JPH10311731A - Road traffic information display device and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the operability of a vehicle-mounted road traffic information display device. SOLUTION: Road traffic information received by an FM multiple receiver 10 is displayed on the screen of a display part 50 by a screen display processing part 30. An FM multiple station selection processing part 70 issues the broadcasting frequency to be tuned to an FM multiple reception part 12 based on an own vehicle position and a driving direction being obtained by an electronic wave beacon receiver 20, a light beacon receiver, or a GPS receiver, and broadcasting station position information, reception area information, and broadcasting frequency information being stored on a broadcasting station data storage part 60. The FM multiple station selection processing part 70 selects, as a station to be tuned, a broadcasting station being located in a direction where the vehicle is advancing out of broadcasting stations for covering the current position of the vehicle regarding mounting with its reception area, so that a user can continue to obtain road traffic information regarding FM multiplexing without manually selection a station and frequently changing the station to be tuned.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wide area zone system for providing road traffic information to vehicles by multiplexing road traffic information with FM radio broadcast waves and the like, and a very small zone for providing road traffic information to vehicles using beacon signals from roadside beacon equipment. A road traffic information system integrating the systems, for example, VICS (Vehicle Information & Communi) implemented in Japan
In particular, the present invention relates to a road traffic information display device mounted on a vehicle to use this type of road traffic information system, a road traffic information display method suitable for the device, and a method for implementing the method. Regarding useful storage media.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art VICS has three types of transport media for providing road traffic information. One of them is an FM radio broadcast wave on which character / graphic information is multiplexed, and the character / graphic information multiplexed on the FM radio broadcast wave is
It provides road traffic information on the location and links of major roads (expressways and typical general roads), their congestion, and traffic regulations. Since FM radio broadcast waves have the characteristic that their reception area is much larger than the beacon described below, a system that provides road traffic information using FM radio broadcast waves may be called a wide area zone system. it can.
The remaining two types of transport media used in VICS are beacons using radio waves, that is, radio beacons, and beacons using light, that is, optical beacons. These radio waves or optical beacons are a medium for transmitting a beacon signal on a road from a roadside beacon facility, for example, a transmitting antenna or a light emitting unit provided on a sign post provided on the road. This beacon signal includes beacon position information indicating the position of the roadside beacon facility that is the transmission source, road link information indicating the direction (different of direction and up / down) of the road covered by the roadside beacon facility, and the like. It provides road traffic information on traffic congestion and traffic regulations at various places, including roads. Since these radio waves or optical beacons have the characteristic that the receiving area is very narrow compared to the above-mentioned FM radio broadcast waves, a system that provides road traffic information using these beacons is called a minimal zone system. Can be called.

[0003] By providing road traffic information via a wireless medium in this way, it is possible to give information useful for driving a vehicle to a vehicle operator or the like. For example, the vehicle operator can almost accurately grasp the position of the vehicle and can avoid and bypass the traffic congestion point and the traffic regulation point at an early stage, so that the vehicle driver can reach the target point quickly and without delay. Further, from the viewpoint of the system operator, since the vehicle can be guided to a vacant road, it is possible to alleviate the traffic problem that there is a vacant road while there are congested roads. Further, since VICS provides road traffic information in various media as described above, for example, even if a vehicle does not have a device for receiving a beacon, if the vehicle has a receiver that can receive multiplex broadcasting of FM radio, The flexibility of obtaining road traffic information, the possibility of selecting the receiving medium according to preference in the situation where road traffic information can be received by multiple media, and the possibility of selecting road traffic information by multiple media In a situation where reception is possible, usefulness can be exhibited in terms of high functionality, in which information obtained on these media can be appropriately combined and used.

[0004] In order to sufficiently exhibit these advantages, the usability of a vehicle-mounted road traffic information display device must be enhanced. However, the conventional road traffic information display device still has room for improvement in operability, particularly for displaying road traffic information multiplexed on FM radio broadcast waves. First, although the broadcast frequency of each FM radio broadcast station provided throughout the country is known, the vehicle occupant manually operates a station that can suitably receive the FM radio broadcast wave at the current time (at the current position). If you choose, it takes time. In particular, in a vehicle in which only the operator is on board, the operator has to perform a channel selection operation, but it is not desirable that the operator be distracted by the selection of the FM radio broadcast station. Even if it is possible to tune to the most suitable FM radio broadcast station, the road traffic information multiplexed on the FM radio broadcast wave is information over a large number of character graphic information screens. An operation to select is required. Such an operation is still troublesome. Furthermore, if the vehicle is equipped with a device capable of receiving road traffic information not only from FM radio broadcast waves but also from beacons, a vehicle extracted from a beacon signal from a signal multiplexed with FM radio broadcast waves, Conversely, it is possible to switch the road traffic information to be displayed, but in particular, immediately after switching the road traffic information extracted from the beacon signal to the road traffic information multiplexed on the FM radio broadcast wave. Requires an operation for selecting and displaying one of a plurality of character / graphic information screens. This operation also contributes to the inconvenience.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to improve the operability of an on-vehicle road traffic information display device by performing processing such as automatic selection and tuning of a broadcasting station, automatic selection and automatic initialization of a character / graphic information screen. An object is to realize an automated road traffic information display device. Another object of the present invention is to prevent a receiving station from frequently switching from one station to another station by determining a tuned broadcast frequency in accordance with a logic taking into account the movement of the vehicle.

The present invention provides, for example, an FM multiplex receiver, a beacon receiver, an operation unit, a display unit, a broadcast station data storage unit, a road position storage unit, a screen number storage unit, an FM multiplex channel selection processing unit, and a screen display process. And can be realized as a road traffic information display device mounted on a vehicle. First, FM
The multiplex receiver receives FM multiplex information multiplexed on FM radio broadcast waves and wirelessly transmitted, and extracts first road traffic information from the received FM multiplex information. The first road traffic information has an information amount covering a plurality of character / graphic display screens, and also includes information on road congestion or traffic regulation, and information on the position and shape of the road. In addition, the beacon receiver receives a beacon signal transmitted from the roadside beacon equipment using radio waves or light as a carrier medium, and converts beacon position information, road link information of each road, and second road traffic information from the received beacon signal. Take out. Among these, the beacon position information is information indicating the position of the roadside beacon facility from which the beacon signal is transmitted, and approximately represents the position of the vehicle when the beacon signal is being received. Therefore, the beacon position information can be used as vehicle position information that approximately indicates the traveling position of the vehicle. Further, traveling direction information indicating the traveling direction of the vehicle can be obtained from the change over time of the position represented by this information. The road link information (referred to as a VICS link in VICS) is information indicating a connection relationship with another road and a direction in which the road can travel, and this information can be used as the above-described traveling direction information. Further, the second road traffic information is information on road congestion or traffic regulation. When a user, for example, a vehicle occupant instructs the display of the first road traffic information from the operation unit, the display unit displays the first road traffic information (strictly, one of the character / graphic information screens), and the user When the display of the second road traffic information is instructed from the operation unit, the display unit displays the second road traffic information.

Further, the FM multiplex channel selection processing section has a reception area extending forward in the traveling direction of the vehicle based on the reception area information, the broadcasting station position information, the vehicle position information and the traveling direction information, and has a relatively long time. An FM radio station that is expected to be able to receive the FM radio broadcast wave over the FM radio station is selected, and the FM multiplex receiver is tuned to the broadcast from the FM radio broadcast station. Of the information used here, the broadcast station location information is FM
The reception area information is information indicating a position of a radio broadcast station, and the reception area information is information expressing a reception area, which is an area where FM radio broadcast waves can be received, by polygon approximation. This information is provided for each of a plurality of FM radio broadcast stations.
It is stored in the broadcast station data storage unit in association with broadcast frequency information indicating the M radio broadcast frequency, and the FM multiplex channel selection processing unit uses the information in the broadcast station data storage unit when executing the above processing. . Executing the automatic tuning and tuning in this way eliminates or eliminates the need for the user to select an FM radio broadcast station, and provides a device that is more usable than before. In addition, since an FM radio broadcast station which has a reception area extending forward in the traveling direction of the vehicle and which can receive the FM radio broadcast wave for a relatively long time is automatically selected, the user is automatically selected. However, there is no need to perform the switching operation of the FM radio broadcast station, and the processing related to automatic channel selection is not frequently performed, so that the usability is further improved and the operation of the apparatus is stabilized. In addition, among the information used for processing, reception area information, broadcast station position information, and broadcast frequency information are stored in advance in the broadcast station data storage unit, so that there is no need to measure the electric field strength during automatic channel selection. is there. Further, since the polygon approximation of the reception area is performed, the reception area information is only information on the vertices or sides of the approximate polygon, and the amount of information is small, so that the storage space is hardly compressed.

[0008] For display, the screen display processing unit controls the screen display of the display unit in response to a command from the user via the operation unit. For example, when a command to display the first road traffic information is issued, the screen display processing unit displays a screen on the screen number storage unit in the character / graphic information screen included in the first road traffic information received at that time. Select and display the character graphic information screen corresponding to the number. The screen number storage unit stores a screen number for specifying the character / graphic information screen that was displayed when the display of the first road traffic information was interrupted last time. The screen switches to the current character graphic display screen corresponding to the display screen. After that, the screen display processing section performs the general road position information on the road position storage section, the vehicle position information from the beacon receiver, and the running state so that the character / graphic information screen related to the display is sequentially switched along the running direction of the vehicle. The character / graphic information screen is selectively displayed based on the direction information. The road position storage unit stores at least rough road position information indicating a rough position of a road on which a vehicle may travel. Therefore, the screen of the display unit changes to the next screen as the vehicle moves, without the user performing any operation. And the screen display processing unit,
When it is instructed to display the second road traffic information, the screen number specifying the character graphic information screen displayed at that time is stored in the screen number storage unit, and then the second road traffic information is displayed. Therefore, despite the fact that the first road traffic information is composed of a large number of character / graphic information screens, the necessity of an operation of designating the screen or sequentially switching the screen by the user is necessary. Reduced. As a result, the device is more excellent in usability.

The present invention should not be limited to the configuration described above, nor should its application be interpreted as being limited to VICS. The present invention can also be grasped, for example, as a road traffic information display method for selecting a broadcasting station by using an improved automatic channel selection method. That is, first, a general system for providing first road traffic information to vehicles on a road by broadcasting from a plurality of broadcast stations will be considered. The first road traffic information here is
The information generally includes information on road congestion or traffic regulation, and information on the position and shape of the road and includes a plurality of character / graphic information screens. This first
When displaying the road traffic information on the screen of the display device, the first road traffic information is received, and a plurality of character / graphic information screens are extracted or created from the received first road traffic information. Select and display. When doing this display,
At the same time, the broadcast station that is the source of the first road traffic information is selected, and the receiver is tuned to the frequency of the selected broadcast station. In determining a tuning destination, first, a broadcasting station whose vehicle is currently located in the receiving area is selected from a plurality of broadcasting stations based on the receiving area information, the vehicle position information, and the traveling direction information. Here, the reception area information indicates a reception area which is an area where broadcasting can be received, and the vehicle position information and the traveling direction information indicate the current position or the traveling direction of the vehicle, respectively. It is possible to make a selection. If the selected broadcasting station, that is, the tuning candidate is one station, the first road traffic information may be received with that station as the tuning destination. Otherwise, when there are a plurality of tuning candidates, the number is further narrowed down, and the first road traffic information is received with one of the stations as a tuning destination.

As a method of narrowing down, first, there is a method of selecting one broadcasting station existing in the direction closest to the traveling direction of the vehicle among the tuning candidates. This makes it possible to receive the first road traffic information from a broadcasting station that is located almost in the direction of the vehicle, so that it is less likely that the tuning destination is switched in a relatively short time. The second method is a method of first selecting only broadcast stations whose direction deviation with respect to the traveling direction is within a predetermined range based on the broadcast station position information, the vehicle position information, and the traveling direction information.
If the selected station is one station, the first station may receive the first road traffic information with that station as a tuning destination. Otherwise, if a plurality of stations still remain as tuning candidates at this stage, further, select a broadcasting station located farthest from the current position of the vehicle among them, and select that station as a tuning destination. 1. Receive road traffic information. The same effect as the first method can be obtained by the second method. Further, when there are a plurality of stations on the way to the vehicle, the farthest station can be selected, so that the situation in which the tuning destination is switched in a relatively short time is less likely to occur.

The present invention can also be grasped as a road traffic information display method for automatically switching and automatically initializing the display using an improved display processing method. For example, consider a general system for providing first road traffic information to vehicles on a road by broadcasting from a plurality of broadcast stations. Further, it is assumed that the vehicle receives and displays the first road traffic information from any of the broadcasting stations. At this time, at least rough road position information indicating the rough position of the road on which the vehicle may travel is prepared, and at the time of display, the character / graphic information screen for display is sequentially switched along the running direction of the vehicle. As described above, by switching the character / graphic information screen to be displayed based on the rough road position information, the vehicle position information, and the traveling direction information, the frequency of the operation performed by the user to switch the screen can be reduced. Further, when the display of the first road traffic information is instructed to be interrupted (for example, the second road traffic information is displayed), the screen specifying information for specifying the character graphic information screen displayed at that time is stored. Above, when the display of the first road traffic information is interrupted and the display of the first road traffic information is instructed to be restarted, the first road received at that time is based on the saved screen specifying information. If the character graphic information screen corresponding to the character graphic information screen displayed immediately before the interruption is selected from the character graphic information screens included in the traffic information, and the selected character graphic information screen is displayed, the first The screen setting operation when the display of the road traffic information is restarted becomes unnecessary.

Other advantages of the present invention include the following. First, by observing the beacon position information in the beacon signal received from the roadside beacon equipment over time and generating travel direction information from the change, vehicle position information and travel information can be obtained from a single type of information called beacon position information. Two types of information, ie, azimuth information, can be generated, which is economical. Second, by extracting beacon position information and road link information from a beacon signal and using them as vehicle position information and traveling direction information, a single type of signal called a beacon signal can be used effectively. Third, by using a beacon signal to generate both vehicle position information and traveling direction information, a GPS (Global Positioning System) is generated.
m) The various effects described above can be obtained even in a vehicle without a positioning device such as a receiver. Fourth, GP
S receiver, more generally GNSS (Global Navigation S
atellite System) For vehicles that can use a receiver, GNS
The vehicle position information and the traveling direction information can be generated based on the signal received from the S satellite, and the above-described various effects can be obtained using the signal from the satellite even in a situation where the beacon signal does not exist or is shielded. It becomes possible. Fifth
In addition, by using a plurality of types of positioning means such as a radio beacon, an optical beacon, and a GNSS, versatility such that the present invention can be implemented using an optical beacon even at a point where a radio beacon cannot be received is improved. Sixth, a table that associates broadcast station position information, reception area information, and broadcast frequency information is created in advance, and by using this table to select and narrow down tuning candidates, reception in actual use is performed. In addition to the advantage of simplification of the area determination processing and the like, there is also obtained an effect that this table can be separately supplied to another manufacturer in the form of an external storage medium, ROM, or the like. Seventh, since the reception area information is information related to polygon approximation, the amount of information is reduced, so that the above-mentioned medium conversion is further facilitated. Eighth,
When the tuning candidate narrowing-down method of selecting a broadcast station whose direction shift is within a predetermined range is adopted, when no broadcast station whose direction shift remains within the predetermined range as a result of the narrowing is detected, the The selection relating to the direction shift can be re-executed by extending or relaxing the predetermined range, and the flexibility of the processing can be increased.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the embodiment is based on VICS for convenience of explanation.

[0014]

FIG. 1 shows a functional configuration of a road traffic information display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The apparatus shown in this figure is an apparatus that uses an FM multiplex broadcasting system as a wide area zone system and a radio beacon system as a minimal zone system. That is, the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes an FM multiplex receiver 10 and a radio beacon receiver 20. The FM multiplex receiver 10 is an FM multiplex receiver.
It comprises an antenna 11 for receiving an FM radio broadcast wave transmitted from a radio broadcast station, and an FM multiplex receiving unit 12 for demodulating road traffic information multiplexed on the FM radio broadcast wave received by the antenna 11. I have.
The radio beacon receiver 20 also includes an antenna 21 for receiving a radio beacon from a roadside radio beacon equipment, for example, a sign post, and demodulation of beacon position information, VICS link data, and road traffic information from a beacon signal relating to the received radio beacon. And a beacon information storage unit 23 that stores information demodulated by the beacon reception unit 22 in time series. These FM multiplex receiver 10 and radio beacon receiver 20
Among the information obtained in the above, the road traffic information is supplied to the screen display processing unit 30. The screen display processing unit 30 selects one of these two types of road traffic information and displays it on the screen of the display unit 50 in response to a command from the user via the operation unit 40.

In this embodiment, the information stored in the broadcast station data storage unit 60 and the beacon information storage unit 2
FM multiplex receiving unit 1 based on the information stored on
2 is provided with an FM multiplex selection processing unit 70 for instructing a broadcast frequency to be tuned. FM multiple channel selection processing unit 70
FIG. 2 shows an example of the operation procedure of FIG. The procedure shown in this figure is executed at a predetermined frequency in the FM multiplex channel selection processing unit 70.

In the procedure shown in FIG. 2, the FM multiplex channel selection processing section 70 first inputs beacon position information and VICS link data stored in the beacon information storage section 23 (100). Among the input information, the beacon position information is information indicating the position of the roadside radio beacon facility that transmitted the beacon signal, and therefore approximately represents the current position of the vehicle when the beacon signal was received.
Since the beacon position information is stored in the beacon information storage unit 23 in time series, the FM multiplex tuning processing unit 7
0 can detect the traveling direction of the vehicle by inputting the beacon position information from the beacon information storage unit 23 and detecting the direction of the change (102). The VICS link data among the information input in step 100 is data indicating the direction or shape of the road on which the roadside radio beacon facility that transmitted the beacon signal is provided, and indicates the direction in which the vehicle can travel on the road. Since the data includes the data, the FM multiplex tuning processing unit 70
The traveling direction of the vehicle can also be detected from the VICS link data (102).

Next, the FM multiplex channel selection processing section 70 compares the data stored in the broadcast station data storage section 60 with the information input or detected in step 100 or 102, thereby comparing the beacon. A broadcast station having a reception area whose position, that is, the position of the vehicle is inside the search area, is searched from a plurality of broadcast stations belonging to the FM multiplex broadcasting system (104). Here, the information stored in the broadcast station data storage unit 60 has, for example, a structure as shown in FIG. As shown in the lower half of FIG. 3, the broadcast station data 200 on the broadcast station data storage unit 60 includes the number N of broadcast stations performing FM multiplex broadcasting and information on each of the broadcast stations. It is composed of The information on each broadcast station is composed of information indicating the location P0 of the broadcast station, information indicating the broadcast frequency f of the broadcast station, and information approximately specifying the reception area of the broadcast station. The information for approximately specifying the reception area is obtained by approximating the actual reception area 300 by the approximate n-sided polygon 400 as shown in the upper half of FIG. That is, since the actual reception area 300 is generally a closed curve, if it is converted to data as it is, a large amount of information will result. Therefore, in the present embodiment, this is approximated by an approximate n-sided polygon 400 whose number of vertices n is finite, and the number of vertices, that is, the number of reception area data positions n, and each of the reception area data positions P1, P2,. Thus, the reception area 300 is approximately expressed. Note that the approximate n-gon 4
00 is desirably set slightly inside the actual reception area 300, that is, from the location P0 in consideration of the fluctuation of the reception area 300 due to the environment, weather, and the like. Furthermore,
The reception area data positions P1, P2,... Pn do not actually need to be represented by their absolute coordinate values, but may be represented in the form of a vertex position vector having the origin at the location P0, for example. The approximate n-sided polygon 400 may be represented by a link vector of each side.

The processing performed in step 104 is a process in which the FM multiplex broadcasting station whose current beacon position input in step 100, that is, the own vehicle position is located in the reception area 300, is transmitted to the broadcasting station data. Storage unit 6
.., And Pn, and the received beacon position is detected. Further, step 104 includes a process of narrowing down according to the traveling direction detected in step 102 when a plurality of such FM multiplex information stations exist. That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the beacon position, that is, the vehicle position Pv exists in the reception area 300A of a certain broadcasting station, and does not belong to the reception area of another broadcasting station, for example, 300B. And At this time, as a result of the execution of step 104, only a broadcast station corresponding to the reception area 300A is obtained as a station having a reception area in which the beacon position Pv is inside. In this case, since the number of the corresponding station is one (106), the FM multiplex channel selection processing unit 70 selects that station as the tuning destination (108), and sets the broadcast frequency f of the selected broadcast station to the broadcast station. Reading from the data storage unit 60, the FM multiplex receiving unit 1
2 (110). The FM multiplex receiving unit 12 operates so as to tune to the instructed broadcast frequency f. Therefore, the road traffic information supplied to the screen display processing unit 30 is the road traffic information from the broadcasting station related to the reception area 300A.

Also, as shown in FIGS. 4B and 4C, the beacon position Pv input in step 100
Are within the overlapping area of the receiving area 300A and the receiving area 300B. In this case, as a result of the search in step 104, a total of two broadcast stations, that is, the broadcast station related to the reception area 300A and the broadcast station related to the reception area 300B, are obtained. The FM multiplex tuning processing unit 70
In this case, since the number of the corresponding stations is two or more, the processing shifts to the processing after step 112. In step 112, the traveling direction D detected in step 102 is determined for two or more broadcast stations obtained as a result of the search in step 104.
Are searched for stations whose direction deviation of their location P0 with respect to is within the range of ± δ. That is, a broadcasting station that is located on the way to the vehicle is selected. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 4 (b), when the traveling direction D faces the location P0 of the broadcast station related to the reception area 300B, the broadcast station related to the reception area 300B is selected in step 112. 4
As shown in (c), when the traveling direction D faces the location P0 of the broadcast station related to the reception area 300A, the broadcast station related to the reception area 300A is selected.

If the number of broadcasting stations is narrowed down to one as a result of the narrowing-down search in step 112, (11)
4), the process proceeds to step 108 described above. However, when there are a plurality of broadcast stations covering the beacon position Pv in the direction of the vehicle and the directions of those broadcast stations are not so different from the traveling direction D of the vehicle, even after the narrowing-down search in step 112, Note that two or more broadcasting stations may remain. In this case (114), FM
The multiple channel selection processing unit 70 calculates the distance to each of the remaining stations based on the beacon position Pv and the data on the location P0 on the broadcast station data storage unit 60 (11).
6) Based on the calculated result, the station farthest from the beacon position Pv, that is, the current vehicle position is selected (11).
8). After execution of step 118, the above-described step 110 is executed.
Move to As described above, when there are a plurality of stations that do not exhibit a great deviation from the traveling direction D, the most distant station is selected because the road traffic information from the same station is continuously received for as long as possible. In order to prevent the tuning destination from changing frequently. After execution of step 110, step 1
02 is output to the screen display processing unit 30 to execute the procedure described below (12).
0).

When it is determined in step 114 that the number of stations is 0, that is, when the beacon position Pv
However, when it is considered that there is no station that covers the range but the deviation from the traveling direction D falls within the range of ± δ, the FM multiplex channel selection processing unit 70 performs the processing in step 1
In step 12, δ used for the search is changed to a larger value, that is, the search condition is relaxed (122), and step 11 is performed again.
Execute Step 2. However, when δ reaches the limit of relaxation (124), the FM multiplex channel selection processing section 70
As in the case where the number of stations detected in step 6 is 0, it is determined that there is no need to change the tuning destination (126), and the process proceeds to step 120.

By such processing by the FM multiplex selection processing section 70, any one of the FM multiplex receiving sections 12 which can continue to receive the FM radio broadcast wave for a relatively long time as a tuning destination. FM radio stations can be selected. The road traffic information obtained as a result of the tuning in the FM multiplex receiving unit 12 is transmitted to the beacon receiving unit 2.
The information is supplied to the screen display processing unit 30 together with the road traffic information obtained in Step 2 (see FIG. 1). As shown in FIG. 5, the screen display processing unit 30 outputs the information on the traveling direction D output from the FM multiplex channel selection processing unit 70 in step 120 and the output from the beacon receiving unit 22 in addition to the road traffic information. The information regarding the beacon position Pv is input (400). The screen display processing unit 30 includes the operation unit 4
Display unit 5 in response to a command given from the user via
0 is selectively set (402). That is, when the user selects the radio beacon, the road traffic information and the like obtained by the radio beacon are displayed on the screen of the display unit 50 (404). Conversely, when the FM multiplex broadcast is selected, the information is obtained by the FM multiplex broadcast. The displayed traffic information is displayed on the screen of the display unit 50 (406). The screen display processing unit 30
The procedure shown in FIG. 5 is repeatedly executed at a predetermined frequency. As described above, in the present embodiment, the display screen is selected and set according to the operation by the user, so that the screen can be switched by selecting the information source of the road traffic information according to the user's preference. Thus, a highly usable device can be obtained.

Step 404 is specifically realized by a procedure as shown in FIG. As shown in this figure, prior to displaying the road traffic information input from the beacon receiving unit 22 (408), the screen display processing unit 30 determines whether or not the road traffic information related to the FM multiplex has been displayed until then. It is determined (410), and if it is being displayed, the number of the screen that has been displayed is stored in the screen number storage section 80 shown in FIG. 1 (412). That is, when the display on the screen of the display unit 50 is switched from the screen related to the FM multiplexing to the screen related to the radio wave beacon, the display unit 5 until then is switched.
The number information specifying the number of the screen among the road traffic information from the FM multiplex receiving unit 12 which is the screen displayed on the screen of No. 0 is written in the screen number storage unit 80. Here, as shown in FIG. 7, the road traffic information 500 obtained by the FM multiplex receiving unit 12 is composed of a plurality of screens each assigned a screen number 502. Each screen includes various character information and graphic information in addition to information indicating road congestion or traffic regulation. In the procedure shown in FIG. 6, when switching from the screen related to FM multiplexing to the screen related to the radio wave beacon, the screen number 502 is written in the screen number storage unit 80.

When the user instructs to display road traffic information related to FM multiplexing via the operation unit 40 (402), the screen display processing unit 30 converts the road traffic information input from the FM multiplex receiving unit 12 into a display. In order to display on the screen of the display unit 50 (406), the procedure shown in FIG. 8 is executed. In the procedure shown in FIG. 8, the screen display processing unit 30 first determines whether or not road traffic information related to FM multiplexing has not been displayed on the screen of the display unit 50 (414). When the road traffic information related to the FM multiplex has been displayed, the screen display processing unit 30 determines whether the beacon position Pv input in step 400 is within the current screen or not. It is determined by comparing and contrasting the approximate road position stored above with the beacon position Pv (416). If it is determined that the current position is not within the current display screen, the traveling direction D input at step 400 is determined. The display screen is changed according to (418). Screen display processing unit 30
Returns to step 416 after step 418, and returns to the procedure shown in FIG. 5 when it is determined in step 416 that it is within the display screen.

Here, the road position storage unit 90 stores information on major roads including highways and many typical general roads.
Outline road position information indicating the approximate position is stored. This rough road position information is used for designing and designing the device shown in FIG.
It may be created at the stage of manufacture and written in advance on the road position storage unit 90,
Link information and the like included in the multiplexed road traffic information 500 are taken out and created, for example, in step 4 shown in FIG.
At 20, the information may be sequentially updated on the road position storage unit 90. Since the rough road position information on the road position storage unit 90 is information that gives the position of the main road, by comparing this information with the beacon position Pv,
It is possible to know whether or not it is necessary to switch the character / graphic display screen to be displayed in order to display the screen corresponding to the beacon position Pv. Further, in this embodiment, since the traveling direction D of the vehicle is already known, the determination condition in step 416 is eventually satisfied by sequentially changing the display screen along the traveling direction D. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the display of the road traffic information on the screen of the display unit 50 can be automatically and sequentially switched as the vehicle travels, and a highly usable device can be obtained.

When it is determined in step 414 shown in FIG. 8 that the road traffic information related to the FM multiplex has not been displayed, the screen display processing unit 30
Determines whether the user has manually designated a screen to be displayed via the operation unit 40 (422). When a manual designation is received, the screen display processing unit 30
Displays the road traffic information related to the specified screen on the screen of the display unit 50 (424). If no manual designation has been received, the screen display processing unit 30 reads out the screen number 502 stored in the screen number storage unit 80 (426), and reads the road traffic information relating to the screen specified by the read screen number 502. Is displayed on the screen of the display unit 50 (428). After execution of step 424 or 428, the flow shifts to step 416 described above.

FIG. 1 shows the execution of such processing.
To display the road traffic information related to FM multiplex immediately after the power is turned on to the device shown in, or to switch the road traffic information to be displayed from that related to the radio wave beacon to that related to the FM multiplex. Furthermore, this is so that the user does not have to manually specify which screen in the road traffic information 500 is to be displayed. That is, even when the user does not manually specify the screen (422), one of the screens constituting the road traffic information 500 is selectively displayed as appropriate on the display unit 50. There is no need to specify the manual. Further, at this time, what is displayed on the screen of the display unit 50 is the screen corresponding to the screen number 502 saved in the screen number storage unit 80 when the previous step 412 was executed, that is, when the previous step 412 was executed. Since the current road traffic information 500 corresponds to the screen displayed on the display unit 50, the screen immediately returns to the necessary screen, particularly when the display target is repeatedly switched within a relatively short time. It becomes possible to do. Further, when step 424 or 428 is executed, the beacon position P
Even when v is not within the current display screen, the screen is changed along the traveling direction D as described above, so that the required screen can be displayed relatively quickly.

FIG. 9 shows the operation of the second embodiment of the present invention, in particular, the operation of the FM multiplex selection processing section 70 thereof. Note that, in this figure, portions that are the same as those in FIG. 2 are omitted. In the present embodiment, step 128 is executed in place of steps 112 to 118 executed in the first embodiment. In step 128, step 10
Among the two or more broadcast stations detected in 6, the broadcast station that is closest to the running direction D is selected. After execution of step 128, the process proceeds to step 110. According to such a procedure, it is possible to automatically select a tuning destination in consideration of the traveling direction D of the vehicle, as in the first embodiment described above. Can be realized. Further, steps 112 to 118 in the first embodiment described above are replaced with step 128, and steps 122 and 124 are not required.
The operation of the FM multiplex channel selection processing unit 70 becomes simpler. On the other hand, when there are a plurality of broadcast stations whose direction deviations with respect to the traveling direction D are within the range of ± δ, and among them, the broadcast station whose direction deviation is relatively small is located closer to other broadcast stations, Even though there is a distant broadcast station, the broadcast station is tuned to the relatively close broadcast station, so that the frequency of the tuning destination is slightly higher than in the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 shows a configuration of a road traffic information display device according to a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment,
An optical beacon receiver 20A is used instead of the radio beacon receiver 20 in the first embodiment. The optical beacon receiver 20A includes a light receiving unit 21A, a beacon receiving unit 22A, and a beacon information storing unit 23A as members corresponding to the antenna 21, the beacon receiving unit 22, and the beacon information storing unit 23 in the radio wave beacon receiver 20. . The operation of the optical beacon receiver 20A is that the beacon signal to be received is carried not by radio waves but by light, so that the light receiving unit 21A is used instead of the antenna 21. Even in such a configuration, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

FIG. 11 shows a configuration of a road traffic information display device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment,
GPS instead of the radio beacon receiver 20 in the first embodiment and the optical beacon receiver 20A in the third embodiment
A receiver 20B is provided. The GPS receiver 20B includes an antenna 21B, a GPS receiving unit 22B, and a positioning result storage unit 23B. The GPS receiving unit 22B
A signal from a GPS satellite in orbit around the earth is received using the antenna 21B, the position and speed of the vehicle to be mounted are obtained based on the received signal, and the result is supplied to the screen display processing unit 30 and the positioning result is obtained. The data is stored in the storage unit 23B in time series. The FM multiplex channel selection processing unit 70 and the screen display processing unit 30 replace the own vehicle position information obtained from the beacon signal in the above-described embodiment with the GPS reception unit 22.
The vehicle position information obtained as a positioning result from B,
The same processing as in the above-described embodiments is executed using the speed (vector) obtained by the GPS receiving unit 22B instead of the change in the beacon position or the traveling direction D obtained from the VICS link data. Therefore, also in the present embodiment, effects similar to those of the above-described embodiments can be obtained. However, since road traffic information cannot be obtained from the GPS receiver 20B, switching of road traffic information performed in each of the above-described embodiments, for example, switching from road traffic information related to FM multiplexing to road traffic information related to a beacon is performed. Display switching cannot be performed in this embodiment.

FIG. 12 shows a configuration of a road traffic information display device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment shown in this figure is a radio beacon receiver 20, an optical beacon receiver 20
A and a GPS receiver 20B. Therefore, in this embodiment, all the effects of the above-described embodiments can be obtained. Furthermore, on roads that cannot receive a radio beacon, processing is performed using an optical beacon, and on roads that cannot receive an optical beacon, processing can be performed using a radio beacon. When the GPS can be used, the GPS receiver 20B is used. Otherwise, the radio wave beacon receiver 20 or the optical beacon receiver 20B is used.
A use form such as using A is also possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a road traffic information display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation procedure of an FM multiplex channel selection processing unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of broadcast station data on a broadcast station data storage unit.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a principle of selecting a tuning destination by an FM multiplex channel selection processing unit. In particular, FIG. 4A illustrates a case where a beacon position does not belong to a reception area overlapping portion of a plurality of broadcasting stations.
(B) and (c) are diagrams showing a case where a beacon position belongs to an overlapping portion of the reception area of a plurality of broadcasting stations, respectively.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation procedure of a screen display processing unit.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a beacon screen display procedure in a screen display processing unit.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of road traffic information related to FM multiplexing, a usage pattern of a road position storage unit and a screen number storage unit, and a principle of determining and changing a display screen.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an FM multiplex screen display procedure in a screen display processing unit.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart partially showing an example of an operation procedure of an FM multiple channel selection processing unit in the road traffic information display device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a road traffic information display device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a road traffic information display device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a road traffic information display device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 FM multiplex receiver, 11, 21, 21B antenna, 12 FM multiplex receiver, 20 radio beacon receiver, 20A optical beacon receiver, 20B GPS receiver, 21A light receiver, 22, 22A beacon receiver,
22B GPS receiving section, 23, 23A beacon information storage section, 23B positioning result storage section, 30 screen display processing section, 40 operation section, 50 display section, 60 broadcast station data storage section, 70 FM multiplex channel selection processing section, 80 screen Number storage unit, 90 road position storage unit, 200 broadcast station data,
300, 300A, 300B reception area, 400 approximate n-gon, 500 FM multiplex road traffic information, P0
... location of the broadcasting station, f broadcast frequency, n number of reception area data positions, P1, P2, ... Pn reception area data position, Pv beacon position, D running direction.

Claims (16)

[Claims] 1. A method for receiving FM multiplexed information multiplexed on an FM radio broadcast wave and wirelessly transmitting the received FM multiplexed information, the information including information on road congestion or traffic regulation and information on a road position and shape from the received FM multiplexed information. (1) An FM multiplex receiver for extracting road traffic information, a beacon signal transmitted from a roadside beacon facility using radio waves or light as a carrier medium, and a beacon indicating the position of the roadside beacon facility as a transmission source from the received beacon signal. Location information, connection relation with other roads and road link information of each road indicating a possible driving direction on the road, and second road traffic information relating to road congestion or traffic regulation are extracted, and beacon position information among the extracted information is extracted. A beacon receiver that outputs as vehicle position information approximately indicating the traveling position of the vehicle to be mounted, An operation unit operated when the user gives a command as to which of the first and second road traffic information is to be displayed, and a display unit that displays one of the first and second road traffic information that is commanded. And a road traffic information display device mounted on the vehicle, wherein a change over time of a position indicated by the vehicle position information or a road link information among information taken out indicates a traveling direction information indicating a traveling direction of the vehicle. For each of a plurality of FM radio broadcast stations, broadcast station position information indicating the position of the FM radio broadcast station, and a reception area, which is an area where the FM radio broadcast waves can be received, by polygon approximation. A broadcast station data storage unit that stores the expressed reception area information and the broadcast frequency information indicating the FM radio broadcast frequency in association with each other; A road position storage unit for storing general road position information indicating a general position of a road on which both vehicles may travel; and a first road traffic information among a plurality of character / graphic information screens constituting the first road traffic information A screen number storage unit that stores a screen number specifying a character / graphic information screen to be displayed when the display is restarted, based on the reception area information, broadcast station position information, vehicle position information, and traveling direction information, An FM radio broadcasting station which has a receiving area extending in the forward direction of the vehicle and which can receive the FM radio broadcasting wave for a relatively long time is selected, and the FM multiplex receiver is switched from the FM radio broadcasting station to the FM radio broadcasting station. FM multi-tuning processing unit for tuning to the broadcast frequency of the first time, and a character map included in the first road traffic information received at that time when instructed to display the first road traffic information A character / graphic information screen corresponding to the screen number in the screen number storage unit is selected and displayed in the information screen, and thereafter, the character / graphic information screen relating to the display is sequentially switched along the traveling direction of the vehicle. Displaying the character graphic information screen selected based on the rough road position information and the vehicle position information and the traveling direction information, and when instructed to display the second road traffic information, displays the character graphic displayed at that time. A screen display processing unit that stores a screen number for specifying an information screen in the screen number storage unit and displays the second road traffic information. 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first road traffic information provided to the vehicles on the road by broadcasting from each of the plurality of broadcast stations includes information on road congestion or traffic regulation and information on the position and shape of the road. In a road traffic information display method for extracting or creating a character graphic information screen and displaying one of the screens on a screen of a display device mounted on the vehicle, a reception area indicating a reception area which is an area where the broadcast can be received. Information, a vehicle position information indicating a current position of the vehicle, and a traveling direction information indicating a traveling direction of the vehicle, based on the traveling direction information indicating a traveling direction of the vehicle, from among the plurality of broadcasting stations, a broadcasting station in which the vehicle is currently located within its reception area. Selecting a tuning candidate; and when there are a plurality of tuning candidates, one broadcast which exists in the direction closest to the traveling direction of the vehicle among the tuning candidates. So that only the broadcast station position information indicating the position of a broadcasting station,
A road traffic information display method comprising: a step of narrowing down tuning candidates based on the vehicle position information and the traveling direction information; and a step of receiving and displaying the first road traffic information from a broadcasting station that is a tuning candidate. . 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first road traffic information provided to vehicles on the road by broadcasting from a plurality of broadcast stations includes a plurality of pieces of information including information on road congestion or traffic regulation and information on the position and shape of the road. In a road traffic information display method for extracting or creating a character graphic information screen and displaying one of the screens on a screen of a display device mounted on the vehicle, a reception area indicating a reception area which is an area where the broadcast can be received. Information, a vehicle position information indicating a current position of the vehicle, and a traveling direction information indicating a traveling direction of the vehicle, based on the traveling direction information indicating a traveling direction of the vehicle, from among the plurality of broadcasting stations, a broadcasting station in which the vehicle is currently located within its reception area. Selecting as a tuning candidate, and when there are a plurality of tuning candidates, so that only a broadcast station whose directional deviation with respect to the traveling direction remains within a predetermined range, A step of narrowing down the tuning candidates based on the broadcast station position information indicating the position of the transmitting station, the vehicle position information and the traveling direction information, and when there are a plurality of tuning candidates despite the narrowing down, among the tuning candidates, A step of narrowing down tuning candidates again based on the broadcast station position information and the vehicle position information so that only the broadcast station located farthest from the current position of the vehicle is located; Receiving and displaying traffic information; and a method for displaying road traffic information. 4. A plurality of pieces of information including information on road congestion or traffic regulation and information on the position and shape of a road, respectively, from first road traffic information provided to vehicles on the road by broadcasting from a plurality of broadcasting stations. In a road traffic information display method of extracting or creating a character graphic information screen and displaying one of the screens on a screen of a display device mounted on the vehicle, at least an approximate position of a road on which the vehicle may travel is determined. Preparing the rough road position information shown; receiving the first road traffic information from any of the broadcasting stations and displaying the first road traffic information; and displaying the character / graphic information screen for display along the traveling direction of the vehicle sequentially. Display is performed based on the rough road position information, the vehicle position information indicating the current position of the vehicle, and the traveling direction information indicating the traveling direction of the vehicle so as to switch. Switching a character / graphic information screen to be displayed. 5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first road traffic information provided to the vehicles on the road by broadcasting from each of the plurality of broadcast stations includes information on road congestion or traffic regulation and information on the position and shape of the road. A road traffic information display method for extracting or creating a character graphic information screen, and displaying one of the screens on a screen of a display device mounted on the vehicle, comprising: receiving the first road traffic information from any broadcast station; Displaying the first road traffic information, and when the display of the first road traffic information is instructed to be interrupted, saving the screen specifying information for specifying the character graphic information screen displayed at that time, Interrupting the display of the road traffic information; and receiving a command when the display of the first road traffic information is instructed to be resumed based on the saved screen specifying information. Selecting a character graphic information screen corresponding to the character graphic information screen displayed immediately before the interruption from among the character graphic information screens included in the first road traffic information, and displaying the selected character graphic information screen And a road traffic information display method, comprising: 6. The road traffic information display method according to claim 2, wherein at least general road position information indicating a general position of a road on which the vehicle may travel is prepared, Switching a character / graphic information screen to be displayed based on the rough road position information, the vehicle position information, and the traveling direction information so that the character / graphic information screens to be displayed are sequentially switched along the direction. A road traffic information display method characterized by the following. 7. The road graphic information display method according to claim 2, wherein when the display of the first road traffic information is instructed to be interrupted, the character graphic information screen displayed at that time is displayed. Stopping the display of the first road traffic information after saving the screen identification information for identifying the screen, and specifying the saved screen identification when the display of the first road traffic information is instructed to be resumed. Based on the information, a character graphic information screen corresponding to the character graphic information screen displayed immediately before the interruption is selected from the character graphic information screens contained in the first road traffic information received at that time, and the selected character is displayed. Displaying a graphic information screen; and a method for displaying road traffic information. 8. The road traffic information display method according to claim 2, wherein a beacon signal is received from the roadside beacon equipment, and beacon position information indicating the position of the roadside beacon equipment as a transmission source is taken out. Detecting the change over time of the position given by the beacon position information obtained, the obtained beacon position information as the vehicle position information, and the detected change over time as the traveling direction information, respectively A road traffic information display method characterized by using: 9. The road traffic information display method according to claim 2, wherein a beacon signal is received from the roadside beacon equipment, and beacon position information indicating the position of the roadside beacon equipment as a transmission source and other roads are displayed. Extracting the road link information of each road indicating the connection relationship of the road and the direction in which the road can travel, the extracted beacon position information as the vehicle position information, and the extracted road link information as the traveling direction information, A road traffic information display method characterized by using each of them. 10. The road traffic information display method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of generating said vehicle position information and said traveling direction information based on a signal received from a GNSS satellite. Traffic information display method. 11. The road traffic information display method according to claim 2, wherein a table for associating broadcast station position information, reception area information, and broadcast frequency information related to the broadcast frequency with respect to the plurality of broadcast stations is stored in advance. A method for displaying road traffic information, wherein the method includes selecting and narrowing down the tuning candidates using this table. 12. The road traffic information display method according to claim 11, wherein the reception area information indicates a coordinate value or a position vector of each vertex of a polygon approximating an outline of an actual reception area or a link of each side. A road traffic information display method comprising a vector. 13. The road traffic information display method according to claim 5 or 7, wherein a beacon signal is received from the roadside beacon facility and second road traffic information including information on road congestion or traffic regulation is extracted. (1) displaying the second road traffic information until the display of the road traffic information is instructed to be resumed after being instructed to be interrupted; and 14. The road traffic information display method according to claim 3, wherein if no broadcast station whose deviation in direction is within a predetermined range is detected, the predetermined range is extended or relaxed. A road traffic information display method, characterized by re-executing the selection relating to the deviation. 15. A storage medium for storing the rough road position information used in the road traffic information display method according to claim 4. Description: 16. A storage medium storing the table used in the road traffic information display method according to claim 11. Description: