JP7687190B2 - Grid computing management method and grid computing system - Google Patents

Description

The technology disclosed herein belongs to the technical field of grid computing management methods and grid computing systems.

Patent Document 1 discloses technology related to a grid computing system that uses computational resources installed in a vehicle. In Patent Document 1, the system is configured such that when the processing capacity of at least one of a plurality of processing devices is insufficient, a management server transmits an instruction to the vehicle to participate in grid computing.

Patent Document 2 discloses a technology for managing the content of services provided to vehicle users for each user. In Patent Document 2, when a vehicle user uses a service, license information associated with both the vehicle ID assigned to the vehicle and the user ID assigned to the user is read from a storage unit, and the content of the service provided to the vehicle user is managed through a service management unit.

JP 2020-160661 A JP 2019-109816 A

When performing grid computing operations using the vehicle's computing resources while the vehicle is not in operation, the objective quality of the computing resources is required. Therefore, in order to improve the objective quality of the computing resources, it is envisioned that grid computing operations (hereinafter also referred to as grid operations) will be performed with all the doors of the vehicle locked.

However, there may be cases where the vehicle door is temporarily unlocked but the vehicle is not driven, for example, when someone leaves something behind in the vehicle. In such cases, if grid calculations are stopped every time the door is unlocked, this is not desirable from the perspective of effective use of calculation resources.

The technology disclosed here has been developed in light of these points, and aims to prevent grid calculations from being unexpectedly interrupted when there is no need to stop the calculations, such as when someone gets into a vehicle while grid calculations are in progress.

In order to solve the above problems, a first aspect of the present disclosure is directed to a method for managing grid computing utilizing computational resources mounted on a vehicle, the vehicle being provided with a sensor for recognizing an occupant and a lock detection unit for detecting a door lock state of the vehicle, and including a registration process for registering a driver candidate of the vehicle and contact information of the driver candidate in a user table, an authentication process for authenticating the driver based on detection information of the sensor, and a computation process for executing a grid computing computation using the computational resources with the vehicle door locked. In the computation process, if the lock detection unit detects that the door of the vehicle has been unlocked during the execution of the computation, and if a person who entered the vehicle after the unlocking of the door lock state is a first driver who was authenticated in the authentication process during the immediately preceding drive, the computation is stopped and the computational resources of the vehicle are released from the computation, whereas if a person who entered the vehicle after the unlocking of the door lock state is neither the first driver nor the registered user, an inquiry is sent to the contact information of the first driver, and the computation is stopped and the computational resources are released from the computation on the condition that a contact agreeing to the stop of the computation is received from the contact information.

According to the first aspect, when a person who is neither the first driver authenticated in the previous drive nor a registered user unlocks the door and enters the vehicle, the calculation is stopped on the condition that a consent message is received from the first driver's contact information. This makes it possible to prevent the grid calculation from being interrupted unintentionally by the first driver.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a grid computing system including a management server that manages grid computing and a vehicle configured to be able to participate in the grid computing is provided, in which the vehicle includes a computing device having computing resources, a sensor that recognizes an occupant, and a lock detection unit that detects the door lock state of the vehicle, the management server includes a storage unit that stores a user table in which registered users who are driving candidates for the vehicle and the contact information of the registered users are registered, and the computing device of the vehicle includes an authentication process that authenticates the driver based on the detection information of the sensor, and a calculation process that executes grid computing calculations using the computing resources with the vehicle doors locked. In the calculation process, if the lock detection unit detects that the door of the vehicle has been unlocked during the execution of the calculation, and if the person who entered the vehicle after the door was unlocked is the first driver who was authenticated in the authentication process during the previous drive, the calculation is stopped and the calculation resources of the vehicle are released from the calculation. On the other hand, if the person who entered the vehicle after the door was unlocked is neither the first driver nor the registered user, an inquiry is sent to the contact point of the first driver via the management server, and the calculation is stopped and the calculation resources are released from the calculation on the condition that a contact agreeing to the stop of the calculation is received from the contact point.

According to the second aspect, similar to the first aspect, when a person who is neither the first driver authenticated in the previous drive nor a registered user unlocks the door and enters the vehicle, the calculation is stopped on the condition that a consent message is received from the first driver's contact information. This makes it possible to prevent the grid calculation from being interrupted unintentionally by the first driver.

As described above, the technology disclosed herein can prevent the unintended interruption of grid calculations by the first driver who was authenticated during the previous drive.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a system according to an embodiment; Conceptual diagram to explain grid computing A block diagram illustrating a configuration of a vehicle Block diagram showing an example of a client-server configuration Block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a management server 1 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of a grid computing system. 1 is a flowchart showing an example of a grid calculation process. 1 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of a grid computing system. 1 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of a grid computing system. A flowchart showing an example of a flow for determining a door lock state. A flowchart showing an example of a flow of determining whether a grid operation is interrupted. Matrix table for determining interruption conditions of grid operations

The embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or equivalent parts will be given the same reference numerals, and repeated explanations may be omitted. In addition, in the following embodiments, configurations highly relevant to the contents of this disclosure will be mainly described. Note that the following embodiments are illustrative, and there is no intention to limit the contents of this disclosure by the presence or absence of descriptions or the numerical values exemplified.

(Grid Computing System)
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the configuration of a grid computing system 1 (hereinafter, simply referred to as "system 1") according to an embodiment.

This system 1 includes a plurality of vehicles 10, a plurality of client terminals 30, and a management server 50. These components can communicate with each other via a communication network 6. Each of the plurality of vehicles 10 is equipped with a computing device 102. The management server 50 is an example of a management device.

[Grid Computing]
As shown in FIG. 2, in the system 1 of the embodiment, grid computing (hereinafter also referred to simply as "grid G") is configured using a plurality of computing devices 102, and grid calculation is performed in which an available computing device 102 among the plurality of computing devices 102 executes calculations of job data D1 of an application job (hereinafter also referred to simply as "job").

When the vehicle 10 is traveling, the computing power of the arithmetic device 102 is required for driving control of the vehicle 10, and the arithmetic device 102 is in an operating state. On the other hand, for example, when the vehicle 10 is parked and the power supply of the vehicle 10 is turned off, the computing power of the arithmetic device 102 for vehicle driving control is substantially unnecessary. Therefore, the above grid calculation is performed when the vehicle 10 is not in operation (for example, when it is parked).

〔vehicle〕
A battery (not shown) is mounted on the vehicle 10. Power from the battery is supplied to on-board devices such as the computing device 102. Examples of such a vehicle 10 include an electric vehicle and a plug-in hybrid vehicle.

As shown in FIG. 3, the vehicle 10 includes a communication unit 101, a calculation device (processor) 102, a memory unit 103, an occupant sensor 111, a driving operation sensor 112, a vehicle state sensor 113, and a position sensor 114. In the following description, the occupant sensor 111, the driving operation sensor 112, the vehicle state sensor 113, and the position sensor 114 may be collectively referred to as a sensor group 110.

-Communications Department-
The communication unit 101 transmits and receives information and data to and from the management server 50 via the communication network 6. The information and data received by the communication unit 101 is sent to the calculation device 102.

-Arithmetic device-
The arithmetic device 102 controls each part of the vehicle 10. In this example, the arithmetic device 102 controls various actuators (not shown) in response to various information obtained from the sensor group 110. Note that, in addition to a arithmetic device used for controlling the vehicle 10, the arithmetic device 102 may be equipped with a arithmetic device dedicated to grid computing, i.e., a arithmetic device not involved in the control of the vehicle 10.

The arithmetic device 102 has one or more processors and one or more memories. The arithmetic devices 102 may be arranged in one place in the vehicle, or may be arranged in a distributed manner in the vehicle. Examples of the processor include a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The memory stores programs for operating the processor, information and data indicating the processing results of the processor, etc.

In this disclosure, for ease of explanation, the resources available for grid computing calculations and processing within the computing device 102 are referred to as "computational resources."

The computing resources may be the same as the resources used to control the vehicle 10, or a CPU or GPU dedicated to grid computing that is not used to control the vehicle may be used.

Also, for example, there may be separate time periods during which use as a computational resource is permitted and time periods during which use as a computational resource is restricted. That is, a single CPU may be counted as a computational resource during certain time periods and not be counted as a computational resource during other time periods. The same applies to the GPU.

In addition, if a CPU is implemented with a single or multiple cores, some of the multiple cores may be counted as computing resources, and the remaining cores may not be counted as computing resources. The same applies to the GPU.

- Occupant sensor -
The occupant sensor 111 acquires information necessary to authenticate occupants in the vehicle cabin. The occupant sensor 111 is not particularly limited, but includes, for example, an in-vehicle camera (not shown) installed at a position where the faces of the driver and other occupants can be photographed, and an ultrasonic human presence sensor installed in the overhead console. The image captured by the in-vehicle camera is transmitted to the computing device 102. The computing device 102 extracts a facial image of the driver and identifies the driver. It also extracts facial images of other occupants and identifies those occupants.

The method of authenticating occupants including the driver (hereinafter simply referred to as occupants) is not particularly limited, but for example, deep learning technology can be used. When using deep learning, the extracted face image and the identified occupant information are provided as input to a human model. The human model is, for example, a trained model generated by deep learning.

The occupant sensor 111 may be a biometric sensor such as an iris recognition sensor, a fingerprint sensor, a voiceprint sensor, or a body measurement sensor. In addition, the occupant may be identified by a combination of images from an in-vehicle camera and information acquired by the above-mentioned sensors.

The occupant sensor 111 is an example of a sensor that recognizes an occupant. The authentication process for the occupant may be completed inside the vehicle using information acquired by the occupant sensor 111, or the information acquired by the occupant sensor 111 may be transmitted to the management server 50, and some or all of the authentication function of the computing device 102 may be realized by the control unit 502 of the management server 50. However, by completing the authentication process for the occupant (including the driver) inside the vehicle, more secure processing can be realized.

- Driving operation sensor -
The driving operation sensor 112 detects the driving operation of the driver. Examples of the driving operation sensor 112 include an accelerator opening sensor, a shift sensor, a brake sensor, and a steering angle sensor. The detection signal of the driving operation sensor 112 is transmitted to the arithmetic device 102. A parking detection unit that detects the parking state can be realized by the driving operation sensor 112 and the arithmetic device 102. For example, when the brake sensor detects that the handbrake is applied and the shift sensor detects that the shift lever is set to parking, the arithmetic device 102 determines that the vehicle 10 is in a parking state. Note that the arithmetic device 102 may detect the parking state based on composite information, such as detection information from a position sensor 114 and a vehicle state sensor 113 (described later) in addition to the driving operation sensor 112.

- Vehicle condition sensor -
The vehicle state sensor 113 acquires the state of the vehicle 10. The vehicle state sensor 113 is composed of, for example, a vehicle speed sensor, an acceleration sensor, a yaw rate sensor, etc. A detection signal from the driving operation sensor 112 is transmitted to the arithmetic device 102. As described above, the vehicle state sensor 113 may constitute a part of the parking detection unit.

The vehicle state sensor 113 includes a sensor that detects the door lock state of the vehicle 10. Specifically, the vehicle state sensor 113 includes a lid sensor that detects the open/closed state of the doors, the locked state of the doors provided in the vehicle, the open/closed state of the hood, and the position of the lift gate and the open/closed state of the trunk. The lid sensor is an example of a lock detection unit that detects the door lock state.

The specific embodiment of the lock detection unit is not limited to the lid sensor described above. For example, when a door lock actuator is activated based on a locking signal from a keyless entry device or an immobilizer authentication device, it may be determined that the vehicle's doors are locked based on the activation of the actuator.

- Position sensor -
The position sensor 114 uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) to detect the position (vehicle position information) of the vehicle 10. The information acquired by the driving operation sensor 112 is transmitted to the computing device 102.

As described above, the vehicle state sensor 113 may constitute a part of the parking detection unit. Specifically, for example, the computing device 102 may determine that the vehicle is parked if the location where the vehicle is stopped is confirmed by a driving operation sensor or the like is a parking area such as a parking lot, and may not determine that the vehicle is parked if the stopping location is a no-parking area such as an intersection.

-Storage part-
The storage unit 103 stores various information and data. The specific configuration of the storage unit 103 is not particularly limited. For example, the storage unit 103 may be realized by a memory built into a chip, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), or an optical disk such as a DVD or a BD.

In this example, the storage unit 103 stores vehicle information D10 and user information D20. The vehicle information D10 includes basic vehicle information D11, vehicle condition information D13, and operation information D15.

<Vehicle basic information>
The vehicle basic information D11 includes vehicle identification information and resource information.

Vehicle identification information includes information for identifying the vehicle, such as the VIN.

Resource information is information about computational resources (such as CPUs and GPUs). Resource information includes, for example, a computational resource ID assigned to each computational resource, and performance information indicating the performance of each computational resource. The performance of a computational resource includes the computational capacity of the computational resource (specifically, maximum computational capacity), the ratio of CPUs to GPUs in the computational resource, and the like. The computational capacity of a computational resource is, for example, the amount of data that each computational resource can calculate per unit time.

<Vehicle status information>
The vehicle state information D13 is information indicating the state of the vehicle 10, and includes, for example, vehicle position information, vehicle communication information, vehicle power source information, and the like.

The vehicle position information indicates the position (latitude and longitude) of the vehicle 10. For example, the vehicle position information is obtained by the position sensor 114.

The vehicle communication information includes information indicating the communication state between the vehicle 10 and the communication network 6, and information on the communication bandwidth between the vehicle 10 and the management server 50. The vehicle communication information is updated, for example, at predetermined time intervals.

The vehicle power information includes information indicating the power status of the vehicle 10, vehicle battery remaining information, vehicle charging information, etc. For example, the vehicle power information indicates whether the ignition power is on or off, the accessory power is on or off, etc. The vehicle battery remaining information indicates the remaining charge of a battery (not shown) installed in the vehicle 10. The vehicle charging information indicates whether the vehicle 10 is being charged in a charging facility (not shown).

<Operation information>
The operation information D15 includes, for example, vehicle driving information indicating the driving history of the vehicle 10, operation history information indicating the operation history of the calculation device 102, and operation schedule information indicating the operation schedule of the calculation device 102.

The vehicle driving information indicates, for example, the position of the vehicle 10 in association with the time. In addition to the driving history information, driving schedule information indicating the future driving schedule of the vehicle 10 may also be included.

The operation history information indicates, for example, the utilization rate of the computing resources of the computing device 102 and/or the amount of job processing in relation to time. The operation history information includes normal operation history and grid operation history. The normal operation history is information indicating the history of the operation of the computing device 102 for user use, such as, for example, driving a vehicle, providing services such as car navigation and music playback, etc. The grid operation history is information indicating the history of the operation of the computing device 102 to execute grid computing processing.

The operation schedule information indicates, for example, planned usage information indicating the future usage status of the computing device 102.

<User Information>
The user information D20 includes main user information D21 and secondary user information D22.

The primary user information D21 is information about the primary user who is the main user registered in the vehicle 10. The primary user information D21 includes information for identifying the primary user. Information for identifying the primary user includes, for example, a photograph of the primary user taken in advance, and the iris information, fingerprint information, and/or voiceprint information of the primary user that is registered in advance. The primary user information D21 is updated when the primary user is changed. For example, the information is updated when the owner of the vehicle 10 is changed, or when the driver in charge of the vehicle is changed in the case of a commercial vehicle. Note that the contact information of the primary user (for example, the email address of the terminal device 40 owned by the primary user) may be registered as the primary user information D21.

The secondary user information D22 is information about a user (referred to as a "secondary user") other than the primary user registered to the vehicle 10 who may be driving the vehicle. The secondary user information D22 includes information for identifying the secondary user. Information for identifying the secondary user includes, for example, a photograph of the secondary user taken in advance, and iris information, fingerprint information, and/or voiceprint information of the secondary user registered in advance. The secondary user information D22 can be updated, such as by adding or deleting information. For example, the owner of the vehicle 10 can add or delete family members or friends as secondary users, and in the case of a commercial vehicle, employees who may be driving the vehicle can be registered as secondary users. Note that the secondary user's contact information (for example, the email address of the terminal device 40 owned by the secondary user) may also be registered as the secondary user information D22.

[Client terminal]
The client terminal 30 is owned by a client. The client requests the calculation of job data. Examples of such clients include companies, research institutes, and educational institutions.

As shown in FIG. 4, the client terminal 30 includes a communication unit 301, a memory unit 303, and a control unit 302.

-Communications Department-
The communication unit 301 is connected to the management server 50 so as to be capable of two-way communication, and transmits and receives information and data therebetween. The information and data received by the communication unit 301 are sent to the control unit 302.

-Arithmetic section-
The control unit 302 controls each unit of the client terminal 30. The control unit 302 has one or more processors, one or more memories, etc. The memory stores a program for operating the processor, information and data indicating the processing results of the processor, etc.

-Storage part-
The storage unit 303 stores information and data. In this example, the storage unit 303 stores client information D31 and job data D1.

Client Information
The client information D31 is information related to a client, and includes a client ID set for the client, a client terminal ID set for the client terminal 30 owned by the client, a person in charge name, address, telephone number, and the like.

<Job Data>
The job data D1 is data corresponding to a job, and is data to be processed for carrying out the job.

The job data D1 can be classified by calculation type. Examples of calculation types include CPU-based calculation type and GPU-based calculation type. Job data D1 of the CPU-based calculation type tends to require complex calculations with many conditional branches, such as simulation calculations. Job data D1 of the GPU-based calculation type tends to require a huge amount of simple calculations, such as image processing and machine learning.

<Job Information>
Job information D32 relating to the job is stored in association with the job data D1. The job information D32 includes, for example, job name information, job content information, job data calculation type, processing conditions, required calculation capacity, and job delivery date information.

[Management Server]
The management server 50 manages the operation of grid computing. In other words, the system 1 includes the management server 50. The management server 50 is owned by the operator who operates the system 1.

As shown in FIG. 5, the management server 50 includes a communication unit 501, a control unit 502, and a storage unit 503. The management server 50 includes one or more processors and one or more memories.

-Communications Department-
The communication unit 501 is connected to the vehicle 10 and the client terminal 30 so as to be capable of two-way communication, and transmits and receives information and data therebetween. The information and data received by the communication unit 501 are sent to the control unit 502.

-Storage part-
Various types of information and data are stored in the storage unit 503. The specific configuration of the storage unit 503 is not particularly limited. For example, the storage unit 503 may be realized by a memory built into a chip, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), or an optical disk such as a DVD or a BD.

In this example, the memory unit 503 stores a vehicle information table D51, a job table D53, a matching table D55, a user table D56, job data D1, and calculation result data D2.

Vehicle Information Table
The vehicle information table D51 is a table for managing vehicle information. For example, the vehicle information D10 of each vehicle is stored in the vehicle information table D51 in a list form.

<Job Table>
The job table D53 is a table for managing jobs requested by clients. In the job table D53, for each job, the reception number set for that job, the client ID set for the client who requested the job, the name and contents of the job, etc. are registered. In addition, in the job table D53, for each job, the calculation type and processing conditions of the job data D1 corresponding to that job, the required calculation capacity that is the calculation capacity required for the calculation of the job data D1, the delivery date set for the job, etc. are registered. In the job table D53, each job data D1 is linked so that it is possible to know which client requested the job.

Matching Table
The matching table D55 is a table for managing the results of matching in the matching process. For each job, the matching table D55 registers the reception number set for that job, the job data ID set in the job data D1 corresponding to that job, the vehicle identification information of the vehicle assigned to that job data by the matching process, and the like.

<User table>
The user table D56 is a table for managing the main user and secondary users of each vehicle 10. In the user table D56, for example, the vehicle identification information of each vehicle is linked to the identification information of the main user and the identification information of the secondary user of each vehicle, and stored in a list. The form of the identification information of the main user and the secondary user is not particularly limited, but may be, for example, an identification ID assigned to each user, or the name of each user. The user table also registers contact information for the main user and the secondary user.

When implementing part of the functions of the authentication unit in the management server 50, it is necessary to store information equivalent to the user information D20 (information necessary to identify the main user based on data such as photographs and biometric information received from the vehicle) in the memory unit 503.

<Job Data>
The job data D1 stored in the storage unit 503 is data of a job accepted from a client terminal in a job acceptance process, which will be described later.

<Calculation result data>
The calculation result data D2 stored in the storage unit 503 is data of the calculation results of a job executed in each vehicle 10 by grid computing processing, which will be described later.

- Control section -
In this example, the control unit 502 has a function of executing a series of controls and processes related to the operation and management of grid computing. For example, the control unit 502 executes the controls and processes in the flow diagrams of Figures 8A and 8B described below. Note that in the following description, for convenience of explanation, the operations and processes are described with the management server 50 as the main body, but the control unit 502 may contribute to the processes and controls.

The control unit 502 stores information and data received from the client terminal 30 in the storage unit 503. For example, when the control unit 502 receives job data D1 from the client terminal 30, the control unit 502 saves the job data D1 in the storage unit 503. Furthermore, when the control unit 502 receives job information D32 from the client terminal 30, the control unit 502 registers it in the job table D53 in the storage unit 503.

The control unit 502 stores information and/or data received from each vehicle 10 and/or the terminal device 40 of the primary user in the storage unit 503. For example, when the control unit 502 receives vehicle information D10 (including vehicle driving information and resource information) from the vehicle 10, it registers it in the vehicle information table D51 of the storage unit 503. In addition, when the control unit 502 receives, for example, a notification of addition/deletion of a secondary user from the terminal device 40 of the primary user, it updates the user information in the user table D56.

[Grid Computing System Operation]
An example of the operation of the grid computing system will be described below with reference to the flowcharts of Figures 6 to 10. Figure 6 is a flowchart that mainly describes the operation of the vehicle and the control and processing in the vehicle. Figure 7 is a flowchart that shows an example of the operation of the grid calculation. Figure 8 (Figures 8A and 8B) is a flowchart that describes the same operation as in Figures 6 and 7 from the perspective of cooperation between the vehicle and the management device, and cooperation between the management device and a terminal device owned by the user. The same processes are denoted by the same symbols in Figures 6 and 7 and in Figure 8 (Figures 8A and 8B).

--Step S11 (S41, S51)--
In step S11, the primary user is registered in the vehicle 10. The method of registering the primary user is not particularly limited. For example, the information of the primary user may be registered while the vehicle is stopped or traveling using an occupant sensor 111 provided in the vehicle cabin, or the primary user may be registered by transferring information from a terminal device 40 owned by the primary user to the vehicle. In addition to the primary user, a secondary user may be registered. Furthermore, the contact information of the primary user may be registered in the vehicle 10. The method of registering the contact information of the primary user is not particularly limited, and a method that has been widely known in the past may be used.

The registration information of the main user and secondary user is stored in the memory unit 103 as user information D20.

Also, as shown in Figures 8A and 8B, the identification information of the primary user and his/her contact information are registered in the management server 50 from the terminal device 40 in association with the vehicle information D10 of the vehicle 10 owned by the primary user.

As shown in FIG. 1, in this example, vehicle owner P11 uses terminal device 41 to register himself as the primary user P11 in the management server 50 for his vehicle 11. Vehicle owner P21 also uses terminal device 42 to register himself as the primary user P21 and another person as the secondary user P22 in the management server 50 for his vehicle 12. Each terminal device 41, 42 transmits information required for management in user table D56 to the management server 50 based on the input information of each primary user P11, P21.

The process here corresponds to the registration process for registering driving candidates and their contact information. Also, primary users P11, P21 and secondary user P22 are examples of registered users.

--Steps S12 and S13--
In step S12, the ignition power supply of the vehicle 10 is turned on (in the case of an electric vehicle, the drive power supply is turned on), and the vehicle 10 starts to travel. In the next step S13, the calculation device 102 authenticates the driver who drives the traveling vehicle 10 based on the input information from the sensor group 110 during the period from when the vehicle 10 starts to travel to when it is parked. In this example, the primary user P11 drives the vehicle 11, and the secondary user P22 drives the vehicle 12. In this case, the primary user P11 is authenticated as the driver of the vehicle 11, and the secondary user P22 is authenticated as the driver of the vehicle 12.

The processing here corresponds to the authentication process, which authenticates the driver based on the sensor detection information.

--Step S14--
In step S14, for example, the vehicle 10 enters a parking area in a parking lot, the ignition power is turned off (in the case of an electric vehicle, the drive power is turned off), and the vehicle changes from a traveling state to a parked state. Then, the parking detection unit (for example, the driving operation sensor 112 and the vehicle state sensor 113) detects the parking state of the vehicle, and the flow proceeds to the next step S15.

--Step S15--
In step S15, the arithmetic device 102 determines whether a grid start condition is satisfied. Specifically, for example, the grid start condition is set such that, in a state in which the parking detection unit detects that the vehicle is parked, after it is confirmed that the driver has got out of the vehicle, the lock detection unit detects that the vehicle doors are locked.

Figure 9 shows an example of a determination flow for grid start conditions. In the example of Figure 9, the computing device 102 executes the determinations of steps S151 to S154 in parallel. In step S151, the lid sensor is used to determine whether the door is open or closed. In step S152, the lid sensor is used to determine whether the door is locked. In step S153, the lid sensor is used to determine whether the hood is open or closed. In step S154, the lid sensor is used to determine the position of the lift gate and the open or closed state of the trunk.

In the next step S155, the arithmetic device 102 determines whether the doors of the vehicle 10 are locked based on the results of the determinations in steps S151 to S154. For example, if the vehicle interior is closed and locked, the arithmetic device 102 determines that the determination result for the door lock state is OK, that is, that the grid start condition is satisfied. In this example, the arithmetic device 102 determines that the grid start condition is satisfied when it is detected that all doors are closed in step S151, all doors are locked in step S152, the hood is closed in step S153, and the lift gate is in the closed position and the trunk is closed in step S154. If the determination in step S155 is OK, the flow proceeds to the next step S20 (see FIG. 6).

--Step S20--
FIG. 7 shows an example of the grid calculation process in step S20.

--Step S21--
In step S21, the calculation device 102 starts the grid calculation.

In this example, the calculation device 102 requests the management server 50 to transmit job data D1 to be used in the grid calculation. The control unit 502 of the management server 50, which receives the transmission request from the calculation device 102, transmits the job data D1 for the application job to be requested to the vehicle 11. When the calculation device 102 receives the job data D1 to be used in the grid calculation from the management server 50, it starts the grid calculation using the received job data D1.

--Step S22--
In step S22, the calculation device 102 determines whether the state of the vehicle satisfies the condition for continuing the grid calculation.

In this example, in the flow diagram of FIG. 9, the determinations of steps S151 to S154 are executed in parallel. Then, when any of the following events occurs: (1) any door is opened in step S151, (2) any door is unlocked in step S152, (3) the hood is opened in step S153, and (4) the lift gate is moved to the open position and the trunk is opened in step S154, the calculation device 102 determines that the continuation condition of the grid calculation is no longer satisfied. In other words, when the blocked state of the vehicle 10 (e.g., the door is locked) is released, the calculation device 102 determines that the continuation condition of the grid calculation is no longer satisfied.

If the vehicle state satisfies the conditions for continuing the grid calculation (YES in step S22), the grid calculation continues until the calculation is completed (NO in step S23). When the grid calculation is completed (YES in step S23), the calculation result is transmitted to the management server 50 (step S28), and when the management server 50 receives the calculation result from the calculation device 102, the series of processes is completed (step S29). Note that if there is sufficient parking time, the process of step S20 described above may be repeated.

On the other hand, if the vehicle's state does not satisfy the conditions for continuing the grid calculation (NO in step S22), i.e., if the blocked state of the vehicle 10 is released, the flow proceeds to the next step S24.

--Step S24--
In step S24, it is determined whether the person who entered the vehicle after the door lock state was released (hereinafter also referred to as "unlocked") is operating based on a normal operation by a driver (hereinafter also referred to as "previous driver") who was authenticated in the previous trip. In this example, the previous driver of the vehicle 11 is the primary user P11, and the previous driver of the vehicle 12 is the secondary user P22. The previous driver is an example of a first driver.

Figure 10 shows an example of a flow for determining whether an operation performed when the door is unlocked is normal or not, and Figure 11 shows this in a matrix table.

In step S24, as shown in FIG. 10, a process is first performed to determine whether the unlock operation itself is normal.

If an unlock operation is detected in step S241 of FIG. 10, an irregular operation determination (step S245) and a fraud determination (step S246) are performed based on the results of (1) detecting the door lock/unlock operation state (step S242), (2) detecting the situation inside the vehicle cabin (step S243), and (3) detecting the surrounding situation (step S244).

Figure 11 shows an example of how steps S245 and S246 make judgments depending on what operation (event) has occurred relative to the state before the operation. In the table, the places marked "notification" are events that have been judged to be "irregular operations," and the places marked "stop" are events that have been judged to be "unauthorized operations." Additionally, the places marked "normal" are events that have been judged to be "normal operations." In the example of Figure 11, if an unlocking operation not using the keyless remote control is detected when no one is inside the vehicle, it is judged to be an "unauthorized operation."

If the operation is determined to be an irregular operation in step S245, a push notification to that effect is sent via the management server 50 to the terminal device of the primary user or the terminal device of the immediately preceding driver. If the operation is determined to be an unauthorized operation in step S246, the grid calculation is immediately stopped. If the operation is not determined to be an irregular operation in step S245 and is not determined to be an unauthorized operation in step S246, the unlock operation is recognized as a normal operation (step S247), and it is determined whether or not the operation is based on the operation of the immediately preceding driver.

<Processing when unlocking is performed by the previous driver>
Fig. 8A shows an example of the case where the unlocking is performed by the immediately preceding driver. In other words, it shows an example of the operation when it is detected in step S22 that the vehicle has changed from a locked state to an unlocked state, and it is determined in step S24 that the unlocking operation is performed by the immediately preceding driver. Steps S11 to S24 in Fig. 8A are the operations already described above, and correspond to the same reference numerals as in Fig. 7.

In step S27, if the person who entered the vehicle after the vehicle was unlocked based on the unlock operation is the previous driver, the calculation device 102 stops the grid calculation. Then, the calculation results performed up to the time the calculation was stopped are transmitted to the management server 50 (step S28). In step S55, when the management server 50 receives the calculation results from the calculation device 102, the grid calculation process ends (step S29). Note that if the calculation is interrupted midway, the calculation results up to that point may be saved in the memory unit 103, and the rest of the calculation may be executed the next time the vehicle is parked, and the process of step S28 may be executed after the series of calculations for the job data D1 is completed.

<Processing when unlocking is performed by an operation other than that of the previous driver or registered user>
8B shows an example of a case where the unlocking operation is not performed by the immediately preceding driver and is performed by a user other than the registered user. The registered users in this example are a primary user P11 in the vehicle 11, a primary user P21 in the vehicle 12, and a secondary user P22.

In S24, if the unlock operation is performed and the person who enters the vehicle after the locked state is released is someone other than the previous driver or a registered user, the grid calculation is not automatically stopped.

In this case, in step S25 of FIG. 7, the calculation device 102 transmits to the management server 50 a request to inquire of the immediately preceding driver about stopping the grid calculation. In the next step S26, it is determined whether or not the immediately preceding driver has given permission to stop the grid calculation.

As mentioned above, the immediately preceding driver of vehicle 11 is primary user P11, so in the case of vehicle 11, the inquiry request is sent to primary user P11. The immediately preceding driver of vehicle 12 is secondary user P, so in the case of vehicle 12, the inquiry request is sent to secondary user P22.

Returning to FIG. 8B, in step S52, when the management server 50 receives the above inquiry request from the vehicle 10 (vehicles 11 and 12), it refers to the user table D56 in the memory unit 503. Then, in the case of vehicle 11, a confirmation message is sent to the contact point (terminal device 41 in this case) of the primary user P11 asking whether it is OK to stop the grid calculation being performed on the vehicle 11. Similarly, in the case of vehicle 12, a confirmation message is sent to the contact point (terminal device 43 in this case) of the secondary user P22 asking whether it is OK to stop the grid calculation being performed on the vehicle 12.

In step S42, when the terminal device 40 (41, 43) receives the above confirmation message from the management server 50, it displays the message on the display screen and accepts the response operation of the immediately preceding drivers P11, P22. When the terminal device 40 (41, 43) acquires the response operation information from the immediately preceding drivers, it transmits the response result to the management server 50.

In step S53, when the management server 50 receives the above response result from the terminal device 40 (41, 43), it transmits the contents to the vehicle 10 (11, 12). Figure 8B shows an example in which the immediately preceding driver has permitted the grid calculation to be stopped.

The subsequent processing of steps S27 to S29 and step S55 is the same as in Figure 8A.

[Effects of the embodiment]
As described above, according to the above embodiment, if the person who entered the vehicle after the vehicle was unlocked is the previous driver who was authenticated in the previous drive, the grid computation is stopped and the computational resources of the vehicle are released from the grid computation. On the other hand, if the person who entered the vehicle after the vehicle was unlocked is neither the first driver nor the registered user, an inquiry is sent to the contact point of the previous driver, and on condition that a contact agreeing to the stop of computation is received from the contact point, the grid computation is stopped and the computational resources are released from the grid computation.

This prevents the first driver from unintentionally interrupting grid calculations.

The above embodiments may be combined as appropriate. The above embodiments are essentially preferred examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the technology disclosed herein, its applications, or its uses. In other words, the above embodiments are merely examples and should not be interpreted in a restrictive manner to the scope of this disclosure. The scope of this disclosure is defined by the claims, and all modifications and changes that fall within the scope of the claims are within the scope of this disclosure.

As explained above, the technology disclosed here is useful as a technology for managing grid computing.

1 Grid computing system 10 Vehicle 102 Computing device 111 Occupant sensor (sensor)
113 Vehicle state sensor (lock detection unit)
50 Management server 503 Storage unit D56 User table

Claims (3)

A method for managing grid computing utilizing computing resources mounted on a vehicle, comprising:
The vehicle is provided with a sensor for recognizing an occupant and a lock detection unit for detecting a door lock state of the vehicle,
A registration process for registering a registered user who is a driver candidate of the vehicle and contact information of the registered user in a user table;
an authentication step of authenticating a driver based on detection information of the sensor;
a computing step of executing a grid computing operation by the computing resource while the door of the vehicle is locked,
In the calculation step, when the lock detection unit detects that the door of the vehicle is unlocked during the execution of the calculation,
If the person who entered the vehicle after the door lock state was released is a first driver who was authenticated in the authentication process during the immediately preceding drive, the computation is stopped to release the computation resources of the vehicle from the computation, while
If a person who enters the vehicle after the door lock state is released is neither the first driver nor the registered user, an inquiry is sent to a contact point of the first driver, and the operation is stopped and the computing resources are released from the operation on the condition that a contact agreeing to the stop of the operation is received from the contact point.
How to manage grid computing. In a case where the vehicle is compatible with a keyless entry system, when the lock detection unit detects that the door has been unlocked without using the keyless entry system during the execution of the calculation in the calculation step, the calculation is stopped.
The method for managing grid computing according to claim 1 . A grid computing system including a management server that manages grid computing and a vehicle configured to be able to participate in the grid computing,
The vehicle includes a computing device having computing resources, a sensor for recognizing an occupant, and a lock detection unit for detecting a door lock state of the vehicle;
The management server includes a storage unit that stores a user table in which registered users who are driving candidates for the vehicle and contact information of the registered users are registered,
The vehicle's computing device
an authentication step of authenticating a driver based on detection information of the sensor;
a computing step of executing a grid computing operation by the computing resource while the door of the vehicle is locked;
In the calculation step, when the lock detection unit detects that the door of the vehicle is unlocked during the execution of the calculation,
If the person who entered the vehicle after the door lock state was released is a first driver who was authenticated in the authentication process during the immediately preceding drive, the computation is stopped to release the computation resources of the vehicle from the computation, while
If a person who enters the vehicle after the door lock state is released is neither the first driver nor the registered user, an inquiry is sent to a contact point of the first driver via the management server, and the operation is stopped and the computing resources are released from the operation on the condition that a contact agreeing to the stop of the operation is received from the contact point.
Grid computing system.