JP2886646B2 - Pushbutton signal monitoring method and device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a push button signal monitoring method and a device for use in a traffic signal control for centralized control with a push button function, and more particularly to an apparatus for monitoring each push button signal at the terminal. A pushbutton signal monitoring method that can monitor and grasp information on breakdowns or the number of times the pushbutton is used at a remote centralized traffic control center, which can be used for repairing pushbutton signals and implementing more effective traffic control And equipment.

(Prior art)

At each intersection, traffic lights will be installed on both the main road and the sub-roads in order to smooth traffic by automobiles and suppress accidents, and the display of the lights of multiple traffic lights at such many intersections will be coordinated by the Central Control Center. The traffic is controlled at intersections under the collective control. By the way, the place where pedestrians cross on the main road is a kind of intersection, but if the same traffic light as the general intersection is installed and the same control is performed, the traffic light turns green unnecessarily for pedestrians. In other words, the vehicle must wait until it is, and conversely, there is a disadvantage that the vehicle is unnecessarily held by a stop signal even when there are no pedestrians, resulting in poor efficiency.

For this reason, for pedestrians crossing, traffic control is performed exclusively by pushbutton traffic lights as shown in FIG.
That is, the pedestrian trying to cross the road (main direction road) is pushed by the push button 24 of the push button box 23 attached to the signal pole.
Only when is pressed, the pedestrian light (signal) P is set to blue and the vehicle light (signal) C is set to red. When the push button is not pressed, the vehicle light is always blue. Has become. In addition, when the push button 24 is operated, the push button reaction lamp 25 provided near the push button 24 becomes the present state (lighting) at the mark where the signal controller 26 has started to operate, and the pedestrian is on standby. Turns off when the traffic light changes.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the present floor plan showing the present operation of the push button signal. When the push button is not pressed, the lamps for the main direction vehicle and the slave direction pedestrian repeat the indication with A in order from step 1 to step 10 (the indication itself does not change). During this time, reception of the push button is possible, but reception is prohibited only in step 6. When the push button 24 is operated and the crossing request is accepted, the push button reaction lamp 25 is illuminated, and after step 10 is completed, the display with B is made from step 1 to step 10. For example, from step 4, the main direction vehicle lighting device C
Becomes yellow light indication, and from step 5 becomes red light indication.

By the way, such pushbutton signals may be operated independently, but in many cases, a large number of pushbutton signals are transmitted via a communication line by a central control unit at a remote location in order to change the signal switching timing in accordance with traffic conditions. Intensively controlled.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a main part of a device for centralized control traffic signal control with a push button function including the central control device.

The yellow light display time of the vehicle lighting device or the pedestrian lighting device determined in consideration of the traffic volume, running speed and the amount of crossing pedestrians of the vehicle for each time zone obtained by a previously conducted survey A transmission time change signal is transmitted from the transmission means 20 of the central control unit to the plurality of pushbutton signals via the communication line 3 so as to change the blue light display time or the like to a length corresponding to each time zone. You. Each push button signal receives the change signal at the receiving means 21 connected to the communication line 3 and outputs it to the subsequent present time setting means 22. The present time setting means 22 extracts necessary information from the change signal, and changes the setting of each present time as specified.

As described above, the conventional push button signal is connected to the central control device for the purpose of varying the control time, and the control from the central control device is reflected. No information has been sent.

[Problems of the prior art]

By the way, there are still problems that need to be improved in the current push button signal. That is, the pushbutton signal light is provided with the above-described pushbutton reaction lamp 24 for notifying the pedestrian that the pushbutton 23 has been pressed.
The 24 has a finite lifespan and expires and stops functioning every certain period of time.However, since this failure is found only by periodic inspection or notification by the general public, it is likely that the failure will be left for a long period of time. Met.

In addition, traffic conditions may change in the long term, and setting of the signal display time etc. according to the situation when the push button signal is installed may not be compatible with the actual situation, but usually this situation requires manual operation Since it cannot be grasped except by examining the traffic volume, it is hardly implemented, and the push button signal is left in a setting that does not match the actual situation, and as a result, traffic efficiency may be unduly reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a more sophisticated push button signal monitoring method and a device therefor, which solves the above-mentioned problems of the conventional push button signal.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, in the method of the present invention, it is detected that the pushbutton reaction lamp provided in the pushbutton signal signal has entered the present state, and this fact is connected via the communication line as the present detection signal. Sent to a central control device installed in a remote place, and counts the indication detection signal and / or
Alternatively, the presence or absence of a failure of the push button signal is determined based on the occurrence interval of the present detection signal.

Further, the pushbutton signal monitoring device of the present invention is a device comprising a pushbutton signal light provided with a pushbutton reaction lamp, and a central control device installed at a remote place connected to the pushbutton signal light via a communication line. The push button signal device includes a detection unit that detects and outputs that the push button reaction lamp is in the present state, and a transmission unit that sends the present detection output of the detection unit to the communication line. The central control device includes a receiving unit connected to the communication line for receiving the indication detection output, a counting circuit connected to an output of the reception unit for counting the indication detection output, and / or Failure determination means for determining a failure of the push button signal based on an interval of occurrence of the indication detection output.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings by way of examples.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a pushbutton traffic light monitoring apparatus according to the present invention.

In addition to the above-mentioned receiving means 21 and presenting time setting means 22, on the pushbutton signal 50 side, presenting detecting means 1 for detecting that the pushbutton reaction lamp 25 is presenting (lighting), and this detecting means A transmission means 2 for receiving a notification detection signal A from the communication line 1 and transmitting a notification notification signal to the central control unit 60 that the notification is being performed using the communication line 3 is provided. .

In addition, the central control unit 60 of the central control center receives the above-described present notification signal in addition to the transmitting means 20 and the control device (not shown) described above, and receives the present detection signal from this. The receiving means 4 is provided with a counting circuit 5 and a failure judging means 6 which follow the receiving means 4 in parallel.
The counting circuit 5 counts and holds the number of present detection signals received during a predetermined time, and the counting result is sent to a control device (not shown) and used as appropriate. The failure determination means 6 determines failure based on the occurrence interval of the present detection signal, and determines that the pushbutton reaction lamp or the like has failed if the occurrence interval is longer than a predetermined value.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing in detail an embodiment of the transmission system on the side of the push button signal 50 and the related portion of the push button reaction lamp. Pedestrians wanting to cross the road
When the button is pressed, the drive circuit 27 operates and the push button reaction lamp 25 is turned on, indicating that it is operating. This display is stopped when a predetermined time has elapsed and the traffic signal starts to perform a signal switching operation.

In the present embodiment, the present detection means 1 monitors a photodiode 7 for detecting light by the present and a current flowing through the photodiode 7, and detects a case where the current becomes a certain value or more, and detects the present. And a presence detection circuit 8 for generating a signal A.

The present detection circuit 8 is connected to the transmitting means 2 in which a notification signal generating means 9 and an interface circuit 10 are connected in order. The notification signal generating means 9 generates a predetermined communication signal as required when the present detection signal A is transmitted, and drives the subsequent interface circuit 10. The interface circuit 10 converts the communication signal to a level suitable for a communication line and sends the signal to the communication line 3.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a receiving system on the central control unit 60 side. An interface circuit 11 connected to the communication line 3, a signal extracting circuit 12 following the interface circuit 11, and a signal extracting circuit A counting circuit 5 and a failure determination circuit 13 are connected in parallel to the outputs of the twelve. This failure judgment circuit
The output from the judgment condition setting unit 14 is added to 13.
The outputs of the counting circuit 5 and the failure judging circuit 13 are both sent to a control device (not shown) and used for recording, analysis, or predetermined processing.

The interface circuit converts a communication signal including a failure detection signal sent via the communication line 3 to a predetermined level and sends the signal to the signal extraction circuit 12. The signal extraction circuit 12 extracts a failure detection signal from the signal name and sends it to the subsequent counting circuit 5 and failure determination circuit 13. The counting circuit 5 counts the number of occurrences of the failure detection signal within a predetermined period, holds the result, and sends the count value to the control device as needed.

By using this count value indicating the number of times the push button responds, for example, statistical processing is performed for each time zone, and it is possible to improve the operation constant of each push button signal and use it for more effective traffic control operation. Become.

The failure determination circuit 13 is for obtaining the interval of occurrence of the failure detection signal, and is configured to start timing with a certain failure detection signal, reset the timing result with the next failure detection signal, and start the next timing. At the same time, based on the time information provided by the determination condition setting unit 14, when the measured time is equal to or longer than the set time, it is determined that there is a failure, and an output indicating the failure is sent to the control device. That is, the case where the push button is not operated for an abnormally long time is regarded as the occurrence of a failure, and is not an object requiring urgency. Therefore, there is no practical problem even if this time is set to a considerably long time. In addition, at night, it can be predicted that the push button signal will not be used for a long period of time. Therefore, it is preferable to remove this time zone by appropriate means.

As described above, since the central control device can constantly monitor each push-button signal and obtain a signal for detecting a failure, the failure of the push-button signal can be found quickly, and the failure can be quickly repaired in response. It becomes possible.

In the embodiment described above, the counting circuit 5,
Although the failure judgment circuit 13, the judgment condition setting device 14, etc. are provided separately, it is also possible to form the above-mentioned circuit group completely using a microcomputer circuit integrating a CPU, a memory, a clock circuit and the like. it can.

In addition, although an example in which a photodiode is used as the indication detection means 1 has been described, a failure of the pushbutton reaction lamp is detected by monitoring a voltage applied to both ends of the pushbutton reaction lamp and a current flowing through the pushbutton reaction lamp. You may do it.

The device of the present invention has been described above.However, the pushbutton signal monitoring method of the present invention detects that the pushbutton reaction lamp provided in the pushbutton signal is in the present state by using, for example, the above-described device, This is sent to the central control device installed at a remote place connected via a communication line as an indication detection signal, and the indication detection signal is counted and / or counted.
Alternatively, the presence or absence of a failure of the push button signal is determined based on the occurrence interval of the present detection signal.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the pushbutton signal monitoring method and device of the present invention, the state of each of the pushbutton signals under the jurisdiction can be constantly monitored by the central control device. Can be repaired.

In addition, the central control device can centrally control the number of push button operations at each of the push button traffic signals under its jurisdiction, so that traffic conditions can always be grasped, and if necessary, the display time of the push button traffic lights can be changed through a communication line. It becomes possible and helps smooth traffic control.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a push button traffic light monitoring device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing present detection means and transmitting means, etc. according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a central control device. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a receiving portion according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is an external view showing an example of a push button signal according to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional signal control device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Presentation detection means, 2 ... Transmission means, 3 ... Communication line, 4 ... Reception means, 5 ... Counter circuit, 6 ... Failure determination means, 25 ... Push button reaction lamp, 50 ... Push button traffic light,
60 ... Central control unit.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A central control unit which is connected via a communication line and is installed at a remote place as a detection signal indicating that a pushbutton reaction lamp provided in a pushbutton signal signal has been changed to a display state. A pushbutton signal monitoring method, comprising: transmitting the signal to a device; counting the indication signal; and / or determining whether or not the pushbutton signal has a failure based on the interval of occurrence of the indication signal. 2. An apparatus comprising: a push button signal provided with a push button reaction lamp; and a central control unit connected to the push button signal via a communication line and installed at a remote place, wherein the push button signal is provided. Comprises a detecting means for detecting and outputting that the pushbutton reaction lamp has become the present state, and a transmitting means for transmitting the present detecting output of the detecting means to the communication line, and the central control device comprises: A receiving means connected to the communication line for receiving the indication detection output, a counting circuit connected to the output of the reception means for counting the indication detection output, and / or a generation interval of the indication detection output. A pushbutton signal monitoring device, comprising: a failure determination unit for determining a failure of the pushbutton signal based on the failure signal.