Vehicle-mounted communication device and communication method

• US 10,638,445 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2017
• Issued: 04/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd. (Faurecia SA)
• Original Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd. (Faurecia SA)
• Inventors: Nakano, Mutsumi, Mutou, Keisuke, Tanaka, Tomonori
• Primary Examiner(s): Beamer, Temica M
• Application Number:
  US16/470,649
• Publication Number:
  US 20190327704A1
• Time in Patent Office: 858 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561, 4554562, 4554566
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/105 Speed
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/49 whereby the further system is an inertial position system, e.g. loosely-coupled
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/51 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/002 for traffic control, mobile tracking, guidance, surveillance or anti-collision
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02585 at least one of the measurements being a non-radio measurement
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/163 involving continuous checking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

An object is to enable a receiving side to estimate a position of a vehicle on a transmission side to be estimated with high accuracy. A vehicle-mounted communication device 1 loaded into a vehicle includes a vehicle-to-vehicle communication unit 15, a position estimation information acquisition unit 14 which periodically acquires a plurality of types of position estimation information, a storage unit 11 which stores the plurality of types of position estimation information with acquisition time information representing an acquisition time at which each of the position estimation information has been acquired associated with the position estimation information, and a control unit 10 which causes the vehicle-to-vehicle communication unit 15 to transmit vehicle information, in which among the transmitted plurality of types of position estimation information, the at least one type of position estimation information is the position estimation information with which the acquisition time information representing the latest acquisition time is associated among the one type of position estimation information, and the other type of position estimation information different from the one type of position estimation information is the position estimation information with which the acquisition time information representing the acquisition time closest to the acquisition time at which the one type of position estimation information has been acquired is associated.

Claims

1. A vehicle-mounted communication device loaded into a vehicle, comprising:

a communication device which transmits information;

a position estimation information acquisition circuit including a GPS receiver, which receives a GPS signal transmitted from a GPS satellite via a GPS antenna, and a vehicle speed sensor, and the position estimation information acquisition circuit which periodically acquires a plurality of types of position estimation information capable of estimating a position of the vehicle including vehicle position information representing a position of the vehicle, and vehicle speed information representing a speed of the vehicle based on information received by the GPS receiver and a detection result of the vehicle speed sensor;

a memory which stores the plurality of types of position estimation information acquired by the position estimation information acquisition circuit with acquisition time information representing an acquisition time at which each of the position estimation information is acquired associated with the position estimation information; and

a control circuit including a CPU which causes the communication device to transmit information including the at least plurality of types of position estimation information,

wherein a timing at which the position estimation information acquisition circuit acquires the vehicle position information and a timing at which the position estimation information acquisition circuit acquires the vehicle speed information are not synchronized with each other,

wherein among the plurality of types of position estimation information transmitted from the communication device controlled by the control circuit,

the at least one type of position estimation information is the position estimation information with which the acquisition time information representing the latest acquisition time is associated among the one type of position estimation information, and the other type of the position estimation information different from the one type of the position estimation information is the position estimation information with which the acquisition time information representing the acquisition time closest to the acquisition time at which the one type of position estimation information is acquired is associated,

wherein the control circuit selects a combination of the vehicle position information and the vehicle speed information respectively acquired at acquisition times which are inhibited from shifting from each other, and the combination of the vehicle position information and the vehicle speed information is transmitted as the position estimation information by the communication device.

2. The vehicle-mounted communication device according to claim 1, wherein

the control circuit

compares a latest position time as the latest acquisition time of the vehicle position information with a latest speed time as the latest acquisition time of the vehicle speed information, and causes the communication device to transmit, when the latest position time is newer than the latest speed time, information including the vehicle speed information with which the acquisition time information representing the latest speed time is associated and the vehicle position information with which the acquisition time information representing the acquisition time closest to the latest speed time is associated.

3. The vehicle-mounted communication device according to claim 1, wherein

the control circuit

compares a latest position time as the latest acquisition time of the vehicle position information with a latest speed time as the latest acquisition time of the vehicle speed information, and causes the communication device to transmit, when the latest speed time is newer than the latest position time, information including the vehicle position information with which the acquisition time information representing the latest position time is associated and the vehicle speed information with which the acquisition time information representing the acquisition time closest to the latest position time is associated.

4. The vehicle-mounted communication device according to claim 1, wherein

the control circuit

causes the communication device to transmit, when a difference between a speed of the vehicle at a latest speed time as the latest acquisition time of the vehicle speed information and a speed of the vehicle at the acquisition time before the latest speed time is a predetermined threshold value or more, information including the vehicle speed information with which the acquisition time information representing the latest speed time is associated and the vehicle position information with which the acquisition time information representing a latest position time as the latest acquisition time of the vehicle position information is associated.

6. The vehicle-mounted communication device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit compares

a first time difference between, among an acquisition time at which latest vehicle position information is acquired as the position estimation information and an acquisition time at which latest vehicle speed information is acquired as the position estimation information, the acquisition times whichever is newer in one type of the position estimation information, and a latest acquisition time of another type of the position estimation information which is different from the one type, and

a second time difference between the latest acquisition time of another type of the position estimation information which is different from the one type and a previous acquisition time of the one type, and

acquires the position estimation information including a combination of the vehicle position information and the vehicle speed information selected based on the first time difference and the second time difference whichever is smaller, and transmits the position estimation information by the communication device.

5. A communication method comprising the steps of:

receiving a GPS signal transmitted from a GPS satellite via a GPS antenna in a GPS receiver;

detecting a speed of a vehicle by a vehicle speed sensor;

periodically acquiring a plurality of types of position estimation information including vehicle position information representing a position of a vehicle and vehicle speed information representing a speed of the vehicle, capable of estimating a position of a vehicle by a position estimation information acquisition circuit;

acquiring the vehicle position information and the vehicle speed information at timings which are not synchronized with each other;

storing the acquired plurality of types of position estimation information with acquisition time information representing an acquisition time at which each of the position estimation information is acquired associated with the position estimation information in a memory; and

transmitting information including the plurality of types of position estimation information, among which the at least one type of position estimation information is the position estimation information with which the acquisition time information representing the latest acquisition time is associated among the one type of position estimation information and the other type of position estimation information different from the one type of position estimation information is the position estimation information with which the acquisition time information representing the acquisition time closest to the acquisition time at which the one type of position estimation information is acquired is associated,

wherein the step of transmitting includes selecting a combination of the vehicle position information and the vehicle speed information respectively acquired at acquisition times which are inhibited from shifting from each other, and transmitting the combination of the vehicle position information and the vehicle speed information as the position estimation information by the communication device.