JP2002269291A - Traffic information providing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inform of respective registered persons affected by the occurrence of confusion the occurrence of confusion in transportation facilities and a predicted recovery time. SOLUTION: In this traffic information providing system, transportation facility usage routes and usage times of respective persons are registered in a personal information database 7. In case of the occurrence of confusion in the transportation facilities, when confusion information about the transportation facilities used in ordinary commutation to a company or a school is inputted, an influence estimating means 6 refers the transportation facility usage routes and the usage times of the respective persons to the confusion information about the transportation facilities to estimate influence on usage of the respective transportation facilities. To the registered persons affected by the confusion in the operation of the transportation facilities, influence of transportation facilities is informed through an electronic mail and the like by means of an informing means 8 via an information network.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a traffic information providing system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Regarding information provision of transportation means such as railways, a timetable in a situation where the timetable is not disturbed is provided by a commercially available timetable and some homepages.
However, information provision when train schedules are disrupted, some railway operators provide information on route names, times, causes of confusion, as well as confusion information such as "driving time" and "... minute delay". There are some, but they are rarely done in general. Furthermore, for information on when to recover, ambiguous announcements in stations and trains such as “Please wait a little longer.”, “Please wait a moment.”, “It will take a long time to recover.” There are few expressions that provide specific information on the time until recovery.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION As described above, in the present railway company, an environment for predicting the restoration time quantitatively in the event of a train schedule disruption and providing an accurate guidance to the user is provided. I can not see where it is. This is due to the lack of a system that can responsibly predict how much the cause of confusion such as an accident can be eliminated. However, the user wants to know exactly what caused the disruption and how much time it will take to recover from the disruption when the schedule is disrupted. This is because it is necessary to determine whether to use the alternative route or wait as it is, and to determine what to use for the alternative route quickly.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of such conventional technical problems, and when a disruption in transportation occurs, the recovery time is accurately predicted and the user of the transportation is notified of the recovery time. It is an object of the present invention to provide a traffic information providing system capable of providing information.

[0005] The present invention also provides a traffic information providing system capable of notifying a registered person affected by a transportation disruption of the occurrence of the transportation disruption and the estimated recovery time when the transportation disruption occurs. The purpose is to:

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a traffic information providing system comprising: a database for storing past driving confusion causes and actual confusion data; And a prediction means for predicting a recovery time by referring to the actual data of the confusion in the database, and a recovery prediction information providing means for providing the predicted value of the recovery time through a display means or an information network.

[0007] In the traffic information providing system according to the first aspect of the present invention, the cause of past driving confusion and the actual data of the confusion are stored in the database in the database. The prediction means refers to the actual data of the disruption in the database, and predicts the recovery time by referring to the cause, time zone, and the actual time until the recovery from the disruption of the same kind. Then, the predicted value of the recovery time is provided to the general user or the registered user through the display means or the information network.

[0008] Thus, the user affected by the confusion can be made to judge whether to wait for the recovery of the transportation system normally used or to use the alternative transportation system.

A traffic information providing system according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a personal information database for registering an individual's transportation route and time, a means for inputting transportation confusion information on the transportation route, Influence estimation means for estimating the influence on the transportation use of each registrant by comparing the transportation use route and use time of each person with the confusion information of the transportation, and to the registrant affected by the confusion of the transportation. And a notifying means for notifying through an information network.

[0010] In the traffic information providing system according to the second aspect of the present invention, the route and time of use of the individual transportation system are registered in the personal information database. By entering the transportation disruption information, the impact estimator will compare the registered individual's transportation route and time with the transportation disruption information,
Estimate the effect on each transportation use. Then, the registrant affected by the disruption of the driving of the transportation means is notified of the influence of the transportation means via an information network by e-mail or the like by the notification means.

[0011] Thus, the affected persons among the registrants are notified through the information network that confusion has occurred in the transportation system normally used and the effects thereof, and restoration of the transportation system is notified. It is possible to determine whether to wait or use alternative transportation.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the traffic information providing system of the second aspect, an alternative route is searched for each of the registrants affected by the confusion of driving of the transportation means, and the notifying means is used to search for an alternative route. It is equipped with an alternative route search means to notify the relevant person of the information on the alternative route along with the impact, and confusion occurs in the transportation system normally used through the information network for the affected person among the registrants What they are doing and the consequences, as well as what alternative transportation is available.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the traffic information providing system of the third aspect, the alternative route search means includes taxi use in the search for the alternative route, and includes information on taxi calling guidance when the taxi use is quick. And that the notification means is notified to the relevant person by the notification means, and the affected person among the registrants is confused in the transportation system normally used through the information network. And the effect of the taxi, and at the same time the available alternative transportation, and if it is faster to use a taxi as an alternative transportation, provide taxi calling information by providing taxi calling information Can be provided.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the traffic information providing system of the first to fourth aspects, a wireless communication network and a portable communication terminal having a data communication function connectable thereto are used as the information network. In the event that transportation is disrupted, information on the occurrence or delay of transportation disruption, information on alternative transportation, taxi calling information, etc. will be displayed on the mobile communication terminal owned by the user. Can be notified.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. The traffic information providing system of the present invention comprises:
It is conceivable that the railway operator itself installs and provides a traffic information providing service, or that an external general operator performs the service. In the following description of the embodiments, a case will be described in which a general business operator installs the traffic information providing system and provides a traffic information providing service.

FIG. 1 shows a functional configuration of a traffic information providing system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. This system is realized by installing and executing necessary software on a computer system.
Here, a description will be given by dividing each processing function as a component.

In this system, a cause-based recovery time database (DB) 1 and a number of past traffic disruption causes and the actual time of the confusion recovery that have occurred in various transportation modes in the past are registered in the cause-based recovery time database 1. Input unit 2, a cause / situation input unit 3 for inputting the cause and status of the disruption when a traffic disruption actually occurs in a certain transportation system, and a schedule input by the cause / situation input unit 3. A restoration estimated time estimation unit 4 that estimates the estimated restoration time by comparing the confusion cause and the situation with the actual data registered in the restoration time database 1 by cause, and a restoration estimated time estimated by the estimated restoration time estimation unit 4 Is uploaded to the information network NW.

Next, the traffic information provision processing function of the traffic information provision system having the above configuration will be described. If a traffic disruption occurs, the cause / situation input unit 3
The information entered by the user is a route in which confusion has occurred, a cause of confusion such as “personal accident” or “rainfall / snowfall”, and a confusion situation such as “suspended driving” or “delayed by 30 minutes”. These pieces of information are made public to the outside by railway operators, and are information that can be easily obtained by general operators. If the provider of this information provision service obtains this schedule disruption information through an information network such as the Internet, or obtains information from railway operators, such as announcement information, telephone contact, direct coverage, etc., the cause / situation input section 3 will be input.

The recovery time result input unit 2 for each cause inputs the cause and situation of the timetable disruption of the relevant transportation system from the cause / situation input unit 3 and, as a result, how much time it took to recover the disruption. The data is entered and registered as actual data in the cause-specific recovery time database 1. The actual data input by the operator using the cause-specific recovery time actual input unit 2 is the same as the information input by the cause / situation input unit 3; the information transmitted by the railway operator on the information network must be downloaded. Or the announcement information of the railway operator,
Obtain via telephone contact, direct coverage, etc.

By accumulating sufficient performance data in the cause-specific recovery time database 1, the system can be operated practically. And, in fact, when a traffic disruption occurs in a certain transportation system, the operator enters the cause / situation input unit 3
Enter the relevant transportation, confusion cause, and confusion situation from. On the other hand, the recovery prediction time estimation unit 4 searches the recovery time database 1 for each cause for recovery time actual data corresponding to the cause of confusion and the confusion state input from the cause / situation input unit 3 and performs recovery prediction. Estimate time.

As a method of estimating the estimated recovery time, an average value of the recovery time data of each case for each cause of confusion is simply obtained, and if the average value is about 10 minutes, "about 10 minutes" is used. A method of estimating the recovery time by a simple expression is used.

However, in such an expression, the time taken to resolve the confusion is not about 10 minutes but 30 minutes.
If the number of minutes exceeds the limit, the user will be distrusted, which may disturb the user's willingness to use thereafter. Therefore, as in the case of a weather forecast, it is preferable to display a probability together with a predicted recovery time. For example, a probability value of 70% is expected to be recovered in about 10 to 20 minutes with a probability of 70%. is there. In this way, by expressing the probability value, even if the ambiguity still remains,
The information is much more reliable than if no quantitative representation was given. For this purpose, the restoration prediction time estimation unit 4 has a function of obtaining a probability-added prediction value from the data of the cause-specific restoration time database 1 using statistical estimation theory.

The procedure for predicting the recovery time described above is as follows.

(1) The cause of the diamond disturbance is input. (2) Enter a more detailed situation for the cause. (3) From the cause-specific recovery time database 1, (1),
Retrieve a case of a diamond disorder caused by (2). (4) The recovery time of the searched case is defined as a population. (5) Find the average of the recovery time in the population. (6) If the average value is within one hour, it is considered appropriate to provide guidance within a range of about 10 minutes.
Determine the frequency for 0 minutes. (7) The frequency obtained in (6) is divided by the number of the population, and this is used as a probability value. (8) When the average value exceeds one hour, the probability value becomes low in the unit of 10 minutes. Therefore, the prediction time unit is gradually lengthened so as to be in the unit of 30 minutes or one hour.

The predicted restoration time estimated by the predicted restoration time estimating unit 4 is provided to the user by the predicted value information providing unit 5. This can be displayed on an electronic bulletin board or the like in the station premises if the operator is a railway company. In the case of a general-purpose information provider, it is effective to distribute the information through an information network NW such as the Internet, including a mobile phone.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the user is provided with a display means or an information network through a display means or an information network to predict whether transportation is disrupted and, if a confusion has occurred, a prediction until recovery. By notifying the time, it is possible to make the user affected by the confusion determine whether to wait for the restoration of the transportation system normally used or to use the alternative transportation system.

Next, a traffic information providing system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Second
In this embodiment, information users are registered in advance in an individual database, and when confusion occurs in a certain transportation system, the registered users who are affected by the confusion are extracted from the database. It is characterized in that the occurrence of confusion and the restoration prediction information are individually provided.

The system of the second embodiment has the functional configuration shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, a recovery time database (DB) 1 for each cause, a recovery time actual input unit 2 for each cause, a cause / situation input unit 3 The estimated recovery time estimation unit 4 is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. In the system according to the second embodiment, as individual characteristic components, a user individual impact prediction unit 6, a user individual riding section / time database (DB) 7, and a user individual impact information providing unit. 8 is provided.

The individual passenger boarding section / time database 7 is provided to each user, for example, through an information network NW such as the Internet, or by manual input of an operator by mail application, and personal transportation means and sections. In addition, information on the use time zone is registered together with the mail address of each user.

Next, a traffic information provision processing function of the traffic information provision system according to the second embodiment will be described.
When a timetable is disrupted in a certain transportation system, the cause of the timetable disruption and the disturbance state (time, section, etc.) are input from the cause / situation input unit 3, and the predicted recovery time is estimated by the predicted recovery time estimation unit 4. Then, the user individual impact prediction unit 6
Receives information on the transportation system, section, time zone, and cause of confusion of the occurrence of confusion from the cause / situation input unit 3, and outputs restoration prediction information (only the restoration prediction time, the first As in the case of the embodiment, the information may include the probability value together with the estimated recovery time), and retrieves the individual-participating boarding section / time database 7 to find the transportation system in which the train disruption occurs, the boarding section, The registered users corresponding to the time zone are extracted. This extraction method is as follows.

(1) Search for a user of the corresponding route. (2) Retrieve the boarding section and boarding time for each applicable user. (3) It is determined whether or not the boarding time zone of (2) overlaps with a time zone from the time of occurrence of the train disruption to the average of the estimated recovery time. (4) If it is determined that they overlap in the determination of (3),
"Affected". At this time, the available time becomes a recovery side time with a probability value.

For the corresponding user determined to be "affected" by the above (4), the user-specific impact information providing unit 8 distributes information to the mail address of each user via the information network NW. .

As a result, of the registered users,
The user who may be affected by the disruption of the transit schedule is automatically connected to a portable terminal 9 such as a PDA having a data communication function, a portable telephone 10, or an Internet terminal 11 at home. Can receive the information on the influence of the diamond disruption.

Next, a traffic information providing system according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the third embodiment, information users are registered in advance in an individual database, and when confusion occurs in a certain transportation system, registered users affected by the confusion are extracted from the database, and the corresponding users are registered. On the other hand, an alternative recommended route is searched and provided individually together with the confusion occurrence and recovery prediction information.

The system according to the third embodiment has the functional configuration shown in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, a recovery time database (DB) 1 for each cause, a recovery time actual input unit 2 for each cause, a cause / situation input unit 3 The estimated recovery time estimation unit 4, the user-specific impact prediction unit 6, and the user-specific riding section / time database (DB) 7 are the same as those in the second embodiment shown in FIG. The system according to the third embodiment further includes, as characteristic components, an optimum route prediction unit 12, a route route database (DB) 13, and a user-specific route information providing unit 14.

The route route database 13 has registered therein route information, timetable information, and connection information between various transportation means. The optimum route predicting unit 12 searches the registered information of the route route database 13 and extracts an alternative transportation mechanism, a boarding section, and a boarding time for a certain boarding section of a certain transportation facility, and an alternative route with the shortest boarding time. To identify. The user individual route information providing unit 14 distributes, to a certain individual user, the optimal alternative route determined by the optimal route prediction unit 12 together with the schedule disruption information to the relevant user.

Next, the traffic information provision processing function of the traffic information provision system of the above embodiment will be described.
When a train disruption occurs in a certain transportation system, the cause of the train disruption and the disturbance situation (time, section, etc.) are input from the cause / situation input unit 3 as in the second embodiment, and a restoration prediction time estimation unit is used. The estimated recovery time is estimated by using (4). And
Cause / situation input unit 3 by user individual impact prediction unit 6
Receive information on the transportation system, section, time zone, and cause of confusion that caused the confusion, receive the recovery prediction information from the predicted recovery time estimation unit 4, search the individual passenger boarding section / time database 7, The registered users corresponding to the transportation system, boarding section, and time zone where the traffic occurs are extracted.

Then, the optimal route prediction unit 12 gives a user who is determined by the individual user impact prediction unit 6 that the normal commuting or school route is affected by the normal route of the destination from the recovery time. , An alternative route is extracted by searching the route route database 13, and when there are a plurality of routes, an estimated arrival time when each of them is used is predicted, and The destination route is determined to be the optimum route, and is transferred to the individual user route information providing unit 14.

The process of determining the optimum route is as follows.

(1) The predicted arrival time of the normal route is obtained by adding the required time for boarding from the predicted recovery time.
At this time, it takes longer than usual when the timetable is irregular,
It is preferable to set a suitable margin. In addition, when the driver normally drives and gets on the route, the connecting route is searched using the timetable, so that the alternative optimal route is accurately determined.

(2) Search for other routes from the starting point to the destination, and obtain the arrival time. For this purpose, it is possible to use a transit search program that has already been put into practical use and is commercially available as application software. However, some alternative routes may be registered in advance for each individual, and each route may be searched based on its departure time. Then, it takes more time to register in the database, but the search time can be significantly shortened. In addition, at this time, if the schedule is also disrupted on the alternative route, the estimated arrival time is obtained from the estimated recovery time as in (1).

(3) The results of (1) and (2) are compared, and the route that arrives at the destination first is selected as the optimal route.

When the optimum route prediction unit 12 selects the optimum route in this way, the user individual route information providing unit 14
The alternative individual route information determined by the optimal route prediction unit 12 is distributed to the mail address of the user determined as “affected” by the individual individual impact prediction unit 6 along with the schedule disruption information through the information network NW.

As a result, of the registered users,
The users who may be affected by the disruption of the transit schedule are automatically provided by a portable terminal 9 such as a PDA having a data communication function, a portable telephone 10 or an Internet terminal 11 at home. In this way, it is possible to receive the information on the influence of the schedule disruption and the optimal alternative route information.

Next, a traffic information providing system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The feature of the fourth embodiment is that, in the system of the third embodiment shown in FIG. 3, when searching for an optimal alternative route for each user, the use of taxis is also taken into consideration. In the case of a means of transportation to reach the destination in the shortest time, taxi calling guidance information is also provided to the corresponding user.

In the traffic information providing system according to the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a recovery time database (D
B) 1, Cause-based recovery time actual input part 2, Cause / Situation input part 3, Recovery predicted time estimation part 4, Individual user influence prediction part 6, User individual ride section / time database (DB)
7, optimal route prediction unit 12, route route database (D
B) 13, the user-specific route information providing unit 14 is the same as the third embodiment shown in FIG. As a feature of the fourth embodiment, a traffic service company database (DB) 15 is provided.

When searching for an alternative route to a normal commute or school route, the required time may greatly change by using an application service such as a taxi when going to the boarding station. For this reason, the required taxi time from the home to the nearest station that is a candidate for an alternative route is registered in the route route database 13 in advance for each individual. Then, when searching for the optimal alternative route by the optimal route prediction unit 12, information can be provided whether the taxi is used or not. In addition, in order to make it easier for users to use taxis when appropriate, use a transportation service company such as a taxi company that services the vicinity of the user's personal home and communication means such as their telephone numbers. By registering in the service company database 15, the user individual route information providing unit 14 can extract information of a transportation service company that can be used up to the nearest station of the alternative route.

Next, a traffic information provision processing function of the traffic information provision system according to the fourth embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described. When a train disruption occurs in a certain transportation system, as in the third embodiment, the cause of the train disruption and the disturbance situation (time, section, etc.) are input from the cause / situation input unit 3 and a restoration prediction time estimating unit. The estimated recovery time is estimated by using (4). Then, the user individual impact prediction unit 6 receives information on the transportation system, section, time zone, and cause of the confusion that caused the confusion from the cause / situation input unit 3, and estimates the estimated recovery time 4.
Received the recovery prediction information from
The time database 7 is searched to extract a registered user corresponding to a transportation system, a boarding section, and a time zone in which a timetable disruption occurs.

Then, the optimal route prediction unit 12 gives a user who is determined by the individual user impact prediction unit 6 that the normal commuting or school route is affected by the normal route of the destination from the recovery time. , And an alternative route is extracted by searching the route route database 13. If there are a plurality of routes, an estimated arrival time when each of them is used is predicted, and The destination route is determined to be the optimum route, and is transferred to the individual user route information providing unit 14. In the present embodiment, when searching for this alternative route, the time required for using a taxi from home to the nearest station on the alternative route registered in the route route database 13 is also searched and extracted.
Then, of the alternative routes, the time required to travel to the nearest station of the alternative route by taxi and from there to the destination by rail is also calculated. Then, the route that arrives at the destination first is extracted as the optimal route by the user-specific route information providing unit 14. The method for determining the optimum route is the same as that in the third embodiment.

Here, if it is determined that the best route is to take a taxi to the nearest station first, the individual user route information providing unit 14 searches the transportation service company database 15 and Extract information and contact methods of transportation service companies that provide services near home.

When the optimum route prediction unit 12 selects the optimum route, the individual user-specific route information providing unit 14
The alternative individual route information determined by the optimal route prediction unit 12 is distributed to the mail address of the user determined as “affected” by the individual individual impact prediction unit 6 along with the schedule disruption information through the information network NW. If taxi use is optimal, information on available transportation service companies and information on their means of communication are also distributed.

As a result, of the registered users,
The users who may be affected by the disruption of the transit schedule are automatically provided by a portable terminal 9 such as a PDA having a data communication function, a portable telephone 10 or an Internet terminal 11 at home. Can receive information on the disruption of timetables and optimal alternative route information, and if taxi use is optimal, it can also receive information on the taxi service company and information on contact means (for example, telephone numbers). .

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention, when confusion occurs in a transportation system, it is possible to accurately predict a recovery time and provide the information to a user of the transportation system for use. it can.

Further, according to the present invention, when confusion occurs in transportation means, it is possible to notify the registered persons affected by the occurrence of confusion in transportation means and the estimated recovery time to use them.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Recovery time database by cause 2 Recovery time actual input unit by cause 3 Cause / situation input unit 4 Predicted recovery time estimation unit 5 Predicted value information provision unit 6 Impact prediction unit by individual user 7 Ride section / time database by individual user 8 User Individual Impact Information Providing Unit 9 Mobile Terminal 10 Mobile Phone 11 Internet Terminal 12 Optimal Route Prediction Unit 13 Route Route Database 14 User Individual Route Information Providing Unit 15 Traffic Service Company Database NW Information Network

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Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A database for storing past driving confusion causes and confusion actual data in transportation means, and for actual driving confusion, referring to the confusion actual data in the database to predict a recovery time. A traffic information providing system, comprising: a predicting unit that performs the prediction of the recovery time; 2. A personal information database for registering an individual's transportation route and time of use, means for inputting confusion information on transportation of the transportation route, and a method of inputting the individual's transportation route and usage time. In light of the transportation confusion information, impact estimating means for estimating the effect of each registrant on the use of transportation, and notification means for notifying the registrant affected by the disruption of the driving of the transportation through an information network, A traffic information providing system comprising: 3. An alternative route search for searching for an alternative route for each of the registrants affected by the disruption of driving of the transportation means, and notifying the relevant person of the information of the alternative route together with the influence of the disruption of driving by the notifying means. 3. The traffic information providing system according to claim 2, comprising means. 4. The alternative route search means includes a taxi use in the search for the alternative route and, if the use of a taxi is early, includes information on taxi calling guidance to notify the relevant person by the notification means. The traffic information providing system according to claim 3. 5. The traffic information according to claim 1, wherein a wireless communication network is used as the information network, and a portable communication terminal having the connectable data communication function is used. Delivery system.