JP2016066144A - Road surface information collection device and road surface information analysis system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a road surface information collection device capable of collecting road surface information with a simple method, and a road surface information analysis device.SOLUTION: A control part 2 of an on-vehicle device 1 acquires a plurality of wheel rotational speed from a speed sensor 25 mounted on a vehicle in advance for detecting the wheel rotational speed, determines that it is wheel velocity anomaly when variations of the rotational speed exceeds determination difference to transmit, to a server 50, the wheel rotational speed together with positional information of the vehicle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a road surface information collection device that collects information on a road surface on which a vehicle such as an automobile travels, and a road surface information analysis system that analyzes road surface information collected by the road surface information collection device.

  Conventionally, when performing maintenance management of roads and the like, it has been performed that a camera or the like is mounted on a vehicle and an image captured by the camera or the like is analyzed to detect road damage or the like (for example, patent document) 1).

  In the case of the method described in Patent Document 1, a dedicated vehicle equipped with a camera or the like is required, so that it is difficult to frequently collect road surface information over a wide range.

  Patent Document 2 describes that a sensor or the like is installed on a road facility, and information measured by the sensor or the like is wirelessly transmitted to an inspection vehicle. Also in this patent document 2, a dedicated inspection vehicle is required, and it is difficult to collect road surface information frequently over a wide range. Moreover, since it is necessary to install a sensor etc. in road equipment, there also exists a problem that it will cost.

  Patent Document 3 describes that a detection device group such as a sensor provided in a general vehicle is used. In Patent Document 3, when a collection item and condition of road surface information and a collection area are designated from a server, the designated general vehicle collects information using a detection device group and transmits the information to the server.

JP 2002-74575 A JP 2010-117837 A JP 2006-48501 A

  In the case of Patent Document 3, since it is necessary to instruct information collection from the server, two-way communication is required between the vehicle and the server. In addition, since it is necessary to register information such as sensors mounted on the vehicle and the vehicle type and owner of the vehicle on the server, there is a problem that it takes time and effort to register such information in advance.

  In view of the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a road surface information collection device and a road surface information analysis device that can collect road surface information by a simple method.

  The invention according to claim 1, which has been made to solve the above problem, is a road surface information collection device that is mounted on a vehicle and collects information on a road surface on which the vehicle travels. Wheel speed acquisition means for acquiring each at predetermined time intervals, determination means for determining variations in rotational speed of the plurality of wheels acquired by the wheel speed acquisition means, and position information for acquiring position information of the vehicle A road surface information collecting apparatus comprising: an acquisition unit; and an output unit that outputs the result of determination by the determination unit and the vehicle position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit as road surface information. .

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the determination means has a variation when a difference in rotational speed between the plurality of wheels exceeds a predetermined range. It is characterized by determining.

  The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that, in the invention according to claim 2, the output means outputs the road surface information when the determination means determines that there is variation. .

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the road surface information collecting device according to any one of the first to third aspects, input means for inputting the road surface information output by the road surface information collecting device, Storage means for storing the road surface information input to the input means; and analysis means for analyzing the road surface information stored in the storage means, wherein the analysis means is stored in the storage means. In addition, the road surface information analysis system is characterized in that, based on the information on the road surface, a point where there are a plurality of determinations that there is a variation is set as a point where the road surface is abnormal.

  As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the rotational speeds of a plurality of wheels are acquired from a sensor or the like that detects the rotational speeds of the wheels mounted in advance in the vehicle, and variations in the rotational speeds are obtained. Determine and send with location information. By doing so, it is possible to detect a variation in the rotational speed of the wheels caused by road surface irregularities and the like and transmit it as road surface information. This eliminates the need for two-way communication or vehicle registration, and allows road surface information to be collected by a simple method.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is determined that the variation is determined by a factor other than the road surface abnormality such as the road surface unevenness by providing the range of the difference between the rotational speeds of the plurality of wheels and detecting the variation. Can be reduced.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, road surface information is transmitted when it is determined that there is a variation. Therefore, it is possible to suppress communication frequency by reducing the frequency of communication.

  According to the invention described in claim 4, the points having a plurality of determinations that there is a variation based on the road surface information collected by the road surface information collection device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. It can be determined that there is an abnormality on the road surface. Therefore, since it can be determined that there is an abnormality on the road surface when there are variations over a plurality of vehicles or a plurality of dates and times, an abnormal point can be identified with higher accuracy.

1 is a block diagram of a road surface information collection device and a road surface information analysis device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the flowchart which showed operation | movement of the vehicle equipment shown by FIG. It is the graph which showed the example in case the rotational speed of the wheel shown by FIG. 1 is abnormal. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a reception operation of the server illustrated in FIG. 1. It is the flowchart which showed the analysis operation | movement of the server shown by FIG. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of wheel speed abnormality information.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a road surface information analysis system 60 having an in-vehicle device 1 and a server 50 as a road surface information collection device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the in-vehicle device 1 includes a control unit 2, a communication module 3, a GPS (Global Positioning System) module 4, an external I / F 5, a display unit 6, a power supply unit 7, a speed An I / F 8, a rotation I / F 9, a digital input I / F 10, an operation I / F 11, a nonvolatile memory 12, and an operation unit 13 are included. The in-vehicle device 1 according to the present embodiment is a device that transmits vehicle information such as a vehicle speed and an engine speed acquired from a speed I / F 8, a rotation I / F 9, a digital input I / F 10, and the like from the communication module 3.

  The control unit 2 serving as a determination unit includes, for example, a microcomputer including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory). The control unit 2 governs overall control of the in-vehicle device 1 by the program stored in the ROM. Further, the control unit 2 transmits vehicle information acquired from the speed I / F 8, the rotation I / F 9, the digital input I / F 10, and the like to the server 50 via the communication module 3. Further, the control unit 2 determines whether or not the wheel rotational speed information acquired from the speed I / F 8 has a variation, and the determination result together with the position information acquired from the GPS module 4 is road surface information (road surface information). ) To the server 50 via the communication module 3.

  The communication module 3 as an output unit is connected to the communication antenna 21 and performs wireless communication with the server 50 under the control of the control unit 2. For example, the communication module 3 transmits the acquired vehicle information, road surface information, and the like to the server 50. The communication module 3 may be a communication method used in a mobile phone such as LTE (Long Term Evolution) or CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), or a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) or other method. Wireless communication may be used. Moreover, the communication module 3 should just have a transmission function at least.

  The GPS module 4 as position information acquisition means acquires the latitude information and longitude information of the current position of the vehicle on which the in-vehicle device 1 is mounted from the information received by the GPS antenna 22 from the GPS satellite. Output to the control unit 2.

  The external I / F 5 is an interface (I / F) to which the external device 23 is connected. Examples of the external device 23 include an ETC (Electronic Toll Collection system) vehicle-mounted device and a drive recorder.

  The display unit 6 is configured by a liquid crystal display, for example, and displays various information related to the operation and control of the in-vehicle device 1 under the control of the control unit 2.

  The power supply unit 7 supplies power to each unit in the in-vehicle device 1 based on power supplied from a vehicle power supply 24 such as a battery. Although it is connected to the control unit 2 and the communication module 3 in FIG. 1, the power is also supplied to other blocks as a matter of course.

  A speed I / F 8 serving as a wheel speed acquisition unit is an interface to which the speed sensor 25 is connected. The speed sensor 25 is a known sensor that outputs a signal corresponding to the rotational speed of each wheel of the vehicle. In the present embodiment, since the rotational speed of each wheel of the vehicle is acquired as described above, when the number of wheels of the vehicle on which the in-vehicle device 1 is mounted is four, the four speed sensors 25 to the four wheels. Is obtained. In the following description, a four-wheeled vehicle will be described, but a vehicle having a plurality of wheels such as a truck having four or more wheels or a motorcycle may be used.

  The rotation I / F 9 is an interface to which the engine rotation sensor 26 is connected. The engine rotation sensor 26 is a well-known sensor that detects the engine speed of a vehicle on which the in-vehicle device 1 is mounted.

  Various sensors arranged in the vehicle are connected to the digital input I / F 10 as the remaining amount acquisition means. The various sensors include, for example, a vehicle ignition switch (IGN SW), a door sensor, or a remaining amount sensor for detecting the remaining amount of fuel provided in a fuel tank or the like. Detection signals (sensor signals, for example, fuel remaining amount information, etc.) from the respective switches and sensors are input from the various sensors.

  The operation I / F 11 is connected to the operation unit 13 and outputs operation information input from the operation unit 13 to the control unit 2. The operation unit 13 includes input means such as a plurality of buttons and a touch panel.

  The non-volatile memory 12 includes a non-volatile storage medium such as a semiconductor memory such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) or a flash memory, or a hard disk. The non-volatile memory 12 temporarily stores vehicle information acquired from the speed I / F 8, rotation I / F 9, digital input I / F 10, etc., and stores various information acquired by the GPS module 4 or the external I / F 5. Save it.

  A server 50 is connected to the in-vehicle device 1 via the communication antenna 21. The server 50 is, for example, a computer installed in a business office or the like, and can communicate with the in-vehicle device 1 via a network 100 such as a mobile phone network or the Internet. The server 50 includes a control unit 52, a communication module 53, and a storage device 54.

  The control unit 52 as analysis means is configured by a microcomputer including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory), for example. The control unit 52 governs overall control of the server 50 by a program stored in the ROM. In addition, the control unit 52 causes the storage device 54 to store (save) the vehicle information and road surface information transmitted from the in-vehicle device 1. Further, the control unit 52 performs analysis based on the road surface information stored in the storage device 54 and identifies a point where there is an abnormality.

  The communication module 53 as an input unit communicates with the in-vehicle device 1 under the control of the control unit 2. The communication module 53 receives, for example, vehicle information and road surface information transmitted from the in-vehicle device 1. The communication module 53 only needs to have at least a reception function.

  The storage device 54 as a storage unit is configured by a non-volatile storage medium such as a hard disk or a non-volatile memory. The storage device 54 stores vehicle information, road surface information, and the like transmitted from the in-vehicle device 1.

  In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, only one set of in-vehicle devices 1 is described, but there are usually a plurality of in-vehicle devices 1. That is, a plurality of vehicles collect road surface information and transmit it to the server 50.

  Next, the operation of the in-vehicle device 1 having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the in-vehicle device 1. The flowchart of FIG. 2 is executed by the control unit 2. FIG. 3 is a graph showing an example when the rotational speed of the wheel is abnormal.

  In step S11 of the flowchart of FIG. 2, it is determined whether or not there has been a wheel rotation speed that exceeds the determination difference with respect to the rotation speed of each wheel acquired from the speed I / F 8. If yes (if YES), the process proceeds to step S12. If there is no progress (if NO), the process waits in this step.

  The difference in determination of the rotational speed of the wheel will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, the vertical axis represents the rotation speed and the horizontal axis represents time. In the figure, the two-dot chain line indicates the rotation speed of the left front wheel (left front wheel speed), the one-dot chain line indicates the rotation speed of the right front wheel (right front wheel speed), and the broken line indicates the rotation speed of the left rear wheel (left rear wheel). Speed), the solid line indicates the rotational speed of the right rear wheel (right rear wheel speed). The rotational speed of each wheel is acquired at intervals of 100 milliseconds (ms), and the vehicle position information is acquired at intervals of 1 second.

  In the case of this embodiment, the difference in determination of the rotational speed of the wheel is a value to be compared with the difference between the wheel having the minimum rotational speed and the wheel having the maximum rotational speed among the rotational speeds of the wheels. That is, this determination difference is within a predetermined range. That is, when the difference between the rotation speeds of the plurality of wheels exceeds a predetermined range, it is determined that the rotation speeds of the plurality of wheels are varied, and step S11 is determined as YES.

  If the rotational speed of each wheel is about 100 ms, it is almost constant even if the road is curved as well as a straight road. Therefore, if the road surface is damaged, such as unevenness, the rotational speed of each wheel varies. Therefore, as described above, it is possible to detect a road surface abnormality (damage to unevenness or the like) by providing a determination difference in the rotational speed of the wheel and determining the magnitude of variation. Note that the predetermined time interval for acquiring the rotation speed of the wheel is not limited to 100 ms, but as described above, it is necessary to set the time interval so that variation does not increase even if the vehicle travels normally on a curve or the like.

  Next, in step S12, since there is a wheel rotation speed that exceeds the determination difference in step S11, wheel speed abnormality storage is performed and the process proceeds to step S13. Specifically, wheel information (wheel speed abnormality information) and vehicle position information (GPS position information) exceeding the determination difference are stored in the nonvolatile memory 12 or the like. In the case of FIG. 3, since the right rear wheel speed exceeds the determination difference at time t2, information on the right rear and vehicle position information are stored. In the case of FIG. 3, since the position information of the vehicle is not acquired at time t2, the position information acquired at the latest time t1 is stored. The wheel speed abnormality information stored in this step is information indicating that it is determined that there is a variation in the rotation speed of each wheel.

  In step S12, the wheel that exceeds the determination difference may be identified by, for example, calculating a change rate of the rotation speed of the wheel so that the change rate is large. The rate of change is the rate of change between the current wheel rotation speed and the wheel rotation speed acquired immediately before (or just before or several times before). In the case of FIG. 3, since the rate of change of the right rear wheel is greatly changed as compared with the other three wheels, the wheel exceeds the determination difference. Alternatively, the rate of change may be different from the other three wheels.

  Next, in step S13, the wheel speed abnormality information stored in the nonvolatile memory 12 in step S12 and the vehicle position information are transmitted to the server 50 via the communication module 3 as road surface information. That is, when the determination means determines that there is variation, the determination result and the vehicle position information acquired by the position information acquisition means are output as road surface information.

  In the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, the wheel speed abnormality information is detected based on the difference between the rotation speeds of the plurality of wheels as the determination difference, but the ratio of the rotation speeds of the plurality of wheels (for example, the minimum rotation speed). The wheel speed abnormality information may be detected on the basis of the ratio of the wheel and the wheel having the maximum rotational speed.

  In the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, the road surface information is transmitted when the wheel rotation speed exceeds the determination difference. However, the vehicle position after the wheel rotation speed exceeds the determination difference. You may transmit at the timing which acquired information. For example, in FIG. 3, it may be transmitted at time t3, which is the vehicle position information acquisition timing after detecting the rotational speed of the wheel that exceeds the determination difference at time t2. Or you may make it acquire the positional information on a vehicle at the acquisition interval of the rotational speed of a wheel.

  In the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, the data is temporarily stored in step S12 and then transmitted to the server 50 in step S13. However, the data may be directly transmitted without being stored.

  Furthermore, not only the road surface information is transmitted only when there is a wheel rotation speed exceeding the determination difference in step S11, but the circuit surface information is determined by the wheel rotation speed acquisition interval, the vehicle position information acquisition interval, etc. You may send it. In this case, when there is no wheel exceeding the determination difference, information indicating that there is no variation may be included in the road surface information. Moreover, it is good also considering not only the information of the wheel which exceeded the determination difference but the information which shows that there exists dispersion | variation in the rotational speed of a several wheel simply as wheel speed abnormality information.

  Next, the operation of the server 50 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 are flowcharts showing the operation of the server 50. The flowcharts of FIGS. 4 and 5 are executed by the control unit 52. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a point having a plurality of road surface information determined to be abnormal.

  First, the flowchart of FIG. 4 will be described. The flowchart of FIG. 4 shows the operation when receiving road surface information. First, in step S21, it is determined whether or not road surface information has been received from the in-vehicle device 1. If received (YES), the process proceeds to step S22. If not received (NO), the process waits in this step. To do. In step S22, the road surface information received in step S21 is stored in the storage device 54.

  The flowchart of FIG. 5 is an operation for analyzing the road surface information stored in the storage device 54 in FIG. Therefore, the flowchart of FIG. 4 and the flowchart of FIG. 5 operate independently. In addition, when executing the flowchart of FIG. 5, it is assumed that a plurality of road surface information is stored in the storage device 54 in advance, and wheel information (wheel speed abnormality information) exceeding the determination difference is included. In step S31 of the flowchart of FIG. 5, the analysis is performed and the process proceeds to step S32.

  In step S31, the control unit 52 reads road surface information from the storage device 54, refers to vehicle position information included therein, and extracts a point (latitude, longitude) with wheel speed abnormality information.

  Next, in step S32, it is determined whether or not there is a point where a plurality of wheel speed abnormality information is detected (determined that there is a variation). If so (NO), the process ends.

  Next, in step S33, it is determined that the point where the plurality of wheel speed abnormality information is detected is a point on the road surface, the maintenance of the point is notified, and the process ends. The maintenance notification may be displayed on a display device (not shown) or the like, or information on a point where maintenance is performed may be transmitted to another terminal or the like by communication or the like.

  Here, an analysis example of the server 50 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is an example in which wheel speed abnormality information is plotted on a map. The star in FIG. 6 is a point where there is wheel speed abnormality information.

  In FIG. 6, stars are concentrated in a portion surrounded by a circle A and a portion surrounded by a circle B. Therefore, the circle A and the circle B are set as objects for which maintenance notification is made as a point where a plurality of wheel speed abnormality information is detected. That is, the point where the plurality of wheel speed abnormality information is detected is not only that the position information (latitude, longitude) in the plurality of wheel speed abnormality information matches, but also has a predetermined range, You may put it together as one point.

  Moreover, you may provide the threshold value in a fixed time for the detection of several wheel speed abnormality information. For example, a threshold value of 5 times per day may be provided, and a point where wheel speed abnormality information is detected above this threshold value may be determined to be abnormal on the road surface.

  According to the above embodiment, the control unit 2 of the in-vehicle device 1 acquires the rotational speeds of the plurality of wheels from the speed sensor 25 that detects the rotational speeds of the wheels mounted in advance in the vehicle, and When the variation exceeds the determination difference, it is determined that the wheel speed is abnormal, and the determination result is transmitted to the server 50 together with the vehicle position information. By doing so, it is possible to detect road surface abnormalities such as road surface irregularities due to variations in the rotational speed of the wheels, and transmit the state as road surface information. This eliminates the need for a dedicated sensor or camera, eliminates the need for two-way communication or vehicle registration, and allows road surface information to be collected in a simple manner.

  In addition, by appropriately setting the determination difference, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of an abnormality due to factors other than road surface abnormality such as road surface unevenness.

  Moreover, since road surface information is transmitted when it determines with wheel speed abnormality, it can suppress the frequency of communication and can suppress a communication charge.

  In addition, when there are a plurality of points determined to be abnormal in wheel speed based on road surface information collected by the in-vehicle device 1, the server 50 determines that the point is abnormal and performs maintenance. By doing in this way, the point detected as having an abnormality over a plurality of vehicles or a plurality of dates and times can be set as a maintenance target, and the abnormal point can be specified with higher accuracy.

  In addition, since a plurality of in-vehicle devices 1 store road surface information from (vehicle) in the server 50, the road surface information can be used as a database, and can be used efficiently for road surface maintenance.

  In the above-described embodiment, the road surface information collection device has been described with the in-vehicle device 1 that collects (acquires) vehicle information. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and other in-vehicle devices such as a navigation system, a taximeter, and a drive recorder may be used. Good.

  In the above-described embodiment, the in-vehicle device 1 directly transmits road surface information to the server 50. For example, the road surface information collected by the in-vehicle device 1 is stored in a memory card or the like, and the memory card is stored in a personal computer or the like. It may be attached to a terminal and road surface information may be transmitted from the personal computer to the server 50. In short, input and output of road surface information from the road surface information collection device to the road surface information analysis device are not direct, and some device or medium may be interposed between the input and output.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. That is, those skilled in the art can implement various modifications in accordance with conventionally known knowledge without departing from the scope of the present invention. Of course, such modifications are also included in the scope of the present invention as long as the configuration of the road surface information collecting apparatus and the road surface information analyzing apparatus of the present invention is provided.

1 In-vehicle equipment (road surface information collection device)
2 Control unit (determination means)
3 Communication module (output means)
4 GPS module (location information acquisition means)
8 Speed I / F (Wheel speed acquisition means)
50 server 52 control unit (analysis means)
54 Storage device (storage means)
60 Road surface information analysis system

Claims (4)

In a road surface information collecting device that is mounted on a vehicle and collects information on a road surface on which the vehicle travels,
Wheel speed acquisition means for acquiring rotation speeds of a plurality of wheels of the vehicle at predetermined time intervals, respectively;
Determination means for determining variations in rotational speeds of the plurality of wheels acquired by the wheel speed acquisition means;
Position information acquisition means for acquiring position information of the vehicle;
An output means for outputting the determination result of the determination means and the position information of the vehicle acquired by the position information acquisition means as information on the road surface;
A road surface information collecting device characterized by comprising:   The road surface information collection device according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines that there is a variation when a difference between rotational speeds of the plurality of wheels exceeds a predetermined range.   3. The road surface information collection device according to claim 2, wherein the output unit outputs the road surface information when the determination unit determines that there is a variation. The road surface information collection device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Input means for inputting information on the road surface output by the road surface information collection device;
Storage means for storing information on the road surface input to the input means;
Analyzing means for analyzing the road surface information stored in the storage means,
The analysis means, based on the information on the road surface stored in the storage means, a point having a plurality of determinations that there is a variation as a point where there is an abnormality on the road surface,
This is a road surface information analysis system.

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