JP3110022B1 - Communication system using signal and signal transmission device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an inexpensive communication method that can easily transmit various information to a vehicle occupant or the like by using characteristics of a traffic signal provided at an intersection or the like. SOLUTION: A traffic signal 11 has display units 11a to 11c.
Are configured using light emitting diodes having different colors. In the signal transmission system 10, a lighting signal for lighting a display unit is generated in a lighting signal generator 13, and an information signal collected from an information source through a communication network is modulated by a modulator 15 and output as a modulated pulse signal. Then, the adder 18 converts the modulated pulse signal into a pulse signal having the same cycle as the modulated pulse signal based on the lighting signal and outputs the converted pulse signal. Based on the output, the display devices are driven by the driving devices 12a to 12c. In the signal reception processing system 20, the optical signal radiated from the display unit is
2 and converted into an electric signal, the converted output signal is demodulated by a demodulator 25, and the demodulated signal is output to a display 27 or the like in a formatter 26 with the same output format.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication system using a traffic light installed at an intersection of a road and a signal transmission device used therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Traffic lights installed at road intersections, etc.
It is composed of an incandescent lamp and red, blue, and yellow color filters. The lighting and the turning off or the blinking operation are repeatedly performed to arrange traffic of vehicles and people at intersections and the like. Since such traffic lights are installed in special places such as intersections and are rarely changed, they should be suitable as a means of displaying a place and provide information on distant places around the place. There is a possibility. However, at present, although the information is displayed on the dial attached to the traffic light, etc., it is a fixed display means, so its information transmission power is extremely low. At present it is bound only by.

[0003] In recent years, the so-called ITS (Intelligent Transpor-
t System) has been proposed, and a road traffic information communication system (VICS) has begun to be put into practical use. According to this VICS, for example, a signal tower is installed on the shoulder of a road, and an optical beacon (optical vehicle sensor) or a radio beacon (electric vehicle sensor) is provided on the signal tower. It senses the vehicle and uses it for traffic control, and transmits various information signals such as public information, local information, and commercial information to the vehicle passing through the signal tower position from an optical beacon or the like. On the vehicle side, by providing a receiving device that can receive this information signal,
There is an advantage that useful information such as road information can be obtained.

[0004]

The above-mentioned VIC
S requires an enormous budget to install signal towers on roads nationwide, and it is difficult to quickly deploy it nationwide. For example, in the case of a highway, the adoption of VICS seems to be effective, but in an urban area, it is particularly difficult to install the VICS immediately, because the installation is expensive. On the other hand, especially in an urban area, a traffic signal for instructing a traffic state of a vehicle or the like at an intersection or the like has been conventionally installed. As described above, such a traffic signal is installed at a specific place and changed. Since this is rare, it is suitable as a means of displaying a place, and may provide information on a distant place around the place.

The inventor of the present invention has paid attention to the characteristics of the traffic lights provided at the intersections and the like, and has conceived of a communication system capable of easily transmitting various information to a vehicle occupant or a pedestrian. That is, the present invention is intended to solve the above-described problem, and provides a communication method and a signal transmission device using a traffic signal capable of obtaining a wide range of communication functions using a traffic signal installed at a road intersection or the like. The purpose is to provide.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention In order to achieve the above object, the structural feature of the invention of claim 1 is that a plurality of types of light emitting elements having different colors are arranged. A traffic signal that instructs the traffic condition of a vehicle or the like installed on the road and passing through the road according to the display content of the display unit, and a lighting that generates a lighting signal for lighting the display unit A signal generator, a modulator that modulates an information signal collected from an information source through a communication network and outputs the modulated signal as a modulated pulse signal, and converts a lighting signal into a pulse signal having the same cycle as the modulated pulse signal based on the modulated pulse signal. A signal transmission system including a modulated lighting signal output means for converting and outputting, a driving means for driving the display unit based on an output from the modulated lighting signal output means, A signal receiving processing system comprising: a light receiving means for receiving an optical signal and converting the signal into an electric signal; a demodulating means for demodulating an output signal from the light receiving means; and a display means for displaying the contents of the output from the demodulating means. , A communication system using a traffic signal, comprising: a signal transmission system, a selector unit for sequentially receiving an information signal from an information transmission source and outputting the information signal to a modulation unit, and instructing a capture operation of the selector unit. In addition, control means for instructing the modulation operation of the modulation means to be synchronized with the fetch operation of the selector means has been added. The lighting display based on the lighting signal includes a flashing display that is performed over time, and so on. As the light emitting element, a light emitting diode, a laser diode, or the like is used.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the lighting signal, which is an information signal modulated by the modulation means, is modulated by the modulation lighting signal output means in the same cycle as the modulation pulse signal based on the modulation pulse signal. The display unit is driven by a driving unit based on the output, and the display unit is configured by a light emitting element together with a traffic command display of a vehicle or the like passing through a road, which is an original function of the display unit. The display unit can transmit an optical signal based on a modulation signal for transmitting an information signal such as public information or commercial information from an information transmission source. Then, the optical signal can be converted into an electric signal in a receiving system, and the converted signal can be demodulated and output by a demodulation means and displayed on a display means.

As a result, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a communication function capable of transmitting and receiving various information such as public information, local information, and commercial information can be obtained by using an existing traffic signal at an intersection or the like. . Further, since an existing traffic signal can be used, a communication system can be provided at low cost. By this communication method, a vehicle occupant or a pedestrian can easily use various information from the information transmission source. Further, by using the light-emitting element for the display portion, brightness and luminance of the display portion can be increased, so that recognition of the display portion can be increased and power consumption can be reduced. In addition, since pulse driving is performed using a light-emitting element, the life of the display portion can be extended.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, in response to a command from the control means, the selector means sequentially takes in an external information signal and outputs the information signal to the modulation means, and further modulates the modulation operation of the modulation means. Can be synchronized with the selection operation. As a result, information signals from a plurality of information sources can be conveniently transmitted.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication system using a traffic light according to the first aspect, wherein a demodulated signal from a demodulating means is transmitted to a signal reception processing system.
There is provided formatter means for adjusting the output format to a plurality of display means. According to the second aspect of the present invention, the demodulated signal from the demodulating means is
By providing a formatter that adjusts the output format to match multiple display means, it can be used by connecting various display means such as car navigation, personal computer, mobile phone, etc. in addition to being able to use displays, speakers, etc. , Convenient for the user.

Another feature of the invention according to the third aspect of the present invention is that it has a plurality of display portions each having a different color formed by arranging a plurality of types of light emitting elements having different colors, and is provided on a road. A traffic signal for instructing the traffic condition of a vehicle or the like passing on a road by the display contents of the display unit, a lighting signal generating means for generating a lighting signal for lighting the display unit, and information collected from an information source through a communication network. A modulating means for modulating an information signal to output a modulated pulse signal; a modulated lighting signal output means for converting a lighting signal into a pulse signal having the same cycle as the modulated pulse signal based on the modulated pulse signal; And a driving unit for driving a display unit based on an output from an output unit. It takes in lies in the addition of a selector means for outputting a modulating means, and a control means for instructing to synchronize modulation operation of the modulation means to capture operation of the selector means together with an instruction to capture operation of the selector means.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the lighting signal, which is an information signal modulated by the modulation means, is modulated by the modulation lighting signal output means in the same period as the modulation pulse signal based on the modulation pulse signal. The display unit is driven by a driving unit based on the output, and the display unit displays the traffic command, such as a vehicle passing through a road, which is an original function of the display unit, and a signal from the information transmission source. An optical signal based on a modulated signal for transmitting an information signal such as public information or commercial information can be transmitted.

As a result, according to the third aspect of the present invention, a wide range of information is transmitted by an optical signal using a traffic light,
Can be sent to pedestrians. In addition, since an existing traffic signal can be used, a signal transmission device can be provided at low cost. Further, by using the light-emitting element for the display portion, brightness and luminance of the display portion can be increased, so that recognition of the display portion can be increased and power consumption can be reduced. In addition, since pulse driving is performed using a light-emitting element, the life of the display portion can be extended.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in response to a command from the control means, the selector means sequentially takes in an information signal from the outside and outputs it to the modulation means, and further modulates the modulation means by the selector means. Can be synchronized with the selection operation. As a result, information signals from a plurality of information sources can be conveniently transmitted.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 and 2 show a communication system using a traffic light provided at a road intersection or the like according to the embodiment. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a signal transmission system 10 and a signal reception processing system 20.

As shown in FIG. 1, a signal transmission system 10 includes a traffic light 11 provided at an intersection of a road and a lighting signal generating device 1 for generating a lighting signal for lighting the traffic light 11.
3, a selector 14 for continuously taking in an information signal from an external information source and outputting it to a modulator 15;
4, a modulator 16 for pulse-modulating and outputting a sequential information signal from the controller 4, a controller 16 for synchronizing the signals of the selector 14 and the modulator 15, and a lighting signal generator 1
A code 17 for converting the lighting signal from the lighting signal 3 into a color code signal and outputting it to the selector 14, and an adder which is a modulated lighting signal output means for pulsating the lighting signal from the lighting signal generator 13 with a modulation signal from the modulator 15. 18 is provided.

The traffic light 11 has a blue display section 11a, a yellow display section 11b, and a red display section 11c. The blue display section 11a is configured by a blue light emitting diode, the yellow display section 11b is configured by a red light emitting diode and a blue light emitting diode, and the red display section 11c is configured by a red light emitting diode. The display units 11a to 11c are provided with driving devices 12a to 12c for driving the light emitting diodes, respectively. Note that a laser diode can be used instead of the light emitting diode.

The lighting signal generator 13 includes a display unit 11a
To 11c are connected by a blue signal line x, a yellow signal line y, and a red signal line z, so that each of the display units 11a to 11c performs a lighting operation or a blinking operation at a predetermined time interval. And three kinds of lighting signals of red and red. This lighting signal generator 13
Are usually provided in a central management center, and signals are transmitted by communication lines. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a generator may be provided in the traffic light itself.

The selector 14 arranges and outputs various information signals from an external information source into sequential information signals based on a command from the controller 16. The information source includes public information 1 (for example, signal No., position information (north latitude, east longitude), route number, intersecting route number, specific fixed information such as level height, etc.) transmitted from public offices, public information 2 (traffic information, construction information, weather information, etc.), public information 3 (surrounding map information, traffic schedules, etc.), commercial information (special products, sightseeing spots, entertainments, etc.) transmitted from advertising agencies and the like. These information sources are input through a plurality of input terminals of the selector 14 through a communication line. In the selector 14, the plurality of information signals are formed in a series of formats arranged for each information and sandwiched between headers, as shown in FIG.

The modulator 15 performs PCM modulation for performing pulse modulation after code conversion. further,
The controller 16 sends a control signal to the selector 14 and the modulator 15, controls a sequential arrangement of information signals of the selector 14, and synchronizes the information signals to modulate the information signals. As shown in FIG. 13, it is controlled by a command from the central management center. The code 17 receives signals from the blue signal line x, the yellow signal line y, and the red signal line z, converts the signal into a color code signal of a type of a lighting signal, and outputs the color code signal to the selector 14.

The adder 18 has three AND circuits. The input and output sides of each of the AND circuits are connected to a blue signal line x, a yellow signal line y, and a red signal line z. And output lines are connected to the input side of each AND circuit. That is, a modulation lighting signal having the same cycle as the modulation signal is output to any one of the signal lines to which the lighting signal is input.

As shown in FIG. 2, the signal reception processing system 20 receives light pulse signals radiated from the display units 11a to 11c of the traffic light 11 and transmits blue, yellow, and red light of specific colors. Filters 21a to 21c, a light receiving element 22 for converting an optical pulse signal passed through the filters 21a to 21c into an electric signal, an amplifier 24 for amplifying the converted modulated pulse signal, and demodulating the amplified modulated pulse signal. The demodulator 25 includes a demodulator 25, a formatter 26 for outputting the demodulated signal with the same output format of an output device to be connected next, and a display 27 and a speaker 28 for displaying the output from the formatter 26 in video and audio. .

The filters 21a to 21c avoid the influence of sunlight and allow only the optical signals from the display units 11a to 11c to efficiently enter. Light receiving element 22
For example, a semiconductor photosensor is used. A light receiving element 22 is provided between the light receiving element 22 and the amplifier 24.
A capacitor 23 capable of removing a DC component included in the electric signal converted by the above is interposed in the signal line. The formatter 26 has a large number of external terminals, and can be connected to a display device such as a personal computer, a car navigation system, an autonomous driving module, and a mobile phone, in addition to the display and the speaker. The signal reception processing system 20 usually includes filters 21a to 21c, a light receiving element 22, a capacitor 23,
It is sold as a signal receiving device including the amplifier 24, the demodulator 25, the formatter 26, the display 27, and the speaker 28, and can be sold as a device excluding the display 27 and the speaker 28.

Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be described. In the signal transmission system 10, in response to a command from the controller 16, the selector 14 sequentially receives an information signal from the outside, a color code signal from the code 17 and outputs the signal to the modulator 15, and outputs the signal to the modulator 15. The modulation operation is synchronized with the fetch operation of the selector 14. Information signal modulated by modulator 15
The modulated pulse signal (see FIG. 4B) is input to the adder 18. On the other hand, the lighting signal generator 13 emits three kinds of lighting signals of blue, yellow, and red (see FIG. 4) for causing each of the display units 11a to 11c to perform a lighting operation at a predetermined time interval according to a command from the management center. (Refer to (a)), and in the signal line where the lighting signal is generated,
The adder 18 outputs a modulated lighting signal (see FIG. 4C) which is a pulse signal having the same cycle as the modulated signal. The driving devices 12a, 12b, 12c are based on the modulated lighting signal.
However, by driving the display units 11a, 11b, 11c, a display for commanding the traveling state of a vehicle or the like passing through a road, which is the original function of the traffic light 11, is performed.

Further, since the modulated lighting signal is a modulated pulse signal for transmitting external information or the like, it is transmitted as an optical pulse signal based on the modulated pulse signal. The light pulse signal is passed through filters 21a to 21c in a receiving apparatus which is a reception processing system 20 provided in an automobile or the like.
2, converted into an electric signal and output. The DC component of this output signal is cut by the capacitor 23,
After being amplified by the amplifier 24, it is demodulated by the demodulator 25. Further, the output format of the demodulated signal is output by the formatter 26 in the same manner as the signal processing format of the display 27 and the speaker 28, so that the output is displayed.
The formatter 26 has terminals identical in signal processing format to various external display means, and can be connected to various information display means such as a personal computer, a car navigation system, an autonomous driving module, and a mobile phone by connecting them. Can be displayed. Therefore, the display 27 and the speaker 28 do not need to be connected to the formatter 26 from the beginning. As a result, the occupant and the pedestrian of the vehicle can easily use various information such as public information and commercial information by the signal receiving device.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by using an existing traffic light at an intersection or the like,
A communication method capable of transmitting and receiving public information and the like from various information sources can be provided. Further, since an existing traffic signal can be used, a communication system can be provided at low cost. By this communication method, occupants of vehicles on the road and pedestrians can easily use various types of information from the information source. Further, by using the light emitting diodes as the display units 11a to 11c, the brightness and brightness of the display unit can be increased, so that the visibility of the display unit can be increased and the power consumption thereof can be reduced as compared with the related art. can do. In addition, since pulse driving using light emitting diodes is performed, the life of the display units 11a to 11c can be extended. Note that what is shown in the above embodiment is an example, and various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a signal transmission system of a communication system using a traffic signal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a signal reception processing system of a communication system using the traffic light.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a data format of an information signal sequentially captured by a selector.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a part of a signal waveform in a signal transmission system.

[Explanation of symbols]

10: Signal transmission system, 11: Traffic light, 11a: Blue display unit, 11b: Yellow display unit, 11c: Red display unit, 12a
-12c: driving device, 13: lighting signal generator, 14:
Selector, 15 ... Modulator, 16 ... Controller, 17 ...
Code, 18 ... Adder, 20 ... Signal reception processing system, 21a
~ 21c ... filter, 22 ... light receiving element, 23 ... capacitor, 24 ... amplifier, 25 ... demodulator, 26 ... fumatter,
27: display, 28: speaker.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ identification code FI H04L 27/10 (58) Investigated field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G08G 1/07 G08G 1/09 H04B 10/10 H04B 10/105 H04B 10/22 H04L 27/10

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of display portions each of which has a plurality of different colors of light formed by arranging a plurality of types of light-emitting elements having different colors. A traffic light for instructing according to the display content of the display unit; a lighting signal generating means for generating a lighting signal for lighting the display unit; an information signal collected from an information source through a communication network as a modulated pulse signal A modulating means for outputting, a modulated lighting signal output means for converting the lighting signal into a pulse signal having the same cycle as the modulated pulse signal based on the modulated pulse signal, and outputting the modulated lighting signal; and an output from the modulated lighting signal output means. A signal transmission system including a driving unit that drives the display unit based on the light receiving unit; a light receiving unit that receives an optical signal emitted from the display unit and converts the optical signal into an electric signal; A signal reception processing system comprising: a demodulation means for demodulating an output signal from the stage; and a display means for displaying the content of the output from the demodulation means. A signal transmitting system, a selector means for sequentially taking in information signals from the information source and outputting the information signals to the modulating means; and instructing a fetching operation of the selector means and performing a modulation operation of the modulating means by the selector means. A communication system using a traffic light, characterized by adding control means for instructing synchronization with a capture operation. 2. The signal reception processing system according to claim 1, further comprising a formatter for adjusting a demodulated signal from the demodulator to an output format adapted to the plurality of display units. Communication system using a traffic light. 3. A display device comprising a plurality of display portions each having a different coloration formed by arranging a plurality of types of light-emitting elements having different colors, and displaying a traffic state of a vehicle or the like installed on a road and passing through the road. A traffic light for instructing according to the display content of the display unit, a lighting signal generating means for generating a lighting signal for lighting the display unit, and a modulated pulse signal by modulating an information signal collected from an information source through a communication network. A modulating means for outputting, a modulated lighting signal output means for converting the lighting signal into a pulse signal having the same cycle as the modulated pulse signal based on the modulated pulse signal, and outputting the modulated lighting signal; and an output from the modulated lighting signal output means. And a driving unit for driving the display unit based on the signal transmission device, further comprising: sequentially taking in information signals from the information transmission source A selector means for outputting to said modulator means,
A signal transmission device using a traffic signal, further comprising control means for instructing the taking operation of the selector means and synchronizing the modulating operation of the modulating means with the taking operation of the selector means.