JP6370942B2 - Transmission equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical beacon that performs wireless communication using an optical signal with an in-vehicle device of a traveling vehicle, and a transmission device that acquires uplink data transmitted by a mobile communication terminal such as the in-vehicle device and transmits the uplink data to an external device.

As a traffic information service, so-called VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System: registered trademark of the Road Traffic Information Communication System Center) using optical beacons, radio beacons or FM multiplex broadcasting has already been developed.
Among these, the optical beacon employs optical communication using near infrared rays as a communication medium, and is capable of bidirectional communication with the in-vehicle device.
Specifically, when the in-vehicle device mounted on the vehicle acquires probe data (also referred to as floating car data or probe car data), this probe data is included in the uplink data, and the infra-site light from the in-vehicle device is transmitted. Sent to a beacon.
On the other hand, downlink data including traffic jam information, section travel time information, event regulation information, lane notification information, and the like is transmitted from the optical beacon to the in-vehicle device (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2005-268925 A

Optical beacons are installed at various locations on the road, and the uplink data received from each on-board device received by each optical beacon is aggregated in a central device. For example, this central device is used to control signal traffic signals and traffic flow. Traffic control and the like are executed.
In order for the central unit to perform advanced signal control and traffic control, it is necessary to collect a large amount of valid uplink data (probe data). For this purpose, uplink data from onboard devices received by optical beacons Must be transmitted to the central unit.

Currently, since the penetration rate of in-vehicle devices that can transmit uplink data including probe data and optical beacons that receive the data is not so high, the amount of data transmitted to the central device is small, but in-vehicle devices As the optical beacons become more widespread, the amount of data transmitted to the central device may increase.
If the amount of data to be transmitted increases in this way, there is a risk that the communication line between each optical beacon and the central device may become tight. In this case, for example, between the optical beacon and other devices and the central device. There is a possibility of adverse effects such as delay on data communication.

  In addition to such optical beacons, roadside communication devices that form a relatively wide communication area are installed in various places on the road, such as intersections, and each roadside communication device exists in its own communication area. Similarly, when the probe data received from the mobile communication terminal such as the above is transmitted to the central device or the like through the information relay device, the communication line may be tight. For example, there are many in-vehicle devices in a communication area having a radius of about 200 m, which the roadside communication device has, and the roadside communication device monitors and receives the uplink data transmitted by these in-vehicle devices. When data is transmitted to a central device or the like through a transmission device such as an information relay device, for example, the amount of data transmitted between the information relay device and the central device may increase and the communication line may become tight.

As described above, the central device needs to collect a lot of effective uplink data (probe data) in order to perform advanced signal control and traffic control, but when the amount of data transmitted to the central device increases, There is a risk that the communication line of the road traffic system will be tight and trouble such as communication delay will occur.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an optical beacon and a transmission device that can prevent a communication line used to receive data from an external device such as a central device.

  (1) The present invention is an optical beacon that performs wireless communication using an optical signal with an in-vehicle device of a running vehicle, the receiving unit for receiving uplink data transmitted by the in-vehicle device, and the uplink data And a control unit capable of executing communication control for transmitting to the external device, wherein the control unit determines whether or not to delete at least a part of the data excluding the header part of the uplink data A determination process or a determination process for determining whether to transmit the uplink data to the external device is performed.

  According to the present invention, it is determined whether or not at least a part of the data excluding the header portion is deleted from the uplink data received from the in-vehicle device, and as a result, the external device (for example, the central device) is deleted. ) Can be reduced (thinned out), and the communication line used for the external device to receive the data can be suppressed from becoming tight. Alternatively, it is determined whether or not uplink data received from the vehicle-mounted device is transmitted to an external device (for example, a central device), and as a result, by not transmitting some uplink data (by thinning out transmission), It is possible to suppress the tightness of the communication line used for the external device to receive data.

(2) Moreover, the said control part is contained in the said uplink data about the uplink data from at least one vehicle equipment among the said uplink data received through the said receiving part from the said several vehicle equipment. The determination process for determining whether or not to delete the probe data, or the determination process for determining whether or not to transmit uplink data from at least one in-vehicle device to the external device is performed. Is preferred.
In this case, out of the uplink data received from a plurality of in-vehicle devices, for the uplink data from at least one in-vehicle device, the probe data included in the uplink data is deleted and transmitted to the external device. And the amount of data transmitted to the external device can be reduced. Or, among the uplink data received from a plurality of in-vehicle devices, it is possible to prevent the uplink data from at least one in-vehicle device from being transmitted to the external device, and the data to be transmitted to the external device as a whole Can be reduced.

(3) Moreover, it is preferable that the said control part acquires the collection information which shows the conditions which collect the said uplink data, and performs the said determination process according to this collection information.
In this case, according to the conditions for collecting uplink data, the control unit of the optical beacon executes the determination process, whereby data according to the conditions can be collected.
As an example of the collection information, there is a collection rate. For example, when the collection rate is 50%, it is determined that 50% of data is deleted, and the remaining 50% of data is transmitted without being deleted. . Alternatively, it is determined to transmit 50% of the data to the central apparatus, and it is determined not to transmit the remaining 50% of data.

(4) Moreover, the said receiving part is provided with two or more corresponding to each of the several lanes of the road where a vehicle drive | works, and the said control part collects the said conditions separately for each said lane The determination process is preferably performed according to the information.
In this case, it is possible to change the conditions (for example, the uplink data collection rate) for collecting uplink data in an external device such as a central device for each lane. For example, collecting uplink data from in-vehicle devices of vehicles traveling in other lanes while suppressing the collection of uplink data from in-vehicle devices of vehicles traveling in lanes that are not very useful even if uplink data is collected. It becomes possible to change the collection rate of uplink data for every lane, such as making it active.

(5) Alternatively, a plurality of the receiving units are provided corresponding to each of a plurality of lanes of a road on which the vehicle travels, and the control unit is configured to collect the conditions in common for the plurality of lanes. The determination process is preferably performed according to the information.
In this case, the condition for collecting uplink data in an external device such as a central device (for example, the uplink data collection rate) can be the same even if the lanes are different.
Regarding (4) and (5) above, “a plurality of lanes of a road” provided with a receiving unit does not mean only “all of a plurality of lanes that the road has” but “a road” May be a part of a plurality of lanes (a part of which is a plurality). That is, the road may have three lanes, or the receiving unit may be provided only in two of the lanes.

(6) Further, the uplink data includes information indicating the reliability of the probe data included in the uplink data, and the control unit performs the determination based on the information indicating the reliability. It is preferable to perform processing and delete probe data with low reliability or determine that uplink data including probe data with low reliability is not transmitted.
In this case, probe data with low reliability can be deleted. Alternatively, uplink data including probe data with low reliability can be prevented from being transmitted to the external device.
As a result, an external device such as the central device can collect highly reliable probe data.

(7) In addition, the uplink data includes information indicating a positioning class of position measurement by the in-vehicle device, and the control unit performs the determination process based on the information indicating the positioning class, and performs positioning. It is preferable to determine that at least part of the uplink data whose class is lower than the predetermined class is to be deleted or not transmitted.
The in-vehicle device transmits uplink data including information indicating a positioning class at the time of position measurement to the optical beacon, and the control unit of the optical beacon receives the uplink data. Therefore, for uplink data whose positioning class is lower than a predetermined class, at least a part of the data excluding the header portion is deleted. Alternatively, uplink data having a positioning class lower than a predetermined class can be prevented from being transmitted to the external device.
Thereby, it is possible to collect data having a high positioning class in an external device such as a central device.

(8) In addition, the control unit determines whether or not the probe data included in the uplink data is abnormal, performs the determination processing according to a result of the determination, and deletes the probe data that is abnormal. Alternatively, it is preferable to determine that uplink data including abnormal probe data is not transmitted.
In this case, the abnormal probe data can be deleted from the uplink data including the abnormal probe data. Alternatively, uplink data including abnormal probe data can be prevented from being transmitted to the external device.
Thereby, an external device such as a central device can collect accurate probe data with few abnormalities.

(9) Further, the uplink data includes information on a road on which the vehicle on which the vehicle-mounted device is mounted or information on a position where the vehicle has traveled, and the control unit performs the determination process according to the information. Is preferably performed.
An external device such as a central device can collect uplink data from in-vehicle devices of vehicles that have traveled on various roads, but can selectively collect uplink data according to roads that have already traveled. Become. For example, for uplink data from an in-vehicle device of a vehicle that has traveled on a main road, as a result of the determination process, processing that is not deleted or transmitted is actively performed, and an uplink from the in-vehicle device of a vehicle that has traveled on a non-main road As a result of the determination process, data can be collected as much as possible by an external device such as a central device without being deleted or transmitted.

(10) Moreover, it is preferable that the said control part can acquire the communication condition in the communication line used when transmitting data to the said external device, and performs the said determination process according to this communication condition.
In this case, for example, when the communication status of the communication line is congested, as a result of the determination processing, processing that is not deleted or transmitted is actively performed, and when the communication status is relatively free, the determination processing As a result, uplink data can be transmitted according to the communication status, for example, without being deleted or transmitted.

(11) Further, the collection information is different information depending on a communication state in a communication line used when data is transmitted to the external device, and the control unit performs the determination process according to the different collection information. Is preferred.
In this case, the collected information is selectively used according to the communication status of the communication line. For example, when the communication status of the communication line is congested, the collected information is such that processing that is not deleted or transmitted is actively performed. When the communication status is relatively free, the control unit can be made to function according to collected information that is not deleted or transmitted.

(12) In addition, the control unit is deleted when it is determined to delete as a result of the determination process for determining whether or not to delete at least a part of the data excluding the header portion of the uplink data. It is preferable to perform a compression process for compressing at least a part of the data that is not.
In this case, it is possible to further reduce the amount of data to be transmitted to the external device (for example, the central device), and to suppress the tightness of the communication line used for the external device to receive data.
(13) In addition, when the control unit determines not to delete as a result of the determination process for determining whether or not to delete at least part of the data excluding the header portion of the uplink data, It is preferable to perform a compression process for compressing at least a part of the uplink data.
Even if at least a part of the data excluding the header portion of the uplink data is not deleted, the data transmitted to the external device (for example, the central device) by compressing at least a part of the uplink data The amount can be reduced.
(14) Alternatively, when the control unit determines to transmit as a result of the determination process for determining whether or not to transmit the uplink data to the external device, at least a part of the uplink data is compressed. It is preferable to perform compression processing.
In this case, it is possible to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted to the external device (for example, the central device), and it is possible to suppress the tightness of the communication line used for the external device to receive data.

  (15) Further, the present invention is a transmission device that acquires uplink data transmitted by a mobile communication terminal and transmits the uplink data to an external device, the acquisition unit acquiring the uplink data transmitted by the mobile communication terminal, A control unit capable of executing communication control for transmitting the uplink data acquired by the acquisition unit to the external device, and the control unit includes at least one of the data excluding the header portion of the uplink data. A determination process for determining whether to delete a part or a determination process for determining whether to transmit the uplink data to the external device.

  According to the present invention, when uplink data transmitted by a mobile communication terminal is acquired, it is determined whether or not at least a part of the data excluding the header portion is deleted from the uplink data, and as a result, is deleted. As a result, the amount of data to be transmitted to the external device can be reduced (thinned out), and the communication line used for the external device to receive data can be suppressed from becoming tight. Alternatively, when uplink data transmitted by the mobile communication terminal is acquired, it is determined whether or not to transmit this uplink data to an external device, and as a result, a part of the uplink data is not transmitted (thinning transmission is thinned out). Therefore, it is possible to prevent the communication line used for the external device to receive data from becoming tight.

(16) In the transmission apparatus, the control unit is uplink data transmitted by a plurality of the mobile communication terminals, and at least one of the uplink data acquired by the acquisition unit. For the uplink data from the mobile communication terminal, the determination process for determining whether to delete the data included in the uplink data, or the uplink data from at least one mobile communication terminal, It is preferable to perform the determination process for determining whether to transmit to an external device.
In this case, uplink data transmitted by a plurality of mobile communication terminals, and uplink data from at least one mobile communication terminal out of the uplink data acquired by the acquisition unit is included in this uplink data. The included data can be deleted and transmitted to the external device, and the amount of data transmitted to the external device can be reduced. Or, uplink data transmitted by a plurality of mobile communication terminals, and uplink data from at least one mobile communication terminal out of the uplink data acquired by the acquisition unit is not transmitted to an external device. This makes it possible to reduce the data to be transmitted to the external device as a whole.

(17) In the transmission apparatus, it is preferable that the control unit obtains collection information indicating a condition for collecting the uplink data, and performs the determination process according to the collection information.
In this case, according to the conditions for collecting uplink data, the control unit of the transmission apparatus executes the determination process, so that data corresponding to the conditions can be collected.

(18) In the transmission device according to (17), the external device includes a central device that aggregates data and a traffic signal controller installed on a roadside. First collection information indicating conditions for collecting uplink data for transmission to a central device, and second collection information indicating conditions for collecting uplink data for transmission to the traffic signal controller, It is preferable that the determination process is performed using the first collection information and the second collection information properly according to the external device.
In this case, conditions for collecting uplink data can be changed according to the external device.

(19) Further, in this transmission apparatus, for example, when the central apparatus performs macro traffic control and the traffic signal controller performs signal control (terminal sensitive control) that requires real-time property, the macro performed by the central apparatus is performed. For high-speed traffic control, the uplink data collection rate may be low, but for signal control (terminal-sensitive control) that requires real-time performance performed by the traffic signal controller, the uplink data collection rate Is preferably high.
Therefore, in the transmission device of (18), the second collection information may be set so that the uplink data collection rate is higher than that of the first collection information.

(20) In the transmission apparatus, the mobile communication terminal is an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle, and the external device includes a traffic signal controller installed at an intersection and performing terminal sensitive control. The control unit, based on whether the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle device that is the transmission source of the acquired uplink data is a vehicle subject to the terminal sensitivity control by the traffic signal controller, The determination process is preferably performed on link data.
In this case, for the uplink data from the in-vehicle device of the vehicle that is traveling on the inflow road to the intersection where the traffic signal controller for performing the terminal sensitive control is installed, the determination processing is performed. Can be determined not to be deleted or transmitted, and can be transmitted to the traffic signal controller. As a result, the traffic signal controller can perform terminal sensitive control based on the uplink data.

(21) As an example of performing such determination processing, the acquisition unit can acquire the position of the vehicle and signal control information of the traffic signal controller, and the control unit has acquired Whether the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle device that is the source of the uplink data is traveling in a right turn lane that flows into the intersection where the traffic signal light device that is terminal-sensitive controlled by the traffic signal controller is installed, and It is preferable to perform the determination process on the uplink data based on whether or not the traffic signal lamp to be followed by the vehicle is in a blue arrow display indicating that a right turn is possible.
In this case, the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle device that is the transmission source of the acquired uplink data is traveling in the right turn lane that flows into the intersection where the traffic signal lamp that is terminal-sensitive controlled by the traffic signal controller is installed. When the traffic signal lamp to be followed by the vehicle is in a blue arrow display indicating that the vehicle can turn right, the control unit sets the vehicle on-board device of the vehicle to the on-vehicle vehicle traveling on the road area subject to terminal sensitive control. The uplink data of this in-vehicle device can be determined not to be deleted or determined to be transmitted as the determination process, and can be transmitted to the traffic signal controller. As a result, the traffic signal controller can perform terminal sensitive control for turning right based on the uplink data.
In the present invention, the case where the road is left-hand traffic, such as in Japan, has been described. However, when the road is right-hand traffic, such as in the United States, the term “right turn” in the present invention is “ It will be replaced with “turn left”.

(22) In the transmission device according to (21), the uplink data includes information indicating an operating state of a turn signal mounted on a vehicle, and the control unit is configured to store the acquired uplink data. It is preferable that the determination processing is performed on the uplink data based on whether or not the vehicle on which the in-vehicle device as the transmission source is mounted is a vehicle on which a turn signal for a right turn is operating.
In this case, when the traffic light that is terminal-sensitive controlled by the traffic signal controller has a blue arrow indicating that a right turn is possible, the vehicle is traveling in the right lane and the turn signal for the right turn is operating. The control unit can handle the in-vehicle device as an in-vehicle device of a vehicle traveling on a road area that is subject to terminal sensitivity control, and the uplink data of the in-vehicle device is determined not to be deleted or transmitted as the determination process. Can be transmitted to the traffic signal controller. As a result, the traffic signal controller can perform terminal sensitive control for turning right based on the uplink data.

(23) As another example of the case where the determination process is performed, the uplink data includes vehicle position data, and the control unit is an on-vehicle source of the acquired uplink data. The determination process for the uplink data based on whether a vehicle equipped with a vehicle is present in a danger zone at the start of a yellow signal in the current cycle of a traffic signal light device that is terminal-sensitive controlled by the traffic signal controller Is preferably performed.
In this case, if the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle device that is the transmission source of the acquired uplink data exists in the danger zone at the start of the yellow signal of the current cycle of the traffic signal light device, the control unit The vehicle can be treated as an in-vehicle device of a vehicle traveling on a road area subject to terminal sensitivity control, and the uplink data of the in-vehicle device can be determined not to be deleted or transmitted as the determination process. Can be transmitted to the traffic signal controller. As a result, based on the uplink data, the traffic signal controller can perform terminal sensitive control for vehicles in the danger zone.

(24) As another example of performing the determination process, the uplink data includes type information indicating a type of vehicle, and the control unit transmits the acquired uplink data. The vehicle on which the original vehicle-mounted device is mounted is a specific type of vehicle that travels on an inflow road to an intersection where a traffic signal light device that is terminal-sensitive controlled by the traffic signal controller is installed, and the traffic signal It is preferable to perform the determination process on the uplink data based on whether the vehicle is a target of the terminal sensitivity control by the controller.
In this case, when the vehicle on which the acquired in-vehicle device of the uplink data is mounted is a specific type of vehicle such as a public vehicle or an emergency vehicle, the control unit It can be treated as an in-vehicle device of a vehicle traveling on a road area subject to terminal sensitive control, and the uplink data of this in-vehicle device can be determined not to be deleted or transmitted as the determination process, It becomes possible to transmit to the signal controller. As a result, the traffic signal controller can perform terminal sensitive control for these public vehicles and emergency vehicles based on the uplink data.

(25) In the transmission apparatus, the uplink data includes information indicating reliability of data included in the uplink data, and the control unit includes information indicating the reliability. It is preferable to perform the determination process based on the above and delete data with low reliability or determine that uplink data including data with low reliability is not transmitted.
In this case, data with low reliability can be deleted. Alternatively, uplink data including data with low reliability can be prevented from being transmitted to the external device.
Thereby, the external device can collect highly reliable data.

(26) In the transmission apparatus, the uplink data includes information indicating a positioning class of position measurement by the mobile communication terminal, and the control unit is configured to perform the operation based on the information indicating the positioning class. It is preferable to perform a determination process and determine that at least a part of the uplink data whose positioning class is lower than the predetermined class is deleted or not transmitted.
The mobile communication terminal transmits uplink data including information indicating a positioning class for position measurement, and the transmission apparatus acquires this uplink data. Therefore, for uplink data whose positioning class is lower than a predetermined class, at least a part of the data excluding the header portion is deleted. Alternatively, uplink data having a positioning class lower than a predetermined class can be prevented from being transmitted to the external device.
As a result, the external device can collect data having a high positioning class.

(27) In the transmission apparatus, the control unit determines whether the data included in the uplink data is abnormal, performs the determination process according to the result of the determination, and determines abnormal data. It is preferable to determine that uplink data including data that is deleted or abnormal is not transmitted.
In this case, the abnormal data can be deleted from the uplink data including the abnormal data. Alternatively, uplink data including abnormal data can be prevented from being transmitted to the external device.
As a result, the external device can collect accurate data with few abnormalities.

(28) In the transmission device, the mobile communication terminal is an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle, and the uplink data includes information on a road on which the vehicle on which the on-vehicle device is mounted traveled or a traveled position. It is preferable that the control unit performs the determination process according to this information.
An external device such as a central device can collect uplink data from in-vehicle devices of vehicles that have traveled on various roads, but can selectively collect uplink data according to roads that have already traveled. Become. For example, for uplink data from an in-vehicle device of a vehicle that has traveled on a main road, as a result of the determination process, processing that is not deleted or transmitted is actively performed, and an uplink from the in-vehicle device of a vehicle that has traveled on a non-main road As a result of the determination process, data can be collected as much as possible by an external device such as a central device without being deleted or transmitted.

(29) Further, in the transmission device, the control unit can acquire a communication status on a communication line used when transmitting data to the external device, and performs the determination process according to the communication status. Is preferred.
In this case, for example, when the communication status of the communication line is congested, as a result of the determination processing, processing that is not deleted or transmitted is actively performed, and when the communication status is relatively free, the determination processing As a result, uplink data can be transmitted according to the communication status, for example, without being deleted or transmitted.

(30) In the transmission device according to (17), the collection information is information that differs depending on a communication status in a communication line used when transmitting data to the external device, and the control unit The determination process is preferably performed according to different collection information.
In this case, the collected information is selectively used according to the communication status of the communication line. For example, when the communication status of the communication line is congested, the collected information is such that processing that is not deleted or transmitted is actively performed. When the communication status is relatively free, the control unit can be made to function according to collected information that is not deleted or transmitted.

(31) In the transmission devices according to (15) to (30), the control unit determines whether or not to delete at least a part of the data excluding the header portion of the uplink data. As a result of the processing, when it is determined to be deleted, it is preferable to perform a compression process for compressing at least a part of the data that has not been deleted.
In this case, the amount of data to be transmitted to the external device can be further reduced, and it is possible to suppress the tightness of the communication line used for the external device to receive data.
(32) In the transmission devices according to (15) to (31), the control unit determines whether or not to delete at least a part of data excluding the header portion of the uplink data. As a result of the processing, it is preferable to perform a compression process for compressing at least a part of the uplink data when it is determined not to be deleted.
Even if at least a part of the data excluding the header portion of the uplink data is not deleted, the data transmitted to the external device (for example, the central device) by compressing at least a part of the uplink data The amount can be reduced.
(33) Further, in the transmission devices of (15) to (30), the control unit determines to transmit as a result of the determination process for determining whether to transmit the uplink data to the external device. In this case, it is preferable to perform a compression process for compressing at least a part of the uplink data.
In this case, it is possible to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted to the external device (for example, the central device), and it is possible to suppress the tightness of the communication line used for the external device to receive data.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it becomes possible to delete at least one part of data except a header part among uplink data, or it is possible not to transmit a part of uplink data, and an external apparatus receives data. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the tightness of the communication line used for this purpose.

It is a top view of the road where the road traffic system (1st Embodiment) containing the optical beacon of this invention is applied. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of an optical beacon. It is the top view of the road which looked at the installation part of an optical beacon from the top. It is a side view which shows the communication area | region of an optical beacon. It is a schematic explanatory drawing of the frame structure of the uplink data which an onboard equipment produces | generates. It is a schematic explanatory drawing of the frame structure of the transmission data which an optical beacon transmits to a central apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows the content of the real data part of uplink data. (A) is explanatory drawing which shows the basic data which a central apparatus provides to an optical beacon, (B) is explanatory drawing which shows the downlink data which an optical beacon transmits to a vehicle equipment. It is explanatory drawing explaining the process which thins out the data by a beacon controller, (A) shows the data before the thinning process, and (B) shows the data after the thinning process. It is a top view of a road. It is a top view of the road where the road traffic system (2nd Embodiment) containing the optical beacon of this invention is applied. It is a block diagram which shows the information relay apparatus etc. in 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the determination process performed by an information relay apparatus. It is a flowchart explaining the modification of the determination process which an information relay apparatus performs. It is explanatory drawing of right turn sensitive control. It is explanatory drawing of dilemma sensitive control. It is explanatory drawing which shows the content of the real data part of uplink data.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[1. Overall system configuration
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a road to which a road traffic system including an optical beacon according to the present invention is applied. This system includes an infrastructure-side traffic control system and an in-vehicle device 2 mounted on a vehicle 20 traveling on a road R.
The traffic control system includes a central device 3, an optical beacon 4, a traffic signal 5 and a vehicle detector 9 provided in a traffic control room or the like. In the present embodiment, a central device 23 for a safe driving support system (DSSS) is also provided.

  The traffic signal 5 has a traffic signal lamp (signal lamp) 5a that emits red, blue and yellow lamp colors, and a traffic signal controller (signal controller) 5b for controlling the lamp color of the traffic signal lamp 5a. doing. The traffic signal controller 5b is connected to the routers 10a and 10c on the road side by a communication line 6b. The routers 10a and 10c are connected to the router 10b on the central device 3 side by a communication line 6d such as an ISDN line.

  The vehicle detector 9 includes, for example, a sensor unit 9a that detects a vehicle and a processing unit 9b. The processing unit 9b detects the presence of the vehicle by processing a detection signal from the sensor unit 9a, and generates detection information. . The processing unit 9b is connected to the traffic signal controller 5b by the communication line 6c. The processing unit 9b and the traffic signal controller 5b may be connected by wireless communication.

  The central device 3 generates signal control information (control command) for controlling the traffic signal 5 and transmits it to each traffic signal controller 5b. The signal control information i1 is transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b of each traffic signal device 5 through the communication lines 6d and 6b. On the other hand, the traffic signal controller 5b transmits execution information i2 indicating the actual results of signal control performed to the central device 3. The execution information i2 is transmitted to the central device 3 through the communication lines 6b and 6d.

  Moreover, the vehicle detector 9 will transmit this detection information i3 to the central apparatus 3, if the information (detection information) which detected the vehicle is produced | generated. In the present embodiment, the detection information i3 is transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b through the communication line 6c, and then transmitted to the central device 3 through the communication lines 6b and 6d.

  The optical beacon 4 can perform wireless communication using an optical signal with the vehicle-mounted device 2 of the traveling vehicle 20, that is, optical communication using near infrared rays as a communication medium, and also as an optical vehicle detector. Function. The optical beacon 4 includes a beacon controller 7 and a plurality (four in FIG. 3) of beacon heads (also referred to as projectors / receivers) 8 connected to the sensor interface of the beacon controller 7. .

The beacon controller 7 is connected to the router 10a by the communication line 6a. The optical beacon 4 receives the uplink data i4 from the in-vehicle device 2 of the vehicle 20 traveling in the vicinity of the installation position. The uplink data i4 includes probe data acquired by the vehicle 20 (onboard device 2).
The uplink data (partially or entirely) i4 acquired by the beacon controller 7 is transmitted to the central device 3 which is an external device through the communication lines 6a and 6d.
Further, downlink data (or basic data to be described later as the basis of downlink data) i5 is transmitted from the central apparatus 3 to each optical beacon 4 through the communication lines 6d and 6a.

As described above, the signal control information i1 is transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b and the execution information i2 and the detection information i3 are transmitted to the central device 3 through the communication line 6b. Furthermore, in addition to the signal control information i1, the execution information i2 and the detection information i3, the uplink data i4 is transmitted to the central device 3 through the communication line 6d, and the downlink data (base data) i5 is transmitted as an optical beacon. 4 is transmitted.
Since the uplink data i4 is information transmitted from the vehicle-mounted device 2 of the vehicle 20 traveling on the road R, the vehicle-mounted device 2 that can transmit such uplink data i4, and the vehicle-mounted device 2 As the number of optical beacons 4 that perform communication increases, the number of uplink data i4 increases.

Then, in particular, when the amount of data transmitted between the central device 3 and the equipment such as the optical beacon 4 is increased through the communication line 6d, and the communication line 6d is a line with a relatively low transmission speed such as an ISDN line, It is conceivable that the communication line 6d is tight.
Furthermore, in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the router 10b on the central device 3 side is connected to the router 10c to which the traffic signal controller 5b and the optical beacon 4 in other areas are connected. It is considered that the amount of data transmitted from the central device 3 to the central device 3 further increases.

  Therefore, the optical beacon 4 of the present embodiment has a configuration capable of suppressing the communication line (for example, the communication line 6d) used for the central apparatus 3 to receive data from being tight. This configuration will be described later.

[2. (Configuration of optical beacon)
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of the optical beacon 4. The beacon head 8 includes an optical communication unit 11 that performs optical communication by transmitting and receiving optical signals, and a vehicle detection sensor unit 12 for detecting the presence or absence of the vehicle 20 that passes directly under the beacon head 8.

The optical communication unit 11 includes a transmission unit 13 and a reception unit 14.
The transmission unit 13 includes a light projecting unit that transmits an optical signal for optical communication, and has a function of transmitting downlink light including near infrared rays to the downlink area DA (see FIG. 4). Specifically, the transmission unit 13 converts a downlink data (downlink frame) transmitted from the beacon controller 7 into a transmission signal, and converts the output transmission signal into an optical signal in the downlink direction. It is comprised by the light emitting element which consists of a light emitting diode (LED) to convert. For this reason, the transmission part 13 can transmit downlink data to the vehicle equipment 2 by radio | wireless communication (optical communication).

  The receiving unit 14 includes a light receiving unit that receives an optical signal from the in-vehicle device 2, and has a function of receiving uplink light composed of near-infrared light from the in-vehicle device 2 in the uplink area UA (see FIG. 4). ing. Specifically, the receiving unit 14 includes a light receiving element such as a photodiode and a light receiving circuit that amplifies an electric signal output from the light receiving element and generates a digital signal. Then, the beacon controller 7 generates uplink data from the signal generated by the receiving unit 14. As described above, the receiving unit 14 can receive the uplink data transmitted by the in-vehicle device 2 by wireless communication (optical communication).

  As shown in FIG. 3, the optical beacon 4 is installed on a road R having a plurality (four in the illustrated example) of lanes R1 to R4 in the same direction, and the optical beacon 4 of the present embodiment includes the lanes R1 to R1. A plurality of beacon heads 8 provided corresponding to each of R4 and one beacon controller 7 which is a control unit that collectively controls these beacon heads 8 are provided. In addition, although four lanes R1-R4 are provided in the road R, the beacon head 8 may be provided only in some (for example, R1-R3).

The beacon controller 7 includes a computer device having a signal processing unit, a CPU, a memory, and the like, and has a function as a communication control unit 17 that performs bidirectional communication with the central device 3 and road-to-vehicle communication with the in-vehicle device 2. . The beacon controller 7 can execute communication control for transmitting uplink data from the in-vehicle device 2 to the central device 3 as transmission data, and communication control for transmitting downlink data to the in-vehicle device 2. Can be executed.
The beacon controller 7 stores a computer program for communication control and various processes in a storage device, and the CPU reads and executes this program, whereby the CPU controls the communication control unit 17 (FIG. 2). And a processing unit 18 (see FIG. 2) described later.

[3. (Irradiation area of optical signal by optical beacon)
FIG. 4 is a side view showing the communication area A1 and the sensing area A2 of the optical beacon 4. As shown in FIG. 4, the communication area A1 of the optical beacon 4 includes a downlink area (area provided with solid hatching in FIG. 4) DA and an uplink area (area provided with broken hatching in FIG. 4) UA. It consists of.
Formal area dimensions of the downlink area DA and the uplink area UA are defined by the rules for optical beacons.

[4. About in-vehicle device 2]
The in-vehicle device 2 is mounted on the vehicle 20 and has a function of emitting the uplink light UL made of near infrared rays, and a function of receiving the downlink light DL made of near infrared rays sent to the downlink area DA. Have.
The in-vehicle device 2 can acquire information related to traffic and information related to location of the own device by performing optical communication with the optical beacon 4. The in-vehicle device 2 generates probe data, which is travel locus data in which the passage position and the passage time are arranged in time series, as the travel data of the host vehicle, and includes this probe data in the uplink data to generate an optical beacon. 4 can be transmitted. Then, this uplink data is transmitted by the uplink optical UL. Further, downlink data from the optical beacon 4 is transmitted by the downlink optical DL.

[5. (About downlink data)
The downlink data is data that the optical beacon 4 gives to the vehicle-mounted device 2, and the downlink data includes probe management information. The probe management information is information for controlling a condition (target trajectory condition) under which the vehicle 20 (on-vehicle device 2) collects probe data. The in-vehicle device 2 that has received the probe management information changes the condition for collecting probe data (the contents of the collection trajectory) according to the probe management information after the reception.

  For example, the probe management information includes at least one of information specifying a distance unit for generating probe data, information specifying a time unit for generating probe data, and information specifying a vehicle state for generating probe data. One is included. The information designating the distance unit designates a distance interval (for example, meter unit) for generating the probe data. The information specifying the time unit specifies the time interval (for example, in seconds) for generating the probe data. The information for specifying the vehicle state specifies an event for generating probe data, for example, when the vehicle 20 is stopped.

  As described above, the in-vehicle device 2 continuously generates and accumulates probe data according to the probe management information included in the downlink data, and transmits the probe data to the optical beacon 4 by including the probe data in the uplink data.

[6. (Uplink data and transmission data)
FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a frame configuration of uplink data generated and transmitted by the in-vehicle device 2. The uplink data includes a header part and actual data parts such as data A to data F. The header portion includes lane information, identification information, vehicle ID number, vehicle type / vehicle equipment type, information type, and effective data length information. An actual data portion exists after this header portion. In this actual data portion, trajectory data in which the passing position and passing time of the vehicle 20 are arranged in time series, that is, probe data is stored.

  The number of uplink data (the number of frames) generated by the in-vehicle device 2 is from the transmission of uplink data to the probe management information and the optical beacon 4 until the transmission of uplink data by the next optical beacon 4. Depends on distance and time. In FIG. 5, first to sixth frames are generated.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a frame configuration of transmission data that is transmitted to the central device 3 by the optical beacon 4 that has received uplink data from the in-vehicle device 2. As shown in FIG. 6, the optical beacon 4 aggregates the header parts of the (first to sixth) frames of a plurality of uplink data, and generates transmission data by concatenating the actual data parts of the plurality of frames. To do. In FIG. 6, since the data length of the concatenated frames exceeds a predetermined value, the frames are divided.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of the actual data portion of the uplink data. The actual data portion includes general data, starting point data, and plural (N) trajectory data as probe data. The maximum value (N) of the number of travel locus data is 7.
Note that the content of the actual data portion of the uplink data can be as shown in FIG. 17 in addition to that shown in FIG.

[7. Explanation of determination process of beacon controller 7]
As described above, when the optical beacon 4 receives the uplink data transmitted from the in-vehicle device 2, the beacon controller 7 executes control for transmitting this uplink data to the central device 3 as transmission data. However, before executing the control for transmission, the determination process is performed. The determination process is executed by the processing unit 18 (see FIG. 2) and is one of the following two processes.
<< Judgment process (1) >>
A determination process for determining whether or not to delete at least a part of the received uplink data excluding the header part.
<< Judgment process (2) >>
A determination process for determining whether or not to transmit the received uplink data to the central device 3.

  In the determination process (part 1), it is determined whether or not at least a part of the actual data part excluding the header part in the received uplink data is deleted. And when it determines with deleting, the beacon controller 7 (process part 18) performs the deletion process which deletes at least one part of the real data part except the header part among the uplink data. Note that the ratio of data to be deleted is based on collected information described later.

  The optical beacon 4 (reception unit 14) receives one or a plurality of uplink data from a plurality of in-vehicle devices 2, but in this determination process (part 1), the beacon controller 7 Among uplink data received from a plurality of in-vehicle devices 2, at least a part of an actual data portion (for example, probe data) included in the uplink data for uplink data from at least one in-vehicle device 2. It is determined whether or not all of the above are to be deleted, and a deletion process corresponding to the determination result is executed.

  For example, FIG. 9A shows the actual data part of the uplink data. The actual data portion includes starting point data, trajectory data 1, trajectory data 2... Trajectory data 7. As a determination process (part 1), when the beacon controller 7 determines to delete “trajectory data 1”, as shown in FIG. 9B, it generates transmission data from which “trajectory data 1” is deleted. Control for transmitting the transmission data to the central device 3 is performed.

  In the determination process (part 2), it is determined whether or not the received uplink data is transmitted to the central device 3, and when it is determined that the uplink data is not transmitted (non-transmission), the beacon controller 7 (processing unit 18) A process that does not transmit the entire uplink data (transmission cancellation process) is executed. The optical beacon 4 (reception unit 14) receives one or a plurality of uplink data from a plurality of in-vehicle devices 2. In this determination process (part 2), at least one in-vehicle device 2 is received. However, it is not possible to determine that all uplink data is not to be transmitted. Note that the ratio for determining that transmission is not performed is based on collected information described later.

  For example, as described above, FIG. 9A shows the actual data portion of the uplink data, but when the beacon controller 7 determines that this uplink data is not transmitted, the uplink data as a whole is displayed. Control not to send.

Here, when receiving the uplink data from the in-vehicle device 2, the beacon controller 7 determines whether or not probe data is included in the uplink data based on information in the header portion of the uplink data. As described above, the header portion includes information indicating the information type, and the presence of the probe data can be determined by referring to the information.
If the probe data is included in the uplink data, the beacon controller 7 deletes a part of the uplink data or stops all transmission according to “collection information” described later, A process of thinning out data to be transmitted to the device 3 is performed.

As a process for thinning out data to be transmitted to the central device 3 by the beacon controller 7, there are the following means.
(1) Delete every fixed number. That is, since an optical beacon receives uplink data one after another, for example, the uplink data is targeted for deletion at a rate of once per required number of times. That is, for example, the deletion is performed at a rate of once every three times, and the remaining two of the three times are not the deletion target.
In addition, as a modification of (1), transmission is performed every predetermined number (not deleted). For example, transmission is performed once every three times (required number of times) (not deleted), and the remaining two of the three times (required number of times) are not transmitted (deleted). Also good.
(2) Delete at random. Or send at random. That is, the required number of times varies.
(3) Delete temporally continuous uplink data. For example, when uplink data including probe data is received within the required time (n seconds) after the optical beacon 4 receives uplink data including probe data, the uplink data received later is deleted. The target of.
In the above (1) and (2), the required number of times is based on “collected information” described later provided from the central apparatus 3. In (3), the required time is based on “collected information” to be described later provided from the central apparatus 3.
(4) The collection information (collection rate) is changed according to the day of the week (including holidays) and time. For example, in the commuting time zone on weekdays (for example, 6:00 to 10:00, 17:00 to 21:00), since the number of vehicles is large, the collection rate is lowered by actively thinning out data. On the other hand, since the number of vehicles decreases in other time zones, the collection rate is increased.

For example, if “collection information” is a collection rate and the value is 50%, determination processing is performed so that 50% of data is deleted as a result of deleting every fixed number (or deleting at random). . In this case, the remaining 50% of data is transmitted to the central device 3 without being deleted. Alternatively, it is determined that 50% of data is transmitted to the central device 3, and the remaining 50% of data is not transmitted.
Note that a plurality of the processes (1) to (4) for thinning data as described above may be executed in combination, but only one may be executed. For example, only the process (3) may be executed.

[8. Specific examples of functions of the beacon controller 7]
The optical beacon 4 includes the probe management information in the downlink data and transmits it to the in-vehicle device 2, and information on which the probe management information is based is provided from the central device 3. For example, “collected information” is added to the end of the information (base data) provided by the central device 3 to the optical beacon 4. The “collection information” is information indicating a condition for the central apparatus 3 to collect uplink data (probe data) from the optical beacon 4. Examples of the collection information include information indicating a collection rate and information indicating a collection time interval when the optical beacon 4 collects uplink data (probe data).

When the optical beacon 4 acquires the probe management information including the collected information, the information is included in the downlink data and transmitted to the in-vehicle device 2. However, the collected information may be left as it is, or the beacon controller 7 Editing may be performed to delete the collected information and transmit the probe management information.
FIG. 8A is an explanatory diagram showing basic data provided to the optical beacon 4 by the central device 3, and FIG. 8B is an explanatory diagram showing downlink data transmitted by the optical beacon 4 to the in-vehicle device 2. It is. In the case of FIG. 8, the case where the beacon controller 7 edits the base data, deletes the collected information, and transmits the probe management information to the in-vehicle device 2 is described.

  As described above, the beacon controller 7 acquires “collected information” from the central apparatus, and performs the determination process (part 1) or (part 2) according to the collected information. Here, the collection information is a collection rate and takes a value of 0 to 100%.

As described above (see FIG. 3), the beacon head 8 is installed in a one-to-one correspondence with each of the four lanes R1 to R4. Therefore, a plurality of receiving units 14 stored in the beacon head 8 are provided. Each of the plurality of receiving units 14 has a one-to-one correspondence with each of the four lanes R1 to R4 of the road on which the vehicle 20 travels.
Therefore, in “collection information”, conditions (conditions for the central device 3 to collect uplink data from the optical beacon 4) are individually set for each of the lanes R1 to R4, and the beacon controller 7 The determination processing is performed according to “collected information” in which the above condition is set.

  For example, in the lowermost lane R4 in FIG. 3, when there is a lot of road parking and the vehicle 20 travels in other lanes R1 to R3, it is uplined from the in-vehicle device 2 of the vehicle 20 existing in the lane R4. Even if data is collected, its significance is low, so the uplink data received by the beacon head 8 corresponding to the lane R4 is set to a low collection rate (for example, 0%) and corresponds to the other lanes R1 to R3. For the uplink data received by the beacon head 8, the collection rate may be set high (for example, 80 to 100%).

  Alternatively, in the “collection information”, a condition (a condition for the central device 3 to collect uplink data from the optical beacon 4) may be set in common for the lanes R1 to R4. In this case, the beacon controller 7 performs the determination process according to “collected information” in which common conditions are set. In this case, the collection rate of the uplink data (probe data) in the central device 3 can be made the same even if the lanes are different.

The uplink data (actual data portion) includes information indicating the reliability of probe data included in the uplink data. Therefore, the beacon controller 7 performs a determination process (part 1) based on the information indicating the reliability, and performs a process of deleting probe data with low reliability.
For example, as shown in FIG. 7 or FIG. 17, information on a time reliability flag and a position reliability flag is stored in the trajectory data. In the in-vehicle device 2, when time adjustment is performed by receiving time information from an external device such as a GPS after starting the vehicle engine, the time reliability flag is set to “1” as information indicating that there is reliability. And When there is no reliability, the time reliability flag is set to “0”. In addition, in the in-vehicle device 2, when the position information is obtained based on the conditions defined in the positioning class when the trajectory data is acquired, the position reliability flag is set to “1” as information indicating that there is reliability. " If there is no reliability, the position reliability flag is set to “0”.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 9A, it is assumed that the time reliability flag (or position reliability flag) of “trajectory data 1” is “0”. In this case, the beacon controller 7 performs a determination process for determining whether or not to delete “trajectory data 1” which is a part of the actual data portion excluding the header portion of the uplink data, and the reliability flag. Is “0”, it is decided to delete this “trajectory data 1”, and as shown in FIG. 9B, transmission data from which “trajectory data 1” has been deleted is generated. 3 is transmitted.

Alternatively, the beacon controller 7 can perform the determination process (part 2) based on the information indicating the reliability. In this case, the beacon controller 7 determines not to transmit the uplink data including the probe data with low reliability. In the case of FIG. 9A, since this uplink data includes trajectory data (probe data) whose reliability flag is “0”, all of this uplink data is not transmitted but discarded.
If the determination process (part 1) (part 2) is performed based on such reliability, the central device 3 can collect highly reliable probe data.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 7 or FIG. 17, the actual data portion of the uplink data includes information indicating a positioning class of position measurement by the in-vehicle device 2 as a general data item. The positioning class has low positioning accuracy in the order of S class, A class, B class, and C class (ASV compliant). Therefore, the beacon controller 7 performs a determination process (part 1) based on the information indicating the positioning class, and deletes at least a part of the uplink data whose positioning class is lower than a predetermined class (for example, class A). .

Alternatively, the beacon controller 7 performs a determination process (part 2) based on the information indicating the positioning class, and determines that uplink data whose positioning class is lower than a predetermined class (for example, A class) is not transmitted. In this case, only uplink data with positioning class S class and A class is transmitted to the central device 3 as transmission data, and uplink data with positioning class B class and C class is transmitted to the central device 3. Instead, it is discarded.
By performing the determination process (part 1) (part 2) based on the positioning class in this way, the central device 3 can collect uplink data having a high positioning class.

Further, the beacon controller 7 (processing unit 18) has a function of determining an abnormality of probe data included in the uplink data.
For example, as shown in FIG. 7 or FIG. 17, the trajectory data of the probe data includes “movement distance from the previous time” and “movement time from the previous time”, and values of a specified range are set in these. Yes. For this reason, if data outside the specified range is included, the beacon controller 7 determines that this probe data is abnormal.

Therefore, the beacon controller 7 performs a determination process (part 1) according to the determination result of the abnormality, and when it is determined to delete the probe data including the item determined to be abnormal, the probe data is deleted. Is done.
Alternatively, the beacon controller 7 performs a determination process (part 2) according to the determination result of the abnormality, determines that the uplink data including the abnormal probe data is not transmitted, and discards the uplink data.
As described above, when abnormal probe data is included in the uplink data, the abnormal probe data can be deleted, or the uplink data including the abnormal probe data is transmitted to the central device 3. The central device 3 can collect accurate probe data with few abnormalities.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7 or FIG. 17, the uplink data includes information indicating the initial start point of the trajectory (latitude / longitude of the trajectory point as the start point) as an item of the start point data. Therefore, the beacon controller 7 determines from which direction the vehicle has come based on this information, and performs a determination process using the collected information (collection rate) set according to the direction of arrival. Also good.
For example, as shown in FIG. 10, it is assumed that a main trunk road Rm and a narrow side road Rs exist as roads flowing into an intersection J. In this case, since the main trunk road Rm is expected to have a large number of passing vehicles, it is preferable to set the collection rate low and to actively thin out the uplink data. On the other hand, since the side road Rs has a small number of passing vehicles, if the collection rate is set low, the central device 3 may not be able to collect effective uplink data. Therefore, it is preferable to set the collection rate lower on a road with a large number of passing vehicles (main trunk road Rm) than on a road with a small number of passing vehicles (side road Rs).

  For this purpose, the beacon controller 7 needs to determine what kind of road the received uplink data is transmitted from the in-vehicle device 2 of the vehicle 20 that has traveled. Therefore, since the uplink data includes information on the road on which the vehicle 20 on which the vehicle-mounted device 2 is mounted or information on the position on which the vehicle 20 has traveled, the road that has been traveled can be determined based on this information. it can. For example, in FIG. 7 or FIG. 17, road type information is stored as the starting point data item, and latitude / longitude information of the trajectory point serving as the starting point is stored.

  And when using the information on the latitude and longitude of the starting point of the trajectory point, the beacon controller 7 includes information on the road map around the installation position of the optical beacon 4 and is included in the uplink data, By performing map matching with latitude / longitude information of trajectory points (for example, P1 and P2 in FIG. 10) that are the starting points, it is possible to determine the road that has traveled. The beacon controller 7 can perform the determination process by changing the collection rate according to the determined road information (traveled position information).

  Alternatively, since the uplink data includes trajectory data, the beacon controller 7 determines from which direction the vehicle that transmitted the uplink data is based on the oldest trajectory data. Can be determined. Then, the road on which the vehicle has traveled can be determined by performing map matching.

Therefore, as for the uplink data from the vehicle-mounted device 2 of the vehicle 20 that has traveled on the main road Rm, a process that is not deleted or transmitted is positively performed as a result of the determination process. On the other hand, as for the uplink data from the in-vehicle device 2 of the vehicle 20 that has traveled on the non-main road (side road Rs), as a result of the determination process, the data is transmitted to the central device 3 without being deleted or transmitted as much as possible. It can be collected.
As described above, the central device 3 can collect the uplink data from the in-vehicle device 2 of the vehicle 20 that has traveled on various roads, but can selectively collect the uplink data according to the road that has already traveled. It becomes possible.

  The beacon controller 7 confirms the congestion status of the communication line 6d (see FIG. 1), for example, as control for transmitting transmission data to the central device 3, and depends on the collection rate if relatively preferred. Without transmitting all uplink data to the central unit 3. On the other hand, when the communication line is congested, it is preferable to thin out and transmit uplink data according to the collection rate.

For this purpose, the beacon controller 7 has a function of acquiring a communication status on a communication line used when transmitting data to the central device 3. The means for confirming the congestion status of the line, for example, confirms communication during idle time, and considers that the line is congested if the response time is equal to or greater than a certain value.
And beacon controller 7 should just perform judgment processing (the 1) or (the 2) according to the communication situation of a communication line.
As a result, data can be efficiently transmitted to the central device 3 according to the communication status of the communication line.

Further, the collected information (collection rate) may be different information depending on the communication status on the communication line (for example, the communication line 6d in FIG. 1) used when data is transmitted to the central apparatus 3. Therefore, the beacon controller 7 performs a determination process (part 1) or (part 2) according to such different collection information.
In this case, the collected information is properly used according to the communication status of the communication line. For example, when the communication status of the communication line is congested, the beacon controller 7 is caused to function according to collection information (for example, a low collection rate) such that processing that is not deleted or transmitted is actively performed. On the other hand, when the communication status is relatively free, the beacon controller 7 is caused to function according to collection information that does not delete or performs transmission, for example, a high collection rate.

  In addition, a traffic signal 5 (see FIG. 1) having a function of performing terminal sensitive control (priority control) is installed at the intersection of the road ahead of the vehicle 20 in the traveling direction from the point where the optical beacon 4 is installed. The case will be described. In this case, the uplink data transmitted from the vehicle 20 includes type information (attribute information) indicating the type of the vehicle and subsystem key information. As types of vehicles, there are emergency vehicles such as patrol cars (police vehicles), fire engines and ambulances, and public vehicles such as buses, in addition to general vehicles such as general passenger cars.

Then, an emergency vehicle or a public vehicle travels toward the intersection on the inflow road of the intersection where the traffic signal lamp 5a, which is subjected to terminal sensitivity control by the traffic signal controller 5b of the traffic signal 5, is installed. When the uplink data is transmitted from the in-vehicle device 2, the beacon controller 7 of the optical beacon 4 acquires this uplink data.
The beacon controller 7 refers to the identification information (attribute information) of the uplink data, and determines whether the vehicle that is the transmission source of this uplink data is an emergency vehicle or a public vehicle.

  When it is determined that the vehicle is an emergency vehicle or a public vehicle, the beacon controller 7 determines to transmit the uplink data to the traffic signal controller 5b, and performs a process of transmitting immediately thereafter. On the other hand, when it is determined that the vehicle is not an emergency vehicle or a public vehicle, it is determined that this uplink data is not transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b, and this uplink data is discarded. Alternatively, when it is determined that the vehicle is not an emergency vehicle or a public vehicle, that is, when it is determined that the vehicle is a general vehicle, further determination processing (part 1) or determination processing ( For example, part of the uplink data is deleted, and the remaining data is transmitted to the central device 3 as transmission data.

In this way, the beacon controller 7 has a vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle device that is the transmission source of the uplink data installed as the traffic signal 5 (the traffic signal lamp 5a that is terminal-sensitive controlled by the traffic signal controller 5b). Based on whether or not the vehicle is of a specific type (emergency vehicle or public vehicle) traveling on an inflow road to a certain intersection, determination processing (part 1) or (part 2) is performed on the uplink data.
When this vehicle 20 is a specific type of vehicle such as a public vehicle or an emergency vehicle, for example, the beacon controller 7 travels the vehicle-mounted device 2 of this vehicle in a road region that is subject to terminal sensitive control. The uplink data of this vehicle-mounted device 2 can be determined to be transmitted as determination processing (part 2), and can be transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b. It becomes. As a result, based on the uplink data, the traffic signal controller 5b can perform terminal sensitive control for these public vehicles and emergency vehicles.
According to such sensitive control, public vehicles and emergency vehicles are given priority to pass through the intersection by extending the green signal display time of the traffic light 5a or shortening the red signal display time. Is possible.

According to the road traffic system having the above-described configuration, collection information (collection rate) indicating the collection condition of uplink data (probe data) is designated in advance for the optical beacon 4 by the central device 3. The optical beacon 4 can transmit the probe data received from the vehicle-mounted device 2 to the central device 3 after thinning out the probe data according to the collected information.
That is, in the case of the determination process (part 1), it is determined whether or not at least a part of the data (actual data part) excluding the header part from the uplink data received from the in-vehicle device 2 is to be deleted (discarded). As a result, it is possible to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted to the central apparatus 3 by deleting, and to suppress the tightness of the communication line used for the central apparatus 3 to receive data.

Or in the case of the said determination process (the 2), it determines whether the uplink data received from the vehicle equipment 2 is transmitted to a central apparatus), As a result, the central apparatus 3 receives data by not transmitting It is possible to suppress the tightness of the communication line used for this.
Moreover, in this embodiment, the central apparatus 3 collects the data according to the said conditions because the beacon controller 7 of the optical beacon 4 performs a determination process according to the conditions for the central apparatus 3 to collect uplink data. It becomes possible to do.

In addition, when the beacon controller 7 determines to delete as a result of the determination process (part 1) for determining whether or not to delete at least a part of the actual data part excluding the header part of the uplink data, A compression process for compressing at least part of data that has not been deleted can be performed.
For example, when a part of the actual data portion of the uplink data is deleted as shown in FIGS. 9A to 9B, the data amount is set for the remaining data (data shown in FIG. 9B). The compression process is performed, and the compressed data is transmitted as transmission data to the central apparatus 3.
In this case, data to be transmitted to the central device 3 can be further reduced, and it is possible to suppress a tight communication line used for the central device 3 to receive data.

On the other hand, if it is determined not to be deleted as a result of the determination process (part 1), a compression process for compressing at least a part of the uplink data that has not been deleted is performed. The compressed data is transmitted as transmission data to the central device 3.
In this case, the amount of data to be transmitted to the central device 3 can be reduced by compressing at least a part of the uplink data that has not been deleted.

Alternatively, the beacon controller 7 performs a compression process for compressing the uplink data when it is determined to transmit as a result of the determination process (part 2) for determining whether or not to transmit the uplink data to the central apparatus 3. It can be carried out. Note that this compression may be performed on at least a part of the uplink data, and may be performed on all of the uplink data.
In this case, the data (data amount) transmitted to the central device 3 can be reduced, and it is possible to suppress the tight communication line used for the central device 3 to receive the data.

  Note that various means can be used for the compression processing. Examples of compression processing include, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-23357, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-5416, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-5982, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-3970, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-245821, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-245821. Means described in JP-A-2005-149465, JP-A-2006-154469, International Publication No. 2005/038752 and International Publication No. 2005/039058 can be used.

  In addition, it should be thought that the said embodiment is an illustration and restrictive at no points. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the meanings described above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

  For example, the optical beacon of the present invention may be an optical beacon whose transmission speed (uplink reception speed) is increased in addition to a conventional optical beacon. In this case, the communication capacity between road vehicles is increased. The optical beacon acquires more uplink data. For this reason, when all of these uplink data are transmitted to the central apparatus, the communication line becomes more tight, but according to the optical beacon according to the embodiment, this can be suppressed.

[9. Road traffic system including transmission equipment)
In the embodiment (first embodiment) shown in FIG. 1, a mobile communication terminal that moves on a road and has a communication function is an in-vehicle device 2 that can communicate with an optical signal, and is transmitted from the in-vehicle device 2. The case where the optical beacon 4 receives the uplink data (optical signal) and the optical beacon 4 performs the determination process (part 1) or (part 2) on the received uplink data has been described.
Such a determination process (part 1) (part 2) may be performed by another transmission apparatus included in the road traffic system other than the optical beacon 4 that is a transmission apparatus. A case where the determination process is performed (second embodiment) will be described.

  In 2nd Embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11, the apparatus which receives the uplink data which the vehicle equipment 2 transmits is the roadside communication apparatus 30. As shown in FIG. Then, the data received by the roadside communication device 30 is transferred to the information relay device 40 that is a transmission device, and the information relay device 40 uses the transferred data to the central device 3 that is an external device and the traffic signal control. To the machine 5b. In the second embodiment, wireless communication between the in-vehicle device 2 and the roadside communication device 30 is performed using radio waves in a predetermined frequency band (for example, 760 MHz band). And in this 2nd Embodiment, the information relay apparatus 40 performs the said determination process (the 1) (the 2).

That is, the information relay device 40 (a control unit 42 described later shown in FIG. 12) determines whether or not to delete at least a part of the data excluding the header portion of the acquired uplink data as the determination process (part 1). Determine whether. For example, as already described with reference to FIG. 9, it is determined that the trajectory data 1 is deleted from the uplink data including the origin data and the trajectory data 1 to 7, and the uplink data from which the trajectory data 1 is deleted is the central device. 3 etc. are transmitted.
Further, the information relay device 40 (a control unit 42 described later) determines whether or not to transmit the acquired uplink data to the external device as the determination process (part 2). For example, it is determined that uplink data including data with low reliability is not transmitted. In the case of FIG. 9A, since the uplink data includes trajectory data whose reliability flag is “0”, all the uplink data is not transmitted but discarded.

  In the first embodiment, the optical beacon 4 that performs the determination process (part 1) (part 2) directly receives and acquires uplink data from the in-vehicle device 2. In the second embodiment, the information relay device 40 (the communication unit 41 described later) that performs the determination process (part 1) (part 2) directly receives and acquires uplink data from the in-vehicle device 2. Instead, the uplink data is acquired via the roadside communication device 30, and this point is different. However, the subsequent determination processing and the like executed after acquiring the uplink data are the same in the first embodiment and the second embodiment, and have already been described. Is omitted.

  The uplink data shown in FIG. 7 or FIG. 17 and FIG. 9 includes trajectory data including a plurality of vehicle positions acquired at a plurality of different times while the vehicle travels for a predetermined time or a predetermined distance. That is, the uplink data is data in which a plurality of positions are acquired and a plurality of pieces of trajectory data are accumulated while the vehicle travels for a predetermined time or a predetermined distance, and these are collected and generated. .

On the other hand, uplink data includes data consisting of position data (for example, latitude and longitude data) in addition to data consisting of a plurality of such trajectory data. That is, the uplink data made up of this position data is data that is generated every time a vehicle position is detected at a predetermined time or every predetermined distance.
As described above, the data generated every time the position is detected may be transmitted as uplink data every time it is generated, or may be transmitted after a plurality of data is generated as uplink data. .
When a plurality of pieces of data are collected and transmitted as uplink data, a header portion is attached to the uplink data, and the information relay apparatus 40 performs this determination as the determination process (part 1). It is determined whether or not at least a part of the data excluding the header portion is deleted. Alternatively, as the determination process (part 2), it is determined whether or not to transmit this uplink data to an external device.

  On the other hand, when data (position data) generated every time the position is detected is transmitted as uplink data every time it is generated, the information relay device 40 performs the determination process (part 2). . Therefore, the uplink data to be subjected to the “determination process by the information relay device 40” described below is performed every time the in-vehicle device 2 or the vehicle 20 detects the position of the vehicle at a predetermined time or every predetermined distance. A case where the data is generated and transmitted every generation will be described.

In addition, the in-vehicle device 2 or the vehicle 20 acquires position data, and also acquires data indicating a traveling direction (direction) and data indicating a traveling speed, and the uplink data includes the traveling direction and speed. Also included is data indicating.
Furthermore, the vehicle-mounted device 2 or the vehicle 20 can acquire position data, and can also acquire turn signal information indicating an operation state (on or off state) of a turn signal (direction indicator) mounted on the vehicle 20. The blinker information may be included in the link data.
The in-vehicle device 2 wirelessly transmits such uplink data using radio waves in a predetermined frequency band (for example, 760 MHz band).

  Note that the vehicle-mounted device (mobile communication terminal) 2 moves from outside the communication area of the roadside communication device 30 in the second embodiment (or outside the communication area of the optical beacon 4 in the first embodiment) into the communication area. When entering, since the in-vehicle device 2 acquires and accumulates position data even outside the communication area, the roadside communication device 30 (optical beacon 4) acquires trajectory data from the in-vehicle device 2 that has entered the communication area. can do. And while the vehicle equipment (mobile communication terminal) 2 is moving in the communication area of the roadside communication device 30 (optical beacon 4), the roadside communication device 30 (optical beacon 4) is generated every time the position is detected. Data (position data) transmitted every generation can be acquired.

[10. Configuration of Roadside Communication Device 30 and Information Relay Device 40]
The roadside communication device 30 is installed in various places on the road. In addition, the element which attached | subjected the same code | symbol in FIG. 11 and FIG. 1 shows the same element.
The roadside communication device 30 includes a wireless communication device, and has a function of performing wireless communication using radio waves in a predetermined frequency band (for example, 760 MHz band). The roadside communication device 30 has a wider communication area than the optical beacon 4, for example, a communication area with a radius of about 200 m.
And the roadside communication apparatus 30 can monitor, receive and acquire the uplink data which the vehicle equipment 2 which exists in this communication area transmits. Then, the acquired uplink data is transmitted to the information relay device 40.

The information relay device 40 is installed in various places on the road. FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing the information relay device 40 and the like. The information relay device 40 includes a communication unit 41 including a communication interface, and a control unit 42 including a microcomputer having a CPU and a memory. The control unit 42 has a function of performing communication control by the communication unit 41 and a function of executing other processes. In the present embodiment, the control unit 42 executes the determination process.
The communication unit 41 can receive the data transmitted from the roadside communication device 30, and can transmit this data to the central device 3 and the traffic signal controller 5 b of the traffic signal device 5 by communication control by the control unit 42. it can.
In this way, the information relay device 40 can acquire the uplink data transmitted by the in-vehicle device 2 by the communication unit 41 via the roadside communication device 30, and this uplink data is the central device 3 that is an external device. And the control part 42 performs the communication control for transmitting to the traffic signal controller 5b.

As viewed from the information relay device 40, the data for the central device 3 is transmitted to the central device 3 through the router 10a on the road side, the communication line 6d, and the router 10b on the central side. Then, the data for the traffic signal controller 5b is transmitted to the communication device 51 of the traffic signal device 5 through the communication line 6e.
The communication device 51 of the traffic signal device 5 includes an interface that transmits and receives data, and includes a communication device that can perform control to transmit acquired data to others. For example, the communication device 51 has a function of transmitting data to the traffic signal controller 5b and transmitting data to the central device 3 through the communication line 6f and the routers 10a and 10b.

Further, the communication device 51 of the traffic signal device 5 can acquire the signal control information i1 from the central device 3, and can transmit this information i1 to the traffic signal control device 5b.
Further, the communication unit 41 of the information relay device 40 can acquire the signal control information i1 from the central device 3, and will be described later. Process. The communication unit 41 can acquire the signal control information i1 as signal information from the traffic signal controller 5b, in addition to acquiring the signal control information i1 from the router 10a.

  As described above, each roadside communication device 30 has a communication area having a radius of about 200 m, for example, and a large number of in-vehicle devices 2 can exist in this communication area. Uplink data (position data) can be transmitted every 100 milliseconds. Then, the uplink data (position data) received by the roadside communication device 30 is very large, the amount of data transmitted to the information relay device 40 and the external device becomes enormous, and all the uplink data is transferred to, for example, the central device 3. When the transmission is performed, the communication line 6d becomes tight and a failure such as a communication delay occurs. Therefore, a determination process is performed by the information relay device 40, and the uplink data is thinned out.

[10. Determination process by information relay device 40]
For example, “collection information (first collection information and second collection information)” is added to the end of the information (base data) provided by the information relay apparatus 40 from the central apparatus 3. The “collected information (first collected information and second collected information)” may be independent new data in addition to being added to the end of the base data.
This “collection information” is information indicating conditions under which the central device 3 and the traffic signal controller 5b collect uplink data (position data) from the information relay device 40. Examples of the collection information include information indicating a condition when the information relay apparatus 40 selects uplink data and information indicating a collection rate when collecting uplink data. That is, the collection information is information indicating a condition for thinning out data to be transmitted to the central device 3 and the traffic signal controller 5b by deleting a part of the uplink data or canceling all transmissions.

And the control part 42 of the information relay apparatus 40 acquires this collection information through the communication part 41, and performs a determination process according to this collection information.
In the second embodiment, the central device that aggregates data and performs traffic control (macro traffic control) in the management area in the external device that is the transmission destination of the uplink data from the information relay device 40 3 and a traffic signal controller 5b (traffic signal 5) for controlling a traffic signal lamp 5a installed on the roadside. In the present embodiment, the traffic signal controller 5b to which uplink data is transmitted from the information relay device 40 is a traffic signal controller that is installed at an intersection and has a function of performing terminal sensitive control. is there.

  Then, the control unit 42 of the information relay device 40 receives the first collection information indicating conditions for collecting uplink data to be transmitted to the central device 3 and uplink data to be transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b. The second collection information indicating the conditions for collection, and according to the external device (the central device 3 or the traffic signal controller 5b), the first collection information and the second collection information are selectively used for the determination process. Do.

  As described above, the two kinds of information, the first collection information and the second collection information, are used properly for the following reason. The central device 3 mainly performs macro traffic control within its own management area, whereas the traffic signal controller 5b needs to perform signal control (terminal sensitive control) that requires real-time characteristics. In this case, the uplink data collection rate may be relatively low for macro traffic control performed by the central device 3, but signal control (terminal) performed by the traffic signal controller 5b that requires real-time performance. For the purpose of (sensitive control), it is preferable that the uplink data collection rate is relatively high. Therefore, the two pieces of information, the first collection information and the second collection information, are used properly so that the final data collection rates in the central device 3 and the traffic signal controllers 5b are different. The second collection information is set so that the uplink data collection rate is higher than that of the first collection information.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing determination processing performed by the information relay device 40 (control unit 42). The information relay device 40 performs determination processing for uplink data to be transmitted to the central device 3 based on the first collection information (step S1 in FIG. 13).
For example, in the first collection information, 20% of the acquired uplink data is transmitted to the central device 3, and other data (80% data) is not transmitted to the central device 3. is there. In this case, even if the information relay device 40 acquires a large number of uplink data transmitted from each of the plurality of in-vehicle devices 2, for example, only one of the five devices in the chronological order of acquiring the uplink data. Only the uplink data from the in-vehicle device 2 is transmitted to the central device 3, and the uplink data from the remaining four in-vehicle devices 2 is discarded. Thereby, the data transmitted to the central apparatus 3 can be reduced as a whole. Thus, it can be said that the first collection information is information specifying the “collection rate” of uplink data.

Furthermore, the information relay apparatus 40 performs determination processing for uplink data to be transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b based on the second collection information (steps S2 to S2 in FIG. 13). Note that steps S1 and S2 may be performed in parallel.
As described above, the second collection information is information indicating conditions for collecting uplink data (position data), and the second collection information according to the present embodiment includes a “collection rate” like the first collection information. Information for specifying "right turn sensitive control", information for "dilemma sensitive control", information for "emergency vehicle sensitive control", and "public vehicle sensitive control" At least one piece of information is included.

  As shown in FIG. 15, the right turn sensitive control means that the traffic signal lamp 5 a that is terminal sensitive controlled by the traffic signal controller 5 b has a right turn blue arrow lamp 5 c, and the inflow road to the intersection J This is a control method for displaying the right turn blue arrow of the right turn blue arrow lamp 5c or extending the display time of the right turn blue arrow when the vehicle 20 exists in the right turn dedicated lane Lr. According to this right turn sensitive control, the presence of the vehicle 20 in the right turn exclusive lane Lr at the intersection J is detected, and a right turn blue arrow is displayed or the right turn blue arrow is displayed for a longer time. The vehicle 20 can pass through the intersection efficiently.

  As shown in FIG. 16, the dilemma sensitive control is performed when the vehicle 20 traveling on the inflow road to the intersection J starts at the yellow signal of the current cycle of the traffic signal lamp 5a that is terminal sensitive controlled by the traffic signal controller 5b. This is a control system in which the green light of the current cycle that gives the right of passage to this inflow road is continued when it exists in the danger zone E, and this green light is stopped when it does not exist. The danger zone is a zone that includes a dilemma zone where the vehicle 20 cannot stop or pass normally before the intersection at the start of the yellow signal, and an optional zone where the vehicle 20 can stop or pass. In other words, the dilemma sensitive control is a control method for displaying a yellow signal so that the driver of the vehicle 20 entering the intersection J avoids a region (dilemma zone) where it is difficult to determine whether to stop or pass before the intersection. Thus, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of rear-end collisions and encounter accidents at the intersection J.

  In FIG. 13, when information specifying “collection rate” is set in the second collection information (in the case of “Yes” in step S <b> 2), uplink data thinning processing is performed according to this “collection rate” (step S <b> 2). S21). For example, when the collection rate is set to 50%, even if the information relay device 40 acquires a large number of uplink data transmitted from each of the plurality of in-vehicle devices 2, for example, in chronological order of acquiring the uplink data Thus, only the uplink data from only five of the ten in-vehicle devices 2 is transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b, and the uplink data from the remaining five in-vehicle devices 2 is discarded. As a result, it is possible to leave 50% of the uplink data to be transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b, and to reduce the data to be transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b as a whole. The uplink data collection rate (50%) set in the second collection information is set to be higher than the collection rate (20%) of the first collection information.

  In the case of “No” in step S2, when information for performing “right turn sensitive control” is set in the second collection information (in the case of “Yes” in step S3), the information relay device 40 Process.

In FIG. 15, the communication unit 41 includes the position of the vehicle 20 traveling in the communication area, the traveling direction (azimuth) of the vehicle 20, the speed of the vehicle 20, and the traffic signal lamp 5a controlled by the traffic signal controller 5b. When signal control information (information of signal lamp color of each route) is acquired, these are given to the control unit 42. The position of the vehicle 20 is position data included in the uplink data, and the traveling direction (azimuth) and speed of the vehicle 20 are data included in the uplink data as described above, It is the data that is acquired with the data.
Based on these data, the control unit 42 determines the travel lane when the vehicle 20 of the in-vehicle device 2 that is the transmission source of the uplink data flows into the intersection J (step S31 in FIG. 13). That is, it is determined whether or not the vehicle 20 is traveling in the right turn exclusive lane Lr flowing into the intersection J where the traffic signal lamp 5a that performs the right turn sensitive control is installed.

In addition, as described above, since the control unit 42 acquires the signal control information of the traffic signal controller 5b, the controller 42 grasps the current display indication of the traffic signal lamp 5a controlled by the traffic signal controller 5b. Can do.
Therefore, the control unit 42 determines that the vehicle 20 that is the transmission source of the uplink data is traveling on the right-turn exclusive lane Lr (step S31). When the light color of the traffic light 5a to be followed by 20 is one of a green signal, a blue arrow display indicating that a right turn is possible, or a yellow signal between the green signal and the blue arrow display (“Yes in step S32”). ”), A determination is made to transmit this uplink data to the traffic signal controller 5b, and immediately after that, a process of transmitting is performed (step S33). On the other hand, when the color of the traffic signal lamp 5a is other than the above display, it is determined that the uplink data is not transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b, and the uplink data is discarded (step). S34).

In this way, the control unit 42 is dedicated to the right turn when the vehicle 20 equipped with the in-vehicle device 2 that is the transmission source of the acquired uplink data flows into the intersection J where the traffic signal lamp 5a that performs the right turn sensitive control is installed. The determination processing is performed on the uplink data based on whether or not the vehicle is traveling in the lane Lr and whether or not the traffic light 5a to be followed by the vehicle 20 is in a blue arrow display indicating that a right turn is possible. .
When the vehicle 20 equipped with the in-vehicle device 2 that is the transmission source of the uplink data is traveling in the right turn exclusive lane Lr and the traffic light 5a is in a blue arrow display indicating that a right turn is possible, the control unit 42 Can handle the in-vehicle device 2 of the vehicle 20 as an in-vehicle device of a vehicle traveling on a road area subject to right turn sensitive control. The uplink data of the in-vehicle device is determined as a determination process (part 2). The transmission can be determined and transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b. As a result, the traffic signal controller 5b can perform the right turn sensitive control based on the uplink data.

Furthermore, when the uplink data acquired through the communication unit 41 includes information indicating the operating state of the turn signal mounted on the vehicle 20, the control unit 42 includes the in-vehicle device 2 that is the transmission source of the uplink data. The determination processing can be performed on the uplink data based on whether or not the vehicle 20 to be operated is a vehicle 20 on which a turn signal for a right turn is operating.
In this way, when the blinker information is included in the uplink data acquired by the information relay device 40, the traffic light 5a is traveling in the right turn lane Lr when the traffic light 5a is displayed with a blue arrow indicating that a right turn is possible. Furthermore, the control unit 42 can handle the in-vehicle device 2 of the vehicle 20 in which the turn signal for the right turn is operating as an in-vehicle device of a vehicle that travels in a road region that is a target of right turn sensitive control. And about the uplink data of this vehicle equipment 2, it can judge to transmit as judgment processing (the 2), and it becomes possible to transmit to traffic signal controller 5b. As a result, the traffic signal controller 5b can perform the right turn sensitive control based on the uplink data.
From the above, in the traffic signal controller 5b, the display time of the right turn blue arrow can be extended, and the right turn vehicle can pass through the intersection efficiently.

As described above, since the control unit 42 acquires the signal control information of the traffic signal controller 5b through the communication unit 41, the traffic signal lamp 5a in which a certain vehicle is controlled by the traffic signal controller 5b is provided. It is possible to predict the display of the traffic light 5a at the time of entry to the installed intersection J.
Therefore, in the case of “No” in step S3 in FIG. 13 or when information for performing “dilemma sensitive control” is set in the second collection information after step S33 or S34 (“ In the case of “Yes”), the control unit 42 detects the danger zone E when the vehicle 20 (see FIG. 16) on which the in-vehicle device 2 that is the transmission source of the uplink data is mounted starts the yellow signal in the current cycle of the traffic light 5a. (Step S41 in FIG. 13). This determination is based on vehicle position data, travel direction (direction) data and speed data included in the acquired uplink data, and signal control information of the traffic signal controller 5b that the vehicle should follow. It can be carried out.

  Then, when the control unit 42 determines that the vehicle 20 that is the transmission source of the uplink data is present in the danger zone E (in the case of “Yes” in Step S41), the control unit 42 converts the uplink data into the traffic signal control. The transmission is determined to be transmitted to the machine 5b, and immediately after that, the transmission process is performed (step S42). On the other hand, when it is determined that it does not exist in the danger zone E, it is determined not to transmit this uplink data to the traffic signal controller 5b, and this uplink data is discarded (step S43). ).

Thus, the control part 42 is the case where the vehicle 20 carrying the vehicle equipment 2 of the transmission source of the acquired uplink data exists in the inflow road to the intersection J where the traffic signal lamp 5a is installed. The determination processing is performed on the uplink data based on whether or not the traffic signal lamp 5a is present in the danger zone E at the start of the yellow signal in the current cycle.
And when this vehicle 20 exists in the danger zone E, the control part 42 can handle the vehicle equipment 2 of this vehicle 20 as the vehicle equipment of the vehicle which drive | works the road area | region used as the object of dilemma sensitive control. The uplink data of this in-vehicle device can be determined to be transmitted as the determination process (part 2), and is transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b. As a result, the traffic signal controller 5b can perform dilemma sensitive control for the vehicle 20 existing in the danger zone E based on the uplink data.
As a result, the traffic signal controller 5b performs a control to display a yellow signal so as to avoid a region (dilemma zone) where the driver of the vehicle 20 entering the intersection J should stop or pass. This can reduce the occurrence of rear-end collisions and encounter accidents at intersection J.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining a modification of the determination process performed by the information relay device 40. Note that the flow (process) shown in FIG. 14 may be incorporated in the flow shown in FIG. 13, and is performed after, for example, “No” in step S4 or after step S42 or S43.
The flow shown in FIG. 14 is a case where emergency vehicle sensitive control and public vehicle sensitive control (bus sensitive control) are performed in the traffic signal controller 5b. Onboard equipment 2 for emergency vehicles such as patrol cars (police vehicles), fire trucks and ambulances, and onboard equipment 2 for public vehicles such as buses, type information (identification flag) indicating the type of the vehicle in the uplink data to be transmitted. ) Is included.
Therefore, when “emergency vehicle sensitivity control and public vehicle sensitivity control” is set in the second collection information (in the case of “Yes” in step S50 of FIG. 14), the information relay device 40 performs the following processing.

An emergency vehicle or public vehicle travels toward the intersection on the inflow road of the intersection where the traffic signal 5 for performing emergency vehicle sensitivity control and public vehicle sensitivity control is installed, and uplink data is received from the in-vehicle device 2 of these vehicles. When transmitted, the information relay device 40 acquires this uplink data via the roadside communication device 30.
The control unit 42 of the information relay device 40 refers to the identification information of the uplink data, and determines whether or not the vehicle that is the transmission source of the uplink data is an emergency vehicle or a public vehicle (step S51).

  When it is determined that the vehicle is an emergency vehicle or a public vehicle (“Yes” in step S51), the uplink data is determined to be transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b, and then transmitted immediately. Processing is performed (step S52). On the other hand, if “No” in step S51, it is determined not to transmit this uplink data to the traffic signal controller 5b, and this uplink data is discarded (step S53). Alternatively, instead of this step S53, if it is determined that the vehicle is not an emergency vehicle or a public vehicle (“No” in step S51), that is, if it is determined that the vehicle is a general vehicle, For the uplink data, further determination processing (part 1) or determination processing (part 2) is performed, for example, a part of the uplink data is deleted, and the remaining data is transmitted to the central device 3 as transmission data. Is done.

In this way, the control unit 42 travels on the inflow road to the intersection where the traffic signal lamp 5a controlled by the traffic signal controller 5b is mounted on the vehicle on which the in-vehicle device that is the transmission source of the uplink data is mounted. Based on whether the vehicle is of a specific type (emergency vehicle or public vehicle), a determination process is performed for the uplink data.
When the vehicle 20 is a specific type of vehicle such as a public vehicle or an emergency vehicle, for example, the control unit 42 runs the vehicle-mounted device 2 of the vehicle in a road area that is subject to terminal sensitive control. It can be handled as an in-vehicle device of the vehicle, and the uplink data of the in-vehicle device 2 can be determined to be transmitted as a determination process (part 2), and can be transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b. Become. As a result, based on the uplink data, the traffic signal controller 5b can perform terminal sensitive control for these public vehicles and emergency vehicles.
According to such sensitive control, public vehicles and emergency vehicles are given priority to pass through the intersection by extending the green signal display time of the traffic light 5a or shortening the red signal display time. Is possible.

  As described with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14, in the information relay device 40, the control unit 42 is configured so that the vehicle 20 equipped with the in-vehicle device 2 that is the transmission source of the uplink data acquired by the communication unit 41 is a traffic signal controller. Based on whether or not the vehicle is subject to terminal sensitive control in accordance with 5b, the determination process can be performed for the uplink data.

As described above, according to the determination process (part 2) performed by the information relay device 40 according to the second embodiment, when the information relay device 40 acquires the uplink data transmitted by the in-vehicle device 2 via the roadside communication device 30. Then, it is determined whether or not to transmit this uplink data to the traffic signal controller 5b. As a result, a part of the uplink data is not transmitted, so that the data transmission amount is suppressed, and the traffic signal controller 5b It is possible to suppress the tightness of the communication line used for receiving the message.
Further, according to the type of uplink data, the determination process (part 1) may be adopted instead of the determination process (part 2). In this case, when uplink data transmitted by the in-vehicle device 2 is acquired, In the uplink data, it is determined whether or not at least a part of the data excluding the header portion is to be deleted, and as a result, the data amount to be transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b is reduced (thinned out). It is possible to suppress the tightness of the communication line.

Also in the second embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, the information indicating the reliability of the data is included in the uplink data, and the control unit 42 determines based on the information indicating the reliability. It can be determined that processing is performed and data with low reliability is deleted or uplink data including data with low reliability is not transmitted.
Further, the uplink data includes information indicating the positioning class of the position measurement by the in-vehicle device 2, and the control unit 42 performs determination processing based on the information indicating the positioning class, and the positioning class is determined from the predetermined class. It can be determined that at least part of the lower uplink data is deleted or not transmitted.
Furthermore, the control unit 42 may have a function of determining an abnormality of data (position data) included in the uplink data. In this case, it is possible to perform a determination process according to the determination result, and to determine that abnormal data is deleted or that uplink data including abnormal data is not transmitted.

Moreover, the control part 42 of the information relay apparatus 40 can acquire the communication status in the communication line used when transmitting data to the traffic signal controller 5b as in the first embodiment. Accordingly, a determination process may be performed.
Further, each of the first and second collection information may be different information depending on the communication status in the communication line used when transmitting data to the traffic signal controller 5b, and the control unit 42 is different. The determination process may be performed according to the collected information. In other words, when the communication status of the communication line is congested, processing that is not deleted or transmitted is actively performed, and when the communication status is relatively free, deletion is not performed or transmission is performed. To function.
Moreover, when transmitting uplink data (position data) to the traffic signal controller 5b, the controller 42 may perform a compression process for compressing this data, as in the first embodiment.

The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the meanings described above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.
For example, although the case where the information relay apparatus 40 performs the determination process has been described in the second embodiment, the roadside communication apparatus 30 may perform the determination process.
Moreover, although the case where the information relay apparatus 40 and the communication apparatus 51 of the traffic signal apparatus 5 are installed separately was demonstrated, the information relay apparatus 40 is taken in by the traffic signal apparatus 5, and a transmission apparatus is comprised by these, and it determines with this transmission apparatus. A configuration in which processing or the like is performed may be employed.

  In the second embodiment, the traffic signal controller 5b can issue a command to execute the terminal sensitive control, but the transmission device (information relay device 40) that performs each determination process acquires A command to execute terminal sensitive control may be issued based on the link data. In this case, the command signal may be included in the uplink data to be transmitted to the traffic signal controller 5b. In this case, it is only necessary to provide one communication line between the transmission device (information relay device 40) and the traffic signal device 5 for one-way and transmit uplink data by serial communication. This eliminates the need to provide a communication line for each sensitive control with the traffic signal 5 for one way. In the case of a crossing intersection, four traffic signals 5 for four-way roads are required, and the number of communication lines increases. However, such communication lines can be reduced.

Although the mobile communication terminal has been described as an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle, the mobile communication terminal may be other than this, for example, a pedestrian mobile communication terminal.
And the terminal sensitive control implemented in the traffic signal controller 5b can be suitably changed according to the type of the mobile communication terminal, the type of the mobile body on which the mobile communication terminal is mounted, and the control described in the above embodiment. Other sensitive controls other than the above can be similarly applied.
In addition, the embodiment of the present invention has been described with respect to the case where the road is left-hand traffic, such as in Japan, but when the road is right-hand traffic, such as the United States, the term “right turn” in each embodiment Is replaced with “turn left”.

2: Vehicle-mounted device (mobile communication terminal) 3: Central device (external device) 4: Optical beacon 5: Traffic signal device (external device) 5a: Traffic signal lamp 5b: Traffic signal controller 6d: Communication line 7: Beacon controller ( Control part) 14: Reception part 20: Vehicle 40: Information relay apparatus (transmission apparatus) 41: Communication part (acquisition part) 42: Control part R1-R4: Lane

Claims (17)

A transmission device that acquires uplink data transmitted by a mobile communication terminal and transmits it to an external device,
The external device includes a central device for collecting data, and a traffic signal controller installed on the roadside,
An acquisition unit for acquiring uplink data transmitted by the mobile communication terminal;
A control unit capable of executing communication control for transmitting the uplink data acquired by the acquisition unit to the external device,
The control unit acquires collection information indicating a condition for collecting the uplink data,
The control unit determines whether to delete at least a part of the data other than the header portion of the uplink data according to the collection information , or transmits the uplink data to the external device There line determination process determines according to whether the collection information,
The control unit collects, as the collection information, first collection information indicating conditions for collecting uplink data to be transmitted to the central device, and conditions for collecting uplink data to be transmitted to the traffic signal controller A transmission apparatus, wherein the determination process is performed using the first collection information and the second collection information according to the external apparatus. The control unit is uplink data transmitted by a plurality of the mobile communication terminals, and among the uplink data acquired by the acquisition unit,
For the uplink data from at least one mobile communication terminal, the determination process for determining whether to delete the data included in the uplink data, or the uplink from at least one mobile communication terminal The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination process for determining whether to transmit data to the external apparatus is performed. The transmission apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the second collection information is set so that an uplink data collection rate is higher than that of the first collection information. A transmission device that acquires uplink data transmitted by a mobile communication terminal and transmits it to an external device,
An acquisition unit for acquiring uplink data transmitted by the mobile communication terminal;
A control unit capable of executing communication control for transmitting the uplink data acquired by the acquisition unit to the external device,
The mobile communication terminal is an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle,
The external device includes a traffic signal controller installed at an intersection and performing terminal sensitive control,
The control unit determines whether or not to delete at least a part of the data excluding the header portion of the uplink data, or whether to transmit the uplink data to the external device. A determination process for determining ,
The control unit, based on whether the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle device that is the transmission source of the acquired uplink data is a vehicle subject to the terminal sensitive control by the traffic signal controller, the uplink A transmission apparatus that performs the determination process on data . The acquisition unit can acquire the position of the vehicle and signal control information of the traffic signal controller,
The control unit travels in a right turn lane where a vehicle equipped with an in-vehicle device that is a transmission source of acquired uplink data flows into an intersection where a traffic signal lamp that is terminal-sensitive controlled by the traffic signal controller is installed. 5. The determination process according to claim 4 , wherein the determination process is performed on the uplink data based on whether or not the traffic signal lamp to be followed by the vehicle is in a blue arrow display indicating that a right turn is possible. Transmission equipment. The uplink data includes information indicating the operating state of the turn signal mounted on the vehicle,
The control unit determines whether or not the vehicle equipped with the on-vehicle device that is the transmission source of the acquired uplink data is a vehicle in which a turn signal for a right turn is operating. The transmission apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the determination process is performed. The uplink data includes vehicle position data,
The control unit is present in a danger zone at the start of a yellow signal in the current cycle of a traffic signal light device in which a vehicle equipped with a vehicle-mounted device from which the acquired uplink data is transmitted is terminal-sensitive controlled by the traffic signal controller The transmission apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 6 , wherein the determination process is performed on the uplink data based on whether or not to perform the determination. The uplink data includes type information indicating the type of vehicle,
The control unit is configured such that a vehicle equipped with an in-vehicle device that is a transmission source of the acquired uplink data travels on an inflow road to an intersection where a traffic signal light device that is terminal-sensitive controlled by the traffic signal controller is installed. a vehicle of a particular type, and the traffic the by the signal controller based on whether it is subject to a vehicle terminal responsive control for the uplink data according to claim 4-7 performs the determination process The transmission apparatus as described in any one. The uplink data includes information indicating the reliability of data included in the uplink data,
The said control part performs the said determination process based on the information which shows this reliability, and determines not deleting the data with low reliability, or not transmitting the uplink data containing data with low reliability . The transmission device according to any one of claims 8 to 9 . The uplink data includes information indicating a positioning class of position measurement by the mobile communication terminal,
The control unit may perform the determination process on the basis of information indicating the positioning class, the lower the uplink data than the positioning class of predetermined classes, to remove at least a portion, or judges claim not to transmit 1 The transmission apparatus as described in any one of -9 . The control unit determines whether the data included in the uplink data is abnormal, performs the determination process according to the result of the determination, deletes the abnormal data, or sets the abnormal data The transmission apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10 , which determines that uplink data including it is not transmitted. The mobile communication terminal is an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle,
The uplink data includes information on the road on which the vehicle on which the vehicle-mounted device is mounted or information on the position on which the vehicle has traveled,
Wherein the control unit, the transmission device according to any one of claims 1 to 11 for performing the determination process in accordance with this information. Wherein, said a communication status in the communication line to be used for transmitting data to an external device can be obtained, according to the communication situation, any one of claims 1 to 12 for performing the determination processing The transmission apparatus described in 1. The collected information is information that differs depending on the communication status in the communication line used when transmitting data to the external device,
Wherein the control unit, the transmission device according to claim 1 for performing the determination processing in accordance with the different collection information. The control unit determines whether or not to delete at least a part of the data other than the header portion of the uplink data. As a result of the determination process, if it is determined to delete, at least the data that has not been deleted transmission device according to any one of claims 1 to 14 for performing a compression process for compressing the part. The control unit determines whether or not to delete at least a part of the data other than the header portion of the uplink data. transmission apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 15 for performing a compression process for compressing the part. The control unit performs a compression process of compressing at least a part of the uplink data when it is determined to transmit as a result of the determination process for determining whether or not to transmit the uplink data to the external device. The transmission apparatus as described in any one of Claims 1-14 .