JP2006261924A - Vehicle-mounted communication terminal, and navigation device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle-mounted communication terminal, and a navigation device for a vehicle which can surely execute information acquisition by application whose communication priority is high even if the communication circumstance is in a bad condition. <P>SOLUTION: The navigation device for a vehicle is mounted with a local proxy 26. The local proxy 26 stops data communication of applications 1, 2 of low communication priority when an application of high communication priority requests data communication during socket communication of the applications 1, 2 of low communication priority through a TCP/IP protocol stack, and controls socket communication between the application of high communication priority and a server 24. Moreover, when the application 1, 2 of low communication priority request socket communication during data communication between the application of high communication priority and the server 24, the request is rejected. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle communication terminal and a vehicle navigation device equipped with a local proxy.

  In recent years, in-vehicle communication terminals equipped with communication applications have been provided, and desired information is acquired by accessing a server in an information center using a wireless device such as a mobile phone. . Applications installed in this in-vehicle communication terminal include a web browser that acquires character information from a server in an information center, a music server that can download music data and play it back, traffic information in cooperation with a vehicle navigation device, or For example, a traffic information application that acquires weather information.

  In addition, since the prior art of this invention is a general technique, description of a prior art document is abbreviate | omitted.

  By the way, in the data communication of the in-vehicle communication terminal, since a wireless device such as a mobile phone is used, there is a disadvantage that the communication speed is relatively low in a narrow band. In addition, when the vehicle is moving, the radio wave environment varies greatly, and communication is performed under adverse conditions such as communication interruption and disconnection. In such a communication environment, the communication of the application is divided, and the communication speed is further reduced. For this reason, when an application with a high communication priority such as a traffic information application, emergency information application, security information application, or operator service application is operated, the line is disconnected before the communication is completed and information acquisition fails. In such a case, it is difficult to obtain important or urgent information.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an in-vehicle communication terminal and a vehicular navigation capable of reliably executing information acquisition by an application having a high communication priority even in a poor communication environment. To provide an apparatus.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when an application with a high communication priority starts data communication during data communication with an application with a low communication priority, communication of an application with a low communication priority is stopped. Even if the environment is bad, important information can be acquired by an application having a high communication priority, and it is possible to prevent failure to acquire important information.

According to the invention of claim 2, even if an application with a low communication priority starts data communication during data communication of an application with a high communication priority, the data communication is rejected, so the communication priority is high. The acquisition of important information by the application can be prevented from being interrupted.
According to the invention of claim 3, the present invention can be applied to a vehicle navigation apparatus.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic functional block diagram of an overall configuration centered on a vehicle navigation apparatus (corresponding to an in-vehicle communication terminal) 1. In FIG. 1, a vehicle navigation device 1 includes a position detector 2, a map data input unit 7, an operation switch group 8, a control device (corresponding to storage means) 9, an external memory 10, a display device 11, a transceiver 12, A voice controller 13, a speaker 14, a voice recognition device 15, a microphone 16, a remote control sensor 17, a remote control terminal (hereinafter referred to as a remote control) 18, and a data communication means 19 are provided.

  The control device 9 is configured as a normal computer, and is provided with a peripheral CPU, ROM, RAM, I / O, and a bus line (all not shown) for connecting these configurations. The control device 9 is input from the position detector 2, the map data input unit 7, the operation switch group 8, the external memory 10, the display device 11, the transceiver 12, the voice controller 13, the speaker 14, the voice recognition device 15, and the remote control sensor 17. Based on the various information thus obtained, predetermined processing (for example, map scale change processing, menu display selection processing, destination setting processing, route search execution processing, route guidance start processing, current position correction processing, display screen change processing, volume adjustment) Process).

In addition, the control device 9 instructs the data communication means 19 at a user instruction using the operation switch group 8 or at regular intervals so that mutual communication is possible.
Each of the position detectors 2 includes a surrounding geomagnetic sensor 3, a gyroscope 4, a distance sensor 5, and a GPS receiver 6 for GPS (Global Positioning System) that detects the current position of the vehicle based on radio waves from a satellite. have. Each of these sensors 3, 4, 5, and 6 has an error of a different property, and is configured to be used while being complemented by a plurality of sensors. Depending on the accuracy, a part of the above may be used, and a steering rotation angle sensor, a wheel speed sensor of each rolling wheel, or the like may be used.

  The map data input unit 7 is loaded with a storage medium (not shown) and stores various data including so-called map matching data, map data, and landmark data for improving the accuracy of position detection stored in the storage medium. It is a device for inputting. As a storage medium, a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM is generally used because of the amount of data, but a memory card, HDD, or the like may be used.

  For example, a touch switch or a mechanical switch integrated with the display device 11 is used as the operation switch group 8, and various functions (for example, map scale change, menu display selection, destination setting, Route search, route guidance start, current position correction, display screen change, volume adjustment, etc.). The remote controller 18 is provided with a plurality of operation switches (not shown), and various command signals are input to the control device 9 via the remote control sensor 17 by the switch operation, and the control device 9 executes various functions. The operation switch group 8 and the remote controller 18 can cause the control device 9 to execute the same function by any switch operation.

When the destination is set from the remote control sensor 17 via the remote controller 18 or by the operation switch group 8, the control device 9 automatically selects the optimum route from the current position detected by the position detector 2 to the destination. Search and set and display the guidance route. As a method for automatically setting an optimal route, a method such as the Dijkstra method is known.
The set route is superimposed and displayed together with the current position mark detected by the position detector 2 on the display map displayed on the display device 11 based on the information of the map data input unit 7. In addition to the current position and route, other information such as the current time and traffic information can be additionally displayed on the display map.

  The external memory 10 is a writable mass storage device such as an HDD. The external memory 10 has uses such as storing a large amount of data and data that should not be erased even when the power is turned off, and copying frequently used data from the map data input unit 7 for use. The external memory 10 may be a removable memory having a relatively small storage capacity.

  The display device 11 displays a map, a destination selection screen, and the like as navigation, and can display full color, and can be configured using liquid crystal, organic EL, or the like.

  The transceiver 12 is a device that receives traffic information and the like provided from the outside (for example, an infrastructure such as a VICS system) and transmits vehicle information and user information to the outside. Information received from the outside is processed by the control device 9. If necessary, information processed by the control device 9 can be transmitted from the transceiver 12.

The speaker 14 notifies the outside of a predetermined voice (guidance for guidance, explanation of screen operation, voice recognition result, etc.) based on the voice output signal input from the voice controller 13.
The microphone 16 inputs the voice uttered by the operator to the voice recognition device 15 as an electrical signal.
The voice recognition device 15 collates the operator's input voice uttered through the microphone 16 with lexical data (comparison target pattern) in a recognition dictionary (not shown) stored therein, and has the highest degree of coincidence. A thing is input to the voice controller 13 as a recognition result.

  The voice controller 13 controls the voice recognition device 15 and controls talkback output (voice output) through the speaker 14 for an operator who has input voice. Moreover, the process which inputs the recognition result of the speech recognition apparatus 15 to the control apparatus 9 is also performed.

  Based on information from the voice recognition device 15, the control device 9 performs predetermined processing (for example, map scale change processing, menu display selection processing, destination setting processing, route search execution processing, route guidance start processing) for the operator's utterance. Current position correction processing, display screen change processing, volume adjustment processing, etc.). Further, the route guidance voice information and the like processed by the control device 9 are appropriately notified from the speaker 14 via the voice controller 13.

  The data communication means 19 has an intercommunication function, and is composed of, for example, a mobile phone or a car phone, and is connected to the control means 9 so as to be easily detachable. Of course, the data communication means 19 may be incorporated in the control device 9 so that it cannot be easily attached and detached.

  Further, even when the data communication means 19 receives a request from the information center 22, mutual communication is possible. The control device 9 obtains information from the information center 22 by requesting an information request (character information, weather information, other vehicle information, facility information, advertisement information, etc.) via the data communication means 19.

  The information center 22 is a server that processes the necessary information such as text information, music information, traffic information, weather information, other vehicle information, facility information, and advertisement information as contents, with a line terminal device 23 that communicates via the telephone station 21. 24 and a database 25 that stores necessary data such as each information as contents, and is connected to the radio base station 20 through the telephone station 21. From the radio base station 20, the vehicle navigation apparatus 1 and Data is sent and received.

  The information center 22 processes the current location information obtained by communication by the server 24 and stores it in the database 25. When there is an information request, the server 24 retrieves necessary information from the database 25 and transmits data using the line terminal device 23.

  Now, various applications are stored in a storage means (not shown) of the control device 9 of the vehicle navigation device 1. These applications are communication software that obtains information services such as various contents stored in the database 25 of the server 24 by accessing the server 24 installed in the information center 22, and uses HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol). The server 24 is accessed.

  As applications, communication software such as a web browser, a music server, and a traffic information application is installed. The web browser is for browsing character information. The music server downloads desired music and arbitrarily reproduces music according to user operations. The traffic information app acquires traffic information such as traffic jams, accidents, traffic restrictions, weather, and the like.

  Here, the communication priority of each application is stored in the storage unit of the control device 9 in advance. That is, in this embodiment, the communication priority of the traffic information app (the emergency information app, the security information app, and the operator service app if those apps are installed) has the highest communication priority, and the communication priority between the web browser and the music server. The communication priority is set to the same communication priority that is lower than the traffic information app.

  On the other hand, the local proxy 26 is installed in the control device 9. The local proxy 26 is a program having a function of a general proxy server, and plays a role of connecting to the server 24 instead of the application directly accessing the server 24. For example, when communication software such as a web browser requests data from the server 24, the local proxy 26 makes a data request to the external server 24 instead, and the data is sent from the server 24 to the local proxy 26. Returns the received data to the web browser.

  FIG. 3 shows a TCP / IP protocol structure (hereinafter, protocol stack) which is a protocol for communication between the application and the data communication means 19. In FIG. 3, the TCP / IP protocol stack is composed of a physical layer, a network interface layer, an Internet layer, a transport layer, and a session layer from the lower layer. The first physical layer is responsible for electrical conversion and mechanical work for sending data to the communication line. The data link layer of the second layer secures a physical communication path with the communication partner and performs error detection of data flowing through the communication path. The network layer of the third layer selects a communication path for delivering data to the other party and manages addresses in the communication path. IP (Internet Protocol) receives a packet from the data link layer (second layer) and transfers it to a destination. ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) informs of a problem occurring in the network and error information of the network device. The transport layer of the fourth layer performs data compression, error correction, retransmission control, etc. for reliably and efficiently delivering data to the other party. TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) monitors and guarantees that packets are error-free and that all packets arrive at their destination in the correct order. UDP (User Datagram Protocol) exchanges data between the Internet layer and the application layer, but does not perform error checking or packet number assignment, unlike TCP. The session layer of the fifth layer establishes and releases a virtual route (connection) for communication programs to exchange data. A socket API (Application Program Interface) mediates data communication with the application or the server 24.

  A socket is a set of an IP address and a port number. In other words, in TCP / IP communication, one IP address is composed of a plurality of ports (usually 65536), and can be connected to ports on other IP addresses to communicate simultaneously with a plurality of addresses. This set is called a socket, and communication using this socket is called socket communication.

  In addition, the socket API is an IPC (Interprocess Communication) interface based on TCP / IP. By using this socket API, the application can be read and written (read / write) via the network in the same way. In this way, data can be transmitted and received.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a rear seat display 27 is provided corresponding to the rear seat of the vehicle. The rear seat display 27 is connected to the vehicle navigation apparatus 1 via the in-vehicle LAN 28. The rear seat display 27 is equipped with a web browser and a music service. When those applications are activated, the local proxy 26 installed in the vehicle navigation device 1 is requested to perform socket communication. ing.

  Here, local IP is set in advance in the vehicle navigation apparatus 1 and the rear seat display 27, and the local proxy 26 is based on the socket IP when there is a request for socket communication from the application. It is determined which of the application installed in the vehicle navigation apparatus 1 or the application installed in the rear seat display 27 has been accessed.

  In this embodiment, “8080” is set as the port number of the web browser installed in the vehicle navigation apparatus 1 and the rear seat display 27, and “8081” is set as the port number of the music server. Although “8082” is set as the port number, each application can simultaneously perform data communication with the server 24 of the information center 22 by the identification based on the socket as described above (see FIG. 2).

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the application with the highest communication priority (traffic information application in this embodiment), the applications 1 and 2 (web browser and music server in this embodiment), the local proxy 26 and the server 24 with low communication priority It is the sequence which shows the communication operation between. In the figure, the instruction shown with respect to the TCP / IP protocol stack and prefixed with “L” is an instruction for executing a local area network (communication between the application and the local proxy 26). The command with “W” added to the head indicates that the command is for executing communication in the wide area network (between the local proxy 26 and the server 24). In FIG. 4, when the local proxy 26 starts operation, it first requests the TCP / IP protocol stack to create a socket. In other words, socket (socket generation) is executed, bind (socket registration) is executed, and listen (socket connection request wait) is executed. That is, it is requested to create a standby port number 8080 corresponding to the web browser, create a standby port number 8081 corresponding to the music server, and create a standby port number 8082 corresponding to the traffic information application.
With the above operation, the TCP / IP protocol stack creates standby port numbers 8080 to 8082 and waits for an application to request socket communication.

Now, for example, when a passenger in the rear seat activates the web browser of the rear seat display 27 in order to view a desired home page, the web browser requests socket communication through the in-vehicle LAN 28.
When the local proxy 26 detects that there is a request for socket communication through the TCP / IP protocol stack, it executes accept (socket connection request permission) for the TCP / IP protocol stack and then passes through the wide area network. Request socket communication. As a result, the TCP / IP protocol stack is connected to the server 24 of the information center 22 by PPP (Point to Point Protocol) through the data communication means 19, so that TCP / IP negotiation is established.

  Thereafter, data communication using HTTP is performed by the web browser. In other words, in the socket connection state, when data is written to the socket by write (data write) to each socket, the data reaches the other party, so when the other party reads the socket by read (data read), Can receive data sent by. In a normal TCP communication program, transmission and reception of data are repeated by write and read until communication is completed, whereby a request and response by HTTP is performed, and the result is reflected on the display on the rear seat display 27. Accordingly, the passenger in the rear seat can access a desired homepage by operating the rear seat display 27 and obtain various information.

Then, when either the application or the server 24 executes close (socket erasure) and disconnects the socket communication connection, the socket communication is completed.
By the way, when the passenger in the rear seat operates the web browser on the display 27 for the rear seat and the passenger in the front seat wants to acquire the traffic information of the destination or waypoint, the vehicle navigation apparatus 1 For the traffic information app.

When activated, the music information application requests socket communication to the TCP / IP protocol stack.
When there is a request for socket communication, the local proxy 26 connects to the port number 8082 based on the socket. At this time, since the port number 8082 has the highest priority, the local proxy 26 closes the other standby port numbers 8080 and 8081.

  As a result of the above operation, the data communication of the web browser that has been operating on the rear seat display 27 until then stops, so that the passenger in the rear seat cannot receive the content providing service by the web browser thereafter.

  When the web browser of the rear seat display 27 detects that the standby port number 8081 is closed, the web browser requests the TCP / IP protocol stack to close (socket deletion) through the in-vehicle LAN 28.

  Next, the local proxy 26 permits socket connection to the TCP / IP protocol stack and then requests socket communication through the wide area network. Thereby, the traffic information application can acquire traffic information by connecting to the server 24 of the information center 22 (see FIG. 5). In this case, since the traffic information of the route to the destination can be acquired by transmitting the current position of the vehicle and the destination or waypoint, the driver refers to the traffic information acquired by the traffic information app. Thus, the travel time to the destination can be shortened, or the change of the destination or route can be considered.

  Further, when the rear seat occupant operates the web browser of the rear seat display 27 during data communication by such a traffic information application, socket communication is requested from the web browser to the TCP / IP protocol stack. Is deleted and the connection is refused, so the web browser cannot perform socket communication.

  When the traffic information application finishes acquiring traffic information, the traffic information application requests the TCP / IP protocol stack to close the socket, so that the local proxy 26 receives the information on the in-vehicle LAN 28 side and the wide area network side. Close the socket.

  When the traffic information acquisition by the traffic information application is completed as described above, the local proxy 26 shifts to a state waiting for socket communication through the standby port numbers 8080 to 8082 in preparation for the next communication.

  On the other hand, when the passenger in the front seat operates the music server of the vehicle navigation device 1 during the operation of the web browser of the display 27 for the rear seat as described above, the music server is connected to the TCP / IP protocol stack. Request socket communication. In this case, since the communication priorities of the web browser and the music server are the same, the local proxy 26 creates the socket of the music server without closing the socket of the web browser, and the music server of the rear seat display 27. Data communication with the server 24 of the information center 22 is simultaneously controlled.

  Further, when the front seat occupant operates the web browser during the operation of the web browser on the rear seat display 27, the data communication between both web browsers and the server 24 of the information center 22 is simultaneously controlled. . In this case, the port numbers of the sockets of the web browser of the vehicle navigation apparatus 1 and the web browser of the rear seat display 27 are both 8080, but the IP of the sockets are different, so the local proxy 26 is connected to both web browsers. The data communication by can be controlled without interference.

According to such an embodiment, the local proxy 26 is mounted on the control device 9 of the vehicle navigation device 1, and traffic with a high communication priority is being executed during data communication by a web browser or music server with a low communication priority. When the information application requests data communication, the data communication of the web browser or music server with a low communication priority is stopped and communication by the traffic information application is executed, and the web browser or music is being transmitted during the data communication of the traffic information application. When the server requests data communication, the data communication is rejected. Therefore, the communication environment differs from the conventional example in which communication of applications with high communication priority may become unstable depending on the communication environment. Traffic information can be reliably acquired by a traffic information app with high communication priority even under poor conditions .
Moreover, since the local proxy 26 is configured by a program, the local proxy 26 can be easily mounted on the control device 9 of the vehicle navigation device 1 and can be easily improved. It can be greatly suppressed.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be modified or expanded as follows.
Applications are not limited to web browsers, music servers, traffic information apps, such as news, weather forecasts, parking lot information, stock price information, restaurant information, lodging information, campground information, fortune telling information, message boards, emails, etc. An application for acquiring various contents may be installed.

The standby port number is not limited to 8080-8082 and can be set arbitrarily.
In the above embodiment, when the communication of the traffic information application as the priority application is completed, the local proxy 26 closes the standby port number 8082 corresponding to the traffic information application. It may be continued.

1 is a functional block diagram showing the overall configuration in an embodiment of the present invention. Schematic diagram showing local proxy communication Conceptual diagram showing communication by TCP / IP protocol stack Sequence diagram showing communication between each application and server FIG. 2 equivalent diagram showing communication by the traffic information application

Explanation of symbols

  In the drawings, 1 is a vehicle navigation device (in-vehicle communication terminal), 9 is a control device (storage means), 24 is a server, and 26 is a local proxy.

Claims (3)

In an in-vehicle communication terminal equipped with multiple applications and capable of acquiring content from a server connected to a wide area communication network by the communication operation of the started application,
A local proxy that controls data communication between the application and the server;
Storage means for storing the communication priority of the application,
The in-vehicle communication terminal characterized in that the local proxy stops data communication of an application having a low communication priority when an application having a high communication priority set in the storage unit starts data communication.   The in-vehicle communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the local proxy rejects a connection when there is a communication request of an application with a low communication priority during data communication of an application with a high communication priority. A vehicle navigation device having the function of the in-vehicle communication terminal according to claim 1.

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