WO2014013610A1

WO2014013610A1 - Information device and communication control method

Info

Publication number: WO2014013610A1
Application number: PCT/JP2012/068458
Authority: WO
Inventors: 雄二板崎
Original assignee: 三菱電機株式会社
Priority date: 2012-07-20
Filing date: 2012-07-20
Publication date: 2014-01-23
Also published as: JPWO2014013610A1; JP5837200B2

Abstract

A control unit (70) acquires the movement history (113) of another device from the other device via a communication unit (50), acquires the present position (11) and movement direction (12) of its own device (10) from a detection unit (60), and determines whether or not the movement history (113) of the other device enters a movement history determination range that is a predetermined range set in the movement direction (12) of the device (10) with the present position (11) of the device (10) as a starting point. If it is determined that the movement history (113) of the other device enters the movement history determination range, the control unit (70) makes a probe information transmission request (71) that requests the transmission of probe information (114) held by the other device via the communication unit (50). If it is determined that the movement history (113) of the other device does not enter the movement history determination range, the control unit (70) does not make the probe information transmission request (71).

Description

Information device and communication control method

The present invention relates to an information device and a communication control method.

As a conventional car navigation device for exchanging information through inter-vehicle communication, a device described in Patent Document 1 below will be described. This conventional car navigation apparatus detects various information during traveling and stores the detected information as a traveling history. The travel history includes the position of the vehicle (current location), vehicle speed, road surface condition, and climate condition. The stored travel history is exchanged with another vehicle by inter-vehicle communication.

Then, it is determined whether or not the travel history collected from other vehicles relates to the travel route of the own vehicle. That is, the route on which the other vehicle has traveled is analyzed from the change in the position information of the other vehicle, and it is determined whether or not the route corresponds to the planned travel route of the own vehicle. When it is determined that the travel history of the other vehicle relates to the planned travel route of the own vehicle, the traffic information on the planned travel route of the own vehicle is estimated from the travel history of the other vehicle.

The following information is listed as the estimated traffic information. For example, if the collected travel history includes information that the change in position information at a certain point is remarkably small and the vehicle speed is low, it is assumed that there is a possibility that a traffic jam has occurred in the traveling direction. Further, if the collected travel history includes information that the wiper has been operating immediately before, it can be inferred that there is a possibility of rain in the traveling direction even if it is not raining now. Furthermore, if the collected travel history includes information that the air conditioner is set to heating as the climatic state and information that the road surface state is slippery, it can be inferred that there is a possibility of snow accumulation in the direction of travel. .

JP 2007-147307 A

In the conventional car navigation device described above, when a destination is set, the route from the current location to the destination is determined as the planned travel route of the vehicle, and when the destination is not set, the vehicle is currently driving. It is determined that the route that follows the current road as it is is the planned travel route of the vehicle.

However, simply setting a route that follows a running road as it is does not match the actual situation. This is because the road is not only a single road. For this reason, when the destination is not set, that is, when the navigation function is not used, sufficient accuracy cannot be obtained in determining whether the traveling history of the other vehicle is related to the planned traveling route of the own vehicle. It is thought that sufficient usefulness cannot be obtained for traffic information.

Note that the problem is not limited to the car navigation device.

An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for accurately acquiring various information related to the moving direction even when the navigation function is not used.

An information device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a communication unit, a detection unit, and a control unit. The communication unit performs wireless communication with other devices. The detection unit detects the current position and movement direction of the device itself. The control unit acquires the movement history of the other device from the other device via the communication unit, acquires the current position and movement direction of the own device from the detection unit, and the movement history of the other device determines the current position of the own device. It is determined whether or not the vehicle has entered a movement history determination range that is a predetermined range set in the movement direction of the own device as a starting point. When it is determined that the movement history of the other device has entered the movement history determination range, the control unit makes a probe information transmission request for requesting transmission of probe information held by the other device via the communication unit. . When it is determined that the movement history of the other device has not entered the movement history determination range, the control unit does not make a probe information transmission request.

According to the above aspect, the acquisition source of the probe information is selected by determining whether or not the movement history of the other device has entered the movement history determination range set in the movement direction of the own device. In other words, the probe information is selectively acquired from other devices that are likely to come from the direction in which the device is going. For this reason, useful probe information related to the moving direction of the device itself can be obtained with high accuracy. Moreover, there is an advantage that the above effect can be obtained even when the navigation function is not used.

The objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

It is a block diagram explaining a car navigation device as an example of information equipment concerning an embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining the 1st example of the communication control method which concerns on embodiment. It is a figure explaining the communication between apparatuses (communication between vehicles) which concerns on embodiment. It is a figure explaining the 1st example of movement history judgment concerning an embodiment. It is a figure explaining the 2nd example of the movement history determination which concerns on embodiment. It is a figure explaining the 3rd example of movement history judging concerning an embodiment. It is a figure explaining the 4th example of movement history judging concerning an embodiment. It is a figure explaining the 5th example of the movement history determination which concerns on embodiment. It is a figure explaining the 6th example of movement history judging concerning an embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining the 2nd example of the communication control method which concerns on embodiment.

Hereinafter, a case where the information device according to the present invention is a navigation device with a communication function, in other words, a communication device with a navigation function will be exemplified. In particular, a case where the navigation device is mounted on an automobile vehicle, that is, a case where the navigation device is a car navigation device is illustrated.

However, this information device is not limited to these examples. For example, the information device may be mounted on a railway vehicle, an aircraft, a ship, or the like, or may be mounted on a vehicle that is remotely operated. The information device may be of a type carried by a person. In other words, the information device is a device that can accompany various types of mobile objects.

Further, this information device can be provided not only as a car navigation device but also as a mobile phone, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), or the like.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a car navigation device 10 with a communication function (hereinafter referred to as a car navigation device 10, a navigation device 10 or the like) according to an embodiment. According to the example of FIG. 1, the navigation device 10 includes an input unit 20, an output unit 30, a storage unit 40, a communication unit 50, a detection unit 60, and a control unit 70.

The input unit 20 is a man-machine interface for the user to input various information to the navigation device 10. The input unit 20 can be configured using one or more of various input devices such as a touch panel, buttons, and a remote controller. In the example of FIG. 1, various information input from the input unit 20 is supplied to the control unit 70.

The output unit 30 is a man-machine interface for the navigation device 10 to provide various information to the user. The output unit 30 includes, for example, one or both of a display unit that outputs visual information and an audio output unit that outputs auditory information.

The display unit can be configured by using one or more of various display devices such as a display (liquid crystal panel, etc.) and a lamp. The audio output unit can be configured using, for example, an audio signal generation device and a speaker that converts the generated audio signal into audio, but other configurations can also be adopted. In the example of FIG. 1, various information output from the output unit 30 is supplied from the control unit 70.

The storage unit 40 is used here as a so-called auxiliary storage unit, and can be configured using one or more storage devices such as a hard disk device and an optical disk. The storage unit 40 stores map data 41, and the map data 41 is used, for example, in a map display function, a navigation function, a map search function, and the like. Other data, programs, and the like may be stored in the storage unit 40. The storage unit 40 is provided so that the control unit 70 can access it.

The communication unit 50 establishes a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) with another information device and performs wireless communication with the other information device. Here, a case where another information device as a communication partner is also a car navigation device, that is, a case where wireless communication is performed between the car navigation devices is illustrated. Note that, in an example in which the navigation device is mounted on an automobile, the wireless communication is generally referred to as inter-vehicle communication.

The communication unit 50 includes, for example, an antenna and a radio signal transmission / reception unit. Specifically, the radio signal received via the antenna is converted into a signal in a format that can be processed by the control unit 70 by the radio signal transmission / reception unit, and the received signal (in other words, reception information) is supplied to the control unit 70. Is done. Further, the transmission signal (in other words, transmission information) supplied from the control unit 70 is converted into a radio signal by the radio signal transmission / reception unit, and the radio signal is output from the antenna.

The detecting unit 60 detects the current position and moving direction of the navigation device 10 (own device 10), in other words, the current position and moving direction of the vehicle (own vehicle) on which the navigation device 10 is mounted.

Regarding the detection of the current position, the detection unit 60 can be configured in accordance with, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System) system. That is, the current position can be detected by receiving a signal emitted from a GPS satellite and analyzing the received signal. Alternatively, an autonomous navigation system using an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, a vehicle speed sensor, or the like may be used instead of or in addition to the GPS system.

Regarding the detection of the moving direction, the detecting unit 60 includes, for example, a data processing unit that specifies the moving direction from the change in the current position obtained sequentially. Alternatively, a gyro sensor may be used instead of or in addition to such a data processing unit.

The detection unit 60 supplies the detected data of the current position 11 and the moving direction 12 to the control unit 70. In some cases, the data of the current position 11 is simply referred to as the current position 11 and the data of the movement direction 12 is simply referred to as the movement direction 12.

The control unit 70 performs various processes and controls according to various functions of the navigation device 10. Here, the control unit 70 includes a central processing unit (for example, configured with one or a plurality of microprocessors) and a main storage unit (for example, one or a plurality of storage devices such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, etc.). ). According to this example, various functions stored in the main storage unit are implemented by the central processing unit, in other words, various functions are realized by software.

For example, a navigation function is realized by executing the navigation program, and a communication control function (function for controlling communication using the communication unit 50) is realized by executing the communication control program. Various functions can be realized in parallel. Note that all or part of the processing and control performed by the control unit 70 may be configured as hardware (for example, an arithmetic circuit configured to perform a specific arithmetic operation).

Note that the various programs may be stored in advance in the main storage unit of the control unit 70, or may be read from the storage unit 40 during execution and stored in the main storage unit. The main storage unit is used not only for storing programs but also for storing various data. In addition, the main storage unit provides a work area when the central processing unit executes the program.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a communication control method (in other words, a communication control function) S10 by the control unit 70. Here, it is assumed that the communication control method S10 is executed in a state where the navigation function is off, that is, a state where no destination is set, but the communication control method S10 can also be applied when the navigation function is on. .

The communication control method S10 is activated when the navigation device 10 can communicate with another device. Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the navigation device 10 (self device 10) according to the embodiment and the navigation device 110 (other device 110) serving as a communication partner can communicate with each other. In a situation where the other device 110 exists in 10a and the own device 10 exists in the communicable range 110a of the other device 110, they can communicate with each other. The communicable range 10a is, for example, a range with a radius of 100 m centered on the navigation device 10, and the same applies to the communicable range 110a of the other device 110.

In FIG. 3, in order to avoid complication of the drawing, the navigation devices 10 and 110 (more specifically, vehicles equipped with the navigation devices 10 and 110) are simply illustrated with black circles and white circles. ing. This method of illustration is also used in the subsequent drawings.

FIG. 3 illustrates a case where the

navigation devices

10 and 110 pass on the road 100, that is, a case where the moving

directions

12 and 112 of the

navigation devices

10 and 110 are opposite to each other. ) Is not limited to this example.

Returning to FIG. 2, when the communication control method S 10 is started, in step S 11, the control unit 70 moves from the other device 110 via the communication unit 50 to the movement history 113 (FIG. 1) is obtained. The data of the movement history 113 may be simply referred to as the movement history 113.

For example, the other device 110 can generate its own movement history 113 by continuously detecting the current position and accumulating the detection results. The movement history 113 may include information on each time when the current position is detected in addition to the information on the movement route. In step S11, the control unit 70 of the own device 10 requests the other device 110 to transmit the movement history 113, and the other device 110 transmits the movement history 113 to the own device 10 as a response, thereby controlling the own device 10. The unit 70 can acquire the movement history 113 of the other device 110.

2, the control unit 70 acquires the current position 11 and the moving direction 12 of the device 10 from the detection unit 60 in step S12. When the navigation device 10 is set to continuously detect the current position 11 and the moving direction 12, the continuous detection step may be used as the step S12.

Thereafter, in step S13, the control unit 70 uses the current position 11 and the movement direction 12 acquired in step S12 to set a predetermined range in the movement direction 12 of the own apparatus 10 starting from the current position 11 of the own apparatus 10. Set.

In step S14, the control unit 70 compares the movement history 113 of the other device 110 acquired in step S11 with the predetermined range set in step S13. Specifically, the control unit 70 determines whether or not the movement history 113 of the other device 110 has entered the predetermined range. Here, the predetermined range set in step S13 is referred to as a movement history determination range.

In addition, what is necessary is just to perform step S11, S12, S13 by step S14. Therefore, for example, step S11 may be executed after step S12 or after step S13.

FIG. 4 shows an explanatory diagram of the movement history determination in steps S13 and S14. In order to avoid complication of the drawing, the communicable ranges 10a and 110a shown in FIG. 3 are omitted. FIG. 4 illustrates a case where the own device 10 and another device 110 pass on the road 100. In the example of FIG. 4, the movement history determination range 14 has a fan shape, but the movement history determination range 14 may be, for example, a circle, an ellipse, or a polygon. The sector-shaped movement history determination range 14 is equally spread from side to side with respect to the moving direction 12 of the apparatus 10 with the current position 11 of the apparatus 10 as the center. In the fan shape, for example, the radius is 500 m, and the central angle (in other words, the fan-shaped spread angle) is 90 °.

As described above, in step S14, it is determined whether or not the movement history 113 of the other device 110 has entered the movement history determination range 14. Such entry presence / absence determination can be performed by determining whether or not the movement history 113 of the other device 110 intersects the outer edge of the movement history determination range 14, for example. Further, the detection of the intersection can be executed by various existing algorithms. In the example of FIG. 4, the movement history 113 of the other device 110 forms an intersection 14 x with the arc portion 14 a of the movement history determination range 14.

Further, FIG. 5 illustrates a case where the other apparatus 110 has progressed from the left side to the right side in the figure before passing the own apparatus 10. In this example, the movement history 113 of the other apparatus 110 is the movement history determination range 14. The intersection 14x is formed with the radius portion 14b.

On the other hand, when the other device 110 crosses behind the own device 10 as illustrated in FIG. 6 and when the other device 110 runs behind the own device 10 as illustrated in FIG. 110 can be in a communicable state (see FIG. 3), but the movement history 113 of the other device 110 does not cross the movement history determination range 14.

Also, when the other device 110 passes the own device 10, the movement history 113 of the other device 110 does not cross the movement history determination range 14. For example, the other device 110 is still located behind the own device 10 at the start time of the communicable state, that is, at the start time of the communication control method S10. The time taken to execute steps S11 to S14 is considered to be sufficiently shorter than the time required to pass the movement history determination range 14 after passing. In other words, steps S11 to S14 have already been completed before the other apparatus 110 enters the movement history determination range 14.

Note that the movement history determination in steps S13 and S14 is not limited to the examples of FIGS.

Returning to FIG. 2, when the control unit 70 determines in step S 14 that the movement history 113 of the other device 110 has entered the movement history determination range 14, in step S 15, the other device 110 compares the other device 110 with the other device 110. Requests transmission of possessed probe information 114 (see FIG. 1). Specifically, the control unit 70 transmits such a probe information transmission request 71 (see FIG. 1) to the other device 110 via the communication unit 50. As another device 110 transmits the probe information 114 to the own device 10 as a response, the control unit 70 of the own device 10 receives the probe information 114 of the other device 110 in step S16.

Here, the probe information 114 is information collected by the other device 110, for example, traffic information (congestion information, accident information, construction information, service area congestion information, etc.). However, the probe information 114 is not limited to traffic information. The collection of the probe information 114 is realized using an existing probe information collection technique, and the other apparatus 110 has such a collection function.

The control unit 70 of the own device 10 provides the received probe information 114 to the user, for example, by the output unit 30 (see FIG. 1). As a result, the user can know information such as traffic jams, for example, and can use the information for driving the vehicle.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S14 that the movement history 113 of the other device 110 has not entered the movement history determination range 14, the control unit 70 does not execute steps S15 and S16, The previous communication control method S10 is terminated.

As described above, the acquisition history of the probe information 114 is selected by determining whether or not the movement history 113 of the other apparatus 110 has entered the movement history determination range 14 set in the movement direction 12 of the own apparatus 10. To do. In other words, the probe information 114 is acquired selectively from the other device 110 that is likely to come from the direction 12 in which the device 10 is going. Therefore, useful probe information 114 related to the moving direction 12 of the own device 10 can be obtained with high accuracy. Moreover, there is an advantage that the above effect can be obtained even when the navigation function is not used.

Here, in the above-described conventional car navigation apparatus, the travel history collected from other vehicles includes a lot of information (position, vehicle speed, road surface condition, climate condition), and such a travel history with a large amount of information. From all other cars. For this reason, the total communication amount for collecting the travel history becomes large.

On the other hand, since the acquisition source of the probe information 114 is selected as described above, the amount of communication is reduced, in other words, compared to the configuration in which both the movement history 113 and the probe information 114 are always acquired from all other devices 110. Thus, communication efficiency can be improved.

Now, in the above, an example is given in which the position of the intersection 14x (see FIGS. 4 and 5) between the movement history 113 and the movement history determination range 14 is not particularly distinguished. On the other hand, the processing content may be changed according to the position of the intersection 14x.

For example, the outer edge of the movement history determination range 14 is divided into a plurality of parts, a rank is assigned to each part in advance, and a process according to the rank is applied. More specifically, the order of the arc part 14a that is the front part of the outer edge of the movement history determination range 14 is set higher than the order of the

radial parts

14b and 14c that are parts of the rear side.

And, for example, when the probe information 114 is obtained from a predetermined number or more of the other devices 110, the probe information 114 acquired from the other device 110 where the arc portion 14a having the higher rank intersects with the movement history 113 is preferentially adopted. Alternatively, for example, in step S 15, the probe information transmission request is made only to the other device 110 where the arc portion 14 a having the higher rank and the movement history 113 intersect. According to these examples, the probe information 114 can be selected in more detail.

In the above example, the size of the movement history determination range 14 is fixed in advance. On the other hand, you may change the magnitude | size of the movement history determination range 14 according to the shape of the road network which exists in the moving direction of the own apparatus 10, for example.

For example, as shown in FIG. 8, when the own apparatus 10 moves along a straight single path, the own apparatus 10 passes the other apparatus 110 that is a supply source of the probe information 114 on the single path. For this reason, even if the movement history determination range 14 is narrowed, that is, the sector central angle is reduced, the detection of the intersection 14x between the movement history 113 and the movement history determination range 14 is not hindered. On the other hand, by narrowing the movement history determination range 14, the processing load when detecting the intersection 14x can be reduced.

Conversely, for road networks with many branches, road networks with many branches and curves, etc., more probe information 114 can be collected by expanding one or both of the central angle and radius of the movement history determination range 14. It is.

Also, as illustrated in FIG. 9, when the road on which the own device 10 is movable is unevenly distributed, the movement history determination range 14 is set so as to cover the movable range wider than the unmovable range. Good. In the case of the example in FIG. 9, a movement history determination range 14 is set in which the left side is wide and the right side is narrow (that is, unevenly distributed to the left side) with respect to the moving direction 12 in the vicinity of the device 10. According to this, more probe information 114 can be collected efficiently.

Such adjustment of the movement history determination range 14 can be realized by changing step S13 to step S13B illustrated in FIG. 10 in the communication control method S10 (see FIG. 2).

According to the example of FIG. 10, the control unit 70 searches the road network existing in the moving direction 12 of the own device 10 from the map data 41 (see FIG. 1) in step S21. The size of the movement history determination range 14 is set according to the shape of the obtained road network. Note that step S22 can be realized, for example, by sampling a typical shape of a road network in advance and assigning a setting rule for the movement history determination range 14 to each sample in advance.

Thus, the movement history determination range 14 can be adjusted in conjunction with the map data 41, and the various effects described above resulting from such adjustment can be obtained. Instead of or in addition to the size of the movement history determination range 14, the shape (sector, circle, ellipse, polygon, etc.) of the movement history determination range 14 may be selected in conjunction with the map data. .

In addition, the navigation apparatus 10 (self apparatus 10) which concerns on embodiment, and the navigation apparatus 110 (other apparatus 110) used as a communication other party may have the same structure, and have a different structure. Also good. That is, as can be seen from the various examples described above, the other device 110 only needs to be able to provide the movement history 113 and the probe information 114 to the navigation device 10 according to the embodiment. Moreover, you may comprise the navigation apparatus 10 which concerns on embodiment so that the probe information 114 can be provided with respect to the other apparatus 110. FIG. In this example, the probe information 114 can be exchanged between the

devices

10 and 110.

Here, the communication control method S10 illustrated in FIG. 2 can be basically executed by a configuration including the communication unit 50, the detection unit 60, and the control unit 70. Further, the communication control method S10 to which step S13B of FIG. 10 is applied can be executed if the map data 41 is available. In other words, the communication control method S10 of FIGS. 2 and 10 can be executed even if some of the elements illustrated in FIG. 1 (such as the input unit 20) are omitted.

In the present invention, the embodiments can be appropriately modified or omitted within the scope of the invention.

10 car navigation device with communication function (information equipment), 11 current position, 12 movement direction, 14 movement history determination range, 14x intersection, 40 storage unit, 41 map data, 50 communication unit, 60 detection unit, 70 control unit, 71 Probe information transmission request, 110 other device, 113 movement history, 114 probe information, S10 communication control method, S11 to S16, S13B, S21, S22 steps.

Claims

A communication unit that performs wireless communication with other devices;
A detection unit for detecting a current position and a moving direction of the own device;
The movement history of the other device is obtained from the other device via the communication unit, the current position and the movement direction of the own device are obtained from the detection unit, and the movement history of the other device is It is determined whether or not the vehicle has entered a movement history determination range that is a predetermined range set in the movement direction of the own device from the current position of the device, and the movement history of the other device is the movement history. If it is determined that the vehicle has entered the determination range, a probe information transmission request for requesting transmission of probe information held by the other device is made via the communication unit, and the movement history of the other device is An information device comprising a control unit that does not make the probe information transmission request when it is determined that the vehicle has not entered the movement history determination range.
The information device according to claim 1,
A storage unit for storing map data;
The control unit searches the map data for a road network existing in the moving direction of the device itself, and sets the movement history determination range according to the shape of the road network obtained by the search.
Information equipment.
(A) obtaining a movement history of the other device from another device by wireless communication;
(B) detecting the current position and moving direction of the device;
(C) setting a predetermined range as a movement history determination range in the movement direction of the own device starting from the current position of the own device;
(D) determining whether or not the movement history of the other device has entered the movement history determination range;
(E) Probe information transmission for requesting transmission of probe information held by the other device when it is determined in step (d) that the movement history of the other device has entered the movement history determination range. A communication control method comprising the step of making a request.
The communication control method according to claim 3,
The step (c)
(C-1) searching for a road network existing in the moving direction of the own device from map data;
(C-2) A communication control method including a step of setting the movement history determination range in accordance with the shape of the road network obtained in the step (c-1).