JPH1022951A - Information notification method and system therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information nitrification system allowing a receiving side to always listen to traffic information, etc., even in a state where a previously fixed broadcast time zone is over or radio waves can not be received. SOLUTION: Traffic information, etc., is broadcasted by utilizing radio or television broadcast. Traffic information, etc., is transmitted by extending a time base by m-times by using a frequency outside an audible band. This is stored in a data storage part 44 on a receiving side. Stored information is added with IDs of the kind of information, its generated data, a local area, a route (No. x line of a metropollitan high way), etc., and the same ID is constantly updated with the newest information. A data retrieving part 46 retrieves data based on ID designation by an operation panel to shorten the time base of retrieved data to 1/m time. Then this is returned to the audible frequency and to reproduce by a receiver 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to, for example, traffic information,
The present invention relates to an information notification system that receives event information, weather information, and other local information using a vehicle-mounted radio or a portable radio.

[Prior art]

For example, there is known an information notification system that broadcasts traffic information such as road regulation, congestion, accidents, and opening to an unspecified number of in-vehicle radios while updating the information at regular time intervals. Such an information notification system includes, on a transmission side, an information acquisition unit that acquires traffic information to be broadcast, a data processing unit that processes the acquired traffic information into a predetermined data format, and a traffic information at a predetermined frequency. And a transmitter for broadcasting repeatedly. The vehicle driver remembers the frequency used for the broadcast in advance, and tunes the receiver of the on-board radio for the frequency as needed. This allows
The traffic information being broadcast is reproduced.

[0003]

As described above, in the conventional information notification system, information information represented by traffic information and the like is positioned in the same manner as other broadcast programs. It can only be reproduced in the time zone or radio wave receivable state. In addition, since the type of broadcast information to be broadcast is limited, such as traffic information, the vehicle driver cannot appropriately acquire the information he / she wants to know. In addition, if the vehicle driver misses the broadcast once by entering the tunnel, the driver has to wait until the next cycle to hear the notification information or give up. Furthermore, since the reception and reproduction of the notification information are performed in real time, other broadcast programs cannot be heard while the vehicle driver is listening to the notification information.

The present invention solves such a problem and improves the receiving side so that the receiving side can listen to necessary broadcast information at any time even if the receiving time exceeds a predetermined time zone or radio waves cannot be received. An information notification system is provided.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an information notification system comprising a first wireless device and a second wireless device. To broadcast repeatedly at frequencies outside the audible band. The second wireless device receives the broadcast information being broadcast, returns its time axis and accumulates it,
The stored broadcast information is reproduced as needed at the frequency of the audible band. Alternatively, the data is accumulated on the same time axis, and the time axis is returned during reproduction.

[0006] In order to enable the above-mentioned operation mode, the first wireless device includes an information signal generating means for generating an information signal including broadcast information, and a transmitting means for repeatedly broadcasting the generated information signal at a frequency outside the audible band. Prepare and configure. Also, the second
Receiving means for receiving an information signal broadcast from the first wireless apparatus at the frequency, a memory control means for storing broadcast information included in the received information signal in a storage medium,
And reproducing means for reproducing the notification signal stored in the storage medium at an audible band frequency as needed.

In a more specific mode, the information signal generating means divides the broadcast information into a plurality of elements, and outputs a check bit of a predetermined pattern for checking whether or not each element has an error during transmission. The information signal is additionally generated. Further, the information signal is generated by arranging a plurality of pieces of the same content including the pieces of the broadcast information in a hierarchical manner, the generation time information of the broadcast information, and the number of elements for each broadcast information. .

Further, the memory control means secures storage areas for the number of elements included in the header on the storage medium, accumulates the notification information in the corresponding areas, and updates the individual storage areas as needed. And the playback means are:
An information retrieval unit for retrieving the notification information stored in the storage medium in predetermined information units is provided, and the notification information retrieved by the information search unit is reproduced at a frequency in an audible band.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an information notification system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A illustrates an example of a first wireless device, and FIG. 1B illustrates an example of a second wireless device. The first wireless device includes a notification target generation unit 1 and a transmitter 2, and the second wireless device includes a receiver 3 including an audio output unit 31.
And a notification information management unit 4.

In this embodiment, a broadcast information generating unit 1 and a broadcast information managing unit 4 are used as a transmitter 2 in combination with a transmitter used for ordinary radio broadcasting or television broadcasting, and as a receiver 3 in combination with a vehicle-mounted radio. Are added to the transmitter 2 or the receiver 3 as units.

The broadcast information generating unit 1 includes: an information acquiring unit 11 for acquiring broadcast information transmitted from a relay station, a communication line or the like; a data processing unit 12 for processing the acquired broadcast information into an information signal of a predetermined data format; And a modulation unit 13. The information acquisition unit 11 can use a conventional system.

The data processing section 12 divides the broadcast information acquired by the information acquiring section 11 into a plurality of elements, and assigns a check bit to each element. In addition, a header and an end of field (EOF) are added to the broadcast information, and the time axis of the broadcast information is doubled to reduce the frequency.
This is because the analog signal itself is non-checked, so that the effect when an error occurs is reduced. Also,
This is for ensuring the amount of information by making the frequency range of audio information, which is the substance of the analog signal, as wide as possible.

The modulator 13 modulates the information signal and sends it to the transmitter 2. The transmitter 2 has a frequency outside the audible band away from the center frequency of a carrier used in a normal broadcast program, for example, less than 500 [kHz] or 1600 [kHz].
z] The information signal is broadcast on carrier waves before and after. The modulation form of the information signal may be any of amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, and phase modulation.

The broadcast information management unit 4 includes a demodulation unit 41 that demodulates a received signal transmitted from the receiver 3 via a band filter of the frequency or directly, and a data of broadcast information included in the demodulated signal. Data analysis unit 42 that performs analysis
And a memory control unit 43, a data storage unit 44 having a function of reading and writing from / to an exchangeable storage medium, for example, an MD (mini disk), and a data search in the data storage unit 44 based on an operation of the operation panel 45. It includes a data search unit 46 for performing a frequency inversion of the searched data and a frequency inversion unit 47 for restoring the original broadcast information and transmitting the recovered broadcast information to the receiver 3. In the present invention, the frequency inverse conversion may be performed before data accumulation, but in this embodiment, the frequency inverse conversion is performed at the time of reproduction for convenience.

Next, an information signal used in this embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 2A, the information signal includes five headers (1) to (5), which are digital information,
Broadcast information divided into n elements (referred to as information data because of a form suitable for element division) is arranged, and finally, five EOFs, which are digital information, are arranged.

Each of the headers (1) to (5) is digital information having the same contents. The specific contents are shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the division information (ID) of the information data divided into the elements, the date and time of occurrence of the information data,
The number of elements is arranged in this order. Classification information (I
D) is hierarchical, and the major divisions are, for example, traffic information,
Rough divisions such as event information and weather information, middle divisions are classified to some extent such as regional information, and small divisions are divisions narrowing down the respective classifications such as areas and genres. In addition, expressways, general roads, regulations, congestion, accidents,
As in the case of opening, etc., the division may be made more finely than the small division. Each of such sections is determined in advance by the information provider, and a button corresponding to the corresponding section is provided on the operation panel 45 on the receiving side, and when the button is pressed, the corresponding section is designated in the form of ID designation. Make it available for selection.

As shown in FIG. 2C, each element is first provided with 8-bit (1 byte) check bits composed of a combination pattern of logic "1" and logic "0", and then, for example, 16 k bits The information bits (columns) of the degree are arranged. This check bit is added so that the receiving side can check whether the radio wave condition is normal. Since the entity of the information data to be handled is analog voice information, it is sufficient to just look at the regularity or periodicity of the modulation.

Such a header, information data, EOF
Are grouped by identification information # 1, # 2,. Since the EOF indicates the end point of one group, for example, the maximum recording time for each group may be separately set in advance, and each wireless device may be configured to stop broadcasting or reception for each group using this time as a unit. EOF is not required.

Next, an example of the operation of the second wireless device which receives the information signal broadcast from the first wireless device will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure from reception of an information signal to extraction and accumulation of a group of information data.

When the receiver 3 receives the information signal, the received signal is sent to the broadcast information manager 4 (S101). The broadcast information management unit 4 demodulates the received signal to obtain an information signal (S102), and sends this to the data analysis unit 42.

The data analysis unit 42 includes headers (1) to
The contents of the ID, date and time information, and the number of elements in (5) are analyzed (S103), and the result is sent to the memory control unit 43.
A storage area for the number of elements is secured in the MD of the data storage unit 44 in group units (S104). Thereafter, during reception of the headers (1) to (5), locking is performed in synchronization with the clock included in the information signal (S105), and check bits in each element are analyzed. Since the check bits are periodically repeated by the number of elements, it is possible to determine whether the state of each element is normal only by whether the check bit is correct or not. That is, if the check bit is normal, the radio wave reception state is normal, and the data in that element is also regarded as normal (S106: Yes).
In this case, it is determined whether the data is the latest normal data (S10).
7) If it is the latest one (S107: Yes), the information bits in the element, that is, the data, are stored in the corresponding area in the MD of the data storage unit 44 based on the synchronized clock (S109). On the other hand, if the check bit is not normal (S106: No), there is a possibility that the data content in that element is not normal, so if the data has not been stored in the corresponding area in the MD (S108: No), an abnormal state The data is stored as it is (S109), and if there is stored data (S108: Yes), the process proceeds to the next procedure without storing the data.

The procedure from S106 is repeated for all elements of the group (S110). Further, it is determined whether or not the information signal for the same group is repeated (S111), and if it is repeated, the process returns to S106. In this case, if the check bit is normal and it is the latest normal data, the data in the area is updated (S10).
6 to S108). When the data accumulation (storage) for the group is completed (S110: No), management data is created and stored in the MD of the data storage unit 44 or another storage area (S112). The reception and storage of the notification information of is ended. If the broadcast information of another group is continuous with the same clock, S1
Steps after 06 are repeated.

The MD of the data storage unit 44 having undergone the above procedure
FIG. 4A shows an example of the contents stored in the storage area, and FIG.

In FIG. 4A, "ID" is hierarchical division information as one group, and data corresponding to the lowermost division is stored in each element without processing. “# 1, # 2,..., #N” are group identification numbers. In the drawing, the elements 2-4 and 2-
5 indicates that the data was not eventually updated to a normal one. In the case of audio information, even if there is some abnormal data, it does not matter much during reproduction, so it is stored as it is.

In FIG. 4B, "ID" is the above-mentioned hierarchical division information, and "element storage address".
Is a storage address in the MD, for example. The “update date and time” is the storage date and time when the data belonging to the ID was last updated. These contents are stored in the data search unit 4
5 is stored in a form that can be used at the time of data search. In the example of FIG. 4A, the elements 2-4 and 2-5 are stored in the "error element", and are used when confirming the stored contents of the MD.

Next, an example of a procedure for reproducing the notification information will be described with reference to FIG. If you want to listen to the broadcast information of the desired category,
The vehicle driver specifies a specific button from the operation panel 46, that is, an ID of a specific hierarchy (S201). Data search unit 46
Analyzes the contents of the specified ID (S202), extracts the information component (data) of the corresponding element, and sends it to the frequency inverse transform unit 47 (S203). Frequency inverse conversion unit 47
Reduces the time axis of this information component to half, converts it to an audible band frequency, and sends it to the receiver 3 (S204). The receiver 3 reproduces this information component and outputs it from the audio output unit 31 (S205). This is repeated for all elements of the specified ID (S206). If the ID is composed of only the major divisions, or if the ID itself is configured in a hierarchical manner but the designated ID is composed of only the major divisions,
The information components in all the elements stored for the specified ID are continuously reproduced. The same content can be reproduced repeatedly.

As described above, according to the information notification system of this embodiment, even when the vehicle driver is not playing a broadcast program such as a traffic information guide or cannot receive a radio wave in a tunnel, the vehicle driver is always informed. Necessary information can be heard at any time without missing the latest information. In addition to traffic information, by changing the ID and broadcasting weather information and event information at the same time, it is possible to listen to necessary information at any time as needed, expanding the application range of the system as much as possible. be able to.

When the time axis of the broadcast information is restored to the original state before the data is stored in the MD of the data storage unit 44, a frequency inverse conversion unit 47 may be provided before the data analysis unit 42. . Also, the present invention broadcasts broadcast information whose time axis is extended m times using a carrier wave outside the audible band, and restores the original broadcast information by shortening the time axis to 1 / m on the receiving side, and simultaneously reproduces the audible band. The essential point is that the reproduction is performed at the frequency of 2. Therefore, the present invention is not necessarily restricted by the system configuration shown in FIG. 1, and a similar design change is possible.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an information notification system that allows the receiving side to listen to the notification information at any time regardless of the broadcasting time zone or the reception state of radio waves. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a first wireless device of an information notification system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a second wireless device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an information signal used in the present embodiment. FIG. 2A shows information data divided into n elements after five headers (1) to (5). Finally, an example in which five EOFs, which are digital information, are arranged,
(B) is an example of a header configuration, and (c) is an example of a check bit added to each element.

FIG. 3 is a procedure explanatory diagram showing a process from reception of an information signal to extraction and accumulation of a group of information data in the embodiment.

FIG. 4A shows an MD of a data storage unit according to the embodiment;
FIG. 6B is a diagram showing an example of the stored contents in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary view showing an example of a reproduction procedure of notification information according to the embodiment;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 broadcast information generation unit 11 information acquisition unit 12 data processing unit 13 modulation unit 2 transmitter 3 receiver 31 audio output unit 4 broadcast information management unit 41 demodulation unit 42 data analysis unit 43 memory control unit 44 data storage unit 45 operation panel 46 Data search unit 47 Frequency inverse conversion unit

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. The broadcast information is repeatedly broadcast from the first wireless device at a frequency outside the audible band while changing its time axis, and the second wireless device receives the broadcast information being broadcast and returns its time axis. An information notification method, wherein the stored notification information is reproduced as needed at a frequency in an audible band. 2. The broadcast information is repeatedly broadcast at a frequency outside the audible band from the first wireless device while changing its time axis, and the second wireless device receives and stores the broadcast information being broadcast, An information notification method characterized by reproducing the stored notification information at an audible band frequency by returning its time axis. 3. A first wireless device comprising: information signal generating means for generating an information signal including broadcast information; transmitting means for repeatedly broadcasting the generated information signal at a frequency outside the audible band; Receiving means for receiving an information signal broadcast from the device at the frequency, memory control means for storing broadcast information included in the received information signal in a storage medium, and an audible band for transmitting the broadcast signal stored in the storage medium A second wireless device comprising a reproducing means for reproducing at any time at a frequency of
An information notification system comprising: 4. The information signal generating means divides the broadcast information into a plurality of elements and adds a check bit of a predetermined pattern for checking whether or not an error has occurred at the time of transmission to each element. The information notification system according to claim 3, wherein the information notification system is configured to generate a signal. 5. The information signal generating means further arranges a plurality of pieces of header information having the same contents including the section information indicating the sections of the broadcast information in a hierarchical manner, the generation time information of the broadcast information, and the number of elements for each broadcast information. The information notification system according to claim 4, wherein the information notification system is configured to generate the information signal. 6. The memory control means reserves storage areas for the number of elements included in the header on the storage medium, stores the notification information in the corresponding areas, and updates the individual storage areas as needed. The information notification system according to claim 5, wherein: 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reproducing unit includes an information search unit that searches for the notification information stored in the storage medium in predetermined divisional information units, and stores the notification information retrieved by the information search unit in an audible band. 4. The reproduction at a frequency.
Information notification system described.