JP2001155290A - Traffic jam detecting system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a traffic jam detecting system by which traffic jam information is easily and inexpensively constructed by country-wide scale without arranging an automobile detecting sensor on a road. SOLUTION: The system is constituted of position detecting means 16 which are mounted on a plurality of autornobiles 2 travelling on the road to detect each present position, mobile body communication terminals 4 for transmitting present position information detected by the means 16 by non-contact, mobile body communication means 7 and 8 for receiving position information transmitted from the terminals 4 of the automobiles 2 and a position information managing computer 11 for collecting and managing position information transmitted from the automobiles 2 via the means 7 and 8. The computer 11 detects the traffic jam based on position information of the automobiles.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a traffic congestion detection system for detecting traffic congestion occurring on each road, and more particularly to obtaining nationwide traffic congestion information at low cost without installing special detection equipment on the road. It relates to a traffic jam detection system that can be used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a system for detecting traffic congestion on a highway or a general road, a sensor for detecting the presence of an automobile on the road in a non-contact manner is provided at predetermined intervals on the road or on the roadside. In many cases, information detected by each sensor is managed by, for example, a management computer, and the occurrence of traffic congestion is detected based on the presence of a vehicle detected by the sensor.

[0003]

However, in these conventional traffic congestion detection systems, it is necessary to install the sensors on each road at predetermined intervals, and it is not possible to install these sensors on all roads nationwide. , A large number of sensors are required, the cost is also enormous because it is enormous, without installing such sensors, a traffic jam detection system that can easily detect the traffic jam Did not exist.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and nationwide congestion information can be obtained at a low cost with a simple system without installing a sensor for detecting an automobile as described above. An object is to provide a congestion detection system that can be obtained.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a traffic congestion detection system according to the present invention is a traffic congestion detection system for detecting traffic congestion occurring on a road, which is mounted on a plurality of vehicles traveling on the road. Position detection means for detecting the current position, a mobile communication terminal capable of transmitting the current position information detected by the position detection means in a non-contact,
Mobile communication means capable of receiving the position information transmitted from the mobile communication terminal of each of these vehicles, and collecting and transmitting the position information transmitted from each of the vehicles via the mobile communication means.
And a location information management computer for managing the location information, wherein the location information management computer detects traffic congestion based on the collected location information of each vehicle. According to this feature, the current position information of each car detected by the position detecting means mounted on each car present on the road is collected by the position information management computer via the mobile communication means. By managing, it is possible to detect traffic congestion based on the current position information of each of these vehicles, and it is not necessary to install sensors etc. for detecting vehicles on the road on the road as in the past, and congestion on any road A congestion detection system capable of detecting the occurrence of traffic can be simply and inexpensively constructed.

In the traffic congestion detection system of the present invention, identification information capable of identifying each car is given to the position detecting means or the mobile communication terminal, and the identification information is transmitted to a position information management computer together with the position information. It is preferable that the congestion detection method in the position information management computer detects the congestion based on the magnitude of a change in position information of the same automobile during a predetermined time. This makes it possible to detect traffic congestion even if the number of vehicles equipped with the position detecting means is small, and it is possible to construct the system more easily than a traffic congestion detection system.

In the traffic congestion detection system according to the present invention, the traffic congestion detection method detects the traffic congestion by averaging the magnitude of a change in position information of a plurality of vehicles existing in a predetermined range on a corresponding road during a predetermined time. Is preferably performed.
By doing so, it is possible to reduce erroneous detection of traffic congestion due to stopping or slowing down for reasons other than traffic congestion, and it is possible to improve the detection accuracy of traffic congestion.

In the traffic congestion detection system according to the present invention, it is preferable that the traffic congestion detection method detects traffic congestion based on the number of vehicles existing in a predetermined range on a corresponding road.
With this configuration, the position information of each vehicle collected by the position information management computer is made to correspond to a predetermined range on the road, and congestion can be detected only by processing for counting the number of vehicles in the predetermined range. The processing load on the information management computer can be reduced, and an inexpensive computer can be used. Furthermore, if the method of tracking the movement of the same vehicle is used in combination with the counting of the number of vehicles in the predetermined range, for example, for some of the vehicles existing in the predetermined range, the detection accuracy of the traffic congestion is further improved. be able to.

In the congestion detection system according to the present invention, in the position information management computer, the number of vehicles existing in the predetermined range on the road is not mounted on the vehicle equipped with the position detection means and the mobile communication terminal. It is preferable to detect traffic congestion with appropriate correction based on the ratio with the car. With this configuration, even if the ratio of vehicles equipped with the position detection unit and the mobile communication terminal is low, the accuracy of detecting traffic congestion can be improved by performing correction based on the ratio.

[0010] In the traffic jam detection system according to the present invention, the position detecting means receives radio waves from a plurality of satellites and detects a current position based on predetermined information which is modulated by the radio waves.
It is preferably a PS terminal. With this configuration, since the GPS terminal is already mounted on many automobiles as a position detecting means in the navigation device, by connecting the mobile communication terminal to the navigation device, the system can be more easily implemented. Can be built.

In the traffic congestion detection system according to the present invention, the position detecting means receives a radio wave from a ground station provided on the ground together with a radio wave from a satellite, and receives a current radio wave based on the correction information. It is preferable to perform position correction. With this configuration, the accuracy of the position information that can be detected by the position detection unit can be set to about 1 meter or less, so that the car is located at the center of the road or at the side of the road. It is possible to determine whether or not the vehicle is stopped on the road side, and it is possible to eliminate the adverse effect on the detection of traffic congestion due to vehicles stopped on the road side.

[0012] In the traffic jam detection system according to the present invention, the mobile communication terminal is connected to an operation detecting means for detecting an operation state of a vehicle traveling means, and the operation information of the traveling means detected by the operation detecting means. Is transmitted to the position information management computer together with the position information. In this way, by collecting the operation information, it is possible to determine whether or not the vehicle is stopped, and it is possible to eliminate the adverse effect of the stopped vehicle on detecting traffic congestion.

In the traffic congestion detection system according to the present invention, the position information management computer is connected to distribution means for modulating the detected traffic congestion information into radio waves of a predetermined frequency and distributing the information to each vehicle. Receiving means for receiving radio waves of a predetermined frequency from the means, demodulating the congested traffic information that has been modulated, display means capable of displaying the received traffic congestion information,
Is preferably provided. If you do this,
Since the congestion information detected by the position information management computer is displayed on the display means provided on the automobile, the congestion information can be confirmed on the automobile.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a traffic congestion detection system of this embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of each device mounted on an automobile used in this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of an FM broadcast station that transmits FM waves in which GPS correction information and congestion information used in the present embodiment are multiplied on sub-channels, and FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a position used in the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information management computer, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a registration status of location information in the location information management computer.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, the main configuration of the traffic congestion detection system of the present embodiment is a mobile phone 4 as a mobile communication terminal and a GPS capable of detecting the current position by radio waves from the artificial satellite 1. Navigation device 3 with device 16
And an FM receiver capable of receiving an FM broadcast in which correction information and congestion information used for correcting a detection position in the GPS device 16 are multiplexed on sub-channels. 2, a base station 8 for receiving radio waves transmitted from the car telephone 4, and a central control station 7 for supervising the plurality of base stations 8 and connecting to the exchange 9 of a general communication line. A telephone system as a body communication means, and telephone number data which is connected to the vehicle telephone 4 via the exchange 9 and the vehicle telephone system, and is information transmitted from each vehicle telephone 4 and capable of specifying each vehicle. And the position information data indicating the current position detected by the GPS device 16 and the operation information data indicating whether or not the transmission as the vehicle traveling means is in a traveling state. And another, the position information management computer 11, which is provided to the traffic information center to collect and manage,
The congestion information detected by the position information management computer 11 and the correction information used by the GPS device 16 are multiplex-multiplied on the FM sub-channel and transmitted to the transmission antenna 14.
And an FM broadcast station 13 that can transmit more.

First, the structure of the vehicle 2 used in the traffic congestion detection system of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 2. The vehicle 2 controls a liquid crystal panel 38 and a display operation of the liquid crystal panel 38. A drive device 32 for driving a DVD-ROM which is a large-capacity recording medium in which audio data such as map data and guidance is recorded on a display device 39 including a display driver 37, and the above-described drive recorded on the DVD-ROM A map based on the map data output from the DVD reproducing device 30 including a reading device 33 for reading each data is displayed, and the GPS device 16
A navigation device 3 for displaying the current position based on the corrected current position data output from the display device on the display map is mounted. Reference numeral 31 in the figure denotes a control microcomputer that controls these units.

The navigation device 3 of this embodiment includes a D / A converter 34 for converting voice data such as guidance recorded on the DVD-ROM into analog voice.
An amplifier 35 for amplifying the converted analog audio and a speaker 36 for outputting the amplified audio are provided.
As shown in FIG. 2, an FM receiver 6 to be described later is connected to the amplifier 35, and music and voice from the FM receiver 6 are amplified by the amplifier 35 and output from the speaker 36. ing.

The GPS device 16 for outputting the current position data to the navigation device 3 is, as shown in FIG.
Time information and satellite position data transmitted from the GPS satellite 1
G that can receive radio waves with predetermined information such as data
A PS antenna 17 for despreading and demodulating the received radio wave with a predetermined code sequence and extracting the time data and satellite position data multiplied by the received radio wave G
It comprises a PS sensor 18 and a positioning operation circuit 19 for calculating the current position from various data from the GPS sensor 18. The positioning operation circuit 19 has an RTC (real-time clock) for determining the current time. ) And a ROM storing conversion tables for converting calculated positioning coordinates (latitude, longitude, altitude) into coordinates on an actual map.

In this embodiment, the radio wave obtained by multiplying the time information and the predetermined information such as satellite position data transmitted from each of the GPS satellites 1 by the transmission antenna 14 of the FM broadcasting station 12 is transmitted. Each GPS satellite 1 calculated by receiving
The correction data such as the pseudo distance to each of the transmission antennas 1
4 is multiplexed and multiplied on the sub-channel of the FM wave transmitted from the sub-channel 4, and the correction data multi-multiplied on the sub-channel is received and demodulated by the FM receiver 6, The GPS device 16 is operated so that the correction data is output to the positioning operation circuit 19 of the GPS device 16.
And the FM receiver 6 are connected to each other, and the accuracy of the position information detected by the positioning operation circuit 19 is improved to about 1 meter by using the correction data based on these FM sub-channels.

As described above, in this embodiment, as described above, 1
In order to achieve a positional accuracy of meters,
GPS satellite 1 by correction data by M sub-channel
Although the differential method (DGPS) for correcting the position information detected by the above-mentioned method is used, the present invention is not limited to this. GLONASS or the like may be used.

Further, the accuracy of position detection by the position detecting means such as GPS or the like is set to about 1 meter or less as described above, so that the position of the car is located at the center of the road as described later. , On the roadside,
It is possible to determine from the position, it is possible to determine whether the car is stopped or not, it is preferable because it can improve the accuracy in traffic jam detection, but the present invention is not limited to this, these position detection accuracy, What is necessary is just to select suitably according to the precision etc. in traffic jam detection.

The method of improving the position accuracy of the GPS and the like is not limited to the differential system (DGPS) using the terrestrial wave as described above, but is used for the GPS satellite 1 used for mobile surveying and the like. Alternatively, a technique such as real-time kinematics that performs high-accuracy position detection using the phase of a radio wave from the satellite may be used.

The FM receiver 6 connected to these GPS devices 16 for outputting the correction information receives the FM waves transmitted from the transmitting antenna 14 of the FM broadcasting station 12 as shown in FIG. A possible RF module 62, and demodulates radio waves received by the RF module 62 to demodulate voice and music and outputs the demodulated audio and music to the amplifier 35; A demodulation modem 61 for converting traffic congestion information into predetermined data is built in. The correction information converted by the demodulation modem 61 as described above is output to the positioning calculation circuit 19, and the traffic congestion information controls the navigation device 3. The information is output to the control microcomputer 31 to be implemented, and is displayed as a predetermined traffic jam display on the display device 39 as the display means of the navigation device 3. To have.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the navigation device 3 of the present embodiment is configured to determine whether the state of the vehicle traveling device (transmission) 5 as a traveling means, for example, whether the current state is neutral, is traveling. It is connected to a control unit 15 of a vehicle capable of detecting whether the vehicle is a (drive), and the control unit 15 obtains information on the state of the traveling device 5 as operation information.

An automobile telephone 4 as a mobile communication terminal is connected to the navigation apparatus 3 of the present embodiment, and the position information (output from the GPS apparatus 16 from the control microcomputer 31 of the navigation apparatus 3). The latitude and longitude) and the operation information (“1” in the running state and “0” in other than the running state) are output to the MPU 41 that controls the mobile phone 4, and transmitted to the base station 8 closest to the mobile phone 4. The position information (data) and the operation information (data) are added to a predetermined signal in a control channel which is sequentially transmitted for position registration, and transmitted by the RF modem 42.

As described above, the transmission of the position information (data) and the operation information (data) to the base station 8 using the control channel of the mobile phone is affected by the use status of the mobile phone 4 during the call / non-call. The present invention is not limited to this, since each data can be transmitted to the base station 8 without any need. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and these data may be implemented using a communication channel as appropriate.

Further, in the present embodiment, the mobile phone 4 (the same system as the mobile phone in Japan) is used as the mobile communication terminal, but the present invention is not limited to this. You may make it use the MCA radio | wireless etc. mounted in a taxi, a business truck, etc.

The location information (data) and the operation information (data) transmitted from the mobile phone 4 to the base station 8 are:
These base stations 8 are connected to the plurality of base stations 8 and
In the central control station 7 that supervises and manages, the data used as identification information for identifying the vehicle is collected in association with the telephone number of the transmitted mobile phone 4, and the collected data is collected from each of the collected mobile phones 4. Is output to the location information management computer 11 provided in the traffic information center 10 via the exchange 9.

In the present embodiment, the central control station 7 and the location information management computer 11 are connected to each other via the exchange 9 so as to be able to perform data communication. However, the present invention is not limited to this, because the delay time in data transmission can be remarkably reduced and rapid traffic congestion can be detected. As long as the location information management computer 11 is connected to the Internet to provide services and the like, the location information management computer 11 may be connected to the Internet so that data communication can be performed via the Internet.

As shown in FIG. 4, the location information management computer 11 provided in the traffic information center 10 has a data bus 27 for transmitting and receiving data inside the location information management computer 11. A central processing unit (CPU) 21 for performing operation control and various processes of the computer 11 based on predetermined control programs and processing programs;
A RAM 24, a real-time clock (RTC) 26 capable of outputting date and time information such as the current time, a first communication interface 22 for performing data communication with the central control station 7 via the exchange 9, and an FM sub-channel. Computer 13 of FM broadcasting station 12 that distributes traffic congestion information
, A second communication interface 23 for transmitting detected traffic congestion information (data), a magnetic disk or a magneto-optical disk, and the location of major roads nationwide and a predetermined range on the road for detecting traffic congestion. As shown in FIG. 5, a map database (DB) in which map data in which is recorded is stored, and telephone number data, position information (data), and operation information (data) output from the central control station 7 are as shown in FIG. The location information database (D
B) and a control program in which control contents executed by the central processing unit (CPU) 21 are described, together with a congestion information database (DB) in which the detected positions of congestion are registered, and the map database (DB) And a storage device 25 in which a traffic congestion detection processing program for judging traffic congestion is recorded based on the collected data of the position information database (DB).

The registration status in the location information database (DB) will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.
In the database, in correspondence with the telephone number,
The operation information, the latest position information in which the collected position information is updated and registered as the latest position information, and the previous position information in which the latest position information before the update is registered are registered in association with each other, By comparing the latest position information with the previous position information, it is possible to calculate and register the travel distance of the same vehicle from the previous time, and use the travel distance of the same vehicle as traffic jam detection information. I can do it. The operation information is sequentially updated, and when the operation information is “0” as shown in No. 2 of FIG. 5, it indicates that the vehicle is in a stopped or retreat state in which the traveling device 5 is not in the drive state. By excluding the vehicles whose operation information is “0” from the vehicles subject to the traffic jam detection, it is possible to eliminate the adverse effect on the traffic jam detection of the vehicles that are stopped or retreated.

The configuration of the FM broadcasting station 12 which is a distribution means for distributing the correction information and the traffic congestion information to the FM receiver 6 used in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 12 is provided with a management computer 13 which manages information to be tuned to the sub-channel. The management computer 13 includes information stored in the congestion information database (DB) from the position information management computer 11. The congestion information (data) in the area corresponding to the FM broadcasting station 12 is sequentially output and updated and stored in the management computer 13.

The transmitting antenna 14 of the FM broadcasting station 12
Is provided with a GPS antenna (not shown) for receiving radio waves from the GPS satellites 1. The GPS antenna has an internal portion similar to the GPS device 16 mounted on each automobile 2. GPS sensor 18 and the G
A pseudo distance to each satellite is calculated from various data from the PS sensor 18 and positioning coordinates (latitude, longitude) which are output from the management computer 13 and are pre-defined reference station positions of the transmitting antenna 14. Positioning arithmetic circuit 1 for calculating predetermined DGPS correction data based on
9 ′ is connected to the GPS base station apparatus 20 and the DGPS calculated by the GPS base station apparatus 20
The correction data is output to the management computer 13.

The outputted traffic congestion information and DGPS correction data are appropriately edited into a predetermined transmission format by the management computer 13, and the edited data sequence is modulated by the modulation device 30, and is amplified by the amplification / multiplexing device. F at 31
The signal is multiplexed into M waves and transmitted from the transmitting antenna 14.

Hereinafter, the position information management computer 11 will be described.
In the following, a description will be given of a processing situation in which the congestion determination is performed based on the collected position information of each vehicle 2 with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 7. First, update data output from the central control station 7 is The latest position information data that matches the telephone number data of the update data in the position information DB is updated as described above, and the latest position information data before update is changed to the previous position information. (S
1)

Next, it is determined whether or not the road range corresponding to the previous position information is the same as the road range corresponding to the latest position information. (S2)

At this time, if the road range is different, one is subtracted and updated from the vehicle number data registered in the map DB corresponding to the road range corresponding to the previous position information, and the latest position is updated. One is added and updated to the number of vehicles in a new road range corresponding to the information. (S3)

After the addition update, the updated number of vehicles is corrected by the penetration rate of the navigation device 3 of the present embodiment (S4), and the corrected number of vehicles is set to a set value previously set in the road range. If the above is the case (S5), the road range is determined to be congested, the road range is registered in the congestion information DB (S6), and the process moves to the next update data. (S7)

If the corrected number of vehicles is equal to or less than the set value (S5), it is determined that traffic is not congested, and the process proceeds to the next update data processing as described above. (S
7)

FIG. 7 shows an example of the correction based on the diffusion rate and the determination of traffic congestion. Referring to FIG. 7, if the predetermined range of the road is, for example, 100 meters, the predetermined range of the road is, for example, 100 meters (two lanes). If there are 32 cars,
100 m / 16 vehicles = vehicles will exist every 6 meters, and if the average length of vehicles is approximately 4 meters, the distance between them will be 2 meters, and it can be determined that there is considerable traffic congestion. In this way, the number of vehicles that can be determined to be congested in the road range is registered based on the number of lanes on the road and the like.

For example, if the number of vehicles in the road range in step 3 (S3) is 20 and the penetration rate is 5
If it is 0%, the number of vehicles actually existing in the road area can be statistically determined to be 20 vehicles / 0.5 = approximately 40 vehicles, and the corrected value is For example, in the case of a road as shown in FIG. 6, since the set value is 32 or more, it is possible to detect a very heavy traffic congestion state.

As described above, it is most ideal to perform the correction of the number of vehicles by using the diffusion rate in a situation where the navigation device 3 used in the present embodiment is mounted on almost all vehicles. These navigation devices 3
Even at a stage where the penetration rate is not large, it is preferable because it becomes possible to detect the traffic congestion with higher accuracy by grasping the number of vehicles that are closer to actual, but the present invention is not limited to this, The correction may be performed by incorporating these correction values into the set values in advance.

In step 2 (S2),
If the road range corresponding to the latest position information is the same as the road range corresponding to the previous position information, first, the operation information of the update data is confirmed (S8), and if the operation information is “1”, If no, that is, if the traveling device of the vehicle is not in the traveling state, the process proceeds to step 4 (S4). If the operation information is "1", the process proceeds to step 9 (S4).
The process proceeds to 9), and it is confirmed whether the latest position information of the vehicle is the center position of the road.

In the confirmation, when the vehicle is located not on the center side but on the road side, as shown in FIG. 6, it is assumed that the vehicle is in a stopped state due to a person getting on and off. Therefore, the process proceeds to step 4 (S4). If the position of the car is on the center side, the process proceeds to the next step and the moving distance is calculated from the latest position information and the previous position information. (S10)

The calculated moving distance is determined by the position information D
B, the moving distances of other vehicles existing in the same road range as the road position corresponding to the vehicle position are extracted from the position information DB (S11), and the extracted moving distances are averaged. I do. (S17)

If the averaged travel distance value is equal to or less than the travel distance value previously set for the road range in the map DB (S13), it is determined that the road range is congested. Then, the road range is registered in the traffic jam information DB (S6), and the process proceeds to the next update data processing. (S7)

In step 13 (S13),
If the value of the moving distance is equal to or greater than the value of the moving distance set in advance, the process proceeds to step 4 (S4).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to easily detect nationwide traffic congestion without installing a detecting device such as a sensor for detecting an automobile on the road as in the related art. Can be constructed.

As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and changes and additions may be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. Needless to say, the present invention is included in the present invention.

In the above-described embodiment, F is used as the distribution means.
Although the M sub-channel is used, the present invention is not limited to this, and the distribution of the traffic congestion information may be distributed via the car telephone 4, and in recent years, Bluetooth, which is considered as an information content distribution service system and is installed in a convenience store or the like and capable of wirelessly distributing each information content, may be used.

In the above embodiment, the position information such as the latitude and longitude is transmitted from each car to the position information management computer 11, but the present invention is not limited to this. Location information management computer 1
1 is stored in the DVD-ROM, a road range corresponding to the current position is detected on the vehicle side, and identification data capable of identifying the detected road range is stored in a position information management computer. 11 may be transmitted, and the travel distance may also be transmitted from the vehicle side.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the information of the traveling device (transmission) 5 is used as the operation information. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The situation may be good. In addition, the vehicle in the present invention includes an electric vehicle powered by an electric motor as well as an electric vehicle powered by the engine, and the traveling device (transmission) is also included in these electric vehicles. Since it is provided, the embodiment can be applied to these electric vehicles.

In the above embodiment, the telephone number of the automobile telephone 4 is used as the identification information for identifying the automobile. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The navigation device 3 may be identified by giving the serial number of the device 16, the device number of the car phone 4, or a unique number to the navigation device 3.

Further, a map DB is registered in the position information management computer, and the traffic jam is detected based on the number of vehicles in a predetermined road range in the map DB. However, the present invention is not limited to this. However, even when there are unreflected roads that are not registered in these map DBs, the position is appropriately determined to be a congestion state based on the number and arrangement of these collected automobiles, their movement status, and the like. The possibility may be pointed out, and the map DB may not necessarily be used for traffic jam detection.

[0056]

The present invention has the following effects.

(A) According to the first aspect of the present invention, the current position information of each car detected by the position detecting means mounted on each car present on the road is transmitted to the mobile communication means. It is possible to detect traffic jams based on the current position information of each of these vehicles by collecting and managing them via the position information management computer via a computer, and it is necessary to install sensors etc. for detecting vehicles on the road on the road as in the past. Therefore, a congestion detection system capable of detecting occurrence of congestion on any road can be simply and inexpensively constructed.

(B) According to the invention of claim 2, even if the number of vehicles equipped with the position detecting means is small, it is possible to detect traffic congestion, and it is possible to construct the traffic congestion detection system more easily. .

(C) According to the third aspect of the present invention, erroneous detection of traffic congestion due to stopping or slowing down due to reasons other than traffic congestion can be reduced, and congestion detection accuracy can be improved.

(D) According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, only the process of associating the position information of each vehicle collected by the position information management computer with a predetermined range on the road and counting the number of vehicles in the predetermined range. Thus, traffic congestion can be detected, the processing load on the position information management computer can be reduced, and an inexpensive computer can be used. Furthermore, if the method of tracking the movement of the same vehicle is used in combination with the counting of the number of vehicles in the predetermined range, for example, for some of the vehicles existing in the predetermined range, the detection accuracy of the traffic congestion is further improved. be able to.

(E) According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, even if the ratio of vehicles equipped with the position detecting means and the mobile communication terminal is low, the correction based on the ratio is carried out to detect congestion. Accuracy can be improved.

(F) According to the invention of claim 6, the GP
Since the S terminal is already mounted on many automobiles as a position detecting means in the navigation device, a system can be more easily constructed by connecting the mobile communication terminal to the navigation device.

(G) According to the invention of claim 7, since the accuracy of the position information detectable by the position detecting means can be set to about 1 meter or less, the vehicle can be located at the center of the road. It is possible to determine whether the vehicle is located on the roadside or on the roadside, and it is possible to eliminate the adverse effect on the detection of traffic congestion due to vehicles stopped on the roadside.

(H) According to the invention of claim 8, by collecting the operation information, it is possible to determine whether or not the vehicle is stopped, thereby eliminating the adverse effect of the stopped vehicle on detection of traffic congestion. can do.

(I) According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the congestion information detected by the position information management computer is displayed on the display means provided in the automobile. It is possible to check in a car.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a traffic jam detection system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of each device mounted on an automobile used in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an FM in which GPS correction information and congestion information used in this embodiment of the present invention are multiplied on sub-channels.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an FM broadcast station that transmits waves.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a location information management computer used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a registration status of location information in a location information management computer used in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state of traffic congestion on a road.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing processing contents in a position information management computer used in the embodiment of the present invention.

[Description of Signs] 1 Artificial (GPS) satellite 2 Car 3 Navigation device 4 Car phone (mobile communication terminal) 5 Running device (running means: transmission) 6 FM receiver (receiving means) 7 Central control station (mobile communication) Means) 8 base station (mobile communication means) 9 switching station 10 traffic information center 11 location information management computer 12 FM broadcast station (distribution means) 13 management computer 14 transmission antenna 15 control unit (operation detection means) 16 GPS device (location) 17 GPS antenna 18 GPS sensor 19 Positioning operation circuit 19 'Positioning operation circuit 20 GPS base station apparatus 21 Central processing unit (CPU) 22 Communication interface (first) 23 Communication interface (second) 24 RAM 25 Storage device 26 Real-time clock (RT
C) 27 data bus 30 DVD playback device 31 control microcomputer 32 drive device 33 reading device 34 D / A converter 35 amplifier 36 speaker 37 display driver 38 liquid crystal panel 39 display device (display means) 41 MPU 42 RF modem

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5H180 AA01 BB05 BB13 BB15 DD04 EE18 FF05 FF22 FF25 FF27 FF33 5K067 AA42 BB27 DD20 FF22 GG01 GG11 HH23 JJ52 JJ66 JJ66

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A traffic congestion detection system for detecting traffic congestion occurring on a road, wherein the system is mounted on a plurality of automobiles traveling on the road and detects a current position, and the current position is detected by the position detection means. A mobile communication terminal capable of transmitting current position information in a contactless manner, mobile communication means capable of receiving position information transmitted from the mobile communication terminal of each of these vehicles, and a position transmitted from each of the vehicles; And a position information management computer that collects and manages information via the mobile communication means, wherein the position information management computer detects traffic congestion based on the collected position information of each of the vehicles. Congestion detection system. 2. An identification information capable of identifying each car is given to the position detecting means or the mobile communication terminal, and the identification information is transmitted to a position information management computer together with the position information. The congestion detection system according to claim 1, wherein the congestion detection method detects the congestion based on a magnitude of a change in position information of the same vehicle during a predetermined time. 3. The method of detecting traffic congestion, wherein the method of detecting traffic congestion is performed by averaging magnitudes of changes in position information of a plurality of vehicles existing in a predetermined range on a corresponding road during a predetermined time. Congestion detection system described in 1. 4. The traffic congestion detection system according to claim 1, wherein said traffic congestion detection method detects traffic congestion based on the number of vehicles existing in a predetermined range on a corresponding road. 5. The position information management computer determines the number of vehicles existing in a predetermined range on the road on the basis of the ratio of vehicles equipped with the position detecting means and the mobile communication terminal to vehicles not equipped with the same. 5. The traffic congestion detection system according to claim 4, wherein the traffic congestion detection is performed with appropriate correction. 6. The GPS terminal according to claim 1, wherein said position detecting means is a GPS terminal that receives radio waves from a plurality of satellites and detects a current position on the basis of predetermined information superimposed on said radio waves.
The traffic jam detection system according to any one of the above. 7. The position detecting means receives a radio wave from which a correction information from a ground station provided on the ground is overtuned together with a radio wave from a satellite, and corrects a current position based on the correction information. The traffic jam detection system according to claim 6. 8. An operation detection means for detecting an operation state of a traveling means of an automobile is connected to the mobile communication terminal, and operation information of the traveling means detected by the operation detection means is transmitted together with the position information. The traffic jam detection system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, which is transmitted to a position information management computer. 9. The position information management computer is connected to a distribution unit that modulates the detected traffic congestion information into radio waves of a predetermined frequency and distributes the signals to each vehicle. A receiving means for receiving radio waves and demodulating the congested traffic information, and a display means capable of displaying the received traffic information.
8. The traffic jam detection system according to any one of 8.