JP2011238144A - Traffic information acquisition system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem that unnecessary traffic information is delivered to a user because of lack of consideration on whether traffic information with high granularity is useful to the user or not, and to solve a problem that effective areas and effective period of the traffic information cannot controlled to be local and restrictive.SOLUTION: To resolve the above problems, a location and a time where traffic information is obtained are recorded, and a moving direction of a user is identified. The information is delivered to the user only when it is determined that the user is moving to a direction that makes the user closer to the location where the information is obtained. Also, the information is controlled in a manner that the information is discarded when the user moves to a location beyond a prescribed distance from the location where the information is obtained or when a predetermined period of time has passed.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method and a system for acquiring traffic data on road congestion and accidents in a mobile portable terminal device.

  Traffic information such as traffic jams and accidents occur frequently every day, and the driving car constantly receives traffic information and uses it for future traffic. The current traffic information propagation method is a method in which traffic information collected by sensors or the like installed on the road is transmitted to a server on the center side, and the server side organizes information and distributes it to each car. Each driving car can receive the traffic information processed on the center side and display it together with a map on a navigation system installed in the car.

  For example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-216584 disclosed in Patent Document 1 as a conventional technique, the terminal includes a server installed at a location different from the terminal, and the terminal acquires current position information indicating the current position. Then, the terminal information including the current position information is transmitted to the server, and the guide information received from the server is presented to the terminal user.

Such a method is suitable for processing a large amount of traffic information that is constantly generated, but places where traffic information is obtained are limited to roads with a high traffic volume, for example, on roads with a low traffic volume. The issue is whether it is possible to handle detailed traffic information. For example, when road construction is performed on a local road that normally passes and it takes time to pass, a sensor that acquires the traffic information is not installed because it is not installed because the traffic volume is usually low.
In the case of a server-type traffic information distribution system, in order to acquire more detailed traffic information, the number of installed sensors must be increased, and the cost effectiveness of investing in the system is a problem.
For this reason, the installation position of the sensor must be limited to roads with a large amount of traffic, and it is difficult to handle detailed traffic information.

  On the other hand, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-105928 shown in Patent Document 2, an information transmission method using a portable data transmission / reception terminal device is disclosed. With this technology, data such as received electronic mail can be transmitted to another portable data transmitting / receiving terminal device capable of transmitting and receiving. Applying this technology to automobile traffic information, portable data transmission / reception terminal devices are installed in automobiles, and traffic information (for example, road works) is transmitted to portable data transmission / reception terminal devices installed in other automobiles. It is possible to do. As a result, it is possible to improve the granularity of traffic information, which has been difficult with the server-type information propagation method disclosed in Patent Document 1. However, when the technique shown in Patent Document 2 is applied, data is transmitted only by whether transmission / reception is possible with another portable data transmission / reception terminal device. For example, to another automobile that has passed a road construction section. Information may be propagated. Even if the granularity of traffic information is improved, if it is not beneficial for the other party that is the transmission destination, it is merely noise for the receiving side, and the problem of having to select the really necessary information on the receiving side has not been solved. It was.

JP 2009-216584 A JP 2009-105928 A

  From the above, when propagating traffic information with high granularity, the determination of the usefulness of the traffic information is a technical issue.

  In the case of Patent Document 1, there is no granularity of traffic information because the number of installed sensors is limited due to cost. Conversely, since the number of installed sensors is limited, the usefulness of the acquired traffic information is already determined to be useful because the acquired traffic volume is large. In the case of Patent Document 2, it is possible to improve the granularity of traffic information as described above, but it is not determined whether the information is useful for the other party. Therefore, even if the acquired traffic information is propagated, information that is completely useless is propagated. The information about the road construction should be useful only when the other party moves in the direction of road construction. For this purpose, it is necessary to determine whether the information is useful for the other party from the position of the acquired traffic information and the moving direction of the other party to transmit. Thus, there is a problem that the effective range and effective period of traffic information with high granularity cannot be controlled despite being local and limited.

  Therefore, the present invention has an object to acquire traffic information with high granularity, determine whether it is useful for propagation, and propagate traffic information only when it is determined to be useful information for the other party.

  In order to achieve the above object, the usefulness of the acquired traffic information is judged from two pieces of information of the acquisition time and the acquisition position. For example, in the case of the acquisition position, the moving direction of the counterpart device is specified, and when the direction is close to the acquisition position, it is determined that it is beneficial for the counterpart device and transferred. The acquired information is valid only within a predetermined range from the acquisition position, and the information is rejected when the holding device moves out of the range. At the acquisition time, information within a certain period of time after acquisition is retained, and is deleted after a certain period of time. In this way, by specifying the direction of movement of the other party when transmitting to the other party device and transmitting it in the approaching direction, it is possible to propagate only information useful for the other party.

  According to the present invention, traffic information with high granularity can be shared between a plurality of devices within a certain distance from the acquisition position and within a certain time period from the acquisition time. Also in information propagation, since it propagates only to a device that moves in a direction approaching the acquisition position, unnecessary information propagation can be prevented, and it can be limited to only traffic information with high granularity that is really necessary.

It is explanatory drawing which showed the traffic information acquisition method between a motor vehicle and a road. It is explanatory drawing which showed the traffic information acquisition method between a motor vehicle. It is a hardware block diagram of a vehicle-mounted type traffic information acquisition device. It is a hardware block diagram of a fixed traffic information acquisition apparatus. It is explanatory drawing in Example 1 which showed the model which propagates traffic information between vehicle-mounted type traffic information acquisition apparatuses. It is a traffic information measurement table memorize | stored with a vehicle-mounted type traffic information acquisition apparatus. It is a traffic information transmission table memorize | stored with a vehicle-mounted type traffic information acquisition apparatus. It is a flowchart in which a vehicle-mounted type traffic information acquisition device measures traffic information. It is a flowchart in which a vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition device transfers traffic information to another vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition device. It is a special information table memorize | stored with a vehicle-mounted type traffic information acquisition apparatus. It is a flowchart for judging using the threshold value acquired in the special situation. It is explanatory drawing in Example 2 which showed the model which propagates the information which the mobile portable terminal device acquired to other mobile portable terminal devices.

  Hereinafter, a first embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a method for acquiring traffic information between the automobile 101 and the road 102. The present invention is realized by an in-vehicle type traffic information acquisition device 103 and a fixed type traffic information acquisition device 104, and a fixed type traffic information in which an automobile 101 equipped with the in-vehicle type traffic information acquisition device 103 is installed or embedded in a road 102. When passing through the vicinity of the acquisition device 104, the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 103 acquires various information recorded in the fixed traffic information acquisition device 104.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a method for acquiring traffic information between the automobile 101 and the automobile 101. An automobile 101-a equipped with the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 103 travels in front of the automobile 101-a and travels in the forward direction. The vehicle travels after the vehicle 101-a and transmits / receives traffic information to / from the vehicle 101-c equipped with the vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition device 103. Furthermore, the automobile 101-a equipped with the vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition device 103 travels in the opposite direction and transmits / receives traffic information when passing the vehicle 101-d equipped with the vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition device 103. .

  FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram showing in detail each element of the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition apparatus 103 shown in FIG. The communication device 201 communicates with the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 103 and the road-side fixed traffic information acquisition device 104 installed in the other automobile 101, and transmits and receives traffic information and position information. The external device connection 202 connects an external output device (for example, a monitor, a portable terminal, etc.) and the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 103 in order to output data sent from the CPU 203. The CPU 203 performs the transmission / reception operation of the communication device 201 and the writing / reading control of information recorded in the RAM 205 based on the program data of the built-in ROM 204. The RAM 205 stores the position information, traffic information, time information, and collision detection information received by the CPU 203 from the communication device 201, the timer 206, the collision detection sensor 207, and the input device 208 based on the processing of the CPU 203, the measurement information storage unit 401, The information is recorded in the traffic information storage unit 402 and the special information storage unit 403.

  The timer 206 transmits time information to the CPU 203. When the collision detection sensor 207 detects that the automobile 101 equipped with the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 103 has collided, the collision detection sensor 207 transmits the information to the CPU 203. It is intended to be stored as collision information and transmitted to an in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device or a fixed traffic information acquisition device mounted on other automobiles with collision detection. The input device 208 is a device for inputting settings when outputting traffic information. When the setting information is input, the input device 208 transmits the information to the CPU 203, and the CPU 203 that has received the information outputs the information to an external device. Sent to device connection 202. This is used to provide a user interface for information display such as selecting information required by the user or narrowing down the content of information to be displayed. Moreover, the process which receives the input information from a user directly is implemented.

The hard disk 209 is used to store various information stored in the RAM.
In addition, a vehicle-mounted position information acquisition control program can be stored, and when the vehicle-mounted position information acquisition device 103 is activated, the control program can be loaded to start control.

  FIG. 4 is a hardware configuration diagram showing in detail each element of the fixed traffic information acquisition apparatus 104 shown in FIG. The communication device 301 communicates with the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 103 mounted on the automobile 101 to transmit / receive traffic information and transmit position information. The fixed traffic information acquisition device 104 has a function of a repeater that temporarily receives and stores the information acquired by the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 103 and transmits the stored information when another vehicle passes. Yes. In the transmission of traffic information, relying on the exchange of information only by passing between cars will not be effective when the traffic volume is low. Therefore, the fixed traffic information acquisition device 104 is installed on a road with a small amount of traffic, and an automobile that has passed through the fixed traffic information acquisition device 104 is connected to the fixed traffic information acquisition device 104, the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 103, and the like. By sending and receiving traffic information between the two, traffic information can be acquired without passing by other cars.

  The CPU 302 performs transmission / reception operations of the communication device 301 and write / read control of information recorded in the RAM 305 based on program data in the built-in ROM 303. The RAM 305 records traffic information and time information received by the CPU 302 from the communication device 301 and the timer 206 in the traffic information storage unit 402 and various information storage units 501 based on the processing of the CPU 302. The fixed traffic information acquisition device 104 has a built-in hard disk 306, and is used to store various information stored in the RAM. It is also possible to store a fixed traffic information acquisition control program and load the control program into the RAM and start execution when the fixed traffic information acquisition device 104 is activated.

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a model when information is collected while a car is traveling on a road in the present embodiment. First, for the sake of explanation, it is assumed that a plurality of points from point a (501) to point f are set on the road. Now, assume that a car A502 passes a point a, passes through a traffic jam section 503 between points b and c, and then passes a car B504 running on the opposite lane between points e and f. . The vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition device 511 mounted on the automobile A502 detects that there is a traffic jam when passing through the traffic jam section 503, and the traffic jam is transmitted to the vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition device 512 mounted on the vehicle B504 traveling in the opposite lane. Communicate the section information. After that, after the vehicle B504 passes the point a, when the vehicle B504 passes the succeeding vehicle C traveling in the same direction as the previous vehicle A501, the vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition device 512 mounted on the vehicle B504 is mounted on the vehicle C505. The previous traffic information is transmitted to the type traffic information acquisition device 513.

  Further, it is assumed that the car B 504 passes by another car D 506 that is moving in the opposite direction immediately before passing through the traffic jam section 503. At this time, the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 512 mounted on the automobile B504 already holds the traffic information of the traffic jam section 503, but the information is because the moving direction of the car D506 is moving away from the traffic jam section 503. Do not communicate. This is because it is not useful information for a D506 car. Conversely, the automobile B 504 acquires traffic jam information related to the traffic jam section 503 similar to that of the automobile A 502 from the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device installed in the automobile D 506. In this case, since the same information is held, for example, the older data may be rejected. Two pieces of information may be retained redundantly.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a traffic information measurement table stored in the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 511 mounted on the car A501 based on the model described in FIG. The point column 601 indicates the points described in FIG. The position information column 602 stores position information of each point, and specifically, may store two pieces of information of latitude and longitude acquired by the GPS device 210 or the like. In the column 602 in FIG. 6, for example, as position information at the point a501, the latitude acquired from the GPS device 210 is expressed as La-x, and the longitude is expressed as Lb-x. The same applies to other points.

  The time column 603 stores the time when the point is passed. The average speed column 604 records the average speed calculated from the distance from the previous point to the current point and the time, and the distance column 605 calculates and stores the distance from the previous point to the current point. To do.

  In FIG. 6, the average speed between point a and point b is 30 km / h, whereas the average speed between point b and point c is 6 km / h, indicating that it was a congested area. Detected. Whether it is a traffic jam area is determined based on a predetermined threshold. For example, in the case of FIG. 6, 10 km / h is determined as a threshold value. As a result of the determination, if it is determined that the area is a traffic jam area, the fact is recorded in the status column 606. When a result other than that is determined, the status column 606 may record a symbol “-” indicating nothing or no information to be transmitted. The status column 606 is recorded when there is information to be transmitted.

  FIG. 7 is a traffic information transmission table that records the traffic information acquired by the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 512 of the automobile B504 based on the model described in FIG. The time column 701 records the time when the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 512 acquires information from the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 511 of the automobile A502. The status column 702 records the status acquired from the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 511. In FIG. 7, information regarding the traffic jam section 503 between the points b and c is recorded. The position information 1 field 703 records the start position of the traffic jam section 503. The position information 2 column 704 records the end position of the traffic jam section 503. Specifically, the position information 1 column 703 and the position information 2 column 704 record latitude / longitude information. The measurement time column 705 records the time when the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 511 of the automobile A502 detects that there is a traffic jam. Similarly, the average speed column 705 records the average speed calculated by the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 511 of the automobile A502. Similarly, the distance column 707 records the distance calculated by the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 511 of the automobile A502. Of the information recorded in the traffic information transmission table of FIG. 7, information transmitted from the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device mounted on another vehicle is information described in 702 to 707.

  As described above, the traffic information measurement table of FIG. 6 and the traffic information transmission table of FIG. 7 described above are tables that are both held and stored by the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition apparatus. In the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition apparatus, the traffic information measurement table is stored in the measurement information storage unit 401 and the traffic information transmission table is stored in the traffic information storage unit 402 in the hardware configuration diagram shown in FIG. In the case of a fixed traffic information acquisition device, the traffic information transmission table shown in FIG. 7 may be held, and may be stored in the traffic information storage unit 402 shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for the traffic information acquisition apparatus to measure traffic information.
This flowchart shows a process of calculating the travel time and measuring the average speed every time the automobile travels a certain distance. First, the position information of the car is acquired by the GPS device 210 (step 801). The position information is information on latitude and longitude as shown in FIGS. The acquired position information is temporarily stored. Next, the difference between the previously stored position information and the currently stored position information is calculated, and the travel distance is calculated (step 802). The travel distance is not only calculated based on the acquired position information, but may be acquired from a measuring instrument that can calculate another travel distance.

  Next, it is determined whether or not the travel distance from the base point has reached a predetermined value, that is, whether or not the vehicle has traveled a predetermined distance (step 803). Here, a case where a value of 1000 m is determined in advance and measured will be described. If it is determined that the vehicle has not traveled a certain distance (no), the process returns to step 801 and this step is repeatedly performed until a certain distance is detected. If it is determined that the vehicle has traveled a certain distance (yes), the process proceeds to step 804, and the time when the distance is reached is first calculated (step 804). Next, the time required to travel a certain distance is calculated from the difference from the time measured at the previous time (step 805). The average speed is calculated from the above time and distance (step 806). Further, the calculated time, distance, and position information are stored and stored in each column of the table shown in FIG.

  It is determined whether or not the calculated average speed is smaller than a predetermined value (step 807). This determination is used to determine whether or not a traffic jam has occurred in a section of a certain distance traveled previously. For example, when the predetermined value is 10 km / h, if the average speed required to travel a certain distance is 10 km / h or more, it is determined that no traffic jam has occurred. If it is 10 km / h or less, it is determined that a traffic jam has occurred. If the calculated average speed is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, it is determined that no traffic jam has occurred (no). At this time, nothing is recorded in the status column 606 of the traffic information measurement table shown in FIG. 6, or information indicating that there is no traffic jam “−” is recorded. If the determination is Yes, it is determined in step 808 that a traffic jam has occurred in the section, and “traffic jam” is recorded in the status column 606 of the traffic information measurement table shown in FIG.

  In this flowchart, the average speed is calculated by detecting the travel distance at a constant interval. However, a method may be used in which the average speed is calculated by measuring the travel distance by detecting a constant time interval.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart for transferring the measured information to an in-vehicle traffic information acquisition apparatus mounted on another vehicle. First, it is determined whether there is information to be transmitted with reference to the status column 606 of the traffic information measurement table shown in FIG. 6 (step 901). If no information indicating “congestion” is stored, the process is terminated. If information indicating “congestion” is stored, the process proceeds to the next step 902. Step 902 determines whether another vehicle (hereinafter referred to as another vehicle) is traveling in the vicinity of the own vehicle (hereinafter referred to as the own vehicle). Specifically, it is determined whether the communication device 201 of the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device installed in the own vehicle can establish wireless communication with the communication device of the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device installed in another vehicle. To do. This can be established by a technique in which a mobile terminal equipped with normal wireless communication searches for another mobile terminal located in the vicinity.

  When the other vehicle is far away from the own vehicle, the communication device 201 of the own vehicle cannot establish wireless communication with the other vehicle. In this case, it is determined that there is no other vehicle in the vicinity of the host vehicle, and the process returns to step 901. “Congestion” information, which is information to be transmitted, is deleted after a certain period of time (for example, 30 minutes or 1 hour). This is because useful information decreases in value with time, and it is necessary to delete information after a certain period of time. Moreover, you may delete, when the motor vehicle which has information leaves | separates more than the predetermined distance from the position which acquired information. The way of thinking is the same as time, and it is considered that the value of the information decreases if it is more than a certain distance away, and it is determined that the information is no longer to be transmitted and deleted.

  Therefore, if there is information to be transmitted but there is no other party to be transmitted, it will wait until the other party is detected, but if a certain period of time has passed or a certain distance has passed, Is deleted, the process returns to step 901 to check whether there is information to be transmitted each time.

Suppose that the automobile A502 in the model of FIG. 5 is the own vehicle and the automobile B504 is another vehicle. When the communication device 210 of the automobile A502 detects a state where wireless communication can be performed with the approach of the automobile B504, the process proceeds to step 903. Next, in step 903, a determination is made to continuously perform the processing from step 904 to step 908 every time a predetermined interval elapses. In this case, the fixed time is set to a considerably shorter time (for example, 1 second or 5 seconds) than the interval (for example, 30 minutes or 1 hour) for deleting the information described above. The determination in step 903 is repeated until the predetermined time elapses, and when the predetermined time elapses, the process proceeds to step 904. In step 904, the current position and moving direction of the host vehicle are calculated. As for the current position, the latitude and longitude are acquired by the GPS device 210. Further, the moving direction of the host vehicle is calculated from the difference from the position information acquired at the immediately preceding timing. For example, in the case of the automobile A502 in the model of FIG. 5, “east” is calculated as the moving direction. Next, the position information of the other vehicle is acquired from the other vehicle via communication, and the moving direction of the other vehicle is specified by the same method as that calculated by the own vehicle (step 905).
For example, in the case of the model of FIG. 5, it is calculated that the moving direction of the automobile B 504 that is another vehicle is “west”. Next, the distance between both the own vehicle and the other vehicle is calculated.

  Moreover, in order to detect the moving direction of the own vehicle and another vehicle, it may be necessary to measure position information of at least two points. Therefore, it is only necessary to acquire the position information at the first point and wait for the next fixed time (step 903) to acquire the position information at the second point. There is also a device that can electrically specify the direction. For example, a device such as a digital compass can electrically detect the orientation of the device and provide it as orientation information. When equipped with this digital compass, the host vehicle can specify the direction along with the position information, and can also transmit the moving direction along with the position information from another vehicle. In this case, it is not necessary to acquire position information of two points.

  Next, the necessity of information transmission is judged from the two moving directions of the own vehicle and the other vehicle (step 907). For example, the car A502 in the model of FIG. 5 travels in the “east” direction with “congestion” information, and the car B504 travels in the direction opposite to the moving direction of the car A502. At this time, the car A 502 can determine that the moving direction of the car A 504 is the opposite direction, and in this case, determines that “congestion” information should be transmitted.

  The determination in step 907 can assume various other determination contents. For example, it may be determined whether the moving direction of the other vehicle is a direction approaching the traffic jam section 503 shown in FIG. For example, although not shown in FIG. 5, when the moving direction of the other vehicle is “north”, it can be determined that the vehicle is not traveling in a direction approaching the traffic jam section 503. In this case, although the own vehicle has information to be transmitted, it may be determined that there is no need to transmit it.

  When such a determination is used, the “traffic jam” information detected in the traffic jam section 503 is shared between vehicles traveling for a certain distance from the traffic jam section 503. For example, it is assumed that the deletion timing of “information” is deleted when it is 5 km or more away from the location detected by the owned car. If it becomes possible to communicate with another vehicle within 5 km and it is determined that the other vehicle is approaching the traffic jam section, the information is transmitted to the other vehicle. Even if another vehicle passes through the traffic jam section 503, if it is within 5 km of the traffic jam section 503, it is further transmitted to the other car. In this way, the detected information is propagated and shared like a baton between other devices passing within a certain distance from the detected position. Further, since “information” is deleted when a certain time elapses (for example, 30 minutes or 1 hour), useful information can be shared with other apparatuses within a certain distance and a certain distance.

  Step 908 is a determination process subsequent to the determination that it should be transmitted. Here, for example, a point where both distances calculated in step 906 are minimum is detected. That is, the car A502 detects the passing with the car B504, and determines that the point where the distance is minimum is the passing point. Then, “congestion” information is transmitted at the passing point (step 909). This information transmission timing (step 908) can be omitted in the processing. What is necessary is just to be able to prevent the same information once sent from being propagated to the same other device. Alternatively, even if the same information is propagated, it is possible to prevent the receiving side from judging that the information is the same and rejecting the information. In FIG. 9, control is performed so that information is transmitted only at the timing of passing, and when it is not the timing of information transmission, the processing is returned to the processing of repeating steps 904 to 907 and the next timing is detected.

  Step 909 is a step of transmitting information to other vehicles. Information transmission is performed by wireless communication. Specifically, information to be stored in the traffic information transmission table of FIG. 7 is transmitted based on the “traffic jam” information stored in the traffic information measurement table of FIG.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 9, the information transmission between the automobile A502 and the automobile B504 shown in FIG. 5 has been described. At this time, it is stated that the presence or absence of information to be transmitted in step 901 is determined with reference to the status column 602 stored in the traffic information measurement table shown in FIG. Even when the vehicle B 504 shown in FIG. 5 transmits information to another vehicle C 505, the process may be performed with the flowchart of FIG. 9. In this case, since the information acquired from the automobile A is stored in the traffic information measurement table of FIG. 7, the reference destination in step 901 may be referred to and transmitted from the traffic information measurement table. If another traffic jam information is stored in the traffic information measurement table of FIG. 6 with the information measured while the vehicle B 504 travels from the point e to the point a, the vehicle B 504 only has traffic information acquired from the vehicle A 502. In addition, the traffic jam information measured by the automobile B504 itself may be transmitted together.

  The information transmission between the three automobiles A502, B504, and C505 has been described above based on the model shown in FIG. These information transmissions are performed by vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition devices 511, 512, and 513 mounted on moving vehicles. In other words, the traffic information is transmitted on the assumption that the automobile A502 that has detected “congestion” passes the automobile B504, and the automobile B504 that has acquired “congestion” information passes the automobile C505. Next, the case where the fixed traffic information acquisition device described above is installed at the points a and d (not shown) in FIG. 5 will be described. Assume that automobile A502 passes through point d. At this time, the vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition device 511 mounted on the automobile A502 detects that the traffic congestion section 503 is already between the points b and c in the flowchart of FIG. 8, and the traffic information measurement table shown in FIG. It is assumed that “congestion” information is stored. In this case, the vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition device 511 mounted on the automobile A502 can transmit the information to the fixed traffic information acquisition device installed at the point d by executing the flowchart shown in FIG. In this case, the “other vehicle” in each step shown in FIG. 9 may be read as a fixed traffic information acquisition device. However, since the fixed traffic information acquisition device is fixedly installed on the road, the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 511 of the automobile A502 cannot calculate the moving direction in step 905. In this case, in step 902 “Detect other communication medium?”, It is only necessary that the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 511 of the automobile A502 can detect that the opponent is “fixed”. For example, when the vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition device 511 of the automobile A502 detects another medium that can communicate, device type information indicating “fixed” may be acquired from the fixed traffic information acquisition device. The vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition device 511 of the automobile A502 detects the passing with the fixed traffic information acquisition device and transmits the information.

  A fixed traffic information acquisition device (not shown) installed at the point d detects the approach of the automobile B504 based on the information acquired from the automobile A502 and transmits the information at a passing timing. This may be performed according to the flowchart of FIG. In this case, the “movement direction of the own vehicle” shown in step 904 is not calculated. Instead, the “movement direction of the other vehicle” shown in step 905 may be calculated, and it may be determined in step 907 whether or not the vehicle is moving in a direction approaching the traffic jam section 503.

  The fixed traffic information acquisition device (not shown) installed at the point a can also transmit information by the vehicle B504 performing the same processing as the point d described above, and further the vehicle C505 passes. At this time, information can be transmitted by a similar process.

  For example, a plurality of fixed traffic information acquisition devices may be provided along a road, and information may be shared by communicating with each other. Thereby, the information acquired from the vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition device equipped in the vehicle that has passed through the fixed traffic information acquisition device can be transmitted to other fixed traffic information acquisition devices. In addition, since the detected position information and the detected time are acquired in the information, the fixed traffic information acquisition device that is within a certain distance from the detected position is fixed traffic information that is outside the certain distance. When an acquisition device is detected, control may be performed so that information is not transmitted. Information may also be transmitted, in which case the received fixed traffic information acquisition device compares the detected position information with its own position information, and confirms that the acquired information is out of a certain distance. It is possible to judge and reject the acquired information. In any case, by installing a plurality of fixed traffic information acquisition devices, even if the traffic volume of the lane on which the vehicle B504 travels is small and no passing can be expected, the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device of the vehicle A502 The traffic information detected by can be accurately transmitted.

  The example in the case where the area between the points b and c is detected as the traffic jam section 503 has been described above based on the model shown in FIG. In the above-described model, it is assumed that a traffic jam is detected if it is usually 10 km / h or less in any section. However, the road situation changes depending on the section, and it may not be possible to determine using a certain threshold value. For example, it is assumed that there is an intersection that intersects with another road between the point b and the point c, and it takes a long time to stop at a red light. In this case, the calculated average speed may be less than the threshold and may be erroneously recognized as “traffic jam”. A method for avoiding erroneous recognition by using a predetermined threshold in this way will be described below.

  FIG. 10 is a special information table stored in the special information storage unit provided in the in-vehicle traffic information acquisition apparatus. The special information table stores an average speed calculated under a special situation such as waiting for a signal. Specifically, the 1001 and 1002 fields are location information for defining a section in which a special situation such as waiting for a signal is detected, and the latitude and longitude acquired by the GPS device 210 or the like are stored. Here, the position information of the point b and the point c is stored, respectively. The measurement time column 1003 stores the time when the special situation is detected. The average speed column 1004 stores an average speed calculated when traveling in the section (between the position information column 1 and the position information column 2). The distance column 1005 stores the distance of the section. The status column 1006 stores that the special status is “waiting for signal”.

  In this way, a special situation of “waiting for a signal” that should not be determined as traffic jam is determined and stored, and used to determine that there is no traffic jam in the determination of average speed. Specifically, the calculated average speed is used as a threshold value. Considering the amount of waiting for a signal using the measured value, it is possible to prevent an erroneous determination that there is a “traffic jam” even in a special situation of waiting for a signal.

  It is also possible to use the average speed determination by transmitting information on the special situation to other cars passing through this section. In the flowchart shown in FIG. 9, the information of the measured traffic information measurement table (FIG. 6) is used as “information to be transmitted” in the above description, but the information stored in the special information table shown in FIG. It should be added as “information to be”.

  The information stored in the special information table is not transient information such as “traffic jam” information but universal information. Such special information need not be deleted by detecting the passage of time or a certain distance range, and may be stored in a permanent because it is more likely to be reused as the frequency of traffic in the section increases. Moreover, what is necessary is just to receive the deletion request from a user through screen I / F as needed.

  The fixed traffic information acquisition apparatus also includes the same special information storage unit 501, stores various information in the special information table shown in FIG. 10, and is installed in another passing vehicle. To communicate to. In the case of a fixed traffic information acquisition device, information under the same special situation may be transmitted from various automobiles. In this case, a plurality of pieces of the same information may be held, an average value may be calculated from the acquired plurality of average speed values, and transmitted to another vehicle. Further, the minimum value among the plurality of average speed values acquired may be specified and transmitted to other automobiles.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart for performing not only the traffic jam determination based on the predetermined threshold value but also the processing for determining the special situation and utilizing the information. The flowchart of FIG. 11 is similar to the flowchart shown in FIG. 8, but the method is slightly different. In FIG. 8, measurement is performed at intervals of a constant distance, but in FIG. 11, measurement is performed at intervals of a certain time.

  Step 1101 obtains the current time in order to specify a certain time interval. In step 1102, it is determined whether or not a certain time has elapsed, and the acquisition of the current time in step 1101 is continued until the certain time has elapsed. If the predetermined time has elapsed, the latitude and longitude of the position of the own vehicle are acquired from the GPS device 210 in step 1103. In step 1104, the travel distance is calculated from the difference between the position information acquired at the previous time and the position information acquired at the current time. In step 1105, the average speed is calculated based on the calculated travel distance and the time (a certain time) required for the travel.

  In step 1106, it is first determined whether there is special information related to the section among the special information stored in the special information table. For example, the determination is made by comparing the two pieces of position information stored in the special information table of FIG. 10 with the position information acquired in step 1103. If not, a default value (for example, 10 km / h) is used as a threshold for determining traffic jam (step 1107). If there is, the average speed (8 km / h) stored in the special information is used as a threshold for determining the traffic jam (step 1108).

  Next, in step 1109, the average speed calculated in the previous step 1105 is compared with a threshold value. If the average speed is equal to or higher than the threshold, it is determined that the traffic is not particularly “congested” and the process returns to step 1101 to start the next measurement. If the average speed is less than or equal to the threshold value, the judgment information indicating whether the reason is due to traffic jam or waiting for a signal is presented to the user for selection by the user. The in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device 103 has an external output device connection 202 and can display judgment information on a screen. For example, the user selects either “traffic jam” or “waiting for signal” as the reason when the average speed is equal to or lower than the threshold. Information selected by the user is acquired by the input device 208. It is determined whether the reason is “traffic jam” or “waiting for signal” (step 1111), and if it is traffic jam, it is stored in the traffic information measurement table as traffic jam (step 1112). When waiting for a signal, it is stored in the special information table as special information (1113).

  Whether it is a traffic jam or waiting for a signal is determined by user input, but since it is originally running, it is desirable to adopt a method that can automatically determine without requiring user input as much as possible. For example, the number of times that the constant interval is shortened and the average speed is continuously determined to be equal to or less than the threshold is calculated. Specifically, when the fixed interval is set to 1 minute and the average speed is determined to be less than or equal to the threshold, the determined number is counted (+1) before determining “congestion” in step 1112. Returning to step 1101, the next measurement is started. When it is determined that this is continuously three times or more and below the threshold value, that is, when the number of times reaches three times or more, “congestion” determination in step 1112 is performed. If the average speed changes more than the threshold value for the third time, the number of times is cleared, and it is determined that “waiting for a signal” instead of “traffic jam” and step 1113 may be performed. As described above, it is possible to measure and propagate more detailed traffic information by changing the judgment criteria according to the road conditions.

  The in-vehicle traffic information acquisition apparatus 103 includes a collision detection sensor 207 and has a function of detecting a collision of the automobile itself. The collision vehicle itself may interfere with other traffic and may cause traffic congestion after the collision. Therefore, the collision information detected by itself is used to transmit to other vehicles. Information similar to the collision information includes engine stalls, running out of gasoline, breakdown, and the like. In any case, it is only necessary to notify that it is an obstacle to traffic.

  The detected information may be stored in the traffic information table shown in FIG. For example, the position information where the vehicle has become unable to travel due to a collision is acquired from the GPS device 210 and stored in the position information 1 field 703. The detected time is stored in the measurement time column 706, and “collision” is stored in the status column 702. Since the traffic information table is used as information to be transmitted to other automobiles, it is possible to propagate information that the traffic information table may cause traffic congestion due to inability to travel to other automobiles.

  The flowcharts shown in FIGS. 8, 9 and 11 are realized by a program running on the CPU. However, the program is stored in the ROM 204 in advance, and is read out and executed in the RAM 205 as the main memory at the time of execution. In addition, these programs may be stored in advance in a portable storage medium, read from a driver (not shown) of the portable storage medium, stored in the RAM 205 as the main storage memory, and executed. . The information stored in the tables shown in FIGS. 6, 7, and 10 is not only stored in each storage unit of the RAM 205, which is the main storage memory, but also stored and held in the hard disk 209, as necessary. It is also possible to read from and write to the RAM 205, which is the main storage memory.

  Next, a second embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment, an example in which traffic information is exchanged based on an in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device and a fixed traffic information acquisition device has been described. However, traffic information is transmitted wirelessly, and the hardware configuration of the device that realizes these is equivalent to that of a general computer. It can be applied to more general information transmission. For example, the device is a mobile portable terminal device such as a mobile phone or a portable computer. A model in the case of using such a mobile portable terminal device will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 12 shows a model for propagating information acquired by the mobile portable terminal device to other portable terminal devices. First, it is assumed that the mobile portable terminal device A102 acquires information p1203 at the point a and moves in the direction of the point b. In FIG. 12, a circle having a radius R1205 with the point a as the center is drawn for explanation. This circle indicates a range in which the acquired information p1203 is valid as information. When the mobile portable terminal device A holding the information p1203 moves outside the circle, the information p1203 is rejected.

  Here, it is assumed that the mobile portable terminal device A that has moved within the radius R1205 passes by another mobile portable terminal device B1204. At this time, it is assumed that the mobile portable terminal device B 1204 is moving from the point c toward the point a. The mobile portable terminal device A 1202 calculates the moving direction of the mobile portable terminal device B 1204 based on the flowchart shown in FIG. 8, and determines whether it is necessary to transmit the information p1203 it holds. Since the mobile portable terminal device A1202 calculates that the mobile portable terminal device B1204 is moving in the direction approaching the point a, it is determined that the information p1203 needs to be transmitted, and the mobile portable terminal device B1204 is detected and information p1203 is transmitted to mobile portable terminal device B1204. After that, the mobile portable terminal device A1202 moves to the outside of the radius R toward the point a. Therefore, the mobile portable terminal device A1202 determines that it is outside from its own position information calculated when it is located outside, and rejects the information p1203. To do.

Furthermore, the mobile portable terminal device B 1204 is moving to the point d after passing through the point a, and within the range of the radius R1205 that is the effective range of the information p1203 acquired from the mobile portable terminal device A 1202, Assume that mobile portable terminal devices C1205 and D1206 pass each other. The mobile portable terminal device B 1204 first determines whether there is information to be transmitted based on the flowchart shown in FIG. Since B1204 holds information p1203, the mobile portable terminal device that can communicate next is detected. In the case of FIG. 12, C1205 moving from point e and D1206 moving to point f are detected. Next, the movement direction and distance of each detected mobile portable terminal device are calculated, and it is determined whether information needs to be transmitted from each movement direction. In FIG. 12, B1204 determines that the moving direction of C1205 is a direction approaching point a. At this time, it is not necessary to judge that the moving direction of C1205 surely passes the point a. Any direction in which the moving direction approaches may be used. On the other hand, B1204 determines that the moving direction of D1206 is a direction moving farther from the point a. B1204 transmits information p1203 to C1205 that is approaching in the direction of the point a.
However, it is determined that there is no need to transmit information to D1206.

  In the case of a mobile terminal device, it is possible not only to capture the position information in a plane but also to add the acquired altitude to the position information. In this case, information may be transmitted assuming a sphere having a radius R in a three-dimensional space.

  In addition, since the acquired information also includes the measurement time when the information was detected, even if the mobile portable terminal device is located within a circle / sphere of radius R, a certain period of time has passed Information can be rejected.

  The information acquisition means may simply accept input information from the user. At this time, the time at the time of reception may be set as the measurement time, and the received location may be measured and acquired by the GPS device 210 or the like. Moreover, information may be automatically acquired from a sensor like an in-vehicle traffic information acquisition device, and the measurement time and position information, which are the acquired time, may be determined and processed. As the information holding means, the tables shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 described in the first embodiment may be used.

  In the fixed traffic information acquisition apparatus described in the first embodiment, a computer having the same hardware configuration as that of the fixed traffic information acquisition apparatus is held in the antenna apparatus that transmits and receives radio waves from the mobile portable terminal device. The information p1203 detected by the mobile portable terminal device may be held and propagated to other mobile portable terminal devices.

  In this way, by determining whether it is necessary to propagate the detected information from the movement direction of the device, by propagating to the device moving within a certain distance from the detection position for a certain period from the detection time, Information can be accurately transmitted to a device that is approaching the detection position.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 103 ... Vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition apparatus, 104 ... Fixed traffic information acquisition apparatus, 201 ... Communication device, 202 ... External output device connection, 203 ... CPU, 204 ... ROM, 205 ... RAM, 206 ... Timer, 207 ... Collision detection Sensor 208, input device 209 hard disk 210 GPS device 401 measurement information storage unit 402 traffic information storage unit 403 special information storage unit

Claims (7)

A mobile portable terminal device having a storage unit for storing information and a communication unit for performing wireless communication,
A position information acquisition unit for specifying an acquisition position from which the mobile portable terminal device has acquired the information;
A second moving direction acquisition unit that acquires, by the communication means, a second moving direction in which the second mobile portable terminal device moves;
When the second moving direction is a direction approaching the acquisition position, the information stored in the storage unit is transferred to the second mobile portable terminal device using the communication unit. A mobile portable terminal device characterized by that. The mobile portable terminal device further includes:
A distance calculation unit that calculates a distance between the current position acquired by the position information acquisition unit and the acquisition position;
The information stored in the storage unit is transferred to the second mobile portable terminal device using the communication unit when the distance does not exceed a predetermined value. Item 4. The mobile portable terminal device according to Item 1. The mobile portable terminal device further includes:
3. The mobile portable terminal device according to claim 2, further comprising an information rejecting unit configured to reject the information stored in the storage unit when the distance exceeds a predetermined value. The mobile portable terminal device further includes:
A time information acquisition unit that acquires the acquisition time of acquiring the information and the current time that is the current time;
When the difference between the current time and the acquisition time is within a predetermined value, the information stored in the storage unit is used for the second mobile portable terminal device. The mobile portable terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the mobile portable terminal device is transferred. The mobile portable terminal device further includes:
5. The information rejection unit according to claim 4, further comprising: an information rejection unit that rejects the information stored in the storage unit when a difference between the current time and the acquisition time exceeds the predetermined value. The mobile portable terminal device described. The mobile portable terminal device is:
The mobile portable terminal device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the mobile information terminal is a vehicle-mounted traffic information acquisition device mounted on an automobile, and the information is traffic information. The mobile portable terminal device according to claim 6, wherein the second mobile portable terminal device is a fixed traffic information acquisition device installed on a road.

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