NAVIGATION SERVER

• US 20100174482A1
• Filed: 03/26/2008
• Published: 07/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Hada, Yasunori, Suzuki, Takeyasu, Sugawara, Aiko, Nogawa, Tadafumi, Imai, Takeshi
• Granted Patent: US 7,783,416 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/201
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/01 Detecting movement of traffic to be counted or controlled G08G1/07 - G08G1/14 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096811 where the route is computed offboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096844 where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data

Abstract

A navigation server for assisting guidance of moving objects such as automobiles by a navigation device while considering the level of safety of each link in the area where a disaster has occurred and adequately evaluating the safety in consideration of the actual disaster situation. A navigation service extracts links included in a disaster area and evaluates the cost of each of the extracted links according to probe information. The probability of reflection of the adverse influence of the disaster on spatial and temporal movement patterns of an automobile represented by the probe information is high. Therefore, the level of safety of each link in the disaster area can be adequately evaluated so that the adverse influence of the disaster can be avoided.

Claims

1. A navigation server which supports guiding of a mobile subject by a navigation device, by transmitting a road traffic information to the navigation device possessed by the mobile subject, the navigation server comprising:

a support map storing unit which stores a support map information including a plurality of links expressed by a series of coordinates;

a first support processing element which receives positions at plural points in time of a first mobile subject from a probe device possessed by the first mobile subject as a probe information; and

a second support processing element which generates the road traffic information on the basis of the support map information and the probe information, and which transmits a part of or all of the road traffic information to the navigation device possessed by a second mobile subject;

wherein the second support processing element recognizes an area in which disaster occurred on the basis of communication with a disaster information source, extracts the links included in the area from a plurality of the links, calculates a deviation of the probe information from before and after the occurrence of the disaster, evaluates a cost for each of the extracted links by increasing and decreasing an initial value of the extracted links on the basis of the deviation, and generates the road traffic information on the basis of the cost.

2. The navigation server according to claim 1, wherein the second support processing element evaluates the cost of the links included in the road having high frequency of the first mobile subject passing therethrough after the occurrence of the disaster to be low.

3. The navigation server according to claim 1, wherein the second support processing element evaluates the cost of the links included in the road having high frequency of the first mobile subject reversing a direction of movement thereof after the occurrence of the disaster to be high.

4. The navigation server according to claim 1, wherein the second support processing element recognizes the navigation route set by the navigation device on the basis of communication with the navigation device possessed by the first mobile subject, and evaluates the cost of the links included in the road included in the navigation route and also included in the road having high frequency of departing from the traveling route of the first mobile subject after the occurrence of the disaster to be high.

5. The navigation server according to claim 1, wherein the second support processing element recognizes one of or both of the type and degree of the disaster on the basis of communication with the disaster information source, and sets the initial value of the cost for each of the extracted links on the basis of one of or both of the type and degree of the disaster.

6. The navigation server according to claim 1, wherein the second support processing element recognizes a departure position and destination position of the second mobile subject by communicating with the navigation device, sets a support route which connects the departure position and the destination position so as to preferentially include the links having low cost, and generate information representing a part of or all of the support route as the road traffic information.