JPH10283588A - Traffic information display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a driver, etc., intuitively grasp traffic information that is obtained from the outside through a system such as VICS (vehicle information service). SOLUTION: In this traffic information display device, map data which is read from a map data storing means, e.g. are divided into plural meshes, an evaluation value that shows the extent of congestion of a road is calculated in each mesh, classified and shown. With this, detailed congestion information that takes time to be recognized is not shown, but the summary of,the congestion information is very intuitively shown. Further, because the congestion information which is shown with colors is calculated with weight made the larger, the more it is along the direction in which a vehicle proceeds, it becomes very useful information content for a traveling vehicle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a traffic information display device and, more particularly, to a VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System).
munication System: road traffic information communication system), AT
The present invention relates to a traffic information display device that receives and performs traffic information data such as IS (Advanced Traffic Information Service).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in order to improve road traffic conditions, traffic information such as traffic congestion, accidents, or vacant parking lots is notified to a vehicle driver, so that the driver can select an appropriate route and get stray or wrong. Efforts are being made to prevent traffic and smooth traffic flow, or to maintain environmental problems such as exhaust gas by decentralizing traffic flow.

[0003] As such a system, VICS, A
There is a traffic information data service such as TIS, a system that transmits traffic information to running vehicles using FM multiplex broadcasting by FM stations, optical or radio beacon devices installed on roads, or mobile phone devices. There is.

[0004] On the vehicle side receiving this traffic information, the road map displayed on the display device of the navigation system displays colors of roads and parking lots displayed as constituent elements of the road map, or the vicinity of these colors. The shape of the arrow formed on the vehicle is changed according to the received traffic information to inform the driver of the state of traffic congestion and the like and the vacant state of the parking lot.

The transmitted traffic information is 10 km square for an optical beacon or the like on an expressway 1 for a radio beacon or the like.
For 00 km, in FM multiplex broadcasting, traffic information in a wide range of prefectures or a plurality of prefectures is transmitted. On the vehicle side, these data are all updated and accumulated every time there is a transmission, and the data is stored in the roads, parking areas, service areas, parking lots, etc. (hereinafter, referred to as display areas on the display device). (Collectively referred to as "points")
If there is traffic information corresponding to the location, the location itself, the name of the location, or the color or shape of the sign or figure displayed near the location is changed, and the driver is notified of the content of the traffic information based on the change.

For example, if the road is a road, the color of the lane in the corresponding direction or the color of the arrow drawn along the road is changed to "red" for traffic congestion, "orange" for congestion, and "steady". The driver was notified by displaying "blue" if the traffic was flowing to the area, and "black" for the closed road.

[0007] The driver can grasp the traffic condition of the road to be passed by confirming the color of the arrow, so that the driver can run without traffic congestion or congestion.
In addition, information such as the time required to reach a main point, the availability of parking lots, the occurrence of accidents, lane regulation, etc., as well as traffic congestion, can be output to the display device to enable efficient driving and comfortable driving. Drive is possible.

[0008]

However, such a display device is often used as a display medium of a terrain or a guidance route, and various colors are usually used for displaying such information. If a display relating to traffic information is superimposed on this display screen, it may be very difficult to see. In particular, when information related to road congestion is displayed by arrows, it is not uncommon for urban areas and the like to be congested everywhere, and since the roads are dense, the screen is full of arrows.

As a result, the traffic information displayed at the corner is
It takes time for the operator and driver to confirm, and based on the details of the confirmation, it is necessary to make a decision to run the vehicle properly,
It takes more time. In particular, when the driver is alone, the driver is checked during a short stop, such as when waiting for a traffic light, and it is necessary to quickly grasp traffic information.

[0010] The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a traffic information display device that intuitively transmits traffic information to an operator. Another object of the present invention is to make the present invention suitable as a vehicle-mounted traffic information display device.

It is another object of the present invention to enable a vehicle to travel efficiently. An object of the present invention described in claims 5 and 6 is to appropriately notify the degree of congestion to an operator.

[0012]

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention The present invention adopts the structure of claim 1. Here, traffic information
Information that affects the operation and suspension of the vehicle, etc., and that can correspond to a point. For example, in the case of VICS, traffic congestion information such as traffic congestion points and congestion sections, time required information between major points, traffic obstruction information on accidents, malfunctioning vehicles, obstacles on roads, construction work, etc., road closures, speed regulations, and lane regulations Temporary regulations such as traffic regulation information including the cause and the like, parking lot information that informs the vacant status of parking lots, service areas, and parking areas, etc. are listed. Those that can be expressed are desirable. Such information includes the degree of congestion of each road (hereinafter, also referred to as the degree of congestion or the degree of congestion), the time required between major points, and the like. When traffic information is provided by a system other than the VICS, weather information such as snowfall and strong wind may be targeted according to the information provided by the system.

Since the area is a processing range for the evaluation value calculation means to calculate the evaluation value, the road map data does not need to be divided in the map data storage means. On the other hand, the road map data may be actually divided into a plurality of areas in advance. The shape of the division may be a lattice shape or a honeycomb shape. Instead of the uniform division as described above, for example, an uneven division may be performed such that the denser part of the road is divided more finely (hereinafter, in a grid-like and uniformly divided form). In addition, each one divided into a lattice shape will be described.
Area is also called mesh).

The evaluation value calculated by the evaluation value calculating means includes the degree of congestion on each road, the degree of vacancy in a parking lot, and the like. These do not need to be strictly quantified values. For example, if the degree of congestion is handled as traffic information, "long traffic jams ... 0, traffic jams ... 1, normal ... 2"
Such a rough one may be used. That is, the evaluation value is represented by one value representing a plurality of pieces of traffic information that can exist in the mesh. For example, if there are three roads a, b, and c in the mesh, the roads a and b are congested, and the road c has a considerable traffic volume, the evaluation value of the mesh is “1”. ”, That is, congestion (this calculation result and, consequently, the judgment result may change according to the calculation formula of the evaluation value).

The traffic information display control means displays in different colors according to the evaluation value. The color differences are red, green, blue,
It may be set depending on the difference of hue like…
Differences in lightness such as black, gray, and white may be used.
For example, a liquid crystal display is adopted as the predetermined image display device, and when this is connected to the traffic information display device, a road map is displayed on the screen by the map display means.
Then, the traffic information display control means performs color coding according to the content of the traffic information for each mesh and displays the mesh.

According to this traffic information display device, the traffic information received from the outside is indicated by a difference in color for each area, and the display is mosaic. Therefore, according to this traffic information display device, detailed traffic information such as “the parking lot of XX is vacant” or “the XX road is crowded with △△” cannot be transmitted. Can be intuitively indicated. For example, the operator
There is traffic congestion around □, but east is vacant from there. "

Further, a configuration as described in claim 2 may be adopted. In other words, this line, depending on the content of the traffic information, such that the contour line represents the altitude above sea level in a normal map,
This is a line indicating the degree of congestion and the availability of the parking lot. For example, assuming the expected arrival time as traffic information,
Draw a line where you can reach in 10 minutes, 20 minutes, ... When the degree of congestion is treated as traffic information and is roughly calculated as described above, a line is drawn as a boundary line of the degree of congestion.

As a method of forming a line, of adjacent meshes, a straight line connecting predetermined portions (for example, the center) of a mesh to which the same evaluation value is given, or a line of an adjacent mesh to which a different evaluation value is given. Substitution at the boundary may be considered. If the mesh is sufficiently smaller than the screen of the image display device (for example, the area of the mesh is less than tens of thousands of the area of the screen), the mesh is filled with black or the like to express a line. Is also good.

The type of traffic information indicated by each line is determined by the type of line (for example, the inside of a solid line is long traffic jam, the broken line is congested, the one-dot chain line flows smoothly). , Etc.), may be represented by thickness or color, or may be displayed on the line or in the vicinity of the line by characters.

In this case, since it is necessary to recognize the shape of the line, the intuition is slightly inferior to the case described in claim 1, but other information is displayed in color on the screen of the image display device. Do not prevent you from doing so. Although it has been described that the difference between the lines may be represented by colors, as in the traffic information display control means,
Since not all displayed meshes are painted out, displaying the line in color does not confuse it with the color display of other information. In addition, it is described that the line may be expressed by filling the mesh with black or the like, but this is a case where each mesh is extremely fine, so that other information lost due to this is small.

Although such a traffic information display device is useful even if it is of a stationary type, it is more convenient if it is of a type mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile. In this case, there is provided position detecting means for detecting the position of the vehicle, and the map display means creates a road map including the position of the vehicle detected by the position detecting means and displays the road map on a predetermined display device. , And good.

In this way, the road map displayed as the vehicle moves is updated (at least when the vehicle cannot be displayed on the screen), and the traffic information display control means responds accordingly. The area is classified by color or the line is displayed by the evaluation value line display means. Therefore, the driver and the passenger can intuitively grasp the traffic information around the traveling point.

In the case of the configuration for the vehicle, the degree of congestion becomes more important as traffic information. To this end, the receiving means receives at least information including the degree of congestion for each road as traffic information, and the evaluation value calculating means determines, as the evaluation value, the degree of congestion of the roads present in each area. A value representing the degree shall be calculated.

In this way, the driver and the passenger can intuitively grasp the degree of congestion around the traveling point. As mentioned above, the degree of congestion thus displayed is
Although it is not detailed information, it is enough to make an appropriate judgment, for example, "If you proceed as it is, you will enter a severely congested section, so you should make a large turn."

When the traffic information display device is of a stationary type or runs in an area where there is only a small one-way road, it is sufficient to know the degree of congestion at each position. However, this is a rare case, and it is usually insufficient to report the degree of congestion without knowing not only the position but also which direction of the road is congested.

For this purpose, there is provided direction detecting means for detecting the direction of the vehicle, and the receiving means receives at least information including the degree of congestion for each possible direction of travel on each road as traffic information; If the evaluation value calculating means calculates the evaluation value with more emphasis on the degree of congestion in the direction of the vehicle detected by the direction detecting means than on the degree of congestion in directions other than that direction, Good.

As described above, when the degree of congestion is transmitted for each direction in which the vehicle can travel on each road, the evaluation value of each mesh may be calculated as follows. That is, for roads existing in each mesh, the degree of congestion in both directions is quantified as traffic information, and the sum is simply calculated. In the case of a road that can pass in both directions, two numerical values are added, one for each direction.

In the calculation of this evaluation value, congestion in the same direction as the vehicle detected by the direction detecting means is "emphasized".
For example, a numerical value representing congestion in the same direction as the vehicle is multiplied by a large coefficient, and other numerical values are multiplied by a small coefficient and added, and this is used as an evaluation value. As another method, the degree of congestion in the reverse direction may not be added. Further, the degree of congestion in the direction in which the vehicle can proceed just by turning right or left may be added with a larger coefficient than the degree of congestion in the opposite direction.

If the vehicle is traveling, the direction of the vehicle usually indicates the direction in which the vehicle is traveling, so that the degree of congestion in the traveling direction is more strongly reflected and color-coded or Lines are drawn. Such information becomes more useful information for the driver and the passenger.

Depending on the degree of congestion and the manner of dividing the area, although there are congested roads in the area,
The contribution to the degree of congestion in the area may be small.
For example, in a case where the road only passes through the end of the area, the degree of congestion of the road is hardly evaluated as the degree of congestion of the area.

In view of such a case, based on the map data stored in the map data storage means, the evaluation value calculation means uses the map data stored in the map data storage means so that the longer the length of the road included in each area is, the more the congestion received by the reception means regarding the road is. The evaluation value may be calculated with emphasis on the degree of the evaluation.

Since the evaluation value thus calculated reflects the length of the road, the degree of congestion can be appropriately expressed.

[0033]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an on-vehicle map display device 2 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The in-vehicle map display device 2 includes a position detector 4, a map data input device 6, an operation switch group 8, a control device 10 connected thereto, an external memory 12 connected to the control device 10, and a display device 14. ing. The control device 10 is configured as a normal computer, and includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an I / O, and a bus line connecting these components.

The position detector 4 is a well-known geomagnetic sensor 1.
6. GPS for detecting vehicle position based on radio waves from gyroscope 18, distance sensor 20, and satellite
GPS receiver 2 for (GlobalPositioning System)
Two. These sensors and the like 16, 18, 20,
Since each of the sensors 22 has an error having a different property, the sensors 22 are configured to be complemented and used by a plurality of sensors. Depending on the accuracy, a rotation sensor for the steering wheel, a wheel sensor for each rolling wheel, or the like may be used.

The map data input device 6 is a device for inputting various data such as road map data.
It corresponds to the map data storage means of the present invention. As a medium, a CD-ROM is generally used because of its data amount, but another medium such as a memory card may be used.

The on-vehicle map display device 2 includes a position detector 4,
Map data input device 6, operation switch group 8, control device 1
0, the display device 14 and the like constitute a so-called navigation system. The display device 14 is a color display device, and the screen of the display device 14 includes a position detector 4.
The mark indicating the current position of the vehicle input from the map, the map data input from the map data input device 6, and the color display indicating the degree of congestion at each point displayed on the map are displayed in a superimposed manner. be able to. These marks and color display will be described later.

When the position of the destination is input by the operation switches 8, the on-vehicle map display device 2 automatically selects an optimum route from the current position to the destination to form and display a guidance route. It also has a so-called route guidance function. As a technique for automatically setting the optimum route, a technique such as the Dijkstra method is known.

The operation switch group 8 includes, for example, the display device 1
A touch switch or a mechanical switch or the like integrated with 4 is used for various inputs. Further, the in-vehicle map display device 2 includes a VICS receiver 24 corresponding to the receiving means of the present invention. This VIC
The S receiver 24 includes receivers for FM multiplex broadcasting, a radio beacon, and an optical beacon, and receives a digital signal from an FM station in each region, a radio beacon transmitter on a highway, and an optical beacon transmitter on a general road. It receives traffic information. The received traffic information is written as digital data in a reception buffer set in a part of a RAM provided in the control device 10. Hereinafter, FM from FM station
Although traffic information transmitted by multiplex broadcasting will be described as an example, traffic information transmitted to a vehicle by a radio beacon or an optical beacon at a specific point on a road is handled in the same manner.

The traffic information transmitted by FM multiplex broadcasting transmits traffic information on roads and parking lots over a wide area extending over prefectures or over a plurality of prefectures. For example,
The transmission of traffic information such as expressways, general roads, and parking lots in the area served by the FM station is repeated once every 2.5 minutes. Therefore, every 2.5 minutes, the controller 10
Has been rewritten. In the case of a radio beacon or an optical beacon, the reception buffer is rewritten when a vehicle enters the reception area.

The traffic information includes congestion information such as the degree of congestion and congested sections, information on the required time between major points, traffic obstacle information on accidents, broken cars, obstacles on the road, construction work, etc .; This includes traffic regulation information including extraordinary regulations such as regulations and lane regulations and their causes, and parking lot information notifying the vacant vehicle status of parking lots, service areas, and parking areas. The congestion information indicates the degree of congestion for each road link (mainly, a section from an intersection to an adjacent intersection) and for each direction in which the vehicle can travel. Such a wide variety of information transmits the traffic information of all the points in the corresponding area using the link number, the place name, the traffic condition, and the like as one record.

The control device 10 displays the display device 14 based on the congestion information of each road among the received traffic information.
Then, the display as shown in FIG. 2 is performed. That is, FIG.
Shows an example of congestion information displayed on the screen of the display device 14. The reference numeral 30 in the figure indicates the mark indicating the current position of the vehicle, and the curve 32 is a line indicating the boundary of the congestion degree.

Although not shown in FIG. 2, roads, main place names, facility names, and the like are actually displayed on the display device 14. The traffic information display process executed to display this figure will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This processing is started when an instruction to display congestion information is received via the operation switch group 8. When the present process is started, first, in step (hereinafter, referred to as S) 10, F
It is determined whether traffic information has been received from the M station or the like.

If the reception has succeeded, the flow proceeds to S12, the contents of the reception buffer are updated, and then the flow proceeds to S14. If the reception has not been successful, the flow directly proceeds to S14. In S14,
The position and direction of the vehicle are detected by the position detector 4.
The position is mainly detected by the GPS receiver 22 and the GP
When the S satellite cannot be received, it is estimated from the position at which the S satellite was received and the detection results of the geomagnetic sensor 16, the gyroscope 18, and the distance sensor 20. The direction of the vehicle is determined by the geomagnetic sensor 16 and the gyroscope 1
8 and is used for calculating the degree of congestion described later.

When the position and direction of the vehicle are detected in this way, the range displayed on the screen of the display device 14 as a road map is determined. Unless otherwise specified, this range is set so that the vehicle is displayed in the center of the screen and the upward direction is the traveling direction. This range can be changed by manual operation using the operation switch group 8. FIG. 2 shows that the mark 3
The figure shows that 0 is displayed slightly lower left than the center. The map data relating to the range thus determined is read from the map data input device 6. This map data includes road map data.

In S16, traffic information (here, the degree of congestion of each road) relating to the same range is read from the reception buffer (S16). In S18, the map data read from the map data input device 6 is divided into a plurality of meshes, and the degree of congestion is calculated for each of the meshes based on the congestion information read from the reception buffer. Processing as evaluation value calculation means is performed. This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4A is an enlarged view of the screen of the display device 14 shown in FIG.
FIG. 4B is a diagram in which one mesh M shown in FIG. 4A is further enlarged. In both figures, only the main roads are shown. L1 to L7 indicate the link numbers of the roads shown in the figure.

As shown in FIG. 4 (a), the on-vehicle map display device 2 converts the road map displayed on the display device 14 into a square having the same size as the mesh M as one mesh.
Map data is divided in a grid pattern. In this figure, the meshes are displayed in different colors in accordance with the already-calculated congestion degree. The range indicated by A is orange, the range indicated by B is red, and the range indicated by C is The range indicated by is shown in blue.

The calculation of the degree of congestion is performed as follows.
For example, it is assumed that the congestion information of the links included in the mesh M is as shown in FIG. That is, traffic information indicating that traffic congestion occurs in the upward direction of the link L2 and in the downward direction of the link L4, and no traffic congestion occurs in the other links L1, L3 and other directions is read from the reception buffer. I do. In this case, the congestion degree is calculated by the following equation.

Degree of congestion = (L4 * 1.0 + L2 * 1.0) / (L1 + L2 + L3 + L4) Here, L1, L2, L3, and L4 are links L1, L2, L3, and L4 included in mesh M. Represents the length of That is, the coefficient (1.
0, L2 is multiplied by 0.1), and this is divided by the sum of the lengths of all the links in the mesh. The coefficient of the link L4 is larger than the coefficient of the link L2 because the direction in which traffic congestion occurs in the link L4 matches the traveling direction of the vehicle. If traffic congestion in the right direction occurs at the link L1 in FIG. 4B, a coefficient such as 0.7 is multiplied and added to the numerator of the above equation. Occurs, a coefficient such as 0.3 is multiplied and further added. It should be noted that a mesh that does not pass through a road is calculated based on congestion information of a nearby road.

Returning to FIG. 3, when the congestion degree is calculated for each mesh in this way, the position corresponding to the mesh is displayed on the display device 14 in a color corresponding to the congestion degree in S20.
The color is, for example, red when the degree of congestion is large, blue when congestion is not recognized, and orange when traffic is intermediate. This processing corresponds to the traffic information display control means of the present invention.

Subsequently, in S22, a process as a map data display means of the present invention, in which a road or a mark 30 indicating a current position is read from the map data input device 6 and displayed on the display device 14, is performed. In this way, the degree of congestion is displayed in the manner shown in FIG.
When the traffic information is displayed in this manner, an outline of the degree of congestion in the displayed range can be intuitively shown to the operator.

Further, since the degree of congestion is calculated with emphasis on the degree of congestion in the same direction as or in the direction close to the traveling direction of the vehicle, the display method is extremely useful for those who are riding in the vehicle. In addition, since the calculation formula of the degree of congestion reflects the length of the link included in each mesh, the information becomes more useful. That is, it is considered that the shorter the link included in the mesh is, the smaller the influence on the congestion degree is. Therefore, an appropriate value is presented. Further, since the calculation formula is divided by the sum of the lengths of all the links included in the mesh, an appropriate value can be indicated regardless of the number of links passing through the mesh.

Although the on-vehicle map display device 2 has been described as one embodiment of the present invention, the road information display device of the present invention can be implemented in various modes. For example, in the on-vehicle map display device 2, traffic information is handled as traffic information to be displayed on the display device 14, but other information (for example, estimated arrival time) may be displayed.

Further, the display format of the traffic information may be displayed not by colors but by lines. This is equivalent to displaying only the curve 32 in FIGS. 2 and 4A. Even in this case, the driver or the like can grasp the outline of the contents of the traffic information in a short time.

The range in which the degree of congestion is calculated is performed for each mesh divided in a grid pattern, but the form of this division may be changed. For example, it may be divided so as to always include one link, or may be divided so as to be more easily understood by a driver or the like according to the actual traffic jam occurrence pattern.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an on-vehicle map display device 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of traffic information displayed on a display device 14 of the on-vehicle map display device 2.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a traffic information display process.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing details of traffic information displayed on the display device 14 and how to calculate the degree of congestion for each mesh.

[Explanation of symbols]

2. Map display device for vehicle use 4. Position detector 6. Map data input device 8. Operation switch group 10. Control device 12. External memory 14.
... Display device 16 ... Geomagnetic sensor 18 ... Gyroscope 20 ... Distance sensor 22 ... GPS receiver 24 ... VICS receiver L1-L4 ... Link

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification symbol FI // G09G 5/36 510 G09G 5/36 510B

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A receiving means for receiving traffic information transmitted from an external source, a map data storing means storing map data including road map data, and reading road map data from the map data storing means. A map display means for creating a road map and displaying it on a predetermined image display device; and at least dividing the road map data read by the map display means into a plurality of areas.
An evaluation value calculation unit that calculates an evaluation value representing the content of the traffic information based on the traffic information received by the reception unit; and a road map displayed by the map display unit, a position corresponding to each area, Traffic information display control means for displaying on the predetermined image display device in a different color according to the evaluation value calculated by the evaluation value calculation means. 2. In a road map displayed by the map display means, in place of the traffic information display control means, the evaluation value calculated by the traffic information calculation means has a specific value on the line. 2. The traffic information display device according to claim 1, further comprising: an evaluation value line display unit that displays a line indicated on the predetermined image display device. 3. The traffic information display device is installed in a vehicle, further comprising: a position detecting means for detecting a position of the vehicle, wherein the map display means detects the position by the position detecting means. The traffic information display device according to claim 1, wherein a road map including the determined position of the vehicle is created and displayed on the predetermined display device. 4. The receiving means receives at least information including a degree of congestion for each road as the traffic information, and the evaluation value calculating means comprises: The traffic information display device according to claim 3, wherein the traffic information display device calculates a value indicating a degree of congestion of a road existing in the vehicle. 5. A vehicle comprising: a direction detecting unit that detects a direction of the vehicle, wherein the receiving unit receives, as the traffic information, at least information including a degree of congestion for each direction in which each road can travel. Wherein the evaluation value calculating means calculates the evaluation value with more importance on the degree of congestion in the direction of the vehicle detected by the direction detecting means than on the degree of congestion in directions other than the direction. The traffic information display device according to claim 4, characterized in that the traffic information display device is a traffic information display device. 6. The congestion received by the receiving unit with respect to a longer road included in each of the areas, based on the map data stored in the map data storage unit, based on the map data stored in the map data storage unit. 6. The traffic information display device according to claim 4, wherein the evaluation value is calculated with emphasis on the degree of the traffic information.