JP2013225201A - On-vehicle information processor and center device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology for reducing a probability that privacy information on a user of a probe vehicle is acquired by a third party.SOLUTION: A probe vehicle on-vehicle machine 1 includes: an information acquisition part 17 which acquires probe vehicle information including travel information regarding travel trajectory and/or travel time of a probe vehicle; and a communication interface 13 which transmits the probe vehicle information to the outside. The probe vehicle on-vehicle machine 1 includes a transmission control part which controls propriety of transmission of a communication interface 13 so that spatial and/or temporal frequencies of probe vehicle information to be transmitted are leveled for the probe vehicle information to be transmitted from a communication interface 13.

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle information processing apparatus that is mounted on a probe vehicle and can provide information related to the probe vehicle to the outside, and a center device that receives the information from the probe vehicle.

  Currently mounted on a probe vehicle, an in-vehicle information processing device that provides probe vehicle information including its travel trajectory and travel time to the outside, and traffic information including traffic jam information and road information based on the provided probe vehicle information There has been proposed a probe information system including a center device distributed to each vehicle. According to such a probe information system, each vehicle can search for a route that can be traveled in a shorter time by using the traffic information, or can comfortably drive by notifying a dangerous road or the like in advance. It becomes possible to do.

  On the other hand, when the probe vehicle information is intercepted by a third party, the privacy information of the user of the probe vehicle (for example, the home and destination important to the user, etc.) is obtained from the travel information (travel track, etc.) and registration information included therein. Facilities) may be identified.

  Therefore, in-vehicle information processing apparatuses for probe vehicles are required to protect user privacy information while providing probe vehicle information, and various techniques for realizing the information have been proposed. For example, the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 is configured not to provide probe vehicle information related to an area including the vicinity of the home and the destination.

JP 2006-345969 A

  According to the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above, a blank area that does not appear in the probe vehicle information and a high-frequency appearance area that appears frequently in the probe vehicle information are generated. Here, if a third party can identify a blank area, it is considered that the user's privacy information (for example, the above-described user's home or behavior pattern) can be easily acquired.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a technique capable of reducing the possibility that privacy information of a user of a probe vehicle is acquired by a third party. To do.

  An on-vehicle information processing apparatus according to the present invention is an on-vehicle information processing apparatus mounted on a probe vehicle, and an information acquisition unit that acquires probe vehicle information including travel information on a travel locus and / or travel time of the probe vehicle; And an information providing unit for providing the probe vehicle information to the outside. The in-vehicle information processing apparatus is configured to provide the information providing unit so that spatial frequency and / or temporal frequency of the provided probe vehicle information is leveled for the probe vehicle information provided from the information providing unit. A provision control unit for controlling whether or not the provision of the provision is possible.

  According to the present invention, the spatial frequency of probe vehicle information is leveled. As a result, since the generation of blank areas is suppressed, the possibility that the privacy information of the user of the probe vehicle is acquired by a third party can be reduced.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a probe information system according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the probe vehicle on-vehicle device according to the first embodiment. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the probe vehicle on-vehicle device according to the first embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the probe vehicle vehicle equipment which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the probe vehicle vehicle equipment which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the probe vehicle vehicle equipment which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the probe vehicle vehicle equipment which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the probe vehicle on-vehicle device according to the first modification of the first embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the probe vehicle vehicle equipment which concerns on the modification 2 of Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the probe vehicle vehicle equipment concerning the modification 2 of Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the probe vehicle vehicle equipment concerning the modification 3 of Embodiment 1. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the probe vehicle on-vehicle device according to the second embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the probe vehicle vehicle equipment concerning Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the probe vehicle vehicle equipment concerning the modification 1 of Embodiment 2. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the probe vehicle on-vehicle device according to the third embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the probe vehicle vehicle equipment which concerns on Embodiment 3. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the probe vehicle vehicle equipment which concerns on Embodiment 3. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the probe information system which concerns on Embodiment 4. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the center device according to the fourth embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of a related apparatus.

<Embodiment 1>
First, before describing the in-vehicle information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, the problems that have occurred in the in-vehicle information processing apparatus (hereinafter “related apparatus”) related thereto will be described with reference to FIG. .

  The related device is an in-vehicle device mounted on the probe vehicle, acquires probe vehicle information including the travel locus and travel time of the probe vehicle, and provides (transmits) the probe vehicle information to the center device. However, this related apparatus is configured not to provide probe vehicle information relating to an area including important facilities such as the vicinity of the user's home of the probe vehicle. According to such a related device, as shown in FIG. 20, a blank area 81 that is an area that does not appear in the probe vehicle information and a high-frequency appearance area 82 that is an area that appears frequently in the probe vehicle information are generated.

  Here, when the third party intercepts the probe vehicle information, it is considered that the blank area 81 can be specified based on the frequency that appears in the probe vehicle information. Since the blank area 81 is usually surrounded by the high-frequency appearance area 82, it is considered that if a third party can identify the blank area 81, the user's privacy information can be easily acquired. .

  On the other hand, in the in-vehicle information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment described below, it is possible to reduce the possibility that a user's privacy information is acquired by a third party.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a probe information system including a probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 that is an in-vehicle information processing device according to the present embodiment, a center device 2, and a user interface 31. The center device 2 can communicate with the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 via a wireless line or the like, and the user interface 31 can communicate with the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 via a wired line or a wireless line. .

  The probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 is mounted on a probe vehicle (not shown), and transmits (provides) probe vehicle information of the probe vehicle to the center device 2. The center device 2 generates traffic information including traffic jam information and road information based on the probe vehicle information from the probe vehicle onboard device 1 and transmits (distributes) the traffic information to each vehicle (not shown). This makes it possible for each vehicle to search for an optimal route using traffic information.

  Next, the configuration of the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1, the center device 2, and the user interface 31 will be described in order.

<Probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1>
As shown in FIG. 1, the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 includes a sensor information acquisition unit 11, a probe vehicle information generation unit 12, a communication interface 13 that is an information providing unit, a transmission control unit 14 that is a providing control unit, And an information storage unit 15. The probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 is configured by, for example, a car navigation device, a PND (Portable Navigation Device), a mobile phone, or the like.

  The sensor information acquisition unit 11 acquires sensor information from various sensors such as a GPS receiver, a gyro sensor, an acceleration sensor, and a travel distance sensor (all not shown). In the present embodiment, the sensor information acquisition unit 11 acquires the position of the probe vehicle on the longitude and latitude from the GPS receiver, acquires the angular velocity of the probe vehicle from the gyro sensor, and tilts the probe vehicle with respect to a predetermined direction from the acceleration sensor. And the distance traveled by the probe vehicle is acquired from the travel distance sensor.

  That is, the sensor information acquisition unit 11 according to the present embodiment acquires sensor information that can specify the position of the probe vehicle on absolute coordinates (for example, longitude and latitude). The sensor information acquisition unit 11 acquires such sensor information for a plurality of times while the probe vehicle is traveling.

  The probe vehicle information generation unit 12 generates probe vehicle information including travel locus information (travel information) related to the travel locus of the probe vehicle based on the sensor information acquired by the sensor information acquisition unit 11. In the present embodiment, the probe vehicle information generation unit 12 specifies a plurality of positions of the probe vehicle based on the sensor information acquired for a plurality of hours, and generates travel locus information related to the travel locus composed of the plurality of positions.

  And the probe vehicle information production | generation part 12 produces | generates the probe vehicle information containing the travel locus information. In addition, although demonstrated in the modification 4 of Embodiment 1, when the sensor information acquisition part 11 can acquire other information other than the above-mentioned sensor information, the probe vehicle information generation part 12 uses the said information. It may be included in the probe vehicle information.

  In the present embodiment, the sensor information acquisition unit 11 and the probe vehicle information generation unit 12 as described above constitute an information acquisition unit 17. And the information acquisition part 17 comprised in this way acquires the probe vehicle information containing the travel locus information (travel information) regarding the travel locus of a probe vehicle.

  The communication interface 13 can communicate with the center device 2 and transmits (provides) the probe vehicle information given from the transmission control unit 14 to the center device 2 (external).

  The transmission control unit 14 controls whether the communication interface 13 can transmit (provide) the current probe vehicle information acquired most recently by the information acquisition unit 17. Although details will be described later, the transmission control unit 14 according to the present embodiment determines whether to permit or prohibit transmission of the current probe vehicle information, and determines the current probe vehicle information determined to be permitted to transmit, This is given to the communication interface 13. At the same time, the transmission control unit 14 stores the current probe vehicle information given to the communication interface 13 in the information storage unit 15.

  By such control of the transmission control unit 14, past probe vehicle information transmitted by the communication interface 13 in the past is accumulated in the information accumulation unit 15. Note that after the past probe vehicle information within a certain period is accumulated, the oldest past probe vehicle information may be deleted every time the past probe vehicle information is stored. With this configuration, the storage capacity of the information storage unit 15 can be ensured.

<Center device 2>
As shown in FIG. 1, the center device 2 includes a communication interface 21, a data management unit 22, a database 23, and a traffic information generation unit 24. In the following, for the sake of convenience, the processing of the probe vehicle information in the center device 2 will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the center device 2 may process data other than the probe vehicle information. .

  The communication interface 21 can communicate with the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 (communication interface 13), and receives the probe vehicle information from the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1.

  The data management unit 22 manages the probe vehicle information received by the communication interface 21. In the present embodiment, the data management unit 22 registers the probe vehicle information in the database 23 and reads the probe vehicle information from the database 23. Further, the data management unit 22 gives the probe vehicle information received by the communication interface 21 to the traffic information generation unit 24 or gives the probe vehicle information read from the database 23 to the traffic information generation unit 24.

  The database 23 stores probe vehicle information given from the data management unit 22.

  The traffic information generation unit 24 updates traffic information including traffic jam information and road information based on the probe vehicle information given from the data management unit 22. The traffic information updated by the traffic information generation unit 24 is transmitted (distributed) to each vehicle as described above.

<User interface 31>
The user interface 31 can communicate with the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 as described above. In the present embodiment, the user interface 31 includes a device that provides information to the user (for example, a display or a speaker) and a device that receives an operation from the user (for example, a touch panel, a remote control, a keyboard, a mouse, or a voice recognition device). The command is given to the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 and various information to be presented to the user from the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 is received. The user interface 31 may be configured as a single device with the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 or may be configured as individual devices.

<Overall operation of probe vehicle on-board unit 1>
FIG.2 and FIG.3 is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the probe vehicle vehicle equipment 1 which concerns on this Embodiment. Next, operation | movement of the probe vehicle vehicle equipment 1 is demonstrated using FIG.2 and FIG.3.

  First, in step S1 illustrated in FIG. 2, the probe vehicle information generation unit 12 specifies the position of the probe vehicle based on the sensor information acquired by the sensor information acquisition unit 11.

  In step S2, the probe vehicle information generation unit 12 generates probe vehicle information including travel locus information related to the travel locus of the probe vehicle based on the identified position of the probe vehicle.

  In step S3, the transmission control unit 14 determines whether or not the probe vehicle information extraction completion condition is satisfied. The extraction completion condition includes, for example, whether the probe vehicle has traveled a predetermined distance (for example, 3 km), a predetermined time (for example, 10 minutes) has elapsed since the last determination that the condition has been satisfied, or a predetermined communication state. Or a condition such as whether the probe vehicle has passed a predetermined number of meshes obtained by dividing an area of a certain range is used.

  If it is determined in step S3 that the extraction completion condition is satisfied, the process proceeds to step S4. On the other hand, if it is determined that the extraction completion condition is not satisfied, the process returns to step S1, and the probe vehicle information is accumulated until the extraction completion condition is satisfied.

  In step S4, the transmission control unit 14 analyzes the transmission data based on the current probe vehicle information accumulated in step S3 and the past probe vehicle information (transmission history) stored in the information accumulation unit 15. Processing is performed, and transmission permission and transmission prohibition of the current probe vehicle information are determined. Step S4 will be described in detail later with reference to FIG.

  In step S5, if the determination result in step S4 is transmission permission, the process proceeds to step S6. If transmission is prohibited, the process proceeds to step S7.

  In step S <b> 6, the transmission control unit 14 gives the current probe vehicle information determined to be transmission-permitted to the communication interface 13. The communication interface 13 transmits the current probe vehicle information given from the transmission control unit 14 to the center device 2. Then, it progresses to step S7.

  In step S7, the current probe vehicle information accumulated in step S3 is initialized. Thereafter, the process returns to step S1 to newly generate current probe vehicle information.

<Operation of Step S4>
Next, operation | movement of the transmission control part 14 performed by step S4 is demonstrated using FIG. In step S4, the transmission control unit 14 according to the present embodiment is configured so that the probe vehicle information transmitted from the communication interface 13 is leveled with respect to the spatial frequency of the transmitted probe vehicle information. The transmission / reception of the communication interface 13 is controlled. More specifically, the transmission control unit 14 controls whether or not transmission by the communication interface 13 is possible so that the frequency at the spatial division of the probe vehicle information is leveled.

  First, in step S11, the transmission control unit 14 acquires a travel locus (travel locus information) as shown in FIG. 4 from the current probe vehicle information accumulated in step S3.

  In step S12, the transmission control unit 14 acquires a plurality of spatial divisions corresponding to the travel locus acquired in step S11 among the plurality of spatial divisions obtained by the spatial division. In addition, as a spatial division, it is good to use the division by a road link unit, a mesh unit, a route unit, a comparatively narrow administrative division unit (town unit, address unit) etc., for example.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the spatial division (mesh here) acquired by the transmission control unit 14 in step S12 with respect to the travel locus shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 5, an area of a certain range is divided in advance by a total of 48 meshes arranged in a vertical direction with 6 meshes and a horizontal direction with 8 meshes. Hereinafter, all the spatial divisions of an area of a certain range may be referred to as “total spatial divisions”, and all the meshes corresponding to the total spatial divisions may be referred to as “all meshes”. Note that if the entire map data is applied to an area of a certain range, the number of all meshes increases, so here as an example, an arbitrary range narrower than that (for example, an administrative rectangle such as an arbitrary rectangle or prefecture) It shall be applied to the area.

  Now, in the example shown in FIG. 5, the traveling locus passes through the meshes C0 to C8. In this case, in this step S12, the transmission control unit 14 according to the present embodiment uses the meshes C0 to C8 as a plurality of meshes (a plurality of spatial divisions) corresponding to the travel locus (current probe vehicle information). get.

  In step S13, the transmission control unit 14 based on the past probe vehicle information stored in the information storage unit 15, the past transmission frequency (corresponding frequency) corresponding to the plurality of spatial divisions acquired in step S12. To get.

  If it demonstrates along the example shown in FIG. 5, the transmission control part 14 which concerns on this Embodiment will be based on the past probe vehicle information, for example, the probe vehicle information regarding one mesh (for example, a probe vehicle will use the said one mesh). The number of times of transmission indicating how many times the probe vehicle information indicating that the vehicle has traveled has been transmitted in the past is obtained. The transmission control unit 14 obtains the number of transmissions for each of all meshes (48 meshes in this case). And the transmission control part 14 calculates | requires the past transmission frequency applicable to each mesh Cn (n = 1-8) by (the transmission frequency of one mesh Cn) / (total of the transmission frequency of all the meshes).

  In step S14, the transmission control unit 14 determines whether there is a past transmission frequency. In the present embodiment, the transmission control unit 14 sets the past transmission frequency value acquired in step S13 to 0 for each of the plurality of spatial divisions (eight meshes in the example illustrated in FIG. 5) acquired in step S12. If it is, it is determined that there is no past transmission frequency, and if any past transmission frequency value is greater than 0, it is determined that there is a past transmission frequency.

  If it is determined that there is a past transmission frequency, the process proceeds to step S15. If it is determined that there is no past transmission frequency, the process proceeds to step S19. When the probe vehicle on-board device 1 is used for the first time, since probe vehicle information has not been transmitted from the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 in the past, it is determined that there is no past transmission frequency, and the process proceeds to step S19. Become.

  In step S15, the transmission control unit 14 acquires a threshold value used for transmission determination. Here, the threshold value is assumed to be a constant value common to all spatial divisions (all meshes).

  In step S16, the transmission control unit 14 determines that the past transmission frequency acquired in step S13 is greater than or equal to the above threshold for each of the plurality of spatial divisions (eight meshes in the example illustrated in FIG. 5) acquired in step S12. It is determined whether or not. If it is determined that any of the plurality of spatial divisions has a transmission frequency equal to or higher than the threshold, the process proceeds to step S20. If any of the transmission frequencies is determined to be less than the threshold, the process proceeds to step S17.

  In step S17, the transmission control unit 14 determines that the past transmission frequency acquired in step S13 is less than the threshold for each of the plurality of spatial divisions (eight meshes in the example illustrated in FIG. 5) acquired in step S12. It is determined whether or not. If it is determined that any of the transmission frequencies is equal to or greater than the threshold, the process proceeds to step S18. If any of the plurality of spatial divisions is determined to be less than the threshold, the process proceeds to step S19.

  In step S18, the transmission control unit 14 deletes the probe vehicle information related to the spatial division determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold value from the current probe vehicle information. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S19.

  In step S19, the transmission control unit 14 permits the transmission of the current probe vehicle information regarding the spatial division determined to be less than the threshold value. The current probe vehicle information related to the spatial division permitted to be transmitted in step S19 is transmitted to the center apparatus 2 through the communication interface 13 in step S6 described above.

  In other words, in step S18 and step S19 described above, the transmission control unit 14 prohibits transmission of the current probe vehicle information regarding the spatial division determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold. And the transmission control part 14 permits transmission of the present probe vehicle information regarding the remaining spatial division. After step S19, the process proceeds to step S21.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the transmission frequency when the process proceeds from step S17 to step S19 via step S18. In this figure, the thick line indicates the transmission frequency, the thin line indicates the travel frequency described later, and the two-dot chain line indicates the threshold value, and the total number of meshes is relatively large so that the transmission frequency is indicated by a smooth curve. ing.

  In the example shown in FIG. 6, when the determinations of steps S16 and S17 are made for each mesh Cn satisfying n ≦ na, the transmission frequency is determined to be equal to or higher than the threshold value. Information transmission is prohibited. On the other hand, when the determinations of steps S16 and S17 are made for each mesh Cn where n> na, since the transmission frequency is determined to be less than the threshold, transmission of the current probe vehicle information related to these meshes is performed. Allowed.

  On the other hand, FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the transmission frequency when the process directly proceeds from step S17 to step S19. In the example shown in FIG. 7, when the determinations in steps S16 and S17 are made for all the meshes Cn, since all the transmission frequencies are determined to be less than the threshold value, all the current probe vehicle information is transmitted. Allowed.

  Returning to FIG. 3, in step S <b> 20, the transmission control unit 14 prohibits transmission of the current probe vehicle information regarding the spatial division determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold. When the process proceeds to step S20, it is determined that the transmission frequency is greater than or equal to the threshold for any of the plurality of spatial divisions, and therefore transmission of all current probe vehicle information is prohibited. Thereafter, the series of operations in step S4 shown in FIG.

  In step S <b> 21, the transmission control unit 14 cumulatively stores the current probe vehicle information for each spatial division permitted for transmission in the information storage unit 15. That is, the past probe vehicle information for obtaining the next past transmission frequency is updated in the information storage unit 15. Thereafter, the series of operations in step S4 shown in FIG.

  According to the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 according to the present embodiment as described above, it is determined whether the spatial transmission frequency (corresponding frequency) of past probe vehicle information is equal to or higher than a threshold value, and is determined to be equal to or higher than the threshold value. Prohibit transmission of probe vehicle information related to spatial classification. Therefore, as a result of leveling the spatial transmission frequency of the probe vehicle information, the spatial frequency of the probe vehicle information can be leveled. Therefore, since the occurrence of the blank area 81 described above is suppressed, it is possible to reduce the possibility that the privacy information of the user of the probe vehicle (for example, home, frequently traveled route, action pattern, etc.) is acquired by a third party. Can do.

  Also, if the number of transmissions (numerator of transmission frequency) of any one spatial division does not increase and the number of transmissions of other spatial divisions (the denominator of transmission frequency) increases, The transmission frequency of the spatial segment decreases. Therefore, even if the transmission frequency of the probe vehicle information becomes high enough to be determined as transmission prohibition, the transmission frequency may subsequently decrease and probe vehicle information may be transmitted. In this case, since the generation of the blank area 81 is further suppressed, the possibility that the privacy information of the user of the probe vehicle is acquired by a third party can be further reduced.

<Modification 1 of Embodiment 1>
In the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 described above, transmission determination is performed by comparing the past transmission frequency of the probe vehicle with a threshold value. On the other hand, in the first modification of the first embodiment, transmission determination is performed by comparing a past traveling frequency (corresponding frequency) obtained based on past probe vehicle information with a threshold value.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation performed by the transmission control unit 14 according to this modification in step S4. Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 8, the operation of step S <b> 4 in the present modification will be described focusing on differences from the operation illustrated in FIG. In this modification as well, in step S4, the transmission control unit 14 leveles the probe vehicle information transmitted from the communication interface 13 so that the spatial frequency of the transmitted probe vehicle information is leveled. It controls whether or not transmission by the communication interface 13 is possible.

  First, after performing steps S11 and S12 described above, in step S13a, the transmission control unit 14 is based on the past probe vehicle information stored in the information storage unit 15, and the plurality of spaces acquired in step S12. The past driving frequency (corresponding frequency) corresponding to the target category is acquired. If it demonstrates along the example shown in FIG. 5, the transmission control part 14 which concerns on this modification calculates | requires the frequency | count of driving | running | working which shows how many times the probe vehicle drive | worked one mesh based on the past probe vehicle information. The transmission control part 14 calculates | requires the said driving | running | working frequency | count about each of all the meshes (here 48 meshes). And the transmission control part 14 calculates | requires the past traveling frequency applicable to each mesh Cn (n = 1-8) by (the number of times of traveling of one mesh Cn) / (total number of times of traveling of all meshes).

  In step S14a, the transmission control unit 14 determines whether or not there is a past traveling frequency. In this modification, the transmission control unit 14 has no past travel frequency when the value of the past travel frequency acquired in step S13a is 0 for each of the plurality of spatial divisions acquired in step S12. If any past driving frequency value is greater than 0, it is determined that there is a past driving frequency. If it is determined that there is a past traveling frequency, the process proceeds to step S15. If it is determined that there is no past traveling frequency, the process proceeds to step S19.

  In step S15, the transmission control unit 14 acquires a threshold value used for transmission determination. Note that the threshold here is a constant value common to all spatial divisions. The threshold value here may be the same value as the above-described threshold value, or may be different.

  Then, the operation | movement which replaced the transmission frequency with the driving | running | working frequency in step S16, S17 is performed in step S16a, S17a. In the present embodiment, the operations in steps S18 to S20 described above are performed.

  That is, the transmission control unit 14 determines whether or not the past traveling frequency acquired in step S13a is greater than or equal to the above threshold value (whether or not less than the above threshold value) for each of the plurality of spatial divisions acquired in step S12. ). And the transmission control part 14 prohibits transmission of the present probe vehicle information regarding the spatial division determined to be more than a threshold value. On the other hand, the transmission control unit 14 permits transmission of the current probe vehicle information regarding the spatial division determined to be less than the threshold.

  After steps S18, S19, and S20, in step S22, the transmission control unit 14 cumulatively stores all current probe vehicle information in the information storage unit 15 regardless of the result of the transmission determination. That is, the past probe vehicle information for obtaining the next past travel frequency is updated in the information storage unit 15. Thereafter, the series of operations in step S4 shown in FIG.

  In this modification, it is determined whether the traveling frequency (corresponding frequency) of past probe vehicle information is equal to or higher than a threshold value, and transmission of probe vehicle information related to the spatial division determined to be equal to or higher than the threshold value is prohibited. . Here, normally, as shown in the range of n ≦ na in FIG. 6, when the running frequency becomes equal to or higher than the threshold, there is a difference between the running frequency and the transmission frequency. However, as shown in FIG. Until it reaches, the increase in traveling frequency and transmission frequency is considered to be almost the same.

  Accordingly, the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 according to the present modification also suppresses the generation of the blank area 81 in substantially the same manner as the configuration in which the transmission determination is performed by comparing the transmission frequency with the threshold value. The possibility that information is acquired by a third party can be reduced.

  In the above description, it has been described that the corresponding frequency compared with the threshold is a past transmission frequency or a past traveling frequency. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the corresponding frequency to be compared with the threshold is obtained by combining the past transmission frequency and the past traveling frequency (for example, multiplying them by a predetermined weighting factor and taking the sum thereof) Frequency).

  Alternatively, each of the past transmission frequency and the past traveling frequency is determined to be compared with a threshold value, and if it is determined that transmission is prohibited in one determination, the probe vehicle information is transmitted regardless of the other determination. It may be prohibited. Alternatively, transmission of probe vehicle information may be prohibited only when it is determined that transmission is prohibited in both determinations. Further, the transmission frequency and the traveling frequency are not limited to the number of transmissions and the number of travelings, and a traveling time, a traveling distance, or the like may be used, or these may be combined.

<Modification 2 of Embodiment 1>
In the above description, the threshold used for transmission determination is a constant value. On the other hand, in the second modification of the first embodiment, the threshold value is updated.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation performed by the transmission control unit 14 according to this modification in step S4. As shown in FIG. 9, the operation of step S4 in this modification is different from the operation shown in FIG. 3 only in that steps S22 and S23 are added. Therefore, only steps S22 and S23 will be described below. However, also in this modification, it shall be comprised so that the driving | running | working frequency similar to the above-mentioned modification 1 can be acquired.

  In step S22, as in the first modification, the transmission control unit 14 accumulates all current probe vehicle information in the information storage unit 15 in a distinguished manner from the contents stored in step S21 regardless of the transmission determination result. To remember. That is, the past probe vehicle information for obtaining the next past travel frequency is updated in the information storage unit 15.

  In step S23, the transmission control unit 14 acquires the past traveling frequency based on the past probe vehicle information updated in step S22, and updates the threshold based on the past traveling frequency. In other words, in the present embodiment, the transmission control unit 14 updates the past transmission frequency each time transmission determination is performed, and updates the threshold based on the past transmission frequency.

  Note that the threshold value may be updated to, for example, an average value of driving frequency values having a value of 0 or more, or updated to a certain ratio (for example, 10%) of the total value of driving frequencies of all spatial divisions. Also good. After step S23, the series of operations in step S4 shown in FIG.

  According to the configuration according to the present modification as described above, the threshold value is updated based on the past traveling frequency. If comprised in this way, a threshold value can be raised with the update of driving | running | working frequency. Therefore, even if the transmission frequency of the probe vehicle information is high enough to be determined as transmission prohibition, the threshold value may increase thereafter and the probe vehicle information may be transmitted. In this case, since the generation of the blank area 81 is further suppressed, the possibility that the privacy information of the user of the probe vehicle is acquired by a third party can be further reduced.

  In the above description, the threshold value is a constant value common to all spatial divisions, but is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, a threshold value may be set for each spatial division so that the entire threshold value has fluctuation. In FIG. 10, the threshold value = h + Asin (nBπ), and the fluctuation of the sine wave is given. Here, h is a reference threshold, n is a mesh number for identifying a mesh, and A and B are constants that define the degree of change of the threshold accompanying the change of the mesh. If comprised in this way, possibility that a 3rd person will specify the relationship between driving | running | working frequency and a threshold value can be reduced.

<Modification 3 of Embodiment 1>
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of probe vehicle information transmitted when the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 described above proceeds from step S17 illustrated in FIG. 3 to step S19 via step S18. In the example shown in this figure, hatching is applied to the meshes permitted to be transmitted. That is, in FIG. 11, it is determined that the past transmission frequency is greater than or equal to the threshold value only for mesh C2, and transmission of probe vehicle information related to mesh C2 is prohibited. When such probe vehicle information is intercepted by a third party, based on the discontinuity of the spatial division (mesh) permitted to be transmitted, the user's important spatial division (mesh C2) is important. There may be some possibility that the facility exists.

  Therefore, in the present modification, the transmission control unit 14 determines other spatial divisions determined to be less than the threshold among other spatial divisions close to the one spatial division determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold. The probe vehicle information related to the section is also prohibited from being transmitted.

  For example, in the example of FIG. 11, the transmission control unit 14 prohibits transmission of probe vehicle information related to the meshes C0 and C1 around the mesh C2. Here, among the meshes C0, C1, C3 to C8 that are permitted to be transmitted, the probe vehicle information related to the meshes C0 and C1 with a small number of connections so that the probe vehicle information about the meshes C3 to C8 with the largest number of connections is transmitted as much as possible. Is prohibited.

  According to the configuration according to this modification as described above, the possibility that the privacy information of the user of the probe vehicle is acquired by a third party can be further reduced.

  Note that the present modification is not limited to the above. For example, since it is considered that the past transmission frequency in the spatial division (mesh C0, C8 in FIG. 11) of the end portion of the travel locus is relatively high, the spatial division (mesh in FIG. Transmission of part or all of the probe vehicle information regarding C1, C7) may be prohibited. Alternatively, in order to further enhance safety, transmission of probe vehicle information regarding all spatial divisions may be prohibited when it is determined that transmission of probe vehicle information regarding one spatial division is prohibited.

<Modification 4 of Embodiment 1>
In the above description, the sensor information acquisition unit 11 acquires sensor information related to the probe vehicle from various sensors such as a GPS receiver, a gyro sensor, an acceleration sensor, and a travel distance sensor (all not shown). However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the various sensors include at least one of a camera, a millimeter wave radar, an ultrasonic sensor, an infrared sensor, a temperature / humidity sensor, and an operation sensor that detects an operation from the user on the probe vehicle. May be included.

  And when the sensor information acquisition part 11 is comprised so that the image of the probe vehicle exterior (for example, the road where a probe vehicle is driving | running | working, or a surrounding facility) may be acquired from a camera or an infrared sensor, probe vehicle information The generation unit 12 may include the image in the probe vehicle information described above. When the sensor information acquisition unit 11 is configured to acquire the distance between the probe vehicle and another object from the millimeter wave radar or the ultrasonic sensor, the probe vehicle information generation unit 12 The distance may be included in the probe vehicle information described above.

  In addition, when the sensor information acquisition unit 11 is configured to acquire the temperature / humidity outside the probe vehicle from the temperature / room temperature sensor, the probe vehicle information generation unit 12 sets the temperature / humidity as described above. It may be included in the probe vehicle information. Further, when the sensor information acquisition unit 11 is configured to acquire a vehicle control signal indicating whether or not the wiper and the head ride of the probe vehicle are switched on or off, or whether or not the brake operation is performed, from the operation sensor. The probe vehicle information generation unit 12 may include the vehicle control signal in the probe vehicle information described above.

  In the above description, the information storage unit 15 cumulatively stores the current probe vehicle information regarding the spatial divisions permitted to be transmitted. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the information accumulating unit 15 may cumulatively store the current probe vehicle information related to the spatial division for which transmission is prohibited in distinction from the probe vehicle information. And the transmission control part 14 may determine transmission permission and transmission prohibition in consideration of the probe vehicle information for every spatial division where transmission was prohibited.

  In the above configuration, when the transmission control unit 14 receives a command for prohibiting transmission of the current probe vehicle information from the user via the user interface 31, the transmission control unit 14 relates to the determination results of steps S16 and S17. The current probe vehicle information may not be transmitted, and when a command for transmitting the current probe vehicle information is received from the user, the current probe vehicle information is displayed regardless of the determination results of steps S16 and S17. You may make it transmit. Further, the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 notifies the user interface 31 of the probe vehicle information permitted to transmit and the probe vehicle information prohibited to transmit, and the user interface 31 presents the notified probe vehicle information to the user by display or the like. May be.

  In addition, transmission permission and transmission prohibition may be determined in consideration of whether it is similar to a travel route transmitted in the past. For example, when a route that is 90% similar is transmitted five times or more, the determination may be made in consideration of this transmission history. At this time, it may be a condition that the combination of the day of the week, date, and time zone matches.

<Embodiment 2>
In the first embodiment, the “spatial” frequency of the probe vehicle information is leveled. On the other hand, in the second embodiment of the present invention, the “temporal” frequency of the probe vehicle information is leveled. Hereinafter, the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described. In the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 according to the present embodiment, the same or similar components as those described in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and different points from the first embodiment will be mainly described. .

  The information acquisition part 17 (FIG. 1) which concerns on Embodiment 1 mentioned above acquired the probe vehicle information containing the travel locus information (travel information) regarding the travel locus of a probe vehicle. On the other hand, the information acquisition unit 17 according to the present embodiment acquires probe vehicle information including travel time information (travel information) related to the travel time (travel time) of the probe vehicle. That is, in this embodiment, the travel time is used instead of the travel locus.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the operation performed by the transmission control unit 14 according to the present embodiment in step S4 described above. Note that the overall operation is the same as that of the first embodiment, except for the changes associated with using the travel time instead of the travel locus.

  Hereinafter, the operation in step S4 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, in this step S4, the transmission control unit 14 makes the temporal frequency of the probe vehicle information transmitted from the probe interface information transmitted from the communication interface 13 equalized. The transmission / reception of the communication interface 13 is controlled.

  First, in step S31, the transmission control unit 14 acquires travel time (travel time information) from the current probe vehicle information accumulated in step S3.

  In step S32, the transmission control unit 14 acquires a plurality of temporal segments corresponding to the travel time acquired in step S31 among the plurality of temporal segments obtained by the temporal division. As the time division, for example, a predetermined time division such as 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours, a division by date, day of the week, or month may be used. Note that, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that a certain range of time is preliminarily divided by temporal division, in the same manner as in the first embodiment, where a certain range of areas is preliminarily divided by spatial division. Hereinafter, all temporal divisions within a certain range of time are referred to as “all temporal divisions”.

  In step S33, the transmission control unit 14 based on the past probe vehicle information stored in the information storage unit 15, the past transmission frequency (corresponding frequency) corresponding to the plurality of temporal divisions acquired in step S32. Is calculated (acquired).

  Specifically, the transmission control unit 14 determines the probe vehicle information related to one time segment based on the past probe vehicle information (for example, probe vehicle information indicating that the probe vehicle has traveled in the one time segment). ) Finds the number of transmissions sent in the past. The transmission control unit 14 obtains the number of transmissions for each of all time divisions. And the transmission control part 14 calculates | requires the past transmission frequency applicable to each time division by (the number of times of transmission of one time division) / (total of the number of times of transmission of all time divisions).

  In step S34, the transmission control unit 14 determines whether there is a past transmission frequency. In the present embodiment, the transmission control unit 14 has no past transmission frequency when the value of the past transmission frequency acquired in step S33 is 0 for each of the plurality of temporal divisions acquired in step S32. If any past transmission frequency value is greater than 0, it is determined that there is a past transmission frequency. If it is determined that there is a past transmission frequency, the process proceeds to step S35, and if it is determined that there is no past transmission frequency, the process proceeds to step S39.

  In step S35, the transmission control unit 14 acquires a threshold value used for transmission determination. Note that the threshold value here is a constant value common to a plurality of temporal divisions.

  In step S36, the transmission control unit 14 determines whether or not the past transmission frequency acquired in step S33 is greater than or equal to the threshold for each of the plurality of temporal segments acquired in step S32. When it is determined that the transmission frequency is higher than or equal to the threshold value in any of the plurality of temporal sections, the process proceeds to step S40, and when any transmission frequency is determined to be less than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step S37.

  In step S37, the transmission control unit 14 determines whether or not the past transmission frequency acquired in step S33 is less than the threshold for each of the plurality of temporal segments acquired in step S32. If it is determined that any of the transmission frequencies is equal to or greater than the threshold, the process proceeds to step S38. If any of the plurality of temporal segments is determined to be less than the threshold, the process proceeds to step S39.

  In step S38, the transmission control unit 14 deletes the probe vehicle information related to the temporal division determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold value from the current probe vehicle information. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S39.

  In step S39, the transmission control unit 14 permits transmission of the current probe vehicle information related to the temporal division determined to be less than the threshold.

  In other words, in step S38 and step S39 described above, the transmission control unit 14 prohibits transmission of the current probe vehicle information related to the time division determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold. And the transmission control part 14 permits transmission of the present probe vehicle information regarding the remaining temporal division. After step S39, the process proceeds to step S41.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of the transmission frequency when the process proceeds from step S37 to step S39 via step S38. In this figure, the alternate long and two short dashes line indicates the threshold value, and the temporal division is in units of one hour. A bar graph with mesh hatching indicates transmission frequency, and a solid bar graph indicates traveling frequency. Note that the travel frequency shown in FIG. 13 is a past travel frequency obtained based on past probe vehicle information, and (the number of travels in one temporal section) / (total number of travels in all temporal sections). ).

  In the example shown in FIG. 13, when the determinations in steps S36 and S37 are made for the time divisions in which the times are 6 to 8, 11, and 15 to 19:00, the transmission frequency is determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold value. Therefore, transmission of the current probe vehicle information regarding these time segments is prohibited. On the other hand, if the determinations in steps S36 and S37 are made for other time segments, the transmission frequency is determined to be less than the threshold value, so that the current probe vehicle information regarding these time segments is transmitted. Allowed.

  Returning to FIG. 12, in the case of proceeding directly from step S37 to step S39, it is determined that the transmission frequency is less than the threshold for any of the plurality of temporal segments, and therefore transmission of all current probe vehicle information is permitted. Is done.

  In step S40, the transmission control unit 14 prohibits the transmission of the current probe vehicle information regarding the temporal division determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold. If the process proceeds to step S40, it is determined that the transmission frequency is greater than or equal to the threshold for any of the plurality of temporal segments, and therefore transmission of all current probe vehicle information is prohibited. Thereafter, the series of operations in step S4 shown in FIG.

  In step S <b> 41, the transmission control unit 14 cumulatively stores the current probe vehicle information for each temporal segment permitted for transmission in the information storage unit 15. That is, the past probe vehicle information for obtaining the next past transmission frequency is updated in the information storage unit 15. Thereafter, the series of operations in step S4 shown in FIG.

  According to the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 according to the present embodiment as described above, it is determined whether the temporal transmission frequency (corresponding frequency) of past probe vehicle information is equal to or higher than a threshold value, and is determined to be equal to or higher than the threshold value. Prohibit transmission of probe vehicle information related to time divisions. Therefore, as a result of leveling the temporal transmission frequency of the probe vehicle information, the temporal frequency of the probe vehicle information can be leveled. Therefore, since the occurrence of the blank area 81 is suppressed as in the first embodiment, the privacy information of the user of the probe vehicle (for example, commuting time, going out time, behavior pattern, etc.) is acquired by a third party. The possibility can be reduced.

<Modification 1 of Embodiment 2>
Also in the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 according to the present embodiment, the same modification as that of the first modification of the first embodiment may be applied. That is, instead of performing transmission determination by comparing the past transmission frequency and the threshold value, transmission determination by comparing the past traveling frequency and the threshold value may be performed. Also in the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 according to the present embodiment, the same modification as that of the second modification of the first embodiment may be applied. That is, the threshold value may be updated based on the past traveling frequency.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example in which the threshold is updated based on the past traveling frequency. In the example shown in FIG. 14, the threshold value is set for each temporal division. And the transmission control part 14 updates a threshold value based on the past traveling frequency similarly to the modification 2 of Embodiment 1. FIG. Here, when the difference between the traveling frequencies of the two preceding and following time segments is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the transmission control unit 14 determines that one of the time segments having a large traveling frequency (in FIG. 14, the time is 7, 11, The threshold of the 18:00 time division) is updated so as to be equal to or less than the other threshold. According to such a configuration, the temporal transmission frequency (corresponding frequency) of the probe vehicle information can be appropriately leveled. Therefore, the possibility that the privacy information of the user of the probe vehicle is acquired by a third party can be further reduced.

  Alternatively, the transmission control unit 14 may update the threshold of one temporal segment in consideration of the thresholds of other temporal segments around the one temporal segment. For example, when the threshold of the time division at time t (here, t = 1 to 24) is m (t), the transmission control unit 14 sets the threshold of m (t) to {m (t−1 ) + M (t + 1) + (m (t−2) + m (t + 2)) / 2} / 3. That is, the transmission control unit 14 may update the threshold of one temporal segment to a value obtained by weighting the thresholds of other temporal segments around it. According to such a configuration, the temporal transmission frequency (corresponding frequency) of the probe vehicle information can be appropriately leveled. Therefore, the possibility that the privacy information of the user of the probe vehicle is acquired by a third party can be further reduced.

<Modification 2 of Embodiment 2>
Also in the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 according to the present embodiment, the same modifications as those of the third and fourth modifications of the first embodiment may be applied.

  Further, the function of the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 according to the present embodiment (transmission determination by comparison between the transmission frequency of the temporal division and the threshold value) and the function of the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 according to the first embodiment (spatial division) The transmission frequency may be combined with a transmission determination by comparison with a threshold value). For example, a determination is made by comparing the transmission frequency of the spatial division and the transmission frequency of the temporal division with a threshold value, and if it is determined that transmission is prohibited in one determination, regardless of the other determination Transmission of probe vehicle information may be prohibited. Alternatively, transmission of probe vehicle information may be prohibited only when it is determined that transmission is prohibited in both determinations. According to such a configuration, it is possible to reduce the possibility that the privacy information of the user of the probe vehicle (for example, home, frequently traveled route, commuting time, outing time, behavior pattern, etc.) is acquired by a third party. it can.

<Embodiment 3>
In the probe vehicle on-vehicle apparatus 1 described above, transmission determination is performed by comparing the transmission frequency with the threshold value, or transmission determination is performed by comparing the traveling frequency with the threshold value. On the other hand, in Embodiment 3 of the present invention, transmission determination is performed by comparing the number of times of travel with a threshold value. Hereinafter, the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described. In the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 according to the present embodiment, the same or similar components as those described in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and different points from the first embodiment will be mainly described. .

  FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the operation performed by the transmission control unit 14 according to the present embodiment in step S4 described above. Note that the overall operation is the same as that of the first embodiment, except for the changes associated with using the number of times of travel instead of the travel locus.

  Hereinafter, the operation of step S4 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 15, focusing on differences from the operation shown in FIG. Also in the present embodiment, in this step S4, the transmission control unit 14 leveles the spatial frequency of the probe vehicle information to be transmitted with respect to the probe vehicle information transmitted from the communication interface 13. The transmission / reception of the communication interface 13 is controlled.

  First, after performing steps S11 and S12 described above, in step S13b, the transmission control unit 14 performs each spatial acquisition acquired in step S12 based on the past probe vehicle information stored in the information storage unit 15. Get the number of past trips for the category. The acquisition of the past number of travels is the same as the acquisition of the number of travels described above.

  In step S14b, the transmission control unit 14 determines the presence / absence of a past traveling count. In the present embodiment, the transmission control unit 14 has no past number of travels when the value of the past number of travels acquired in step S13b is 0 for each of the plurality of spatial divisions acquired in step S12. If any of the past number of times of travel is greater than 0, it is determined that there is a past number of times of travel. If it is determined that there is a past number of travels, the process proceeds to step S15, and if it is determined that there is no past number of travels, the process proceeds to step S19.

  In step S15, the transmission control unit 14 acquires a threshold value used for transmission determination. Note that the threshold here is a constant value common to all spatial divisions. In addition, the threshold value here may be the same as or different from the above threshold value.

  Then, the operation | movement which replaced the transmission frequency with the frequency | count of driving | running | working in step S16, S17 is performed in step S16b, S17b. In the present embodiment, the operations in steps S18 to S20 described above are performed.

  That is, the transmission control unit 14 determines whether or not the past number of travels acquired in step S13b is greater than or equal to the above threshold value (is less than the above threshold value) for each of the plurality of spatial divisions acquired in step S12. ). And the transmission control part 14 prohibits transmission of the present probe vehicle information regarding the spatial division determined to be more than a threshold value. On the other hand, the transmission control unit 14 permits transmission of the current probe vehicle information regarding the spatial division determined to be less than the threshold.

  After steps S18, S19, and S20, in step S24, the transmission control unit 14 cumulatively stores all current probe vehicle information in the information storage unit 15 regardless of the result of the transmission determination. That is, the past probe vehicle information for obtaining the next past number of times of travel is updated in the information storage unit 15. Thereafter, the series of operations in step S4 shown in FIG.

  In step S25, the transmission control unit 14 acquires the past number of travels based on the past probe vehicle information updated in step S24, and updates the threshold based on the past number of travels. That is, in the present embodiment, the transmission control unit 14 updates the past number of travels every time transmission determination is performed, and among the past number of travels for each spatial division, the transmission control unit 14 determines a predetermined number from the largest (here, 10). The threshold value is updated to the value of the number of times of travel). Thereafter, the series of operations in step S4 shown in FIG.

  16 and 17 are diagrams illustrating an example of the transmission frequency when the process proceeds from step S17b to step S19 via step S18. In this figure, the thick line indicates the transmission frequency, the thin line indicates the number of times of travel, the two-dot chain line indicates the threshold value, and the total number of meshes is relatively large so that the transmission frequency is indicated by a smooth curve. . 16 and 17, all the meshes are rearranged as meshes CL0, CL1,... In descending order of the number of travels along the horizontal axis from the origin. Therefore, the mesh CL9 shown in the figure indicates that the mesh has the tenth number of travels from the largest.

  As shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, according to the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 according to the present embodiment, it is determined whether the number of travels is equal to or greater than a threshold, and the probe vehicle related to the spatial division determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold. Prohibit transmission of information. Accordingly, the spatial frequency of the probe vehicle information can be leveled as a result of the leveling of the number of spatial travels.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, the threshold value increases as the predetermined number of times of travel (here, the number of times of travel of mesh CL9) increases from the larger one. Therefore, even if the past number of times of travel has increased to the extent that it is determined that transmission is prohibited, there is a case where the threshold value subsequently increases and probe vehicle information is transmitted. In this case, since the occurrence of the blank area 81 described above is suppressed, the possibility that the privacy information of the user of the probe vehicle is acquired by a third party can be further reduced.

<Embodiment 4>
When the center apparatus 2 receives the transmission of the probe vehicle information transmitted (provided) from the probe vehicle, the center apparatus 2 uses the probe vehicle information for updating the traffic information. Here, for example, when an image and a moving image acquired by the probe vehicle are included in the probe vehicle information, if the update based on the probe vehicle information is frequently performed, the third party It is considered that the user's privacy information may be obtained from the traffic information included.

  Therefore, in the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention described below, it is possible to reduce the possibility that the user's privacy information is acquired by a third party from the traffic information.

  FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a probe information system including the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1, the center device 2, and the user interface 31. In the probe information system according to the present embodiment, the same or similar components as those described in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and different points from the first embodiment will be mainly described.

  As shown in FIG. 18, the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 according to the present embodiment includes a sensor information acquisition unit 11, a probe vehicle information generation unit 12, and a communication interface 13 that is an information providing unit. That is, in this embodiment, the transmission control unit 14 and the information storage unit 15 according to the first embodiment are not included.

  Also in the present embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the information acquisition unit 17 is configured by the sensor information acquisition unit 11 and the probe vehicle information generation unit 12 as described above. And the information acquisition part 17 comprised in this way acquires the probe vehicle information containing the travel locus information (travel information) regarding the travel locus of a probe vehicle.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment, the information acquisition part 17 discriminates at least any one of user ID for discriminating the user of a probe vehicle, and vehicle equipment ID for discriminating the probe vehicle vehicle equipment 1. It is assumed that probe vehicle information further including In the present embodiment, the probe vehicle information acquired by the information acquisition unit 17 is transmitted from the communication interface 13 to the center device 2 without being deleted for each spatial division or time division.

  Next, the center device 2 will be described. The center device 2 according to the present embodiment includes an update control unit 25 in addition to the communication interface 21, the data management unit 22, the database 23, and the traffic information generation unit 24 described in the first embodiment.

  The update control unit 25 is provided between the data management unit 22 and the traffic information generation unit 24 and manages probe vehicle information given to the traffic information generation unit 24 from the data management unit 22 for each user. The update control unit 25 controls the update of traffic information based on the probe vehicle information in the traffic information generation unit 24 by performing the management.

  The update control unit 25 performs the same operation as the transmission control unit 14 described in the first embodiment and the like, and determines whether or not the traffic information can be updated based on the probe vehicle information transmitted (provided) from the communication interface 13. Control. Specifically, the update control unit 25 according to the present embodiment determines whether to permit or prohibit, and provides the traffic information generation unit 24 with the probe vehicle information determined to be update permitted. At the same time, the update control unit 25 stores the probe vehicle information related to the spatial division given to the traffic information generation unit 24 in the information storage unit 15.

  Next, the user interface 31 will be described. In the present embodiment, the user interface 31 constitutes a communication interface 32 and an information terminal 3 (for example, a PC or a mobile phone). The user interface 31 can communicate with the center device 2 (communication interface 21) via the communication interface 32.

<Overall Operation of Center Device 2>
FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the operation of the center apparatus 2 according to the present embodiment. Next, the operation of the center apparatus 2 will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, the probe vehicle vehicle equipment 1 which concerns on this Embodiment shall perform operation | movement except step S4 and S5 in the operation | movement shown in FIG. 2, for example.

  First, in step S51, the center device 2 determines whether or not there is a traffic information provision request from the information terminal 3. If it is determined that there is a provision request, the process proceeds to step S52. If it is determined that there is no provision request, the process proceeds to step S53.

  In step S52, the communication interface 21 transmits (provides) the traffic information generated (updated) by the traffic information generating unit 24 to the information terminal 3, the car navigation device, another Web server, and the like. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S53.

  In step S53, the center apparatus 2 determines whether the probe vehicle information is transmitted (provided) from the probe vehicle onboard device 1. For example, the center device 2 performs the determination based on whether or not the probe vehicle information is received by the communication interface 21. If it is determined that it has been transmitted, the process proceeds to step S54. If it is determined that it has not been transmitted, the process returns to step S51.

  In step S54, the center device 2 obtains the discrimination ID included in the probe vehicle information, and discriminates at least one of the user related to the probe vehicle information and the probe vehicle in-vehicle device 1 based on the discrimination ID. To do.

  In step S55, the update control unit 25 receives data analysis processing based on the probe vehicle information transmitted (provided) from the communication interface 13 and the past probe vehicle information (update history) stored in the database 23. To determine whether to permit or prohibit updating of traffic information based on the probe vehicle information. In the present embodiment, the update control unit 25 controls whether or not the traffic information can be updated by performing an operation in which the transmission frequency is replaced with the update frequency in step S4 shown in FIG.

  Here, the update frequency is, for example, an update count indicating how many times the probe vehicle information related to one spatial division has been updated in the past, and (update count of one spatial division) / (total spatial division) (The total number of updates).

  The update control unit 25 according to the present embodiment configured as described above relates to the traffic information updated based on the probe vehicle information transmitted (provided) from the communication interface 13 and is reflected in the traffic information. Whether or not the traffic information can be updated is controlled so that the spatial frequency of the information is leveled.

  In step S56, if the determination result in step S55 is update permission, the process proceeds to step S57, and if update is prohibited, the process returns to step S51.

  In step S <b> 57, the update control unit 25 provides the traffic information generation unit 24 with the probe vehicle information determined to be update permitted. The traffic information generation unit 24 updates the traffic information based on the probe vehicle information given from the update control unit 25. Thereafter, the process returns to step S51.

  According to the present embodiment as described above, the probe vehicle information reflected in the traffic information for the same reason as the frequency of the probe vehicle information transmitted from the communication interface 13 in the first embodiment is leveled. Can be leveled. Therefore, the possibility that the third party acquires the user's privacy information from the traffic information can be reduced. Further, simplification of the configuration of the probe vehicle on-vehicle device 1 and reduction of the processing amount and storage capacity can be expected.

  In the above description, the center device 2 has a function of transmitting (providing) traffic information, a function of performing traffic information update determination, and a function of updating traffic information. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the center device 2 only needs to have a function of performing traffic information update determination, and other functions may be realized in another system.

  In the above description, the configuration in which the transmission frequency is replaced with the update frequency and the transmission determination is replaced with the update determination in the transmission determination described in the first embodiment has been described. However, the present embodiment is not limited to this. For example, the transmission determination described in the first modification of the first embodiment may be configured such that the traveling frequency is replaced with the reception frequency and the transmission determination is replaced with the update determination. For example, in the transmission determination described in the second embodiment, the transmission frequency may be replaced with the update frequency, and the transmission determination may be replaced with the update determination. Note that the reception frequency is calculated by using the number of receptions indicating how many times the probe vehicle information related to one spatial division has been received by the center device 2 in the past, (the number of receptions of one spatial division) / (total spatial division). This is the frequency determined by the sum of the number of receptions of the category).

  It should be noted that the present invention can be freely combined with each other within the scope of the invention, and each embodiment can be appropriately modified or omitted.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Probe vehicle vehicle equipment, 2 Center apparatus, 13 Communication interface, 14 Transmission control part, 17 Information acquisition part.

Claims (8)

An in-vehicle information processing apparatus mounted on a probe vehicle,
An information acquisition unit for acquiring probe vehicle information including travel information on a travel locus and / or travel time of the probe vehicle;
An information providing unit for providing the probe vehicle information to the outside;
For the probe vehicle information provided from the information providing unit, the availability of the information providing unit is controlled so that the spatial and / or temporal frequency of the provided probe vehicle information is leveled. An in-vehicle information processing apparatus comprising a provision control unit. The in-vehicle information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The providing control unit includes:
An in-vehicle information processing apparatus that controls whether or not the information providing unit can be provided so that the frequency of spatial and / or temporal divisions of the probe vehicle information is leveled. The in-vehicle information processing apparatus according to claim 2,
The providing control unit includes:
For each of a plurality of spatial and / or temporal divisions obtained by the spatial and / or temporal division, it is determined whether the corresponding frequency of the past probe vehicle information is equal to or higher than a threshold, An in-vehicle information processing apparatus that prohibits provision of the probe vehicle information related to the category determined to be present. The in-vehicle information processing apparatus according to claim 3,
The providing control unit includes:
An in-vehicle information processing apparatus that updates the threshold based on a past travel frequency obtained based on the past probe vehicle information. The in-vehicle information processing apparatus according to claim 4,
The threshold is set for each category,
The providing control unit includes:
An in-vehicle information processing apparatus that updates the threshold value of one of the divisions in consideration of the threshold values of the other divisions around the one division. An in-vehicle information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 5,
The providing control unit includes:
In-vehicle information processing that prohibits the provision of the probe vehicle information related to the section determined to be less than the threshold among the other sections close to the one section determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold. apparatus. The in-vehicle information processing apparatus according to claim 2,
The providing control unit includes:
For each of a plurality of spatial and / or temporal divisions obtained by the spatial and / or temporal division, it is determined whether or not the corresponding number of traveling times in the past probe vehicle information is greater than or equal to the threshold, Prohibiting provision of the probe vehicle information related to the category determined to be,
An in-vehicle information processing apparatus that updates the threshold value to a value of a predetermined number of times of travel from the larger of the number of times of travel. A center device for receiving probe vehicle information including travel information relating to a travel locus and / or travel time of the probe vehicle provided from a probe vehicle,
Regarding the update of the traffic information based on the probe vehicle information, the availability of the update of the traffic information is controlled so that the spatial and / or temporal frequency of the probe vehicle information reflected in the traffic information is leveled. , Center equipment.

Images