JP4225193B2 - OBE - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted device capable of communicating with a road device.

  A non-stop automatic toll collection system (hereinafter referred to as ETC) that automatically collects tolls on toll roads by radio communication using an ETC card has been put into practical use. This ETC performs wireless communication between a roadside device provided at a dedicated gate such as a toll gate on a toll road and an ETC on-board device installed in the vehicle, and payment is made with an ETC card installed in the ETC on-board device. To do.

  In addition, some ETC on-vehicle devices operate in conjunction with a navigation device, and for example, a toll on a toll road is guided by the navigation device.

  In addition, the navigation device is connected to an information center (hereinafter referred to as a center) using a communication function, or connected to the center from an information terminal provided in a convenience store or a personal computer at home, and the latest map. Some data can be obtained.

  In such a navigation device, the latest map data is generally updated according to the user's will. That is, the user needs to always check which map is new by comparing the actual road situation with the map displayed on the display screen of the navigation device.

As a way to automatically detect inconsistencies between actual road conditions and map data, a planned travel route is set, and a determination is made as to whether or not the set planned travel route matches the actual travel route. Thus, there is one that detects a discrepancy between actual road conditions and map data. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent No. 3362648

  In the invention described in Patent Document 1, a planned travel route is set, and the occurrence of the regulation change is estimated by detecting that the set travel planned route and the route actually traveled by the vehicle do not match. Since the vehicle may not travel according to the regulation, such as when the vehicle travels ignoring the regulation, it cannot be accurately determined that the road condition has changed.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to update map data based on information on a road machine transmitted from the road machine, paying attention to a road machine provided in an ETC gate or the like.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the first communication unit that communicates with the road device, the information acquisition unit that acquires the identification information of the road device via the first communication unit, Based on the identification information of the road unit acquired by the information acquisition unit when the communication with the road unit is performed by the storage unit that stores the map data and the first communication unit, the identification information of the road unit is converted into the map data. The map data does not include road unit identification information by the determination means for determining whether or not it is included, the second communication means for communicating with the information center having the latest map data, and the determination means. If it is determined, the signal for requesting the transmission of the map data is transmitted to the information center via the second communication means, the latest map data transmitted from the information center is received, and the map data in the storage means is received. land to update the It is characterized by comprising: a data updating unit.

As described above, the determination unit includes the road unit identification information in the map data based on the road unit identification information acquired by the information acquisition unit when the first communication unit communicates with the road unit. Second communication means for communicating with an information center that holds the latest map data when it is determined by the determination means that the road identification information is not included in the map data. A signal requesting transmission of map data is transmitted to the information center via the information center, and the latest map data transmitted from the information center is received to update the map data in the storage means. The map data can be updated based on information on the roadside machine.

  As a result, the processing for updating the map data transmits a signal requesting transmission of the map data to the information center via the second communication means, and receives the latest map data transmitted from the information center. Then, since the map data in the storage means is updated, the latest map data can be automatically updated based on the information on the road machine transmitted from the road machine.

  In FIG. 1, the structure of the vehicle equipment which concerns on this embodiment is shown. The vehicle-mounted device includes an ETC vehicle-mounted device 2, a navigation device 1, and a wireless device 3. In addition, the ETC on-board unit 2 performs wireless communication with an ETC roadside device 4 provided in the vicinity of the ETC gate, and the wireless device 3 performs wireless communication with the center 5 having the latest map data. It is like that.

  First, the structure of the ETC onboard equipment 2 is demonstrated. As shown in FIG. 2, the ETC on-board unit 2 includes a display device 21, a voice synthesis / generation unit 22, an ETC radio unit 23, an antenna 24, an external device communication unit 25, a memory 26, an input unit 27, and a control circuit 28. Have.

  The display device 21 has a display surface such as a liquid crystal display, and displays the video on the display surface in response to an input of a video signal from the control circuit 28.

  The voice synthesis / generation unit 22 includes a speaker, and generates and outputs the voice to the speaker in response to the input of the voice signal from the control circuit 28.

  When the antenna 24 receives a radio signal in accordance with the ETC communication standard from the ETC roadside device 4 installed in an ETC gate or the like, the ETC radio unit 23 amplifies, converts frequency, demodulates, A / Processing according to the ETC wireless communication protocol such as D conversion is performed, and the result is output to the control circuit 28. The ETC radio unit 23 performs processing according to the ETC radio communication protocol, such as D / A conversion, modulation, frequency conversion, amplification, etc., on the data input from the control circuit 28, and the resulting signal is transmitted to the antenna 24. The data is transmitted to the ETC roadside device 4. As a communication method between the ETC roadside device 4 and the ETC radio unit 23, DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications) or the like is used.

  The external device communication unit 25 performs processing according to the communication standard of the external device on the signal input from the control circuit 28 and outputs the result to the external device. Further, the signal input from the external device is subjected to predetermined processing and output to the control circuit 28.

  The input unit 27 includes a mechanical switch provided in the ETC in-vehicle device 2, and outputs a signal based on pressing of the mechanical switch by the user to the control circuit 28.

  An ETC card interface 29 (referred to as ETC card I / F in the figure) is detachable from an ETC IC card (hereinafter referred to as an ETC card) having authentication information for charging, a card ID, and the like. The ETC card interface 29 reads out the identification information of the ETC card recorded on the inserted ETC card and outputs it to the control circuit 28. The ETC card interface 29 writes data to the inserted ETC card under the control of the control circuit 28.

  The memory 26 includes a ROM, a RAM, a flash memory, and the like. The RAM and flash memory store data based on the control of the control circuit 28, and the RAM, ROM, and flash memory output stored data based on the control of the control circuit 28.

  The control circuit 28 executes a program for the operation of the ETC on-vehicle device 2 read from the ROM and flash memory of the memory 26, and when executing the program, reads information from the ROM, RAM, and flash memory, and stores the RAM, flash Information is written to the memory, and signals are exchanged with the display device 21, the speech synthesis / generation unit 22, the ETC wireless unit 23, the external device communication unit 25, the input unit 27, and the ETC card interface 29.

  Specific processing of the control circuit 28 includes charging processing for charging tolls for toll roads through communication with an ETC roadside device, history information display processing for displaying history information on the display device 21, and the like.

  Next, the configuration of the navigation device 1 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the navigation device 1 includes a position detector 11, a display device 12, a remote control sensor 13, a memory 14, an external device communication unit 15, a map data input device 16, an operation switch group 17, and a control circuit 18. ing.

  The position detector 11 has a well-known sensor (not shown), such as a geomagnetic sensor, a gyroscope, a vehicle speed sensor, and a GPS receiver, for specifying the current position based on the characteristics of each of these sensors. Information is output to the control circuit 18.

  The display device 12 has a display surface such as a liquid crystal display and a speaker, displays the video on the display surface of the liquid crystal display or the like in response to the input of the video signal from the control circuit 18, and the audio signal from the control circuit 18. The sound is output to the speaker in response to the input.

  The remote control sensor 13 outputs a signal received from the remote control 19 that transmits a radio signal by infrared rays or the like based on a user operation to the control circuit 18.

  The memory 14 includes a ROM, a RAM, a flash memory, and the like. The RAM and flash memory store data based on the control of the control circuit 18, and the RAM, ROM, and flash memory output the stored data to the control circuit 18.

  The external device communication unit 15 inputs and outputs signals in accordance with various communication standards for performing communication with the outside. The external device communication unit 15 in this embodiment is connected to the external device communication unit 25 of the ETC vehicle-mounted device 2 and the wireless device 3 through a connection cable, and inputs and outputs various signals to and from the ETC vehicle-mounted device 2 and the wireless device 3.

  The operation switch group 17 includes a plurality of mechanical switches provided around the display surface of the display device 12 and an input device such as a touch panel provided so as to overlap the display surface. And a signal based on the touch on the touch panel is output to the control circuit 18.

  The map data input device 16 includes a nonvolatile storage medium such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a memory card, and the like, and based on a control command from the control circuit 18, reads data from the nonvolatile storage medium and stores data. Control writing. Information stored in the nonvolatile storage medium includes so-called map matching data for improving the accuracy of position detection, various data including map data and landmark data, a program for operating the control circuit 18, and the like. There is.

  The map data in the present embodiment stores ETC gate IDs of ETC roadside devices provided in various places. This ETC gate ID is uniquely assigned to each ETC roadside device.

  The control circuit 18 executes a program for the operation of the navigation device 1 read from the ROM, the flash memory, and the map data input device 16 of the memory 14, and information is read from the ROM, RAM, and flash memory at the time of execution. Reading, writing information to the RAM and flash memory, and exchanging signals with the position detector 11, the display device 12, the remote control sensor 13, the external device communication unit 15, the operation switch group 17, and the like.

  Specific processing of the control circuit 18 includes current position specifying processing for specifying the current position of the vehicle based on a signal from the position detector 11, input of a destination by the user from the operation switch group 17, the remote control sensor 13, and the like. And a route search process for calculating a travel route from the current position to the destination, a route guidance process for displaying the calculated travel route on the display device 12 together with the map data of the map data input device 16.

  In addition, when the control circuit 18 in the present embodiment acquires the ETC gate ID included in the information transmitted from the roadside device 4, the map acquisition process of acquiring the latest map data from the center 5 based on the acquired ETC gate ID. I do. This map acquisition process will be described later.

  The wireless device 3 is for performing wireless communication with the center 5, and is specifically constituted by a mobile phone having a data communication function capable of connecting to the Internet.

  When a predetermined signal is input from the external device communication unit 15 of the navigation device 1, the wireless device 3 is connected to the center 5 and transmits the signal input from the external device communication unit 15 to the center 5. In addition, when a signal from the center 5 is received, the signal is output to the external device communication unit 15 of the navigation device 1.

  Although the details of the configuration of the center 5 are not shown, the control unit that controls the center 5 as a whole, a storage device that stores map data, communication for communicating with a mobile phone, a personal computer, etc. via a communication line Equipment. Note that the center 5 is configured to be able to communicate with a plurality of on-vehicle devices at the same time, and can simultaneously respond to map data transmission requests from the plurality of on-vehicle devices. The storage device of the center 5 is updated with the latest map data as needed, and this map data includes a road map and an ETC gate ID.

  Next, map acquisition processing by the control circuit 18 of the navigation device 1 described above will be described with reference to FIG. The control circuit 18 of the navigation device 10 repeatedly performs the map acquisition process shown in FIG. 4 in addition to the normal processes such as the route search process and the route guidance process described above.

  When the vehicle passes through the ETC gate, bidirectional communication is performed between the ETC radio unit 23 of the ETC on-board unit 2 and the roadside device 4 provided in the vicinity of the ETC gate. At this time, information from the roadside device 4 is received by the ETC radio unit 23 of the ETC on-vehicle device 2 and input to the navigation device 10. In addition, there is entrance information as information from the on-road equipment 4 provided at the ETC gate of the entrance toll gate, and toll information is provided as information from the on-road equipment 4 provided at the ETC gate of the exit toll gate and the uniform toll gate. is there. Each of the entrance information and the charge information includes an ETC gate ID for identifying the transmission-side roadside machine 4 as information on the roadside machine 4 (S100).

  And ETC gate ID is acquired from the entrance information or charge information received from the roadside machine 4 (S102).

  Next, based on the ETC gate ID acquired in S102, it is searched whether or not the information indicating the roadside device 4 is included in the map data, and whether or not the ETC gate ID acquired in S102 exists in the map data. Is determined (S104).

  Here, when it is determined that the ETC gate ID acquired in S102 does not exist in the map data, a signal to request transmission of the map data is transmitted to the center 5. At the same time, the position information calculated based on the gate ID acquired in S102 and various signals input from the position detector 11 is also transmitted to the center 5 (S106).

  The center 5 searches for road map data to be transmitted based on the ETC gate ID and the position information received from the vehicle-mounted device, and transmits the road map data of the area based on the position information received from the vehicle-mounted device to the vehicle-mounted device.

  When receiving the latest map data transmitted from the center 5, the ETC on-vehicle device updates the map data to the latest map data received (S108), and ends this processing.

  If it is determined in S104 that the acquired ETC gate ID is present in the map data, this process is terminated.

  Next, map data transmission processing by the control unit of the center 5 will be described with reference to FIG. The control unit of the center 5 performs a process of repeating the process shown in FIG. 5 in addition to the normal function of distributing maps.

  First, information transmitted from the wireless device 3 of the vehicle-mounted device is received. This information includes the position information calculated by the control circuit 18 of the navigation device 1 in addition to the ETC gate ID included in the information transmitted from the roadside device 4 as described in S106 of FIG. S200).

  Next, the road information corresponding to the ETC gate ID received in S200 is searched from the map data stored in the storage device (S202).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the road map corresponding to the ETC gate ID received in S200 is in the map data stored in the storage device (S204).

  Here, when it is determined that the corresponding road information is in the map data stored in the storage device, the latest road map is transmitted from the communication device to the vehicle-mounted device (S206), and this processing is terminated.

  If it is determined in S204 that the corresponding road information does not exist in the map data stored in the storage device, the ETC gate ID received in S200 is accumulated, that is, stored in the map data of the storage device as a database (S205). ), This process is terminated.

  As described above, the vehicle-mounted device communicates with the road device 4, acquires the ETC gate ID of the road device 4 through communication with the road device 4, and the acquired ETC gate ID of the road device 4 is included in the map data. If it is determined that the ETC gate ID of the roadside device 4 is not included in the map data, a process for updating the map data is performed. As described above, the map data can be updated based on the information related to the road machine 4 transmitted from the road machine 4, that is, based on the ETC gate ID of the road machine 4.

  Further, as described above, when the road map corresponding to the ETC gate ID received from the vehicle-mounted device does not exist in the map data stored in the storage device, the center 5 uses ETC gate information that is not grasped by the center 5 as ETC gate information. The gate ID can be stored in the storage device of the center 5. The ETC gate information stored in the storage device can be used for updating the latest map data in the storage device.

  In the above embodiment, the first communication means corresponds to the ETC radio unit 23 and the antenna 24 of the ETC on-vehicle device 2, and the storage means corresponds to the storage medium of the map data input device 16 of the navigation device 1. The second communication means corresponds to the wireless device 3. Further, the information acquisition means corresponds to the processing of S102 of FIG. 4, the determination means corresponds to S104 of FIG. 4, and the map data update means corresponds to S108 of FIG. The information indicating the road device corresponds to the ETC gate ID of the road device.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, Based on the meaning of this invention, it can implement with a various form.

  For example, in the above embodiment, an example in which the ETC vehicle-mounted device, the navigation device, and the wireless device are connected by the connection cable has been described. However, at least two of the ETC vehicle-mounted device, the navigation device, and the wireless device are integrated. May be.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the navigation apparatus 1 showed about the example which performs the process for update of map data, when it determines with the ETC gate ID acquired from the ETC roadside machine not being contained in map data, For example, when a fee is paid between the ETC roadside device and the ETC on-vehicle device, a signal indicating that the fee has been paid from the ETC on-vehicle device is input to the navigation device 1. The navigation apparatus 1 may perform a process for updating the map data when receiving a signal indicating that the fee has been paid.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the ETC gate ID for identifying the road equipment 4 as information regarding the road equipment 4 was shown in the information transmitted to the ETC onboard equipment 2 from the road equipment 4 was shown, For example, the position information (latitude, longitude) of the road unit 4 may be included without being limited to the gate ID.

  Moreover, although the ETC onboard equipment 2 in the said embodiment showed the example which communicates by radio | wireless with the ETC roadside apparatus 4 provided in the ETC gate vicinity, the installation place of the ETC roadside apparatus 4 is restricted to an ETC gate vicinity. Instead, for example, when a road device is installed in a parking lot and communication is performed between the road device and the ETC on-vehicle device, or a road device is installed in a store equipped with a drive-through, the road device The present invention may be applied to a case where communication is performed between the PC and the ETC on-vehicle device. In this case, by updating the map data, it is possible to display landmark information (POI information) of a newly established parking lot or a newly opened store.

  As the wireless device 3 in the above embodiment, a mobile phone having a data communication function capable of connecting to the Internet has been described as an example, but not limited to a mobile phone, for example, a mobile terminal having a function of performing wireless communication is used. May be.

  Further, the center 5 may estimate the travel locus of the vehicle on the toll road based on the ETC gate ID and the position information transmitted from the vehicle-mounted device, and create a road map of the toll road based on the estimated travel locus. .

It is a figure which shows the structure of the vehicle equipment which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of an ETC onboard equipment. It is a figure which shows the structure of a navigation apparatus. It is a figure which shows the map acquisition process by the control circuit of the navigation apparatus. It is a figure which shows the map data transmission process by the control part of the center.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Navigation apparatus, 2 ... ETC vehicle equipment, 3 ... Radio equipment, 4 ... ETC roadside equipment,
5 ... Information center, 11 ... Position detector, 12 ... Display device, 13 ... Remote control sensor,
14 ... Memory, 15 ... External device communication, 16 ... Map data input device,
17 ... Operation switch group, 18 ... Control circuit, 21 ... Display device, 22 ... Speech synthesis / generation unit,
23 ... ETC radio unit, 24 ... antenna, 25 ... external device communication unit, 26 ... memory,
27: input unit, 28: control circuit.

Claims (1)

A first communication means for communicating with a road machine;
Information acquisition means for acquiring identification information of the roadside device via the first communication means;
Storage means for storing map data;
When the communication with the road device is performed by the first communication unit, the identification information of the road device is included in the map data based on the identification information of the road device acquired by the information acquisition unit. Determination means for determining whether or not,
A second communication means for communicating with an information center having the latest map data;
If the determination means determines that the identification information of the roadside device is not included in the map data, a signal to request transmission of map data is sent to the information center via the second communication means. A vehicle-mounted device comprising: map data updating means for transmitting and receiving the latest map data transmitted from the information center and updating the map data in the storage means .

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