JP2000357289A - Traffic information management system and traffic information management method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide a traffic information management system and a traffic information management method that can also manage traffic jam information on a road where a traffic volume sensing device is not installed. A traffic information management center (23) has a vehicle (20).
The vehicle traveling information from the car navigation 21 mounted on the vehicle is received, the received vehicle traveling information is registered in a management database, and a traffic situation is determined based on the management database and provided to the car navigation 21.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a traffic information management system and a traffic information management method suitable for effective use of car navigation information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional traffic information management system, traffic congestion information and the like are generated based on information from a traffic volume sensing device installed on each main arterial road and provided to a user.

In a traffic information management system using a car navigation system, a GPS (Global Posit
The current position can be accurately grasped based on position information received from a satellite of an ioning system and a detection result of a gyro sensor or a speed detection device mounted on the vehicle side.

Further, in a mobile communication system for performing wireless communication, information on traffic congestion or the like can be obtained by communicating with a traffic information management center using a portable telephone or the like.

[0005]

As described above, traffic congestion information and the like can be obtained by using the above-described systems, so that the driver can drive comfortably.

[0006] However, in the traffic information management system described above, it is impossible to provide congestion information on a road on which no traffic sensing device is installed. In addition, enormous costs are required to install a large number of traffic sensing devices.

[0007] As a technique related to such a traffic information management system, for example, a "vehicle navigation device" is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-274697. In this vehicle navigation device, the center station acquires traffic volume information from a vehicle detector arranged on a main road.
The device on the vehicle side automatically makes a call from the mobile phone to the center station at a cycle inversely proportional to the vehicle speed, and transmits the detected current position of the vehicle and a request for transmission of road traffic information to the center station via a wireless telephone line. The center station returns traffic information on roads around the center station via a wireless telephone line according to the current position of the vehicle. On the TV monitor on the vehicle side, the road traffic information received from the center is superimposed and displayed on a road map around the current position. Since the current position of the vehicle is notified, only the road traffic information necessary for the vehicle is transmitted and received, and the communication time is reduced. In addition, since the current position and the transmission request are automatically transmitted periodically, the operation burden on the occupant is reduced.

[0008] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-63728 discloses a "method and apparatus for linking an operation schedule with a portable information terminal". In the operation schedule linking method and apparatus using the portable information terminal, the portable information terminal carried by the user is provided with a communication function to obtain traffic information. The portable information terminal has the operation schedule data of the user, predicts the scheduled time of the operation schedule including the travel time before the action, and further corrects the scheduled time in real time based on the traffic information obtained by the communication function. Do. Then, the occurrence of the scheduled time correction and the result are presented to the user, and the correction of the scheduled time is transmitted to the destination, so that not only the effective use of the user's time but also the coordination of the action with the destination is performed. Assist.

[0009] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 10-307993 discloses a "traffic information collection system". In this traffic information collection system, the ID of the mobile station, the vehicle type,
Information S including the current position, time and vehicle speed is wirelessly transmitted from the mobile station to the base station, and information is transmitted from the base station to the fixed station via a telephone line. Find traffic information such as road traffic and traffic jams. As a result, it is possible to reduce the equipment cost for collecting traffic information and improve the measurement accuracy of traffic information.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-53684 discloses a "traffic information display system". In this traffic information display system, the traffic information is received by a receiver built in the car, the received traffic information is image-processed by a first control unit of a car navigation system also built in the car, and the data is transferred to a mobile phone. The traffic information is stored in a built-in memory of the telephone, and the traffic information is arbitrarily displayed on the monitor screen by the operation unit. Thus, traffic information can be displayed on the mobile phone without having the receiver and the first control unit built in the mobile phone.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-64019 discloses a "car navigation device". In this car navigation device, the CPU 4 executes the D-GP
The radio wave of the broadcasting station A that transmits the S data is received, and the head of the frame of the FM multiplex broadcasting from the broadcasting station A is stored. The CPU 4 always sends VICS to the FM tuner.
It controls so as to select the radio wave of the broadcasting station B that sends out data, selects a broadcasting station at a timing of a period of 4.896 × N seconds, acquires D-GPS data, and switches between two broadcastings efficiently. . This allows the FM tuner to efficiently acquire GPS error information and VICS traffic information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and a traffic information management system and a traffic information management method capable of managing traffic jam information on a road on which a traffic volume sensing device is not installed. It is intended to provide.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, a traffic information management system according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a car navigation device mounted on a vehicle to generate vehicle travel information, The vehicle traveling information received from the navigation device via the mobile communication network is registered in the management database, and information indicating a traffic condition is generated based on the registered management database. A traffic information management center for transmitting the traffic information to the car navigation device.

[0014] In the traffic information system according to the first aspect, the car navigation device includes a GPS receiving unit that receives position information from satellites constituting a GPS, and a traffic that manages an area where the vehicle is running. A search database for searching an information management center, and the GPS
A control unit for searching for a traffic information management center which manages an area where the vehicle is currently traveling by searching the search database based on position information from a receiving unit; and a traffic information management center obtained by the control unit. The center may include a transmission unit that transmits the vehicle travel information via the mobile communication network.

Further, the management database in the traffic information management center includes a road determination database for determining a road on which the vehicle is located and a traffic management database for determining a traffic condition of the road. The traffic information management center may be configured to determine a road on which the vehicle is located based on the road determination database, and then determine a traffic condition of the road based on the traffic management database.

Further, the traffic information management center can be configured to update the traffic management database according to the vehicle traveling information received from the car navigation device.

Further, when the traffic information management center determines the traffic condition of the road based on the traffic management database, information indicating an average speed included in the vehicle travel information sent from the navigation system is used. If the traffic speed exceeds a predetermined congestion occurrence speed threshold value, it is not determined that traffic is congested. If the average speed is equal to or less than the congestion occurrence speed threshold value and exceeds the predetermined traffic congestion speed threshold value, congestion occurs. When the average speed is equal to or less than the traffic jam occurrence speed threshold value, it can be determined that traffic is congested.

In these cases, the vehicle traveling information can be configured to include a current time and a current position, a traveling direction, and an average speed of the vehicle.

Further, in the traffic information management method according to the second aspect of the present invention, for the same purpose as described above, a vehicle navigation information is generated by a car navigation device mounted on a vehicle, and the traffic information is generated via a mobile communication network. A first step of transmitting to the traffic information management center; and a second step of registering the vehicle travel information from the car navigation device received via the mobile communication network in a management database of the traffic information management center. And a third step of generating information indicating a traffic condition based on the registered management database; and transmitting the generated information indicating the traffic condition to the car navigation device via the mobile communication network. And a fourth step of transmitting.

In the traffic information related method according to the second aspect, the first step includes a fifth step of receiving position information from a satellite constituting a GPS, and a step of receiving the position information based on the received position information. A sixth step of obtaining a traffic information management center that manages an area where the vehicle is currently traveling; and transmitting the vehicle travel information to the determined traffic information management center.
Transmitting the data via the mobile communication network.

The third step is a road determination database included in the management database, wherein the vehicle exists based on a road determination database for determining a road on which the vehicle exists. An eighth step of deciding the road on which the road is located, and a traffic management database included in the management database, wherein the traffic management database for determining the traffic situation of the road is used to determine the traffic situation of the road. 9 steps.

[0022] The third step may be configured to update the traffic management database according to the vehicle traveling information received from the car navigation device.

Further, in the ninth step, when judging the traffic condition of the road based on the traffic management database, information representing an average speed included in the vehicle traveling information sent from the navigation system. Is not determined to be congested if exceeds a predetermined congestion occurrence speed threshold, and if the average speed is equal to or less than the congestion occurrence speed threshold and exceeds a predetermined congestion occurrence speed threshold, When the average speed is equal to or less than the traffic jam occurrence speed threshold value, the traffic jam is determined to be congested.

According to the traffic information management system and the traffic information management method of the present invention, a traffic information management center receives information on vehicle travel from a car navigation device mounted on a vehicle and manages the received information. The information is registered in the database, and the traffic condition is determined and provided to the car navigation device.

[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a traffic information management system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a traffic information management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This traffic information management system includes a vehicle 20 equipped with a car navigation device 21,
A mobile communication network 22 and a traffic information management center 23 are provided.

The car navigation device 21 provided in the vehicle 20 uses the wireless communication function provided in the car navigation device 21 so that the mobile communication network 22
Can be communicated with the traffic information management center 23 via the.

As shown in FIG. 2, the car navigation device 21 includes a GPS receiver 1, a gyro sensor 2, a traffic information center access point database (DB) 3, map information 4, a mobile communication unit 5, a communication interface 6, An input unit 7, a display unit 8, a VICS information receiving unit 9, a central processing unit 10, and a speed detecting unit 11 are provided.

The GPS receiving section 1 receives position information from satellites constituting the GPS. The position information received by the GPS receiver 1 is supplied to the central processing unit 10. The gyro sensor 2 detects the traveling direction of the vehicle 20. The detected traveling direction information is supplied to the central processing unit 10. The traffic information center access point database 3 uses GPS
This is a database for searching the center telephone number of the traffic information management center 23 in the area where the vehicle 20 is currently traveling from the position information from the receiving unit 1.

The map information 4 is information relating to a map recorded on a storage medium such as a CD or a DVD. The mobile communication unit 5 and the communication interface 6 control wireless communication between the car navigation device 21 (central processing unit 10) and the traffic information management center 23.

The input unit 7 is used for inputting various information for receiving a request from the driver. The information input from the input unit 7 is supplied to the central processing unit 10. The display unit 8 displays a map or the like based on the map information from the central processing unit 10. The VICS information receiving unit 9 receives traffic jam information and the like from the optical beacon. The received traffic jam information and the like are supplied to the central processing unit 10.

The central processing unit 10 controls the operation of each unit of the car navigation device 21. Speed detector 11
Calculates the vehicle speed from the speed pulse of the vehicle 20 or the like. The obtained vehicle speed information is supplied to the central processing unit 10.

The traffic information center access point database 3 includes a search database formed on a readable / writable storage medium such as a hard disk. FIG. 3 shows an example of this search database. Then, from the current position specified by the latitude and longitude of the vehicle 20, a traffic information management center 23 that manages the area (referred to as an “access point”).
The center telephone number can be searched.

In this embodiment, the center telephone number of the traffic information management center 23 is searched at regular intervals based on the information indicating the current position. And car navigation device 2
1 is connected to the center telephone number obtained by this search via the mobile communication network 22, and transfers information such as the current position (latitude and longitude), traveling direction, and speed of the vehicle 20. .

FIG. 4 shows an example of a management database held in the traffic information management center 23. FIG. 4 (a)
Indicates a road determination database 23a. The road determination database 23a stores latitude, longitude, traveling direction, and road name.

FIG. 4B shows the traffic management database 23b. Traffic management database 23
In b, a road name, the number of vehicles, a congestion occurrence speed threshold, and a congestion occurrence speed threshold are held.

Next, the operation of the traffic information management system configured as described above will be described. Now, it is assumed that data as shown in FIG. 6A is stored in the road determination database 23a, and data as shown in FIG. 6B is stored in the traffic management database 23b. .

First, the central processing unit 10 of the car navigation device 21 uses the information obtained from the GPS receiving unit 1 and the gyro sensor 2 to obtain information on the current time, information on the latitude and longitude indicating the current position of the vehicle 20, and information on the vehicle 20. Find the direction of travel. Next, the central processing unit 10 causes the display unit 8 to display a map around the current position and a vehicle position. Such an operation of the car navigation device 21 is performed at a cycle of about 5 minutes to 10 minutes. Further, the central processing unit 10 operates the mobile communication unit 5 and the communication interface 6 to transfer the obtained information to the traffic information management center 23.

When transferring the various information, first, the traffic information center access point database 3 is searched using the latitude and longitude information indicating the current position as a search key.
As shown in FIG. 3, the traffic information center access point database 3 records a plurality of pieces of information representing the location of an area managed by the traffic information management center 23 in latitude and longitude. Then, the center telephone number of the traffic information management center 23, which is closest to the center, can be searched from the latitude and longitude indicating the current position of the vehicle 20 using trigonometry.

When the central processing unit 10 transmits the center telephone number retrieved from the traffic information center access point database 3 to the communication interface 6, the mobile communication unit 5 connects to the traffic information management center 23, and the current position ( The average value of the latitude, longitude), the traveling direction, and the speed for the past 10 seconds is transferred as vehicle traveling information.

When the car navigation device 21 receives a rewrite request from the traffic information management center 23, the traffic information center access point database 3
Update information. Then, on the side of the traffic information management center 23, as shown in FIG. 5, based on the road determination data and the traffic management data, the situation of the peripheral road on which the vehicle 20 is actually traveling is described on a map.

In FIG. 5, a triangle mark (△) indicates the current position of the vehicle 20. A01 to a03, b
01 to b03, a11, b11, a21, b21, a2
2 and b22 indicate road names. Circles (○) indicate coordinates (latitude and longitude) registered on the road determination database 23a (see FIG. 6A) held by the traffic information management center 23.

The traffic information management center 23 searches the road determination database 23a using the position information (latitude, longitude) and the traveling direction (angle with east being 0 degree) transferred from the vehicle 20 as search keys, and To determine.

Specifically, in FIG. 5, the vehicle 20 is traveling in the direction of 45 ° at the position of the coordinates (6, 4). At this time, the traffic information management center 23 searches the road determination database 23a for a record closest to this value. By this search, the road name is determined as a01. Next, the road name a is read from the traffic management database 23b.
01 is searched, and the number of vehicles and the average speed of the record are updated.

In this way, information is collected on the traffic management database 23b. After a certain period of time, the average speed of each road, the congestion occurrence threshold value provided for each road, and the congestion occurrence threshold value are compared, and the congestion state of the road is determined under the following conditions.

If the number of traveling vehicles is extremely small, or if the average speed exceeds the threshold value of the congestion occurrence speed, the traffic is not congested. If the average speed is equal to or lower than the congestion occurrence speed threshold value and is higher than the congestion occurrence speed threshold value, it is regarded as congestion. When the average speed is equal to or lower than the traffic jam occurrence speed threshold value, the traffic jam is determined.

The traffic information management center 23 holds the traffic information center access point database 3 held by the car navigation device 21 of each vehicle 20. When vehicle information from outside the area in charge is transferred, the traffic information center access point database 3 is transmitted. A request is made to the vehicle 20 to rewrite the access point database of the traffic information center.

As described above, in the present embodiment,
On the traffic information management center 23 side, information on the vehicle traveling from the car navigation device 21 mounted on the vehicle 20 is received, and the received information is registered in a management database to determine the traffic situation and determine the traffic condition. 21 so that traffic congestion information on a road where no traffic sensing device is installed can be managed.

In this embodiment, since the information in the management database on the traffic information management center 23 side is always updated to the latest information, information such as traffic volume on a new road is also collected. Can be included. as a result,
When a new road is constructed, quick response is also possible.

Further, in this embodiment, since the respective values of the congestion occurrence speed threshold and the congestion occurrence speed threshold in the management database can be set arbitrarily, the road width and the road surface condition and the like can be set. It is also possible to easily determine the occurrence of traffic congestion according to the nature.

Further, in the present embodiment, the traffic information center access point database 3 held by the car navigation device 21 can be updated by a request from the traffic information management center 23. It can respond flexibly to changes in the number.

It should be noted that there is a case where a road which feels vacant even at a speed of 30 km / h in the daytime zone is crowded at a speed of 30 km / h in the night zone. In this case, FIG.
In the traffic information management database (b), the congestion / congestion occurrence speed threshold provided for each road is further divided into thresholds for each day of the week and for each hour, thereby enabling detailed management of the congestion information. .

The current car navigation device 21
Can display directions and estimated time of arrival by entering a destination. If such information is transferred to the traffic information management center 23, it becomes possible to predict the congestion state of the road several hours later instead of the present time.

[0054]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
The traffic information management center receives information on vehicle travel from the car navigation system mounted on the vehicle, and registers the received information in the management database.
Since the traffic condition is determined and provided to the car navigation system, a traffic information management system and a traffic information management method capable of managing traffic congestion information on a road where a traffic volume sensing device is not installed can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a traffic information management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of a car navigation device used in the traffic information management system shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining contents of a traffic information center access point database shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a traffic information management database held in the traffic information management center of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an operation of the traffic information management system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an operation of the traffic information management system shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 GPS receiving part 2 Gyro sensor 3 Traffic information center access point database 4 Map information 5 Mobile communication part 6 Communication interface 7 Input part 8 Display part 9 VICS information receiving part 10 Central processing part 11 Speed detecting part 20 Vehicle 21 Car navigation 22 Mobile communication network 23 Traffic information management center 23a Road decision database 23b Traffic management database

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A car navigation device mounted on a vehicle to generate vehicle traveling information, and vehicle traveling information received from the car navigation device via a mobile communication network is registered in a management database. A traffic information management center for generating information indicating a traffic situation based on the management database and transmitting the information to the car navigation device via the mobile communication network. 2. The car navigation device according to claim 1, further comprising: a GPS receiving position information from a satellite constituting the GPS.
A receiving unit, a search database for searching a traffic information management center that manages an area where the vehicle is traveling, and a search database for searching based on position information from the GPS receiving unit. A control unit for determining a traffic information management center that manages an area where the vehicle is currently traveling; and transmitting the vehicle travel information to the traffic information management center determined by the control unit via the mobile communication network. The traffic information management system according to claim 1, further comprising a transmission unit. 3. The management database in the traffic information management center includes: a road determination database for determining a road on which the vehicle is located; and a traffic management database for determining road traffic conditions. The traffic information management center, after determining the road where the vehicle is present based on the road determination database,
The traffic information management system according to claim 1, wherein a traffic condition of the road is determined based on the traffic management database. 4. The traffic information management system according to claim 3, wherein said traffic information management center updates said traffic management database in accordance with vehicle travel information received from said car navigation device. 5. The traffic information management center, when judging the traffic condition of the road based on the traffic management database, uses information representing an average speed included in vehicle running information sent from the car navigation device. If the traffic speed exceeds a predetermined congestion occurrence speed threshold value, it is not determined that there is congestion. If the average speed is equal to or less than the congestion occurrence speed threshold value and exceeds the predetermined congestion occurrence speed threshold value, congestion occurs. The traffic information management system according to claim 4, wherein when the average speed is equal to or less than the traffic jam occurrence speed threshold, the traffic is determined to be a traffic jam. 6. The vehicle travel information includes a current time, a current position, a traveling direction, and an average speed of the vehicle.
The traffic information management system according to any one of claims 1 to 5. 7. A first step of generating vehicle travel information by a car navigation device mounted on a vehicle and transmitting the generated information to a traffic information management center via a mobile communication network, and receiving the information via the mobile communication network. Registering the vehicle travel information from the car navigation device in the management database of the traffic information management center; and generating information indicating a traffic condition based on the registered management database. A traffic information management method comprising: a third step; and a fourth step of transmitting the information indicating the generated traffic condition to the car navigation device via the mobile communication network. 8. The first step is a fifth step of receiving position information from a satellite constituting a GPS, and managing an area where the vehicle is currently traveling based on the received position information. Of traffic information management center
The traffic information management method according to claim 7, further comprising: transmitting the vehicle travel information to the determined traffic information management center via the mobile communication network. 9. The third step is a road determination database included in the management database, wherein the vehicle exists based on a road determination database for determining a road on which the vehicle exists. An eighth step of deciding the road on which the road is located; and a traffic management database included in the management database, wherein the traffic management database for determining the traffic situation of the road is used to determine the traffic situation of the road. The traffic information management system according to claim 1 or 2, comprising: 10. The traffic information management system according to claim 9, wherein said third step further includes a tenth step of updating said traffic management database in accordance with vehicle traveling information received from said car navigation device. 11. In the ninth step, when determining a traffic condition of the road based on the traffic management database, information representing an average speed included in vehicle traveling information sent from the car navigation device. Is not determined to be a congestion if exceeds a predetermined congestion occurrence speed threshold, if the average speed is less than or equal to the congestion occurrence speed threshold and exceeds a predetermined congestion occurrence speed threshold The traffic information management method according to claim 9, wherein it is determined that the traffic is congested, and when the average speed is equal to or less than the traffic jam occurrence speed threshold, the traffic is determined to be congested.