Vehicle-mounted device, traffic-information acquisition method, traffic-information provision system, and traffic-information provision method
First Claim
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1. A vehicle-mounted device that acquires traffic information for a vehicle, comprising:
- a traffic-information acquisition unit configured to automatically acquire traffic information from a first source of traffic information, said first source configured to provide traffic information via wireless communication; and
a controller configured to;
responsive to a request from a driver to set a destination for the vehicle, control the traffic-information acquisition unit to acquire traffic information from an external second source of traffic information, the second source having at least certain traffic information not available from the first source and configured to provide traffic information to the traffic-information acquisition unit;
calculate a route to the destination using the traffic information from the first source and the second source;
during guidance along the route, control the traffic-information acquisition unit to acquire current traffic information from the second source only if a value of at least one of a change between a current traffic condition along the route and a previous traffic condition along the route or between a previous traveling condition of the vehicle and a current traveling condition of the vehicle is larger than a predetermined threshold, the previous traffic condition based on previously-provided traffic information; and
recalculate the route to the destination using at least one of the current traffic information, the current traveling condition of the vehicle or the current traffic condition along the route if the traffic-information acquisition unit acquires the current traffic information.
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Abstract
When a change occurs between a previous traffic condition based on traffic information provided previously and the current traffic condition, a control unit of a vehicle-mounted device performs control such that traffic information is acquired from an external device via wireless communication. A comparison of current vehicle traveling conditions and previous vehicle traveling conditions can also be used to determine whether traffic information should be updated.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A vehicle-mounted device that acquires traffic information for a vehicle, comprising:
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a traffic-information acquisition unit configured to automatically acquire traffic information from a first source of traffic information, said first source configured to provide traffic information via wireless communication; and a controller configured to; responsive to a request from a driver to set a destination for the vehicle, control the traffic-information acquisition unit to acquire traffic information from an external second source of traffic information, the second source having at least certain traffic information not available from the first source and configured to provide traffic information to the traffic-information acquisition unit; calculate a route to the destination using the traffic information from the first source and the second source; during guidance along the route, control the traffic-information acquisition unit to acquire current traffic information from the second source only if a value of at least one of a change between a current traffic condition along the route and a previous traffic condition along the route or between a previous traveling condition of the vehicle and a current traveling condition of the vehicle is larger than a predetermined threshold, the previous traffic condition based on previously-provided traffic information; and recalculate the route to the destination using at least one of the current traffic information, the current traveling condition of the vehicle or the current traffic condition along the route if the traffic-information acquisition unit acquires the current traffic information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A traffic-information provision system for providing traffic information to a vehicle-mounted device, the system comprising:
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a first source of traffic information configured to automatically provide traffic information to the vehicle-mounted device via wireless communication; an external second source of traffic information configured to provide traffic information to the vehicle-mounted device via wireless communication, the second source having at least certain traffic information not available from the first source; and a controller of the vehicle-mounted device configured to; responsive to a request from a driver to set a destination for the vehicle, control the traffic-information acquisition unit to calculate a route to the destination using traffic information from the first source and the second source; follow the route to the destination based on current traffic information from the first source; monitor at least one of traffic conditions along the route or traveling conditions of the vehicle while following the route; and control the second source to provide updated current traffic information to the vehicle-mounted device while following the route only when a change occurs between at least one of a current traffic condition and a previous traffic condition along the route or a current traveling condition of the vehicle and a previous traveling condition of the vehicle that is larger than a predetermined threshold, the previous traffic condition based on previously-provided traffic information used to calculate the route. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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16. A traffic-information acquisition method for use with a vehicle-mounted device of a vehicle, the method comprising:
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following a route to a destination using a controller of the vehicle-mounted device based on traffic information automatically retrieved from a first source of traffic information configured to provide traffic information via wireless communication and retrieved from an external second source of information acquired in response to a request of a driver of the vehicle to set the destination of the vehicle, the second source having at least certain traffic information not available from the first source and configured to provide traffic information to the vehicle-mounted device; monitoring at least one of traffic conditions along the route or traveling conditions of the vehicle while following the route; determining at predetermined intervals at least one of a change between a current traffic condition and a previous traffic condition along the route or between a current traveling condition and a previous traveling condition of the vehicle, the previous traffic condition based on previously-provided traffic information; and acquiring current traffic information from the second source via wireless communication while following the route only when a value of the change is larger than a predetermined threshold. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification