JP7433130B2 - Information provision device and information provision method - Google Patents

Description

The present disclosure relates to an information providing device and an information providing method that provide traffic information.

BACKGROUND ART A conventional system for providing traffic information is VICS (registered trademark) (Vehicle Information & Communication System). VICS provides traffic information such as congestion and regulations to in-vehicle devices via radio beacons installed on the roadside. In VICS, the update cycle of traffic information is every 5 minutes because it depends on the aggregation cycle of collected information. In addition to VICS, as a technology for providing traffic information, there is a technique in which a probe car uses the vehicle itself as a sensor to collect traffic information such as vehicle information and driving information and provides it to in-vehicle equipment (see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-29871

In conventional traffic information providing systems, VICS can grasp events over a wide area, but because the update cycle is every 5 minutes, real-time performance is low. In addition, in the system using a probe car described in Patent Document 1, the real-time nature of the probe information is high because it is information from the vehicle, but the probe information is used for estimating travel time on the route, etc. It is not used to detect unexpected events such as failures. Therefore, the situation requires drivers to make judgments and respond to recent unexpected events that are not provided by VICS.

The present disclosure has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present disclosure is to obtain an information providing device that can provide traffic information including information on unexpected events.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the purpose, an information providing device of the present disclosure includes a traffic event management unit that manages traffic event information indicating traffic events regarding traffic conditions acquired from a traffic control system, and a vehicle A probe management unit that creates unexpected event information indicating an unexpected event that has occurred in a vehicle using probe information acquired from an onboard device installed in a vehicle via a roadside device, and a probe management unit that creates unexpected event information that indicates an unexpected event that has occurred in a vehicle, and a probe management unit that creates unexpected event information that indicates an unexpected event that has occurred in a vehicle. and a provided information management unit that uses the roadside devices to create provided information indicating the traffic conditions of roads along which roadside devices are installed, and controls the distribution of the information via the roadside devices . If the speed information of the vehicle indicated by the probe information changes by a threshold value or more, the probe management unit determines that an unexpected event has occurred and creates unexpected event information. If the sudden event event indicated by the sudden event event information is not included in the traffic event indicated by the traffic event information, and the sudden event event has a higher priority than the traffic event, the provided information management unit provides the provided information based on the unexpected event event. The present invention is characterized in that the created provided information is controlled to be distributed via a roadside device to an on-vehicle device installed in a vehicle subsequent to the vehicle equipped with the on-vehicle device that transmitted the probe information.

According to the present disclosure, the information providing device has the advantage of being able to provide traffic information including information on unexpected events.

A diagram showing a configuration example of a traffic information providing system according to the present embodiment Flowchart showing the operation of the provided information management unit of the information providing device according to the present embodiment A diagram illustrating an example in which a processing circuit included in an information providing device according to the present embodiment is configured by a processor and a memory. A diagram illustrating an example of a case where the processing circuit included in the information providing device according to the present embodiment is configured with dedicated hardware.

Below, an information providing device and an information providing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail based on the drawings.

Embodiment.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a traffic information providing system 50 according to the present embodiment. The traffic information providing system 50 includes a traffic control system 10, an information providing device 20, an RSU (Road Side Unit) 30, and an onboard equipment-equipped vehicle 40. The traffic information providing system 50 is a system in which the information providing device 20 creates provided information using traffic event information obtained from the traffic control system 10 and probe information obtained from the onboard equipment equipped vehicle 40 via the RSU 30. be. The information providing device 20 is a device that provides information usable to ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) in a traffic information providing system 50 that provides traffic information such as road congestion information. Note that in FIG. 1, the information providing device 20 is connected to one RSU 30 and connected to the on-vehicle device 41 of one on-vehicle device equipped vehicle 40 via the RSU 30, but this is only an example and is not limited to this. The information providing device 20 can be connected to a plurality of RSUs 30 and, via the RSU 30, to the on-vehicle devices 41 of a plurality of on-vehicle device-equipped vehicles 40.

The traffic control system 10 collects information such as traffic conditions such as traffic jams, unexpected events such as accidents and disasters, traffic regulations, and the presence or absence of road construction, and defines each piece of information as a traffic event, which includes one or more traffic events. Create information and send it to the information providing device 20. The traffic control system 10 is, for example, VICS.

The RSU 30 is a roadside unit installed on the roadside on which the on-vehicle equipment-equipped vehicle 40 and the like travel. The RSU 30 relays communication between the information providing device 20 and the onboard equipment-equipped vehicle 40.

The on-vehicle equipment-equipped vehicle 40 includes an on-vehicle equipment 41. The onboard equipment-equipped vehicle 40 is, for example, a probe car. The on-vehicle device 41 collects information such as the position and speed traveled by the on-vehicle device-equipped vehicle 40, and creates probe information including this information. The on-vehicle device 41 may collect information such as weather information around the on-vehicle device-equipped vehicle 40 and information such as fuel efficiency of the on-vehicle device-equipped vehicle 40, and may include this information in the probe information. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the speed information of the probe information includes the lateral acceleration and the longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle 40 equipped with the onboard equipment.

The configuration of the information providing device 20 will be explained in detail. The information providing device 20 includes an inter-system transmission/reception unit 21, a traffic event information collection unit 22, a traffic event management unit 23, a roadside transmission/reception unit 24, a probe information collection unit 25, a probe management unit 26, and a provision information A management section 27 is provided.

The inter-system transmitting and receiving unit 21 communicates with the traffic control system 10 using TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) and transmits and receives data. The inter-system transmitting/receiving unit 21 performs error processing such as data size verification and range checking based on predefined communication specifications. The inter-system transmission/reception unit 21 receives traffic event information from the traffic control system 10, processes it, and notifies the traffic event information collection unit 22 of the traffic event information.

The traffic event information collection unit 22 collects traffic event information from the traffic control system 10 via the inter-system transmission/reception unit 21. The traffic event information collection unit 22 collects all data of traffic event information held by the traffic control system 10 when communication with the traffic control system 10 is established. From now on, the traffic event information collection unit 22 synchronizes the traffic event information by receiving the traffic event information every time the traffic event information is updated in the traffic control system 10. Here, the traffic control system 10 may have different communication specifications depending on the region. Therefore, the traffic event information collection unit 22 converts and edits the traffic event information into a format that can be managed by its own device, that is, the information providing device 20, and notifies the traffic event management unit 23.

The traffic event management unit 23 manages traffic event information notified from the traffic event information collection unit 22. Traffic event information is notified from the traffic event information collection unit 22 in categories of new, updated, and deleted. Therefore, the traffic event management unit 23 updates the internally held traffic event information according to the above-mentioned classification. The traffic event management unit 23 can manage traffic event information in a list format, for example, but is not limited to this. In this way, the traffic event management unit 23 manages traffic event information that is acquired from the traffic control system 10 and indicates traffic events related to traffic conditions. The traffic event management unit 23 notifies the provided information management unit 27, which creates provided information, of the held traffic event information periodically and in batches. Note that the notification cycle of traffic event information from the traffic event management unit 23 to the provided information management unit 27 can be changed by setting by the administrator of the traffic information providing system 50 or the like.

The roadside transmitting/receiving unit 24 communicates with the RSU 30 using TCP/IP and transmits and receives data. The roadside transmitter/receiver 24 performs error processing such as data size verification and value range checking based on predefined communication specifications. The roadside transmission/reception unit 24 processes the probe information received from the onboard equipment 41 of the onboard equipment equipped vehicle 40 via the RSU 30 and notifies the probe information collection unit 25 of the probe information. Further, the roadside transmitting/receiving unit 24 transmits the provided information notified from the provided information management unit 27 to the on-vehicle device 41 of the on-vehicle device-equipped vehicle 40 via the RSU 30.

The probe information collection unit 25 collects probe information from the on-vehicle device 41 of the on-vehicle device-equipped vehicle 40 via the roadside transmitter/receiver 24 and the RSU 30 . The probe information collection unit 25 collects probe information from the onboard device 41 of the onboard device equipped vehicle 40 when communication is established with the RSU 30 and the onboard device 41 of the onboard device equipped vehicle 40. Here, the onboard equipment 41 of the onboard equipment equipped vehicle 40 may have different communication specifications depending on the model. Therefore, the probe information collection unit 25 converts and edits the probe information into a format that can be managed by its own device, that is, the information providing device 20, and notifies the probe management unit 26 of the converted probe information.

The probe management unit 26 manages the probe information notified from the probe information collection unit 25. The probe information includes ID (IDentification) information, position information, time information, speed information, etc. of the vehicle 40 equipped with the on-vehicle device. The ID information of the on-vehicle device-equipped vehicle 40 is information for identifying the on-vehicle device-equipped vehicle 40 from which probe information has been collected, such as the vehicle number of the on-vehicle device 40 and the serial number of the on-vehicle device 41. The position information is latitude and longitude information determined by a GPS (Global Positioning System) included in the on-vehicle device 41. The time information is information on the time when the on-vehicle device 41 acquired the position information. The speed information includes the traveling speed and acceleration information of the vehicle 40 equipped with the on-vehicle device.

Further, the probe management unit 26 uses the probe information acquired from the onboard device 41 mounted on the onboard device equipped vehicle 40 via the RSU 30 to generate unexpected event event information indicating an unexpected event that has occurred in the onboard device equipped vehicle 40. Create. The probe management unit 26 uses the acceleration information to extract a point where sudden avoidance and sudden deceleration occur in the on-vehicle device-equipped vehicle 40. For example, the probe management unit 26 uses the value of lateral acceleration in the acceleration information to determine the occurrence of sudden avoidance, and uses the value of longitudinal acceleration in the acceleration information to determine the occurrence of sudden deceleration. At the point where the sudden avoidance occurred in the vehicle 40 equipped with the onboard equipment, there is a possibility that a sudden steering wheel was made to avoid the accident. Further, at a point where sudden deceleration occurs in the vehicle 40 equipped with onboard equipment, there is a possibility that sudden braking was performed to avoid an accident. Based on the extracted point, the probe management unit 26 indicates an unexpected event that occurred in the onboard device-equipped vehicle 40, that is, an unexpected event, in the same format as traffic event information, using position information and time information. Create incident event information. The probe management unit 26 notifies the provided information management unit 27 of the created unexpected event information.

In this way, when there is a change equal to or greater than the threshold value in the speed information of the vehicle 40 equipped with the onboard equipment indicated by the probe information, the probe management unit 26 determines that an unexpected event has occurred and creates unexpected event information. . Specifically, the probe management unit 26 determines that a sudden avoidance has occurred when the left and right acceleration of the acceleration information included in the speed information is equal to or greater than a first threshold value, and creates unexpected event information. Alternatively, the probe management unit 26 determines that sudden deceleration has occurred when the longitudinal acceleration of the acceleration information included in the speed information is equal to or greater than the second threshold value, and creates unexpected event information. The probe management unit 26 determines that a sudden avoidance has occurred when the left and right acceleration of the acceleration information included in the speed information is equal to or greater than a first threshold, and determines that a sudden avoidance has occurred when the longitudinal acceleration is equal to or greater than a second threshold. It may be determined that deceleration has occurred and create unexpected event information.

The provided information management unit 27 creates provided information to be distributed to vehicles such as the on-vehicle device equipped vehicle 40 at the time of receiving a notification from the traffic event management unit 23 or the probe management unit 26. The provided information management unit 27 basically creates provided information based on a high-priority event among the traffic event information received from the traffic event management unit 23, that is, based on a high-priority traffic event. . The priority is set in advance by the administrator of the traffic information providing system 50 according to each traffic event, such as a personal accident, an accident between vehicles, occurrence of a falling object, or traffic congestion. When the provided information management unit 27 receives the unexpected event information from the probe management unit 26, the provided information management unit 27 determines whether there is an event similar to the unexpected event indicated by the unexpected event information among the traffic events indicated by the traffic event information. Decide whether or not. If the provided information management unit 27 is a new event that has no similar event among the traffic events indicated by the traffic event information, and has a higher priority than all the traffic events indicated by the traffic event information, Providing information is created based on the unexpected event indicated by the information. The provided information management unit 27 notifies the roadside transmission/reception unit 24 of the created provided information.

In this way, the provided information management unit 27 uses the traffic event information and the unexpected event information to create provided information indicating the traffic situation of the roads along which the RSU 30 is installed, and performs control to distribute it via the RSU 30. I do. If the emergency event indicated by the emergency event information is not included in the traffic event indicated by the traffic event information, and the emergency event has a higher priority than the traffic event, the provision information management unit 27 provides provision based on the unexpected event. Create information. The provided information management unit 27 controls the distribution of the created provided information to the on-vehicle equipment installed in the vehicle subsequent to the on-vehicle equipment-equipped vehicle 40 that is equipped with the on-vehicle equipment 41 that transmitted the probe information, via the RSU 30. conduct.

The operation of the provided information management section 27 will be explained using a flowchart. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the provided information management section 27 of the information providing device 20 according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 2, the explanation will be made starting from notifications from the traffic event management section 23 or the probe management section 26. First, the provided information management unit 27 determines whether the notification source is the traffic event management unit 23 (step S1). If the notification source is the traffic event management unit 23 (step S1: Yes), the provided information management unit 27 extracts traffic event information for the target area to which the provided information is to be distributed, as usual (step S2). The provided information management unit 27 extracts traffic event information with a high priority from the list of traffic event information (step S3), and creates provided information (step S4). The provided information management unit 27 notifies the roadside transmission/reception unit 24 of the provided information (step S5).

On the other hand, if the notification source is the probe management unit 26 (step S1: No), the provided information management unit 27 extracts the unexpected event from the unexpected event information notified from the probe management unit 26 (step S6). The provided information management unit 27 compares the extracted emergency event with the traffic event indicated in the list of traffic event information, and determines whether the extracted emergency event is a new emergency event (step S7). If it is not a new unexpected event (step S7: No), the provided information management unit 27 moves to step S2 and performs the same operation as described above. In the case of a new unexpected event (step S7: Yes), the provided information management unit 27 is notified by the probe management unit 26 and adds the extracted unexpected event to the list of traffic event information (step S8). The subsequent operations are similar to those described above. Thereby, the provided information management unit 27 can provide the driver with provided information created from a highly real-time emergency event based on the probe information.

Next, the hardware configuration of the information providing device 20 will be explained. In the information providing device 20, the inter-system transmitting/receiving section 21 and the roadside transmitting/receiving section 24 are communication interfaces. In the information providing device 20, the traffic event information collection section 22, the traffic event management section 23, the probe information collection section 25, the probe management section 26, and the provided information management section 27 are realized by a processing circuit. The processing circuit may be a processor and memory that executes a program stored in memory, or may be dedicated hardware.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example in which the processing circuit included in the information providing device 20 according to the present embodiment is configured by a processor and a memory. When the processing circuit includes the processor 91 and the memory 92, each function of the processing circuit of the information providing device 20 is realized by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. Software or firmware is written as a program and stored in memory 92. In the processing circuit, each function is realized by the processor 91 reading and executing a program stored in the memory 92. That is, the processing circuit includes a memory 92 for storing a program by which the processing of the information providing device 20 is executed as a result. It can also be said that these programs cause a computer to execute the procedures and methods of the information providing device 20.

Here, the processor 91 may be a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a processing device, an arithmetic device, a microprocessor, a microcomputer, a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), or the like. The memory 92 also includes nonvolatile or volatile memory such as RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory), flash memory, EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), and EEPROM (registered trademark) (Electrically EPROM). This includes semiconductor memory, magnetic disks, flexible disks, optical disks, compact disks, mini disks, and DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example in which the processing circuit included in the information providing device 20 according to the present embodiment is configured with dedicated hardware. When the processing circuit is composed of dedicated hardware, the processing circuit 93 shown in FIG. 4 may be, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), This applies to FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or a combination of these. Each function of the information providing device 20 may be realized by the processing circuit 93 for each function, or each function may be realized by the processing circuit 93 collectively.

Note that some of the functions of the information providing device 20 may be realized by dedicated hardware, and some may be realized by software or firmware. In this way, the processing circuit can implement each of the above-mentioned functions using dedicated hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, in the information providing device 20, the provided information management unit 27 stores acceleration information of probe information acquired from the on-vehicle device 41 mounted on the on-vehicle device mounted vehicle 40 that is running. The presence or absence of an unexpected event is detected based on the When the provided information management unit 27 detects the occurrence of an unexpected event, it compares it with traffic event information and determines the priority order of the content to be provided as provided information. In the case of an unexpected event that should be provided with priority over traffic event information, the provided information management unit 27 provides the traffic information by making the content of the provided information into the unexpected event. Thereby, the information providing device 20 can provide highly accurate traffic information to the driver by determining the content of the information to be provided using the traffic event information and the probe information in a complementary manner. Furthermore, the information providing device 20 can prompt the driver of a vehicle following the on-vehicle device-equipped vehicle 40 to take measures such as decelerating in preparation for an unexpected event occurring ahead.

The configurations shown in the embodiments above are merely examples, and can be combined with other known techniques, or can be combined with other embodiments, within the scope of the gist. It is also possible to omit or change part of the configuration.

10 traffic control system, 20 information providing device, 21 inter-system transmission/reception unit, 22 traffic event information collection unit, 23 traffic event management unit, 24 roadside transmission/reception unit, 25 probe information collection unit, 26 probe management unit, 27 provided information management Department, 30 RSU, 40 Vehicles equipped with on-board equipment, 41 On-vehicle equipment, 50 Traffic information provision system.

Claims (4)

a traffic event management unit that manages traffic event information indicating traffic events regarding traffic conditions obtained from the traffic control system;
a probe management unit that creates unexpected event information indicating an unexpected event that has occurred in the vehicle using probe information acquired from an on-vehicle device installed in the vehicle via a roadside device;
Provided information management that uses the traffic event information and the unexpected event information to create provided information indicating the traffic situation of the road along which the roadside device is installed, and controls the distribution via the roadside device. Department and
Equipped with
The probe management unit determines that the unexpected event has occurred when there is a change in speed information of the vehicle indicated by the probe information by a threshold value or more, and creates the unexpected event information;
The provided information management unit is configured to provide information about the sudden event when the sudden event indicated by the sudden event information is not included in the traffic events indicated by the traffic event information, and when the sudden event has a higher priority than the traffic event. Control for creating provided information based on an event and distributing the created provided information via the roadside device to an on-vehicle device installed in a vehicle subsequent to the vehicle equipped with the on-vehicle device that transmitted the probe information. I do,
An information providing device characterized by: Of the acceleration information included in the speed information, the probe management unit determines that sudden avoidance has occurred when lateral acceleration is equal to or greater than a first threshold, and determines that sudden avoidance has occurred when longitudinal acceleration is equal to or greater than a second threshold. determining that the event has occurred, and creating the unexpected event information;
The information providing device according to claim 1 , characterized in that: a first step in which the traffic event management unit manages traffic event information indicating traffic events regarding traffic conditions acquired from the traffic control system;
a second step in which the probe management unit creates unexpected event information indicating an unexpected event that has occurred in the vehicle, using probe information acquired from an on-vehicle device installed in the vehicle via a roadside device;
The provided information management unit uses the traffic event information and the unexpected event information to create provided information indicating the traffic situation of the road along which the roadside device is installed, and distributes it via the roadside device. A third step of controlling;
including;
In the second step, if there is a change equal to or greater than a threshold in the speed information of the vehicle indicated by the probe information, the probe management unit determines that the unexpected event has occurred and updates the unexpected event information. create and
In the third step, the provided information management unit determines that the emergency event indicated by the emergency event information is not included in the traffic events indicated by the traffic event information, and the emergency event has priority over the traffic event. If the probability is high, provision information based on the sudden event event is created, and the created provision information is transmitted via the roadside device to a vehicle that is installed subsequent to the vehicle equipped with the onboard device that transmitted the probe information. control the distribution of information to on-board devices.
An information provision method characterized by: In the second step, the probe management unit determines that a sudden avoidance has occurred when lateral acceleration is equal to or greater than a first threshold among the acceleration information included in the speed information, and the probe management unit determines that a sudden avoidance has occurred when the lateral acceleration is equal to or greater than a first threshold value, and the longitudinal acceleration determining that sudden deceleration has occurred when the threshold value is exceeded, and creating the sudden event information;
The information providing method according to claim 3 , characterized in that:

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