JP2007278766A - On-board navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To manage traffic information properly even when inaccurate traffic information is delivered. <P>SOLUTION: The on-board navigation device is equipped with a traffic information receiving means for receiving the first traffic information to be delivered, a traffic information calculation means for acquiring the second traffic information from the actual traveling state of a vehicle, a reliability calculation means for acquiring reliability of the first traffic information by comparing the first traffic information with the second traffic information, and a navigation means for performing navigation processing by removing the first traffic information whose reliability is below a prescribed level. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted navigation device, and in particular, to a traffic information management technique.

  There is a service for transmitting road travel time and traffic jam information to an in-vehicle navigation device mounted on a vehicle. The vehicle-mounted navigation device receives these traffic information and uses them for display and route search.

JP-A-2005-70015

  By the way, the traffic information to be distributed is not always accurate. Since a center that distributes traffic information generates traffic information using the output of a vehicle detection sensor installed on a road, erroneous traffic information may be generated due to a sensor failure. Moreover, it cannot be said that there are no troubles such as a down of the server device of the center and a delay of update processing.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique for appropriately managing traffic information even when inaccurate traffic information is distributed.

  In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, the reliability of traffic information to be distributed is examined, and traffic information with low reliability is used as little as possible.

  For example, the present invention is an in-vehicle navigation apparatus, a traffic information receiving unit that receives first traffic information to be distributed, and a traffic information calculation unit that obtains second traffic information from an actual running state of a vehicle. And a reliability calculation means for determining the reliability of the first traffic information by comparing the first traffic information with the second traffic information.

  The vehicle-mounted navigation device may include navigation means for performing navigation processing by excluding the first traffic information whose reliability is below a predetermined level.

  The in-vehicle navigation device may include navigation means for performing a navigation process by reducing the weight of the first traffic information according to the reliability.

  The reliability calculation means may lower the reliability of the first traffic information when the difference between the first traffic information and the second traffic information exceeds a predetermined range.

  The reliability calculation means obtains the number of times that the difference between the first traffic information and the second traffic information exceeds a predetermined range, and when the obtained number of times exceeds the predetermined number, the first traffic information The reliability of information may be lowered.

  The first traffic information is traffic information for each specific target, and the reliability calculation means can calculate the reliability for each specific target.

  The reliability calculation means can calculate the reliability for each date, time, or day of the week.

  The on-vehicle navigation device may include means for transmitting the reliability calculated by the reliability calculation means to an external server device.

  Embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the navigation system of the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the navigation system of this embodiment includes a traffic information distribution server 100 and an in-vehicle navigation device 200 mounted on the vehicle.

  The traffic information distribution server 100 is a device for distributing real-time traffic information 110 that is current traffic information. The traffic information distribution server 100 distributes the real-time traffic information 110 to the vehicle-mounted navigation device 100 via a satellite radio broadcast, a digital terrestrial broadcast, a network such as the Internet, and the like.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the real-time traffic information 110 distributed by the traffic information distribution server 100. As shown in the figure, in the real-time traffic information 110, a code (link ID) 111 for identifying a link constituting a road, a link travel time 112, a link travel speed 113, and a traffic congestion degree 114 are stored. A record 115 is stored.

  Returning to FIG.

  The vehicle-mounted navigation device 200 is a vehicle-mounted device that is mounted for each vehicle. The in-vehicle navigation device 200 includes a main control unit 210, a current position detection unit 220, a display unit 240, an operation unit 250, a storage unit 260, and a communication unit 270.

  The main control unit 210 is a central unit that performs various processes, and controls each functional unit. For example, when a display request for the current position is received from the user via the operation unit 250, the current position is acquired from the current position detection unit 220, a map around the current position is acquired from the storage unit 260, and the current position is displayed on the display unit 240. Display a map of the surrounding area. When a route search request is received, link data is acquired from the storage unit 260, a route from the current location to the destination is searched by the Dijkstra method or the like, and the searched route is displayed on the display unit 240.

  The current position detection unit 220 includes a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, a vehicle speed sensor, a gyro, and the like, and can detect the current coordinate position of the vehicle. In addition, the current position on the map is obtained by map matching using the map data in the storage unit 260.

  The display unit 240 is a device for presenting traffic information to the user, and includes a liquid crystal display or the like. For example, the display unit 240 develops the map data in graphics and displays a mark indicating the current position on the map data.

  The operation unit 250 is an interface for receiving input from the user. The operation unit 250 includes a remote controller provided with a hard switch, a touch panel stretched on the front surface of the liquid crystal display, and the like.

  The memory | storage part 260 hold | maintains the various information which the vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus 200 processes. For example, it stores link data that is data relating to the links constituting the road on the map. The link data stores, for each link ID, the coordinate position of the start point and the end point, the link length, the link ID of the link connected to the start point or the end point, the road type to which the link belongs, and the like. In addition, the storage unit 260 stores the real-time traffic information 110 received from the traffic information distribution server 100.

  The communication unit 270 can receive satellite radio broadcasts, terrestrial digital broadcasts, and the like. It also has a function to connect to a network such as the Internet.

  Such a traffic information distribution server 100 and in-vehicle navigation device 200 includes a computing device such as a CPU, a storage device such as a RAM and a ROM, a bus for transmitting and receiving data, and a communication interface. Consists of. Moreover, each function part 210-270 of the vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus is achieved by executing a computer program, for example.

<Description of operation>
Next, the operation of the in-vehicle navigation device 200 configured as described above will be described. The in-vehicle navigation device 200 has functions for performing route search and route guidance, which are the original functions, but these are not described in detail.

  The in-vehicle navigation device 200 according to the present embodiment obtains the reliability of the real-time traffic information 110 for each target link.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the reliability calculation process for each link.

  The communication unit 270 of the in-vehicle navigation device 200 periodically receives the real-time traffic information 110 from the traffic information distribution server 100. Then, the received real-time traffic information 110 is stored in the storage unit 260. If the real-time traffic information 110 has already been stored, it is updated with the newly received real-time traffic information 110.

  On the other hand, the main control unit 210 periodically acquires the current position from the current position detection unit 220 and monitors which link the current position is on using the map data in the storage unit 260. Then, when it is detected that the vehicle has entered and exited one of the links, the flow shown in FIG. 3 is started (S101).

  The main control unit 210 determines whether or not the distributed real-time traffic information 110 includes traffic information of the escaped link (referred to as “target link”) (S102). Here, “travel speed” will be described as an example. The main control unit 210 determines whether there is a record 115 in which the link ID 111 is the same as the link ID of the target link from the real-time traffic information 110 in the storage unit 260. And when there exists, the travel speed 113 of the record 115 is extracted. If the travel time 112 is present even without the travel speed 113, the travel speed may be obtained by dividing the link length of the target link obtained from the map data by the travel time 112. Alternatively, the travel speed may be obtained by deriving a predetermined travel speed according to the traffic level from the traffic congestion level 114.

  If there is no travel speed related to the target link in the distributed real-time traffic information 110 (N in S102), the main control unit 210 ends the reliability calculation process.

  On the other hand, if the distributed real-time traffic information 110 includes a travel speed related to the target link (Y in S102), the main control unit 210 obtains a difference from the actual travel speed, and whether the difference is within a predetermined range. It is determined whether or not (S103). Specifically, first, the actual link travel time is obtained from the entry time and exit time to the target link. Next, the actual travel speed is obtained by dividing the link length of the target link obtained from the map data by the actual travel time. Then, a difference between the actual travel speed and the travel speed 113 extracted in S102 is obtained, and it is determined whether or not the difference is within a predetermined range (for example, within 40 km / h).

  When the difference between the actual travel speed and the travel speed 113 of the real-time traffic information 110 is within the predetermined range (Y in S103), the main control unit 210 ends the reliability calculation process.

  On the other hand, if the difference between the actual travel speed and the travel speed 113 of the real-time traffic information 110 is not within the predetermined range (N in S103), the main control unit 210 assumes that the real-time traffic information 110 regarding the target link is inaccurate. 4, the defect record data 300 stores the link ID 301 of the target link and the date / time (defect detection date / time) 302 determined to be inaccurate (S104).

  Thereafter, the main control unit 210 calculates the reliability of the real-time traffic information 110 regarding the target link (S105).

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process for calculating the reliability.

  The main control unit 210 obtains the number of times the traffic information is determined to be inaccurate regarding the target link from the number of records stored in the defect detection date 302 of the defect record data 300. Then, it is determined whether or not the obtained number of times exceeds a predetermined number (for example, 3 times) (S201). If it exceeds, the reliability is set to “0” and stored in the reliability data 310 (S202). In the initial state, the reliability of the real-time traffic information 110 of each link is set to “100”.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of the reliability data 310. The reliability data 310 stores the reliability 312 of the real-time traffic information 110 for each link ID 311.

  When the reliability data 310 is updated (S105), the main control unit 210 ends the reliability calculation process.

  The reliability calculation process has been described above. As described above, the reliability of the real-time traffic information 110 of each link is updated by information (travel speed) collected by actual traveling.

  The reliability once lowered may be recovered. For example, in S103, when the difference between the travel speed of the real-time traffic information 110 and the actual travel speed is within a predetermined range, the reliability 312 of the link ID 311 of the target link in the reliability data 310 is set to “100”. To do.

  The reliability 312 of the real-time traffic information 110 obtained in this way is used for various navigation processes.

  The case where the reliability 312 of the real-time traffic information 110 is used for (1) traffic information display, (2) route search, (3) calculation of required time, and (4) detour route display will be described below. .

(1) When using reliability for displaying traffic information When the main control unit 210 receives a display request for the real-time traffic information 110 from the user via the operation unit 260, the main control unit 210 displays the real-time traffic information 110 on the display unit 240. To do. At this time, traffic information with low reliability (travel time 112, travel speed 113, traffic congestion level 114) is excluded from the real-time traffic information 110, and the remaining traffic information is displayed.

  Specifically, the traffic information to be displayed is extracted from the real-time traffic information 110. For example, when the traffic information around the current position is a display target, the record 115 including the link ID 111 of the link around the current position is extracted. Then, for each extracted record 115, the reliability 312 of the link ID 311 of the reliability data 310 corresponding to the link ID 111 is obtained. Further, it is determined whether or not the reliability 312 is equal to or less than a predetermined value (or reliability = 0). If the reliability 312 is equal to or lower than the predetermined value, the traffic information (travel time 112, travel speed 113, and traffic congestion level 114) stored in the record 115 is excluded from the display target.

  Alternatively, when the traffic information has low reliability 312, the main control unit 210 may display the traffic information together with information indicating the traffic information. For example, the display mode is changed and displayed in a different color from other traffic information.

  Alternatively, actual traffic information may be displayed instead of the real-time traffic information 110 with low reliability 312.

(2) When using reliability for route search When the main control unit 210 receives a route search request from the user via the operation unit 250, the main control unit 210 receives the destination and the search condition, and then satisfies the search condition. The route from the position to the destination is searched by the Dijkstra method or the like. Here, in order to search for the route with the shortest total travel time to the destination, the travel time 112 for each link included in the real-time traffic information 110 is used as the link cost, and the route with the minimum total cost is searched. Good.

  At this time, the main control unit 210 does not use the travel time 112 of the real-time traffic information 110 with low reliability. Specifically, when setting the link cost, the reliability data 310 is referred to, and the reliability 312 of the link ID 311 of the link is obtained. When the reliability 312 is equal to or less than a predetermined value (or reliability = 0), instead of using the travel time 112 of the real-time traffic information 110 as the link cost, the link travel time (link length is calculated from the map data). A predetermined speed (for example, travel time determined by dividing by 40 km / h) is used.

  Alternatively, the travel time 112 of the real-time traffic information 110 may be corrected and used by multiplying a predetermined coefficient according to the reliability. For example, when the reliability is low, the traffic time is lightened by multiplying the travel time 112 of the real-time traffic information 110 by a coefficient of “1” or less.

  Alternatively, actual traffic information (travel time) may be used instead of the real-time traffic information 110 with low reliability 312.

(3) When the reliability is used for calculating the required time The main control unit 210 calculates the required time for the route searched under various search conditions (for example, distance priority, toll road priority, etc.) according to the user's request. To do. The required time of the route can be obtained by using the link travel time 112 of the real-time traffic information 110 as the link travel time constituting the route. At this time, the main control unit 210 does not use the travel time 112 with low reliability.

  Specifically, when the link travel time constituting the route is obtained, the reliability data 312 is obtained by referring to the reliability data 310. When the reliability 312 is equal to or less than a predetermined value (for example, 60 or less), instead of using the travel time 112 of the real-time traffic information 110 as the link travel time, the link travel time (link length) obtained from the map data is used. Is divided by a predetermined speed (for example, 40 km / h), and the travel time is used.

  Alternatively, the travel time 112 of the real-time traffic information 110 may be corrected and used by multiplying a predetermined coefficient according to the reliability. For example, when the reliability is low, the traffic time is lightened by multiplying the travel time 112 of the real-time traffic information 110 by a coefficient of 1 or less.

  Alternatively, actual traffic information (travel time) may be used instead of the real-time traffic information 110 with low reliability 312.

(4) When using reliability for displaying a detour route Normally, when the main control unit 210 detects a traffic jam ahead of the current position during route guidance, it searches for and displays a route that bypasses the traffic jam. . However, when the traffic jam is obtained from the real-time traffic information 110 and the link of the traffic jam is a link with low reliability of the real-time traffic information 110, the main control unit 210 does not search for a detour route. To do. That is, the detour route is not displayed.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.

  According to the above embodiment, traffic information with low reliability can be excluded. Alternatively, the weight of traffic information having low reliability is set lower than that of traffic information having high reliability. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the influence of traffic information with low reliability on the navigation process.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The above-described embodiment can be variously modified. <Modification 1>
For example, the main control unit 210 may obtain the reliability of the real-time traffic information 110 for each time zone in the reliability calculation process (S105). FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of the reliability data 320 in such a case. It is assumed that the initial value of the reliability 323 for each link ID 321 and each time zone 322 of the real-time traffic information 110 is “100”.

  As described above, the main control unit 210 stores the date and time when the real-time traffic information 110 of the target link is determined to be inaccurate in the defect record data 300 (S104). Next, a record 324 in which the link ID 321 is the link ID of the target link and the time zone 322 is the time zone to which the defect detection date / time belongs is extracted from the reliability data 320. Then, the reliability 323 of the extracted record 324 is updated by subtracting a predetermined value (for example, “10”). In the case of “0”, it remains as it is.

  When using the real-time traffic information 110, the main control unit 210 determines whether or not to use the real-time traffic information 110 based on the reliability 323 of the time zone 322 of the date and time (or the coefficient). Decide whether or not to use.

<Modification 2>
Further, the main control unit 210 may obtain the reliability of the real-time traffic information 110 for each day of the week in the reliability calculation process (S105). FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of the reliability data 330 in such a case. It is assumed that the initial value of the reliability 333 for each link ID 331 and each day of the week 332 of the real-time traffic information 110 is “100”.

  As described above, the main control unit 210 stores the date and time when the real-time traffic information 110 of the target link is determined to be inaccurate in the defect record data 300 (S104). Next, a record 334 is extracted from the reliability data 330, where the link ID 331 is the link ID of the target link and the day of the week 332 is the day of the week to which the defect detection date / time belongs. Then, the reliability 333 of the extracted record 334 is updated by subtracting a predetermined value (for example, “10”). In the case of “0”, it remains as it is.

  When using the real-time traffic information 110, the main control unit 210 determines whether or not to use the real-time traffic information 110 based on the reliability 333 of the day 332 according to the day of the week used (or multiplying by a coefficient). Decide whether or not to use.

<Modification 3>
The defect record data 300 and the reliability data 310 to 320 may be shared among a plurality of in-vehicle navigation devices 200.

  For example, a membership system is used so that these information can be shared among members.

  FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of the navigation system in such a case. The plurality of in-vehicle navigation devices 200 can be connected to a network 88 such as the Internet.

  The traffic information management server 400 receives each defect record data 300 from the plurality of in-vehicle navigation devices 200. And it accumulates in its own storage device as defective record data 410. The traffic information management server 400 can receive the real-time traffic information 110 from the traffic information distribution server 100. Therefore, the reliability data 420 of the real-time traffic information 110 of each link is generated from the received real-time traffic information 110 and the defect record data 410 by the method of the above embodiment.

  The main control unit 210 of the in-vehicle navigation device 200 periodically requests the traffic information management server 400 to download the reliability data 420. In response to this, the traffic information management server 400 downloads the reliability data 420 stored in its own storage device to the in-vehicle navigation device 200.

  In this way, each in-vehicle navigation device 200 can acquire the reliability of the real-time traffic information 110 generated based on the travel record of the other vehicle.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a navigation system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of real-time traffic information. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the reliability calculation process. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of defective recording data. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the process of S105 of FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of reliability data. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of reliability data. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of reliability data. FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of a navigation system according to a modification.

Explanation of symbols

100 ... Traffic information distribution server,
110 ... Real-time traffic information,
200: In-vehicle navigation device,
210 ... main control unit, 220 ... current position detection unit, 240 ... display unit, 250 ... operation unit, 260 ... storage unit, 270 ... communication unit,
88 ... Network,
400: Traffic information management server 410: Defect recording data 420: Reliability data

Claims (8)

An in-vehicle navigation device,
Traffic information receiving means for receiving the first traffic information to be distributed;
Traffic information calculating means for obtaining second traffic information from the actual driving situation of the vehicle;
A vehicle-mounted navigation device, comprising: a reliability calculation unit that determines the reliability of the first traffic information by comparing the first traffic information with the second traffic information. The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 1,
An in-vehicle navigation device comprising navigation means for performing navigation processing by excluding the first traffic information whose reliability is below a predetermined level. The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 1,
An in-vehicle navigation device comprising navigation means for performing a navigation process by reducing the weight of the first traffic information according to the reliability. The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 1,
The reliability calculation means includes
The vehicle-mounted navigation device, wherein when the difference between the first traffic information and the second traffic information exceeds a predetermined range, the reliability of the first traffic information is lowered. The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 1,
The reliability calculation means includes
The number of times that the difference between the first traffic information and the second traffic information exceeds a predetermined range is obtained, and when the obtained number of times exceeds the predetermined number, the reliability of the first traffic information is lowered. A vehicle-mounted navigation device comprising: The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 1,
The first traffic information is traffic information for each specific target,
The reliability calculation means includes
A vehicle-mounted navigation device comprising: calculating reliability for each specific target. The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 1,
The reliability calculation means includes
A vehicle-mounted navigation device comprising: calculating reliability for each date, time, or day of the week. An in-vehicle navigation device,
Traffic information receiving means for receiving the first traffic information to be distributed;
Traffic information calculating means for obtaining second traffic information from the actual driving situation of the vehicle;
A reliability calculation means for determining the reliability of the first traffic information by comparing the first traffic information and the second traffic information;
Means for transmitting the reliability calculated by the reliability calculation means to an external server device;
A vehicle-mounted navigation device comprising:

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