JP4721168B2 - In-vehicle radar detector - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an on-vehicle radar detector, and more particularly to an on-vehicle radar detector that can clearly discriminate whether a traveling road of a vehicle is a highway or a road other than a highway such as a general road or a toll road. Hereinafter, in this specification, when it describes as a general road, it means roads other than a highway.

    2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an in-vehicle radar detector is known as a device in which a driver of a traveling vehicle obtains necessary geographical information for traveling, peripheral information, position information of a speed violation regulator, and the like.

This in-vehicle radar detector has a function of guiding the contents of the registered guide point when a vehicle that is driven by itself approaches a previously registered guide point.
This function is information on guide points, for example, (1) position information: coordinate value data of guide points (for example, latitude 136.23.44, longitude 22.2.4.44, etc.) (2) target information: information on guide points Content data (for example, speed enforcement machines, schools, accident-prone points, etc.) (3) Road information: Data indicating on which road guide points are installed (eg, expressways, general roads, etc.) (4 ) Direction information: Data indicating the direction from which the guidance point is approached (eg, guidance only when approaching from all directions or the east direction) is stored in advance in the IC chip, and the guidance point This is a function for guiding the contents of the above-mentioned meeting points to the driver when the vehicle approaches.

    As information of guide points, position information (north latitude: 136.23.44, east longitude: 22.44.44), target information (speed violation enforcement machine), road information (on the expressway) and direction information (when approaching from the south) The case where is stored will be described. When the vehicle position (coordinates) is calculated by the GPS receiver built in the radar detector and the vehicle position approaches the coordinates of the above guide point within a certain distance from the south direction, a “speed violation regulator on the highway” "Please note."

    IC chips that store information on guide points are built-in, and most of the on-vehicle radar detectors in recent years adopt a method of guiding the driver to the driver when the vehicle approaches the registered guide points. .

    However, the above conventional method has a big problem. In other words, the accuracy of the current GPS signal is about 50 m or less, and considering the GPS error, the pinpoint (example: error 1 cm, etc.) cannot distinguish the target (vehicle). It will be the same place.

    From the above, if there are general roads and highways that run in parallel, or if there are general roads and highways that run close to each other, which is the vehicle on which the radar detector is mounted? Cannot be determined. As a result, even when an actual vehicle is traveling on an expressway, there is a problem that when the vehicle approaches a guide point registered on a general road, the guide point is guided to the driver.

This will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, a general road 1 and a highway 2 are two separate roads running in parallel (interval of 10 m). In both roads, the direction of travel is the direction of arrows 3 and 4, 5 is a speed breaching machine (Obis) installed on a general road, and 6 is a speed breaching machine (Obis) installed on a highway.
In this case, the vehicle 7 traveling on a general road needs guidance when approaching the speed violation enforcement machine 5, but the speed violation enforcement machine 6 is not related to the vehicle 7, so guidance is provided. unnecessary. However, if the GPS measurement error is about 50 m, the in-vehicle radar detector of the vehicle 7 cannot determine whether the current position of the vehicle 7 is on the general road 1 or the highway 2.

    Therefore, the on-vehicle radar detector of the vehicle 7 guides not only the speed violation enforcement machine 5 but also the speed violation enforcement machine 6 for highways not related to general roads, which causes confusion for the driver.

    The present invention solves the above-described problem, and the vehicle uses an algorithm using an ETC (Electronic Toll Collection System) radio wave installed on the expressway and the installation position coordinates of the ETC gate. It is an on-vehicle radar detector that can accurately determine whether the road is on a general road.

The present invention sets an expressway discrimination point provided with a transmitting device for transmitting a predetermined frequency signal at either the entrance or exit of the expressway or in the vicinity thereof, the position information of the expressway discrimination point, and the vehicle to the expressway Storage means for preliminarily storing approach direction information that defines the approach direction of the vehicle to the expressway discrimination point for indicating the entry direction or the exit direction of the vehicle from the expressway;
Means for determining a traveling position and a traveling direction of the vehicle based on the GPS signal;
Receiving means for receiving the predetermined frequency signal;
The output of the means for determining indicates that the vehicle has passed the expressway discrimination point specified by the position information in the direction of entering the expressway specified by the approach direction information. At this time, the receiving means outputs the frequency signal When the vehicle is received, it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on the expressway, and on the other hand, the vehicle has passed the expressway discrimination point specified by the position information in the direction of exiting the expressway specified by the approach direction information. Means for discriminating that when the receiving means receives the frequency signal at this time, the vehicle leaves the highway and is traveling on a road that is not a highway;
It features an in-vehicle radar detector.

Further, according to the present invention, the storage means further includes position information of a guide point to be guided to a vehicle driver including at least the position information of the speed violation control machine, and whether the guide point should be guided during traveling on the highway. And first road information indicating whether the guidance point should be guided while driving on a road that is not a highway,
When the determination means determines that the vehicle is traveling on a highway, only the guidance point based on the first road information is guided, and on the other hand, if the vehicle is determined to be traveling on a road that is not a highway, Guiding means for guiding only guidance points based on the second road information is provided.
Further, the present invention is characterized in that the expressway discrimination point is one of an ETC (Electronic Toll Collection System) gate and its vicinity.

The present invention can be applied to a case where a highway and a general road are close to each other, such as two roads that exist in parallel as described above, or a case where a highway is above and a general road is below. And an ordinary road can be clearly distinguished.

    In addition, as another effect, it is possible to calculate how many kilometers per hour the vehicle equipped with the device as a radar detector with GPS positioning is traveling from GPS data, so that the driver can be warned of excessive speed. Even in this case, the present invention is very effective because the speed limit is different between the general road and the highway.

    Furthermore, since the present invention refers to the radio wave of the ETC gate and its point information to switch between the highway and the general road, it is possible to include not only the position information of the ETC gate but also the information of the highway. For example, the speed limit is effective because it varies depending on each expressway.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 2, 11 is a GPS antenna, 12 is a GPS tuner, 13 is an ETC antenna, 14 is an ETC tuner, 15 is a ROM, 16 is a CPU, 17 is a memory IC, 18 is a display panel, 19 is a speaker, etc. Each voice plan means is shown, and each element is connected as shown in the figure.
The GPS antenna 11 is an antenna for positioning which position on the earth the vehicle to which this apparatus is attached is currently traveling. The radio wave received by the GPS antenna 11 is tuned by the GPS tuner 12, the position coordinates (latitude and longitude) are calculated by the CPU 16, and the current position and traveling direction of the vehicle are specified.
Further, the radio wave (5.7 GHz) received by the ETC antenna 13 is tuned by the ETC tuner 14 and the presence / absence of the ETC radio wave is input to the CPU 16 (reception Hi / non-reception Lo). Since this apparatus is not an ETC in-vehicle apparatus, it is not necessary to read even ETC radio wave communication data, and it is only necessary to determine whether or not there is a 5.7 GHz radio wave.
The ROM 15 stores an operation program for the apparatus.

The memory IC 17 stores information on the above guide points.
As described above, as information on the guidance point, for example, (1) Position information: Coordinate value data of the guidance point (for example, 136.23.44 north latitude, 22.44.44 east longitude) (2) Target information: guidance Point content data (for example, speed control machines, schools, accident-prone points, etc.) (3) Road information: Data indicating on which road guide points are installed (eg, on highways, general roads, etc.) (4) Direction information: Data indicating the direction from which the guidance point is approached (for example, guidance only when approaching from all directions or the east direction) is registered in the memory IC 17.

In the present invention, information on a highway discrimination point for discriminating whether or not the traveling road of the vehicle is a highway is stored in the memory IC 17. As information on the expressway discrimination point, (1) coordinate value data (for example, north latitude 135.22.43, east longitude 22.43.43, etc.) for indicating the ETC installation location, (2) ETC is installed. Content data (e.g., ETC) to show things, (3) When entering the expressway when approaching the expressway discrimination point, and when coming from the expressway when approaching the expressway discrimination point Approaching direction data indicating whether or not to distinguish (e.g., when approaching from the direction of entry to the expressway entrance, it is determined that the vehicle has entered the expressway. Conversely, when approaching from the direction of exit from the expressway exit, exit from the expressway. Etc.) are stored. It is one of the features of the present invention that information on the expressway discrimination point is stored in advance.
When the vehicle approaches the registered guidance point, it is displayed that the vehicle has approached the guidance point registered on the display panel (liquid crystal panel or the like) 18.
At the same time, the voice guidance means 19 provides guidance such as “There is an Orbis on the highway, please be careful”.
However, the expressway discrimination point may not be displayed.

Action

A characteristic operation of the embodiment of the present application having such a configuration will be described.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a switching method between the highway driving mode and the general road driving mode.
In FIG. 3, 1 indicates a general road and 2 indicates a highway, but for the sake of space, the general road 1 and the highway 2 are divided by N1 and N2. For both roads, the direction of travel is the direction of the arrow (from bottom to top).
In FIG. 3, three guidance points, orbis 21, school 22, and orbis 23 are drawn on the general road 1. These guide points 21, 22 and 23 are stored in advance in the IC memory 17. In addition, on the highway 2, three guide points, high-speed parking 25, Orbis 26, and Orbis 27 are drawn. These guide points are stored in advance in the IC memory 17.

First, a method for switching between the general road driving mode and the highway driving mode will be described.
FIG. 4 shows an operation flow for switching between the general road driving mode and the highway driving mode.
FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the guidance operation in the general road travel mode.
FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the guidance operation in the highway driving mode.

  First of all, the characteristic operation of the embodiment of the present invention is based on the travel path of passing through the ETC gate 29 from the starting point A (on the general road) in FIG. Will be explained.

The vehicle 7 that has started the starting point A travels on the general road 1, and the guidance operation of the guidance point is also operated in the general operation travel mode (step S1 in FIG. 4, hereinafter simply referred to as “step S1”). When the vehicle 7 approaches the ETC gate 29, the radio wave received by the GPS antenna 11 is tuned by the GPS tuner 12, the position coordinates (latitude and longitude) are calculated by the CPU 16, and the vehicle is obtained from the above-described position coordinate data. It is determined that the current position of the vehicle is in the vicinity of the ETC gate 29 and that the vehicle is traveling in the direction of entering the entrance of the expressway based on the approach direction data. Further, the ETC radio wave (5.7 GHz) received by the ETC antenna 13 is tuned by the ETC tuner 14, and the presence of the ETC radio wave is input to the CPU 16 (Reception Hi) (Yes in step S2).
When the presence of ETC radio waves is detected under these conditions, the CPU 16 determines that the vehicle has entered the highway, and switches the guidance operation from the general road travel mode to the highway travel mode (step S3).

    In this highway driving mode, only the guidance points whose road information is registered as “highway” are guided by the display panel 18 and the voice guidance means 19 (step S3, Yes in step S5, step S6). This is one of the features of the present invention.

This feature of the present invention will be described in further detail.
ETC (Electronic Toll Collection System) is a system that automatically settles tolls for smooth passage through toll gates (entrances and exits) and ticket gates when using expressways. Wireless communication between the two, and the usage fee is debited from the bank account registered by the customer at a later date.
In this ETC system, since it is known that the radio wave emitted from the roadside antenna is emitted only to the ETC lane at 5.7 GHz, the present invention provides 5.7 GHz when the vehicle passes the position (coordinates) of the ETC entrance gate. Detecting whether you have entered the expressway based on whether you have received a GHz radio wave, and if you have received a 5.7 GHz radio wave when the vehicle has passed the position (coordinates) of the ETC exit gate, It is detected whether the vehicle has exited and highway driving and general road driving are discriminated.
When the vehicle 7 continues to travel on the highway 2 and approaches the highway parking 25 on the highway and the vicinity of Orbis 21 on the general road, the guidance operation is in the highway driving mode, so the highway parking 25 guides (Step S6). As described above, both of the guidance points at almost the same place were guided by the conventional device, but in the present invention, it can be determined whether the vehicle is traveling on the highway or the general road. Only the guide points on the target expressway can be guided without guiding the registered points.
This is one of the features of the present invention.

    Further, when the vehicle 7 continues to travel on the highway 2 and approaches the orbit 26 on the highway and the school 22 on the general road, the guidance operation is in the highway driving mode, so the Orbis 26 provides guidance. The school 22 is not guided (step S6).

Further, when the vehicle 7 continues to travel on the highway 1 and reaches the ETC gate 30, the radio wave received by the GPS antenna 11 is tuned by the GPS tuner 12, and the position coordinates (latitude and longitude) are obtained by the CPU 16. And the current position of the vehicle is in the vicinity of the ETC gate 30 based on the above-described position coordinate data, and it is determined that the vehicle is traveling at the exit of the expressway based on the approach direction data. Further, the ETC radio wave (5.7 GHz) received by the ETC antenna 13 is tuned by the ETC tuner 14, and the presence of the ETC radio wave is input to the CPU 16 (Reception Hi) (Yes in step 4).
When the presence of ETC radio waves is detected under these conditions, the CPU 16 determines that the vehicle has exited the general road and switches the guidance operation from the highway travel mode to the general road travel mode (Yes in step 4 and step S1).

In this general road travel mode, only the guide points whose road information is registered as “general road” are guided by the display panel 18 and the voice guidance means 19 (step S1, Yes in step S7, step S8). This is one of the features of the present invention.
Thereafter, the vehicle 7 travels on a general road and travels in the vicinity of Orbis 27. However, since the “road information” of Orbis 27 is a highway, no guidance is provided in the current state in the general road travel mode (step S1, step S1). NO in S7).
Further, the vehicle 7 travels in the vicinity of the Orbis 23. Since the “road information” of the Orbis 23 is a general road, the vehicle 7 is guided in the current state of the general road travel mode (Yes in step S1, step S7, step S8).

Next, a description will be given of a case where all the vehicles started from the start point A (on the general road) in FIG. 3 travel on the general road without entering the expressway.
The vehicle 7 first reaches the ETC gate 29, but does not enter the expressway and travels on a general road, so it does not receive ETC radio waves (No in step S2). Accordingly, the guidance operation remains in the general road travel mode, and the general road travel mode is maintained without switching to the highway travel mode (No in step S2, step S1).
When the vehicle 7 continues to travel on the general road and approaches the high-speed parking 25 and the Orbis 21, the guidance operation is in the general road traveling mode, so the Orvis 21 is guided (Step S1, Step S7 Yes, Step S8). As described above, the guidance points at almost the same place both guide in the conventional device, but in the present invention, it is possible to determine which of the highway and the general road is traveling. Then, only guide points on general roads are guided, and guide points on highways are not guided. This is one of the features of the present invention.

    Further, when the vehicle 7 continues to travel on the general road 1 and approaches the school 22 and the Orbis 26, the guidance operation is in the general road traveling mode, so the Orvis 26 is not guided and the school 22 is guided. (Yes in step S7, step S8).

Further, when the vehicle 7 continues to travel on the general road 1 and reaches the ETC gate 30, the ETC antenna 13 does not receive the radio wave (5.7 GHz) from the ETC because the vehicle 7 continues to travel on the general road. The guidance operation is maintained in the general road travel mode (No in step 2, step S1).
Thereafter, the vehicle 7 travels on the general road 1 and travels in the vicinity of the Orbis 27. However, since the “road information” of the Orbis 27 is a highway, no guidance is given in the current state in the general road travel mode (step S1, NO of step S7).
Further, the vehicle 7 travels in the vicinity of the Orbis 23. Since the “road information” of the Orbis 23 is a general road, the vehicle 7 is guided in the current state of the general road travel mode (Yes in step S1, step S7, step S8).

  As described above, the in-vehicle radar detector of the present invention accurately discriminates between general roads and high-speed traveling, and can automatically switch the guidance point guidance operation according to the type of traveling road. Even if you do, guide the driver to the guide point exactly according to the road.

Explanatory drawing of a prior art. The block diagram of one Embodiment of this invention. Explanatory drawing of the switching method of the highway driving mode and general road driving mode of one Embodiment of this invention. The operation | movement flowchart which switches between the highway driving mode and general road driving mode of one Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart of guidance operation | movement in general road driving mode. The flowchart of guidance operation | movement in highway driving mode.

Explanation of symbols

1 General road, 2 Expressway, 3, 4 Travel direction, Pendant 5, 6, 21, 23, 26, 27 Orbis, 7, 8 Vehicle, 11 GPS antenna, 12 GPS tuner, 13 ETC antenna, 14 ETC Tuner, 15 ROM, 16 CPU, 22 school, 25 high speed parking, 29, 30 ETC gate

Claims (3)

Position information of the expressway discrimination point equipped with a transmission device that is set at either the entrance or the vicinity of the expressway and transmits a predetermined frequency signal, and the entry direction of the vehicle to the expressway or the exit direction of the vehicle from the expressway Storage means for preliminarily storing approach direction information defining the approach direction of the vehicle to the expressway discrimination point for indicating
Means for determining a traveling position and a traveling direction of the vehicle based on the GPS signal;
Receiving means for receiving the predetermined frequency signal;
The output of the means for determining indicates that the vehicle has passed the expressway discrimination point specified by the position information in the direction of entering the expressway specified by the approach direction information. At this time, the receiving means outputs the frequency signal When the vehicle is received, it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on the expressway, and on the other hand, the vehicle has passed the expressway discrimination point specified by the position information in the direction of exiting the expressway specified by the approach direction information. A means for discriminating that when the receiving means receives the frequency signal at this time, the vehicle exits from the highway and is traveling on a road that is not a highway;
In-vehicle radar detector. The storage means further includes position information of guidance points to be guided to a vehicle driver including at least position information of the speed violation control machine, and a first road indicating whether the guidance points should be guided during traveling on the highway. Information and second road information indicating whether the guidance point should be guided during road driving that is not a highway,
When the determination means determines that the vehicle is traveling on a highway, only the guidance point based on the first road information is guided, and on the other hand, if the vehicle is determined to be traveling on a road that is not a highway, The in-vehicle radar detector according to claim 1, further comprising guide means for guiding only guide points based on the second road information.
3. The on-vehicle radar detector according to claim 1, wherein the highway discrimination point is one of an ETC (Electronic Toll Collection System) gate and its vicinity.