JP4826370B2 - Wireless communication apparatus and communication system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless communication apparatus used for inter-vehicle communication and a communication system for performing inter-vehicle communication.

With the development of communication technology, technology related to so-called vehicle-to-vehicle communication between vehicles has been studied. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication includes a mode in which communication is performed on a one-to-one basis and a mode in which broadcasting is performed without specifying a partner. In order to solve the problem of an increase in traffic volume in broadcast-type inter-vehicle communication, a technology for specifying a relay vehicle that hops information based on a predetermined condition and hopping information only in the specified relay vehicle Has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1 below).
JP 2005-12522 A

  By the way, in the inter-vehicle communication described in Patent Document 1, information is primarily transmitted from the transmission source vehicle to all surrounding vehicles including the relay vehicle. Therefore, for example, even when information is received from a vehicle other than the transmission source vehicle, information is transmitted from the transmission source vehicle, and redundant transmission of information is performed. .

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication apparatus and a communication system that can reduce the occurrence of redundant information transmission as much as possible.

A wireless communication device according to the present invention is a wireless communication device that transfers vehicle information related to a first vehicle transmitted from a first vehicle to a second vehicle different from the first vehicle, Receiving means for receiving vehicle information transmitted from the vehicle; transmitting means for transmitting the received vehicle information to the second vehicle in response to an input of predetermined instruction information; at least the first vehicle and the second vehicle Storage means for storing map information including information on the road where the vehicle exists and its vicinity, first position information for specifying the position of the first vehicle, and second position information for specifying the position of the second vehicle; Based on the acquired first position information and second position information and map information, whether or not to transmit vehicle information by the transmission means, and the determination Based on the result, the second vehicle information When instruction information for instructing transmission of the vehicle, an instruction output means for outputting to the transmission means comprise a possibility determining section, there are obstacles to radio waves, and there is no factor that reflects radio waves, It is determined that vehicle information is transmitted.

A communication system according to the present invention is a communication system including a relay vehicle that transfers vehicle information related to a first vehicle transmitted from a first vehicle to a second vehicle different from the first vehicle, Receiving means for receiving vehicle information transmitted from one vehicle, transmitting means for transmitting the received vehicle information to a second vehicle in response to an input of predetermined instruction information, at least the first vehicle and the first vehicle Storage means for storing map information including information relating to a road where two vehicles exist and the vicinity thereof, first position information for specifying the position of the first vehicle, and a second position for specifying the position of the second vehicle Position acquisition means for acquiring information, and availability determination means for determining whether or not to transmit vehicle information by the transmission means based on the acquired first position information and second position information and map information; Based on the judgment result, Instruction information for instructing the transmission to the second vehicle of the two information, and instructing an output means for outputting to the transmission means comprise a possibility determining section, there are obstacles to radio waves, and reflects radio waves If no factor exists, it is determined that vehicle information is transmitted .

  According to the wireless communication device and the communication system according to the present invention, it is determined whether or not to transmit vehicle information based on the position of the first vehicle, the position of the second vehicle, and the map information. If it can be determined that there is no need for transmission depending on the relationship, transmission of vehicle information can be canceled.

  According to this preferable aspect, when the second vehicle does not establish direct communication with the first vehicle, the second vehicle has not received vehicle information from the first vehicle. Sending vehicle information does not result in duplicate transmission.

  According to the present invention, transmission of vehicle information can be canceled when it can be determined that there is no need for transmission depending on the positional relationship. Therefore, it is possible to provide a wireless communication apparatus and a communication system that can reduce the occurrence of redundant information transmission as much as possible.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In order to facilitate the understanding of the description, the same constituent elements in the drawings will be denoted by the same reference numerals as much as possible, and redundant description will be omitted.

  An overview of a wireless communication apparatus and a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a scene where the wireless communication apparatus and the communication system according to the present embodiment are applied. The vehicle A (first vehicle) travels on the road R1 from the left to the right in the drawing. The vehicle B (second vehicle) is traveling on the road R2 from the bottom to the top in the figure. Road R1 and road R2 intersect at an intersection R12. The vehicle C has entered the intersection R12. There are buildings B1, B2, B3, and B4 at each corner of the intersection R12.

  The wireless communication apparatus according to the present embodiment is mounted on a vehicle C and transfers vehicle information related to the vehicle A transmitted from the vehicle A to a vehicle B different from the vehicle A. In addition, the communication system of the present embodiment includes a vehicle C as a relay vehicle that transfers vehicle information related to the vehicle A transmitted from the vehicle A to a vehicle B different from the vehicle A. Accordingly, since the description of the wireless communication device and the description of the communication system overlap, in the following description, the wireless communication device will be mainly described, and the description of the communication system will also be used. In the following description, FIG. 1 will be referred to as appropriate.

  A schematic configuration of the wireless communication apparatus of the present embodiment is shown in FIG. The wireless communication device 10 illustrated in FIG. 2 includes an antenna 101, an inter-vehicle communication device 20, an information processing device 30, and a position display device 40.

  The inter-vehicle communication device 20 is a communication device that transmits and receives information to and from other vehicles via the antenna 101. The inter-vehicle communication device 20 includes a reception unit 201 (reception unit), a transmission unit 202 (transmission unit), and an information holding unit 251 as functional components.

  The receiving unit 201 is a part that receives vehicle information transmitted from other vehicles (including vehicles A and B). The receiving unit 201 stores the received vehicle information in the information holding unit 251 and outputs it to the position acquisition unit 301 of the information processing device 30. In the present embodiment, the vehicle information includes at least information for specifying the position of the vehicle and other necessary information (for example, various information related to the vehicle such as vehicle speed information, traveling direction information, and accident information). It is a waste.

  The information holding unit 251 is a part that temporarily stores the vehicle information received by the receiving unit 201. The vehicle information stored in the information holding unit 251 is read by the transmission unit 202 and transmitted to another vehicle, or the transmission unit 202 deletes it without transmitting it.

  The transmission unit 202 is a part that transmits the vehicle information received by the reception unit 201 to another vehicle in response to input of predetermined instruction information. More specifically, the transmission unit 202 transmits the vehicle information stored in the information holding unit 251 to other vehicles based on the instruction information output from the instruction output unit 303 of the information processing device 30.

  The information processing device 30 exchanges information with the position indicator 40 based on information received by the inter-vehicle communication device 20, and outputs information transmission instruction information to the inter-vehicle communication device 20 based on the exchanged information. Equipment. The information processing device 30 includes a position acquisition unit 301 (position acquisition unit), an availability determination unit 302 (availability determination unit), and an instruction output unit 303 (instruction output unit) as functional components. .

  The position acquisition unit 301 is a part that acquires position information specifying the position of another vehicle output from the reception unit 201 of the inter-vehicle communication device 20. More specifically, for example, according to the example of FIG. 2, position information A (first position information) for specifying the position of the vehicle A and position information B (second position information) for specifying the position of the vehicle are included. get.

  The position acquisition unit 301 outputs the acquired position information (position information A, B) of other vehicles to the information processing unit 401 of the position display 40. In response to this output, the position acquisition unit 301 receives the map information around the position of the other vehicle (vehicles A and B) output from the information processing unit 401, and the availability determination unit 302 receives the position information ( Output together with position information A, B).

  The availability determination unit 302 transmits vehicle information by the transmission unit 202 of the inter-vehicle communication device 20 based on the position information (position information A, B) of other vehicles acquired by the position acquisition unit 301 and the map information. This is a part for determining whether or not. More specifically, referring to FIG. 1, the availability determination unit 302 determines to transmit the vehicle information when it is determined that the vehicle B does not establish direct communication with the vehicle A. To do.

  More specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, a case is considered in which vehicle A travels on road R1 toward intersection R12 and vehicle B travels on road R2 toward intersection R12. As described above, the availability determination unit 302 is based on the vehicle information (position information A and B) transmitted by the vehicle A and the vehicle B and the map information stored in the map information storage unit 451, as shown in FIG. Can be obtained.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the building B1 is on the traveling side of the vehicle A and on the traveling side of the vehicle B with respect to the intersection A12, and the traveling of the vehicle B is on the traveling side of the vehicle A with respect to the intersection A12. Building B2 on the former side is the destination side of vehicle A with respect to intersection A12 and building B3 is on the destination side of vehicle B with respect to intersection A12. Assume that buildings B4 exist on the front side.

  As shown in FIG. 1, when the building B1 exists, the radio wave transmitted from the vehicle A is blocked, so it is assumed that the vehicle B does not directly receive the vehicle information transmitted from the vehicle A. However, the radio wave transmitted from the vehicle A is reflected by the building B3, and it is assumed that the vehicle B indirectly receives the vehicle information transmitted from the vehicle A. Further, it is assumed that the vehicle B indirectly receives the vehicle information transmitted from the vehicle A after being reflected by the building B2 after the radio wave transmitted from the vehicle A is reflected by the building B4.

  In summary, the determination logic of the availability determination unit 302 is as follows. When there is no factor (for example, building B1, hill, wall, etc.) that interferes with radio waves at the corner of the intersection R12 on the traveling source side of the vehicle A and on the traveling origin side of the vehicle B, the availability determining unit 302 The vehicle information is not relayed.

  Further, even when there is a factor that obstructs radio waves at the corner of the intersection R12 on the traveling source side of the vehicle A and on the traveling source side of the vehicle B, If there is a factor that reflects radio waves (for example, building B3, hill, wall, etc.) at the corner of intersection R12 on the destination side of B, propriety determination unit 302 does not relay vehicle information. to decide.

  Even if there is a factor that inhibits radio waves at the corner of the intersection R12 on the traveling source side of the vehicle A and on the traveling source side of the vehicle B, There is a factor (for example, a building B4, a hill, a wall, etc.) that reflects radio waves at the corner of the intersection R12 on the destination side of B, the destination side of the vehicle A, When there is a factor (for example, building B2, hill, wall, etc.) that reflects radio waves at the corner of the intersection R12, the availability determination unit 302 determines that vehicle information is not relayed.

  When the conditions other than the above are satisfied, the availability determination unit 302 determines to relay the vehicle information. The results of these determinations are output to the instruction output unit 303. As a condition for a building or the like to block or reflect radio waves, a predetermined threshold value (for example, 2 m) is satisfied with respect to the size.

  The instruction output unit 303 is a part that outputs, to the transmission unit 202 of the inter-vehicle communication device 20, instruction information for instructing transmission of vehicle information to another vehicle based on the determination result of the availability determination unit 302.

  The position indicator 40 is a device that constitutes a part of a navigation system for displaying the position of the vehicle (vehicle C) on which the wireless communication device 10 is mounted. The position display device 40 includes an information processing unit 401 and a map information storage unit 451 (storage means) as functional components.

  The information processing unit 401 extracts map information stored in the map information storage unit 451 based on the position information output from the position acquisition unit 301 of the information processing device 30, and uses the extracted map information as the position acquisition unit 301. This is the output part.

  The map information storage unit 451 is a part that stores map information including top and bottom terrain and building data. More specifically, the map information storage unit 451 stores map information including information on a road where vehicles (vehicles A and B) necessary for processing exist and the vicinity thereof.

  Next, the operation of the wireless communication device 10 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the wireless communication device 10.

  First, the position acquisition unit 301 of the information processing device 30 determines whether the host vehicle (vehicle C) is in the intersection or in the vicinity of the intersection (step S01). As shown in FIG. 1, if it is in a state of being in an intersection (or if it is a state close to it (for example, within 5 m from the intersection)), the process proceeds to step S02, and if not, the process is terminated.

  Subsequently, the position acquisition unit 301 of the information processing device 30 acquires map information indicating whether or not there is a traffic signal at the intersection from the position display device 40. If there is no traffic light at the intersection based on the acquired map information, the process proceeds to step S03. Further, even if there is a traffic light at the intersection, if it is blinking red or yellow, the process proceeds to step S03. The state of the traffic light may be determined based on the time information, or information generated by the traffic light may be acquired separately by the inter-vehicle communication device 20. In cases other than the above, the process ends.

  Subsequently, the position acquisition unit 301 of the information processing device 30 acquires the position information from surrounding vehicles via the inter-vehicle communication device 20 (step S03). In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the position acquisition unit 301 of the information processing device 30 acquires position information from the vehicle A and the vehicle B via the inter-vehicle communication device 20. The position acquisition unit 301 receives map information from the position display 40 and grasps the relative positional relationship between the vehicle A and the vehicle B.

  Subsequently, the availability determination unit 302 determines whether or not the vehicle for which position information has been acquired is in a state of approaching from a different road link (step S04). In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the availability determination unit 302 determines whether the vehicle A and the vehicle B are approaching from different road links. As shown in FIG. 1, if the vehicle is approaching from a different road link, the process proceeds to step S05. On the other hand, if the road is not approaching from a different road link, for example, if the same road is traveling in the same direction, the process ends.

  Subsequently, the availability determination unit 302 determines whether or not the vehicle whose position information has been acquired is in a relationship to block the line of sight (step S05). In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the availability determination unit 302 determines whether the vehicle A and the vehicle B are in a relationship in which the line of sight is blocked. As shown in FIG. 1, if there is a building B1 and the line of sight is obstructed, the process proceeds to step S06. On the other hand, if the building B1 does not exist and the line-of-sight is not obstructed, the process ends.

  Subsequently, the availability determination unit 302 determines whether or not there is a reflective building near the vehicle where the position information can be acquired (step S06). In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the availability determination unit 302 determines whether there is a reflective building in the vicinity of the vehicle A and the vehicle B. When the building B2 and the building B4 shown in FIG. 1 exist, or when the building B3 shown in FIG. 1 exists, it is determined that there is a reflective building, and the process ends. On the other hand, when only either the building B2 or the building B4 shown in FIG. 1 exists, or when the building B3 shown in FIG. 1 does not exist, the process proceeds to step S07.

  Subsequently, the instruction output unit 303 outputs a transmission instruction to the transmission unit 202 of the inter-vehicle communication device 20. The transmission unit 202 acquires vehicle information from the information holding unit 251 and transmits the vehicle information to the vehicle A or the vehicle B (step S07).

It is the figure which showed an example of the scene where the radio | wireless communication apparatus and communication system of this embodiment are applied. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the radio | wireless communication apparatus of this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the radio | wireless communication apparatus of this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Wireless communication apparatus, 101 ... Antenna, 20 ... Inter-vehicle communication device, 201 ... Reception part 201, 202 ... Transmission part, 251 ... Information holding part, 30 ... Information processing machine, 301 ... Position acquisition part, 302 ... Judgment of availability Reference numeral 303: Instruction output unit 40: Position indicator 401: Information processing unit 451: Map information storage unit

Claims (2)

A wireless communication device for transferring vehicle information related to the first vehicle transmitted from the first vehicle to a second vehicle different from the first vehicle,
Receiving means for receiving vehicle information transmitted from the first vehicle;
Transmitting means for transmitting the received vehicle information to the second vehicle in response to input of predetermined instruction information;
Storage means for storing map information including information on a road where at least the first vehicle and the second vehicle exist and the vicinity thereof;
Position acquisition means for acquiring first position information for specifying the position of the first vehicle and second position information for specifying the position of the second vehicle;
Based on the acquired first position information and second position information and the map information, whether or not to transmit the vehicle information by the transmission means, availability determination means,
Instruction output means for outputting, to the transmission means, instruction information for instructing transmission of the vehicle information to the second vehicle based on the determination result ;
The possibility determining section, there are obstacles to radio waves, and, if the factor that reflects the radio waves do not exist, the radio communication apparatus you and determines that performs transmission of the vehicle information. A communication system including a relay vehicle that transfers vehicle information related to the first vehicle transmitted from the first vehicle to a second vehicle different from the first vehicle,
Receiving means for receiving vehicle information transmitted from the first vehicle;
Transmitting means for transmitting the received vehicle information to the second vehicle in response to input of predetermined instruction information;
Storage means for storing map information including information on a road where at least the first vehicle and the second vehicle exist and the vicinity thereof;
Position acquisition means for acquiring first position information for specifying the position of the first vehicle and second position information for specifying the position of the second vehicle;
Based on the acquired first position information and second position information and the map information, whether or not to transmit the vehicle information by the transmission means, availability determination means,
Instruction output means for outputting, to the transmission means, instruction information for instructing transmission of the vehicle information to the second vehicle based on the determination result ;
The possibility determining section, there are obstacles to radio waves, and, if the factor that reflects the radio waves do not exist, the communication system that is characterized in that it is determined that performing transmission of the vehicle information.

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