Center apparatus, terminal apparatus, and driving support system using the same

• US 20070038368A1
• Filed: 10/05/2004
• Published: 02/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Uno, Yoshinobu, Miyawaki, Osamu
• Application Number:
  US10/572,078
• Publication Number:
  US 20070038368A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/207
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 31/0058 responsive to externally generated signalling
• 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

Abstract

A transmitting/receiving unit receives vehicle information including type and speed of a vehicle and position information about present position of the vehicle sent from a terminal device carried on the vehicle. A vehicle control information generating unit generates vehicle control information for controlling vehicles statistically formed for each type of vehicle on the basis of the vehicle information and the position information. A storage unit stores the vehicle control information. On the basis of position information sent from the terminal device, the vehicle control information with respect to the traveling direction of the vehicle is sent to the terminal device from the storage unit and the traveling of the vehicle is thus controlled.

Claims

1. A center device characterized by having:

a receiving unit that receives vehicle information including type and speed of a vehicle and position information about present position of the vehicle, sent from a terminal device carried on the vehicle;

a vehicle control information generating unit that generates vehicle control information for controlling vehicles statistically formed for each type of vehicle on the basis of the vehicle information and the position information received by the receiving unit;

a storage unit that stores the vehicle control information generated by the vehicle control information generating unit;

a control information detecting unit that searches the storage unit for vehicle control information corresponding to the position information of the vehicle received from the terminal device; and

a transmitting unit that transmits the vehicle control information found as a result of the search by the control information detecting unit to the terminal device.

2. The center device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the vehicle control information generating unit calculates the vehicle control information on the basis of averaged information formed by averaging the vehicle information, and that the storage unit stores the vehicle control information in association with the position information for which the vehicle information is sent.

3. The center device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the control information detecting unit searches for legal regulation information with respect to the position information corresponding to the vehicle control information that is found as a result of the search, and corrects the vehicle control information for each the position information on the basis of the result of comparison between the vehicle control information and the legal regulation information.

4. The center device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the control information detecting unit searches for traffic information related to traffic status with respect to the position information corresponding to the vehicle control information that is found by search, and corrects the vehicle control information for each of the position information on the basis of the result of comparison between the vehicle control information and the traffic information.

5. The center device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the control information detecting unit searches for vehicle control information within a predetermined zone from the present position of the vehicle in response to a request from the terminal device.

6. The center device as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that the predetermined zone is a sector-like zone directed toward the traveling direction from the present position.

7. The center device as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that the predetermined zone is a rectangular zone directed toward the traveling direction from the present position.

8. The center device as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that the predetermined zone is a zone of the traveling route of the vehicle received from the terminal device.

9. The center device as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that the predetermined zone is a zone with a predetermined width centering on the traveling route of the vehicle received from the terminal device.

10. The center device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the vehicle control information controls at least one of the accelerator and the brake of the vehicle.

11. A terminal device that is carried on a vehicle and that acquires vehicle control information for controlling the vehicle, sent from a center device, and controls the vehicle, the terminal device being characterized by having:

a position detecting unit that detects position information related to the present position of the vehicle;

a vehicle information detecting unit that detects vehicle information including type and speed of the vehicle;

a transmitting unit that transmits the position information detected by the position detecting unit and the vehicle information detected by the vehicle information detecting unit to the center device;

a receiving unit that receives the vehicle control information sent from the center device; and

a vehicle control unit that controls the vehicle on the basis of the vehicle control information received by the receiving unit.

12. The terminal device as claimed in claim 11, characterized in that the vehicle control information corresponds to the position information detected by the position detecting unit.

13. The terminal device as claimed in claim 11, characterized in that the vehicle control information is statistically formed for each type of vehicle on the basis of the vehicle information and the position information sent by the transmitting unit.

14. The terminal device as claimed in claim 11, characterized in that the terminal device has a storage unit that stores the vehicle control information received by the receiving unit and that the vehicle control unit extracts the vehicle control information from the storage unit on the basis of the position information of the vehicle.

15. The terminal device as claimed in claim 14, characterized in that the transmitting unit transmits an acquisition request for vehicle control information in a rectangular or sector-like zone directed toward the traveling direction from the present position of the vehicle, to the center device, and that the receiving unit receives the vehicle control information in the rectangular zone or the sector-like zone based on the acquisition request, from the center device.

16. The terminal device as claimed in claim 14, characterized in that the transmitting unit transmits an acquisition request for vehicle control information on a traveling route of the vehicle, to the center device, and that the receiving unit receives the vehicle control information on the traveling route based on the acquisition request, from the center device.

17. The terminal device as claimed in claim 14, characterized in that the transmitting unit transmits an acquisition request for vehicle control information in a predetermined zone centering on the traveling route of the vehicle, to the center device, and that the receiving unit receives the vehicle control information based on the acquisition request, from the center device.

18. The terminal device as claimed in claim 11, characterized in that the vehicle control unit controls at least one of the accelerator and the brake of the vehicle.

19. A driving support system characterized by transmitting vehicle control information for controlling a vehicle to a terminal device carried on the vehicle from a center device, wherein the terminal device has:

a position detecting unit that detects position information related to the present position of the vehicle;

a vehicle information detecting unit that detects vehicle information including type and speed of the vehicle;

a terminal-side transmitting unit that transmits the position information detected by the position detecting unit and the vehicle information detected by the vehicle information detecting unit to the center device;

a terminal-side receiving unit that receives the vehicle control information sent from the center device; and

a vehicle control unit that controls the vehicle on the basis of the vehicle control information received by the terminal-side receiving unit, and wherein the center device has;

a center-side receiving unit that receives the vehicle information and the position information;

a vehicle control information generating unit that generates vehicle control information statistically formed for each type of vehicle on the basis of the vehicle information and the position information received by the center-side receiving unit;

a storage unit that stores the vehicle control information generated by the vehicle control information generating unit;

a control information detecting unit that searches the storage unit for vehicle control information corresponding to the position information of the vehicle received from the terminal device; and

a center-side transmitting unit that transmits the vehicle control information detected by the control information detecting unit to the terminal device.