Driving assist system and vehicle-mounted apparatus

• US 8,265,861 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2008
• Issued: 09/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Ikeda, Takuro, Fukuoka, Toshiyuki, Kitagawa, Eiji, Okuyama, Kyouko, Miyata, Ryosuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Elchanti, Hussein A.
• Application Number:
  US12/073,036
• Publication Number:
  US 20080215232A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,657 Days
• Field of Search: 701 23- 26, 701/117, 701422-423
• US Class Current: 701/117
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09675 where a selection from the received information takes place in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096783 where the origin of the information is a roadside individual element
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles

Abstract

There is provided a driving assist system comprising: a road side apparatus which transmits the traffic circumstance information; and a vehicle-mounted apparatus including: an outputting part which outputs driving assist information for assisting a driving operation on the basis of output data on the basis of the at least one kind of the traffic circumstance information; and a controller for: generating the output data for outputting the driving assist information based on the traffic circumstance information; determining whether the output data is valid; and selecting one the output data which is determined as valid, on the basis of a predetermined standard validity, wherein the outputting part outputs the driving assist information using the selected output data.

Claims

1. A driving assist system comprising:

a road side apparatus which is located in a road side, obtains traffic circumstance information of the road and transmits the obtained traffic circumstance information; and

a vehicle-mounted apparatus, mounted in a vehicle, which comprises;

a communicating part which receives the transmitted traffic circumstance information;

a storing part which stores plural outputting methods for outputting driving assistant information to assist a driving operation;

an outputting method table which represents associations between the plural outputting methods and the traffic circumstance information to be received;

a validity determination table which represents validities for the plural outputting methods with respect to the traffic circumstance information to be received;

a selecting part which performs a selection of an outputting method from the plural outputting methods, in accordance with the received traffic circumstance information, the outputting method table and the validity determination table; and

an outputting part which outputs driving assist information for assisting a driving operation, based on the received traffic circumstance information and shown by the outputting method that is selected by the selecting part, wherein

the traffic circumstance information includes video information concerning a video, position information concerning positions of other vehicles, and position information concerning position of at least one other vehicle,

the selecting part performs the selection in accordance with the outputting method table and the validity determination table at each time when the traffic circumstance information is received, and

the outputting part outputs, with the outputting method based on the selection performed by the selecting part, the video based on the video information, an image representative of the positions of the other vehicles based on the position information, or information representative of presence of the at least one other vehicle based on the position information, as the driving assist information.

2. The driving assist system according to claim 1, wherein

the traffic circumstance information includes reliability information representative of reliability, and

the selecting part utilizes the reliability represented by the reliability information included in the traffic circumstance information, for performing the selection.

3. The driving assist system according to claim 2, wherein

the road side apparatus further comprises:

a position detecting part which detects positions of vehicles;

a controller capable of performing the operation of detecting accuracy of the detected positions; and

a communicating part which transmits the traffic circumstance information including both position information representative of the detected positions and the reliability information representative of the detected accuracy.

4. A vehicle-mounted apparatus mounted in a vehicle, comprising:

a communicating part which receives, from an outside, at least one kind of traffic circumstance information representative of traffic circumstance information of the road;

a storing part which stores plural outputting methods for outputting driving assistant information to assist a driving operation;

an outputting method table which represents associations between the plural outputting methods and the traffic circumstance information to be received;

a validity determination table which represents validities for the plural outputting methods with respect to the traffic circumstance information to be received;

a selecting part which performs a selection of an outputting method from the plural outputting methods, in accordance with the received traffic circumstance information, the outputting method table and the validity determination table; and

an outputting part which outputs driving assist information for assisting a driving operation, based on the received traffic circumstance information and shown by the outputting method that is selected by the selecting part, wherein

the traffic circumstance information includes video information concerning a video, position information concerning positions of other vehicles, and position information concerning position of at least one other vehicle,

the selecting part performs the selection in accordance with the outputting method table and the validity determination table every time receiving the traffic circumstance information, and

the outputting part outputs, with the outputting method based on the selection performed by the selecting part, the video based on the video information, an image representative of the positions of the other vehicles based on the position information, or information representative of presence of the at least one other vehicle based on the position information, as the driving assist information.

5. The vehicle-mounted apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the outputting part selects one kind of the driving assist information which is determined as valid, on the basis of a predetermined priority.

6. The vehicle-mounted apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

reliability information representative of reliability is added to the traffic circumstance information, and

the outputting part outputs the driving assistance information in accordance with output validity based on the reliability information added to the traffic circumstance information.

7. The vehicle-mounted apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the outputting part outputs the driving assistance information in accordance with output validity concerning the respective outputting data on the basis of receiving situation.

8. The vehicle-mounted apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a circumstance detecting part which obtain circumstances of the vehicle which mounts the vehicle-mounted apparatus, wherein

the outputting part outputs the driving assistance information in accordance with output validity based on the obtained circumstances of the vehicle.

9. The vehicle-mounted apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising an own position detecting part which detects a position of the vehicle which mounts the vehicle-mounted apparatus, wherein

the outputting part outputs the driving assistance information in accordance with output validity based on the obtained position of the vehicle.

10. The vehicle-mounted apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the reliability information corresponds to accuracy of the position which the position information represents.

11. The vehicle-mounted apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a timer part representative of time of day, wherein

the traffic circumstance information includes time information representative of time of the day, and

the driving assistance information in accordance with the output validity corresponds to a time delay which is a difference between the time of the day which the time information represents and reception time of the day at which the traffic circumstance information is received.

12. The vehicle-mounted apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

the driving assistance information in accordance with the output validity corresponds to an update frequency of the position information.

13. The vehicle-mounted apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

the traffic circumstance information includes video outputting data which the outputting part outputs a video as the driving assist information, and

the driving assistance information in accordance with the output validity corresponds to an update frequency of the video in accordance with the video output data.

14. The vehicle-mounted apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

the circumstance detecting part detects speeds of the respective vehicle as one of the circumstances of the vehicles.

15. The vehicle-mounted apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

the circumstance detecting part detects, as the circumstances of the vehicles, an on/off of a headlamp and/or an on/off of a wiper.

16. A driving assist system comprising:

a road side apparatus which is located in a road side, obtains a traffic circumstance and transmits at least one kind of traffic circumstance information representative of the obtained traffic circumstance; and

a vehicle-mounted apparatus, which is mounted in a vehicle, receives the transmitted at least one kind of traffic circumstance information and outputs at least one kind of driving assist information for assisting a driving operation, comprising;

communicating means which receives the transmitted traffic circumstance information;

a plurality of kinds of processing performing means each of which outputs a kind of the driving assist information different from one another;

a means selection table which represents associations between the plurality of kinds of processing performing means and the traffic circumstance information to be received;

a validity determination table which represents validities for the plurality of kinds of processing performing means with respect to the traffic circumstance information to be received;

selecting means which selects one of the plurality of kinds of processing performing means, the one being determined as being valid, in accordance with the received traffic circumstance information, the means selection table and the validity determination table; and

means which outputs the driving assist information, based on the received traffic circumstance information and shown by the selected one of the plurality of kinds of processing performing means, wherein

the traffic circumstance information includes video information concerning a video, position information concerning positions of other vehicles, and position information concerning position of at least one other vehicle, and

the means outputs, with the outputting method based on the selection performed by the selecting means, the video based on the video information, an image representative of the positions of the other vehicles based on the position information, or information representative of presence of the at least one other vehicle based on the position information, as the driving assist information.