JPH04349600A - Signal system and vehicle for signal system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To travel the crossing safer with a signal concerning a signal system and a vehicle for it. CONSTITUTION:The signal system is equipped with a signal 1 and a signal control means 2 to control the light-up of the signal 1. A transmitting means 3 provided on this way of the signal 1 and to transmit the light-up information of the signal 1 in the approximately vertical direction towards the lower road is equipped. A vehicle for the signal system is equipped with a receiving means to receive the transmitting information from the signal system and an informing means to inform the operator of the transmitting information from the received signal system.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a traffic light system that transmits information regarding the lighting status of a traffic light to a vehicle that is about to drive through an intersection with a traffic light, and a traffic light system that transmits information regarding the lighting status of the traffic light to a driver who receives this information. The present invention relates to a vehicle using a traffic light system that makes it possible to give instructions for driving normally through intersections.

0002

[Prior Art] When driving a vehicle on the road,
Naturally, you will pass through many intersections with traffic lights. Intersections account for a large proportion of traffic accidents, and preventing accidents at intersections is extremely important for safety. There are many causes of accidents at intersections, including entering an intersection when a red light is on due to a failure to see a traffic light, and making a mistake in judgment at a traffic light change. When the traffic light changes from green to yellow just before entering an intersection, it is difficult to judge whether or not to stop, and the decision must be made in an instant, taking into account the driving speed.

[0003] Traffic lights are installed in positions where they can be clearly seen by moving vehicles, but when the sun is close to the horizon in the morning and evening, the sunlight can make it extremely difficult to distinguish the signals. Furthermore, roadside trees and the like may obstruct the observation of traffic lights. In such cases, it is possible that you may accidentally enter the intersection.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As mentioned above, in order to prevent accidents at intersections, it is important to accurately recognize traffic lights and make correct decisions. However, until now, drivers have only been expected to make accurate judgments, and no measures have been taken to ensure that traffic lights are recognized.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to help drivers of vehicles passing through intersections more reliably recognize the status of traffic lights and make accurate decisions. purpose.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides transmitting means for transmitting information regarding the lighting status of the traffic light to the vehicle in front of the traffic light, and the vehicle notifies the driver of this information. do. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of a traffic light system according to the present invention. In the diagrams showing the configuration, parts with the same functions are designated by the same numbers.
From FIG. 2 onwards, lowercase letters of the alphabet will be added in order.

That is, the traffic light system of the present invention is a traffic light system comprising a traffic light 1 and a signal control means 2 for controlling the lighting of the traffic light 1. The traffic light system is provided in front of the traffic light 1 and extends in a direction substantially perpendicular to the road below. A transmitting means 3 for transmitting lighting information of the traffic light 1 is provided. In addition, a vehicle that uses the information transmitted from the traffic light system as described above has a receiving means installed on the top of the vehicle that receives the transmitted information from the traffic light system, and a receiving means that receives the transmitted information from the traffic light system while driving. shall be provided with a notification means to notify the person.

[0008]

[Operation] The lighting of the traffic light 1 is controlled by the signal control means 2, and if the control information is transmitted from the transmission means 3, the vehicle 4 can receive the transmitted information of the traffic light before the traffic light 1. If the received traffic light information is notified to the driver, the traffic light information will be notified in addition to the driver's observation of the traffic light, so that recognition of the traffic light will become more reliable.

[0009] Here, it is important that the signal information transmitting means 3 is provided in front of the intersection and transmits the signal in a direction substantially perpendicular to the road. In other words, the transmitting means 3 is the traffic light 1
By installing it in front of the intersection, it becomes possible to obtain traffic light information before entering the intersection. Furthermore, by transmitting from the air in a substantially vertical direction, the position at which the vehicle 4 receives the traffic signal information is fixed, and it is possible to receive the traffic signal information reliably without being affected by obstacles. If the transmitting means 3 is attached to the traffic signal 1 and the signal is transmitted diagonally downward toward an oncoming vehicle, problems arise in that the reception may be obstructed by the vehicle in front and that it is difficult to specify the receiving position. Furthermore, if there are consecutive traffic lights, a problem arises in that it is not possible to identify which traffic light the received information belongs to. It is therefore necessary for the transmitting means 3 to be installed in the air and to transmit towards the road below.

0010

Embodiment An embodiment of the traffic light system of the present invention is shown in FIG. In the figure, 1a is a traffic light, and 2a is a signal control device that controls the lighting color of the traffic light, and these are similar to conventional traffic light systems. The signal control device is controlled by a central control center that centrally manages all signals in a certain area. 4a is a running vehicle, and is equipped with a receiving antenna 51a on its upper part.

31a is a transmitting antenna, and the signal 1
It is located a distance L from an intersection a. A transmitter 32a receives control information for turning on a traffic light from the signal control device 2a, and transmits it to the road from an antenna 31a. Transmission is performed by wireless communication using radio waves used in a beacon, but it may be other than wireless communication, such as communication using infrared light. Since the vehicle passes directly under the transmitting antenna, reliable transmission is performed without being affected by external disturbances.

As will be described later, since the amount of information to be transmitted is not so large, it is possible to transmit this amount of information in a short time using wireless communication. Therefore, a predetermined information format is determined, combined with a start signal, and this information is repeatedly transmitted at short intervals. All of this information is received while the vehicle passes under the transmitting antenna. As shown in FIG. 2, there is a distance L from the intersection where the traffic light 1a is located to the transmitting antenna 31a. When constructing the traffic light system of the present invention, it is possible to make this distance L constant, but this is not realistic when considering the degree of freedom of the installation location. This distance L is important considering the braking operation described later, and if it cannot be kept constant, it is desirable to transmit it to the vehicle 4a together with the traffic light lighting information.

Next, an embodiment of a vehicle-side device that receives and utilizes lighting information from such a traffic light system will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of such an embodiment. 5
1b is a receiving antenna, and 52b is a receiver. These correspond to the transmitting means of the traffic light system. 53b is a microcomputer that performs all controls of this device. 61b to 69b are parts for the microcomputer 53b to read the transmitted information from the traffic light system received by the receiver 52b and notify the driver. 62b is an LED corresponding to the color of the signal, and 61b is its control unit. 64
b is a head-up display (HUD), and 6
3b is its control section. 66b is CRT, 6
5b is its control section. A liquid crystal display may be used instead of a CRT, but it is desirable that it be capable of color display. It is sufficient to use at least one type of these display devices.

Reference numeral 67b is a speech synthesis section, which selects an appropriate pattern from patterns pre-stored in the microcomputer according to the received information, synthesizes it in this section, processes it in an amplifier 68b, and then outputs it from a speaker 69b. . In addition, if the time it takes to convey information to the driver is an issue, audio can be used to notify the driver in a short time using a beep (
A buzzer) sound is also fine.

[0015] The information transmitted from the traffic light system to the traveling vehicle is information regarding control of the lighting color of the traffic light. Although it may change depending on the time of day, the lighting color of traffic lights is usually controlled in a cycle in which red, blue, and yellow are each set for a certain period of time. Therefore, the lighting time of each color,
The current color and the time until it changes to the next color are all the information regarding the control of the lighting color. It is not necessarily necessary to convey all of this information, and depending on the system, for example, only the current color and the time until it changes to the next color may be targeted. As described above, in addition to these pieces of information, it is desirable that the transmitted information also include the distance L from the information reception point to the intersection.

[0016] Next, a description will be given of how such information is notified to the driver. As a means of notification,
There are two types: audio and visual. In the case of audio, the driver is informed by the audio synthesizer 67b, amplifier 68b, and speaker 69b shown in FIG. 3, for example, "It's blue. It will change to yellow in X seconds." Of course, other expressions may be used, and when the current signal color is blue and blue is maintained for a sufficient period of time, the notification may be omitted because it is unpleasant to the ears.

A display example is shown in FIG. Figure 4(a)
is an example using the LED 62b of FIG. 3, in which three LEDs are used, each of which emits light in a color corresponding to the signal color. Blue is actually green. Each color of LED emits light in accordance with the lighting color of the traffic light. In this case, the time until the next color changes cannot be displayed, but as shown in the figure, when the color changes from blue to yellow and from yellow to red, the color changes earlier than the traffic light as a warning.

FIG. 4(b) is a display on a head-up display, in which the next color is displayed and the time required for the color to change to that color is displayed. The color name may be displayed in the colored part. FIG. 4(c) is an example of display on a CRT or liquid crystal display, and if color display is possible, the color name portion may be displayed in color. Since it can be difficult to see a display like the one in Figure 4 when passing through an intersection, audio notifications are generally more appropriate. In non-emergency traffic light situations, such as continuous green traffic lights, it can become a hindrance to driving. Therefore, it is desirable to combine audio notification and display notification to provide notification according to the situation.

In this embodiment, as described above, the time until the next color changes is also notified, so the driver can predict the change in the signal before driving, and avoid sudden stops or forced entry into intersections. can be prevented. Also, when stopping at a red light, you can know how long it will take for the light to change to green, so you no longer have to worry about how long the light will remain red, and you can more accurately drive when the light changes to green.

[0020] In the above embodiment, it is possible to check the lighting status of the traffic lights at the intersection that the vehicle is about to pass from inside the vehicle. As a result, changes in traffic lights can be predicted, making it possible to make more accurate decisions and improving safety, but it is still difficult to make decisions when traffic lights change when entering an intersection. Accordingly, in the second embodiment, the following second embodiment determines what kind of driving action should be taken for safe driving based on the information transmitted from the traffic light system and provides advice to the driver.

The configuration of the second embodiment is almost the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. In the second embodiment, in addition to the lighting status of traffic lights, information regarding the distance L from the receiving point of this information to the intersection and the traveling speed of the own vehicle is required in order to determine the appropriate driving operation. It is assumed that vehicle-specific information such as the braking ability of the own vehicle is stored for each vehicle. The distance L is included in the transmission information from the traffic light system as described above. The own vehicle speed is obtained from the wheel speed sensor 70b shown in FIG. The microcomputer 53b records the lighting status of the traffic light and the distance L.
information is read by the receiver 52b, the own vehicle speed is read by the wheel speed sensor 70b, it is determined whether to stop or pass according to a predetermined relationship based on the braking ability of the own vehicle stored in the memory, and the determination result is sent to the driver. Give instructions to follow. In this case, voice instructions are preferable.

Although there are various determination methods, since the time until the vehicle enters the intersection can be calculated from the current vehicle speed and distance L, the traffic light condition at the time of entering the intersection can be predicted. If the color is predicted to be blue at that time, an instruction is given to pass, and if it is predicted to be red, an instruction is given to stop. If it is predicted that the light is yellow, it is desirable to instruct the driver to stop, but depending on the distance L and the speed of the vehicle, the driver may be instructed to pass after calling attention to the vehicle.

[0023] When giving advice for driving safely at an intersection as in the second embodiment, the lighting status of the traffic light and the distance L
More appropriate instructions can be given by considering not only the own vehicle speed but also the road surface conditions at the intersection. Therefore, in the third embodiment, the road surface condition at the intersection is also detected and transmitted together with the information on the lighting status of the traffic light, and the configuration of this traffic light system is shown in FIG. In the figure, 82c
is a thermometer for detecting road surface temperature, 83c is a hygrometer, and 84c is a raindrop sensor. The detection values of each of these sensors are detected by a road surface condition detector 81c and sent to a transmitter 32c.

As the information output from the antenna 31c, the detection values of each sensor may be used as they are, but the road surface condition detector 81c determines the degree of wetness and freezing of the road surface from the detection values of each sensor and applies braking. The braking coefficient may be transmitted after calculating the degree of change in the coefficient. On the vehicle side, the braking ability of the own vehicle is corrected using this information on the road surface condition, and then a determination is made to ensure safe driving.

Although the first to third embodiments have been described above, the third embodiment has the largest amount of information transmitted from the traffic light system. Therefore, the format of the transmission information in this case will be explained. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the format of information transmitted from the traffic light system. As shown in the figure, one block consists of 96 bits. Since there are currently only three types of lighting colors, they can be expressed using 2 bits. The time it takes to change to the next color is 0.0
It can represent up to about 3 minutes in 1 second increments. Blue, yellow and red cycle times can be expressed in seconds up to 4 minutes. The distance L can be expressed in meters up to 256 m. Each sensor output is expressed in 8 bits. The total of all these is 96 bits. Actually, control bits such as a start bit are added to this.

[0026] When using 9600 baud wireless data communication as a transmission means, it takes approximately 0.01 to transmit one block.
It is in seconds. Assuming that the vehicle is traveling at 72 km/sec, the distance traveled during this time is 20 cm, and the signal can be sufficiently received while passing under the transmitter installed in the air. The format shown in Figure 6 assumes the maximum amount of information, and does not necessarily require the cycle time of each color, and the detection value of each sensor is also determined by the traffic light system to determine the road surface condition and set the braking coefficient accordingly. By doing so, the amount of data to be sent can be significantly reduced.

[0027]

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the status of the traffic lights at the intersection the vehicle is about to pass is communicated to the driver inside the vehicle, so that the traffic lights can be recognized more reliably, and safety is improved. Furthermore, changes in traffic lights can be predicted and instructions for more accurate driving actions can be given to the driver, reducing the burden on the driver.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of a traffic light system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the traffic light system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a vehicle-side device that uses traffic light information.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of displaying traffic light information to a driver.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a traffic light system that detects and transmits road surface conditions at intersections in addition to traffic light information.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the format of transmission information.

[Explanation of symbols]

1...Traffic light 2...Signal control means 3...Transmission means 4...Vehicle

Claims (5)

[Claims] Claim 1: A traffic light system comprising a traffic light (1) and a signal control means (2) for controlling lighting of the traffic light (1), which is provided in front of the traffic light (1) and directed toward the road below. The traffic light (1) in a substantially vertical direction
A traffic light system comprising: a transmitting means (3) for transmitting lighting information. [Claim 2] The transmitting means (3) comprises the transmitting means (
3) The traffic light system according to claim 1, characterized in that information regarding the distance to the intersection where the traffic light (1) and the traffic light (1) are located is also transmitted. 3. A traffic light system further comprising detection means for detecting a road surface condition at an intersection where the traffic light is located, and wherein the transmitting means (3) also transmits information regarding the road surface condition. 4. A vehicle for a traffic light system according to claim 1, 2, or 3, wherein the receiving means is provided on the upper part of the vehicle and receives the transmitted information from the traffic light system, and the receiving means is configured to receive information transmitted from the traffic light system. A vehicle for a traffic light system, comprising a notification means for notifying a driver of information transmitted from the traffic signal system. 5. Own vehicle speed detection means for detecting the traveling speed of the own vehicle, and determining whether or not the intersection with the traffic light can be normally passed through based on information transmitted from the traffic light system and the detected own vehicle speed. 5. The traffic light system vehicle according to claim 4, further comprising determination means, wherein the notification means notifies the driver of the determination result.