JP2023062009A - Mobile body, information processing device used for automatic driving of the mobile body, automated system, method therefor and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processing device capable of attaining cost reduction of a mobile including an automatic driving function.

SOLUTION: An information processing device provided in a communication network comprises: a function distributed execution unit for executing, in a distributed manner, a part of automatic driving functions which are executed in automatic driving of a mobile body moving along a moving route in place of the mobile body; and a communication unit for receiving, from the mobile body through the communication network, information required for the distributed execution of the function in a part of the automatic driving functions in the automatic driving of the mobile body, and transmitting a result of the distributed execution of the partial function through the communication network to the mobile body.

SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

COPYRIGHT: (C)2023,JPO&INPIT

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an automatically operable moving body, and an information processing device, an automatic system, a method, and a program used for automatically driving the moving body.

Conventionally, the industry standard has been to incorporate functions related to automatic driving of vehicles, which are mobile bodies that move on roads, into the interior of the vehicle. In Patent Document 1, it is mounted on a vehicle together with a navigation system, various sensors, a communication unit that communicates with the navigation system, a vehicle control unit that outputs an instruction signal to the drive system of the vehicle, and various programs and various data are stored. An automatic driving system is disclosed that includes a storage unit and a CPU that executes automatic driving control of a vehicle based on route information transmitted from a navigation system and sensing data transmitted from a sensor.

JP 2020-035217 A

In recent years, as the functions of vehicles (automobiles) have become more sophisticated, the manufacturing costs of vehicles have tended to increase, and the addition of automatic driving functions in the future, such as the vehicle described in Patent Document 1, will further increase costs. Expected. Therefore, cost reduction when adding an automatic driving function to a vehicle has become an issue. In addition to vehicles that move on the ground, similar problems also occur in vehicles that move underground, on water (e.g., sea), underwater (e.g., under the sea), or in the air, and that have automated driving functions. It is what you get.

An information processing device according to an aspect of the present invention is an information processing device provided in a communication network. This information processing device includes a function distribution execution unit that distributes and executes a part of an automatic driving function that is executed during automatic operation of a moving body that moves along a movement route in place of the moving body, and Information necessary for distributed execution of a part of the automatic driving function is received from the mobile object via the communication network, and a result of distributed execution of the part of the function is received via the communication network. and a communication unit that transmits to the mobile unit.

In the information processing device, the automatic driving function includes an information acquisition function block that acquires information about the moving object or its surroundings, and starting, steering, accelerating, decelerating, and controlling the moving object based on the acquired information. and an operation control function block for controlling the operation of the moving object based on the determination result of the operation control content, wherein the functional distributed execution is performed. The part of the functions distributed and executed by the unit is the determination function block, and the communication unit transmits the acquired result of acquiring the information of the mobile unit or its surroundings from the mobile unit via the communication network. It may be received, and the determination result of the content of the operation control may be transmitted to the mobile object via the communication network.

In the information processing device, transmission delay time and communication capacity based on at least one of a predetermined delay request time required by the automatic driving function and a data size of information transmitted and received with the mobile object during automatic driving The communication method used for communication with the mobile object may be determined from a plurality of types of communication methods different from each other. Here, the plurality of types of communication systems include a communication system in the fourth generation mobile communication system, an eMBB (enhanced mobile broadband) communication system in the next generation mobile communication system including the fifth generation, and the fifth generation. It may include a communication method of URLLC (Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications) in the next-generation mobile communication system.

In the information processing device, based on at least one of a delay request time required by each of the plurality of functional blocks constituting the automatic driving function and a data size of information transmitted and received with the mobile object during the automatic driving , any one of the plurality of functional blocks may be executed in a distributed manner. Here, among the plurality of functional blocks, the functional block whose required delay time is longer than the total time of the execution time of the functional block and the round-trip communication time with the mobile object may be distributed and executed.

In the information processing device, among the plurality of functions included in the automatic driving function, functions with high importance that need to be executed even when communication with the mobile object is cut off are distributed and executed by the information processing device. It may be executed by the moving body without Here, the function of high importance may be an automatic stop function when danger occurs to the moving body.

In the information processing device, for each type of the mobile body, the contents of the automatic driving function to be executed in a distributed manner, the delay request time required by the automatic driving function, and the mobile body when the delay request time is not satisfied may be provided with an information storage unit for storing automatic operation auxiliary information indicating a relationship with the content of control at the time of automatic operation stop.

The information processing device may be a base station of a mobile communication network, a node between the base station and a core network, or an MEC (Multi-access Edge Computing) device provided outside the core network.

A mobile body according to another aspect of the present invention is a mobile body that can be automatically operated so as to move along a movement route. The mobile body transmits information necessary for distributed execution of a part of the automatic driving function on behalf of the mobile body during automatic driving to the information processing device via the communication network, and distributes the part of the function. An execution result is received from the information processing device via the communication network, and the remaining functions of the automatic driving function are executed based on the result of distributed execution of the part of the functions.

The mobile object may be a vehicle that moves on the ground or underground, a ship that moves on water, an underwater vehicle that moves in water, or an aircraft that moves in the air.

An automatic driving system according to still another aspect of the present invention includes any of the information processing devices described above and any of the moving bodies described above.

In the automatic driving system, the information processing device identifies the type of the mobile object based on the information received at the time of the initial connection when the mobile object is initially connected via the communication network, and determines the type of the mobile object. Based on the type of the body, the content of the part of the functions to be distributed and executed corresponding to the type of the moving body, the predetermined delay request time required by the automatic operation function, and the control when the automatic operation of the moving body is stopped The mobile unit receives the content of the control at the time of the automatic operation stop at the time of the initial connection, and transmits the mobile unit information including the position information of the mobile unit to the information processing device. and estimating the transmission delay time of communication with the information processing device based on the time stamp at the time of transmission of the mobile information and the time stamp at the time of receipt of confirmation of receipt of the mobile information, and When it is determined that the condition of the required delay time is satisfied based on the estimated delay time, information necessary for distributed execution of the part of the functions in the information processing device is transmitted to the information processing device, and receiving the result of distributed execution of the partial function in the processing device, and determining that the condition of the delay request time is not satisfied based on the estimation result of the transmission delay time, the control at the time of automatic operation stop may be executed.

In the automatic operation system, the control when the automatic operation is stopped may be a control for automatically stopping the moving object at a safe place on the moving route. Here, the moving body may be switched to a manual driving mode in which part or all of the automatic driving functions are manually performed after automatically stopping at a safe place on the moving route. Further, after the mobile body automatically stops at a safe place on the moving route, the mobile body information and the transmission delay time estimation are continuously and periodically performed, and the transmission delay time estimation result is obtained. When it is determined that the condition of the required delay time is satisfied based on, the automatic operation of the moving body may be resumed.

A method according to still another aspect of the present invention is a method of automatically driving a moving body that moves along a moving route. In this method, an information processing device provided in a communication network performs distributed execution of a part of an automatic driving function executed during automatic operation of a mobile body moving on a moving route on behalf of the mobile body; an information processing device receiving, from the mobile body via the communication network, information necessary for distributed execution of a part of the automatic driving function during automatic operation of the mobile body; and , transmitting a result of distributed execution of the part of the functions to the mobile body via the communication network; and and performing the remaining functions of the function.

A program according to still another aspect of the present invention is a program executed by a computer or processor provided in an information processing device provided in a communication network. This program includes a program code for distributed execution of a part of the automatic operation function executed during automatic operation of a moving body moving along a movement route on behalf of the moving body, and the automatic driving function during automatic operation of the moving body. A program code for receiving information necessary for distributed execution of a part of the driving functions from the mobile unit via the communication network, and a result of the distributed execution of the part of the functions to be sent to the communication network. and program code for transmission to the mobile via.

A program according to still another aspect of the present invention is a program executed in a computer or processor provided in a mobile body capable of automatically driving so as to move along a travel route. This program is a program code for transmitting information necessary for distributed execution of a part of the automatic driving function on behalf of the mobile body to an information processing device via a communication network when the mobile body is automatically driven. , a program code for receiving the result of distributed execution of the partial function from the information processing device via the communication network, and the automatic driving function based on the result of the distributed execution of the partial function program code for performing the remaining functions of

According to the present invention, a plurality of functions required for automatic operation of a mobile body moving along a moving route are distributed to the mobile body and a network-side device capable of communicating with the communication unit of the mobile body via a communication network. As a result, it is possible to reduce the cost of a moving body having an automatic driving function.

Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the whole structure of the automatic driving system which concerns on embodiment. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a main part of an automatic driving system including an information processing device and an in-vehicle device according to an embodiment; FIG. FIG. 2 is a sequence flow diagram showing an example of distributed execution of an automatic driving function of a vehicle in the automatic driving system according to the embodiment; The time chart which shows an example of distributed execution of the specific target function of an automatic driving function. (a) to (c) are explanatory diagrams showing an example of automatic driving of a vehicle in the automatic driving system of the present embodiment. (a) to (c) are explanatory diagrams showing other examples of automatic driving of a vehicle in the automatic driving system of the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a sequence flow diagram showing another example of distributed execution of the automatic driving function of the vehicle in the automatic driving system according to the embodiment;

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of an automatic driving system according to this embodiment. The automatic driving system of this embodiment includes an information processing device 10 provided in a mobile communication network. The information processing device 10 performs a part of the automatic driving function that is executed when the vehicle 30 , which is one or a plurality of mobile bodies traveling on the road 90 as the vehicle movement route, automatically drives. An in-vehicle device 31 is mounted on the vehicle 30 . The automatic driving system may include an information processing device 10 and a vehicle 30 to be automatically driven.

When a plurality of vehicles 30 and their in-vehicle devices 31 are separately described below, vehicles 30(1), 30(2), ... and in-vehicle devices 31(1), 31(2), ... is written as Further, when describing the configuration, control, etc., common to a plurality of vehicles, it is referred to as a vehicle 30, and when describing the configuration, control, etc., which are common to a plurality of in-vehicle devices, it is referred to as an in-vehicle device 31. Note that the example of FIG. 1 shows a case where three vehicles 30(1) to 30(3) each having an automatic driving function and having in-vehicle devices 31(1) to 31(3) are running. However, the number of vehicles 30 having an automatic driving function may be one, two, or four or more.

The vehicle 30 is, for example, an automobile, a truck, a bus, a motorcycle, or the like that moves on a road 90 that is a movement route on the ground. The mobile object to be automatically driven in the present embodiment may be a vehicle on the ground, or a mobile object such as an aircraft that can fly and move along a movement route in the sky above a predetermined altitude. In addition, a mobile object to be automatically driven is an underground mobile object that moves along an underground movement route, a water mobile object such as a ship that can move along a movement route on water (e.g., sea), or an underwater (e.g., undersea) movement. It may be an underwater mobile such as a submersible robot that moves along a route.

An in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 has one or a plurality of communication terminal devices as a communication unit that communicates with the outside. The communication terminal device of the in-vehicle device 31 is, for example, a user device (hereinafter referred to as "UE") that can be used as a subscriber of mobile communication service. The UE may be a wireless communication device also called a user terminal, terminal, terminal device, mobile station, mobile station, or the like. The UE is provided in an in-vehicle device (for example, a device incorporated as part of a navigation device) 31 installed in the vehicle 30 . The UE may be a device that the user carries and uses in the vehicle 30 .

The UE of the in-vehicle device 31 transmits information via a base station 16 of a mobile communication network (cellular network) by a network communication method (for example, 3G, 4G, LTE, or next-generation NR method) which is a first communication method. It can communicate with the processing device 10 (hereinafter, communication by the network communication method is also referred to as “Uu communication”). The radio network communication method of Uu communication is, for example, Cat. M, Cat. A wireless communication method conforming to specifications such as NB, eMTC (enhanced machine type communication), and NB (Narrow Band)-IoT may be used. In addition, the wireless network communication method of Uu communication is eMBB (enhanced Mobile BroadBand), which is suitable for high-speed, large-capacity communication provided by next-generation mobile communication systems including the 5th generation, and is suitable for ultra-high-reliability, low-delay communication. A wireless communication method conforming to specifications such as URLLC (Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications) and MTC (Massive Machine Type Communication) suitable for communication with an extremely large number of terminals may be used.

The in-vehicle device 31 may have a communication unit that performs direct wireless communication such as short-distance D2D (Device-to-Device), V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle), and V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything). For example, the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 has a vehicle-to-vehicle communication function for performing wireless communication between vehicles according to the PC-5 communication method illustrated in FIG. It may have a road-to-vehicle communication function that performs wireless communication such as short-range communication (DSRC: Dedicated Short Range Communications) with other infrastructure equipment.

For example, the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 performs wireless communication (hereinafter also referred to as "vehicle-to-vehicle communication") with another vehicle by a second communication method that does not involve a base station of a mobile communication network (cellular network). good too. The second communication method is, for example, a Sidelink method using a PC-5 (hereinafter also referred to as “PC5”) interface (hereinafter also referred to as “PC5 communication method” or “PC-5 Sidelink method”). The PC-5 interface is a D2D (Device to Device) interface in which UEs, UEs and other devices (for example, vehicles), vehicles, or vehicles and other devices directly communicate without going through a base station. Yes, standardized since 3GPP Release 12. The PC5 communication system (Sidelink system) uses a PC-5 interface or the like to compare UEs, UEs and other devices (such as vehicles), vehicles, or vehicles and other devices without going through a base station. It is a short-distance wireless communication system for direct communication in a narrow area.

The information processing device 10 is, for example, an MEC (Multi-access Edge Computing) device provided in the base station 16 of the mobile communication network 15 . The information processing device 10, which is an MEC device, may be provided at a node between the base station 16 and the core network of the mobile communication network 15 or outside the core network. Further, the information processing device 10 may be provided in the core network of the mobile communication network 15 as indicated by the dashed line in the figure.

A base station 16 forms one or more cells (sectors, also called sector cells). The cells may be two-dimensionally formed on the ground or the sea, or three-dimensionally formed from the sky toward the ground or the sea. A cell may be a macrocell, a small cell, a femtocell, a picocell, a large cell, and so on. A plurality of cells may constitute a cellular structure distributed so as to be adjacent to each other two-dimensionally or three-dimensionally, or may constitute a hierarchical cell structure in which a part or all of them overlap hierarchically. . The base station 16 is a macrocell base station, a small cell base station, a femtocell base station, a picocell base station, a large cell base station, a fixed base station fixedly installed on the ground or the like, or a mobile station that can move on the ground, on the sea, in the sky, or the like. type base station or the like. The base station 16 may be a wireless communication device called eNodeB (evolved Node B: eNB), gNodeB (gNB), en-gNodeB (en-gNB), access point, or the like.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a main configuration of an automatic driving system including the information processing device 10 and the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 according to the present embodiment.
The information processing apparatus 10 includes a functional distribution execution unit 101 , a communication unit 102 and an information storage unit (DB: database) 103 .

The function distribution execution unit 101 distributes and executes a part of the automatic driving function that is executed when the vehicle 30 moving on the road 90 automatically drives on behalf of the vehicle 30 . Unlike the control unit 313 provided in the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30, the functional distribution execution unit 101 performs judgment processing involving advanced arithmetic processing and analysis processing without being restricted by manufacturing costs, installation space, and the like. It can be configured using a computer device comprising a CPU or GPU with high data processing capability for performing the processing. On the other hand, the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 does not need to perform judgment processing involving advanced arithmetic processing and analysis processing, so it does not need to be equipped with a CPU or GPU with high data processing capability.

The communication unit 102 receives information necessary for distributed execution of a part of the automatic driving function during automatic driving of the vehicle 30 from the vehicle 30 via the base station 16 of the mobile communication network 15, for example, by the Uu communication described above. Then, the result of distributed execution of the part of functions is transmitted to the vehicle 30 via the base station 16 of the mobile communication network 15 .

The information storage unit 103 stores information regarding distributed execution of the automatic driving function of the vehicle 30 . For example, the information storage unit 103 stores, for each type of vehicle 30 (vehicle type and model year), the content of the automatic driving function to be executed in a distributed manner, the requested delay time required by the automatic driving function, and the requested delay time. Automatic driving auxiliary information (also referred to as "automatic driving mapping information" or "automatic driving auxiliary table information") indicating the relationship with the content of control when automatic driving of the vehicle 30 is stopped is stored.

The automatic driving function of the vehicle 30 includes an automatic parking function that automatically parks in a predetermined parking space, an automatic driving function that controls the driving of the vehicle 30 so as to drive safely on a road 90 such as a highway, a forward, backward, or sideward driving function. It may also have a plurality of functional logics such as an automatic emergency stop function that automatically stops the vehicle when danger occurrence is detected. In addition, the automatic driving function of the vehicle 30 includes, for each functional logic, an information acquisition function block that acquires information about the vehicle 30 or its surroundings, and based on the acquired information, the moving body starts, steers, accelerates, It may include a judgment function block for judging the content of operation control including at least one of deceleration and stop, and an operation control function block for controlling the operation of the vehicle 30 based on the judgment result of the content of the operation control. The part of the functions distributed and executed by the function distributed execution unit 101 may be a decision function block among the plurality of function blocks.

When the automatic driving function of the vehicle 30 has a plurality of functional logics, the communication unit 102 of the information processing device 10 transmits the acquisition result of acquiring information about the vehicle or its surroundings to the vehicle via the base station 16 of the mobile communication network 15. 30 , and the determination result of the operation control content may be transmitted to the vehicle 30 via the base station 16 of the mobile communication network 15 .

The communication unit 102 of the information processing device 10 determines the transmission delay based on at least one of a predetermined delay request time required by the automatic driving function of the vehicle 30 and the data size of information transmitted and received with the vehicle 30 during automatic driving. A communication method to be used for communication with the vehicle 30 may be determined from a plurality of types of communication methods with mutually different times and communication capacities. Here, the plurality of types of communication methods are the communication methods in the above-mentioned fourth generation mobile communication system (for example, LTE version LPWA or LPWAN Cat.M, Cat.NB, eMTC, NB-IoT), The eMBB communication method and the URLLC communication method in the next generation (NR) mobile communication system including the 5th generation may be included.

The functional distributed execution unit 101 of the information processing device 10 provides at least one of the delay request time required by each of the plurality of functional blocks constituting the automatic driving function and the data size of information transmitted and received with the vehicle 30 during automatic driving. Any one of a plurality of functional blocks may be executed in a distributed manner based on . Here, for example, the information processing apparatus 10 distributes and executes a functional block whose delay request time is longer than the total time of the execution time of the functional block and the round-trip communication time with the vehicle 30 among the plurality of functional blocks. may

In addition, among the multiple functions (function logic) included in the automatic driving function, functions with a high degree of importance that need to be executed even when communication with the vehicle 30 is interrupted (for example, automatic stop of the vehicle 30 when danger occurs function) may be entirely executed in the vehicle 30 without distributed execution of part of the function in the information processing device 10 .

In FIG. 2 , the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 includes a NW communication unit 311 , a vehicle/surroundings information acquisition unit 312 , a control unit 313 , a storage unit 314 and a proximity direct communication unit 316 .
The NW communication unit 311 is configured using, for example, the communication module and antenna of the UE described above, and performs distributed execution of part of the automatic driving function on behalf of the vehicle 30 during automatic driving of the vehicle 30 by the Uu communication described above. necessary information to the information processing device 10 via the base station 16 of the mobile communication network 15 . Also, the NW communication unit 311 receives the result of the distributed execution of the partial functions from the information processing device 10 via the base station 16 of the mobile communication network 15 .

The control unit 313 is composed of, for example, a processor such as a CPU or GPU, a RAM, a ROM, an I/O interface, and the like. Based on this, the drive unit 32 is controlled so as to execute the remaining functions of the automatic driving function. The driving unit 32 is an engine or motor of the vehicle body, a braking device, a steering device, and the like.

The vehicle/surroundings information acquisition unit 312 includes, for example, a camera device as imaging means for capturing moving or still images of the surroundings, and a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver as current position acquisition means for measuring the current position of the vehicle. and The vehicle/periphery information acquisition unit 312 also includes a speed sensor that detects the speed of the vehicle 30 and an acceleration sensor that detects the acceleration of the vehicle 30 . Furthermore, the vehicle/periphery information acquisition unit 312 detects objects such as vehicles and pedestrians in the surrounding area using radar equipment such as infrared light, visible light, ultrasonic waves, or electromagnetic waves, lidar (light detection and ranging) A device or the like may be provided.

The storage unit 314 stores information to be transmitted to the information processing device 10 (for example, information necessary for distributed execution of a part of the automatic driving function), information received from the information processing device 10 (for example, a part of the automatic driving function information of the result of distributed execution of the function of ), information acquired by the vehicle/surroundings information acquisition unit 312 (for example, peripheral still image or moving image data, speed data, peripheral object detection data), etc. are stored.

The proximity direct communication unit 316 is composed of a predetermined communication module, an antenna, and the like, and performs proximity direct communication such as the above-described vehicle-to-vehicle communication and road-to-vehicle communication.

FIG. 3 is a sequence flow diagram showing an example of distributed execution of the automatic driving function of the vehicle 30 in the automatic driving system according to this embodiment.
3, when the engine of the drive unit 32 of the vehicle 30 is started (S101), the in-vehicle device 31 performs initial connection processing to the information processing device 10, and pre-registers the communication terminal device (UE) of the in-vehicle device 31. The subscriber information of the mobile communication service provided is read from the storage unit 314 and transmitted to the information processing apparatus 10 via the base station 16 (S102, S103).

The information processing device 10 refers to the user database stored in the information storage unit 103 based on the subscriber information received from the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 at the time of initial connection, and determines the type of the vehicle 30 (model, model year, etc.). ). In the user database, for example, pre-registered subscriber information of the UE of the owner or user of the vehicle 30 and the type (model and year) of the vehicle 30 are stored in association with each other.

Next, the information processing device 10 refers to an automatic driving assistance table as automatic driving assistance information stored in the information storage unit 103 based on the identified type of the vehicle 30 (S104), and determines the type of the vehicle 30. , the contents of some functions to be executed in a distributed manner corresponding to , the requested delay time, and the contents of control when automatic operation is stopped are transmitted to the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 via the base station 16 (S105, S106).

As exemplified in Table 1, in the automatic driving assistance table, for each of a plurality of types (vehicle type and model year) of the vehicle 30, some of the automatic driving functions of the vehicle 30 that are distributed and executed by the information processing device 10 function contents, the delay request time required for some of the functions, and the contents of control at the time of automatic operation stop are stored in association with each other.

Next, the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 periodically executes a process of transmitting vehicle information including current position information of the own vehicle to the information processing device 10 and estimating a transmission delay time with the information processing device 10. (S107 to S111). For example, the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 initiates communication with the information processing device 10 based on the time stamp at the time of transmission of the vehicle information and the time stamp at the time of receipt of acknowledgment (ACK) for the vehicle information. A transmission delay time is estimated, and the estimation result of the transmission delay time is stored.

Next, the in-vehicle device 31 performs the target function and the self Refer to the automatic driving assistance table in Table 1 for the type of vehicle, and the estimated result of the transmission delay time is the threshold corresponding to the delay request time required by the target function (for example, if the target function is function A in Table 1, 1.0 s) or less (S112).

If the estimation result of the transmission delay time is less than or equal to the threshold value corresponding to the delay request time required by the target function (YES in S112), the in-vehicle device 31 detects the information processing device 10 as indicated by the recognition function block F101 in FIG. (S113), and transmits the acquired input data to the information processing apparatus 10 via the base station 16. (S114, S115). For example, when the target function is function A in Table 1, the input data are camera images, speed, acceleration, and brake information.

Based on the input data received from the in-vehicle device 31, the information processing device 10 performs determination processing for determining whether or not the target function is to be executed in the vehicle 30, as indicated by the determination function block F102 in FIG. 4 (S116). , the determination result is transmitted to the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 via the base station 16 (S117, S118). Here, the determination result may include vehicle control information such as braking information of the vehicle 30 .

Here, for transmission and reception of input data and determination results, a communication method corresponding to the type of vehicle 30 and target function (for example, in the case of vehicle type A and target function A in Table 1, the above-mentioned LTE communication method or eMBB communication method) is used.

The in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 executes vehicle control for controlling the vehicle 30 (for example, the drive unit 32) based on the determination result received from the information processing device 10 as shown in the vehicle control function block F103 in FIG. S119).

In step S112, if the estimation result of the transmission delay time is greater than the threshold value corresponding to the delay request time required by the target function (NO in S112), the in-vehicle device 31 cannot execute the automatic driving function. The vehicle 30 (for example, the drive unit 32) is controlled so as to automatically stop at a safe place (for example, the shoulder) of the road 90 (S120). After automatically stopping the vehicle 30, the in-vehicle device 31 automatically stops at a safe place on the road 90, and then switches from the automatic driving mode to the manual driving mode in which some or all of the automatic driving functions are manually performed. may Further, after the vehicle 30 automatically stops at a safe place on the road 90, the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 periodically and continuously transmits the vehicle information and estimates the transmission delay time, and based on the estimation result of the transmission delay time. , the automatic operation of the vehicle 30 may be resumed when it is determined that the delay request time condition is satisfied.

In FIG. 4, time n1 is the execution time of the recognition function block F101 in the in-vehicle device 31, time n3-n2 is the execution time of the judgment function block F102 in the information processing device 10, and time n5-n4 is This is the execution time of the vehicle control function block F103 in the in-vehicle device 31. FIG. In addition, time n2-n1 in FIG. 4 is a transmission delay time when input data is transmitted from the on-vehicle device 31 to the information processing device 10, and time n4-n3 is a transmission delay time from the information processing device 10 to the on-vehicle device 31. This is the transmission delay time when sending. The transmission delay time estimation result described above corresponds to the round-trip transmission delay time (n2-n1)+(n4-n3) in FIG.

FIGS. 5A to 5C are explanatory diagrams showing an example of automatic driving (basic operation during automatic parking) of the vehicle 30 in the automatic driving system of this embodiment.
In FIG. 5(a), the vehicle 30(1) to be automatically driven stops in front of the target parking space 95s of the parking lot 95, and the omnidirectional camera device of the in-vehicle device 31 captures the surrounding situation. The data is uploaded to the information processing apparatus 10 as input data.

Next, in FIG. 5B, the information processing device 10 performs a braking operation for parking the vehicle 30(1) in the target parking space 95s based on the image data uploaded from the vehicle 30(1). Judging information and making decisions. For example, the information processing device 10 determines the braking information by calculating the moving route until the vehicle 30(1) is parked in the parking space 95s, the moving distance on the timeline, the operation of the steering wheel, and the like. The information processing device 10 downloads and transmits braking information as a determination result to the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30(1).

Next, in FIG. 5C , the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 ( 1 ) automatically controls the operation of the vehicle 30 ( 1 ) based on the braking information downloaded from the information processing device 10 . This allows the vehicle 30(1) to move to the target parking space 95s and stop in a predetermined correct orientation.

FIGS. 6A to 6C are explanatory diagrams showing other examples of automatic driving (danger avoidance operation during automatic parking) of the vehicle 30 in the automatic driving system of the present embodiment.
In FIG. 6A, the vehicle 30(1) to be automatically driven stops in front of the target parking space 95s of the parking lot 95, and the surrounding pedestrians and other vehicles 30(2), 30(3) A sensor (for example, a radar device, a lidar device) constantly detects whether or not a surrounding object such as an object is moving, and uploads and transmits the sensor detection data to the information processing device 10 as input data.

Next, in FIG. 6B, the information processing device 10 determines whether or not the motion of the surrounding object is only the expected motion based on the sensor detection data uploaded from the vehicle 30(1). Here, when it is detected that the surrounding object (vehicle 30(3) in the illustrated example) is performing a motion that deviates from the expected motion, the information processing device 10 issues a brake command to the vehicle 30(1) that has started to move. is downloaded to the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30(1) as a determination result.

Next, in FIG. 6C, the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30(1) controls the vehicle 30(1) based on the braking information downloaded from the information processing device 10 so as to brake the vehicle 30(1). to automatically control the operation of As a result, vehicle 30(1) can avoid colliding with vehicle 30(3) exiting the parking space when moving to target parking space 95s.

FIG. 7 is a sequence flow diagram showing another example of distributed execution of the automatic driving function of the vehicle 30 in the automatic driving system according to this embodiment. FIG. 7 shows an example in which the in-vehicle device 31 estimates the transmission delay time based on the weak electric field area information downloaded from the information processing device 10 . 7 are the same as S101 to S106 in FIG. 3, and S212 to S220 in FIG. 7 are the same as S112 to S120 in FIG. 3, so description thereof will be omitted.

In the automatic driving assistance table of the information processing device 10 in the example of FIG. A column for specifying whether or not is added. When the column of weak electric field area information is “◯”, the vehicle 30 downloads the weak electric field area information on the route from the current position to the destination from the information processing device 10 . In addition, the information processing apparatus 10 has a map database including weak electric field area information acquired in advance by survey or the like for the area to be managed.

In FIG. 7, the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 receives the contents of some functions to be executed in a distributed manner corresponding to the type of the own vehicle, the required delay time, and the contents of the control when the automatic operation is stopped. The vehicle information including the current position information and the destination information are transmitted to the information processing device 10 via the base station 16 (S207, S208). The information processing device 10 refers to the map database based on the current position information and the destination information of the vehicle 30 in the automatic driving assistance table, and transmits the weak electric field area information on the route from the current position of the vehicle 30 to the destination to the base station 16. to the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 (S209, S210).

The in-vehicle device 31 periodically estimates the transmission delay time of communication with the information processing device 10 based on the current position information and the weak electric field area information received from the information processing device 10, and estimates the transmission delay time. is stored (S211).

In the example of FIG. 7, the transmission delay time can be estimated without using the time stamp at the time of information transmission/reception with the information processing device 10, so the data processing load of the in-vehicle device 31 of the vehicle 30 can be further reduced.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the information processing device 10 controls a portion of the automatic driving function to be executed during the automatic driving of the vehicle 30 based on the information received from the vehicle 30 via the mobile communication network 15 . , and the result of distributed execution of a part of the functions is transmitted to the vehicle 30 via the mobile communication network 15, so that the vehicle 30 can execute the remaining functions of the automatic driving function. . Through communication via the mobile communication network, the vehicle 30 and the information processing device 10 can cooperate with each other to execute the entire automatic driving function of the vehicle, and part of the automatic driving function executed when the vehicle 30 is automatically driven. Since the configuration of the vehicle 30 for automatic driving can be reduced by the distributed execution of the information processing device 10 instead of the vehicle 30, the cost of the vehicle 30 having the automatic driving function can be reduced.

It should be noted that the processing steps and components of communication terminal equipment (UE), base stations, information processors, servers, MEC devices and communication systems described herein may be implemented by various means. For example, these processes and components may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof.

For hardware implementation, means such as processing units used to implement the above steps and components in an entity (e.g., various wireless communication devices, eNode Bs, terminals, hard disk drives, or optical disk drives) are: One or more of an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), digital signal processor (DSP), digital signal processor (DSPD), programmable logic device (PLD), field programmable gate array (FPGA), processor , controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, electronic devices, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, computers, or combinations thereof.

Also, for firmware and/or software implementations, means such as processing units used to implement the above components may be programs (e.g., procedures, functions, modules, instructions) that perform the functions described herein. , etc.). In general, any computer/processor readable medium tangibly embodying firmware and/or software code means, such as a processing unit, used to implement the above steps and components described herein. may be used to implement For example, firmware and/or software code may be stored in memory and executed by a computer or processor, such as in a controller. The memory may be implemented within the computer or processor, or external to the processor. The firmware and/or software code may also be, for example, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), programmable read only memory (PROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM). ), FLASH memory, floppy disk, compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD), magnetic or optical data storage devices, etc. good. The code may be executed by one or more computers or processors and may cause the computers or processors to perform certain aspects of the functionality described herein.

Also, the medium may be a non-temporary recording medium. Also, the code of the program is not limited to a specific format as long as it can be read and executed by a computer, processor, or other device or machine. For example, the program code may be source code, object code, or binary code, or may be a mixture of two or more of these codes.

Moreover, the description of the embodiments disclosed herein is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present disclosure. Various modifications to this disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein are applicable to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. This disclosure, therefore, is not to be limited to the examples and designs described herein, but is to be accorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

10: Information processing device 15: Mobile communication network 16: Base station 30: Vehicle 31: In-vehicle device 32: Drive unit 90: Road 95: Parking lot 95s: Parking space 101: Functional distribution execution unit 102: Communication unit 103: Information storage Unit 311: NW communication unit 312: Peripheral information acquisition unit 313: Control unit 314: Storage unit 316: Proximity direct communication unit

Claims (20)

An information processing device provided in a communication network,
A function distributed execution unit that performs distributed execution of a part of the automatic operation function executed during automatic operation of a moving body moving along a movement route on behalf of the moving body;
Information necessary for distributed execution of a part of the automatic driving function during automatic operation of the mobile body is received from the mobile body via the communication network, and a result of distributed execution of the partial function is received, a communication unit that transmits to the mobile object via the communication network;
An information processing device comprising: In the information processing apparatus of claim 1,
The automatic driving function includes an information acquisition function block that acquires information about the moving body or its surroundings, and at least one of starting, steering, accelerating, decelerating, and stopping the moving body based on the acquired acquired information. and an operation control function block for controlling the operation of the moving object based on the determination result of the operation control content,
the part of the functions distributed and executed by the function distribution execution unit is the judgment function block;
The communication unit
receiving an acquisition result of acquiring information about the mobile object or its surroundings from the mobile object via the communication network;
An information processing apparatus, characterized in that a determination result of the content of the operation control is transmitted to the mobile object via the communication network. In the information processing device according to claim 1 or 2,
Based on at least one of the predetermined delay request time required by the automatic driving function and the data size of information transmitted and received with the mobile object during automatic driving, a plurality of types of transmission delay times and communication capacities that are different from each other An information processing apparatus, wherein a communication method to be used for communication with the mobile object is determined from the communication method. In the information processing device according to claim 3,
The plurality of types of communication systems include a communication system in the 4th generation mobile communication system, a communication system of eMBB (enhanced mobile broadband) in the next generation mobile communication system including the 5th generation, and a next generation mobile communication system including the 5th generation. An information processing apparatus comprising a communication system of URLLC (Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications) in a communication system. In the information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
Based on at least one of the delay request time required by each of the plurality of functional blocks constituting the automatic driving function and the data size of information transmitted and received with the mobile object during the automatic driving, the plurality of functional blocks An information processing apparatus characterized by performing any of the above in a distributed manner. In the information processing device according to claim 5,
Distributed execution of functional blocks among the plurality of functional blocks for which the required delay time is longer than the sum of the execution time of the functional blocks and the round-trip communication time with the mobile object. Device. In the information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
Among the plurality of functions included in the automatic driving function, a function with a high degree of importance that needs to be executed even when communication with the mobile body is cut off is performed by the mobile body without distributed execution by the information processing device. An information processing device characterized by: In the information processing device according to claim 7,
The information processing apparatus, wherein the function of high importance is an automatic stop function when danger occurs to the moving object. In the information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
For each type of the moving body, the content of the automatic driving function to be executed in a distributed manner, the delay request time required by the automatic driving function, and the time when the automatic operation of the moving body is stopped when the delay request time is not satisfied An information processing apparatus comprising an information storage unit that stores automatic driving assistance information indicating a relationship with content of control. In the information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
The information processing device is a base station of a mobile communication network, a node between the base station and the core network, or an MEC (Multi-access Edge Computing) device provided outside the core network. Information processing equipment. A mobile body that can be automatically operated so as to move along a movement route,
transmitting information necessary for distributed execution of a part of the automatic driving function on behalf of the mobile body to an information processing device via a communication network when the mobile body automatically operates;
receiving a result of distributed execution of the partial function from the information processing device via the communication network;
A moving body characterized by executing the remaining functions of the automatic driving function based on a result of distributed execution of the part of the functions. In the moving object according to claim 11,
The mobile body is a vehicle that moves on the ground or underground, a ship that moves on water, an underwater mobile body that moves in water, or a flying body that moves in the air. An automatic driving system comprising the information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 10 and the moving body according to claim 11 or 12. In the automatic driving system of claim 13,
The information processing device is
when an initial connection is made from the mobile object via the communication network, identifying the type of the mobile object based on information received at the time of the initial connection;
Based on the type of the moving body, the content of the part of the functions to be distributed and executed corresponding to the type of the moving body, the predetermined delay request time required by the automatic operation function, and the time when the automatic operation of the moving body is stopped and transmitting the contents of the control to the mobile body;
The moving body is
Receiving the content of the control at the time of stopping the automatic operation at the time of the initial connection,
transmitting mobile information including location information of the mobile to the information processing device;
estimating the transmission delay time of communication with the information processing device based on the time stamp at the time of transmission of the mobile information and the time stamp at the time of receipt of the receipt confirmation for the mobile information;
when it is determined that the condition of the required delay time is satisfied based on the estimation result of the transmission delay time, information necessary for distributed execution of the part of the functions in the information processing device is transmitted to the information processing device; receiving a result of distributed execution of the part of the functions in the information processing device;
The automatic operation system, wherein the automatic operation stop control is executed when it is determined that the condition of the delay request time is not satisfied based on the estimation result of the transmission delay time. In the automatic driving system of claim 14,
The automatic driving system, wherein the control when the automatic operation is stopped is a control for automatically stopping the moving body at a safe place on the moving route. In the automatic driving system of claim 15,
The automatic driving system, wherein the moving body automatically stops at a safe place on the moving route, and then switches to a manual driving mode in which part or all of the automatic driving functions are manually performed. In the automatic driving system of claim 15,
The moving body is
After automatically stopping at a safe place on the movement route, transmitting the mobile information and estimating the transmission delay time are continuously performed periodically,
An automatic operation system, wherein automatic operation of the moving body is restarted when it is determined that the condition of the required delay time is satisfied based on the estimation result of the transmission delay time. A method for automatically driving a moving body that moves along a movement route,
An information processing device provided in a communication network performs distributed execution of a part of an automatic driving function executed during automatic driving of a moving body moving on a moving route on behalf of the moving body;
the information processing device receiving, from the mobile object via the communication network, information necessary for distributed execution of a part of the automatic driving function during automatic operation of the mobile object;
the information processing device transmitting a result of distributed execution of the partial function to the mobile object via the communication network;
The mobile body executes the remaining functions of the automatic driving function based on the result of the distributed execution of the part of the functions;
A method comprising: A program executed by a computer or processor provided in an information processing device provided in a communication network,
A program code for distributed execution of a part of the automatic operation function that is executed during automatic operation of a mobile body that moves along a movement route on behalf of the mobile body;
a program code for receiving information necessary for distributed execution of a part of the automatic driving function from the mobile object via the communication network when the mobile object automatically operates;
program code for transmitting a result of distributed execution of the partial function to the mobile object via the communication network;
A program characterized by comprising: A program executed in a computer or processor provided in a mobile body capable of automatically driving so as to move along a movement route,
a program code for transmitting information necessary for distributed execution of part of the automatic driving function on behalf of the mobile body to an information processing device via a communication network when the mobile body automatically operates;
a program code for receiving a result of distributed execution of the partial function from the information processing device via the communication network;
A program code for executing the remaining functions of the automatic driving function based on the result of distributed execution of the partial function;
A program characterized by comprising:

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