Traffic information providing system

• US 6,151,550 A
• Filed: 01/22/1999
• Issued: 11/21/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakatani, Mitsuo
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Gary
• Application Number:
  US09/235,405
• Time in Patent Office: 669 Days
• Field of Search: 701/117, 701/118, 701/119, 340/901, 340/902, 340/904, 340/905, 340/992, 340/993
• US Class Current: 701/117
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0965 responding to signals from another vehicle, e.g. emergency vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096758 where no selection takes place on the transmitted or the received information
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096783 where the origin of the information is a roadside individual element
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle

Abstract

To obtain a traffic information providing system which can display information of a forward section of an on-road radio transmission/reception device even if there is no oncoming vehicle. The on-vehicle radio transmission/reception device has a moving time calculation device for calculating moving times of traveling sections which are arbitrarily divided, a memory for storing the moving time calculated by the moving time calculation device, and a transmission device for transmitting the moving time; and the on-road radio reception device has a reception device for receiving a moving time from the moving time calculation device, a recognition unit for recognizing a traffic situation from the moving time to form traffic situation data, a data communication device for transmitting/receiving the traffic situation data between the plurality of on-road radio transmission/reception devices, and a display device for displaying the traffic situation data obtained by the data communication device.

Claims

1. A traffic information providing system comprising an on-vehicle radio transmission/reception device mounted on a vehicle and a plurality of on-road radio transmission/reception devices installed on roads,

wherein said on-vehicle radio transmission/reception device has:

moving time calculation means for calculating moving times of traveling sections which are arbitrarily divided;

moving time storage means for storing the moving time calculated by said moving time calculation means; and

transmission means for transmitting the moving time, and

said on-road radio transmission/reception device has;

reception means for receiving said moving time from said on-vehicle radio transmission/reception device;

traffic situation recognition means for comparing said moving time with a preset reference time to form traffic situation data;

data communication means for transmitting/receiving said traffic situation data between said plurality of on-road radio transmission/reception devices; and

display means for displaying said traffic situation data obtained by said data communication means.

2. A traffic information providing system according to claim 1, characterized in that said moving time calculation means has a traveling distance detection device for outputting a traveling distance and a timer device for outputting time and calculates a moving time of each traveling section by using said traveling distance detection device and said timer device.

3. A traffic information providing system according to claim 1, characterized in that

said on-road radio transmission/reception device has traveling section information storage means for storing traveling section information serving as information of a plurality of traveling sections in advance and traveling section information transmission means for transmitting said traveling section information to said on-vehicle radio transmission/reception device, and

said moving time calculation means has a traveling distance detection device for outputting a traveling distance and a timer device for outputting time and calculates a moving time of each traveling section based on said traveling section information by using said traveling distance detection device and said timer device.

4. A traffic information providing system according to claim 1, characterized in that

said on-road radio transmission/reception device has display information transmission means for transmitting display information displayed by said display means to said on-vehicle radio transmission/reception device, and

said on-vehicle radio transmission/reception device has vehicle-side display means for providing said display information to a driver.

5. A traffic information providing system according to claim 1, characterized in that

said on-vehicle radio transmission/reception device and said on-road radio transmission/reception device perform transmission/reception by using a narrow-band communication scheme of an advanced road traffic system.