JPH11144181A - Traffic flow measurement system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately and easily measure a necessary time in a specific section by mounting a device which stores information specifying vehicles by the vehicles and is capable of radio communication. SOLUTION: The device is mounted which stores information specifying vehicles by the vehicles and is capable of radio communication. Namely, the transmission part 7 and reception part 8 of the on-vehicle device function to have a radio communication with on-road facilities 2. The on-road facilities 2 are installed at a toll gate of a freeway and other places of traffic. A necessary time processor 14 of center facilities 3 consists mainly of a communication processing part 15 which communicates with the on-road facilities 2, a time calculation part 16, and a storage part D17. This time calculation part 16 extracts passage storage information including two desired points from information transferred from the communication processing part 13 of the on-road facilities 2 and further selects information on the same vehicle from the extracted passage storage information to find the difference (necessary time) in passage time between the two points.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a traffic flow measurement system, and more particularly, to a traffic flow measurement system for accurately and easily measuring a required time of a vehicle passing through a predetermined section.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, a system has been put into practical use in which information on vehicles traveling on a highway or a major general road is collected and the time required for a specific section is investigated. For example, in order to collect information on passing vehicles on an expressway, installing vehicle number automatic reading devices at a plurality of predetermined points, photographing the vehicle number with a video camera, and reading the vehicle number by image and character recognition. Has been done.

The vehicle number read by the automatic vehicle number reading device is transferred to a central control device for measuring traffic flow together with the time when the vehicle number is read. The central control unit collects the vehicle numbers transmitted from the plurality of automatic vehicle number reading devices, finds the same vehicle number transmitted from different points, and calculates the required time between the points. The required time between the points calculated in this way is displayed on a road information board and provided as information to the user, and is used for traffic flow analysis and traffic control by statistical analysis.

[0004]

However, such conventional information collection of passing vehicles is not always performed for all passing vehicles. It is very difficult to reliably read the vehicle number due to differences in the weather on the road, lighting conditions, the speed of the running vehicle, and the like, and in many cases, the vehicle number cannot be read or is erroneously recognized. Also, from the viewpoint of the accuracy of image recognition, the passing vehicles are sampled at regular time intervals and the vehicle numbers are read, and the central control device also collects the transferred information at a predetermined time and processes the information by batch processing. I have. Therefore, there is a problem that the reliability of the collection of the vehicle number is low and the time lag between the collection of the information and the execution of the process is large. In addition, since information is not collected for all vehicles and there is a case where the information is erroneously recognized, there is a problem in the reliability of the measured required time.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and is provided with a device for storing information for specifying a vehicle and enabling wireless communication for each vehicle. An object of the present invention is to provide a traffic flow measurement system capable of accurately and easily measuring a required time of a predetermined section.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a first storage means for storing in advance information for specifying a vehicle, a second storage means for storing information on a passing point and a passing time of the vehicle, A vehicle device comprising: a transmitting unit that wirelessly transmits information stored in the first and second storage units; and a receiving unit that writes information wirelessly transferred from outside to the second storage unit. A communication unit that is fixedly installed at a point and wirelessly transmits and receives information to and from a vehicle passing through the predetermined point, a third storage unit that stores information to be transmitted and received, and each time information is received from the vehicle device And a fourth storage means connected to the plurality of road facilities and storing information transferred from the respective transfer means of the road equipment, the road equipment including transfer means for transferring the information to the outside. And this There is provided a traffic flow measurement system including a required time processing apparatus including a calculation means for calculating the duration of the predetermined section based on the transferred information.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The first storage means of the present invention preferably uses a non-volatile, read-only memory, for example, a ROM, so as not to be easily rewritten. Preferably, the second storage means uses a readable / writable memory, for example, a RAM, a hard disk, an IC card, or the like. The transmission unit and the reception unit of the vehicle device have a wireless communication function, but may have a function equivalent to a mobile phone, a PHS, or the like that is currently generally used. Electric Toll Collection system) or other unique wireless communication functions. An ETC system is a system in which on-road equipment having an antenna device installed at a tollgate on a highway or toll road communicates with a vehicle-mounted device mounted on a vehicle passing that point to reduce a predetermined toll for the vehicle. This is an electronic debit system.

The communication means of the on-road equipment has the same wireless communication function as the transmission means and the reception means of the vehicle device. The transfer means has a function of performing information communication with the required time processing device according to a predetermined communication procedure. As the third and fourth storage means, it is preferable to use a memory capable of reading and writing various information, such as a RAM and a hard disk.

As the calculating means, a so-called microcomputer comprising a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a timer, an I / O interface and the like can be used. The CPU
By executing processing based on a program stored in a ROM, a RAM, or the like, a function as this calculating means is realized.

The "information for specifying a vehicle" stored in the first storage means is, for example, a vehicle number assigned to the vehicle, and may include a vehicle model and a model number as necessary. . "Information on passing points of vehicles" stored in the second storage means is information on points where road facilities are installed. Since there are generally many such points, the information specifies each point. Is represented by the code value. The “passing time” stored in the second storage means is data including at least hours and minutes, but may be data including year, month, and day.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an embodiment shown in the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to this. FIG. 1 shows a basic configuration block diagram of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an on-vehicle device 1 is a device attached to each vehicle, and mainly includes a storage unit A
(5), composed of B (6), transmitting section 7 and receiving section 8.

The transmitting unit 7 and the receiving unit 8 have a function of performing wireless communication with the road facility 2. As a wireless communication method, a method used in mobile phones and PHSs that are currently widely used can be used. However, in an automatic toll collection system (hereinafter referred to as an ETC system) that is being considered for practical use. A communication method may be used.

The storage units A (5) and B (6) have a built-in RA
A semiconductor memory such as an M, a hard disk, and a removable IC card can be used. Here, the storage unit A (5)
Is a portion for storing information for specifying a vehicle on which the vehicle-mounted device 1 is mounted, which corresponds to the first storage means.
(6) corresponds to the second storage means, and is a part for storing information transmitted and received with the road facility 2. "Information specifying the vehicle" is, for example, fixed data such as a vehicle number and a vehicle type, and may be stored in a RAM, but is stored in a read-only memory such as a ROM so as not to be changed. It is preferable to keep it.

The information stored in the storage unit B (6) includes information transferred from the road equipment 2, and at least data indicating a "point" where the road equipment 2 exists (hereinafter, a point code and a point code). ) Includes the “time” at which the vehicle passed the point of the on-road facility 2. The “time” information may include not only hour and minute but also detailed data such as year, month, and day.

When the ETC system is used, other information necessary for the ETC system (hereinafter, referred to as ETC information) is stored in the storage unit A (5) and the storage unit B (6). For example, the storage unit A (5) stores the ETC contract number,
The storage unit B (6) may store the remaining amount of the toll and the debit history of the toll. In addition, it is preferable to install the vehicle-mounted device 1 having such a configuration around a windshield of a vehicle or the like so that wireless communication with the on-road equipment 2 is possible. A microcomputer (not shown) controls reading / writing of information from / to the storage units A and B and transmission / reception of information based on a program stored in a RAM, a ROM, or the like.

The road facilities 2 are installed at tollgates serving as entrances and exits of expressways and toll roads, and at other important points of traffic.
In the case of a route network that can take a plurality of routes, it is installed at a branch point or at a point on the route where traffic flow information is to be obtained. Furthermore, on a long-distance route or the like, it is installed at a point (start point and end point) where the required time is to be measured.

As shown in FIG. 1, the on-road equipment 2 includes an antenna device 9 for communicating with the vehicle-mounted device 1, a storage unit C (12), and a communication processing unit 13 for transferring data between the center equipment 3.
It is composed of The antenna device 9 includes a transmitting unit 11 and a receiving unit 10 having the same wireless communication function as the transmitting unit 7 and the receiving unit 8 of the vehicle-mounted device 1. Storage unit C (12)
Uses a readable and writable memory such as a RAM. The storage unit C (12) stores information (point code) specifying the “point” where the on-road equipment 2 exists, as well as information transferred from the vehicle-mounted device 1.

The information transferred from the vehicle-mounted unit 1 includes information for specifying the vehicle, a “point code” that the vehicle on which the vehicle-mounted device 1 is mounted has passed, and a point corresponding to the “point code”. When the vehicle has passed a plurality of road facilities 2, the information includes a plurality of “point codes” and “time” information (hereinafter, referred to as “passing record information”).

The communication processing unit 13 of the on-road equipment 2 is connected to the communication processing unit 15 of the center equipment 3 via a network such as a telephone line or a dedicated line. The network may be wired or wireless, but from the viewpoint of security and reliability, it is preferable to use a dedicated wired network.

The communication processing unit 13 periodically or
In response to a request from the center facility 3, the storage unit C (1
The information stored in 2) is transferred to the center equipment 3. In particular, from the viewpoint of early acquisition of information,
It is preferable to transfer necessary information from the communication processing unit 13 to the center equipment 3 in real time each time information is obtained from the vehicle-mounted device 1 when passing through the point. The road equipment 2 also includes the antenna device 9 and the communication processing unit 13.
Operation control and reading of information to / from the storage unit C (12) /
A microcomputer (not shown) is provided for writing.

The center equipment 3 receives the information stored in the plurality of on-road equipments 2, calculates the required time between certain points, and analyzes and generates information on various traffic flows. In the present invention, it is assumed that a required time processing device 14 for calculating the required time as shown in FIG. 1 is provided. The required time processing device 14 is mainly used for the road facilities 2.
A communication processing unit 15 for communicating with the vehicle, a time calculation unit 16 for calculating a required time between two points based on information obtained from the road equipment 2, and a storage unit D for storing the obtained information and the like.
(17).

The communication processing unit 15 may have the same configuration and functions as those of the communication processing unit 13 of the road facility 2. The time calculation unit 16 extracts the passage storage information including the desired two points from the information transferred from the communication processing unit 13 of the road facility 2, and further extracts the same vehicle from the extracted passage storage information. Is selected, and the difference (required time) of the passing time between the two points is obtained. The time calculation unit 16 includes a CPU,
It can be configured using a microcomputer including a RAM, a ROM, and the like.

The storage unit D17 of the required time processing device 14
The obtained required time and the result of analyzing the traffic flow are stored. The output device 4 displays information on the required time and other traffic flow obtained by the required time processing device 14,
It outputs the result of traffic flow analysis. The output device includes, for example, a broadcast facility for the road information board 18 and a highway radio, a transmission facility for a car navigation system, and the like.

Next, an operation mode of the traffic flow measuring system of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 shows the present invention.
The explanatory view of one Example of the mode of operation between a vehicle and road equipment is shown. A traveling vehicle equipped with the vehicle-mounted device 1 of FIG. 1 enters a road to be covered by the system from an entrance tollgate (point 1), passes through an intermediate route (point 2), and exits at a tollgate (point n). Spilled from It is assumed that the road equipment 2 shown in FIG. 1 is installed at each of the points 1, 2, and 3. Here, the vehicle-mounted device 1 and each on-road equipment 2 transmit and receive information by wireless communication.

First, at the point 1, the "point code" and the "passing time" of the point 1 are written from the road facility a at the entrance tollgate to the vehicle-mounted device 1 of the traveling vehicle. Also,
If you are using the ETC system, the required ETC
Information is read from the vehicle-mounted device 1 and written to the vehicle-mounted device 1. Next, when the traveling vehicle passes point 2, the on-road equipment b at point 2 reads the vehicle number, vehicle type, “point code” and “passing time” of point 1 stored in the vehicle-mounted device 1, and Then, the “point code” and the “passing time” of the point 2 are written in the vehicle-mounted device 1.

When the traveling vehicle passes through the exit tollgate (point n), the on-road equipment n at point n reads the information specifying the vehicle stored in the vehicle-mounted device 1 and all the passage record information. Further, when the ETC system is used, the ETC information (for example, the remaining amount of the toll) is written in the vehicle-mounted device 1. Each of the road facilities a, b, and n transfers the pass record information obtained through the communication with the vehicle-mounted device 1 to the center facility 3 immediately after obtaining the information. In center facility 3,
Based on the information transferred from each of the road facilities a, b, and n, the required time is calculated and the traffic flow is analyzed. As described above, since the passage record information of the vehicle equipped with the vehicle-mounted device is obtained by using the wireless communication between the vehicle-mounted device and the on-road equipment, highly reliable information can be reliably obtained.

In addition, the number of vehicles equipped with on-vehicle devices is large,
As the number of road facilities increases, more accurate information as traffic flow information such as required time can be obtained. In particular, if the equipment and functions used in the ETC system are used for communication between the on-board equipment and road equipment, and for information transfer between the road equipment and the center equipment, there is no need to install equipment unique to this traffic flow measurement system, and capital investment will be made. Costs can be reduced. In addition, since the passage record information can be obtained in real time at the center facility, traffic flow information such as the required time between two points obtained from the information can be displayed on the road information board in a timely manner.

Further, in the conventional method of reading a vehicle number by image recognition, there were situations in which the vehicle number could not be read at all, such as at night or when visibility was poor. Is performed by wireless communication, the passage record information can be reliably obtained even at night or when visibility is poor, and a highly reliable traffic flow measurement system can be constructed.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the processing between the respective facilities in one embodiment of the present invention. Here, it is assumed that highway and toll roads having tollgates at entrances and exits are targeted, and that road facilities are installed at important points on these roads. First,
On-road equipment other than the exit, that is, on-road equipment such as an entrance tollgate or a branch point on an intermediate route, in order to write the information of the point on the passing vehicle, the passage record information including the "point code" and "time" information is written. Wireless transmission (step S
1). The information wirelessly transmitted from the road equipment may be transmitted at all times regardless of the passage of the vehicle, or may be transmitted to the vehicle when predetermined initial communication is successful when the vehicle passes. Good.

The vehicle-mounted device of the vehicle that has passed that point stores the passage record information transferred from the road equipment in its own storage unit B.
Write to (6) (step S6). In this way, every time the vehicle passes a point on the road equipment other than the exit, the passage record information at that point is stored in the storage unit B (6) of the vehicle-mounted device of the vehicle.
Is additionally stored.

Next, the on-road equipment other than the entrance wirelessly transmits a passage record reading request to vehicles passing through the point (step S2). The vehicle-mounted device of the vehicle that has received this request reads out all the passage record information stored in the storage unit B (6), and reads the read request together with the vehicle number stored in the storage unit A (5). Is wirelessly transmitted to the road equipment that has transmitted (step S7).

Thereafter, the on-road equipment receives the passage record information and stores it in the storage section C (12) (step S).
3). Further, the road facilities other than the entrance that has received the passage record information transmit the passage record information to the center facility 3 (step S4). Alternatively, especially in the case where it is not necessary to send the information to the center equipment, the stored passage record information is discarded after a predetermined time has elapsed (step S4).

When the center facility 3 receives the passage record information from the road facilities via the communication processing unit 15, the passage record information is stored in the storage unit D (17), and the time calculation unit 1
6 (step S9). In the time calculation unit 16,
The required time between two predetermined points is calculated by using a large number of passing record information sent to the center equipment 3, and a traffic flow analysis such as a congestion time prediction is performed as necessary (step S10).

The calculation of the required time is performed, for example, as follows. First, "point codes" of two points for which the required time is to be calculated are given to the time calculating unit 16, and the time calculating unit 16
Extracts from the storage unit D (17) the passage record information including the two “point codes”. When there are a plurality of pieces of the passage record information, all or a predetermined number of pieces are extracted. In order to accurately calculate the predetermined time, it is preferable that the number of pieces of information to be extracted is as large as possible. Then, for each extracted passage record information, that is, for each same vehicle, attention is paid to “time” information associated with two points included therein, and the time difference is calculated.

For example, when calculating the required time between the point 1 and the point 3 in the record information of the vehicle-mounted device of the on-road equipment n in FIG. 2, the time at which the vehicle equipped with the vehicle-mounted device passed the point 3 is calculated. And the time at which point 1 has passed. The calculation of the time difference is performed for all the extracted passage record information, and the average value of the obtained time differences is taken as the required time between the two points. The calculated required time is processed by the center facility 3 and transferred to, for example, the road information board 17 and displayed as information for passing vehicles (step S11).

When the vehicle passes through the road equipment at the exit, a request to discard the passage record information is transmitted from the road equipment to the vehicle (step S5). When the vehicle-mounted device receives this request, it discards (erases) the passage record information stored in the storage unit B (6) (step S8).
This information destruction is intended mainly for privacy protection. The passage record information may be discarded automatically after a lapse of a predetermined time after leaving the exit tollgate.

The required time may be calculated simply from the difference between the passing times recorded in the vehicle-mounted device as described above. However, when calculating the required time between two points including the exit tollgate,
Time correction or the like due to deceleration of the vehicle may be performed. If a point that should not be included in the travel time, such as a parking area, is on an intermediate route, on-road equipment is installed at that point and the passage record information is stored in the vehicle-mounted device to exclude it from the required time calculation. You may make it. By performing such time correction and exclusion, a more realistic required time can be obtained.

Further, the average traveling speed of the section can be calculated from the required time between two points and the distance between the points, and can be used as analysis data of traffic flow. Also, E
In the case of using the TC system, when passing through the entrance tollgate and the exit tollgate, communication of ETC information (decision such as charge reduction) is also performed between the road equipment at each point and the vehicle-mounted device.

The vehicle-mounted device 1 to be mounted on the vehicle may be registered in advance and fixedly installed in each vehicle, or may be connected to road equipment before the driver of the vehicle enters a road where this system can be used. Although it is necessary to be arranged at a position where communication is possible, the use ticket itself distributed at the entrance of the tollgate on the toll road may have the configuration of the vehicle-mounted device 1 as shown in FIG. In the case where the configuration of the vehicle-mounted device 1 is provided in the use ticket itself, a number assigned to the use ticket itself can be used instead of the vehicle number as the information for specifying the vehicle.

[0040]

According to the present invention, since the vehicle-mounted device and the on-road equipment capable of wireless transmission / reception are provided, it is possible to accurately and easily measure the required time of a predetermined section. Further, since the on-road equipment has a function of transferring the information each time the information is received from the on-vehicle device, the required time can be measured in real time, and the information utilization efficiency can be improved. Furthermore, since the vehicle-mounted device and the on-road equipment perform wireless communication, information can be reliably obtained even at night or when visibility is poor, and a highly reliable traffic flow measurement system can be provided. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of operation of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a process between facilities in one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 vehicle-mounted device 2 on-road equipment 3 center equipment 4 output device 5 storage unit A 6 storage unit B 7 transmission unit 8 reception unit 9 antenna device 10 reception unit 11 transmission unit 12 storage unit C 13 communication processing unit 14 required time processing device 15 communication Processing unit 16 Time calculation unit 17 Storage unit D 18 Road information board

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A first device in which information for specifying a vehicle is stored in advance.
Storage means, a second storage means for storing information of a passing point and a passing time of the vehicle, a transmission means for wirelessly transmitting the information stored in the first and second storage means, and a wireless communication from outside. And a communication device which is fixedly installed at a predetermined point and wirelessly transmits and receives information to and from a vehicle passing through the predetermined point. Means,
A road facility including third storage means for storing information to be transmitted and received, and a transfer means for transferring the information to the outside each time information is received from the vehicle device; and And a required time comprising: fourth storage means for storing information transferred from each transfer means of the on-road equipment; and calculating means for calculating a required time of a predetermined section based on the transferred information. Traffic flow measurement system consisting of a processing unit. 2. The information stored in the fourth storage means is passage record information in which information for specifying a vehicle, a point at which the vehicle has passed, and a passing time are associated with each other. The traffic flow measurement system according to claim 1. 3. The pass record information including desired two points from a plurality of pass record information stored in the fourth storage unit, and the calculating unit extracts the pass record information from the extracted pass record information. The traffic flow measurement system according to claim 2, wherein a difference between the passing times associated with the two points included in the traffic flow is calculated. 4. The traffic flow measurement system according to claim 1, wherein an ETC system is used for transmitting and receiving information between the vehicle device and the road facilities. 5. Identification information for identifying a point transmitted from on-road equipment installed at a first point is received by a vehicle device of a vehicle passing through the point and stored together with a passing time at the first point. When the vehicle passes through a second point where another on-road facility is installed, the identification information of the first point and the passing time transmitted from the vehicle device and stored in the vehicle device are set to the second time. Of the vehicle between the first point and the second point based on the information received by the road equipment at the point and stored with the passing time at the second point, and stored in the road equipment at the second point. A traffic flow measurement method comprising calculating a travel time.