JP2003014474A - Car navigation device and accident prevention system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an accident by predicting the occurrence of the accident more surely and by providing a driver with only truly necessary information. SOLUTION: A server in an accident information center registers new accident data comprising accident occurrence position data and accident occurrence state data in an accident database (S2), and transmits the data to a VICS center (S3). A control circuit of this car navigation device compares the received accident occurrence position data with the present position of a vehicle, and detects approach to the accident occurrence position (T3). If a common state element exists between the accident occurrence state at the accident occurrence position and the present traveling state of the vehicle during navigation, an alarm message having added information on the accident occurrence state is outputted prior to passage through the accident occurrence position (T6).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle navigation device and an accident prevention system for providing a driver with accident prediction information.

[0002]

An example of this type of system is a traffic accident management support system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-120478. This system
A history of traffic accidents that occurred in the past is stored in the database of the traffic accident management center, and a traffic accident occurs by comparing and analyzing this history information and the information of the vehicle that is running. It is configured to calculate the probability and notify the driver of warning information according to the situation by voice or image. That is, this system is characterized by calculating the probability of occurrence of an accident and notifying the warning information based on the probability of occurrence.

In the above system, the probability of occurrence of an accident, which is calculated based on information such as road characteristics, speed, time and weather, is, for example, when traveling at a curve point or when traveling at a high speed. If you are driving in the evening or night, it will be high if you are driving during rain or snow,
On the contrary, when traveling on a straight road, traveling at a slow speed, traveling in the daytime, or traveling in fine weather, it is presumed that the tendency tends to be low. However, traffic accidents are caused not only by the general factors indicated by such statistical tendencies but also by the factors peculiar to the scene of the actual traffic accident. This is something that anyone who drives a car has realized.

For example, even if the intersections have the same width, if there is a building near the intersection and the visibility is bad and an accident is likely to occur, or a similar T-shaped road is provided with a stop sign. It is very difficult to calculate the accident occurrence probability at that point from the above general factors when the sign is not displayed or the sign is hard to see and the accident is likely to occur. In other words, a traffic accident occurs because factors that are known only at the accident occurrence point are complicatedly intertwined, and this is why many accidents of the same type occur at the same point.

Therefore, although the above-mentioned system for notifying the warning information based on the occurrence probability can call the driver's general attention, the situation peculiar to the accident occurrence point which is the biggest factor causing the accident. Is not fully considered. In addition, the driver may feel annoyed by being repeatedly notified of general warning information that he / she naturally recognizes while driving, or on the contrary, may be uncertain as to why the warning information is output. It is believed that there is.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle navigation system for predicting the occurrence of an accident more surely and providing only the truly necessary information to the driver to prevent the accident. To provide a device and an accident prevention system.

[0007]

According to the means described in claim 1, the warning control means inputs the information relating to the accident occurrence position in the accumulated accident information, and the accident occurrence position and the current position of the vehicle. Based on and, the approach to the accident occurrence position where an accident occurred in the past is detected. Then, the warning control means, before passing through the accident occurrence position, inputs information relating to the accident occurrence situation at the time of the accident in the accumulated accident information, and at the same time, the accident occurrence situation and the traveling status of the vehicle ( In particular, it compares the driving situation predicted at the accident occurrence position) and outputs warning information when there are common situation elements.

That is, according to this means, the situation is compared not only with the statistical accident prediction but with the point where the accident actually occurred, so that the situation is compared with that at the time of the accident. This enables more accurate accident prediction that reflects the causal relationship between unknown factors and accidents, and the driver can be provided with more reliable warning information. Also, since this warning information is output only when passing through a point where an accident occurred in the past, the driver does not have to bother with the general warning information that he or she normally recognizes. It can be expected to prevent the driver from getting accustomed to the information and the driver from being excessively strained.

Further, since the information on the accident occurrence status is added to the warning information, the driver can accurately recognize the reason why the warning information is output, and when the driver passes through the accident occurrence position, the driver concerning the accident occurrence situation is driven. Person's attention is increased. This further enhances the effect of preventing an accident.

According to the means described in claim 2, when the route guidance means is executing the route guidance, the vehicle is predicted to proceed on the guidance route, and therefore the warning control means causes the warning control means to display the accumulated accident information. The warning information can be output by previously inputting the information relating to the accident occurrence position existing on the guide route.

On the other hand, when the route guidance means does not perform route guidance, it becomes difficult for the warning control means to predict the traveling route of the vehicle. In this case, the time from when it is determined that the vehicle passes the accident occurrence position until when the vehicle actually passes the accident occurrence position becomes short, and the comparison process between the accident occurrence situation and the vehicle running situation may not be in time. Conceivable. Therefore, in this case, using the means described in claim 3,
Instead of the warning information, the caution information indicating that the accident occurred position may be simply output.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the warning control means, if the result of the comparison between the accident occurrence status and the vehicle running status indicates that there are no common status elements, an accident occurred in the past. Since an accident similar to the above is unlikely to occur, warning information is output instead of warning information indicating that the vehicle will pass the accident occurrence position. As a result, information that is truly necessary for preventing accidents is shown to the driver with two levels of information, warning information and caution information, depending on the degree of importance.

According to the means described in claim 5, the accumulated accident information is accumulated outside the vehicle, and the receiving means provided in the vehicle transmits the information concerning the accident occurrence position and the accident occurrence situation transmitted from the outside. And information related to. As a result, the accumulated accident information can be collected and managed in one place, and the accumulated accident information can be shared by a plurality of vehicles.

According to the means described in claim 6, the information center has accumulated accident information in which data relating to traffic accidents that occurred in the past are accumulated, and the transmitting means transmits the accumulated accident information to the vehicle. From the vehicle, the information on the accident occurrence position in the area around the current position of the vehicle and the information on the accident occurrence situation are transmitted. The transmitted information on the accident occurrence position and the transmitted information on the accident occurrence situation are received by the reception means provided in the vehicle and used by the warning control means. With this system, the vehicular navigation device can more reliably predict the occurrence of an accident, and can provide only truly necessary information to the driver.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of an accident prevention system of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing the overall configuration of the accident prevention system. In FIG. 2, the accident prevention system includes a car navigation device 1 (corresponding to a vignette device for a vehicle) and a server 2 mounted on each vehicle.
And an accident information center 4 (corresponding to an information center) equipped with an accident database 3 (corresponding to accumulated accident information), VICS (Ve
hicle Information Communication System) A center 5 and a beacon 6 installed on the road.

The accident database 3 stores accident data of traffic accidents that occurred in the past, that is, accident occurrence position data and accident occurrence situation data. The server 2 is automatically updated with the latest data by automatically inputting the accident data from the police or the emergency call data of the Mayday system. Of these, the accident occurrence position data is composed of latitude / longitude, intersection names, etc. so that the accident occurrence position can be accurately specified. In addition, the accident status data includes the vehicle's direction of travel (right turn, left turn, straight ahead), speed, time, season, weather, road surface condition, number of passengers, destination, vehicle maintenance status, and continued operation at the time of the accident. It is composed of time and traffic volume.

The VICS center 5 edits road traffic information and the accident data given from the accident information center 4.
The data is processed and the data is transmitted in real time using FM multiplex broadcasting or the beacon 6. The beacon 6 includes an optical beacon mainly installed on a main highway and a radio beacon mainly installed on a highway. The VICS center 5 and the beacon 6 correspond to the transmitting means in the present invention.

The car navigation device 1 mounted on a vehicle has a control circuit 7 and a position detector 8, a speed detector 9, a seat switch 10, a map data input device 11, which are connected to the control circuit 7, respectively. Operation switch group 1
2, VICS receiver 13, external memory 14, display device 1
5, a speaker 16, a remote controller sensor 17, and a remote controller 18. In addition, a combination switch ECU 19 installed in the vehicle inputs respective status signals of a turn signal switch, a light control switch, and a wiper switch to the car navigation device 1.

The control circuit 7 (corresponding to route guidance means and warning control means) has a function of controlling the overall operation of the car navigation system 1, and is mainly composed of a microcomputer. That is, the control circuit 7
It has a configuration including a U, a ROM, a RAM, an I / O interface, a bus connecting these, and the like (all not shown). The control circuit 7 also includes a calendar function unit 20 that acquires the current date and time.

The ROM stores a navigation execution program for the car navigation device 1 to execute a navigation operation. Also, the RAM
The temporary data at the time of executing the program, the map data acquired from the map data input device 11, the accident occurrence position data and the accident occurrence situation data received by the VICS receiver 13 are temporarily stored.

The position detector 8 (corresponding to position detecting means) is
It comprises a geomagnetic sensor 21, a gyroscope 22, a distance sensor 23 and a GPS receiver 24, and detects the current position information of the vehicle. Since each constituent element of the position detector 8 has a detection error having a different property, the control circuit 7 uses the respective signal inputs from the position detector 8 while interpolating each other to determine the current position of the vehicle and the progress of the vehicle. The direction, speed, and mileage can be detected with high accuracy. If the position detector 8 can detect the current position with the required detection accuracy, it is not necessary to include all the constituent elements. Further, the position detector 8 may be configured by combining a rotation sensor of the steering wheel, a wheel sensor that detects the rotation of each tire, and the like.

The speed detector 9 accurately detects the vehicle speed. However, when the speed data output from the position detector 8 is used, the speed detector 9 may be provided as necessary. Further, the seat switch 10 is installed inside each seat provided in the vehicle, and is turned on when a person sits in the seat.

The map data input device 11 is a DVD-ROM
Data is read from the map disk 25, which is an information recording medium such as. In this case, the map disk 25 includes map data, map matching data for improving position detection accuracy, landmark data of various structures including height data and shape data of buildings, store / facility name database, telephone number. Various data such as a telephone number database showing the correspondence between the store and the facility are recorded. As the information recording medium, for example, a CD-ROM or a memory card may be used.

VICS receiver 13 (corresponding to receiving means)
Is a function of receiving FM multiplex broadcasting, a function of receiving an optical signal from an optical beacon, a function of receiving a radio signal from a radio beacon, and a function of extracting road traffic information and accident data from these received (received) signals. Is equipped with.

The external memory 14 is composed of a flash memory card or the like, and stores, for example, guidance route data to the destination obtained by the route search processing by the control circuit 7, accident data received by the VICS receiver 13, and the like. It is something to remember. The function of the external memory 14 can be realized by a storage element (RAM or the like) in the control circuit 7, and in this case, the external memory 14 is used.
May be provided as needed.

The display device 15 and the speaker 16 correspond to the output means in the present invention. Of these, the display device 15 composed of a color liquid crystal panel is installed near the driver's seat of the vehicle and displays a map, characters, images and the like. The operation switch group 12 is a mechanical switch and display device 1.
5, a touch switch and the like formed on the panel, and is used for inputting data and setting items. The remote controller sensor 17 receives an operation input from the remote controller 18 and gives it to the control circuit 7. The position detector 8, the speed detector 9, the seat switch 10, the calendar function unit 20, and the input processing unit (not shown) for inputting a status signal from the combination switch ECU 19 in the control circuit 7 are included in the present invention. It corresponds to the so-called running condition detecting means.

As a basic function of the control circuit 7 of the car navigation device 1, the user operates the operation switch group 1
2 or a remote controller 18 is operated to set a destination, a route search function for calculating guide route data from the current position to the destination, and a guide route indicated by the guide route data is displayed on the display device 15 or from the speaker 16. A route guidance function for outputting a voice, a traffic information display function for displaying road traffic information received by the VICS receiver 13 on the display device 15,
It has a map matching function to position the current position on the map.

Next, the operation of the accident prevention system will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1A shows a flow chart of processing relating to collection and transmission of accident data executed by the server 2 installed in the accident information center 4, and FIG. 1B shows execution of the control circuit 7 of the car navigation device 1. The flowchart of the accident warning process is shown. The accident warning processing program is incorporated in a part of the navigation execution program described above.

First, in the accident information center 4, the server 2 is online connected to the police or Mayday system, and as shown in FIG. 1 (a), does the server 2 generate new accident data associated with a traffic accident? It is determined whether or not (step S1). When new accident data is generated, the process proceeds to step S2 according to “YES”, and the accident data including the accident occurrence position data and the accident occurrence situation data is registered in the accident database 3. After this registration is completed and when it is determined in step S1 that new accident data has not occurred (“NO”), the process proceeds to step S3. The server 2 executes the VICS in this step S3.
The latest (for example, past several months) accident data is transmitted to the center 5, and then the process returns to step S1. VICS
The center 5 edits and processes the road traffic information and the accident data as described above, and transmits it by using the FM multiplex broadcast and the beacon 6.

On the other hand, in the car navigation system 1, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), the control circuit 7 determines whether or not the accident data is received from the VICS center 5 via the VICS receiver 13 (step). T1). Where F
The accident data obtained by receiving the M multiplex broadcast is composed of accident occurrence position data covering a wide area including the current position of the vehicle and main accident occurrence situation data, and the accident occurrence position data received (received) from the beacon 6 is: It is composed of local accident occurrence position data near the current position of the vehicle and all detailed accident occurrence situation data.

When the control circuit 7 determines in step T1 that the accident data has been received, the control circuit 7 proceeds to step T3 in accordance with "YES". If it is determined that the accident data has not been received, the process proceeds to step T2 according to "NO" to determine whether or not the accident data near the current position of the vehicle has already been received. If it has not been received, the process proceeds to step T1 according to "NO", and if it has been received, the process proceeds to step T3 according to "YES".

At step T3, the control circuit 7 compares the current position of the vehicle obtained from the position detector 8 with the received accident occurrence position data, so that the vehicle approaches the accident occurrence point where an accident occurred in the past. Judge whether or not. If it is determined that the position where the accident has occurred is not approaching, the process proceeds to step T1 according to "NO",
The latest accident data reception process is executed again.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the vehicle is approaching the accident occurrence point, the process proceeds to step T4 according to "YES" to determine whether or not the route guidance is being provided to the driver.
When it is determined that route guidance is being performed (“YES”), it is predicted that the vehicle will proceed on the guidance route. Therefore, in step T5, the control circuit 7 compares the accident occurrence situation at the accident occurrence position of the destination on the route guidance with the current running situation of the vehicle, and determines whether or not there is a common situation element. To judge. In this case, how much the common situation elements are to be determined (the number of common elements, the common degree) is predetermined based on the relationship with the accident occurrence.

The situation elements compared here are the traveling direction (right turn, left turn, straight ahead) of the vehicle based on the guide route, the destination,
The driving duration, the vehicle speed detected by the speed detector 9 (or the position detector 8), the current time acquired from the calendar function unit 20, the season, the number of passengers detected based on the signal from the seat switch 10, VICS receiver 13
The road traffic information received by the vehicle, the states of the turn signal switch, the light control switch, and the wiper switch input from the combination switch ECU 19, and the like. Here, the state of the turn signal switch is used to detect in advance the situation in which the vehicle does not follow the guide route, and the state of the light control switch is used to detect the brightness around the vehicle,
The state of the wiper switch is used to detect the weather (when it is raining or when it is snowing).

When the control circuit 7 determines in step T5 that there are common condition elements ("YES"), the control circuit 7 proceeds to step T6 and asks the driver to pass the accident occurrence position. A warning message (corresponding to warning information) in the form of image or sound is output via the display device 15 and the speaker 16. This warning message has information about the accident occurrence status added.

For example, if the accident location is a location where an accident due to overspeed has occurred in the past, "An accident due to overspeed has occurred in the future. Please reduce the speed and be careful." Warning message is output, and if there is a slip accident,
A warning message “A slip accident has occurred. Please be careful about the road surface condition and speed.” Will be output, and if there are many accidents during the evening hours, “If this is the point ahead” There are many accidents during the evening hours. Please be careful. ”Is output. Also, because the route guidance is in progress, if there is a guide route set to turn right at a place where there are many accidents when turning to the right, it will be "I will soon turn right. There are many accidents when turning to the right. Please be careful. ”Is output.

On the other hand, the control circuit 7 performs step T4.
If it is determined that the route guidance is not in progress (“NO”) in step S4, and if it is determined in step T5 that there is no common situation element (“NO”), the process proceeds to step T7. Then, the control circuit 7 "is the accident occurrence point before passing through the accident occurrence position.
be careful. Is output.
After outputting the warning message or the caution message, the control circuit 7 returns to step T1.

The control circuit 7 determines the traveling route of the vehicle on the basis of the current position of the vehicle output from the position detector 8, the traveling direction, the state of the turn signal switch, and the like when the route guidance is not in progress. When the route is predicted and the route guidance is in progress, the deviation between the traveling route of the vehicle and the guide route is monitored to prevent the output of the message at the wrong point.

As described above, the accident prevention system of this embodiment uses the accident information center 4 provided with the accident database 3 that accumulates accident data, and the accident data provided by this accident information center 4 to the road. It is composed of a VICS center 5 for transmitting by FM multiplex broadcast or beacon 6 together with traffic information, and a car navigation device 1 mounted on a vehicle. And the car navigation device 1
Detects the approach to the accident occurrence position where a traffic accident actually occurred in the past based on the received accident occurrence position data and the current position of the vehicle, and the accident occurrence situation data and the vehicle A warning message is output when there is a status element that is common to the current driving status.

According to this car navigation system 1,
Since the situation is compared with that at the time of the past accident by focusing on the point where the accident actually occurred in the past, it is more accurate because it reflects the causal relationship between the accident and the specific factors known only at the accident occurrence position. Accident prediction is possible, and the driver can be provided with a reliable warning message. In addition, this warning message is output only when you pass a point where an accident occurred in the past, so a general warning message that the driver normally recognizes (for example, "Be careful when driving because it is raining. ")" Is not repeatedly given, and it is possible to prevent the driver from getting accustomed or excessively straining the driver due to the warning message.

Further, since the warning message is added with information on the accident occurrence status (specific accident name), the driver can clearly recognize the reason why the warning message is output, and pass the accident occurrence position. At times, the attention of the driver regarding the accident occurrence situation is further enhanced, and the effect of preventing an accident is further enhanced.

Further, in the car navigation device 1, when there is no situation element common to the accident occurrence situation data in the past accident and the current running situation of the vehicle, the same accident as the past accident occurs. As it is difficult, instead of the warning message, a caution message indicating that the accident occurred in the past will be output. This is because when the driver receives an unnecessary warning message, the driver's attention is biased toward an accident occurrence situation with little causal relationship with the accident,
This is because it is easy to get distracted from other situations that are truly needed. Since the warning message does not include a specific accident occurrence situation, the driver is motivated to pay attention in the whole, with the knowledge that the accident passing point is passed.

Further, while the route guidance is not executed, it is difficult to predict the traveling route of the vehicle, and the time from when it is determined that the vehicle passes the accident occurrence position to when the vehicle actually passes the accident occurrence position is short. Tends to become. In this case, there is a possibility that the process of comparing the accident occurrence situation and the vehicle traveling situation, which requires a relatively long processing time for the control circuit 7, may not be in time. According to the present embodiment, the control circuit 7 outputs the caution message instead of the warning message, so that the output of the message can be prevented from being delayed. However, for example, when turning right or left, when the traveling route of the vehicle becomes clear based on the state of the turn signal switch, the process may proceed to step T5 in the same manner as during route guidance.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and can be modified or expanded as follows, for example. The accident database 3 may be provided for each vehicle. In addition, accident data D
The accident data may be supplied by a recording medium such as a VD-ROM or a CD-ROM and the map data input device 11 may be used to read the accident data. Furthermore, an information terminal device online connected to the accident information center 4 is installed in a gas station, a convenience store, a service area of a highway, a parking area, etc., and the accident data is recorded from the information terminal device to a recording medium such as a memory card. Then, the car navigation device 1 may have a system configuration for inputting accident data from the recording medium.

The accident data provided from the accident information center 4 may be transmitted to the vehicle side by using other traffic information data services, not limited to VICS. Further, the car navigation device 1 may be provided with an internet connection function, and the accident data may be downloaded from another information center or a homepage handling accident information history.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of the present invention and showing processing of a server of an accident information center and accident warning processing of a control circuit of a navigation device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of an accident prevention system by functional blocks.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference numeral 1 is a car navigation device (vehicle vignette device), 3 is an accident database (accumulated accident information), 4 is an accident information center (information center), 5 is a VICS center (transmission means), 6 is a beacon (transmission means), 7 Is a control circuit (route guidance means, warning control means), 8 is a position detector (position detection means, running status detection means), 9 is a speed detector (running status detection means), and 10 is a seat switch (running status detection means). ), 13 is a VICS receiver (reception means), 15 is a display device (output means), 16 is a speaker (output means),
Reference numeral 20 denotes a calendar function unit (running condition detection means).

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G09B 29/10 G09B 29/10 AF term (reference) 2C032 HB02 HB05 HB22 HB23 HB24 HC08 HC13 HC31 HD03 HD17 2F029 AA02 AB03 AB07 AB13 AC06 AC09 AC14 AC18 AD04 5C086 AA47 AA51 BA22 DA08 EA45 5H180 AA01 BB02 BB13 BB15 EE15 EE18 FF04 FF05 FF12 FF22 FF27 LL04 LL07 LL14

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle, comprising: a position detecting means for detecting a current position of a vehicle; a route guiding means for performing route guidance; and an output means for outputting information about a guide route output from the route guiding means. In the navigation device, input the information on the accident occurrence position in the accumulated accident information that accumulates data on the traveling condition of the vehicle and the traveling condition detection means that detects the current traveling condition of the vehicle. Detecting the approach to the accident occurrence position based on the occurrence position and the current position of the vehicle detected by the position detection means, and before the vehicle passes the accident occurrence position, the stored accident information Information about the accident occurrence situation at the time of the accident occurrence of the vehicle and the traveling situation of the vehicle detected by the accident occurrence situation and the traveling situation detection means And a warning control means for outputting warning information to which the information on the accident occurrence status is added via the output means when there are common situation elements. Navigation device. 2. The warning control means, when the route guidance means is performing route guidance, inputs information on the accident occurrence position existing on the guidance route in the accumulated accident information. The vehicle navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the warning information is output. 3. The warning control means, when the route guidance means is not performing route guidance, outputs warning information indicating that an accident occurred position will be passed instead of the warning information. Item 1. A vehicle navigation device according to Item 1. 4. The warning control means, when the result of the comparison between the accident occurrence status and the vehicle running status indicates that there is no common condition element, the warning control means replaces the warning information and passes through the accident occurrence position. The vehicle navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein caution information is output. 5. The receiving device for receiving the information on the accident occurrence position and the information on the accident occurrence situation transmitted from the outside of the vehicle, according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The vehicle navigation device as described in 1. 6. The vehicle navigation device according to claim 5, which is mounted on a vehicle, an information center having accumulated accident information in which data on traffic accidents that occurred in the past are accumulated, and the accumulated accident for a vehicle. An accident prevention system comprising: a transmission means for transmitting information related to an accident occurrence position in an area around the current position of the vehicle and information related to the accident occurrence condition from the information.