JPH0820260B2 - Travel time measuring device and travel time data processing system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention detects an estimated position of a vehicle based on the mileage data and azimuth data of the vehicle obtained from the mileage sensor and the azimuth sensor, or detects the road position.
Vehicle using side beacon system or satellite navigation system
A trip where the estimated position of the vehicle is detected, the current position of the vehicle is set on the road based on the so-called map matching method, and the travel time traveled on a preset route connecting two specific points on the road is measured. The present invention relates to a travel time data processing system that processes travel time data measured by a time measuring device and a plurality of vehicles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, it is necessary to quickly learn traffic congestion information and regulation information of road traffic, and to teach the driver of the traffic congestion information to avoid the traffic congestion and stop the traffic congestion at an early stage. It is rising. In order to know the traffic jam information and the like, it is sufficient to grasp the flow condition of the traffic by obtaining the time required for the vehicle to travel on a certain road, that is, the travel time, and taking the average of many vehicles.

[0003]

Therefore, it is conceivable to install a vehicle detector on the road, measure the speed of each vehicle, and regard the speed at other places as the same to indirectly determine the travel time. . However, this method can only measure the speed at that point, and cannot know the exact travel time. For example, if a parked vehicle happens to be near that point, the speed of the passing vehicle will slow down, and the travel time will be overestimated. In addition, even if traffic is restricted at other places and traffic is congested, if the vehicle is flowing smoothly only at that point, the travel time will be underestimated.

In view of such a situation, as a method for estimating the travel time in a road section, a method of placing a vehicle detector at the entrance and exit of the road section and estimating the number of vehicles existing in the road section from the number of passing vehicles at the entrance and exit is known. Conceivable. However, a vehicle that does not obey the vehicle lane cannot be detected by the vehicle detector, resulting in omission of detection. In addition, if there is an intersection in the middle of the road section, there will be vehicles coming in and out of it, and accurate estimation cannot be performed.
However, if a vehicle detector that detects a vehicle coming in and out at each intersection on the way is installed, the system becomes enormous in scale and cannot be economically implemented.

Therefore, there is a method in which a vehicle detector is placed at the entrance and exit of a road section, a specific vehicle is detected by a roadside device, and the travel time of the specific vehicle is measured.
In this case, in order to identify the vehicle, image processing of cutting out a license plate and identifying the number is required, but at present, the identification accuracy is not sufficient. Also, because we do not know the actual running trajectory,
Errors due to breaks and detours within the road section cannot be completely removed, and there is a limit in understanding travel time.

[0006] As described above, in all the measuring devices up to now, the travel time is only indirectly estimated.
There were problems that accurate travel time information could not be obtained, and it took a huge amount of money to measure the travel time of all vehicles in the target area. In view of the widespread use of navigation devices, the inventor has focused on measuring travel time by utilizing information acquired by the navigation devices when the navigation devices are mounted on each vehicle. .

Here, the navigation device is a device which is mounted on a vehicle and assists vehicle traveling by detecting and displaying the position of the vehicle, and includes a traveling distance sensor, a direction sensor, and the traveling distance. A position detecting means for detecting the position of the vehicle based on the traveling distance data and the direction data of the vehicle obtained from the sensor and the direction sensor, and a display means for displaying the detected current position or direction of the vehicle on the screen. It is a device.

The navigation device has a drawback in that the errors included in the obtained estimated position data are accumulated due to the errors that the traveling distance sensor and the direction sensor necessarily have. Therefore, on the assumption that the vehicle travels on the road, the estimated position data obtained by the above method is compared with the road map data stored in the road map memory in advance, and the deviation of the estimated position from the road is calculated. A navigation device that employs a map matching method that calculates the cumulative error and corrects the estimated position data by the cumulative error to match the estimated position data with the road data is also in practical use (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho. 63-148115
No. JP-A-64-53112).

Further, when the above map matching method is adopted, a roadside antenna is arranged beside the road in order to improve the accuracy of distance data and direction data, and a signal including position data and road direction data is transmitted from this roadside antenna. A roadside beacon system has also been proposed in which a vehicle-mounted antenna that emits light only in a relatively narrow range receives the above signals to calibrate the position and direction of the vehicle.

In addition, GPS (Global Positioning System)
There is also a method of knowing the absolute position of the vehicle by measuring the propagation delay time of the radio waves emitted from three or four orbiting satellites using a satellite navigation system such as m). With the support of such a navigation device, the driver can reach the destination without getting lost even when traveling on a strange road.

By the way, since the navigation device adopting the map matching system can know the position of the vehicle on the map, it is possible to measure the traveling time from a specific point on the map to another specific point. it can. Therefore, according to the present invention, an accurate travel time can be measured using the information on the travel time obtained by the navigation device, without providing a road device for detecting the speed of the vehicle, the number of passages, etc. An object is to provide a travel time data processing system that processes travel time data measured by a travel time measuring device and a plurality of vehicles.

[0012]

Means for Solving the Problems] (1) the travel time measuring device according to claim 1 for achieving the purpose of the stores and the estimated location detecting means for detecting the estimated position of the vehicles, the road map data Calculating the degree of similarity between the current road map memory and the above-mentioned estimated position changes and each road pattern obtained from the road map stored in the road map memory, and the road with the highest degree of similarity is regarded as the currently running road. A vehicle position setting means for specifying and setting the current position of the vehicle on the road; a travel time measuring means for measuring a travel time of traveling on a preset route connecting two specific points on the road; Output means for outputting travel time data measured by the time measuring means
Then, while traveling between the above-mentioned two specific points, the vehicle position setting means
Whether the road with the highest degree of similarity was identified by
Position detection reliability determination means for determining, and the output means
Is the similarity based on the determination result of the position detection reliability determination means.
If it is determined that the road with the most number of
It outputs travel time data. (2) the travel time measuring device according to claim 2 for achieving the objectives of the estimated position detecting means for detecting the estimated position of the vehicles, and the road map memory for storing road map data,
The degree of similarity between the change in the estimated position and each road pattern obtained from the road map stored in the road map memory is calculated, and the road with the highest degree of similarity is specified as the currently running road. , A vehicle position setting means for setting the current position of the vehicle on the road, and preset between the specific two points on the road
Travel time measuring means for measuring travel time traveled on different routes
And travel time data measured by travel time measuring means
And an output means for outputting, travels between the two specific points
Provided between the position detection reliability determining means for determining whether likely how indeed the identified road by the vehicle position setting means for said output means, the determination result of the position detection reliability determining means, the particular its The travel time data is output when it is determined that the probability of the road is higher than the reference. (3) In the travel time measuring device according to claim 3, the position detection signal is used.
The reliability determination means determines the similarity between the two points while traveling between the two points.
Set the vehicle's current position on the road while repeating the calculation
It is determined whether or not the road has been detected.
The output means is a position detection reliability determination means.
It was determined that the road was in the detection state according to the determination result of
In this case, the travel time data is output . (4) In the travel time measuring device according to claim 4, the position detection signal is
The reliability determining means determines whether the vehicle is present while traveling between two specific points.
Number of registered links, which is the number of links included in the probability area
Determines whether or not it has been maintained at 1 or a value close to 1.
The output means is a position detection reliability determination means.
The number of registered links is 1 or a value close to 1 depending on the judgment result of
If it is determined that the
It is a force. (5) The travel time measuring device according to claim 5 is a specific device on a road.
While traveling on a preset route connecting points,
Based on the distribution of the vehicle speed, the vehicle includes parking determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle is parked, and the output means determines the travel time when the vehicle is not parked based on the determination result of the parking determination means. It outputs data. (6) The travel time measuring device according to claim 6 is a specific two on the road.
While traveling on a preset route connecting points,
A curve number determination means for determining the number of times the vehicle has traveled on a curve based on a change in the direction of the vehicle is provided, and the output means is configured to determine the number of times the vehicle has traveled on the curve in the section based on the determination result of the curve number determination means. The travel time data is output when it is determined that the number of curves is equal to or less than that. (7) The travel time measuring device according to claim 7 is a specific device on a road.
While traveling on a preset route connecting points,
Based on the distribution of the vehicle speed, the vehicle is provided with a reverse determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle has moved backward, and the output means is the travel time when the vehicle is determined not to be backward based on the determination result of the reverse determination means. It outputs data. (8) In the travel time measuring device according to claim 8 , the output means includes:
The travel time data is output when it is determined that the travel time measured by the travel time measuring means is less than or equal to the maximum travel time expected between two specific points on the road. (9) In the travel time data processing system according to claim 9 , the travel time measuring device includes transmitting means for transmitting the measured travel time data to the information processing center, and the information processing center is configured to operate from a plurality of vehicles. The travel time data thus obtained is statistically processed to create travel time measurement data for a wide area road section. (10) In the travel time data processing system according to claim 10 , the information processing center has a transmitting means for transmitting the processed travel time data of the wide area to the vehicle, and the travel time measuring device of the vehicle has a receiving means. have.

[0013]

(1) According to the travel time measuring device configured as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, it is possible to directly measure the travel time between points specified by the map matching method in the vehicle. together it becomes, it is possible to determine the position detection reliability of vehicles, only when it is judged that the reliability is high is that road by determination result of the position detection reliability determining means, and outputs the travel time data . If the outputs of the travel time for there is a possibility that the road has not been correctly identified, it means that erroneous data enters the data processing after it is possible to exclude the situation in advance. (2) The travel time measuring device according to claim 5 determines whether or not the vehicle is parked based on the distribution of the vehicle speed, and when it is determined that the vehicle is not parked based on the determination result of the parking determination means. , Decided to output travel time data. If the vehicle is parked while traveling on a preset route that connects two specific points on the road, even if the travel time is measured, the proper travel time in the flow of traffic will be measured. It cannot be said to have been done. (3) In the travel time measuring device according to claim 6 , the number of times the vehicle has traveled on a curve while traveling on a preset route connecting two specific points on the road is equal to If it is less than the number of times, it is decided to output travel time data. This is because when the number of turns is greater than the planned number of turns, it is considered that the vehicle is not traveling as planned, for example, it has deviated to the side road. (4) In the travel time measuring device according to claim 7 , it is determined that the vehicle has not moved backward based on the determination result of the backward movement determining means while the vehicle travels on a preset route connecting two specific points on the road. When I wanted to, I decided to output travel time data. This is because if the vehicle moves backward, it will not travel properly according to the flow of traffic, and the travel time will be measured too much. (5) With the travel time measuring device according to claim 8 , if it is determined that the measured travel time is abnormally long while traveling on a preset route connecting two specific points on the road,
It is probable that an accident etc. occurred in the vehicle. Therefore, the travel time data is output when it is determined that the travel time measured by the travel time measuring means is less than or equal to the maximum travel time expected between two specific points on the road. is there. (6) In the travel time data processing system according to claim 9, the travel time data output by the output means is transmitted to an information processing center, and the information processing center collects all data from each vehicle, Since the travel time of the wide area road section can be grasped by statistical processing, it can be useful for traffic control. (7) In the travel time data processing system according to claim 10 , since the information processing center can send the processed wide area travel time data to the vehicle, the driver of the received vehicle can drive the vehicle. It can be useful.

[0014]

Embodiments will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings showing embodiments. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an in-vehicle navigation device incorporating the travel time measuring device of the present invention.
The navigation device has a display 2 as shown in FIG.
, Console 1, direction sensor 3, distance sensor 4
And a road map memory 5 that stores road map data
, A memory drive 6 for reading stored data from the road map memory 5, a traveling distance detected by the distance sensor 4 and a traveling direction change amount detected by the azimuth sensor 3, respectively, and the accumulated data and the memory drive 6 are integrated. The position detection device 8 detects the vehicle position based on comparison with the road map data read by the vehicle and measures the travel time of traveling in a specific section on the road by a built-in timer or the like.
And navigation for performing various controls such as reading a road map in a predetermined range, generating display data for guiding the vehicle, controlling the voice output device 10, controlling the display device 2 and controlling the position detecting device 8. It has a controller 9, a transmitter 7 for transmitting measured travel time data to the outside, and a travel time memory 11 for storing travel time data.

To explain in more detail, the console 1 is
It has a key input board (not shown) for starting / stopping this device, moving a cursor on the screen, scrolling a road map displayed on the screen, and the like. The display 2 has
A transparent touch panel is attached on the screen of a CRT, a liquid crystal panel, or the like. The display device 2 displays the position of the vehicle detected by the position detection device 8 on a screen together with a road map of the surrounding area.

The azimuth sensor 3 detects a change in azimuth as the vehicle travels, and a geomagnetic sensor, a gyro or the like can be used. The direction sensor 3
The output of is also used for detecting the number of curves described later.
The distance sensor 4 detects the traveling distance based on the speed of the vehicle, the number of rotations of the wheels, or the like, and a wheel speed sensor, a vehicle speed sensor, or the like can be used. The output of the distance sensor 4 is also used for backward detection, which will be described later.

The road map memory 5 is composed of a mass storage medium such as a CD-ROM, an IC memory card, and a memory such as a magnetic tape. The road map memory 5 divides a road map (including highway national roads, motorways, general national roads, major local roads, general prefectural roads, general city roads of designated cities, and other living roads) into a mesh. Road map data consisting of combinations of nodes and links in each mesh unit, along with a high-level map including data of highways (including highways, highways, general highways, and major local roads), along with highways It is stored separately as a lower hierarchical map including general roads such as general prefectural roads, general city roads of designated cities, and other non-main roads (hereinafter referred to as “general roads”).

Here, a node is generally a coordinate position for identifying an intersection or a bend of a road. A node representing the intersection is an intersection node, and a bend of the road (excluding the intersection) is The represented node may be referred to as an interpolation point node. The node data includes a node number, an address of a node of an adjacent mesh corresponding to the node, an address of a link connected to the node, and the like.

A link is formed by connecting each intersection node. The link data includes the link number, the start and end node addresses of the link, the distance of the link, the direction of passing through the link, the time required data in that direction, the standard curve number data of the link, the road type, the road width, one-way traffic and tolls. It consists of traffic regulation data such as roads. Further, the road map memory 5 stores nodes or links at specific points on the road which should be the starting point and the ending point of the travel time measurement.

The position detecting device 8 integrates the distance data detected by the distance sensor 4 and the azimuth change data detected by the azimuth sensor 3 to calculate traveling locus data, and the traveling locus data and the road map memory 5 are calculated. Based on the comparison with the road pattern stored in the so-called map matching method (so-called map matching method), the vehicle position on the road with the existence probability of the vehicle added is detected, and the travel time is measured by the procedure described later Is transmitted by a transmitter 7 and provided to a data processing organization (referred to as an information processing center) through a public communication line.

FIG. 2 shows a vehicle position setting function block of the position detecting device 8. The input preprocessing unit 22 inputs the azimuth data sampled from the azimuth sensor 3 and the distance data sampled from the distance sensor 4, and performs calibration and filtering to obtain the optimum estimated azimuth. Current position estimation unit 23
Calculates the estimated position by dead reckoning (functions as an estimated position detecting unit) from the optimum estimated azimuth and distance data obtained from the input preprocessing unit 22 and also corrects the current position obtained from the position reset unit 25. Take in,
The estimated position is updated. The traveling road estimation unit 24
A vehicle existence probability region centered on the obtained estimated position (a region determined according to the error in the bearing data and the distance data.
(Usually a circle with the estimated position of the vehicle as the center)
And the pattern similarity between the road network data obtained from the road map memory 5 and the trajectory of the estimated position is repeatedly calculated to calculate the vehicle position on the link included in the vehicle existence probability region. The position reset unit 25 corrects the estimated position with the vehicle position obtained by the above method (functions as vehicle position setting means).

By the way, the horizontal axis indicates the position error between the estimated position of the vehicle obtained from the current position estimation unit 23 and the actual corrected vehicle position, and the degree of similarity with the road network data is calculated based on the estimated position. If the vertical axis represents the probability that the vehicle position matches the link, the correlation shown in FIG. 3 is obtained. That is, if the position error is small, the optimum vehicle position can be reliably obtained on the road while traveling for a while and repeatedly calculating the similarity between the estimated position and the road pattern. In other words, the vehicle position can be narrowed down on a specific road. This state is called "road detection state". vice versa,
When the position error becomes large, the probability that the vehicle position can be narrowed down to a specific road decreases even if the similarity with the road pattern is calculated, and the position error becomes considerably large (e in FIG. 3). Above points), no matter how many times the degree of similarity is calculated, matching with the road cannot be taken. In this case, the position of the vehicle cannot be found on the road. This state is called "road non-detection state". In this case, the position reset unit 25 cannot correct the estimated position, so the vehicle position output from the position output unit 26 remains the estimated position by dead reckoning.

Further, the number of links included in the vehicle existence probability area is referred to as "registered link number". If the number of registered links is 1, it is very likely that the vehicle is traveling on that road, and if the number of registered links is 2 or more, it is unlikely that the vehicle is traveling on that road. Get lower. The management judgment unit 21 grasps whether the current state is the “road detection state” or the “road non-detection state” and also grasps the “number of registered links”. Then, based on these grasped states, it is determined whether the road is identified and how likely the identified road is. That is, it functions as position detection reliability determination means.

In addition to the above description, the position detecting device 8 uses the output of the distance sensor 4 to detect the vehicle speed while the vehicle travels on a preset route connecting two specific points on the road later. Was calculated, how long the slowest speed (eg, 1 km / h or less) lasted, how long the speed was completely 0, whether the vehicle was moving or stopped, then stopped. Whether or not the vehicle is parked is determined by determining, for example, how much the vehicle has been in such a state. That is, it functions as a parking determination unit.

Further, the position detecting device 8 includes the azimuth sensor 3
Based on the output of the above, the azimuth distribution of the vehicle at the time of traveling on a preset route connecting two specific points on the road is obtained, and the number of times the azimuth change is equal to or greater than the reference value is calculated. Counting determines the number of times the vehicle has traveled a curve. That is, it functions as a curve number determination means.

In addition to the above description, the position detecting device 8 also functions as a backward movement judging means for judging whether the vehicle has moved backward based on the output of the distance sensor 4. The navigation controller 9 is the position detection device 8
It has a function to obtain the vehicle position from and display the current position and the destination on the map in an overlapping manner. Specifically, it is composed of a microcomputer, a graphics processor, an image processing memory, etc., and displays a menu screen, a map search, a scale switch, a scroll, a display of a current position and a direction of a vehicle, and a destination and a point serving as a landmark. Display, direction and distance to the destination are displayed.

The travel time memory 11 is a memory for storing the measured travel time data, and is constituted by an internal storage memory such as a RAM in the apparatus or an external memory such as a floppy disk, DAT, cassette tape or the like. Figures 4-6
4 is a flowchart showing a travel time measuring procedure for measuring a time taken to pass between specific points on a road (FIGS. 4 to 6).
Indicates a series of flows).

When it is confirmed by the map matching method that the vehicle has passed a specific point during traveling (step (1)), it is checked whether the measured travel time data is stored in the travel time memory 11 (step (2)). If yes, the measured travel time data is transmitted to the ground fixed station through the transmitter 7 (step (3)) and provided to the information processing center through the public communication line. The work of the information processing center will be described later. At the same time, the travel time data measured is deleted from the memory (step (4)).

Next, the position detecting device 8 detects the current position of the vehicle, the road section on which the vehicle is currently traveling, the current number of registered links,
The distinction such as "road detection state" or "road non-detection state" is stored in a predetermined memory (step (5)). When it is confirmed that the vehicle has passed a specific point that is the end point of the road section (step (6)), the vehicle speed distribution, the distribution of registered links, and the road detection state distribution are calculated while the road section is running (step). (7)). Further, the number of curves during traveling on the road section, the presence / absence of backward movement, and the travel time are calculated (step (8)).

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a road map and vehicles traveling on the road, and FIG. 8 is a distribution diagram of measured data.
More specifically, referring to FIG. 8 and FIG. 7, when the vehicle passes through the specific point A and the third branch point B, the vehicle speed is slightly reduced and the number of registered links is changed from 1 to 2. is increasing. The number of registered links increases because it is determined that the vehicle may have entered a side road after passing the third branch point B. However, by continuing the map matching after that, it can be seen that the road is not on the side road, and the number of registered links has returned to 1. When the vehicle arrives at the intersection C, the vehicle speed is rapidly reduced because the vehicle waits for a signal.
However, since the vehicle moved slowly, the speed was not completely zero. Therefore, it is determined that the vehicle is not parked. After that, since the vehicle turned right at the intersection C, one curve is counted. When you come to point D, the vehicle enters the drive-in. At this time, the number of times of the second curve is counted, the backward movement is counted once, and the vehicle speed becomes zero for a long time. Therefore, it is determined that the vehicle has been parked. When the vehicle starts again, the third curve is counted. While the vehicle progressed from A to E, it was in "road detection state".

Referring back to FIG. 5, based on the data obtained as described above, first, the distribution of the number of registered links and the distribution of the road detection states are referred to (step (9)). Then, it is determined whether or not the number of registered links has been 1 during traveling on the road section or its average value is close to 1 (step (10)), and it is determined whether or not the road has been continuously detected (step (11 )). If either of the determinations is NO, it means that the vehicle position or the road section cannot be estimated, and the travel time is given up. That is,
Judging the position of the vehicle and the likelihood of road estimation, if it is not certain, it is meaningless to obtain travel time data for a road section that is different from the actual one, so travel time data is not output. If both are YES, the process proceeds to the next.

In step (12), the vehicle speed distribution is referred to. As a result, "stop" or "park" is determined (step (13)). Here, "stopping" means stopping the vehicle for a short time due to traffic congestion, waiting for a signal, etc., and "parking" means stopping the vehicle for a long time. If it is determined that the vehicle has been parked, it means that the vehicle has not traveled along the flow of traffic, so the output of the traveling time is given up. This makes it possible to exclude travel time data when an activity such as entering a gas station or a restaurant is performed. If it is determined that the vehicle has not been parked, the number of times the vehicle has traveled along the road section and the presence / absence of backward travel are referred to (step (14)). The number of curves is the standard number of curves N0 expected for the road section (for example, from the point A to the point E for the road of FIG. 7).
If it is more than the standard number of turns to go to (1) (step (15)), it is possible to judge that the vehicle has deviated from the middle of the target road, traveled on the side road, and returned to the link. Judge that the correct travel time cannot be measured and return to the beginning (start).

Further, it is judged whether or not the vehicle is traveling backward (step
(16)) If there is a backward run, it is judged that there is some trouble such as a detour or an incorrect road, and it is judged that the vehicle is not running normally, and the process returns to the start (start). If all the above judgment conditions are cleared, the measured travel time is referred to (step (17) in FIG. 6), and it is determined whether the travel time is less than or equal to the maximum travel time T0 scheduled for the road section. (Step (18)), and if below, store the travel time in the memory (step (19)). The "maximum travel time" is
This is the travel time that is considered not to be realized even if traffic is taken into consideration, and is registered for each road section.

As described above, when measuring the time traveled on a specific road section of a road, the time required for traveling is not simply taken as the travel time as conventionally thought, but a matter contrary to the flow of traffic. Can be excluded so that standard travel times along the traffic flow can be measured. In the above procedure, the travel time measured by the vehicle is deleted from the memory when it passes the specific point as shown in step (1), and the time when the travel time data starts to be collected also passes the specific point. Since it was time to do so, it means that the travel time from the specific point installation point to the next specific point installation point was measured.

Next, the processing after acquiring the travel time data will be described. When the vehicle acquires travel time data, if it stores it in its own memory 11, it will
By extracting and analyzing the stored data, it can be used as travel time data of the road on which the vehicle has traveled.
Also, the travel time data can be transmitted through the transmitter 7, as displayed in step (3) of the flowchart. The transmitted data is transmitted to the information processing center as shown in FIG. 9, where the travel time data collected from a number of vehicles is totaled to evaluate the degree of congestion at the present time of the road section. You can make predictions.

If the travel time data of the wide area road section thus obtained is given to the vehicle again, the driver of each vehicle can avoid the congested road section at his discretion. To make this possible, it is necessary to install a facility that can send data to the vehicle.
For example, radio broadcasting may be used, or travel time data may be transmitted to the vehicle using a roadside beacon. Figure 9
In the embodiment of the travel time data processing system, the roadside beacon is capable of bidirectional communication, the vehicle is equipped with a dedicated transmitter, the travel time data acquired by the vehicle is transmitted toward the roadside beacon, and the roadside beacon is transmitted from the roadside beacon. It collects at the information processing center through a dedicated line and transmits wide area travel time data from the roadside beacon to the vehicle.

Further, when the vehicle is equipped with a route guidance device, the wide area travel time data obtained as described above can be used as basic data for route calculation and route guidance. More specifically, the route guidance device reads the road map data of a range including the departure point and the destination point from the road map memory according to the setting of the destination point by the driver, and the departure point based on the road map data. A device that can determine the most economical route (optimum route) from the destination to the destination. There is a so-called Dijkstra method as a method of calculating the route from the starting point to the destination.
oved Shortest Path Algorithm for TransportationNet
work ", Trans-portation Research, Vol.12, 1978). This method divides a number of routes for route calculation, and uses the node or link closest to the departure point as the starting point.
The node with the node or link closest to the destination is assumed to be the end point, the tree of links from the start point to the end point is assumed, and the link costs of all the routes that make up the tree are sequentially added to arrive at the destination with the lowest cost. This is a method of calculating columns. Here, items to be evaluated when calculating the link cost include mileage, travel time, availability of highways, number of right and left turns, running probability of highways, avoidance of accident-prone areas, and other drivers' preferences. There are matters that have been set.

The above running time data was stored as a constant in the conventional route calculation. However, if travel time data of a dynamically varying road section is obtained by the present invention, it will be returned to the vehicle again. It can be used as a prerequisite for route calculation in a vehicle. Of course, when calculating the route, the travel time data of the road section is the most important and basic data, and the fact that the travel time data of the road section reflects the current situation is actually It is absolutely necessary to calculate the route that can reach the destination at the lowest cost. However, if the road section is congested or construction is in progress, the travel time will fluctuate greatly from time to time, and the optimal route calculated based on this will also differ greatly from the actual situation.

Therefore, in the information processing center, if traveling time data collected from a large number of vehicles is aggregated and accurate wide area traveling time data is obtained in real time, it is provided to the vehicles and the basis of route calculation is calculated. Since it can be data, it becomes possible for the vehicle to perform more reliable optimal route calculation than ever. Although the travel time measuring device and the travel time data processing system of the present invention have been described with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above. In the travel time measuring device of the above-described embodiment, the position detecting device estimates the position of the vehicle from the mileage sensor, the azimuth sensor, and the road map data. In addition to this, a beacon is installed at a specific point. The absolute position information may be obtained through this beacon, and the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the driver may manually operate while looking at the map to input the current position, or three or four. The time of arrival of the radio wave from each satellite may be measured by decoding the pseudo noise code received from the GPS satellite, and the absolute position information of the self on the ground may be obtained.

Further, the road map memory 5 stores nodes or links at specific points on the road which should be the starting point and the ending point of the travel time measurement, but as shown in FIG. When the installed beacon can be used, the travel time measurement may be started or ended based on the trigger signal received from the beacon. Various other design changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0041]

As described above, any one of claims 1 to 8 is provided.
The invention described in (1) does not use ground facilities, but determines the specific circumstances when traveling on a specific road section by using the in-vehicle device alone,
Since it is possible to measure the standard travel time along the flow of traffic, it becomes possible to support traffic based on highly accurate travel data.

In particular , according to the travel time measuring apparatus of the first or second aspect, the reliability of the position detection is used to judge the certainty of the vehicle position and the road estimation. Since it was judged that there is no point in obtaining travel time data for, the travel time data was not measured, so the accuracy of the measured travel time data is improved compared to the conventional case. Particularly, the travel time measuring device according to claim 3
According to the report, while traveling between two specific points,
Judgment of reliability of road estimation based on whether or not
However, if this is not the road detection state, the
It is based on the judgment that it is impossible to determine
Avoiding in-situ measurements to ensure accurate travel time data.
The degree is further improved as compared with the conventional one. Especially the journey of claim 4
According to the travel time measuring device, while traveling between two specific points
, Based on the number of registered links included in the vehicle existence probability area
It is a car that determines the accuracy of road estimation.
If there are many links in both existence probability areas, run either
It is based on the judgment that it is difficult to identify the road
Yes, by making such judgments, travel time
Accuracy is further improved as compared with the conventional one.

According to the travel time measuring device of the fifth aspect , if it is determined that the vehicle has been parked between the specific points,
Since it is decided that the traveling time is not measured because the vehicle is not traveling along the flow of traffic, it is possible to exclude the traveling time data when an action such as entering a gas station or a restaurant is taken. Therefore, the accuracy of the measured travel time data is improved as compared with the conventional one.

According to the travel time measuring device of claim 6 , the travel time data is output when it is determined that the number of times the vehicle has traveled on the curve is greater than the number of times the curve is planned in the section. Therefore, it is possible to exclude the case where the vehicle deviates from the middle of the target road, runs on the side road, and returns to the link again. Therefore, the correct travel time can be measured.

According to the travel time measuring device of the seventh aspect , whether or not the vehicle is traveling backward is determined, and if the vehicle is traveling backward, the travel time data is output. Therefore, the vehicle is parked or the road is mistakenly traveled. It is possible to exclude the case where the vehicle is not traveling normally such as turning direction. Therefore, the correct travel time can be measured. According to the travel time measuring device of claim 8 , when it is determined that the travel time measured by the travel time measuring means is longer than the maximum travel time expected between two specific points on the road, Since the travel time data is output, it is possible to exclude a case where the vehicle has an accident or other unusual driving. Therefore,
More accurate travel time data can be output.

According to the travel time data processing system of claim 9, since the travel time data can be transmitted to the information processing center, the information processing center obtains the travel time information from a large number of vehicles. Can be processed. Therefore, if the vehicle loading rate of the travel time measuring device increases, the travel time of the entire target area can be automatically grasped in real time.

Further, according to the travel time data processing system of claim 10, the travel time data collected and grasped as described above can be provided to the vehicle traveling in the target area. The vehicle can be used for traveling.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a navigation device incorporating a travel time measuring device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a vehicle position setting function.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing a road matching probability.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a travel time measuring procedure.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a travel time measuring procedure.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a travel time measuring procedure.

FIG. 7 is a map depicting roads and traveling vehicles.

FIG. 8 is a distribution chart of various measurement data.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an outline of a travel time data processing system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Direction sensor 4 Distance sensor 5 Road map memory 7 Transmitter 8 Position detection device 9 Navigation controller

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP 62-32600 (JP, A) JP 64-42000 (JP, A) JP 58-37796 (JP, A) JP 58- 37797 (JP, A) JP-A-58-37798 (JP, A)

Claims (10)

[Claims] And 1. A estimated position detecting means for detecting the estimated position of the vehicles, and the road map memory for storing road map data, obtained from a road map that is stored in the change and road map memory of the estimated position A vehicle position setting means for calculating the degree of similarity with each of the road patterns, identifying the road with the highest degree of similarity as the currently running road, and setting the current position of the vehicle on that road; travel time measurement with a travel time measuring means for measuring a specific travel time a vehicle travels a predetermined route connecting two points of the upper, and output means for outputting the travel time data measured by the trip time measuring means In the device
Therefore , while traveling between the above-mentioned two specific points, the vehicle position setting means
Determine whether the road with the highest degree of similarity was identified
Position detection reliability determining means, and the output means outputs the determination result of the position detection reliability determining means.
It was determined that the road with the highest similarity was identified.
A travel time measuring device , which outputs travel time data when the travel time is exceeded. 2. A estimated position detecting means for detecting the estimated position of the vehicles, and the road map memory for storing road map data, obtained from a road map that is stored in the change and road map memory of the estimated position A vehicle position setting means for calculating the degree of similarity with each of the road patterns, identifying the road with the highest degree of similarity as the currently running road, and setting the current position of the vehicle on that road; travel time measurement with a travel time measuring means for measuring a specific travel time a vehicle travels a predetermined route connecting two points of the upper, and output means for outputting the travel time data measured by the trip time measuring means In the device
Therefore , while traveling between the above-mentioned two specific points, the vehicle position setting means
Ri includes a position detection reliability determining means for determining whether likely how indeed the identified road, said output means, the determination result of the position detection reliability determining means, the probability that the identified road its reference A travel time measuring device, which outputs travel time data when it is determined that the travel time is higher than the travel time. 3. The position detection reliability determination means is a specific 2
While traveling between points , the vehicle
A road detection card that can set the current position of
It is intended to determine whether there was a state, the output means, the determination result of the position detection reliability determining means
When it is determined that the road is detected, the travel
Claims characterized by outputting time data
Item 1. The travel time measurement device according to item 1 or 2. 4. The position detection reliability determination means is a specific 2
Links included in the vehicle existence probability region while traveling between points
The number of registered links, which is the number of
The output means determines whether or not the position detection reliability determination means
Therefore, the number of registered links was 1 or kept close to 1.
If it is determined that the travel time data is output
Travel time according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that
Measuring device. 5. A estimated position detecting means for detecting the estimated position of the vehicles, and the road map memory for storing road map data, obtained from a road map that is stored in the change and road map memory of the estimated position A vehicle position setting means for calculating the degree of similarity with each of the road patterns, identifying the road with the highest degree of similarity as the currently running road, and setting the current position of the vehicle on that road; travel time measurement with a travel time measuring means for measuring a specific travel time a vehicle travels a predetermined route connecting two points of the upper, and output means for outputting the travel time data measured by the trip time measuring means In the device
Thus , the vehicle includes a parking determination unit that determines whether or not the vehicle is parked based on the distribution of the vehicle speed while traveling on a preset route connecting two specific points on the road. A travel time measuring device which outputs travel time data when it is determined that the vehicle is not parked based on the determination result of the parking determination means. 6. A estimated position detecting means for detecting the estimated position of the vehicles, and the road map memory for storing road map data, obtained from a road map that is stored in the change and road map memory of the estimated position A vehicle position setting means for calculating the degree of similarity with each of the road patterns, identifying the road with the highest degree of similarity as the currently running road, and setting the current position of the vehicle on that road; travel time measurement with a travel time measuring means for measuring a specific travel time a vehicle travels a predetermined route connecting two points of the upper, and output means for outputting the travel time data measured by the trip time measuring means In the device
Thus , the vehicle includes a curve number determination means for determining the number of times the vehicle has traveled on a curve based on a change in the direction of the vehicle while traveling on a preset route connecting two specific points on the road. The output means, when it is determined that the number of times the vehicle has traveled along the curve is less than or equal to the number of curves planned in the section, based on the determination result of the number-of-curves determination means,
A travel time measuring device characterized by outputting travel time data. 7. A estimated position detecting means for detecting the estimated position of the vehicles, and the road map memory for storing road map data, obtained from a road map that is stored in the change and road map memory of the estimated position A vehicle position setting means for calculating the degree of similarity with each of the road patterns, identifying the road with the highest degree of similarity as the currently running road, and setting the current position of the vehicle on that road; travel time measurement with a travel time measuring means for measuring a specific travel time a vehicle travels a predetermined route connecting two points of the upper, and output means for outputting the travel time data measured by the trip time measuring means In the device
I, during which the vehicle has traveled a pre-set route connecting between two specific points on the road, based on the distribution of the vehicle speed, comprising a retraction determining means for determining whether the vehicle moves backward, the output means Is a travel time measuring device which outputs travel time data when it is determined that the vehicle is not moving backward based on the determination result of the backward movement determining means. 8. A estimated position detecting means for detecting the estimated position of the vehicles, and the road map memory for storing road map data, obtained from a road map that is stored in the change and road map memory of the estimated position A vehicle position setting means for calculating the degree of similarity with each of the road patterns, identifying the road with the highest degree of similarity as the currently running road, and setting the current position of the vehicle on that road; travel time measurement with a travel time measuring means for measuring a specific travel time a vehicle travels a predetermined route connecting two points of the upper, and output means for outputting the travel time data measured by the trip time measuring means In the device
Thus, the output means outputs the travel time data when it is determined that the travel time measured by the travel time measuring means is less than or equal to the maximum travel time expected between two specific points on the road. A travel time measuring device characterized by outputting. 9. The travel time measuring device according to any one of claims 1 to 8 includes a transmitting means for transmitting the travel time data detected by the travel time measuring means to an information processing center, A travel time data processing system, wherein the information processing center statistically processes travel time data obtained from a plurality of vehicles to create travel time measurement data for a wide area road section. 10. The information processing center has a transmitting means for transmitting the processed travel time data of the wide area to the vehicle, and the travel time measuring device of the vehicle outputs the processed travel time data of the wide area. 10. The travel time data processing system according to claim 9, further comprising receiving means for receiving.