Road-to-vehicle communication system, road-to-vehicle communication method, road-to-vehicle communication program and program recording medium

• US 7,965,198 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2008
• Issued: 06/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Yanase, Kazuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Previl; Daniel
• Application Number:
  US12/210,707
• Publication Number:
  US 20090072998A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,009 Days
• Field of Search: 340/905, 340/988, 340/435, 340/436, 340/937, 340/939, 340/903, 340/990, 340/991, 340/995.1, 340/995.12, 340/995.13, 340/995.26, 340/995.27, 340/901
• US Class Current: 340/905
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096783 where the origin of the information is a roadside individual element
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096861 where the immediate route instructions are output to the driver, e.g. arrow signs for next turn

Abstract

Disclosed is a road-to-vehicle communication system to provide highly reliable road-to-vehicle communication services by use of a vehicle'"'"'s car navigation system. The roadmap information for the car navigation system contains information to indicate if an area is a road-to-vehicle communication possible area, and information relating to the communication system of road-to-vehicle communication. When the car navigation system detects that the vehicle approaches the road-to-vehicle communication possible area by a predetermined distance, a vehicle system acquires the communication system of the roadside communication equipment from the roadmap information. And the road-to-vehicle communication equipment is set to the stand-by state of the acquired communication system. When the road-to-vehicle communication equipment receive radio wave from the roadside communication equipment, the road-to-vehicle communication equipment is released from the stand-by state and receives from the roadside communication equipment warning information to prevent the vehicle from possible traffic accident.

Claims

1. A road-to-vehicle communication system comprising:

a road-to-vehicle communication equipment on a vehicle capable of communicating with a roadside communication equipment installed by a road;

roadmap information to be used by a car navigation system on the vehicle includes at least information to indicate whether the road is in an area where the roadside communication equipment is installed for enabling road-to-vehicle communication and communication system information to specify a particular communication system of the roadside communication equipment, wherein

when the car navigation system detects the vehicle approaching the road-to-vehicle communication possible area by a predetermined distance, the road-to-vehicle communication system acquires the particular communication system of the roadside communication equipment from the roadmap information, switches the road-to-vehicle communication equipment to the communication settings of the particular communication system and sets to a stand-by state for receiving radio wave from the roadside communication equipment.

2. A road-to-vehicle communication system of claim 1, wherein the road-to-vehicle communication equipment is released from the stand-by state for acquiring information from the roadside communication equipment by starting road-to-vehicle communication with the roadside communication equipment when the vehicle enters the road-to-vehicle communication area and receives radio wave from the roadside communication equipment.

3. A road-to-vehicle communication system of claim 2, wherein the information that the road-to-vehicle communication equipment received from the roadside communication equipment includes at least warning information for the vehicle to avoid traffic accident if there is a possibility of traffic accident.

4. A road-to-vehicle communication system of claim 3, wherein if the information that the road-to-vehicle communication equipment receives from the roadside communication equipment includes the warning information, the warning information is outputted to an output device for notifying the driver of the vehicle.

5. A road-to-vehicle communication system of claim 3, wherein if the information that the road-to-vehicle communication equipment receives from the roadside communication equipment includes the warning information, a control system for controlling running conditions of the vehicle forcedly interferes the control of the vehicle by overriding the driver'"'"'s control of the vehicle.

6. A road-to-vehicle communication system of claim 1, wherein if it fails the road-to-vehicle communication with the roadside communication equipment when the vehicle reaches the road-to-vehicle communication area and the road-to-vehicle communication equipment attempts to start road-to-vehicle communication with the roadside communication equipment, the road-to-vehicle communication equipment tries to communicate with the roadside communication equipment from which the road-to-vehicle communication equipment receives radio wave for detecting the communication system of the roadside communication equipment by sequentially changing one or more communication systems that are registered in advance in the vehicle.

7. A road-to-vehicle communication system of claim 6, wherein if the communication system of the roadside communication system that the road-to-vehicle communication equipment receives is detected, the roadmap information is renewed based on the road-to-vehicle communication possible or impossible information and the communication system of the roadside communication equipment installed in the area.

8. A road-to-vehicle communication system of claim 1, wherein if the road-to-vehicle communication equipment receives radio wave from a roadside communication equipment when the vehicle passes through an area that is not registered in the roadmap information as the road-to-vehicle communication possible area, the road-to-vehicle communication equipment tries to communicate with the roadside communication equipment from which the road-to-vehicle communication equipment receives radio wave for detecting the communication system of the roadside communication equipment by sequentially changing one or more communication systems that are registered in advance in the vehicle.

9. A road-to-vehicle communication equipment of claim 1, wherein if road-to-vehicle communication with the roadside communication equipment fails when the vehicle reaches the road-to-vehicle communication possible area and the road-to-vehicle communication equipment attempts to start road-to-vehicle communication with the roadside communication equipment, such information is reported to a center server that administrates the roadmap information for renewing the roadmap information in the vehicle based upon renewal instructions from the center server.

10. A road-to-vehicle communication system of claim 1, wherein the driver arbitrarily chooses and sets whether the road-to-vehicle communication with the roadside communication equipment in the road-to-vehicle communication possible area is made or not.

11. A road-to-vehicle communication method comprising:

providing a road-to-vehicle communication equipment on a vehicle capable of communicating with roadside communication equipment installed by a road;

including in roadmap information to be used by a car navigation system on the vehicle at least information to indicate if an area is a road-to-vehicle communication possible area and communication system information indicating a particular communication type of the roadside communication equipment;

detecting by the car navigation system if the vehicle approaches the road-to-vehicle communication possible area by a predetermined distance;

acquiring from the roadmap information the communication system of the roadside communication equipment;

setting the road-to-vehicle communication equipment to the acquired communication system; and

setting the road-to-vehicle communication equipment to a stand-by state for receiving radio wave.

12. A road-to-vehicle communication method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

causing the road-to-vehicle communication equipment to release from the stand-by state when the vehicle reaches the road-to-vehicle communication possible area and receives radio wave from the roadside communication equipment; and

starting road-to-vehicle communication with the roadside communication equipment for receiving information from the roadside communication equipment.

13. A road-to-vehicle communication method of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

providing a control system for controlling running conditions of the vehicle; and

forcedly interfering the running conditions of the vehicle overriding the driver'"'"'s vehicle control if the information from the roadside communication equipment that the road-to-vehicle communication equipment receives includes warning information for preventing the vehicle from a possible traffic accident.

14. A road-to-vehicle communication method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

causing the road-to-vehicle communication equipment to attempt communication with the roadside communication equipment from which radio wave is received by sequentially changing one or more communication systems for road-to-vehicle communication as registered in the vehicle in advance if it fails in road-to-vehicle communication with the roadside communication equipment when the vehicle reaches the road-to-vehicle communication possible area and starts to road-to-vehicle communication with the roadside communication equipment; and

detecting the particular communication system of the roadside communication equipment.

15. A road-to-vehicle communication equipment of claim 14 further comprising the step of renewing the roadmap information based upon the information indicating if the area where the roadside communication equipment is installed is road-to-vehicle communication possible area and the detected particular communication system of the roadside communication equipment when the road-to-vehicle communication equipment detects the communication system of the roadside communication equipment from which the road-to-vehicle communication equipment receives radio wave.

16. A road-to-vehicle communication method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

causing the road-to-vehicle communication equipment to attempt communication with the roadside communication equipment from which it receives radio wave by sequentially changing one or more communication systems for road-to-vehicle communication that are registered in the vehicle in advance if the road-to-vehicle communication equipment receives radio wave from the roadside communication equipment when the vehicle passes through an area that is not registered in the roadmap information as the road-to-vehicle communication possible area; and

detecting the particular communication system of the roadside communication equipment.

17. A road-to-vehicle communication program for implementing the road-to-vehicle communication method of claim 11 as a program executable by a computer.

18. A program recording medium for recording the road-to-vehicle communication program of claim 17 in a computer readable recording medium.