JP4631980B2 - In-vehicle device and vehicle - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to vehicle-mounted device and the vehicle can be determined the distance to the predetermined position in the direction of travel by communication with the optical beacons.

  Conventionally, in order to prevent traffic accidents caused by vehicles in and near the intersection, red, yellow and blue display information of traffic lights provided at the intersection is provided in advance to the traveling vehicle and installed in the vehicle. Based on the information, the in-vehicle device can determine whether it can stop safely before the intersection, whether it can safely pass through the intersection, or urge the driver to be alerted by voice, etc. is there. In addition, there is an apparatus in which an in-vehicle device determines whether or not an intersection can be safely passed and performs vehicle driving support control based on the determination (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In the device described in Patent Document 1, for example, time information until the traffic light displaying blue turns red is transmitted from the transmission device provided on the road to the vehicle. If it is determined that there is no time to safely pass through the intersection, that is, if it is determined that the vehicle should stop before the intersection, the brake is applied automatically and the vehicle is Control is performed to decelerate and stop, and stop before the intersection.

Japanese Patent No. 2806801

In order for the vehicle to determine whether or not the vehicle should stop before the intersection, when it is determined that the vehicle should be further stopped, it can be safely stopped according to the stop line provided before the intersection In order for the vehicle side to determine whether or not, the vehicle-mounted device needs to accurately recognize the distance to the stop line.
However, in the apparatus described in Patent Document 1, since the distance to the stop line cannot be accurately determined even when the vehicle is automatically decelerated, the vehicle can be appropriately stopped according to the stop line. It becomes difficult and may cause problems such as overrun. Therefore, the conventional technology is insufficient as a device for preventing an accident at an intersection.

  On the other hand, the current driving position of the host vehicle can be detected by the function of the car navigation system using GPS, and the position of the intersection can be extracted from the map data of the car navigation system, so that the stop before the intersection from the current driving position. A distance to a predetermined position such as a line can be calculated. However, since the position detection error by GPS is about several tens of meters, accurate driving support control becomes difficult.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an in- vehicle device and a vehicle that can obtain the distance to a predetermined position ahead in the vehicle traveling direction with high accuracy.

In order to achieve the above object, an in- vehicle device according to the present invention includes a communication unit that repeatedly receives, from an optical beacon, downlink information including the following information (1) and (2) in a communication area set on a road: A distance calculation unit that corrects the distance information using the transmission progress information and obtains a distance from the communication area to a predetermined position ahead in the vehicle traveling direction.
(1) Distance information about a distance from the communication area to a predetermined position ahead in the vehicle traveling direction (2) Transmission progress information based on transmission of the first downlink information after the optical beacon receives uplink information

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According to the vehicle-mounted device of the present invention, since the distance information of (1) is included in the downlink information, the vehicle-mounted device that has received this downlink information obtains the distance to a predetermined position ahead in the vehicle traveling direction. be able to.

However, after the optical beacon receives the uplink information, the downlink information is repeatedly transmitted from the optical beacon. However, the in-vehicle device may receive the repeatedly transmitted downlink information for the first time at a predetermined number of times. is there. In this case, after the optical beacon transmits the first downlink information, the vehicle equipped with this in-vehicle device travels a certain distance from when the in-vehicle device receives the predetermined downlink information at the predetermined number of times.
Therefore, in the present invention, not only the distance information of (1) above but also the transmission progress information of (2) above is included in the downlink information, and the in-vehicle device receives this downlink information. The distance information can be corrected using the transmission progress information of (2) above . Thereby, it is possible to obtain the distance to the predetermined position ahead with high accuracy.

In the in-vehicle device according to the present invention, the transmission progress information includes elapsed time information about an elapsed time based on a transmission time of the first downlink information, and a transmission count based on the transmission of the first downlink information. It is possible to include at least one of the transmission count progress information on the.
In addition, in the case of adopting the above-described transmission count information as the transmission progress information, if the transmission count is set to the transmission count of the minimum frame constituting the downlink information, the resolution for the downlink information transmission count is fine. The accuracy of distance information correction calculation can be improved.

As described above, after the optical beacon receives the uplink information, the vehicle equipped with this in-vehicle device until the in-vehicle device receives the predetermined downlink information at a predetermined number of times after transmitting the first downlink information Proceed a certain distance. However, since the in-vehicle device of the present invention receives the downlink information including the transmission progress information from the optical beacon , the in-vehicle device proceeds from the time when the first downlink information is transmitted to the time when the predetermined downlink information is received. The traveled distance can be obtained using at least one of the received elapsed time information and the transmission count elapsed information. For this reason, it can correct | amend about the distance to the predetermined position ahead, and can obtain | require the said distance with high precision.

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Also, as disclosed in embodiments described below, the invention is also directed to a vehicle equipped with a pre-Symbol vehicle transfer machine.
That is, the vehicle of the present invention includes a communication unit that repeatedly receives, from an optical beacon, downlink information including the following information (1) and (2) in a communication area set on a road, and the transmission progress information: And a distance calculation unit that corrects the distance information to obtain a distance from the communication area to a predetermined position ahead in the vehicle traveling direction.
(1) Distance information about the distance from the communication area to a predetermined position ahead in the vehicle traveling direction
(2) Transmission progress information based on transmission of the first downlink information after the optical beacon receives uplink information

Note that the vehicle of the present invention automatically stops the vehicle at the predetermined position based on the traveling speed of the vehicle and the distance obtained by the distance calculation unit in order to perform driving support control for safety. You may provide the traveling control means which performs traveling control.
For the same purpose, the vehicle of the present invention outputs to the driver a warning for stopping the vehicle at the predetermined position based on the traveling speed of the vehicle and the distance obtained by the distance calculation unit. It may be provided with means.

The in-vehicle device and the vehicle according to the present invention can obtain the distance to the predetermined position using the downlink information including the distance information about the predetermined position ahead in the vehicle traveling direction.
The downlink information received by the vehicle-mounted device and the vehicle of the present invention from the optical beacon includes not only the distance information but also transmission progress information based on the first downlink information after receiving the uplink information. because it is, even if the vehicle apparatus and the vehicle receives the downlink information at predetermined times eyes, using the transmission status information included in the downlink information, it is possible to correct the distance information, ahead of the predetermined The distance to the position can be obtained with higher accuracy.

It is a figure which shows the outline about the traffic control system containing the optical beacon of this invention, and the vehicle equipment mounted in a vehicle. It is a figure explaining the driving assistance control of the vehicle performed by using the distance recognition system by an optical beacon and vehicle equipment. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the vehicle carrying an optical beacon and vehicle equipment. It is a figure explaining the process of the correction | amendment in an in-vehicle apparatus about the communication area | region set in the optical beacon. It is a figure explaining the process of correction | amendment in a vehicle equipment, and is a figure explaining the case where a vehicle equipment receives downlink information in the end point vicinity of a communication area. It is a figure explaining the bidirectional | two-way communication performed between an optical beacon and vehicle equipment in a communication area.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a traffic control system including an optical beacon according to the present invention and an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining vehicle driving support control performed by using the distance recognition system of the present invention using an optical beacon and an in-vehicle device. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle equipped with an optical beacon and an in-vehicle device.

In FIG. 1, a central device 30 is provided on the traffic control station side, and is connected to each of a large number of optical beacons (optical vehicle detectors) 2 provided on a road via a communication line such as a telephone line. . Various information is transmitted and received between the central apparatus 30 and the terminal communication unit 2d (see FIG. 3) of each optical beacon 2 via a communication line.
Specifically, with reference to FIG. 2, the central device 30 performs road-to-vehicle communication areas A (hereinafter referred to as communication areas A) for each of the optical beacons 2 provided on the road R. ) From the optical beacon 2 on the road R to the predetermined position P ahead of the traveling direction (hereinafter referred to as distance information).
This distance information is registered and stored in each optical beacon 2. In addition, the distance information may be stored in the optical beacon 2 when the optical beacon 2 is installed, for example, in addition to being received from the central device 30.

In FIG. 3, the optical beacon 2 communicates with a communication unit 2a that communicates with the vehicle-mounted device 1 mounted on the vehicle C, a control unit 2b that is connected to the communication unit 2a, and a central device 30 for communication. Terminal communication unit 2d.
In FIG. 2, the communication unit 2 a is attached to an upper portion of a column 6 erected on the road side, and is set so that a predetermined range with respect to the road R is a communication area A. The communication unit 2a transmits downlink information to the communication area A. The control unit 2b has a function of controlling the communication unit 2a and has a storage unit 2c that stores the distance information.

The distance information will be described. In FIG. 2, when the predetermined position P ahead of the light beacon 2 in the vehicle traveling direction is, for example, a stop line P provided in front of an intersection in front of the traffic light 10 on the road R, this distance information is The actual distance from the stop line P to the communication area A by the optical beacon 2 is information.
More specifically, the distance information can be information about the distance L between the position of the stop line P (arrow Z) and the start point position (arrow X1) of the communication area A. The communication area A is a range of a state where the optical beacon 2 and the vehicle-mounted device 1 can communicate.

The communication area A set in the communication unit 2a of the optical beacon 2 will be described.
In FIG. 4, communication area A includes a downlink communicable area and an uplink communicable area. The uplink area is an area where the optical beacon 2 can receive the uplink information from the vehicle C side (vehicle equipment 1), and the downlink area is the area where the optical beacon 2 receives the downlink information from the vehicle C side (vehicle equipment 1). It is an area where the vehicle C side can receive the downlink information. In FIG. 4, the uplink communicable area overlaps with the front part (upstream part) of the downlink communicable area in the vehicle traveling direction, and the downlink area coincides with the communication area A.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the start end of the uplink communicable area in the vehicle traveling direction is matched with the start end of the downlink communicable area in the vehicle traveling direction. May be further upstream (right side) in the vehicle traveling direction (not shown).
In the following description, the case where the start end of the uplink communicable area matches the start end of the downlink communicable area is described.

In the present invention, in the optical beacon 2, the uplink communication area is defined as the first area A1, and the downlink information in the downlink communicable area is transmitted from the vehicle traveling direction terminal of the first area A1 to the in-vehicle device 1. A region up to the position of the vehicle traveling direction end that can be received is defined as a second region A2. The position in the vehicle traveling direction end at which the in-vehicle device 1 can receive this downlink information coincides with the end point position of the communication area A.
In addition, in 1st area | region A1, while the optical beacon 2 can receive uplink information from the vehicle equipment 1, it is also an area | region where the optical beacon 2 is transmitting downlink information to the vehicle equipment 1. FIG. Below, the area | region which combined 1st area | region A1 and 2nd area | region A2 is demonstrated as the communication area | region A. FIG.

In FIG. 3, the in-vehicle device 1 is mounted on the vehicle C, and bidirectional communication is possible with the communication unit 2 a of the optical beacon 2 using near infrared rays. The in-vehicle device 1 includes a communication unit 11 as an antenna, and a distance calculation unit (control unit) 12 that processes various information for signals received by the communication unit 11 and signals emitted from the communication unit 11.
Then, with the vehicle C traveling toward the communication area A and the in-vehicle device 1 in the communication area A, the communication unit 11 receives a signal from the optical beacon 2, and the distance calculation unit 12 uses this signal. Thus, the distance from the current travel position in the communication area A to the stop line P ahead in the vehicle traveling direction is obtained.

Bidirectional communication performed between the optical beacon 2 and the vehicle-mounted device 1 in the communication area A will be described with reference to FIG.
The optical beacon 2 continues to transmit “information including lane notification information” as first information to the downlink communicable area of the communication area A of the road R at a predetermined downlink transmission cycle (FIG. 6). F1). Note that the vehicle ID is not stored in the lane notification information.

The vehicle C equipped with the vehicle-mounted device 1 enters this area, and the vehicle-mounted device 1 is present in the communication region A when the vehicle-mounted device 1 receives the “information including the lane notification information (no vehicle ID)”. Can recognize that When this recognition is performed, the vehicle-mounted device 1 starts uplink transmission (F2 in FIG. 6), and transmits “uplink information” to the optical beacon 2 at a predetermined uplink transmission cycle (F3 in FIG. 6).
This transmission by the in-vehicle device 1 is performed in the first area A1 (see FIG. 4). Further, the vehicle ID of the vehicle itself is stored in the “uplink information”. Note that “uplink information” continues to be transmitted until the subsequent recognition by the in-vehicle device 1 that “the optical beacon 2 has performed downlink switching” is performed in the in-vehicle device 1.

Then, when the optical beacon 2 receives the “uplink information” from the in-vehicle device 1 (F4 in FIG. 6), a predetermined information including “lane notification information” for the in-vehicle device 1 as the second information. The transmission of the downlink information is started, and the transmission of the downlink information is repeated as much as possible within a predetermined time (F6 in FIG. 6).
That is, based on the vehicle ID stored in the “uplink information” received by the optical beacon 2 first, the optical beacon 2 (control unit 2b) receives the uplink information, and then receives the second information. The vehicle ID is stored in the downlink information (F5 in FIG. 6).

  The downlink information transmitted from the optical beacon 2 after receiving the uplink information includes the “distance information” and the “transmission progress” corresponding to the “distance information” in addition to the “lane notification information”. Information "is included. The “transmission progress information” is information based on the transmission of the first downlink information after the optical beacon 2 receives the uplink information, that is, at the start of transmission of the first downlink information after downlink switching ( It is information about the progress from the arrow I) in FIG.

Specifically, the “transmission progress information” is “elapsed time information” about the elapsed time with reference to the transmission time of the first downlink information after receiving the uplink information (arrow I in FIG. 6). be able to.
That is, each piece of downlink information that is repeatedly transmitted includes “elapsed time information” with the transmission start time of the first downlink information as a reference (zero). For example, if the downlink transmission cycle is 84 msec, it means that 84 msec, which is one cycle of the downlink transmission cycle, has passed as “elapsed time information” in the downlink information transmitted for the second time. Contains information.

  Further, the third downlink information, which is the next, includes information on the elapsed 168 msec as “elapsed time information”. Hereinafter, in the downlink information that is repeatedly transmitted, if the number of times of downlink transmission after downlink switching is n (integer), “elapsed time information about the time obtained by multiplying (n−1) by the downlink transmission period” "It is included.

  In this way, when the optical beacon 2 receives “uplink information” including the vehicle ID from the in-vehicle device 1 (F4 in FIG. 6), the optical beacon 2 is connected to the communication area A with respect to the in-vehicle device 1. Repeatedly transmits “downlink information including lane notification information, distance information, and transmission progress information (elapsed time information)” (F6 in FIG. 6), and the vehicle-mounted device 1 is capable of downlink communication. This information can be received in the region (F7 in FIG. 6).

  At the time when the in-vehicle device 1 receives the downlink information (F7 in FIG. 6), the control unit 2b of the in-vehicle device 1 recognizes that “the optical beacon 2 has switched the downlink”. Further, when the in-vehicle device 1 recognizes that “the optical beacon 2 has switched the downlink”, it stops the transmission of the “uplink information”.

Actually, after a certain period of time has elapsed since the transmission of the first downlink information after the downlink switching (arrow I in FIG. 6), the vehicle-mounted device 1 is “down including lane notification information, distance information, and transmission progress information. Link information "is received. That is, the in-vehicle device 1 may not be able to receive downlink information transmitted first or repeatedly thereafter.
This is, for example, when the first downlink information is reflected by a wiper or the like in front of the communication unit 2a of the in-vehicle device 1 or when a signal is reflected by the surrounding environment (rainfall, fog) of the communication area A. Especially occurs.

As a result, the vehicle C equipped with the in-vehicle device 1 travels a certain distance from the time when the first downlink information is transmitted (arrow I in FIG. 6) until the time when the in-vehicle device 1 receives the downlink information. It will be.
As a result, an error is caused in the received “distance information”. Accordingly, when the distance calculation unit 12 of the in-vehicle device 1 receives the downlink information, the distance calculation unit 12 corrects the “distance information” using the “transmission progress information (elapsed time information)” included therein, and the stop line P Find the distance to.

A configuration for correction processing in the in-vehicle device 1 will be described.
In FIG. 3, the in-vehicle device 1 further includes speed detection means 8 that obtains “speed information” of the vehicle C in which the in-vehicle device 1 is mounted.
The distance calculation unit 12 of the in-vehicle device 1 includes a calculation unit 15 and a correction unit 16, and the calculation unit 15 switches the downlink in the optical beacon 2, that is, the first down after receiving the uplink information. The travel distance (travel distance) that the in-vehicle device 1 travels (moves) from the time of transmission of link information to the time of reception of downlink information, the “elapsed time information” included in the downlink information, and Obtained using “speed information”. Then, the correction unit 16 corrects the “distance information” based on the travel distance obtained by the calculation unit 15.

The correction process in the in-vehicle device 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
When the vehicle-mounted device 1 enters the communication area A, the vehicle-mounted device 1 receives downlink information from the optical beacon 2 and transmits uplink information to the optical beacon 2 (arrow U). Thereafter, downlink information including “distance information” and “elapsed time information” is repeatedly transmitted from the optical beacon 2.

  Of the downlink information transmitted repeatedly, for example, the vehicle-mounted device 1 cannot receive the first downlink information (arrow D1) and can receive the second downlink information (arrow D2). In this case, the second downlink information includes “distance information” and “elapsed time information” corresponding thereto, and this “elapsed time information” includes the “distance information” (as described above). ) It is assumed that 84 msec has elapsed since the start of transmission of the downlink information, and the in-vehicle device 1 receives this information as the second downlink information.

And the speed detection means 8 detects the traveling speed in this process. For example, even if the in-vehicle device 1 detects the average traveling speed of the vehicle C from when the uplink information is transmitted (arrow U) until the second downlink information is received (arrow D2), for example, as 50 km / h. Good.
Then, the calculation means 15 multiplies the average traveling speed (50 km / h) by the received elapsed time information (84 msec), and the first (first) downlink information after the optical beacon 2 receives the uplink information. The travel distance E (1.16 m) traveled by the vehicle-mounted device 1 from the time of transmission of the first time to the time of receiving the second downlink information can be obtained.

Then, the correcting unit 16 corrects the distance L by performing a calculation of subtracting the traveling distance E (1.16 m) from the distance L (for example, 50 m) based on the “distance information”, and the second downlink information. Can be obtained a distance L1 (48.84 m) from the time of receiving (arrow D2) to the stop line P ahead. Thereby, it is possible to obtain the distance to the front stop line P with high accuracy.
In this way, the distance L1 from the current travel position of the vehicle C (vehicle equipment 1) that has received the downlink information to the front stop line P can be obtained (positioned) (F8 in FIG. 6).

  FIG. 5 illustrates a case where the in-vehicle device 1 receives downlink information including “distance information” and “elapsed time information” in the vicinity of the end point (termination) of the communication area A. The vehicle-mounted device 1 that has entered the communication area A receives the downlink information from the optical beacon 2 and transmits the uplink information to the optical beacon 2 (arrow U). Thereafter, downlink information including “distance information” and “elapsed time information” is repeatedly transmitted from the optical beacon 2.

  In this case, among the repeatedly transmitted downlink information, the in-vehicle device 1 cannot receive the downlink information for m times from the start of transmission (arrow Dm), and the m + 1th time at a position immediately before the end point of the communication area A. Is received for the first time (arrow Dm + 1). In this case, as the “elapsed time information” in the m + 1-th downlink information, information on the elapsed time from the start of transmission of the downlink information, that is, as described above, (n−1) = ((m + 1) − 1) includes information about the elapse of the time multiplied by the downlink transmission period (84 msec), and the vehicle-mounted device 1 receives this as m + 1-th downlink information.

As a more specific example of FIG. 5, description will be made assuming that the in-vehicle device 1 is able to receive the fourth downlink information for the first time at the position immediately before the end point of the communication area A as the m−1th time.
In this case, the “elapsed time information” receives information about that ((4-1) × 84 =) 252 msec has elapsed, together with the “distance information”, the in-vehicle device 1 receives the fourth downlink information.

The speed detecting means 8 detects the traveling speed at the time of this processing (for example, 50 km / h), and the calculating means 15 multiplies the received elapsed time information (252 msec) by this average traveling speed (50 km / h). Thus, the traveling distance E (3) that the in-vehicle device 1 travels from the time when the first (first time) downlink information is transmitted after the optical beacon 2 receives the uplink information to the time when the fourth time downlink information is received. .5m) can be obtained.
Then, the correcting unit 16 corrects the distance L by performing a calculation of subtracting the traveling distance E (3.5 m) from the distance L (for example, 50 m) based on the “distance information”, and the downlink information for the fourth time. Can be obtained a distance L1 (46.5 m) from the time of receiving (arrow D4) to the front stop line P.

  As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, downlink information is repeatedly transmitted from the optical beacon 2 to the in-vehicle device 1 after downlink switching. The in-vehicle device 1 cannot grasp whether it is received. As a result, an error corresponding to the traveling distance of the vehicle C occurs with respect to the distance to the front stop line P recognized by the in-vehicle device 1. In particular, this error increases as the traveling speed of the vehicle C increases. For this reason, for example, driving support control for stopping the vehicle C according to the front stop line P becomes difficult.

  However, in the present invention, since the in-vehicle device 1 corrects the “distance information” using the “transmission progress information (elapsed time information)”, the error due to the reception position in the communication area A can be eliminated. As a result, the distance to the front stop line P can be obtained with high accuracy, and highly reliable driving support control can be performed.

  In particular, when the in-vehicle device 1 receives downlink information at a position in the vicinity of the end point of the communication area A as shown in FIG. 5, if the correction is not performed in the in-vehicle apparatus 1, the communication area A that has received the downlink information. The in-vehicle device 1 recognizes that the stop line P is ahead by the distance L according to the “distance information” from the position in the vicinity of the end point. However, since this is actually different, overrun occurs in driving support control. However, in the present invention, this can be prevented by performing the correction.

Another form of “elapsed time information” as the transmission progress information in the predetermined downlink information after downlink switching transmitted from the optical beacon 2 will be described.
The downlink information is composed of one or a plurality of types of information, and each information is composed of one or a plurality of frames. Then, the one or more frames are sequentially and repeatedly transmitted at a predetermined downlink transmission cycle.

Therefore, when the downlink information is composed of a plurality of frames, the information about the elapsed time until the frame is transmitted is included in each of the plurality of frames as the “elapsed time information”. Can be. The elapsed time until this frame is transmitted can be based on the transmission time of the first downlink information after the optical beacon 2 receives the uplink information as a reference time.
According to this, the resolution with respect to the elapsed time can be made fine, and the correction of the “distance information” can be performed with high accuracy. Therefore, the accuracy of distance recognition to the stop line P can be improved.

Further, the “transmission progress information” included in the downlink information transmitted from the optical beacon 2 after receiving the uplink information is based on the transmission of the first downlink information after the optical beacon 2 receives the uplink information. It can be used as “transmission count progress information” for the transmission count n.
That is, each piece of downlink information that is repeatedly transmitted includes “transmission count progress information” based on the first downlink information. That is, the first downlink information includes information (n = 1) meaning “first time” as “transmission count progress information”. Further, the second downlink information, which is the next, includes information (n = 2) indicating “second time” as “transmission count progress information”.

In this case as well, in the same manner as in the above embodiment, in-vehicle device 1 includes speed detection means 8 that obtains “speed information” of vehicle C in which the in-vehicle device 1 is mounted, and distance calculation unit 12 includes Correction means 16 is provided.
Further, the calculation means 15 included in the distance calculation unit 12 of the vehicle-mounted device 1 is configured to perform downlink from the transmission of the first downlink information after switching the downlink in the optical beacon 2, that is, after receiving the uplink information. The travel distance traveled by the vehicle-mounted device 1 until the information is received is obtained by using the “transmission count elapsed information”, the downlink “transmission cycle”, and the “speed information” included in the downlink information. . The downlink information is transmitted from the optical beacon 2 at a predetermined transmission cycle, and this transmission cycle is stored in the in-vehicle device 1 in advance.

The process in this vehicle equipment 1 is demonstrated with reference to FIG.
When the vehicle-mounted device 1 enters the communication area A, the vehicle-mounted device 1 receives downlink information from the optical beacon 2 and transmits uplink information to the optical beacon 2 (arrow U). Thereafter, downlink information including “distance information” and “transmission count progress information” is repeatedly transmitted from the optical beacon 2.
Of the downlink information transmitted repeatedly, for example, the vehicle-mounted device 1 cannot receive the first downlink information (arrow D1) and can receive the second downlink information (arrow D2). In this case, the second downlink information includes “distance information” and “transmission count progress information” corresponding thereto, and the “transmission count progress information” is as described above (n = 2). The in-vehicle device 1 receives this information as the second downlink information.

  And the speed detection means 8 detects the traveling speed at the time of this process as 50 km / h, for example. Then, the calculation means 15 is a value obtained by subtracting “1” from the “transmission count elapsed information (n)” in the transmission cycle (for example, 84 msec) stored in the in-vehicle device 1 (n−1 = 2-1 = 1). Is multiplied by the travel speed (50 km / h), and when the first (first) downlink information is transmitted after the optical beacon 2 receives the uplink information, the second downlink information is received. The travel distance E (1.16 m) traveled by the vehicle-mounted device 1 can be obtained.

Then, the correcting unit 16 corrects the distance L by performing a calculation of subtracting the traveling distance E (1.16 m) from the distance L (for example, 50 m) based on the “distance information”, and the second downlink information. The distance L1 (48.84 m) from the time of receiving (D2) to the front stop line P can be obtained.
Also in this embodiment, since the in-vehicle device 1 corrects the “distance information” using the “transmission progress information (transmission count progress information)”, the error due to the reception position in the communication area A can be eliminated. As a result, the distance to the front stop line P can be obtained with high accuracy, and highly reliable driving support control can be performed.

In addition, in the predetermined downlink information after downlink switching transmitted from the optical beacon 2, another form of “transmission count progress information” as the transmission progress information will be described.
As described above, the downlink information includes one or more types of information, and each piece of information includes one or more frames. Then, the one or more frames are sequentially and repeatedly transmitted at a predetermined downlink transmission cycle.
Therefore, when the downlink information is composed of a plurality of frames, as the “transmission count progress information”, the number of times each frame is transmitted from the reference time to each of the plurality of frames. The total frame transmission frequency information can be individually included.

This total frame transmission count information can be based on the time when the optical beacon 2 starts transmitting the first downlink information after receiving the uplink information. In this case, by storing the transmission time interval of each frame in the in-vehicle device 1, the elapsed time from the reference time when each frame is transmitted can be obtained using this.
According to this, the resolution regarding the number of times of downlink information transmission can be made fine, and the correction of the “distance information” can be performed with high accuracy. Therefore, the accuracy of distance recognition to the stop line P can be improved.

The distance recognition method for determining the distance to the stop line P ahead in the vehicle traveling direction, which is performed by the distance recognition system including the optical beacon 2 and the vehicle-mounted device 1 configured as described above, is based on the setting on the optical beacon 2 side. The upper predetermined range is a communication area A. In this communication area A, after the optical beacon 2 receives the uplink information transmitted by the in-vehicle device 1, the optical beacon 2 repeatedly transmits the downlink information to the in-vehicle device 1. To do.
The in-vehicle device 1 uses “transmission progress information” based on the transmission of the first downlink information after the optical beacon 2 receives the uplink information among the information included in the received downlink information. Then, the “distance information” included in the downlink information is corrected, and the distance to the stop line P ahead is obtained.

  As in each of the embodiments described above, the optical beacon 2 of the present invention uses a predetermined range on the road R as the communication area A, and repeatedly transmits downlink information at a predetermined transmission cycle in the communication area A. The downlink information to be transmitted includes the “distance information” and the “transmission progress information” based on the transmission of the first downlink information after receiving the uplink information from the vehicle side.

  And as a specific example using this optical beacon 2, when the vehicle equipment 1 communicates with this light beacon 2, the said vehicle equipment 1 can obtain | require the distance to the stop line P ahead. The distance calculation part (control part) 12 of the vehicle equipment 1 which calculated | required the distance to the stop line P is the travel control with which the vehicle C is equipped to stop the vehicle C according to the stop line P based on this distance, for example. The means 9 (FIG. 3) can perform driving support control.

The traveling control means 9 can control the traveling speed to be a predetermined speed based on the speed information of the vehicle C from the speed detecting means (acceleration sensor) 8. That is, the traveling control means 9 can instruct the driving means (engine) 21 and the braking means (brake) 22 of the vehicle C to perform acceleration and deceleration operations.
The traveling control means 9 is composed of a microcomputer and can be an ECU. Further, the speed detecting means 8 may be configured (not shown) provided in the vehicle C as a separate body from the in-vehicle device 1 in addition to the configuration provided in the in-vehicle device 1 (FIG. 3).

Then, based on the distance L1 (FIG. 4 or FIG. 5) to the stop line P obtained by the distance calculation unit 12 of the in-vehicle device 1 and the traveling speed detected by the speed detecting unit 8, the traveling control unit 9 performs the distance L1. The traveling is controlled so that the speed of the vehicle C becomes zero when the vehicle travels only by the time. That is, a control for automatically stopping the vehicle C at the front stop line P is performed.
This travel control will be described in detail. Based on the distance L1 to the stop line P obtained by the distance calculation unit 12 of the in-vehicle device 1, the distance calculation unit 12, the speed detection unit 8, and the travel control unit 9 Through the information communication between each other, the distance calculation unit 12 obtains the remaining distance to the point of the distance L1 at any time as the vehicle C travels, and the traveling control means 9 corresponds to the distance to the point up to the distance L1. The vehicle C is gradually decelerated, and the speed of the vehicle C is made zero when the vehicle travels a distance L1. Thereby, the vehicle C can be automatically stopped on the stop line P.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the illustrated form, and may be other forms within the scope of the present invention, and the operation on the vehicle C side (on-vehicle device 1) that recognizes the distance to a predetermined position ahead is performed. In the above description, the vehicle C is braked and stopped. However, in addition to this, a warning that prompts the driver who is driving the vehicle C to stop or decelerate is output by voice or displayed on a monitor mounted in the vehicle. Or you may.

  In the embodiment in which the vehicle C is braked and stopped, the predetermined position is described as the position of the stop line P. However, the predetermined position can be a position where a traffic light is present, a position of a vehicle detector, or the like. Further, regarding the distance information, the position of the communication area A has been described as the start position of the communication area A in the above embodiment, but other distances may be used, and the distance of the distance information may be changed from the predetermined position P to the first position. The distance to the position between the area A1 and the second area A2 can also be used.

  In addition, the distance information transmitted from the optical beacon 2 is not in the form of a direct information about the distance to the predetermined position (stop line) P as in the embodiment, but from the communication area A to the predetermined position P. It can be in other formats in which the distance to is stored. That is, a plurality of nodes are designated from the communication area A to the predetermined position P, the distance from the communication area A to the nearest node, the distance between the nodes, and the node nearest to the predetermined position P Each of the distances to the predetermined position P can be stored.

When the “transmission count progress information” is employed as the transmission progress information, it is preferable to employ the transmission count of the minimum frame constituting the downlink information as the transmission count.
In the case of the optical beacon 2, the minimum frame consists of a frame of about 128 bytes by convention, and this frame is transmitted about every 1 ms. For this reason, if the number of times of transmission of the minimum frame is numbered in the control unit 2b of the beacon 2 and the "number of times of transmission progress information" is generated using this number of times of transmission, the resolution for the number of times of downlink information transmission is determined. Can be set as the transmission interval of the minimum frame, and the accuracy of the correction calculation of the distance information can be improved.

The number of transmissions of the minimum frame does not need to be stored in all the minimum frames, and may be stored every several frames, for example.
However, as described above, when one downlink information is composed of a plurality of minimum frames (for example, three minimum frames), the number of repetitions of the downlink information composed of the plurality of minimum frames is numbered. Alternatively, the “transmission count progress information” may be generated using the repetition count.

  The distance information transmitted by the optical beacon 2 is the absolute position of the start point (communication area A) and the end point (predetermined position P) (for example, latitude / longitude or coordinate values in a three-dimensional space with an arbitrary point as the origin). It may be information indicating. This is because if the absolute positions of the start point and the end point are known, the vehicle-mounted device 1 can calculate the distance to the predetermined position P based on this. Moreover, when the information regarding the absolute position of the predetermined position P is stored on the in-vehicle device 1 side, the optical beacon 2 may transmit only the information regarding the absolute position of the predetermined position P.

  Furthermore, the optical beacon 2 may transmit information corresponding to the position of the communication area A in the road shape information and the like to the in-vehicle device 1 together with the road shape information and map including the point of the predetermined position P. In this case, the road shape information or the like may be stored in the in-vehicle device 1 in advance, or may be transmitted to the in-vehicle device 1 by a communication means different from the optical beacon 2.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 In-vehicle apparatus 2 Optical beacon 2a Communication part 8 Speed detection means 12 Distance calculation part 15 Calculation means 16 Correction means A Communication area C Vehicle P Stop line (predetermined position)
R road

Claims (6)

In a communication area set on a road, a communication unit that repeatedly receives downlink information including the following information (1) and (2) from an optical beacon;
A distance calculation unit that corrects the distance information using the transmission progress information and obtains a distance from the communication area to a predetermined position ahead in the vehicle traveling direction;
An in-vehicle device characterized by comprising:
(1) Distance information about the distance from the communication area to a predetermined position ahead in the vehicle traveling direction
(2) Transmission progress information based on transmission of the first downlink information after the optical beacon receives uplink information The transmission progress information includes elapsed time information about an elapsed time based on a transmission time of the first downlink information, and a transmission count progress information about a transmission count based on the transmission of the first downlink information. The in- vehicle device according to claim 1 including at least one of the above. The in- vehicle device according to claim 2, wherein the number of transmissions is a number of transmissions of a minimum frame constituting the downlink information. In a communication area set on a road, a communication unit that repeatedly receives downlink information including the following (1) and (2) from an optical beacon;
A distance calculation unit that corrects the distance information using the transmission progress information and obtains a distance from the communication area to a predetermined position ahead in the vehicle traveling direction;
A vehicle comprising:
(1) Distance information about the distance from the communication area to a predetermined position ahead in the vehicle traveling direction
(2) Transmission progress information based on transmission of the first downlink information after the optical beacon receives uplink information 5. The vehicle according to claim 4, further comprising travel control means for executing travel control for automatically stopping the vehicle at the predetermined position based on the travel speed of the vehicle and the distance obtained by the distance calculation unit. . 6. The vehicle according to 4 or 5, further comprising output means for outputting a warning for stopping the vehicle at the predetermined position to the driver based on the traveling speed of the vehicle and the distance obtained by the distance calculation unit.

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