JPH09223295A - Road traffic information providing method and road traffic information providing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the omission of information transmission by calculating the time required for the editing and distribution of road traffic information and the predicted time until a registered vehicle during traveling reaches a downstream beacon to be a timing judgement object, selecting the downstream beacon and editing and distributing the road traffic information from the downstream beacon. SOLUTION: A timing judgement processing part 262 judges whether or not the plural downstream beacons extracted in a route/beacon extraction processing part 261 are appropriate as the beacons for providing provision information to the vehicle to the vehicle. That is, whether or not the timings of the predicted time which appears to be elapsed until the registered vehicle during traveling reaches the downstream beacon to be the timing judgement object and editing and distribution required time required until the distribution of the provision information to the vehicle to the downstream beacon is completed match is judged (262-1), and when they match, the downstream beacon is selected (262-2) and the provision information edited from the road traffic information is distributed from the downstream beacon.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for providing road traffic information, and more particularly, to bidirectional communication between a beacon installed on the road and an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle to meet the demands of individual drivers. Related to a system for providing road traffic information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a system for providing a driver with road traffic information that changes from time to time, a system using bidirectional communication between a beacon installed on the road and an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle has been attempted. These systems transmit the driver's request from the in-vehicle device to the beacon, edit the provided information according to the driver's request in the center processing device, etc., and transmit it from the beacon to the in-vehicle device. It provides the road traffic information according to the request of.

In the above system, when the transmission / reception of data including the editing process is completed within a very short time when the vehicle passes through the communication range of the beacon, the load on each process increases and the amount of data is limited. The advantage of the two-way communication of providing more diverse information according to the driver's individual requirements will be lost. Therefore, the beacon that transmits the information to be provided to the vehicle-mounted device must be a beacon downstream of the beacon that receives the information request from the vehicle in the traveling direction of the vehicle. By the way, JP-A-2-
In the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2496, a method of providing route guidance information by bidirectional communication is proposed. Among them, in the movement prediction of the vehicle with respect to a beacon that receives a request for information from the vehicle, By providing the information from the beacon downstream of the traveling direction, there is a method of giving the processing time in the center processing device a margin.

That is, the prior art represented by the above publication is
A driver who drives a vehicle notifies the center processing device of a request for information by an in-vehicle device, the center processing device edits the information in response to the request, and a beacon downstream of the vehicle in which the in-vehicle device is mounted in the traveling direction. The edited information is distributed to the beacon, the beacon stores the distributed information in the memory, and the beacon is transmitted to the vehicle when the vehicle passes the communication range of the beacon.

[0005]

However, the above-mentioned prior art has not solved the problem of which beacon should be selected as the downstream beacon that provides information to the vehicle. For example, assuming that one beacon is selected, if the average traveling speed of the vehicle in the section from the beacon that received the information request from the vehicle to the selected downstream beacon is fast, the beacon selected by that vehicle The time required to reach the vehicle is shortened, and in some cases, as shown in FIG. 9A, the information may not be provided to the vehicle in time.

On the other hand, even if the average traveling speed of the vehicle is slow due to traffic congestion in the section, as shown in FIG. 9 (b),
It may take time for the vehicle to reach the selected beacon, and the information stored in the memory of the beacon may become outdated. Further, in order to compensate the uncertainty of provision of the provision information to the vehicle as described above, when provision information is provided from a large number of downstream beacons in vehicle movement prediction, as shown in FIG. As the amount of data processed and the amount of data transmitted increase, the processing load and line load of the system also increase, leading to an increase in the size of the system.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide efficient and reliable information by selecting a small number of appropriate beacons according to traffic conditions as downstream beacons that provide information to vehicles. Is to provide a road traffic information providing system.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A method of providing road traffic information for achieving the above object is to obtain an edit request time when a driver of a vehicle that has registered a predetermined matter requests edit, and calculate from the edit request time. , A required time Th required to edit and distribute road traffic information and an estimated time Ti until the registered vehicle that is running reaches a downstream beacon that is a timing determination target.
Is calculated, based on the time Th and the time Ti, the timing determination for surely and efficiently delivering to the registered vehicle that is traveling is executed, and the downstream beacon satisfying the determination is selected and selected. Provision information edited from the road traffic information is delivered from the downstream beacon in response to the editing request.

Another feature of the present invention is to provide an on-vehicle device, a beacon, and a center processing device for executing editing and distribution of road traffic information obtained from a road traffic information source, and between the on-vehicle device and the beacon. In a road traffic information providing system that uses bi-directional communication to deliver the provided information edited by the center processing device to the driver, the driver of the vehicle that has registered certain items requests that the road traffic information be edited. From the means for obtaining the request time tq, the edit request time tq, the predetermined item, and the road traffic information, the time Th required for the editing and distribution to be executed and the registered vehicle that is running are the timing determination targets. A means for calculating a predicted time Ti until the arrival of the downstream beacon i, and a reliable and efficient distribution of the provided information to the running registered vehicle based on the time Th and the time Ti. Executing the timing determination for, and means for selecting a downstream beacon satisfying the determination, from selected the the downstream beacon providing the means for distributing the provided information.

Further, other features include an on-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle, a beacon installed on the road, a road traffic information source containing road traffic information, and an editing request from a driver who drives the vehicle. A center processing device that edits information according to the information based on the road traffic information and distributes the edited provision information, and the in-vehicle device relays the beacon when the vehicle passes through the communication range of the beacon. The edit request to the center processing device, and the center processing device
Road traffic information that distributes the provided information via a downstream beacon located downstream of the beacon relaying the edit request, and provides information by using bidirectional communication between the vehicle-mounted device and the beacon. In the providing system,
The in-vehicle device includes a destination registration unit that transmits a vehicle identification number and destination information about a traveling destination as destination registration information, and the same vehicle identification number and the editing request registered in the destination registration unit. Edit requesting means for transmitting edit requesting information, the beacon relays the destination registration information to the center processing apparatus, and the edit requesting information to the center processing apparatus. At this time, an edit request relay means for relaying the edit request additional information in which the beacon position specifying information for specifying the beacon position of the beacon itself involved in the relay and the relay time for relaying the edit request information are added to the edit request information. And the center processing device has the vehicle identification number registered from the vehicle identification number, the destination information, and the beacon position specifying information. A route / beacon extraction processing unit that predicts a moving route of the vehicle and extracts the downstream beacon located on the predicted moving route, the beacon position specifying information and the relay time included in the received edit request additional information. Timing determination processing means for determining whether the time at which the center processing device completes editing and distribution of the provided information and the predicted time at which the vehicle reaches the extracted downstream beacon match based on Distribute the provision information to the timing determination beacon selection unit configured to select the timing-extracted downstream beacon as a beacon to distribute the provision information, and the beacon selected by the timing determination beacon selection unit. And the in-vehicle device has the editing request by the editing requesting means. When the vehicle that has performed passes through the beacon communication range of the extracted downstream beacon, the vehicle has a transmission request means for transmitting a transmission request signal requesting transmission of the provided information, and the beacon is distributed from the center processing device. There is also a provision information transmitting means for extracting the provision information stored in the memory from the memory and transmitting the provision information to the vehicle when the transmission request signal is received.

The present invention provides a road traffic information providing system capable of providing efficient and reliable information.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a road traffic information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic configuration of a road traffic information providing system using two-way communication between a vehicle-mounted device and a beacon to which the present invention is applied.
In FIG. 1, the road traffic information providing system includes a road traffic information source 100, a center processing device 200, a plurality of beacons 300 installed on a road, and an in-vehicle device 400 installed in each vehicle. Composed of. The center processing device 200 has one upper device (central processing device) and a plurality of lower devices (roadside processing devices), but is not limited to this type.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration and data flow of the road traffic information providing system shown in FIG. The features of the present invention of the road traffic information providing system shown in FIG. 2 are as follows. The vehicle (driver of the vehicle) receiving the road traffic information service uses the vehicle-mounted device 400 mounted on the vehicle to beacon the vehicle identification number of the vehicle and the destination information regarding the traveling destination in advance as the destination registration information. It is assumed that 300 is relayed and registered in the center processing device 200 in advance. Then, when the beacon 300 relays the edit request information from the in-vehicle device 400 to the center processing device 200, the relay relays the beacon position specifying information for specifying the beacon position of the beacon itself involved in the relay and the edit request information. Time and time are added to the edit request information.

Further, the center processing unit 200 selects the appropriate beacon according to the traffic condition and the edit processing means 250 for editing the provided information corresponding to the request content of the edit request information received from the vehicle via the beacon 300. The timing determination beacon selection means 260 and the distribution processing means 280 for distributing the provided information are provided to provide efficient and reliable road traffic information.

In particular, the timing determination beacon selecting means 260 is characterized in that the moving route of the vehicle is predicted and extracted from the destination information, the vehicle identification number, and the beacon position specifying information, and the beacon position specifying information and the relay are provided. Based on the time
Regarding the extracted beacon on the downstream side of the traveling direction of the vehicle on the moving route, it is determined whether the time when the vehicle reaches the downstream beacon and the time when the edited provision information is delivered to the beacon are in time. If they match, the beacon is selected as a beacon to which the additional information should be distributed.

That is, as shown in FIG. 10, when the average traveling speed of the vehicle is high, a downstream beacon located on the downstream side is selected (illustration in FIG. 10A), and when it is slow, the upstream beacon is selected. Select the downstream beacon on the side (Fig. 10
As shown in (b), a small number of beacons that are determined to reliably deliver the provided information from a large number of downstream beacons in consideration of traffic conditions and when they are provided to the vehicle (vehicle-mounted device) There is a point to narrow down the selection.

The road traffic information providing method and the road traffic information providing system of the present invention will be described in detail below. In this embodiment, the vehicle that receives the service of the system registers the information about the traveling destination of the vehicle in the center processing device 200 in advance so that when the vehicle actually requests the provision of road traffic information, It is not necessary to add information about the ground and transmit it every time. First, the in-vehicle device 400
It has a destination information list table 430 as a list table of destinations, desired transit points, entrance ICs, etc. that can be set by the driver. Note that the destination information list table 430 is stored in an IC card or the like which is included in the in-vehicle device 400 as an internal table, and is stored in the reading slot of the in-vehicle device 400.
A method that can be referred to by inserting a C card or the like is possible. Next, by the destination information selection means 420, the destination / desired waypoint / entrance IC is selected from the destination information list table 430.
(When the driver considers the use of expressways) is selected as the destination information, and the destination registration means 410 transmits it to the beacon 300 as the destination registration information together with the vehicle identification number for distinguishing the vehicles. , The registration procedure is executed.
The destination information selection means 420 and the destination registration means 410 are
The driver can set by operating the switch etc. of the in-vehicle device.
The transmission method is used. Further, the beacon 300 transmits the received destination registration information to the center processing device 200 by the registration information relay means 310. Then, the center processing device 200
Registers the received destination registration information in the registration data table 220 by the registration information storage means 210.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a table image of the registration data table of FIG. The registration data table 220 of FIG. 3 stores data such as destinations, desired transit points, and entrance ICs in a coded form. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of the registration information storage means of FIG. The process of the registration information storage means 210 starts the process of step 211 of receiving the registration information by receiving the registration information such as the destination from the vehicle-mounted device 400 as an activation factor. Step 212 of the determination process
In step 21, it is determined whether or not the destination information of the vehicle is already registered.
4. If necessary, rewrite the contents of the registration information such as the destination. If not registered, it is newly registered in the registration data table 220 in step 213 of new registration.

The vehicle whose destination information has been registered in the center processing device 200 by the destination registration means 410 is an in-vehicle device 400.
By the edit request means 440 of, the edit request information consisting of the vehicle identification number and the edit request content (the content that the driver requests to provide and specifies the type of road traffic information that the center processing device 200 is requested to edit), By relaying the beacon 300 and transmitting it to the center processing device 200, it is possible to request the center processing device 200 to edit the road traffic information specified by the edit request content. In this embodiment, the edit request content is
It has the same meaning as the information identification number (hereinafter referred to as request ID) of the information requested by the driver.

Regarding the edit requesting means 440, the in-vehicle device has a request content list table 460 as a list table of request IDs of information that the driver can request to provide, and the in-vehicle device has a request content setting device such as a switch included in the in-vehicle device. A method is adopted in which the driver selects one or more request IDs requested to be provided by the driver from the request content list table 460 by using 450 and transmits the request ID together with the vehicle identification number to the beacon 300 as edit request information. The request content list table 460 may be a method built in the in-vehicle apparatus 300 or a method that is stored in an IC card or the like and can be referred to by inserting it in a slot of the in-vehicle apparatus.

On the other hand, the vehicle that has made an edit request by the edit requesting means 440 of the vehicle-mounted device 400 is a beacon downstream of the traveling direction so that the vehicle itself that requested the information requested to edit can reliably receive the beacon downstream of the traveling direction. When passing through, the transmission requesting means 470 can transmit a transmission request signal including the vehicle identification number of the requested vehicle itself.

Further, when the vehicle-mounted device 400 performs each operation processing of the destination registration means 410, the edit requesting means 440, and the transmission requesting means 470, whether the vehicle is “in the range where beacons can be communicated” is determined. It has beacon detection means 480 for detecting. As the beacon detection means 480, a method in which a magnetic marker or the like is embedded on the road before the communication range of the beacon and the beacon detection means 480 detects the magnetic marker or the like, and each beacon 3
A method in which 00 constantly emits a signal and detection is performed from the constant signal can be considered.

When the edit request relay means 320 relays the edit request information to the center processing unit 200, the beacon 300 includes beacon position specifying information for specifying the beacon position of the beacon as identification information of the beacon involved in the relay. , Edit request additional information obtained by adding the relay time at which the edit request information is relayed to the edit request information to the center processing device 200. Note that the beacon position identification information may be a beacon identification number or beacon code of the beacon, a code that specifies an actual position, or the like.

The center processing device 200 of this embodiment is a vehicle-mounted device 4
The edit request additional information transmitted from 00 through the beacon 300 is stored and accumulated in the memory 270, and is stored in the memory 2 at regular intervals.
This edit request additional information is extracted from 70. Then, based on the extracted edit request additional information, the road traffic information sent from the road traffic information source 100, the registration data from the registration data table 220, and the data of the editing constant 230 included in the center processing device 200. Then, the editing / delivery processing means 240 including the editing processing means 250, the timing determination beacon selection means 260, and the distribution processing means 280 executes from the editing of information to the distribution. It should be noted that in the present embodiment, the processing of the edit distribution processing means 240 is performed at regular intervals of extracting the edit request additional information from the memory 270. In addition, the road traffic information source 100
For this, the technology used in the existing road traffic information collecting system may be used, or the information provided by the system installed in this system may be used.

In the edit processing means 250, the edit of the provided information corresponding to the content of the edit request contained in the edit request additional information fetched from the memory 270 is executed. Also,
In the timing determination beacon selection means 260, a beacon to which the provision information is distributed in order to provide the provision information edited by the editing processing means 250 to the in-vehicle device mounted on the vehicle having the vehicle identification number for each vehicle identification number. Is selected. Then, the distribution processing means 280 distributes the provided information edited by the editing processing means 250 to the beacon selected by the timing determination beacon selection means 260.

Next, the timing judgment beacon selection means 26
0 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG.
It is a flow chart which shows processing operation of timing judgment beacon selection means of one example by the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a method of determination and selection by the timing determination beacon selection means of FIG. The relationship between vehicle movement and determination and selection is shown. FIG. 7 is a time chart showing the operation of the timing judgment beacon selection means of FIG. FIG.
It is a figure which shows the image of the determination process content of the timing determination beacon selection means of FIG. The processing image of the timing determination processing part 262 of FIG. 5 is shown.

Timing determination beacon selection means 26 of FIG.
In the route / beacon extraction processing unit 261 of 0, one or more movement routes of the target vehicle are predicted and extracted (step 261-1), and one or more beacons in the traveling direction downstream of the vehicle on the extracted movement route are extracted. (Step 261-2). Here, in step 261-1, the editing constant 230 of the center processing unit 200 is
Route data 23 that associates destinations and routes owned by
The subsequent travel route of the vehicle is extracted from 1, the registration data table 220, and the beacon position specifying information included in the edit request additional information extracted from the memory 270.

The vehicle X will be described with reference to the example of FIG.
When the editing request is made by the beacon A, the route for the vehicle A passing through the beacon A to reach the destination Y with reference to the beacon A whose position is specified [beacon A-beacon B-beacon C- Beacon D-Destination Y] is extracted. Then, as beacons located downstream of the beacon A on the extracted route, the beacons B, C, D of the respective downstreams.
Is extracted. In the example of FIG. 6, the last 3 from beacon A
Although one beacon is extracted, the number of beacons to be extracted can be arbitrarily set by the operator of this system as described later.

Next, in the timing determination processing unit 262 of FIG. 5, which downstream beacon (which of the beacons B, C, D in the example of FIG. 6) extracted by the route / beacon extraction processing unit 261 is It is determined whether the information provided to the vehicle is appropriate as a beacon to be provided to the vehicle.
That is, the average travel time Ti (in the example of FIG. 6, T) that is considered to be elapsed until the vehicle reaches the beacon.
_{Beacon B} , T _{beacon C} , T _{beacon D} , i = B, C, D) and the edit distribution required time Th (Fig. 6, shown in Fig. 6) required to complete distribution of the provided information to the vehicle to the beacon. (Time shown in FIG. 7) It is determined whether the timing is correct (step 262-1), and if the timing is correct, the downstream beacon having the correct timing is provided to the in-vehicle device of the vehicle that has requested the information. Select as the beacon to be transmitted (Step 2
62-2).

In the process of step 262-1, the determination by the following equations (1) and (2) is performed. Ti-αi> Th (Equation 1) and β> Ti-Th (Equation 2) where αi, β: correction value, β, αi ≧ 0.
i: Subscript that identifies the downstream beacon that is the determination target. Further, from (Equation 1) and (Equation 2), β> αi.

The average travel time Ti is stored in the road traffic information source 100 on the basis of the beacon position specifying information (information specifying the beacon position that has transmitted the edit request) included in the edit request additional information extracted from the memory 270. It is calculated using the average travel time of the road traffic information. That is,
This is because the average travel time varies depending on the road where the beacon is installed. Also, the edit delivery required time Th is the processing performance of the center processing device 200 or the center processing device.
It is the time determined by the performance of communication equipment between 200 and beacon 300.

Here, Ti, Th and correction values αi, β will be supplementarily described. Ti: The time that is expected to be required for the vehicle to reach the downstream beacon i that is the determination target after the in-vehicle device transmits an edit request, and the section (the edit request from the in-vehicle device is sent to the center). Beacons relayed to facility processing equipment
It is an average travel time from (a beacon whose position is specified) to a plurality of downstream beacons i which are timing determination targets). Th: Time required for edit distribution required from the transmission of the edit request from the in-vehicle device to the edit performed by the center equipment processing device and the completion of the distribution of the provided information to the downstream beacon that is the timing determination target. Is a value determined by the performance of the devices and the like that configure the system and the data transmission path. It should be noted that the time for the beacon to transmit the provided information by radio waves is extremely short, and therefore it can be said that the time required for editing and distribution is almost the same as the total time required for providing the information from the beacon.

Correction values αi, β: In the equation (1), the traveling vehicle arrives at the downstream beacon i, which is the timing judgment target, to some extent earlier or later than the average travel time Ti. In consideration of the case, it is determined whether the edit delivery required time Th is in time with the arrival time when the vehicle arrives early so as to be able to cope with these from the case where the vehicle arrives earlier to the case where the vehicle arrives later. This is because if it arrives early, it will arrive in time after that (eg, if it arrives late).

Here, the correction value αi is a value for setting a permissible range of the speed in the case of arriving early (how long before the arrival of the edit distribution time Th is acceptable until the arrival of the edit is good). . In the formula (2), the edit delivery time T
After the delivery of the provided information to the downstream beacon is completed at h,
Is the elapsed time until the vehicle arrives at the beacon i that is the determination target in the average travel time Ti lengthened, and the delivered provision information stored in the memory 330 of the beacon becomes old information? Is being determined. Here, the correction value β is a set value for determining how long the above-mentioned elapsed time after the delivery is, the information becomes old.

The average travel time Ti is used as it is because it is the most typical time at which the vehicle will reach the downstream beacon. Further, αi and β may be appropriately set by the operator of this system based on the road conditions, the actual results, and the like. However, if αi is set too small or β is set too large, the number of selected beacons will increase, which is against the selection of a small number of beacons. Can be said to be desirable.

Next, the time chart of FIG. 7 will be described. In FIG. 7, tq is an edit request time when the vehicle makes an edit request, and is a relay time included in the edit request additional information retrieved from the memory 270. Since the time is measured from the electric signal, the edit request time and the relay time can be considered to be the same. tm is the time when the edit request additional information is retrieved from the memory 270. Ts is
The processing time required for editing the additional information, delivering the edited additional information to the beacon, and storing the beacon in the memory is shown. With this definition, the edit delivery required time Th in the case of the present embodiment can be calculated by the formula Th = (tm + Ts) -tq (Equation 3).

Αi and β will be further explained in the following description of the equations (1) and (2). First, in the formula (1), before the vehicle reaches the downstream beacon to be determined, it is determined whether or not the provided information to the vehicle can be delivered to the beacon. If you think simply, the average travel time Ti
Since it is preferable that the edit delivery time Th is shorter, the provided information can be delivered to the vehicle if the following expression is satisfied. Ti> Th (Equation 4) However, since the actual time T ₀ that the vehicle arrives may be earlier or later than the average travel time Ti, it is necessary to deal with these cases to some extent.

Here, when the vehicle arrives later than the average travel time Ti (T ₀ ≧ Ti), the formula (4) always holds, so there is no problem. However, for example, if the vehicle arrives at time α earlier than the average travel time Ti (Ti>
At T ₀ = Ti−α), it is not guaranteed that delivery of the provided information to the beacon will be in time. Therefore, it has to be determined by the following equation.

Ti-α> Th (Equation 5) In other words, the expression (Equation 5) is satisfied, so that when the vehicle arrives at time α earlier than the average travel time Ti, the provision information is delivered in time with the beacon. Is guaranteed so that it is guaranteed if the vehicle arrives later. When this α is set for each beacon, the equation (1) is derived.

With reference to FIG. 8 showing the example of FIG. 6 as an image example, the contents of the judgment processing of the timing judgment beacon selecting means 260 for judging from the relationship between the average travel time Ti and the edit delivery required time Th will be described. That is, all beacons
For (B, C, D), the formula (4) holds, but
For the formula (1), beacon B (T _{beacon B} −α _B <Th)
, And beacon B shown in FIG. 8 is not selected.

Next, in the equation (2), the edit delivery required time T
After the delivery of the provided information to the downstream beacon is completed at h,
The "provided information" that is delivered and stored in the memory 330 of the beacon is old because the elapsed time Tk until the vehicle reaches the beacon i to be determined at the average travel time Ti is too long. It is judged whether it will become. Therefore, the difference between the average travel time Ti as the elapsed time Tk and the edit delivery required time Th (Tk = Ti-Th)
If the elapsed time Tk is equal to or longer than the time β using, the formula (2) for deciding that the provided information stored in the memory of the beacon is old information is derived. In the example of FIG. 8, the beacon D is excluded from the selection. (β <Tk) That is, the timing determination processing unit 262 of FIG. 5 determines whether the entire dashed line portion of the beacon arrival time is included in the selected zone represented by the hatched portion of FIG. It means that the judgment is made by the formula 2). Therefore, the beacon C that satisfies the equations (1) and (2) is selected.

In summary, the features of the present invention include an on-vehicle device, a beacon, and a center processing device that executes editing and distribution of road traffic information obtained from a road traffic information source. In the road traffic information providing system that uses bidirectional communication to distribute the provided information edited by the center processing device to the driver, the edit request time tq when the driver of the vehicle that has registered the predetermined item requests the edit of the road traffic information. The required time T of the edit and distribution to be executed, based on the means for obtaining the edit request, the edit request time tq, the predetermined item and the road traffic information.
A means for calculating h and a predicted time Ti until the traveling registered vehicle arrives at the downstream beacon i, which is the timing determination target, and information provided to the traveling registered vehicle based on the time Th and the time Ti. The provision of means for executing timing judgment for sure and efficient distribution and selecting a downstream beacon satisfying the judgment, and means for distributing provision information from the selected downstream beacon.

The means for obtaining the edit request time tq mainly corresponds to the edit request means 440, the edit request relay means 320, and the edit distribution processing means. As means for calculating the time Th and the time Ti, the destination registration means 4 is mainly used.
10, registration information relay means 310, registration information storage means 210, registration data table 220, editing constant 230, editing distribution processing means
240 (in particular, the timing determination beacon selection means 260) is applicable. The means for selecting the downstream beacon corresponds to the edit distribution processing means 240 (in particular, the timing determination beacon selection means 260), and the means for distributing the provided information is the edit distribution processing means 24.
It corresponds to 0 (particularly, the distribution processing means 280) and the provided information transmitting means 340.

By the way, the provision information edited and delivered by the above-mentioned edit delivery processing means 240 is stored in the memory 330 of the beacon 300, and when the transmission request information by the transmission request means 470 of the vehicle-mounted device 400 is received, the provision information is transmitted. By means 340, it is possible to transmit the provided information corresponding to the vehicle identification number registered by the vehicle in which the vehicle-mounted device is mounted to the vehicle-mounted device.

Here, according to the idea of the present invention, when an editing request is made, the information is delivered at the timing, so when the registered vehicle is traveling to the destination almost smoothly, the in-vehicle device side It can be said that it is sufficiently possible to transmit the provision information to the registered vehicle even if there is no transmission request from the vehicle.

However, the provision information stored in the memory 330 of the beacon 300 is not only the provision information for one vehicle but also the provision information for a plurality of vehicles for which it is determined that the beacon can transmit the provision information. . Therefore, if there is no transmission request from the in-vehicle device 400, the beacon for one vehicle
300 includes the provision information for a plurality of vehicles stored in the memory 330, and continuously transmits the provision information repeatedly. If there is no transmission request like this, beacon
This is inefficient because the amount of data transmitted from 300 to the in-vehicle device 400 increases.

On the other hand, when transmitting the transmission request signal from the transmission requesting means 470 of the vehicle-mounted device 400 as in the present invention, the beacon 300 provides the beacon 300 when the beacon 300 receives the transmission request signal. The information transmitting unit 340 determines the vehicle that has transmitted from the transmission request signal (the vehicle identification number included in), and stores only the information provided to the determined vehicle.
By selecting from 330 and transmitting the selected additional information, a more efficient road traffic information providing system is constructed. In addition, the transmission of the transmission request information is "when it deviates from the travel plan"
It can be said that this is also an effective method.

[0048]

According to the system of the present invention, when selecting a beacon that provides information to the vehicle-mounted device from beacons downstream in the traveling direction in the movement prediction of the vehicle equipped with the vehicle-mounted device, the traffic condition is determined. In consideration of this, it is possible to reduce the omission of information transmission by determining whether the timing when the vehicle arrives at the beacon to be selected matches the timing when the delivery of the provided information to the beacon at the selection target is completed. In addition to providing more reliable information, it is possible to specify a small number of beacons that provide information to the vehicle-mounted device, and it is possible to reduce the data processing amount and transmission amount.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a road traffic information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration and a data flow of the road traffic information providing system shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a table image of the registration data table of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of registration information storage means in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of the timing determination beacon selection means of one embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a method of determination and selection by the timing determination beacon selection means of FIG.

7 is a time chart showing the operation of the timing determination beacon selection means of FIG.

8 is a diagram showing an image of the determination processing contents of the timing determination beacon selection means in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for supplementarily explaining a problem to be solved by the invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for supplementarily explaining the effect of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100… Road traffic information sources, 110… Road traffic information collection means, 12
0 ... Road traffic information transmitting means, 200 ... Center processing device, 210
... registration information storage means, 220 ... registration data table, 230 ...
Editing constants, 231 ... Destination route data, 240 ... Editing distribution processing means, 250 ... Editing processing means, 260 ... Timing determination beacon selection means, 270, 330 ... Memory, 280 ... Distribution processing means, 300 ... Beacon, 310 ... Registration information relaying means, 320 ... Editing request relaying means, 340 ... Provision information transmitting means, 400 ... In-vehicle device, 410 ... Destination registration means, 420 ... Destination information selecting means,
430 ... Destination information list table, 440 ... Edit request means, 45
0 ... Request content setting means, 460 ... Request content list table, 47
0 ... Transmission requesting means, 480 ... Beacon detecting means, 490 ... Displaying means

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A driver of a vehicle, which has registered certain items, obtains an edit request time at which editing is requested, calculates from the edit request time, and a required time Th required for editing and distributing road traffic information and a running time. For calculating the predicted time Ti until the registered vehicle arrives at the downstream beacon which is the timing determination target, and based on the time Th and the time Ti, to reliably and efficiently deliver the registered vehicle to the registered vehicle in motion. Road traffic information characterized by executing the timing judgment, selecting the downstream beacon satisfying the judgment, and delivering the provided information edited from the road traffic information from the selected downstream beacon in response to the editing request. How to provide. 2. An on-vehicle device, a beacon, and a center processing device that executes editing and distribution of road traffic information obtained from a road traffic information source, and uses the two-way communication between the on-vehicle device and the beacon. In a road traffic information providing system that distributes provided information edited by a center processing device to a driver, means for obtaining an edit request time tq at which the driver of a vehicle that has registered a predetermined matter requests editing of the road traffic information. From the edit request time tq, the predetermined item, and the road traffic information, the required time Th of the editing and distribution to be executed and the time when the running registered vehicle reaches the downstream beacon i that is the timing determination target Means for calculating the estimated time Ti, and the timing for reliably and efficiently delivering the provided information to the registered vehicle that is traveling based on the time Th and the time Ti A road traffic information providing system comprising: means for executing a determination and selecting a downstream beacon satisfying the determination; and means for distributing the provided information from the selected downstream beacon. 3. An in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle, a beacon installed on the road, a road traffic information source containing road traffic information, and information in response to an editing request from a driver who drives the vehicle. A center processing device that distributes the provided information edited and edited based on the road traffic information, wherein the in-vehicle device relays the beacon when the vehicle passes through the communication range of the beacon, and the edit request To the center processing device, the center processing device distributes the provided information via a downstream beacon located downstream of the beacon relaying the edit request in the traveling direction, and the in-vehicle device and the beacon In the road traffic information providing system that provides information using two-way communication, the in-vehicle device transmits a vehicle identification number and destination information regarding a traveling destination as destination registration information. And a destination registration means, and edit request means for transmitting edit request information consisting of the same vehicle identification number and the edit request registered in the destination registration means, wherein the beacon stores the destination registration information. Registration information relay means for relaying to the center processing device, and beacon position specifying information for specifying the beacon position of the beacon itself involved in the relay and the editing request information when relaying the edit request information to the center processing device. Edit request relaying means for relaying edit request additional information obtained by adding relayed relay time to the edit request information, wherein the center processing device has the vehicle identification number, the destination information, and the beacon position specifying information. From, a route for predicting a travel route of the vehicle having the registered vehicle identification number, and extracting the downstream beacon located on the predicted travel route. Based on the beacon position specifying information and the relay time included in the received edit request additional information, the time when the center processing device completes the editing and distribution of the provided information and the vehicle The timing determination processing unit determines whether the timing of the predicted arrival time to the extracted downstream beacon matches, and the unit that selects the extracted downstream beacon that matches the timing as a beacon to distribute the provided information. Timing determination beacon selection means, and distribution processing means for distributing the provided information to the beacon selected by the timing determination beacon selection means, and the in-vehicle device requests the editing request by the editing request means. When the vehicle that has gone through the beacon communication range of the extracted downstream beacon, The beacon has transmission request means for transmitting a transmission request signal, the beacon is the provision information distributed from the center processing device and stored in a memory, and when the transmission request signal is received, the beacon is taken out from the memory and A road traffic information providing system comprising: an additional information transmitting means for transmitting to a vehicle. 4. The road traffic information providing system according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the determination of the timing is executed by the following equation. Ti-αi> Th (Equation 1) β> Ti-Th (Equation 2) where Ti: average travel time, Th: edit delivery time, αi, β: correction value, i:
A subscript that identifies the downstream beacon that is the determination target.