Travel route evaluation system and travel route evaluation program

• US 8,855,912 B2
• Filed: 08/20/2009
• Issued: 10/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), DENSO Corporation, Fujitsu Ten Limited (DENSO Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), DENSO Corporation, Fujitsu Ten Limited (DENSO Corporation)
• Inventors: Miura, Naoki, Yamatani, Yoshio, Sekiyama, Hiroaki, Takeuchi, Shojiro, Tauchi, Nobutaka, Harumoto, Satoshi, Kiyo, Koei
• Primary Examiner(s): Badii, Behrang
• Application Number:
  US12/997,972
• Publication Number:
  US 20110196601A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,874 Days
• Field of Search: 340/995.21, 340/988, 340/932, 340/993, 340/995.12, 340/995.13, 340/907, 701/533, 701/423, 701/428, 701/200, 701/532, 701/418, 701/117, 701/50, 701/450, 743/40, 180/337, 180/170, 359/687, 715/745, 715/758, 700/229
• US Class Current: 701/400
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3611 using character input or menus, e.g. menus of POIs character input methods in general G06F3/0233
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard

Abstract

A travel route evaluation system is provided which is capable of enhancing the driver'"'"'s consciousness of traveling on the a recommended route, in order to improve a degree of attainment of purposes, such as suppression of a fuel consumption and shortening of a required time, that would be obtained by presenting the recommended route.

The system includes: a route setting unit for setting a recommended route from a departure point to a destination, based on traveling environment information associated with a traveling environment of a vehicle and map data, a ratio calculation unit for calculating a recommended route travel ratio which is a proportion of the recommended route in a traveled route on which the vehicle traveled; and an evaluation information acquisition unit for acquiring evaluation information based on the recommended route travel ratio.

Claims

1. A travel route evaluation system comprising:

a route setting unit for setting a recommended route from a departure point to a destination, based on traveling environment information associated with a traveling environment of a vehicle and map data, the map data including facility information corresponding to facilities;

a ratio calculation unit for calculating a recommended route travel ratio which is a proportion of the recommended route in a traveled route on which the vehicle traveled, wherein when the vehicle stopped at a point having the facility information or vicinity thereof within a predetermined distance from the recommended route, the ratio calculation unit calculates the recommended route travel ratio without using a route between the point having the facility information or vicinity thereof and the recommended route, or using the route between the point having the facility information or vicinity thereof and the recommended route as a route on the recommended route; and

an evaluation information acquisition unit for acquiring evaluation information based on the recommended route travel ratio.

2. The travel route evaluation system according to claim 1, wherein:

the route setting unit sets a route with a fuel consumption expected to be the minimum as the recommended route, based on the traveling environment information and the map data.

3. The travel route evaluation system according to claim 2, wherein:

the traveling environment information comprises at least one of;

traffic information associated with a traffic state of the route;

route characteristic information associated with characteristics of the route; and

fuel consumption information associated with a fuel consumption when the vehicle travels on the route.

4. The travel route evaluation system according to claim 1, wherein:

the recommended route travel ratio is a proportion of a distance of the recommended route in a distance of the traveled route.

5. The travel route evaluation system according to claim 1, wherein:

the map data comprises road network data formed of a plurality of nodes each corresponding to an intersection and a plurality of links each corresponding to a road that connects the nodes; and

the recommended route travel ratio is a proportion of a link number of the recommended route in a link number of the traveled route, or a proportion of a node number of the recommended route in a node number of the traveled route.

6. The travel route evaluation system according to claim 1, wherein:

the route setting unit further comprises;

a function to set a return route to a point on the recommended route or to the destination, when a position of the vehicle is not on the recommended route; and

a function to reset the recommended route in accordance with a change in the traveling environment information, when the position of the vehicle is on the recommended route and the traveling environment information has changed; and

the ratio calculation unit excludes the return route from the recommended route upon calculating the recommended route travel ratio.

7. The travel route evaluation system according to claim 1, wherein:

the ratio calculation unit calculates the recommended route travel ratio, during at least one of;

a period from turn-on to turn-off of the main power supply of the vehicle; and

a period from turn-on of the main power supply of the vehicle to the present time.

8. The travel route evaluation system according to claim 1, wherein:

the evaluation information acquisition unit acquires at least one of the followings as the evaluation information;

point imparted in accordance with the recommended route travel ratio;

advice comment with a content corresponding to the recommended route travel ratio; and

graphic indication visually representing the recommended route travel ratio at the present time.

9. The travel route evaluation system according to claim 1,

further comprising an information collection unit for collecting information related to the recommended route travel ratio, from a plurality of the vehicles;

wherein based on information collected by the information collection unit, the evaluation information acquisition unit acquires at least one of the followings as the evaluation information;

a rank of each vehicle in comparison with other vehicles in terms of the recommended route travel ratio; and

a class of each vehicle conferred based on past recommended route travel ratio of that vehicle in comparison with other vehicles.

10. The travel route evaluation system according to claim 1, wherein:

the recommended route travel ratio is obtained as a correction value in which the recommended route travel ratio is corrected in accordance with an easiness level of traveling on the recommended route, the easiness level being determined based on route characteristic information associated with characteristics of the route.

11. The travel route evaluation system according to claim 1, comprising an on-board terminal device mounted on the vehicle and a central management device capable of communicating with a plurality of the on-board terminal devices,

wherein:

when the main power supply of the vehicle having the on-board terminal device mounted thereon is turned off, the on-board terminal device sends information related to the recommended route travel ratio from turn-on to turn-off of the main power supply to the central management device; and

the central management device generates the evaluation information regarding each on-board terminal device based on the information related to the recommended route travel ratio received from a plurality of the on-board terminal devices.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a travel route evaluation program for implementing the following functions by a computer:

a route setting function to set a recommended route from a departure point to a destination, based on traveling environment information associated with a traveling environment of a vehicle and map data, the map data including facility information corresponding to facilities;

a ratio calculation function to calculate a recommended route travel ratio which is a proportion of the recommended route in a traveled route on which the vehicle traveled, wherein when the vehicle stopped at a point having the facility information or vicinity thereof within a predetermined distance from the recommended route, the ratio calculation unit calculates the recommended route travel ratio without using a route between the point having the facility information or vicinity thereof and the recommended route, or using the route between the point having the facility information or vicinity thereof and the recommended route as a route on the recommended route; and

an evaluation information acquisition function to acquire evaluation information based on the recommended route travel ratio.

13. A travel route evaluation system comprising:

a memory storing a computer-executable program; and

a CPU that executes the stored program to;

access stored map data and traveling environment information, the map data including facility information corresponding to facilities, and the traveling environment information being information related to events or road characteristics that affect driving efficiency;

set a recommended route from a departure point to a destination based on the accessed map data and traveling environment information;

calculate a recommended route travel ratio that indicates a proportion of the recommended route that has been traveled by the vehicle while traveling from the departure point to the destination, the recommended route travel ratio being calculated as a distance traveled by the vehicle along the recommended route divided by the total distance traveled by the vehicle since departing the departure point;

when the vehicle stops at a facility that is within a predetermined distance from the recommended route, exclude a distance traveled from the recommended route to the facility from both (1) the distance traveled by the vehicle along the recommended route, and (2) the total distance traveled by the vehicle since departing the departure point when calculating the recommended route travel ratio;

determine travel route evaluation information based on the calculated recommended route travel ratio; and

communicate the determined travel route evaluation information to a user.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer-executable travel route evaluation program, the program comprising:

instructions for accessing stored map data and traveling environment information, the map data including facility information corresponding to facilities, and the traveling environment information being information related to events or road characteristics that affect driving efficiency;

instructions for setting a recommended route from a departure point to a destination based on the accessed map data and traveling environment information;

instructions for calculating a recommended route travel ratio that indicates a proportion of the recommended route that has been traveled by the vehicle while traveling from the departure point to the destination, the recommended route travel ratio being calculated as a distance traveled by the vehicle along the recommended route divided by the total distance traveled by the vehicle since departing the departure point;

instructions for, when the vehicle stops at a facility that is within a predetermined distance from the recommended route, excluding a distance traveled from the recommended route to the facility from both (1) the distance traveled by the vehicle along the recommended route, and (2) the total distance traveled by the vehicle since departing the departure point when calculating the recommended route travel ratio; and

instructions for determining travel route evaluation information based on the calculated recommended route travel ratio; and

instructions for communicating the determined travel route evaluation information to a user.