Vehicle-mounted information processing apparatus

• US 7,657,373 B2
• Filed: 03/09/2005
• Issued: 02/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Godo Kaisha IP Bridge 1 (IP Bridge, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kindo, Tsuyoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Cuong H
• Application Number:
  US10/588,112
• Publication Number:
  US 20070124063A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,791 Days
• Field of Search: 701/208, 701213-214, 701/216, 382/113, 382/159, 382/2
• US Class Current: 701/208
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09675 where a selection from the received information takes place in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/00 Maps; Plans; Charts; Diagrams, e.g. route diagram star maps G09B27/04; devices for holding or supporting maps A47B97/02; for computing purposes G06G1/14, G09B1/16; display boards G09F
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2854 Wide area networks, e.g. public data networks

Abstract

The present invention solves problems to provide an in-vehicle information processing device that is equipped in a vehicle to perform communications wirelessly and has a function as a communication terminal for transmitting and receiving information without an access point to form an ad-hoc wireless communication network, the device comprising: a road shape storage unit 19 operable to store road shape data of a road leading to a driver'"'"'s destination; a propagation path derivation unit 21 operable to derive propagation path data from information received by a driver'"'"'s vehicle, using position data of another vehicle from which the information is propagated; a determination unit 15 operable to determine whether or not the propagation path data matches the road shape data, and to generate match information in a case that the propagation path data matches the road shape data; and a notification unit 16 operable to notify the driver of the received information in a case that the match information is generated.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle information processing device which is a communication terminal for communicating wirelessly via an ad-hoc wireless communication network by transmitting and receiving information without using an access point, said device comprising:

a road shape storage unit operable to store road shape data;

a propagation path derivation unit operable to derive propagation path data from information received by a driver'"'"'s vehicle, using position data of another vehicle from which the information is propagated;

a determination unit operable to determine whether or not the propagation path data matches the road shape data, and to generate match information in a case that the propagation path data matches the road shape data; and

a notification unit operable to notify the driver of the received information in a case that the match information is generated.

2. The in-vehicle information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein said propagation path derivation unit is further operable to derive propagation direction data, and

said determination unit is further operable to determine whether or not the propagation direction data indicates that a direction of the propagation path is towards the driver'"'"'s vehicle, and to generate the match information in a case that the propagation direction data indicates that the direction of the propagation path is towards the driver'"'"'s vehicle.

3. The in-vehicle information processing device according to claim 2, further comprising

an information destruction unit operable to destroy the received information in a case that the propagation direction data does not indicate that the direction of the propagation path is towards the driver'"'"'s vehicle.

4. The in-vehicle information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein said determination unit is further operable to determine whether or not the propagation path data matches road shape data of a road ahead in a traveling direction of the driver'"'"'s vehicle, and to generate the match information in a case that the propagation path data matches the road shape data.

5. The in-vehicle information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein said determination unit is further operable to determine whether or not the propagation path data matches road shape data of a road in a wheeling direction of the driver'"'"'s vehicle, and to generate the match information in a case that the propagation path data matches the road shape data.

6. The in-vehicle information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein said road shape storage unit further includes route data indicating a shape of a route leading to the driver'"'"'s destination, and

said determination unit is further operable to determine whether or not the propagation path data matches the route data, and to generate the match information in a case that the propagation path data matches the route data.

7. The in-vehicle information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein said propagation path derivation unit uses, as the propagation path data, data derived using travel route data indicating a travel route of the another vehicle included in the received information in a case that a number of the position data of the another vehicle included in the received information is less than a threshold value.

8. The in-vehicle information processing device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a position data acquisition unit operable to acquire position data of the driver'"'"'s vehicle;

an data adding unit operable to generate relay information by adding the position data of the driver'"'"'s vehicle to the received information in a case that the information is received; and

a transmitting unit operable to transmit the relay information.

9. The in-vehicle information processing device according to claim 8, further comprising

a travel route accumulation unit operable to accumulate a plurality of travel route data of the driver'"'"'s vehicle which are acquired for a specific time period,

wherein said data adding unit is further operable to add the travel route data to the received information.

10. The in-vehicle information processing device according to claim 9,

wherein said data adding unit is further operable to add the travel route data to the received information in a case that a number of the relay in the received information is less than the threshold value.

11. The in-vehicle information processing device according to claim 8, further comprising

a sensor operable to acquire vehicle data of the driver'"'"'s vehicle,

wherein said data adding unit is further operable to add the vehicle data of the driver'"'"'s vehicle acquired by said sensor to the received information.

12. The in-vehicle information processing device according to claim 1, further comprising

a road incident detection unit operable to detect a road incident using the vehicle data of the driver'"'"'s vehicle acquired by said sensor,

wherein said transmitting unit is further operable to transmit information regarding the road incident in a case that the road incident is detected by said road incident detection unit.

13. The in-vehicle information processing device according to claim 12,

wherein said transmitting unit is further operable to transmit the travel route data including the plurality of position data of the driver'"'"'s vehicle acquired for a specific time period.

14. The in-vehicle information processing to claim 1, further comprising

an information destruction unit operable to destroy the received information in a case that the propagation path data does not match the road shape data.

15. The in-vehicle information processing device according to claim 1, further comprising

an information destruction unit operable to destroy the received information in a case that the propagation path data does not match the road shape data of the road ahead in the traveling direction of the driver'"'"'s vehicle.

16. The in-vehicle information processing device according to claim 1, further comprising

an information destruction unit operable to destroy the received information in a case that the propagation path data does not match the road shape data of the road in the wheeling direction of the driver'"'"'s vehicle.