JP2001330457A - Method for distributing vehicle route - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for distributing vehicle routes whereby route information which can be directly utilized by drivers and which has states of roads, states of parking lots, etc., taken into account is distributed. SOLUTION: Road state information such as position information, a traffic movement velocity at the position, the presence/absence of traffic jams, kinds of traffic jams, etc., is sent and stored from a road state terminal 4 via an Internet 1 to a computer host 2. Parking lot state information such as the number of vacant parking positions in the parking lot, a wait time, etc., is sent and stored from a parking lot terminal 5 via the Internet 1 to the computer host 2. Information such as the present position, a target position, whether or not the user desires to utilize the parking lot in the vicinity of the target position, etc., is sent from a user terminal 3 to the computer host 2. The computer host 2 calculates routes with taking the road state information, the parking lot state information, etc., into account and transmits the route information to the user terminal 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle route distribution method for calculating and distributing a vehicle route based on road conditions and parking lot conditions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, selection of a route for traveling to a destination by a vehicle such as an automobile has been performed based on the knowledge and situation judgment of a driver. In the determination, the following technology is used to assist the driver. First
The car navigation system guides a driver to a route to a destination and a target on the route based on map information stored in advance and position information of the vehicle. Second
At the same time, traffic conditions on major roads are transmitted using radio broadcasting or a display device installed on the road, and the driver uses the traffic conditions as a reference when selecting a route.

[0003]

The above prior art has the following problems. First, the car navigation system selects the optimum route based on the distance or the like and presents it to the driver, but the dynamically changing road condition is not reflected on the selected route. Therefore, even if the route presented by the car navigation system is optimal in terms of distance, it may not always be preferable in terms of required time or other aspects.

[0004] In the case of radio broadcasts and display devices installed on roads, the amount of information that can be transmitted is limited, and information of the greatest common denominator considered to be useful to a large number of ordinary drivers is provided. Only provided, the detailed road conditions required by individual drivers are not fully communicated. The transmitted information is, for example, "例 え ば
It is fragmentary, such as "congestion of X kilometers at the beginning", and the route selection based on such fragmentary information is left to the driver, and it is easy for everyone to use it directly Is hard to say. In particular, when driving in an area to which the driver is not accustomed, the above road conditions may not be useful at all.

[0005] When a driver parks an automobile or the like in a parking lot near a destination, the location of the parking lot is
It is necessary for the driver to grasp the parking lot status, such as which parking lot is available and which parking lot can be parked with a waiting time of about minutes, while driving near the destination. Not only does it take a long time for a person to search for a parking lot, but the movement for searching for such a parking lot increases traffic volume unnecessarily, which is a factor of deteriorating road conditions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is a vehicle that can be used directly by a driver and distributes route information taking into account road conditions and parking conditions. It is intended to provide a route distribution method.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a computer host receives and stores road condition information from a road condition terminal via a network. And a second step in which the calculation host receives the current position information and the target position information from the user terminal via the network, and the current position information, the target position information, and the stored road condition information are stored in advance. A third step in which the calculation host calculates route information from the current position to the destination position based on the map information, and a fourth step in which the calculated route information is transmitted from the calculation host to the user terminal and displayed. The gist of the present invention is a vehicle route distribution method comprising the steps of:

Further, the invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the road condition information includes position information of the road condition terminal.

The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the road condition information includes information on the presence or absence of traffic congestion on the road.

[0010] In the invention described in claim 4, the calculation host includes a road condition terminal included in the road condition information received in time series with the position information of the road section held as map information in advance. And calculating the travel speed of the traffic for each road section based on the position information and the route information based on the travel speed of the traffic for each road section.

The invention according to claim 5 has a step in which the calculation host receives and stores parking lot status information from a parking lot terminal via a network, and in the third step, the calculation host Is characterized in that route information from a current position to a destination position is calculated based on the parking lot status information.

Further, the invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the parking lot status information includes one of the number of empty parking lots and the waiting time of the parking lot.

[0013] The invention according to claim 7 is the third aspect of the invention.
In the step, the route information is selected based on a distance from a current position to a destination position.

Further, the invention according to claim 8 is the third invention.
In the step, the route information is selected based on a required time from a current position to a destination position.

The invention according to claim 9 is the third invention.
In the step, the route information is selected based on a fee from a current position to a destination position.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, the information provider receives either the road condition information or the parking lot condition information, and provides the user with the road condition information or the parking condition information. Provide route information based on one or both of the parking lot status information and charge a user fee, and provide the information provider with one or both of the road status information and the parking lot status information. In addition, the gist of the present invention is to provide a vehicle route distribution method that provides route information based on the information and charges an information provider fee lower than the user fee.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration for vehicle route distribution according to the embodiment. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes the Internet, 2 denotes a calculation host, 3 denotes a user terminal, 4 denotes a road condition terminal, and 5 denotes a parking terminal. The calculation host 2, the user terminal 3, the road condition terminal 4, and the parking lot terminal 5 are connected to the Internet 1 using wireless or wired communication means, respectively, and the road condition terminal 4 provides information for providing road condition information. The parking lot terminal 5 is used by an information provider that provides parking lot status information. The user terminal 3 is used by a user who wants to obtain route information based on current position information and target position information.

The information provider that provides road condition information is, for example, a taxi company, a bus company, or a transportation company that is entrusted, and these companies provide information while traveling on the road as a normal business. Do. The information provider that provides the parking lot status information is, for example, a contracted parking lot operator, and the parking lot operator sequentially provides information on the status of the parking lot operated by itself.

The calculation host 2 has a storage device for storing information input from the road condition terminal 4 and the parking lot terminal 5. The map host 2 holds map information on roads and the like in advance.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the road condition terminal 4. As shown in FIG. In this figure, reference numeral 41 is a communication unit, 42 is a display unit, 43 is an input unit, 44 is a speed measurement unit,
45 is a position measuring unit. The road condition terminal 4 is mounted on an automobile or the like, and is installed in a place near the driver's seat near the front panel that does not hinder driving.

The communication section 41 has a function of communicating with the outside via a mobile phone network, a business radio, or the like. The function of the communication section 41 realizes the connection with the Internet. The display unit 42 displays information and the like received from outside via the communication unit 41. The input unit 43 receives information input by a driver of a car or the like. By integrating the display unit 42 and the input unit 43 using a touch panel or the like, a simple user interface that can be operated with one hand may be provided.

The speed measuring unit 44 and the position measuring unit 45 measure the speed and the position of the vehicle. Position measurement unit 45
Measures the position using, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System) or a gyro. Speed measurement unit 44
Measures the speed based on, for example, the rotational speed of the wheel or by differentiating the position measured by the position measuring unit 45 with time. The calculation in the case of measuring the speed based on the position measured by the position measuring unit 45 may be performed by the calculation host 2 that receives the position information.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display on the road condition terminal 4. A touch panel is provided on this display screen, and the driver touches the displayed area such as "Congestion", "Congestion release", "Natural congestion", "Construction congestion", "Accident congestion", etc. Thus, the presence or absence of traffic congestion and the type of traffic congestion can be input and transmitted to the calculation host 2. In determining whether there is congestion,
The speed measured by the speed measuring unit 44 may be used as a basis for the determination.

Next, an operation procedure of the present system will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the information provider that provides the road condition information transmits the road condition information to the calculation host 2 using the road condition terminal 4 (step S11 in FIG. 4A). Further, the information provider that provides the parking lot status information transmits the parking lot status information to the calculation host 2 using the parking lot terminal 5 (Step S21 in FIG. 4B). The information transmission to the calculation host 2 is sequentially performed at a predetermined time interval or by the terminal operation of the information provider. Then, the calculation host 2 accumulates the received road condition information and parking lot condition information (step S12 in FIG. 4A and step S22 in FIG. 4B).

The road condition information includes the road condition terminal 4
The information includes position information, speed information, presence / absence of traffic congestion, and information on the type of traffic congestion. In addition, the parking lot status information includes either the number of empty parking lots or the waiting time of the parking lot.

The user inputs to the user terminal 3 the current position information, the target position information, and the presence / absence of a search for a parking lot available near the target position, and the user terminal 3 transmits the information to the calculation host 2. (Step S31 in FIG. 5). The current position information may be automatically measured by a position measuring device (for example, GPS) or the like and transmitted to the host 2. Computing host 2 that received information from user terminal 3
Based on the accumulated road condition information and parking condition information, and based on map information held in advance, a route from the current position to a target position or a parking lot available near the target position is determined. The calculated route is transmitted to the user terminal 3 (step S32).
33).

At this time, the calculation host 2 calculates one of an optimal route for the distance, an optimal route for the required time, and an optimal route for the fee, and transmits the calculated route to the user terminal 3. Alternatively, all of these routes may be calculated and transmitted to the user terminal 3. Further, not only the optimal route with respect to the distance, the required time, and the fee, but also the route of the next point, the next point, and the like may be calculated. Here, the fee is
This is a fee that is required as a result of traffic on the road, and includes, for example, a fee for a toll road and a tax required for traffic in a specific section or area.

The user terminal 3 displays the route information transmitted from the calculation host 2. Thus, even if the driver does not have knowledge about the route to the destination, the driver can receive a guide for the route according to the road condition and the parking lot condition at that time.

It is also conceivable that the information provider itself desires to receive the above-mentioned route information as a user, so that the general information is provided to the general user at a fee for the user. For the information provider, route information may be provided at a price for the information provider in return for providing the information. In other words, the information provider receives either the road condition information or the parking condition information, and provides the user with a route based on one or both of the road condition information and the parking condition information. In addition to providing information, a fee for the user is charged, and route information based on one or both of the road condition information and the parking lot condition information is provided to the information provider, Charge a fee for information providers that is lower than the fee. In this case, the information provider fee may be zero,
Further, an information providing fee may be paid to the information provider.

The above-mentioned calculation host, user terminal, road condition terminal, and parking lot terminal are realized by a computer system. Each of the above-described processes is stored in a computer-readable recording medium in the form of a program, and the computer reads and executes the program to perform the above-described processes. Here, the computer-readable recording medium includes a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a magneto-optical disk, and a CD-RO.
M, magnetic hard disk, semiconductor memory, etc.

In the above embodiment, the communication is performed using the Internet. However, the communication means is not limited to the Internet, and may be another network. Examples of other networks include, but are not limited to, a telephone network (particularly, a telephone network using a wireless system), a digital data network using a wireless communication, and a privately constructed network.

[0032]

As described above, the information input from the road condition terminal and the parking lot terminal is stored in the calculation host, and a route calculation according to the request from the user terminal is performed using the stored information. Therefore, it is possible to present the user with a preferable route from the viewpoints of the distance, the required time, and the fee according to the road condition and the parking lot condition at that time. This makes it possible to select a route that is not affected as much as possible by road conditions such as traffic congestion when traveling by car or the like.

Further, by providing the information provider with the route information at a lower price than the general user, it is possible to reduce the information provision fee paid to the information provider.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration for vehicle route distribution according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of a road situation terminal according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display on the road situation terminal according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for collecting provided information according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure for calculating and distributing vehicle route information according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Internet 2 Computing host 3 User terminal 4 Road condition terminal 5 Parking terminal 41 Communication unit 42 Display unit 43 Input unit 44 Speed measurement unit 45 Position measurement unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G08G 1/09 G08G 1/09 F 1/0969 1/0969 1/14 1/14 A G09B 29/10 G09B 29/10 A F term (reference) 2C032 HB22 HB25 HD16 2F029 AA02 AB07 AB13 AC02 AC08 AC13 5B049 AA01 AA06 BB31 CC36 CC40 CC46 DD01 DD05 EE03 EE05 FF03 GG02 GG04 GG07 5H180 AA01 BB04 BB05 FF10 FF05

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A first step in which a calculation host receives and stores road condition information from a road condition terminal via a network, and the calculation host receives current position information and target position information from a user terminal via a network. A second step, wherein the calculation host calculates route information from a current position to a target position based on the current position information, the target position information, the stored road condition information, and previously stored map information. And a fourth step of transmitting and displaying the calculated route information from the calculation host to the user terminal, and displaying the route information. 2. The vehicle route distribution method according to claim 1, wherein the road condition information includes position information of the road condition terminal. 3. The vehicle route distribution method according to claim 2, wherein the road condition information includes information on the presence or absence of traffic congestion on the road. 4. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein the calculation host is configured to calculate a road section based on the position information of the road section stored in advance as map information and the position information of the road situation terminal included in the road situation information received in chronological order. The vehicle route distribution method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein a travel speed of each traffic is calculated, and route information is calculated based on the travel speed of each traffic section. 5. The method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of receiving and storing the parking lot status information from a parking lot terminal via a network, wherein, in the third step, the calculation host reads the parking lot status information based on the parking lot status information. 5. The vehicle route distribution method according to claim 1, wherein the route information from the current position to the destination position is calculated. 6. The vehicle route distribution method according to claim 5, wherein the parking lot status information includes one of the number of empty parking lots and a waiting time of the parking lot. 7. The vehicle route distribution method according to claim 1, wherein in the third step, the route information is selected based on a distance from a current position to a destination position. . 8. The vehicle route distribution according to claim 1, wherein in the third step, the route information is selected based on a required time from a current position to a destination position. Method. 9. The vehicle route distribution method according to claim 1, wherein in the third step, the route information is selected based on a fee from a current position to a destination position. . 10. An information provider is provided with either road condition information or parking condition information, and the user is provided with one or both of the road condition information and the parking condition information. While providing the route information based on, the user charges a fee, and for the information provider, while providing the route information based on either or both of the road condition information or the parking lot status information, A vehicle route distribution method characterized by charging a fee for an information provider which is lower than the fee for a user.