JP2005174125A - Area communication device, mobile communication device, communication method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To certainly notify a vehicle passing a crossing of danger when detecting the danger such as a traffic accident in the crossing. <P>SOLUTION: This area communication device has: a first communication means transmitting/receiving first information to/from a mobile body within a prescribed area; a means notifying the mobile body of information for specifying a second communication means transmitting second information at the beginning of the communication of the first communication means with the mobile body; a means detecting generation of a prescribed phenomenon; and a means notifying the mobile body of the generation of the phenomenon through the second communication means when detecting the phenomenon. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an emergency information communication technique for various mobile objects such as vehicles.

  In recent years, accidents at intersections have frequently occurred due to the aging of drivers and the increase of reckless drivers. In particular, even if the driver complies with traffic regulations, there are cases where the driver is involved in an accident due to driving by a driver who violates the traffic regulations.

  Specifically, a violation vehicle trying to pass the intersection ignoring the red traffic light collides with a vehicle that believes in the green traffic light, or a passing vehicle is unaware of an accident near the intersection. Cases involving the device have occurred.

  Under such circumstances, there has been proposed an intersection information system that informs the driver of danger at an intersection in real time (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). In such a system for notifying a danger at an intersection, it is necessary to reliably transmit information to vehicles around the intersection when a dangerous state is detected.

On the other hand, as information transmission technology for vehicles today, mobile phones, wireless LANs (Local Area
Various systems such as Network) and DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communication) have been proposed. Moreover, these communication technologies are progressing day by day, and new technologies are proposed year by year. Therefore, it is difficult to unify all the intersections into a single system. However, in the conventional system, there has been no consideration of selecting an appropriate method from various communication methods for each intersection and reliably establishing communication with each vehicle to notify the danger.
JP 2002-329291 A JP-A-10-302200

  An object of the present invention is to provide a communication technique capable of reliably informing a vehicle passing through an intersection when a danger such as a traffic accident is detected at the intersection.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following means. That is, the present invention is an area communication apparatus, and at the start of communication between the first communication means for transmitting and receiving the first information to and from the mobile body within a predetermined area, and the mobile body by the first communication means, Means for transmitting second information to the mobile body, notifying means for specifying such second communication means, means for detecting the occurrence of a predetermined event, and when detecting the event, Means for notifying the moving body of the occurrence of the event through a second communication means. Here, the event is, for example, the presence of a dangerous vehicle on the road or a dangerous state between vehicles.

  According to the present invention, when the first communication means starts communication with the mobile body, the mobile body is notified of information specifying the second communication means for transmitting the second information to the mobile body. Thus, it is possible to prepare for reception by the second communication means. Therefore, when an event such as a dangerous state occurs, it is possible to increase the certainty of transmitting the occurrence of the event to the partner mobile body.

In addition, the present invention is a mobile communication device mounted on a vehicle, and includes an area management device that provides a communication service within a predetermined area, a first communication unit that transmits and receives first information, and the first communication unit. Means for receiving a notification of occurrence of a predetermined event from the area management device at the start of communication with the area management device, accepting information identifying such second communication means, and the event via the second communication means There may be provided means for monitoring the notification and means for executing a predetermined process when the notification of the event is detected.

  Here, the event is, for example, the presence of a dangerous vehicle on the road or a dangerous state between vehicles. Further, the predetermined process may be a notification of danger to a driver of the vehicle or control of the vehicle for avoiding danger.

  According to the present invention, when the first communication means starts communication with the area management device, information specifying the second communication means is accepted, so that the information from the area management device is prepared to be received by the second communication means. be able to. For example, information received by such second communication means may be monitored. Therefore, when an event such as a dangerous state occurs, the certainty of receiving information for notifying the occurrence of the event can be increased.

  Further, the present invention may be a method for causing a computer that controls a communication apparatus to execute any one of the processes described above. Further, the present invention may be a program that causes a computer to realize any of the functions described above. The present invention may also be a computer-readable recording medium that records such a program.

  Here, the computer-readable recording medium refers to a recording medium that accumulates information such as data and programs by electrical, magnetic, optical, mechanical, or chemical action and can be read from the computer. . Examples of such a recording medium that can be removed from the computer include a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R / W, a DVD, a DAT, an 8 mm tape, and a memory card.

  Further, there are a hard disk, a ROM (read only memory), and the like as a recording medium fixed to the computer.

  According to the present invention, when a danger such as a traffic accident is detected at an intersection, the certainty at the time of notifying the danger to a vehicle passing through the intersection can be increased.

  Hereinafter, an information system according to the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The configuration of the following embodiment is an exemplification, and the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the embodiment.

  FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing a system configuration and an outline of functions of the information system, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing session establishment processing of the in-vehicle communication device 1 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a session establishment process of the roadside communication device 3 shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an emergency call monitoring process of the in-vehicle communication device 1.

<Function overview>
FIG. 1 shows the system configuration and functional overview of the information system. This information system has a function of photographing a vehicle near an intersection, detecting a dangerous vehicle having a risk of causing an accident, and notifying a vehicle near the intersection of the presence of such a dangerous vehicle. This information system includes a camera 5 that captures a vehicle near an intersection, a risk determination device 4 that detects the presence of a dangerous vehicle based on an image from the camera 5, and a dangerous vehicle detected by the determination of the risk determination device 4. A danger information distribution device 2 for notifying a vehicle near the intersection of the presence of the dangerous vehicle, and a roadside communication device 3 for notifying the in-vehicle communication device 1 mounted on the vehicle of the danger information.

  The feature of this information system is that when the vehicle approaches an intersection and the vehicle-mounted communication device 1 and the roadside communication device 3 establish a session, the roadside information system communicates with the vehicle-mounted communication device 1 for emergency communication. It is to specify the means. Here, the communication means for emergency communication is a communication means for notifying each vehicle of the presence of a dangerous vehicle when a dangerous vehicle is detected in the road side information system.

  Here, the communication means is defined by a communication method, a modulation method, a channel, a transmission rate (or band), and the like. As the communication method, for example, a wireless LAN (IEEE802.11b, IEEE802.11g, IEEE802.11h, etc.), DSRC, or the like, which is a narrow-area communication medium, or a mobile phone network is designated. Further, as the modulation method, for example, a direct spreading method (spread spectrum communication) DS-SS (Direct Sequence Spectrum Spread), a frequency hopping method FH-SS (Frequency Hopping Spectrum Spread), a mixed method of both, or the like is designated. Further, for example, in IEEE802.11b, a channel from 1ch to 14ch can be selected. Furthermore, 1 Mbps, 2 Mbps, 5.5 Mbps, 11 Mbps, or the like is designated as the transmission rate.

  On the other hand, FIG. 1 shows an example in which the vehicle-mounted communication device 1 is configured by MR (Mobile Router), a narrow area communication medium, and a mobile phone (cellular). In this example, the MR has a function of selecting a mobile phone or a narrow area communication medium as a communication means for emergency communication. However, the configuration of the in-vehicle communication device 1 is not limited to the example of FIG.

In FIG. 1, when a vehicle approaches an intersection, the in-vehicle communication device 1 mounted on the vehicle detects a radio wave from the roadside communication device 3, and the radio wave (electric field strength or SN (Signal Noise) ratio) is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. Then, it requests the roadside communication device 3 to establish a session. The roadside communication device 3 registers the MAC address of the in-vehicle communication device 1 and establishes a session. When the session is established, the roadside communication device 3 specifies a communication means for emergency communication with respect to the in-vehicle communication device 1. As a communication means for emergency communication, it is only necessary to designate a communication means provided in a roadside communication device that can communicate most reliably. For example, if 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz can be used as the radio wave band, 2.4 GHz having good sneaking characteristics toward the back of the building may be selected. Further, when 1 Mbps, 2 Mbps, 5.5 Mbps, or 11 Mbps can be selected as the transmission rate of the channel, it is only necessary to select 1 Mbps that is reliable even at a low speed. This is because, for a transmission rate of 1 Mbps, the transmission output of the transmitter is high and the minimum reception sensitivity of the receiver is high, so that it is considered that communication can be most surely performed.
Which of these communication means is to be used for emergency communication may be set in advance in the information system. The roadside communication device 3 may notify the in-vehicle communication device 1 of the communication means for emergency communication according to the setting when the session is established.

  The camera 5 is a camera that can photograph 360 ° around the intersection in the horizontal plane. The camera 5 may have a wide-angle lens, or may be a camera capable of photographing 360 degrees by combining a plurality of imaging devices. The camera 5 captures images near the intersection and transmits them to the risk determination device 4.

The risk determination apparatus 4 can be configured by a computer having an image processing function. The degree-of-risk determination device 4 detects a vehicle that is a moving body from the difference between the plurality of images. And the danger level determination apparatus 4 determines the danger vehicle which may generate | occur | produce a collision from the relationship between the space | interval of a vehicle, and relative speed. Further, the danger level determination device 4 detects a dangerous vehicle that may cause an accident from the relationship between the direction of the red signal and the position, speed, or acceleration of the vehicle in that direction. The danger level determination device 4 transmits the presence of such a dangerous vehicle to the danger information distribution device 2.

  When the in-vehicle communication device 1 of the vehicle receives the designation of the communication means for emergency communication at the time of establishing the session, it monitors the communication means for emergency communication in parallel with the normal communication processing in the established session. Here, the normal communication process is a process related to a communication service in a normal vehicle running state, such as access to the Internet, traffic information reception process by ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems), and the like.

  And if the vehicle-mounted display apparatus connected to the vehicle-mounted communication apparatus 1 acquires information from the communication means for emergency communications, it will notify the driver accordingly. For example, the in-vehicle display device displays that the dangerous vehicle may ignore the red signal at the intersection. The in-vehicle display device displays that there is a possibility of a rear-end collision at the intersection. In this case, the in-vehicle display device may display the vicinity of the intersection as an area-divided image and highlight and highlight the area where the dangerous vehicle exists. Further, when such information is obtained, the in-vehicle communication device 1 may execute processing such as instructing a controller that controls the brake to stop the vehicle by the brake to avoid danger.

  Moreover, the vehicle-mounted communication device 1 may temporarily stop normal communication processing when information is obtained from the communication means for emergency communication. That is, once the danger information is received, the in-vehicle communication device 1 may stop communication processing other than the emergency communication means in order to reliably receive the next danger information.

<Processing flow>
In FIG. 2, the session establishment process in the vehicle-mounted communication apparatus 1 is shown. This process can be realized by a computer program executed by a CPU mounted on the in-vehicle communication device 1. In this process, in the normal state, the in-vehicle communication device 1 monitors whether or not the vehicle-mounted communication device 1 is located in an area for narrow area communication (S1, S2). The presence of the narrow area communication area is detected by detecting a radio wave (sometimes referred to as a beacon) from the road communicator 3 shown in FIG. Note that narrow-area communication refers to communication that is locally performed by wireless LAN, DSRC, or the like.

  When it is detected that the mobile phone 1 is within the narrow area communication area, the in-vehicle communication device 1 requests the information system (such as the roadside communication device 3 in FIG. 1) that provides the narrow area communication service to establish the narrow area communication session. (S3). Then, after establishing the narrow-area communication session, the in-vehicle communication device 1 further receives information (emergency information communication means information) specifying the communication means for emergency communication from the information system (S4), and ends the process.

  FIG. 3 shows a session establishment process of the roadside communication device 3. This process can be realized by a computer program executed by a CPU that controls the roadside communication device 3. In this process, the roadside communication device 3 monitors a session establishment request from the in-vehicle communication device 1 in a normal state (S11, S12).

  When the reception of the session establishment request is detected, the roadside communication device 3 registers the MAC address of the counterpart in-vehicle communication device 1 and establishes a session with the in-vehicle communication device 1 (S13). Further, the roadside communication device 3 refers to information (emergency information communication device information) for specifying a communication device for emergency communication, and notifies the vehicle-mounted communication device 1 (S14).

  In FIG. 4, the emergency call monitoring process in the vehicle-mounted communication apparatus 1 is shown. This process can also be realized by a computer program executed by a CPU mounted on the in-vehicle communication device 1. In this processing, in the normal state, the in-vehicle communication device 1 monitors information received from the communication means specified by the emergency information communication means information (S21, S22). This is, for example, processing for monitoring a wireless LAN IEEE802.11b transmission rate of 1 Mbps.

  When detecting the emergency call, the in-vehicle communication device 1 stops communication of normal general information (S23). Moreover, the vehicle-mounted communication apparatus 1 displays the screen based on an emergency call (S24). That is, the in-vehicle communication device 1 highlights an area notified of the presence of a dangerous vehicle in the vicinity of the intersection by highlight display, color display, or blinking display on the screen. In that case, the driver's attention may be alerted by voice. Furthermore, the in-vehicle communication device 1 monitors whether or not the emergency call has been canceled (S25, S26).

When the emergency call is canceled, the in-vehicle communication device 1 resumes communication of general information (S27). Further, the screen display based on the emergency information is deleted (S28).
As described above, according to this information system, when a vehicle enters a narrow area communication area such as an intersection and a session is established, a communication means for emergency information other than general communication is designated. Thereafter, in the narrow communication area, the vehicle can reliably receive emergency information such as the presence of a dangerous vehicle by monitoring the emergency information communication means.

  When various communication means are provided for each intersection, the in-vehicle communication device 1 reliably receives the emergency information by designating the emergency information communication means when establishing a session in one communication. You can be ready. On the other hand, as a roadside information system that provides narrow area communication, it is possible to increase the reliability of emergency communication and increase the possibility of avoiding accidents by setting the communication means that can communicate most reliably for emergency communication. it can.

System configuration diagram showing system configuration and functional overview of information system according to an embodiment of the present invention Flowchart showing session establishment process of in-vehicle communication device Flowchart showing session establishment process of roadside communication device Flowchart showing emergency call monitoring processing of in-vehicle communication device

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 In-vehicle communication apparatus 2 Danger information distribution apparatus 3 Roadside communication apparatus 4 Risk determination apparatus 5 Camera

Claims (8)

First communication means for transmitting / receiving first information to / from a mobile unit within a predetermined area;
Means for transmitting second information to the mobile body at the start of communication with the mobile body by the first communication means, and notifying information identifying such second communication means;
Means for detecting the occurrence of a predetermined event;
An area communication device comprising: means for notifying the mobile body of the occurrence of the event through the second communication means when the event is detected.   The area communication device according to claim 1, wherein the event is the presence of a dangerous vehicle on a road or a dangerous state between vehicles. Mounted on the vehicle,
A first communication means for transmitting and receiving first information to and from an area management device that provides a communication service within a predetermined area;
Means for receiving information identifying such a second communication means for receiving notification of occurrence of a predetermined event from the area management apparatus at the start of communication with the area management apparatus by the first communication means;
Means for monitoring notification of the event via the second communication means;
And a means for executing a predetermined process when detecting the event notification.   The event is the presence of a dangerous vehicle on a road or a dangerous state between vehicles, and the predetermined process is a vehicle warning for notifying a driver of the vehicle or for avoiding the danger. 4. The mobile communication device according to 3. A computer that controls the communication device transmits and receives first information to and from a moving object within a predetermined area by the first communication means;
Notifying the information specifying the second communication means for transmitting the second information to the mobile body at the start of communication with the mobile body by the first communication means;
Detecting the occurrence of a predetermined event;
And a step of notifying the moving body of the occurrence of the event through the second communication means when the event is detected. A computer that controls a communication device mounted on a vehicle,
Transmitting and receiving first information by means of a first communication means with an area management device that provides a communication service within a predetermined area;
Receiving a notification of occurrence of a predetermined event from the area management device at the start of communication with the area management device by the first communication unit, receiving information specifying such second communication unit;
Monitoring the notification of the event via the second communication means;
And a step of executing a predetermined process when a notification of the event is detected. Transmitting and receiving first information to and from a mobile body within a predetermined area by a first communication means to a computer that controls the communication device;
Notifying the information specifying the second communication means for transmitting the second information to the mobile body at the start of communication with the mobile body by the first communication means;
Detecting the occurrence of a predetermined event;
And a step of notifying the moving body of the occurrence of the event through the second communication means when the event is detected. In a computer that controls a communication device mounted on a vehicle,
Transmitting and receiving first information by means of a first communication means with an area management device that provides a communication service within a predetermined area;
Receiving a notification of occurrence of a predetermined event from the area management device at the start of communication with the area management device by the first communication unit, receiving information specifying such second communication unit;
Monitoring the notification of the event via the second communication means;
Executing a predetermined process when a notification of the event is detected.

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