JP3361238B2 - Beacon transmission and reception system - 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 transmission / reception system for transmitting information such as images, voices, characters, etc. using light or radio waves, and more particularly to beacons in communication media of both optical beacons and radio wave beacons. Transmission / reception system and beacon terminal device used in the system
According to the location.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the current traffic situation, deterioration of road conditions such as chronic traffic congestion has become a social problem, and VICS (Vehicle In
formation and Communicati
on System) was proposed and put into practical use in April 1996. This system consists of three communication media: optical beacon, radio wave beacon, and FM multiplex. As a result, the user can judge the route avoiding the traffic congestion by himself and can reach the destination safely and smoothly.

In such a beacon transmission / reception system, in a VICS terminal device capable of receiving an optical beacon and a radio wave beacon at the same time, when the communication areas of the light and the radio wave are overlapped, as described in JP-A-7-287799. In addition, if the optical and radio beacon base stations on the infrastructure side installed on the road are installed at the same position on the map, set a certain selection criterion and select the communication media based on that selection criterion. Can be used.

[0004]

However, in such a beacon transmission / reception system, it is necessary to constantly receive both the optical beacon and the radio beacon in order to select both media, and as a result, the beacon is transmitted. The information processing speed of the terminal device may be slow, power consumption may be excessive, and an erroneous signal may be received.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the communication medium to be used is quickly selected, and the power supply to the receiving portion of the communication medium which is not likely to be used is stopped, so that the processing speed is high and the power consumption is low. Beacon transmission / reception system that can receive only accurate information , and
It is intended to provide a beacon terminal device that can be used .

[0006]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a plurality of optical beacon base stations for transmitting information via optical beacon signals and a plurality of optical beacon base stations for transmitting information via radio beacon signals. The radio beacon base station, the beacon signal from each of the plurality of optical beacon base stations and the plurality of radio beacon base station, respectively, in a beacon transmission and reception system including a beacon terminal device to obtain the information contained in these signals, The beacon terminal device , an optical signal transmitting / receiving unit that receives and transmits the optical beacon signal by a light emitting / receiving element, a radio signal receiving unit that receives the radio beacon signal by a receiving antenna, and a signal from each of the receiving units. And a switching unit arranged between the receiving unit and the control unit. Is, the control unit has a time measuring means, the information obtained by said time measuring means, a beacon type of receiving selected to 択受 signal, and comprising means for stopping the supply of power beacons that are not selected It is characterized by

The present invention also provides a plurality of optical beacon base stations.
And beacon signals from multiple radio beacon base stations
Each receiver receives and obtains the information contained in these signals.
The terminal device receives the optical beacon signal.
Optical signal receiving unit and an electric signal that receives the radio beacon signal.
Wave signal receiving unit and the signals from the respective receiving units.
A control unit for selecting the signals, and the reception of each of them.
While having a switching unit arranged between the unit and the control unit,
The control unit has time measuring means, and the time measuring means
By the information obtained by,
Stops power supply for beacons that are selectively received and not selected
It is characterized by having a means for locking.

[0008]

[0009]

[0010]

[0011]

[0012]

[0013]

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. First, an embodiment of a beacon transmission / reception system to which the present invention is applied will be described. Figure 1
The block diagram of the configuration of the present embodiment is shown in FIG. In this embodiment, an optical beacon base station 3 connected to the external communication path 1,
It includes a radio beacon base station 4 connected to the external communication path 2 and a moving body 11. Here, the beacon base station refers to each beacon transceiver of radio waves and light installed on or near the road. The optical beacon base station 3 has a control unit 7
The transmitter / receiver 8 and the light receiving / emitting element 5 are included. The radio beacon base station 4 includes a control unit 9, a transmission unit 10, and a transmission antenna 6. Each beacon base station for light and radio waves receives and transmits dynamic information such as traffic jams and traffic regulations transmitted from the external communication paths 1 and 2, and fixed information such as each beacon number and road information. To the mobile unit 11 through.

An example of the internal processing process of the moving body will be described with reference to FIG. The mobile unit 11 shown in FIG. 1 receives an optical signal by the light emitting / receiving element 12 provided in the mobile unit 11 and sends it to the control unit 14 through the optical signal transmitting / receiving unit 15. Further, the receiving antenna 13 provided in the mobile body 11 receives the radio signal and sends it to the control unit 14 through the radio signal receiving unit 16. In the control unit 14,
Select and capture signals. A switching unit 20 is arranged between the control unit 14 and each receiving unit, and information is selected by a signal from the control unit 14. The control unit 14 further receives not only information obtained based on the signals from the optical signal transmitting / receiving unit 15 and the radio signal receiving unit 16, but also signals such as vehicle speed pulses or information from the external device 22 such as traffic congestion information. The control unit 20 controls the switching unit 20 based on the signal information to turn on / off the power supply between the optical signal transmitting / receiving unit 15 and the radio signal receiving unit 16.

Currently, the beacon base stations on the infrastructure side set up on Japanese roads are only radio beacon base stations on highways and only optical beacon base stations on general roads. Therefore, even on ordinary roads that only receive optical beacons,
If the beacon terminal device can receive the radio beacon signal, or even on a highway that only receives the radio beacon, if the beacon terminal device can receive the optical beacon signal, do not receive the information of the other communication medium. is necessary. This is because the current traveling road information is included in each beacon signal, so that incorrect traveling information may be obtained.

Here, since the mobile body switches between reception of radio beacons and reception of optical beacons, in the beacon transmission / reception system of the present invention, road information acquisition means for recognizing the type of traveling road by the mobile body, for example, by the following method. Is provided in the control unit 14 to control the switching unit 20.

The first is a method of recognizing based on traveling road information provided by the beacon base station. For example, a beacon base station at the entrance of a highway sends a radio wave containing information that "the current position is on a general road and after the current position is on a highway" to the beacon terminal device on the mobile side. Since there is no optical beacon on the highway and only the radio beacon is present, the beacon terminal device on the mobile side receives only the radio beacon after passing the beacon at the entrance of the highway. And
From the radio beacon installed at the exit of the high speed, the radio wave including the information "current position is on the expressway and after the current position is on general road" is sent to the beacon terminal device on the mobile side. Since there are always entrances and exits on the expressway, it becomes possible to recognize where the moving body is currently traveling by the above method. In addition, the current traveling road is recognized by acquiring information such as the positions and types of beacons not only at the entrances and exits of expressways but also at other places and not only one but also some nearby beacons. It is also possible.

The second method is a method of recognizing the traveling road information by acquiring information from other media by using an external device or the like as the destination of the traveling road information, not limited to the main body of the beacon of the moving body. is there. The other medium is, for example, a mini FM station or an AM radio (1620 KHz) that is currently providing traffic information and the like. This is a method of transmitting information to a moving body on a highway or a general road by including information on a traveling road in a radio wave emitted from a mini FM station or a radio wave of a traffic information radio.

A third method is a method in which the moving body recognizes the traveling road of the moving body based on the information obtained from the moving body itself. In this method, the traveling road information of the moving body is recognized based on the traveling information (speed, acceleration) obtained from the vehicle speed pulse of the moving body. For example, a moving body that is traveling at high speed is traveling with a very small acceleration. On ordinary roads, traffic lights and sharp corners are scattered around, so it is unlikely that you are traveling at high speed. In addition, since the speed limit of an expressway is higher than that of a general road, it is possible to recognize the speed based on the traveling speed. However, when there is a traffic jam while traveling on a highway, the traveling speed drops extremely. Even in such cases,
From the position information and the traffic jam information received immediately before by the beacon terminal device, it is possible to determine whether or not the moving body itself is in the traffic jam.

A fourth method is a method of acquiring and recognizing information from GPS information by providing a GPS system as an external device. When a GPS capable of accurately knowing the current position (for example, differential GPS) is realized, this recognition method is also effective.

Next, the optical signal transmitting / receiving unit 15 and the radio wave signal receiving unit 16 shown in FIG. 2 will be described in detail. The optical signal transmitter / receiver 15 (in FIG. 2) has a configuration as shown in FIG. 3, for example. That is, the optical signal transmitting / receiving unit 15 includes the light receiving unit 101 including a light receiving element that receives the optical beacon signal.
An amplification unit 102 that amplifies the received optical signal, a high-pass filter 103 that does not pass the DC component of the signal from the light-receiving unit 101, an amplification unit 104 that amplifies the optical signal that has passed through the high-pass filter 103, and the amplified signal The waveform shaping unit 105 that shapes the waveform of and outputs it to the control unit 14 (in FIG. 2) as reception data, and detects whether or not the intensity of the received optical signal has reached a predetermined level and displays the result. And a level detection unit 106 for outputting to the control unit 14.
Here, the level detection unit 106 is provided to determine whether or not the vehicle is in the area where the optical beacon information can be received.

The optical signal transmitting / receiving unit 15 further includes a light projecting unit 112 having a light emitting element for transmitting an optical beacon signal, and the light projecting unit 11 based on transmission data input from the control unit 14.
Driving unit 11 that drives 2 to generate an optical beacon signal
1 and an optical output adjusting unit 113 that adjusts the optical signal output by detecting the amount of light emitted from the light emitting unit 112 and performing feedback control. Here, the drive unit 111 is a switching element for causing the LED to emit light when the light projecting unit 112 is an LED, for example.

The radio signal receiving section 16 (in FIG. 2) has a structure as shown in FIG. 4, for example. That is, the radio wave signal receiving unit 16 receives the radio wave beacon signal from the receiving antenna 13
A bandpass filter 302 that is connected to the antenna 13 and does not pass frequencies other than the reception frequency; an amplification unit 303 that amplifies the received radio signal; and a frequency conversion unit that converts the frequency of the amplified radio signal into an intermediate frequency. Thirty
4, a local oscillator 313, and an amplification unit 305 that amplifies the frequency-converted radio signal.

The radio signal receiving section 16 further includes an amplifying section 30.
5, an AM demodulation unit 306 that receives the signal amplified in 5 and performs AM demodulation, a bandpass filter 307 that does not pass unnecessary frequencies of the AM demodulated signal, and a filter 307.
A waveform shaping section 308 that shapes the signal waveform that has passed through and outputs it as AM reception data to the control section 14, and a filter 30.
7 is received, based on this signal, a gain adjustment voltage for stably receiving the AM signal is generated and output to the amplifier 305, and this voltage signal is output to the control unit 14 as a carrier detection signal. And an amplitude adjusting unit 309.

The radio signal receiver 16 further includes an amplifier 30.
5, an FM demodulation unit 310 that receives the signal output from the signal 5 and performs FM demodulation of the signal, a low-pass filter 311 that does not pass an intermediate frequency component included in the FM-demodulated signal, and a signal that has passed through the filter 311. And a waveform shaping section 312 that shapes the waveform and outputs it as received data to the control section 14.

Next, one embodiment of the main processing by the beacon transmitting / receiving system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the system of the present embodiment, when the power is turned on, the system stands by in both optical and radio wave media reception modes (step (hereinafter abbreviated as S) 1001). Here, the road information acquisition means (S1002) provided in the control unit 14 of the present device acquires front road type information on which the moving body will travel (S1003). If the road type information is a general road or a highway, it is determined (S1004), and the road type is a general road (S1004).
The optical beacon reception mode (S1005) according to the signal sent from the control unit 14 to the switching unit 20 (general road 1004).
The radio wave beacon reception mode is turned off. After this, the process again returns to the information acquisition means (S1002) and enters the standby state. In this way, by stopping the power supply in one of the reception modes, malfunction of the beacon can be prevented and power consumption can be reduced.

If the acquired front road type is a highway (highway in S1004), the signal sent from the control unit 14 to the switching unit 20 causes the radio beacon reception mode (S1006) to enter, In the optical beacon reception mode, the power is turned off. After this, the process again returns to the information acquisition means (S1002) and enters the standby state.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the road information acquisition means for recognizing a road is the first
The fourth to fourth methods are conceivable. Among them, a processing example using the beacon as the road information acquisition means, which is the most suitable embodiment for the beacon transmission / reception system of the present application, will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 6. .

In this flow, when the power is turned on, the system stands by in both optical and radio wave media reception mode (S1101). Here, the present apparatus passes the light or radio wave beacon (S1102), and the front road type information on which the mobile body equipped with the present embodiment is about to travel is acquired from the beacon (S1).
103) If it is determined whether the type of the road ahead is a general road or a highway (S1104), and the road type is a general road (general road in S1104), this device
The optical beacon reception mode (S1105) is entered. After this,
The optical beacon reception mode is continued until a new beacon is passed. When the acquired front road type is a highway (highway in S1104), the radio beacon reception mode (S1106) is entered from there, and thereafter the radio beacon reception mode is continued until a new beacon is passed.

In addition, for example, if a beacon system capable of receiving both media is provided on the infrastructure side, such as "only radio wave beacons can be received while traveling on a highway, both media can be received while traveling on a general road." It is also conceivable to set the both media reception mode while the road or the general road is running and the one media reception mode while the other is running. FIG. 7 shows a flowchart in the case of one-sided media reception (radio wave reception mode) only while traveling on a highway and both media reception modes during traveling on a general road. In FIG. 7, when the power is turned on, the system stands by in both optical and radio wave media reception mode (S1201). Here, the present apparatus passes light or a radio wave beacon (S1202), and the front road type information on which the moving body equipped with the present embodiment is to travel is acquired from the beacon (S1203). It is determined whether the type of the road ahead is a general road or a highway (S
1204) and the type of road ahead is a highway (S
At 1204 (general road), the apparatus enters the radio wave beacon reception mode (S1205). After this, the radio beacon reception mode is entered until a new beacon is passed. When a new beacon is passed (S1206) and the forward road information sent from the road beacon there is a general road (S1206)
In 207, y) proceeds to the light / radio wave reception mode (S1201), and when the front is a highway (n in S1207),
After that, the radio beacon reception mode (S1205) is continued, and the standby state is entered. By performing such processing, it is possible to switch the beacon reception mode according to the maintenance status of the infrastructure side, and in the case of single mode reception, the power supply in the mode not received is stopped to reduce power consumption. It becomes possible.

Next, as a road information acquisition means, a method of determining a receiving medium by using traveling information such as the speed and acceleration of a moving body from a vehicle speed pulse or the like, recognizing whether it is a highway or a general road from the information One embodiment will be described using the processing flows of FIGS. In FIG. 8, when the power is turned on,
It is in the standby state in both the optical and radio wave media reception modes (S1301). When the mobile body starts moving, the speed, acceleration, etc. of the mobile body are acquired from the vehicle speed pulse and the like (S1302), and the type of road to be traveled is determined from the travel information such as the acquired speed and acceleration (S1303). If the road is a road, the optical reception mode (S1304) is performed. If the road is a highway, the radio reception mode (S1305) is performed. After that, S1 again
The processing loop is repeated by returning to the stage of velocity and acceleration acquisition in step 302.

Referring to FIG. When the power is on,
It is in the standby state in both the optical and radio wave media reception modes (S1401). When the mobile body starts moving, the speed and acceleration of the mobile body are acquired from the vehicle speed pulse and the like (S1402), and the type of road to be traveled is determined from the travel information such as the acquired speed and acceleration (S1403). If it is a road, the operation shifts to light, radio wave reception mode (S1401), and if it is a highway, it moves to radio wave reception mode (S1404). After that, the process moves to the velocity and acceleration acquisition step of S1402 again, and the loop is repeated. By performing the processing as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the traveling road information can be easily obtained from the information obtained from the moving body itself, and the receiving media mode can be selected based on the information.

Next, in switching between the light and radio wave beacon reception modes, the switching unit 20 is controlled by the time measuring unit in the control unit 14 instead of being controlled by the road information acquisition unit in the control unit 14. An embodiment to be described will be described using the processing flow of FIG. In FIG.
The process up to the beacon passage is the same as in FIG. After the beacon has passed (S1502), if the type of the beacon that has passed is an optical beacon (determined as an optical beacon in S1503), the optical reception mode (S1504) is entered. After that, whether or not the optical beacon has passed (S1506) is continued until a preset time has elapsed (S1508). When a certain period of time has passed, the process returns to the light and radio wave reception mode (S1501). In S1506, when a new beacon has passed within a fixed time (y in S1506), the process returns to the determination of the type of beacon that has passed (S1503).

When it is determined that the beacon is a radio wave beacon in the beacon type determination (S1503), the radio wave reception mode (S1505) is entered. After that, whether or not the radio wave beacon has passed (S1507) is continued until a preset time elapses (S1509). When a certain period of time has passed, the process returns to the light and radio wave reception mode (S1501). In S1507, when a new beacon has passed within a fixed time (y in S1507), the process returns to the determination of the type of beacon that has passed (S1503). Here, S1506, S
1507 may be omitted. This is a method of waiting in the same mode for a while until a preset fixed time elapses.

[0036]

According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a beacon terminal device which does not receive erroneous road information by not obtaining unnecessary information.

Further, according to the present invention, a beacon terminal device having a high processing speed can be realized by not obtaining information of unnecessary media.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the power consumption of the beacon terminal device by turning off the power of the unnecessary media device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a beacon base station and a beacon terminal device.

FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram of a beacon terminal device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of an optical signal transmission / reception unit in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a radio signal reception unit in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a main process in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a process when a beacon is used as a road information acquisition unit.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a process in another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process when information is used from a moving body as a road information acquisition unit.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a process of another embodiment when information from a moving body is used as the road information acquisition means.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a process when a time measuring unit is used.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2 External communication path 3 Optical beacon base station 4 radio beacon base stations 5,12 Light emitting / receiving element 6 transmitting antenna 7, 9, 14 Control unit 8 transceiver 10 Transmitter 11 moving body 13 receiving antenna 15 Optical signal transceiver 16 Radio signal receiver 17 Beacon terminal 20 Switching unit 22 External device 101 Light receiving part 102, 104, 303, 305 Amplification unit 103, 302, 307, 311 filters 105, 308, 312 Wave shaping part 106 Level detector 111 Drive 112 Projector 113 Light output adjustment 304 frequency converter 306 AM demodulator 309 Amplitude adjustment unit 310 FM demodulator 313 Local oscillator

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-7-282390 (JP, A) JP-A-6-251289 (JP, A) JP-A-6-224804 (JP, A) JP-A-9-116447 (JP , A) JP 9-180092 (JP, A) JP 9-251597 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G08G 1/09-1/137 H04B 7/26

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of optical beacon base stations transmitting information via optical beacon signals, a plurality of radio beacon base stations transmitting information via radio beacon signals, the plurality of optical beacon base stations, and the above and a beacon signal from a plurality of radio beacon base station receives each received in the beacon reception system including a beacon terminal device to obtain information contained in these signals, the beacon terminal device, the optical beacon signal by optical element Optical signal transmission / reception unit, a radio signal reception unit that receives the radio wave beacon signal by a reception antenna, a control unit that receives signals from the respective reception units and selects the signals, and the respective reception is constituted by the arrangement has been switching between the parts and the control unit, the control unit has a time measuring means, said time meter Beacon transmission and reception system, characterized by comprising the obtained information, a beacon type of receiving <br/> election to 択受 signal, and means for stopping the supply of power beacons which are not selected by the means. 2. A plurality of optical beacon base stations and a plurality of electric beacons.
Wave beacons, which receive beacon signals from base stations,
Beacon device for obtaining information contained in these signals
In, an optical signal receiving unit for receiving the optical beacon signal, a radio signal receiving unit for receiving the radio beacon signal, and receiving signals from the respective receiving units, and sorting the signals
A control unit to be selected, and a switch disposed between the respective receiving unit and control unit
While the control unit has a time measuring unit, the time measuring unit
By the information obtained by,
Stops power supply for beacons that are selectively received and not selected
A beacon terminal device comprising means for locking.