JP2008186082A - Information creation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information creation system, estimating an empty road while suppressing communication cost. <P>SOLUTION: The information creation system collects information from running vehicles by using communication and creates predetermined information based on the collected information. When the information creation system collects congestion information from the running vehicles and creates road traffic information, the system estimates a travel route of the sender vehicles, based on points at which congestion information for each of the running vehicles is uploaded and points at which requests to provide road traffic information are uploaded. Then, the system determines that, in the estimated travel route, routes other than the congested route shown by congestion information uploaded from the sender vehicle is an empty road. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention generally relates to an information creation system that collects information from a running vehicle using communication, and creates predetermined information from the collected information. In particular, the present invention relates to an empty road while reducing communication costs. It is related with the information creation system which can estimate.

  Conventionally, there has been known a system that collects information (for example, position information and vehicle speed information) from a running vehicle and creates predetermined information (for example, road information and traffic jam information) from the collected information. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1). Such a system is called a probe car system because each traveling vehicle plays the role of a probe (sensor).

Patent Document 1 discloses a system configured to upload link information determined to be congested only to a traffic information center when the probe car detects congested traffic in order to reduce communication costs. .
JP 2004-251710 A

  Certainly, according to the conventional system described in Patent Document 1, the number of times of upload execution is reduced compared to the case where information is regularly uploaded to the center even when the probe car is judged as an empty road or when it is judged as a traffic jam. Therefore, communication costs are expected to be reduced.

  However, according to the conventional system described in Patent Document 1, since information is uploaded to the center only when traffic congestion is detected, traffic congestion occurs on the center where no information has been uploaded from the probe car. It is not possible to determine whether the road is empty or the information is not uploaded because there is a traffic jam but the probe car is not running. In other words, the center cannot estimate an empty road.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and it is a main object of the present invention to provide an information creation system capable of estimating an empty road while realizing reduction of communication costs.

  One aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object is an information creation system that collects information from a running vehicle using communication and creates predetermined information from the collected information. When traffic information is collected from vehicles and road traffic information is created, the traffic information is uploaded based on the location where the traffic information is uploaded for each of the traveling vehicles and the location where the provision request for the road traffic information is uploaded. Information that estimates the travel route of the transmission source vehicle and determines that the remaining portion other than the route portion indicated as congested by the traffic information uploaded from the transmission source vehicle among the estimated travel routes is an empty road It is a creation system.

  In the above aspect, each of the traveling vehicles uploads predetermined traveling information related to the host vehicle when uploading the provision request. Here, the predetermined travel information includes, for example, a road type, a travel direction (direction), an elapsed time since the previous upload, a travel distance since the previous upload, and the like.

  Moreover, in the said one aspect | mode, if traffic information can be acquired from other traffic information production systems, such as VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System), the said information production system will be the said transmission origin from the said estimated driving | running route. In addition to the route portion indicated as congested by the traffic information uploaded from the vehicle, the remainder obtained by subtracting the route portion indicated as congested by the traffic information acquired from the other traffic information creation system. Shall be judged as an empty road.

  According to the above aspect, the traffic information from the probe car is estimated by estimating the travel route of the probe car on the center side, and determining a free road for a portion that is not determined to be congested on the travel route of the probe car. It is possible to discriminate both traffic jam locations and empty roads while suppressing communication costs by uploading only to the center.

  In the above aspect, each of the traveling vehicles preferably uploads the attribute information of the map data held by the host vehicle when uploading the traffic jam information or the provision request. As a result, the information creation system can use map data having attribute information that matches the attribute information uploaded from the transmission source vehicle when estimating the travel route of the transmission source vehicle. Search errors such as differences can be eliminated.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the information preparation system which can estimate an empty road can be provided, implement | achieving suppression of a communication cost.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The basic concept of the road-to-vehicle communication system, the main hardware configuration, the operating principle, the basic control method, and the like are known to those skilled in the art and will not be described in detail.

  Hereinafter, an information creation system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information creation system 100 according to the present embodiment.

  The information creation system 100 is managed and operated by an in-vehicle device 101 mounted on each of the information collecting cooperative vehicles V and a business entity such as a national or local public organization, a public organization or a private organization entrusted by them. And an information creation device (center) 102 that receives and collects information transmitted from the traveling vehicle V, performs aggregation and statistical processing, and creates predetermined information.

  The in-vehicle device 101 and the center 102 are configured to be able to communicate with each other using wireless communication. The communication connection between the in-vehicle device 101 and the center 102 is not limited to a direct wireless communication connection, but may be an indirect communication connection via vehicle-to-vehicle communication, road-to-vehicle communication, and / or satellite communication. Moreover, the communication system employ | adopted may be arbitrary.

  The movement of the information creation system 100 in this embodiment will be described briefly. First, (1) each vehicle V detects a traffic jam (for example, when the average vehicle speed during a predetermined period is less than a predetermined speed). Traffic jam information (described later) is uploaded to the center 102. Further, (2) when a certain vehicle V requests road traffic information from the center 102, (3) the center 102 determines road traffic information (congestion location and if possible) based on information collected from each vehicle V so far. (4) and send it back to the requesting vehicle V.

  As described above, the information creation system 100 according to the present embodiment is generally a system that collects traffic jam information from each participating vehicle V, creates road traffic information, and provides it to the vehicle V as an information request source.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the in-vehicle device 101 mounted on each vehicle V in the information creation system 100 according to the present embodiment.

  The in-vehicle device 101 includes a communication unit 201 for transmitting / receiving information to / from the center 102 (FIG. 1) using wireless communication. The performance and shape of the antenna included in the communication unit 201 and the method and frequency band used for communication are not particularly limited and may be arbitrary. Specifically, for example, it is conceivable to adopt a wireless communication system that conforms to a communication standard such as an existing mobile phone or a wireless local area network (LAN).

  Moreover, it is preferable that the communication part 201 is comprised so that traffic information from the existing VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System) etc. may be received and traffic congestion information may be acquired, for example.

  The in-vehicle device 101 further includes a host vehicle position detection unit 202 that detects the position of the host vehicle using, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System). The detection accuracy (resolution) of the own vehicle position detection unit 202 is preferably as high (fine) as possible. For example, it is preferable to use high-accuracy GPS such as RTK (Real Time Kinematic) -GPS.

  The in-vehicle device 101 further includes a vehicle speed detection unit 203 that detects the vehicle speed of the host vehicle. The vehicle speed detection unit 106 detects the vehicle speed of the host vehicle using, for example, a wheel speed sensor. As an alternative example, the vehicle speed of the host vehicle may be calculated from the time change of the host vehicle position detected by the host vehicle position detection unit 202.

  The in-vehicle device 101 further includes a storage unit 204 that stores and holds map information in advance and stores and holds a travel history of the host vehicle. The storage unit 204 may be a storage medium of any type / standard such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a memory, or a DVD disk. It is preferable that the map information stored and held in the storage unit 204 is appropriately updated to the latest version / content using, for example, communication by the communication unit 201.

  The in-vehicle device 101 further includes an information providing unit 205 that provides the driver with road traffic information received from the center 1002 based on an instruction from the calculation / control unit 206 described later. The information providing unit 205 may be configured to visually provide information such as A) displaying character / symbol information on a display device, or B) outputting a voice message from a speaker. It may be configured to provide information audibly, or C) may be a combination of A) and B).

  When the information providing unit 205 includes A) a display device, it may be any type of display device, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD). It may also be used as a display device of another in-vehicle system (for example, a multimedia system). Furthermore, it is also possible to implement as a touch panel display device so that the display device can be used as a user input means.

  When the information providing unit 205 includes a speaker B), it may be an arbitrary speaker provided in the vehicle interior, and may also be used as a speaker of another in-vehicle system (for example, an audio visual system).

  The in-vehicle device 101 further includes a calculation / control unit 206 that executes various calculations and comprehensively controls each component of the in-vehicle device 101. In the present embodiment, the calculation / control unit 206 is, for example, an ECU (Electronic Control Unit).

  In the in-vehicle device 101 having such a configuration, the calculation / control unit 206, for example, has an average vehicle speed during a predetermined period of less than a predetermined speed based on the detection result by the own vehicle position detection unit 202 and the detection result by the vehicle speed detection unit 203. In such a case, it is determined that there is a traffic jam on the road on which the host vehicle is traveling, and the communication unit 201 transmits (uploads) the traffic jam information to the center 102.

  Here, the traffic jam information includes information related to the road section where the traffic jam is determined to have occurred. The road section where it is determined that a traffic jam has occurred is arbitrarily defined. For example, the link may be designated as a unit, or the contents of the link may be further divided and designated.

  In addition, when the in-vehicle device 101 uploads traffic jam information, the current vehicle current position information (for example, latitude / longitude coordinate information), road type, host vehicle traveling direction (direction), and traffic jam to the previous center 102 are also uploaded. Various traveling information such as information on the elapsed time and distance traveled since uploading information or requesting road traffic information and the version (version) of map information stored in the storage unit 204 is transmitted to the center 102. .

  Furthermore, the in-vehicle device 101 uploads a request for requesting provision of the latest road traffic information to the center 102 at a predetermined timing. Here, the predetermined timing may be, for example, a periodic / periodic timing during traveling of the host vehicle, or may be when requested by the user, or an appropriate one thereof. It may be a combination.

  In this case as well, when the in-vehicle device 101 requests road traffic information, the vehicle current position information, the road type, the traveling direction (direction) of the own vehicle, and the traffic information are uploaded to the previous center 102 or the road traffic information. Various travel information such as the elapsed time and travel distance since the request is made and information on the version of the map information stored in the storage unit 204 are transmitted to the center 102.

  In addition, when the latest road traffic information is received from the center 102 in response to a request for road traffic information, the in-vehicle device 101 provides the road traffic information to the vehicle occupant through the information providing unit 205 as described above.

  FIG. 3 illustrates a center (information) that collects information from each vehicle V in the information creation system 100 according to the present embodiment, creates road traffic information in response to a request from the vehicle V, and provides information to the requesting vehicle V. FIG.

  The center 102 includes a communication unit 301 for transmitting and receiving information to and from the in-vehicle device 101 (FIG. 1) mounted on each vehicle V using wireless communication. The performance and shape of the antenna included in the communication unit 301 and the method and frequency band used for communication are not particularly limited and may be arbitrary. Specifically, for example, it is conceivable to adopt a wireless communication system compliant with a communication standard such as an existing mobile phone or wireless LAN.

  The center 102 further includes a storage unit 302 that stores and holds map information in advance, and stores and holds traffic jam information received from each vehicle V. The storage unit 302 may be a storage medium of any type / standard. The storage unit 302 preferably stores and holds not only the latest version / content of map information but also versions of multiple generations that the in-vehicle device 101 may hold.

  The center 102 further includes a calculation / control unit 303 that executes various calculations and comprehensively controls each component of the center 102. In the present embodiment, the calculation / control unit 303 is, for example, an ECU.

  In the center 102 having such a configuration, when the traffic information or road traffic information request is received from the vehicle V, the calculation / control unit 303 receives the vehicle position information and the traffic information if received. Based on the above, road traffic information is created and stored in the storage unit 302.

  In addition, when a road traffic information request is received from the vehicle V, the calculation / control unit 303 checks the received current position of the transmission source vehicle V in light of the road traffic information stored and stored in the storage unit 302. The latest road traffic information around the vehicle position is transmitted to the transmission source vehicle V.

  Next, the flow of road traffic information creation processing by the center 102 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the calculation / control unit 303 of the center 102 waits for access from the in-vehicle device 101 (S401).

  When an access is received from the in-vehicle device 101 (“YES” in S401), the calculation / control unit 303 determines whether the information uploaded from the in-vehicle device 101 is traffic jam information or a request for the latest road traffic information. Is determined (S402).

  When the access from the in-vehicle device 101 is upload of traffic jam information, the calculation / control unit 303 stores the received traffic jam information in the storage unit 302 (S403). If the access from the in-vehicle device 101 is a request for road traffic information, this process (S403) is skipped.

  Next, the calculation / control unit 303 stores the location information of the transmission source vehicle and other various traveling information received together with the traffic jam information or the road traffic information request in the storage unit 302 (S404).

  Next, the calculation / control unit 303 refers to the road traffic information stored and stored in the storage unit 302, and the transmission source vehicle V that has uploaded the traffic jam information or the road traffic information request this time is a past (previous) predetermined period. It is determined whether or not traffic information or road traffic information request has been uploaded within the network (S405).

  When there is no previous data for the transmission source vehicle V (“NO” in S405), since route estimation as described later cannot be performed, only information is accumulated in S404 (and / or S403) this time, and one routine of this flow is performed. Is finished (return to S401).

  On the other hand, when the previous data for the transmission source vehicle V is stored and held in the storage unit 302 (“YES” in S405), the calculation / control unit 303 then determines the map information version of the transmission source vehicle V and The map information of the same version is read from the storage unit 302 (S406).

  Next, the calculation / control unit 303 uses the map information of the same version as that of the transmission source vehicle V read from the storage unit 302 to reach the position of the transmission source vehicle V from the position where the previous uploading was performed and the current uploading position. The route that is considered to have traveled by the transmission source vehicle V is searched (S407). There may be a plurality of candidate routes.

  Next, the calculation / control unit 303 calculates the length of the one or more found routes, compares the calculated length with the travel distance from the previous upload position received from the transmission source vehicle V to the current upload position, and the two match. It is determined whether or not to perform (S408). When a plurality of candidate routes are found, this determination is made for each route, and a route having a route length closest to the travel distance received from the transmission source vehicle V is extracted from the plurality of candidate routes and received for the route. It is determined whether or not it matches the travel distance. As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the term “matching” here does not necessarily indicate perfect matching, but is a range that can be said to match in view of each processing in the present embodiment. If the difference between the two is within the range, it is assumed to be “match” here.

  When the length of the searched route matches with the travel distance received from the transmission source vehicle V (determined that it can be said to match) (“YES” in S408), the calculation / control unit 303 then Then, it is determined that the route is a route traveled by the transmission source vehicle V, and road traffic information about the route is created.

  More specifically, if the request received this time is a road traffic information request (“NO” in S409), no traffic jam information has been detected, so all roads (links) on the route are jammed. It is estimated that the road is an empty road, and road traffic information indicating that all of the roads are empty roads is created, and one routine of this flow is terminated (S411).

  On the other hand, if the traffic information received this time (“YES” in S409), the portion of the road on the route excluding the road (link) indicated that traffic congestion has occurred according to the traffic congestion information Is estimated to be an empty road where no traffic jam occurs, road traffic information including the traffic jam location and the empty road location is created for the route, and one routine of this flow is terminated (S412).

  The process returns to S408. If the length of the searched route does not match the travel distance received from the transmission source vehicle V (it is determined that it cannot be said that they match) (“NO” in S408), then the calculation / The control unit 303 creates road traffic information on the assumption that the travel route of the transmission source vehicle V cannot be specified, and therefore it is impossible to determine whether the entire travel route is a traffic jam or an empty road. In other words, road traffic information is created using only traffic jam information, and an empty road is not specified by a combination of a vehicle travel route and traffic jam information.

  More specifically, if the traffic information received this time (“YES” in S410), the traffic jam occurs only on the road (link) indicated by the traffic jam information as having traffic jam. Is created, and one routine of this flow is terminated (S413).

  On the other hand, if it is a request for road traffic information received this time (“NO” in S409), traffic congestion information has not been detected, so road traffic information is not created in the current routine, and 1 in this flow. The routine is terminated (S414).

  An example of road traffic information created by the road traffic information creation process by the center 102 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, black circles indicate points (points A, C, and D) where the vehicle V requests road traffic information from the center 102, and black triangles indicate that the same vehicle V uploads traffic information to the center 102. The points (points B) that were made are shown respectively. In addition, the solid-line arrows are sections in which traffic jams are indicated in the traffic jam information uploaded at the point B.

  As shown in FIG. 5, when center access is executed at each point, the center 102 estimates a route connecting these points, and estimates a route as shown in FIG. Of the estimated route, road traffic information other than the traffic jam occurrence section (broken arrow) is created as an empty road.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, each vehicle V does not regularly upload the position information to the center 102, but uploads only when traffic congestion is detected, while suppressing the communication cost, By estimating the travel route, it is possible to estimate that the section of the travel route where traffic jam information has not been uploaded is an empty road.

  As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the in-vehicle device 101 according to the present embodiment can be realized as a function of the car navigation system and incorporated in the system. Of course, it may be realized as a device / system separate from the car navigation system.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used in an information creation system that collects information from a running vehicle using communication and creates predetermined information from the collected information. The power source type, fuel type, appearance design, weight, size, running performance, etc. of the vehicle to be controlled are all unquestioned.

It is a schematic block diagram of the information creation system which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a schematic block diagram of the vehicle-mounted apparatus mounted in each vehicle in the information preparation system which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a schematic block diagram of the center (information preparation apparatus) which produces road traffic information in the information preparation system which concerns on one Example of this invention, and transmits to the vehicle of a request origin. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the road traffic information preparation process by the center (information preparation apparatus) which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the information collected by the center (information preparation apparatus) which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the vehicle travel route estimated by the center (information preparation apparatus) which concerns on one Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Information creation system 101 In-vehicle apparatus 102 Sensor (information creation apparatus)
201, 301 Communication unit 202 Own vehicle position detection unit 203 Vehicle speed detection unit 204, 302 Storage unit 205 Information provision unit 206, 303 Calculation / control unit

Claims (5)

An information creation system that collects information from a running vehicle using communication and creates predetermined information from the collected information.
When collecting traffic information from the traveling vehicle and creating road traffic information, the traffic information is uploaded for each of the traveling vehicles, and the provision request for the road traffic information is uploaded. Based on the transmission route of the transmission source vehicle, and the remaining portion other than the route portion indicated as being congested by the traffic congestion information uploaded from the transmission source vehicle of the estimated travel route as an empty road An information creation system characterized by judging. The information creation system according to claim 1,
Each of the traveling vehicles uploads predetermined traveling information related to the own vehicle when uploading the provision request. The information creation system according to claim 1 or 2,
From the estimated travel route, in addition to the route portion indicated as congested by the traffic information uploaded from the transmission source vehicle, the traffic is congested by traffic information acquired from another traffic information creation system. An information creation system characterized in that the remaining part obtained by subtracting the route part indicated as “is” is determined as an empty road. The information creation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Each of the traveling vehicles uploads attribute information of map data held by the own vehicle when uploading the traffic jam information or the provision request. An information creation system according to claim 4,
An information creating system using map data having attribute information that matches the attribute information uploaded from the transmission source vehicle when estimating the travel route of the transmission source vehicle.

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