JP2017111727A - Calculation resource provision method and calculation resource provision system - Google Patents

Abstract

It is possible to appropriately determine whether it is advantageous for a user terminal to entrust a calculation task to a vehicle.
A notification step of exchanging vehicle information, which is information including at least information related to calculation resources that can be provided by a vehicle, between vehicle-mounted terminals, vehicle information of the host vehicle, and vehicle information transmitted from another vehicle. A vehicle group formation management step for forming and managing a vehicle group, and vehicle group resource information that is information relating to a time during which the vehicle group can communicate with the user terminal and a calculation resource that can be provided within the time period. A vehicle group resource information generation step, and notifies the vehicle terminal resource information to the user terminal and accepts a task execution request from the user terminal, or acquires a requirement related to task execution from the user terminal and An execution request receiving step for determining whether to accept a task execution request from the user terminal based on group resource information. Including and up, the.
[Selection] Figure 4

Description

The present invention relates to a calculation resource providing method and system for receiving and executing a task execution request from a user terminal.
Related.

  In recent years, high-performance calculation processing devices, storage devices, wireless communication devices, and sensors are mounted on vehicles. By providing such computational resources to other vehicles or devices other than vehicles, the vehicle network system can be used as an ICT platform (such as a huge CPU or storage).

  It is assumed that such a vehicle network is requested to execute a calculation task from a portable information terminal (user terminal) such as a smartphone (Non-Patent Document 1). By requesting the vehicle network to execute the calculation task, the portable information terminal can obtain effects such as reduction of power consumption and acquisition of calculation results more quickly.

  Since the vehicle moves at high speed, the period during which the vehicle and the user terminal can communicate is relatively short. Non-Patent Document 2 proposes to perform the following processing in consideration of the limited communication period with the user terminal. That is, the terminal that has received the task execution request executes the task only while it exists within the communication range of the user terminal, and when moving out of the range, Pass the calculation task to another terminal that can communicate. At this time, if an appropriate other terminal does not exist, an intermediate result is returned to the user terminal.

RIVA, Oriana, et al. Context-aware migratory services in ad hoc networks.Mobile Computing, IEEE Transactions on, 2007, 6.12: 1313-1328. HANDOREAN, Radu, et al. Context aware session management for services in ad hoc networks.In: Services Computing, 2005 IEEE International Conference on.IEEE, 2005. p. 113-120.

  In Non-Patent Document 2, when determining an information processing terminal to request a calculation task, only the information of each information processing terminal is considered. That is, when determining a commission terminal for a calculation task, it is not possible to consider a task transfer destination when the commission terminal moves outside the communication range of the user terminal. If the consignment terminal cannot find the migration destination, the intermediate result and task are returned to the user terminal. Therefore, when the information processing terminal appears intermittently around the user terminal, task delegation processing and communication processing therefor occur, and the power consumption increases compared to the user terminal executing the task by itself. Task completion time will be delayed. As described above, in Non-Patent Document 2, the user terminal cannot appropriately determine whether the calculation task should be entrusted to another terminal or executed by itself.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a calculation resource providing method and system capable of appropriately determining whether it is advantageous for a user terminal to entrust a calculation task to a vehicle.

In order to achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, in a vehicle system composed of a plurality of in-vehicle terminals, a vehicle group composed of a plurality of vehicles capable of communicating directly or indirectly is formed. Information about calculation resources (calculation resources) that can be provided as a group is provided to the user terminal. Thereby, the user terminal can grasp the calculation resources that can be used in the medium to long term, and can appropriately determine whether or not to entrust the calculation task.

  More specifically, one aspect of the present invention is a calculation resource providing method in a vehicle system that includes a plurality of in-vehicle terminals and receives and executes a task execution request from a user terminal, and includes a notification step, a vehicle group A formation management step, a vehicle group resource information generation step, and an execution request reception step are included.

  In the notification step, information (vehicle information) including information on resources that each vehicle can provide is exchanged between the in-vehicle terminals. The vehicle information transmitted by each in-vehicle terminal includes at least information about resources that can be provided by the host vehicle, and preferably includes information about resources that can be provided by the vehicles in the vehicle group that the host vehicle knows. The information regarding the calculation resource corresponds to, for example, a function that can be provided by the in-vehicle terminal, a calculation speed, and a usable storage capacity. In addition to the above information, the vehicle information preferably includes information such as a vehicle identifier, a position, a moving speed, a destination, and a planned travel route.

  In the vehicle group formation management step, each in-vehicle terminal forms and manages a vehicle group based on the vehicle information grasped by the host vehicle and the vehicle information transmitted from another vehicle. It is desirable that the vehicle group is formed from at least a part of vehicles that can communicate with the host vehicle directly or indirectly through other vehicles (multi-hop). The vehicle group may be formed from all vehicles that can communicate directly or indirectly, or a part thereof, for example, a vehicle behind the host vehicle. In forming the vehicle group, arbitrary information included in the vehicle information can be taken into consideration. For example, when the destination and the moving speed are included in the vehicle information, a period in which communication with the host vehicle can be predicted may be included in the vehicle group. In the vehicle group formation management step, it is also preferable to acquire information about each vehicle constituting the vehicle group. For example, based on the vehicle information, the position of each vehicle, the moving speed of the entire vehicle group, the identifier of the last vehicle in the vehicle group, and the like can be acquired as information related to the vehicle group.

  In the vehicle group resource information generation step, vehicle group resource information is generated. The vehicle group resource information includes information related to the time when the vehicle group can communicate with the user terminal and the calculation resources that the vehicle group can provide within the time. The time when the vehicle group can communicate with the user terminal may be expressed as the time when any vehicle in the vehicle group can communicate with the user terminal, and the time when each vehicle can communicate with the user terminal is not necessarily limited. You don't have to ask for it. Further, the calculation resources that can be provided by the vehicle group may be expressed as the calculation resources that the vehicle group can provide as a whole. The information on the calculation resources that can be provided includes, for example, information on the types of tasks that can be handled, the calculation amount per unit time, and the available storage capacity.

  In the execution request receiving step, the in-vehicle terminal receives from the user terminal an execution request for a task that matches the vehicle group resource information. The task that matches the vehicle group resource information means a task that is determined based on the vehicle group resource information that the execution in the vehicle system is appropriate. The entity that makes this determination may be a user terminal or an in-vehicle terminal. For example, the in-vehicle terminal transmits the vehicle group resource information to the user terminal, the user terminal determines whether the execution request to the vehicle system of the task is appropriate based on the vehicle group resource information, and the execution request is an appropriate task. Can be transmitted to the in-vehicle terminal, and the in-vehicle terminal can acquire the execution request from the user terminal. Alternatively, the user terminal notifies the in-vehicle terminal of the requirements necessary for executing the task, and determines whether the in-vehicle terminal satisfies the requirements based on the vehicle group resource information. An execution request can also be received from the user terminal.

  According to such a configuration, the user terminal can grasp the calculation resources that can be provided as a whole by the vehicle group instead of the individual in-vehicle terminals. That is, the user terminal can appropriately determine whether to execute the task on its own device or to request the vehicle group (vehicle-mounted terminal) to execute in consideration of the calculation resources that can be used in the medium to long term. It becomes like this. Thereby, the useless connection to a vehicle-mounted terminal can be reduced and the increase in the unnecessary load in a user terminal can be avoided.

  The calculation resource providing method according to the present invention can further include the following determination step, transfer step, and execution step.

  In the determination step, the in-vehicle terminal that has received the task execution request from the user terminal determines the in-vehicle terminal that executes the task based on the vehicle group resource information. This determination can be made by selecting one or a plurality of in-vehicle terminals capable of executing the task from the in-vehicle terminals in the vehicle group. In determining, it is also preferable to consider other factors such as selecting an in-vehicle terminal that can end the process earliest or selecting an in-vehicle terminal that can end the process by the requested time limit. If the requested task can be divided, it may be divided and executed by a plurality of in-vehicle terminals. Further, the same task may be executed by a plurality of in-vehicle terminals.

  In the transfer step, the in-vehicle terminal that has received the task execution request from the user terminal transfers the task to the in-vehicle terminal determined in the determination step. When direct communication with the destination vehicle terminal is not possible, relay (multi-hop communication) is performed in the vehicle system.

  In the execution step, the in-vehicle terminal to which the task is transferred executes the task. When the execution of the task is completed, the in-vehicle terminal that has executed the task transmits the calculation result to the user terminal. The transmission of the calculation result to the user terminal may be performed by direct communication or may be performed via another in-vehicle terminal in the vehicle group. The transmission of the calculation result to the user terminal is preferably performed immediately after completion of the task, but may be performed after a predetermined time. For example, if the in-vehicle terminal that is executing the task is not directly communicable with the user terminal when the execution of the task is completed, but is expected to be able to communicate directly with the user terminal after that, it can communicate directly with the user terminal. After waiting for this, the calculation result may be transmitted to the user terminal.

  According to such a configuration, the user terminal can grasp the entire vehicle group as one entity, and it is not necessary to grasp information about individual in-vehicle terminals constituting the vehicle group. That is, since it is not necessary for the user terminal to be involved in task transfer between in-vehicle terminals, it is possible to reduce the amount of processing and power consumption performed by the user terminal.

  The calculation resource providing method according to the present invention includes a step of periodically calculating information relating to a time during which a user terminal and a vehicle group can communicate continuously after accepting a task execution request from the user terminal, In the case where it is predicted that the task will not be completed in time, it is preferable that the vehicle-mounted terminal that is executing the task further includes a step of directly or indirectly transmitting the intermediate result of the task to the user terminal. The calculation of the information regarding the communicable time and the prediction of whether or not the task is completed within the time may be performed by the in-vehicle terminal that is executing the task, or may be performed by another in-vehicle terminal in the vehicle group Good. Prediction of whether or not the task is completed within the time can be performed based on, for example, the remaining calculation amount, the communicable time, and the calculation amount executable per unit time. Or when the distance between a user terminal and the last vehicle of a vehicle group becomes below a predetermined threshold value, it can also be judged that a process is not completed in time. This predetermined threshold value may be a fixed value or a smaller value as the moving speed of the vehicle group is higher.

  According to such a configuration, even if the execution of the task is not completed while the user terminal and the vehicle group can communicate, the result (intermediate result) can be transmitted to the user terminal.

  In the present invention, the task requested from the user terminal need not be performed by one in-vehicle terminal, and the in-vehicle terminal that is executing the task may transfer the task to another in-vehicle terminal during the execution. For example, an in-vehicle terminal that is executing a task determines that the other in-vehicle terminal in the vehicle group is suitable for executing the task based on the vehicle information. Can be transferred to the in-vehicle terminal. The criteria for determining appropriateness can be determined as appropriate.

  According to such a configuration, when the in-vehicle terminal suitable for executing the task changes, the task can be transferred and the in-vehicle terminal can execute the task. That is, an appropriate in-vehicle terminal in the vehicle group can always execute the task.

  Further, in the vehicle group formation management step of the present invention, each in-vehicle terminal travels in the same direction as the own vehicle, is located behind the own vehicle and can communicate directly or indirectly with the vehicle group. It can be determined that it is included. In this case, the vehicle group grasped by each in-vehicle terminal is composed of different vehicles.

  In this case, it can be determined whether the other vehicle is positioned forward or backward based on the position information, but can also be performed as follows. That is, in the notification step, each in-vehicle terminal transmits the vehicle information that the host vehicle determines to belong to the vehicle group and information about the host vehicle as the vehicle information. When a vehicle is detected in front of the host vehicle, information indicating that the vehicle has been detected ahead is included in the vehicle information and transmitted. In the vehicle group formation management step, vehicle information that does not include information that the vehicle is detected ahead or information about the host vehicle, vehicle information that includes information that the vehicle is detected forward and information about the host vehicle, and the vehicle A vehicle group is formed and managed using vehicle information of vehicles belonging to the group. In this way, the vehicle context can be determined by a simpler process than determining the context based on the position information.

  In the present invention, the calculation task means an arbitrary process that can be executed in the information processing apparatus (computer). Therefore, the calculation task includes not only calculation of mathematical expressions but also processing such as acquisition of data from an external device and output / transmission of data to the external device. The calculation task is also simply called a task.

  In the present invention, the calculation task execution request may be implemented in any manner. For example, the submission can be binary, source code including executable script language, intermediate code (also called bytecode), execution command or function name, or general work instruction, including data, You may pass parameters, arguments, processing results, etc.

In this specification, an in-vehicle terminal means an information processing device (computer) provided in a vehicle or an information processing device carried inside the vehicle. An information processing apparatus includes a combination of a general-purpose arithmetic processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and an MPU (Micro Processing Unit) and a storage device storing a program, and a programmable integrated circuit such as an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) ( Programmable logic device), ASIC
It includes at least one of integrated circuits such as (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).

Note that the present invention can also be understood as a calculation resource providing method for executing at least a part of the above processing. The present invention can be understood as a calculation resource providing system, a vehicle system, or an in-vehicle terminal (an in-vehicle communication device) that includes means for executing at least a part of the above-described processing. The present invention can also be understood as a computer program for causing a computer to execute this method, or a computer-readable storage medium in which this computer program is stored non-temporarily. Each of the above means and processes can be combined with each other as much as possible to constitute the present invention.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the calculation resource provision method and system which can judge appropriately whether it is advantageous for a user terminal to entrust a calculation task with respect to a vehicle can be provided.

FIG. 1 is a system outline diagram of a calculation system according to an embodiment. 2A is a device configuration diagram of the in-vehicle terminal, and FIG. 2B is a functional block diagram of the in-vehicle terminal. FIG. 3A is a device configuration diagram of a user terminal, and FIG. 3B is a functional block diagram of the user terminal. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of overall processing executed by the calculation system according to the embodiment. FIG. 5 shows an example of the resource information DB. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of resource information transmission processing. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of resource information reception processing / resource information DB update processing. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a vehicle group formation management process in a vehicle group in a stable state. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a vehicle group formation management process in the rear vehicle group when the two vehicle groups merge. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the vehicle group formation management process in the front vehicle group when the two vehicle groups merge. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a flow of processing from a task execution request to a calculation result according to an operation example in a normal case. FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram according to an operation example in a normal case. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a flow of processing from a task execution request to a calculation result according to an operation example in an exceptional case. FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram according to an operation example in an exceptional case. FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a method for sharing location information of user terminals. FIG. 16 is a flowchart of message transfer processing in the vehicle group.

  In the following, for simplification of description, the in-vehicle terminal and the vehicle are used as interchangeable meanings without being distinguished. For example, processing performed by an in-vehicle terminal mounted on a vehicle may be expressed as processing performed by the vehicle. Alternatively, the position and movement route of the vehicle may be expressed as the position and movement route of the in-vehicle terminal. Moreover, the same reference symbol may be used for the vehicle and the in-vehicle terminal mounted on the vehicle.

<Overview>
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the system outline of the computing system according to the present embodiment. The calculation system according to the present embodiment includes a user terminal 200 used by a user and a plurality of in-vehicle terminals 100 mounted on the vehicle, and the user terminal 200 entrusts the in-vehicle terminal 100 to execute a calculation task.

  In the present embodiment, a plurality of in-vehicle terminals 100 form a vehicle group 10, and the vehicle group 10 can be grasped as one calculation resource from the user terminal 200. For example, it is configured so that the user terminal 200 does not need to be involved in the transfer of the calculation task in the vehicle group 10 after the user terminal 200 has requested execution of a task to a certain vehicle in the vehicle group 10. The calculation task entrusted from the user terminal is executed by any one of the in-vehicle terminals 100 (may be plural) in the vehicle group 10, and the calculation result is transmitted from any of the in-vehicle terminals 100 to the user terminal.

  Thus, for the user terminal 200, the vehicle 100 constituting the vehicle group 10 is provided while the vehicle group 10 can communicate with the user terminal 200 as a whole so that the vehicle group 10 can be recognized as one calculation resource. Information about possible computational resources needs to be provided. A method for generating and notifying information (referred to as vehicle group resource information) regarding calculation resources for the entire vehicle group will be described in detail below.

<Configuration>
FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating a device configuration of the in-vehicle terminal 100 according to the present embodiment. The in-vehicle terminal 100 includes an arithmetic device 101, a storage device 102, a GPS device 103, an input / output device 104, a wireless communication device 105, and a plurality of sensors 106.

  The arithmetic device 101 includes a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), and provides a predetermined function by executing a program stored in the storage device 102. The storage device 102 includes a main storage device such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) and an auxiliary storage device such as a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, and a magneto-optical disk. The GPS device 103 receives a GPS satellite signal from a GPS receiver (not shown) and acquires position information of the vehicle 100. The input / output device 104 is an input device such as a keyboard, various pointing devices (mouse, touch pad, touch panel, pen tablet, etc.) and a microphone, an output device such as a display device (liquid crystal display, CRT display, projector, etc.), and an audio output device. Including equipment. It is a wireless communication device that can communicate with the wireless communication device 105, another vehicle 100, and the user terminal 200. The communication method of wireless communication may be arbitrary. Moreover, the same system may be sufficient as the communication between vehicles, and the communication with a user terminal, and a respectively different system may be sufficient as it. The sensor 106 is a sensor for acquiring information related to the inside and outside of the vehicle 100. For example, an external camera (including a visible light camera, an infrared camera, and a stereo camera), a ranging radar (millimeter wave radar, ultrasonic wave) Radar), vehicle speed sensor, acceleration sensor, and the like.

  FIG. 2B is a functional block diagram showing a functional configuration of the in-vehicle terminal 100. When the arithmetic device 101 of the vehicle 100 executes a program stored in the storage device 102, the following functions are realized. That is, the in-vehicle terminal 100 includes a vehicle information acquisition unit 11, a resource information reception unit 12, a resource information update unit 13, a resource information DB 14, a resource information transmission unit 15, a task execution request reception unit 16, a task execution control unit 17, and a task transfer. Functions of the unit 18, the task execution unit 19, the execution result transmission unit 20, and the like are provided. Details of each of these functions will be described later when processing contents are described later.

  FIG. 3A is a diagram showing a device configuration of the user terminal 200 in the present embodiment. The user terminal 200 includes an arithmetic device 201, a storage device 202, a GPS device 203, an input / output device 204, and a wireless communication device 205. Since each element is basically the same as that in the in-vehicle terminal 100, detailed description is omitted.

  FIG. 3B is a functional block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the user terminal 200. The arithmetic unit 201 of the user terminal 200 executes the program stored in the storage device 202, thereby realizing the following functions. That is, the user terminal 200 provides functions such as a resource information receiving unit 21, a task execution control unit 22, a task execution request transmission unit 23, a position information transmission unit 24, an execution result reception unit 25, and a task execution unit 26. Details of each of these functions will be described later when processing contents are described later.

<Processing content>
[Overall processing]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an overview of the overall processing executed by the computing system according to this embodiment. In this flowchart, processing executed by the user terminal 200 and the vehicle system is described. The processing shown to be executed by the vehicle system includes processing that is uniquely performed by at least some of the vehicles 100 in the vehicle system, and processing that is performed in cooperation by the plurality of vehicles 100 in the vehicle system.

  In step S401, resource information is exchanged between the vehicles to form and maintain a vehicle group. In the present embodiment, each vehicle periodically broadcasts information on resources that can be provided by the vehicle and vehicles included in the same vehicle group. In this embodiment, each vehicle is positioned behind the own vehicle, and the vehicle group is determined by determining that the vehicles that can be directly communicated or can communicate via the relay vehicle are included in the same vehicle group as the own vehicle. Form. Therefore, the constituent vehicles of the vehicle group grasped by each vehicle are different. The processing in this step will be described in detail later with reference to FIGS.

  As a result of the processing in step S401, the resource information DB 14 stores information about the vehicles that make up the vehicle group. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the resource information DB 14. FIG. 5 is an example of the resource information DB 14 of a vehicle having an identification ID C001 (hereinafter sometimes expressed as a vehicle C001). In this example, the case where the vehicle C001 forms a vehicle group with the vehicle A001 and the vehicle B001 is shown.

  The identification ID 501 stores the identification IDs of the vehicles that make up the vehicle group. The resource information 502 stores information about resources that each vehicle can provide. In this example, it is assumed that the functions that each vehicle can provide are the same, but the available memory capacities are different. Therefore, the resource information 502 stores information related to the available memory capacities. . The number of hops 503 represents the number of hops from the first vehicle in the vehicle group. In this embodiment, since each vehicle uniquely defines a vehicle group such that the own vehicle is the first vehicle in the vehicle group, the number of hops 503 is calculated from the own vehicle (owned vehicle in the resource information DB 14). It can also be understood as representing the number of hops. The distance information 504 stores the distance between each vehicle and the vehicle ahead. Since no leading vehicle exists in the leading vehicle of the vehicle group, the distance information 504 of the leading vehicle is blank. The last vehicle 505 stores the identification ID of the last vehicle in the vehicle group.

  Note that the resource information exchange and vehicle group formation management processing in step S401 are described as being performed only once in the flowchart, but in practice, they are repeatedly executed, and the information regarding the vehicle group is kept up-to-date.

  In step S <b> 402, the vehicle system transmits resource information to the user terminal 200. Specifically, the resource information transmission unit 15 of each vehicle 100 transmits (for example, broadcast transmission) the resource information about the vehicle group known by the host vehicle so that the user terminal 200 can receive the resource information. The resource information about the vehicle group (also referred to as vehicle group resource information) includes information related to the time when the vehicle group can communicate with the user terminal 200 and the calculation resources that the vehicle group can provide within the communicable time.

  The vehicle group resource information transmitted in step S402 is generated by the resource information transmitting unit 15 with reference to the resource information DB 14. The time during which the vehicle group can communicate with the user terminal is obtained by adding the wireless communication distance to the distance from the host vehicle (vehicle group head vehicle) to the vehicle group rearmost vehicle obtained based on the distance information 504, and the vehicle group And the average moving speed of Information relating to calculation resources that can be provided by the vehicle group can be determined from the resource information 502.

In step S403, the resource information receiving unit 21 of the user terminal 200 receives the vehicle group resource information transmitted from the vehicle system, and the task execution control unit 22 determines whether to request a calculation task from the vehicle system based on this information. Judgment. What is necessary is just to determine this judgment criterion suitably. For example, if it can be determined that the vehicle system can complete the execution of the task (and transmission of the result) while it can communicate with the vehicle system, it can be determined that the vehicle system is requested to execute the calculation task. When entrusting a calculation task to a vehicle system, it progresses to step S404, and when that is not right, a task is performed in the user terminal 200 (task execution part 26).

  In step S404, the task execution request transmission unit 23 of the user terminal 200 transmits a calculation task execution request to the vehicle system. The calculation task execution request includes, for example, the calculation task source code. In addition to the source code, the calculation task may be represented by intermediate code or binary.

  As will be described later, when the user terminal 200 requests a calculation task from the vehicle system, the user terminal 200 acquires the task ID of the calculation task from the vehicle system. The user terminal 200 periodically transmits the position information and the task ID of the own device by the position information transmission unit 24 after the task execution request (S404) to the reception of the task result (S410). This position information is used in the vehicle system to calculate a time during which the user terminal 200 and the vehicle system can communicate.

  In step S <b> 405, the vehicle system receives a calculation task execution request from the user terminal 200. Specifically, the vehicle 100 which is a vehicle in the vehicle system and can directly communicate with the user terminal 200 receives the execution request. The vehicle 100 receives a task execution request from the user terminal 200 by the task execution request receiving unit 16, determines a vehicle to execute the requested task by the task execution control unit 17, and determines the vehicle by the task transfer unit 18. Submit the requested task. The task execution vehicle is determined based on the vehicle group resource information DB 14.

  In step S406, the vehicle that has received the calculation task in step S405 executes this task by the task execution unit 19. When the task execution control unit 17 determines that another vehicle is more suitable for task execution during the execution of the calculation task, the task transfer unit 18 transfers the task to the vehicle. You may go (step S407).

  In step S <b> 408, the task execution control unit 17 determines whether the execution of the calculation task is completed or whether it is predicted that the communication between the user terminal 200 and the vehicle group will be disconnected soon. If it is determined that the calculation task has not been executed and communication with the user terminal 200 is maintained, the process returns to step S406. On the other hand, when the execution of the calculation task is completed or when it is predicted that the communication between the user terminal 200 and the vehicle group will be disconnected soon, the process proceeds to step S409.

  In step S409, the calculation result or the intermediate result is transmitted from the vehicle system to the user terminal 200. Specifically, the vehicle 100 that can directly communicate with the user terminal 200 is determined by the execution result transmission unit 20, and the calculation result or the intermediate result is transmitted to the user terminal 200 via the vehicle 100. In step S410, the execution result receiving unit 25 of the user terminal 200 receives this calculation result or intermediate result from the vehicle system.

  The processing of steps S402 to S410 described above will be described in more detail later with reference to FIGS.

[Resource information (vehicle information) exchange and vehicle group formation management processing]
The vehicle information exchange and the vehicle group formation management process in step S401 will be described in more detail. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing for transmitting resource information. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing for receiving resource information and performing vehicle group formation management (update of the resource information DB 14) based on the received resource information.

  The resource information transmission process shown in FIG. 6 is executed periodically (for example, every 100 milliseconds) in each vehicle. In step S <b> 601, the vehicle information acquisition unit 11 acquires sensor information from the sensor group 106. The sensor information to be acquired includes a front camera image, a distance from a front vehicle (object), a position, a speed, and the like. Although not explicitly shown in the flowchart, when the sensor information is acquired, the resource information update unit 13 updates information on the own vehicle in the resource information DB 14.

  In step S602, the resource information transmitting unit 15 refers to the resource information DB 14 and generates a resource information notification packet for the vehicle. In the present embodiment, the vehicle information about each vehicle in the vehicle group included in the resource information DB 14 is included in the resource information notification packet. The resource information notification packet includes a new detection flag (details will be described later) indicating whether or not a vehicle is newly detected ahead. The initial value of the new detection flag is off. Further, it is also preferable to include information other than that shown in FIG. 5 in the resource information notification packet. For example, it is also preferable to include information such as the position of the vehicle, the moving speed, the destination, and the planned travel route.

  In step S603, the resource information transmission unit 15 determines whether a new vehicle is detected ahead based on sensor information or the like. The presence or absence of a vehicle ahead can be determined from a camera image, a distance sensor, or the like. When a preceding vehicle is detected in a state where it is determined that no preceding vehicle exists, it can be determined that a preceding vehicle has been newly detected.

  If a forward vehicle is newly detected, the process proceeds to step S604, and a new detection flag included in the resource information notification packet is set to ON. When a vehicle ahead is not newly detected, the new detection flag remains off.

  In step S <b> 605, the resource information transmission unit 15 transmits the generated resource information notification packet to another vehicle via the wireless communication device 105. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the resource information notification packet is broadcast by a channel for inter-vehicle communication.

  The above-described resource information transmission process addressed to other vehicles (and the process of receiving the transmitted resource information notification packet) corresponds to the step of exchanging vehicle information in the present invention.

  The resource information reception process and the vehicle group formation management process shown in FIG. 7 are executed each time a resource information packet is received in each vehicle. However, the vehicle group formation management process may be performed at the same interval as the transmission interval.

  In step S701, the resource information receiving unit 12 receives a resource information notification packet from another vehicle. In the following steps S702 to S704, the resource information update unit 13 determines whether or not the received resource information notification packet is a notification packet from a vehicle in the same vehicle group (that is, a rear vehicle). The following processing is performed on a notification packet from a vehicle traveling in the same direction as the own vehicle, and a notification packet from a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction to the own vehicle is not processed ( ignore).

In step S <b> 702, the resource information update unit 13 determines whether information about the host vehicle is included in the notification packet, that is, whether the identification ID of the host vehicle is included. If the information about the host vehicle is included (S702-YES), it can be determined that the transmission source vehicle of the notification packet is a vehicle ahead, and therefore the resource information DB 14 is not updated based on this notification packet (S706). ).

  In step S703, the resource information update unit 13 determines whether the new detection flag in the notification packet is on. When the notification packet does not include information about the host vehicle and the new detection flag is on (S702-NO and S703-YES), it can be determined that the notification is from the rear vehicle group, so the resource information update unit 13 updates the resource information DB 14 based on the notification packet (S705). Since the notification packet includes information regarding new vehicles (vehicles not registered in the resource information DB 14), information regarding these vehicles is registered in the resource information DB 14.

  In step S <b> 704, the resource information update unit 13 determines whether the notification packet includes information regarding vehicles in the same vehicle group (vehicles registered in the resource information DB 14). Regardless of whether the new detection flag is off, when the information packet does not contain information about the host vehicle and information about vehicles in the same vehicle group (S702-NO and S703-NO and S704-NO), Since it can be determined that the notification is from a vehicle in the vehicle group, the resource information update unit 13 does not update the resource information DB 14 based on the notification packet (S706). On the other hand, when information about vehicles in the same vehicle group is included in the notification packet (S702-NO and S703-NO and S704-YES), it is a notification from a vehicle (rear vehicle) in the same vehicle group. Since the determination can be made, the resource information update unit 13 updates the resource information DB 14 based on the notification packet (S705).

  The update processing of the resource information DB 14 based on the resource information notification packet from the other vehicle corresponds to the vehicle group formation management step in the present invention.

  The above-described resource information exchange process and vehicle group formation management process will be further described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating processing in a steady state of a vehicle group including three vehicles A001, B001, and C001. Reference numerals 801, 802, and 803 are the contents of the resource information DB 14 of the vehicles A001, B001, and C001, respectively. Each vehicle determines that a vehicle group is formed from the host vehicle and a vehicle behind the host vehicle. Accordingly, it is determined that the vehicle A001 is a single vehicle group, the vehicle B001 is determined to form a vehicle group from the vehicles A001, B001, and the vehicle C001 is formed from the vehicles A001, B001, C001. Deciding.

  Reference numeral 804 denotes the content of a resource information notification packet transmitted by the vehicle B001. This notification packet is generated based on the content 802 of the vehicle group resource information DB 14 of the vehicle B001.

  The vehicle A001 can determine that the notification packet 804 from the vehicle B001 is a notification from the preceding vehicle, and the resource information DB 14 based on the notification packet 804 is not updated. It can be determined that the vehicle B001 is a vehicle ahead of the vehicle A001 because the identification ID of the own vehicle is included in this notification packet (S702-YES).

The vehicle C001 can determine that the notification packet from the vehicle B001 is a notification of the rear vehicle, and updates the resource information DB 14 based on the notification packet 804. The fact that the vehicle B001 is a vehicle behind the vehicle C001 does not include the identification ID of the own vehicle in this notification packet (S702-NO), the new detection flag is off (S703-NO), and within the same vehicle group This information can be determined from the fact that information on the vehicle (any one of the vehicles A001, B001, and C001) is included (YES in S704).

  FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining processing in the rear vehicle group GB in a situation where the vehicle group GB including three vehicles A001, B001, and C001 has caught up with the front vehicle group GF (the last vehicle is the vehicle D001). It is. Reference numerals 901 and 902 are the contents of resource information notification packets of the vehicles C001 and D001, respectively (also referred to as the contents of the resource information DB 14).

  Since the vehicle C001 detects a new vehicle ahead from the front camera, radar, etc. (S603-YES), the new detection flag is set to ON in the resource information notification packet 901. The vehicles B001 and C001 that have received the notification packet 901 from the vehicle C001 do not update the resource information DB 14 based on the notification packet 901 because the identification ID of the own vehicle is included in the notification packet 901 (S702-YES).

  The vehicle C001 that has received the notification packet 902 from the vehicle D001 does not include the identification ID of the own vehicle in the notification packet 902 (S702-NO), but does not include information regarding the vehicles in the same vehicle group (S704-NO). Therefore, it can be determined that the vehicle D001 is a preceding vehicle, and the resource information DB 14 based on the notification packet 902 is not updated.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining processing in the front vehicle group GF in a situation where the rear vehicle group GB has caught up with the front vehicle group GF including the three vehicles D001, E001, and F001. Reference numerals 1001, 1002, and 1003 are the contents of resource information notification packets of the vehicles C001, D001, and E001 (also referred to as the contents of the resource information DB 14).

  The vehicle D001 receives the notification packet 1001 in which the new detection flag is set to ON from the vehicle C001. Since the identification ID of the own vehicle is not included in the notification packet 1001 (S702-NO) and the new detection flag is on (S703-YES), this notification notifies the new detection from the rear vehicle. It can be judged that. Therefore, the vehicle D001 performs an update process of the resource information DB 14 based on the notification packet 1001. Due to the update, the resource information DB 14 of the vehicle D001 further includes the vehicles A001, B001, and C001 in the notification packet 1001 from the state including only the information regarding the vehicle D001 (reference numeral 902 in FIG. 9) (reference numeral 1002 in FIG. 10). It becomes.

  After updating the resource information DB 14 of the vehicle D001, the vehicle D001 transmits a resource information notification packet 1002 to surrounding vehicles. The vehicle E001 that has received the notification packet 1002 does not include the identification ID of the own vehicle in the notification packet 1002 (S702-NO), and information on vehicles in the same vehicle group (any one of the vehicles D001, E001, F001) ) Is included (S704-YES), it can be determined that the notification is from a rear vehicle in the same vehicle group. Therefore, the vehicle E001 performs the update process of the resource information DB 14 based on the notification packet 1002. As a result of the update, the resource information DB 14 of the vehicle E001 changes from a state including only information regarding the vehicles D001 and E001 to a state further including the vehicles A001, B001, and C001 in the notification packet 1002 (reference numeral 1003 in FIG. 10).

  Thus, when the last vehicle D001 of the vehicle group GF becomes communicable with another vehicle group GB, the resource information DB 14 of each vehicle in the front vehicle group GF is sequentially updated. As a result, the vehicle group GF and the vehicle group GB can be merged.

[Task execution request reception processing to execution result transmission processing]
Hereinafter, the processing from step S402 to S410 will be described in more detail.

  First, with reference to FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, an operation example of a normal case in which task execution can be completed within a communicable time with the user terminal will be described. FIG. 11A is a diagram illustrating a process from when a task execution request is received from a user terminal to when a task is transmitted to a task execution vehicle. FIG. 11B is a diagram illustrating a process until the task execution vehicle transmits a task execution result to the user terminal. FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram showing an operation flow in a normal case.

  First, each vehicle in the vehicle system exchanges vehicle information between the vehicles (S1202), and updates the resource information DB 14 based on the vehicle information, thereby keeping the information about the vehicles in the vehicle group up to date. . Then, the vehicle A that can communicate with the user terminal UT transmits vehicle group resource information to the user terminal UT (S1204). The vehicle group resource information is generated based on the resource information DB 14, and includes information regarding a time during which the vehicle group can communicate with the user terminal UT and calculation resources that can be provided by the vehicle group within the communicable time. In this embodiment, each vehicle in the vehicle group periodically broadcasts the vehicle group resource information. However, when the connection with the user terminal UT is completed or a request is received from the user terminal UT, the vehicle group resource information is displayed. You may make it transmit.

  The user terminal UT that has received the vehicle group resource information determines whether or not the vehicle group should be requested to perform a task scheduled to be executed (S1206). Specifically, it is determined whether or not the vehicle group can complete execution of the task within a communicable period. When determining that the task should be requested from the vehicle group, the user terminal UT requests the vehicle group (vehicle A) to execute the task as follows. That is, the user terminal UT transmits a request to execute the task to the vehicle A (S1208), and the vehicle A transmits a task ID to the user terminal UT in response (S1210). The user terminal UT transmits the calculation task together with the task ID to the vehicle A (S1212).

  When the vehicle A receives a task execution request from the user terminal UT, the vehicle A determines in which vehicle in the vehicle group it is appropriate to execute this task (S1214). The determination criterion is arbitrary. For example, it is conceivable to select a vehicle that can complete the processing earliest or select a vehicle that can perform the processing with the highest quality. In this example, the description will proceed assuming that the vehicle L is selected as the task execution vehicle. Then, the vehicle A transmits (transfers) the requested task to the vehicle L together with the task ID (S1216). When the vehicle A cannot communicate directly with the vehicle L, relaying is performed within the vehicle group to perform multi-hop communication. When the vehicle L receives the task, the vehicle L starts its execution (S1218).

  After requesting the vehicle group to execute the task, the user terminal UT periodically transmits its position information to the vehicle group (S1220, 1222). The location information of the user terminal UT is transmitted together with the task ID, and it is possible to grasp which task is the location information of the user terminal that requested the task. The position information of the user terminal is received by a vehicle communicable with the user terminal UT among the vehicles in the vehicle group, and is transmitted to other vehicles in the vehicle group. In this way, the position information of the user terminal UT is transferred within the vehicle group and received by all vehicles. Further, the location information of the user terminal UT may be transmitted by being included in the resource information exchanged between the vehicles in step S1202, or may be transmitted as another message.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a process of sharing the position information of the user terminal UT within the vehicle group. The vehicle (vehicles B and C in FIG. 15) that has received the position information from the user terminal UT transmits a user terminal information notification. The user terminal information notification includes position information of the user terminal UT, a vehicle that can directly communicate with the user terminal UT, and the number of hops from the last vehicle of the vehicle. In FIG. 15, two vehicles, vehicles B and C, can directly communicate with the user terminal UT, and the vehicles B and C first transmit user terminal information 1501 and 1502, respectively. Each vehicle updates user terminal information based on this notification and transmits it to surrounding vehicles. Thereby, user terminal information can be shared by all the vehicles in a vehicle group. In the example of FIG. 15, each vehicle has user terminal information 1503.

  When the execution of the task in the vehicle L is completed (S1224), the vehicle L transmits the calculation result to the user terminal UT. For this purpose, the vehicle L first determines a vehicle that can directly communicate with the user terminal UT (S1226). As described above, since the vehicles in the vehicle group are aware of the vehicles in the vehicle group that are in direct communication with the user terminal UT, the calculation result of the task via the vehicle that can directly communicate with the user terminal UT. Is transmitted to the user terminal UT (S1228).

  While the task in the vehicle L is being executed, a process is periodically performed to check whether this task can be completed while it can communicate with the user terminal UT. However, the description is omitted here because it will be described below.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 13 and FIG. 14, an operation example of an exception case in which task execution cannot be completed within a communicable time with the user terminal will be described. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a process from when a task execution vehicle receives a task to when an intermediate result of the task is transmitted to the user terminal. FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram showing a flow of operations in an exception case.

  The process in which the user terminal UT requests a task from the vehicle group, the task is transmitted to the task execution vehicle, and the process in which the user terminal UT transmits the position information after requesting the task (S1402 to S1422) is shown in step S1202 of FIG. ˜1222, the description is omitted.

  A process after the vehicle L acquires a task request and executes the task will be described. In parallel with the execution of the task, the vehicle L confirms whether or not the vehicle group can complete the execution of the task during a period in which the vehicle group can communicate with the user terminal UT based on the position information of the user terminal UT. . Specifically, based on the vehicle (FIG. 15) capable of directly communicating with the user terminal UT that can be grasped based on the position information of the user terminal, and the distance between the vehicles in the vehicle group (distance information in FIG. 5 and the like), the user terminal The distance between the vehicle that can directly communicate with the UT and the last vehicle in the vehicle group is known. From this distance and the moving speed of the vehicle group, it is possible to grasp the time during which the user terminal UT can communicate with the vehicle group. It is also preferable to appropriately adjust the distance between vehicles by adding a wireless communication distance (distance that radio waves reach) or multiplying by a safety factor.

  If the time required to complete task execution (more precisely, transmission of calculation results to the user terminal) is less than the time during which the user terminal UT and the vehicle group can communicate (S1424), task execution And the intermediate result is transmitted to the user terminal UT. Specifically, a vehicle that can directly communicate with the user terminal UT is determined (S1426), and a task calculation result is transmitted to the user terminal UT via the vehicle (S1428).

[Message transfer processing]
Hereinafter, message transfer processing in the vehicle group will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, the vehicle group does not include vehicles ahead of the host vehicle. Therefore, there is no information about the preceding vehicle in the resource information DB 14 of each vehicle, and it is not known what kind of vehicle exists ahead. However, when a task or a calculation result thereof is transmitted between vehicles, a message transfer process to a preceding vehicle is required. In the present embodiment, a processing method that can appropriately route a message between vehicles without knowing the presence of a preceding vehicle is employed.

In step S1601, the vehicle receives a message. This message includes the identification ID of the transmission source vehicle and the identification ID of the destination vehicle. If the destination ID is the identification ID of the host vehicle (S1602-YES), message transfer is unnecessary, and the host vehicle processes this message (S1603). Specifically, if the message is a task execution request, this task is executed, and if the message is a transmission result of a calculation result to the user terminal, the message is transmitted to the user terminal.

  If the host vehicle is not the destination, it is determined whether the transmission source identification ID is a vehicle in the vehicle group (S1604) and whether the destination identification ID is a vehicle in the vehicle group (S1605, 1606). Do. The vehicle in the vehicle group is a vehicle stored in the resource information DB 14. In the present embodiment, the vehicles in the vehicle group are vehicles behind the host vehicle.

  The message needs to be transferred when the transmission source is a front vehicle and the destination is a rear vehicle (S1604-NO and S1606-YES), and when the transmission source is a rear vehicle and the destination is a front vehicle (S1604). YES and S1605-NO). Therefore, if these determination results are obtained, the process proceeds to step S1607 to transfer the message.

  Conversely, if both the transmission source and destination are front vehicles (S1604-NO and S1606-NO), or both the transmission source and destination are rear vehicles (S1604-YES and S1606-YES), message transfer is performed. Is unnecessary. Therefore, if these determination results are obtained, the process proceeds to step S1608 and no message is transferred.

<Advantageous effects of this embodiment>
According to the present embodiment, the user terminal can regard the vehicle group as a single calculation resource, and after requesting the vehicle group to execute a task, the user terminal can transmit the position information periodically. Communication with is no longer necessary. In addition, because the vehicle group resource information from the vehicle group can grasp the resource information that the vehicle group can provide as a whole, the user terminal can calculate the vehicle group while it can communicate without knowing information about each vehicle. It can be determined whether or not it is possible. In addition, the vehicle group can be formed and managed and the resource information can be managed by simple processing in the vehicle.

<Modification>
The above description is illustrative of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. The present invention can be variously modified within the scope of its technical idea.

[Modification 1]
In the above description, the vehicle group has been described as being composed of each vehicle and vehicles behind it. However, the formation method of the vehicle group may be arbitrary. For example, you may make it comprise a vehicle group from the vehicle which can communicate by relay irrespective of the positional relationship of a position. In addition, it is not necessary to include all vehicles communicable by relay in the vehicle group, and it is also preferable to form the vehicle group from vehicles that are determined to be in a state where they can communicate with each other for a long time (a threshold time or longer). The communicable time can be determined from, for example, the relative speed of the vehicle or the planned travel route. In addition, it is also possible to predict the future behavior of the vehicle from the past history data and the current situation, and to determine the communicable time based on the prediction.

  In addition, when the preceding vehicle is included in the vehicle group, the resource information of the vehicle positioned ahead of the own vehicle can be grasped, so that the vehicle ahead of the own vehicle can be selected as the task execution vehicle. In addition, it is possible to grasp whether each vehicle is located in front of or behind the host vehicle, and when providing vehicle group resource information to the user terminal, the resource information of the rear vehicle is provided. The same processing as in this embodiment can be realized.

  In addition, if the vehicle located in front of the vehicle is also grasped, message transfer processing within the vehicle group is facilitated.

[Modification 2]
The vehicle that executes the task in the vehicle group may change with time. In the above description of the operation example, only the vehicle determined first is executing the task. However, if it is determined that it is more appropriate to execute the task on another vehicle after receiving the task, Tasks may be transferred between vehicles in the group. This determination can be made based on the resource information of each vehicle in the vehicle group and the positional relationship with the user terminal. The determination criteria may be arbitrary. For example, when a vehicle capable of performing higher speed or high quality processing appears, it can be determined that the vehicle is more appropriate. Alternatively, it may be set as a condition for the task execution vehicle to be located behind the user terminal, and when the task execution vehicle passes the user terminal, the task may be transferred to the rear vehicle.

  One task may be executed by a plurality of vehicles. For example, one task may be divided into a plurality of subtasks, and each subtask may be executed by a different vehicle. As a result, load distribution and speeding up of the vehicle group can be achieved. Alternatively, one task (or subtask) may be simultaneously executed on a plurality of vehicles. Thereby, a processing result can be obtained more reliably.

[Modification 3]
The method for transmitting the vehicle group resource information to the user terminal is arbitrary. As long as it is possible to grasp how much calculation the vehicle group can execute within the time in which communication with the vehicle group can be performed at the user terminal, the transmission method of the vehicle group resource information may be performed in any manner. As an example, the user terminal may receive vehicle information that the vehicle transmits based on the resource information DB, and the vehicle information may be analyzed to obtain the information.

  Also, a method for requesting a task from the user terminal to the vehicle group is arbitrary. In the above description, the vehicle group resource information is transmitted from the vehicle group to the user terminal, and the user terminal determines whether to request the vehicle group to execute the task. However, the user terminal may notify the requirements necessary for executing the task, and determine whether the vehicles in the vehicle group satisfy this requirement. Finally, the task execution request from the user terminal to the vehicle group may be determined based on the vehicle group resource information managed by the vehicle.

  Further, in determining a task execution request, it is not always necessary to make a request condition that all tasks are executed. For example, the user terminal may request the vehicle group to execute a task when it is determined that a predetermined amount or more of the entire process can be calculated.

[Modification 4]
The task calculation result does not necessarily need to be immediately transmitted to the user terminal. If it is determined that the task execution vehicle (vehicle holding the calculation result) can be directly communicated with the user terminal in the future, the task execution vehicle may wait until then and transmit the calculation result directly to the user terminal. This is effective when the requested task does not require real-time performance.

[Modification 5]
In the above description, the time until the communication between the vehicle group and the user terminal is disconnected is determined based on the distance to the last vehicle and the moving speed of the vehicle group. However, it may be determined based on the distance to the last vehicle or the number of hops more simply.

  Further, it is not always necessary for the task execution vehicle to determine whether or not the calculation task is completed while it can communicate with the user terminal. Any vehicle in the vehicle group may make this determination, and may instruct the task execution vehicle to interrupt the task execution and transmit the intermediate result to the user terminal as necessary.

  Similarly, a vehicle other than the task execution vehicle may determine whether to switch the task execution vehicle. In addition, a vehicle other than the vehicle that directly receives the request from the user terminal may determine which vehicle in the vehicle group should execute the task requested from the user terminal.

  Further, a terminal that requests a calculation task for a vehicle group is not limited to a terminal held by a user such as a portable information terminal, but may be an in-vehicle terminal of a vehicle in the vicinity.

100: Vehicle (in-vehicle terminal)
11: Vehicle information acquisition unit 12: Resource information reception unit 13: Resource information update unit 14: Resource information DB 15: Resource information transmission unit 16: Task execution request reception unit 17: Task execution control unit 18: Task transfer unit 19: Task Execution unit 20: execution result transmission unit 200: user terminal 21: resource information reception unit 22: task execution control unit 23: task execution request transmission unit 24: position information transmission unit 25: execution result reception unit 26: task execution unit

Claims (13)

Comprising a plurality of in-vehicle terminals, a calculation resource providing method in a vehicle system for receiving and executing a task execution request from a user terminal,
A notification step of exchanging vehicle information, which is information including at least information related to calculation resources that can be provided by the vehicle, between the in-vehicle terminals;
A vehicle group formation management step for forming and managing a vehicle group based on the vehicle information of the host vehicle and vehicle information transmitted from another vehicle;
Vehicle group resource information generating step for generating vehicle group resource information, which is information relating to a time during which the vehicle group can communicate with the user terminal and a calculation resource that can be provided within the time period;
An execution request receiving step for receiving an execution request for a task that matches the vehicle group resource information from the user terminal;
A computing resource providing method including: The in-vehicle terminal that has received the task execution request from the user terminal determines the in-vehicle terminal that executes the task based on the vehicle group resource information; and
The in-vehicle terminal that has received the task execution request from the user terminal, the transfer step of transferring the task to the in-vehicle terminal determined by the determination step;
An in-vehicle terminal to which the task is transferred executes the task;
A calculation resource providing method, further comprising: After completion of execution of the task in the execution step, the in-vehicle terminal that has executed the task further includes a step of transmitting the calculation result of the task to the user terminal,
The calculation resource providing method according to claim 2. After receiving the task execution request from the user terminal, periodically calculating information regarding the time during which the user terminal and the vehicle group can communicate with each other;
When it is predicted that the task will not be completed within the communicable time, the vehicle-mounted terminal that is executing the task transmits an intermediate result of the task to the user terminal;
The calculation resource providing method according to claim 2, further comprising: Transmission of the task calculation result or intermediate result to the user terminal is performed via an in-vehicle terminal communicable with the user terminal among the in-vehicle terminals in the vehicle group.
The calculation resource providing method according to claim 3 or 4. The in-vehicle terminal that is executing the task determines that the other in-vehicle terminal in the vehicle group is suitable for executing the task based on the vehicle information. Transfer to in-vehicle terminal,
The calculation resource provision method of any one of Claim 2 to 5. The execution request receiving step includes:
Transmitting the vehicle group resource information to the user terminal;
Accepting a task execution request transmitted from the user terminal based on the vehicle group resource information before;
The calculation resource provision method of any one of Claim 1 to 6 containing this. The execution request receiving step includes:
Obtaining a request for execution of a task from the user terminal;
Determining whether or not to accept a task execution request from the user terminal based on the vehicle group resource information;
The calculation resource provision method of any one of Claim 1 to 6 containing this. In the vehicle group formation management step, each in-vehicle terminal determines that the vehicle group includes a vehicle that travels in the same direction as the own vehicle, is positioned behind the own vehicle, and can communicate directly or indirectly. To
The calculation resource provision method of any one of Claim 1 to 8. In the notification step, each in-vehicle terminal transmits vehicle information related to the vehicle and the host vehicle that the host vehicle determines to belong to the vehicle group,
When a vehicle is detected in front of the host vehicle, the fact that the vehicle has been detected ahead is included in the vehicle information and transmitted,
In the vehicle group formation management step, vehicle information that does not include information that the vehicle is detected ahead or information about the host vehicle, vehicle information that includes information that the vehicle is detected ahead and information about the host vehicle, and Using vehicle information of vehicles belonging to the vehicle group to form and manage the vehicle group,
The calculation resource providing method according to claim 9. Further comprising a transfer step of transferring a message within the vehicle group, wherein in the transfer step, the transmission source of the message is a vehicle belonging to the vehicle group and the destination is a vehicle not belonging to the vehicle group; or The message is transferred when the transmission source of the message is a vehicle that does not belong to the vehicle group, and the destination is a vehicle that belongs to the vehicle group. Otherwise, the message is not transferred. ,
The calculation resource providing method according to claim 10. An in-vehicle terminal in a vehicle system that receives and executes a task execution request from a user terminal,
Transmitting means for transmitting vehicle information, which is information including at least information related to computational resources that can be provided by the vehicle;
Vehicle group formation management means for forming and managing a vehicle group based on vehicle information of the host vehicle and vehicle information transmitted from other vehicles;
Vehicle group resource information storage means for storing vehicle group resource information that is information related to a time during which the vehicle group can communicate with the user terminal and a calculation resource that can be provided within the time period;
The vehicle group resource information is notified to the user terminal and a task execution request is received from the user terminal, or a requirement regarding task execution is acquired from the user terminal and the user is acquired based on the vehicle group resource information. An execution request receiving means for determining whether or not to accept a task execution request from a terminal;
In-vehicle terminal including   The program for making a computer perform the method of any one of Claim 1 to 11.

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