JP4384533B2 - Driving support system and in-vehicle device using IC tag - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a system for supporting running of a vehicle.

  In recent years, various systems for driving support have been proposed. Such a system is sometimes called AHS (Advanced Cruise-assist Highway Systems). For example, the following Patent Document 1 describes an example of such a system. The system described in Patent Document 1 makes it possible to perform steering control using a magnetic sensor that detects a magnetic marker provided on the road and a CCD camera.

JP 09-245298 A

  However, the system related to driving support that has been proposed to date including the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 is not necessarily sufficient as a system that can guide a vehicle that moves at high speed to a destination when considered from a comprehensive viewpoint. I can't say there is. The system for driving support needs to satisfy sufficiently the conditions such as the ease of laying the roadside system, the ease of configuration of the in-vehicle device, the ease of updating the information provided by the roadside system, and the cost. It is.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, such as ease of installation of roadside systems, ease of configuration of in-vehicle devices, ease of updating information provided by roadside systems, costs, and the like. It is an object of the present invention to provide a system, an in-vehicle device, and an apparatus and a method related to the laying of such a roadside system that can satisfy a necessary condition as a system for a vehicle.

In order to achieve the above object, the driving support system is configured as follows. That is, first, an IC tag in which information for driving support is written is installed on the road side. The in-vehicle device includes a transmission / reception unit for reading information from the IC tag and a control unit for performing predetermined processing based on the information for driving support read from the IC tag via the transmission / reception unit. Further, the information for driving support in the IC tag includes absolute position information of a place where the IC tag is installed, and route guidance information indicating a direction to go to a predetermined point at the branch point, and the in-vehicle device The predetermined processing performed by the control means calculates the route from the departure point to the destination of the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle device, stores the branch point included in the calculated route, and reads the absolute value read from the IC tag It is determined whether or not the current position based on the position information is near a branch point included in the route, and when the current position is near a branch point included in the route, the route guidance read from the IC tag Based on the information, to go to the next branch point included in the route or the destination, the direction to go at the branch point near the current position is guided. Since the IC tag can usually be configured as a small semiconductor chip, the IC tag can be easily installed on the road side. Since the IC tag can also update information, the latest road information and the like can be reflected on the IC tag. The in-vehicle device side can perform driving support by reading necessary information from the IC tag.

  If the in-vehicle device is configured to have display means, the predetermined processing performed by the control means of the in-vehicle device is based on the route guidance information read from the IC tag, and the direction to go at the branch point near the current position Can be displayed on the display means.

  The route guidance information in the IC tag may be updated when a road is newly created.

  The information for driving support in the IC tag may include speed regulation information. In this case, the predetermined process performed by the control unit of the in-vehicle device can include a process for limiting the speed of the vehicle based on the speed regulation information read from the IC tag.

In order to achieve the above object, the in-vehicle device provided by the present invention includes a transmission / reception unit for reading information from an IC tag on which road support information is written and a transmission / reception unit. Control means for performing predetermined processing based on information for driving support read from the IC tag via the IC tag. Further, the information for driving support in the IC tag includes absolute position information of a place where the IC tag is installed, and route guidance information indicating a direction toward a predetermined point at a branch point, The predetermined process performed by the control means of the apparatus calculates the route from the departure point to the destination of the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle device, stores the branch point included in the calculated route, and reads the read from the IC tag It is determined whether or not the current position based on the absolute position information is near a branch point included in the route, and when the current position is near a branch point included in the route, the route read from the IC tag Based on the guidance information, in order to go to the next branch point included in the route or the destination, the direction to go at the branch point near the current position is guided. The in-vehicle device side can perform driving support by reading necessary information from the IC tag.

  As described above, since the IC tag as the roadside system can be configured as a small semiconductor chip, it can be easily laid, information can be easily updated, and the cost is low. The in-vehicle device does not need to be equipped with a relatively expensive GPS receiver in order to acquire the absolute position.

  The embodiment of the present invention described below is a driving support system in which the vehicle side realizes route guidance by receiving information from an IC tag installed on the road side.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration at an intersection of a driving support system 100 as an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of IC tags 30 are installed on the road side. A vehicle-mounted device 10 is mounted on the vehicle 1 side.

  In each IC tag 30, guidance information necessary for realizing route guidance is written together with absolute position information of the place where it is installed. The in-vehicle device 10 can grasp its current position by receiving the absolute position from the IC tag 30. In addition, as shown in FIG. 1, guidance information such as “turn right at point A and turn left at point B” can be further obtained from the IC tag 30 near the intersection. The in-vehicle device 10 performs route guidance by using this guidance information.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating functions of the in-vehicle device 10 and the IC tag 30.
The in-vehicle device 10 includes a transmission / reception unit 12 for reading information from the IC tag 30, a system controller 11 that controls the entire in-vehicle device 10, a display 13, map data 14, and a user interface 15 including, for example, a keypad. The system controller 11 includes a so-called microcomputer chip, and includes a ROM, a RAM, a flash memory as a storage device, and the like (not shown). Various programs including route calculation are stored in the ROM.

  The system controller 11 reads information from the IC tag by sending an inquiry signal to the IC tag 30 at regular time intervals (for example, once per second) via the transmission / reception unit 12. As a result, the system controller 11 of the in-vehicle device 10 acquires the current position, and displays the current position of the vehicle 1 on the display 13 so as to overlap the map obtained from the map data 14. In addition, since the reach | attainment range of the signal used between the transmission / reception part 12 and the IC tag 30 of the vehicle-mounted apparatus 10 is comparatively short, and since the IC tag 30 is installed in the roadside at sufficient distance, a plurality of The signal from the IC tag does not interfere.

  The IC tag 30 is an IC tag that can read and write information without a battery, and includes an antenna 31, a control unit 32, a power supply unit 33, and a non-volatile memory 34 such as a flash memory. The power supply unit 33 converts the high-frequency signal received from the transmission / reception unit 12 via the antenna 31 to a DC voltage using a rectifier circuit, and creates a power supply for operating the IC tag 30.

  The control unit 32 has a signal modulation and demodulation function and a function of analyzing a signal from the transmission / reception unit 12 and performing a requested operation. When the signal from the transmission / reception unit 12 instructs reading of information, the control unit 32 reads information from the memory 34 and transmits it from the antenna 31. When the signal received via the antenna 31 instructs to write information, the control unit 32 writes information in a predetermined part of the memory 34.

  In communication between the transmission / reception unit 12 and the IC tag 30, a UWB (Ultra Wide Band) signal that can penetrate concrete to some extent is used in consideration that the IC tag 30 may be embedded in the concrete. . Alternatively, instead of using UWB, for example, communication using a 2.45 GHz band signal may be performed.

  FIG. 3 shows a data format in the memory 34 of the IC tag 30. As shown in the figure, the memory 34 includes absolute position information of the place where the IC tag exists and guidance information. Note that the memory capacity necessary for the information shown in FIG. 3 is as small as about several tens of bytes, for example.

  Next, the route guidance operation in the driving support system 100 of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4 is executed under the control of the system controller 11 of the in-vehicle device 10. First, route calculation is performed in the in-vehicle device 10 (S11). The route calculation here is a process of selecting an optimum route from the map data 14 using the departure point and destination input by the user via the user interface 15. It is assumed that the relay points obtained by route calculation are a, b, c, and d in FIG. X is the departure place and Y is the destination. The obtained relay point (a, b, c, d) is stored in the system controller 11 (S12).

  Next, reading of information from the IC tag 30 is performed on the vehicle-mounted device 10 side (S13). Note that a series of processing from step S13 to S17, that is, reading of the IC tag 30 is performed at regular time intervals. Next, the current position is displayed on the display 13 using the absolute position information obtained from the IC tag 30 by the reading in step S13 (S13).

  Next, in step S15, it is determined whether or not the current position is in the vicinity of any of the relay points (a, b, c, d) stored in step S12 (S15). ). If it is not in the vicinity of the relay point (S15: NO), it is next determined whether or not the destination Y has been reached (S17). If the destination Y has not been reached (S17: NO), the process returns to step S13. If the destination Y has been reached (S17: YES), the process ends.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the current position is in the vicinity of the relay point (S15: YES), route guidance is performed using the guidance information obtained from the IC tag 30 (S16). For example, it is assumed that the vehicle 1 is approaching the point a and is determined to be near the relay point in step S15 (see FIG. 5). In this case, the in-vehicle device 10 acquires the guidance information “turn right at the point b” from the IC tag 30 in the vicinity of the point a, displays this guidance information on the display 13 (or outputs the voice), and prompts the user. Guide him to turn right. When such route guidance (S16) ends, the process returns to step S13.

  By the route guidance processing (FIG. 4) as described above, the in-vehicle device 10 similarly guides information on which way to turn to reach the next relay point from the IC tag 30 at the relay points b, c, d. And route guidance to the destination Y can be performed.

  In the above description, route guidance at intersections has been described as a representative example. However, the driving support system 100 using the in-vehicle device 10 and the IC tag 30 can be used in any scene where route guidance is required, such as a highway branch. Applicable.

  It is noted that writing of absolute position information and guidance information to the IC tag 30 can be performed after the IC tag 30 is installed on the roadside. In other words, necessary information can be written to an IC tag as a roadside system after installation in roadside equipment, and information can be updated.

The above is the embodiment of the present invention. Various modifications can be considered for the above embodiment.
For example, based on the fact that the information of the IC tag 30 can be updated, the route guidance process shown in FIG. 4 can be performed as follows.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6, it is assumed that a dotted road R is newly created for the road of FIG. For example, information “slight rightward toward the point c” is added to the guidance information of the IC tag 30 near the point a. Since the road R is not yet registered in the map data 14 of the in-vehicle device 10, the relay point as a route calculation result from the departure point X to the destination Y is (a, b, c, d). However, even if the relay point in the route calculation is (a, b, c, d), the in-vehicle device 10 has the updated information ("diagonally to the direction c") and the in-vehicle device 10 It is also possible to provide route guidance that can follow a shorter route of X → a → c → d → Y by comparing with the relay point (a, b, c, d) calculated by It is.

  In the embodiment described above, the absolute position information and the guide information are stored in the IC tag 30. In addition to the information shown in the above embodiment, the IC tag 30 can store various information for driving support. For example, various information for driving support such as road information such as road names and traffic regulation information such as speed limits may be included.

  For example, when speed limit information is obtained from the IC tag 30, the vehicle-mounted device 10 side asks the driver not to exceed a predetermined speed based on the speed limit information read from the IC tag 30. It is also possible to support safe driving by warning or speed limitation. Alternatively, when information related to entry prohibition is obtained from the IC tag 30, the in-vehicle device 10 can issue a warning when traveling in an entry prohibited place.

  As described above, the in-vehicle device can obtain various information for driving support from the IC tag on the road side. Therefore, for example, an IC tag is installed along the center line of the road surface, the center of the traveling lane, and the white line on the shoulder side, and the IC tag can identify the type of each line (that is, whether it is a center line or not) If the ID and route guidance information can be written, it can be used as a system that supports automatic driving of the vehicle.

  Needless to say, the IC tag can be used as a system for driving support even if it provides only route guidance information. This is because the absolute position information may be acquired on the in-vehicle device side.

  The route guidance is realized by a car navigation device that is currently widely used. In such a car navigation device, absolute position information is acquired by a GPS receiver. As described in the above embodiment, if absolute position information can be obtained from an IC tag on the road side, it corresponds to the GPS receiver of the current car navigation device replaced with the transmission / reception unit 71 described in the above embodiment. A car navigation device can be configured. Since a GPS receiver is relatively expensive, a car navigation device in which the GPS receiver is replaced with such a transmission / reception unit 71 is advantageous in terms of cost.

  Next, installation of the IC tag 30 will be described. The IC tag 30 can be formed on a small semiconductor chip. Therefore, the IC tag 30 can be installed by being embedded in the road surface, and can also be installed in any roadside equipment such as a roadside belt, a guard rail, and a utility pole.

  The IC tag 30 may have information for maintenance of roadside equipment such as guardrails and curve mirrors (for example, date of manufacture, date of manufacture, date of maintenance). In this case, it is noted that the IC tag 30 can serve both as the purpose of providing position information and the like and the purpose of providing equipment maintenance information.

  Therefore, there is no need to install an IC tag only for the purpose of maintaining position information and the like. Rather, a business operator who performs maintenance of roadside equipment can maintain position information in association with the work of installing an IC tag for the purpose of maintenance. For example, if location information in addition to maintenance information is written in advance on an IC tag that is planned to be installed by a maintenance company, maintenance of the location information and the like can be performed along with the installation work by the maintenance company operator. Will be made.

  When maintenance-use IC tags have already been installed, maintenance company workers use IC tag readers / writers to read IC tags and update information at each facility as part of maintenance work. When performing work, the reading / writing device may be configured to write absolute position information to the IC tag. Such a read / write device has a configuration as shown in FIG. 7, for example. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the reading / writing device 70 includes a transmission / reception unit 71 that transmits and receives signals for reading and writing information to and from the IC tag, and a control unit 72 that controls reading and writing of information with respect to the IC tag 30. Have. The control unit 72 has maintenance information 72a and absolute position information 72b. When the user performs a predetermined operation via the user interface, the maintenance information 72a and the absolute position information 72b are transmitted via the transmission / reception unit 71 to the IC. It is written in the tag 30.

It is a figure showing the structure in the intersection of the driving assistance system as embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram showing the function of a vehicle-mounted apparatus and an IC tag. It is a figure which shows the data format in the memory of an IC tag. It is a flowchart showing the operation | movement of the route guidance in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the route guidance process of FIG. 4 concretely. It is a figure for demonstrating another example of route guidance concretely. It is a block diagram showing the structure of the reading / writing apparatus which reads / writes with respect to an IC tag.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle 10 In-vehicle apparatus 11 System controller 12 Transmission / reception part 13 Display 14 Map 15 User interface 30 IC tag 31 Antenna 32 Control part 33 Power supply part 34 Memory 100 Travel support system

Claims (5)

IC tag installed on the roadside and written with information for driving support,
Mounted in a vehicle, comprising: transmission / reception means for reading information from the IC tag; and control means for performing predetermined processing based on information for driving support read from the IC tag via the transmission / reception means An in-vehicle device, and a driving support system comprising:
The information for driving support in the IC tag includes absolute position information of a place where the IC tag is installed, and route guidance information indicating a direction to go to a predetermined point at a branch point,
The predetermined process performed by the control unit of the in-vehicle device is
Calculate the route from the departure point to the destination of the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle device, store the branch point included in the calculated route,
Determining whether the current position based on the absolute position information read from the IC tag is near a branch point included in the route;
If the current position is in the vicinity of a branch point included in the route, the current position is determined based on the route guidance information read from the IC tag in order to go to the next branch point or the destination included in the route. Including guiding the direction to go at a fork near the location,
A driving support system characterized by The in-vehicle device further has a display means,
The predetermined process performed by the control unit of the in-vehicle device includes displaying on the display unit a direction to be directed at a branch point near the current position based on the route guidance information read from the IC tag. The driving support system according to claim 1, wherein   The travel support system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the route guidance information in the IC tag is updated when a road is newly created.   The information for driving support in the IC tag includes speed regulation information,
  The predetermined process performed by the control unit of the in-vehicle device includes a process for limiting the speed of the vehicle based on the speed regulation information read from the IC tag.
  The travel support system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: Transmission / reception means for reading information from an IC tag on which information for driving support installed on the road side is written, and predetermined information based on information for driving support read from the IC tag via the transmission / reception means An in- vehicle device comprising control means for performing processing,
The information for driving support in the IC tag includes absolute position information of a place where the IC tag is installed, and route guidance information indicating a direction to go to a predetermined point at a branch point,
The predetermined process performed by the control unit of the in-vehicle device is
Calculate the route from the departure point of the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle device to the destination, store the branch point included in the calculated route,
Determining whether the current position based on the absolute position information read from the IC tag is near a branch point included in the route;
If the current position is in the vicinity of a branch point included in the route, the current position is determined based on the route guidance information read from the IC tag in order to go to the next branch point or the destination included in the route. Including guiding the direction to go at a fork near the location,
In-vehicle device characterized by

Images