JP7111024B2 - Information processing device and information processing method - Google Patents

Description

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is used for an information processing apparatus for a vehicle and an information processing method for estimating the position of another vehicle.

In recent years, vehicle-to-vehicle communication has been proposed as a method of obtaining the position of another vehicle. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication enables vehicles to wirelessly transmit and receive information such as each other's position and speed, and to warn drivers to prevent collisions when there is a risk of head-to-head collisions at intersections with poor visibility. do. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication is expected as a communication technology for safe driving support.

On the other hand, in inter-vehicle communication, it has been proposed to prohibit the use of GPS position information received from other vehicles if the information is of low reliability. For example, in Patent Document 1, based on the degree of matching between the estimated position of another terminal estimated based on the GPS position information of the other terminal at time ta and the existing position of the other terminal received at time tb, Determining the reliability of GPS location information received from other terminals is disclosed.

JP 2012-211844 A

By the way, the present inventor found the following problems.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-100000, the reliability is determined based on the degree of matching between the estimated position and the existing position, and the road information is not used. As a result, for example, if the position between two parallel roads is determined with high reliability, the position of the other vehicle cannot be determined to be one of the two parallel roads, and the position of the other vehicle can be accurately estimated. it may not be done. If the vehicle is operated while the position of the other vehicle is not accurately estimated, it is impossible to prevent a head-on collision.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing apparatus and an information processing method that make it possible to estimate the exact position of another vehicle.

In order to solve the above problems, an information processing device of the present disclosure is an information processing device (100) mounted on a host vehicle (400) and communicating with another vehicle (300), wherein the other vehicle receives position information, A receiver (101) that receives traveling direction information and error distribution information based on a distribution function, a map information database (102) that includes road section information indicating road sections, and corresponds to a first threshold in the distribution function. a road section extraction unit (106) for extracting a plurality of road sections included in the error ellipse and matching the traveling direction of the other vehicle specified from the traveling direction information; An other vehicle presence candidate point extracting unit (107) for extracting the other vehicle presence candidate point closest to the position of the other vehicle specified from the information, and the existence probability of each of the other vehicle presence candidate points is extracted from the error distribution information. and an existence probability calculation unit (108) for calculating using the other vehicle existence probability calculation unit (108); and a road section estimation unit (109) for estimating as a section.

In addition, the numbers in parentheses attached to the constituent elements of the invention described in the claims and this paragraph are
It shows the correspondence relationship between the present invention and the embodiments described later, and is not intended to limit the present invention.

According to the information processing device and information processing method of the present invention, it is possible to estimate and utilize the accurate position of another vehicle on the road.

1 is a diagram for explaining a communication system using an information processing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of another vehicle that communicates with the own vehicle equipped with the information processing device according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 1 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of an information processing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. A diagram for explaining road section information included in the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining extraction of a plurality of road links by the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining error distribution information received by the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining extraction of other vehicle existence candidate points by the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining calculation of existence probability by the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining estimation of road links on which other vehicles travel by the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 3 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of an information processing apparatus according to Modification 1 of Embodiment 1 of the present invention; 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the information processing apparatus according to Modification 1 of Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of an information processing apparatus according to Modification 2 of Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining correction of error distribution information by the information processing apparatus according to Modification 2 of Embodiment 1 of the present invention; 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the information processing apparatus according to Modification 2 of Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of an information processing apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the correlation between error distribution information and reference error distribution information by the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining standard error distribution information included in the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention; 3 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
It should be noted that the present invention means the invention described in the scope of claims or the section of Means for Solving the Problems, and is not limited to the following embodiments. In addition, at least the words and phrases in angle brackets mean the words and phrases described in the claims or the means for solving the problems section, and are not limited to the following embodiments.
Structures and methods described in dependent claims, structures and methods of embodiments corresponding to structures and methods described in dependent claims, and structures and methods described only in embodiments without claims are optional configurations and methods in the present invention. In the sense that the configuration and method described in the embodiment when the description of the claims is broader than the description of the embodiment are also examples of the configuration and method of the present invention, in the present invention, any configuration and method be. In either case, the essential features and methods of the invention are described in the independent claims.
The effects described in the embodiments are the effects when having the configuration of the embodiment as an example of the present invention, and are not necessarily the effects of the present invention.
When there are multiple embodiments, the configuration disclosed in each embodiment is not limited to each embodiment, but can be combined across the embodiments. For example, a configuration disclosed in one embodiment may be combined with another embodiment. Further, the configurations disclosed in each of the plurality of embodiments may be collected and combined.
The findings and problems described in the problems to be solved by the invention are not known problems, but were independently found by the inventors, and are facts that affirm the inventive step of the invention together with the configuration and method of the invention.

(Embodiment 1)
1. 1. Communication System Using Information Processing Apparatus First, a communication system using an information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. An information processing device 100 (corresponding to the "information processing device" of the present invention) of the present embodiment is mounted on a vehicle 400 (corresponding to "own vehicle") and communicates with another vehicle 300 (corresponding to "another vehicle"). "Communicates" via a network (not shown).

Here, the “information processing device” may be a packaged semiconductor device or a configuration in which each semiconductor device is connected by wiring on a wiring board. Unit), semiconductor chips, system boards, PCs, and personal digital assistants.
In addition, "vehicle" means a vehicle equipped with the information processing device, such as an automobile with wheels, a motorized bicycle, a light vehicle, a trolleybus, a streetcar, or a vehicle that glides on the ground without wheels. Including objects.
In addition, "other vehicles" are vehicles other than the own vehicle, such as automobiles with wheels, motorized bicycles, light vehicles, trolley buses, streetcars, and objects that slide on the ground without wheels. include.

The communication network may use vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) communication, which is a wireless technology for exchanging data between the vehicle 400 and its surroundings. V2X communication is based on 5.9 GHz dedicated short-range communication and is derived from communication schemes such as wireless LAN such as IEEE802.11 (WiFi) and IEEE802.16. Also, the communication network can use a wireless communication system such as 4G or 5G.

2. Configuration of Other Vehicle Next, the configuration of another vehicle that communicates with the information processing apparatus of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The other vehicle 300 has a GPS (Global Positioning System) device 301 , a sensor section 302 , an error distribution information database 303 , a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 304 and a communication device 305 .

GPS device 301 acquires information on the current position of other vehicle 300 by receiving signals from GPS satellites. For example, the GPS device 301 acquires position information of the other vehicle 300, which is geographic coordinates indicated by longitude and latitude at regular intervals while the other vehicle 300 is traveling. The GPS device 301 may be a differential GPS or an inertial navigation system (INS) in addition to GPS.

The sensor section 302 has a gyro sensor 306 , a steering sensor 307 and a speed sensor 308 . The gyro sensor 306 acquires traveling direction information of the other vehicle 300 by detecting the angle, attitude, angular velocity, or angular acceleration of the other vehicle 300 . Steering sensor 307 similarly acquires traveling direction information of other vehicle 300 by detecting the azimuth angle of the steering wheel of other vehicle 300 . Speed sensor 308 acquires speed information of other vehicle 300 by detecting the speed of other vehicle 300 .

The error distribution information database 303 stores error distribution information. The error distribution information database 303 is composed of a non-volatile storage device (not shown) such as an HDD or flash memory, but may be composed of a volatile storage device such as a RAM.

An example of the error distribution information is a distribution function whose apex is the position of the other vehicle 300 specified by the GPS device 301 . Each embodiment has been described based on the case where the error distribution information is a distribution function. Other examples include information indicating the length and rotation angle of the major and minor axes of the error ellipse obtained when a threshold is set for the distribution function, information indicating the existence probability at each position included in the error ellipse, etc. is mentioned. In either case, distribution functions are assumed. Distribution functions include, but are not limited to, a normal distribution or the like. The error distribution information is desirably updated at the timing when the position information of the other vehicle 300 by the GPS device 301 is updated, but it is not limited to this.

Note that the error distribution information may be generated by adjusting the spread of the distribution function based on the speed information acquired by the speed sensor 308 . Using the speed information to estimate the position of the other vehicle 300 increases the accuracy of measuring the position of the other vehicle 300 in the traveling direction. This narrows the error distribution in the traveling direction of the error distribution information. In this case, as will be described later with reference to FIG. 14, the error ellipse corresponding to the threshold in the distribution function is corrected so that the axis length in the direction of travel is shortened, the direction of travel is the minor axis, and the direction perpendicular to the direction of travel is the long axis. It becomes an elliptical shape that is the axis.

The CPU 304 is connected to the GPS device 301, the sensor unit 302, the error distribution information database 303, and the communication device 305, controls them, and performs various calculations.

The communication device 305 is connected to a communication network and transmits the position information, traveling direction information, and error distribution information read via the CPU 304 .

3. Configuration of Information Processing Apparatus Next, the configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the information processing device 100 mounted on the host vehicle 400. As shown in FIG.

The information processing device 100 has a communication device 101 , a map information database 102 , a CPU 103 , a received information storage section 104 and an application 105 .

The communication device 101 (corresponding to a “receiving unit”) is connected to a communication network, and receives position information, traveling direction information, and error distribution information “based” on distribution functions sent from other vehicles 300 at regular time intervals. receive.

Here, "based on" includes both the case of the distribution function itself and the case of what is premised on the distribution function.

The map information database 102 (corresponding to "map information database") includes road section information indicating road links (corresponding to "road section"). The map information database 102 is composed of a non-volatile storage device (not shown) such as an HDD or flash memory, but may be composed of a volatile storage device such as a RAM.

Here, the "road section" is a road section between intersections and nodes represented by a road network in the digital road map, but a plurality of road sections may be integrated and used.

FIG. 4 shows road section information stored in the map information database 102 . The road section information consists of nodes N1 to N3 indicating intersections and other nodes on the road network representation, and road links L1 to L8 indicating road sections between the nodes together with the direction of travel of the vehicle. be.

The CPU 103 is connected to the communication device 101, the map information database 102, the received information storage unit 104, and the application 105, controls them, and performs various calculations.

The CPU 103 implements the road link extraction unit 106, the other vehicle existence candidate point extraction unit 107, the existence probability calculation unit 108, and the road link estimation unit 109 of this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 5, the road link extracting unit 106 (corresponding to the "road section extracting unit") extracts a threshold (corresponding to the "first threshold") in the distribution function in the road section information provided in the map information database 102. Set the "error ellipse" corresponding to .

Here, the "error ellipse" includes not only an ellipse but also a perfect circle.

FIG. 6 shows error distribution information received from other vehicle 300 and error ellipses corresponding to thresholds in the distribution function. A point α represented by a cross in FIG. 6 indicates the position of the other vehicle 300 specified from the position information. The dotted line surrounding point α in FIG. 6 indicates the error ellipse corresponding to the threshold in the distribution function. The road link extraction unit 106 sets, for example, a value plus or minus 1σ from the average as a threshold in the distribution function. In the distribution function, the percentage of data within plus or minus 1σ from the mean is 68.2%. do.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the road link extraction unit 106 extracts a point α, which is the traveling direction of the other vehicle 300 specified from the traveling direction information, from among the plurality of road links included in the set error ellipse. L2, L4, and L5 are extracted as a plurality of road links that "coincide" in the direction of travel.

Here, "matching" means that the direction of travel of the other vehicle and the direction of travel of the roadway in the road section are the same, and for example, due to the lane change of the other vehicle, the direction of travel of the other vehicle and the vehicle in the road section It also includes the case where the direction of travel deviates within the threshold.

As shown in FIG. 7, the other vehicle presence candidate point extraction unit 107 (corresponding to the "other vehicle presence candidate point extraction unit") is specified from the position information in each of the extracted road links L2, L4, and L5. Other vehicle presence candidate points β1, β2, and β3 closest to the point α, which is the position of the other vehicle 300, are extracted. The other vehicle presence candidate point closest to the point α on each road link is the intersection of the perpendicular line and the road link when a perpendicular line can be drawn from the point α to the road link, such as the road links L4 and L5. On the other hand, like the road link L2, when a perpendicular line cannot be drawn from the point α to the road link, it becomes the end point of the road link.

Existence probability calculation unit 108 (corresponding to "existence probability calculation unit") calculates "existence probabilities" of respective other vehicle existence candidate points β1, β2, and β3 using error distribution information, as shown in FIG. Calculate. In FIG. 8, the sparseness and density of the dots in the area within the dotted line surrounding the point α indicates the high and low existence probabilities. When each position in the error distribution information has a value of existence probability, the value of existence probability may be used for calculating the existence probability. In this embodiment, the existence probabilities at the other vehicle existence candidate points β1, β2, and β3 are, for example, 0.55, 0.70, and 0.85, respectively.

Here, the "existence probability" may be a numerical value indicating the probability that another vehicle exists at a specific position, or may be an evaluation value indicated by a rank corresponding to a certain numerical range of probability.

As shown in FIG. 9, the road link estimating unit 109 (corresponding to the "road section estimating unit") selects the other vehicle existence candidate point β3 having the highest existence probability among the plurality of other vehicle existence candidate points β1, β2, and β3. is estimated as the road link on which the other vehicle 300 travels.

In addition, as shown in FIG. It may be estimated as a position.

The received information storage unit 104 stores the position information, the traveling direction information, and the error distribution information received by the communication device 101 via the CPU 103 . The received information storage unit 104 is composed of a non-volatile memory device (not shown) such as an HDD or flash memory, but may be composed of a volatile memory device such as a RAM.

The application 105 is an application such as ADAS (Advanced driver-assistance systems), auto parking, vehicle condition monitoring, etc., which is executed using information acquired from each sensor and information stored in the received information storage unit 104 .

4. Operations of Information Processing Apparatus Next, these processes will be described as operations of the information processing apparatus 100 with reference to FIG. 10 .
Note that FIG. 10 shows not only the information processing method but also the processing procedure of the program executed by the information processing apparatus. The same applies to the following flowcharts.

In step S10, the communication device 101 receives position information, traveling direction information, and error distribution information based on the distribution function from the communication device 305 of the other vehicle 300 via the communication network.
In step S11, the road link extraction unit 106 uses the road section information provided in the map information database 102 to extract the error distribution information included in the error ellipse corresponding to the threshold in the distribution function of the error distribution information and from the received traveling direction information. A plurality of road links that match the traveling direction of the specified other vehicle 300 are extracted.
In step S12, the other vehicle presence candidate point extraction unit 107 extracts the other vehicle presence candidate point closest to the position of the other vehicle 300 specified from the position information received on each road link.
In step S13, the existence probability calculation unit 108 calculates the existence probability of each other vehicle existence candidate point using the error distribution information.
In step S<b>14 , the road link estimation unit 109 estimates the road link including the candidate point of existence of the other vehicle with the highest existence probability among the candidate points of existence of the other vehicle as the road link on which the other vehicle 300 travels.

5. Summary As described above, according to the first embodiment, noise can be eliminated by estimating road links using error distribution information and calculating existence probabilities. can be estimated and the information of its position can be utilized.

(Modification 1 of Embodiment 1)
Modification 1 of Embodiment 1 is another embodiment of the information processing apparatus 100 and includes processing for relatively evaluating the probability that another vehicle exists.

1. Configuration of Information Processing Apparatus First, the configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
The configuration of the information processing apparatus 100 in Modification 1 of Embodiment 1 is obtained by adding a normalization determination unit 110 to the configuration of Embodiment 1. FIG.

The CPU 103 further "normalizes" the existence probability of the other vehicle existence candidate point having the highest existence probability, and determines whether the numerical value after normalization is "greater than or equal to" a threshold value (corresponding to a "second threshold value"). A normalization determination unit 110 for determining is realized.

Here, "normalization" means conversion into a form suitable for comparing the existence probabilities of other vehicle existence candidate points, and the type of calculation does not matter.
Moreover, "greater than or equal to" includes not only the case of including the threshold but also the case of not including the threshold.

By the same processing as in the first embodiment, the existence probabilities at the three other vehicle existence candidate points are calculated. Consider pattern 2 when the existence probabilities at the existence candidate points are calculated to be 0.15, 0.30 and 0.85, respectively.

In patterns 1 and 2, the existence probability of the other vehicle existence candidate point with the highest existence probability is 0.85. However, in pattern 1, the existence probabilities at the other vehicle existence probability candidate points are also high, 0.55 and 0.70. are low probabilities of 0.15 and 0.30. If the existence probability of the other vehicle existence candidate point with the highest existence probability is significantly higher than the existence probability of the other vehicle existence probability candidate points, the position where the other vehicle 300 exists is the other vehicle with the highest existence probability. Since the probability of being an existence candidate point is relatively high, it is appropriate to set the other vehicle existence candidate point with the highest existence probability as the position where the other vehicle 300 exists. That is, it is appropriate to estimate the road link including the other vehicle existence candidate point with the highest existence probability as the road link on which the other vehicle 300 travels. On the other hand, if the existence probability of the other vehicle existence candidate point with the highest existence probability is not significantly higher than the existence probability of the other vehicle existence probability candidate points, the position where the other vehicle 300 exists has the highest existence probability. Since the probability of being the other vehicle existence candidate point is relatively low, it is not necessarily appropriate to set the other vehicle existence candidate point with the highest existence probability as the position where the other vehicle 300 exists. That is, it is not necessarily appropriate to estimate the road link including the other vehicle existence candidate point with the highest existence probability as the road link on which the other vehicle 300 travels.

Therefore, normalization is performed in order to compare the existence probability of the other vehicle existence candidate point with the highest existence probability and the existence probabilities at the other vehicle existence probability candidate points. When the existence probability of the other vehicle existence candidate point with the highest existence probability in pattern 1 is normalized, it becomes 0.85/(0.55+0.70+0.85)×100=40. If the existence probability of the other vehicle existence candidate point with the highest existence probability in pattern 2 is normalized, it becomes 0.85/(0.15+0.30+0.85)×100=65.

For example, the normalization determination unit 110 sets a threshold value of 50, determines that the normalized numerical value of 40 is lower than the threshold value of 50 in pattern 1, and determines that the normalized numerical value of 65 is higher than the threshold value of 50 in pattern 2. I judge.

In the case of pattern 2 in which the numerical value after normalization is equal to or greater than the threshold, the road link estimation unit 109 estimates the road section including the other vehicle presence candidate point with the highest existence probability as the road section on which the other vehicle travels.

2. Operations of Information Processing Apparatus Next, these processes will be described as operations of the information processing apparatus 100 with reference to FIG. 12 .
Steps S10 to S13 are the same as the operations of the information processing apparatus 100 of the first embodiment.
In step S15, the normalization determination unit 110 normalizes the existence probability of the other vehicle existence candidate point with the highest existence probability, and judges whether or not the numerical value after normalization is equal to or greater than the threshold.
If the normalization determination unit determines that the normalized numerical value is equal to or greater than the threshold value, in step S14, the road link estimation unit 109 selects the road section including the other vehicle presence candidate point with the highest presence probability as the other vehicle 300. is estimated as the road section on which On the other hand, if it is not determined that the normalized numerical value is greater than or equal to the threshold, the information processing apparatus 100 terminates the operation.

3. Summary As described above, according to Modification 1 of Embodiment 1, by estimating the road link on which the other vehicle 300 travels only when the probability of the other vehicle existence candidate point with the highest existence probability is relatively high, It is possible to accurately estimate the position of the other vehicle 300 on the road and utilize the information on the position.

(Modification 2 of Embodiment 1)
Modification 2 of Embodiment 1 is another embodiment of the information processing apparatus 100 and includes processing for correcting error distribution information based on speed information.

1. Configuration of Information Processing Apparatus First, the configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
The configuration of the information processing apparatus 100 in Modification 2 of Embodiment 1 is obtained by adding the configuration of error distribution information correction unit 111 to the configuration of Embodiment 1. FIG.

The communication device 101 receives position information, traveling direction information, and error distribution information as well as “speed information” from the other vehicle 300 .

Here, "velocity information" includes acceleration in addition to velocity.

The CPU 103 further implements an error distribution information correction unit 111 that corrects the axial length of the error ellipse in the traveling direction “based on” the speed information received from the other vehicle 300 .

Here, "based on" is sufficient if speed information is used.

Using the speed information to estimate the position of the other vehicle 300 increases the accuracy of measuring the position of the other vehicle 300 in the traveling direction. This narrows the error distribution in the traveling direction of the error distribution information. In this case, the error ellipse corresponding to the threshold value in the distribution function is modified so that the axial length in the direction of travel is shortened, and as shown in FIG. It becomes elliptical.

2. Operations of Information Processing Apparatus Next, these processes will be described as operations of the information processing apparatus 100 with reference to FIG. 15 .
Steps S11 to S14 are the same as the operations of the information processing apparatus 100 of the first embodiment.
In step S<b>10 , the communication device 101 receives speed information in addition to position information, traveling direction information, and error distribution information from the other vehicle 300 .
In step S<b>16 , the error distribution information correction unit 111 corrects the axial length of the error ellipse in the traveling direction based on the speed information received from the other vehicle 300 .

3. Summary As described above, according to Modified Example 2 of Embodiment 1, the road links to be extracted can be limited by correcting the axial length of the error ellipse in the traveling direction, so that the other vehicle 300 can travel with higher accuracy. A road link can be estimated, the position of the other vehicle 300 on the road can be accurately estimated, and the information of the position can be utilized.

(Embodiment 2)
Embodiment 2 is another embodiment of the information processing apparatus 100 and includes processing for replacing error distribution information with standard error distribution information.

The communication system according to the second embodiment uses the information processing device 100 in FIG. 1 by replacing it with the information processing device 200 . Also, the configuration of the other vehicle 300 in the second embodiment is the same as in the first embodiment.

1. Configuration of Information Processing Apparatus The configuration of the information processing apparatus according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 16 shows the configuration of the information processing device 200 mounted on the host vehicle 400. As shown in FIG.

The information processing device 200 has a communication device 101 , a map information database 102 , a GPS device 201 , a reference error distribution information database 202 , a CPU 203 , a standard error distribution information database 205 , a received information storage unit 104 and an application 105 . In the information processing apparatus 200, the configurations assigned the same numbers as those in the information processing apparatus 100 have the same functions, and thus description thereof is omitted.

The GPS device 201 acquires information on the current position of the own vehicle 400 by receiving signals from GPS satellites. For example, the GPS device 201 acquires position information of the own vehicle 400, which is geographic coordinates indicated by longitude and latitude at regular intervals while the own vehicle 400 is traveling. The GPS device 201 may be a GPS, a differential GPS, or an inertial navigation system (INS).

The reference error distribution information database 202 (corresponding to a "reference error distribution information storage unit") stores reference error distribution information "collected in advance" at the position indicated by the position information. The reference error distribution information database 202 is composed of a non-volatile storage device (not shown) such as an HDD or flash memory, but may be composed of a volatile storage device such as a RAM.

Here, "collected in advance" includes not only the case of being collected in the own vehicle but also the case of being collected in another vehicle.

An example of the reference error distribution information is error distribution information on roads on which the vehicle 400 has traveled in the past. However, the error distribution information is not limited to the error distribution information generated/collected by the host vehicle 400 itself, and may be, for example, error distribution information generated/collected by a probe vehicle for the purpose of collecting information. When self-vehicle 400 generates and collects them, they are stored in reference error distribution information database 202 at the same time. When generated and collected by the probe vehicle, it is temporarily stored in a server or the like. Then, the error distribution information stored in the server or the like is downloaded to the reference error distribution information database 202 . The reference error distribution information is associated with the location information of the point where the reference error distribution information was generated/collected.

The CPU 203 implements the correlation determination unit 204 , the road link extraction unit 106 , the other vehicle existence candidate point extraction unit 107 , the existence probability calculation unit 108 , and the road link estimation unit 109 .

Correlation determining section 204 (corresponding to "correlation determining section") sets the correlation between the error distribution information received from other vehicle 300 and the reference error distribution information possessed by host vehicle 400 to a threshold (corresponding to "third threshold") " or less".

Here, "less than or equal to" includes not only the case of including the threshold but also the case of not including the threshold.

The correlation between the error distribution information and the reference error distribution information can be calculated, for example, by finding the covariance between the error distribution information and the reference error distribution information. In FIG. 17, the horizontal axis represents the positions of the own vehicle 400 and the other vehicle 300 indicated by the position information acquired by the GPS device 301 and the GPS device 201, and the vertical axis represents the distribution of the error distribution information and the reference error distribution information. Fig. 3 shows a graph of the area of the error ellipse corresponding to the 1σ interval in the function; When the covariance between the error distribution information and the reference error distribution information is obtained, the correlation of the covariance becomes small in the section from the point P1 to the point P2. In such a section where the covariance correlation is small, the other vehicle 300 is surrounded by buildings and multipath occurs, causing an error in the position information acquired by the GPS device 301. Therefore, the accuracy of the error distribution information is low. It is thought that Therefore, a covariance threshold is provided for recognizing such a section, and it is determined whether or not the covariance is equal to or less than the threshold.

When the correlation determination unit 204 determines that the correlation is equal to or less than the threshold, the road link extraction unit 106 and the existence probability calculation unit 108 store the error distribution information in the standard error distribution information database 205 provided in advance in the host vehicle 400. The standard error distribution information is changed to the standard error distribution information, the road links are extracted, and the existence probability is calculated.

The standard error distribution information database 205 stores standard error distribution information. The standard error distribution information database 205 is composed of a non-volatile storage device (not shown) such as an HDD or flash memory, but may be composed of a volatile storage device such as a RAM.

FIG. 18 shows an example of standard error distribution information that the own vehicle 400 has in advance. A point α represented by a cross in FIG. 18 indicates the position of the other vehicle 300 specified from the position information. A dotted line surrounding point α in FIG. 18 indicates an error ellipse corresponding to the set value in the distribution function. The road link extraction unit 106 and the existence probability calculation unit 108 use a distribution function in which the set value in the distribution function is set to, for example, 5 m, and plus or minus 1σ is fixed at 5 m.

2. Operations of Information Processing Apparatus Next, these processes will be described as operations of the information processing apparatus 200 with reference to FIG. 19 .
In step S20, the communication device 101 receives position information, traveling direction information, and error distribution information based on the distribution function from the communication device 305 of the other vehicle 300 via the communication network.
In step S21, the correlation determination unit 204 determines whether the correlation between the error distribution information received from other vehicles and the reference error distribution information stored in the reference error distribution information database 202 is equal to or less than a threshold. When the correlation determination unit 204 determines that the correlation is equal to or less than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step S22, then proceeds to step S23, step S24, and step S28. On the other hand, if it is determined that the correlation is not equal to or less than the threshold, the process proceeds to step S25, and then proceeds to step S28 via steps S26 and S27.
Steps S22 to S24 are the same as steps S11 to S13 of the first embodiment.
In step S25, the road link extraction unit 106 uses the road section information provided in the map information database 102 to extract the received traveling direction information included in the error ellipse corresponding to the threshold in the distribution function of the standard error distribution information. A plurality of road links matching the traveling direction of the other vehicle 300 specified from are extracted.
In step S26, the other vehicle presence candidate point extraction unit 107 extracts the other vehicle presence candidate point closest to the position of the other vehicle 300 specified from the position information received on each road link.
In step S27, the existence probability calculation unit 108 calculates the existence probability of each other vehicle existence candidate point using the standard error distribution information.
In step S28, the road link estimation unit 109 estimates, as a road link on which the other vehicle 300 travels, the road link including the other vehicle existence candidate point with the highest existence probability among the plurality of other vehicle existence candidate points.

3. Summary As described above, according to the second embodiment, even if the accuracy of the error distribution information is reduced, the standard error distribution information provided in the own vehicle 400 is used to estimate the road link on which the other vehicle 300 travels. By doing so, the position of the other vehicle 300 on the road can be accurately estimated, and the information of the position can be utilized.

(Summary)
The features of the information processing apparatus according to each embodiment of the present invention have been described above.

Since the terms used in each embodiment are examples, they may be replaced with synonymous terms or terms including synonymous functions.

The block diagrams used in the description of the embodiments classify and organize the configuration of the information processing apparatus and the like for each function. These functional blocks are realized by any combination of hardware or software. Moreover, such a block diagram can also be understood as a disclosure of the method invention, since it shows the function.

The order of the functional blocks that can be grasped as the processing, flow, and method described in each embodiment may be changed as long as there is no restriction such as that one step uses the result of another step.

The terms “first” and “second” used in each embodiment and the present invention are used to distinguish two or more configurations and methods of the same kind, and do not limit the order or superiority.

In addition, the present invention can be realized not only by dedicated hardware having the configuration and functions described in each embodiment, but also by recording a program for realizing the present invention recorded on a recording medium such as a memory or a hard disk, and It can also be implemented in combination with general-purpose hardware having a dedicated or general-purpose CPU and memory, etc., capable of execution.

Programs stored in dedicated or general-purpose hardware recording media (external storage devices (hard disk, USB memory, CD/BD, etc.), internal storage devices (RAM, ROM, etc.)) It is also possible to provide dedicated or general-purpose hardware from a server via a communication line without using a medium. This allows us to always provide the latest features through program upgrades.

Although the information processing apparatus of the present invention has been mainly described as an information processing apparatus for vehicles, it can be applied to general moving bodies such as motorcycles, motorized bicycles, railroads, ships, and airplanes.

400 host vehicle 300 other vehicle 100 information processing device 101 communication device 102 map information database 106 road link extraction unit 107 other vehicle existence candidate point extraction unit 108 existence probability calculation unit 109 road link estimation unit

Claims (8)

An information processing device (100) mounted on an own vehicle (400) and communicating with another vehicle (300),
a receiving unit (101) for receiving position information, traveling direction information, and error distribution information based on a distribution function from the other vehicle;
a map information database (102) comprising road segment information indicating road segments;
A road section extraction unit (106) for extracting a plurality of road sections included in an error ellipse corresponding to a first threshold value in the distribution function and matching the traveling direction of the other vehicle specified from the traveling direction information. When,
an other vehicle presence candidate point extraction unit (107) for extracting the other vehicle presence candidate point closest to the position of the other vehicle specified from the position information in each of the road sections;
an existence probability calculation unit (108) for calculating the existence probability of each of the other vehicle existence candidate points using the error distribution information;
a road section estimation unit (109) for estimating, as the road section on which the other vehicle travels, the road section including the other vehicle presence candidate point having the highest existence probability among the plurality of the other vehicle presence candidate points;
Information processing device having The road section estimation unit further estimates the other vehicle presence candidate point having the highest existence probability among the plurality of other vehicle presence candidate points as the position of the other vehicle.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The information processing device further normalizes the existence probability of the other vehicle existence candidate point having the highest existence probability, and determines whether or not the normalized numerical value is equal to or greater than a second threshold. has a conversion determination unit (110),
When the normalization determining unit determines that the normalized numerical value is equal to or greater than the second threshold value, the road section estimating unit determines that the road segment including the other vehicle existence candidate point with the highest existence probability estimating the section as the road section on which the other vehicle travels;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The receiving unit further receives speed information from the other vehicle,
The information processing device further comprises an error distribution information correction unit (111) that corrects the axial length of the error ellipse in the traveling direction based on the speed information.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. the error distribution information is generated by the other vehicle based on speed information acquired by the other vehicle;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The information processing device further includes a reference error distribution information storage unit that stores reference error distribution information collected in advance at the position indicated by the position information;
a correlation determination unit (204) that determines whether the correlation between the error distribution information and the reference error distribution information is equal to or less than a third threshold;
When the correlation determination unit determines that the correlation is equal to or less than the third threshold value, the road section extraction unit and the existence probability calculation unit use the error distribution information as standard error distribution changing to information, extracting the road section, and calculating the existence probability;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. An information processing method carried out by an information processing device mounted on one's own vehicle and communicating with another vehicle,
receiving position information, traveling direction information, and error distribution information based on a distribution function from the other vehicle (S10);
extracting a plurality of road sections included in the error ellipse corresponding to the first threshold value in the distribution function and matching the traveling direction of the other vehicle specified from the traveling direction information (S11);
extracting the other vehicle presence candidate point closest to the position of the other vehicle specified from the position information in each of the road sections (S12);
calculating the existence probability of each of the other vehicle existence candidate points using the error distribution information (S13);
estimating the road section including the other vehicle presence candidate point with the highest existence probability among the plurality of the other vehicle presence candidate points as the road section on which the other vehicle travels (S14);
Information processing methods. A program that is executed by an information processing device that is mounted on the own vehicle and communicates with other vehicles,
receiving position information, traveling direction information, and error distribution information based on a distribution function from the other vehicle (S10);
extracting a plurality of road sections included in the error ellipse corresponding to the first threshold value in the distribution function and matching the traveling direction of the other vehicle specified from the traveling direction information (S11);
extracting the other vehicle presence candidate point closest to the position of the other vehicle specified from the position information in each of the road sections (S12);
calculating the existence probability of each of the other vehicle existence candidate points using the error distribution information (S13);
estimating the road section including the other vehicle presence candidate point with the highest existence probability among the plurality of the other vehicle presence candidate points as the road section on which the other vehicle travels (S14);
program.

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