JP2006146695A - System for providing traffic congestion information - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for providing congestion information for determining the traffic congestion circumstances without necessitating to set any special facility for collecting traffic congestion information such as a vehicle sensor or the like. <P>SOLUTION: A navigation device mounted on a vehicle calculates a traffic congestion reference speed from the limited speed of a road included in map information at the predetermined rate. Then, the traffic congestion deciding means of the navigation device compares the change of the current location of a vehicle per a predetermined time with a traffic congestion reference speed, and when the traveling of a vehicle is slower than the traffic congestion reference speed, decides that the traffic congestion has been generated, and prepares first traffic congestion information. The information is transmitted to a traffic congestion information distributing means, and the traffic congestion information distributing means stores the first traffic congestion information transmitted from each vehicle in a traffic congestion information database as second traffic information for each road, and distributes the second traffic congestion information to the navigation device of each vehicle. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a traffic jam information providing system for providing road traffic jam information.

  As the vehicle travels, the current position is detected by GPS (Global Positioning System), etc., and the current position is displayed on the display device together with the road map, and an appropriate route from the current position to the destination is displayed. A vehicle navigation device that guides the vehicle with a display device, a voice output device, or the like contributes to efficient and safe driving for the driver.

  By the way, only by displaying a map image on the screen based on the map data, it is impossible to know the occurrence of traffic jams or traffic restrictions, and it is not possible to take an appropriate detour route in advance. Therefore, by providing the vehicle with various information such as current location, destination guidance, parking lot guidance, traffic jams, cautions / regulations, required time, etc. by radio communication such as radio wave beacon, optical beacon, FM multiplex broadcasting, etc., the driver can Development and commercialization of a road traffic information communication system (VICS) that can quickly travel to a desired place by an accurate route while comprehensively judging various kinds of information are being promoted.

  The traffic jam information is collected via a vehicle detector or the like installed on the road, and the information is provided to each vehicle. For this reason, the collection of traffic jam information is limited to the area where the vehicle detector or the like is installed, and enormous costs are required to install the vehicle detector or the like in any area.

  Therefore, a system that does not require installation of special equipment for collecting traffic jam information such as a vehicle detector has been proposed (Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-340484

  However, Patent Document 1 merely transmits the current position, traveling direction, and traveling speed of the vehicle as automobile progress state data to the information collection center, and the criterion for judging that the traffic is jammed is not clear, and is not jammed. There is a possibility that it is determined that there is traffic.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a traffic jam information providing system that does not require installation of special equipment for collecting traffic jam information such as a vehicle detector and that can judge the traffic jam situation.

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the navigation device mounted on the vehicle has the traffic information determining means, the change in the current position of the vehicle per predetermined time is compared with the speed limit of the map information. When the predetermined condition is satisfied, it is determined that the traffic is jammed, and the first traffic jam information can be created. Further, the information can be transmitted to the traffic jam information distribution means. The traffic information distribution means that has received the first traffic information from a plurality of vehicles can manage it as the second traffic information by the traffic information management means. As a result, it is possible to collect traffic jam information even from a vehicle traveling on a road where no equipment such as a vehicle detector is installed.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the traffic jam information distribution means can distribute the second traffic jam information toward each vehicle. And the vehicle side can receive the information and can acquire the traffic jam information about the road which is driving | running | working and the road which is going to drive | work toward the objective. This information is also obtained for roads without equipment such as vehicle detectors, and based on this information, the navigation device can indicate a recommended route to the destination while avoiding traffic jams.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the navigation device can calculate the traffic congestion reference speed as a reference for determining the traffic jam from the predetermined ratio of the speed limit by the traffic congestion determination means. When the vehicle speed is slower than the traffic jam reference speed, the navigation device determines that the road is jammed. Since the traffic jam reference speed is calculated based on the speed limit, if the speed limit is different, the speed at which it is determined that the traffic jam is different. Thereby, it is possible to accurately determine the traffic jam.

  According to the invention of claim 4, the traffic jam information determining means has a traffic jam reference speed according to the width of the road, and the map information includes the road width information. It is possible to acquire the width information of the road and compare the reference speed of the traffic according to the width with the speed of the vehicle to determine whether the traffic is jammed. According to this, it is possible to determine whether there is a traffic jam on a road that does not include speed limit information.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the traffic jam information distribution means has the traffic jam information database, the traffic jam information is received from the first traffic jam information received from the vehicle for each road day and time. Can be stored as traffic jam information. Then, the traffic jam information stored in the database is transmitted to each vehicle. Thereby, the navigation apparatus of each vehicle can acquire the traffic condition of the road which will pass after 1 hour, for example based on the information of a database.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The vehicle 41 shown in FIG. 1 is equipped with the vehicle navigation device of the present invention. Then, this navigation device measures the current position of the vehicle by GPS, calculates the vehicle speed from the position change per time, and if the speed is below a predetermined speed, the information distribution center 14 is used as traffic jam information. Send to. The information distribution center accumulates traffic information from each vehicle, creates a traffic information database, and distributes traffic information to each vehicle. In this way, the information distribution center 14 can accumulate traffic congestion information on roads that are not subject to VICS, and distribute the information to each vehicle 41.

  A vehicle navigation apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. The navigation device 100 includes a position detector 1, a map data input device 6, an operation switch group 7, a remote control (hereinafter referred to as remote control) sensor 11, a transceiver 13, a speaker 15 for voice guidance, an external memory 9, a display A device 10, a communication unit 19, an ETC vehicle-mounted device 16, a control circuit 8 connected thereto, and a remote control terminal 12 are provided.

  A position detector 1 as current position detecting means has a well-known geomagnetic sensor 2, a gyroscope 3, a distance sensor 4, and a GPS receiver 5 for GPS that detects the position of a vehicle based on radio waves from a satellite. is doing. Since these sensors 2, 3, 4, and 5 have errors of different properties, they are configured to be used while being complemented by a plurality of sensors. Depending on the accuracy, a part of the sensors described above may be used, and further, a steering rotation sensor, a wheel sensor of each rolling wheel, or the like may be used.

  The map data input device 6 is a device for inputting various data including so-called map matching data for improving the accuracy of position detection and road data representing road connections from the storage medium 20. As a storage medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, or hard disk drive (hereinafter referred to as HDD) is generally used because of the amount of data, but other media such as a memory card may be used. The storage medium 20 is map information storage means.

  The map data stores predetermined map image information for display and road network information including link information and node information. The link information is predetermined section information constituting each road, and includes position coordinates, distance, required time, road width (road width), number of lanes, speed limit, and the like. The node information is information that defines an intersection (branch road) and the like, and includes position coordinates, the number of right / left turn lanes, a connection destination road link, and the like.

  As the operation switch group 7, for example, a touch switch or a mechanical switch integrated with the display device 10 is used. The touch switch is composed of infrared sensors that are finely arranged vertically and horizontally on the screen of the display device 10. For example, when the infrared ray is cut off with a finger, a touch pen, or the like, the cut-off position becomes a two-dimensional coordinate value (X, Y). Various instructions can be input by the operation switch group 7 and the remote control terminal 12.

  The display device 10 as a display unit is configured by a color liquid crystal display, and a vehicle current position mark input from the position detector 1, information received from the information distribution center 14, and a map are displayed on the screen of the display device 10. The additional data such as the guidance route to be displayed is superimposed and displayed, and buttons for setting route guidance, guidance during route guidance, and switching operation of the screen are displayed on this screen.

  The transmitter / receiver 13 as vehicle-side transmission means and vehicle-side reception means receives information provided from an information distribution center 14 such as VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System) and transmits information to the information distribution center 14. It is a device. Information received from the outside via the transceiver 13 is processed by the control circuit 8.

  In addition, the vehicle navigation device 100 can be connected to the external network 18 by a mobile communication device such as a mobile phone 17 through the communication unit 19, and can be connected to the Internet or to a dedicated information distribution center. can do. Furthermore, by communicating with an ETC (Automatic Toll Collection System, ETC: Electronic Toll Collection) vehicle-mounted device 16, the fee information received by the ETC vehicle-mounted device 16 from the ETC road device can be taken into the navigation device. It is also possible to connect to the external network 18 by the ETC vehicle-mounted device 16.

  Further, the external memory 9 stores data necessary for the operation of the navigation device. Note that the external memory 9 retains the stored contents even when the ignition switch of the vehicle is turned off (that is, the navigation device 100 is turned off).

  The control circuit 8 as a control unit is configured as a normal computer, and includes a well-known CPU 81, ROM 82, RAM 83, I / O 84 and a bus line 85 for connecting these configurations as shown in FIG. The control circuit 8 constitutes route guidance means for guiding a recommended route, and traffic information determining means for determining whether there is traffic.

  The CPU 81 performs control based on programs and data stored in the ROM 82 and RAM 83. As shown in FIG. 3, the ROM 82 stores an operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS) 82s, a navigation program (hereinafter referred to as navigation program) 82p operating on the OS 82s, and a traffic information management program 52j for managing traffic information. The The navigation program 82p operates on the OS 82s with the navigation program work memory 83w as a work area, and the traffic jam information management program 82j operates with the traffic information management program work memory 83j as a work area. Furthermore, the work memory 83s of the OS 82s is formed in the RAM 83.

  With this configuration, when the navigation program 82p is activated by the CPU 81 of the control circuit 8, the driver operates the operation switch group 7 or the remote control terminal 12 to display the navigation device 100 on the display device 10. When the route guidance processing for displaying the destination route on the display device 10 is selected from the menu displayed on the screen, the following processing is performed. That is, when the driver inputs the destination, the current location of the vehicle is obtained based on the satellite data obtained from the GPS receiver 5, receives information from the information distribution center 14, and displays a road map on the display device 10. , Guide the appropriate route to the driver. The above operation and the following embodiments are controlled by the navigation program 82p.

  This route guidance is performed by a known Dijkstra method using link information and node information in map data. Specifically, the route calculation cost from the current location to each node is calculated using the link information for the link between the nodes, and the total cost is minimized when all the cost calculation to the destination is completed. The link to the destination is set by connecting the link. That is, for example, the guidance route is determined by acquiring a combination that minimizes the distance or the required time for the route connecting the departure point and the destination.

  Then, as described below, the navigation device calculates the vehicle speed from the change in the current position of the vehicle, and if the vehicle speed is slower than the traffic congestion reference speed for determining the traffic jam, the navigation device sends traffic information to the information distribution center. Send as.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the information server 25 of the information distribution center 14 which is a traffic jam information distribution unit. The information server 25 includes a CPU 51, a ROM 52, a RAM 53, and an input / output interface (I / O) 54. The information server 25 includes a control unit 50 that is connected by a bus line 55 so that transmission and reception are possible. Alternatively, via an input device such as a mouse 57, a recording medium reading means such as a CD-ROM drive 58 or a floppy (registered trademark) disk drive (hereinafter referred to as FDD) 59, an HDD (hard disk drive) 60, and a monitor control unit 61. The whole is constructed as a computer system to which a monitor 62, a printer 63, a distribution side transmission unit, a network control unit 64 and the like that communicate with the transmission / reception device 22 as a distribution side reception unit are connected. Instead of the CD-ROM drive 58, a DVD-ROM drive or the like may be used.

  The HDD 60 stores an operating system program (hereinafter referred to as OS) 60a and an information server program 60b. The information server program 60b operates with the information server work memory 53b secured in the RAM 53 on the OS 60a as a work area in order to realize the function as an information server. This is stored in, for example, a CD-ROM 65 in a computer-readable state and installed in a predetermined storage area on the HDD 60. The RAM 53 is also formed with a work memory 53a for the OS 60a.

  In addition, a traffic jam information database 23a is constructed in the HDD 60. When traffic information is transmitted from the vehicle, the information is stored in the traffic information database 23a. The HDD 60 is a traffic jam information database storage unit. The contents of the traffic jam information database 23a are updated at any time, and the latest information can be provided to the user. The control unit 50 and the HDD 60 constitute a traffic jam information management unit.

  With this configuration, the information server 25 functions as an information server after executing necessary initialization processing when the information server program 60b is activated by the CPU 51 of the control unit 50. Thereafter, when the traffic information including the average speed of the traveling road and the vehicle is transmitted from the navigation device 100 via the transmission / reception device 22, the processing stored in the information server program 60b is executed, and the traffic information Is stored in the traffic jam information database 23a. Then, the data is sent to the navigation device 100 via the transmission / reception device 22.

  The processing of the navigation device of the present invention will be described using FIG. When the ignition of the vehicle 41 is turned on by the driver, the navigation device 100 is activated, and information on a travel distance memory that stores the travel distance of the vehicle and a time memory that stores a corresponding time is initialized (S1). ). The travel distance memory and the time memory are formed in the external memory 9 or the RAM 83. When the vehicle travels, the traffic jam information management program 82j of the navigation device 100 obtains the speed limit or width of the running road from the map information, and calculates the traffic jam reference speed of the road (S2). The traffic jam reference speed is a speed that serves as a reference for determining traffic jam.

  The calculation of the traffic congestion reference speed of the road in S2 will be described with reference to FIG. The navigation device 100 checks that the speed limit is stored for the road being traveled in the map information by the traffic jam information management program 82j (S21). If the speed limit is stored, the navigation device 100 proceeds to S22, and starts from the speed limit to the traffic jam. Calculate the reference speed.

  The traffic jam reference speed is, for example, 20% of the speed limit. That is, as shown in FIG. 7A, for example, if the speed limit is 60 km / h, the traffic jam reference speed is 12 km / h. If the speed limit is 40 km / h, the traffic jam reference speed is 8 km / h. Therefore, even if the speed is the same, depending on the speed limit, there are cases where it is determined as a traffic jam and cases where it is not determined as a traffic jam. Thereby, it is possible to accurately determine the traffic jam. If the vehicle travels below this traffic congestion reference speed, it is determined that the vehicle is congested as will be described later, and is transmitted as first traffic jam information to the information distribution center. The traffic jam reference speed is not limited to 20% of the speed limit. Also, the urban area and the rural area may be set as different ratios.

  In S21 of FIG. 6, when the speed limit of the traveling road is not stored, the width of the road is acquired from the map information by the traffic jam information management program 82j. In the traffic jam information management program 82j, for example, relationship data between the road width and the traffic jam reference speed as shown in FIG. 7B is stored. In other words, the traffic jam reference speed is acquired based on the width of the running road. For example, if the width is traveling on a road of 7 m, 7 km / h is the traffic jam reference speed, and if the vehicle is traveling at a speed of 7 km / h or less, it is determined that there is traffic jam as will be described later.

  Returning to FIG. 5, the navigation apparatus 100 that has calculated the traffic jam reference speed in S2 monitors the current position acquired from the position detector 1 (S3). The current position is stored in the traffic information management program work memory 83j or the external memory 9. These are mileage memories. If the current position of the vehicle changes (S3: YES), the process proceeds to S4 and monitors whether a certain time has elapsed. If this certain time is too short, it is easy to misclassify as a traffic jam even when the signal is stopped by a signal. If it is too long, it may pass through a traffic jam area. The current position and the time at that position are stored in the traffic information management program work memory 83j or the external memory 9. Therefore, the traffic information management program work memory 83j or the external memory 9 is a time memory.

  When the current position of the vehicle changes and a certain time has elapsed, the traffic jam information management program 82j calculates the travel distance per unit time in S5. The navigation device 100 compares the travel distance per unit time with the traffic jam reference speed by the traffic jam information management program 82j (S6), and if the travel distance per unit time is less than the traffic jam reference speed (S7: YES), It is determined that the road on which the vehicle is traveling is congested, the process proceeds to S8, and the traffic information including the travel road and the travel distance (or vehicle speed) per unit time is transmitted to the information distribution center 14 by the transceiver 13. . The transceiver 13 transmits data wirelessly using a mobile phone or the like. If it is not less than the traffic jam reference speed in S7, it is determined that there is no traffic jam and the process returns to S1.

  Next, processing in the information distribution center that has received the traffic jam information will be described with reference to FIG. In S <b> 31, the information distribution center 14 receives the congestion information by the transmission / reception device 22. The information distribution center 14 that has received the traffic jam information creates a traffic jam information database 23a as shown in FIG. 9 in S32. In the traffic jam information database 23a, traffic jam information transmitted from each vehicle as needed is accumulated by road, day of the week, and time. The degree of traffic congestion is calculated by taking the average of the travel distance per unit time transmitted from each vehicle, and calculating the average value. Therefore, since the traffic jam information transmitted from the vehicle at any time is stored in the traffic jam information database 23a, the traffic jam information database 23a is updated every moment. For example, FIG. 9 shows that the degree of traffic jam on Mondays from 6 to 7 o'clock is 4, and the traffic jam degree from 7 o'clock to 8 o'clock is 5, indicating that traffic jams occur more frequently than other times.

  Returning to FIG. 8, in S <b> 33, the information distribution center 14 distributes the traffic jam information to each vehicle 41. Thereby, traffic congestion is shown on the road of the map displayed on the display apparatus 10 of the navigation apparatus 100 of each vehicle 41. FIG.

  Furthermore, the navigation apparatus 100 can receive the information of the traffic jam information database 23a accumulated in the information distribution center 14, and can acquire the traffic jam information on the road that travels one hour later to go to the destination, for example. This will be described with reference to FIG. The figure is a display screen of the navigation device 100. Based on the received information, the control unit 8 displays traffic jam information on the display unit 10. The figure shows an example in which the recommended route 93 that is a short distance to reach the destination 92 from the current position 91 is displayed as being congested at a time when the vehicle 41 is predicted to pass there. This display may be such that the road map is color-coded according to the degree of congestion described above. A recommended route 94 that can reach the destination 92 in a short time without a traffic jam at a passing time is displayed by the control unit 8 while detouring increases the distance to the destination 92. Thus, the navigation apparatus 100 can guide the driver to detour in advance and arrive at the destination by receiving the traffic jam information accumulated in the information distribution center 14.

  As described above, the navigation device of each vehicle determines the traffic jam on the road based on the speed limit stored in the map information or the width of the road, and if it determines that there is a traffic jam, the traffic information is sent to the information distribution center. By transmitting, traffic information is provided to each vehicle even on roads without equipment such as vehicle detectors. Therefore, this traffic jam information providing system can be constructed at low cost. In addition, it can provide traffic information covering the whole country regardless of city or region. In addition, it is possible to accurately determine the traffic jam by not judging the traffic jam based on the traveling speed of the vehicle but based on the traffic jam reference speed based on the speed limit or the width of the road.

The figure which shows the whole structure of the traffic information provision system of this invention. The block diagram which shows the navigation apparatus as one Example of this invention. The figure for demonstrating the structure of a control circuit. The block diagram which shows the information delivery center as one Example of this invention. The figure explaining the process of traffic jam information in a navigation apparatus. The flowchart explaining calculation of traffic jam reference speed. The figure explaining calculation of traffic jam reference speed. The figure explaining the process of traffic jam information in an information delivery center. The figure explaining the traffic information database of an information delivery center. The example of a display of a navigation apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Position detector 5 GPS receiver 8 Control circuit 14 Information distribution center 41 Vehicle

Claims (5)

A traffic jam information providing system including a plurality of vehicle navigation devices, and a traffic jam information distribution means for transmitting and receiving traffic jam information with the vehicle navigation devices,
The vehicle navigation device includes:
Current position detecting means for detecting the current position of the vehicle;
Map information storage means for storing map information including information on the speed limit of the road;
A traffic jam judging means for comparing the change in the current position of the vehicle per predetermined time with the speed limit of the map information to judge that the traffic is jammed and creating first traffic jam information when a predetermined condition is satisfied. When,
Vehicle side transmission means for transmitting the first traffic information to the traffic information distribution means,
The traffic information distribution means
Distribution side receiving means for receiving the first traffic jam information from the vehicle navigation device;
Congestion information management means for collecting the first congestion information received from the vehicle navigation device and managing the congestion information for each road as second congestion information;
Congestion information provision system characterized by including The congestion information distribution means includes distribution side transmission means for distributing the second congestion information created by collecting the first congestion information from each vehicle navigation device to the vehicle,
The traffic information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle navigation device includes a vehicle side receiving unit that receives the second traffic information transmitted by the traffic information distributing unit.   The traffic jam information determining means obtains the speed limit of the road stored in the map information, calculates a traffic jam reference speed of a predetermined ratio of the speed limit to determine that the traffic is jammed, 3. The traffic jam information providing system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a change in the current position of the vehicle per hour and the traffic jam reference speed are compared to determine whether there is a traffic jam.   The map information includes width information of each road, and the traffic information determination means has a traffic jam reference speed for determining that the traffic is jammed, determined by the width, and the vehicle information per predetermined time. The traffic jam information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the traffic location information is determined by comparing the change in the current position with the traffic jam reference speed. The traffic jam information distribution means accumulates the second traffic jam information created by collecting the first traffic jam information from each navigation device as a traffic jam information database for each day of the week and time for each road. Having a storage unit,
The traffic jam information providing system according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the traffic jam information database information is distributed.

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