JP2001289656A - Road traffic information providing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To greatly reduce the coat paid by the user and quickly acquire information required for determining a route from a departure spot to a destination by a simple operation of a portable terminal without being substantially limited by the utilizing spot. SOLUTION: The user operates a portable telephone 5 to designate one registered route and transmits request signals of road traffic information corresponding to the registered route. In an information center 1, a route registering- by-users control unit 22 retrieves user information DB 17 using a designated registered route as a key to acquire a recommended route, and a detail information generator 24 retrieves provided traffic information DB 15 to acquire road traffic information corresponding to a departure point, an arrival point and one or a plurality of recommended routes, thus generating detail information using the recommended route acquired by the control unit 22 as a key. The information center 1 transmits the generated detailed information to the portable terminal 5 of the user, and the portable telephone 5 receives the transmitted detail information and displays the detail information on its display screen.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a road traffic information providing system, and more particularly to a system for providing road traffic information to a portable terminal via a network and a mobile communication network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Services for providing real-time road traffic information such as traffic congestion, traffic regulations, traffic obstacles, and required travel time have already been put to practical use. For example, a user can refer to necessary information by receiving road traffic information stored in a host computer online by a dedicated terminal device installed in a public facility or a computer system in a company via a telephone line. Service is known.

[0003] On the other hand, another service for providing road traffic information to a user in a vehicle, mainly a driver, is also known.
As one example, there is a service in which a so-called car navigation system and a receiving device are mounted on a vehicle, and the received road traffic information can be referred to on the car navigation system.

Recently, a service for providing road traffic information to a user's mobile phone via a network and a mobile communication network has been started.

[0005]

In the conventional online road traffic information providing service, capital investment such as expensive dedicated terminals is indispensable to use the service, and the use place is fixed in a facility or company. There was a problem that was limited to.

In general, the flow of a work in which a person refers to road traffic information before driving a vehicle and moving to a destination is as follows. Set the destination. Set one route from the current location to the destination. Road traffic information about one or more routes (sections) on the set route is acquired for each route (section). The road conditions of the entire route set by combining the acquired road traffic information for each route (section) are grasped. In particular, determine whether there are any serious traffic obstacles such as suspension of traffic.
If there is a traffic obstacle, change the set route to another route and return to the above. If there is no traffic obstacle, start moving on the existing route.

Some services using the car navigation system are provided with a function of supporting the above operations by the car navigation system. However, there has been a problem that the dedicated equipment is still expensive and cannot be used basically in places other than inside the vehicle.

On the other hand, the road traffic information providing service for mobile phones recently started supports only the above-mentioned work. In other words, the user operates the mobile phone to find a specific route (section) by narrowing down the search by road type or area, and then obtains road traffic information of the specific section. I have. For this reason, if it is found by the above operation that there is a traffic obstruction on the previously set route, the route must be set again to another route and the above operations must be repeatedly performed. There was such a problem. (1) It takes a long time to determine a route. (2) For this reason, the basic demand of the user to obtain road traffic information quickly and start moving quickly is not satisfied. (3) A large number of operations are required of the user, such as a refined search, which places a heavy burden on the user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.
Significantly reduce the burden on users and obtain the information required to determine the route from the point of departure to the point of arrival quickly and practically without restrictions on the place of use by simple operation of the mobile terminal And to provide a new road traffic information providing system. Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel road traffic information providing system capable of acquiring desired information at a timing registered in advance by a user in a road traffic information providing system that achieves the above object. Is to do.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a road traffic information providing system according to the present invention sequentially updates and accumulates road traffic information that changes with time, and provides a network and a mobile communication network. An information center for providing to a user's mobile terminal via the network, the information center comprising: a road network information database for storing in advance a road network and position information associated with the road network; When the user operates the mobile terminal and receives signals specifying the departure place and the destination, one or more routes between the departure place and the destination are obtained from the road network information database and recommended route information is obtained. It has a route search unit to generate and a transmission management unit to transmit the generated recommended route information to the user of the mobile terminal.

At present, a portable terminal having a Web browser function, for example, a portable telephone is provided at low cost. In the road traffic information providing system according to the present invention, the user operates the mobile terminal to connect to the information center via the mobile communication network and the network, and transmits a signal designating the departure place and the arrival place. , It is possible to quickly obtain recommended route information.

In the road traffic information providing system according to the present invention, the information center includes a traffic information database for sequentially updating and accumulating road traffic information such as traffic congestion, traffic regulation, traffic obstacles, and required travel time that change with time. A detailed information generating unit configured to acquire road traffic information corresponding to one or a plurality of recommended routes from a traffic information database based on the recommended route information generated by the route searching unit and generate detailed information; The unit transmits the detailed information to the user of the mobile terminal.

[0013] Thus, when the user operates the portable terminal to designate a departure place and an arrival place, detailed road traffic information corresponding to one or a plurality of recommended routes can be promptly acquired.

Another road traffic information providing system according to the present invention is for sequentially updating and accumulating road traffic information that changes with time, and providing the updated information to a user's portable terminal via a network and a mobile communication network. An information center is provided in the network. The information center includes a road network information database that stores a road network and positional information associated with the road network in advance, and traffic congestion, traffic regulations, traffic obstacles that change with time, A traffic information database that sequentially updates and accumulates road traffic information such as travel time, a user information database, and a departure when a user operates a mobile terminal and receives a signal specifying a departure place and an arrival place. A route search unit for obtaining one or more routes between the destination and the destination from the road network information database and generating recommended route information; Receives a request signal requesting registration of a departure place, an arrival place, and one or more recommended routes by operating the mobile terminal, and sets the departure place, the arrival place, and one or more recommended routes to one registered route. The user-specific route registration management unit that registers in the user information database as, and when the user operates the mobile terminal to specify the registered route, obtains the road traffic information corresponding to the specified registered route from the traffic information database And a transmission management unit for transmitting the generated detailed information to the user of the mobile terminal.

A user can input a departure place and an arrival place and search for a route, and arbitrarily register the result on the system as a registered route. Once this registration is performed by operating the mobile terminal, the user can specify the registered route on the mobile terminal at the next use, and quickly obtain detailed road traffic information corresponding to the registered route. it can.

In the above another road traffic information providing system according to the present invention, the transmission management unit further includes a mail transmission unit that converts the generated detailed information into data in an electronic mail format and transmits the data to a user of the portable terminal. May be provided.

A portable terminal having a Web browser function is:
E-mail usage environment is provided as standard. The user
When desired, detailed road traffic information can be obtained in the form of e-mail.

In the above another road traffic information providing system according to the present invention, when the information center receives a signal requesting registration of an electronic mail transmission time or transmission date and time by operating a portable terminal, A mail transmission registration management unit that registers a transmission time or a transmission date and time as transmission schedule information in a user information database; the detailed information generation unit generates road traffic information corresponding to a registered route based on the registered transmission schedule; The mail transmitting unit may generate the detailed information by acquiring the detailed information from the database, and transmit the detailed information to the user of the portable terminal in an e-mail format.

A user who wishes to obtain detailed road traffic information in the form of an e-mail can arbitrarily register the transmission time or transmission date and time of the e-mail on the system.
As a result, the user can automatically receive detailed road traffic information at a desired time or date without performing a connection operation to the information center.

In the road traffic information providing system according to the present invention, the network connecting the information center and the mobile terminal and the mobile communication network are, for example, when the mobile terminal uses a mobile phone having a Web browser function, the existing Internet or Dedicated lines and mobile telephone networks can be used as they are.

In Japan, for example, the Japan Road Traffic Information Center is responsible for the traffic of major general roads, major metropolitan major roads, toll roads, expressways, traffic congestion, traffic regulations, traffic obstacles, travel time, etc. Traffic information is updated every 5 minutes and provided 24 hours a day. The information center can receive information from such an external information provider almost in real time, and store the information while updating it as basic information.

The information center can be constructed as basic components including a database server having a so-called search engine available at the present time, a database management system, a Web server, and a mail server added as necessary.

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the construction of a road traffic information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In particular, an information center is shown in the form of a functional block diagram. In this system construction example, the traffic information providing system includes an information center 1 in a network 2. The network 2 is connected to a mobile communication network 3. A number of base stations 4 are provided in the mobile communication network 3. The base station 4 transmits and receives data by radio waves to and from a user's mobile phone 5 within the service area.

The information center 1 has an external information reception management unit 1
1, a traffic information editing unit 12, a traffic information DB 13 including a basic traffic information DB 14 and a traffic information DB 15 for provision.
, A management server 16, a user information DB 17, a road network information DB 18, and a transmission / reception unit 19.

The external information provider 10 is, for example, the above-mentioned Japan Road Traffic Information Center, and the external information reception management unit 11 is connected to the external information provider 1 connected online.
From 0, road traffic information (hereinafter referred to as "basic traffic information") such as traffic congestion, traffic regulations, traffic obstacles, and required travel time, which is updated every 5 minutes, is received. Further, each time the basic traffic information is received, the external information reception management unit 11 updates the basic traffic information and stores the updated basic traffic information in the basic traffic information DB 14.

The traffic information editing section 12 inputs basic traffic information to be updated and stored, edits the traffic information to be provided in a format which can be easily used on a mobile phone, and provides the traffic information D for provision each time.
It accumulates in B13. The traffic information editing unit 12 is managed by a management server 16 described later.

The management server 16 includes a user registration management unit 21
User-specific route registration management unit 22 and route search unit 2
3, a detailed information generation unit 24, and a mail transmission / reception registration management unit 25. Hereinafter, the basic functions of each unit will be described.

The user registration management unit 21 registers and manages authentication information such as an ID and a password necessary for personal authentication when a user uses a service, an e-mail address, and the like. The user information DB 17 stores such information.

The user-specific route registration management unit 22 registers and manages a user-specific registration route, which will be described later, in association with the user who has requested registration. The user information DB 17 also stores information on these registered routes.

When the user operates the portable terminal to specify a departure place and an arrival place, the route search unit 23
The road information network DB 18 is searched to obtain one or a plurality of routes between the departure place and the arrival place, and generate recommended route information. For this purpose, the road network information DB 18
For example, a road network consisting of major general roads, major metropolitan roads, toll roads, and expressways nationwide, and specified by the names of municipalities, interchanges, various facilities, and tourist destinations associated with the road network Position information to be stored is stored in advance.

The detailed information generating unit 24 obtains road traffic information corresponding to the registered route or the recommended route from the providing traffic information DB 15 when an input specifying a registered route to be described later or an input of recommended route information is made. To generate detailed information. The detailed information generated here describes traffic congestion, traffic regulations, traffic obstacles, required travel time, and the like for one or more recommended routes from the departure place to the destination place in a format that can be easily used by the mobile phone 5. Contains information.

When the user desires to provide the road traffic information by e-mail, the mail transmission registration management section 25 registers and manages the information. When there is a request for registration of the transmission time or transmission date and time of the e-mail, these are stored in the user information DB 17 as transmission schedule information. In addition, the mail transmission registration management unit 25 obtains the road traffic information corresponding to the registered route from the providing traffic information DB 15 based on the registered transmission schedule information and generates detailed information so as to generate detailed information. It controls the management unit 22 and the detailed information generation unit 24.

The transmission / reception unit 19 includes a reception management unit 26 and a transmission management unit 27. The reception management unit 19 includes the user's mobile phone 5 to the base station 4, the mobile phone network 3, and the network 2.
Receives the data sent via the
Enter 6 The transmission management unit 27 inputs data from the management server 16 and transmits the data to the user of the mobile phone 5.

The transmission management section 27 has a mail transmission section 28 for providing road traffic information in an electronic mail format. The mail transmission unit 28 converts the detailed information generated by the detailed information generation unit 24 into data in an electronic mail format, and transmits the data to a user of the mobile phone 5.

The mobile phone 5 operated by the user is a mobile phone having a Web browser function and an e-mail function.
The mobile phone 5 has a display screen capable of displaying a text including characters, symbols, and the like, and displays the information received from the information center 1 on the display screen for user browsing.

In the above-described construction example of the road traffic information providing system according to the embodiment of the present invention, an example in which a user operates the mobile phone 5 to display necessary information will be described with reference to FIGS. This will be described in detail below.

1. Connection to the information center By the same operation as when using the various information providing services for mobile phones already provided, the user operates the mobile phone 5 to use the services provided by this system on the display screen. Select and connect to Information Center 1.

2. Display of a recommended route designating a departure place and an arrival place (FIG. 2) The user operates the mobile phone 5 and, for example, a reference numeral 41 in FIG.
A departure place and an arrival place are input on a display screen as shown in (1) (S101). In the information center 1, the route search unit 23 searches the road network information DB 18 using the input departure place and destination as the position information key, and obtains one or more routes between the departure place and the destination. To generate recommended route information (S102). The generated recommended route information includes route (section) name information such as a main route, a road in a municipality, an expressway, and a toll road. The information center 1 transmits the generated recommended route information to the user of the mobile terminal 5 (S103). The mobile phone 5 receives the transmitted recommended route information and displays the recommended route information on its display screen (S104). Reference numerals 42 to 4 in FIG.
4 shows an example of a display screen of recommended route information (however,
Some of the content of the recommended route information is omitted).

3. Registration of registration route for each user (Fig. 3) After obtaining the departure place, destination place, and one or more recommended routes, these can be arbitrarily registered as user-specific registered routes.

Reference numeral 51 in FIG. 3 shows an example of a display screen displaying a departure place, an arrival place, and a plurality of recommended routes.
The user operates the mobile phone 5 and selects [Registration] at the bottom of the display screen, and transmits to the information center 1 a request signal requesting registration of a departure place, an arrival place, and one or more recommended routes. (S201). When the information center 1 receives the request signal, the user-specific route registration management unit 22 associates the departure place, the destination, and one or more recommended routes as one registered route with the user and associates the registered route with the user. Register in the information DB 17 (S20
2).

4. Display of Detailed Information on Recommended Route (FIG. 3) On the display screen displaying the departure place, the arrival place, and a plurality of recommended routes indicated by reference numeral 51 in FIG. Then, a request signal for detailed information is transmitted to the information center 1 (S301). In the information center 1, the detailed information generation unit 24 searches the road providing traffic information DB using the recommended route as a key, and obtains the departure point, the destination, and the road traffic information corresponding to one or more recommended routes. To generate detailed information (S3
02). The information center 1 transmits the generated detailed information to the mobile terminal 5 of the user (S303). The mobile phone 5 receives the transmitted detailed information and displays the detailed information on the display screen (S304). Reference numeral 52 in FIG. 3 shows a display screen example of the detailed information (however, a part of the content of the detailed information is omitted).

5. Detailed information display specifying the registered route (Fig. 4) By the steps of S201 and S202,
Once the registration route is registered, the user can display a list of registered registration routes on the display screen at the time of operating the mobile phone 5 next time. Reference numeral 61 in FIG. 2 shows a display screen example of a list of registered routes.

The user operates the mobile phone 5 to specify one registered route, and transmits a request signal for road traffic information corresponding to the registered route (S401). Information Center 1
In, the user-specific route registration management unit 22 searches the user information DB 17 using the designated registered route as a key, and acquires a recommended route. The detailed information generation unit 24 searches the provided traffic information DB 15 using the recommended route acquired by the user-specific route registration management unit 22 as a key,
The road traffic information corresponding to the destination and one or more recommended routes is obtained to generate detailed information (S40).
2). The information center 1 transmits the generated detailed information to the portable terminal 5 of the user (S403). The mobile phone 5 receives the transmitted detailed information and displays the detailed information on the display screen (S404). Reference numeral 62 in FIG. 4 shows a display screen example of the detailed information (however, a part of the content of the detailed information is omitted).

Once the user has registered this registered route, a list of registered routes is displayed for the next use, and
It can be understood that the corresponding road traffic information can be promptly displayed only by inputting the designation of one of the registered routes.
Therefore, the time required for route determination can be significantly reduced. In addition, since the number of button operations of the mobile phone 5 required by the user can be greatly reduced, the amount of data transmitted from the mobile phone to the information center can be reduced, and the information communication fee can be reduced.

6. Delivery of detailed information by e-mail (FIG. 5) When a registered route is registered, the user transmits road traffic information corresponding to the registered route in an e-mail format at a predetermined transmission time or date and time. Can be set arbitrarily. As a result, desired detailed information can be obtained in the form of e-mail at the timing registered by the user in advance.

The user operates the mobile phone 5 to transmit a request signal requesting registration of the transmission time or transmission date and time of the e-mail to the information center 1 for one registration route (S501). Reference numeral 71 in FIG. 5 shows an example of a display screen when a request is made. Next, in the information center 1, the mail transmission registration management unit 25 registers transmission schedule information including a transmission time or a transmission date and time in the user information DB in association with the user and the registration route (S5).
02). The detailed information generation unit 24 acquires road traffic information corresponding to the registered route from the provided traffic information DB 15 based on the registered transmission schedule information and generates detailed information (S503). The mail transmitting unit 28 converts the generated detailed information into an electronic mail format and transmits the detailed information to the user of the mobile terminal 5 (S504). The mobile phone 5 receives the transmitted e-mail and displays the detailed information on the display screen (S505). Reference numeral 72 in FIG. 5 shows an example of a display screen of the detailed information (however, the description of the detailed information is omitted).

[0048]

As is clear from the above description, according to the road traffic information providing system according to the present invention, the user
As described below, it is possible to quickly obtain necessary information when required by a simple operation of the mobile terminal. (1) A recommended route is displayed by designating a departure place and an arrival place. Further, detailed road traffic information on the recommended route is displayed. (2) By registering a frequently used travel route in advance as a registered route, detailed road traffic information is promptly displayed by an operation of designating the registered route. (3) With the electronic mail distribution function, detailed road traffic information is automatically received and displayed by electronic mail from the information center at the timing registered by the user in advance.

The service provided by the road traffic information providing system according to the present invention can be used by a portable terminal, for example, a portable telephone having a Web browser function, so that the burden on the user is greatly reduced. In addition, since necessary information can be acquired in an area or a place where the mobile terminal can be used, the use place is not substantially restricted. Therefore, users who want to quickly obtain necessary information, from business use such as collection and delivery of luggage on commercial vehicles, product delivery, taxi pickup, customer visits, etc., to personal use such as car commuting by private car, travel etc. Can provide a road traffic information service that can meet a wide range of needs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of a road traffic information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention, in particular, a diagram showing an information center in the form of a functional block diagram.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a recommended route specifying a departure place and an arrival place.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a display example of detailed information on registration of user-based registered routes and recommended routes.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a detailed information display example in which a registration route is specified.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of detailed information distribution by e-mail.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information center 2 Network 3 Mobile communication network 4 Base station 5 Mobile phone

Claims (5)

[Claims] An information center for sequentially updating and accumulating road traffic information that changes over time and providing the updated information to a user's portable terminal via a network and a mobile communication network is provided in the network. In the road traffic information providing system, the information center, a road network information database that stores in advance a road network and position information associated with the road network,
When the user operates the portable terminal and receives signals specifying the departure place and the destination, one or more routes between the departure place and the destination are obtained from the road network information database and recommended. A road traffic information providing system comprising: a route search unit that generates route information; and a transmission management unit that transmits the generated recommended route information to a user of the portable terminal. 2. The information center includes: a traffic information database for sequentially updating and accumulating road traffic information such as traffic congestion, traffic regulations, traffic obstacles, and required travel time that change with time; A detailed information generation unit configured to acquire road traffic information corresponding to the one or more recommended routes from the traffic information database and generate detailed information based on the recommended route information, and the transmission management unit includes: The road traffic information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the detailed information is transmitted to a user of the mobile terminal. 3. A road having an information center in a network for sequentially updating and storing road traffic information that changes with time and providing the information to a user's portable terminal via a network and a mobile communication network. In the traffic information providing system, the information center includes a road network information database that stores a road network and position information associated with the road network in advance,
A traffic information database that continuously updates and accumulates road traffic information such as traffic congestion, traffic regulations, traffic obstacles, and required travel time that change with time, a user information database, and a user operating a mobile terminal to departure location And when a signal designating the destination is received, one of the distances between the departure and destination is obtained.
A route search unit that obtains one or more routes from the road network information database and generates recommended route information, and a user operating a mobile terminal to operate the mobile terminal to obtain the departure place, the destination place, and the one or more recommended places. A user-specific route registration management unit for registering the departure place, the destination, and the one or more recommended routes as one registered route in the user information database when receiving a request signal for requesting route registration; A detailed information generating unit that, when a user operates the mobile terminal to specify the registered route, obtains road traffic information corresponding to the specified registered route from the traffic information database and generates detailed information; A road management information providing system comprising: a transmission management unit configured to transmit the generated detailed information to a user of the mobile terminal. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a mail transmitting unit configured to convert the generated detailed information into data in an electronic mail format and transmit the converted data to a user of the portable terminal. 3. The road traffic information providing system according to 3. 5. When the information center receives a signal requesting registration of the transmission time or transmission date and time of the e-mail by a user operating a portable terminal, the information center uses the transmission time or transmission date and time as transmission schedule information. The apparatus further includes a mail transmission registration management unit for registering in the user information database, wherein the detailed information generation unit obtains road traffic information corresponding to the registered route from the traffic information database based on the registered transmission schedule. The road traffic information providing system according to claim 4, wherein information is generated, and the mail transmission unit transmits the detailed information to a user of the mobile terminal in an electronic mail format.