JP3287278B2 - Beacon information providing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a beacon information providing device capable of outputting information about a beacon.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A beacon receiver is connected to a navigation device to receive traffic information from a roadside beacon and display guidance to a driver (Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-36).
039). By the way, when a driver wants to use such traffic information, he cannot get traffic information unless a beacon is installed nearby. I have to get.

[0003] For this reason, an invention for displaying the location of a beacon on a display screen of a road map has been made by the same inventor as the present application, and a patent application has been filed (Japanese Patent Application No. 9-128).
178).

[0004]

However, the number of beacons is increasing every day, and the installed beacons are abolished or the installation positions are changed. The driver should always be provided with the latest information on beacons (information on beacon identification numbers, installation positions, types, operating conditions, etc .; the same applies hereinafter). It becomes an important issue.

[0005] In addition, even in the case of carrying out delivery work using a vehicle, the operation manager must know the latest information on beacons. Therefore, the present invention provides a beacon information providing device that can automatically update a database of information about beacons, thereby increasing the efficiency of running of a vehicle and improving the efficiency of delivery by a delivery vehicle. The purpose is to realize.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention (1) A beacon information providing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a road map storage means for storing a road map, and a first beacon information storage means for storing information about beacons. Output means for outputting at least the position of the beacon based on the information about the beacon, together with the road map stored in the road map storage means, and writable second beacon information storage means for storing information about the beacon. receives information about the beacon transmitted from the vehicle, in the beacon information providing apparatus, an information about received beacon car
Position when both vehicles pass through the communication area between the beacon and the vehicle
Determine the location, and determined position is compared with the position of the same beacon stored by the first beacon information storage means or the second beacon information storing means, the result of the comparison, both information are different If it is determined that the information is different, the different information is written to the second beacon information storage means. (Claim 1).

[0007]

[0008]

[0009]

[0010]

[0011]

[0012]

[0013]

[0014]

According to the present invention, the information about the beacon is stored by the first beacon information storage means. This information is information that is not updated. The second beacon information storage means stores updated information on the beacon obtained when the vehicle passes through the communication area between the beacon and the vehicle. According to the present invention, the beacon information providing device on the ground can be expected to have a so-called learning function of updating the information about the beacon in the second beacon information storage unit as the traveling distance of the delivery vehicle increases, and the delivery system , Accurate beacon information can be provided. In the beacon information providing device according to claim 1, the position of the beacon may be updated. The beacon type indicating the type of communication wave may be updated ( claim 3 ), or the scheduled beacon installation date and time may be updated ( claim 5 ). Preferably, the position to be updated is the position of the vehicle ( Claim 2 ).
The type of beacon to be updated can be determined by the connected beacon receiver ( Claim 4 ).

Further, if an entirely new beacons, all the information taken into the second beacon information storage means (claim 6). An advantage of the first aspect of the present invention is that, by storing an accurate beacon position, accurate guidance can be provided when guiding the nearest beacon. The effect of the invention described in claim 2 is that information that can be obtained at all times can be used (the vehicle always performs position detection). When the position of the vehicle is used, it is preferable to determine whether or not “the two positions are different as a result of the comparison” based on whether or not the distance between the two positions exceeds a predetermined threshold value. . However, if the exact position of the beacon itself can be obtained when the vehicle passes through the beacon, that position may be adopted. An advantage of the invention described in claim 3 is that by storing an accurate beacon type, it is possible to search for accurate information when searching for information of a communication-connected beacon. The effect of the invention according to claim 4 is as follows.
The beacon type can be automatically set by determining from which receiver the information of the received beacon is received. The effect of the invention described in claim 5 is that when information can be received from a beacon that should not have started the service, it can recognize that the beacon is valid, and make it a search target at the time of subsequent beacon information search Is what you can do. The effect of the invention described in claim 6 is that information on a newly installed beacon can be accumulated and can be used as a search target when searching for beacon information thereafter.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. I. Embodiment in the case where a beacon information providing device is configured by a vehicle-mounted navigation device alone FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation device. This navigation device includes a vehicle speed sensor 2 for obtaining a vehicle speed signal from an engine control unit for outputting vehicle speed information, a wheel speed sensor in an anti-lock brake, an azimuth sensor 3 for obtaining azimuth information from a gyro, a geomagnetic sensor, and the like. GPS receiver 4 for positioning the absolute position of the vehicle, an operation unit 5 such as a remote controller, road map data for determining the position of the vehicle by a map matching method, and display on the display device 12 An IC card that stores road map data and information about beacons,
Road map / beacon information memory 6 composed of CDROM, DVDROM (Digital Video Disc ROM), etc., radio beacon receiver 7 for receiving radio waves from radio beacons for providing local traffic information, optical beacon for providing local traffic information An optical beacon receiver 8 for receiving light from a multiplexor, an FM multiplex receiver 9 for receiving radio waves of an FM multiplex broadcasting station that provides information on beacons such as wide-area traffic information and a scheduled beacon installation date and time, wide-area traffic information, A modem 11 that converts a telephone call from a center that provides information about a beacon, such as the scheduled date and time of a beacon, through a vehicle-mounted telephone 10 and a display device 1 that displays the position of the beacon on a road map.
2, and a speaker 13 for guiding traffic information and beacon positions by voice.

Instead of the road map / beacon information memory 6, memories for separately storing road map data and information about beacons may be prepared. The interior of the navigation device body 1 includes a distance acquisition unit 1a for acquiring a vehicle speed signal from the vehicle speed sensor 2, an azimuth acquisition unit 1b for acquiring an azimuth signal from the azimuth sensor 3, information from the vehicle speed sensor 2 and the azimuth sensor 3, and a GPS receiver. A position discriminator 1c for discriminating the position of the vehicle on the road on the road map from the absolute position of the vehicle measured by the IC 4; an IC card reader for reading data stored in the road map / beacon information memory 6; a CDROM driver; A memory reading unit 1e, a memory control unit 1d for storing data from the memory reading unit 1e or the updating memory 1f in a RAM, a writable nonvolatile updating memory 1f for storing update information related to a beacon, Acquires the identification information of the beacon connected to the line and identifies the type of beacon receiver connected to the line. Another, and discrimination unit 1h which determine the installation date and time of the beacon received from the FM multiplex receiver 9 and telephone 10,
The clock 1i, the position of the vehicle determined by the position determining unit 1c, the road map information and beacon information held in the RAM of the memory control unit 1d, and the determination result of the determining unit 1h are input to the update memory 1f. A control unit 1 that updates or adds contents and controls the display device 12 or the voice synthesis unit 1k
j.

The road map data for position discrimination, the road map data for route search, and the road map data for display included in the road map / beacon information memory 6 are stored in the memory in a system conforming to the mesh system established by the Geographical Survey Institute. ing. The mesh system is composed of a primary mesh of about 80 km and a secondary mesh of about 10 km rectangle included in the primary mesh.

The beacon information included in the road map / beacon information memory 6 includes a secondary mesh number, a beacon already installed in the secondary mesh, and a beacon scheduled to be installed, as shown in FIG. And the beacon information, which is the total number of beacons. The beacon information includes a beacon identification number, a beacon type indicating a type of communication wave, beacon position information, and a scheduled beacon setting date and time. The position information of the beacon includes a link number of a link (referring to a vector connecting intersections) where the beacon is located and coordinates in the mesh. The set scheduled date and time of the beacon is information recorded when the beacon is inactive and the scheduled scheduled date and time is determined.

The same type of information as the information about the beacon can be stored in the update memory 1f. However,
When the navigation device 1 is started up for the first time, an initial value (usually 0) is stored in the update memory 1f. The information about the beacon in the update memory 1f is updated when the beacon passes, as described below. In addition to the beacon information, the beacon is also transmitted from the FM multiplex receiver 9 or the telephone through the discriminator 1h. The information is updated as needed when the information about is acquired.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the contents of traffic information transmitted from the beacon. The traffic information includes a beacon identification number and net traffic information. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for updating information about a beacon when a beacon passes. When the vehicle enters the communication area between the beacon and the vehicle, traffic information is received from the beacon via the radio beacon receiver 7 or the optical beacon receiver 8 (step S1). The determining unit 1h acquires a beacon identification number (ID) included in the received traffic information, and sends it to the control unit 1j.

On the other hand, the memory control unit 1d reads information about the beacon through the memory reading unit 1e or in the updating memory 1f and stores the information in the RAM. At this time, the existence range of the beacon that reads information about the beacon is
Although not limited, for example, the area may be about four secondary meshes based on the position of the vehicle determined by the position determination unit 1c.

When the read information about the beacon of the memory reading unit 1e and the information about the beacon in the update memory 1f overlap for the same beacon, the information about the beacon in the update memory 1f is prioritized for the overlapped portion. Of course, holding. Control unit 1j
Searches the RAM of the memory control unit 1d based on the beacon identification number included in the received traffic information (step S2), and checks whether there is the same beacon identification number. If there is no identical one (Fault in step S3),
The passed beacon is regarded as a newly established beacon, and information about the beacon is added to the update memory 1f (step S5). In this writing, the type of the beacon receiver connected to the line determined by the determining unit 1h is written in the "beacon type".
In the “position information”, the current position of the vehicle determined by the position determination unit 1c is written. The current date and time are written in the “installation scheduled date and time”.

If "object exists" in step S3,
Proceeding to step S7, the position of the beacon is found by searching the RAM of the memory control unit 1d, and is compared with the current position of the vehicle determined by the position determination unit 1c (step S7). If the difference between the two positions exceeds the threshold (Fault in step S8), it is considered that there is an error in the beacon position information in the road map / beacon information memory 6 or the update memory 1f, and The current position of the vehicle determined by the position determining unit 1c is overwritten in an area of the update memory 1f in which information on the beacon is described, or the update memory 1f.
Is provided with an area for writing information about the beacon, and information about the beacon is added to the area (step S9).

Next, proceeding to step S10, the RAM of the memory control unit 1d is searched to find the type of the beacon.
A comparison is made with the type of the beacon receiver connected to the line determined by the determination unit 1h (step S10). If the two do not match (Fault in step S11), it is considered that there is an error in the beacon type information in the update memory 1f or the road map / beacon information memory 6, and the update memory 1f relates to the beacon. The correct beacon type is overwritten in the area in which the information is described, or an area in which information on the beacon is described is provided, and the beacon type is added to the area (step S12).

Next, proceeding to step S13, the RAM of the memory control unit 1d is searched to know the scheduled date and time of the beacon, and compared with the current date and time determined by the determination unit 1h (step S13). If the current date and time is before the scheduled installation date and time (step S14), the beacon is already in operation, so it is considered that the scheduled installation date and time are incorrect, and the scheduled installation date and time is rewritten to the current date and time (step S14).
15).

As described above, when a vehicle passes through a beacon or the like, information on the beacon is acquired and compared with the information on the beacon held by the navigation device 1. Can be overwritten or added to the update memory, so that information about the beacon can be updated as the mileage of the vehicle increases.

Then, based on the information on the beacon updated in the update memory, the position of the beacon is grasped,
It can be displayed on the display device 12. Therefore,
Even if there is an error in the position information of the beacon so far and the beacon is displayed at the wrong position, the correct position of the passing beacon is displayed on the screen of the display device 12 as the vehicle travels. become.

II. Embodiment in a case where a beacon information providing device is configured by an in-vehicle navigation device and a centralized operation management device FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an in-vehicle navigation device. The difference between the navigation device 1 and the navigation device of FIG. 1 is that the navigation device 1 is provided with road map data 6a for storing road map data instead of the road map / beacon information memory 6, and data communication with the centralized operation management device. , The FM multiplex receiver 9, the in-vehicle telephone 10, and the modem 11 are not provided, and the update memory 1f, the clock 1i, and the determination unit 1h are not provided. The medium for data communication by the transmission / reception device 14 may be any medium, and examples thereof include a car phone, a mobile phone, and a PHS.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the centralized operation management device. The centralized operation management device includes an operation unit 21 such as a keyboard, an IC card for storing the location of a delivery destination and information on items to be delivered, a delivery destination information memory 22 including a writable memory such as a DVD or a floppy disk, and a display device. 30, a road map memory 23 for storing road map data to be displayed on an IC card, an IC card for storing information about beacons, a CDROM, a DVDROM (Digital Video).
Disc ROM), an IC card for storing position information of a business office serving as a departure place of a vehicle targeted for centralized operation management, information of a beacon receiver connected to the vehicle, a DVD, A vehicle information memory 25 composed of a writable memory such as a hard disk or a floppy disk, and an FM receiving a radio wave of an FM multiplex broadcasting station that provides wide-area traffic information and scheduled beacon installation date and time information.
A multiplex receiver 26, a modem 28 that converts a telephone call from a center that provides wide-area traffic information, beacon installation scheduled date and time information, and the like through a telephone 27, a navigation device 1
And a display device 30 for displaying the position of the beacon on a road map.

The delivery destination information stored in the delivery destination information memory 22 includes a secondary mesh number, the number of delivery destinations in the secondary mesh, and delivery destination information as shown in FIG. The delivery destination information includes a delivery destination number indicating the delivery destination, a delivery destination type indicating the type of the delivery destination, location information of the delivery destination, and the item information of the item to be delivered. The location information of the delivery destination includes a link number of the link where the delivery destination is located and coordinates in the mesh. The item information of the item to be delivered includes an item type, a delivery amount for delivering the item, and a delivery time to be delivered.

The vehicle information data stored in the vehicle information memory 25 includes, as shown in FIG.
It has the number of vehicles owned by the sales office in the next mesh, and vehicle information. The vehicle information includes a vehicle number, on-board receiver information indicating a type of a communication wave with the beacon, a maximum load amount that the vehicle can load, and item information on items to be loaded on the vehicle. The item information includes a secondary mesh number of a delivery destination, a delivery destination number, an item type, a delivery amount, and a delivery time.

The centralized operation management device main body 20 includes an IC card reader for reading data stored in a delivery destination information memory 22, a road map memory 23, a beacon information memory 24, and a vehicle information memory 25, a CDROM driver, and a DVD.
A memory reading unit 20c including a ROM driver, a memory control unit 20b for storing data from the memory reading unit 20c or the updating memory 20d on a RAM, a writable nonvolatile update for storing update information related to a beacon; A memory 20d, a discriminator 20e for acquiring identification information of a beacon connected to a line, and discriminating information on a beacon received from the FM multiplex receiver 9, the telephone 10, and the transceiver 29, a clock 20g, and a memory controller 2
The control unit 20f receives a determination result of the determination unit 20e, such as road map information and beacon information held in the RAM of 0b, updates or adds the content of the update memory 20d, and controls the display device 30. You.

The procedure for updating the information related to the beacon performed by the centralized traffic management device is as follows. When the delivery vehicle enters the communication area between the beacon and the vehicle and receives information about the beacon from the beacon via the radio beacon receiver 7 or the optical beacon receiver 8 (step T1 in FIG. 9), the in-vehicle navigation device starts the beacon. Is transmitted to the centralized operation management device through the transmission / reception device 14.

The centralized operation management device performs exactly the same processing as described in the flowchart of FIG. 4 based on the transmitted information. Therefore, the illustration of the flowchart showing the procedure for updating the information about the beacon is omitted. To outline the contents of the update procedure, the RAM of the memory control unit 20b is searched by the beacon ID to check whether or not there is information on the same beacon. Add information about the beacon to If there is information about the same beacon, and that information is compared with the information received from the navigation device, if there is a difference,
The information is deemed to be incorrect or outdated, and instead, the information received from the navigation device is overwritten or added to the update memory 20d.

Therefore, the operation manager can expect a learning function that can update the information on the beacons owned and managed by the operation manager to new and correct ones as the delivery vehicle runs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation device when a beacon information providing device is configured by a vehicle-mounted navigation device alone.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a structure of information about a beacon included in a beacon information memory.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of traffic information transmitted from a beacon.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for updating information regarding a beacon performed by the in-vehicle navigation device when a beacon passes.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation device when a beacon information providing device is configured by the vehicle-mounted navigation device and the centralized operation management device.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a centralized operation management device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the structure of delivery destination information.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the structure of vehicle information.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a process in which the in-vehicle navigation device transmits the received information about the beacon to the centralized operation management device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Navigation apparatus main body 2 ... Vehicle speed sensor 3 ... Orientation sensor 4 ... GPS receiver 5 ... Operation part 6 ... Road map / beacon information memory 7 ... Radio beacon receiver 8 ... Optical beacon receiver 9 ... FM multiplex receiver 10 ... Telephone 11 ... Modem 12 ... Display device 13 ... Speaker 14 ... Transceiver device on the navigation device body 20 ... Centralized operation management device body 22 ... Delivery information memory 23 ... Road map memory 24 ... Beacon information memory 25 ... Vehicle information memory 26 ... FM multiplex receiver 27 telephone 28 modem 29 transmitting and receiving device on the centralized operation management device main body 30 display device 1a distance obtaining unit 1b azimuth obtaining unit 1c position determining unit 1d, 20b memory control unit 1e, 20c ... Memory reading unit 1f, 20d. Updating memory 1h, 20e .... Discriminating unit 1i, 20g. f ... control unit 1k ...... speech synthesis unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01C 21/00 G08G 1/00-1/16

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. Road map storage means for storing a road map; first beacon information storage means for storing information about beacons; second writable beacon information storage means for storing information about beacons; Output means for outputting at least the position of the beacon based on the information about the beacon together with the road map stored in the map storage means; receiving means for receiving the information about the beacon transmitted from the vehicle; and a beacon obtained from the receiving means. is information about the
When the vehicle passes through the communication area between the beacon and the vehicle
Beacon information determining means for determining a position , comparing the position determined by the beacon information determining means with the position of the same beacon stored by the first beacon information storing means or the second beacon information storing means. And, as a result of the comparison, when it is determined that the two pieces of information are different, a beacon information updating means for writing the different information to the second beacon information storing means is provided. Beacon information providing device. 2. The beacon information providing device according to claim 1 , wherein said position is a position of a vehicle. 3. A road map storage means for storing a road map, First beacon information record that stores information about a beacon
Storage means, A writable second that stores information about the beacon
Beacon information storage means, Along with the road map stored in the road map storage means,
At least the location of the beacon based on information about the con
Output means for outputting A receiver that receives information about beacons transmitted from the vehicle
Means of communication, Information about the beacon obtained from the receiving means.
 When the vehicle passes through the communication area between the beacon and the vehicle
The beacon typeBeacon information discriminating means,  Beacon type determined by the beacon information determining means
Another and saidFirst beacon information storage means or second beacon
Computer information storage meansOf the same beacon stored by
-Comparison with computer typeAs a result of the comparison, the two information
When it is determined that the
Update beacon information to be written to the second beacon information storage means
Have new meansCharacterized byInstalled on the groundBee
Information providing device. Wherein said beacon type is beacon information providing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the determining by the beacon receiver connected. 5. A road map storage means for storing a road map, First beacon information record that stores information about a beacon
Storage means, A writable second that stores information about the beacon
Beacon information storage means, Along with the road map stored in the road map storage means,
At least the location of the beacon based on information about the con
Output means for outputting A receiver that receives information about beacons transmitted from the vehicle
Means of communication, Information about the beacon obtained from the receiving means.
 When the vehicle passes through the communication area between the beacon and the vehicle
Determine the current time ofBeacon information determining means,  The current time determined by the beacon information determining means
And the saidFirst beacon information storage means or second beacon
Information storage meansBeacon of the same beacon stored by
Compare with the scheduled date and timeAnd as a result of the comparison, both information
Are different when determined to be different
Beacon for writing information to the second beacon information storage means
With information updating meansCharacterized byInstalled on the ground
WasBeacon information providing device. Wherein said beacon information updating means, it is determined that the beacon identification information is also different from the beacon identification information of any beacon stored by the first beacon information storage means or the second beacon information storage means when the claim and writes the new second beacon information storage means information relating to the beacon 1,3
And 5. The beacon information providing device according to 5 .