JP6699506B2 - Traffic information collection system, information collection terminal, and server - Google Patents

Description

The present invention, traffic information collection system, an information collection terminal and a server traffic information acquisition system comprises of it.

  There is known a system in which a terminal used in a vehicle collects traffic information and uploads it to a management center. For example, in the system described in Patent Document 1, an in-vehicle terminal mounted on a probe car periodically collects information such as the current position of the probe car, the vehicle speed, and the operation status of the brake system while the probe car is traveling. To do.

  The vehicle-mounted terminal transmits the collected information to the mobile radio station unit mounted on the route bus by inter-vehicle communication. A roadside radio is installed at the route bus stop, and the mobile radio station unit communicates with the roadside radio when the route bus is located near the stop, and receives the information received from the in-vehicle terminal. Send to the roadside radio. The roadside wireless device is connected to the management center through a communication line, and the information collected by the vehicle-mounted terminal is uploaded from the roadside wireless device to the management center through the communication line.

JP, 2007-310790, A

  In the system described in Patent Document 1, if the vehicle-mounted terminal transmits the collected information to the mobile radio station unit mounted on the route bus, it is not necessary to store the collected information. This is because the information transmitted to the mobile wireless station unit will eventually be transmitted from the mobile station wireless unit to the roadside wireless device and further uploaded from the roadside wireless device to the management center.

  In other words, the vehicle-mounted terminal needs to store the collected information until it transmits the collected information to the mobile radio station unit. In addition, it is necessary to collect new information as the vehicle travels and store that information as well.

  In order for the in-vehicle terminal and the mobile station radio station unit to communicate with each other, it is necessary for the probe car and the route bus to come close to a distance where vehicle-to-vehicle communication is possible. Therefore, if it takes a long time for the probe car to approach the route bus, the storage capacity of the storage unit of the vehicle-mounted terminal may be full. When the storage capacity of the storage unit is full, traffic information cannot be stored any more. As a result, the server may not be able to collect the traffic information of the required area from any in-vehicle terminal.

The present invention has been made based on this situation, it is an object of the server, the traffic information collecting system can be suppressed no longer able to collect traffic information necessary areas, information collection To provide terminals and servers .

  The above objective is achieved by a combination of features described in independent claims, and the subclaims define further advantageous embodiments of the invention. The reference numerals in parentheses in the claims indicate the correspondence with the specific means described in the embodiments described below as one aspect, and do not limit the technical scope of the present invention. ..

The invention relating to the traffic information collecting system for achieving the above object is
A traffic information collecting system comprising an information collecting terminal (3) used in a vehicle and a server (8) communicating with the information collecting terminal,
The information collection terminal is
A traffic information collecting unit (31) for collecting traffic information,
A storage unit (34) for storing the traffic information collected by the traffic information collection unit;
A traffic information upload unit (37) for uploading the traffic information stored in the storage unit to the server,
A capacity management unit (35) for detecting the free space for traffic information in the storage unit,
A free space transmission unit (361) for transmitting the free space for traffic information detected by the space management unit to the server,
The server is
A server side communication unit (82) that communicates with the information collecting terminal,
Based on the free space for traffic information received from the information collection terminal by the server-side communication unit, the allocation area to be allocated as the area where the information collection terminal collects traffic information is determined, and the allocation information representing the determined allocation area is transmitted to the server-side communication. An allocation determining unit (85) for transmitting from the department to the information collecting terminal,
The information collection terminal is
An allocation information receiving unit (362) for receiving the allocation information transmitted from the server,
A position detector (32) for detecting the current position of the vehicle,
The traffic information collecting unit collects traffic information when the current position of the vehicle is the allocation area represented by the allocation information received by the allocation information receiving unit.

  According to the present invention, the information collecting terminal transmits the free space for traffic information in the storage unit to the server. Therefore, the server determines that the information collecting terminal is based on the free space for traffic information in the storage unit included in the information collecting terminal. It is possible to determine an allocation area for collecting traffic information. The server transmits allocation information indicating the allocation area to the information collecting terminal. The information collecting terminal collects the traffic information when the current position is the allocation area allocated by the server. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the storage capacity of the storage unit for the traffic information from becoming full and the server from being unable to collect the traffic information in the necessary area.

The invention according to the information collecting terminal and the server to achieve the above object, an invention according to the information collection terminal and a server provided in the traffic information collecting system.

That is, the invention relating to the information collecting terminal for achieving the above object is
A traffic information collecting unit (31) for collecting traffic information,
A storage unit (34) for storing the traffic information collected by the traffic information collection unit;
A traffic information upload unit (37) for uploading the traffic information stored in the storage unit to the server,
A capacity management unit (35) for detecting the free space for traffic information in the storage unit,
A free space transmission unit (361) for transmitting the free space for traffic information detected by the space management unit to the server;
An allocation information receiving unit (362) for receiving allocation information representing an allocation area allocated as an area for collecting traffic information based on the free space for traffic information from the server from the server,
A position detector (32) for detecting the current position,
The traffic information collecting unit is an information collecting terminal that collects traffic information when the current position is the allocation area represented by the allocation information received by the allocation information receiving unit.
The invention relating to the server for achieving the above object is
A server (8) for communicating with an information collecting terminal (3) used in a vehicle,
A server side communication unit (82) that communicates with the information collecting terminal,
The allocation area to be allocated as the area for collecting traffic information by the information collecting terminal is determined based on the free space for traffic information in the storage section of the information collecting terminal received by the server side communication unit from the information collecting terminal, and the determined allocation The server includes an allocation determining unit (85) that transmits allocation information representing an area from the server-side communication unit to the information collecting terminal.

It is a whole lineblock diagram of traffic information collection system 1 used as an embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of the data collection server 8 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the free space information stored in the database 83 of FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process executed by the allocation determining unit 85 of FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the allocation data size determined by S4 of FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing executed by the allocation determining unit 85 in FIG. 3 subsequent to FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of an allocation area determination process which the data collection server 8 performs with a sequence diagram. It is a flowchart which shows the process performed when the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 receives the allocation notification. It is a flow chart which shows processing which in-vehicle terminal 3 performs, when traffic information is memorized by memory 34. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an allocation area Ap in Modification 3;

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration diagram of a traffic information collection system 1 according to an embodiment. The traffic information collection system 1 includes vehicle-mounted terminals 3a, 3b,... 3n mounted on vehicles 2a, 2b,... 2n, a data request server 7, and a data collection server 8, respectively. Hereinafter, the vehicles 2a, 2b,... The on-vehicle terminals 3a, 3b,... 3n have the same configuration. When the vehicle-mounted terminals 3a, 3b,... 3n are not distinguished, they are referred to as the vehicle-mounted terminal 3. The in-vehicle terminal 3 corresponds to the information collecting terminal in the claims.

[Outline of operation of traffic information collection system 1]
Next, an outline of the operation of the traffic information collecting system 1 will be described. The vehicle-mounted terminal 3 sequentially transmits the free space for traffic information to the data collection server 8. The data collection server 8 and the data request server 7 are fixed at predetermined positions different from the vehicle 2. When the data request server 7 requests the collection of traffic information, the data collection server 8 collects traffic information for each in-vehicle terminal 3 based on the free space for traffic information transmitted from each in-vehicle terminal 3. The allocation area Ap allocated as the area is determined. Then, the in-vehicle terminal 3 is notified of the assigned area information indicating the determined assigned area Ap.

  The vehicle-mounted terminal 3 collects traveling information while traveling in the allocation area Ap, and uploads the collected traffic information when it is located in the upload area 5. The upload area 5 is an area that can communicate with the access point 4. The uploaded traffic information is sent from the access point 4 to the data collection server 8 via the wired communication network 6.

[Configuration of in-vehicle terminal 3]
The structure of the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 includes a traffic information collection unit 31, a position detection unit 32, a route acquisition unit 33, a memory 34, a memory management unit 35, a wide area communication unit 36, a short range communication unit 37, and a communication control unit. 38.

  The traffic information collection unit 31 collects traffic information. The traffic information is information that can be collected by a terminal used in a vehicle, and means various information used when traveling on a road. The traffic information is, for example, topographical data for creating a three-dimensional road map, vehicle traveling data of the vehicle 2 equipped with this on-vehicle terminal 3, road image data obtained by capturing an image of a road, and the like. The vehicle travel data includes the current position, speed, traveling direction, and course of the vehicle 2. Also, accident information and road surface condition information are included in the traffic information. The road surface condition information is, for example, information indicating unevenness of the road surface or information indicating slipperiness of the road surface. The unevenness of the road surface and the slipperiness of the road surface are detected by, for example, an on-vehicle radar, an image pickup camera outside the vehicle, and a tire pressure sensor. Part or all of these traffic information can be acquired via the in-vehicle network communication line.

  The traffic information collection unit 31 includes, for example, a three-dimensional radar when collecting terrain data as traffic information, and when collecting current position, speed, and traveling direction that are vehicle traveling data, a sensor or the like for detecting these, or the like. A data acquisition unit connected to a sensor or the like is provided. In addition, when acquiring road image data, a camera for capturing the outside of the vehicle is provided.

  The position detection unit 32 sequentially detects the current position of the vehicle 2 equipped with the vehicle-mounted terminal 3. The position detection unit 32 includes, for example, a GNSS receiver that receives a navigation signal transmitted by a navigation satellite included in a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), and sequentially detects the current position based on the navigation signal received by the GNSS receiver. To do.

  The route acquisition unit 33 is connected to, for example, a navigation device that sets a guide route for the vehicle 2 and provides route guidance, and acquires the guide route from the navigation device. In this guide route, the route from the current position to the destination is the route. Further, the traveling direction may be more simply acquired as the course. The traveling direction is acquired from a direction sensor such as a gyro sensor.

  The memory 34 corresponds to the storage unit in the claims. The memory 34 is a writable and erasable memory, and temporarily stores the traffic information collected by the traffic information collecting unit 31. An application for uploading traffic information may be stored in the memory 34. In addition, various other applications may be stored. The memory 34 can also be used as a temporary storage when these various applications execute functions.

  When the application is stored in the memory 34, the storage capacity of the memory 34 for storing the traffic information is limited to a part of the total storage capacity of the memory 34. Even when data other than traffic information is temporarily stored and the storage area for storing data other than traffic information is reserved as a dedicated storage area, a memory for storing traffic information is also stored. The capacity is limited to a part of the total storage capacity of the memory 34.

  The memory management unit 35 detects a free space of the memory 34, reads data from the memory 34, erases data stored in the memory 34, and writes data to the memory 34. The memory management unit 35 determines the free space for traffic information based on the detected free space of the memory 34, and sequentially outputs the determined free space for traffic information to the communication control unit 38. The free space for traffic information is the free space in which the traffic information can be stored out of the total free space in the memory 34. When it is not necessary to store other information in the free space, the total free space of the memory 34 becomes the free space for traffic information. On the other hand, when it is necessary to store information other than traffic information in the free space of the memory 34, the capacity that needs to be secured for storing information other than traffic information is subtracted from the total free space of the memory 34. Capacity is the free space for traffic information.

  Further, the memory management unit 35 reads out the traffic information stored in the memory 34 and outputs it to the communication control unit 38. When the traffic information is read, the read traffic information is deleted from the memory 34. The memory management unit 35 functions as a capacity management unit in the claims.

  The wide area communication unit 36 is a communication module for connecting to a wide area wireless communication network such as a mobile phone network and communicating with the data collection server 8 via the wide area wireless communication network. The wide area communication unit 36 includes a wide area transmission unit 361 that modulates the data supplied from the communication control unit 38 and wirelessly transmits the data, and a wide area reception unit 362 that demodulates the received data and outputs the demodulated data to the communication control unit 38. The received data includes allocation information, and the wide area receiving unit 362 that receives the allocation information corresponds to the allocation information receiving unit in the claims.

  The short-range communication unit 37 is a wireless module for communicating with the access point 4 by short-range communication. The short-range communication is, for example, communication based on a wireless LAN standard such as IEEE 802.11 and a short-range wireless communication standard such as Bluetooth (registered trademark). Further, the communication may be based on the standards for vehicle-to-vehicle communication and road-to-vehicle communication.

  The communication control unit 38 is connected to the wide area communication unit 36 and the short range communication unit 37, and controls the wide area communication unit 36 and the short range communication unit 37. The communication control unit 38 acquires the current position and the route from the position detection unit 32 and the route acquisition unit 33, and acquires the free space for traffic information from the memory management unit 35. Then, the communication control unit 38 sequentially transmits, from the wide area transmission unit 361 to the data collection server 8, information in which the vehicle ID is added to the present position, route, and free space for traffic information (hereinafter, free space information). Since the wide area transmission unit 361 transmits the free space for traffic information to the data collection server 8, it corresponds to the free space transmission unit in the claims.

  The communication control unit 38 also acquires traffic information from the memory management unit 35 when the vehicle 2 is located in the upload area 5, and transmits the acquired traffic information from the short-range communication unit 37 to the access point 4. . The traffic information transmitted to the access point 4 is transmitted from the access point 4 to the data collection server 8. That is, the short-range communication unit 37 uploads the traffic information to the data collection server 8 via the access point 4, and the short-range communication unit 37 corresponds to the traffic information uploading unit in the claims.

  The communication control unit 38 and the memory management unit 35 in the configuration of the in-vehicle terminal 3 can be realized by a computer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like. In the computer, the CPU executes these programs by executing a program stored in a non-transitory tangible storage medium such as a ROM while using the temporary storage function of the RAM. 38, and can function as the memory management unit 35. When these functions are executed, the method corresponding to the program is executed. Some functions of the route acquisition unit 33 and the traffic information collection unit 31 can also be realized by a computer. Note that some or all of the functions executed by the computer may be realized by using one or a plurality of ICs (in other words, as hardware).

[Configurations of Access Point 4 and Data Request Server 7]
The access points 4 are scattered around the road. The access point 4 is a wireless module that performs narrow area communication, and performs narrow area communication based on the wireless LAN standard or the like. The communication area formed centering on the access point 4 is the upload area 5, and the access point 4 communicates with the narrow area communication unit 37 provided in the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 located in the upload area 5. Perform regional communication to receive traffic information. The size of the upload area 5 is, for example, about 50 to 100 meters.

  The access point 4 is connected to the data collection server 8 via the wired communication network 6, and transmits the traffic information received from the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 to the data collection server 8.

  The data request server 7 is a server that executes an application that uses traffic information, and is connected to the data collection server 8. Applications that use traffic information are, for example, a three-dimensional road map creation application and an application that grasps the traffic congestion situation on the road. The data request server 7 determines an area in which traffic information needs to be collected (hereinafter, traffic information collection area A) and a period during which traffic information is permitted to be collected (hereinafter, collection permitted period). Then, the data request server 7 requests the data collection server 8 for traffic information by outputting the determined traffic information collection area A and the permitted collection period to the data collection server 8. Depending on the type of traffic information, such as when the traffic information is concretely topographical data, it may not be necessary to limit the collection period so much. In this case, the data collection server 8 is requested for traffic information without determining the collection allowable period.

[Configuration of data collection server 8]
The configuration of the data collection server 8 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the data collection server 8 includes a wired communication unit 81, a wide area communication unit 82, a database 83, a database management unit 84, and an allocation determination unit 85.

  The wired communication unit 81 is a wireless module capable of communicating with the access point 4 via the wired communication network 6, and receives traffic information from the access point 4.

  The wide area communication unit 82 is a communication module capable of communicating with the wide area communication unit 36 of the in-vehicle terminal 3, receives the free space information transmitted by the wide area communication unit 36 of the in-vehicle terminal 3, and outputs it to the database management unit 84. Further, the allocation information sent from the allocation determination unit 85 is transmitted to the wide area communication unit 36 of the vehicle-mounted terminal 3. The wide area communication unit 82 corresponds to the server side communication unit in the claims.

  The database 83 is stored in a storage unit (not shown). The database 83 is a database that stores free space information and traffic information. The free space information is information transmitted from the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 using the wide area transmission unit 361. FIG. 4 shows free space information stored in the database 83. As shown in FIG. 4, the free space information is information including the vehicle ID, the free space for traffic information, the current position, and the route, and further includes the reception time when the free space information is received. The database 83 also stores traffic information. The traffic information is transmitted from the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 via the access point 4.

  The database management unit 84 manages traffic information and free space information stored in the database 83. When the wired communication unit 81 receives the traffic information, the traffic information is stored in the database 83. When the traffic information requested by the data request server 7 is stored in the database 83, the traffic information is output to the data request server 7. Further, when the free space information for the same vehicle ID as the vehicle ID already stored in the database 83 is acquired from the wide area communication unit 82, the free space information for the vehicle ID stored in the database 83 is obtained. , Update to the newly acquired free space information. Further, the free space information after a certain time has elapsed from the reception time is deleted from the database 83. The fixed time is a time that is appropriately set.

  When the database management unit 84 is requested by the data request server 7 to transmit traffic information, the allocation determination unit 85 allocates the traffic information collection area A requested by the data request server 7 to one or more vehicle-mounted terminals 3. . The allocated area will be hereinafter referred to as an allocated area Ap(n). The allocation area Ap(n) is determined based on the free space information stored in the database 83.

  The processing executed by the allocation determining unit 85 will be described with reference to FIG. The process shown in FIG. 5 is executed when the data request server 7 requests the transmission of traffic information.

  In step (hereinafter, step is omitted) S1, the vehicle 2 scheduled to pass through the traffic information collection area A within the collection allowable period is extracted based on the current position, route, and reception time included in the free space information. To do. If the collection permission period is not specified, a preset standard collection period is used. Whether or not the vehicle 2 is scheduled to pass through the traffic information collection area A is determined from the current position and the course. The speed of the vehicle 2 is also necessary in order to determine whether or not the time for passing through the traffic information collection area A is within the collection and collection allowable period. As the speed of the vehicle 2, an average traveling speed on each road where the vehicle 2 is scheduled to pass is used. This average traveling speed is calculated from the change in the current position of the vehicle 2 which is sequentially transmitted as a part of the free space information. In addition, when the course of the vehicle 2 includes the time when the vehicle is scheduled to pass through various places in the course, the speed of the vehicle 2 is not necessary.

  In this way, when the vehicle 2 passing through the traffic information collection area A within the collection allowable period is extracted, S2 is executed. In S2, the free space for traffic information of the vehicle 2 extracted in S1 is acquired from the database 83.

  In S3, the data collection quality is determined and the data size of the entire traffic information collection area is estimated. The data size of the entire traffic information collection area is determined by the area size and the data size per unit area. A plurality of types of data sizes per unit area are stored in advance. The difference in data size per unit area of multiple types is the difference in data collection quality. The data collection quality is a difference in bit rate, for example, when the traffic information to be collected is an image.

  The data collection quality is determined such that the value obtained by multiplying the traffic information collection area A by the data size per unit area is equal to or less than the total value of the free space for traffic information of the vehicle 2 extracted in S1. Then, a value obtained by multiplying the traffic information collection area A by the data size per unit area determined by the determined data collection quality is estimated as the data size of the entire traffic information collection area.

  In S4, the allocation data size is determined for the vehicle 2 extracted in S1. The assigned data size is determined based on the free space for traffic information of the vehicle 2 extracted in S1 and the order of entering the traffic information collection area A.

  For example, it is assumed that the extracted vehicle 2 is the vehicles 2a, 2b... 2n shown in FIG. In this case, the vehicles 2a, 2b... 2n enter the traffic information collection area A in this order. Therefore, the allocation data size is determined in the order of the vehicles 2a, 2b... 2n. In this embodiment, the assigned data size is the same as the traffic information free capacity of each vehicle 2.

  FIG. 6 illustrates the determined allocation data size. Further, in FIG. 6, the free space for traffic information is set as MC, and the character in parentheses following MC corresponds to the alphabet that distinguishes the vehicle 2. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the vehicle 2n that finally enters the traffic information collection area A among the extracted vehicles 2 has the data size of the entire traffic information collection area if a part of the free space for traffic information is used. Therefore, the vehicle 2n has an allocated data size that uses a part of the free space for traffic information.

  After determining the allocation data size, S5 is executed. In S5, the allocation area Ap(n) is determined based on the allocation data size. In the present embodiment, in order from the vehicle 2 that first enters the traffic information collection area A, that is, from the vehicle 2 that is closer to the traffic information collection area A, in the traffic information collection area A, areas that are farther from the extracted vehicle 2 are assign. Naturally, this process is executed when a plurality of vehicles 2 are extracted. FIG. 1 shows allocation areas Ap(a), Ap(b), and Ap(n) allocated in this way.

  In S6, an allocation notification, which is information including the allocation data size determined in S4, the allocation area Ap determined in S5, and the data collection quality determined in S3, is mounted on the vehicle 2 extracted in S1 from the wide area communication unit 82. It is transmitted to the in-vehicle terminal 3.

  The vehicle-mounted terminal 3 that has received the allocation notification determines whether or not the allocated allocation area Ap can be accepted, and transmits a reply packet including the determination result. The content of the reply packet is one of acceptance, allocation size change request, and allocation refusal.

  The content of the reply packet can be accepted when the allocation data size instructed by the allocation notification is less than or equal to the free space for traffic information. In this case, a capacity corresponding to the allocation data size designated by the allocation notification can be secured in the memory 34 as a capacity for storing traffic information.

  The content of the reply packet is used as the allocation size change request when the capacity of storing the traffic information can be secured in the memory 34 by reducing the allocation data size. When the content of the reply packet is an allocation size change request, the reply packet also includes the changed request size. The content of the reply packet is rejected when the memory 34 does not have enough capacity to store the traffic information. The process of the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 transmitting the reply packet will be described later, and the process of the allocation determining unit 85 after transmitting the allocation notification will be described first.

  After transmitting the allocation notification, the allocation determination unit 85 executes the process shown in FIG. 7. In S11, it is determined whether a reply packet has been received. If this judgment is No, S11 is repeated, and if Yes, the routine proceeds to S12.

  In S12, it is determined whether the content of the reply packet is acceptable. If the content of the reply packet is acceptable, the determination result of S12 is Yes and the process proceeds to S13.

  In S13, the allocation area Ap for the vehicle 2 that has returned a response of acceptance is fixed to the content indicated by the allocation notification transmitted in S6. It transmits to the transmitted vehicle-mounted terminal 3.

  In S15, it is determined whether or not the allocation of the traffic information collection area A to all areas has been completed. If the determination result is No, the process returns to S11, and if the determination result is Yes, the process of FIG. 7 ends.

  If the determination result of S12 is No, the process proceeds to S15. In S15, it is determined whether or not the content of the reply packet is an allocation size change request. If the determination result is Yes, the process proceeds to S16. As described above, when the content of the reply packet is the allocation size change request, the reply packet also includes the requested size.

  In S16, the allocation area Ap for the vehicle 2 that has transmitted the reply packet is reduced to an area having a size determined by the requested size. The portion to be reduced with respect to the allocation area Ap before the change is, for example, the front side in the traveling direction of the vehicle 2 in the allocation area Ap.

  In S17, an allocation re-notification including information indicating the reduced allocation area Ap determined in S16 is transmitted to the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 that has transmitted the response packet.

  In S18, the area whose allocation is undecided by the processing of S17 is allocated to the spare vehicle 2. The spare vehicle 2 is the vehicle 2 that has not been assigned the allocation area Ap among the vehicles 2 extracted in S1 of FIG.

  If the spare vehicle 2 does not exist, the condition of the period is extracted from the conditions for extracting the vehicle 2 in S1 and the vehicle 2 is extracted again. The condition for the relaxed period may be a condition for entering the traffic information collection area A within the collection permission period. When the collection allowable period is not designated and the vehicle 2 is extracted using the standard collection period, the collection period is extended and the vehicle 2 is extracted again. If there is no vehicle 2 to which the reduction amount is assigned by these processes, the data request server 7 is notified that the reduction is impossible.

  In S19, the wide area communication unit 82 transmits an allocation notification including the allocation area Ap allocated in the process of S18 and the data collection quality determined in S3 to the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 mounted in the spare vehicle 2.

  If the determination result in S15 is No, that is, if the content of the response packet is allocation rejection, the process proceeds to S20. In S20, the allocation area Ap whose allocation has been rejected is allocated to one or more spare vehicles 2. When the spare vehicle 2 does not exist, the procedure when the spare vehicle 2 is insufficient is the same as the procedure described in S18.

  In S21, the wide area communication unit 82 transmits an allocation notification including the allocation area Ap allocated in the process of S20 and the data collection quality determined in S3 to the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 mounted in the spare vehicle 2.

[Allocation area determination sequence]
FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the allocation area determination process executed by the data collection server 8. In the example of FIG. 8, the data collection server 8 executes S1 at time t1 to extract the vehicle 2 scheduled to pass through the traffic information collection area A. Then, at time t2, S2-S5 are executed to determine the allocation area Ap of the extracted vehicle 2.

  At time t3, the allocation notification is transmitted to the vehicle 2a, and at time t4, the allocation notification is transmitted to the vehicle 2c.

  At time t5, the vehicle 2a transmits a reply packet containing acceptance acceptable. The data collection server 8 executes S11-S13 at time t6 to determine the allocation area Ap(a) for the vehicle 2a. At time t7, S14 is executed to notify the confirmation result to the vehicle 2a.

  At time t8, the vehicle 2c transmits a reply packet containing the contents of refusal of allocation. The data collection server 8 that has received this response packet will execute S20 via S11, S12, and S15 at time t9. Then, in this example, the allocation area Ap(c) rejected by the vehicle 2c is allocated to the vehicle 2x which is a spare vehicle. At time t10, S21 is executed to transmit the allocation notification to the vehicle 2x.

  At time t11, the vehicle 2x transmits a reply packet containing acceptance acceptable. The data collection server 8 executes S11-S13 at time t12 to determine the allocation area Ap(x) for the vehicle 2x. At time t13, S14 is executed to notify the confirmation result to the vehicle 2x.

[Process executed by in-vehicle terminal 3]
Next, the processing executed by the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. First, the processing shown in FIG. 9 will be described. FIG. 9 is a process executed when an allocation notification is received from the data collection server 8.

  In S31, it is determined whether the allocation instructed by the allocation notification can be accepted. Specifically, this determination determines whether or not the allocation data size instructed by the allocation notification is equal to or less than the free space for traffic information.

  Since the data collection server 8 determines the allocation data size based on the free space for traffic information transmitted by each in-vehicle terminal 3, the determination result in S31 does not often result in No. However, since there is a time lag between when each in-vehicle terminal 3 transmits the free space for traffic information and when the allocation notification is received, the determination result in S31 may be No depending on the situation change during that time. If the determination result in S31 is No, the process proceeds to S32.

  In S32, a response packet including a size change request or allocation refusal as a content is created and transmitted from the wide area transmission unit 361 to the data collection server 8. Whether the content of the reply packet is the size change request or the allocation refusal is determined by the free space for traffic information at the time of receiving the allocation notification.

  If the free space for traffic information at the time of receiving the allocation notice is zero, the content of the reply packet is rejected. If the free space for traffic information at the time of receiving the allocation notification is not zero but smaller than the allocation data size instructed by the allocation notification, the content of the reply packet is a size change request. When the content of the reply packet is a size change request, the current traffic information free capacity is included in the reply packet as the requested size.

  If the determination result of S31 is Yes, it will progress to S33. In S33, the wide area transmission unit 361 transmits the reply packet having the content of acceptability to the data collection server 8.

  In S34, the free space corresponding to the required capacity for collecting the traffic information in the allocation area Ap designated by the allocation notification is reserved for the traffic information without being used for other purposes.

  In S35, it is determined whether the vehicle 2 has entered the allocation area Ap. If the determination result is No, the determination of S35 is executed again. On the other hand, if the determination result is Yes, the process proceeds to S36.

  In S36, collection of data, that is, traffic information is started. The collected data are sequentially stored in the area reserved for storing the traffic information in the memory 34.

  In S37, it is determined whether the vehicle 2 has left the allocation area Ap. If the determination result is No, the determination of S37 is executed again. On the other hand, if the determination result is Yes, the process proceeds to S38. In S38, data collection is stopped.

  In the process of FIG. 9, S31 and S34 are executed by the memory management unit 35, and S32 and S33 are executed by the communication control unit 38. In S35 to S38, the traffic information collecting unit 31 executes data collection, and the memory management unit 35 executes data storage.

  Next, the processing shown in FIG. 10 will be described. FIG. 10 also shows the processing executed by the vehicle-mounted terminal 3. The process shown in FIG. 10 is executed when the traffic information is stored in the memory 34. In S41, it is determined whether the vehicle 2 has entered the upload area 5. This determination is made based on whether or not the short-range communication unit 37 can communicate with the access point 4. If the determination result is No, the determination of S41 is executed again. On the other hand, if the determination result is Yes, the process proceeds to S42.

  In S42, the traffic information, which is the collected data, is read from the memory 34, and the process of transmitting from the short-range communication unit 37 to the access point 4 is started. Further, the transmitted traffic information is deleted from the memory 34. The access point 4 transmits this traffic information to the data collection server 8 via the wired communication network 6. The reason for uploading traffic information in the upload area 5 is that no communication charge is required for data transmission in the upload area 5.

  In S43, it is determined whether the upload is completed. If the determination result is Yes, the process proceeds to S44. In S44, the data collection server 8 is notified of the upload completion.

  If the determination result of S43 is No, the process proceeds to S45. In S45, it is determined whether the vehicle 2 has left the upload area 5. If the determination result in S45 is No, the process returns to S43, and if Yes, the process proceeds to S46.

  In S46, uploading of collected data is stopped. In subsequent S47, the wide area transmission unit 361 is used to notify the data collection server 8 that there is untransmitted collection data.

  In the processing of FIG. 10, the memory management unit 35 reads the traffic information from the memory 34 and erases the traffic information stored in the memory 34, and the transmission processing of the read traffic information is performed by the communication. The control unit 38 performs this.

  When the data collection server 8 receives this notification, the data collection server 8 determines whether uncollected collection data is to be transmitted or discarded in the next upload area 5, and notifies the in-vehicle terminal 3 of the determination result. When discarding untransmitted collection data, the data collection server 8 allocates collection of untransmitted collection data to another vehicle 2.

[Summary of Embodiments]
As described above, in the traffic information collecting system 1 of the embodiment described above, the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 transmits the free space for traffic information in the memory 34 to the data collecting server 8. Thereby, the data collection server 8 can determine the allocation area Ap in which the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 collects the traffic information, based on the free space for traffic information in the memory 34 included in the vehicle-mounted terminal 3. The data collection server 8 transmits the allocation information indicating the allocation area Ap to the vehicle-mounted terminal 3, and the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 collects the traffic information when the current position is the allocation area Ap. Therefore, the storage capacity of the memory 34 for the traffic information becomes full, and the data collection server 8 is prevented from being unable to collect the traffic information of the necessary area.

  Further, in the present embodiment, when a plurality of vehicles 2 scheduled to pass through the traffic information collection area A are extracted, the allocation determination unit 85 sequentially selects the vehicles 2 closer to the traffic information collection area A in the traffic information collection area A. The area far away in the traveling direction of the extracted vehicle 2 is assigned.

  As a result, it is possible to reduce the extent to which the periods in which the vehicle-mounted terminals 3 to which the allocation area Ap is allocated collect traffic information are deviated. In addition, unlike the present embodiment, when the area of the memory 34 for storing the traffic information can be used for other purposes until it enters the allocation area Ap, the memory 34 for storing the traffic information is stored. You can reduce the inequality of time to use areas.

  In addition, in the present embodiment, the data collection quality is determined such that the data size of all the traffic information collected in the traffic information collection area A is equal to or less than the total value of the free space for traffic information of the vehicle 2 extracted in S1. is doing. Therefore, even if the number of vehicles 2 extracted in S1 is small, it becomes less likely that the traffic information of the necessary area cannot be collected.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the following modifications are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. Various modifications can be made without departing from the scope. In the following description, elements having the same reference numerals as those used up to now are the same as the elements having the same reference numerals in the previous embodiments, unless otherwise specified. Further, when only a part of the configuration is described, the above-described embodiment can be applied to the other part of the configuration.

<Modification 1>
In the embodiment, when a plurality of vehicles 2 scheduled to pass through the traffic information collection area A are extracted, the vehicles 2 closer to the traffic information collection area A are sequentially distant in the traveling direction of the extracted vehicle 2 in the traffic information collection area A. Had been allocated the area. However, areas having higher priorities in the traffic information collection area A may be assigned areas Ap in order from the vehicle 2 closer to the traffic information collection area A. The priority in the traffic information collection area A is specified by the data request server 7.

  By doing so, it is possible to obtain the traffic information of the area having a high priority at an early stage. This modification 1 is effective, for example, when it is desired to complete the image acquisition at the accident site within a certain time.

<Modification 2>
The allocation area Ap may be determined in consideration of the uploadable capacity while staying in the upload area 5. Upload traffic information in upload area 5. Since the upload area 5 is not so large, the time during which the traveling vehicle 2 stays in the upload area 5 is not so long. Therefore, if the large allocation area Ap is allocated due to the large free space for traffic information, there is a possibility that all the traffic information cannot be uploaded in the upload area 5.

  Therefore, the allocation area Ap should be determined in consideration of the uploadable capacity while staying in the upload area 5. The capacity that can be uploaded while staying in the upload area 5 can be calculated by the product of the time staying in the upload area 5 and the upload data amount per unit time.

  The time spent in the upload area 5 can be calculated by dividing the distance passing through the upload area 5 by the speed passing through the upload area 5. The distance passing through the upload area 5 may be set in advance. As for the speed of passing through the upload area 5, the average speed of passing through the upload area 5 may be obtained in advance. Further, the legal maximum speed of the road may be used instead of the average speed. The upload data amount per unit time is also set in advance. Although the actual upload data amount varies per unit time, it is preferable to set the lowest value of the normal variation range based on experiments. If the minimum value of the normal fluctuation range is set, the number of cases in which the traffic information upload is not completed before the passing of the upload area 5 is reduced.

<Modification 3>
Of the vehicles 2 extracted in S1 of FIG. 5, the allocation area Ap may be determined for the vehicles 2 whose periods of stay in the upload area 5 do not overlap.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an allocation area Ap in the third modification. In the example of FIG. 11, although the vehicles 2a, 2b, 2c enter the traffic information collection area A in order, the allocation area Ap is not assigned to the vehicle 2b. The reason is that the vehicle 2a and the vehicle 2b are close to each other, so that the periods of staying in the upload area 5 overlap. On the other hand, since the vehicle 2a and the vehicle 2c are relatively distant from each other, the periods of staying in the upload area 5 do not overlap.

  Therefore, by uploading the traffic information in the same time period, it is possible to suppress the situation in which the communication speed is reduced and, as a result, the upload is not completed.

  Note that the modified example 3 and the modified example 2 can be combined. That is, even in the case where the allocation area Ap is determined for the vehicle 2 in which the periods of staying in the upload area 5 do not overlap as in the modification 3, the allocation area to be allocated to each vehicle 2 as in the modification 2. Ap can also be determined in consideration of the uploadable capacity while staying in the upload area 5.

<Modification 4>
In the above-described embodiment, when the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 receives the allocation notification and transmits the reply packet having the content of acceptance to the data collection server 8, the available capacity corresponding to the required capacity is not used for other purposes. , Reserved for traffic information. However, until the vehicle 2 enters the allocation area Ap, the free space corresponding to the required capacity may be permitted to be used for other purposes. In this way, the memory 34 can be used efficiently.

<Modification 5>
In the above-described embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the traffic information collection area A is divided in order to determine the allocation area Ap. That is, in the above-described embodiment, the allocation areas Ap are set so as not to overlap each other. However, the allocation area Ap may be set to partially overlap with the adjacent allocation area Ap. By doing so, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of an area where traffic information cannot be collected even if the position detection accuracy of the vehicle-mounted terminal 3 is poor.

<Modification 6>
Further, the traffic information collecting unit 31 collects traffic information not only when the current position of the vehicle 2 is the allocation area Ap allocated to the vehicle 2 but also when there is a certain section before and after the allocation area Ap. You may do it. Even in this case, it is possible to suppress the same effect as in the fifth modification, that is, to prevent an area where traffic information cannot be collected from occurring.

<Modification 7>
In the above-described embodiment, the in-vehicle terminal 3 is shown as an example of the information collecting terminal used in the vehicle 2. However, the information collecting terminal does not need to be mounted in the vehicle 2, and a terminal to be brought in and used in the vehicle 2 is used. It may be an information collecting terminal. Examples of the information collection terminal brought into the vehicle 2 for use include a smartphone and a portable navigation device.

<Modification 8>
The vehicle-mounted terminal 3 of the above-described embodiment includes the short-range communication unit 37, and the narrow-range communication unit 37 is used to upload the traffic information. However, a communication unit capable of wide area communication using MVNO may be used as the communication unit for uploading traffic information. Since the MVNO can keep the communication charge low (for example, keep the basic charge) if the communication speed is set to a certain speed or less, the charge burden on the user who uploads the traffic information can be reduced.

  However, since the communication speed is low, even if the collected traffic information is uploaded sequentially, the data volume of traffic information collected per unit time may be larger than the data volume of traffic information uploaded per unit time. is there.

  If the data amount of traffic information collected per unit time becomes larger than the data amount of traffic information uploaded per unit time, the storage capacity of the memory 34 may become full.

  Therefore, even when the traffic information is uploaded by the communication unit capable of wide area communication using the MVNO, it is significant to determine the allocated area based on the free space for traffic information, as in the above embodiment.

  In the case of MVNO, the allocation area may be determined based on the capacity obtained by adding the traffic information to the available capacity of the amount of data that can be uploaded while the vehicle is traveling in the allocation area.

1: Traffic information collection system 2: Vehicle 3: In-vehicle terminal 4: Access point 5: Upload area 6: Wired communication network 7: Data request server 8: Data collection server 31: Traffic information collection unit 32: Position detection unit 33: Route acquisition unit 34: Memory 35: Memory management unit 36: Wide area communication unit 37: Narrow area communication unit 38: Communication control unit 81: Wired communication unit 82: Wide area communication unit 83: Database 84: Database management unit 85: Allocation determination unit 361: Wide-area transmitter 362: Wide-area receiver

Claims (15)

A traffic information collecting system comprising an information collecting terminal (3) used in a vehicle and a server (8) communicating with the information collecting terminal,
The information collecting terminal is
A traffic information collecting unit (31) for collecting traffic information,
A storage unit (34) for storing the traffic information collected by the traffic information collection unit;
A traffic information upload unit (37) for uploading the traffic information stored in the storage unit to the server;
A capacity management unit (35) for detecting a free space for traffic information in the storage unit,
A free space transmission unit (361) for transmitting the free space for traffic information detected by the space management unit to the server,
The server is
A server side communication unit (82) for communicating with the information collecting terminal,
The server-side communication unit determines an allocation area to be allocated as an area in which the information collection terminal collects the traffic information, based on the free space for traffic information received from the information collection terminal, and represents the determined allocation area. An allocation determining unit (85) for transmitting allocation information from the server side communication unit to the information collecting terminal,
The information collecting terminal further comprises
An allocation information receiving unit (362) for receiving the allocation information transmitted from the server,
A position detector (32) for detecting the current position of the vehicle,
The traffic information collecting unit collects the traffic information when the current position of the vehicle is the allocation area represented by the allocation information received by the allocation information receiving unit. In claim 1,
The storage unit is a traffic information collection system in which the storage capacity for storing the traffic information is limited to a part of the total storage capacity of the storage unit. In claim 1 or 2,
Comprising a plurality of information collecting terminals,
The free space transmission unit of the information collecting terminal, together with the free space for traffic information, transmits the current position and route of the vehicle in which the information collecting terminal is used,
The allocation determination unit of the server is the vehicle that has received the free space for traffic information, and if there are a plurality of vehicles that pass through a traffic information collection area that needs to collect the traffic information. Is a traffic information collecting system in which, in order from the vehicle closer to the traffic information collecting area, areas farther in the traveling direction of the vehicle in the traffic information collecting area are the allocation areas. In claim 1 or 2,
Comprising a plurality of information collecting terminals,
The free space transmission unit of the information collecting terminal, together with the free space for traffic information, transmits the current position and route of the vehicle in which the information collecting terminal is used,
The allocation determination unit of the server is the vehicle that has received the free space for traffic information, and if there are a plurality of vehicles that pass through a traffic information collection area that needs to collect the traffic information. Is a traffic information collecting system in which areas having higher priority in the traffic information collecting area are assigned areas in order from the vehicle closer to the traffic information collecting area. In any one of Claims 1-4,
The traffic information upload unit uploads the traffic information stored in the storage unit to the server in a predetermined upload area,
When the free space for traffic information exceeds the uploadable capacity while staying in the upload area, the allocation determining unit determines the allocation area based on the uploadable capacity. Traffic information collection system. In claim 1 or 2,
Comprising a plurality of information collecting terminals,
The traffic information upload unit uploads the traffic information stored in the storage unit to the server in a predetermined upload area,
In the case where the allocation determining unit is the vehicle that has received the free space for traffic information and there are a plurality of vehicles that pass through a traffic information collection area that needs to collect the traffic information, A traffic information collection system that assigns the assigned area to the vehicles that do not have the same period of stay in the upload area. In any one of Claims 1-6,
The traffic information collecting system, wherein the allocation determining unit determines data collection quality of the traffic information collected in the allocation area, in addition to the allocation area, based on the free space for traffic information received from the information collecting terminal. .. In any one of Claims 3, 4, and 6,
The allocation determining unit sets the data amount of all the traffic information collected in the traffic information collecting area to be equal to or less than the total value of the free space for traffic information provided in each of the information collecting terminals to which the allocation area is assigned. The traffic information collecting system for determining the data collection quality of the traffic information collected in the assigned area. In any one of Claims 1-8,
The traffic information collection system, wherein the capacity management unit secures a free space for a required capacity determined based on the allocation information received by the allocation information receiving unit to store the traffic information. In claim 9,
The capacity management unit permits the vehicle, in which the information collecting terminal is used, to use the free capacity until the vehicle enters the allocated area for purposes other than storing the traffic information. Collection system. In any one of Claims 1-10,
The traffic information collection system, wherein the capacity management unit requests the server to reallocate the allocation area when the storage capacity determined based on the allocation information received by the allocation information receiving unit cannot be secured. In any one of Claims 3, 4, 6, and 8,
The traffic information collecting system, wherein the allocation determining unit partially overlaps the allocation area with the allocation area allocated to another information collecting terminal. In any one of Claims 3, 4, 6, and 8,
In addition to the case where the current position of the vehicle is the allocation area represented by the allocation information received by the allocation information receiving unit, the traffic information collecting unit may be a certain section before and after the allocation area. A traffic information collection system that collects the traffic information. A traffic information collecting unit (31) for collecting traffic information,
A storage unit (34) for storing the traffic information collected by the traffic information collection unit;
A traffic information upload unit (37) for uploading the traffic information stored in the storage unit to a server;
A capacity management unit (35) for detecting a free space for traffic information in the storage unit,
A free space transmission unit (361) for transmitting the free space for traffic information detected by the space management unit to the server;
An allocation information receiving unit (362) for receiving allocation information indicating an allocation area allocated as an area for collecting the traffic information based on the free space for traffic information in the server from the server,
A position detector (32) for detecting the current position,
The traffic information collecting unit is an information collecting terminal for collecting the traffic information when the current position is the allocation area represented by the allocation information received by the allocation information receiving unit.   A server (8) for communicating with an information collecting terminal (3) used in a vehicle,
  A server side communication unit (82) that communicates with the information collecting terminal,
  Based on the free space for traffic information in the storage unit included in the information collection terminal received by the server-side communication unit from the information collection terminal, an allocation area to be allocated as an area where the information collection terminal collects traffic information is determined. A server, comprising: an allocation determining unit (85) that transmits allocation information representing the determined allocation area from the server-side communication unit to the information collecting terminal.

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