Travel History Collection System And Terminal Side Device Used For It

• US 20080306678A1
• Filed: 07/01/2005
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Miyawaki, Osamu
• Granted Patent: US 8,412,446 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/118
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/127 to a central station ; Indicators in a central station
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A travel history collection system includes a terminal side device and a center side device capable of communicating with the terminal device. The terminal device includes the following components. A vehicle information acquisition part acquires a travel history of a vehicle. A short-range wireless communication means and a wide-range wireless communication means are used to transmit the acquired travel history to a center device. A travel history transmission part transmits the travel history to the center device via the short-range wireless communication means when the travel history can be transmitted via the short-range wireless communication means, and via the wide-range wireless communication means when the travel history cannot be transmitted via the short-range wireless communication means. The center device receives the travel history from the terminal device via the wide-range wireless communication antenna and the road side unit so as to reduce the load on wide-range wireless communication, and to accurately collect a travel history from each terminal device at real time. Thus, latest travel histories can be collected efficiently.

Claims

1. A travel history collection system comprising a terminal side device and a center side device capable of communicating with the terminal side device, wherein

the terminal side device includes:

a vehicle travel history acquisition means for acquiring a travel history of a vehicle;

a first short-range wireless communication means and a first wide-range wireless communication means for transmitting the travel history thus acquired to the center side device; and

a travel history transmission means for transmitting the travel history to the center side device via the first short-range wireless communication means when the travel history can be transmitted to the center side device via the first short-range wireless communication means, and via the first wide-range wireless communication means when the travel history cannot be transmitted to the center side device via the first short-range wireless communication means, and

the center side device includes a second wide-range wireless communication means and a second short-range wireless communication means for receiving the travel history transmitted from the terminal side device.

2. The travel history collection system of claim 1, wherein

the terminal side device further includes:

a congestion section detection means for detecting a congestion section of the vehicle based on the travel history, and

when the congestion section detection means detects the congestion section, the travel history transmission means transmits the travel history containing the congestion section to the center side device via one of the first wide-range wireless communication means and the first short-range wireless communication means.

3. The travel history collection system of claim 2, wherein

the travel history transmission means transmits the travel history containing the congestion section to the center side device via one of the first wide-range wireless communication means and the first short-range wireless communication means not immediately after the congestion section detection means detects the congestion section but after the vehicle travels a predetermined distance after the congestion section detection means detects the congestion section.

4. The travel history collection system of claim 3, wherein

when the congestion section detection means detects the congestion section and then detects another congestion section while waiting for the vehicle to travel the predetermined distance, the travel history transmission means immediately transmits the travel history containing the congestion sections detected so far to the center side device via one of the first wide-range wireless communication means and the first short-range wireless communication means.

5. The travel history collection system of claim 2, wherein the travel history transmission means transmits the travel history containing the congestion section to the center side device via one of the first wide-range wireless communication means and the first short-range wireless communication means not immediately after the congestion section detection means detects the congestion section but after a predetermined time period elapses after the congestion section detection means detects the congestion section.

6. The travel history collection system of claim 5, wherein

when the congestion section detection means detects the congestion section and then detects another congestion section while waiting for the predetermined time period to elapse, the travel history transmission means immediately transmits the travel history containing the congestion sections detected so far to the center side device via one of the first wide-range wireless communication means and the first short-range wireless communication means.

7. The travel history collection system of claim 2, wherein

the congestion section detection means determines presence of congestion when a travel velocity of the vehicle remains not more than a predetermined threshold value for one of a predetermined distance and a predetermined time period.

8. The travel history collection system of claim 2, wherein

the congestion section detection means determines presence of congestion when an average travel velocity of the vehicle in one of a certain fixed distance and a certain fixed time period is not more than a predetermined threshold value, even when the travel velocity does not remain not more than the predetermined threshold value for one of a predetermined distance and a predetermined time period,

the certain fixed distance and the certain fixed time period being larger than the predetermined distance and the predetermined time period, respectively.

9. The travel history collection system of claim 2, wherein

the travel history transmission means transmits the travel history containing the congestion sections detected so far to the center side device via one of the first wide-range wireless communication means and the first short-range wireless communication means immediately after the congestion section reaches a predetermined allowable value.

10. The travel history collection system of claim 2, wherein

the travel history transmission means does not transmit the travel history containing the congestion sections detected so far to the center side device immediately after the congestion section reaches a predetermined allowable value, but waits for the travel history to become able to be transmitted via the first short-range wireless communication means and then transmits the travel history to the center side device via the first short-range wireless communication means.

11. A terminal side device used in the travel history collection system of claim 1.

12. A terminal side device used in the travel history collection system of claim 2.