JP2021004824A - Server apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a technique enabling provision of route guide information to a vehicle that is possible to catch up with a bus.SOLUTION: A sever apparatus 14 has a first obtainment part 42 that obtains at least either of the number of passengers in a bus and the number of people getting on the bus at a bus stop. A prediction part 46 predicts a period of bus stopping time at a bus stop on the basis of at least either of the obtained number of passengers and the obtained number of people getting on. A provision part 48 provides a vehicle in travel with route guide information on the basis of the predicted stopping time.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to a technique for providing route guidance information to a vehicle.

Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle type display device provided with a light projecting means for irradiating a side surface of a bus with light in a band shape. The light projecting means irradiates the side surface of the bus with different colors of light between the forwarding bus and the operating bus. This makes it possible to inform the user of the type of bus in an easy-to-understand manner.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-238195

If a fixed-route bus is stopped in front of the vehicle on a road with multiple lanes on each side, the driver may change lanes and overtake the fixed-route bus. However, it may be difficult to change lanes with a margin after visually recognizing the route bus. In addition, after changing lanes from the right lane to the left lane, a route bus stopped in the left lane may be noticed, and a useless lane change such as changing the lane to the right lane may be performed again. Therefore, the present inventor has recognized that it is preferable to provide route guidance information to a vehicle that may catch up with a fixed-route bus.

The present inventor has made the present invention in recognition of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of providing route guidance information to a vehicle that may catch up with a bus.

In order to solve the above problems, the server device of an embodiment of the present invention includes an acquisition unit that acquires at least one of the number of passengers on a bus and the number of passengers on the bus at a bus stop, the acquired number of passengers, and the above. A prediction unit that predicts the stop time of the bus at the bus stop based on at least one of the number of passengers, and a provision unit that provides route guidance information to the moving vehicle based on the predicted stop time. Be prepared.

According to this aspect, since the route guidance information is provided to the traveling vehicle based on the predicted stop time of the bus, the route guidance information can be provided to the vehicle that may catch up with the bus.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide route guidance information to a vehicle that may catch up with a bus.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the vehicle system which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the 1st vehicle-mounted device of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the server apparatus of FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the operation example of a vehicle system. It is a figure for demonstrating another operation example of a vehicle system. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the server apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment.

(First Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle system 1 according to the first embodiment. The vehicle system 1 includes a plurality of first vehicle-mounted devices 10, a plurality of second vehicle-mounted devices 12, and a server device 14.

The first in-vehicle device 10 is mounted on a vehicle 80, which is an automobile. It is assumed that the vehicle 80 is a private car, a taxi, or the like other than a fixed-route bus (hereinafter referred to as a bus). The first in-vehicle device 10 has a wireless communication function and connects to the network 16 via a wireless base station or a wireless access point. The second in-vehicle device 12 is mounted on the bus 82. The second vehicle-mounted device 12 also has a wireless communication function and connects to the network 16.

A server device 14 is connected to the network 16, and the server device 14 communicates with the first vehicle-mounted device 10 and the second vehicle-mounted device 12 via the network 16. The server device 14 is installed in a data center, for example, and functions as an information processing device that processes information transmitted from a plurality of first vehicle-mounted devices 10 and a plurality of second vehicle-mounted devices 12. The standard of wireless communication is not particularly limited, and includes, for example, 3G (3rd generation mobile communication system), 4G (4th generation mobile communication system), or 5G (5th generation mobile communication system).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the first vehicle-mounted device 10 of FIG. The first in-vehicle device 10 includes a GPS receiving unit 20, a navigation unit 22, an in-vehicle camera 24, a processing unit 26, and a communication unit 28.

The GPS receiving unit 20 periodically acquires the position information of the vehicle 80, and outputs the acquired position information to the processing unit 26. The navigation unit 22 sets a guide route for route guidance based on a departure place, a destination, map information, etc., and provides travel guidance along the guide route by at least one of an image and a voice. The navigation unit 22 outputs the guide route information to the processing unit 26. The navigation unit 22 supports the driver's driving based on the route guidance information described later transmitted from the server device 14.

The in-vehicle camera 24 continuously captures an image in front of the vehicle 80, and outputs the captured image to the processing unit 26. The in-vehicle camera 24 is, for example, a camera of a drive recorder.

The processing unit 26 transmits the position information and the guidance route information to the server device 14 via the communication unit 28. Location information is sent on a regular basis. When the processing unit 26 receives the image request described later from the server device 14, the processing unit 26 transmits a plurality of images before and after the timing of receiving the image request to the server device 14 via the communication unit 28. Information for identifying the source vehicle 80 is attached to the transmitted information.

Although the configuration of the second vehicle-mounted device 12 is not shown, it may be the same as the configuration of FIG. The second in-vehicle device 12 transmits the system information indicating the traveling route of the bus 82 and the position information of the bus 82 to the server device 14. Location information is sent on a regular basis. Information for identifying the source bus 82 is attached to the transmitted information.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the server device 14 of FIG. The server device 14 includes a communication unit 30, a processing unit 32, and a storage unit 34. The processing unit 32 includes a specific unit 40, a first acquisition unit 42, a prediction unit 46, and a providing unit 48.

The configuration of the processing unit 32 can be realized by the CPU, memory, or other LSI of an arbitrary computer in terms of hardware, and can be realized by a program loaded in the memory in terms of software. It depicts a functional block realized by cooperation. Therefore, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that these functional blocks can be realized in various ways by hardware only, software only, or a combination thereof.

The storage unit 34 stores map information including lane information indicating whether or not the road has a plurality of lanes on each side, and location information of a plurality of bus stops. In addition, the storage unit 34 uses the current number of passengers on each bus 82 (that is, the current total number of passengers), the average number of passengers on the bus 82 between adjacent bus stops for each system and time zone, and the distance between adjacent bus stops for each time zone. The past average running time of the bus 82 of the bus 82 and the past average stopping time of the bus 82 of each bus stop for each system and time zone are also stored. The average number of passengers, the average travel time, and the average stop time may be acquired from other server devices (not shown) of the bus company, or the average number of passengers of a plurality of buses 82 may be acquired by the server device 14. Good.

The communication unit 30 receives the position information transmitted from the plurality of vehicles 80 and the plurality of buses 82, and outputs the received information to the specific unit 40. The communication unit 30 receives the guidance route information transmitted from the plurality of vehicles 80, and outputs the received information to the providing unit 48. The communication unit 30 receives the system information transmitted from the plurality of buses 82, and outputs the received information to the prediction unit 46.

The specific unit 40 includes map information and bus stop position information stored in the storage unit 34, position information of a plurality of buses 82 output from the communication unit 30, and positions of a plurality of vehicles 80 output from the communication unit 30. Based on the information, the bus 82 stopped at the bus stop and the vehicle 80 stopped behind the bus 82 are identified. The identification unit 40 identifies a bus 82 that has stopped on a road having a plurality of lanes on each side. The identification unit 40 attaches the identification information of the vehicle 80 behind the identified bus 82 to the image request, and outputs the image request to the communication unit 30. The communication unit 30 transmits the image request output from the specific unit 40 to the vehicle 80 behind the bus 82.

The first vehicle-mounted device 10 of the vehicle 80 that has received the image request transmits the captured image to the server device 14 as described above. The images include images of passengers getting on and off at the bus stop.

The communication unit 30 receives the image transmitted from the vehicle 80 behind the bus 82, and outputs the received image to the first acquisition unit 42.

The first acquisition unit 42 determines the number of passengers on the bus 82 and the number of passengers on the bus 82 at the bus stop based on the images of passengers at the bus stop captured by the vehicle 80 behind the bus 82 output from the communication unit 30. Get the number of people getting on and off. The number of people getting on and off includes the number of people getting on and off the bus 82 and the number of people getting off the bus 82.

The first acquisition unit 42 image-recognizes passengers in the image and acquires the number of passengers getting on and off the bus 82 at the bus stop based on the image recognition result. The number of passengers can be obtained from the image before getting on and off, which includes passengers waiting at the bus stop. The number of people getting off can be obtained from a plurality of images until the end of getting off.

The first acquisition unit 42 acquires the number of passengers on the bus 82 at the time of departure from the current bus stop, based on the current number of passengers on the bus 82 stored in the storage unit 34 and the acquired number of passengers getting on and off the bus 82. When the first acquisition unit 42 acquires the number of passengers, the first acquisition unit 42 updates the current number of passengers of the bus 82 stored in the storage unit 34 to the acquired number of passengers.

At the starting point bus stop, in a situation where a plurality of buses 82 are stopped in a row, the number of passengers at the departure of the starting point bus stop can be obtained from the image of the passengers of the front bus 82 taken by the rear bus 82.

The prediction unit 46 predicts the stop time of the bus 82 at the bus stop based on the number of passengers and the number of passengers getting on and off acquired by the first acquisition unit 42. For example, the prediction unit 46 performs a first prediction process of (1) predicting the stop time at the current bus stop based on the number of passengers when the bus 82 stops at the bus stop, and (2) the bus 82 from the bus stop. At the time of departure, a second prediction process of predicting the stop time at the next bus stop based on the number of passengers is executed.

(1) First Prediction Processing When the bus 82 stops at the bus stop, the prediction unit 46 determines the number of people boarding the bus 82 output from the first acquisition unit 42 and the predetermined boarding time per person. Multiply and multiply the result as the stop time at the stopped bus stop. The predicted stop time is the minimum stop time because the time required to get off may be longer than the predicted stop time.

The providing unit 48 determines the stop position of the bus 82 based on the stop time predicted by the prediction unit 46, the position information of the bus 82 and the plurality of vehicles 80, and the guidance route information of the plurality of vehicles 80. Route guidance information is provided to the running vehicle 80 including the vehicle 80, which can reach the stop position of the bus 82 within the predicted stop time. As a result, it is possible to provide route guidance information to the vehicle 80 that may catch up with the stopped bus 82. Whether or not the vehicle 80 can reach the stop position of the bus 82 within the predicted stop time can be determined based on the distance from the current position of the vehicle 80 to the stop position of the bus 82 and the predetermined speed. As the predetermined speed, statistical values of the speeds of a plurality of vehicles such as the past average speeds of the plurality of vehicles on the road on which the bus 82 is stopped can be used. The vehicle 80 whose guide route includes the stop position of the bus 82 is a vehicle 80 that is scheduled to travel on at least a part of the travel route of the bus 82. By not providing route guidance information to the vehicle 80 that is not scheduled to travel on the travel route of the bus 82, unnecessary guidance can be suppressed.

The providing unit 48 does not provide the route guidance information to the vehicle 80 that has transmitted the image request. The providing unit 48 does not have to provide the route guidance information to the vehicle 80 at a position where the bus 82 can be visually recognized.

The route guidance information includes at least one of lane guidance information that proposes traveling in a lane different from the lane in which the bus 82 exists and route change guidance information that proposes traveling in a route different from the travel route of the bus 82. Including. The driver of the vehicle 80 provided with the route guidance information can easily avoid the bus 82.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an operation example of the vehicle system 1. FIG. 4 shows a situation when the bus 82 stops at the bus stop S1. The vehicle 80a running following the bus 82 stops behind the bus 82 and waits for its departure. The first vehicle-mounted device 10 of the vehicle 80a transmits an image of the passenger 110 to the server device 14 in response to an image request. It is assumed that the number of people boarding the bus at the bus stop S1 acquired by image recognition is eight. Assuming that the boarding time per person is, for example, 3 seconds, the prediction unit 46 predicts a stop time of 24 seconds.

The providing unit 48 provides route guidance information to the traveling vehicles 80b, 80c, 80d which may reach the stop position of the bus 82 within 24 seconds. Since it is predicted that the vehicle 80e cannot reach the stop position of the bus 82 within 24 seconds, the route guidance information is not provided.

The lane guidance included in the route guidance information includes, for example, voice guidance such as "The bus is in the left lane. We propose to drive in the right lane." And at least an image showing guidance in the right lane. Including one. If the driver of the vehicle 80d traveling in the left lane provided with the route guidance information decides to change lanes, he / she can safely change lanes to the right lane before visually recognizing the bus 82. Easy to change. When changing lanes to the right lane after visually recognizing the stopped bus 82, there is a possibility that the lane change may be forcible or the lane cannot be changed, but such a situation can be easily avoided. Therefore, the convenience of the driver is enhanced.

The driver of the vehicle 80c traveling in the right lane provided with the route guidance information can change lanes to the left lane for the left turn after passing the bus 82 when turning left before the bus stop S1. Therefore, after changing lanes to the left lane without noticing that the bus 82 is stopped in front of the left lane, it is possible to suppress unnecessary lane changes such as catching up with the stopped bus 82 and changing lanes to the right lane again. it can.

The route guidance information may include information on the predicted stop time. The driver of the vehicle 80d who has confirmed the stop time can wait for the departure of the bus 82 without changing lanes if the stop time is short, and the range of choices of the driver can be expanded. For example, when the driver of the vehicle 80d turns left before the bus stop S1, if it is known that the stop time of the bus 82 is short, it is easy to select not to change lanes, and the convenience is enhanced.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining another operation example of the vehicle system 1. It is assumed that the number of people boarding the bus 82 is eight. Vehicle 80f is traveling from east to west toward the intersection 120. The navigation unit 22 of the vehicle 80f presents a guide route P1 that turns right at the next intersection 120 and enters the left lane after the right turn. It is assumed that the guidance route P1 that enters the left lane after turning right is presented for reasons such as turning right at the next intersection 120 and then turning left before the bus stop S1.

The providing unit 48 provides the route guidance information to the vehicle 80f which may reach the stop position of the bus 82 within 24 seconds. Since the guidance route P1 of the vehicle 80f indicates a right turn, the lane guidance of the route guidance information is, for example, "After turning right, the bus is in the left lane. After turning right, we propose to drive in the right lane." It includes voice guidance and a new guidance route P2 that recommends driving in the right lane different from the driving lane of the bus 82. The driver of the vehicle 80f provided with the route guidance information can easily turn right toward the right lane before visually recognizing the bus 82.

The provider 48 searches for a new route to the destination avoiding the road where the bus 82 is located, for example, "After turning right, the bus is in the left lane. We propose a route change." Information on the route change guidance including the voice guidance and the new guidance route P3 may be provided. The providing unit 48 includes the new guidance route P3 only when the estimated arrival time to the destination by the new guidance route P3 is within a predetermined time from the estimated arrival time to the destination by the original guidance route P1. Information on change guidance may be provided. The driver of the vehicle 80f can avoid the bus 82 and travel along the new guidance route P3.

(2) Second prediction processing When the bus 82 departs from the bus stop, the prediction unit 46 uses the number of passengers of the bus 82 output from the first acquisition unit 42 as the bus between the current bus stop and the next bus stop. Divide by the average number of passengers of 82, multiply the division result by the average stop time of the bus 82 at the next bus stop, and use the multiplication result as the stop time at the next bus stop. The average number of passengers and the average stop time are for the system of the bus 82 to be predicted and the current time zone.

That is, the prediction unit 46 predicts that the larger the number of passengers is, the longer the stop time at the next bus stop is longer than the average stop time, and the smaller the number of passengers is, the shorter the stop time is than the average stop time. This is because the larger the number of passengers, the larger the number of people getting off at the next bus stop, and the larger the number of passengers, the longer the boarding time per person may be due to congestion.

When the bus 82 departs from the bus stop, the providing unit 48 determines the stop time predicted by the prediction unit 46, the average running time of the bus 82 between the current bus stop and the next bus stop, and the bus 82 and a plurality of vehicles. The route guidance information is provided to the traveling vehicle 80 based on the position information of the 80, the position information of the next bus stop, and the guidance route information of the plurality of vehicles 80. The average running time is for the current time zone. Specifically, the providing unit 48 is a vehicle 80 that can reach the next bus stop between the sum of the average traveling time and the predicted stop time, and the guidance route is a bus from the current bus stop to the next bus stop. Route guidance information is provided to the traveling vehicle 80 including the traveling route of 82. Therefore, it is possible to provide the route guidance information to the vehicle 80 that is traveling from the current bus stop to the next bus stop or may catch up with the bus 82 that is stopped at the next bus stop. The route guidance information may include information on the predicted stop time.

According to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide route guidance information for traveling while avoiding the bus 82 to a vehicle that may catch up with the bus 82.

(Second Embodiment)
The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the stop time is predicted by using the attribute information of the passengers and passengers of the bus 82. Hereinafter, the differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the server device 14 according to the second embodiment. The processing unit 32 further includes a second acquisition unit 44 in addition to the configuration shown in FIG. The second acquisition unit 44 image-recognizes passengers in the image at the bus stop captured by the vehicle 80 behind the bus 82, and acquires the attribute information of the passengers based on the image recognition result. Attribute information includes, for example, children, adults, the elderly, and the like. The storage unit 34 stores the number of people for each attribute of the current passengers of each bus 82. The second acquisition unit 44 has the attributes of the passengers of the bus 82 at the time of departure of the current bus stop based on the number of passengers of the bus 82 stored in the storage unit 34 for each attribute and the acquired attribute information of the passengers. Get the number of people for each. When the second acquisition unit 44 acquires the number of passengers for each attribute, the second acquisition unit 44 updates the information stored in the storage unit 34.

The prediction unit 46 predicts the stop time of the bus 82 at the bus stop based on the number of passengers and the number of passengers getting on and off acquired by the first acquisition unit 42 and the attribute information acquired by the second acquisition unit 44.

(1) First prediction processing When a customer gets on a bus 82 stopped at a bus stop, the prediction unit 46 determines the number of passengers of that attribute on the bus 82 and the number of passengers of that attribute per person. Multiply the boarding time and the sum of the multiplication results for each attribute is the stop time at the stopped bus stop. The boarding time per person for children and the elderly is longer than the boarding time per person for adults, and may be about twice that. For example, if the number of passengers boarding an adult is 5, the number of elderly passengers is 5, the boarding time per adult is 3 seconds, and the boarding time per elderly person is 6 seconds, a stop time of 45 seconds is predicted. To.

(2) Second prediction processing When the bus 82 departs from the bus stop, the prediction unit 46 uses the number of passengers of the bus 82 output from the first acquisition unit 42 as the bus between the current bus stop and the next bus stop. Divide by the average number of passengers of 82, multiply the division result by the average stop time of the bus 82 at the next bus stop, and use the multiplication result as the temporary stop time at the next bus stop.

The prediction unit 46 predicts that the higher the ratio of the number of children and the elderly to the number of passengers on the bus 82 than the average ratio of the number of children and the elderly to the number of passengers, the longer the stop time at the next bus stop will be than the provisional stop time. However, the lower the average ratio, the shorter the forecast than the temporary stop time. This is because the higher the percentage of elderly people, the longer it may take to get off. The average ratio may be set between adjacent bus stops for each system and time zone. The average ratio may be obtained from another server device of the bus company, or may be obtained by averaging the ratio of the elderly or the like to the number of passengers on the plurality of buses 82 in the server device 14.

According to the present embodiment, by using the attribute information of passengers and passengers, it becomes easier to predict the stop time of the bus 82 with higher accuracy. Therefore, it is possible to predict the vehicles 80 that may catch up with the bus 82 with higher accuracy and provide route guidance information to those vehicles 80.

The present invention has been described above based on the embodiments. The embodiments are merely examples, and it is understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications are possible for each component and combination of each processing process, and that such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention.

For example, the prediction unit 46 may execute either the first prediction process or the second prediction process. When executing only the first prediction process, the first acquisition unit 42 may acquire the number of boarding passengers, and the second acquisition unit 44 may acquire the attribute information of the boarding passengers. In this modification, the degree of freedom in the configuration of the server device 14 can be improved.

Sensors, fare payment machines, etc. mounted near the entrance / exit of the bus 82 acquire the number of passengers getting on / off the bus 82 at the bus stop, and the second in-vehicle device 12 of the bus 82 gets on the bus based on the acquired number of passengers. The number of people may be derived. In this case, another server device of the bus company acquires the number of passengers on the bus 82 from the second in-vehicle device 12. The first acquisition unit 42 of the server device 14 acquires the number of passengers on the bus 82 from other server devices of the bus company. In this modification, the degree of freedom in the configuration of the vehicle system 1 can be improved. In addition, the processing of the server device 14 can be simplified.

The providing unit 48 can reach the stop position of the bus 82 within the predicted stop time regardless of whether or not the bus 82 is scheduled to travel at least a part of the travel route of the bus 82 without using the guidance route of the navigation unit 22. Route guidance information may be provided to the vehicle 80 traveling at the position. In this modification, the route guidance information can be provided to the vehicle 80 in which the guidance route is not set in the navigation unit 22. In addition, the processing of the server device 14 can be simplified.

1 ... vehicle system, S1 ... bus stop, 10 ... first in-vehicle device, 12 ... second in-vehicle device, 14 ... server device, 42 ... first acquisition unit, 44 ... second acquisition unit, 46 ... prediction unit, 48 ... provided Department, 80, 80a-80f ... Vehicle, 82 ... Bus, 110 ... Passengers.

Claims (1)

The acquisition department that acquires at least one of the number of passengers on the bus and the number of passengers on the bus at the bus stop.
A prediction unit that predicts the stop time of the bus at the bus stop based on at least one of the acquired number of passengers and the number of passengers.
A provider that provides route guidance information to a moving vehicle based on the predicted stop time, and
A server device characterized by comprising.