JP2009169770A - Traffic signal control system, in-vehicle device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a traffic signal control system capable of enhancing traffic safety and smoothness of traffic, at an intersection where a time-difference system traffic light is provided. <P>SOLUTION: A traffic signal control device 1 comprises a transmitter 4 and transmits signal information through an antenna 5A to a vehicle "C", which runs on a road "R1" toward an intersection "A". The signal information includes present signal light colors of signal light devices 2A, 2B and their duration, and information relating to signal light colors to be displayed in future and their duration. An on-vehicle apparatus 6 of the vehicle "C", which is running on the road "R1" displays the information on a display 6A, such as, a car navigation device, at a time when the signal information is received in a communication region "Q". The driver can accurately recognize the state of signal light display at the intersection "A" by the display 6A. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a traffic signal control system and an in-vehicle device that improve traffic safety at an intersection having a time difference signal.

A time difference type traffic light means that when a green signal is displayed for both traffic flows facing each other at an intersection, the red signal display start time for one is different from the red signal display start time for the other. A traffic light with a time difference.
When the demand for a right turn of one of the facing traffic flows is large, the right-turning vehicle can proceed without delay by not giving the right of traffic to the facing traffic flow where the route intersects with the right-turning vehicle flowing in from that direction. It is often installed for the purpose of securing a possible time zone and eliminating traffic congestion at intersections (see Patent Document 1).

JP-A-9-270097

In the case of an intersection where a time-difference signal is installed, there is usually a display board indicating that the signal is a time-difference signal above the signal lamp, so the driver cannot grasp that the signal is a time-difference signal. Although it is possible, the driver may be confused because the display state of the signal lamp in the direction opposite to the traveling direction cannot be confirmed.
In particular, in the case of a vehicle that is going to turn right at an intersection where a time difference signal is installed, even if the signal display for itself is a green light, it may hesitate to turn right if there is no certainty that the facing side is a red light There was a problem that the effect of trying to promote traffic safety and smoothing by installing a time difference signal was halved.

  In view of such problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a traffic signal control system and an in-vehicle device that can promote traffic safety and smoothness at an intersection where a time difference type traffic signal is installed.

  The traffic signal control system according to the first aspect of the invention controls the display of the signal lamp at the time difference type traffic signal installation intersection, and the signal display for the traveling direction of the vehicle entering the intersection differs from the signal display for the facing direction. In such a case, the vehicle is provided with notification means for informing the vehicle (Claim 1).

According to the traffic signal control system of the present invention, a driver of a vehicle entering an intersection where a time difference signal is installed can know a signal display for a traffic flow in a facing direction, which could not be known before. become able to. Accordingly, it becomes possible to accurately grasp whether or not the vehicle traveling in the facing direction is already in a state to be stopped by a red signal, and the driver is not troubled while driving.
In particular, a driver of a vehicle trying to make a right turn at the intersection can surely recognize whether or not the vehicle traveling straight from the facing direction should be stopped with a red light, so that the driver can start making a right turn without hesitation. Thus, traffic safety at the intersection is improved.

  If the communication means for performing road-to-vehicle communication with the vehicle differs from the signal display for the traveling direction and the signal display for the facing direction, the notification means creates signal information including information to that effect. The signal information creation means may be provided, and the communication means may transmit the signal information created by the signal information creation means to the vehicle.

  By sending information to each vehicle entering the intersection by road-to-vehicle communication, it becomes possible to reliably transmit information to each vehicle.

  In addition, when the signal display with respect to the traveling direction is different from the signal display with respect to the facing direction, the notification unit may blink a signal lamp color that is turned on in a signal lamp that performs signal display on the vehicle. (Claim 3) In the case where a separate display board is provided and the signal display for the traveling direction is different from the signal display for the facing direction, at least one of characters and designs indicating that is displayed on the display board. It may be displayed (claim 4).

For example, when the signal lamp in the facing direction turns red, the blue signal lamp (yellow signal lamp) displayed in the direction of travel flashes or is displayed on the separately provided display board with characters, etc. It becomes possible to visually notify that the signal lamp in the facing direction has turned red.
The method of blinking the signal lamp has the advantage that it can be realized at low cost without providing new equipment at the intersection, and the method using the display board has the advantage that information can be accurately notified to the driver by character information or the like. .

The vehicle-side in-vehicle device that receives the signal information from the traffic signal control system according to the first aspect of the invention is different when the signal display for the traveling direction of the vehicle is different from the signal display for the facing direction. It may be configured to display at least one of a character string and a figure that can be recognized.
In-vehicle devices mounted on individual vehicles, the reliability of information transmission is further improved by separately informing the driver.

In this case, when the vehicle approaches the intersection, the structure of the intersection is enlarged and displayed on the screen, and the signal display for the traveling direction and the signal display for the facing direction are displayed on the enlarged view. It is even better to display each of them (Claim 6).
With this configuration, the driver looks at an enlarged view of the intersection and associates the overall structure of the intersection with the scene that is actually visible in front of the eyes, and what kind of display the signal lamp at which position displays. Intuitively and instantly know what you are doing. Therefore, the driver can determine the driving method when entering the intersection accurately and in a short time.

  It is possible to recognize that the two signal displays are different in order to notify the driver not only as a visual method but also as auditory information so as to ensure information transmission to the driver. It is even better if it is constructed so as to reproduce the correct voice.

  As described above, according to the traffic signal control system and the vehicle-mounted device of the present invention, the traffic safety at the intersection where the time difference type traffic signal is installed is increased, and smoothing is promoted.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of equipment arrangement of a traffic signal control system according to the present invention.

[Overall system configuration]
The traffic signal controller 1 is installed at the intersection A, and one or a plurality of vehicles traveling toward the intersection A by turning on, turning off, and blinking the signal lamp colors of the signal lamps including the signal lamps 2A and 2B. The presence / absence of the right of traffic is displayed for (including vehicle C in the figure).
The signal lamp 2A displays a right of traffic to a vehicle traveling toward the intersection A on the road R1 connected to the intersection A. One signal lamp 2B travels toward the intersection A on the road R2. The right of traffic for the vehicle to be displayed. In other words, the signal lamps 2A and 2B are installed so as to display the right of traffic for the vehicle traveling facing each other.

  The traffic signal controller 1 has a built-in transmitter 4 (FIG. 4) for wirelessly transmitting communication data to the vehicle. From the communication antenna 5A connected to the transmitter 4 toward the road R1. Communication data is transmitted. The vehicle C traveling on the road R1 can receive the communication data transmitted from the communication antenna 5A in the communication area Q (a range indicated by hatching in FIG. 1).

The communication data includes signal information related to the display lamp colors of the signal lamps 2A and 2B controlled by the traffic signal controller 1 and the schedule of the number of continuous seconds.
The signal information here stores, for example, the duration of the currently displayed green signal, the display order of the yellow signal and red signal to be displayed thereafter, the scheduled duration thereof, and the like.
The communication data includes road shape information related to the shape of the road such as the number of lanes and the gradient of the road R1, etc., road surface state information for notifying the road surface state of the road R1, etc.

The transmitter 4 does not have to be built in the traffic signal controller 1. For example, the transmitter 4 may be separately installed on a road or the like as an independent device.
In this case, the traffic signal controller 1 may transmit the created signal information or the like to the transmitter 4 through a separate communication line or the like.
The signal information and the like may be in any format. For example, the signal information and the road shape information may be combined into one information, or conversely, the signal information may be a plurality of information of two or more. . Further, a transmitter may be prepared for each type of data to be transmitted, and the signal information and the road shape information may be transmitted from different transmitters.

On the other hand, a signal control device 7 is installed in the traffic control center, and exchanges information with the traffic signal controller 1 through a router 8 and a communication line.
The traffic signal controller 1 determines a signal control plan for each cycle based on the signal control command information from the signal control device 7, and each signal lamp such as the signal lamp 2A is determined based on the signal control plan determined at the start of the cycle. It has the function of lighting the color.
The signal control command information here includes, for example, information on the green signal time to be assigned to each of the main road and the secondary road or the ratio thereof, one cycle time, point sensitive control (for example, gap sensitive control, bus sensitive control). And information on whether or not to implement (dilemma sensitive control, etc.).

The vehicle C traveling on the road R1 has a function of receiving the signal information and performing a safe driving support operation.
The safe driving support operation here is based on the signal information, road shape information, etc., and predicts the display state of the traffic light at the time when the vehicle C passes the stop line. When it is predicted that the vehicle is stopped, it means that the brake is automatically controlled so as to stop the vehicle before the stop line, or a warning is issued so as to prompt the driver to stop.
Note that it is not necessary for all vehicles traveling on the road to have the function of the safe driving support operation, and even if the vehicle has the function, the function may be stopped.

[Contents of signal information]
FIG. 2 shows an example of the signal information.
(A) is an example of the basic structure of signal information, and shows that it is composed of a header part, a data part, and a footer part.
(B) is an example which shows the detail of information.
Here, an example is shown in which information of two signal lamps 2A and 2B facing each other is stored at an intersection where a time difference type traffic signal is installed.

The header portion stores the data size of the signal information, the number of signal lamps that the traffic signal controller 1 provides information to the vehicle (02), and the number of lamp colors that provide information (03). In the subsequent data portion, the number of display seconds for each display lamp color of each signal lamp is stored for the number of the signal lamps.
A CRC, SUM value, and the like are stored in the footer part.

In the data portion, first, the lamp number (01) of the signal lamp 2A is stored, and the lamp color display scheduled seconds corresponding to the number of lamp colors of the signal lamp 2A are stored. In this example, the currently displayed signal lamp color is a blue signal (data “01”), the scheduled display time is 22 seconds (“16” in hexadecimal), and the yellow signal is displayed next to the blue signal. (Data “02”), the scheduled display time is 8 seconds (hexadecimal “08”), and the yellow signal is displayed next to the red signal (data “03”). The number indicates 64 seconds (hexadecimal number “40”).
The same applies to the information regarding the signal lamp color of the subsequent signal lamp 2B (the lamp number is “02”).
The scheduled display seconds may be expressed in units of 100 ms or 10 ms, and may be expressed as “FF”, for example, when the scheduled display seconds are unknown.

  In this example, for the information of the two signal lamps to be stored, the number of seconds for displaying the green light is different (the signal lamp 2A is 22 seconds, whereas the signal lamp 2B is 12 seconds (in hexadecimal, “ This is because the facing signal lamps 2A and 2B are controlled in a time difference manner.

[Basic operation of traffic signal controller]
Hereinafter, the basic operation of the traffic signal controller 1 will be described.

The signal control plan creation means 101 of the traffic signal controller 1 determines a signal control plan related to the display period of each signal lamp color based on the signal control command information transmitted from the signal control device 7 at the start of the cycle, Store in the signal control plan table 102.
The signal lamp control unit 111 controls the signal lamp 2A and the like in the order of the states 1 to 8 of the table 102 to turn on and off each signal lamp color.

  In this example, in the state 2 and the state 3, the display of the signal lamp 2B is first changed to yellow and red, and in the state 4 and the state 5, the display of the signal lamp 2A is changed to yellow and red. This is because the facing signal lamps 2A and 2B are controlled in a time difference manner.

The signal information creating unit 121 creates the signal information illustrated in FIG. 2 based on the signal control plan table 102 at every predetermined period (for example, every 100 ms). The generated signal information is transmitted to the communication area Q through the transmitter 4.
The in-vehicle device 6 that has received this signal information can know that the signal lamps 2A and 2B are controlled by the time difference formula. Then, when the signal lamp 2B starts displaying the yellow signal (the start time of the state 2), it can be recognized that the current lamp colors of the signal lamps 2A and 2B are different.

  Note that the signal information creating means 121 may continue to transmit signal information to the communication area Q at all times, or only in the time zone where the signal lamps 2A and 2B are displaying differently, or in the time zone and before and after that time zone. You may make it transmit only for several seconds.

  Further, at the start of the state 2, the display board control means 131 may display on the display board 3 characters or symbols indicating that the display of the signal lamp 2A and the signal lamp 2B is different at the present time. For example, a character string such as “Currently displaying a red signal for a vehicle facing the vehicle” is displayed together with a symbol or the like for alerting. The state of the signal lamp 2B in the facing direction may be displayed as a symbol. Alternatively, the signal lamp 2 </ b> B may be constantly photographed with a camera and the image may be displayed on the display board 3.

  Further, the signal lamp control unit 111 may blink the blue signal lamp color of the signal lamp 2A at the start of the state 2 or the state 3. The driver of the vehicle C can know that the signal display of the signal light color 2B on the facing side has changed to yellow or red when the blue signal starts blinking. In this case, it is preferable to start blinking the green light at the start of state 3. The vehicle traveling on the road R1 can safely start a right turn because the facing signal lamp 2B has turned red.

Note that transmission of signal information, display on the display board 3, and blinking of the blue light of the signal lamp device 2A may be performed in any one of them, or may be performed in combination.
If the signal lamp 2A is blinked simultaneously with the transmission of the signal information, it is possible to notify both the driver of the vehicle having the road-to-vehicle communication means and the vehicle that is not so convenient.

[Operation of signal controller]
Next, the operation of the signal control device 7 will be described.
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of functional blocks of the signal control device 7.
The signal control device 7 transmits information to and from a plurality of traffic signal controllers including the traffic signal controller 1 and other traffic signal controllers (not shown) by a transmission unit 701 and a reception unit 711 via a communication line. Sending and receiving.

The traffic condition acquisition unit 731 collects sensor information transmitted from one or more vehicle sensors (not shown) installed on the road and accumulates them in the traffic information database 732. Based on these sensor information, the traffic situation on the road where the vehicle sensor is installed and the surrounding area is grasped. In this case, the traffic condition is grasped at a cycle such as every 5 minutes or every traffic light cycle time. In grasping the traffic situation, indicators such as traffic volume, occupation time, average travel speed, queue length of a group of vehicles on each road are used.
For example, the traffic volume ratio on the main road side and the secondary road side fluctuated significantly at one intersection, and the inflow traffic exceeded the saturation traffic flow rate at the intersection and reached saturation at another intersection. Know the situation.

Next, based on the traffic situation, a blue time, a cycle length, an offset, and the like assigned to the display of each intersection are determined, and the signal control command creating means 721 creates the signal control command information including these. And the instruction | indication regarding operation | movement of each traffic signal controller is given by transmitting the produced said signal control command information to each traffic signal controller at any time.
Each traffic signal controller that has received the signal control command information determines a signal control plan by the method described above.

[Basic operation of in-vehicle equipment]
Hereinafter, the basic operation of the in-vehicle device 6 will be described in detail.
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the functional blocks of the in-vehicle device 6 and the vehicle C equipped with the in-vehicle device 6.

In addition to the in-vehicle device 6, the vehicle C is provided with an engine for advancing the vehicle C and a brake for braking. The engine and the brake can be controlled by a driver operating an accelerator pedal, a brake pedal, and the like, but can also be automatically controlled based on an instruction from the in-vehicle device 6 or the like.
In addition, the vehicle C includes a display 6A (head-up display, a screen of a car navigation device, etc.) for notifying the passenger of various types of information by an image, sound, or the like based on information from the in-vehicle device 6 or the like. A speaker 6B is provided.

The signal information etc. acquiring means 601 receives and acquires the signal information, road shape information, etc. transmitted from the communication antenna 5A by a predetermined communication method via a receiving antenna (not shown) mounted on the vehicle C. To do.
In this case, the communication method used for road-to-vehicle communication may use any frequency band such as a long wave band or a short wave band, the modulation method may be any method such as OFDM or CDMA, and the procedure is also CSMA. Any method such as / CA may be used.
When signal information or the like is transmitted from different transmitters, a receiving unit may be provided for each piece of information.

Then, based on the acquired signal information, road shape information, etc., the display lamp color of the signal lamp 2A etc. when reaching the stop line is predicted from the time required to reach the stop line, and according to the prediction result The speaker control means 621 creates voice information for the passenger and notifies it through the speaker, or the display control means 611 creates image information and notifies it through the display 2A.
Further, the speed control means 631 controls the engine and the brake to automatically brake the vehicle C and assist the driver's driving.

Here, the image information displayed on the display 6A will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
When the position of the vehicle C acquired from a GPS or the like (not shown) mounted on the vehicle C approaches the intersection A and is within a predetermined distance, the display 6A displays an enlarged display of the intersection A from the map screen. Can be switched to.
As shown in FIG. 7, a schematic diagram of the intersection A when traveling on the road R1 toward the intersection A is displayed three-dimensionally, and the driver instantaneously enters the intersection A from the direction of the arrow symbol in front. I can understand.

And the signal lamp 2A which displays the right of traffic with respect to the vehicle C is installed in the other side of the intersection A, what is the signal display, and the signal lamp which displays the right of traffic in the direction facing the vehicle C The device 2B is installed on the near side of the intersection A, and it is possible to grasp at a glance how the signal display is.
Since the signal lamp 2B is not directly visible from the driver, it is preferable to display a balloon graphic above the signal lamp 2B and display the state of the signal lamp 2B in the balloon graphic.

Then, when the signal lamp 2A is a blue signal and the signal lamp 2B is a red signal as shown in FIG. 7, a character string, a pattern, or the like indicating that the two displays are different due to the time difference type control is conspicuous on the screen. To display.
In this way, by displaying a character string or the like that can be recognized instantly by the driver on the screen, the driver is not troubled when entering the intersection A, and the safety is further enhanced.

  At the same time as the screen display on the display 6A, the speaker control means 621 may alert the driver by voice through the speaker 6B. The audio information in this case may be the same as the character information displayed on the screen, such as “Currently, the facing direction is a red signal”.

  Moreover, since the vehicle-mounted device 6 can grasp how many seconds the display of the currently displayed signal lamp 2A etc. will continue from the received signal information, the number of continuous seconds can be calculated near the signal lamp 2A etc. It may be displayed in real time. Then, information such as “the signal in the direction of travel will soon turn red” may be displayed on the screen or transmitted to the driver by voice.

  Note that the traffic signal controller 1, the signal control device 7, and the like in the present invention may be realized by a single casing, or may be realized by a combination of a plurality of casings. Each of these may be realized by one computer or may be realized by combining a plurality of computers.

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the outline | summary of apparatus arrangement | positioning of the traffic signal control system which concerns on this invention. (A) is a figure which shows an example of the format of the signal information which concerns on this invention, (b) is a figure which shows an example of signal information. It is a figure which shows an example of a signal control plan. It is a figure which shows an example of a functional block structure of the traffic signal controller. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional block configuration of a signal control device 7. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the functional block structure of the vehicle equipment. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen of 6 A of displays.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Traffic signal controller 2A, 2B Signal lamp 3 Display board 4 Transmitter 5A Communication antenna 6 Vehicle-mounted apparatus 7 Signal control apparatus 8 Router 101 Signal control plan creation means 102 Signal control plan table 111 Signal lamp control means 121 Signal information creation means 131 Display board control means 601 Signal information acquisition means 611 Display control means 621 Speaker control means 631 Speed control means 6A Display 6B Speaker 701 Transmission means 711 Reception means 721 Signal control command creation means 731 Traffic condition acquisition means 732 Traffic information database

Claims (7)

A traffic signal control system for controlling the display of a signal lamp at an intersection where a time difference signal is installed,
A traffic signal control system comprising a notification means for notifying the vehicle when the signal display for the traveling direction of the vehicle entering the intersection is different from the signal display for the facing direction. The notification means includes
Communication means for performing road-to-vehicle communication with the vehicle;
When the signal display with respect to the traveling direction and the signal display with respect to the facing direction are different, signal information generating means for generating signal information including information to that effect is provided,
The communication means includes
2. The traffic signal control system according to claim 1, wherein the signal information created by the signal information creating means is transmitted to the vehicle. The notification means includes
The signal lamp color that is lit in the signal lamp that performs signal display for the vehicle is blinked when the signal display for the traveling direction and the signal display for the facing direction are different. Traffic signal control system. The traffic signal control system includes a display board,
The notification means includes
When the signal display for the traveling direction is different from the signal display for the facing direction,
The traffic signal control system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least one of characters and symbols indicating that effect is displayed on the display board. An in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle that receives signal information from the traffic signal control system according to claim 2,
When the signal display with respect to the traveling direction of the vehicle is different from the signal display with respect to the facing direction, at least one of a character string and a figure capable of recognizing that is displayed on the screen of the in-vehicle device. In-vehicle device characterized by being. When the vehicle approaches an intersection, the structure of the intersection is enlarged and displayed on the screen of the in-vehicle device,
6. The in-vehicle device according to claim 5, wherein a signal display for the traveling direction and a signal display for the facing direction are displayed on the enlarged view. The in-vehicle device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein when the two signal indications are different from each other, a sound that can recognize the fact is reproduced.

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