JP2004280702A - Content distribution system for vehicle, method thereof and content distribution program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce errors in content distribution timing as much as possible even in the cases where variation in speed is sharp, such as in a traffic congestion, by controlling content distribution in consideration of an average staying time of a user's vehicle. <P>SOLUTION: An average staying time forecasting part 12 calculates an average vehicle running speed per each unit mesh from the average running speed of other vehicles sharing services, which have already run, forecasts the average staying time for each unit mesh on a set pathway reflecting the congestion information obtained externally on the calculated average speed, and switches the service contents that follow the content extracted by an extracting part 11 for extracting the content to be distributed according to the average staying time which has been forecast through a service switching control part 13. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention divides the map space into rectangular mesh units, and performs a distribution service of registered content by capturing the current position and average speed information of the vehicle at the timing of detecting that the vehicle crosses the unit mesh, The present invention relates to a vehicle content distribution system and method, and a content distribution program.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the content distribution system based on the mesh method described above, the content to be distributed is registered and managed for each unit mesh, and the area search of the content is also performed at the resolution of the unit mesh. Therefore, on the center side, it is necessary to acquire the position and average speed of the vehicle with the resolution of the unit mesh by notifying the current position information and the average vehicle speed information from the vehicle at least for each unit mesh.
Therefore, the in-vehicle device (car navigation terminal) installed in the vehicle is measured by GPS (Global Positioning System) at the timing of detecting that the vehicle has crossed each unit mesh based on the boundary information transmitted from the center side. The current vehicle position and the average vehicle speed detected by the vehicle sensor are uplinked to the center.
[0003]
The center uses the route information of the vehicle that is uplinked from the vehicle at the time of the distribution start request, the current position information and the average speed information that are sequentially uplinked at each unit mesh boundary, and distributes the registered distribution content to the vehicle. A search and distribution service are performed (see Non-Patent Document 1).
Note that the contents registered and distributed in advance include an HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) advertisement in which characters and images are appropriately combined, and a reading service for news and the like.
[0004]
[Non-patent document 1]
"Development of information distribution system using mesh method" Noda, Muranaka, Igarashi, Nagao, IEICE Technical Report, ITS2001-82, January 2002
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
According to the above-described conventional technology, the distribution timing of the content is determined only on the basis of the traveling time calculated by the unit mesh immediately before the own vehicle enters on the traveling route set in advance, and the distance of the prefetch and the time width of the prefetch. Due to the control, an error in the content distribution timing occurs when the speed changes rapidly, such as traffic congestion. Therefore, in the case of the above-described advertisement information or news reading service, the frequency of reading is uncertain due to the variation in the number of received contents, and a user such as a driver may not be able to understand the contents of the advertisement.
In addition, since the amount of distribution content is constant irrespective of the traveling speed, flexible distribution control of large-volume rich content such as a moving image according to the traveling speed and traffic congestion cannot be performed.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and in addition to acquiring the average traveling speed of other vehicles sharing the content distribution service, the present invention uses traffic congestion information such as VICS (Vehicle Information and Communications System) to drive traffic. By estimating the average staying time in the vehicle for each unit mesh on the route and performing content distribution control taking the average staying time into account, errors in the content delivery timing can be minimized even in cases of rapid changes such as traffic congestion. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle content distribution system, a method thereof, and a content distribution program that realize distribution at an optimum frequency in discrete content such as advertisement and news reading.
In addition, by performing content distribution control in accordance with the traveling speed and traffic congestion, it is possible to distribute rich content in which the distribution amount and distribution timing can be controlled. The purpose is to provide the program.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention divides a map space into rectangular mesh units, and captures and registers current position and average speed information of the vehicle at a timing when it is detected that a vehicle crosses a unit mesh. A delivery content extracting unit for extracting delivery content registered for each of the unit meshes according to travel route information set by a user; and The average traveling speed of the vehicle per unit mesh is calculated from the average traveling speed of the other vehicles sharing the service that has already traveled, and the calculated average speed is reflected on the congestion information obtained from outside on the set route. An average stay time prediction unit for predicting an average stay time for each unit mesh, and a prediction by the average stay time prediction unit; Characterized in that and a service switching controller provides switch the services according to the extracted content by the distribution schedule content extracting unit according to the average residence time is.
[0008]
According to the present invention, the average staying time prediction unit calculates the average traveling speed of the vehicle per unit mesh from the average traveling speed of the other vehicles sharing the service that has already traveled, and externally calculates the average traveling speed. The average stay time for each unit mesh on the set route is predicted by reflecting the obtained traffic congestion information, and according to the content extracted by the distribution-scheduled content extraction unit according to the average stay time predicted via the service switching control unit. By switching the service content, errors in the content distribution timing are minimized even in cases where the speed changes rapidly, such as traffic jams, thereby realizing distribution at the optimal frequency for discrete content such as advertisements and news reading. In addition, the content amount and content distribution timing can be controlled according to the traveling speed and traffic congestion. It is possible to provide a vehicle for Kon'ntetsu distribution system also enables the delivery of rich content by.
Here, “discrete content” refers to content that is reproduced at random, such as text information for advertisement, a still image, or reading of news or the like, with respect to streaming content that is continuously reproduced. Shall be.
[0009]
Further, in the present invention, the service switching control unit may change the distribution-scheduled content registered for each unit mesh from the streaming distribution service to the discrete content distribution service depending on the average stay time predicted by the average stay time prediction unit. And providing switching.
According to the present invention, the service switching control unit switches and provides a streaming distribution service for a moving image and the like and a discrete content distribution service such as reading out of advertisement information according to the predicted average stay time, thereby providing an average Highly flexible contents can be distributed according to the length of stay.
[0010]
Also, in the present invention, the service switching control unit blocks the streaming content into a volume that can be distributed according to the average stay time predicted by the average stay time prediction unit and performs batch distribution. The distribution of streaming content for each unit mesh is stopped when the entire distribution is completed.
According to the present invention, the service switching control unit performs block distribution of the streaming content into a capacity that can be distributed according to the predicted average stay time and performs batch distribution, and when the distribution of the entire streaming content ends, the unit mesh By stopping the distribution of streaming content for each time, it is possible to distribute content according to the traveling speed and traffic congestion, and to distribute rich content that can control the distribution amount and distribution timing We can provide the system.
[0011]
In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention divides a map space into rectangular mesh units, and captures and registers current position and average speed information of the vehicle at a timing when it is detected that a vehicle crosses a unit mesh. A content distribution method for vehicles that provides a distribution service of already-completed content, wherein a content to be distributed registered for each unit mesh is extracted according to traveling route information set by a user,
The average travel speed of the vehicle per each unit mesh is calculated from the average travel speed of the other vehicles sharing the service that has already been traveled, and the calculated average speed reflects traffic jam information obtained from the outside to the set route. The average stay time for each unit mesh above is predicted, and the service content according to the content extracted by the distribution scheduled content extraction unit is switched and provided according to the predicted average stay time.
[0012]
In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention divides a map space into rectangular mesh units, and captures and registers current position and average speed information of the vehicle at a timing when it is detected that a vehicle crosses a unit mesh. Extracting a content to be distributed registered for each unit mesh according to traveling route information set by a user, wherein the program is used for a vehicle content distribution system that performs a distributed content distribution service. The average traveling speed of the vehicle per unit mesh is calculated from the average traveling speed of the other vehicles sharing the service that has already traveled, and the calculated average speed is reflected on the congestion information obtained from outside on the set route. Estimating the average stay time for each unit mesh, and according to the estimated average stay time Characterized in that to execute the steps of: providing switching services content according to the content extracted by the distribution schedule contents extraction unit, to the computer.
[0013]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the content distribution system for vehicles according to the present invention by developing the function.
The content distribution system for vehicles according to the present invention is mounted on a server on the center side, and includes a distribution scheduled content extraction unit 11, an average stay time prediction unit 12, a service switching control unit 13, a content distribution amount / timing control unit 14, , A content DB (database) 15, a map information DB 16, and a route information DB 17.
[0014]
The distribution-scheduled content extracting unit 11 has a function of extracting distribution-scheduled contents registered for each unit mesh according to the travel route information set by the user.
The average stay time prediction unit 12 calculates the average traveling speed of each vehicle per unit mesh from the average traveling speed of other vehicles that have shared the content distribution service and has traveled on the same route. It has a function of estimating the average stay time for each unit mesh on the set route by reflecting the traffic congestion information obtained from the outside.
The service switching control unit 13 has a function of switching and providing service content according to the content extracted by the distribution-scheduled content extraction unit 11 according to the average stay time predicted by the average stay time prediction unit 12. The service switching control unit 13 also has a function of switching and providing the scheduled distribution content registered for each unit mesh from the streaming distribution service to the discrete content distribution service depending on the average stay time predicted by the average stay time prediction unit 12. Hold together.
[0015]
The content distribution amount / timing control unit 14 blocks the streaming content into a volume that can be distributed according to the predicted average stay time and distributes the content in a lump. When the distribution of the entire streaming content ends, the unit mesh It has a function to stop distribution of streaming content for each.
The content DB 15 stores discrete contents and streaming contents distributed for each unit mesh, and the map information DB 16 stores map information partitioned into rectangular areas of 500 m per mesh. The route information DB 17 stores route information set in advance or registered by a user.
[0016]
FIG. 2 is a flowchart cited for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention, and specifically shows a processing procedure of the content distribution program of the present invention.
FIGS. 3 and 4 are views cited for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention, and show an example of map information sectioned into meshes in units of 500 m rectangles (FIG. 3), traffic congestion conditions and traveling speeds. FIG. 4 is a table format (<Table 1>) showing the relationship with the distribution time of content (vehicle transit time per mesh, amount of downloadable content (time)) according to (Table 4).
Hereinafter, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
[0017]
First, the distribution-scheduled content extracting unit 11 fetches route information set by a user such as a driver from the route information DB 17 (S21), and extracts registered distribution-scheduled content in each unit mesh forming the set route (S21). S22).
On the other hand, the average staying time prediction unit 12 shares the same content distribution service as the vehicle traveling average speed for each unit mesh on the set route, and takes in the latest average speed information of other vehicles traveling in the same direction (S23). ). At this time, the average staying time prediction unit 12 acquires the average speed information of each vehicle of the other vehicles for a plurality of vehicles, takes the average of these, and sets the average as the vehicle traveling average speed for each unit mesh.
[0018]
Then, traffic congestion information (congestion distance in each block) is fetched by VICS or the like and reflected on the previously calculated average traveling speed of the vehicle (S24) to calculate a predicted average stay time per unit mesh on the set route of the own vehicle. (S25). That is, the average staying time prediction unit 12 calculates the predicted average staying time by multiplying the coefficient for converting to the time information composed of the traffic congestion information by the vehicle running average speed. The coefficient is obtained from average stay time data based on past statistics corresponding to the average vehicle traveling speed and the traffic congestion information.
[0019]
Next, the service switching control unit 13 switches and controls the distribution service content, the distribution amount, and the distribution timing according to the average stay prediction time of each unit mesh calculated by the average stay time prediction unit 12.
Specifically, the service switching control unit 13 switches to the discrete content distribution service when the predicted average stay time is 90 seconds or less (S26 Yes), and switches to the streaming content distribution service when the predicted average stay time is 90 seconds or more (S26 No). Switching, content having a large capacity is divided into blocks by a capacity that can be distributed according to the estimated average stay time, and is distributed collectively (S28). Then, when the distribution of the entire streaming content has been completed (Yes in S29), the download of the streaming content for each unit mesh is stopped (S30).
The above operation is repeated for each unit mesh on the set route (S31), and the content distribution amount and the content distribution timing are controlled by the content distribution amount / timing control unit 14.
[0020]
Table 1 shown in FIG. 4 shows that the display screen (car navigation screen) of the vehicle-mounted device has a resolution of QVGA (Quarter Video Graphics Array: 360 × 240 dots, 256 colors), and the screen update frequency is 15 frames. An example is shown in which a case is assumed where communication is performed at 800 kbit / sec using MPEG4 (Moving Picture Experts Group 4).
Here, the content corresponding to 30 seconds has a data capacity of 12 Mbytes and a download time of 12 seconds. In addition, according to the degree of traffic congestion and the average speed of the vehicle in this case, the transit time per mesh and the downloadable (DL) content time are as shown in Table 1.
[0021]
As described above, according to the present invention, based on the current traffic congestion state based on the VICS information and the average speed in each unit mesh of the preceding other vehicle having a similar traveling route, the staying time in each unit mesh corresponding to the traveling route of the vehicle is determined. And switching between streaming content distribution service and discrete content distribution service, and controlling the distribution amount and distribution timing of large-capacity content such as stream content in accordance with the stay time.
According to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, only an example in which the content distribution amount and the content distribution timing are controlled using the traffic congestion state and the average traveling speed has been described. The amount of content distribution and the content distribution timing may be controlled by predicting a time interval at which high-speed and large-capacity communication is possible using information on the physical environment.
[0022]
Also, the computer-readable recording medium executes the procedures executed by the distribution-scheduled content extraction unit 11, the average staying time prediction unit 12, the service switching control unit 13, and the content distribution amount / timing control unit 14 in FIG. The content distribution system for vehicles of the present invention is realized by causing a computer system to read and execute the program recorded on the recording medium. Here, the computer system includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices.
[0023]
The “computer system” also includes a homepage providing environment (or a display environment) if a WWW system is used.
The “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a portable medium such as a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, and a CD-ROM, and a storage device such as a hard disk built in a computer system. Further, the “computer-readable recording medium” is a system such as a volatile memory (RAM) in a computer system which is a client when a program is transmitted through a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. In addition, programs that hold programs for a certain period of time are also included.
[0024]
Further, the above program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the "transmission medium" for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line.
Further, the program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above. Furthermore, what can implement | achieve the function mentioned above in combination with the program already recorded on the computer system, and what is called a difference file (difference program) may be sufficient.
[0025]
As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to the embodiments, and includes a design and the like within a range not departing from the gist of the present invention.
[0026]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, in addition to traffic jam conditions obtained from the outside such as VICS information, estimated stay time in a unit mesh from the latest average speed information of other vehicles sharing the same service while traveling in the same direction Therefore, in the case of a discrete content distribution service such as reading out news and advertisement information, the content is distributed at a more optimal frequency, and the reading out is performed on the in-vehicle device side. Therefore, in a situation where the driver has a relatively margin due to traffic congestion, signal waiting, and the like, the number of readings increases, and if the content to be distributed is advertising information, an improvement in the advertising effect can be expected.
Also, if the content to be distributed is streaming content such as a moving image having a relatively large capacity, the distribution amount and the distribution timing are appropriately controlled so as to correspond to the traveling speed and the traffic congestion state, for example, several minutes at low speed traveling. The content distribution frequency can be reduced by batch-distributing the content, and highly flexible content distribution can be realized.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of a vehicular content distribution system according to the present invention by developing its function;
FIG. 2 is a flowchart cited for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of map information divided into meshes in units of a rectangle of 500 m.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing, in a table form (<Table 1>), a relationship between a traffic congestion state and a content distribution time according to a traveling speed.
[Explanation of symbols]
11: delivery scheduled content extraction unit, 12: average stay time prediction unit, 13: service switching control unit, 14: content delivery amount / timing control unit, 15: content DB, 16: map information DB, 17: route information DB

Claims (5)

Content distribution for vehicles that divides the map space into rectangular mesh units, captures the current position and average speed information of the vehicle at the timing of detecting that the vehicle crosses the unit mesh, and provides a registered content distribution service The system
A distribution-scheduled content extraction unit that extracts distribution-scheduled contents registered for each unit mesh according to travel route information set by a user;
The average traveling speed of the vehicle per each unit mesh is calculated from the average traveling speed of the other vehicles sharing the distributed service that has traveled, and the setting is made by reflecting traffic jam information obtained from the outside on the calculated average speed. An average stay time prediction unit that predicts an average stay time for each unit mesh on the route;
A service switching control unit that switches and provides service contents according to the content extracted by the distribution scheduled content extraction unit according to the average stay time predicted by the average stay time prediction unit. Content distribution system. The service switching control unit,
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the distribution scheduled content registered for each unit mesh is switched from a streaming distribution service to a discrete content distribution service depending on the average stay time predicted by the average stay time prediction unit. The content distribution system for vehicles described in. The service switching control unit,
The streaming content is divided into blocks that can be distributed according to the average stay time predicted by the average stay time prediction unit and distributed in a lump, and at the time when the distribution of the entire streaming content is completed, The content distribution system for vehicles according to claim 1 or 2, wherein distribution of the streaming content is stopped. Content distribution for vehicles that divides the map space into rectangular mesh units, captures the current position and average speed information of the vehicle at the timing of detecting that the vehicle crosses the unit mesh, and provides a registered content distribution service The method,
Extracting the distribution schedule content registered for each unit mesh according to the traveling route information set by the user,
The average travel speed of the vehicle per each unit mesh is calculated from the average travel speed of the other vehicles sharing the service that has already been traveled, and the calculated average speed reflects traffic jam information obtained from the outside to the set route. Predict the average stay time per unit mesh above,
A content distribution method for vehicles, characterized by switching and providing service content according to the content extracted by the distribution scheduled content extraction unit according to the predicted average stay time. Content distribution for vehicles that divides the map space into rectangular mesh units, captures the current position and average speed information of the vehicle at the timing of detecting that the vehicle crosses the unit mesh, and provides a registered content distribution service A program used in the system,
Extracting distribution-scheduled content registered for each unit mesh according to travel route information set by a user;
The average travel speed of the vehicle per each unit mesh is calculated from the average travel speed of the other vehicles sharing the service that has already been traveled, and the calculated average speed reflects traffic jam information obtained from the outside to the set route. Estimating the average stay time for each unit mesh above,
Switching and providing the service content according to the content extracted by the distribution-scheduled content extraction unit according to the predicted average stay time.

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