can transmit probe information to the information collection center 7 via the narrow area communication network by connecting to the roadside machine 5 of the narrow area communication system such as wireless LAN and DSRC.

  The information collection center 7 receives these pieces of probe information from the plurality of vehicles 1 to 3, creates various statistical information based on the probe information, and reflects them in map data, traffic congestion data, and the like.

  Note that the wide area communication system has a communication speed lower than that of the narrow area communication system and has a wide communication area. For example, in FIG. 1, the communicable area of the narrow area communication roadside device 5 is only inside the curve 6, whereas the communicable area of the wide area communication base station 4 is that of the vehicle 1, the vehicle 2, and the vehicle 3. Includes location.

  Here, the probe information (corresponding to vehicle information) is information about the state of the vehicle and the state around the vehicle. The vehicles 1 to 3 acquire the probe information from various information acquisition devices (corresponding to acquisition means) connected to the vehicle or process the information from the various information acquisition devices.

  In order to acquire such probe information and wirelessly transmit the probe information to the information collection center 7, a configuration of a device group mounted on the vehicles 1 to 3 is shown in FIG. As shown in this figure, the vehicles 1 to 3 include a vehicle information transmission device 10, a wide area communication device 20, a narrow area communication device 30, a GPS receiver 40, a gyro sensor 50, an in-vehicle camera 60, and the like.

  The wide area communication device 20 performs predetermined D / A conversion, amplification, modulation, frequency conversion, etc. according to the standard of the wide area communication system on the vehicle information data received from the vehicle information transmission device 10, and the result By outputting data to a wide area communication antenna (not shown), probe information addressed to the information collection center 7 is transmitted to the wide area communication base station 4 in the communicable area. The signal from the wide area communication base station 4 received by the wide area communication antenna is subjected to predetermined frequency conversion, amplification, demodulation, A / D conversion, etc. in accordance with the standard of the wide area communication system, and the result Data is output to the vehicle information transmitting apparatus 10.

  The narrow area communication device 30 performs predetermined D / A conversion, amplification, modulation, frequency conversion, etc. in accordance with the standard of the narrow area communication system on the vehicle information data received from the vehicle information transmitting apparatus 10. By outputting the resulting data to a narrow area communication antenna (not shown), probe information addressed to the information collection center 7 is transmitted to the narrow area communication roadside device 5 in the communicable area. Further, the signal from the narrow-area communication roadside device 5 received by the narrow-area communication antenna is subjected to predetermined frequency conversion, amplification, demodulation, A / D conversion, etc. according to the standard of the narrow-area communication system, The resulting data is output to the vehicle information transmitting device 10.

  The GPS receiver 40 is a device that specifies the current position of the host vehicle based on a signal from a GPS satellite, and outputs information on the specified position to the vehicle information transmission device 10.

  The gyro sensor 50 is a device that outputs information on a posture change amount such as a rotation angle of the host vehicle and outputs the information to the vehicle information transmission device 10.

  The in-vehicle camera 60 is a device that captures an image of the surroundings of the host vehicle and outputs the captured image data to the vehicle information transmission device 10.

  These GPS receiver 40, gyro sensor 50, and in-vehicle camera 60 correspond to the various information acquisition devices described above. In addition to these, the information acquisition device may include a brake sensor that acquires brake information, an acceleration sensor that detects acceleration of the vehicle, a vehicle speed sensor that detects vehicle speed, and the like. Moreover, you may connect ECU (Electric Control Unit or Engine Control Unit). When the ECU is connected, brake information, vehicle speed information, and acceleration information can be obtained from the ECU, and failure diagnosis information of the ECU can be acquired.

  The vehicle information transmitting apparatus 10 includes an HDD 11, a CPU 12, a RAM 13, and a ROM 14, and the CPU 12 reads out and executes a program stored in the HDD 11 or the ROM 14, the contents of the program to be executed, and the various information acquisition apparatuses described above. Acts based on information from During this operation, data writing control is performed on the HDD 11 and RAM 13 as necessary, data reading control is performed on the HDD 11, RAM 13 and ROM 14, and the wide area communication device 20 and the narrow area communication device. The probe information is output to the information collection center 7 for 30. Further, the CPU 12 can detect the on / off of the engine of the vehicle based on a signal from the ignition line.

  Hereinafter, the programs 100 to 300 executed by the CPU 12 will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the program 100. The CPU 12 repeats the execution of the program 100 during operation of the vehicle information transmitting apparatus 10.

  In step 110, the CPU 12 first acquires and creates probe information. For example, based on the current position information received from the GPS receiver 40 and the vehicle orientation information received from the gyro sensor 50, the current position / direction information indicating which position the vehicle is currently facing and in which direction is specified. This is used as probe information. Further, for example, a result obtained by performing predetermined processing such as compression on a captured image received from the in-vehicle camera 60 is set as probe information.

  Subsequently, in step 120, it is determined whether or not the probe information acquired and created in step 110 is information to be transmitted immediately, that is, whether or not it is information for real-time transmission.

  Of the probe information, which information is information for real-time transmission and which information is information for non-real-time transmission varies depending on the use of the probe information in the information collection center 7. For example, in the present embodiment, Large-capacity data such as image data is non-real-time transmission data that does not necessarily have to be transmitted immediately. The amount of data, such as current position / direction information, is smaller than image data and depends on time. The data is assumed to be real-time transmission data.

  If the probe information is real-time transmission data, then step 130 is executed. If the probe information is non-real-time transmission data, then step 150 is executed.

  In step 130, it is determined whether or not probe data can be transmitted in the wide area communication network. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the wide area communication device 20 can communicate with the wide area communication base station 4 based on whether or not the wide area communication device 20 receives a signal from the wide area communication base station 4. If probe data can be transmitted in the wide area communication network, step 140 is executed. If probe data cannot be transmitted in the wide area network, step 150 is executed.

  In step 140, the probe information is transmitted in the wide area communication system. Specifically, information indicating that it is addressed to the information collection center 7 is added to the probe information, and is output to the wide area communication device 20.

  In step 150, the probe information is accumulated. Specifically, the probe information is stored in the HDD 11. In the storage control, the storage location in the HDD 11 is divided according to, for example, whether or not the probe information is for real-time transmission, in such a way that it can be determined whether or not the probe information is for real-time transmission. And stored in the HDD 11.

  In parallel with this program, the CPU 12 determines whether or not communication is currently possible through the narrow-area communication network. If communication is possible, the CPU 12 sends the non-real-time transmission information stored in the HDD 11 to the narrow-area communication device 30. The process which transmits using is performed. Therefore, the process of step 150 is a process for storing the non-real-time transmission information in the HDD 11 in order to cause the narrow area communication device 30 to transmit the information later. Whether or not communication is possible in the narrow area communication network is determined based on whether or not the narrow area communication apparatus 30 receives a signal from the narrow area communication base station 4.

  After steps 140 and 150, execution of this program 100 for one time is completed.

  When the CPU 12 executes such a program 100, the vehicle information transmitting apparatus 10 determines whether or not the probe information acquired by the various information acquiring apparatuses is information for real-time transmission (see step 120). It is determined whether or not communication by the wide area communication system is possible (see step 130). Based on these determinations, if the probe information is real-time transmission information and communication by the wide area communication system is possible, The real-time transmission information is immediately transmitted to the wide area communication device 20 (see step 140). If the probe information is non-real time transmission data, the non-real time transmission information is stored in the HDD 11 for later transmission to the narrow area communication device 30 (see step 120 → step 150). Further, when the probe information is information for real-time transmission and communication by the wide area communication system is impossible, the real-time transmission information is not immediately transmitted to the wide area communication device 20 and is not transmitted yet. Information is stored in the HDD 11 (see step 130 → step 150).

  As described above, the vehicle information transmitting apparatus 10 immediately transmits the real-time transmission information to be transmitted in real time using the wide area communication system, and stores the non-real time transmission information in the HDD 11 without transmitting it in the wide area communication system. Thus, the information for real-time transmission is preferentially transmitted over the information for non-real-time transmission. Therefore, information desired to be transmitted in real time can be transmitted more promptly.

  Next, the program 200 that the CPU 12 repeatedly executes in parallel with the program 100 will be described.

  The CPU 12 first determines in step 210 whether there is accumulated data. The accumulated data here refers to real-time transmission information that is stored in the HDD 11 in step 150 of the program 100 and still remains. The execution of step 210 is repeated until it is determined that there is accumulated data. If it is determined that there is accumulated data, step 220 is subsequently executed.

  In step 220, it is determined whether or not the accumulated data is within a predetermined allowable data amount (corresponding to a reference amount). The predetermined allowable data amount is set in advance as an amount that hinders transmission of other data when that amount of data is transmitted using the wide area communication system. If the accumulated data is within the predetermined allowable data amount, then step 240 is executed. If the accumulated data exceeds the predetermined allowable data amount, then step 230 is executed.

  In step 230, it is determined whether or not the stored data can be transmitted in the narrow area communication network. If communication is possible, subsequently, in step 250, the narrow area communication device 30 is caused to transmit the accumulated data to the information collection center 7. If communication is not possible, the stored data is not transmitted, and then step 210 is executed.

  In step 240, it is determined whether or not the stored data can be transmitted in the wide area communication network. If communication is possible, then in step 250, the wide area communication device 20 is caused to transmit the accumulated data to the information collection center 7. If communication is not possible, the stored data is not transmitted, and then step 210 is executed.

  After step 250, one execution of program 200 ends.

  When the CPU 12 executes the program 200 as described above, the vehicle information transmitting apparatus 10 determines whether or not the real-time transmission information stored in the HDD 11 exceeds the reference amount (see step 220). If it is, the real-time transmission information stored in the HDD 11 is transmitted not to the wide area communication apparatus 20 but to the narrow area communication apparatus 30 (see step 230 → step 250). If not, the real-time transmission information stored in the HDD 11 is transmitted to the wide area communication device 20 (see step 240 → step 250).

  As a result, the newly acquired real-time transmission information is transmitted by the wide area communication device 20 due to the execution of the program 100, so that the newly acquired real-time transmission information is old. The possibility of delay due to transmission of information for real-time transmission is reduced. As described above, the vehicle information transmitting device 10 transmits the old real-time transmission information accumulated beyond the reference amount by the narrow area communication device 30, so that the vehicle information transmission device 10 is newly acquired than the old real-time transmission information. Since the information for real-time transmission is preferentially transmitted, the information desired to be transmitted in real time can be transmitted more promptly.

  1 is often installed at a gas station, home, or store, the vehicles 1 to 3 are stopped in the narrow communication area 6 and the engine is turned off. It is thought that there are many. A program 300 shown as a flowchart in FIG. 5 is a program for collectively transmitting data stored in the HDD 11 to the information collection center 7 in such a case.

  When the CPU 12 detects that the engine of the host vehicle has stopped based on the signal from the ignition line, the CPU 12 starts executing the program 300, and first, at step 310, determines whether transmission is possible over the narrow area communication network. To do. If transmission is possible, step 320 is subsequently executed. If transmission is not possible, step 340 is subsequently executed.

  In step 320, it is determined whether there is accumulated data. The accumulated data here refers to real-time transmission information and non-real-time transmission information that are stored in the HDD 11 in step 150 of the program 100 and still remain. If there is accumulated data, then step 330 is executed, otherwise, step 340 is executed.

  In step 330, transmission processing is performed. Specifically, all the accumulated data is transmitted to the information collection center 7 using the narrow area communication device 30. Following step 330, step 340 is executed.

  In step 340, processing for powering off the vehicle information transmitting apparatus 10 is performed. As a result, the operation of the vehicle information transmitting apparatus 10 is stopped.

  When the CPU 12 executes the program 300 as described above, the vehicle information transmitting apparatus 10 can communicate with the narrow area communication system when the engine of the host vehicle is stopped (see step 310), and there is accumulated data. Before the vehicle information transmission apparatus 10 is turned off (see step 340) (see step 320), the accumulated data is transmitted to the information collection center 7 (see step 330).

  Thus, the vehicle information transmitting apparatus 10 can transmit the real-time transmission information and the non-real-time transmission information that remain untransmitted when the vehicle is stopped.

  In the above embodiment, the wide area communication device 20 corresponds to the first transmission unit. The narrow area communication device 30 corresponds to a second transmission unit. A combination of the wide area communication device 20 and the narrow area communication device 30 corresponds to a transmission unit.

  Further, the CPU 12 functions as a determination unit by executing step 120 of the program 100.

  Further, the CPU 12 functions as a control unit by executing steps 130 to 150 of the program 100, the program 200, and the program 300.

  In the above embodiment, the real-time transmission data is transmitted using the wide area communication device 20, but may be transmitted using both the wide area communication device 20 and the narrow area communication device 30.

It is a conceptual diagram of the system by which the vehicle information transmitter of this invention is used. It is a figure which shows hardware constitutions, such as the vehicle information transmitter 10 mounted in the vehicle 1. FIG. It is a flowchart of the program 100 which CPU12 performs. It is a flowchart of the program 100 which CPU12 performs. It is a flowchart of the program 100 which CPU12 performs.

Explanation of symbols

1-3 ... Vehicle, 4 ... Wide area communication base station, 5 ... Narrow area communication roadside machine, 6 ... Narrow area communication area,
7 ... Information collection center, 10 ... Vehicle information transmitter, 11 ... HDD, 12 ... CPU,
13 ... RAM, 14 ... ROM, 20 ... wide area communication device, 30 ... narrow area communication device,
40 ... GPS receiver, 50 ... Gyro sensor, 60 ... In-vehicle camera,
100-300 ... program.

Claims (5)

Determining means for determining whether or not the vehicle information acquired by the acquiring means for acquiring vehicle information is information for real-time transmission;
Based on the determination by the determination means, the control means for transmitting the information for real-time transmission preferentially over the information for non-real-time transmission, to the transmission means for wirelessly transmitting the information to the outside of the host vehicle ,
The control means stores, among the real-time transmission information, information that has not been transmitted by the transmission means in a storage medium, and if the real-time transmission information stored in the storage medium exceeds a reference amount, the storage A vehicle information transmission apparatus that causes the transmission means to preferentially transmit the real-time transmission information newly acquired by the acquisition means from the real-time transmission information stored in the medium . The transmission means includes first transmission means for wireless transmission in a first communication system, and second transmission means for wireless transmission in a second communication system having a communication area smaller than that of the first communication system. And having
The control unit transmits real-time transmission information to the first transmission unit based on the determination of the determination unit when the first transmission unit is capable of transmission and the second transmission unit is not capable of transmission. The vehicle information transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the non-real-time transmission information is stored in a storage medium so as to be transmitted to the second transmission unit later. The transmission means is a first transmission means for wireless transmission in a first communication system, and a wireless transmission in a second communication system having a communication area narrower and a higher communication speed than the first communication system. A second transmission means,
The transmission control unit causes the first transmission unit to transmit the real-time transmission information newly acquired by the acquisition unit based on the determination of the determination unit, and stores the real-time transmission information stored in the storage medium. If the information exceeds the reference amount, the real-time transmission information stored in the storage medium, according to claim 1, characterized in that to transmit to said first transmission means is not the second transmission means or 2. The vehicle information transmitting device according to 2. The control means causes the second transmission means to transmit the real-time transmission information or the non-real-time transmission information stored in the storage medium based on the fact that the vehicle engine has stopped. The vehicle information transmitting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 . A vehicle comprising the vehicle information transmitting device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 .

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