JPH022499A - Route guide system in moving body communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To guide a subscriber's vehicle to a destination through an optimum route by allowing a center to form a traveling route indicated by a mobile station in accordance with a traffic flow state. CONSTITUTION:When the mobile station mounted on the subscriber's vehicle 12 requests the transmission of route guide information, the request is informed to the center 26 through a communication line network 22. The center 26 selects the optimum route to be traveled by the mobile station under the consideration of the traffic flow state and forms the route guide indicating data of the route. The optimum route and the route guide indicating data are sent to the mobile station generating the transmission request as the optimum route information. At the time or receiving base station information from a road station 10 relating to the received optimum route information, the mobile station outputs a route guide instruction corresponding to the road station 10. The subscriber's vehicle is guided on the road in accordance with the instruction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a mobile communication system, and more specifically, to a route guidance method in a mobile communication system that provides route guidance to a vehicle such as an automobile.

(Prior Art) Route guidance information in a conventional mobile communication system to which the present invention is particularly relevant includes an automobile navigation system. An automobile navigation system is equipped with map information recorded on an optical recording medium such as GO-ROM on the in-vehicle side, and a CRT display for displaying this information, and the current driving position is displayed on the display. This is a system that displays information on a map. In this navigation system, a transmitter for transmitting position information is installed on, for example, a road information board, and a receiver for receiving this position information is installed on the vehicle side. On the vehicle side, each time it receives position information from the transmitter, it corrects the vehicle position on the map displayed on the display, and until the primary position information is received, the vehicle remains autonomous based on the vehicle's direction of travel, speed, etc. Update the vehicle position automatically. The passenger recognizes the current position of the vehicle from the position of the vehicle on the map displayed on the display, and based on this, determines whether or not the vehicle is heading toward the destination.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) In this way, in the conventional technology, the passenger has to select the course to the destination, and it is possible to check whether the vehicle is not taking the wrong course with respect to the destination. It was nothing more than

In addition, in the conventional technology, the route to the destination is determined by the passenger, so it is not possible to select an appropriate route according to the traffic situation. shall be. As for map information, it is difficult to record detailed map information of each area without exception due to the storage capacity limit of the recording tα medium. For this reason, depending on the destination, the passenger may not be able to select the route accurately;
Map information is originally updated over time, and may also be changed temporarily depending on the situation.

Therefore, even if such fluid information is prepared in advance, it is difficult to quickly respond to changes or additions to its contents.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to eliminate such drawbacks of the prior art and to provide a route guidance method in a mobile communication system that can guide an optimal route to a destination according to traffic conditions.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a plurality of base stations that communicate with mobile stations using black lines, a plurality of base stations that are accommodated, and a plurality of base stations that communicate with mobile stations using black lines. The base station includes a communication line network for exchanging communications with the base station, and a center connected to the communication line network for selecting an optimal route according to traffic flow conditions and creating route guidance instruction data for instructing the optimal route. , sends base station information that identifies the base station to the mobile station, and when the mobile station sends a request to send route guidance information, the communication network notifies the center of the send request, and the center receives the send request. ,
The optimal route according to the traffic flow situation is selected, and the optimal route information including the route guidance instruction data is transmitted to the mobile station, and the mobile station receives the optimal route information and selects the optimal route among the plurality of base stations. When receiving base station information from a base station related to route information, it outputs a route instruction related to the base station among the route guidance instruction data.

(Function) According to the present invention, when a mobile station requests the transmission of route guidance information, this request is notified to the center via the communication network. When the center receives this notification, the center selects the optimal route for the mobile station to travel in consideration of traffic flow conditions, and creates route guidance instruction data for this route. The optimal route and route guidance instruction data are sent as optimal route information to the mobile station that made the transmission request. When the mobile station receives optimal route information and receives S base station information from a base station related to the received optimal route information, it outputs a route guidance instruction corresponding to that base station. The vehicle is guided along the route accordingly.

(Example) Next, an example of a route guidance system in a mobile communication system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the mobile communication system according to the present invention is applied to land transportation, particularly road traffic for vehicles including automobiles, as a road-to-vehicle information communication system. Local roads are placed along local roads and expressways at predetermined intervals, for example, at intervals of several hundred meters to several kilometers. This interval may be set to an appropriate value depending on, for example, the vehicle speed allowed on the road.The road station IO is a ground station that functions as a base station that communicates wirelessly with the subscriber vehicle 12 on the road. .

The roadside station IO has a transceiver 14, which is connected to the participating vehicle 1.
A mobile station installed in 2, that is, a car! One of the characteristics of this embodiment is that it transmits and receives radio waves 18 to and from the li device 1B (Fig. 5) and communicates with vehicles 12 existing within its service area, that is, zone 20. Station 10's layout I? The size of the zone 20 is much smaller than the 1-un interval, and the roadside stations 10 are arranged intermittently. Its diameter may be, for example, on the order of several tens of meters to 100 meters. Therefore, between two adjacent zones 20, the radio waves transmitted by the base station 10 may be
There is a region where the vehicle 12 does not substantially respond, ie, a "no radio wave region", and the vehicle 12 can communicate with the roadside station 1O only while it is included in the zone 20.

As you will see, in this method, two adjacent on-road stations
The same frequency can be used effectively for 0 as well. Therefore, basically, the road station 10 and the mobile station 16
It is sufficient to use a single frequency for the entire system for the PIA line link between For systems that allow full-duplex communication, a pair of different frequencies under L are used.

This eliminates the need for frequency zone switching as in conventional cellular systems. Because of these characteristics, this method is called an "intermittent minimum zone method", and the zone 20 is called a "minimum zone". Note that the wireless communication performed between the roadside station 10 and the mobile station 16 is not easily affected by fading effects due to extremely short-term radio wave propagation.
High-speed communication of about 58 Kbit/s - 1.5 Mbit/s is possible. Particularly in this embodiment, considering cost minimum, it is desirable to set it to about 512 Kb i Lls, for example.

The road station 10 constitutes a part of the road-to-vehicle individual communication line network 22, and can access other communication equipment such as the road-to-vehicle system center 26 in this embodiment via the same line, 1ll122. In this embodiment, the road-to-vehicle individual communication line network 22 has a station hierarchy configuration as illustrated in FIG. 2, and is a communication line network that performs switching or exchange between the road-to-vehicle system center 26 and the mobile station 1B. be.

With such an intermittent minimum zone method, it is possible to speed up communication between the mobile station 16 and the road station 1O.

It will be possible to provide a variety of route guidance services, including high-speed data communications. That is, as in this example,
An individual road-to-vehicle communication port for the purpose of navigation that guides additional heavy vehicles 12 such as automobiles to appropriate routes depending on road congestion and weather conditions, and for efficiently managing the operation of a large number of vehicles 12! ! , 11122, data communication can be performed between the center 26 and the mobile station 16.

Referring to FIG. 2, the road-to-vehicle individual communication line network 22 in this embodiment includes a district station 30 that accommodates a plurality of on-road stations 10 located in a certain area, and a district station 30 that connects a plurality of district stations 30 over a certain area. It has a hierarchical structure consisting of earth stations 32 and a general office 34 that houses several of these earth stations 32. These stations 30.
32.34 is called the ground station.

District Bureau 30. In this embodiment, the lines between the earth station 32 and the general station 34 form a tree-like line network consisting of a trunk line and intermediate lines 38 such as diagonal lines, and the lines between the general stations 34 are logically arranged in a grouped manner. It constitutes a line network. It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to this alternative form, and may take other forms such as a local hierarchy structure depending on the type of road such as a general road or an expressway, or a linear network. stomach.

The road-to-vehicle system center 28 is, for example, an information processing system that processes navigation for the participating vehicle 12. That is, the system center 26 receives road information and traffic-related information from the communication line 22 and an external information center (not shown), and estimates and predicts traffic flow conditions based on this information. When it receives a request to send a route guidance code to a destination, it selects the optimal route based on estimated traffic flow conditions. When the center 2B selects the optimal route, it creates a route guidance code including route guidance instruction data and sends it to the mobile station 16. That is, in this embodiment, the guidance code includes the station code of the road station 10 to be passed through to the destination, and a guidance instruction for performing route guidance corresponding to this station code. In the case of this embodiment, the guidance instruction data has the content, for example, "If you turn left at the XX intersection and there is a roadside station 10 in the direction of travel, turn left at the rXX intersection". The guidance code is stored in the memory 212 (fifth
(Fig.) as a guidance list (Fig. 57). Road-to-vehicle system center 26 is inside! ! ! General Bureau 3 by 40
It is housed in 4. Of course, these may be connected to the regional station 32 or the district station 30.

The vehicle-specific code for identifying the mobile station 16 is composed of a static code 50 and a dynamic code 60 in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. In addition to functioning as an identification number for each mobile station 16 within this system, the static code 150 is closely related to the number system used when a call is received from the road-to-vehicle communication system center 26 to the mobile station 1B. The static code 50 includes a mobile station code 54 that identifies the mobile station 16, a registered ground station code 52 that identifies the registered station, and a system code 56 that identifies the system.

The dynamic code 60 is a code corresponding to the movement state of the participating vehicle 12, and is effectively used to grasp the current situation of the participating vehicle 12 and navigate. I joined because I wanted to)
This is a vehicle-specific code related to the driving area and movement status of the lj vehicle 12, and is used to search the vehicle location for individual communication from the system center 26 and provide route guidance information to the travel destination of the subscribed vehicle 12. etc., plays an important role. Therefore, in this embodiment, the destination code 62 includes a destination code 62 indicating the operation destination of the participating vehicle 12 and a driving area need 64 indicating the current driving area area.
For example, when the link number code of the travel destination is set in 2, this is sent to the road-to-vehicle system center 26 as a request to send a route guidance code.

As conceptually shown in FIG.
This includes a storage area where static information is stored, including the location and direction of the roadside station IO and roadside station information around the roadside station. The static information and road station information are transmitted to 12. In the case of this embodiment, there is only one roadside station information, for example, [If you go straight ahead, there is a 00 intersection crossroads 300 meters ahead. ” The content is as follows.

In this embodiment, the mobile station 1B is a member vehicle 12 such as a car.
This is an in-vehicle device that is mounted on a vehicle and transmits and receives data such as navigation information and operation management information, messages, and image signals to and from a roadside station IO, and displays these signals visually and/or audibly to passengers. FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of the mobile station 1B in this embodiment. As shown in the figure, the mobile station 16 has a destination code 62, for example.
A key human power device 252 for inputting information such as a request to send a route guidance code, etc., a video display 256 for interfacing passengers with images and sounds, and a voice synthesis device 2.
80, voice recognition device; 282, facsimile transmitting/receiving device 254, etc.

Each component of the mobile station 16 is centrally controlled by a control circuit 21G. That is, the control circuit 210 includes a transmitter 200 and a receiver 202 that transmit and receive radio waves 18 to and from the road station IO, a speech synthesizer 280, and a display 256.
Alternatively, it controls the display control M230 that controls the display of the facsimile device 254, the key manual device 252, the transmission sofa 220 that temporarily stores the contents output from the facsimile device 254 or the voice recognition device 252, and the like. Further, the control circuit 210 is connected to the memory 2+2,
The route guidance code received from the road-to-vehicle system center 26 is stored in this memory 2!2 as a route guidance list.

The control circuit 210 of the mobile station 16 that has accumulated the guidance list,
The current position is confirmed from the static information received from the roadside station IO, and after confirmation, the traveling direction is notified to the passenger by the display 25B and/or the voice synthesizer 280 according to the route guidance information stored in the guidance list. .

This allows the passenger to know the traveling route in advance, so there is no need to display a map showing the traveling route on the display 25B.Of course, if the passenger requests map information, the latest map information will be sent from the center 26. You can also obtain .

The received map information is displayed on the display 256 or output by the facsimile device 254.

The mobile station 16 is equipped with a random number table function, and in response to polling from the road station IO, the mobile station 16 selects an available free channel among the plurality of channels on the link 18 between the road station IO and the road station IO. selected. Then, depending on the selected channel, the mobile station 16 is connected to the road station 10.
performs wireless communication with.

Communication between the mobile station 16 of the participating vehicle 12 and the base station 10 is carried out by polling using a frame 100 having a format as illustrated in FIG. 683 milliseconds (Ill
In S), a plurality of channels are multiplexed into a number of time slots included therein. In principle, the required bidirectional communication is completed within this 1 frame period. Wireless link 18
A single frequency is used. In the case of full-duplex communication, a pair of the same wave numbers, which are different from each other on the upper and lower sides, are used. However, these frequencies may be fixed, and the same frequencies are used no matter which roadside station 10's zone 20 the subscribing vehicle 12 moves to. In principle, communication is completed within a cycle of 1 frame, but if the amount of information is particularly large, such as image information, or if wireless communication conditions are poor, communication using multiple frames is possible. be.

An introduction section 102 is located at the beginning of the frame 100, and includes a preamble, a synchronization signal, a polling identification signal, a code for static information of the road station IO, and the like. Using this, the road station IO polls the mobile station 1B within the zone 20 at a predetermined period. The mobile station 1B is in the reception mode in the 1M state, and becomes the transmission mode after completing the reception of the introduction section 102.

The introduction section 102 is followed by a vehicle recognition section 104, which includes:
Mobile station 1B responds to polling with vehicle specific code 50.
This is the period during which the road station IO recognizes this. Advantageously, by performing two-block repeated transmissions, the recognition rate of participating vehicles 12 is significantly improved. The mobile station 16 selects a channel using a random number table, and uses this channel to transmit the static vehicle-specific code 50 and the dynamic vehicle-specific code 80 to the roadside station 10. The road station IO registers the mobile station 16 if the channel selected by the mobile station 18 can be correctly received without conflicting with other channels.

In this embodiment, the vehicle recognition unit 104 is followed by the vehicle recognition unit 104.
0B is arranged, and is used to transmit beacon-type dynamic navigation information such as traffic information and registration response signals (ACK or NAC) from the roadside station 10 to the mobile station 16. The roadside station IO sends an ACK to the mobile station 1B registered by the vehicle recognition unit 104, adding channel information to be used by the vehicle communication unit 108, which will be described later, if necessary.
Send a signal.

This is followed by the vehicle communication section 108, which in this embodiment performs full-duplex communication between the roadside station 1O and the mobile station I6. The frequencies are different at the top and bottom,
The channel selected by the roadside station 10 is used. However, the same frequency is used even if the subscribing vehicle 12 moves to the zone 20 of the adjacent roadside station IO. Of course, half-duplex or unidirectional communication may be used. In the vehicle communication unit 108, data such as guidance codes indicating navigation information and operation management information, messages, and image signals are transmitted between the mobile station 16 and the system center 26. is transmitted and received, and the information is displayed to the passenger of the participating vehicle 12 in the form of images and sounds.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the traveling route of the joining vehicle 12 that has requested the road-to-vehicle system center 2B to send a route guidance code. When the passenger requests transmission of route guidance from the mobile station MO3 whose mobile station code is 803 of the vehicle 12 shown in FIG.
2, input the link number code, which is the number of the roadside station IO at the travel destination, for example. For example, when the link number code of roadside station E is input as the destination, this code is stored in the transmission buffer 220 as the destination code 62 of the dynamic code 80.

■When the previous need 62 is input, the DI control circuit 210
will send this code 6 to the first road station lO that it passes after inputting.
Send 2. For example, when the mobile station 803 first passes through the transmission area 20 of road station A, the control circuit 210
The dynamic code 60 including the code 62 mentioned above is sent to the vehicle recognition unit 10.
4 to the roadside station A. Roadside station A is mobile station M0
After the dynamic code 60 received from mobile station M03 is temporarily stored in the memory 42, it is sent to the communication network 22 together with other codes of the mobile station M03. These codes are switched on the communication line #122, and a code indicating a request to transmit route guidance is transmitted to the road-to-vehicle system center 26.

When the road-to-vehicle system center 26 receives the destination of the mobile station M03, it selects the optimal route to the roadside station E, taking into consideration the traffic flow situation. The center 2B also predicts the movement of the mobile station MO3 and determines the road station B that can transmit the guidance code. Then, a guidance code including a route guidance instruction from roadside station C to roadside station E, which is next to ground station B which can transmit the guidance code, is sent to communication line network 22. When the roadside station B receives the guidance code addressed to the mobile station MOa, it stores it in the memory 4.
2 and monitors when mobile station M03 enters zone 20.

When the roadside station B detects the mobile station M03, the vehicle communication unit 10
8, a guidance code addressed to the mobile station 803 is transmitted. When the mobile station 14Q3 receives the guidance code, the control circuit 210
stores this code in memory 212 as a guide list as shown in FIG. Furthermore, the mobile station 803 is a road station B.
For example, information on roadside stations in the vicinity of road-L station B is received, such as, ``If you go straight, there is an oO intersection crossroads 300 meters ahead.''

When the control circuit 210 receives the road station information, it compares it with the guidance list and instructs the passenger about the direction of travel.

In this case, depending on the route guidance instruction data in the guidance list,
The mobile station 803 instructs the passenger to turn left at the 00 intersection 300 meters ahead. For example, this instruction is given by the speech synthesizer 280. There is an OO intersection 300 meters ahead, so please turn left there. '' may be voiced to the passenger, or a simple direction of travel instruction may be displayed on the display 256.

When the mobile station 1lI03 turns left at the Oo intersection and enters the zone 20 of the road station C, the road station C transmits its position information and static information including the road station information to the mobile station M by the introduction unit 102.
Send to O3. The control circuit 210 verifies that the traveling route is correct by comparing the location information of the roadside station C with the guidance list.

Furthermore, the mobile station 803 receives, for example, r 200 from the road station C.
There is a ΔΔ intersection crossroads m ahead. '', the vehicle instructs the passenger to follow the route guidance instructions on the list and instructs the passenger, ``There is a Δ△ crossroad 200 meters ahead, so please turn left there''. In this way, the mobile station MO3 can pass through the roadside stations and reach the roadside station E, which is the destination.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the participating vehicle 12 can reach the destination using the optimal route depending on the traffic flow situation. In addition, since the mobile station 16 gives instructions on the direction of travel,
Passengers do not have to choose a route based on their location on a map;
It is only necessary to operate the steering wheel according to the instructions from the mobile station 16.Furthermore, in this embodiment, the traffic flow situation can be comprehensively grasped and controlled, so that the traffic flow can be dispersed. In this embodiment, the destination input to the destination code 62 is the road station IO, but it may also be another target, such as the prefectural capital or a specific place name. Although it is assumed that the vehicle is operated by the passenger, it is also possible to provide the participating vehicle 12 with an autopilot function and automatically steer the vehicle in accordance with the direction instruction output from the mobile station 16.

An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a road-to-vehicle individual communication system has been described. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and can be effectively applied to individual communications with people other than vehicles, such as individuals, that is, pedestrians in a broad sense.

Note that the embodiments described here are for explaining the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto, and modifications and variations that can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Modifications are within the scope of this invention.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, since the mobile station provides route guidance, the user can reach the destination even without map information by driving according to the instructions from the mobile station. Furthermore, since the travel route instructed by the mobile station is created at the center according to traffic flow conditions, traffic flow can be dispersed and the mobile station can reach its destination on the optimal route.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual block diagram showing an embodiment in which the mobile communication system according to the present invention is applied to road traffic for vehicles as a road-vehicle individual communication system, and FIG. 2 is a road-vehicle individual communication system in the embodiment shown in FIG. Figure 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the format of the vehicle-specific code in the same embodiment, and Figure 4 shows an example of the frame format in the same embodiment. FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a mobile station in the same embodiment. FIG. 6 is a traveling route diagram showing an example of the traveling route of the joining vehicle in the same embodiment. 7 is a list configuration diagram that is an example of a guidance list including route guidance instructions for the traveling route shown in FIG. 6; FIG. 1 Explanation of symbols for important parts 10, Roadside station 12, Participating vehicle】4゜20゜22. 26゜42゜80゜82゜ Transmitter/receiver Minimal zone road + p Individual communication circuit vi network road inter-vehicle system center memory traveling vehicle table passing vehicle table fu control circuit memory key human power device CRT display speech synthesis device

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A plurality of base stations that wirelessly communicate with mobile stations; a communication line network that accommodates the plurality of base stations and exchanges communications for the plurality of base stations; and the communication line network. and a center that selects an optimal route according to traffic flow conditions and creates route guidance instruction data that instructs the optimal route, and the base station transmits base station information that specifies the base station to the base station. When the mobile station transmits a request to transmit route guidance information, the communication line network notifies the center of the transmission request, and upon receiving the transmission request, the center responds according to traffic flow conditions. the mobile station receives the optimal route information and selects the received optimal route among the plurality of base stations, and transmits the optimal route information including the route guidance instruction data to the mobile station; A route guidance method in a mobile communication system, characterized in that when the base station information is received from a base station related to the information, a route instruction related to the base station among the route guidance instruction data is outputted.