Vehicle-mounted narrow-band wireless communication apparatus and roadside-to-vehicle narrow-band wireless communication system

• US 8,902,080 B2
• Filed: 03/02/2010
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Sugawara, Hisashi, Morita, Shigeki, Maeda, Takashi, Araki, Hiroshi, Goto, Yukio, Igarashi, Yuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Lau, Hoi
• Application Number:
  US13/141,041
• Publication Number:
  US 20110254699A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,736 Days
• Field of Search: 340/901, 340/905, 340/915, 340/932.2, 340/919, 340/435, 340/903, 340/995.24, 340/995.13, 340/937, 701/210, 701/36, 701/117, 701/400, 701/430, 701/408, 701/301, 701/116, 701/45, 701/409, 701/420
• US Class Current: 340/901
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

A vehicle-mounted narrow-band wireless communication apparatus includes: information storing/managing section 905 for storing and managing roadside information from a wireless communication unit and operating condition information from an operating condition detection unit 903; an information provision determination unit 904 for determining whether or not information can be provided on the basis of the roadside information and the operating condition information; an HMI output control unit 906 for controlling HMI output on the basis of a determination result from the information provision determination unit 904 and environment information relating to a junction neighborhood obtained from a parameter management unit 907 for managing parameters relating to an HMI; and an information provision output apparatus 901 for performing information provision on the basis of an HMI output request transmitted from the HMI output control unit 906.

Claims

1. A vehicle-mounted narrow-band wireless communication apparatus comprising:

a wireless communication unit for receiving, through dedicated narrow-band communication, roadside information relating to a junction that is supplied from a roadside communication apparatus having a communication area that covers a part of a geographical area within a predetermined distance of the junction;

an operating condition detection unit for detecting an operating condition of a host vehicle;

a parameter management unit for managing parameters relating to an HMI;

information storing/managing section for storing and managing the roadside information from the wireless communication unit and operating condition information from the operating condition detection unit;

an information provision determination unit for determining whether or not warning information can be provided on the basis of the roadside information and the operating condition information obtained from the information storing/managing section;

an HMI output control unit for controlling HMI output on the basis of a determination result from the information provision determination unit and the parameters obtained from the parameter management unit; and

an information provision output apparatus for performing information provision on the basis of an HMI output request transmitted from the HMI output control unit.

2. The vehicle-mounted narrow-band wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information provision determination unit comprises an independent service type determination unit for each type of provided service, and transmits a determination result indicating whether or not information provision is possible to the HMI output control unit for each service type.

3. The vehicle-mounted narrow-band wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the case where the information provision output apparatus updates contents under reproduction, when an identical service is to be provided, the HMI output control unit determines whether or not to transmit the HMI output request on the basis of an order of precedence.

4. The vehicle-mounted narrow-band wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the case where the information provision output apparatus updates contents under reproduction, when an identical service is to be provided, the HMI output control unit determines whether or not to transmit the HMI output request on the basis of an order of precedence relating to a service type, obtained from the parameter management unit.

5. The vehicle-mounted narrow-band wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the case where the information provision output apparatus updates contents under reproduction, the HMI output control unit determines a transmission timing of the HMI output request on the basis of a guaranteed reproduction time obtained from the parameter management unit.

6. The vehicle-mounted narrow-band wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the case where a service for avoiding a collision between a second moving body intending to turn right and a first moving body advancing directly in an opposing lane is provided, the information provision determination unit determines that the first moving body and the second moving body are in danger of colliding with each other, when a predicted junction arrival time of the first moving body is smaller than a value obtained by adding an internal delay time of a vehicle-mounted device required to provide a driver of the second moving body with information to the larger one of a predicted junction arrival time and a required right turn time of the second moving body.

7. The vehicle-mounted narrow-band wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the case where a service for avoiding a collision between a second moving body intending to turn right and a first moving body advancing directly in an opposing lane is provided, when the information provision determination unit determines that the first moving body and the second moving body are in danger of colliding with each other and also brake information varies from ON to OFF, the information provision determination unit transmits a determination result including a modified order of precedence to the HMI output control unit.

12. A roadside-to-vehicle narrow-band wireless communication system comprising:

a roadside narrow-band wireless communication apparatus for outputting roadside information on the basis of various information relating to a junction and a neighbourhood thereof;

a roadside communication apparatus which has a communication area that covers a part of a geographical area within a predetermined distance of the junction, and releases the roadside information supplied from the roadside narrow-band wireless communication apparatus through dedicated narrow-band communication; and

the vehicle-mounted narrow-band wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1 that receives, through dedicated narrow-band communication, the roadside information released by the roadside communication apparatus.

14. The roadside-to-vehicle narrow-band wireless communication system according to claim 12, wherein the various information relating to the junction and the neighbourhood thereof is obtained based on the following:

a vehicle sensing apparatus for detecting a behavior of a first moving body entering the junction before the first moving body enters the junction;

a stoplight control apparatus for controlling a stoplight disposed at the junction;

a crossing condition detection apparatus for detecting a traffic condition at a pedestrian crossing; and

a center for storing environment information relating to the neighbourhood of the junction.

8. A vehicle-mounted narrow-band wireless communication apparatus comprising:

a first external interface unit for communicating with an external wireless communication apparatus in accordance with a predetermined communication protocol;

a second external interface unit for communicating with an information provision output apparatus in accordance with a predetermined communication protocol;

an operating condition detection unit for detecting an operating condition of a host vehicle;

a parameter management unit for managing parameters relating to an HMI;

information storing/managing section for managing travel assistance information obtained from the first external interface unit and host vehicle information obtained from the operating condition detection unit;

one or more information provision determination unit for determining whether or not warning information can be provided on the basis of the information managed by the information storing/managing section; and

an HMI output control unit for controlling HMI output on the basis of a determination result from the information provision determination unit the parameters obtained from the parameter management unit,

wherein the HMI output control unit outputs an HMI output request to the information provision output apparatus by using the second external interface unit.

10. The vehicle-mounted narrow-band wireless communication apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the communication protocol used by the first external interface unit is identical to that used by the second external interface unit.

11. The vehicle-mounted narrow-band wireless communication apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the HMI output request is constituted by a type of provided service and an order of precedence.

13. A roadside-to-vehicle narrow-band wireless communication system comprising:

a roadside narrow-band wireless communication apparatus for outputting roadside information on the basis of various information relating to a junction and a neighbourhood thereof;

a roadside communication apparatus which has a communication area that covers a part of a geographical area within a predetermined distance of the junction, and releases the roadside information supplied from the roadside narrow-band wireless communication apparatus through dedicated narrow-band communication; and

the vehicle-mounted narrow-band wireless communication apparatus according to claim 8 that receives, through dedicated narrow-band communication, the roadside information released by the roadside communication apparatus.

15. The roadside-to-vehicle narrow-band wireless communication system according to claim 13, wherein the various information relating to the junction and the neighbourhood thereof is obtained from:

a vehicle sensing apparatus for detecting a behavior of a first moving body entering the junction before the first moving body enters the junction;

a stoplight control apparatus for controlling a stoplight disposed at the junction;

a crossing condition detection apparatus for detecting a traffic condition at a pedestrian crossing; and

a center for storing environment information relating to the neighbourhood of the junction.

9. A vehicle-mounted narrow-band wireless communication apparatus comprising:

a first external interface unit for communicating with an external wireless communication apparatus in accordance with a predetermined communication protocol;

an operating condition detection unit for detecting an operating condition of a host vehicle;

a parameter management unit for managing parameters relating to an HMI;

information storing/managing section for managing travel assistance information obtained from the first external interface unit and host vehicle information obtained from the operating condition detection unit;

an information provision determination unit, having one or more service type determination unit, for determining whether or not warning information can be provided on the basis of the information managed by the information storing/managing section;

an HMI output control unit for controlling HMI output on the basis of a determination result from the information provision determination unit and the parameters obtained from the parameter management unit; and

an information provision output apparatus for performing information provision on the basis of an HMI output request generated by the HMI output control unit.