VEHICLE-MOUNTED INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD

• US 20110301844A1
• Filed: 02/25/2009
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Aono, Hiroyuki
• Granted Patent: US 9,020,746 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/300
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9316 combined with communication equipment with other vehicles or with base stations
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/161 Decentralised systems, e.g. inter-vehicle communication

Abstract

An object of the invention is to provide a vehicle-mounted information processing apparatus capable of specifying the position of another vehicle with high accuracy using information related to the distance between another vehicle and an intersection point. The vehicle-mounted information processing apparatus includes: a map information storage unit (11) that stores map information including position information of a road and an intersection point; an inter-vehicle communication unit (4) that acquires various kinds of information using inter-vehicle communication with another vehicle; an another-vehicle GPS information acquiring unit (13) that acquires GPS information related to the position of another vehicle and acquires first reference intersection point distance information related to a distance between another vehicle and a first reference intersection point which is recognized by another vehicle as an intersection point that is in front of another vehicle and is closest to another vehicle, through the inter-vehicle communication unit (4); and an another-vehicle position specifying unit (16) that specifies the position of another vehicle on the basis of the GPS information, the map information, and the first reference intersection point distance information.

Claims

1. A vehicle-mounted information processing apparatus comprising:

map information storage means for storing map information including position information of a road and an intersection point;

inter-vehicle communication means for acquiring various kinds of information using inter-vehicle communication with another vehicle;

GPS information acquiring means for acquiring GPS information related to the position of another vehicle through the inter-vehicle communication means;

first reference intersection point distance information acquiring means for acquiring, through the inter-vehicle communication means, first reference intersection point distance information related to a distance between another vehicle and a first reference intersection point which is recognized by another vehicle as an intersection point that is in front of another vehicle and is closest to another vehicle; and

another-vehicle position specifying means for specifying the position of another vehicle on the basis of the GPS information, the map information, and the first reference intersection point distance information.

2. The vehicle-mounted information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

GPS error information acquiring means for acquiring GPS error information of another vehicle through the inter-vehicle communication means,

wherein the another-vehicle position specifying means specifies the position of another vehicle on the basis of the GPS error information.

3. The vehicle-mounted information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

second reference intersection point distance calculating means for calculating a distance between another vehicle and a second reference intersection point, which is an intersection point that is in front of another vehicle and is closest to another vehicle, on the basis of the GPS information and the map information;

reference intersection point difference calculating means for calculating a reference intersection point difference, which is a difference between the distance between the first reference intersection point and another vehicle and the distance between the second reference intersection point and another vehicle; and

first reference intersection point position specifying means for specifying the position of the first reference intersection point on the basis of the GPS information and the map information when the reference intersection point difference is not within a GPS error distance in the GPS error information,

wherein the another-vehicle position specifying means specifies the position of another vehicle on the basis of information related to the position of the first reference intersection point specified by the first reference intersection point specifying means.

4. The vehicle-mounted information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

shortest road distance calculating means for calculating the shortest road distance, which is the shortest distance between the position of another vehicle in the GPS information and the road in the map information, when the position of another vehicle in the GPS information is not on a known road included in the map information; and

estimating means for estimating the existence of a new intersection point and road on the basis of the GPS information, the map information, and the first reference intersection point distance information when the shortest road distance is not within the GPS error distance in the GPS error information,

wherein the another-vehicle position specifying means specifies the position of another vehicle on the road estimated by the estimating means.

5. The vehicle-mounted information processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:

road-to-vehicle communication means for acquiring third reference intersection point distance information related to a distance between a host vehicle and a third reference intersection point, which is an intersection point that is in front of the host vehicle and is closest to the host vehicle, using road-to-vehicle communication with a road-side communication device,

wherein the estimating means estimates the existence of the new intersection point and road on the basis of the third reference intersection point distance information.

6. An information processing method comprising:

an acquiring step of acquiring GPS information related to the position of another vehicle and acquiring first reference intersection point distance information related to a distance between another vehicle and a first reference intersection point which is recognized by another vehicle as an intersection point that is in front of another vehicle and is closest to another vehicle, using inter-vehicle communication; and

an another-vehicle position specifying step of specifying the position of another vehicle on the basis of map information including position information of a road and an intersection point, the GPS information, and the first reference intersection point distance information.

7. The vehicle-mounted information processing method according to claim 6,

wherein, in the acquiring step, GPS error information of another vehicle is acquired, and

in the another-vehicle position specifying step, the position of another vehicle is specified on the basis of the GPS error information.

8. The information processing method according to claim 7, further comprising:

a second reference intersection point distance calculating step of calculating a distance between another vehicle and a second reference intersection point, which is an intersection point that is in front of another vehicle and is closest to another vehicle, on the basis of the GPS information and the map information;

a reference intersection point difference calculating step of calculating a reference intersection point difference, which is a difference between the distance between the first reference intersection point and another vehicle and the distance between the second reference intersection point and another vehicle; and

a first reference intersection point position specifying step of specifying the position of the first reference intersection point on the basis of the GPS information and the map information when the reference intersection point difference is not within a GPS error distance in the GPS error information,

wherein, in the another-vehicle position specifying step, the position of another vehicle is specified on the basis of information related to the position of the first reference intersection point specified in the first reference intersection point specifying step.

9. The information processing method according to claim 7, further comprising:

a shortest road distance calculating step of calculating the shortest road distance, which is the shortest distance between the position of another vehicle in the GPS information and the road in the map information, when the position of another vehicle in the GPS information is not on a known road included in the map information; and

an estimating step of estimating the existence of a new intersection point and road on the basis of the GPS information, the map information, and the first reference intersection point distance information when the shortest road distance is not within the GPS error distance in the GPS error information,

wherein, in the another-vehicle position specifying step, the position of another vehicle is specified on the estimated road.

10. The information processing method according to claim 9, further comprising:

a road-to-vehicle communication step of acquiring third reference intersection point distance information related to a distance between a host vehicle and a third reference intersection point, which is an intersection point that is in front of the host vehicle and is closest to the host vehicle, using road-to-vehicle communication with a road-side communication device,

wherein, in the estimating step, the existence of the new intersection point and road is estimated on the basis of the third reference intersection point distance information.