JP4862351B2 - Navigation system, navigation server, navigation method and navigation program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a navigation system, a navigation server , a navigation method, and a navigation program for navigating a moving object such as an automobile or a motorcycle or a person to a destination. The present invention relates to a navigation system, a navigation server , a navigation method, and a navigation program that can select an optimal route.

  When traveling between two points from the starting point to the destination by car, the time to reach the destination may be greatly different due to an accident or traffic jam on the way, which may cause fatigue of the driver and passengers Also greatly affects. Therefore, conventionally, traffic congestion information on roads has been provided by radio broadcasting. The user has devised a method for minimizing the influence of traffic congestion by appropriately selecting a road leading to the destination while listening to the congestion information by the radio broadcast.

  Therefore, proposals have been made to reduce traffic congestion by discounting tolls for vehicles that detect vehicles traveling on the road with infrared rays and pass through designated roads other than those with severe traffic congestion. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

On the other hand, car navigation systems are popular for cars traveling on the road. In this car navigation system, a road traffic information communication system called VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System) has been conventionally used. In this system, traffic information such as road congestion and traffic regulations is transmitted in real time from the VICS center. The car navigation system receives this information and displays it on the screen or announces it by voice. By using this information, the user can determine a detour to avoid a traffic jam.
JP 2002-099994 (No. 0006, paragraph 0012, FIG. 2).

  Among them, the proposal of Patent Document 1 has an effect of eliminating traffic congestion on a specific road, but it does not necessarily guarantee that the destination can be reached in the shortest time by passing the designated road. In addition, it is difficult to determine which of the detour and the congested road can reach the destination sooner even if the traffic information communication system receives traffic information such as traffic congestion and traffic regulations from the VICS Center. is there.

  As described above, the route selection to reach the destination when the automobile travels on the road has been described. Generally, the time required for the moving body to select the route one by one from the plurality of routes and reach the destination There is a similar problem in the examination.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a navigation system, a navigation server , a navigation method, and a navigation program capable of obtaining information on a route to a destination based on information obtained by actually moving each route.

In the present invention, (b) mobile object identification information as unique identification information that is arranged at intervals along each route that constitutes a route network and is respectively provided to each mobile object that moves along these routes. Mobile object identification information acquisition means acquired by short-range wireless communication when the mobile object approaches, and (b) the mobile object identification information acquired by the mobile object identification information acquisition means and its acquisition time divided into predetermined transmission intervals And (c) the above-mentioned mobile object identification information collected by the identification result collection means and the acquisition time thereof on the above-mentioned route. Required time calculating means for each interval for calculating the required time of the moving object at each interval for each moving direction using information between moving object identification information acquiring means arranged at adjacent positions; The total time required for the moving body to move from the first point to the second point on the route constituting the route network by adding the required time in the same moving direction of the moving body at each interval by the time calculating means. And (e) a predetermined moving object to be navigated moves from the first point to the second point as described above. to time, a navigation system and a required time presenting means for presenting a predetermined mobile body and the based on the latest data said time required for the second point in time to reach the first point mentioned above is provided with To do .

In the present invention, (a) a mobile unit identification as unique identification information that is arranged at intervals along each route constituting the route network and is respectively provided to each mobile unit that moves along these routes. The mobile body identification information obtained from the mobile body identification information acquisition means that acquires information by short-range wireless communication when the mobile body approaches, and the mobile body passage time as the acquisition time are divided into predetermined transmission intervals. (B) mobile object identification information arranged at an adjacent position on the above-mentioned path among information consisting of the above-mentioned mobile object identification information collected by the identification result collection means and its acquisition time. (C) a time-dependent required time calculating means for calculating the required time of the moving body at each interval for each moving direction using the information of the acquiring means; Calculate the total required time when the mobile body moves from the first point to the second point on the route constituting the route network by adding the required time in the same movement direction of the body, The latest required time calculation means that repeats to hold the latest data, and (d) when a predetermined mobile object to be navigated tries to move from the first point to the second point described above, requesting navigation server and a required time transmitting means for transmitting to the mobile the latest data on the basis of the required time and the up second point when reaching the first point mentioned above is provided on the basis of.

Further, in the present invention, (a) mobile object identification information as unique identification information that is arranged at intervals along each route that constitutes the route network and that is arranged in each mobile object that moves along these routes. The mobile body identification information obtained from the mobile body identification information acquisition means that acquires the mobile body by the short-range wireless communication when approaching the mobile body and the passage time of the mobile body as the acquisition time are collected at predetermined transmission intervals. An identification result collecting step, and (b) acquisition of mobile object identification information arranged at an adjacent position on the above-mentioned path among information consisting of the above-described mobile object identification information collected in the identification result collection step and its acquisition time. And (c) a required time calculation step for each interval, and (c) a required time calculation step for each interval. The total time required for the moving body to move from the first point to the second point on the route constituting the route network is calculated by adding the required time in the same moving direction of the moving body at each interval. The latest required time calculation step for repeating this calculation operation to hold the latest data, and (d) when a predetermined moving object to be navigated moves from the first point to the second point. And a required time transmission step of transmitting the required time to the second point at the time of reaching the first point based on the request from the moving object to the moving object based on the latest data. The method comprises.

In the navigation program of the present invention, (b) a plurality of computers are arranged at intervals along the routes constituting the route network on the computer constituting the server, and (b) each mobile body moving along these routes. The mobile object identification information obtained from the mobile object identification information acquisition means for acquiring the mobile object identification information as the unique identification information deployed by the short-range wireless communication when the mobile object approaches, and the mobile object passing as the acquisition time An identification result collection process that collects the time by dividing the time into predetermined transmission intervals, and (c) the above-described path among the information including the mobile object identification information and the acquisition time collected by the identification result collection process. Time required for each interval to calculate the required time of the moving body at each interval for each moving direction using information of the moving body identification information acquisition means arranged at adjacent positions above The calculation process and (d) the required time for the same movement direction of the mobile body at each interval by the interval-specific time calculation process are added, and the mobile body starts from the first point on the route constituting the route network described above. The total required time for moving to the second point is calculated, and this calculation operation is repeated to retain the latest data. The latest required time calculation process is repeated. When trying to move from the first point to the second point, based on the latest data, the time required to reach the second point when reaching the first point based on the request from the moving body. And at least a required time transmission process for transmitting to the mobile body.

  As described above, according to the present invention, when a moving body such as a vehicle travels along a route such as a road and is guided to a destination, the route using the information that the other moving body actually traveled each route is used. Therefore, the route can be selected based on realistic information about the movement of the route. In addition, if the route is corrected each time the position and time of the moving object is detected in the middle of the route, the route selection according to the actual situation becomes possible.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples.

  FIG. 1 shows an outline of a navigation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The navigation system 100 is a system for a vehicle 101 such as an automobile. The vehicle 101 is equipped with a navigation terminal 102 for receiving a navigation service. The navigation terminal 102 is connected to the communication network 104 via the radio base station 103. A navigation server 105 that manages this system is connected to a communication network 104 that combines various communication networks such as a wireless communication network and the Internet. The navigation terminal 102 uses a GPS (Global Positioning System) system that uses a plurality of position measurement satellites 106 (only one is shown in the figure). For this reason, the navigation terminal 102 communicates with the position measurement satellite 106. In addition, the route device 108 is arranged at an appropriate position on the road 107, and the navigation terminal 102 also performs wireless communication with this. In this embodiment, a radio tag (RFID) is used for communication with the route device 108. The route device 108 is also connected to the navigation server 105 via a communication means (not shown) such as a LAN (Local Area Network) so that the actual state of the vehicle 101 traveling on each route on the road 107 can be grasped via the navigation terminal 102. It has become.

  The navigation server 105 can actually grasp the degree of congestion and speed of vehicles on each road 107. Based on this, the navigation server 105 performs navigation for route selection in accordance with the destination of each vehicle 101.

  FIG. 2 shows an outline of the configuration of the navigation terminal of this embodiment. A description will be given with FIG. The navigation terminal 102 is a stationary or portable device that is fixedly installed on the vehicle 101 and includes a control / route calculation unit 121 that performs various controls for road guidance and calculates a route to a destination. . The control / path calculation unit 121 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown) and a ROM (Read Only Memory) as a storage medium storing a control program executed by the CPU, and executes the control program. A working memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) for temporarily storing various data during the process is provided. The control / route calculation unit 121 is connected to each unit in the navigation terminal 102 via an internal communication unit 122 such as a system bus.

  Among these, the wireless communication unit 123 includes an antenna 124 for wireless transmission and reception, and performs communication between the wireless base station 103 and the position measurement satellite 106 shown in FIG. Data obtained from the position-measuring satellite 106 is sent to the positioning unit 125 to measure the current position of the vehicle 101 using the GPS system. In addition, the information from a specific FM (Frequency Modulation) broadcasting station (not shown) is also received by the wireless communication unit 123, thereby using a DGPS (Difference Global Positioning System) system that further improves the position analysis accuracy than the GPS system. It is also possible.

  The RFID unit 126 is a circuit that communicates with the route device 108 illustrated in FIG. 1. Inside, an antenna coil (not shown) and a memory for storing information such as a terminal ID (Identification) are provided, and when the route device 108 exists at a predetermined spatial distance, an RFID reader / It is designed to receive radio waves transmitted from the writer unit. Then, the power generated by the reception of the radio wave is used to communicate with the RFID reader / writer unit so that the route device 108 side is notified of which navigation terminal 102 of the vehicle 101 has passed. The route device 108 is arranged at an important point such as an intersection on a road 107 through which the vehicle 101 passes.

  The display unit 127 includes a display composed of liquid crystal or organic EL (organic electroluminescence), and a display drive circuit that controls the display. The display is configured to output visual information including images such as maps and characters and symbols necessary for guiding the vehicle 101 to the destination.

  The memory / map information unit 128 includes a map memory for storing map information acquired from the navigation server 105 or a map server (not shown). The memory / map information unit 128 may include means for acquiring map information from a removable storage medium such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) drive. The map memory may be shared with the RAM of the control / route calculation unit 121.

  The operation unit 129 includes input devices such as numeric keys (not shown), scroll keys for scrolling, and function keys for inputting various information such as determination. These do not need to be arranged in the main body of the navigation terminal 102 and may be configured as a remote controller. When configured as a remote controller, a part of the display unit 127 may be attached thereto.

  The voice processing unit 130 performs processing of voices input / output via the transmitter 131 and the receiver 132. When the navigation terminal 102 is a portable type, the transmitter 131 and the receiver 132 may be used for a call. The speaker 133 is configured to output a musical sound, a voice output for route guidance, a notification sound, and an alarm, and may include a voice IC (Integrated Circuit).

  FIG. 3 shows an outline of the navigation server of this embodiment. This will be described with reference to FIG. The navigation server 105 has the same configuration as a normal workstation server and includes a control unit 141. The control unit 141 is a working medium such as a CPU (not shown), a storage medium such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk that stores a control program executed by the CPU, and a RAM that temporarily stores various data when the control program is executed. Has memory. The control unit 141 is connected to each unit in the navigation server 105 via an internal communication unit 142 such as a data bus.

  Among these, the network communication unit 143 performs various communications with the communication network 104 shown in FIG. The terminal information storage unit 144 stores vehicle passage report data sent from each route device 108 via the network communication unit 143. Here, the vehicle passage report data is composed of the terminal ID of the navigation terminal 102 when each vehicle 101 is detected by the route device 108, the route device ID for the route device 108, and time data representing the passage time of the vehicle 101. Has been. These are sent independently for each route device 108.

  The map information storage unit 145 stores information regarding the location of each route device 108 together with map information corresponding to the route device ID. As already described, specific information of the map information can be downloaded to the navigation terminal 102 upon request.

  The required time calculation unit 146 calculates the required time for a plurality of routes that can be selected by the vehicle 101 corresponding to the terminal ID of the navigation terminal 102. Specifically, based on the time when the vehicle 101 of each terminal ID stored in the terminal information storage unit 144 passes the route device 108, the travel time or speed at the time of passing through each target road 107 is determined. It comes to calculate.

  FIG. 4 shows an outline of the configuration of the route device of this embodiment. This will be described with reference to FIG. The route device 108 includes a control unit 151. The control unit 151 includes a CPU (not shown), a ROM that stores a control program executed by the CPU, and a working memory such as a RAM that temporarily stores various data when the control program is executed. The control unit 151 is connected to each unit in the route device 108 via an internal communication unit 152 such as a system bus.

  Among these, the wireless communication unit 153 performs wireless communication with the wireless base station 103 via the antenna 154, thereby transmitting vehicle passage report data indicating the passage state of the vehicle 101 to the navigation server 105. The RFID reader / writer unit 155 also includes an antenna 156 so as to transmit electric waves for power supply to the RFID unit 126 shown in FIG. 2 and receive individual vehicle data such as a terminal ID transmitted from now on. It has become. The data storage unit 157 sequentially stores data obtained by adding time data to the received individual vehicle data to obtain individual vehicle passage data. The data assembling unit 158 reads out the individual vehicle passage data from the data storage unit 157 at regular intervals such as several minutes, collects the individual vehicle passage data accumulated therein, and identifies the individual route device 108. An ID is incorporated, assembled into the above-described vehicle passage report data, and transmitted from the wireless communication unit 153 to the navigation server 105. The clock circuit 159 is a circuit that outputs time data indicating the time when the individual vehicle data is received.

FIG. 5 schematically shows a route that can be taken from the departure point to the destination of a certain vehicle. It is assumed that the vehicle 101 is navigated by the navigation system 100 from the departure side route device 108 _S near the departure point to the destination side route device 108 _E near the destination. In the following description, the vehicle to be navigated is represented as vehicle 101A, and the other vehicle is represented as vehicle 101B. When there is no need to distinguish between them, the vehicle 101 is simply indicated.

It is assumed that the first route 161 ₁ to the third route 161 ₃ exist from the departure side route device 108 _S to the destination side route device 108 _E. In the first path 161 ₁ , the first to first X path devices 108 _{11 to} 108 _1X are arranged. Here, X represents an integer of 1 or more. In the second path 161 ₂ , _{21st to} 2nd Y path devices 108 _{21 to} 108 _2Y are arranged. Here, Y represents an integer of 1 or more. Further, on the third path 161 ₃ , first to third Z path devices 108 _{31 to} 108 _3Z are arranged. Here, Z represents an integer of 1 or more.

  The user of the navigation terminal 102 shown in FIG. 2 as a driver of the vehicle 101A to be navigated inputs a destination using the operation unit 129, and requests navigation that can reach this destination in the shortest time. Shall be.

  FIG. 6 shows how the navigation terminal is controlled. This will be described with reference to FIG. The CPU in the control / route calculation unit 121 of the navigation terminal 102 waits for a navigation request (navigation request) to be made by the user operating the operation unit 129 (step S201). When there is a request for navigation (Y), the CPU requests the positioning unit 125 to acquire the current position, and the current position using the GPS system is acquired (step S202). The CPU requests the navigation by transmitting the acquired current position and the destination set by the user to the navigation server 105 together with the terminal ID of the navigation terminal 102 (step S203). Thereafter, the recommended route reception mode is executed in which the recommended route is received according to the instruction from the navigation server 105 and the vehicle 101A travels to the destination on the selected route (step S204).

FIG. 7 shows the state of the navigation processing of the navigation server. It demonstrates with FIGS. 1-4. The navigation server 105 waits for a navigation request (navigation request) based on step S203 (FIG. 6) to be transmitted from the navigation terminal 102 and for vehicle passage report data to be transmitted from each route device 108. (Step S221, Step S222). When a navigation request is received (step S221: Y), the terminal ID, the current position and destination of the vehicle 101 are acquired from the corresponding navigation terminal 102 and stored in the work memory (step S223). Then, a plurality of route candidates from the current position to the destination are extracted with reference to the map information storage unit 145 (step S224). As a result, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, the first route 161 ₁ to the third route 161 ₃ from the departure-side route device 108 _S close to the current position to the destination-side route device 108 _E close to the destination. Is determined to exist. Hereinafter, the description will be continued when it is determined that the first route 161 ₁ to the third route 161 ₃ shown in FIG. 5 exist.

The required time calculation unit 146 requires the time required for the vehicle 101A to pass through the departure-side route device 108 _S and reach the destination-side route device 108 _E for each of the first route 161 ₁ to the third route 161 _3. Is calculated (step S225). For this purpose, calculation is performed by using the time data when the other vehicle 101B passes through the first route 161 ₁ to the third route 161 ₃ . Therefore, the navigation server 105 receives vehicle passage report data from each route device 108 in step S222.

FIG. 8 shows the processing of the route device. Each of the route devices such as the departure-side route device 108 _S , the destination-side route device 108 _E , and the first to first X route devices 108 _{11 to} 108 _1X shown in FIG. 5 perform the same processing. Yes. Therefore, these will be collectively described as the route device 108. The route device 108 stands by for receiving the terminal ID from the navigation terminal 102 as the vehicle 101 passes nearby (step S241). When the terminal ID of the navigation terminal 102 is received (Y), the terminal ID is stored in the data storage unit 157 shown in FIG. 4 as individual vehicle data together with the time data and the route device ID at that time (step S242).

  When the transmission timing predetermined for each route device 108 arrives (step S243: Y), the CPU of the control unit 151 shown in FIG. 4 determines whether there is individual vehicle data to be transmitted to the data storage unit 157. A check is made (step S244). If it does not exist (N), the process is terminated as it is, and the start of the process in step S241 or step S243 is again waited (return).

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S244 that the individual vehicle data is present in the data storage unit 157 (Y), all the individual vehicle data existing in the data storage unit 157 are collected and passed through the vehicle. Report data is transmitted to the navigation server 105 (step S245). Then, the transmitted data in the data storage unit 157 is cleared (step S246). The reason why the individual vehicle data is collectively transmitted as the vehicle passage report data in step S245 as described above is that the vehicle is frequently detected on a road such as a trunk line where the vehicle 101 frequently passes. This is to prevent overload caused by performing transmission processing every time. Of course, if the transmission interval as the transmission timing is made too long, the amount of delay of data indicating the status of each route as basic data when performing navigation route determination increases. Therefore, it is also effective to set the transmission interval as the transmission timing so that it can be adjusted according to the amount of traffic of the vehicle 101 and the time zone.

  In the route device 108, a road 107 (FIG. 1) on which the route device 108 is arranged is completely separated through a wide separation band for each lane, or a shielding body that shields a radio wave of a specific frequency between both lanes. Unless provided, the terminal ID is received in step S241 from the RFID unit 126 of the vehicle 101 moving in both directions. Therefore, the traveling direction of the vehicle 101 cannot be determined with only one route device 108. In this embodiment, by comparing the time data when two adjacent route devices 108 receive the same route device ID, it is determined which direction the vehicle 101 has traveled on the road 107. . Of course, the vehicle 101 that cannot be discriminated is excluded from the targets of “other vehicles” that are targets for calculating the required time of the route.

  Returning to FIG. 7, the description will be continued. When receiving the vehicle passage report data from any of the route devices 108 in step S222, the navigation server 105 stores these vehicle passage report data together with the route device ID in the terminal information storage unit 144 (step S226). Note that these vehicle passage report data stored in the terminal information storage unit 144 are deleted according to a predetermined logic when they are no longer required for calculating the speed and required time of the other vehicle 101B.

For the calculation of the required time for each of the first route 161 ₁ to the third route 161 ₃ in step S225, the following several methods can be employed.
(1) The first required time of the current vehicle 101A is the actual required time of the latest vehicle 101B that has traveled from one end to the other in the same traveling direction as the vehicle 101A that is the object of navigation this time. Technique.

(2) A second method in which the time required for the other vehicle 101B to pass separately through each adjacent route device 108 existing in one route is measured and added to all sections of the route to obtain the required time. . For example, for the first route 161 ₁ , the time when the other vehicle 101B has recently passed through the route device 108 _S to the eleventh route device 108 ₁₁ , and the eleventh route device 108 ₁₁ to the twelfth route. up to 108 ₁₂ as such further time has passed another vehicle 101B recently is a technique to determine the time required for the collected whole section asked recent data measured between each two points.

Of these, the first method is the time required for the other vehicle 101B to reach the destination side route device 108 _E via the first route 161 ₁ through the departure side route device 108 _S, for example. Are detected in turn by the first to first X route devices 108 _{11 to} 108 _1X in the first route 161 ₁ after the RFID section 126 mounted on the vehicle 101B is detected by the departure point side route device 108 _S. The time until it is detected by the destination side route device 108 _E is obtained by reading from the terminal information storage unit 144.

Therefore, in the first method, when the first path 161 ₁ is considerably long, the required time becomes long. Therefore, the measured value of the vehicle 101B that has traveled in different time zones is used for the required time, and a relatively large error may occur. In addition, when the user of the vehicle 101B taken as a sample happens to take a long break at a resting place on the _first route 1611, there is a high possibility that a large error will occur due to human factors. Become. Therefore, it is necessary to delete data with a large error or obtain an average value using data on a plurality of vehicles 101B. Of course, when the first route 161 ₁ is relatively short and can travel in a short time, the required time for the entire length can be obtained as a fairly accurate value.

On the other hand, when the second method is adopted, for example, when the required time of the first route 161 ₁ is obtained, the departure-side route device 108 _S , the first to first X route devices 108 _{11 to} 108 _1X, and the purpose it is possible calculation estimating the time required for the whole by determining the sum of the time durations of different vehicle 101B passing through the respective adjacent sections of the ground-side path device 108 _E.

The required time calculation unit 146 has a relationship between the required time calculated by each method in the past and the required time of the vehicle 101 actually traveled based on this, and the first route 161 ₁ to the third route 161. It is provided with a table (not shown) that determines by which day of the week or time zone whether a more accurate value is calculated by calculating the method ₃ . Based on this, the required times for the first route 161 ₁ to the third route 161 ₃ are calculated.

When the required times are obtained for the first route 161 ₁ to the third route 161 ₃ , several higher-order routes are extracted in the order of the shortest required times (step S227). Then, the route and the required time are transmitted to the navigation terminal 102 that has made the navigation request (step S228). In this example, a relatively small number of routes such as the first route 161 ₁ to the third route 161 ₃ are listed as candidates. Therefore, the route and the required time for all of these may be transmitted to the navigation terminal 102.

The navigation terminal 102 displays the navigation information sent from the navigation server 105 on the display unit 127 and waits for a route selection by the user. When the user places the highest importance on the required time to reach the destination, the user selects the route with the shortest required time from the first route 161 ₁ to the third route 161 ₃ displayed on the display unit 127. become.

  <Modification of the present invention>

In the embodiment described above, the navigation when the completely independent first route 161 ₁ to third route 161 ₃ as shown in FIG. 5 exist between the departure point and the destination has been described. Actually, there are many cases where each route is arranged in a mesh between the starting point and the destination. In such a case, each point where the road crosses the next road or branches off as it travels to the destination via the departure point becomes a new starting point, and the destination is corrected while correcting the trajectory. On the other hand, navigation that can be reached in a shorter time is required. For example, if an accident occurs in the originally selected route and traffic congestion becomes significant at that point, it is necessary to avoid the corresponding route and make a detour to reach the destination earlier It is.

  In order to enable such control, in this modified example, every time the navigation terminal 102 shown in FIG. From the route device 108 to the navigation server 105 as individual vehicle data. The navigation server 105 confirms the current position of the navigation terminal 102 based on the location of the route device 108, and gives it the optimum navigation information at that time. That is, in this modified example, when the route device 108 extracts at least the terminal ID from the vehicle 101A to be navigated, unlike the processing in step S245 in FIG. 8, this is transmitted to the navigation server 105 as individual vehicle data. It has become.

  FIG. 9 shows an outline of the state of control of the navigation terminal in the modified example of the present invention. When the navigation terminal 102 makes an information request for the terminal ID from the route device 108 disposed in the vicinity of the road 107 on which the vehicle 101A is traveling (step S301: Y), the navigation terminal 102 transmits its own terminal ID to the route device 108. (Step S302).

  FIG. 10 shows the state of processing of the navigation server of this modification for the navigation terminal moving to the destination. When the navigation server 105 receives the individual vehicle data from the route device 108 resulting from step S302 in FIG. 9 (step S321: Y), the terminal ID of the navigation terminal 102 constituting the individual vehicle data, the route of the route device 108 The device ID and the time data representing the detected time of the vehicle 101A are stored in the terminal information storage unit 144 shown in FIG. 3 (step S322). Then, it is checked whether or not the moving direction of the vehicle 101A can be determined by searching for similar individual vehicle data sent from the adjacent route device 108 (step S323). If the same terminal ID does not exist in the individual vehicle data sent from the adjacent route device 108 and the moving direction cannot be determined (N), the subsequent processing is stopped (return).

  If the moving direction of the vehicle 101A can be determined (step S323: Y), other terminal movement information such as the moving speed of the other vehicle in the moving direction with respect to the navigation terminal 102 and the time required for a specific route is calculated. (Step S324). This can be calculated from data relating to a plurality of route devices 108 for these navigation terminals 102 as described in the embodiment. The recommended route information representing the route with the shortest required time obtained by the calculation is transmitted to the navigation terminal 102 that has received the individual vehicle data in step S321 (step S325).

  Returning to FIG. 9, the description will be continued. The navigation terminal 102 waits for the recommended route information to be transmitted from the navigation server 105 (step S303). When the recommended route information is received (Y), the route on which the vehicle 101A should travel is searched again based on this (step S304). For this reason, in this modification, each of the navigation terminals 102 searches for the route indicated by the recommended route information based on the map information. As a result, when a route different from the route that has been selected is selected (step S305: Y), the navigation terminal 102 displays the newly selected route on the display unit 127 (FIG. 2) and the speaker 133. From FIG. 2, an announcement such as “The route to the destination has been changed in order to shorten the required time” is sent to alert (step S306).

  On the other hand, when the route is not changed (step S305: N), the same route as before is displayed on the display unit 127 (step S307). At this time, an announcement such as “the current route is the shortest route to the destination” may be sent from the speaker 133.

  As described above, in the modified example of the present invention, every time the route device 108 arranged in the vicinity of the road detects the passage of the navigation terminal 102, the route of the shortest required time to reach the destination is examined, and this is the navigation device. It is notified from the server 105 as recommended route information. Therefore, when it is clear from the information of the other navigation terminals 102 that the required time is increased due to the occurrence of a traffic accident or traffic jam on the already selected route, the route device 108 has detected it. The route can be changed at the time, and there is an advantage that the destination can be reached while selecting the route with the shortest required time at that time.

  Of course, instead of transmitting the recommended route information in step S325 of FIG. 10, information indicating the required time of each route is transmitted to the navigation terminal 102, and a plurality of routes and the respective estimation requirements are displayed on the display unit 127. It is also possible to indicate the time and allow the user to select the optimum route. Accordingly, the user can select a route while taking into consideration the scenery and facilities such as restaurants in the middle while taking into account the difference in required time.

  In the embodiment and the modification described above, the travel time of each route of the other navigation terminal 102 is examined to determine the travel time of these routes and used as information for route selection. By examining the movement state of other navigation terminals that have passed through the destination in this direction, it is possible to determine what candidates can be cited as routes. Thereby, for example, it becomes possible to reach the purpose in a short time using a loophole that does not appear as a representative route.

  Also, in the embodiment, the navigation of the route has been described by taking a vehicle such as an automobile traveling on the road as an example, but for example, an entrance gate as a departure place such as an exposition, a large-scale exhibition, a theme park, an amusement park The present invention can also be applied to a navigation system that guides a route through which a person goes to a destination gate or a specific restaurant or souvenir shop as a destination through several spots. In this case, each person to be moved will have a navigation terminal.

  Further, in the embodiment, the candidate for the route to the destination is displayed on the display unit of the navigation terminal so that the user can select the route in consideration of other factors such as the scenery. is not. For example, when setting the highest priority on arrival time, the device automatically selects the route that can reach the destination in the shortest time, or the target is sequentially set so that the destination can be reached earliest. Route guidance that automatically corrects the route to the ground is also possible with the present invention.

  In the embodiment, the position of the vehicle 101A is obtained using the GPS system. However, the use of the GPS system is omitted by substituting the position when the route device 108 communicates with the RFID unit 126 of the navigation terminal 102. Can do.

1 is a system configuration diagram showing an outline of a navigation system in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram showing the outline | summary of the structure of the navigation terminal of a present Example. It is a block diagram showing the outline | summary of the navigation server of a present Example. It is a block diagram showing the outline | summary of the structure of the route apparatus of a present Example. It is explanatory drawing showing the path | route which can be taken from the departure point of a certain vehicle to the destination. It is a flowchart showing the mode of control of the navigation terminal of a present Example. It is the flowchart showing the mode of the navigation process of the navigation server of a present Example. It is a flowchart showing the mode of processing of a course device of this example. It is a flowchart showing the outline | summary of the mode of control of the navigation terminal in the modification of this invention. It is a flowchart showing the mode of the process of the navigation server with respect to the navigation terminal currently moving to the destination in this modification.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Navigation system 101 Vehicle 102 Navigation terminal 103 Wireless base station 104 Communication network 105 Navigation server 106 Satellite for position measurement 107 Road 108 Route device 121 Control / route calculation unit 123, 153 Wireless communication unit 125 Positioning unit 126 RFID unit 127 Display unit 128 Memory / Map Information Unit 141, 151 Control Unit 143 Network Communication Unit 144 Terminal Information Storage Unit 145 Map Information Storage Unit 146 Required Time Calculation Unit 155 RFID Reader / Writer Unit 159 Clock Circuit

Claims (6)

A plurality of mobile units are arranged at intervals along each route constituting the route network, and the mobile unit identification information as unique identification information provided for each mobile unit moving along these routes is a short distance when the mobile unit approaches. Mobile object identification information acquisition means acquired by wireless communication;
An identification result collection unit that collects the mobile unit identification information acquired by the mobile unit identification information acquisition unit and the transit time of the mobile unit as the acquisition time, divided into predetermined transmission intervals;
Each information for each moving direction using information of the mobile body identification information acquisition means arranged at adjacent positions on the route among the information consisting of the mobile body identification information and the acquisition time collected by the identification result collection means. A required time calculation means for calculating the required time of the moving body in the interval;
When the moving body moves from the first point on the route constituting the route network to the second point by adding the required time in the same moving direction of the moving body at each interval by the required time calculating means by interval. The latest required time calculation means for calculating the total required time and repeating this calculation operation to hold the latest data,
When a predetermined mobile object to be navigated tries to move from the first point to the second point, the time required to reach the second point when reaching the first point is based on the latest data. A navigation system comprising required time presentation means for presenting to the predetermined moving body . The navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the latest required time calculating means calculates the latest required time for each route when there are a plurality of routes between the first point and the second point . 3. The navigation according to claim 2, further comprising recommended route notification means for notifying a predetermined moving body that is the object of navigation as a recommended route that is the shortest route from the first point to the second point. System . A plurality of mobile units are arranged at intervals along each route constituting the route network, and the mobile unit identification information as unique identification information provided for each mobile unit moving along these routes is a short distance when the mobile unit approaches. Identification result collecting means for collecting and collecting the mobile object identification information obtained from the mobile object identification information obtaining means obtained by wireless communication and the passage time of the mobile object as its acquisition time at predetermined transmission intervals;
Each information for each moving direction using information of the mobile body identification information acquisition means arranged at adjacent positions on the route among the information consisting of the mobile body identification information and the acquisition time collected by the identification result collection means. A required time calculation means for calculating the required time of the moving body in the interval;
When the moving body moves from the first point on the route constituting the route network to the second point by adding the required time in the same moving direction of the moving body at each interval by the required time calculating means by interval. The latest required time calculation means for calculating the total required time and repeating this calculation operation to hold the latest data,
When a predetermined mobile object to be navigated tries to move from the first point to the second point, the required time to reach the second point when reaching the first point based on a request from the mobile body Required time transmission means for transmitting to the mobile body based on the latest data
A navigation server comprising: A plurality of mobile units are arranged at intervals along each route constituting the route network, and the mobile unit identification information as unique identification information provided for each mobile unit moving along these routes is a short distance when the mobile unit approaches. An identification result collecting step for collecting and collecting the mobile object identification information obtained from the mobile object identification information acquisition means obtained by wireless communication and the passage time of the mobile object as its acquisition time at predetermined transmission intervals;
Each information for each moving direction using information of the mobile object identification information acquisition means arranged at adjacent positions on the route among the information consisting of the mobile object identification information and the acquisition time collected in the identification result collection step. A required time calculation step for each interval for calculating the required time of the moving body in the interval;
When the moving body moves from the first point on the route constituting the route network to the second point by adding the time required for the same moving direction of the moving body at each interval in the required time calculating step by interval. Calculating the total required time and repeating this calculation operation to retain the latest data, the latest required time calculating step,
When a predetermined mobile object to be navigated tries to move from the first point to the second point, the required time to reach the second point when reaching the first point based on a request from the mobile body Required time transmission step for transmitting to the mobile unit based on the latest data
A navigation method comprising: On the computer that configures the server,
A plurality of mobile units are arranged at intervals along each route constituting the route network, and the mobile unit identification information as unique identification information provided for each mobile unit moving along these routes is a short distance when the mobile unit approaches. Identification result collection processing for collecting the mobile object identification information obtained from the mobile object identification information acquisition means acquired by wireless communication and the passage time of the mobile object as the acquisition time in a predetermined transmission interval,
Each information for each moving direction using information of the mobile object identification information acquisition means arranged at adjacent positions on the route among the information consisting of the mobile object identification information collected in the identification result collection process and the acquisition time. The time required for each interval calculation process for calculating the time required for the moving object in the interval,
When the moving object moves from the first point to the second point on the route constituting the route network by adding the required time in the same moving direction of the moving object at each interval by the time-dependent required time calculation process. The latest required time calculation process that calculates the total required time and repeats this calculation operation to hold the latest data,
When a predetermined mobile object to be navigated tries to move from the first point to the second point, the required time to reach the second point when reaching the first point based on a request from the mobile body Required time transmission processing based on the latest data
A navigation program characterized by causing

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